Our Scotland - www.our-scotland.org

sandmountainslim · Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:21 am Post subject: Where Is He?

This place is dead without RFM.
Where in Hell is he?
Did he get gunned down by a Chicago gangmember while he tried to think his way outta trouble? Very Happy

WP

_________________
William Potter
ScotWatch International
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scotwatch/
Jefferson Republican Party
http://jeffersonrepublicanparty.com
http://jeffersonrepublican.blogspot.com/

RFM · Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 5:30 pm Post subject:

No such luck, Sandmountain;
For what it is worth, around 600 people die every year in Chicago from homicide, most of which are gunshot. There are about three time that number who are crippled, maimed, blinded, lose hands, legs, etc.. Carrying guns didn't do anything for them.
The old expression is "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" still applies. Stay away from trouble and trouble tends to stay away from you.

sandmountainslim · Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:01 pm Post subject:

RFM · Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:16 pm Post subject:

I thought all sensible people gave up on the Libertarian Party back in the 1970's?

sandmountainslim · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:01 am Post subject:

RFM · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:07 am Post subject:

Seems to me to be still a horse, just a different color.

We really need to talk about Scotland issues. Any readers we may have had would have been long gone and bored to tears.

sandmountainslim · Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:40 am Post subject:

Hows this?

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=33122007

Scots up in arms as warrior spirit attacked
MURDO MACLEOD POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (mmacleod@scotlandonsunday.com)

THEY WERE the "Devils in Skirts" or the "Ladies from Hell" and their battlefield exploits were legendary.

Their reputation was forged by feats of astonishing bravery amid the carnage of the First World War and just the sight of Scots soldiers dressed in traditional kilts was said to strike fear into the hearts of their German enemy.

But a leading German military historian has now dismissed as a "myth" the idea that Scottish soldiers terrified the Kaiser's army and claims there is no evidence to show that the Scots were feared more than any other British troops. The Scottish regiments attracted interest more for their wearing of the kilt than because of their prowess in battle, he says, adding that the Germans were far more scared of coming up against black troops from the French African colonies.

But the claims have provoked fury from representatives of the Scottish regiments, which traditionally regard their soldiers as charging fearlessly into battle to the bloodcurdling sound of the bagpipes. Major George Burns, of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders Association, said: "We all know that the sight of the kilt frightened the lives out of the Germans. It is a fact that the bravery and fighting ability of the Scottish regiments impressed all the sides in both world wars."

Almost 700,000 Scots served in the Great War, mostly on the Western Front, with 150,000 losing their lives. What is beyond doubt is their role in fighting ferocious rearguard actions that slowed the German advance across Europe in 1914.

The "Devils in Skirts" nickname was supposed to have been given to the soldiers of the 51st Highland Division during the Battle of Ancre in 1916.

They had to cross a battlefield littered with the fallen from a previous assault and enter a deep depression, called the Y ravine, to reach enemy positions. But they stormed the German troops with such determination that thousands of prisoners were taken. By the end of the conflict in 1918, the 51st Highlanders were known as the best fighting division in France despite horrific losses.

But German historians believe their reputation owed as much to Allied propaganda as it did to their feats of arms.

Dr Benjamin Ziemann, who has written or co-written six books on the Great War and the period, said nothing in the German war archives supports the suggestion that the Kaiser's soldiers feared the Scots more than other Allied troops.

He said: "I have never ever in years of studying a broad variety of sources from the German military come across a text which referred explicitly to the Scots as one particular group or gave special attention to their allegedly superior bravery.

"The popular view seems to me rather to be a Scottish projection and self-perception."

Ziemann, whose works include a "myth-busting" book entitled Everyday Life On The Front During The First World War, said: "These rumours and tales were created on both sides, partially to boost morale. The Germans had them too. Bavarian troops were often relied on to hold a line if it seemed the Allies might break through and so it came to be said that the Bavarians had this great reputation and were feared."

Ziemann, now a lecturer in history at Sheffield University, added that the documents showed that the Kaiser's soldiers did fear some Allied forces. Racial stereotyping led them to believe that black French troops would mistreat prisoners and the wounded.

In a war characterised by gruesome new weapons such as poison gas and flamethrowers, the Germans believed that fielding Africans in battle was a breach of "etiquette". In total, 475,000 French Empire troops fought, with 57,000 losing their lives.

Another leading German military historian backs Ziemann's claims. Professor Gerhard Hirschfeld, of the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Study, who has written on the Battle of the Somme, said: "There isn't any evidence that German soldiers were especially frightened of Scottish soldiers. They were fascinated by the kilt though, and my own grandfather used to tell me - and this comes up in other interviews too - that they used to send soldiers out into No Man's Land to check the bodies of fallen Scots because they were fascinated by the question of what was under the kilt."

But veterans insist the Germans did fear the Scots. Dr Tom Renouf, the 82-year-old secretary of the Highland Divisions Veterans Association and a former lieutenant said: "I think Scots have got a natural ability for fighting. It became part of our nature - and grew from the clan system into the Scottish Highland regiments. It was part of our inheritance and psyche."

Major Graham Pilcher, who received the Military Cross for service with the Black Watch during the Second World War and is the husband of best-selling romantic author Rosamunde Pilcher, added: "A chap like that - a German academic who is probably quite young - doesn't have the remotest idea. Of course one always blows up one's own organisation, but we were really very good."
Bravery in battle

Examples abound of Scots showing extraordinary bravery on the battlefield.

During the First World War, former Celtic footballer William Angus voluntarily left his trench in the face of enemy fire to rescue an officer lying unconscious just yards from the German trenches. A rope was tied around his waist so he could be dragged back to the British side if he was killed.

The successful rescue left Angus with 40 gunshot wounds and the loss of an eye, and was later described by commanders as "the bravest deed done in the history of the British Army".

In all, 117 Victoria Crosses, the highest military honour, have been awarded to soldiers serving in Scottish regiments through history, according to research by the Victoria Cross & George Cross Association.
_________________
William Potter
ScotWatch International
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scotwatch/
Jefferson Republican Party
http://jeffersonrepublicanparty.com
http://jeffersonrepublican.blogspot.com/

RFM · Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 6:30 pm Post subject:

One of the sad things about the militarist version of Scots history is that it slyly suggests that the one thing the Scots are good for is dying on a battlefield. Yet many of the great contributions to the world in math, science, physics, medicine, literature, architecture, came from Scots. Those contributions are marginalized. Instead we read of silliness like the "Devils in Skirts". In the graveyard you find unanimity.
It is quite true that Scots have a reputation for bravery, but when you reflect that it really means the loss of young men for no real advantage other than making careers for generals and making industrialists wealthy, the point of it all is Scotland's loss and some other country's gain, mainly England.
Surely we can do better than that Sandmountain.

sandmountainslim · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 12:56 am Post subject:

Not about Alba but sorta fits yer point
WP

When The Tigers Broke Free

It was just before dawn

One miserable morning in black 'forty four.

When the forward commander

Was told to sit tight

When he asked that his men be withdrawn.

And the Generals gave thanks

As the other ranks held back

The enemy tanks for a while.

And the Anzio bridgehead

Was held for the price

Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

And old King George

Sent Mother a note

When he heard that father was gone.

It was, I recall,

In the form of a scroll,

With gold leaf and all.

And I found it one day

In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.

And my eyes still grow damp to remember

His Majesty signed

With his own rubber stamp.

It was dark all around.

There was frost in the ground

When the tigers broke free.

And no one survived

From the Royal Fusiliers Company C.

They were all left behind,

Most of them dead,

The rest of them dying.

And that's how the High Command

Took my daddy from me.
-Roger Waters
_________________
William Potter
ScotWatch International
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scotwatch/
Jefferson Republican Party
http://jeffersonrepublicanparty.com
http://jeffersonrepublican.blogspot.com/

RFM · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:30 am Post subject:

Very Good Sandmountain!
One of the great enlightening moments of my life, a real epiphany you might say, was when I got out of the army and went back to university.
I was always meeting young men who would say to me, I would go serve in Viet Nam, but I have my future and my career to think about.

Highlander · I Love 'Our Scotland' Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 298

RFM · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:06 pm Post subject:

My my, the Englishman who calls himself "Highlander"!
You remind me of the clown who argues that unless you have had cancer, you don't know anything about it and can't talk about it.
You would do much better to address the merits of what is being said than attacking the writer; but I guess that is just about all you are capable of.

Highlander · I Love 'Our Scotland' Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 298

RFM · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:03 pm Post subject:

Who am I to quarrel with someone who thinks the hills of Yorkshire or Derby or some such place are "Highlands"?
I certainly will not; not with a person who seems unable to refrain from casting aspersions about my nationality, or what I know about England and Scotland.
Ah yes, it must be because I am a "foreigner"!
Perish the thought!

sandmountainslim · Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:22 pm Post subject:

Hey!
I thought I was the only one allowed to argue with The Chicago Hustler! Smile

Cut it out.
WP
_________________
William Potter
ScotWatch International
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scotwatch/
Jefferson Republican Party
http://jeffersonrepublicanparty.com
http://jeffersonrepublican.blogspot.com/