I don't know what's worse. Extinction or the GEICO commercials.

...

Meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate Capitol, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanim...

I really am puzzled by many of your comments the past few days. I always thought of you as a reasonable person - though not in agreement with me on many issues. But lately I am finding your opinions to be downright nutty.

"An apology is an admission of fault and contrition."

Yeah, and the Commonwealth of Virginia, as an enduring institution, has a hell of a lot to apologize for.

"To apologize for something that ended nearly two hundred years ago might be decent"

Not might, is.

"but it has no moral weight given that no responsibility is taken."

It certainly does have "moral weight". It is the official pronouncment of the Commonwealth of Virginia as to what is proper for an American government to do, and an admission it failed horribly in doing that.

"It’s merely a cheap publicity stunt: “Look at how enlightened we are.” "

And I see the flip side. I see how unenlightened you are.
Instead of an apology, you think they should give a tax cut. That is not even funny. Its a pretty pathetic example of how you just dont get it.

I am actually quite impressed that the vote was unanimous. Given the range of people that one finds in a typical state legislature, and given Virginia and its history - I offer my congratulations to you for being more clueless than ANY of the elected representatives of your state.

What Randall said goes for me, too. I'm also sorry about those GEICO commercials.

I am very sorry that the people that bear a vague resemblance to me hastened your extinction about 200,000 year ago.

I would work ceaselessly on behalf of reparations for your people if you still existed, but you don't so I think I will get a home theater system instead.

A home theater system is kind of like a play or a theater type thing except that the little people on the screen aren't really there.

They're just images.

An image is a thing that you look at but it isn't really there.

OK, it's there, but the thing you're looking at - that's not there. The home theater system is there, but...oh, nevermind.

Just sorry.

Sincerely,

A really, very, very, guilty and sorry member of the species Homo Sapiens Sapiens

An apology is an admission of fault and contrition. To apologize for something that ended nearly two hundred years ago might be decent but it has no moral weight given that no responsibility is taken. It's merely a cheap publicity stunt: "Look at how enlightened we are."

Rather than apologizing, they should demonstrate that they've learned something and take action to make Virginians more free, whether by reducing the tax burden,repealing burden some laws and regulations, or the like. That, though, would be hard, so they're not going to do it.

Its not about you James. Yes, we know - you have never owned slaves, and no doubt, condemn the very idea. But this was a resolution from the commonwealth of Virginia - an organic body that has a history of hundreds of years. Is it not consistent with conservatism to recognize the value and the legitimacy of long-standing institutions? The commonwealth of Virginia was deeply complicit in slavery, and then in official oppression (segregation) for nearly 90% of its history.

The current generation of leaders of Virginia are stewards of that institution. They are charged with the responsibility of delivering the institution in good health to future generations, but they also inherit the institution and all its history.

I think this resolution is a mark of honor and decency and honesty.

Americans who purchased slaves from African tribes were participating in a global slave market whose existence pre-dated written history. In America, all races, not just whites, owned slaves. The Cherokees, for example, were the last to give up their slaves. After the Civil War, the U.S. government ended slavery on tribal lands by purchasing the slaves and setting them free. Free African-Americans also owned slaves. (One of the biggest southern slave-owners was a black freeman.) Only a small percentage of free blacks owned slaves, of course, but only a small percentage of whites, probably about eight percent owned slaves.

Everyone alive today is a beneficiary of slavery, including African Americans, who enjoy a much higher standard of living than those left behind in Africa.

Then every state should apologize...