The flag

a post from the Houston Chronicle website by poster "Rider" about the seeming rise in criminal hate activity:

" bullwhip wrote:
"Rebel flag...stands for pride of heriatage only. "
.
Not even that. It is a loser flag, and I say that as the great grandson of two CSA veterans. There is no heritage in the Civil War or the CSA to point to with pride, it's the story of hundreds of thousands of poor white people getting screwed by the rich elite power structure. Most of the men who fought that war had ZERO stake in its outcome, in secession, or in the preservation of slavery. Slavery was what kept southern white people poorer than the average northener. The war was "a rich man's war, and a poor man's fight." Two out of every three Civil War deaths were the result of disease, diseases made worse by poverty and malnutrition. Amputation rates were tremendous due to the mini ball rifle. Rich planters could get out of serving by paying for someone to go in their place. One son was exempt for every twenty slaves the family owned, due to breakdown of discipline on the plantations. Desertions (at pain of execution) by poor whites whose families were starving and eating clay and boiled vines was in the tens of thousands by the end of the war. The whole thing was a colossal screw job on poor white folks like my ancestors. I'm proud they served what they saw as their duty, but I am saddened they and thousands like them were so terribly exploited by a handful of rich whites who looked down on them if truth be known. How could this possibly be any kind of heritage to be proud of? There's a misunderstanding, all right. What you are talking about, the stars and bars, is the banner of The Great Bamboozlement. And I am not even talking about race, if you notice. This is purely from a white perspective and from the perspective of a Confederate family. Boy were we stupid."