Kim C--. My family came from Alabama. Truth shouldn't depend on which side of the Mason/Dixon you're on. Southerners are not "the Bad Guys" because of what Jeff Davis did. But don't tell me that Jeff Davis was fighting for Truth, Justice and the American Way. Again, for the nth time, I grant Northern racism and much else that you point to, but none of it changes my contention that the South took arms to perpetuate an inhumane system. Comparisons to Biblical slaves, Classical slaves and "wage slaves" are not totally accurate, because all three of those kinds of people had remedies which were denied to slaves in the US.

Maybe while we're gone over the weekend, this thread will die or revert to the possession of the dispossessed who started it to begin with. I for one would like to hear more from Rich M.--Given what you say, Rich, what do we do with the paintings that started this whole thing??

McGrath--I've always distinguished the South's right to seceed from the reasons they gave for doing it. I think they had the right, because I have never come up with any twisted criterion which would justify the American Revolution and not also justify the "Southern War of Independence." I just don't think they're being honest about why they did it.

With absolutely no irony intended, I hope everybody has a great weekend.

C.C.