Posts Tagged ‘civil war’

“Exercises in futility”

Posted: May 6, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news, war
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Lets see what happens when we use the re-written standard (amateur hour) to determine if something should be treated as a legitimate attack.

On November 22nd 1864 a brigade from the 15th Corps of Sherman’s Army was dug in as a rear guard during the march through Georgia. 3000 Militia under P. J. Phillips attacked.

The attack was amateurish, moving forward across an open field toward veterans who naturally blew them away each time they charged. When it was all over a 10-1 casualty ratio told the tale of a foolish and useless defeat.

Under our new standards does this battle count?

Ok now lets apply the rules that some are trying to apply to the attack attempt on Times Square and see if this marker should come down:

This shouldn’t count as a battle. The tactics used were obsolete, the person leading the attack had no experience in battle and wasn’t even smart enough to not charge across an open field. Yeah he has some connections to the Confederate Army but he was Militia so it wasn’t as if it was a professional army that was even attacking. They should have simply apprehended these guys and arrested them as insurrectionists.

Now naturally none of us are going to take the Battle of Griswoldville out of the history books or pretend it is not a part of the Civil War.

Likewise it behooves us not to pretend that what happened in NY was anything less than a battle in the war on terror. Of course the facts are making pretending otherwise less and less possible.

A historical pet peeve of mine is the idea that the Civil War…

Posted: April 8, 2010 by datechguy in hobbies, internet/free speech, opinion/news
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…was not about slavery. I maintain and have always maintained that those who make that argument are deceiving themselves and frankly are not reading the material of the time.

Newly Elected Virgina Governor Bob McDonald’s restoration of Confederate History Month, (good idea) coupled with his failure to include the recognition of slavery and it’s evils (incredibly stupid, ridiculous and horrible idea) was a great example of that dynamic in action.

McDonald has since corrected the idiocy by acknowledging his mistake and adding the following to his proclamation:

WHEREAS, it is important for all Virginians to understand that the institution of slavery led to this war and was an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights and all Virginians are thankful for its permanent eradication from our borders, and the study of this time period should reflect upon and learn from this painful part of our history;

This has led to some excellent introspection including this quote from Alexander Stephens at the Corner.

Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.

The idea of emancipation was so radical when suggested by Irish Pat Cleburne it stopped the advancement of one of the best commanders the Confederates ever had.

To paper this stuff over is to deny reality.

Ok what about Don’t ask, don’t tell?

Posted: February 4, 2010 by datechguy in Afghanistan war, opinion/news, war
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I’ve teased supporters of this president in the past because he has been unwilling to address items such as “don’t ask don’t tell”, but I’ve never devoted a piece to my opinion on the subject so here goes…

My opinion on “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is a variation of Lincoln statement on slavery.

Our goal should be having the strongest most efficient military in the world. We need a military strong enough to reassure our friends and to give our foes pause. I am in favor of anything that supports that goal.

If we can meet this goal by officially allowing homosexuals to serve in the military openly, I would support it.

If we can do it by banning homosexuals from military service openly I would support it.

And if we could do it allowing homosexuals to serve openly in some capacity but not in others I would support that too.

Our enemies are trying to kill us, they are not going to wait to ask who we pick up in bars before they try. The most efficient military possible is in the interest of everyone of any race creed color or sexual orientation. My only interest when it comes to the military is its ability to fight and win.

I’m not a soldier, I will likely never be a soldier the people who can answer this will be our soldiers and those willing to serve. Not me.

I will say this to the two sides of the argument:

You might remember that according to Ken Burns Masterpiece The Civil War 85% of American Blacks in the north of military age served in the Union army. They understood what the war was about. Given the beliefs of Radical Islam, I think that Gay Americans would be highly motivated to serve to fight against a fundamentalist Islamic foe that wants them dead and would not be inclined to oppose it.

on the other hand…

We also have an all volunteer military, if the numbers of homosexual recruits are insufficient to make up for the number of straight recruits who would be unwilling to serve with them to the point where it hurts our ability to fight then the needs of the service have to be the priority.

What do you think and why?

Hey Chris the civil war is over and we won…

Posted: December 23, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech
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…so maybe you could drop the moral superiority business on the most Republican war ever fought that you had no part in fighting or winning 145 years ago.

Kathleen Parker pushed that smear herself back in August during an especially insulting segment on why Palin fares well in the south while Obama doesn’t, but it’s a treat to see it paired this time with a blind assertion that the disintegrating Democrats are the true party o’ the people.

In fairness I shouldn’t say “we” since my ancestors were all in Sicily but I’m a Massachusetts man and the monument in the center of my city is a Union monument and the graves on the hill are full of Union dead, so I’ll say “we” with that stipulation.

The south is part of the union. If we didn’t want the south in the union we would have let them go. If you are looking for bigots, you’d better pull out a mirror.

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