Forrest did at first praise the KKK, when it originally was started as an organization to push back against the abuses of carpetbaggers during the Reconstruction. Unfortunately, as we all know, the KKK swiftly descended into a tool to oppress black people, and Forrest wound up not only dissociating from it, but even denouncing it. In 1869, he tried to disband it.

Forrest was a self-made businessman and a brilliant general. He was also an originator of some of the tactics used by special operations military ever since. He was a slave-owner who freed some of his slaves, who then became members of his elite guard and fought with him loyally against the Union.

It’s all very complicated. But for Forrest, at least, the KKK did not seem to be about race, and it appears he was appalled by their excesses and violence. He also appeared to have considerable interest in racial reconciliation.

Of course, to most people Forrest would be known for saying that war was about “getting there the fustest with the mostest.” Of course, he never actually said that.

But, they have to be enacted first and I don’t think that the American electorate will tolerate real tax increases and expensive regulations as long as they perceive/experience pain in their personal finances.

NuclearPhysicist on May 14, 2008 at 11:27 AM

Have you ever heard of the IRS ?

right, I’m retired in an ocean front Villa in Puerto Vallarta, income taxes are 10% and property taxes less than 1%

windansea on May 13, 2008 at 11:10 PM

Need a cabana boy who speaks really good English?

As far as Democrats beating Republicans – I’m sorry to say it but I wouldn’t be surprised if David Vitter gets the boot here in La. He’s going above and beyond at the moment – in fact we had a virtual town hall meeting last night on the housing project demolitions which was pretty good and there’s going to be more like that, but he knows the Dems think he’s an easy mark now. And they may be right.

Laura on May 14, 2008 at 11:38 AM

David Vitter was found to have patronized a prostitution ring, the leader of which committed suicide when faced with a potential life-long jail sentence. Vitter fought against sinful things like gambling being legal. As far as I know, he hasn’t taken a stand to legalize prostitution. Why on earth should this guy not be in jail, let alone be a senator?

Game over, man. Game over.

You reap what you sow.

Dole, McCain, illegal immigration, spending like liberals, this stupid war.

Game over man. Game over.

Almost time for Atlas Shrugged…

eanax on May 14, 2008 at 12:18 AM

Yes, and I’m going with them. May Obama win, and may the Congress double its liberal size. I wish it on every liberal and on every conservative.

You said the “media takes a few thin scientific facts and hypes them to death,” but then say that the hype is only occurring in the headlines, and the body of the articles contains the truth, but people don’t bother to read the truth in the actual article. The issue of global warming, whether correct or not, seems to have more substance than a few overstated headlines of articles that otherwise tell the truth about global warming.

I was trying to be brief because I didn’t intend to threadjack with all this, and I didn’t want to post a really huge comment. I should have just said what I wanted to say the first time, it would have been faster. :-) The media DOES take a few thin facts and hype them to death, MOSTLY in the headlines. You typically have to get near the end of the article to get any info that does not adhere to the media narrative, just like in the war reporting so many conservatives take note of.

Is pollution and waste bad? Yes. We should stop it; that’s just common sense. Does the temperature of the planet change? Certainly. We’ve had demonstrable warming and cooling over time. Is it our fault and can we control it? Not bloody likely. Who benefits from all this hype? The media and the government. And Al Gore, who ironically may be the smartest capitalist of our generation.

The right wing push to only allow the “perfect conservative” to have a voice in the party is now bearing its bitter fruit.
Reagan wept…

Bradky on May 14, 2008 at 11:04 AM

McCain, Gerald Ford, Bush 41, Bush 43, Dole, Chafee, Bloomberg, Nixon, Eisenhower, the Rockefellers, Huckabee, Romney, Giuliani, Specter, Warner, Hagel, Lugar, Snowe, Collins, Pataki, Shays, Schwarzenegger, Colin Powell, Christie Todd Whitman, Earl Warren, Jim Leach, Howard Baker, James Baker, etc.

I guess I see what you mean.

Will to power is a hardy perennial. Ideology also plays a role. Some folks can’t sleep well at night knowing that there are decisions left to free individuals in markets.

The economic motivations should be apparent as well: Non-signatory countries directly benefit from emissions reduction conventions that relocate production from signatory countries. In economics we talk about rent-seeking, raising rivals’ costs, etc. — improperly inclusive conventions do both these things.

Forget about judges. The Dhimmis should have between 58 and 61 seats in the Senate and that, with the remaining Rinos should guarantee supreme courts seats for the likes of Lawrence Tribe or worse.

Forget abortion. With the majority they’ll have the Dems will present a federal abortion law making it legal, free and an available individual right for all females over the age of 6 without parental consent for minors.

Forget old style marriage. A new law will legalize full blown polyamory. Marriage between N>-1 males an M>=1 females and any number of switch hitters. The Muslims will be happy, while they wait for complete Shari’a, and the Mormons can anticipate a new revelation bringing back the good old days.

Forget good and rapid medical care. The joys of the Canadian an British plans imposed in the U.S. will quickly demonstrate the true cost of “free” health care.

Forget planning for vacations in far away places. All kinds of carbon taxes will quickly drive gas prices above $6/gallon and with no nuclear, no exploration etc. people will be lucky to have enough to heat their homes in winter.

These are the good parts, I’ll leave the bad for someone else to enumerate.

I could go find fifty articles just in the last ten days with deeply misleading, hysteria causing headlines on the war, global warming, and especially lately, the so-called recession. The point is that the media manipulates the info they have in order to get the most impact. People scan, they don’t read.

And the Times wasn’t warning about global warming – it was telling readers the looming dangers of a new ice age. The year was 1895, and it was just one of four different time periods in the last 100 years when major print media predicted an impending climate crisis…As the Times put it on Feb. 24, 1895, “Geologists Think the World May Be Frozen Up Again.”

He brings this up in relation to how these hysterical predictions tend to cycle between one extreme to the other. The article he referes to, however, was not about the “looming danger of another ice age.” The article talked about colder temps that were occurring, but then said this:

“This extraordinary cold appears, however, to be rather a periodical occurence than of gradually and annually increasing in intensity, and the existence of larger quantities of ice than usual in the Atlantic rather points to warmer weather in the polar regions than to an unusual intensity and extension of the region of the polar cold. The annals of history show that from time to time since the advent of man into the world, remarkable rigid Winters and torrid Summers have upset the calculations of learned geologists and ruffled the equanimity of the inhabitants of the temperate zones.”

So the article was not “telling readers the looming dangers of a new ice age,” but was saying the exact opposite, and saying it is nothing to worry about. The author, Warren Anderson, is a fraud. That is the problem with this issue. I expect people everywhere are mangling references as your link does. If I am going to sift through all the garbage, I want to know why I am doing it.

If the global warming people are sincere in their belief, and you think they are simply wrong (and I think NuclearPhycisist would agree with this stance), I am not interested in spending the two months reading about it that it will take to sift through the garbage and find the truth. If it is a scientific disagreement, I am not going to spend the time.

If, however, there is a conspiracy (like Romeo13 or MaverickMuse might say), I find it more interesting and might want to spend the two months figuring it out for myself. But if there is a conspiracy, I would like to know what the motivation is for such a grand conspiracy to see if that part of it is reasonable first.

Laura, the histrionics he encouraged have seen a rise in inappropriate conduct and dialog against LEGAL citizens who happen to be hispanic. Some who are my relatives have experienced this — guess which party they are less inclined to vote for… results are important but tactics have consequences.

He will never get my vote and neither will Mary. Vitter chose fearmongering rather than reason about the immigration issue followed up by his disgusting performance irt the DC Madam.

fossten on May 14, 2008 at 11:07 AM

But, they have to be enacted first and I don’t think that the American electorate will tolerate real tax increases and expensive regulations as long as they perceive/experience pain in their personal finances. Concerns over personal finances will trump proposed, harmful global warming legislation until Americans either perceive a return to prosperity or see climate changes that measurably affect their personal lives. Since neither of these things is likely to happen in the near term, there is still time for the global warming hoax to be exposed before it results in harmful legislative mandates.