[MO] Gov. advocates preservation efforts at [Civil War] anniversary event

[loyalsister]

Blunt said those serving on both side of the conflict deserved respect. Virtually all of them believed they were fighting for a noble cause, he said.

Snip> The governor also advocated preservation efforts, noting the southwest Greene County site generated nearly $400,000 in annual state and local revenue.

Snip> Private-public partnerships are the only successful way to address encroaching development, he told attendees.

Snip> The government federal, state and local cannot be in the business of solely buying historic assets. There's too many of them, and the government has too many priorities, Nau said.

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060810/BREAKING01/60810014


This confederate flag controversy has been going on in Missouri for a couple of years.
It is my understanding that according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, some of those private groups who are into Civil War re-enactment are actually hate groups masquarading.
New hate groups popped up soon after Holden took them down and have gained strength with the threat of "brown people" (via 9\11 hysteria and fury over immigration).

[Somawas]

1. I see quite the opposite at the SPLC website

regarding Civil War reenactors.

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/hatewatch/item.jsp?hid=1087

The Confederacy is a part of the history of this country. And practically all of the people who fought and died for it did so in the belief in a noble cause and in the belief that they fought for their own rights.

[loyalsister]

4. Take another look......

Neo-Confederate movement.....

Many groups celebrate traditional Southern culture and the Civil War's dramatic conflict between the Union and the Confederacy. But some groups go further and embrace racist attitudes towards blacks and, in some cases, white separatism. Such groups are listed in this category.
The League of the South, founded in 1994 and counting some 9,000 members by 2001, is at the center of the racist neo-Confederate movement. Calling once again for Southern secession, the League's leaders say minorities are destroying the "Anglo-Celtic" (white) culture of the South. They oppose most non-white immigration and all interracial marriages. Founder Michael Hill, a former college professor, has called blacks "a deadly and compliant underclass" and has embraced well-known white supremacists such as North Carolina attorney Kirk Lyons.

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp?T=27&m=4


There are some like the one above, and others are aligning themselves with the Concerned Citizens Council. CCC has a huge presense in Missouri that has been expanding.

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040802&s=zengerle080204

[Virginia Dare]

2. It's good to see that they are working to preserve the site...

it's a crime and a shame what's happened to so many significant Civil War sites here in Virginia.

About the hate groups masquerading as re-enactors, I had not heard that. Lots of re-enactors here in Virginia Union and Confederate, they go to local fairs, parks, etc. and I've never seen any apparent evidence of it. SPLC is a credible source though, so I'd be interested to hear what's behind it.

[MadHound]

3. The confederate flag controversy in Missouri is a non-starter

We don't fly the flag on the capital grounds, nor on any government facility. The only public place where a confederate flag is flown is at a couple of historical cemetaries that have quite a few confederate graves in them, and then *both* the conferederate and US flag are flown. I really have no problem with that sort of memorial, nor do the vast majority of people of all races in this state. It is really a tempest in a teapot.

As far as Civil War reenactors go, sure, there are some of them that long for the glory days of the the old South, but having met a bunch of these folks over the past quarter century, I would have to say it is a pretty small percentage. Most of them are into it for fun and historical reasons, and will, if they can afford to, have both a union and confederate uniform in order to switch sides when needed. In fact I've met several African American who are reenactors, some of whom actually fight for the "Southern" side during their mock battles(as is historically accurate, since the South did have African Americans fight, in uniform, for them)

As far as the park that Blunt is blathering on about, the state should have bought it up long ago. It is a lovely place, fine views, well preserved, historically significant. We here in Missouri have had our Civil War history glossed over or ignored, which is a shame for everybody, since we were involved in the conflict first, along with Kansas, in the 1850s, and also Missouri has the distinction of having the most battles fought on its soil during the Civil War(granted, most of them were fairly small skirmishes, but we had some major ones as well, including that at Wilson's Battle Creek).

But instead, the park remained in private hands, and has consequently had massive development from Springfield come out and surround it, now choking it off. Rather sad, and hopefully there is a big enough push to preserve it so it doesn't entirely go away.

Now this doesn't mean that we don't have our fair share of bigots and assholes in the state, we do. But they're no worse than any other state, and frankly better than many, including some so called "liberal" states.

[loyalsister]

6. Don't dismiss it too quickly

it is more complicated than that. The bigots want to create a board which would not be required to be advised by the state historical commission. The new commission would determine where it is legitimate to fly the confederate flag and it would be a crime to remove it. And, yes it would be on state property. We will see this bill again. It passed out of the first committee with bipartisan support. The southern Democrats are very conservative and support it.

http://www.house.mo.gov/bills061/bilsum/commit/sHB999C.htm

See above for who would be most involved in the due process procedures for this.

Nice.

[MadHound]

8. Thanks, I'll keep an eye on that

However I doubt that *anything* is going to get done in Jeff City before the election, and the makeup of the General Assembly looks like it is going to be very different next year. Many many people are pissed both at Blunt and the Repuke legislature, and I'm suspecting that both the House and the Senate will be Democratic again next year.

[Sherman A1]

7. Agreed and Well Said.

Went to Lexington, MO battlefield/park in May and it has a nice museum with a short film and a good many things to see.

[originalpckelly]

5. Yeah, those Confederates were really fighting for a noble cause...

What a complete dick, seriously!

[Somawas]

9. Yes, they were fighting for a noble cause.

The right to govern themselves as they saw best. Read a book or two. Slavery was not a war issue until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The Confederate states would have been welcomed back into the Union as states that legalized slavery before that time.

Besides, do you see noting wrong with applying your sense of politics and morality to the actions of your ancestors?