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Southern Heritage <br>News and Views: January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

JUDGE SCHEDULES McCLAREN CASE FOR FEBRUARY, 2010

MEMPHIS, TN – Federal Judge Samuel H. Mays today set February 16, 2010, as the trial date in the case of McClaren v. United Health Care d/b/a Compass Intervention Center, a lawsuit filed by a staff therapist against the Memphis clinic which fired him for failure to comply with demands that he either remove Confederate-themed license tags from his vehicle or park off company property.

McClaren, who resides in Olive Branch, Mississippi, and is a member of the Mississippi Sons of Confederate Veterans, was discharged from Compass in October of 2007 following a running dialogue with the clinic’s new management over the fact that his vehicle displayed a decorative Confederate flag tag on its front and a state-issued SCV license plate on its rear. McClaren contended he had parked the vehicle on company property for five years without comment or incident. In October of 2008 the Southern Legal Resource Center brought suit against the clinic and its parent company on McClaren’s behalf, claiming retaliatory discharge. Attorneys for United health Care then had the case moved from local to Federal court.

SLRC Chief Trial Counsel Kirk D. Lyons called the removal of the case to federal court “a self-serving tactic by the defense” and said it was “designed to do nothing but delay hearing the case on its merits and cause additional work and expense on our part. Nevertheless. Lyons said the SLRC is “comfortable with our case’s new home, and we look forward to advocating on Paul McClaren’s behalf in federal court. The judge and I had a pleasant visit by phone this morning.”

Lyons said the one-year lead time is “a pretty liberal application of local scheduling rules,” and that it will allow adequate time for discovery, including a number of witness depositions, in preparation for the trial.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

TOM JACKSON and the AMERICAN DREAM

By Bob Hurst

Each year around this time Sons of Confederate Veterans camps around the country (and even some overseas) hold a banquet to honor two of the greatest heroes of the Confederacy and the South - General Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. The banquets are held at this time because of the birth dates of the two, January 19 and 21 respectively. They are held, period, because of the greatness in every way of the two men being honored.

I have thus far attended two Lee/Jackson Banquets (one in Alachua and one in Jacksonville) and will be attending at least two more including our own (Col. David Lang Camp) here in Tallahassee. I have been invited to speak at the banquet in Callahan just outside of Jacksonville in Nassau County.

I have been speaking at one or two banquets each year for the past several years and one thing I enjoy about these speaking engagements is the opportunity to do more research about my Confederate heroes so that I might make a presentation that is worthwhile for the attendees and one that I can feel good about. In Callahan, not surprisingly, I will be speaking about Gen. Lee and Gen. Jackson, but I will be emphasizing only certain aspects of their lives. For this, I have researched parts of their lives with which I was not very familiar.

Now let me say at this point that I have always known much more about Robert E. Lee than about Thomas Jackson. I am a son of the South and I was privileged to grow up during a period before the stench of political correctness settled on this country. During my youth, schools still taught about Confederate heroes in a positive manner and the local librarian steered me happily to the books in the War Between the States section (and there were many) about the magnificent Robert E. Lee. There were several schools in my native Alabama named for General Lee but I cannot recall one named for General Jackson.

There were very few books about General Jackson but he was mentioned frequently in many books that gave a broad coverage of the War. He was unforgettable to me, though, because his nickname, "Stonewall" , was the coolest that this then-young boy had ever heard.

As I grew older, I began buying books for my own budding library and kept one book (published in 1963) about Robert E. Lee with me through college which I frequently read for entertainment and inspiration. I had no books on Thomas Jackson. In more recent years, thanks primarily to the wonderful deeply-discounted sales that the LSU Press used to have, I have been able to increase my titles without doing too much damage to the budget. Many of these books, though, were about lesser-known Confederates and I was happy to be able to get them.

With this in mind, I resolved to spend more time researching Thomas Jackson for my presentation in Callahan. What an eye-opener this proved to be! What I have learned is that Thomas Jonathan Jackson is the true embodiment of the American Dream.

I knew about the patrician upbringing of Robert E. Lee. I knew his family was among the finest in Virginia, that his father was a Revolutionary War hero and a three-term Governor of Virginia and that his beautiful mother was a Carter, the wealthiest family in the state.

Thomas Jackson came from slightly more humble circumstances.

Each of his great-grandparents had been sentenced to indentured servitude in America (still colonies at that time) for crimes they had committed in England. They, in fact, met on the ship bringing them to America to serve their sentences. Once the 7-year indenture was completed, they married and moved to that rough-and-tumble area now known as West Virginia. They proved to be hardworking people and soon became successful.

Tom Jackson's father proved to be an unsuccessful lawyer and irresponsible individual who left his family deeply in debt when he died. Tom was only two years old when his father died and his mother's financial situation was so difficult that she soon sent Tom and his two siblings away to live with relatives who could better provide for the young children. She died when Tom was only 7 and he was devastated.

The uncle who provided a home for Tom Jackson for the next eleven years did what he could for the boy but he was not one to stress the educational and religious training that the young boy growing into manhood needed. Tom was generally described during this period as very somber, shy and unobtrusive with rarely a smile on his face. He worked at a sawmill and gristmill, sold fish he caught in local streams and even occasionally rode as a jockey in local horseraces to make extra money.

When he was 18, Tom saw a possible way out of this bleak lifestyle. The local congressman was taking applications for an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. The education was free and Tom knew this would be the only way he could get a college education. He was one of only two young men to qualify but the appointment went to the other lad. This was just another disappointment in Tom's life but fortune soon smiled on Tom when the other boy left the Academy shortly after arriving and Tom was able to fill the vacant spot.

The poorly-educated Tom Jackson was able to pass the entrance exam at the Academy by "the skin of his teeth" and was ranked 93rd, or dead last, as an entering student. But he had his chance.

From that inauspicious beginning was to come the legend that became "Stonewall" Jackson. The shy young man, without the benefit of a solid educational background or social skills, applied himself as none other at the Academy. Forsaking most of the social activities available to college-age students, Jackson studied incessantly - and it paid off.

Each grading period during his four years at West Point his class rank improved until when he graduated he was ranked 17th in his class. This was in competition with some of the brightest and most accomplished young men in the country. The reticent young man who had begun at the Academy as a not-very-popular cadet who was not expected to make it, graduated as the most respected and admired member of the Class of 1846. The consensus at the school was that if the curriculum had extended one more year, Tom Jackson would likely have finished at the head of his class.

Ahead of Thomas Jackson lay fame for his gallantry in the Mexican War, a happy family life while serving as a college professor at the Virginia Military Institute and, finally, immortality as the unconquerable "Stonewall" , the military genius of the Confederacy during the War for Southern Independence.

The young man of limited means who had only asked for a chance had succeeded magnificently. To me, there is no better story of achieving the American Dream than that of the incomparable Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. I feel privileged to have spent the last two weeks with this great human being as a part of my life.

DEO VINDICE

Bob is the Commander of the Col.David Lang Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans, in Tallahassee and is 2nd Lt. Commander of the Florida Division, SCV. He can be contacted at confederatedad1@yahoo.com

Compatriots across the Southland! A Call To Action!

The vilest misuse of our Confederate Southern Cross has come to my attention and I would like all honorable defenders of our Confederate historical heritage to be made aware of it!

The story in question was reported by the Commander of the SCV Europe Camp #1612 and reported here on this site thanks to the diligence of several compatriots including one Valerie Protopapas last Friday on this site. It was brought to our attention then that in Europe several factions of white supremacist garbage who claim their allegiance with the anti-Liberty ideology known as National Socialism, or Fascism have begun misappropriating our hallowed Southern Cross as a symbol of their own misguided, anti-Christian, anti-Liberty ideology in several countries in Europe.

It was not that long ago that the Confederate flag flew honorably among the flags of a United Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. It is to this day honored by the Scottish People who fly it along side the very St. Andrew's Cross that our own Southern Cross was adopted from by William P. Miles and P.G.T. Beauregard in late 1861. It flies in Ireland among those who seek the reunification of the Emerald Isle through honorable means. More imprortantly, it flies over the graves of Confederate sailors and heroes buried on foreign soil, either in exile from their beloved Southland, or from honorable death such as the men who went down with the CSS Alabama in 1864, or Heroes Von Borche, the Prussian who served with Jeb Stuart.

To make matters worse, the leftist media in those countries have begun renouncing the Southern Cross because of this association the same as the drive-by leftist media do here in our Southland and all across America.

That American leftists and white supremacist scum here misappropriate our Southern Cross is disgraceful enough, but to allow the same sort of racist garbage to further soil the flag stained with the blood of our ancestors and honored with their heroic deeds cannot be tolerated by any moral Southern man or woman, nor allowed to go unchallenged!

To even compare our beloved Southern Cross to symbols of the Aryan White Power Movement, or ANY Neo-Nazi belief is not only ludicrious, but a complete and utter insult to the memories of our ancestors and to the Southern people living today.

Our Confederate forefathers fought to free themselves of strong centralized government, unfair taxation and to honor the 10th Ammendment to the US Constitution calling for all powers not given to the federal government to be handed over to the several states. They fought for Liberty and Self-Determination, for the purest ideals of a Constitutional Republic. They fought for a nation that honored God and the right granted to people by Him: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

National Socialism (Aryan Nazism) on the other hand stands for the exact opposite of those things. It stands for a tyrannical and intrusive central government that is ruled by a single political Party led by a single Leader who's powers were absolute and who was practivally worshiped like a god! Whos insane ideology took away the very rights God game man and sought the extermination of God's Chosen People!

Our very ancestors would be disgusted by the idea of such unworthy and disgraceful excuses of humanity waving their battle standard in defiance of the very beliefs for which they fought.

Would Stonewall Jackson, who believed in the Lord and whos devotion of God's word dictated his life and his ways like seeing people like these holding the flag so many sacrificed their lives under?

Would Jefferson Davis, who believed in the rights of the individual states and championed them until the end of his days love seeing a skinhead parading around calling for the advancement of tyrannical ideology?

What would Robert E. Lee, who surrendered his sword at Appomattox at the end of 4 years of audious struggle to spare his men from becoming fugitives and tarnishing the good deeds of those who lost their lives, do if he saw such creatures claiming the Southern Cross as their own?

They would fight with all they had in their bodies and souls against such a disgrace.

Can we, the descendants of those brave men in the hallowed gray do any less?

What we can do is express our outrage and challenge these people directly, and the best part of it is we can do it right here online and it won't take more than a few minutes of time to do it.

The following links listed below are links to two U-Tube videos showing the misuse of the Southern Cross by Serbian Neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan groups in Europe. Take the time to look at these videos (if you can stomach watching the disgusting denigration of our banner) and then write a review of them denouncing this outrageous insult to the South and its people.

Now I know that writing a few words probably won't do anything to stop the enemies of our heritage from continuing to wave our flag, but I believe that enough people writing in to condemn them will at the very least show that honorable Southerners and Americans will no longer tolerate those ON EITHER THE FAR LEFT OR THE FAR RIGHT to define the Southern Cross our ancestors suffered and struggled under on a thousand battlefields.

We, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Daughters of the Conferedacy, The League of the South and other honorable Southerners who have Confederates in our background, and who honor with our own lives the virtues of Liberty and Honor that they fought for will no longer tolerate those who disgrace our heritage to justify their meaningless existence. Let us put the Klan and the Skinheads on warning that we are watching them and their days of credibility with our flag are at an end.

Deo Vindice!
Carl W. Roden (Sons of Confederate Veterans)
South Carolina, USA/CSA

Here are the links. Lets give them a piece of our minds!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9woGAarr_Ug&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR61LTl1Aeo&feature=related

Monday, January 19, 2009

Robert E. Lee--A Day To Remember!

In these sad days of an America that has lost her way; an America, beset by alien values, her peoples' birthrights--both spiritual and material--compromised, nay betrayed & squandered; there may be some comfort in remembering a truly great man, whose noble spirit once inspired many in an earlier tragedy. This January 19th, all Americans--not just those in his beloved Virginia, or in their Southern sister States, but all Americans--would do well to contemplate the life, heritage, integrity, moral values and example of Robert E. Lee, on this 202nd anniversary of his birth.

It would be virtually impossible to conceive of one who more truly represented the essence of all that was best in the American character. The son of one of General Washington's principal lieutenants, the nephew of another, Robert E. Lee had much to measure up to. He was one from whom much was to be expected; and few have ever fulfilled hopes so well. From his remarkable level of achievement at West Point, to his heroic decision to put his loyalty to his beloved Virginia ahead of any consideration of personal advantage in 1861; through his courageous persistence in a War that tore his heart, to his sublime nobility in defeat, and last years educating Virginia youth; his was a life that many have sought to emulate, but to which few
indeed have ever measured up.

Lee was the one truly Chivalric figure of middle 19th Century America; the one American of his era, who, seemingly, was virtually without personal flaw. This Ohioan first learned about Robert E. Lee in the study and smoking room of a Great Uncle, who had been born in Cincinnati, seven years after the terrible war. My uncle had a very large, classic, engraving of Lee, dominating one wall, and a somewhat smaller one of General Grant on the wall opposite. While both portraits were impressive, and while Grant was our neighbor in Cincinnati, coming from the adjacent County, his portrait was only impressive. Lee's had a spiritural power, that even as a small boy, inspired one to higher purpose. Across the decades, it still does.

Thus, a plea to our Southern friends not to take it amiss if the rest of us also borrow your legendary warrior, as a common role model. In these times, when politicians & theorists, virtually all of whom have clay feet, corrupt our culture, law & values; when economic crackpots & Keynesian charlatans undermine our Constitution, debase our currency, and place
appaling burdens on unborn generations; when those same politicians & economic quacks, seek--by squandering the moral and material capital of many generations of Americans-- to impose values alien to those traditionally American on hapless peoples in other lands; in times such as these, the remnant of the principled, can surely look beyond old differences, to better
understand what all of us now have at stake.

Here, then, to the sacred memory of one of Nature's true noblemen: General Robert E. Lee, on his birthday. May America someday, once again, find inspiration in his example! And Praise a merciful God, who allows us that opportunity.

William Flax
krtq73aa@prodigy.net
http://pages.prodigy.net/krtq73aa
Cincinnati, Ohio
January 19, 2009

Friday, January 16, 2009

SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS SUE STATE OF FLORIDA OVER CONFEDERATE HERITAGE SPECIALTY PLATES

READ IT HERE

Confederate history month pushed for Georgia

ATLANTA — Some Georgia lawmakers want to designate April as Confederate Heritage and History month.

Legislation was introduced in Georgia's House and Senate on Friday that would celebrate the Confederate States of America. Under the bill, governments, schools, businesses and Georgia citizens would be encouraged to participate in programs throughout the month.

The legislation was sponsored by Sen. John Bulloch, a Republican from Ochlocknee, and Rep. Alan Powell, a Democrat from Hartwell.

Happy 202nd birthday, Robert E. Lee (1-19-1807 / 10-12-1870)

Beloved General of the South

By William Connery
wconnery@washingtontimes.com

For some the man Robert E. Lee is an almost god like figure. For others he is a paradox. Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807 at Stratford, Virginia. Robert was the fourth child of a Revolutionary War hero Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee and Ann Hill Carter Lee. Young Robert, the son, was raised mostly by his mother. From her he learned patience, control, and discipline. As a young man he was exposed to Christianity and accepted its faith. In contrast to the strong example of his mother Robert saw his father go from failed enterprise to failed enterprise. In part the young Robert was led to try harder and succeed.

Robert was accepted to the United States Military Academy and graduated 2nd in his class. But perhaps greater than his academic success was his record of no demerits while being a cadet which today has still not been equaled. Following his graduation Lee, like most top classmen, was given a commission as an engineer. Lt. Lee helped build the St. Louis waterfront and worked on coastal forts in Brunswick and Savannah. It was during this time he married Mary Custis the granddaughter of George Washington and Martha Custis Washington.

In 1845 the War between U.S. and Mexico erupted. General Winfield Scott, overall U.S. Army commander, attached Captain Robert E. Lee to his staff. Lee was entrusted with the vital duties of mapping out the terrain ahead, dividing the line of advance for the U.S. troops, and in one case leading troops into battle. Lee was learning skills he would need 16 years later. There in Mexico Lee also met, worked with, and got a chance to evaluate many of those he would later serve with and against; James Longstreet, Thomas J. Jackson, George Pickett, and U.S. Grant.

Following the Mexican War Lee returned to service as an army engineer. He spent most of this time near Washington D.C. and moved into Custis mansion (now overlooking the Arlington Cemetery). Thus was Colonel Lee was available for duty to put down a believed rebellion at Harper Ferry, Virginia the site of a United States Arsenal. Colonel Lee, and a young aide Lt. JEB Stuart, and a detachment of U.S. marines, were rushed by train to Harper's Ferry where they were able to capture radical abolitionist John Brown and his followers.

Brown's attempt seemed to confirm all the worst fears of the Deep South and when Abraham Lincoln was elected President South Carolina seceded and was quickly followed by 6 more deep southern states: Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The old warrior General Winfield Scott asked Colonel Robert E. Lee to take command of the United States Army to put down the rebellion.

Lee, however, offered his services to the newly elected President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis. Mr. Davis accepted them and Lee was made a general in CSA service. At first General Lee was more or less advisor to President Davis and the Secretary of War.

General Lee's first campaign in what was to become West Virginia was less than a success. Command of the Eastern Army was divided between the hero of Fort Sumter, P.G.T. Beauregard, and Joe Johnston who together won the first big battle of the East -- Manassas. Thus Joe Johnston was in command when George B. McClellan started his march on Richmond. When Johnston went down with wounds it was easy for Davis to replace him with General R.E. Lee who immediately took charge and attacked, trying to make up for his numbers with his audacity. In a series of continuous battles known as the 7 Days Battle Lee forced McClellan to retreat.

Thus began the career of the Army of Northern Virginia which rose and fell with Lee's star. His boldness and grasp of strategy made him more than a match for every General President Lincoln sent against him until U.S. Grant defeated him through the Battle of Attrition.

Lee's greatest victory was the Battle of Chancellorsville in May of 1863. Lee was faced with a larger army led by fighting Joe Hooker. Lee and his most trusted lieutenant, Gen. Stonewall Jackson, divided their forces and through a forced march around General Hooker fell on his exposed flank, rolling it up, and defeating the Union forces yet again.

This victory led Lee and Davis to consider a second invasion of the North. Lee's army would hopefully bring the Federal forces to bay and destroy them. They would then march on Washington to hand Lincoln a letter asking for recognition of the CSA. So with desperate hopes, and while still mourning the loss of Stonewall Jackson, Lee and Davis crossed the river and invaded Pennsylvania.

The greatest land battle in the Western Hemisphere was fought at Gettysburg, Pa., on July 1, 2, & 3. The Army of Northern Virginia led by Lee, and the Army of the Potomac led by newly appointed General George Meade, hammered each other. On the 3rd day of battle General Lee hoping to end the war ordered the great frontal assault popularly known as Pickett's Charge. After the failure of the attack General Lee blamed only himself, but Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia fought on for 2 more years. General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. This effectively brought the American Civil War to an end as other Confederate field commanders followed Lee's example

Following the war Lee was almost tried as a traitor, but was only left with his civil rights suspended. Lee was offered the post of President of Washington University where he served until his death in 1870. The school was later renamed Washington and Lee. As a final note President Gerald Ford had Lee's citizenship restored.

William Connery shares his birthday with Robert E. Lee.

Southern National Congress Issues Remonstrances and Petitions for Redress of Grievances

Rome, GA; January 14, 20098 – Today the Southern National Congress (SNC) released seven resolutions called Remonstrances and Petitions for a Redress of Grievances, passed by the historic First Congress which convened December 5-7, 2008 in Hendersonville, NC. 100 Delegates from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia met to take up matters of greatest concern to the Southern People. After a spirited and well-informed debate, the SNC passed the remonstrances dealing with these vital issues:

1) Failure to secure the borders and the mass immigration that threatens to overwhelm our communities and economy;

2) Just war and lawful defense, including the sovereign right of the People to decide on war through a proper (Constitutional) declaration;

3) Just law, protection of liberty, and the threat of rogue government;

4) Preservation of Southern agriculture and the rights of smallholders vs. the abuses of corporate agribusiness;

5) Sound money, just economic policy, and Government expropriation and crimes against our livelihoods;

6) The sovereign right of Southerners to their own natural resources, especially oil and gas in the Gulf Coast;

7) The individual citizen’s unalienable right of armed self-defense.

Thomas Moore of Virginia, elected Chairman of the SNC at the First Congress, explained, “The term ‘remonstrance’ means to protest, but in a constructive manner. This form of dissent has a long tradition in the historic struggle for political liberty in the English-speaking world, going all the way back to Magna Carta in 1215. It was a key element in the founding of the United States and the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the citizen the right of ‘petition for a redress of grievances.’ A remonstrance reminds the authorities of their duties and their failures. The petition for redress appeals to them to return to the governing principles of law and justice they have violated.”

The SNC is a representative assembly of citizens of the Southern States, providing an alternative, legitimate forum to express Southern grievances and advance Southern interests in a way that is no longer possible through today’s political process or the major political parties. It convened in the spirit of great Southerners like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and John C. Calhoun to preserve the Southern legacy of individual liberty and a small central government limited to its enumerated powers; and which is the creation, the servant, and the agent of the sovereign people acting through their respective States.

Chairman Thomas Moore observed, “It has become clear to most Americans that the U.S. Government no longer represents the people’s interests; it represents the interests of the highest bidder -- the big corporations and the money power. We Southerners have been among the most loyal and patriotic Americans, but in sadness we now have to acknowledge that Washington, DC has forfeited its moral authority by its folly and its unlawful acts. If our Remonstrances and Petitions for a Redress of Grievances are ignored, then the people of the South who still love liberty and justice will have no choice but to withdraw their consent from this corrupt Regime.”

Debates on the seven resolutions demonstrated a high level of knowledge, insight, dignity, public-spiritedness, and respect for the views of others. And there were dissenting views.

Mark Thomey of Louisiana, elected Vice Chairman, said, “America’s ruling elites believe the American people, and especially us Southerners, lack the knowledge, discernment, and ability to govern ourselves, and so we must put our fate (and our wealth) in their hands, no matter how corrupt they have become. But the SNC Remonstrances and Petitions have thoroughly exploded that worn-out mythology. These seven resolutions could stand proudly alongside the historic documents produced by America’s Founders. In fact, if the Founders could return from the past, they would recognize immediately that the SNC follows directly in the tradition of political liberty they bequeathed to us.”

The seven Remonstrances and Petitions for a Redress of Grievances may be found on the SNC website at www.southernnationalcongress.org. An illustrative sample is attached to this message.

The SNC will soon launch a “Virtual Congress,” a secure Internet forum on which Delegates can conduct business between annual plenary sessions. Southerners wishing to become Delegates to the Virtual Congress or to future plenary sessions should apply via the SNC website, www.southernnationalcongress.org.

News media representatives or Southern citizens seeking information about the SNC should direct their queries to Mr. Jonathan Ingram, Chairman of the SNC Media and Public Information Committee, at jonathaningram@juno.com. SNC Chairman Thomas Moore is available for scheduling radio appearances or other interviews at chairman@southernnationalcongress.org.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

MISUSE OF CONFEDERATE SYMBOLS IN EUROPE

SCV Chief of Heritage Defense
Frank Earnest
CC/ Brag Bowling, Commander ANV

MISUSE OF CONFEDERATE SYMBOLS IN EUROPE
SCV Europe Camp #1612

Commander

Sir,

I am writing directly to you because Europe Camp belongs to the Army of Northern Virginia but we have no Brigade or Division Heritage Chairman.

This is to report that things we never thought possible started to happen sporadically throughout Europe a few years ago and are quickly growing worse. The misuse of the Battle flag by certain racist groups during sport events has led to harsh reactions by the sport authorities of several European countries. In March 2006 the Polish Ice-Hockey Federation banned the Confederate battle flag in the Stadiums because of its “continuous use by racist groups”. The same year, the Austrian Soccer Federation drew a comparison line between Nazi flags and Confederate symbols, being used more and more often “as a substitute of the forbidden Nazi flag”. In November 2008 the Commissioner of Sport Events of Croatia (HNS), Josip Brezni, outlawed nationwide the use of Confederate symbols during soccer games due to their “association to Neo-Nazi groups”. In Spain we have recently detected a radical Soccer fan club which uses (misuses) the Confederate Navy Jack during the games and afterwards in violent actions in the streets. As a result, Spanish police now openly associates the Battle flag to violent gangs.

It seems there is an imminent ban of Confederate symbols in sport events at European Union level. This is supported by the World Soccer Association FIFA. The legal ban on the public display of Confederate flags in sport environments seems to be a good thing at first because it will put down the misuse in public. But there is the other side of the coin: newspapers and sport magazines usually write about these groups and publish photographs about incidents, often showing Nazi flags together with the battle flag. The result is a mental association in the reader’s minds putting together Neo-Nazi and Confederate symbols as being the same. This is especially dramatic due to the fact that Europeans have usually no idea of what Secession, the CSA and the WBTS were about. Our colors and our History will be polluted and final victory will be for the Heritage killers if we do not counteract. The misuse of our sacred banners by foreign people who don’t have the right even to touch them is deplored by Camp Europe and we think it’s definitely time to act.

May I suggest the possibility that you write in your official capacity a press release with a short explanation about the historical background of our flags and how much we deplore and condemn their misuse by hate groups in Europe? We would then forward this communication throughout Europe to as many Sport Federations and Magazines as possible.

If you agree, we could forward it also to Sport Teams which have violent gangs among their followers. They should know that real Confederates have nothing in common with them and that their misuse of our banners is repugnant to us.

In addition, every SCV member, associate and friend in Europe writing an open letter in the press in the future, could refer to this official Heritage Defense communication to prove the misuse and abuse of Confederate symbols has nothing in common with true Confederates. Also, it could be used to counter certain journalists attacking the flag as a hate symbol.

Finally, there are many fine reenactor groups in Europe who seriously and devotedly use the Confederate battle flag in a most honorable way, like the ones who did the salute firing during the Heros von Borcke grave marking in Poland last year. These groups do not belong to the SCV of course, but are Confederate-friendly and they do a lot of telling the true story of the Confederate soldier at the very best. They are not being criticized yet, but things may worsen and such a press release could be a good argumentation weapon to defend their flags in reenactments.

We will try to see these sad things nipped in the bud. Perhaps there will be no real effect, but we must stand as witness of the truth and fight the evil were it appears.

Looking forward to your dispositions,

I remain your most obedient servant in the Cause

Achim Bänsch
Commander, SCV Europe Camp #1612

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Harriet Stowe, the Novelist - Spiritualist - and Abolitionist

by Joan Hough
johough@swbell.net

Abolitionists may have decided that the Invasion of the South in 1861 was to free the slaves, but everyone else on the planet knew this was not so-------because:

On March 2,1861m two days before Lincoln’s inauguration as President, the U.S. Senate passed a proposed constitutional amendment--: No Amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of the State.” The U.S. House of Representatives passed the amendment on February 28, 1861.

Two days later, in his first inaugural address, Lincoln promised several times that he had no intention to interfere with Southern slavery and that even if he did, it would be unconstitutional to do so. H e also pledged his support for this amendment, announcing to the world that “holding such a provision [the legality of slavery]to be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable” ( p. 24 Thomas J. DiLorenzo. Lincoln Unmasked.)

-----------------------------

Fascinating information has been revealed in Demastus’ News & Views about Harriet Beecher Stowe of Brunswick, Maine. Now I will be forced to take a look at Uncle Tom's Cabin, because I have only read excerpts from the book and synopses. I did not remember that Simon Legree was a damned Yankee. That shocks me. And no matter if Stowe did speak a bit negatively about Northern slave owners---her book was considered to be a direct attack on the South. Proof of this lies in the words of Abe Lincoln spoken to Stowe, according to the woman’s relative, Charles Edward Stowe on page 203 in his book, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Story of her Life. 1911. . These words were quoted in Wikipedia the free encyclopedia-: “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war! –Lincoln was said to have remarked upon meeting her in person.

Do you remember the poem about Simon Legree? Stowe had a character by that name in her novel---said to be a real person living in the South—but evidently, a Yankee person. The poem entitled “Simon Legree” was a hot number in oratorical contests when I was young. We were taught it was a poem about a Southerner's named Simon who specialized in cruelty to helpless black folks.

There was more than one version of the poem. Vachel Lindsay is credited with writing the following words:

A NEGRO SERMON;--SIMON LEGREE
by Vachel Lindsay

Legree's big house was white and green.

His cotton-fields were the best to be seen.

He had strong horses and opulent cattle,

And bloodhounds bold, with chains that would rattle.

His garret was full of curious things:

Books of magic, bags of fold,

and rabbits' feet on long twine strings,

But he went down to the Devil.


Legree, he sported a brass-buttoned coat,

A snake-skin necktie, a blood-red shirt.

Legree, he had a beard like a goat,

And a thick hairy neck, and eyes like dirt.

His puffed-out cheeks were fish-belly white,

he had great long teeth, and an appetite.

He ate raw meat, "most every meal,

And rolled his eyes till the cat would squeal.

His fist was an enormous size

To mash poor niggers that told him lies:

He was surely a witch-man in disguise.

but he went down to the Devil.


He wore hip-boots, and would wade all day

To capture his slaves that had fled away.

but he went down to the Devil.

He beat poor Uncle Tom to death

Who prayed for Legree with his last breath.

Then Uncle Tom to Eva flew,

To the high sanctoriums bright and new;

And Simon Legree stared up beneath,

And cracked his heels and ground his teeth:

and went down to the Devil.


He crossed the yard in the storm and gloom;

He went into his grand front room.

He said, "I killed him, and I don't care."

He kicked a hound, he gave a swear;

he tightened his belt, he took a lamp,

Went down cellar to the webs and damp.

there in the middle of the moldy floor

He heaved up a slab; he found a door--

And went down to the Devil.


His lamp blew out, but his eyes burned bright.

Simon Legree stepped down all night--

Down, down to the Devil.

Simon Legree he reached the place,

he saw one half of the human race,

he saw the Devil on a wide green throne,

Gnawing the meat from a big ham-bone,

And he said to Mister Devil:


"I see that you have much to eat--

A red ham-bone is surely sweet,

I see that you have lion's feet;

I see your frame is fat and fine,

I see you drink your poison wine--

Blood and burning turpentine."


And the Devil said to Simon Legree:

"I like your style, so wicked and free,

Come sit and share my throne with me,

And let us bark and revel."

And there they sit and gnash their teeth,

And each one wears a hop-vine wreath.

They are matching pennies and shooting craps,

They are playing poker and taking naps.

And old Legree is fat and fine:

He eats the fire, he drinks the wine--

Blood and burning turpentine--

Down, down with the Devil;

Down, down with the Devil;

Down, down with the Devil.


Author Frank Conner tells us (p. 82) in his wonderful tome of a book, The South Under Siege:

"Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe of Brunswick, Maine bought a copy of Slavery As It Is and used it as her primary source for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin (her only contact with real live slaves and the South had occurred during one four-day visit to Kentucky), Published as a book in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin was a propaganda novel par excellence; in five years it sold an unprecedented 500,000 copies. It did more to create sympathy for the high-minded noble slaves, condemn the slave-owners as sinners, and legitimize the abolitionist cause in the minds of Northerners than any other activity ever conducted by the liberal abolitionist. The net effect of all the Northern liberal propaganda combined was devastating."

Conner explains ( p. 80-81) how the North's Transcendentalists and other abolitionists wallowed in filthy politics by using horrendously immoral tactics to further their ideological war against the white South. One Transcendentalist by name of Theodore Weld (a former Congregationalist minister) discovered a New York company that sold old Southern newspapers as scrap paper. Weld bought the papers by the bale and siphoned through over 20,000 of them [probably covering many years in time] until he found some occasional atrocity stories of a Southerner mistreating a slave. He gathered those articles together and combined them in a book which he entitled SLAVERY AS IT IS-- so readers could know what was the "every day, routine" treatment of slaves by their cruel owners in the South." Weld's book sold 100,000 copies. How clever it was to find some outrageous exceptions to the rule and claim it as the norm!

The tactics of the anti-Southerner, so far to the left Northerners was to depict Southerners as starving their slaves, clothing them in rags, beating them non-stop and working them all to death. (as if men who, routinely, treated their horses so tenderly, would endanger the health of an even more expensive slave.)

The Northeastern journalists and intellectuals had a field day unleashing in print their virulent hate they felt toward what they considered, the "snooty" Southern aristocrats. (How the Southern farmers would have laughed had they known themselves so considered.) The Northern publications characterized all Southerners as just a bunch of degenerates, as lazy, dirty, illiterate, cruel, cowardly, immoral sadistic, miscegenation indulgent, and drunken no counts--and of course, as greatly inferior to the vastly morally superior Northerners. The propaganda being spat out by the Eastern-establishment folks of that time was something that Karl Marx would have found most pleasing, and probably did. Many of the journalists were, after all, Marxists. (Walter Kennedy and Al Benson, Jr. Red Republicans and Lincoln's Marxists)

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Remembering Robert E. Lee’s 202nd Birthday

By Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.
cjohnson1861@bellsouth.net

Sir Winston Churchill called General Robert E. Lee, quote ‘one of the noblest Americans who ever lived.’ Unquote

Please let me call to your attention that Monday, January 19, 2009, is the 202nd birthday of Robert E. Lee, whose memory is still dear in the hearts of many Southerners. Why is this man so honored in the South and respected in the North? Lee was even respected by the soldiers of Union blue who fought against him during the War Between the States.

What is your community doing to commemorate the birthday of this great American?

During Robert E. Lee’s 100th birthday in 1907, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., a former Union Commander and grandson of US President John Quincy Adams, spoke in tribute to Robert E. Lee at Washington and Lee College’s Lee Chapel in Lexington , Virginia . His speech was printed in both Northern and Southern newspapers and is said to had lifted Lee to a renewed respect among the American people.

Read about the upcoming January 2009 events for Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in Lexington, Va. at: http://www.geocities.com/lexington_lee_jackson/

Dr. Edward C. Smith, respected African-American Professor of History at American University in Washington , D.C. , told the audience in Atlanta , Ga. during a 1995 Robert E. Lee birthday event, quote ‘Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee were individuals worthy of emulation because they understood history.’ Unquote

Lee’s birthday, sadly, is not included on many calendars but the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans have not forgotten and will sponsor their annual Robert E. Lee Birthday Celebration in Milledgeville, Georgia at 10:00AM on January 24th, 2009, at the Old Capitol Building.

Children will get a school holiday for Dr. King’s birthday but do young people know that January is also the birthday month for General Lee?

Booker T. Washington, America’s great African-American Educator, wrote in 1910, quote ‘The first white people in America, certainly the first in the South to exhibit their interest in the reaching of the Negro and saving his soul through the medium of the Sunday-school were Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.’ unquote

American President’s who have paid tribute to Lee include: Franklin D. Roosevelt, who spoke during the 1930s at a Lee statue dedication in Dallas , Texas , Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower who proudly displayed a portrait of Lee in his presidential office.

During a tour through the South in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt told the aged Confederate Veterans in Richmond , Virginia , quote, ‘Here I greet you in the shadow of the statue of your Commander, General Robert E. Lee. You and he left us memories which are part of the memories bequeathed to the entire nation by all the Americans who fought in the War Between the States.’ Unquote

Georgia’s famous Stone Mountain carving of Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee was dedicated on May 9, 1970. William Holmes Borders, a noted African-American theologian and pastor of the Wheat Avenue Baptist Church , was asked to give the invocation. The many dignitaries attending this historic event included United States Vice President Spiro Agnew. Thousands of people bring their families each year to see this memorial to these three great Americans.

Who was Robert E. Lee that has been praised by both Black and White Americans and people from around the world?

Robert E. Lee, a man whose military tactics have been studied worldwide, was an American soldier, Educator, Christian gentlemen, husband and father. Lee said quote, ‘All the South has ever desired was that the Union , as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth.’ Unquote

Robert E. Lee was born on Jan. 19, 1807, at ‘ Stratford ’ in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The winter was cold and the fireplaces were little help for Robert’s mother, Ann Hill (Carter) Lee, who suffered from a severe cold.

Ann Lee named her son ‘Robert Edward’ after two of her brothers.

Robert E. Lee undoubtedly acquired his love of country from those who lived during the American Revolution. His Father, ‘Light Horse’ Harry was a hero of the revolution and served three terms as governor of Virginia and as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Two members of his family also signed the Declaration of Independence.

Lee was educated at the schools of Alexandria, Va., and he received an appointment to West Point Military Academy in 1825. He graduated in 1829, second in his class and without a single demerit.

Robert E. Lee’s first assignment was to Cockspur Island, Georgia, to supervise the construction of Fort Pulaski.

While serving as 2nd Lieutenant of Engineers at Fort Monroe, Va., Lee wed Mary Ann Randolph Custis. Robert and Mary had grown up together, Mary was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis, the Grandson of Martha Washington and adopted son of George Washington.

Mary was an only child; therefore, she inherited Arlington House, across the Potomac River from Washington , D.C. , where she and Robert E. Lee raised seven children, three boys and four girls.

Army promotions were slow. In 1836, Lee was appointed to first Lieutenant. In 1838, with the rank of Captain, Robert E. Lee fought in the War with Mexico and was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec.

Lee was appointed Superintendent of West Point in 1852 and is considered one of the best superintendents in that institutions history.

President to-be Abraham Lincoln offered command of the Union army to Lee in 1861, but he refused. He said, ‘I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.’

The Custis-Lee Mansion ‘Arlington House’ would be occupied by Federals, who would turn the estate into a war cemetery. Today Arlington House is preserved by the National Park Service as a Memorial to Robert E. Lee. http://www.nps.gov/arho/

Lee served as adviser to President Jefferson Davis, and then on June 1, 1862, commanded the legendary Army of Northern Virginia.

After four terrible years of death and destruction, Gen. Robert E. Lee met Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia and ended their battles.

Lee was called Marse Robert, Uncle Robert and Marble Man.

Lee was a man of honor, proud of his name and heritage. After the War Between the States, he was offered $50,000 for the use of his name. His reply was: ‘Sirs, my name is the heritage of my parents. It is all I have and it is not for sale.’ His refusal came at a time when he had nothing.

In the fall of 1865, Lee was offered and accepted the presidency of troubled Washington College in Lexington , Virginia . The school was later renamed Washington and Lee College in his honor.

Robert E. Lee died of a heart attack at 9:30 AM on the morning of October 12, 1870, at Washington College . His last words were ‘Strike the tent.’ He was 63 years of age.

He is buried at Lee Chapel on the school grounds with his family and near his favorite horse, Traveller.

On this his 202nd birthday let us ponder the words he wrote to Annette Carter in 1868: ‘I grieve for posterity, for American Principles and American liberty.’

Robert E. Lee was a great American who should not be forgotten.
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