Friday, October 28, 2011

Obama’s Miracle Is a Scandal-Free White House.

Via Sipsey Street Irregulars

Link
President Barack Obama goes into the 2012 with a weak economy that may doom his reelection. But he has one asset that hasn’t received much attention: He’s honest.::)

"I liked this comment below the article by GracieZG:"
I think this is a satire. Or perhaps the writer is stuck on April Fools Day. Or he's been in a coma for quite a while. Or he's being paid to say this. Or his editor has threatened him. Or he wants to be the editor so he's sucking up. Or he's a robot. Or.....oh, yeah.....he's a modern journalist.

Well, there you go. I think that's the problem. No connection between the gray matter and the fingertips. No willingness to do original research. Very, very busy doing other things. Dogmatically right. Alienated from over half the population because of deep-seated prejudice based on no face time with "the enemy," based on constant indoctrination by teachers with deep-seated prejudices based on dogmatic adherence to either Fabian socialism or communism.

The "no scandals" thingee is so laughable. The way to have "no scandals," is to deny access to all documents lawfully requested, to keep the scandals buried as long as possible, such as has been done for many months now. Or just blatantly lie to Congress. Can you say, "Holder"? The scandals are a deep pit of nasty murky slime that unfortunately can be smelled way beyond our borders by all but those who keep fingers in their ears, clothes pins on their noses, and eyes wide shut.

Ultra left Communist insurrectionaries originated occupation as a tactic in the US

From my friend Todd. Don't miss it.
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Common Man And America

I sat down and watched a 2 hour tape (thanks to Glenn Beck) of a small sit down get together of some of the ‘leaders’ who are orchestrating some of the OWS events. This ‘panel’ discussion took place right after mayor Bloomberg caved in the attempt to ‘clean up’ Zuccotti Park...

Glenn focused on the comment one clown said about Glenn having more insight on the situation than even the leftie media… That is what they said, but there is mucchhhh more important tidbits

What I’m going to do is dissect the video and it’s deeper, more concerning implications…including (I hope, seems there’s a problem in ‘rewinding’ the time bar to precise moments) time marks for reference of the particular comment.
Here is the full video:


OccupyRacism!

Occupy Wall Street Protester Threatens Fox 5 News Reporter


Peter Schiff Takes on Occupy Wall Street II!

The Lincoln Putsch: America's Bolshevik Revolution

*Re-post from 28 Mar 2007 on NamSouth
========
Today, in the age of Republicans like Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, and Phil Gramm, it is easy to forget that there was a time when the Republican Party was far from conservative, that in the early days of the party, socialists and outright communists played an active role. In fact, it can and will be argued here that the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was made possible by communists and socialists, most of them German immigrants in the Midwest, and indeed the prosecution of the War depended in large part on those same alien people.

Consider, for example, the following.

Union General Franz Sigel had been a leader in the communist Revolution of 1848, a revolution fought to destroy the individual state governments of Germany, and forciby unite them under an all-powerful central, socialist government. Thanks to some inept l eadership, part of it provided by the young Sigel, that revolution failed and Sigel, along with thousands of other ``forty-eighters,'' fled Europe for America, bringing their revolutionary socialist ideas with them. During the War, his troops declared `` I fights mit Sigel.''

After his diastrous retreat at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, a Confederate song made fun of Sigel and his Hessian troops this way:

Ven first I came from Lauterback
I works sometimes by bakin'
Und next I runs my beer saloon,
Und den I try shoe-makin',
But now I march mit musket out
To save dot yankee eagle
Dey dress me up in soldier clothes
To go and fight mit Sigel.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Massachusetts Yankee transcendentalist and hater of the South, wrote so approvingly of Sigel and his countrymen:

``This revolution has a feature new to history, that of socialism.''

Carl Shurz was another forty-eighter, who had met Karl Marx at the Democratic Club in Cologne. Schurz later went on to deliver the votes of 300,000 German immigrants to Lincoln in 1860. He was rewarded with an appointment as ambassador to Spain. War broke out just before his departure, but Lincoln prevailed upon him to go anyway. While in Spain, Schurz concluded (1) that the possibility of Europe recognizing the Confederacy was very real, and (2) that Lincoln should declare the War a crusade against slav ery. It was Schurz's ideas and influence that eventually held sway with Lincoln, and resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation.

Communist communities were numerous in the North and the Midwest in the 1850s: Fruitlands at Concord, Mass.; the Owenite community of New Harmony, Indiana; the various Amanite communities in Iowa. Emerson's own personal favorite communitarian was Fourier , who inspired a number of communist utopian communities and became the spiritual leader of Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune. Students of the War are well-acquainted with the role of Greeley and his newspaper.

They may not be aware that the Tribune had avidly covered the Revolution of 1848, and frequently employed Karl Marx as a correspondent. (In fact, Marx and Engels' book, The Civil War in the U.S., consists of collected articles and dispatches from the Tribune. In those pieces, the t wo inventors of Communism fret over every Union setback and cheer every Union advance.)

Another communist community in the midwest was that of Communia, Iowa, founded by a German immigrant named Wilhem Weitling, who had been one of the principal revolutionary figures in Europe as a leader of the communist organization known as the League of the Just. Coming to America after the Revolution, he involved himself in a number of communist causes, included the Arbeiterbund, a German workers' association, and in Communia. His life and ideals, which are detailed in his biography, The Utopian Commun ist, by Carl Wittke, present an excellent case study in communist revolutionary thought in America in the years leading up to the War.

These German immigrants were different, socially, religiously, and politically from those who had come before. Colonial German immigrants and those prior to 1848 were mainly farmers, a mixture of Lutherans and various small sects, all of whom were pious Christians. Most became Democrats. In America, they settled in Pennsylvania, then began to filter down the Great Wagon Road to places in the South such as Salem (now Winston-Salem), North Carolina. These Germans were hard-working and of sturdy stock, tho ugh considered somewhat dull and plodding.

Forty-eighters, on the other hand, came to America for its socialist promise, such as that of free land as was represented by the Homestead movement. Most settled in cities, however. They were rootless, with no particular attraction for a homeland.

As Marx said,

``the proletarian knows no fatherland.''

These Germans coming after 1848 were more urban, more educated, less willing to work and more apt to look to the welfare state. They tended to be irreligious, even atheistic.

The government of the city of Chicago in the 1850s and 1860s came strongly under German socialist influence. A forty-eighter, Dr. Ernst Schmidt, called ``the Red Schmidt,'' ran for mayor on the Socialist party ticket in 1859 and received 12,000 of the 28, 000 votes cast. When another forty-eighter, Friedrich Hecker, called on Lincoln at the 1861 inauguration, Lincoln is said to have asked:

``What became of that long, red-haired Dutchman [German], Dr. Schmidt? Almost every Dutchman has been in here asking f or a job; why doesn't he come in?'' Most of them, one might add, came away happy.

The Revolution of 1848 was in some respects a reverse image of the War for Southern Independence. Germany, which existed as hardly more than an abstraction, was in fact a decentralized collection of autonomous states. In keeping with the Marxist emphasis on the large, omnipotent, central government, these so called ``revolutionaries'' were actually intent on overthrowing local rule and setting up a totalitarian dictatorship.

Such socialist ``reformers'' included, in addition to those already mentioned, one August von Willich, future brigadier of the Ninth Ohio and the 32nd Indiana. Von Willich had been an ardent follower of Karl Marx and had once led a Communist mob against the Cologne City Hall. Though at times a rabble rouser, Willich was a military man through and through. At Shiloh, he amazed his fellow officers (who included Gen. Lew Wallace, who described it) by putting his men through the manual of arms drill while un der Confederate fire, even as many of them were being shot down. Willich, known for his regimental drills even after 20-mile marches, was prone to address his men as ``Citizens of Indiana'' and lecture them at length on the virtues of communism.

Alexander von Schimmelfennig was another German revolutionary who became a Union general. So was General Max von Weber, who had served as a colonel under Sigel in the revolution. So too was Karl Leopold Matthies of Iowa.

In the lower ranks, the former German revolutionaries were even better represented. Among them were Lt. Colonel Carl Gottfried Freudenberg, who had led insurgents at the age of 15 in an engagement near Mannheim, and the Austrian Ernest Fahtz, who became Lt. Colonel of the 8th Maryland. There was also Dr. Friedrich Hecker, who had been a leader in the Baden, Germany, rebellion. Another was Col. George von Amsberg, who had been a leader in the socialist revolt in H ungary. Adolf Dengler, a Baden Revolution veteran, was the colonel of the 43rd Illinois. Colonels Joseph Gerhardt, Carl Eberhard Salomon, Wilhelm Heine, Konrad Krez, Henry Flad, Fritz Anneke, Franz Mahler, Adolf von Hartung, Edward Kapff, August Mersey, Friedrich Poschner, Franz Wutschel, Rudolf von Rosa, and other such names form a list that goes on and on. All of them were socialists, all of them were Union officers. There were at least 50 German-born majors, though that number is probably far too low . Most of these men were from midwestern states: Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

As far as enlisted men were concerned, the number of Germans, most of whom had also seen service in the Revolutionary armies, was, literally, legion. In New York City alone, thousands of Germans volunteered immediately after Fort Sumter. New York state ha d ten purely German regiments during the war. The NY German regiments included: the Steuben Rifles, Blenker's 8th NY, the Astor Rifles, the German Rifles No. 5, the SchwarzeJager, and the German Rifles No. 3. Blenker's Regiment was reviewed by Gen. Winfie ld Scott and Lincoln in June, 1861, during which Scott called them ``the best regiment we now have.''

The preponderance of German-born officers and men in the Union armies is overwhelming. It is estimated that in 1860 there were approximately 1,204,075 Germans in the states that would remain in the Union. During the War, approximately 100,000 additional G ermans entered. That makes for a total of about 1,300,000 Germans living in the Union during the War years. It is calculated that about 118,402 would have been subject to military service. The number who actually served was by some estimates around 216,0 00. This means the Germans were over-represented by nearly 100,000 men. Of the total of those serving, at least 36,000 served under German officers. If the total number of German troops is assumed to be 216,000 a nd we accept that the total of all foreign-born troops was nearly 500,000, which was about one-quarter of all Union troops, we see that as many as 1 in every 4 Union troops was actually of foreign birth, and that that foreigner was as apt to be a German a s not. This is an astonishing statistic, and bears out the widely held Confederate belief that they were fighting an army of Hessians.

What were the political beliefs of these men? As noted above, a great many of the Germans, and virtually all those who had arrived since 1848, were former revolutionaries and socialist in political orientation. Many were imbued with the Liberal ideas that had come into prominence in Europe with the Jacobins in the French Revolution, and had remained around in various guises ever since. In America, these radicals retained their beliefs, finding encouragement in such something-for-nothing policies as the Homestead movement. Most of the recent immigrants came to be free-soilers. Combined with their Liberal antipathy to slavery, and their ideological devotion to omnipotent central government, they were thus natural-born Unionists.

An interesting phenomenon in 1860 was the ``Wide-Awake Club'' movement. Wide-Awake Clubs were paramilitary German and Scandinavian Republican organizations founded to promote the Lincoln cause. A Wide-Awake Club was founded in Washington, DC, and in three days signed up over 50 members, most of whom were German Jews.

A large number of German-language newspapers were published throughout the Union, particularly in the Midwest. An example was the Illinois Staats-Zeitung, which was virulently anti-Southern. In an ironic twist on the modern-day ``Southern Swastika'' slander, that newspaper coined a term for the Confederate flag:

Klapperschangenflagge (rattlesnake flag). Throughout the war, it spewed forth hate for the South that rivaled any coming out of New England.

Lincoln realized the power of the Germans in this region. The German vote was viewed as essential in the election of 1860. Carl Schurz was the chairman of the Wisconsin delegation to the Republican convention in Chicago. Schurz, whose communist credential s in Germany were impeccable, was also a member of the Republican National ommittee. Germans such as Gustav Korner, Francis Lieber, Friedrich Hassaurek, Frederick Munch, and Judge Krekel all spoke forcefully for Lincoln. Schurz alone traveled an astoundin g 21,000 miles speaking on behalf of Lincoln, for whom he promised and delivered 300,000 German votes. Numerous historians have held that the foreign-born (primarily German) vote in the Upper Midwest decided the outcome of that election. For example, in a widely quoted essay in the American Historical Review, July 1911, entitled "The Fight for the Northwest, 1860," William Dodd analyzed the 1860 vote.

He concluded that the Republicans made a concerted effort to win over the votes of the new German immi grants, through their support of high tariffs and free homesteads, in addition to liberal ideologizing. Dodd wrote that Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa "would have given their electoral votes to Douglas but for the loyal support of the Germans and other fore ign citizens led by Carl Schurz, Gustave Koerner, and the editors of the Staatszeitung of Chicago." He concluded that had one voter in twenty switched from Lincoln to Douglas, Lincoln would have lost the upper midwest and hence the election. Dodd wrote: "The election of Lincoln and, as it turned out, the fate of the Union, were thus determined not by native Americans but by voters who knew least of American history and institutions."

The chief exponent of the philosophy of most of these people was Karl Marx. The extremely pro-Union, anti-Southern writings of Marx and his colleague Friedrich Engels echo the attitude of his German followers as we have discussed here. In addition, his l ater followers, the Soviet Russians, adopted similar positions in their official histories of the WBTS. To quote one Soviet historian, D.B. Petrov, who commemorated the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth by writing his biography (Abraham Lincol'n, Mosc ow, 1959): "Lincoln sincerely sympathized with the workers and sought the fulfillment of their most important demands. In this, lay the main reason for Lincoln's authority among the common voters." The Confederacy, on the other hand, is reviled in offic ial Soviet history: "The secession movement was not a struggle for the sovereign rights of states but a reactionary rebellion of slaveholders, speculating on the ideal of states' rights." (R.F. Ivanov, The Civil War in the USA, Moscow, 1960). Accordin g to Ivanov, the secessionist slaveholders "vigorously suppressed" all opposition; therefore, secession was an "anti-peoples movement."

Notice that these Soviet writings were published at the height of the Cold War, yet the writers are adamant to defend t he U.S. Federal government. Why would they defend their supposed arch-enemy? A look at the events that took place thirty years later in the "Evil Empire" (one is tempted to refer to it as the "Other Evil Empire") will reveal the answer. Aside from the fa ct that Lincoln has long been a hero in the Communist world (witness the Communist "Abraham Lincoln Brigade" on the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War), movements like the Confederacy are a threat to empires. Mega-states, regardless of their personal differences, must hang together to maintain the myth of omnipotent government. (Incidentally, the official National Socialist [Nazi] view of our War is interesting, as well. In a later article, we'll take a look at it.)

Summary

A forgotten chapter in the history of America is the influence of German communists in the Midwest in the years following 1848. Refugees numbering in the many thousands from the failed communist Revolution of 1848 settled there, bringing with them social ist ideas favoring large central government, land redistribution, and abolitionism. These people avidly supported the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, providing what many believe was the margin of victory. In response to Lincoln's call for troops, they joined the Union Army in large numbers, forming perhaps one out of eight of all Un ion troops in the field, a great many of them under German officers, themselves communist veterans. In the civilian sphere, socialists and communists formed a powerful element in the Republican Party, and Lincoln, himself a midwesterner who shared much of their worldview, awarded them with major appointments.

Bibliography
Engle, Stephen, Yankee Dutchman (Fayetteville, AR: Univ. of Arkansas Press, 1993)
Foner, Eric, Politics and Ideology in the Age of the Civil War(Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1980)
Levine, Bruce, The Spirit of 1848 (Urbana, Ill.: Univ. of Ill. Press, 1992)
Logsdon, "The Civil War--Russian Version (II): The Soviet Historians," in Civil War History, Dec. 1962
Lonn, Ella, Foreigners in the Union Army and Navy (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1951)
Luebke, Frederick, Ethnic Voters and the Election of Lincoln(Lincoln, NB: Univ. of Neb. Press, 1971)
Marx and Engels, The Civil War in the U.S. (New York: International Publishers, 1971)
Wersich, Rudiger, Carl Schurz (Munich: Heinz Moos Verlag, 1979)
Wittke, Carl, Refugees of Revolution (Philadelphia: Univ of Pa. Press), 1952.
The Utopian Communist: A Biography of Wilhelm Weitling (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1950)
Zucker, A.E., ed., The Forty-Eighters (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1950)7
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*The Lincoln Putsch: America's Bolshevik Revolution

KAHLILI: Iran already has nuclear weapons

Western intelligence has known it for years

The pressure the United States and the West is bringing to bear on Iran to keep it from acquiring nuclear weapons is all for naught. Not only does the Islamic Republic already have nuclear weapons from the old Soviet Union, but it has enough enriched uranium for more. What’s worse, it has a delivery system.

Ad for gun training bars Muslims and Obama voters

Roundabout via Billy



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including video interview and commentary.

Occucommies Call for Killing Cops

Moonbattery
VERBATIM POST
========

An “informational” letter — copies of which were left on a table when Occupy Phoenix infested Cesar Chavez Park — calls for murdering law enforcement officers. A few lowlights:

When Should You Shoot A Cop? …

Even when people can recognize tyranny and oppression, they still usually talk about “working within the system”-the same system that is responsible for the tyranny and oppression. People want to believe that “the system” will, sooner or later, provide justice. The last thing they want to consider is that they should “illegally” resist-that if they want to achieve justice, they must become “criminals” and “terrorists,” which is what anyone who resists “legal” justice is automatically labeled. But history shows all too well that those who fight for freedom and justice almost always do so “illegally” – i.e., without the permission of the ruling class. …

If a cop decides to treat you like livestock, whether he does it “legally” or not, you will usually have only two options: submit, or kill the cop. …

Basic logic dictates that you either have an obligation to LET “law enforcers” have their way with you, or you have the right to STOP them from doing so, which will almost always require killing them.

The Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center has put out a memo (PDF) alerting law enforcement officers to this threat to their safety.

This will be another memo DHS Top Bureauweenie Janet Napolitano doesn’t get; she has already determined that the terror threat in this country comes not from moonbats or even Muslims, but from veterans, conservatives, and others far more likely to identify with the Tea Party than its polar opposite, Occupy Wall Street.

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 10-27-11

Here are the 19 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for this Thursday, October 27, 2011:

  • Murfreesboro TN cop was fired but not charged for “inappropriately shooting a suspect” then lying about how it happened. The officer claims he shot the man during a struggle in self defense but evidence and witnesses claim he shot the man from at least 100 feet away and in the back as he ran. [1] bit.ly/sM0bN4
  • Coral Springs FL cop was charged with vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter over a crash that killed a young mother 3 months ago [0] bit.ly/rV1GdU
  • 10 Windsor ON cops are the subject of a lawsuit alleging one cop beat a doctor on video then the other officers conspired to cover it up. [3] bit.ly/usYMyr
  • 2 Alameda Co CA sheriff’s detectives are accused of beating a businessman who demanded ID when they came and escorted one of his workers at the theater he owned. The detectives were there to interview the man who was the victim of a robbery but the owner says they refused to show ID and when he took pictures of them and their car they attacked and arrested him. The detectives say he obstructed them and that they showed ID. [2] bit.ly/v1HTdd
  • New York NY police are being sued by a woman claiming she was detained for 5 days and mistreated in custody by cops after she was shot and went to the hospital. She alleges that they were trying to force her into changing her story to say her friend shot her when he didn’t. [4] nydn.us/ttc048
  • Indiana State trooper was charged with felony sexual battery, official misconduct, and other charges after he was accused of groping a woman during a traffic stop. [0] bit.ly/uc0Znt
  • Montgomery WV problematic cop is being sued by a woman claiming he forced her to expose & shake her breasts during a traffic stop search. He’s also facing charges from his time as an officer elesewhere. [3] bit.ly/v0JTTO
  • McFarland CA mayor claims problematic cops deserve 2nd chances in an interview about 4 cops hired despite their bad records, including one who has had more than a couple second chances already. [3] bit.ly/tTszgK
  • Los Angeles Co CA sheriff’s dpt sued by ACLU alleging illegal harassment of people for taking photographs in public [3] lat.ms/tW7ryG
  • San Juan Co UT now-former sheriff was charged with misuse of public funds after investigation by sheriff who replaced him [1] bit.ly/tFxVQH
  • Ontario Provincial Police sgt investigated for allegedly tasering fellow cop & threatening others during dispute [1] bit.ly/tiE7gh
  • Tennessee Hwy Patrol trooper fired for preferential treatment of deputy he didn’t test or arrest for suspected DUI [0] bit.ly/u93cLi
  • League City TX police chief and a captain may face charges over allegations of illegal traffic ticket quotas [3] bit.ly/vi5Sbt
  • El Paso TX cop placed on admin leave after audit of overtime related to federal gang enforcement grants [1] bit.ly/vItEEJ
  • Denville NJ cop arrested on multiple charges for allegedly stealing narcotics from dept evidence room [0] dailyre.co/vfg0XQ
  • Memphis TN cop among 25 people indicted on federal meth and marijuana trafficking charges after 2yr probe [0] bit.ly/rCoWmY
  • RCMP staff sgt in Ottawa ON docked 10 days pay for viewing porn & performing web cam strip tease at headquarters [0] bit.ly/rE6QKp
  • Houton TX cop sentenced to probation & $500 fine for DUI crash into school bus, 7 cops disciplined for cover up [0] bit.ly/t5U4s4
  • Seattle WA police detective cited for DUI & released after rear ending car w/unmarked cruiser, unknown if on duty [2] http://bit.ly/sKmUEk

Two things before calling it a night.

First, from New York NY, a series of videos, below, from an Occupy Wall Street protest march in support of #OccupyOakland solidarity allegedly show incidents of excessive force and police getting more aggressive with protesters. I can’t officially add it to the database yet as I haven’t had time to fully analyze what’s going on, which is difficult in protest situations especially when it’s not a full video but snippets of incidents. But I wanted to put it up to see what you think in the meantime. [3] bit.ly/vSWI6B

Obama Rakes In Cash From Lobbyists, Enron Executives

On Thursday, the New York Times took a look at where President Obama’s mountain of re-election cash is coming from. Guess what they found?

Despite a pledge not to take money from lobbyists, President Obama has relied on prominent supporters who are active in the lobbying industry to raise millions of dollars for his re-election bid.

At least 15 of Mr. Obama’s “bundlers” — supporters who contribute their own money to his campaign and solicit it from others — are involved in lobbying for Washington consulting shops or private companies. They have raised more than $5 million so far for the campaign.

How can this be? As the Times points out, “As both a candidate and as president, Mr. Obama has vowed to curb what he calls the corrupting influence of lobbyists, barring them not only from contributing to his campaign but also from holding jobs in his administration.” How can he be taking millions from lobbyists? Happily, there’s a nice technicality that should satisfy anyone who was already loopy enough to think President Solyndra is anxious to cleanse Washington of corrupting influences:

Because the bundlers are not registered as lobbyists with the Senate, the Obama campaign has managed to avoid running afoul of its self-imposed ban on taking money from lobbyists.

But registered or not, the bundlers are in many ways indistinguishable from people who fit the technical definition of a lobbyist. They glide easily through the corridors of power in Washington, with a number of them hosting Mr. Obama at fund-raisers while also visiting the White House on policy matters and official business.

Aha! So these are undocumented lobbyists, doing the jobs that registered lobbyists won’t do.

It would be really embarrassing if some of these top Obama donors openly advertised the level of access they’ve purchased with the Obama Administration, wouldn’t it?

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Charleston – Shelled, Sacked and Exterminated

Most often left out of the army of Abraham Lincoln’s accomplishments is the sack and destruction of American farms, towns and cities – and the fate of American women and children left in the path of Northern armies consumed with hate. The unrestrained plundering of Southern homes in New Bern, Fredericksburg and elsewhere in 1862 continued unabated through the destruction and occupation of Charleston in 1865.

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
=========

“The night of February 17-18 was one of horror and chaos, undoubtedly the worst ever experienced in the history of the city. There were more women in the city than usual, as those from the outlying plantations were sent in to get them out of the way of Sherman’s marauders.

As darkness approached, conditions became worse. No one dared to go to bed. Fires were breaking out all over the city, and since the white firemen, who acted in a dual capacity of militiamen, were gone, only Negro companies were left to fight them. [A]n explosion was caused by the blowing up of the [ironclad] Palmetto State at her wharf. This was the gunboat that the women of the State had financed by selling their jewelry.

[It was rumored] that unoccupied houses would be taken over by the Union troops, at which news women and children rushed back and barricaded themselves in their homes. The soldiers of the 21st US Colored Troops, who were in possession of the city, started on a tour of liberation – anything that was not nailed down was taken. They went everywhere breaking into homes and helping themselves to whatever they wanted, cursing and raving at the inhabitants all the while.

On February 28, General Order Number Eight was issued calling on the citizens of Charleston to take the oath of allegiance to the United States [government] and providing that no passes or favors would be given to those who refused to take it. The order also stated that no guards would be placed over the houses of citizens for the protection of private property, but that any person fearing molestation should display the United States flag in a conspicuous position and that any person who plundered a house would be punished. Nothing was said about what would happen to a person who plundered a house not flying the United States flag.

Apparently the order was ignored, and plundering continued unrestrained, for General Gillmore wrote from Hilton Head to General Hatch in Charleston: “I hear on all sides very discouraging accounts of the state of affairs in Charleston; that no restraint is put upon the soldiers; that they pilfer and rob houses at pleasure, that large quantities of valuable furniture pictures, statuary, mirrors, etc., have mysteriously disappeared – no one knows whither or by what agency…”

A month later Gillmore issued another order instruction the officers stationed in Charleston to return the silver, pianos, organs, pictures and works of art they had stolen. It appeared that, with the officers looting and nothing being done about it, it was perfectly all right for the soldiers to help themselves. It is not recorded that any of the material was returned, for the simple reason that none of it was.

That a single piece of furniture or silver survived is a miracle. The silver could be buried, and most of it was…Some paintings were rolled up and hidden in attics; most of the others usually had a bayonet thrust through the throat as if it was a man, or through the heart if it was a woman. Holes were shot through the furniture. The silver was usually located by the method of putting a rope around the neck of the person who knew where it was and gently raising him off the ground, then easing him back so that his feet barely touched.

Col. W.W.H. Davis of the 104th Pennsylvania…wrote: “The plunder was not all obtained by the soldiers, but officers received a fair share. Some of them sent north pianos, elegant furniture, silverware, books, pictures, etc., to adorn their New England dwellings.”

Possibly William Howard Russell, the war correspondent for the London Times, best expressed the feelings of hatred that existed in the North when he wrote: “The war which was made to develop and maintain Union sentiment in the South…is now to be made a crusade against slave holders, and a war of subjugation – if need be, of extermination.” Charleston to all extents and purposes was exterminated.

(The Siege of Charleston, 1861-1865, E. Milby Burton, USC Press, 1970, pp. 320-325)

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Charleston – Shelled, Sacked and Exterminated

Black Soldiers in Red, Blue and Grey

Via Cousin John

Cape Fear Historical Institute Papers

This paper primarily reviews the service of black soldiers in the military

of the United States and Confederate States 1861-65, with a critical

view toward the recruiting methods of black soldiers by the

Northern States and their agents.

Confederate of Color

Runaway slave Crispus Attucks, killed alongside two white citizens at the Boston Massacre in 1770, is a well-known black American who served in the Revolution, as well as black slave Peter Salem, who shot and killed British Major Pitcairn at Bunker Hill. An all-black regiment under Colonel Christopher Greene distinguished itself against Hessians at Newport, Rhode Island, repelling successive “furious onsets” by the mercenaries. The first woman Continental soldier was Deborah Gannett, who concealed her gender and served throughout the war under the alias of “Robert Shurtlif.”

Author Vernon Jordan states, “the role of the black (slave) in the Revolution can best be understood by realizing that his major loyalty was not to a place, nor to a people, but to a principle (liberty)."

Though we recognize them as former slaves who fought bravely for the American revolutionary cause, the real evidence suggests that slaves who did serve in that conflict were more likely to join the British side and fight against the independence of the colonists. As there is no reliable record of how many blacks fought on either side, it is estimated that 3000 fought on the American side, and Thomas Jefferson placed the number of former slaves fighting for the British at 30,000.

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Black Soldiers in Red, Blue and Grey

1940 Lincoln Ford Special Speedster Designed by Bob Gregorie for Edsel Ford

NASA satellite falls on car.:)

Roundabout via Cousin Colby

Red Bull - Akte Blanix II (Connecting flight)

Via Cousin Colby

The Devil Hath Been Raised in Salem

Salem Village 1692

Mike Scruggs

In March 1692, Rev. Samuel Parris wrote in the Salem Village church record book that

“The Devil hath been raised amongst us, & his Rage is vehement and terrible, & when he shall be silenced the Lord only knows.” The strange events and widespread witch hysteria that first occurred in the Rev. Parris’s own Salem Village home had spread to Salem Town, Andover (now North Andover), Beverly, Topsfield, and many other towns by the fall of 1692. Over 150 people were arrested, examined, and sent to prison. Of these, fourteen women and five men were hanged in Salem Town for the felony of witchcraft. One man, Giles Corey, was crushed to death under heavy stones for refusing to enter a plea. Another five died of insufferable conditions in prison awaiting trial and sentencing.

There were three degrees of witchcraft recognized in Massachusetts at that time. The first degree was white magic, defined as using charms or spells for benevolent purposes. This included carrying a rabbit’s foot and nailing a horseshoe over a door for good luck. White magic was of no concern to public officials. Many New England pastors, however, rebuked such practices because they relied on unbiblical supernatural forces.

The second degree was black magic, defined by its malicious use to harm people, animals, or property. Black magic was considered a direct appeal to occult powers and a very serious civil and religious offense. Fortune telling was on the borderline between white and black magic, depending on whether it was a game or a serious attempt to know the future by means of occult powers.

The third degree of magic involved a pact with the devil, which went beyond charms and spells to a belief that one had actually contracted with the devil to obtain occult powers.

Samuel and Elizabeth Parris owned two Carib Indian slaves—John Indian and his wife, Tituba. It was Tituba who watched over the Parris’s 9-year-old daughter, Elizabeth (Betty), and their 11-year-old orphaned niece, Abigail Williams, during most of the day. Tituba often entertained Betty, Abigail, and several of their friends, including Ann Putnam, with tales of the supernatural. Ann was the daughter of neighbors Thomas and Ann Putnam who were important members of Salem Village Church. In fact, nearly half of the 53 members of the church bore the name Putnam. Ann Putnam Sr. was often incapacitated by tortured bereavement over the loss of several children and believed because of dreams and visions that their deaths were caused by witchcraft. This branch of the Putnams was engaged in a bitter long-term feud that had begun over a land dispute with the Porters, and Salem Village (now part of Danvers, Massachusetts) was divided between Putnam and Porter factions.

One day in March 1692, the girls were playing an English fortune-telling game, where an egg was broken into a glass of water. The shape it took was supposed to indicate the occupation of their future husband. Young Betty participated with some anxiety, knowing it was forbidden conduct. Her egg seemed to take the shape of a coffin. Shortly thereafter she exhibited signs of extreme hysteria. These signs were frightening and unworldly. The hysterical signs quickly spread to Abigail, Ann Putnam, and three other girls. They were pronounced by a local doctor as being “under an evil hand.” Under some duress, Tituba soon confessed to being a witch and gave a colorful and convincing description of the devil. She also created a sensation by saying that there were many more witches in Salem Village, and a fanatical Witch Hunt commenced. The “afflicted” girls, including Mercy Lewis, a 17-year-old orphan living in the Putnam household, and two 17-year-old friends, Elizabeth Hubbard and Mary Wolcott, became the primary accusers, and Parris and the Putnams were its most avid sponsors. Parris, however, placed young Betty in the home of Stephen Sewall in Salem Town to remove her from the terrifying environment. She gradually recovered after having confessed the fortune-telling incident to Rev. John Hale of Beverly, who had come to believe that the evil lay in the “afflicted” accusers rather than the accused.

White magic practice was common in New England, and many Puritan pastors considered it to be the doorway to more serious delusion by the “Prince of Lies.”

Black magic was practiced by a few, especially by such means as sticking pins in images to harm enemies. At least one and probably a few more Salem witches hoped to wreak some personal vengeance on neighbors by means of black magic. One of the accused Salem witches apparently thought she had actually contracted to serve the devil. None of the accused witches demonstrated any provable success with occult powers, but the very fear of witchcraft often caused symptoms of hysteria in its victims. The vast majority of those executed were completely innocent of any black magic or attempted deals with the devil.

In fact, most of those who were executed were later recognized as being substantially more pious than their accusers, who were often acting for reasons of envy or vengeance.

One of the great problems with the trials was that those who confessed to witchcraft, often under duress of torture and bullying, were not executed, but those who were convicted but refused to confess to such crimes were executed. The Puritan judges reasoned that confession of sin deserved mercy. The actual result of this reasoning, however, was that many confessed to crimes they did not commit to save their lives, but those who would not “belie themselves” and insisted on telling the truth no matter what the consequences were executed.

Another horrible miscarriage of justice was the use of “spectral evidence” against the accused. This was warrant for arrest and used in both the preliminary examinations and trials. If an accuser claimed that a ghostly apparition of the accused was torturing them, it was counted as evidence. This type of evidence was only allowed to convict in Salem, where all who were tried were convicted. This practice was condemned by civil magistrates and clergy everywhere else.

The Salem trials were strongly opposed by most civil magistrates and most clergy in Boston and many surrounding towns. However, Massachusetts was temporarily without a governor, and under the decentralized government of Congregational churches, there was no clerical authority to interfere with the churches in Salem and Salem Village The trials were not stopped until a new Governor, William Phips, accompanied by the influential Puritan Divine Increase Mather, arrived from England and exercised his authority to halt the madness.

Did the devil come to Salem?

Tea Party Says Cities Favor Occupy Protesters

Via Don, L&P

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Tea party activists on Thursday accused officials in at least four cities of giving preferential treatment to anti-Wall Street protesters, and one group in Richmond is asking the city to repay $8,000 spent for permits and other needs.

In addition to Richmond and Charlottesville, Va., tea party groups in Washington and Atlanta said Occupy protesters have openly defied police and local officials without consequence. A national tea party coordinator echoed those claims.

"If you're law-abiding citizens, they're going to make you follow every bit and letter of the law," said Mark Meckler, national coordinator and co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. "What we're talking about is selective enforcement of the law."

Officials in those cities have denied accusations of favoritism, and authorities in other cities say they have had no such complaints. Pittsburgh officials said permits for events related to the First Amendment are routinely issued for free, and groups must provide their own portable sanitation. In Denver, Occupy protesters sleep on the sidewalk, which is legal in the city. And in Philadelphia, Occupy Philly organizers are going to be billed for expenses including electricity and portable toilets.

The tea party groups' claims also come on the heels of mass arrests and shows of force in Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. In Atlanta, police in riot gear recently arrested more than 50 people who had been camped out in a city park. In Oakland, police clashes with protesters left an Iraq war veteran in critical condition with a skull fracture.

The Richmond Tea Party said Mayor Dwight C. Jones' administration sought permit fees, portable toilets and other demands for their events, but has given Occupy Richmond a free pass. The occupation has grown to a tent city, with a makeshift library, a volleyball net and a row of portable toilets. Jones has said that because he is a product of the civil rights movement he has allowed the Occupy protesters to remain since Oct. 17.

"He's sympathizing with them," said Colleen Owens, a spokeswoman for the Richmond Tea Party. "We would never, as a tea party, have gotten away with not complying with the law."

Tea party organizers had to buy liability insurance, hire police and emergency personnel and even keep a defibrillator on site, Owens said.

A scooter, a gun and a mechanic

Via Doubletapper

On my way to work this morning I was pulling up to a security check point when my scooter died. Not a violent death like the engine seizing or the belt parting.... just a sudden strange silence where the soft purr of the engine used to be. I tried a few times to restart the engine, but despite making all the right sounds, the engine just wouldn't catch.

Using the last of my momentum I rolled up to a pretty female soldier who, recognizing me, smiled and waved me through. I smiled back and didn't move.

I explained that my scooter had died and that I needed to pull over. She indicated a clear spot off to the side and I pushed the scoot out of the way of the cars behind me.

Once I had the scooter off to the side and up on its center stand, I tried to start it again. It started right up. Strange. Not wanting to be late, I climbed back on the scooter, pushed it off the center stand... and the engine promptly died.

Lather rinse repeat several times... same result. The scooter starts fine on the stand but dies when I take it off stand and put weight on it.

It was clearly something electrical (a fuel issue wouldn't happen so suddenly) so I lifted up the seat and started poking around the engine compartment looking for loose or frayed wires.

Before I knew it, I had several soldiers, police and civilian security people looking over my shoulder asking for details and making speculative diagnoses. Very quickly it became apparent to all that, of the group, I was the least mechanically capable... so I was quickly nudged aside and more seasoned hands began probing and pulling on things inside the engine compartment.

Soon the commander of the check point came over, and after getting an explanation of why I was there, pointed a knowing finger at the guy who was shoulder deep inside my scooter and offered the following advice before strolling away:

"That one knows how to take things apart but has trouble putting them back together again. If you let him play around in there for too long you'd better find a big bag to hold all the leftover parts he won't know what to do with."

The others laughed loudly and some good natured ribbing followed, during which I found out that the guy the commander had called incompetent was a reservist who in civilian life was a mechanic who worked as a senior inspector for the Israeli version of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Every few minutes a new officer would come over, see my gun sticking out of my jacket and would give me an impromptu security briefing which amounted to some variation on a theme of, "If there is a security 'event' you are not to pull out your gun… even to defend yourself. This is for your own safety. Do you understand?" After the third time I'd gotten the briefing I realized that they weren't worried about me accidentally shooting any of them, but rather, they were worried that if (G-d forbid) there were a terror attack while I was there, someone who didn't recognize me might mistake me for an additional terrorist and shoot me!

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Shipwreck may be part of Kublai Khan's lost fleet

CNN

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In Japanese legend they are known as The Kamikaze -- the divine winds -- a reference to two mighty typhoons placed providentially seven years apart which, in the 13th century, destroyed two separate Mongol invasion fleets so large they were not eclipsed until the D-Day landings of World War II.

Marine archaeologists now say they have uncovered the remains of a ship from the second fleet in 1281 -- believed to have comprised 4,400 vessels -- a meter below the seabed, in 25 meters of water off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan.

Scientists are hoping they will be able to recreate the complete Yuan Dynasty vessel from Kublai Khan's lost fleet using a 12-meter-long section of keel. The Mongols ruled China from 1271 to 1368.

According to Yoshifumi Ikeda, a professor of archaeology at Okinawa's University of the Ryukyus, and head of the research team, the section could go a long way to helping researchers identify all the characteristics of the 20-meter warship.

"This discovery was of major importance for our research," Ikeda told a news conference. "We are planning to expand search efforts and find further information that can help us restore the whole ship."

Discovered using ultrasound equipment, the research team says it is the first wreck from the period to have an intact hull, the planks of which are still attached to the keel with nails.

Scientists say its good state of preservation -- they were even able to establish that the planks were originally painted a whitish-gray -- is due to the fact it has been covered by sand.

"I believe we will be able to understand more about shipbuilding skills at the time as well as the actual situation of exchanges in East Asia," Ikeda told reporters in Nagasaki.

More than 4,000 artifacts, including ceramic shards, bricks used for ballast, cannonballs and stone anchors have been found in the vicinity of the wreck, linking it to the Yuan Dynasty invasion fleet.

Ikeda said there were no immediate plans to salvage the hull and the first step was to conserve the find by covering the sites with nets.

The Kamikaze -- perhaps better known as the nickname given to the Japanese suicide pilots of the Pacific War -- were a nation-defining event for Japan and set the limits of Mongol expansion in the east.

Historians say the first Chinese attempt to invade Japan in 1274 ended in disaster.

Libya: Gaddafi's driver, he was without fear but lost

ANSAmed
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(ANSAmed) - ROME, OCTOBER 27 - He never showed any fear, but he looked lost, not knowing what to do: this picture of Muammar Gaddafi was sketched by Huneish Nasr - faithful driver of the Libyan leader for 30 years - who witnessed the final days of the colonel before his capture and death in Sirte, his birth city.

From a prison in Misrata where he was taken several days ago together with Mansour Dhao, former head of Gaddafi's guards, Nasr told the Guardian about the Thursday when Gaddafi was captured by the combatants of the new Libya.

''Everything was exploding. The revolutionaries were coming for us. Gaddafi wasn't scared, but he didn't seem to know what to do. It was the only time I ever saw him like that,'' said Nasr, looking back on those terrible moments before the battle that would leave him deaf in his right ear. ''When the NTC forces arrived, Gaddafi threw his hands up in surrender. He was knocked to the ground with a rifle butt, which blackened his left eye. Gaddafi was being pulled from a drainpipe'' said Nasr, who fell to the ground immediately after.

The driver - a member of the Gaddafi tribe - remembered that he was able to get a final glimpse of his ''master'' before he was swarmed over by the rebels.

One week later, Nasr and Daho seem to be the only survivors of the old loyal guard that stood by the Libyan leader during the five days of the final attack on Sirte, hiding in houses to avoid capture. "If any of the other close staff are still alive, I don't know where they are or what happened to them," said Nasr. "The rest of them may be somewhere with the revolutionaries or they may be dead," he added.

Returning to the memory of the final days of the man he served for a lifetime without any second thoughts, Nasr underlined: ''Gaddafi was strange, he was always standing still and looking to the west. Without fear. I was with him for 30 years and I swear by God that I never saw any bad behaviour in him. He was always just the boss. He treated me well," Nasr added, explaining he received a salary of 800 dinar a month, as well as a house in Sirte.

But one image Nars - now over 60 - would like to forget is seeing the colonel being lowered into an unmarked grave and covered with sand. (ANSAmed).

The warped class war taking place at Occupy London

The Telegraph
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I have visited the Occupy London camp outside St Paul's Cathedral three times now, and each time I have been struck by its warped class dynamic. For all the claims that this is a people's movement facing down evil bankers, in truth the majority of the occupiers are middle-class and well-spoken and clearly have lots of time on their hands, while many of the men and women in suits making their way to offices or trading floors in the City are working class.

On one side you have the plummy-voiced pink-haired daughters of academics and writers complaining about how banks have "destroyed working people's lives", and on the other side you have ambitious wide boys from the suburbs and young working-class women from Essex or High Wycombe going to jobs that they hope will earn them lots of cash.

Occupy London does not speak for the 99 per cent or for the working man – on the contrary, it is more an expression of slacker disdain and organic-fuelled fury for the ethos of the ambitious working man. Hence all the placards telling the besuited passers-by that they have been brainwashed by capitalism and consumerism. One placards informs these aspirational ignoramuses that capitalism makes you into either a "chump" or a "tart". That's how the bookish, well-brought-up occupiers view the people who work in the City: as thickos and slags. This protest expresses middle-class spite more than everyman anger.