Thursday, March 29, 2007

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

Bitter Fruits of Bondage, Armstead L. Robinson:

An interesting take on the failure of the Confederacy. Robinson writes about the conflict between the Planter Class, owners of slaves, and the yeoman class, non-slaveholders who lived mostly in the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Although there were many more Southerners who were not hot for war, and who were drawn into the war by calls for States Rights, and the desire not to be dominated by Washington, it was the failure of Jefferson Davis, to hold the Planter Class, men of privilege to the wheel. They were exempted from serving on the grounds that they had to stay home and protect their property(the slaves). In the meantime, the yeomen soldiers saw that it was a "rich man's war and a poor man's fight."

Desertions and evasion of service were rampant. In 1863 and 1864 from 1/3 to 1/2 of the CSA had deserted or was evading. It got to the point where the weight of slavery was in itself dragging the Confederacy down.

Slaves struggled for freedom. (Planters wouldn't even "lend" slaves to the war effort. White yeoman struggled to defend themselves from subjugation to what they saw as political slavery. the Confederate government had to rely on increasing draconian forms of coercion; and the Confederacy melted away.

The interests of the slave holding minority were in direct opposition to that of the slaves (of course) and to the interests of the non-slave holding majority of free citizens of the South, the white non-slave holding yeomanry.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

From a techy's profile: http://jeremiahthewebprophet.blogspot.com/

Beliefs

Web is important. It will be the primary platform for nearly all communication for the foreseeable future. Mobile, TV, and the Internet will mesh into one.

It’s the communication and relationships that are important, the tools are second. Web is only as critical as the communication that occurs between the sender, receiver, and the impact on the community. In many ways, I’m no more than a communication facilitator.

My focus is on Web Strategy, meaning I create plans and lead a measurable program to use web tools to meet user and business needs for Internets, Extranets, and Intranets.

Focus on the users/consumers, and the rest will fall into place.

I will continue to grow, with a clear vision to eventually be an influencer and leader in the web industry.
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

In response to Ann Coulter's ad hominum attack on John Edwards:

People resort to ad hominem attacks when
(1) they have no other arguments,
(2) when they want to distract from the real issues, and
(3) when they are air-headed, cross eyed, poorly educated, bulimic, bleached blond, bitch-hoes who belong in the kitchen raising children.

mek