As for: “dusting an ugly piece of history right under the rug.”…I’ve got a little problem with our old friend D. Neiwert’s etymology…

He’s not the only one to have traced the origin of the term “concentration camp” to the British during the Boer war…

He just didn’t look back far enough…

And he should have looked closer to home…

The term “concentration camp” was coined by Union general Thomas Ewing (who was also General Sherman’s brother-in-law) when he promulgated his infamous “Order No. 10″ which depopulated the countryside of the four westernmost counties of Missouri south of Kansas City during our Civil War…

Everyone had to either m,ove to town or into one of the “concentration camps” set up just outside the principle towns in those counties…As an effort to quell the violence between Missourians and Kansans that had been ongoing since the mid-1850’s (It went on long after the war ended, also)…

One fuirther note…Harry Truman’s grandmother was one of those “relocated” from their homes…Whenn she was allowed to return home, her house was luckily still there…Though the contents had been stripped…

Truman’s Grandmother stayed pissed about it for the rest of her life…When young Harry joined the Missouri National Guard, he visited wearing his new uniform – which happened to be blue – whereupon Grandma ordered him out of the house for wearing “that Yankee uniform”…

I had grown up hoping that America had learned from our past mistakes. Now I see that boosh is just determined to repeat as many of them as he can in his terms in office. Is prohibition next?

Well, no one would argue that heroin, cocaine, etc., are good things, and hopefully everyone will agree their use should be discouraged, but the present “war on drugs” model of massive criminalization has failed just as badly as prohibition. Everyone with any brains knows that some sort of treatment-type modality should be applied to all but the biggest drug kingpins but anyone who suggests this out loud is instantly villified by the right wing’s Mighty Wurlitzer.

CTuttle @ 316

Take off, eh, hoser!!! *g*

… that would be the 3 a.m. traffic report … *g*
It is past 3 a.m. in Toronto, Goodnight dear friends … I hope TRex slaps that D.J. with his tail.

Nite P! I’m on hold to ask TRex about NPSD-51!!

TRex says he can’t listen to Al Gore’s voice for 8 years. How’s this for a voice TRex:
“You need to put food on your children…”
“Often is the question asked, is our children learning?”

Too funny!

Are ya all recovered from your trip?

Petrocelli @ 308

Where I live, a 2 a.m. traffic report would be, “Take off, eh !!!”

Take off, eh, hoser!!! *g*

… that would be the 3 a.m. traffic report … *g*
It is past 3 a.m. in Toronto, Goodnight dear friends … I hope TRex slaps that D.J. with his tail.