Pelham Chapel Richmond, VA

As many people know, I have friends and aquaintences who are part of the movement that is flagging the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  And also as many people know, I support what they are doing. The sad thing about what is going on is that this whole thing could have been avoided in the first place if people were not so ignorant of U.S. history and instead listen to an ignorance based reprise of history.  The great Washington spin doctors were in place even in Lincoln's time and the result of their work is seen today and evidenced by the parroting of the myth that the Civil War was started and fought to end slavery.

It is amazing to me the depths of stupidity in this country today.  Even though we have made great strides in education, we still can't fix stupidity.  All these people come up with the old axioms that the Confederate Battle flag is a symbol of racism and hatred.  And before I go and mouth off and sound like my ignorant fellow Americans, I shall attempt to pick this myth apart.

Let's examine the statement that the Confederate Battle Flag stands for racism and hatred.  So, my question is, "Why does it stand for racism and hatred?"  Usually, the answer I get back is, "Because the South stood for slavery and the KKK waved the Rebel Flag." Let's look at the first part of that statement. "...the South stood for slavery..."  Okay, I do not deny that slavery is an abhorent institution and needed to be abolished however, slavery was going on in the North and in just about every other country in the world during that time.  The southern states was an agricultural society and slaves were used to work the fields; whereas in the the North, slaves were domestic help or worked in factories.  They had them nevertheless.  In fact, New York has recently opened up a Northern Slavery Museum above hidden slave burials in that city.  If you don't believe me look it up.

Let's examine the second part of that statement "...and the KKK waved the Rebel Flag."  Okay, to be fair, the KKK also marched under the American flag as well.  So why is the Confederate Battle Flag singled out?  It was singled out as a reason to justify hatred of the South and continues to do so today.  The Rebel Flag was not so hated by people until the last couple of decades because it has been continuously attacked by the NAACP and erroneously blamed for racism.

Here is a picture of a KKK march in Washington DC in 1927.  How many Rebel Flags can you count in this picture?  I think I know the answer.  Why is this flag not looked upon as a symbol of racism and hatred?  Answer: Because it doesn't serve to vilify the south as a scapegoat for the war and for slavery. Patriotic Southerners are the biggest threat to the large institutions seizing America so it pays to continue to vilify the South.  The Confederate Battle Flag was never a sysmbol of the Confederate States of America and was in fact the flag of the military and was designed for use because the official Confederate flag too closely resembled the Federal flag on the battle field.

The First National Flag of the Confederacy.

Now back to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  The VMFA illegally forced the removal of the Confederate Battle Flag from the front of the Confederate War Memorial, Pelham Chapel (pictured below).

Pelham Chapel, the Confederate Widows Home, the Virginia Historical Society, and the VMFA all sit upon land that was left to the state by the Confederate Veterans and was to be designated as a State Park.  These Confederate Veterans wanted their legacy of honor and bravery to live on for their ancestors and the VMFA is not only in violation of state law by obstructing a National Historical Landmark but, they are in effect pissing on the memory of our brave US Veterans by removing their flag.  And yes folks, some of these veterans were black soldiers.  So, now the VMFA is pissing on the memory of the black veterans also.  Why are black people, during this Black History month, not out there flagging the VMFA and asking them to return the flags and restore the honor to the black Confederate veterans along with their southern brothers and sisters?  One brave young black lady veteran has dared to go against the grain and honor her Confederate ancestors by flagging the VMFA.

God Bless all of our Confederate veterans and may they live in glory in heaven and be an inspiration to all of us to do what has to be done when our freedoms are threatened and that threat is with us more now than ever before.

Zombies in the Night....

I love my dreams.  Yep, the ones that come in the night.  I never have boring or terrifying dreams but they are certainly vivid and interesting.

Last night, I had a dream where a tractor trailor came down the road and it was trying to turn into a place where I was attempting to turn around my car because I had missed my turn.  The passenger of the truck got out and was dressed in a weird psuedo military garb and seemed to be wearing some sort of mask.  The strange passenger was obviously upset that I was temporarily impeding their progress into the entrance to this warehouse's delivery entrance and was frantically waving his arms trying to get me to move out of the area.

By this time my curiosity was up and after I moved along and turned the corner where I was out of sight of the truck, I pulled over, parked my car, and got out to see what all the excitment was about.  Being care ful to conceal myself I peered from the bushes and trees near the loading docks and saw that the truck was already backed up to the dock with it's doors swung open.  Upon closer examination I found the truck completely empty and no one was around.  I heard strange sounds coming from the warehouse and decided to get closer to see if I could tell what was going on.

What I saw was zombies had apparently poured out of the truck and were killing everyone in the warehouse after having dispatched the driver in a like and grotesque manner.  Then I noticed one woman in the warehouse who was putting up a fight with the zombies and having great success.  Every zombie who came after her was quickly put down by her through the use of her martial art skill and her turning everyday objects into weapons.  This took place so fast, I had little time to react before she was racing towards the loading dock with zombies hot on her trail.  As she ran past one it reached out to grab her and ended up standing there holding her blouse as she never broke stride.

As she ran toward me and my vantage point she streaked by before I could get myself turned around to run also.  As she never noticed me I decided to follow her keeping to the bushes least I get zombies on my trail also.  As I ran through the woods adjacent to the greenbelt she was traversing, I noticed her come upon a fence surrounding a residential backyard.  She leapt the fence like a hurdler and snatched a shirt off of the clothesline without slowing down.  As she donned the shirt I could tell it was a cub scout uniform shirt and although the sight of it was strange at first, it somehow seemed like it was a good fit for her skills at zombie smashing.  By this time the few zombies that were following her had quit chasing her in order to turn their attention to trying to break into homes along the street.  I never saw any other people about.

Suddenly, the strange looking passenger from the truck burst around the corner driving a two wheeled vehicle that had a seat and steering wheel similar to a go-kart yet had two inline wheels like a motorcycle.  This made sense to me as the warehouse the zombies attacked was a Kawasaki distribution center so, I guessed the vehicle came from there.  As masked half zombie boy chased her down the road she turned and ducked into a back yard and emerged on the other side driving a similar vehicle.  Zombie boy pulled along side her trying to wreck her and the two vehicles became locked together somehow.  I watched helplessly as scout girl gave zombie boy a ferocious elbow to the face which inmmediately stunned him.  She leapt from the moving vehicles as they careened into a telephone pole and exploded into a fireball.

At this point I woke and and thought to myslef, "What an interesting but strange dream."  I have learned along time ago not to be surprised at my dreams.  My dog Timmy, decided at this time he needed to go outside so, out we went.  Since my property backs up to a freeway, the first thing I see at 2:00am is tractor trailors headed north on the interstate.  I thought, "there they go to Washington to be filled with zombies and dispatch across the country to attack people."  I chuckled at this and went back to bed knowing that the only zombies in Washington are the politicians.

Oh no! It's an Election year!!!

2012 Election year for the Presidential race in the United States.  It's also the end of the Mayan calendar.  Somehow that seems appropriate.  But there will be political unrest on the internet particularly on FaceBook.  Friends will become divided and make angry comments on the posts that their usual friends might post trying to convince their other friends to vote for this candidate or that.

I had resigned myself to voting for candidates years ago that scored the least on the Suck-O-Meter and had no hope for anyone to come along who really had a grasp of issues that really mattered.  Until this year.  Most candidates are continuing on with their usual political "Dog and Pony Shows."  All of them except Ron Paul.  This guy actually talks about issues facing the United States instead of attacking the other candidates.  It looks promising but, the year has just started and any of them could implode at any time.

One of the things that really concerns me is that the President signed the National Defense Authorization Act which gives them the authority to seize, hold and inter anyone (let me say that again) ANYONE who they deem a threat to National Security.  Well, on the bright side those internment camps get pretty good health care and dental work I am told, so they may not be so bad.

I am going to start looking for a cabin in the woods with no TV, no phone, no internet and just spend my last days carving things out of wood.  In the meantime, I am going to go check my Ron Paul yard sign.