Battle over Confederate flag hits highways

Yahoo News ^ | August 4, 2008 | Patrik Jonsson

[LAforme2008]

Chip Witte doesn't consider himself a Rebel. He doesn't hang Dixie battle flags in his living room, nor does he wear one on the back of his leather jacket.

Yet when the Tampa motorcycle mechanic saw the world's largest Confederate battle flag unfurl above the intersection of I-10 and I-4 in June, he felt a jolt of solidarity with the lost cause and lost rights that he says the battle flag represents. "I think it's great that they're allowed to fly it," says Mr. Witte.

Despite years of boycotts, schoolyard bans, and banishment from capitol domes, the Southern battle colors are flying, higher than ever.

[NTHockey]

>>It’s a bit interesting since I-10 and I-4 do not intersect...<<

Only at infinity and in the minds of stupid liberals.

[silentreignofheroes]

It was a long path.Pelosi is what you got.

[Jedidah]

It’s a free country. Anyone should be able to fly any flag they wish. It’s called free speech.

But, for the life of me, I can’t understand why people insist on intentionally alienating and offending their neighbors.

Rights do not trump good manners.

[Southern Partisan]

Original @ Christian Science Monitor correctly identifies the intersection as I-75 and I-10.

[Clemenza]

To me, it represents some folks who lost a war big time, and can’t get over it. ;-)

[GreenLanternCorps]

I'd imagine some 30-35% of our Freepers have direct confederate heritage.

But some of us also have Union blood in our veins. Mine may have helped to take Vicksburg.

I respect the right to fly the Sucessionist battle flag, ot any of the three national flags. However, in the end they lost, and rightly so.

The Battle Cry of Freedom, by George F. Root, 1862

We are marching to the field, boys,

We're going to the fight,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom

And we bear the glorious stars

For the Union and the right,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.

Chorus:

The Union forever!

Hurrah boys hurrah!

Down with the traitor, up with the star,

For we're marching to the field, boys,

Going to the fight,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

2. We will meet the Rebel host, boys,

With fearless heart and true,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom,

And we'll show what Uncle Sam has

For loyal men to do,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.

Chorus:

The Union forever!

Hurrah boys hurrah!

Down with the traitor, up with the star,

For we're marching to the field, boys,

Going to the fight,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

3. If we fall amid the fray, boys,

We'll face them to the last,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.

And our comrades brave shall hear us

As they go rushing past,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.

Chorus:

The Union forever!

Hurrah boys hurrah!

Down with the traitor, up with the star,

For we're marching to the field, boys,

Going to the fight,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

4. Yes, for Liberty and Union

We're springing to the fight,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.

And the vict'ry shall be ours

For we're rising in our might,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.

Chorus:

The Union forever!

Hurrah boys hurrah!

Down with the traitor, up with the star,

For we're marching to the field, boys,

Going to the fight,

Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

[cmdjing]

The Confederacy is dead, your social security number is testament enough that you owe your money and allegiance to the Union. Rebel my left foot.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

The flag has become a symbol of those who use race as a way to make a living. Rather than try to cure the real problems in the black community, they get all hot and bothered about a flag. Symbolism over substance. Tear a flag down, ban Dixie, and you can make people happy for a few days. Try solving drugs, gangs, teenage pregnancy, low school scores etc... that would be some real work that needs to be done. No one is speaking out save for the brave Bill Cosby and he as paid a price for his stand.

[Just_de_facts]

Yes, but not before the Confederates killed 360,000 of the Yankeee sons-of-bitches. Also you should remember that it took four years to defeat the southern armies. They had virtually no manufacturing capacity as opposed to the industrialized North. They had no navy and the coastline was blockaded for the majority of the war thus limiting trade and suppressing the economy. And yet they fought brilliantly for the most part and for the first three years repeatedly engaged and then defeated vastly superior Union armies. I can only hope in my lifetime that North and South will dance once more.

[Canedawg]

Live and learn.

:-)

[barb-tex]

I was working in SC during the Confederate Flag controversies
The Reb flag was not costing me any thing while the Blue Moon flag and the starry flag were costing $500/wk. Let the flag fly.
barbra ann

[Sherman Logan]

I have a number of ancestors who fought for the Confederacy and a number who fought for the Union, including one who fought in the 1st Alabama Cavalry (Union).

I’m glad my Union ancestors won.

[Aruchu]

I hope to God your last sentence is a joke.

[Sherman Logan]

I hope so too. A proportionately bloody rerun would result in 6.4M dead Americans.

[Diverdogz]

Yes, but not before the Confederates killed 360,000 of the Yankeee sons-of-bitches.

Proud of that, aren't you.

Also you should remember that it took four years to defeat the southern armies. They had virtually no manufacturing capacity as opposed to the industrialized North. They had no navy and the coastline was blockaded for the majority of the war thus limiting trade and suppressing the economy. And yet they fought brilliantly for the most part and for the first three years repeatedly engaged and then defeated vastly superior Union armies.

Yep, the traitors from the south took on vastly superior forces from the north, and to no surprise, they lost. Absolutely Brilliant.

I can only hope in my lifetime that North and South will dance once more.

You are clueless and delusional. There's a small contingent of morons just like you out there. Thankfully, y'all are just harmless kooks. Sane people just snicker at you rebel-flag-waving, Souths-gonna-do-it-again nutbars.

[BigCinBigD]

The Confederate government never surrendered. The South to this day is occupied territory.

[Just_de_facts]

As always instead of presenting an objective argument your kind always resort to ad hominem attacks. The Southern states had an absolute political right to secede under the U.S. constitution. This was discussed in great length by all of the founders. When Dishonest Abe and the rest of his cabinet provoked an attack they were obliged quite handily by the secessionists. As a result of a Union victory you and the rest of America were deprived of our constitutional republic paving the way for the socialist democracy we now live in.

[Diverdogz]

If the South had a right to secede, where in the Constitution is the process outlined? How did the South attempt to follow said process? To me, it looks like they tried to force the issue with violence, firing the first shots. How did that work out for them?

The South lost. Get over it.

[rustbucket]

You are clueless and delusional. There's a small contingent of morons just like you out there. Thankfully, y'all are just harmless kooks. Sane people just snicker at you rebel-flag-waving, Souths-gonna-do-it-again nutbars.

I am reminded of a story told by Texas Senator Wigfall in 1861:

That the people of the North shall consider themselves as more blessed than we, more civilized, and happier, is not a matter at which we would complain at all, if they would only content themselves with believing that to be the fact; but when they come and attempt to propagandize, and insist that we shall be as perfect as they imagine themselves to be, then it is that their good opinion of themselves becomes offensive to us.

Let my neighbor believe that his wife is an angel and his children cherubs, I care not, though I may know he is mistaken; but when he comes impertinently poking his nose into my door every morning, and telling me that my wife is a shrew and my children brats, then the neighborhood becomes uncomfortable, and if I cannot remove him, I will remove myself; and if he says to me, "you shall not move, but you shall stay here, and you shall, day after day, hear the demerits of your wife and children discussed," then I begin to feel a little restive, and possibly might assert that great original right of pursuing whatever may conduce to my happiness, though it might be kicking him out of my door.

If New England would only be content with the blessings which she imagines she has, we would not disturb her in her happiness.

[Vietnam Vet From New Mexico]

My folks were dirt farmers. They owned no slaves but they fought for the Confederate States of America because they believed in the reason for succession

My wife's folks were from northern Mississippi, no plantations there and no slaves either. Her grandmother's uncles fought at Shiloh and Corinth.