Clay Bennett for June 22, 2015

PLEASE keep telling us that honoring our forefathers(no, not the racist Democrats) but real Americans is racist. They fought for individual freedom and a smaller federal government.We know what freedoms our ancestors fought for and are ready to take back our country from the Obama/Shrillary socialist regime!Btw, Here come comments from the usual site-regular, lefty, Socialist, Anti-American trolls…….

I don’t own a Confederate flag nor do I ever want to display one. But one needs to point out that the origins of our Civil War are far more complicated than the highly sanitized version of modern high school. It dates back to the compromises reached in our Constitution and the serious economic reasons that slavery at the time was also massively beneficial to the north. Lincoln in his own words stated “If I could save the union by keeping slavery I would”

We cannot live in a society where we decide what we should tolerate or not if we are truly a free society. Violence directed toward innocent individuals is not a expression of belief its the act of a mentally disturbed individual and cannot be tolerated no matter who perpetrates the violence.

Someone’s desire to display the Confederate Flag has in most cases no more consequence than the displaying of the symbol of gay rights. If you want to live in a free society you must be willing to defend the right of another individual to express a belief that literary turns your stomach.

I don’t believe in blaming people for things that happened hundreds of years ago, but I also believe that history should not be covered up. The old South was built on vicious racism, and that didn’t stop with the end of the Civil War. The racist system was maintained well into the 1960s, a time that many of us here can still remember. For others, it’s the time of your parents or grandparents. Not today, but not ancient history, either. I do think that things have changed, somewhat, and I think that the reaction of the white community in Charleston shows that change. I am convinced that the outpouring a grief and sympathy from the white community was sincere.I also think that the North has nothing to be smug about. There is a kind of systemic racism built into all of American society, though that too isn’t as bad as it used to be. But there is still too much of it.What to do? Well, for a start, I would say that all children in the US should have decent food to eat. Early nutrition is important. There’s a big problem here, because food in the US generally is pretty bad. Then I would say that all children in the US should get a good education. Schools in the US generally aren’t so good, but in the inner cities they are a scandal. Problems of generational poverty will never be solved without a good education for everyone. And then I would say that we need an economic system that provides a good job for everyone who can work.

there are a lot of towns in the south where they are called sundown towns. don’t stop, and keep driving through.

Hi Harley, terrible to here from another ultra right wing troll again, and again, and again, and again!! But from now on I will continue to ignore your tripe, just as I did before.

In the first place, I have absolutely no intention of being your friend. And if you insist on posting your troll like posts in post after post after post on a single thread as you did before, this time I will be delighted in flaging all of such posts until the moderators wake up and get rid of you again!

The flag wasn’t flown at the capitol until 1962, as a racist response to the civil rights movement. The cartoon, Mitt Romney, and Obama are all correct on this one: the confederate battle flag is a symbol of racism and treason, and belongs in a museum, not at the capitol of an American state.

To lonecat…well said.

“If I could save the union by keeping slavery I would”

At least provide the whole quote:“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it.”

Shadow FX, you are agreeing with omQ R without knowing it. The Swastika was not designed by Hitler, it predates him by only about 5,000 years. Both flags were hijacked and both should be banned for the same reason. There are many other Confederate Battle Flags that saw much more time than the one commonly seen today. Others would celebrate the bravery of those who fought under her without the additional hatred added by racist groups since then. Anyone who believes we should not honor the troops who fought for both sides please suggest alternate names for Ft. Lee, VA and Ft. Hood, TX – just to name two active Army Posts.

Harley thinks if you post more words and or links than everyone else you win the argument. … but he lost the argument right in his first post when he provided a link to Allen West.

Actually no proof yet the kid was drugged out. He did manage to pray for an hour with the people he killed, and then drive 200+ miles, hard to do if your hallucinating.Father did not buy the gun. It appears he bought it legally. "He also disputed an earlier report by Reuters, citing Dylann Roof’s uncle Carson Cowles, that Ben Roof gave his son a .45 caliber gun as a birthday present.

“I did not buy my son that gun. In fact, he used his own money. I did not buy that gun,” he said. "http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/20/charleston-shooting-suspects-father-speaks-out.html

“That is the most hateful ignorant post. I am flagging it!”

Oh dear, I’ve managed to wrap Harly’s panties up a flagpole. Harly, didya go bother Ms Hendin about her cartoon yet? I don’t see any of your troll-posts underneath it.Perhaps you can lodge a strenuous protest to Gocomics staff against her. Otherwise flag away, flag, flag, it’s all about flagging…

I look at all the bridge crossing in peace links you gave and not one Confederate Flag waved or on t-shirts. American flags waved and on t-shirts. There are good people in the south no one disputes that. These links do not support your arguement. Just because they walked across a bridge “named after a former state lawmaker and Confederate flag supporter” is all the more reason to march in unity and peace over that bridge. These people were not marching in support of the Confederate flag, racism or slavery.While you others may wish to whitewash the symbol, slavery and racism are a big part of that history, you can not get that out of the symbol. You need to understand and acknowledge the full history of the South, the Civil War, the role of the flag during civil rights and the Confederacy. States rights arguement was used to segerate school, pools, buses, lunch counters, etc.

So are you suggesting to not allow weapons to be owned by anyone who has current or past drug usage?I look at the website. It is a ridiculous website. It does not have any proof or any authority that drugs caused people to do the mass shooting. Prozac, Paxil are not hallucinogens as the website claims.Do you think maybe some of the mass shooting depression might have played a role? That is the underlying problems and not the drugs that play a role.Correlation does not imply Causation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causationThen you have title “Every Mass Shooting Shares One Thing In Common & It’s NOT Weapons”The words mass shooting do not connote guns (weapons) as common in mass shootings. What some mass shootings were done with rubber bands?

The Confederate flag does not belong on government grounds or sanctioned by federal, state, or city governments. Is that what we are agreeing about?

You know the bo ho gives you away.That website had plenty of drugs that are prescribed, this does not mean " they fried part of the brain with opiates." And that is a bigger “trigger” then say a historical flag.Nobody is saying the Confederate Flag triggered a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina or any other shooting. That is not what anyone is discussing except maybe you.Dylann Roof in South Carolina opened fire in Mother Emanuel Church subscribing to beliefs about the superiority of whites and the “natural” order of things. The shooting was a racist act. Nothing triggered by a flag.The Confederate flag, Nazi Flag/symbol, apartheid South Africa and Rhodesia flags are not chosen by racist because they are symbol of equality and unity. The flying of the Confederate flag on government grounds has been issue for decades not just recently. Top officials say they are simply defending “Southern Heritage” and “state’s rights.” The truth is that South Carolina’s Confederate flag was only raised above the statehouse in 1962—to show defiance to the powerful civil rights movement, to proclaim white superiority. And it is still there for that reason. The rise of the Confederate Flag came against Civil Rights. Governments should not normalize symbols of racism because it makes racism OK in many minds or they give racist a pass. Governments should represent all its citizens and unity. The Confederate Flag does not represent that even the "Southern Heritage part” does not represent a Southern black heritage in any positive way or in my opinion southern white heritage. Talking about race heritage in this way is even racist.So I ask again: The Confederate flag does not belong on government grounds or sanctioned by federal, state, or city governments. Is that what we are agreeing about?

The Confederate BATTLE flag stands for treason, insurrection, slavery, and bigotry, as when most commonly dipslayed- ESPECIALLY outsde the “south”. The Confederacy had several flags the actual original looks more like the Russian flag.

Years ago when I saw the battle flag flown around the south, it was merely representative of history- of sore losers.(basically) While not benign it also was not a call to direct action. Today, it far more often is displayed, individually, by racists, and yes, roughly equivalent to flying the swastika of Germany (It’s a VERY OLD Native American symbol btw).

As the symbol of insurrection against the United States, it should not be flown on any government building, anywhere.

When it’s on the antenna of a pickup, out west, in Ohio, or outside the south, you definitely know it’s flown by a jerk.

Interesting play on words. To some extent I feel like we’re getting rid of something that is offensive to perhaps a small segment of society, just cuz it offends them. That said, somebody did mention on a talk show today that the confederate flag at issue was used by racists to further their cause as recently as the 50s & 60s; assuming that’s true, maybe it should be dropped, relegated to history books.

Clay Bennett nailed it and no feeble attempts at reconstructing history can change that. Any “wealthy black slaveowners supporting the confederacy” you can name outside of your fantasies—were guilty of Treason against the United States of America, just like the white slaveowners who made war against our country. Oh, and a spoiler alert: the confederacy LOST.

3000!??? Please, where did you find that figure?