Discussion: VA Spent Millions On Private Security Guards For Confederate Cemeteries

TPM Article Topics
23

I actually do care. I think one of the major problems this society has is not recognizing the Civil War for the treason it was instead of the romanticized sanitized Gone with the Wind version the south has perpetuated.

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24

It did, if they were POWs who died in custody in the US.

The few dozen who died while incarcerated as POWs were buried at Ft. Douglas, Utah, the Chattanooga National Cemetery, and Fort Lyon, Colorado.

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25

Very well said.There was a time when protesters said they “belong in museums and cemeteries” and then cemetery vandalsm started.

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26

That would be the sort of duty that should only be used as punishment. I call it “punishment” not because it is a Confederate cemetaey, but because it is a deadly dull assignment, in isolation, that has nothing to do with the operations or overall mission of military or NG service.

So, I like your idea if it serves a disciplinary purpose, but not if we are viewing military personnel as “labor we are already paying for anyway.”

27

Priorities.

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28

I am surprised—and disappointed—that you believe it’s okay to disrespect people who died bravely in battle, regardless of which side they believed was right.

Abraham Lincoln disagreed with you, by the way.

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29

How did Erik Prince NOT get this contract?

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30

O I know he did. That’s ok - I agree with Thad Stevens with whom Lincoln did not agree, and wish we’d gone with his reconstruction plan. In retrospect, Lincoln’s hasn’t worked out so great.

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31

In the Deep south the Civil War is called “The War of Northern Aggression” in the textbooks, and slavery is not mentioned. It’s all about “States Rights” to run their own governments and the evil Northern Federal Government attacking honest, law-abiding States that were just trying to protect “Their Way of Life”.
I kid you not.

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32

I grew up in the south, the segregated south. I know. I’ve heard it all. They are the Real Americans they believe.

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33

Patently false.

Textbooks make no such claims.

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34

So TPM sticks this in a section under “White Nationalism”? Glad I elected not to renew my Prime membership.

35

Actually, there were a lot more than that “thundercoapewman”, nearly 26,000 Confederate prisoners died in captivity. Just over 12% of the captives in Northern prisons died, compared to 15.5% for Southern prisons.

With that said I have no sympathy or admiration for those who took up arms against the USA. The dead should be buried and with that, the USA compleated any obligation to those who died.

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36

What’s that supposed to mean? That’s not his TPM nickname.

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37

If security is necessary, let the Daughters and Sons of the Confederacy organizations pay.

38

From the article:

“…VA-operated cemeteries…”

39

For me it depends on what they were fighting for. There are plenty of German units which should be disrespected.

40

Since private companies are providing the security, I see nothing wrong with letting private interests pay for it. If nobody’s interested in paying for it, well, that’s life.

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41

I live in the deepest South. If I were much further south, I’d be in the Gulf of Mexico. Here, devoted fans of the Confederacy call the Civil War the “War Between the States” (states’ rights), but I don’t recall the “War of Northern Aggression” used in textbooks or even in speech.