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Selma ?????
We have now seen the Oscar-nominated movie Selma. Our earlier allusion to criticism that sounded as though it was in an Oliver Stone category for historical fabrication is somewhat overblown. The film is decent to semi-decent cture, has received bad publicity for being the latest version of “Oliver Stone-ism”—the willful falsification of historical facts through film. Well, that’s putting it mildly about Stone—he actually just makes up entire “histories,” with most of his work actually coming across as deranged. In JFK, Stone posited the notion that Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson was part of a coup d’état to kill President Kennedy. And that’s just for starters. What’s disturbing is that in our increasingly poorly-educated society, many people actually believe Stone’s accounts of American History. This is dangerous because, as columnist George Will has said, Stone is “a man of technical skill, scant education and negligible conscience."
We have not yet seen Selma, but plan to. Critics say the director has portrayed LBJ as an opponent of the Voting Rights Act and also as having ordered the FBI to wiretap Martin Luther King, Jr. We are not particularly fans of LBJ, but it is a slander to make either of those accusations as of 1964. (LBJ had worked to weaken Republican civil rights bills in 1957 and 1960, but he was growing and evolving on the issue.) By 1964, Johnson was leading on civil rights, as he did with the Voting Rights Act the next year. As for the wiretapping, that was the work of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. But RFK is such an iconic figure in the Democratic Party today it is embarrassing to liberal movie directors and activists to portray him accurately in this particular role—thus the shifting of the blame to Johnson for the wiretaps.
As a historical note, only 355 blacks were registered to vote in Selma (almost all of them Republicans), out of a population of over 28,000, more than 60% of whom were black. More than 10,000 white voters were registered. The county clerk was a Democrat, as were all the other 66 county clerks and boards of registrars in Alabama. The Alabama House of Representatives had 105 Democrats and 0 Republicans. The state senate consisted of 35 Democrats and 0 Republicans.
(Posted 25 Feb) As we noted last month, quite apart from the conventional wisdom, we believe it probable that Hillary Clinton will run into serious problems on her way to what the punditry and the political class have labeled a coronation for the last year and a half. We just never have believed that.
It is true that the mainstream media (MSM) will fawn over her and try as hard as they currently try not to report stuff, but an alternative narrative will emerge and it will be different in substantive ways from the one both the MSM and Hillary prefer as the received narrative.
The Clintons are, after all, old school, and old hat, and well, corrupt—at least in the way so many will come to interpret that word. Will they be shown to have done things that are indictable? Well, probably not. But such things as her 11,880% profit from her cattle futures trading will come under greater scrutiny. (We never could understand how that had received such a pass.) Her odds of her "success" in the wild and volatile world of commodities trading by the way, has been estimated at 1 in 31 trillion. That's 1 in 31,000,000,000,000. That makes Powerball look like a routine hand of Blackjack. Put another way, it's like buying a pair of skates one day and winning the Olympic figure skating competition the next.
Those things, and there are many more, in both her personal life as well as her remarkably unsuccessful public service, where she not only has no achievements, she has negative achievements (if there can be such a thing). Much of the events spiraling out of control today had their beginnings, or at least huge contributions to them, on her watch. She either paid no attention at all, or had no idea at all of what course to pursue in any one of at least twenty emerging crises. So she elected to travel, and be photographed, and hobnob.
She has no record to run on. And she really doesn't want to run on any of her past. So what has she got? Her husband. Amazing, but true. Will that be enough? Maybe. But we are betting no. You heard it here first: The Hillary Clinton Campaign will come apart at the seams. We think prior to the nomination. But even if she weathers that, she just won't make it to the presidency. Obama-ites hate her. They aren't going to help. She's just not going to make it.
Next time, we'll take a look at who might do better on the Democratic side.
Email us with your feedback, comments, questions and ideas about the Democratic nomination for President 2016. Should we continue the discussion?
(Posted 25 Feb) Barack Obama is easily the weakest president in American history. And because of that, America has never been in as much danger as we are now. Most Americans are blithely unaware of that danger. The Civil War was a grave threat, but we had a president firmly committed to the American Experiment, the American ideal. We had an educated man, someone who had studied world history, British History, American History and had tried hard to immerse himself in the received wisdom of the age.
He could weave a narrative in his mind to which he could attach events as they unfolded. A frame of reference could be formed in his thinking. That's a rare ability nowadays. It was rare then too, even in a time when leaders were better educated.
Lincoln, had Socratic wisdom, meaning that he never thought he knew things that he did not know. A very small percentage of people actually really and truly do possess this kind of wisdom, and almost no politicians do. Lincoln was conscious of the reality of ignorance on a wide range of subjects that all intelligent people must face before they can apply themselves to any task, or to any mission. Even stopping to ponder, to realize the facets of a problem or a situation is something most people never get past before they start drawing on their own incredible learning and launching solutions they haven't thought through.
Barack Hussein Obama is every much "most people," if anything more so. (That's almost like a line from Casablanca, by the way.)
We have never had a president so incredibly fascinated by his own intelligence and all-knowing powers. Yet, we can be sure we have never had a president so truly ignorant of history, and so terribly unfamiliar with the American Experience—let alone our antecedents.
Yes, we are very much aware we are speaking the polar opposite of what is heard in the fawning, unreflective world of mainstream media and pop culture, the masters of which swoon at every Obama dropping, literally confessing to "getting thrills running up their legs" just hearing the master's voice. We know. But we have actually listened. And watched. And observed. And followed events.
If you are interested in a study, an examination of the dangers we face, of the dangers the world faces, we can continue this conversation.
Email us with your feedback on our National News Commentary, and whether this column and its narrative should continue.
So Romney is out? Maybe. His departure is far less certain than reported. He's clearly leaving himself as an option. But there hasn't been a "draft" of a presidential candidate in at least 62 years, tghouhe conventional wisdom being touted by the national punditry is that the candidacies of Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney are good for the Republican Party—that both are “moderate,” and will raise tons of money. In our view, each has serious problems. We have believed—since at least the 70s, with the candidacy of Hubert Humphrey—that no major party nominee, once defeated, would ever be chosen again. Not in the modern media age. Adlai Stevenson had done it, but lost. Nixon was able to do it—but by laying out a full eight years. Romney is a good man, extremely articulate and poised, but he more or less blew his chance in debates with Obama (as we tweeted on October 30, 2012), missing golden opportunities to make critical points about national security. Jeb Bush is apparently going to advocate that twelve million people become citizens—and be allowed to “jump the line,” leap-frogging millions of people around the world standing in line in embassies and consulates. To be clear: we should create a path to legal status for illegal immigrants living in this country. It’s the right thing to do. But they should not be placed in front of millions of law-abiding people the world over who are pursuing the legal, time-consuming path the citizenship. Bush is wrong on that issue, and the American people, once they see the issue clearly, will not embrace that. Bush will not be seen as fair.
Coming Soon
The St Louis Blues suffered through yet another disappointing performance last night, Tuesday night, at home again, with a 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. They're just not bringing their game. Coach Ken Hitchcock has his work cut out for him getting them motivated.
It’s hard to say what prompted the New Mexico Supreme Court decision not to take an activist position on the question involving the governor’s appointment of District Judge Albert Mitchell of the 10th Judicial District. Democrat activist Warren Frost, who had allegedly run a smear campaign against Mitchell during Mitchell’s recent retention election, was clearly expecting the fix to be in. Frost showed up and made sort of seat-of-the-pants “argument” (that’s all he apparently figured he needed) that the governor could not appoint Mitchell. However, somewhat surprisingly, the court relied on the actual language of the constitution and ruled against Frost. Some observers suspect the court is being more circumspect as they have recently come under closer scrutiny. Frost, for his part, made disparaging comments about the ruling, and about Judge Mitchell—comments that could land him in hot water with the State Bar.
New Mexico in Focus, on KNME, Channel 5, presented a preview of the legislative session that included a debate between Senator Michael Padilla (D-Albuquerque) and Larry Langley of the Business Roundtable. We had never heard of Mr. Langley, but he came across as someone who had really done his homework about the fund. His thorough, articulate discussion increasingly appeared to take Padilla by surprise—catching him off-guard on a number of points. Langley showed vastly more knowledge about the subject matter than Padilla who, toward the end of the discussion, appeared increasingly embarrassed and flustered and started getting defensive. Score an excellent showing for Larry Langley—and more important, New Mexicans who were watching got valuable information.
San Juan County residents living in a 337-acre tract of and just west of Farmington have voted to become New Mexico’s 106th municipality. The population is estimated at 423. Until now, Kirtland had been a Census-designated Place (CDP), a term used by the Census Bureau for populated areas that may resemble a town or village, but have no municipal government. We need to learn more about Kirtland though, because it appears the new town consist of only a small fraction of the existing CDP, and/or may be partly or entirely outside it. The Kirtland CDP had an area of over 7,600 acres and a population of more than 6,000. There are hundreds of CDPs in the state, and in fact two of New Mexico’s county seats are CDPs with no municipal government.
County elected officials and staff will be in Santa Fe for their annual Legislative Conference, January 20-22. The Eldorado Hotel will be the main gathering place and social setting, with most meetings taking place at the Convention Center.