Monday, July 01, 2013

... and they say Southerns can't let go ...

Don't worry, the American Civil War / War Between the States is not going to be a regular topic here - heck every time you post on the topic you p1ss half the readers off - but this cannot pass without comment.

Via Eric at NationalJournal;
Next week marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, but it appears, somehow, there is still some bad blood between a pair of Northern and Southern states.

Here's the controversy: The Minnesota Historical Society has a Confederate flag in its possession, captured from a Virginia regiment during the last day of the battle. For the sake of the anniversary, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell asked Minnesota to loan it to them (McDonnell is the governor who had declared April 2010 "Confederate History Month" at the behest of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, but then apologized for not mentioning slavery in the proclamation.) Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton's response to the request was simple: No way.

As he told a crowd of reporters and Civil War reenactors earlier this week:
The governor of Virginia earlier this year requested that the flag be loaned, quote, unquote, to Virginia to commemorate--it doesn't quite strike me as something they would want to commemorate, but we declined that invitation.

It was taken in a battle at the cost of the blood of all these Minnesotans. And I think it would be a sacrilege to return it to them. It was something that was earned through the incredible courage and valor of men who gave their lives and risked their lives to obtain it. And, as far as I'm concerned, it's a closed subject.
Come on, man!

Really people. What could have been a moment where we could all be adults and show that the past is the past - Minnesota's Governor has to act like a complete a55hat and ruin a moment. Would it have been horrible to let VA have it for just a few weeks, and then give it back? Are we this backward looking and petty?

Then again, Dayton was what he was as a Senator, so what do you expect.

OK, I'm going to say it; typical d@mn Yankee. No manners.

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