Our Anniversary!

I LOVE YOU, MICHELLE!

Looking back at 1861-1865..

When I read or see something about the Civil War, I often hear the phrase, "brother vs brother" in some form or other.  I can understand that since it was a war between two parts of the same country, hence, "civil war."

I look at the worst war in American history and the more I think about it, the more I really do think it was a war between two separate nations.  They had different social structures and economies and even dealt with France and Britain in different ways.  Toss in climate and geography and you start to wonder how the Northern and Southern colonies ended up in the same country in 1776 in the first place. Don't forget that back in 1776, nearly 1/3 of Southerners remained loyal to Britain and the Revolution began in Massachusetts.

The Northern states became industrialized and the Southern ones took an agricultural path.  Of course, the South had cotton, but Northern looms in New England made a lot of money off cotton coming from Dixie.  The South had slaves,but the North had no problem exploiting immigrants from Eastern and Mediterranean Europe.  Britain was a competitor for Northern factories while London was the major market for the Confederacy.

It is kind of a "more different they are, the more they are alike" sort of observation. 

I am not even sure if the war was inevitable.  Before a couple of idiots from the Citadel opened fire on Fort Sumter, the prevailing opinion in the North was "good bye and good riddance." If the South wanted to leave, then let them.  But when they opened fire on the US flag, that changed everything.

I have heard many Confederate die-hards tell me that they honestly thought the CSA would re-integrate into the USA within twenty years after succession.  I am not sure, but if they CSA had left the Union peacefully, the odds of that happening increase.  A peaceful succession would have probably turned the Mason-Dixon line into another version of the US-Canadian border.

In the end, I would have fought to keep the Union together.  I think that despite the bloodshed, Lincoln made the right call.  If anyone wants to keep fighting the Civil War, do it on a football field.

Believe me, people would watch!

Play it at Gettysburg!

Europe's 9/11?

 Ironic that this post comes from a guy whose parents are legal immigrants to a country with an illegal immigrant population of over 12 million.....

There is going to be a civil war in Europe.  I am not sure where exactly (France, Germany, or Britain are leader on the odds board...) but it will happen in twenty years.  Out of nowhere it seems, nearly a million refugees (?) from Syria (?) are fleeing that countries civil war.  Turkey and Lebanon have absorbed as many as they can and now they are trying to get into Greece on their way further west.  The German government--against the wishes of its people--wants to take in 800,000 (!) people.  Macedonia, Hungary, Croatia, won't let any of these "immigrants" stay and there seems to be problems all ready building up.

Only 15% seem to be from Syria.  We don't know who these people are and what diseases they have or even what their intentions are.  Letting them in wholesale is suicidal and is going to start a war.  Look at Marseilles and what that has turned into.  London is another growing disaster.

Austria as at least woken up and won't let in any train traffic in from Hungary.  How is Greece supposed to take in 150,000 people when it can't pay its own bills?  It looks to me that Croatia and Hungary have the right idea.

Legal immigration is a good thing.  This mass exodus/invasion is not.

What happens next is hard to say, but it won't be good. The idiot governments will screw it up.  You can take care of people and not turn it into the Dark Ages all over again.