Author: Marc

In the first five chapters of this book, McPherson gives a detailed yet interesting account of the antebellum historical background of the country as a whole and by region. This background covered not only of the years immediately preceding the Civil War, but also the trajectory of political power since the founding of the Republic. The reader may think back to some long-ago history class to recall test questions on the Kansas-Nebraska Act or the Missouri Compromise. McPherson takes it a step further and gives the reader an idea of the differences that had long simmered beneath the surface. He fills the canvas with far more detail, without being wordy. The reader that is not particularly well-versed in American history will likely find unexpected emphasis on such places as California and New Mexico, as well as a stunning mixture of rhetorical genius and complete barbarity.

At this point in the book, the reader has been given a much sharper image of such men as Stephen Douglas, William Seward, Henry Clay, and a number of others who had so stoked the fires of the 1850s.

While McPherson's treatment seems fair, I think a lot of Southerners would consider much of the research biased in favor of the Republicans, Know-Nothings and Whigs at the expense of the pro-slavery Democrats. The detailed footnotes go a long way toward quashing any complaints that might arise. While this book reads like a novel, it has all the hallmarks of a scholarly masterpiece.

As the narrative enters the late pre-war period, McPherson illustrates the mood with the words of those present. Here is a snippet of Senatorial rhetoric in the context of legislating enforcement of the Dred Scott decision:

If pirates seized ships owned by citizens of Massachusetts, senators of that state would demand naval protections. "Have I, sir, less right to demand protection for my slave property in the Territories?" If you of the North "deny to us rights guarantied by the Constitution ... then, sir ... the Union is a despotism [and] I am prepared to retire from the concern."

"Among us the poor white laborer ... does not belong to the menial class. The negro is in no sense his equal. ... He belongs to the only true aristocracy, the race of white men."

Author: Marc

We've added a few local restaurants to our list:

Sparky's BBQ in Hatch
El Comedor in Mesilla
El Sombrero
Japanese Kitchen
Taste of India
Shem's Moroccan Restaurant

Now I'm hungry again. Damn.

Author: Marc

I have been reading this behemoth of a book. It is less than 1000 pages, but it is strange in that much of it requires further contemplation. I think this is the longest dryspell I have had in terms of time between book reviews. I just can't seem to read as much of this book as most others. Part of it may be due to the extensive and detailed references. Most of it, however, is due to the fact that so much of what has happened in the politics of the last few decades has been deeply rooted in the topic of the book: the Civil War. I will wait until I have finished it, but the most important thing is that we all listen to ridiculous arguments from the right as if they are based primarily on some arcane and obscure reasoning, which is not the case.

Author: Marc

Maureen Dowd writes articles with titles like this:

Loosey-Goosey Saudi

draconian pandemonium

Author: Marc

This little poll it telling. The most telling thing about it, however, is that it will be completely ignored. Regardless of how appalled Americans may be with the legalized corporate ownership of the "democratic" process, no politician will make the slightest attempt to amend it.

hat tip Grumpy Lion

Author: Marc

The New York Times had an article up today on the gutting of the Clean Water Act with a couple of Supreme Court decisions in the past few years. According to the Wikipedia, the Clean Water Act covers

All waters with a "significant nexus" to "navigable waters." The Supreme Court ruled to narrow these definition drastically in two decisions, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC) in 2001 and Rapanos v.
United States in 2006(via our local tree-hugger alliance).

The Clean Water Act was intended to end dangerous water pollution by regulating every major polluter. But today, regulators may be unable to prosecute as many as half of the nation’s largest known polluters because officials lack jurisdiction or because proving jurisdiction would be overwhelmingly difficult or time consuming, according to midlevel officials.

The consequences of the Supreme Court decisions are stark. In drier states, some polluters say the act no longer applies to them and are therefore refusing to renew or apply for permits, making it impossible to monitor what they are dumping, say officials.

Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis, N.M., for instance, recently informed E.P.A. officials that it no longer considered itself subject to the act. It dumps wastewater — containing bacteria and human sewage — into a lake on the base.

Author: Marc

Newsweek had an article up on antigovernment violence: Texas Plane Crash Only Latest in String of Violent Antigovernment Incidents. I had been actively avoiding reading too much about right-wing nuts for a while, even though Dave Neiwert and company are great writers, I feel sick every time I read Orcinus. But given the recent subjects I have been writing about, I decided to take another look at this topic.

In April 2009, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report entitled Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment to a rabid response from the right.

Antigovernment conspiracy theories and “end times” prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition, and weapons.
These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist
individuals and groups in the past, such as violent Christian Identity organizations and
extremist members of the militia movement.

The FBI noted in a 2008 report on the white supremacist movement
that some returning military veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have
joined extremist groups.

For pro lifers to be targeted by a govt agency as potential terrorists shows the dangerous direction this country is headed in.
Odd, isn't it, that Obama has totally disdained the Churches teaching, is willing to talk to those who would kill Americans, but has made absolutely no effort to have an open discussion with the pro life people. (Kind of like Fr. Jenkins at ND.)
Don't kid yourself, they know full well what they're doing. They're so deeply ingrained in Alinsky tactics and goals that everyone who isn't in lock step is considered an "enemy" and must be eliminated whatever it takes.

Our Blessed Mother has been warning and preparing us. We need to remain faithful, in prayer, and trusting in Him alone. In the end, as Fr. Corapi says "We win!!"


Homeland security is nothing but Hitler's dream coming back to haunt freedom loving Americans. The US constitution means nothing to Obama and his radical/socialist cohorts and their commi/socialist movement in early 21st century


I AM PRO-LIFE
therefore
I AM ON THE HOMELAND SECURITY 'WATCHLIST'


What do American citizens expect from former DHS head, Michael Chertoff, who hired communist ex-East German Stasi head, Markus Wolf; and communist ex-Soviet KGB head, Gen. Y. Primikov to set up our newfangled police state. Remember Mr. Chertoff, the very one who got the "Dancing Israelis" (who were arrested while celebrating, dancing, high-fiving and filming the burning towers and the mass murder on 9/11 AS IT OCCURRED, which indicates foreknowledge) RELEASED from custody and sent back to their mommies in Israel. The naughty boys.


The ADL and SPLC are behind this report. The reason pro-life activists are included with "white supremacists" is because they are both considered "enemies of the Jews".


I thinking i heard that the KKK and Margrate Sanger where inchoots and killing black babies, not the prolifers.