Thinking Ahead…2014 A Year of Many Historical Events

“Bringing Up the Guns” 1917

Well the 2012-2013 school year has come and gone and like so many others it is hard to believe it is over. I have had to say goodbye to some very memorable students in the graduating class of 2013…some will never know how much I will miss seeing them on a daily basis.

However, that will allow more time for blogging…I hope.  Now that I have more time on my hands, at least until I start summer school, I have been thinking about next school year and that brings me to the big year of 2014.  Numerous events will “celebrate” anniversaries in 2014 not just the 150th of the Civil War’s 1864 but 1914 will be remembered for the beginning of the Great War on June 28th.  1964 should also be remembered as the year in which the Vietnam Conflict began to escalate with two attacks by the Vietcong on U. S. airbases involved in Operation Rolling Thunder and the bombing of communist North Vietnam.  2014 will also mark the 70th Anniversary of the landings of D-Day…a day that celebrates its 69th anniversary today as I type this.

With all of these different events being remembered, it should provide more blogging opportunities in the future making this blog a bit more respectable in the blogosphere.  I look forward to working up some posts worthy of my readers and hopefully to gain some new readers as well.  So here is to 2014…its only 6 months away.

A Little Help From My Friends…Recent Acquisitions

Now that summer is right around the corner..if it ever warms up here in the Mid-West…I figured I need some new reading material.  The other nice thing about picking up these titles is that many of them…minus the WWII Blackout book…have been featured on Civil War Talk Radio talking about that book or another publication.  Listening to the author discuss his or her book is usually what drives me to purchase the book and add it to my growing collection of nearly 500 books on the Civil War and history in general.

New Page Added to TBoMK

I just wanted to take a quick second to let my readers know I have added a new page to the bar below the header on The Blood of My Kindred.  I must admit that I got the idea from Michael Cushman over at Southern Nationalist Network.  You can see an example of his work below…and I figured I too could provide historical quotes that might lead to more discussion.  I have added several to start out the page and I will make a post each time I add new quotes in the future…Stay Tuned!

And here is what Stephen F. Hale thought was the cause for inevitable disunion…

No Need to See Movie Before You Review It…

Only In the South?

Sometimes while surfing the net for anything I can use in my Current Events class I come across news items that just cannot be passed up.  The other day The Blaze ran a story about The Most Bible-Minded Cities in the US and of course those most bible-minded were in the south and the least in the Northeast.  Not surprising to my readers I am sure.  Here is the article and the graphic that they used in the article…

I thought the first comment on the site, though very stereotyped, it was very interesting to note…

“Keith Johnston says:

January 23, 2013 at 6:19 pm

I think that it is interesting that you used the term ‘Bible-minded’ as opposed to Christian. I’m assuming that is because you, like me, acknowledge that those are two different things. ‘Bible-minded’ areas have more assault rifles, more veneral disease, fewer college graduates, more poverty, and if it were not for the Civil War would probably still have slaves, had to have integration forced upon them. In short, some of the most ‘Bible-minded’ states (like Mississippi) are the least Christian.”

I began to wonder why the south is the way it is in this respect.  I honestly don’t have the answer and I don’t think it is all about religion.  But then I came upon this piece at Mother Jones. 

5. Slave masters were nice guys: “A few slave holders were undeniably cruel. Examples of slaves beaten to death were not common, neither were they unknown. The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well.”—United States History for Christian Schools, 2nd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 1991

Now that comment makes perfect sense and maybe, just maybe it is not so stereotyped after all.  What do you think?

Here are some more links to some other related stories…Sigh!

Texas Public Schools Teach End Times…

Louisiana Public Education Overhaul…