....asshole...the governor of virginia or his crazy attorney general?


Virginia governor amends Confederate history proclamation to include slavery

By Anita Kumar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 8, 2010; A01

RICHMOND -- After a barrage of nationwide criticism for excluding
slavery from his Confederate History Month proclamation, Virginia Gov.
Robert F. McDonnell (R) on Wednesday conceded that it was "a major
omission" and amended the document to acknowledge the state's
complicated past.

A day earlier, McDonnell said he left out any reference to slavery in
the original seven-paragraph proclamation because he wanted to include
issues he thought were most "significant" to Virginia. He also said the
document was designed to promote tourism in the state, which next year
marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.

(Indeed, the 500,000 slaves in Virginia during the Civil War were
insignificant)

However, Wednesday afternoon the governor issued a mea culpa for the
document's exclusion of slavery. "The proclamation issued by this Office
designating April as Confederate History Month contained a major
omission," McDonnell said in a statement. "The failure to include any
reference to slavery was a mistake, and for that I apologize to any
fellow Virginian who has been offended or disappointed."

McDonnell also called the nation's first elected black governor, L.
Douglas Wilder (D) of Virginia, and the chairman of the Legislative
Black Caucus, Del. Kenneth Cooper Alexander (D-Norfolk), to apologize
after they said they were offended by the document. McDonnell told them
that he would alter the proclamation to include slavery and acknowledge
that it was the cause of the Civil War.

The original declaration called on Virginians to "understand the
sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the
period of the Civil War." McDonnell added language to the document that
said slavery "was an evil and inhumane practice that deprived people of
their God-given inalienable rights and all Virginians are thankful for
its permanent eradication from our borders."

But his decision to declare April Confederate History Month continued to
cause a firestorm Wednesday, with national media descending on Richmond
and Democrats and African Americans accusing the new governor of
ignoring the state's role in slavery.

Sheila Johnson, one of McDonnell's most prominent black supporters and
the wealthy co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, condemned the
proclamation, calling it "insensitive" to Virginia's complicated and
painful history.

"If Virginians are to celebrate their 'shared history,' as this
proclamation suggests, then the whole truth of this history must be
recognized and not evaded," said Johnson, who participated in a
political ad for McDonnell's gubernatorial bid last fall and headlined
several fundraisers during his campaign against Democrat R. Creigh Deeds.

State Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond), a member of the black
caucus, accepted the governor's apology Wednesday but said he was
disappointed that the state had to undergo the embarrassment and
national scrutiny that followed the proclamation. "It's a black eye," he
said.

McDonnell revived a controversy that had been dormant for years.
Confederate History Month was started by Gov. George Allen (R) in 1997.
Allen's successor, James S. Gilmore III (R), included anti-slavery
language in his proclamation.

In 2002, Mark R. Warner, Gilmore's successor, broke with their actions,
calling such proclamations a "lightning rod" that did not help bridge
divisions between whites and blacks in Virginia. Four years later, Gov.
Timothy M. Kaine was asked to issue a proclamation but did not.

Kaine, who now serves as chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
criticized McDonnell in a statement Wednesday.

"Governor McDonnell's decision to designate April as Confederate History
Month without condemning, or even acknowledging, the pernicious stain of
slavery or its role in the war disregards history, is insensitive to the
extraordinary efforts of Americans to eliminate slavery and bind the
nation's wounds, and offends millions of Americans of all races and in
all parts of our nation," he said.

This year's proclamation was requested by the Sons of Confederate
Veterans. A representative of the group said it has known since it
interviewed McDonnell when he was running for attorney general in 2005
that he was likely to respond differently than Warner and Kaine.

Brag Bowling, a national board member of the Sons of Confederate
Veterans, said his organization supported adding language about slavery
to the proclamation.

"Governor McDonnell is taking some really unnecessary heat for this," he
said. "Most of it is coming from his political opposition. . . . If this
helps him with his opposition, then we support him."

Bowling called McDonnell "a man of conviction and courage" for
recognizing Confederate History Month. And though Bowling said he would
have preferred language calling slavery just one of several factors that
led to the Civil War, he agreed that a full accounting of the era must
include a discussion of slavery.

"All we're looking for is an accurate history, which we don't get in
schools anymore or in the media," Bowling said. "The idea is to promote
education in Virginia and tourism. Hopefully, we can still do that."

***

Accurate history? Promote education? Are those the new code words for
promoting insurrection, slavery, and an attempt to destroy the union?

Lincoln was far too forgiving after the south was beaten.



--
http://tinyurl.com/ykxp2ym

On Apr 8, 7:09*am, hk wrote:
...asshole...

You. By a long shot.

On 4/8/10 9:26 AM, Loogypicker wrote:
On Apr 8, 7:09 am, wrote:
...asshole...

You. By a long shot.

Yawn.

What's the matter, Loogy...no work at the shape-up for unskilled day
laborers like you?

--
http://tinyurl.com/ykxp2ym

On Apr 8, 9:42*am, hk wrote:
On 4/8/10 9:26 AM, Loogypicker wrote:

On Apr 8, 7:09 am, *wrote:
...asshole...

You. By a long shot.

Yawn.

What's the matter, Loogy...no work at the shape-up for unskilled day
laborers like you?

--http://tinyurl.com/ykxp2ym

What's the matter, Harry, no lies to tell at the moment?