Monday 13 December 2010

Confederate States of America

Friday 6th of March was the day in which I prepared for the summer and went shopping for shirts. The sun was shining bright for most of the day and the chill wind had departed. My first venture was to the bank for a statement and cash and then to Wilkinson where I discovered the availability of folders with 40 pockets for 1.26 about a third of the price of others elsewhere and significantly less than the price of previous volumes at the same store. I bought ten with six black and two each of red and blue and considered a return later after my visit to Sunderland. I also bought the last six available packs of glitter at a £1 each and two greetings card

I had bought the Daily Mail, a pre birthday treat rather than walk the extra distance and back for the free paper, before going to the Ship and Royal for a bacon sandwich. Today we were provided with door stop sandwiches. I cannot recall a thicker slice of bread filled with thick cut bacon slices. It is just as well that having weighed myself and looked into a mirror before dressing the decision was taken to restrict future visits to no more than two a month until the first stone of weight had been lost.

I am not disheartened by the lack of progress so far because as occurred previously the first step is to achieve a basic improvement in mobility and with this the appetite increases because of activity and the fresh air, I eat quantatively more than less. However this was a phase which occurred last time and was followed with gradual progress as I altered both the quantity and quality of the diet and increased exercise levels. Come next Tuesday the main work begins.

I returned home via the supermarket escalator and undertook some work before setting off for Sunderland, motoring to Seaburn where I parked on the sea front just missing not one but two buses into Sunderland city centre. I was tempted to continue the journey in the car but stopped for what became a long wait, but then enjoying the journey on the bus with views over the bay and then the river. The Bay is picturesque but the river here is not. I went first to Mark’s and Spencer’s for the shirts, buying one white and one pastel yellow short sleeve for the summer and a packet of three, while pastel blue and yellow and then a more expensive shirt for this weekend with a tie to go with my dark grey pinstripe suit. At the recent funeral attended I had difficulty buttoning the shirt and going through the wardrobe when I returned, I realised that several collars were past their best.

The opportunity was taken of an offer of one pack of socks at half price with one at full and this worked out at a few pence over £1 for 14 pairs, in various grey tones to black. There was also a display rack of conventional coloured socks but all with glaringly colourful heels, only to be appreciated when not wearing shoes or house slippers. I used two Christmas voucher cards adding the balance required in cash. I then bought the last eight 40 pocket folders at Wilkinson before waiting sometime again for the bus, and as before two then came together. Having reached the parked vehicle I filled up with petrol at the supermarket garage where about every nine months I have bought sufficient petrol to qualify for a £5 shopping voucher. I have another three months to go, It was time for a cup of tea and a lattice slice of apple which was delicious. I read the Newcastle evening Chronicle which was much concerned that Newcastle Football club would avoid relegation, reminding of the succession of managerial teams, this season alone the failure to sell the club, and that the indifferent performances of players anxious to get away and the limitations of the remainder had made the team the laughing stock of the foot balling nation. That such a statement could appear in the be evening paper of the city was startling. It contrasted with the extraordinary continuing support of the public, admittedly a substantial number are prisoners having bought the three season ticket. My interest was in yet a further example of the misbehaviour and irresponsibility of the some footballers. Ashley Cole was arrested and fined for being drunk and disorder, swearing at the police after attending a night club until 2am. His wife Cheryl of the S Factor and Girl’s Aloud was away on a TV/radio charity filmed event climbing Kilimanjaro in central Africa.

For the evening meal I enjoyed two pieces of fish and the rest of the vegetables from the previous day which had accompanied two salmon fish cakes. Over the week I enjoyed a tangerine cheese cake in addition to a melon, grapes and bananas.

After further work and watching a double helping of American idol in which the final six places of the twelve were to be decided, but in a twist the thirteen became twelve which will mean a double eviction in the first week, possibly a treble. There were some surprises in those selected by the judges for the final three places, although it was not hard to understand why they made the first representative from Puerto Rico where the auditions had also been held for the first time, so as to maintain public interest and voting money at least for another week or so. Similarly some of those selected was more to do with having a balanced and wide ranging group of finalists. The cynical in me also says that they probably looked at the comparative voting strengths and had regard for the previous voting levels as an indication of the nature of the competition to come and the likely revenue.

I then watched an interesting documentary film on DVD, CSA - The Confederate States of America, based on the premises that the South had become victors in the Civil War. The programme was interspersed with adverts for Coon Chicken Restaurants in which diners entered through a large Coon face doorway, In Britain we might think that such racism was of a past centre but in fact a small chain of these restaurants existed in several states between the 1930 and 1950’s. Similarly a brand of cigarettes which had Nigger in the name also existed but was later changed to something less offensive. There were also some good twists which carried the stamp of authenticity. Matching the experiments in Nazi Germany before and during World War two in which political and racial prisoners were experimented upon much like we do animals to day in the cause of finding out more about physical development and illnesses, there were adverts inviting people to train for jobs which enabled them to become surgeons and medical assistants without all the years of study as part of the research programmes using Chattel Labour. The was also the selling of Chattels on Channel Land TV where the offer of the day was a prize specimen of Male with a prize woman worker and two of her vicinities. You could bid for each Chattel individually or for four as a group.

In terms of the documentary History made by the British Broadcasting Service, the war had been won because Britain and France had entered on the side of Confederacy in order to protect their slave owning interests in the Caribbean as well as those in Cotton. The enlightened whites surprisingly few the programme revealed who were not prepared to accept the ongoing slavery had fled to Canada where in the fifties the Cotton Curtain Wall had been created to prevent blacks and enlightened white from escaping into Canada. The USA had fought a major war involving millions of its young men in the conquest of central and south America. An army of slaves had been created with the approval of the owners on the understanding that they would be used in the front lines and the more dangerous of campaigns and the promise of freedom if they survived, but this aspect is reneged once victory is achieved. An Apartheid system is introduced through the southern continent and this result in a strong relationship with Southern Africa. There are also excellent relations established with African states in general whose leaders like the personal profit which can be made from selling their political opponents and excess population to the Confederacy.

An alliance was formed with Nazi Germany with Hitler invited to tour the Confederacy where he is encouraged to convert his proposed extermination of Jews programme into a slave labour system as in the Confederacy but with only limited success. Having previously converted the cheap Labour migrants from the east into the slave labour system, the Confederacy launches a pre-emptive strike on Japanese interests but the war did not go well until the wrecking of Japanese cities using H Bombs. There was also a successful campaign in the middle east to protecting oil supplies.

Earlier Abraham Lincoln was captured, imprisoned, and then pardoned and exiled to Canada. The payment of taxes is offset through slave purchases. In 1985 all religions other than Christianity are outlawed. Catholicism is permitted after much debate. At first the decision was to exterminate or exile all Jews but taking account of the contribution made in the Civil War, it was agreed to create a reservation on Long Island similar to that for the surviving native Americans.

However problems begin to arise at home and outside the Empire. Germany is defeated in Europe but only after there has been significantly greater loss of life, especially on the Russian front and which in effect prevents the development and expansion of communism. During the 1950’s abolitionists are successful in having an effect on educated members of the Confederacy so that by 1960 only 29% are in favour of slavery and the cause is taken up by Roman Catholic Republican John F Kennedy but because of foreign policy issues, it is not clear if he was responsible for trying to expand the Confederacy in Vietnam he is assassinated before being able to make domestic changes. A campaign by a Southern Senator and descendent of the first President swings the public mood back to Southern Protestant Biblical values with intolerance of homosexuality and tolerance of wife beating husbands as examples. However his campaign comes to an end with the allegation that in fact his family has “jungle” blood in them and he commits suicide. As the film ends there is a movement beginning to bring the vote to woman and given them similar opportunities to men for education and employment. There are signs off change as the documentary is shown in the Confederacy, hence the racist adverts, having been banned for a number of years, but no one is optimistic that real change will happen.

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