Today's MOZEN: The Stars and Bars.

F LoBuono

The Confederate Battle Flag is known as the Stars and Bars. For those unfamiliar with American history, it was the flag flown into battle by the Southern Secessionists, i.e. treasonous rebels who attempted to preserve slavery by leaving the Union. Southerners and their sympathizers will tell you that today it represents a sort of freedom that comes from rebellion. They will also tell you it serves to memorialize those Southerns who lost their lives in the Civil War.

I say, BULL SHIT!

The Stars and Bars (and it's many incarnations) represents nothing more than a block-headed attempt to rationalize their inexplicable attempt at preserving a lifestyle and economy that existed solely on the backs of slaves. Their actions led to the death of over 1.2 million Americans. And, that's worth memorializing? In his memoirs, General Ulysses S. Grant said that, although he appreciated the Southern soldiers' dedication and sense of duty, he could not fathom why they choose such a worthless cause to apply it!

Now, 150 years later, the South still takes delight in flying that flag high and wide. In recent days, despite the fact that a white supremacist who supposedly worshiped that flag just murdered 9 innocent blacks at a bible class, it was still flying high over the State Capitol in South Carolina. This was done even when the American and official State flags were lowered to half-mast . There is a level of defiance here that smacks of the racism that has nearly destroyed the South and continues to be problematic today. No one is going to make a Southerner take down the image that instead of representing the best of any given society, symbolizes the worst. And, that is damned strange to me.

Besides, someone needs to tell them that they LOST THE WAR - after 150 years, it's time to heal. Lose that stupid flag!!