[gabrinus]

I love the "right side of history" argument. Genghis Khan must have been on the right side of history......he controlled more territory than anyone and everybody knows what a sweetheart he was. Mike, you are right.....the South seceded because they were afraid Lincoln was going to eventually ban slavery. I don't think anyone on here would justify slavery. Lincoln made reference to slavery many times in his campaign speeches. That being said, the North invaded the South after Fort Sumpter. My home town church was burned by Union troops because it was being used as a hospital. My great-grandfather had to eat recycled horsefeed to survive in northern Georgia during the Reconstruction because Northern troops laid waste to his family's crops. I do feel that men who fought for their homes and families were heroes. I know this......Southern troops did not rape Northern women and pillage Northern towns. The one trip north to Gettysburg resulted in a catastrophic loss. The treatment of blacks in the South was reprehensible. I also think the way Patrick Ewing as a high school player was treated in Boston was too. I think the point Bob was making is that none of us should be too proud about those things.