Khanda: true enough, the flag offends enough reasonable people to justify its removal, and certainly, the South lost the Civil War. But I think a point needs to be emphasized:
As I said before, "Lincoln wanted to rebuild the broken South while allowing it to retain its dignity and honor". Unfortunately, Lincoln's vision of a genuinely redemptive Reconstruction died with him. Reconstruction was hard on the former Confederacy, resulting in many blaming recently freed slaves for the economic and social upheaval - and resulting in a GREAT deal of bitterness towards the North.
Look at what happened to Germany after World War I: the reparations system was so harsh that there was a tremendous backlash, namely the Third Reich. Compare that to Germany and Japan after WWII. Certainly, they were crushed and beaten during the war, but as soon as it ended, the Allies began a process of rebuilding and redemption. Now, both countries are economic powers and clearly the allies of their former enemies. With rare exception (particularly the Japanese evading the issue of whether Pearl Harbor was an attack that warrants an apology), it's almost as if we never were enemies.
Basically, a LOT of the South's bitterness about this issue can be traced back to a harsh Reconstruction - and the bitterness is perennially renewed by book after book (see: Faulkner) and movie after movie (Forrest Gump, Ghosts of Mississippi, The Green Mile, ad naseum) that pigeon-hole the South as a region DEFINED SOLELY BY RACISM, a region of utter backwardness.
Angela: yeah, there's Carribean Creole, but there is also home-grown Creole food in Lousiana (and surrounding areas). It is unique compared to BOTH Cajun food and Carribean food.
dream wanderer: I agree that the Confederate flag is an inappropriate symbol for Southern culture - particurlarly when that culture is at least partially defined by the contribution of blacks. I was merely explaining that some defenders of the flag see it as an apropos symbol, and I was asserting that Southern culture isn't something to disparage completely.
zonelistener: Yes, we are one country, obviously.
If you're ever in a small town in the South, see if they have a memorial to all their veterans; many do. If they do, see if they list the names of local men lost in battle - and see how many were sacrificed for the United States during World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Fact is, the South (and the Midwest) sent a disproportionate number of soldiers to these wars; MANY of them enlisted instead of being drafted. Southerners ARE Americans first, and we have demonstrated that when it counts.
(Hell, U2Bama and I have consistently demonstrated that in this forum since 9/11.)
But New Yorkers and New Englanders are allowed to celebrate their cultures, and so should we.
Sting2: Country or not, one Confederate flag or another did fly over those states for some five years during a war that has come to define the area. Thus, it should fly with the other flags in such settings as the "Six Flags" setting.
As to the question of whether the South was a country, consider this: most people consider the United States to be created on July 4, 1776, when it was still fight for its independence from England. It apparently became a country when it started the war, not when it won.
Also recognize that the colonies essentially asserted, "we have the right to be independent from England", but in just EIGHTY years the U.S. Government told the South that it doesn't have the same right. That hypocrisy is very rarely mentioned.
joyfulgirl: I agree with you that the flag should be removed from capitol buildings, but I STILL assert that doing so will not appease a very vocal group of angry people.
Look at tobacco: what started out as reasonable requests has become sheer lunacy. Warnings were put on the packaging and advertising, TV ads were removed, billboard ads have been restricted, restaurants were forced to split their dining areas, many are now forced to prohibit smoking altogether - and now some towns are proposing laws that would make it illegal to smoke in your own home if it offends someone in an adjacent house.
I honestly think that unless some reasonable line (probably flags over historical sites and memorials) is drawn and defended to the hilt, some of these protestors will continue badgering the government to the point that sheer POSSESSION of the Confederate flag is considered as criminal as burning a cross in another person's yard.
Melon: true enough, the states shouldn't fly the flags, but AGAIN, no one is asserting through the mainstream media that Germany is a backwards country still defined by anti-Semitism.
Sula: all excellent points.
One more interesting note about the Emancipation Proclamation: it ONLY freed slaves in the Confederacy. There were slave states that stayed with the North, and they were exempted from the proclamation.