some will find this cute, others won't

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I could beat this woman in a second, though I admire her gusto:  I have some of my parents' Mondale/Ferraro buttons from 1984, Carter/Mondale buttons from 1976 and 1980, and McGovern/Shriver buttons from 1972.

Shows two things about me:  First, I have a real fascination in politics and history, combined with my picture of Ronald Reagan behind my workdesk and my personally signed picture George H. W. Bush (one of the perks of living in Houston and knowing a few people), I now have quite a collection. 

Second, my parents were lefties and I'm pretty much the exact opposite.

My mother has a Goldwater/Miller button.

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I have seen many, many, many. Are there really less of them in Virginia than in Texas? I know I've seen a few in Virginia. In summer of 2002 my family and I drove from Houston to Baltwash DC and back , along the way we saw plenty of gift shops with "the South will rise again" memorabilia, stars-and-bars T-shirts with slogans like "rebel rose", and in rural Georgia, the ever popular pre-Barnes flag. Not to mention the flag they fly officially in Biloxi...

Seriously, though, I have no problem with the Confederate flag; I view it as an expression of nationalism rather than racism, and the Southerners who proudly wave it equivalent to the "bon cop de falc" crowd in Barcelona. Of course, some, especially in the North, DO use it as a hate symbol, which complicates things. But the symbol itself is a perfectly legitimate part of the Southern heritage, and I don't see why it shouldn't fly over the SC capitol in Colmbia as long as it stays below the national flag.

My thoughts exactly.