[Rhodes22-list] Satire: Memorial Day Origins - Thank You R-22 Veterans

[brad haslett]

Bill,

This is not a fight and if it is, you win!  I quit
fighting the Civil War  (known in these parts as "The
War of Northern Aggression") a long time ago, though I
still study and read about it.  If you do come visit,
the statue in the town square of that lovely village
of Franklin is a Confederate soldier looking south. 
It is only a matter of time before another idiot,
self-appointed PC advocate starts another fuss about
tearing it down.  It is just a quaint old statue
folks, not Saddam.

Your comments about car racing is a different issue. 
NASCAR may not be a big deal in Greenwich, CT but you
could get your ass seriously kicked if any of the
worshipers of that sacred institution think you are
maligning their sport.

You need to rethink your whole attitude toward Bubbas,
Bill.  For the last 25 years, only Southern rednecks
get the keys to the bighouse.  Jimmy Carter - Georgia.
 Ronald Reagan - thought he was a cowboy, we count'em.
 Bush 41 - Texan.  Billy Clinton - big time Arkansas
Bubba.  Bush 43 - Texan.

I'll bet you a hunnert dollas right now the next Prez
ain't from your parts.

Brad


--- Bill Effros <bill at effros.com> wrote:

> Brad,
> 
> It sure didn't take you long to turn a question into
> a fight.  I was 
> perfectly happy to let everyone come to their own
> conclusions. 
> 
> Our Memorial Day was a memorial to our Civil War
> dead.  When I was a 
> kid, it was not celebrated in Tennessee or any of
> the other Confederate 
> states.   In fact, there was considerable hostility
> in the South to the 
> Northern celebration of Memorial Day which
> manifested itself in a 
> counter-tradition of big Southern picnics,
> culminating in automobile 
> races to show disdain for the solemnity of the
> Northern celebrations.  
> Southern states commemorated their Civil War dead on
> a different day.
> 
> Well, the South won that one, didn't they?
> 
> Nobody either remembers or cares who Memorial Day is
> supposed to 
> memorialize.
> 
> Veterans Day is November 11th.and is the day put
> aside to remember our 
> Veterans of all wars.  That used to be Armistice
> Day, the day put aside 
> to commemorate the end of the "War to End all Wars".
>  But nobody 
> remembers that either.
> 
> "The world will little note nor long remember what
> we say here, but it 
> can never forget what they did here."  Lincoln got
> that part backwards, 
> but the full text of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
> follows anyhow.
> 
> There are no R-22 Civil War Veterans to Memorialize
> on Memorial Day, 
> (not even Stan) and waving a flag between six packs
> of beer won't change 
> that.
> 
> Bill Effros
> 
> Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought
> forth on this 
> continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and
> dedicated to the 
> proposition that all men are created equal.
> 
> Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
> whether that nation or 
> any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long
> endure. We are met on 
> a great battlefield of that war. We have come to
> dedicate a portion of 
> that field as a final resting-place for those who
> here gave their lives 
> that that nation might live. It is altogether
> fitting and proper that we 
> should do this.
> 
> But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we
> cannot consecrate, we 
> cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and
> dead who struggled 
> here have consecrated it far above our poor power to
> add or detract. The 
> world will little note nor long remember what we say
> here, but it can 
> never forget what they did here. It is for us the
> living rather to be 
> dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who
> fought here have 
> thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to
> be here dedicated to 
> the great task remaining before us -- that from
> these honored dead we 
> take increased devotion to that cause for which they
> gave the last full 
> measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve
> that these dead shall 
> not have died in vain, that this nation under God
> shall have a new birth 
> of freedom, and that government of the people, by
> the people, for the 
> people shall not perish from the earth.
> 
> Abraham Lincoln
> Gettysburg Address
> November 19, 1863
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> brad haslett wrote:
> 
> >Bill,
> >
> >How far back in history do you want to go?  One
> >argument is that the tradition of Memorial Day
> dates
> >back 2500 years when Greek communities set aside a
> day
> >to honor local heros.  The tradition in this
> country
> >traces its history to shortly after the Civil War. 
> >Several communities claim to be the "first" and LBJ
> >officially designated Waterloo, NY as the
> birthplace. 
> >Substantial evidence indicates that it was in 1866
> >when some women from Columbus, Mississippi traveled
> to
> >Shilo to decorate the graves of fallen Confederate
> >soldiers.  I go with that one.
> >
> >Why don't you come visit me Bill.  Shilo is five
> >minutes from the "CoraShen".  My family will go
> there
> >tomorrow as we do on every Memorial Day weekend. 
> You
> >and I can walk down to the river and stand on the
> spot
> >where young boys from Iowa, having been issued guns
> >only an hour before on their steamship, rushed to
> the
> >"Hornets Nest" for their final resting place.  From
> >there we can drive to Franklin, TN and stand on
> >Winstead hill and look over the plain where John
> Bell
> >Hood sent over 1700 of his troops to their deaths
> in
> >less than four hours, one of the bloodiest battles
> in
> >American History.  We can have lunch on the grounds
> of
> >the Carter House where a young kid from Wisconsin,
> >named MacArthur was making coffee when the morning
> >silence was broken by cannon shot.  MacArthur
> >distinguished himself that day and later fathered a
> >famous son who did the same in WW2.  Then we can
> drive
> >to Nashville and follow the retreat of a dying army
> in
> >a lost cause.  The list goes on and on.  
> >
> >Many of these soldiers we honor from that period
> were
> >new immigrants who didn't speak English.  They left
> >their homes in Europe to escape oppression and
> pursue
> >their dreams in America, same as immigrants, legal
> and
> >otherwise do now.  Like all soldiers in our
> history,
> >they believed in something bigger than themselves,
> >even if it was just to be a part of small unit and
> >protect their fellow brothers in arms.
> >
> >Soldiers in our country don't make policy, civilian
> >leaders do.  They should not be judged by the
> wisdom
> >of the fight, the choice is not theirs to make. 
> I'll
> >leave this subject with the words of another man
> who
> >started his political career nine miles from my
> >hometown in Illinois.
> >
> >But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we
> can
> >not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground.
> >The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here,
> >have consecrated it, far above our poor power to
> add
> >or detract. The world will little note, nor long
> >remember what we say here, but it can never forget
> >what they did here. It is for us the living,
> rather,
> >to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which
> they
> >who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It
> is
> >rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
> task
> >remaining before us -- that from these honored dead
> we
> >take increased devotion to that cause for which
> they
> >gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we
> here
> >highly resolve that these dead shall not have died
> in
> 
=== message truncated ===


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