Okay all, sorry I'm late to the party, but here's my take.
As to the State flown flags - yeah, bad idea for all the reasons stated... however, there are lots of parts of history that get glossed over and forgotten. Northern rage over Southern slavery is misplaced, why because in many Northern states it was legal to own slaves under certain circumstances. A great example is Illinois, home of Lincoln, Grant, John A Logan, Sherman and ..... the reverse underground railroad and coal mine slavery... Due to the laws governing coal mining in the 1800s, slaves were allowed to be owned for the sole purpose of clearing, gleaning and processing coal so that "greater peoples" could be freed for more important endeavors. As such there was a house in Southern Illinois (not too far from where I currently live) that not only processed slaves for the coal mines, kept them for personal use and bred them (no offense meant here for the possessive term) for sale and further "stock increase". Even more important, escaped slaves from the south that were caught by "emancipators" then used a series of secret tunnels and roadways to ship them back to the south (often free blacks were caught and conscripted into slavery just for the hell of it as well (you know, for bounty money)) for "re-education" and "re-introduction" back into "their natural place in the order of the universe."
My home often escapes scrutiny because of the aforementioned great northern generals and leaders; who while may not have been wholeheartedly against slavery as an institution but were against the morality of it; and for it's largely urban black activist population in its northern most metropolis (that would be Chicago). However here in the southern region there are just as many rebel flags as American flags, why, because they are racists slavers... no... because they hate the state institutions and wish to show their displeasure at those "stupid northern morons"... (a feeling I cannot help but empathize with come tax season and voting time.) The Confederate Flag is the sign of one rebelling against something, whether it's right or wrong, it is an immediately recognizable symbol as such.
Where do I stand on the issue, I don't care either way, however I am applauded that TVLand pulled "The Dukes of Hazard" for the flag on the General Lee and yet still airs "The Jeffersons", where Mr Jefferson can freely utter the phrase "honky" which is as racist as you can get (which also goes for cracker btw...) I am fully against racism, regardless of it's form...