Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 2:12pm

Various & Sundry, 9/9/13

I will be traveling for the next few day, so no V&S again until Friday.

Convert or Die

So I guess these are the people we’re supposed to be helping against the evil regime in Syria.

The village of Maaloula has been taken over by Syrian rebels associated with al Qaeda, who have stormed the Christian center and offered local Christians a choice: conversion or death. A resident of the town said the rebels shouted “Allahu Akhbar” as they moved through the village, and proceeded to assault Christian homes and churches.

“They shot and killed people,” he said. “I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village. Where is President Obama to see what has befallen us?” Another witness stated, “I saw the militants grabbing five villagers and threatening them and saying, ‘Either you convert to Islam, or you will be beheaded.’”

John Kerry Told a Fib

Well what else would you call a declaration that Thomas Friedman is usually right?

Anyway, David Gerstam at Legal Insurrection documents some of Friedman’s most egregious errors.

Tar and Feathers Not Enough

Instapundit documents the most recent case of terrifying state overreach.

West Maryland Wants to Secede

More secession talk from folks tired of being pulled under by the rest of the state. I totally feel for the people of the western part of this state. They have more cause than some other state regions that have discussed secession, as the Congressional District representing the northwest part of the state was intentionally gerrymandered, and parts of Republican Frederick County were merged with Montgomery County in a district that basically runs up I-270, thus eliminating the one Republican district in the state (the southeastern part of the state has a GOP member of Congress, but Frederick is much more reliably Republican).

This article was posted on a friend’s Facebook wall, and the snooty comments of other Marylanders made me even more sympathetic to their cause. My particular favorite was one genius who said, “Maryland not have seceded with the rest of the South, but “unreconstructed” definitely describes western MD today.” I had to point out that western Maryland was the section of the state most loyal to the Union, and that it was Democratic Baltimore that almost drove the state out of the Union. Another person referenced West Virginia – you know, the state carved out of Virginia because it was the section of the state that wanted no part of the Confederacy.

While these talks of secession will certainly come to nothing, it’s hard not to at least feel a pull of sympathy. If it ever happened, I’ve moving west.

 

0 0 votes
Article Rating
2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Tuesday, September 10, AD 2013 5:39am

“My particular favorite was one genius who said, “Maryland not have seceded with the rest of the South, but “unreconstructed” definitely describes western MD today.” I had to point out that western Maryland was the section of the state most loyal to the Union, and that it was Democratic Baltimore that almost drove the state out of the Union.”

“Confederate” is a swear word by Democrats today who, absent Republican resistance in 1861-65, would be today holding Jefferson-Jackson dinners as international celebrations with their colleagues in the Confederacy.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Tuesday, September 10, AD 2013 6:59am

Again, confederation for the components of Maryland. One state government for greater Baltimore, one for the Washington suburbs, and one for the rest of the state, with adjustable boundaries between the three sectors. (You could have infrequent conventions of municipal councilors to draw partial boundaries for the two congressional districts which would cross the boundaries of the components and then have conventions within the components to draw the remainder).

As recently as 1950, the tract development in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties did not have much more than about 150,000 residents. The housing development in which my mother spent the larger share of her formative years was ca. 1944 so peripheral that my grandfather walked about ten miles a week between his house and the bus stop; they all lived about a mile from the District line.

Around half the state’s population was neither in greater Washington nor greater Baltimore in 1950. The evolution of settlement has left the state a patchwork of incongruous parts.

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top