After the destruction of Meridian, Sherman is reported to have said, "Meridian with its depots, store-houses, arsenal, hospitals, offices, hotels, and cantonments no longer exists."[4]
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Below is a trailer for the show, which premieres in the fall and follows a former Confederate soldier (Anson Mount, "Line of Fire") who gets a job working on the transcontinental railroad while hoping to hunt down the Union soldiers who killed his wife.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Lincoln In Virginia!
Compatriots,
We can't get a film done on Lee (Robert Duvall has apparently given up), but a film on Lincoln is going to be shot in Virginia, the homeland of Lee, and cradle of the Confederacy? This is outrageous.
This should at least provide new and further impetus for us to try, yet again, to get a film done on Lee. Perhaps Commander Givens will approach again Mr. Duvall for this purpose.
More ambitiously, I propose that the SCV should protest this film being shot in Virginia. Let them film it in Illinois -- that worse-in-the-Union Yankee economy needs all the help it can get. In addition, we should protest the film on location while it is being shot. And, of course, we should boycott it.
Finally, we should pressure Gov. McDonnell and the Virginia Film Commission to recruit a Lee film to be shot in Virginia. Any 10-year old would know that this would be infinitely more popular than a film of the evil One.
Deo Vindice!
Rob Brantley
Jeff Davis #305
Alexandria, VA
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Governor McDonnell Announces Steven Spielberg to Film Lincoln in Virginia
~ Highly Anticipated Feature Film by Legendary Oscar Winning Director to be Shot in Richmond and Petersburg~
RICHMOND – Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell today announced Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg will shoot his highly anticipated major feature film Lincoln in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The film is based on the book “Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin and will be shot in the Richmond and Petersburg areas. Filming will begin in the Fall and the movie is slated for release in 2012
The film will star Academy Award-winning actors Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot, There Will be Blood) as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field (Norma Rae, Places in the Heart) as Mary Todd Lincoln. The screenplay was written by Tony Kushner who last worked with Spielberg on the feature film Munich. The film will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg for DreamWorks Studios.
“We are honored that Steven Spielberg, an award winning and visionary film maker, has chosen the Commonwealth for this important film. It is especially notable coming during the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and emancipation,” said Governor Bob McDonnell. “Steven is an exceptional storyteller who brings historic themes to life on screen, resulting in such important and influential films as Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Munich and the mini-series Band of Brothers. I have no doubt that Lincoln will quickly join the ranks of those famous works.”
Steven Spielberg noted, “Virginia’s rich historic legacy, coupled with the remarkable period architecture found in Richmond and Petersburg, make Central Virginia the ideal location for this production.”
Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng remarked, “It would not have been possible for Virginia to attract such a prestigious film to the Commonwealth without the work of the Virginia Film Office, support of the General Assembly, and the cities of Richmond and Petersburg.”
Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones commented, “Richmond played a central role in the Civil War, and we are honored that our city will be featured in a film about this important time in American history. We welcome this extraordinary opportunity to be part of this film.”
The Virginia Film Office worked with the cities of Richmond and Petersburg to secure this project. The incentive package includes $1 million from the Governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund, $2.5 million from the Virginia Motion Picture Tax Credit program and $1.1 million in in-kind contributions. The amount of funding awarded to a project is based on Virginia workers hired and the purchase of Virginia based goods and services.
The direct and indirect impact of Virginia’s motion picture and video production industry in 2009 was $346 million, representing 2,700 jobs for the state.
A Secret Helo Used In Bin Laden Raid
Britain’s The Daily Mail newspaper may have unwittingly revealed a very, very significant clue as to how those MH-60s managed to penetrate Pakistani airspace during sunday’s mission to kill Osama bin Laden. The answer; the weren’t MH-60s, at least not regular MH-60s. The pictures above and below show what’s alledgedly the wreckage of that U.S. chopper that crashed in Osama’s compound due to mechanical problems. It sure doesn’t look like any variant of the Black Hawk that I’ve seen. Maybe it’s a new stealth version of the bird or maybe it’s an entirely new class of chopper. It could be both stealthy and fast enough to evade Pakistani air defenses that were apparently scrambled during the operation. (See our earlier post on how the RQ-170 Beast of Kandahar may have helped jam Pakistani air defense networks.) This also begs the question, who flies it? Does it belong to the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment? Is it a secret Air Force Special Operations Command bird? Heck, maybe it’s a CIA chopper.
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Another backtrack and change of tune........
The White House originally said that President Obama and Hillary Clinton watched the raid as it happened and in effect encouraged the world's media to report that they had watched "the drama unfold".
But now CIA chief Leon Panetta has admitted that, not only was there a 25 minute delay in the live feed and a blackout as has already been reported, in fact the video being played to the president stopped as troops got to the bin Laden compound. And the president did not see any subsequent action on the ground, including the fatal shooting of Osama bin Laden."
Navy Jumps Ship on DOMA
As part of last month's training on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal, our troops learned how to respond if they saw two male Marines kissing. But what if those two Marines are kissing... at the altar? According to the U.S. Navy, that's okay too. Two weeks ago, the Office of Navy Chaplains shocked everyone by ordering their corps to toss the old training materials and replace them with a version that's more accepting of same-sex "marriage." Citing "additional legal review," the Navy says it "has concluded that... if the base is located in a state where same-sex marriage is legal, then the base facilities may be used to celebrate the marriage... This is a change to previous training that stated same-sex marriages are not authorized on federal property."Further down, the letter also gives chaplains permission to "marry" homosexuals. "Regarding chaplain participation... a chaplain may officiate a same-sex, civil marriage: if it is conducted in accordance with the laws of the state which permits same-sex marriages or union." So far, the Navy's decision has gone virtually undetected by the media--even though it violates the most fundamental aspects of repeal. During last year's debate, liberals in the administration and Congress assured us that the military would still be governed by the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Even the Pentagon's own materials remind service members that the new policy will not affect benefits, since those are awarded based on the federal definition of marriage.
NC Annexation Reform Bill Headed to House Floor
Click here to urge your lawmakers to support this important bill.
HB 845 provides increased penalties for cities that do not provide promised services to residents being annexed against their will as well as a fair process for providing water and sewer.
The “cost of water and sewer” will now land more squarely on cities. In the past, cities were obligated to extend water and sewer lines into newly annexed areas, but they could require residents to pick up some or all of that cost. Now the financial burden will be on the cities.
Other key parts of the bill include:
- It provides for a protest petition for those about to be annexed. If 60 percent of the property owners object to the annexation, they can stop it cold for three years.
- It lays out new timelines for annexation designed to give greater noticed to those who cities wish to bring into the corporate limits.
We believe this bill gives a full and fair voice to property owners that for years have been abused by money hungry city bureaucrats. We think most forced annexations will end as a result of this bill and that all property owners now have a real voice.
Please take action now to support this important bill and give a real voice back to property owners.
Thank you for your continued support and activism.
Jeff Mixon
Field Coordinator
Americans for Prosperity-North Carolina
Gunwalker X4
Via Sipsey Street Irregulars
Grassley's P.S. to Holder
"You may be ill-served" What a hoot! This is Grassley's tongue-in-cheek invitation to throw Melson and Breuer under the bus, and that's when the serious truth leakage begins because they'll use the Nuremberg defense, "I was only following orders." And they will have proof of it.
Grassley, knowing everything that he knows from the whistleblowers and leaked documents, has a very good idea of how involved Holder is in all of this -- up to his eyeballs. Worse, Holder knows that he knows.
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WSJ: Lanny Breuer signed off on Gunwalker wiretaps
Congressional investigators have just released documents in the so-called gunwalking scandal at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). This in advance of a Senate hearing in which Attorney General Eric Holder will testify.
One document indicates a Holder Asst. Attorney General, Lanny Breuer, authorized a wiretap in the controversial gun trafficking case headquartered in Phoenix. In that case, called "Fast and Furious," multiple sources say ATF allowed thousands of guns to hit the streets, destined for Mexican drug cartels.
Yesterday, at a House hearing, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked
Holder who authorized Fast and Furious. President Obama has previously said neither he nor Holder authorized the operation.
"What about the Asst. Attorney General of the Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer? Did he authorize it?" Issa asked Holder.
"I'm not sure," answered Holder. (Yeah, right........)
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Senator Grassley's prepared statement.
"Aside from categorical denials that are clearly contradicted by the evidence, I have received absolutely zero substantive information from the department on this issue. On the contrary, the Department of Justice has intervened in every inquiry I have made with other agencies under the department and instructed them that the Justice Department alone is allowed to respond. The actions of the Department have only served to impede and frustrate this investigation. In fact, I have provided more information to the Attorney General than he has provided to me.
After ten letters to the department or the ATF, I have received five responses—two which provided false information, one which provided no information, one which sought to deter me from seeking information from other sources, and one which partially responded to my concern about attempts to prevent communications between whistleblowers and Congress."
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Jay Dobyns on FOX
Feds Allow Illegal Aliens to Cross Border 14 Times Before Charging Them With Felony, Sheriff Tells Congress
Sheriff Larry Dever of Cochise County, Ariz., told a House subcommittee today that in one U.S. attorney's district in Texas illegal aliens are allowed to be caught crossing the border 7 times before they are charged with a misdeamanor and 14 times before they are charged with a felony.
Dever further said the policies call for considering federal human smuggling charges only if at least 6 illegal aliens are being transported.
“There are policies in place that establish thresholds for quantities of drugs and numbers of illegal aliens before consideration for prosecution can be entertained,” Dever said in his written testimony before the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security. “In at least one Federal District in Texas, if you are caught smuggling less than 750 kilos (1,653 pounds) of marijuana, you will not be subjected to prosecution.”
“If you are caught smuggling fewer than 6 illegal aliens, you will not be subject to prosecution,” Dever said. “And if you are a lone illegal border crosser, you get at least seven chances before you are even charged with a misdemeanor.”
“And after that, you get seven more chances before you are eligible for prosecution of a second offense felony,” Dever said.
Via Weasel ZippersWikiLeaks Exposes North American Integration Plot
As early as January of 2005, high-ranking officials were discussing the best way to sell the idea of North American “integration” to the public and policymakers while getting around national constitutions. The prospect of creating a monetary unit to replace national currencies was a hot topic as well.
Some details of the schemes were exposed in a secret 2005 U.S. embassy cable from Ottawa signed by then-Ambassador Paul Cellucci. The document was released by WikiLeaks on April 28. But so far, it has barely attracted any attention in the United States, Canada, or Mexico beyond a few mentions in some liberty-minded Internet forums.
Numerous topics are discussed in the leaked document — borders, currency, labor, regulation, and more. How to push the integration agenda features particularly prominently.
Under the subject line “Placing a new North American Initiative in its economic policy context,” American diplomatic personnel in Canada said they believed an “incremental” path toward North American integration would probably gain the most support from policymakers. Apparently Canadian economists agreed.
The cable also touts the supposed benefits of merging the three countries and even mentions what elements to “stress” in future “efforts to promote further integration.” It lists what it claims is a summary of the “consensus” among Canadian economists about the issues, too.
Merging the United States, Canada, and Mexico
Via Bazz
Some details of the schemes were exposed in a secret 2005 U.S. embassy cable from Ottawa signed by then-Ambassador Paul Cellucci. The document was released by WikiLeaks on April 28. But so far, it has barely attracted any attention in the United States, Canada, or Mexico beyond a few mentions in some liberty-minded Internet forums.
Numerous topics are discussed in the leaked document — borders, currency, labor, regulation, and more. How to push the integration agenda features particularly prominently.
Under the subject line “Placing a new North American Initiative in its economic policy context,” American diplomatic personnel in Canada said they believed an “incremental” path toward North American integration would probably gain the most support from policymakers. Apparently Canadian economists agreed.
The cable also touts the supposed benefits of merging the three countries and even mentions what elements to “stress” in future “efforts to promote further integration.” It lists what it claims is a summary of the “consensus” among Canadian economists about the issues, too.
Merging the United States, Canada, and Mexico
Via Bazz
Obama: Net loss of two points in two days of three day rolling poll
"I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death."
--Thomas Paine, The Crisis, no 1, 1776
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--Thomas Paine, The Crisis, no 1, 1776
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