*Sigh*

What is wrong with these people? From AJC:

For most people, it is, thanks to a 2004 referendum that overwhelmingly approved the banner that now flutters across Georgia.

But the Rev. Bill Swann and a group of fellow thinkers are still out there, fighting for a return of the old flag and its long-controversial Confederate symbol.

Swann's pet project in the effort is an ongoing boycott of Coca-Cola, a company he believes was partial to opponents of the old flag. He's been avoiding Coke drinks since 2002.

"I was 52 years old then, and I'd never tasted a Pepsi drink," Swann said. Now, even the church where he preaches has replaced a Coke machine, and Swann claims he's been joined by tens of thousands of other like-minded people.

Coca-Cola isn't anti-Southern. If it was opposed to the Southern Cross as these people claim, then Coca-Cola is anti-treason if anything. I'm really bothered by this line in the article:

To those who fought for the changes, the ongoing protests are of little worry. State Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) labored two decades to rid Georgia's banner of the Confederate battle flag, which appeared in 1956. He's not expecting another change.

"We won that battle," Brooks said. "The debate over the flag is over."

I don't know who "we" is, but it certainly wasn't the anti-flaggers. In fact, neither side actually won. The only thing that came from that referendum was more problems. Here is an illustration:

Here is the flag of Georgia that was adopted in 1956 in protest of the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision:



Here is the politically correct flag which was adopted by Governor Roy Barnes (and which currently hangs in my dorm room):



Here is the flag that was voted upon in the 2004 referendum:



You may ask what is wrong with the last flag. It's simple; it's still the flag of the Confederate States of America. The Southern Cross, which is in the c.1956 flag, was the battle flag of the Confederacy. The flag from which the new Georgia flag was based was the national flag of the Confederacy; the Stars and Bars:



See the resemblance? Just FYI, the flag has 13 stars because it includes Kentucky and Missouri, which although they were admitted into the CSA, they never actually seceded from the Union.

The thing is, the Confederate flag, in its many incarnations, doesn't really offend me when it is brandished by private citizens; at least not as much as it used to. It is not my prerogative to judge the sentiments of modern-day Southerners about the flag. I have my own opinions about it. My problem, however, is when states like Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina endorse the flag, and incorporate it as an official symbol. It irks me because not only is it is tantamount to celebrating treasonous behavior, but it also endorses the fact that in the 20th century, these flags were only symbolically adopted by the Southern states in protest to progressive movements like Civil Rights.