South Georgia 4th edition page one

Did Sonny Lie? - Hate or Heritage.

by John R. Taylor

john@ucan.us

You have no doubt seen the signs beside the road which read, "No votes for turncoats", or something to that effect. And it cannot be argued that the supporters restoring of the old Georgia flag, had an impact on electing the first Republican governor since reconstruction, not to mention a number of republican legislators. We will cover two topics here because it would not be fair to write of one without the other. Did Sonny lie? And, does the old Georgia flag, complete with the controversial Confederate Battle Flag, represent hate or heritage. Or is it truly a mix of each.

On the first issue, let us define lie. To lie, is to knowingly and willing give false information. A broken promise, that you honestly intended to keep, is not a lie; it is a broken promise, but not a lie. On the other hand, if you never had any intention of keeping the promise, then it is a lie and a broken promise. We also must look at the sprit of a lie. We did have a referendum on which flag we wanted; the referendum just did not include the flag in question. Did Sonny Perdue ever promise that there would be a referendum with the old flag as a choice? Or did he just promise a referendum on the flag without ever actually stated that the old flag would be an option. I don't know. If he never did the later, then he can argue that he kept his promise.

Of course this is all kind of silly. We all know what those flag folks wanted. He knew too. And I think he meant to let the citizens of Georgia vote on the issue, with the old flag as an option. He probably thought, what is more democratic that letting the people vote. Why did he not do it? Will he did it not for the same reason Roy Barns slipped the old blue flag in on us. Pressure - political and economic pressure - from a world of sources, for one, the NCAA. (The National Collegiate Athletics Association, or as it's known in Tuscaloosa, The National Conspiracy Against Alabama.) They warned that if the controversial flag was reinstated they would pull the Final Four Basketball tournament, SEC football championship game and all matter of other revenue and prestige generating events form Atlanta and other Georgia sites. Many large corporations also warned that Atlanta would not be a convention destination.

These, and untold others warned of dyer consequences to the state if it did not yield to their will. All this, along with what he saw happening in South Carolina, with a NAACP boycott and protest, would have been enough to persuade almost anyone.

So, it appears that Sonny did his best; did as much as anyone could have done. Is it right that those interest groups can use their pressure to deny the citizens of Georgia the right to vote? It doesn't seem the way democracy and representative government is supposed to work to me. But until there is an organization to represent those on the outside of this issue, there is nothing much they can do. Without an organized counter to the boycotts and public relation campaigns that those who oppose them use, they don't have a chance. They can't vote on the issue. They can vote, but who will they vote for? Will they punish Perdue by voting for a democrat? Well if they think Sonny Perdue did them wrong, they would be unhappy indeed with Mark Taylor.

Our second topic, hate or heritage. Is the flag issue even something of importance enough to be having all this controversy over? There are many who say it is not. They say, "it's no big deal one way or the other. Get over it!" Despite their shortsightedness, it is a big deal. Flags are now, and have for centuries been, symbols of great importance. Our national flag today is of great importance, not for the fibers of fabric and dyes it is made from, but for the great ideas and sacrifices it is symbolic of. It is the ensign of nation, the icon of our common bound. It is for this reason that our enemies love to desecrate it.

Because flags are symbolic, they are important. In our current controversy there are two distinct points of view. One view is that the old flag, with its Confederate Battle Flag, is symbolic of slavery, treason, rebellion, racism, rights denied and hate. The reasons behind why they feel this way is obvious. For much of the War Between the States, it was that banner which flew over the men who fought against the United States. They had taken up arms for their state's right to keep slavery, among other things.
The other view is not, in this contemporary world, so easy to understand, but it nevertheless has validity too. That view is that the flag is a symbol of noble, brave ancestors who offered up, and in many cases gave their lives for virtuous causes. Standing here in this modern time we cannot fully grasp the environment in which these southerners lived.

The first thing we must understand is that the average Confederate solider did not fight for slavery. The over whelming majority did not own slaves and many were actually opposed to it. Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, the President of the CSA and its leading general, did not own slaves and were opposed to it. During the war, slavery was legal in Washington D.C. , Maryland and Delaware. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves in the rebellious states. At least three of my progenitors fought for the Confederacy in the war, and two of the three did not own slaves. At least one of the two who did not was certainly affluent enough to afford to if he chose, so we can assume he had an objection to it. If the war was only about slavery then why did these men, and thousands like them, risk their safety and indeed their very lives?

In the 1860s most people lived and died without ever leaving the state in which they were born.. Many people never met a person for another state. It is impossible for us, living in a world of television, telephone, the Internet, cars, planes and all the other things which make our world so small, to understand, even in a small way, how people of that time thought. If we today don't think of ourselves as Americans first, it is assuredly far above were we consider ourselves Georgians, or Oregonians. Being an Alabamian or Californian is today of no more consequence that living on 1st avenue or 133rd street. But then, at time only four score and seven years removed from being English colonies and less than four score years from being united states united only by the Articles of Confederation with no strong central government, most people thought of themselves as a Tennessean, Ohioan or what have you first and as American second.

Also, although President Lincoln was very savvy in forcing the south to fire the first shots of the war at Fort Sumter, southerners felt, and rightly so, that they were being invaded and that they were only defending their homes. It was the Federal troops who march into the south. Not until relatively late in the war did the Confederates invade the north; at the famous, and disastrous for the south, battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

The prevalent feeling in the south at the time, both of the slave holders and those opposing it, was that the north was trying to unjustly and illegally impose its will on the south. They felt that it was the constitutional right of any state to exercise all the authority it was entitled to under the constitution. The Federal government only had the authority expressly granted it in the constitution, anything not expressly granted was the right of the states. That a thing was good, bad, right or wrong had nothing to do with it. Murder is unquestionable wrong, but because the constitution is silent on it, the Federal government has no authority on the matter. It was then, and is now a state matter. Most southerners felt that slavery was a state matter not to be arbitrated by the Federal Government. If anything, the constitution implicitly condoned slavery by making provisions for it. The constitution let slaves count as 2/3 person in allocating congressional seats in the House.

The argument that slavery was a state matter became a moot point after secession. The south believed that each state had joined the Union voluntary, and thus had an inherit right to withdraw from it at the state's inclination. That the rebelling states had to be readmitted to the Union after the war only adds merit to this claim.

That southerners at the time of the Civil War were raciest cannot be argued. They were, as were northerners. Then, as is sadly true today, most people are raciest. But many men who fought for the southern cause were good men who strongly believed they were doing the right thing. Many fought so that their children and their posterity would not have to endure the oppression of a defeated people. And because they lost the south has been a defeated people.

Even today the negative effects of that war are still felt. That the freeing of virtually an entire race of people from bondage is a great and noble thing is a given. But that that war has impeded the progress of all southerners, both black and white, is also a given. If the emancipation of all Americans could have been accomplished without that horrific war, much of the hatred and bitterness among blacks and whites in the south would never have existed.

to be continued next week.

Back to the Top

Powered Parachutes

What is a Powered Parachute? A powered parachute is a flexible winged, aerial recreational vehicle. It combines an engine with a flexible parachute wing technology similar to that used by sport parachutists. The parachute, unlike the rigid structures of airplanes or ultralights, is built of Nylon fabric with Spectra suspension lines. The forward motion of the vehicle forces air into the multiple ‘cells’ along the wing’s leading edge, pressurizing it and holding its precisely calculated airfoil shape.

The airframe is suspended below the wing by multiple Spectra lines. The airframe supports the pilot, the engine, the propeller, and the controls. It rides on its three wheels when on the ground.

You begin your flight on flat ground with your canopy spread out behind your machine. As you drive into the wind the parachute wing kites up and begins to take the shape of an airfoil.

Once your wing is fully inflated, you begin to add even more throttle. As you add throttle, the machine speeds up until it lifts off of the ground. You have achieved flight! The vehicle is inherently safe because the airframe is suspended below the wing, giving the system what is called 'pendulum stability.' For example, if a gust of wind swings the airframe out to one side in flight, gravity will swing it back into position below the center of the wing. This action will keep the wing level; and this is why a powered parachute will fly straight ahead with no attention from the pilot. Of course, controls allow turns whenever the pilot wants. Simply applying pressure to a foot pedal will guide the vehicle away from the "straight and narrow path" it tries to maintain. In addition, the wing is designed to always fly at the same 'angle of attack' (the angle at which it meets the air as it moves forward.) This means that a powered parachute will always fly at basically the same airspeed (26 mph.) If the pilot increases power, the vehicle climbs and increases altitude; at an intermediate setting it will cruise at level flight; and, if power is decreased, it will gently descend and land. With only left and right steering and up and down controls, the vehicle is very easy to fly. You begin to land by finding your field, lining up into the wind and then lowering the throttle to start your descent.

As you get closer to the ground you adjust the throttle to maintain a gentle descent.
After the aircraft touches down you pull completely back on the throttle, shut down the engine and collapse the canopy. You have completed your flight!

Pilots normally land a powered parachute under power just like you would most any other aircraft. But if a powered parachute pilot shuts down the engine in flight, the vehicle becomes a normal, steerable, unpowered gliding parachute, just like those used by sky divers. Actually, because the parachutes used are much larger than sport parachutes, the vehicle would come down at a rate of only about two thirds as fast as a jumper under canopy. And since the vehicle has a suspension and padding, the pilot has yet another added protection.

With their low takeoff and landing speeds, powered parachutes do not need an airport; open fields work well. A pilot's license is not required because powered parachutes are classified by the FAA as ultralight vehicles. These features make flying very inexpensive.
A powered parachute's unusual configuration offers you the magic of pure recreational flight, combining low cost with simplicity and safety, and without the necessity of extensive instruction or experience.

Back to the Top

What is it?

Is it a fort? A garden? No, it's a cemetery. Jutting up for the old Avondale Mall parking lot is the old Crowley family cemetery. The old Avondale Mall has been closed for a long time now. Wal-Mart may be coming but it will make no difference to the Crowleys buried in this most unusual of cemeteries. What is now a two story high granite walled structure was at one time on ground level. Before the Columbus, (now Avondale) Mall was developed this curiosity was just a family cemetery much like others in the area.

The original developers and the Crowley descendants reached an agreement when they sold the land for the mall that the cemetery that the graves would be protected forever.

When the landscapers made the mall parking lot they graded the surrounding land down and then built the stone wall around the cemetery. A padlocked metal gate restricts access to stairs leading to the top of the tower. Buried there are Benjamin Crowley, one of the first white settlers of DeKalb County, and several family members. The cemetery was used from the early 19th century until the Civil War.

If you are ever in Atlanta and have some time on your hands, look the Cowley Cemetery at old Avondale Mall.
 

Back to the Top

War
By Jenny Miller

"One hand on the Bible, one hand on the gun." Lyrics to a song by Jim Croce completely emphasize the truth about war. It's ironic how the activists who most strongly oppose war are not religious. I guess that says a lot about our society today. Do we pick and choose what we want to abide by when it comes to religious doctrine? How can we stand and say the pledge of allegiance and even mention God? If God wants us to murder others to get our way then I'm not so sure I'm on his side either. One out of every ten people that get killed during a war are actual soldiers. The other nine are women, children, and innocent citizens that are weaponless and the only sin that they have committed is that they hate the people who have senselessly slaughtered there own, right before their eyes. And is that even a sin?

Are we so foolish as to think that violence and murder is the answer? I think it was God who said, "Turn the other cheek." So do we want to be like God in the untainted and laudable aspect, but when it comes to the conscientious objector aspect we don't really think it is the best idea? Isn't it the sixth commandment that states, "Thou shalt not kill"? So, let me get this straight, it's not acceptable to kill an unborn child, but it is acceptable to kill a full-grown man. If so, what makes you and I any less worthy to live than a fetus?

"Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." Do you agree with that quote? I mean, after all, being passive in life isn't really going to get you very far. Violence is not always the answer, but sometimes it must be applied. Well, if you concur with that quote then you concur with Adolf Hitler, a man that surely didn't lower his gun in times of disagreement. A man that thought slaying was the answer. But I guess it makes no difference to us. It isn't our family being slaughtered and tortured, it isn't our sons and daughters that are getting shot in the streets; it's theirs. So we can sit in our comfortable chairs and sip our coffee saying, "they deserve to die, they should have listened." And it makes no difference to us.

Jenny Miller is very active for animal rights and anti-war movements. Her columns appear occasionally.

Back to the Top

The Impact of Teachers
By John R. Taylor
john@ucan.us

The following story is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Teachers are the absolute most important people in any society and teaching, the most important task. Those who go to a classroom everyday are not the only teachers. Parents are the primary teachers in all the history of our civilization. They have not all always been good teachers, many were not, and that fact is always reflected in the kind of society that results. Formal teachers play a very important role, be it in school, church, at work or where have you. Because of this they deserve much more from us than they are now getting, more respect, more money, more of a voice. It is not the direct point of this story, but we should never miss an opportunity to speak out for teachers, and we should commit our time, finances, influences and energy to making it a fairer world for teachers.

What is the point of this story, is that teachers, formal and informal, can and do have an astonishing impact, for good or for ill, on the lives of those who they teach. In many cases that impact is not known by the teacher, or at least the degree of its importance is not known by them.

Let us review a scripture. It is the words of our Savior recorded in Matthew 25:31-46. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all the nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? Or when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or Naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

As with most all scripture, these verses are filled with layers meaning. The meaning which is on the surface and probably the most important is the universal truth that when a person is in the service of their fellowman, they are only in the service of their God. And below that there are many life lessons to be learned. One of these lessons is that our actions have a tremendous impact on the lives of others, even when we might not even remember the actions.

Jimmy's first grade teacher was Miss Mackey. She was young, beautiful and sweet to all her students and they all loved her. Even as an adult, Jimmy had no trouble remembering her. His memories of her were good, how she sought to find reasons to praise him and his classmates, her reassuring smile and her occasional pats on the back. He had always thought of her as being as good a first grade teacher as anyone could have. However, there was that one bad memory, a memory which changed his life.

Jimmy's best friend in first grade was named Larry. Larry was not like the other children. Today they would say he was mentally challenged, back then they said he was mentally retarded. He wasn't severely disabled, but the school work was hard for him, particularly in a regular classroom. The work was not at all hard for Jimmy, but he did find it boring. Jimmy was not challenged at all intellectually, later he would be tested and found to be in the top one percent of Americans on a standardized IQ test. But Jimmy never finished his work. There was too much to daydream about, too much to talk about. There just wasn't time for school work. Daily, together, Larry and Jimmy would take the wrath of Miss Mackey. Her wrath really wasn't much as wrath goes. It was more of a pep talk. She would offer kind words of encouragement, sometimes squeeze their hand and tell them how she had so much confidence in tier doing the work tomorrow.

As the days and weeks and then months rolled by Miss Mackey probably had given up on either boy ever doing his work, but then something happened. Toward the end of the day, in among the concourses of young scholars who filed up to the teacher's desk to dutifully turn in their completed assignments, was a stranger. It was Jimmy. When he placed the papers on Miss Mackey's desk she looked at them, and then grabbed Jimmy and hugged him to her. She held him tight and said, "Oh, Jimmy, I am so proud of you!" Embracing Jimmy so tight and rocking him side to side she exclaimed, "I knew you could do it! You have made me so happy!" Jimmy thought she was squeezing all the air out of his lungs. He thought he was going to pass out. But he didn't care. This is great he thought. For this I'll do my work everyday. Just before he blacked out, she released him and held him by the shoulders at arms length. She was still telling him how great he was for doing his work, but he wasn't listening anymore. He had become aware of the other children and was embarrassed. He caught something about Miss Mackey putting a gold star beside his name in the grade book. He never had a gold star before but he knew many of the other children had. Then she said, "I am going to put a gold star on your shirt." She pressed a small gold star onto Jimmy's shirt collar.

That was when things went bad. She got up from her desk and took Jimmy by the hand and led him over to Larry's desk. As they stood over Larry's desk, he looked up at Miss Mackey holding Jimmy's collar, pushing the star at Larry. "Larry, do you see what Jimmy got? He did all his work. Why can't you do your work like Jimmy? If you would do your work you could have a gold star like Jimmy." Jimmy looked down at his friend and could see the tears welling up in his big brown eyes. How bad he must feel he thought. On and on it went. Miss Mackey's words were not harsh; they were soft, and meant to encourage. But now the tears flowed freely down the face of this poor first grader. Oh, how Jimmy wished he could make it stop. The pain of watching his young friend suffer was far worst than any whipping he had ever had, and he had had a belt applied to his backside with great gusto very often.

It was nine years before Jimmy ever did his work again. It may have had nothing to do with the pain he saw in the tearing eyes of little Larry. Maybe he was just lazy. Maybe. Miss Mackey finished the year out being the loving and kind teacher she had always been. Jimmy was sure Larry had fully forgiven her, and he had forgiven her as well. But something was different. Something was lost.
Jimmy saw little of Larry after first grade. Larry was put in a special class and they only saw each other walking home from school or maybe when there was a big program in the assembly hall. Jimmy moved on and made new friends. He hoped Larry had friends too.

From the first grade until the ninth, Jimmy made mostly Bs and Cs with an A here or there. Half way through the ninth grade Jimmy got a new stepfather and stepbrother. Steve, his stepbrother, was very smart and always made straight As. Jimmy didn't really care one way or the other about this until Mac, his new stepfather, talked to him about his first report card. He had done a little better than his average, no Cs and a few more As than usual. Mac meant to be kind, reassuring and uplifting. "Now Jimmy, I want you to understand that you don't have to make straight As. Steve has never made anything but As, and are very proud of him for that, but that doesn't mean we love him more or that we are not proud of you. As long as you do your best that's all we ask, and if you do your best, you can do or be anything you want. Now this is a very good report card. It is not all As, but I am sure you worked very hard and I am very proud of you."
Jimmy never again made less than an A on a report card in high school. He went on to graduate from a university with honors and just under a 4.0 GPA.
Back to the Top

We fund terrorist every time we turn the key
By John R. Taylor
john@ucan.us

You have heard all those who want to mind everybody else's business scream about your SUV. How you should feel guilty about driving one because you are aiding terrorist and destroying the environment. Well maybe you are, but isn't it going a bit far when we don't have even the freedom to choose what we drive? If we are willing to pay $50 for a tank of fuel that will take you 200 miles, I think you should have that right. I like paying $16 for a tank that will take me 400 miles better; of course I'd like it better were it four or five dollars.

The problem is that we should be able to drive what we want and can afford, and not dirty up all our air, and help those who wish us dead. And we can. We may not do it, but it is completely in our power to do it. What we all together must realize is that it is not so important what we pour our fuel into, but rather what the fuel is we are putting in it. The gasoline we now use is distilled from petroleum crude oil, a resource we have in great supply, but not nearly so great as our colossal appetite for it. Because we can't supply it domestically we have no choice but to import it. The United Kingdom has a vast North Sea reserve and we import enormous quantities form them. This adds to our trade deficit and is therefore damaging to our economy, however the UK is our ally and doing business with them is much more favorable than doing business with counties and peoples who are trying to destroy us. But we require so much oil that we must get it from everywhere. OPEC, the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries, is a cartel of mostly Middle Eastern countries; Venezuela being the notable exception. That their anti-competitive practice of suppliers banning together to control the price of a commodity is unethical and would be illegal in this country, should be enough for us not to trade with them to say nothing of the fact that of every dollar we Americans spend on their oil much of it goes to sponsor terrorism and acts of violence against us and our allies. We are most literally trading with the enemy. The attacks of 9/11 were funded by American dollars paid to Saudi Arabia for oil.

We can fix all this by simply using alcohol as a motor fuel rather that gasoline. The Model T was originally designed to run off alcohol, but because gasoline was cheep and being discarded from the distillation of kerosene anyway, they switched to gas. Today's modern automobiles with their computer controlled fuel injection systems could easily be made to use alcohol. Many new cars are already multi-fuel ready. Most South American countries today use an ethanol product which is at least 75% alcohol.

There are three main reasons to switch to alcohol fuel in all gasoline powered cars. Any one of these reason alone are compelling enough to make the transition, together they may be our epitaph.

We can supply our own alcohol. While there are naysayers who say otherwise, we can unquestionable produce enough alcohol to meet our needs. An alcohol-for-fuel industry would have to be created. The relative small volumes of alcohol made for human consumption and medical prepossess would be nothing to the vast refining operations to supply the millions upon millions of gallons needed to fuel our cars. But to question that we can get it done is ridiculous; just build more stills. It might become a cottage industry; I'm sure there are some good ol' boys around here that know how to make alcohol.

The present logistical and delivery systems can be completely utilized. The same trucks which now bring gasoline to pumps at the store on the corner can bring alcohol to those same pumps. The oil companies, who are the major opponents to an alcohol fuel system, could provide the distillation and refining facilities. They should take a hint for the tobacco industry. That industry knows that it will one day die, so the companies in that industry have bought food companies, financial service businesses, and other non-tobacco ventures. While the oil industry will not die in my lifetime, we should not buy one drop of oil from Saudi Arabia to burn in our cars.

Stopping the importation of oil would not only severely cripple the money pipeline to Moslem terrorist, it would also balance our trade deficit. It is true we have created many new potential problems in trade by shipping our jobs overseas, nevertheless it is oil which puts us at the greatest disadvantage. Understanding trade deficits is a topic for another time; but know this - our trade deficit negatively impacts each and every American.

The second major reason that we should burn alcohol in our cars instead of gasoline is that it is a renewable resource. We have used enormous amounts of oil, and there are even now immense amounts in the ground that we have not pumped out, and probably much more that we have not yet discovered. But one fact is inescapable. The amount of oil, however large that amount is, is finite. When it is gone, it is gone. We cannot make more of it. One day we will run out. Is it not smart to save an unreplenishable resource for uses which only it can supply? Why burn it up in our cars when there is a replensihable and renewable substitute? We can create a perpetual supply of alcohol.

The third of the major reasons to switch now to an alcohol-for-fuel system is that it is immeasurably cleaner burning that any fossil fuels. There has recently been a study which showed that our automobiles are the chief factor in air pollution. Coal-fired electric power plants were previously thought to be the number one culprit. Whether they are number one or two on the list of dirty air makers, changing to an alcohol fuel would make our air a great deal cleaner for us and all of our posterity.

There has been and will continue to be those who fight with all their might to stop this from happening, but they all are motivated by self-serving reasons and hidden agendas. But it must happen. We owe it to our children.