Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Virginia Flaggers's Third Anniversary Celebration Picnic/Auction Report

 

Words cannot adequately convey the depth of our gratitude for the outpouring of support for our Third Anniversary Picnic/Auction. We were overwhelmed by the number of items received for the auctions and raffle... from supporters from New York to Texas! 

The picnic would not have been possible without the dozens of folks who helped with food prep, set up, organizing and leading activities, and clean up. Last but not least, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to those who attended, from all across the South, helping to make it our largest gathering yet, and generously bidding on the items donated. It was such a privilege and honor to have the opportunity to visit with so many Flaggers and supporters, and meet new folks who came to find out what we are all about.

"...........guarantee peace, property, liberty — and even cheap whiskey!"

 

Even though it ultimately failed at the ballot box, the recent campaign for Scottish independence should cheer supporters of the numerous secession movements springing up around the globe.

In the weeks leading up to the referendum, it appeared that the people of Scotland were poised to vote to secede from the United Kingdom. Defeating the referendum required British political elites to co-opt secession forces by promising greater self-rule for Scotland, as well as launching a massive campaign to convince the Scots that secession would plunge them into economic depression.

The people of Scotland were even warned that secession would damage the international market for one of Scotland’s main exports, whiskey. Considering the lengths to which opponents went to discredit secession, it is amazing that almost 45 percent of the Scottish people still voted in favor of it.

They won't get to heaven and they won't get their virgins" Kurdish Female Fighters against ISIS

Via LH




1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda 426/425 38,250 miles



Research indicates that this 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda coupe is one of only two produced in Rallye Red with a White-on-Black interior, factory dual chromed outside mirrors and “Hemi” hockey stick body side stripes. This rare Hemi Cuda retains all its original sheet metal, including the Shaker hood, dual-opening snorkel scoop and all associated hardware. Significantly, Rallye Red Hemi Cudas were distinguished by their color matching Shaker scoop, which was painted Black with all other colors.

More @ MECUM

“I Just Need To See A Weapon.” Louisiana Restaurant Offers 10% Discount If You Prove You’re Carrying A Gun

 Bergeron's Restaurant owner Kevin Cox says he discounts 15-20 meals daily for armed customers.

While the anti-gun bullies of Moms Demand Action continue trying to harass businesses into banning the lawful carry of firearms, one popular restaurant in Louisiana is going to opposite route, and is doing booming business thanks to their pro-gun discount:

Bergeron’s Restaurant off Lobdell Highway in Port Allen is known for it’s cajun cooking, but recently they’ve been getting a lot of attention for something that doesn’t have anything to do with their food. The restaurant is offering a discount, but it’s far from typical.

“I just need to see a weapon. I need you to be carrying a gun,” says Bergeron’s owner Kevin Cox.

More @ Bearing Arms

Memories of a Secret War

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/wordpress/wp-content/image/2011/Special%20Items/donaldblackburn/donald-blackburn-vietnam-1965.jpg

 Mike Scruggs

I am an Air Force Vietnam combat veteran, but my most significant combat missions were flown over Laos.  On Saturday evening, September 27, I had the honor of speaking to the Royal Lao Airborne at an annual banquet in Greenville, South Carolina, celebrating their recent and past achievements.

In 1967, I was a navigator-copilot assigned to the 606th Air Commando Squadron in Nakhon Phanom (NKP), a Royal Thai Airbase. The 606th flew the A-26K, twin prop attack bomber, which was proving highly successful at night armed reconnaissance, especially destroying North Vietnamese trucks supplying the North Vietnamese Army (NVA)  via the Ho Chi Minh Trail through eastern Laos in its invasion of South Vietnam.  NKP was just a few miles west of the Mekong River, which separates Thailand from Laos. The 606th was one of several squadrons at NKP flying various combat and combat support aircraft involved in Air Commando missions.

One evening a few weeks after arriving at NKP, we taxied by an Air Commando C-119 “Flying Boxcar” loading a couple of squads of very competent looking, well-equipped Asian troops wearing maroon berets.  We were told that they were Royal Laotian Rangers trained by U.S Army Rangers and Green Berets.  They looked determined as they were briefed by an Army Ranger sergeant.  They were likely headed to a drop into incredibly dangerous places in North Vietnamese or Communist Pathet Lao held territory.  Laotian Rangers and special aircraft in our Air Commando Wing were frequently tied to CIA missions of highly clandestine nature.

Some A-26 missions carried a an additional Lao or Hmong radio operator to communicate with friendly Royal Lao or Hmong forces on the ground or to coordinate an attack on NVA or Pathet Lao troops.

On one occasion we were directed by friendly Laotian forces in strafing and bombing jungle-concealed  Pathet Lao forces, reportedly several hundred strong,  not far from NKP.  The same friendly Laotian forces later reported heavy Pathet Lao casualties in that location.  I don’t rejoice in the killing of enemies, but I must say that the recent atrocities committed by the so-called radical Islamists of the Islamic State or ISIS in Iraq and Syria do not approach the inhumanity of Pathet Lao terrorism and torture, some of which was inflicted on U.S. Navy and Air force crews captured in Laos.  The survival of such fanatical terrorists is a mortal danger to all mankind.

According to President Richard Nixon, U.S. failure to enforce the 1962 Geneva Treaty that guaranteed independence and neutrality for Laos and its Royal government was the second biggest mistake in the Vietnam War.

French-Indo China consisted of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Following French withdrawal from Indo-China after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (near the Laotian border) in 1954, Vietnam was divided at the 17th Parallel into the (Communist) People’s Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam and the Republic of (South) Vietnam. Cambodia was given independence in 1953, although not uncontested by Communist Khmer Rouge forces. Laos was involved in a three-way civil war between Royal Lao, Communist, and rightist factions.

On July 23, 1962, a treaty agreed to by the Royal Government of Laos and signed by fourteen nations agreed that Laos would be an independent and neutral nation, further requiring the withdrawal of all foreign forces and prohibiting the introduction of future foreign bases and forces.  This was signed by the United States, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, Poland, India, Canada, the UK, and France. The U.S. withdrew its several hundred advisors, but the North Vietnamese did not withdraw more than 7,000 troops engaged in building the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which was already being used to supply Communist insurgents in South Vietnam.

President Eisenhower had advised President Kennedy in 1961 that under no circumstances should any North Vietnamese troops be allowed to remain in Laos.  According to Eisenhower, Laos was the key domino in Southeast Asia. Occupation or infiltration by Communist forces would threaten South Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Kennedy agreed at first with Eisenhower and made strong statements to that effect. Yet the North Vietnamese never left northern Laos and built up its forces to between 70,000 and 85,000 men.  Neither Kennedy nor President Johnson ever made even a formal protest that North Vietnam was in gross violation of the 1962 Geneva Treaty, much less backing a protest with immediate and resolute power.  Subsequently, the NVA moved 500,000 troops and enormous amounts of weapons, munitions, and war materials down the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War.

A virtually universal rule of contract law is that if one party substantially violates a contract, the other party is no longer obligated to fulfill their part.  Yet the U.S. maintained the fiction that the 1962 Treaty still restricted American or Allied ground troops from cutting off enemy supply lines in Laos.

Under the Johnson Administration, the U.S. used only restricted airpower to interdict this massive movement of war materials and troops, in effect leaving Laos and Cambodia as enemy sanctuaries from which the NVA could attack at will but be free from Allied ground attack. Instead of having a 40 mile border to defend, South Vietnamese, American, and other Allied troops had to defend 640 miles of border. 

Who can even calculate the expense in lives, years, and economic resources that our failure to confront North Vietnam’s treachery cost us? Why this costly fiction? Although Kennedy stood strong at first, Khrushchev’s constant bullying tactics may have made him vulnerable to the usual bad liberal advice to appease tyrants.  In Johnson’s case, he wanted to keep the whole war in Southeast Asia as secret and far from public concern as possible. This was a terrible leadership mistake in itself. He and Secretary of Defense McNamara certainly did not want to be seen by the liberal press as expanding the war into Laos.  Domestic politics trumped wiser leadership and national security policy.

Russia ships anti-aircraft missiles to Syria

 http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Putin-Obama-Chess.jpeg

Russia last week sent a shipment of anti-aircraft missiles to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials speaking to WND.

Another shipment of Russian weaponry is currently on the way to Syria, the officials said.
The officials said last week’s shipment arrived at the port city of Tartus on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, where Russia maintains a naval base.

The Russian shipments come as the Obama administration steps up support for the rebels battling the Assad regime. The U.S. aid to the Syrian rebels is purportedly aimed at fighting ISIS terrorists.

Two weeks ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters his government would provide military support to Syria, claiming the anti-aircraft munitions were meant to aid the Assad regime in the fight against terrorism.

However, neither ISIS nor any other jihadist group operating in the area possess any aircraft.
The U.S. and allies have been carrying out airstrikes in Syria targeting ISIS.

The officials said last week’s shipment arrived at the port city of Tartus on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, where Russia maintains a naval base.

More @ WND

"The South is finally rising." Says Salon rated #4 most liberal :)

Via Billy

The South's victim complex: How right-wing paranoia is driving new wave of radicals

I know you meant this to be a hit piece, but the last paragraph is right on. Thanks! :)

Southern voters will go to the polls in November 150 years, almost to the day, after Gen. Sherman commenced his March to the Sea, breaking the back of the Confederacy and leaving a burnt scar across the South. The wound never fully healed. Humiliation and resentment would smolder for generations. A sense of persecution has always mingled with the rebellious independence and proud notions of the South’s latent power, the promise that it “will rise again!” 

Congressman Paul Broun Jr., whose Georgia district spans nearly half of Sherman’s calamitous path to Savannah, evoked the “Great War of Yankee Aggression” in a metaphor to decry the Affordable Care Act on the House floor in 2010. The war, in Broun’s formulation, was not a righteous rebellion so much as a foreign invasion whose force still acts upon the South and its ideological diaspora that increasingly forms the foundation of conservatism.

More @ Salon

“Memphis is going to burn if they don’t control these children.”

Via Jeffery

http://localtvwreg.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/capture8.jpeg?w=370&h=204&crop=1

Three teens have been cited by Memphis police after a mob of teenagers attacked several people Friday night.

Police said a large group of teens flooded the streets near Central High School Friday just before 10:00 p.m.

“Had I had been armed we would have had a lot of kids laying in the Bellevue street that night,” Sharon Mourning said.

The Hmong

 

The photograph is of a community of Hmong living in the jungle. When the reporters from TIME came a few years back, the people were overwrought with emotions, supposedly believing that it was the CIA, finally coming back to rescue them after 30 years.

 Over 30,000 Hmong men and boys lost their lives. When America pulled out of Laos in 1975.

 Hmong resistance fighters known as Chao Fa (Cob Fab) continued the fight against the communist.  Lead first by Sayshoua Yang (Xaiv Suav Yaj) then by Pakao Her (Paj Kaub Hawj) in the 1980′s, the fighters lived in the jungles of Laos and received support from the Hmong in Thailand and overseas.  Refusing to acknowledge defeat, these men and their families fought, suffered, and died for a dream that would never be realized.

***********************

My ex The Evil One managed an apartment complex before we got together, right about the time the US brought in a lot of the Yards and Hmong that fought for us during Vietnam and she was telling me that within a week after they started moving in they had to replace every oven because they were building fires inside the ovens to cook their food.

My experiences with them were different.


Monday, September 29, 2014

Democracies

Via WRSA

clip_image004_thumb1

The Militarization of U.S. Domestic Policing

 

The ongoing “wars” on drugs and terrorism have helped to militarize domestic policing, giving us “no-knock” raids and other tactics formerly considered off-limits for civilian law enforcement. A political-economic analysis of this trend explains how crises have eroded rules that were created to constrain the use of military power and separate domestic policing from military functions.

Goodies from Ol' Remus

1937-west-virginia-reedsville-gas-station.jpg
1937. Reedsville, West Virginia gas station. Reedsville is a hamlet of 600 in north central West Virginia.

All you need to know about New Jersey - A man was stabbed by his wife, and she was charged. The police found the husband's gun collection and confiscated it in accordance with protocol.
Jim Gearhart at nj1015.com 

=====================

Filed under braindead: 
 
Smoker's registry - This will be useful for both smokers and non-smokers. The time has come for us to know where smokers live, work and, most importantly, smoke, so the non-smoking public can make decisions based on this information.
MPP John Abbot at cbc.ca

====================

art-link-symbol-small-rev01.jpg Britain's spineless proles
A daughter is one of the jewels of a man’s existence, and his actions in protecting her from harm—particularly sexual harm—are simply beyond judgment by outsiders. We turn much of the responsibility for order and punishment over to society with the understanding that we will be protected. But when a society fails, for whatever reason, we are not, by the very nature of things, obligated to continue honoring the bargain. This factor appears to be no longer operative in Rotherham. Over 1400 girls, over a period of a dozen years, were picked up, gang-raped, beaten, humiliated, broken, and then sent out onto the night streets to turn tricks for the sons of Allah, says J.Dunn in this article, The Dhimmis of Rotherham, at American Thinker 

art-link-symbol-small-rev01.jpg YouTube shields thuggas from publicity
Remember the surveillance video showing six male suspects brutally beating a couple outside a club in downtown Springfield, Missouri? Police on Friday said YouTube took down the video and issued cops an email saying the clip violated community guidelines. The online video giant warned the Springfield police that more violations might mean the department might lose the ability to post videos — or even see its account permanently suspended, says Dave Urbanski in this article, After Cops Post Video of Brutal Beating in Attempt to ID Suspects, YouTube Reportedly Takes Action You Might Find Hard to Swallow, at The Blaze.

art-link-symbol-small-rev01.jpg Barbarians inside the gates
History is written by the victors—and the victors are often large, arrogant empires not particularly inclined to look favorably on other cultures. It therefore became commonplace for entire peoples to be thought of as “barbaric,” says Jo Rodriguez in this article, 10 Misconceptions About ‘Barbarians’, at ListVerse

Eric Holder - Not only has he lied before members of Congress and, ultimately, been held in contempt, he has obfuscated the truth and been the most partisan, partial, prejudiced, and self-pitying attorney general in my lifetime... He has not only failed to investigate crimes and potential crimes occurring in this administration, he has been the Cover-Upper-in-Chief and will be sorely missed by those in the administration, like Lois Lerner, who want to disobey the law and flaunt it.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, via Matthew Boyle at breitbart.com

Nuclear North Korea - Because the North has no possibility to win a conventional arms race due to its economic hardships, it is using all its resources to develop nuclear capability, which is an asymmetrical weapon. We believe the North is developing a tactical short-range missile because it has reached the final stage of miniaturization of a nuclear warhead. Through three nuclear tests since 2006, the North managed to take steps closer to miniaturization to a certain degree. We have to be prepared that they will be operationally deployed within a short period of time.
South Korean spokesmen via Yong Soo and Myo Ja at koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news

FBI Says 9mm Is The Best Pistol Round


Federal HST .45 ACP 230gr P45HST2 

Slow motion penetration

Y'all go for it, I'll stick with my 45's.

===================

A new study from the FBI’s Training Division shows that overall, the 9mm Luger pistol round is the best option for law enforcement handguns, recommending departments shouldn’t switch their side arms to larger rounds considered by many to be more lethal.

Based in a combination of factors, including so-called “stopping power,” weight and availability, the FBI study shows that the 9mm round penetrates far enough, allows for shooters to carry more rounds, and is more widely available and less expensive than alternative rounds like the .45 ACP or .40 Smith & Wesson.

More with poll @ Grand View Outdoors

Liberal Poet: My Daughter Died For My Right To Choose

 
“I Think she was a she. No, I know she was a she, and I think she would have looked exactly like me….I would have stuck up glow up stars on her ceiling, and told her they were fireflies to protect her from the dark…I would have made sure I was a good mother to look up to…She could have been born…I would’ve supported her right to choose, to choose a life for herself, a path for herself. I would’ve died for that right like she died for mine. I’m sorry, but you came at the wrong time…”
The above quote is an excerpt from a poem written by Leyla Josephine. This poem was extolled as feminist by The Huffington Post, as a beautiful example of female empowerment. This is what the left has come to, offering praises to a woman who aborted her daughter, then used that  abortion to further her celebrity by writing a poem about it.

NC: "Just when you thought Chapel Hill couldn’t get any kookier along comes THIS GUY”

 State Rep. Graig Meyer, D-Orange
  “Loony Tune” 

 9603 Leslie Dr., Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Home: 919-967-6253 Work: 919-715-019


 *********************************

A Democratic state lawmaker from North Carolina is raising eyebrows with comments indicating he’s ashamed of his own “whiteness.”

“Just when you thought Chapel Hill couldn’t get any kookier along comes THIS GUY,” wrote Brant Clifton of the Daily Haymaker blog in a column about lawmaker Graig Meyer.

Meyer, described on the blog as “um, ‘interesting,’” was quoted discussing “Whiteness, White Guilt, and um, ‘White Supremacy,’” in “Courageous Conversations About Race,” by Glenn E. Singleton.
Subtitled “A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools,” it includes Meyer’s comments:

“The truly difficult work is looking deep within myself to recognize where my own reservoirs of whiteness reside and what value or burdens they present to me,” the excerpt states. “Every time I review Peggy McIntosh’s inventory of white privilege I learn something more about myself, and – through attentiveness to my own experience – I think I could add a few more forms of racial privilege to her list.”

More @ WND

Celebrity Chef Slams ‘Obama Nonsense,’ Laments Decline of Restaurant Industry

 

As a celebrity chef, cookbook author, and TV personality, Emeril Lagasse is one of the most well known chefs in the country, and with a net worth of about $50 million and a food empire that brings in an estimated $150 million, he’s one of the wealthiest, too. So it was surprising to hear him say at a recent event that he has “nowhere to go, really—other than broke.”

The reason? Predictably, Big Government.

More @ Townhall

After Oklahoma Beheading and ISIS Threats, Arkansas Firing Range Becomes First To Exclude Muslims

 Jan Morgan, owner of The Gun Cave Indoor Range, has declared her facility a "Muslim free zone." (image via JanMorganMedia.com)

In an act that will no doubt result in lawsuits, The Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range in Hot Springs, Arkansas, has declared itself a “Muslim free zone” due to concerns over domestic Islamic terrorism. The ban was announced yesterday by range owner Jan Morgan in an article posted to her web site where she cites ten points justifying her position.

Among the points cited are prior attacks in the United States that the federal government refuses to classify as terrorism, including the Fort Hood attack, the Boston Marathon bombing, and the last week’s Oklahoma City beheading. Morgan has also received death threats in the past for her writing about Islam.

Another incident that weighed heavily in Morgan’s decision was an incident at her firing range several weeks ago, which she relayed to Bearing Arms this morning.

More @ Bearing Arms

Guns, number of

Via avordvet

 http://www.motherjones.com/files/guns-owned630.jpg

Russia threatens to retaliate against U.S. military: Warns airspace over Syria under protection of Moscow

 Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-34

Russia has delivered a behind-the-scenes threat to retaliate if airstrikes carried out by the U.S. or its allies target the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Middle Eastern security officials told WND.

The security officials said Russia complained Sunday in quiet talks with United Nations representatives that the Obama administration’s current aerial campaign against Islamic State fighters in Syria is a violation of international agreements regarding control of Syrian airspace.

The officials said Russia warned it could potentially retaliate if U.S. or Arab airstrikes go beyond targeting Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and instead bomb any Syrian regime targets.

More @ WND

Democratic State Rep. Christina Ayala arrested on 19 voting fraud charges

Via Bill


State Rep. Christina “Tita” Ayala, D-Bridgeport, was arrested Friday on 19 voting fraud charges.
Ayala, 31, is accused of voting in local and state elections in districts she did not live, the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

The arrest warrant affidavit also alleges Ayala provided fabricated evidence to state Election Enforcement Commission investigators that showed she lived at an address in a district where she voted while actually living outside the district, according to the release.

Ayala, who represents the 128th District, was elected in 2012, replacing her cousin, Andres Ayala, who was elected to the state Senate. She chose to run for reelection earlier this year, despite the voting fraud investigation, but lost a four-way primary in August.

3-3 is Threeper Day: Celebrate It

Via Iver

Brandywine

We all know we have been sold down the river by a government intent on changing America into something else; something heartless and cold. Though they couch it in touchy-feely verbiage and use phrases that can only be translated into hostility toward traditional America and Americans, phrases like: cultural sensitivity, diversity and equality (that the African-American community has recently found out does not mean them after all, it means the newest, strongest voting block: the illegal immigrants from south of the border).

How Obamacare Funds the Nation’s Largest Abortion Provider

Via Cousin John


Despite promises to the contrary by members of Congress and even the president, Americans now know that Obamacare is entangling tax dollars with coverage of elective abortion.

Last week, the Government Accountability Office released a report confirming that more than 1,000 Obamacare exchange plans cover elective abortion but remain eligible for taxpayer subsidies.

But that’s not the full story on how Obamacare funds the abortion industry.

In addition to sending taxpayer money to plans that cover abortion, the massive health care law has created new avenues of public funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

More with video  @ The Daily Signal

Sunday, September 28, 2014

NC: Baby´s Coming Home Again

Via comment by Sioux on CBM: Over The Rainbow - Band of Oz

The U.S. Forest Service Wants to Fine You $1,000 for Taking Pictures in the Forest

Via Cousin John 

/

Nice photo. That'll be $1,000, please.

This week's most profoundly wrongheaded display of nonviolent press infringement comes from an unlikely source: The U.S. Forest Service. New rules being finalized in November state that across this country's gloriously beautiful, endlessly photogenic, 193 million acres of designated wilderness area administered by the USFS, members of the press who happen upon it will need permits to photograph or shoot video.

And yes, it does sound like one of the dumbest things you've ever read.
"It's pretty clearly unconstitutional," said Gregg Leslie, legal defense director at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Alexandria, Va. "They would have to show an important need to justify these limits, and they just can't."
Wait! It gets better.

More @ Cosmopolitan

French President Hollande Says "ISIS Terror Caused by Global Warming"

Via Lone Voice Blog


The most interesting intersection ever – where the War on Terror meets Climate Change…

The hype surrounding ISIS/ISIL is being ramped-up in North America and Europe, with the chief driver of the fear being an alleged series of beheadings that no one can rightly verify as real. Real or fake, the beheading videos were used as a powerful public relations springboard to market ‘fresh airstrikes’ in Iraq and Syria to emotionally vulnerable western audiences.

There’s also intense media speculation about the amount of black market oil money ISIS terror gangs are making in Syria and Iraq, and huge hype around ‘Coalition efforts to cut off the terror dollars’. It’s a mess, but we’ll give you some key answers here.

As this year’s UNGA 2014 gets underway, the French leader is really stretching it in an attempt to bring the world together in group fear moment…

The Killing of Herve Gourdel


New York’s Notorious Slave Ships

 http://www.scv.org/curriculum/part3_files/image023.jpg

In the post-Revolution era, African slavery was waning as cotton production was a laborious task and not worth cultivating on a large scale until Eli Whitney of Massachusetts revolutionized the industry in 1793. Thereafter, New England mills could not live without raw slave-produced cotton, Manhattan lenders ensured plantation owners that money was available for plantation expansion, and New England slavers continued to import the labor supply.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

New York’s Notorious Slave Ships

“In the decade 1850-1860 Great Britain maintained consulates in six Southern ports: Norfolk, -- changed to Richmond in 1856 – Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans and Galveston.

[Consul G.P.R.] James [in Norfolk and Richmond] . . . considered that Virginians were very kind to their slaves and that slavery was an injury to masters rather than Negroes. One of the proprietors of the Richmond “slave warehouse” was, wrote his son Charles later, an “unmistakable Yankee,” said to be very humane to his charges, “but the business was regarded as infamous.  I heard a respectable man denounced for accepting his hospitality.”
 
At Niagara Falls, James saw a runaway Negro belonging to one of his Norfolk neighbors; he had found it difficult to make a living and was cold and he begged the consul to ask his owner to take him back.

[Consul] Henry G. Kuper of Baltimore gave assurance that the slave trade was being extensively carried on by many American citizens, especially in New York . . . with the connivance of Spanish authorities in Cuba where most of the cargoes were conveyed . . . Consul Edward W. Mark wrote from Baltimore that at any moment twenty vessels might be found under construction at that port, admirably adapted for the slave trade. Some were built expressly for the trade by “respectable houses,” which would not enter the trade themselves but merely executed the orders they received.
Mark believed, however, that in Baltimore little countenance was given to the trade. It was carried on rather “from New York and the eastern parts of the Union . . . and generally by New England and foreign firms.”

[In 1858 Consul] Molyneaux of Savannah told the story of a Charleston mercantile house . . . which proposed to send the ship Richard Cobden . . . on a [suspicious] voyage to Africa to bring “free emigrants” to a United States port. The collector of the port appealed to United States Secretary of the Treasury Howell Cobb who pronounced the proposal illegal. 

About the same time the Lydia Gibbs, a vessel of one-hundred and fourteen tons of Northern build, sailed from Charleston under one Watson, a Scotchman naturalized in the United States. He took it to Havana where it was sold to unknown persons for $12,000.  Watson was to receive $6,000 more if he escaped detection, and in addition a certain percentage of the slaves he should succeed in landing in Cuba. 

[In July 1858 Charleston Consul Robert Bunch] wrote that the brig Frances Ellen had cleared from Charleston for Africa, supposedly to engage in the slave trade; that the firm of Ponjand and Lalas, two Spaniards, which sent it out, was believed to be regularly engaged in this traffic [and] intended to land five or six cargoes in Texas . . . 

In December, 1859, the South Carolina legislature received from the New York assembly a set of resolutions passed by the latter body, condemning the slave trade and urging the Southern States not to connive at or encourage the odious traffic.  South Carolina returned the resolutions to the senders without comment and Bunch, though agreeing with the New York sentiments, dryly noted that the action was not “happily received,” “as it is notorious that, during the present year, at least ten slavers have been fitted out in New York for one in the entire South.” 

(The South in the 1850’s as Seen by British Consuls, Laura A. White, The Journal of Southern History, February 1935, excerpts, pp. 29, 31, 36-41)

Congressmen Rake In $608 an Hour


VERBATIM
 
The U.S. House will be in session for only eight days during a 102-day span between August 1 and November 12, which means that based on their $174,000 annual salary, lawmakers will earn $608 an hour during those days in the nation's capital.

That figure was calculated by liberal activist Ralph Nader, assuming 10-hour workdays. He sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner on Monday, writing: "While millions of Americans are working more and more for less and less, you and your House of Representatives seem to have no problem working less and less for more and more."

The House took a five-week vacation from Washington on August 1 and returned on September 8.

After two four-day workweeks, members left Washington again on September 18 and are not due to return until November 12 for a lame-duck session following the midterm elections.

Their hourly wage for the eight days is several times the hourly compensation of anesthesiologists, one of the country's highest-paid professions at an average of $113 an hour, The Hill reported.

The Senate took the same break in August and also worked just two weeks in September before leaving to campaign for the elections.

Legislators and their aides argue that time spent in Washington constitutes only part of their job, and they also spend considerable time meeting with and serving constituents in their home districts and states, The Hill noted.

But Nader said in an interview: "You are paid by the taxpayer to work in Congress at least a 40-hour week. If you want to do anything back home after that, that's discretionary time. They don't pay you to campaign for your re-election."

Even when they are in Washington, lawmakers devote much time to non-legislative matters. After the 2012 elections, new members of Congress were reportedly advised to set aside four hours a day for fundraising phone calls during their 10-hour workday.

Nader's letter comes in the wake of a Gallup poll showing that in August just 13 percent of Americans approved of the way Congress is handling its job, while 83 percent disapproved — and 53 percent said they "strongly disapprove."

The last time Congress' approval rating was over 50 percent in a Gallup poll was in April 2003, at 58 percent, during President George W. Bush's first term.

The approval rating stood at 84 percent in October 2001, immediately following the 9/11 attacks.