Robert Ariail for December 09, 2013

Don’t overplay this, it’s not what the cartoon suggests.

Well, given the things that the flag is half-staffed for it really has no meaning any more. We might as well just leave it there permanently signifing our being a half @$$ed nation today.

You insinuate Obama’s a communist, please give us a few examples of what he has done that would give this thought credence.

Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark has only been in office for a year & almost certainly didn’t expect all the attention when he posted on Facebook that the flag shouldn’t be lowered for Mandela because, “Nelson Mandela did great things for his country and was a brave man but he was not an AMERICAN!!! The flag should be lowered at our Embassy in S. Africa, but not here.”I don’t see anything that suggests his motivation was other than what he said. Some nasty comments supporting him here, though:http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/24158363/pickens-sheriff-refuses-fly-flag-at-half-staff-for-mandela

Calling somebody a commie these days like calling them a Nazi, a flaky thing to do.

boy you are a flake and a bigoted one as well. Does the number mean there are only 67,121 others like you?

In this Liberal takeover of the federal government, with mis-educated in liberal public schools voters putting them in power and keeping them in power, the County Sheriffs of the States are our last line of defense for Freedom.-Mandela was a Marxist, and would not have been in prison for 27 years if he had taken the many opportunities to be released upon disavowing terrorism. He was an enemy of Israel. He was not an American. He does not deserve the honors being showered on his name by the Politically Correct toadies.

Mandela was a thug and a murderer, a true terrorist as most of those who followed him. He didn’t end Apartheid, he only changed it so the blacks could kill whites, rape the women, steal their property and more while the black govt turned a blind eye. Apartheid was evil, but so was Mandela and what he did. Evil is evil no matter who the perpetrator is or the victims.

Mandela was no peacemaker and neither was Bush or is Obama. Not surprising the gathering of murderers together to praise Mandela. Obama is no better, also a Marxist and has raised the notch of destroying the constitution and rights of citizens to even assassinate Americans on foreign soil without a trial. Our government no longer serves the public, our elitist government despises those who elected them. The leaders of both parties have been bought out and are traitors. Obama and many of his administration have broken their vows and violated the constitution and all are still in power. Shucks, Hillary was guilty of treason in the Benghazi affair and she might end up the next president. No one cares about truth or the constitution except a handful with no power to change things.

HERE ARE SOME FACTUAL TRUTH’S… HISTORY IF YOU PLEASE.Portrayed as a liberator by the media, Mandela was a Marxist and convicted terrorist. Hammond relates of Mandela:

He admitted in open court—pleaded “guilty”—and remember, he was trained as a lawyer—he pleaded “guilty” to 156 acts of public violence and terrorism. He was the head of the revolutionary terrorist wing of the ANC [African National Congress] “Umkhonto we Sizwe.” And he was behind so many different operations: from the plotting of bombs in the railway station (which killed women and children, which crippled people), bombs in shopping centers, attacks on farmers, . . . so many acts of violence.

He goes on to say that modern portrayals make Mandela out to be a saint, but never mention why he was in prison to begin with. It was for good and just reason. “Not even the Amnesty International would take his case, because they said he wasn’t a political prisoner. He had had a fair trial and a reasonable sentence. He had his day in court. He was not a political prisoner. He was in jail for acts of violence.”

He relates that the crimes for which Mandela was given life imprisonment in South Africa, he would have received the death penalty in the U.S. or Britain at the time. It was the political climate that later got him released, and leftist revisionism that has whitewashed his early life of violence. If anything, Mandela’s legacy is an argument in favor of the death penalty. When such criminals are not disposed of, there is always a chance future political powers may be corrupt enough to release them—perhaps even into positions of power.

It was lowered for an assassinated Israeli Prime Minister, and for other foreign dignitaries, protocol leaves it to the President. I see the Sheriff’s point, but it doesn’t hold up to historical precedent.

Maybe they like people who renounce terrorism in S.C.

Good for him…wish more had the testes to stand up to lovers of Marxism.

I cited the former Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin: not folks, he was born in the Russian Empire, now Belarus, and those who came with him from Eastern Europe and Russia, set up a VERY “Communist” country, called “Israel”. Only recently “privatizing” the government owned industries, it’s really funny to see all the “pro-Israel” “anti-communist” (or Marxist) folks rant that anyone even slightly “left” is a communist, or at best “socialist pawn”.

No Man, Zippy (& I guess Debt Free, since he says it’s “Truth”)Your claims are pathetic, half baked lies, spouted by racist pigs. I usually try to avoid such language to describe other posters, but this spew of disgusting venom needs to be answered. Mandela & the early ANC did espouse Marxist ideals, but so did the folks who went on to form the governments of Ireland & Israel in their early, revolutionary periods. What Mandela thought in 1960 was very different from the thoughts of the man who emerged from nearly 3 decades of imprisonment. Even then, he was more interested in equality & democracy than nationalizing South Africa. By the time Mandela was released he had the benefit of seeing the disasters that nationalization caused in other African countries.http://www.moneyweb.co.za/moneyweb-political-economy/what-nelson-mandela-thought-about-nationalisationMandela was moving from non-violent protest to believing that the only way to gain freedom was by meeting violence with violence. The ANC started using sabotage & destruction of property as a means of political protest, but expressly disavowed killing civilians as counter-productive. Mandela seems to have been planning a guerrilla resistance to the state. George Washington was probably one of his role models.Mandela was arrested for organizing strikes & leaving the country without permission. He entered a “plea in mitigation of sentence”, saying that he was, “a black man in a white man’s court.” He was sentenced to five years. At the time, the South African government wasn’t aware of the full extent of his leadership role in the ANC. When they uncovered documents that gave them more information on the ANC’s plans to destroy infrastructure as a means of disrupting the government, Mandela & nine others were put on trial. Mandela plead not guilty.http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-12-10-mandela-on-trial-the-ethical-core/#.UqalIWRDtYsThe ANC went on to commit ruthless acts against suspected informers & people considered a threat to the organization. During this time, Mandela was on Robben Island, breaking limestone with a sledgehammer. Newspapers were forbidden. Mandela was allowed one letter & one visit every six months, both under close scrutiny by prison staff. There isn’t a shred of evidence that Mandela was even aware, let alone had a hand in the ANC’s despicable acts at the time.No Man’s “source” is Peter Hammond. As for him, “If you believe Christ wants a holy war to preserve apartheid, the Reverend Peter Hammond is your general, his Frontline Fellowship your army,” wrote the National Catholic Reporter in 1989.Despicable, racist propoganda.

spewed forth some hate vitriol:" In fact, he said “The United States can go to hell.”

I honestly have no idea whether or not Mandela said this although I doubt it. It wasn’t like him to do so.BUT, I do recall Desmond Tutu once saying, in a fit of helpless despair: “The West can go to Hell!”

Do you know, it’s been almost 30 years since he said it, and I’m getting goosebumps typing this, and I remember his face quite clearly when he said this…The SA news played it over and over out of context in its propaganda news reports against his words as if to say: “look, look at what a man of the cloth says about us”…Except I felt Tutu’s despair and understood it. That is why I love the guy. True passion was in that despair. Anyone watching him and misunderstanding his anger were fools.The context for those words?… if I recall, in reaction to Reagan or Thatcher refusing to deepen sanctions against South Africa.

Sanctions were reported by the SA news as “hurting the blacks more than the whites”.It is very true, first in line when the sanctions bit were blacks, but it also achieved its aim: it worked. It literally broke my father’s business. It made white folks pay attention. It was a sacrifice a whole black generation was willing to take in order to effect change and Tutu was angry their only effective non-violent weapon was being watered down by Reagan & Thatcher.

After a stroke removed PW Botha with his bloody-minded blind intransigence, and a more pragmatic De Klerk took over, real negotiations with the ANC started taking place.And finally apartheid was dismantled.