All these Civil War threads ultimately deserve to be filed under the heading "The Lost Point." Yes, this topic is a loser, and I apologize for reheating moldy subject matter best left to antiquarians and those lunatic "reenactors" who run around Civil War battlefields in period uniforms blowing bugles and shooting blanks at each other. It is indeed absurd for a leftist listserv to bog down trying to ID which region of the US is more backward. As my fav quotemeister Dr. Johnson put it: "There is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea." The only thing worth fixating on is that the US as a *whole* today is a steaming heap of inequity at home and an armed and dangerous lunatic abroad.
So, to paraphrase a presidential inaugural suggestion of long ago -- let the list truck on with malice toward none, with charity for all.
BTW, as a prime example of how history's noblest sentiments can be pounded flat by modern corporate-speak, consider how the Great Emancipator's most famous rhetoric looks after being mugged by PowerPoint. Many on the list are no doubt familiar with "The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation," but such a classic can always use another posting: <http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/>
Carl
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