Velociman

Smoke and mirrors, Rube. Got back to the True Flag. I still like the Little Richard, James Brown, Ray Charles, Otis Redding flag concept.

Catfish

I like the flag with the stars and bars, the first one shown, Cat

Rube

Might want to get that Caps-Lock key checked out, Billy.

My point was: The symbols, national or otherwise, of a seditious, anti-American, and criminal enterprise such as the CSA have no place in the heart of anyone who's proud to be an American, and certainly no place on the official symbols of their most bitterly-hated enemy.

The CSA's reality is that of a defeated enemy of the USA. It's that of a country that passed laws that favored one race while enslaving and dehumanizing another, forbid the mixing of impure races with the master race. The Nazi analogy isn't completely without merit.

Showing that rebel flag just isn't cute anymore. We're trying to win a war; get your head out of your ass and drop the "South Will Rise Again!" bullshit. American first, Southern second; that war's already over, and the good guys won.

Billy Bearden

On July 1st, 1956, Georgia Senate Bill 98 took effect. SB98 was signed into law on February 13th, 1956 by then-Governor Marvin Griffin, and it called for a new design to the Georgia State Flag.

What is now commonly referred to as the "56 Flag" was created by a suggestion from Atlanta attorney John Sammons Bell, then-chairman of the State Democratic Party, attorney for the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG), and later Judge on Georgia Court of Appeals. His desire was to "forever perpetuate the memory of the Confederate soldier who fought and died for his state."

The flag it replaced was designed by Waynesboro State Senator and former Confederate Colonel Herman H.Perry in 1879, based on the 1st Flag of the Confederacy, AKA Stars and Bars. Similar to our current flag, it had 2 red stripes and 1 white stripe, and a field of blue down the left side.

By 1955 however, people like Representative Denmark Groover argued at the time that the old flag never had enough meaning for him when he was a boy and that the new flag would replace those meaningless stripes with something that has deep meaning in the hearts of all true Southerners"

Others like Senator Jefferson Davis of Cartersville also argued that the state should be entitled to adopt the new flag, because Georgia suffered more than any other state in the Civil War and endured a scorched earth policy from the mountains of Tennessee to the sea. SB98 was discussed and passed with little fanfare, and became law on July 1st, 1956.

It is a fact that under the 1879 Perry version flag, Jim Crow, lynching, segregation, and blatant discrimination were widely practiced and flourished in Georgia, as well as across America, but it is also fact that Georgia's greatest gains in Civil Rights came under the "56 Flag".

Under the 1956 Bell version flag, Georgia's schools were fully integrated, Black citizens were no longer lynched, they began enjoying full civil and equal rights in business, political, and social settings. Georgia gained 3 professional sports teams - Falcons, Braves, and Flames - hosted 2 Superbowls, held the 1996 Olympics, and set the pace for the New South.

Georgia based troops took the "56 Flag" with them onto the foreign battlefields of Viet Nam, Grenada, Beirut, Bosnia, and Desert Storm, and just as their Confederate ancestors before them, fought and died for their homes, families, and flag. Millions of Georgia citizens aged 5 to 50 were born under that flag.

In 1958, the United States Congress passed laws granting the same rights and recognition enjoyed by Union Veterans to men who served in the Confederate States Army and Navy. To this day Confederate Veterans are United States Veterans.

Unfortunantly, the 1956 Bell version flag had it's enemies. Attempts at claiming the "56 flag" was changed to fight integration a long 2 years after the Brown vs Board decision helped begin the BIG LIE that remains to this day. Although the historical facts are out there that plainly refutes this, truth means little for those with agendas.

Concerning those who claim that the flag was " designed as a last desperate grasp of defiance against integration." Judge John Sammons Bell said "Absolutely nothing could be further from the truth every bit of it is untrue." He further stated that "Anybody who says anything to the contrary is wrong or perpetuating a willful lie." Plus in the year 1956 several newspaper accounts of the proposed change in the GEORGIA FLAG were published. In none of the articles was there any hint that the flag change was for any reason other than that stated by the gentlemen who proposed the change.

Former Governor Ernest Vandiver said "I can assure you that there was no discussion of segregation or of the U.S. Supreme Court. All that was discussed was the coming centennial of the Civil War and this flag was meant to be a memorial to the bravery, fortitude and courage of the men who fought and died on the battlefield for the Confederacy. More Americans died in that war than any other war in the history of America, before or since."

In April 1992, the Atlanta Journal Constitution conducted a poll of 43,000 people, and their results were that 75% of citizens wished the "56 Flag" remain as is. Then on July 5th, 1992, the Atlanta Journal Constitution released the results of their own investigation into the flag change of 1956:"There is little written record of the 1956 Legislature and no audio record. News stories about the change were few. In none of our research did we find any record of a stated connection between changing the flag and opposition to desegregation rulings."

But the lies grew and multiplied. Another bit of untruth was that somehow the flag was "Bad for Business", and although the previously mentioned sports franchises and events came here under the "56 Flag", businesses like Home Depot were created here, Coca-Cola thrived and truly went global. Hartsfield Airport became the biggest in the world and 3 Interstates were built. Foreign companies built numerous plants here, and the economy was booming. The "56 Flag" was seen in movies like Smokey and the Bandit, and on TV shows like Matlock. Regardless, truth was ignored and facts tossed out the window.

In 1994, James Andrew Coleman filed a Federal Lawsuit against then Governor Zell Miller over the 56 Flag. Mr Coleman lost the suit and the flag remained, but once again Denmark Groover stood up to the plate, and in his deposition under oath he stated " I have no personal knowledge which would dispute the purely historical motives which were expressed then and since by the sponsors and others involved with the legislation when it was introduced in the Senate. While I cannot say that the Supreme Court's rulings regarding desegregation played absolutely no role in my decision to support the bill in the House, I can say that segregationist sentiment was not the overriding or even a significant factor in my vote concerning the new flag, or, based on personal observation and knowledge, in its ultimate adoption by the House....

It all finally came to a head in January 2001, when Ex-Governor Roy Barnes Blitzkrieged the legislature with threats, lies, and intimidation. Having ran on a campaign not to touch the flag, and just finished an interview on CNN in October 2000, stating the flag was not an issue, his flag change happened so fast not even most legislators knew what was happening. Those who voted with him received extra money for their campaigns and districts, those who refused were stripped of funding, or even in the case of Bowdon's Jack West, had his district removed thru redistricting for voting against the change.

Kalafan

Hey, Rubicon! Probably the most common irony I've ever noticed is that those claiming to be in opposition to "hate" sure as hell do a whole lot of hating themselves, as your above post illustrates fully. I also notice that the vast majority of "tolerant" prisses out there seem to have no problem whatsoever with outlawing the very existence of material like this: http://www.heretical.com/miscellx/sui...

Orwell must be laughing like crazy in whatever kind of grave he's in. We fight hate with hate, fight terrorism with terrorism, and defend our respective homelands by sending large portions of the military to foreign lands while neglecting the security of our own borders (over 2,000 German soldiers are now helping Israel clean up the mess it made in Lebanon, as if those reparations payments they've been saddled with all these years aren't enough). I suppose next it will be called "un-patriotic" to openly complain about the National ID cards that the mass of Boobus Americanus will be getting shoved up its ass in 2008.

Kalafan

Oh, well that changes everything!

Yeah, now that I look back it really doesn't make sense to use the symbols of an attempted insurrection against your authority, unless, you know, you're one of those nutcases who interprets the Constitution 100% in the original context, with rebellion against precieved tyranny from D.C. being the mark of a patriot instead of a traitor. I'll get back to this once the entire Southwest is renamed Nuevo Aztlan.