Big Congrats, VaFlaggers...

...on Flag Number Two in Fredericksburg!

Thanks to Judy Smith for the photo -- which is NOT photoshopped. Ha!

Petty and Childish....

To this post at CW Memory, A Black Confederate For the Intellectually Challenged I left this comment:

It’s mystifying to me why you folks get so bent out of shape over such as this. “He was a slave, not a soldier” you all insist. So? I don’t care what he was called. It seems clear to me that what’s being honored is his service to the Confederate Army, regardless of what status he held while said service was rendered.

Confederates — and you Confederacy bashers — understood/understand the differences between a slave and a soldier? I can, too. But what I can also do, that you folks seem unwilling or incapable of doing, is to discern service to the Army, and to the Confederacy, regardless of whether it was done by a soldier or a slave.

Levin replied to me:   

I don’t care what he was called.

Yes, we know you don’t care about getting the history right.

But what I can also do, that you folks seem unwilling or incapable of doing, is to discern service to the Army, and to the Confederacy, regardless of whether it was done by a soldier or a slave.

 Stover didn’t serve the Confederacy, he served his master. This is what happens when you don’t care about getting the history right. My advice is to stick with making book trailers.

And James Epperson replied to me: 

 So, Ms. Chastain would have no problem if the Japanese erected a monument to honor the British and Australian POWs who “served” the Empire by building the Rangoon railway? The point that she appears to miss is that Robert Stover was *compelled* to work for the Confederate Army by virtue of his being a slave.

And Levin commented to Epperson:

This is a distinction that Connie will never acknowledge, though I find it hard to believe that she doesn’t understand it. The problem is that she views everything through the lens of an assault on Confederate heritage/history. It’s a Holy War. :-)

I responded, but of course, Levin childishly refused to post my response, so here 'tis:

Not caring what one who served was called is not the same thing as not caring about accurate history. By serving his master, who was, after all, serving the Confederacy, Stover served the Confederacy. BTW, I don't take advice from you.

The situation of the POWs you mention, Mr. Epperson, is not comparable to Stover's situation. Yes, some slaves were compelled but being a slave doesn't automatically mean serving is against one's will. People who are drafted into the army in my generation's war, Vietnam, were compelled, too. Does that mean their service is worthless and should not be acknowledged and honored?

From the slave narrative of James Gill:

 "Us was Confedrits all de while, leastwise I means my mammy an’ my pappy and me an’ all de res’ of de chillun ’cause ole mars was and Mars Jeff would er fit ’em too and me wid him iffen we had been ole enough."

From the slave narrative of Charlie Aarons:

When the Master's son John Harris went to war, Charlie went with him as his body guard, and when asked what his duties were, he replied:

"I looked after Marster John, tended the horses and the tents. I recalls well, Madam, the siege of Vicksburg."

The writer then asked him if he wasn't afraid of the shot and shell all around him.

"No, Madam," he replied, "I kept way in the back where the camp was, for I didn't like to feel the earth trembling 'neath my feet, but you see, Madam, I loved young Marster John, and he loved me, and I just had to watch over that boy, and he came through all right."

The problem with you anti-Confederates is your de-humanizing slaves. Considering how you write about them, one has to assume you think being in slavery removed from slaves all their human characteristics except misery. This is necessary because you all seem to think that white evil exists in exact inverse proportion to slave misery, so if your purpose is to evilize white Southerners, the best way to do it is to showcase slave misery.

 Levin knows what I said here is true; that's one reason why he didn't post it. But there's another reason, as well. He will allow a post from a critic, just so he can get his digs in with his reply. But when a critic respond to his insults and misstatements, he refuses to let the second reply through.

Levin is also committed to bashing Southern heritage and its supporters. Hence, the "intellectually challenged" reference in his subject. I've blogged numerous times about the flogger love of denigrating the intelligence of people they don't like -- people who don't see eye to eye with them about history. Here are just a couple of posts about it:

What's Behind Flogger Name-calling

I Told You So

All the floggers exhibit this insufferable need to denigrate the intelligence of those they disagree with, at one time or another, to one degree or another -- especially Southern heritage folks.  You have to wonder, if they're certain of their stances and arguments, why is it necessary to denigrate the intelligence of those who disagree with them (not to mention censor their comments)? Is it really a lack of confidence in their own beliefs? Or is it simply a character flaw, a need to wield the put-down to stroke their own egos?

Never Trust Those Who Use Tragedies...

.... to push their own radical agendas.

I found the above comment on Facebook, in reference to this: 
3 Myths About Isla Visa Killer Elliot Roger That the Left Wants You to Believe

But it's equally applicable to this: 
Virginia Flaggers in the News
Starkly demonstrates Simpson's agenda, doesn't it.

Stick With History, Simpson

Simpson tells Tripp, "... we know you don’t care who stands with you," (at the VMFA).

Howsomeever, Tripp didn't say anything about "standing with him."  He said, "We don’t care who’s there," which is not the same thing at all, is it? Do you suppose somebody of Simpson's intellect and edumuhcation doesn't know this? Can't tell the difference?  Of course he knows; this kind of deliberate pretzeling of the truth isn't attributable to a deficiency of intellect or education, but to a deficiency of integrity.

It's the same deficiency that enables him to keep harping on Tripp "embracing" Matt Heimbach, when neither Tripp nor any other VaFlaggers did that. Simpson knows this, too. He has read my repeated substantiation of this truth on my blog, but he chooses to continue repeating this lie. Beats all you ever saw... and I can't help but wonder what it does for him to perpetrate lies like this.

Then he sez, "So you now don’t care if there’s a person who’s kidnapped a child among your supporters?"

I'm not sure who he's talking about. If it's CC Lesters, there's no indication he has kidnapped anybody. If Simpson is talking about the child's mother, well, she's the child's mother. As for the mother being a supporter of the VaFlaggers, does being the girlfriend of a Flagger automatically make one a Flagger supporter? Especially when that Flagger and girlfriend live approximately 950 miles from Richmond, the VaFlaggers' location, and especially when her "support" consisted of attending two events in Virginia?

There's nothing to indicate that Tripp doesn't care about who supports the Flaggers. But taking enjoyment from seeing a crowd on the sidewalk, which is a visible thorn in the side of the VMFA, whether they're all Flaggers or not, is hardly the same thing as not caring who supports the Flaggers. It's another thing Simpson knows is not true .... but if he wants to hold the Flaggers to that ridiculous standard, he has to apply it to himself ... and thus, he does not care that in the past, he has had among his blog supporters two convicted pedophiles...

Now, I don't know about y'all, but to me, for sheer smear-worthiness by association, pedophilia convictions far and away trump a mother, distraught about her child's welfare, fleeing in a misguided attempt to protect the child -- IF that's what happened, but at this point, who knows?  Only an idiot would imagine they have the whole picture about a domestic dispute from what's reported in the media.

Then Simpson gives a truly bizarre display of an intellectual or ethical deficiency (or both) when he sez, "No wonder the SCV wants to drum you out (yes, folks, he’s out now … as of April 13, 2014)." 

Hmmm.  April 13th, huh? Which predates the current domestic incident Simpson has posted about by a full month (as the graphic accompanying the report plainly showed), and Tripp's issues with the SCV go back much farther than that.  Thus, the news story could not possibly have had a bearing on the issues between Tripp and the SCV. How ethical is it to attempt connection between two obviously -- nay, conspicuously -- unrelated things?

And Simpson ends with these bits of moral lapses.

"And how are those legal cases going? You said you were suing an officer, remember?"

Unless you're in the SCV, Simp, this ain't none of your business.

"Say hello to Rob Walker."

You're still wandering in the Arizona desert bleating "Rob Walker! Rob Walker!" huh? Are you sincerely unaware that nobody cares about this but you? Maybe you should cover your head with a big, wide-brimmed hat, as the desert sun seems to be baking your brain. Which just goes to show you that the sickening hate-mongering you engage in, your bizarre displays of intellectual vacuousness and your conspicuous lapses in integrity, can at least have a comical facet.

Yes, do go back to history, and relieve yourself of counterattacks by moi. Remember, I monitor your blog for attacks on Southern heritage and its supporters. Stick with history and, regardless of how biased it may be, I will leave you alone.

New Video Trailer for Southern Man

This is a mockup ... just a test, so some of the images are low-rez comps. The image quality isn't great on YouTube and I'm not sure what to do about it. Most of the images are hi-rez. I didn't do a lot of stretching in Movie Plus.  I used the "yt:quality=high" tag at YouTube, so I'm not sure what the problem is.

Will keep working on it until I figure it out.

UPDATE  UPDATE  UPDATE  UPDATE 

Had to temporarily remove my mockup .. and I have the completed video ready to go, but there's a problem with the music, per YouTube. They say it belongs to a certain artists, who holds the copyright, and Jewel Beat, where I downloaded it, says they own it. I've emailed Jewel Beat, but it's a holiday, so I'm not expecting to hear from them today.

I'm going to try to show it from my website server while this YouTube issue gets resolved. May not work.  We'll see...


Heck, I couldn't stand that stopping to buffer... here's a YouTube version with substitute music. It's very, very similar to the tune I originally used. So far no notices from YouTube about this one. Hopefully, I'll hear from Jewel Beat tomorrow and can get this resolved.

Ha!

Report comes from the Daily Caller. Read it here.

SunTrust felt the Chick-fil-A effect... Ha!  Chalk up one for decency, liberty and religious freedom.  A well-deserved setback for homosexual fascism and the Gay Gestapo (or, as Mike Church calls it, The GayKK).

Well, What'dya Know! Leonard Pitts Says...

...father absence matters....

I've been saying that a long time, ever since I discovered the Fathers' Rights and Men's Rights movements almost a decade ago.

And I've said it on Backsass:

http://mybacksass.blogspot.com/2014/01/educating-patrick-young.html

http://mybacksass.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-look-at-leftist-mentality.html

http://mybacksass.blogspot.com/2013/12/levin-do-i-owe-virginia-flaggers-apology.html

http://mybacksass.blogspot.com/2013/12/phils-right-naacp-is-wrong.html

Nice to see a leftist like Mr. Pitts coming around and acknowledging reality.

Okay, if HGTV Is Too Bigoted...

...and anti-Christian to do it, SOMEbody else PLEASE, PUT THESE GUYS ON TELEVISION!

I will make an exception to my avoidance of TV to watch them! Really!

Real Men. Family Men. Christian Men....  Southern Men.


Meet the Benham Brothers from Benham Brothers on Vimeo.

See photos and more videos here: http://benhambrothers.com/

Another Book About the South That Yankee Editors Love

Bill Sheehan's review in the Washington Post of Natchez Burning, by Greg Isles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/with-natchez-burning-greg-iles-is-back-better-than-ever/2014/05/01/6de64da4-c023-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html

Some excerpts from the review (which should establish why I won't be reading this book) --

"Weighing in at nearly 800 pages, Natchez Burning is the first volume of a projected trilogy that addresses the racial history of the American South."

Racial history of the South. Of course.

"He came hoping to find peace and a fresh start, but instead became embroiled in a series of violent investigations that illuminated the darker side of life in Natchez, past and present."

Darker side of the South in Natchez. Of course.

"Among the events recounted or referred to here are the 1968 murders of two black civil rights activists, Luther Davis and Jimmy Revels, and the brutal gang rape of Revels’s sister Viola."

Civil rights violence. Of course.

"These and other atrocities were carried out by the Double Eagles, an ultra-violent splinter group of the Ku Klux Klan that plays an increasingly significant role in this saga."

KKK. Of course.

You have GOT to know the editors at HarperCollins/Morrow just LUUUUUV him. He's got the formula (trash the South, demonize white Southerners) down pat for getting his book noticed and  published by a New York-based Big-Six publisher, don't he?

Be Strong and of a Good Courage by Will Osborne

Book Review

Enjoy reading stories about the Civil War? Let me suggest Be Strong and of a Good Courage by William Osborne. Subtitled Southwest Virginians in the War for Southern Independence, the novel tells the story of the war as it was experienced by the Fletcher family of Clinch Valley -- Tom and Ruth, and their daughter and four sons.

The novel is more than a rip-snorting war drama, all cannon smoke, bloodshed and the cries of men in battle. Certainly, there are accounts of battles, but we see the other realities of war, as well, in the experiences of the "messmates" in camp, their day-after-day drills, the sometimes humdrum routine, and their campfire meals. But sometimes, the story reads more like a memoir than a novel. That's because Osborne drew from his knowledge of his own family and others -- the generations who settled the mountain South, the way of life in Appalachia, the faith, joys and hardships of the hardy Scots-Irish stock who people his novel.

As a writer, Osborne's greatest strengths are characterization and dialog. The brothers Fletcher and their compatriots in the Confederate Army are personable young men who know how to fight and know what they are fighting for. Exhilarated by victory, stoic in the face of loss and sorrow, they remain true to their cause throughout the ordeal of war. Their story is told primarily through the narrative of the oldest son, Thomas, whose account of a July 1914 monument dedication and reunion is a fitting, and very moving, denouement.

Osborne's deferential treatment of the most catastrophic event in American history, his skillful portrayal of the human side of war, are certain to please history aficionados and Confederate heritage defenders alike.  ~Connie Chastain

Author Comment:

 This novel is ...  historically accurate and will make you laugh, cry, and reflect. The raid on Washington and the burning of Chambersburg along with the second Valley Campaign are covered in detail. The characters are very human and believable. One word of warning for my yankee friends -- it is written from a southern point of view, but I think you will enjoy it nonetheless.

Reader Comments:

This is a great book! It's filled with history of our heritage growing up in the hills of Southwest Virginia. It is set in the Civil War.... It sure opened my eyes to our history and heritage.

* * *

Finished reading Will Osborne's book "Be Strong and of Good Courage" last night. It was a real page turner. Once I got started I couldn't put it down (stayed up way passed my bedtime to finish it). Congratulations Will on penning such an inspirational piece. I look forward to future works by you!

* * *

Well done, Will Osborne!

* * *

This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the history of southwest Virginia, in the War Between the States, or for anyone who wants to know more about mountain people and how they lived in the mid-19th century. ...  Will takes the reader through the trials of a mountain family as they experience life on the farm, a war, death, and the intense and satisfying love and support that only family can give.

Book Details and Purchase Information:

    Paperback: 212 pages
    Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 inches
    Publisher: Osborne Publishing (August 2013)
    Language: English
    Price $20.00 (includes shipping and handling)

Books can be ordered through PayPal at celticwill1@hotmail.com or directly from the author at 1436 Horton Ridge Rd. Swords Creek, Va. 24649