Mad About Town

Well, since I'm away, I thought I'd offer up a little tour of Smallville [real name: Camden} for those of you--and I'm assuming that's all of you, who've never been here.

The Kershaw-Cornwallis House,
just south of town.

Camden is the fourth oldest city in of South Carolina, and is actually the oldest inland city, with a population of roughly 8,000. In total area, Camden is 9.8 square miles, of which 9.6 is land, and 0.2 is water.

Like I said, Smallville.

The Robert Mills-designed Courthouse is now
Camden's Visitors Center. Mills is most famous
for designing the Washington Monument.

In 1730--yes, almost three hundred years ago-- Camden became part of a township plan ordered by King George II, and was laid out in 1732 as the town of Fredericksburg in the Wateree River swamp--just south of present-day Camden.

Beautiful downtown Camden.

When King George III ordered eleven inland townships established along South Carolina's rivers, few of the area settlers chose to take lots surveyed in the town, choosing the higher ground to the north, and the Fredericksburg township soon disappeared.

In 1758, Joseph Kershaw, from Yorkshire, England came into the township, established a store and renamed the town Pine Tree Hill. Camden became the inland trade center in the colony, and Kershaw suggested that the town be renamed Camden, in honor of Lord Camden, the champion of colonial rights.

One of my favorite buildiungs in town,
it's now a music store.

In May 1780 the American Revolution came to Charleston, and that town was captured. Afterwards, Lord Charles Cornwallis and 2,500 of his troops marched into Camden and established it as the main British supply post for the Southern campaign.

The Battle of Camden, the worst American defeat of the Revolution, was fought on August 16, 1780 in Camden, and the Battle of Hobkirk Hill was fought by 1,400 American troops led by General Nathanael Greene and 950 British soldiers led by Lord Francis Rawdon on April 25, 1781. The latter battle was a costly win for the British, and forced them to leave Camden.

Camden City Hall.

Camden, though not involved directly with the Civil War, did send a few generals into battle, most notably a Hero of the American Civil War, Richard Rowland Kirkland, who is interred in the Old Quaker Cemetery.

After the war, in 1885, Camden became a place where rich Northern families would spend the winter. The town became associated with many equestrian activities, and is now the home of the third oldest active polo field in America. In the winter, more than 1,500 thoroughbreds call the field home. For that reason, Camden is known as the ‘Steeplechase Capital of the World’.”



The Main Post Office.

 The Carolina Cup is an annual event held on either the final Saturday in March or the first Saturday of April, with the first race held on March 22, 1930; the Cup has been held every year since, with the exception of 1943 and 1945 when a little old thing called World War Two got in the way--why we had the Cup in '44 is not known.

The races have become a South Carolina tradition, and normally draw crowds of over 70,000 spectators to Camden. as we live on the rod to the racecourse, we see most of these people driving, and walking, to the Cup.

The Cup has become a premier social sporting event at Springdale Race Course, which is also home to the Marion du Pont Scott Colonial Cup held on the third Sunday in November.

It's a big deal in Smallville.

And so, y'all, there's a little history, and a few pictures of Small.....er, Camden.


Springdale Race Course, a 500-acre venue for racing and training.



The Cup.



A tragedy shrouded in silence: a must read

Why has it taken so long for Israel to raise the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries? There are pragmatic as well as ideological reasons, but looking back, Israel's failure appears a monumental error of judgement. In an important new article for Azure magazine, Adi Schwartz has lifted the veil shrouding the tragedy of silence surrounding Jews from the Arab world and charted the twists and turns in Israel's policy on the refugee issue. Read the whole thing!

The true mystery of Daud Abu Yusef, the Jewish Bedouin

Remarkable story by Dvar Dea.

Knesset to "confirm" Armenian genocide

The following sentence tells the whole story quite well:

A Knesset panel has announced its plan to hold the first official public debate on the Armenian Genocide, officials said Wednesday, in what many see as a further sign of Israel's deteriorating ties with long-time ally Turkey.

I don't know what is more revolting: futzing around with the barenaked truth for so many years or "recognizing" this same truth when the political stars became aligned just so...

And of course, I can't refrain from some posturing: I am quite proud of saying this some time ago:

...start selling your principles for political convenience and be sure that at some point in time somebody will sell you down the river. For convenience.

Well, We Know She's Not Smarter Than A Fifth Grader

Judging by recent polls, most of America, including both the GOP and the Democrats--though the Teabaggers lag far behind--agree on one thing: that Michele Bachmann is....what's the word...what's the word....stupid.

And now someone wants to show just how stupid.

Even though Michele Bachmann is, shall we say, besides stupid, oftentimes reticent to have a dialogue with someone who disagrees with her, that hasn't stopped Amy Myers, a high school sophomore from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, from challenging the Minnesota Wingnut to a debate on the US Constitution, US history, and civics.

Do it, Michele. Do it.

See, Amy Myers is tired of Bachmann's mistakes, and misstatements, and her frequent errors [read: lies]. Amy says Bachmann's distortions are bad for civic discourse--and bad for women. And so Amy wants to take Michele to task and prove that Bachmann is neither a great Representative, Big R, not a great representative, little r, of women. Myers wants a debate.

Do it Michele. Do it.

And Amy Myer's put her challenge into a letter:

Dear Representative Bachmann,


My name is Amy Myers. I am a Cherry Hill, New Jersey sophomore attending Cherry Hill High School East. As a typical high school student, I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted. The frequency and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.
Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.
Rep. Bachmann, the frequent inability you have shown to accurately and factually present even the most basic information about the United States led me to submit the follow challenge, pitting my public education against your advanced legal education:
I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics.
Hopefully, we will be able to meet for such an event, as it would prove to be enlightening.

Sincerely yours,


Amy Myers

So, you think Bacmann will agree to match wits with Amy Myers, or will Bachmann utter some inanities and outright lies?

My guess is the latter, though the former would make for great TV.

source

The touching unity of Iranian lawmakers

Compare the following clips:





Kind of e pluribus unum, wouldn't you say?

Gives another meaning to the term "mass murderer", I have to add.

Vasil Tupurkovski

In Macedonia one politician form the government (Vasil Tupurkovski) has promisse that Taiwan will give us 1 million dollars if we recognised as independet state.

Dog fight fighters on the San Francisco airport roof