The New and Improved USSR

[Bogey]

Let's face the facts.  Obama and his elitist cadre will not be satisfied until the we are spending most of our days standing in Bread Lines for our ration of bread.  Everything will be rationed, food fuel, clothing, Health Care.  You can bet that if they feel the need they will kick down your doors in the night and have thier way with us.

Just a side note.  I spoke with some persons that I am related to that live in the mid-west of the U.S.  They voted for the current President but are very upset now by his "Change".
I asked why they voted for a person with no experience.  They stated that at the time that did not matter .  That basically they wanted to Punish the South, that they consider racist, by putting a black into office.   They actually believe there are still slaves down here in the South.  I guess they are products of Government education.

Well, some people will never let facts get in the way of thier emotions.

[Progun]

Sad indeed Mike.However your relatives are correct about one thing.Slavery does still exist here inthe South as well as the whole country.As I see it, all of us who are earning an income have become Slaves to the federal gov't.They confiscate a large portion of my earnings every year and the only choice I am given is "pay up or we will prosecute you and take your belongings" even up to the point of putting my butt on the street or in jail.They say it's the Law!My annual taxes exceed  the total sum of all my other personal financial obligations and  expenses combined by a wide margin. As a member of the most discriminated against group in the U.S.,(tax payer)  I can say with authority that I am indeed a Slave to the "Massa". As a Christian, I know better than to expect justice in this world.If your income or your property is taxed, like it or not, you are a Slave.Thanks to folks like your relatives it's probably gonna' get worse here in this country for those of us who are forced to subsidize and support people and programs we philosophically disagree with and aren't even related to .

[TCups]

The fortunes that were made as a result of the slave trade were primarily in Boston and New England.  The trade triangle went like this:  New England fisheries, codfish in particular was traded as a cheap source of protein to feed slaves in the Caribbean sugar cane plantations for sugar.  Caribbean cane sugar became rum.  Rum was traded for more slave.  A profit to the ship owners was made at each leg of the trade triangle.  Yes, Southerners bought the imported slaves (as did some Northerners), but it was the agriculture of the mid-atlantic and southern states that ran on slave labor -- indigo, tobacco, cotton, corn.  

So, the Southern slave owners had their share of guilt to be sure.  But most of the "Old Wealth" of New England and in particular, Boston, came from the shipping trade, particularly the trade of slaves, rum, and codfish.

And to be sure, there were European and African slave traders who profited, as well.  Year after America abolished slavery and fought a Civil War to, in part, end slavery, there was still a flourishing slave trade between Europe, Africa and South America.

So those of you history buffs who blame the "South" for the evils of slavery, take the mote out of your own eye.  There was a huge amount of money made on the slave trade by New Englanders, and the "Peculiar Institution" and the profits made from slavery were certainly not confined to the Southern United States, to be sure.  But again, that's history, right?  And we all know this, right?  And after all, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves -- historical footnote -- freed the slaves only in the states south of the Mason-Dixon line, not north of it.  And when Lee surrendered to Grant, I believe Grant was still a slave holder, while Lee had freed all of his slaves at the start of the Civil war.

Want to read about the history and economics of slavery?  Check out Thomas Sowell's several books on the subject.

Another historical footnote:  America's greatest Calvary Officer of all time, Nathan Bedford Forrest was a notorious slave trader.  Indeed -- he specialized in buying slave families that would have otherwise been split and sold piecemeal and finding slave buyers who would agree to keep the families together.  Does that excuse slavery -- no.  

[3n00n]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXMAnlMmEPw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw < long video, but quite important information . . .

Sheeple control continuing to its oligarch pinnacle in this United Socialist States of Anti-America . . .

[daveshoot]

Not to split hairs... but I believe Grant is only known to have owned one slave, inherited in 1858, and freed in 1859. He married into a slave owning family but that ishis only personal slave ownership history that most seem to agree on.

Poor Grant was not much for managing business assets of any kind. I think he would have been fun on poker night, though.

[TCups]

oops.  well, then lets just say Grant, too, was a one-time slave holder.

[geewhiz380]

we r all slaves and yes things will get worst yeh right go arrest the muslims now .they know that there are 35 or more terrorist camps out here but the president hasnt done anything to stop that from growing .the president of russia told him bring down our defense so they can strike us anytime and guess what our puppet did yes he folded .i never vote for what one more one less doesnt make a difference they all lie ,lie ,lie ,promises that that they keep to themselves.