[rustbucket]

Wallace and many others like him used the Confederate flag as a symbol of their racist agenda in the 1950s & 60s. David Duke is using it today as part of his 'white power' campaign for much the same reason.

Those sorts of folks might influence weak minded people. Apparently they have convinced you.

I've already addressed the American flag issue upthread. It doesn't change the racist symbolism of the Confederate flag one iota.

Reduced to calling things racist are you? I thought better of you. My mistake.

I'm talking about the flag white Southerns thrust in the face of blacks to symbolize their opposition to civil rights. You know, the Jim Crow flag. The one the Klan politicians tacked up on Southern statehouses and courthouses in the 1950s, to symbolize their heartfelt belief in maintaining a semblance of racial apartheid in the United States hidden behind the gauze of 'state's rights'.

Funny, I seem to remember race riots in the North and fierce opposition to busing. I guess bigots live everywhere. Right, Pot?

Maybe because the Courthouse was built long before some segragationst democrat decided to tack up another symbol of resistance to black civil rights in the 1950s. That's about the same time other Southern states began incorporating Confederate symbols into and onto 'offical' state property. STAND tells us the folks in power were Klan members, but you'd have us believe otherwise I'm sure.

The citizens of Texas voted in 1954 to use the Confederate Pension fund to build the buildings. What right did a politician decide on his own to remove the plaques? The citizens of Texas voted for "The first major structure erected from the State Building Fund shall be known and designated as a memorial to the Texans who served in the Armed Forces of the Confederate States of America, and shall be devoted to the use and occupancy of the Supreme Court…."

You'll be pleased to know that last month a state appeals court gave the go ahead for the plaque law suit by the SCV.

I'm sure the AME Baptist church would have a laugh at your comparing them to Puritans. But I guess that's just your way of justifying having to run away from the facts of the matter.

You avoided my question. Are you one of the Puritan types who want to tell everybody else how imperfect they are and how things should be done the way they want?

You claim to be a Republican, but your views on the Confederate flag are indistinguishable from those of the Southern Independence Party. Are you one of those?

Got one of these, mac?

Guess not. I forgot you were working to undermine the party by trying, however unsuccessfully, to stigmatize a big group of the Republican base.

-btw I note you FAILED to answer what message the folks on the other side of that police line were supposed to take away from that encounter with those angy white southerners waving their little confederate flags as they protested against black civil rights. Any ideas?

Same thing as the blacks who were bused to school in Boston, I imagine.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

If you're a Republican, here's a book you ought to read:

By the way, that's four of our greatest Republicans on the cover: Lincoln, Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner and Reagan.

Maybe somebody could write a similar book for the Democratic party and put Southern Democrats John C. Calhoun, Jefferson Davis, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton on the cover.

Of course that would leave out additional Dixie bloated government stalwarts such as LBJ, Wilson and Jimmy Carter.

[mac_truck]

Those sorts of folks might influence weak minded people.

Yup. A lot of weak minded Southerners. They're not waving the Confederate flag for anyone else now are they?

Reduced to calling things racist are you?

What exactly is your problem with the correct usage of that term? Are you suggesting that somehow the political agendas of Wallace and Duke were NOT racist?

I seem to remember race riots in the North...

Really? Were they inspired by politicans seeking elected office? Were those same politicans swept into office as a result?

...and fierce opposition to busing. I guess bigots live everywhere.

So opposition to forced busing = bigotry, what color is the sky in your world bubba?

The citizens of Texas voted in 1954..

Nope. Only the white citizens of Texas voted in 1954, the colored citizens had no say in the matter. Ain't that right?

I forgot you were working to undermine the party by trying, however unsuccessfully, to stigmatize a big group of the Republican base.

GWB and his state attorney general removed those plaques in 1999 or 2000. What was the state Republican party's response to his actions? Did this so-called large group of stigmatized voters exact some revenge on this underhanded action? Nope, they nominated him for president, then they voted him into office...twice.

So how much influence does this "big group" of the Republican base actually have? [hint: Geoge has the answer for ya]

Name deleted so mac won't come to my house

Sheet, that's mighty white of you...

Same thing as the blacks who were bused to school in Boston, I imagine.

Listen, it wasn't about black kids getting bused up north, it was about the white kids. The opposition to forced busing wasn't opposition to integration, it was about forcing kids to go to school in dangerous environment far from home. Maybe in that respect the black kids down south and the white kids up north were in the same boat, huh?