Carpetbaggers And Scalawags...?

Have you ever wondered where the terms "carpetbaggers and scalawags" came from? I have!

I figured I would look it up and thanks to History, I found the answer! I thought I'd share it with you, just in case you might want to call someone one of these names sometimes. Never hurts to have the meaning of a tag you are going to hang on someone, right?

Anyway, these two nicknames have a colorful history, so that makes the origins that much more interesting!

Carpetbaggers

In general, the term "carpetbagger" refers to a traveler who arrives in a new region with only a satchel (or carpetbag) of possessions, and who attempts to profit from or gain control over his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of the original inhabitants. After 1865, a number of northerners moved to the South to purchase land, lease plantations or partner with down-and-out planters in the hopes of making money from cotton. At first they were welcomed, as southerners saw the need for northern capital and investment to get the devastated region back on its feet. They later became an object of much scorn, as many southerners saw them as low-class and opportunistic newcomers seeking to get rich on their misfortune.

In reality, most Reconstruction-era carpetbaggers were well-educated members of the middle class; they worked as teachers, merchants, journalists or other types of businessmen, or at the Freedman's Bureau, an organization created by Congress to provide aid for newly liberated black Americans. Many were former Union soldiers. In addition to economic motives, a good number of carpetbaggers saw themselves as reformers and wanted to shape the postwar South in the image of the North, which they considered to be a more advanced society. Though some carpetbaggers undoubtedly lived up to their reputation as corrupt opportunists, many were motivated by a genuine desire for reform and concern for the civil and political rights of freed blacks.

Scalawags

White southern Republicans, known to their enemies as "scalawags," made up the biggest group of delegates to the Radical Reconstruction-era legislatures. Some scalawags were established planters (mostly in the Deep South) who thought that whites should recognize blacks' civil and political rights while still retaining control of political and economic life. Many were former Whigs (conservatives) who saw the Republicans as the successors to their old party. The majority of the scalawags were non-slaveholding small farmers as well as merchants, artisans and other professionals who had remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. Many lived in the northern states of the region, and a number had either served in the Union Army or been imprisoned for Union sympathies. Though they differed in their views on race—many had strong anti-black attitudes—these men wanted to keep the hated "rebels" from regaining power in the postwar South; they also sought to develop the region's economy and ensure the survival of its debt-ridden small farms.

The term scalawag was originally used as far back as the 1840s to describe a farm animal of little value; it later came to refer to a worthless person. For opponents of Reconstruction, scalawags were even lower on the scale of humanity than carpetbaggers, as they were viewed as traitors to the South. Scalawags had diverse backgrounds and motives, but all of them shared the belief that they could achieve greater advancement in a Republican South than they could by opposing Reconstruction. Taken together, scalawags made up roughly 20 percent of the white electorate and wielded a considerable influence. Many also had political experience from before the war, either as members of Congress or as judges or local officials.

Always fun to discover just where some of these old names and titles come from, especially if the names are derogatory in nature! So, if you decide to use either of these names at least now you will have a better idea of what they really mean!

Now, let's get some fresh coffee and sit in the kitchen for a bit. Looks like rain, but probably won't! You know how that goes, right?

God Bless The Children...!

Like the old saying goes..."out of the mouths of babes"!

One thing you can always count on from old folks and children...they nearly always tell the truth! The kids haven't learned to lie all that well and the older folks figure that they have earned the right to say what they want!

Here's a story that shows how cool it can be when the little guys do as they were taught! Let this be a warning to ya!

6-year-old girl tips police to Marin burglary suspect

By Nels Johnson

Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 04/01/2011 07:15:16 AM PDT
Updated: 04/01/2011 07:15:17 AM PDT

Kids say the darndest things, and San Rafael police are damn happy they do.

Officers called to a Woodland Avenue home Wednesday morning after a report of a burglary found a woman outside a home with children, ages 3 and 6.

She explained she was caring for a friend s kids, and flatly denied she had entered the Woodland Avenue home of her mother.

That's when the 6-year-old girl spoke up.

"Diane, you know you were the one who told us don t tell you were the one who went in through the front window."

Laptops taken from the home were found stacked in a nearby storage shed.

Saucer-eyed San Rafael police arrested Diane Lydia Ellison, 27, on suspicion of burglary, child cruelty and possession of a small amount of methamphetamine. She was booked into Marin County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

"It was priceless," San Rafael Cpl. Todd Berringer said, adding arresting officers couldn t believe their ears as the child explained what happened.

In this case, the kids did just as they were taught and that's a good thing. Just because the "grown-up" in the group was busted because of it is just too bad! One case of the truth NOT setting you free! You just gotta love it!

Let's have some fresh coffee on the patio! We can stare at the garden and dream of fresh veggies!

Better Late Than Never, Fools...!

I guess this is an example of a wrong finally being righted!

The trouble is, this wrong should have never happened at all! Just another case of the government getting it wrong once again!

It seems to me that our older veterans, folks that have put their very lives on the line for their country, are way too often being treated like second class citizens. These people don't ask for much...just the respect that they are entitled to! Respect denied to them by the very country that they were willing to die for!

At least in this case, the matter was corrected. All I can say is...it's about time!

Story Published: Apr 1, 2011 at 12:55 PM PDT

Story Updated: Apr 1, 2011 at 8:42 PM PDT

WWII vet, 95, to get US citizenship

SEATTLE - A 95-year-old World War II veteran who got into a jam earlier this month because he couldn't prove his U.S. citizenship will soon have all the proof he needs.

Leland Davidson will receive a certificate of citizenship in a special ceremony on Tuesday, along with 58 other people.

Davidson, of Centralia, ran into trouble earlier this month when he applied for an enhanced driver's license so he could visit relatives in Canada.

He was rejected - even though he served honorably in the U.S. Navy during World War II - because he was born in British Columbia.

His parents were U.S. citizens who moved back to the United States when Davidson was 5 - but Davidson couldn't prove it.

"My dad was born, and we called Iowa, and (they) didn't start keeping records until 1880, and he was born in 1878," Davidson said.

Davidson's family even began to worry that the World War II vet could lose his Medicare and Social Security - and didn't know where to turn.

The KOMO 4 Problem Solvers spoke with U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's office and received an application for citizenship, and since Davidson is a veteran it didn't cost him any money.

Davidson eventually was able to find proof of his parents' U.S. citizenship, which automatically makes him a U.S. citizen.

He will receive a special certificate from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at Tuesday's ceremony that takes the place of a birth certificate as proof of U.S. citizenship.

Once in a great while, the PTB get it right! It may take longer that it should, but sometimes the good guys DO win!

Let's have some coffee on the patio this morning, OK? God Bless Our Republic!

Happy All Fools Day...!

I do hope that all of the pranks that this day is known for, are BY you and not ON you!

Lots of folks really get into the joke playing on April 1ST, but do you know the true history behind this well known date?

I thought I'd share the little known history, just in case any of you weren't aware of it before!

On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other.

Although the day, also called All Fools' Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery.

Some historians speculate that April Fools' Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as "poisson d'avril" (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Historians have also linked April Fools' Day to ancient festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises. There's also speculation that April Fools' Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

April Fools' Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with "hunting the gowk," in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people's derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or "kick me" signs on them.

In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a "Left-Handed Whopper," scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.

This Is For The Ladies...!

The ongoing war between the sexes has been going on probably since the Garden of Eden!

Little did we know that even the founding fathers were catching hell from their better half at the start of our country! I found that even John Adams had to stand a little harassment from his wife, who wrote him to keep in mind that the women were the real power in the future government! In fact, you could say that she pulled no punches about it at all!

Abigail Adams asks her husband to "remember the ladies"

On this day in 1776, future first lady Abigail Adams writes to her husband urging him to "remember the ladies" when drafting a new "code of laws" for the fledgling nation.

While John Adams participated in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Abigail remained at their home in Braintree, Massachusetts, managing their daily affairs in his absence. At the same time that Adams was preparing to publish his "Thoughts on Government" essay, which outlined proposed political philosophy and structures for the new nation, Abigail pondered if and how the rights of women would be addressed in an American constitution.

A prolific letter writer, Abigail never hesitated to debate her husband on political matters. She begged Adams to draft laws that were "more generous and favorable" to women than his predecessors had. She half-jokingly claimed that "all men would be tyrants if they could" and pointed out the glaring hypocrisy of male Patriots fighting against British tyranny if they should disregard the rights of half the population when drafting a constitution. Abigail warned "if particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or Representation."

Adams responded to his wife's letter, by teasing her in return and declaring that men were not really the "masters" of women but were "subject to the despotism of the petticoat." However, like their predecessors, Adams and his contemporaries failed to make codifying women's rights a priority. It was not until 1919 that Congress amended the Constitution to grant women the right to vote.

It has always amazed me that we, as men, managed to get that far in the history of our country before giving women the right to vote! After all, any man that has ever been married can tell you that "women rule the world"!

To tell the truth, I really don't have a problem with that! But then, I'm single!

How about some fresh coffee on the patio? Don't worry...I made it 'cause I don't have a woman around to help me! Any volunteers?

What Are The Odds...?

Only a child's faith would allow him to believe this bottle would ever be found!

It only seems fitting then that the bottle be found by another child! I guess that ol' Neptune has a soft spot for the wishes of the children. Or it could be that a beautiful mermaid decided to help out and guarded the bottle during it's 24 year journey?

No matter how it happened, this reads like something in a child's book of high sea adventures!

Message in a bottle answered 24 years later

Associated Press
March 29, 2011, 3:08PM

MOSCOW — Nearly a quarter-century after a German boy tossed a message in a bottle off a ship in the Baltic Sea, he's received an answer.

A 13-year-old Russian, Daniil Korotkikh, was walking with his parents on a beach when he saw something glittering lying in the sand.

"I saw that bottle and it looked interesting," Korotkikh told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "It looked like a German beer bottle with a ceramic plug, and there was a message inside."

His father, who knows schoolboy German, translated the letter, carefully wrapped in cellophane and sealed by a medical bandage.

It said: "My name is Frank, and I'm five years old. My dad and I are traveling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, and I will write back to you."

The letter, dated 1987, included an address in the town of Coesfeld.

The boy in the letter, Frank Uesbeck, is now 29. His parents still live at the letter's address.

"At first I didn't believe it," Uesbeck told the AP about getting the response from Korotkikh. In fact, he barely remembered the trip at all; his father actually wrote the letter.

The Russian boy and the German man met each other earlier this month via an Internet video link.

I wish more things in our everyday lives worked out like this story, but sadly they don't. Most of the time, the bottle would get broken, or would leak water and sink, or would meet the fate of so many ships in the past...and just disappear for good!

Nice to know that sometimes the impossible happens, and the outcome is good!

How about coffee on the patio this morning! Just cool enough to be comfortable!

Acting Is Dangerous Work...!

I guess that you could get hurt in any job, but sometimes it's in a way you just don't plan for.

No telling how many times these guys had to practice this, but quite obviously one more time would have been a good idea! I'm just saying...!

Actor wounded by sword during 'Hamlet'

Associated Press
March 22, 2011, 8:43AM

DUBLIN — Good night, stunned prince.

An audience watching an Irish production of “Hamlet” has been shocked to see the prince exit the stage too soon — when a sword fight really wounded the star.

Conor Madden, playing the title character of Shakespeare’s tragedy, suffered a gash beneath his eye and collapsed at Monday’s production in the southwest city of Cork. He was hospitalized but released.

Many playgoers thought the wound was part of the act. Artistic director Alan Stanford took the stage to say the blood and moans were real, and Hamlet couldn’t continue without the prince.

Madden is missing Tuesday’s two performances at Cork’s Everyman Theatre but may return Wednesday, when Hamlet is expected to resume shuffling off this mortal coil in line with the script.

This is probably the reason that my folks didn't want me to be an actor! All this time, I thought it was because they didn't want me to starve to death! I just never knew that the real reason was that they hated the idea of me being injured in a sword fight in front of a couple hundred people!

Boy, my parents were cooler than I thought! Imagine...worrying about me like that!

Now, my friends, let's get some fresh coffee and sit outside for a bit. Nice and cool this morning!