(Melchizedek Communique, MC012010) The symbolism is bad regarding a terrifying shooting incident near Appomattox, Virginia. A gunman shot and killed eight people before firing on law enforcement officers and hitting a police helicopter on Tuesday, January 19, 2010. As of this writing, the suspect is still at large.

Appomattox is best known as the place where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant to end the Civil War. Rebellious shooting at this site, coincident to the upset election in Massachusetts of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate, is not a good sign for harmony and Union.

It was in Massachusetts where once occurred "the shot heard 'round the world" leading to America's first civil war, the American Revolution. The second civil war had ended in 1865 when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. Now, as of January 20, 2010, two "shots heard 'round the world" -- in Massachusetts and Virginia -- occur more or less simultaneously.

Foreseeing the disunion trend, the Melchizedek Communique editor had penned a symbolic invocation of the spirit of compromise. In "What Would Millard Do?", Millard Fillmore's wise leadership was recalled in the hope of reawakening memories of a time when passionate differences could still be discussed.

But now, with the Appomattox and Massachusetts symbolisms, it is feared that the spirit of Millard Fillmore has been vanquished.

In "What Would Millard Do?", three assassination plots against Abraham Lincoln had been reported: (1) the 1861 Baltimore Plot; (2) the 1865 Ford Theater assassination; and (3) a little known 1861 bombing attempt in Cincinnati. Subsequent to publication of the Fillmore book (via lulu.com), a fourth Lincoln assassination plot has been unearthed. On October 29, 1864, General George McClellan's most trusted aide, Colonel E.H. Wright, "travelled to Baltimore for a secret meeting with Allan Pinkerton who told him, in all seriousness, of a plot by McClellan's friends to murder Lincoln." Pinkerton claimed later that, "Mr. Lincoln knew of this interview, and that it was with a desire to befriend McClellan and save him from possible trouble that he had employed him [Pinkerton] in the matter." [1]

The Globe, a weekly tabloid newspaper, now reports that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Kenya, in August 2009. Ms. Clinton reportedly is so worried she plans to resign as State Department head as soon as June 2010. [2]

Because President Barack Obama had portrayed himself as another Abraham Lincoln during his election campaign, various symbolisms now erupting are frightening.

Not many years after Millard Fillmore left the White House, his manner of conducting politics was gone. "Debate and compromise were replaced by renewed sectional hostility, then Civil War and unconditional surrender." [3]

------- Notes -------
[1] Allan Pinkerton: The First Private Eye, by James Mackay. New York: Wiley & Sons, 1996
[2] "Terrorist Plot To Kill Hillary!", Globe, Jan. 25, 2010
[3] What Would Millard Do? Findings of the Friends Of Millard Fillmore (FOMF), by Brian Francis Redman, Recording Secretary, FOMF. lulu.com, 2009