I would like to step in here and make a few remarks with regards to the origanal poster. !. I am a mother of a son and duaghter who are both in the Military and my son was activated to full duty when this event occurred. I am proud of my two children and what they stand for and the fact that they are standing up to say they will continue to support our countries and others in thei quest for freedom whether it is here in the United States or any other country for that matter. 2. I support my President and my country along with my children in this continued quest for freedom of all people not just the United States but all countries in the world. 3. Now as to Rootsweb.com and Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com and any other Genealogy Group, Historical Group and their stance on this subject of this war in Iraq. They have made a decision that was to continue to have a forum free of politics and whether the United States and England and a few other countries were right or wrong on what is happening today in this World. 4. I believe they have this right and whether it is right or wrong we should all follow their lead. Having a children in the military and is involved in what is going on has been hardon my family and his wife and children. Although I haven't been able to discuss on list what he has been doing, I feel that Rootsweb and all of the other Genealogy sites were correct in handling this situation. You know although the lists have been very quiet because everyone has been glued to the Television watching what is happening I feel the lists have been a reprieve for me to be able to come to my computer and read my list mail without having to hash out what we should or shouldn't be doing with regards to Iraq. 5. Unsubscribing to the lists is your choice but I believe you are wrong in this matter. Yes there are things about this conflict that is related to Genealogy but Politics and Genealogy and Religion just do not mix together well. I am sorry that you have found the need to resign yourself from these lists but you have to do what you think is right for yourself. But don't think that the people behind the scenes at Rootsweb.and the other sites are any less patriotic because they made this decision in the best interests of everyone not just themselves. They have made the list administrators life a bit easier by handling this situation this way. 6. If they had allowed this topic to be freely discussed there would have been a major crisis between peoples of the different countries. Yes, I don't care what other countries feel about us and they probably don't care how we feel about them. You have to remember their leaders all have to think of their countrymen and women just as ours does. Whether France, Germany, Russia, China or any other country disagrees with our Country is a very moot point here. I hope that once this conflict is over that relations with these other countries will become once again stable., if not the United States will continue as is has for the past 400 years, continue to grow and continue to have the freedom our ancestors have fought for these past 400 years. Jean Payton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carson and Betty Turner" <CoachTurner@Softhome.net> To: <BURNS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 3:45 PM Subject: "unpatriotic" ?? RE: [BURNS] Roots Web & Ancestry.com > I'm gonna toss in my two-cent for what it's worth. I hope some folks > agree... > > I read DAV, VFW, and American Legion Magazines every month. I am a member > of each of these fine organizations. In them, there is plenty of patriotic > discussion but very little genealogy. > > I watch CNN and FoxNews and my local news each day and they do a fairly good > job of providing me with accurate current events information but not much > genealogy. > > I subscribe to two different technology magazines which do a fine job of > advising me of the present state of technology and I watch TechTV which does > an amazing job of warning me of "real" issues in technology but not much > about genealogy. > > I subscribe to very many Rootsweb lists in order to locate genealogical > information. I don't look to VFW or CNN for genealogical information any > more than I look to Rootsweb for the latest in world events. I absolutely > don't look to rootsweb for the latest in technology (how many virus hoax > messages have we each received from well meaning but ill-advised list > members). > > Understanding too - that many readers of rootsweb lists ARE NOT IN THE > USA! -- why would discussion of flying American flags be an appropriate > discussion topic unless we are all so ethnocentric that we think the USA is > the only nation on earth (or the only people worthy of subscribing to > mailing lists). Or, unless we think that everyone reading genealogical > mailing lists can't understand the idea that world events information is > better received from journalists. Or, unless we have no regard for the time > and interests of others (as is evidenced when the same off-topic message is > cross-posted to many lists). > > IMHO - use the rootsweb lists for what they're intended, genealogical > research. Wanna chat about flag flying? Subscribe to the VFW or Legion > lists -- they talk about that all the time. > > Wanna complain about Rootsweb or Ancestry or Genealogy.com or USGenWeb or > ..... make sure that you're whining about a "real" genealogical problem and > not something no different than saying (for example) "those un-American > police officers in my town won't let me drive my car inside the mall" or > "those anti-American editors at _Ford Magazine_ won't include photos of my > Pontiac!" Cars don't belong in the mall - Pontiacs aren't featured in Ford > Magazine - World Events and patriotism are not surname specific topics. -- > IMHO, complaining that you can't discuss completely unrelated topics on a > genealogy mailing list is no different than those examples. > > > CoachT (who remembers the "old days") > enjoying my subscription to each of these services - it beats the heck out > of travelling around the country to courthouses and libraries... And is > much cheaper too! > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: nls [mailto:naela@earthlink.net] > Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 10:53 AM > To: BURNS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [BURNS] Roots Web & Ancestry.com > > > I do hope that the List Admin. will respond to this. But I have to say that > I have not see ANY "anti-American" or "unpatriotic" posts on these lists, > and I belong to quite a few. What I have seen is a very few reminders that > these lists are for the discussion of genealogy, not current events. And > that is certainly true, and part of the "job" of the list admins. > Nan > -------Original Message------- > From: SiBeg@aol.com > Sent: 04/17/03 11:12 AM > To: BURNS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [BURNS] Roots Web & Ancestry.com > > > > > Hello All, > > <(In February 2001, A&E Television Networks (AETN) acquired Genealogy.com, > > LLC. With this acquisition, AETN extends its diverse historical and > biographical line-up by adding family history to the list and enabling > Genealogy.com to leverage the company's most recognized brands-A&E(r), > Biography(r), and The History Channel(r). As a new division of A&E > Television > Networks, Genealogy.com will continue to enrich the lives of its customers > by > providing the tools, resources, and community that empower them to uncover > > and share the unique family stories.)> > > I believe the above explains the unpatriotic, un-American, political > correct > attitude of Roots Web. It seems that whenever we get anything good going > it > will be gobbled up by those that wish to control our minds, and thus our > heritage. > > I am in complete agreement with Tim, I personally contacted Ancestry.com > at <A > HREF="http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php" > > > <a target=_blank > href="http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php< > /A>?">http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php< > /A>?</a> and > left a message requesting clarification only to be completely ignored thus > > far. Then today I received a call wanting to know if I wished to renew my > subscription to Ancestry.com and while attempting to explain why I did > not, > the other party insinuated I must be some kind of political nut to be > patriotic and not wish to fall in with the Political Correct crowd. > > At this time I am canceling all subscriptions to MyFamily.com, > Ancestry.com, > and Genealogy.com, and removing myself from all Roots Web, MyFamily.com, > Ancestry.com, and Genealogy.com sites so that they cannot profit in any > way > from me. Thank you! > > Silas Begley > > > Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 02:59:47 -0500 > From: "Tim & Valorie Spence" <spence1@fuse.net> > To: KYCLAY-L@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <001201c2f9b6$fed8cb60$6401a8c0@armyof1> > Subject: [KYCLAY] Resignation > Content-Type: text/plain; >   charset="iso-8859-1" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > County Coordinator      Clay Co. Ky. > County Coordinator      Owsley Co. Ky. > Clay Co. Ky. Archives    FM > Owsley Co. Ky. Archives  FM > Perry Co. Ky. Archives   FM > Rhode Island Tombstone   FM > Delaware Tombstone     FM > > Hi All, > I have had to face some disturbing realities recently where Rootsweb and > Ancestry are concerned. A list owner recently posted a message urging > flight > of the American flag in support of our troops which are now in harms way. > > The mother of a soldier that she mentioned in her post happened to be my > wife > Who in a conversation mentioned that she had not seen as many flags as in > recent months. Margy than made her post. The response to that post from > Rootsweb was amazing in my view. Rootsweb said that any mention of > support > of our troops or mention of our flag was in fact to politically incorrect > > for them. I personally am not interested in being associated with a > organization that is ashamed of our American troops or our American flag. > I > am sure that 90% of the people on these lists are American, may be 10% of > them don't support our nation or our troops. I could care less what > the French, Germans or Canadians think. As a father I wish I could trade > places with my son, as a Patriot, I wish I could put my uniform back on > and > stand next to him to protect all of our liberties and freedoms. > > During this period, I was told that my signature tag had to be removed > from > my mailings, again because it was to patriotic. As you can see my > signature > tag remains. I am offended by the anti American stand Rootsweb has taken > and > the support that Ancestry has given them in this stance. The only reason > they get away with it is because list owners, state coordinators and in > fact > all of us who use this service let them. I can not be a party to it. > > As for myself, for the genealogical community I love so much and feel I > have > served so well for the past 5 years I will leave all of the information I > have contributed on those websites. I will not however be contributing to > > this organization in the future. While my resignation may not change the > way > this organization feels about this country or our troops, my conscience > will > feel much better. > > Timothy W. Spence Sr. > > > - ------------------------------------------------- > > War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and > degraded > state of moral and patriotic feeling, which thinks that nothing is worth > war, > is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to > fight, > nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a > miserable > creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the > exertions of better men than himself. - John Stuart Mill ~ (1868) > > > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, > go to: > <a target=_blank > href="http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237">http: > //www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237</a> > > > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go > to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >