The Southern Point: Remember the Alamo!? Part 3

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William Barret Travis (“Buck”) is the revolutionary idealist of Davis’s book. The Alamoitself was his shining and penultimate moment as its doomed leader who refused to yield his position, thus dying in defense of it. As soon as the fighting began, Travis reportedly rushed out to the North wall and, leaning over the parapet, began blasting away with a double barreled shotgun. Almost instantly, he received a bullet through the forehead in response. He died without dropping his weapon. His final words were “Come on Boys, the Mexicans are upon us, and we’ll give them Hell!”(560).

His five years in Texas locate him at the vanguard of the revolutionary movement, going from lawyer all the way to lieutenant-colonel of a cavalry command that he never got to fully outfit (505). In fact, he had just been commissioned when he was sent to reinforce the Alamo command under J.C. Neill in January of 1836. He arrived with only 30 men and resented the assignment and the difficulty of soliciting volunteers until Neill left on February 11 due to a family illness and put Travis in charge. At that point, “he dropped all pressure to be relieved” (518).

Travis was the youngest of the three men, dying at the age of 26. He also had the best education, furnishing him with the wherewithal to promote the cause of Texas independence through his pen well before he took up the sword. His repeated passionate calls for reinforcements between February 24 and March 5 give us an eloquent and tragic glimpse into the heart of the conflict as well as a striking example of self-sacrificial bravery.

His road to Texasled directly from Claiborne, Alabamawhere he had failed in his initial professional pursuits. After being publicly humiliated by his mentor, James Dellet, in court in early 1831 for debts owed and quite possibly threatened with imprisonment by his creditors, Travis abandoned his wife and two children and headed to Texas, seeking a better fortune and promising to follow through for his family (204–5). He was only twenty years old at the time. Despite the fact that he had passed the bar after only one year of study, at the age of nineteen, had published his own newspaper, The Claiborne Herald, and by all accounts was a very hard worker and an honest man, he was unable to make a living there.Davis suggests that it may’ve just been a combination of a difficult economy and basic maturity issues (206). Alabama, at that time, may also just not have been a large enough stage. A friend commented that “he hungered and thirsted for fame — not the kind of fame which satisfies the ambition of the duelist and desperado, but the exalted fame which crowns the doer of great deeds in a good cause” (205). Read more

The Southern Point: Remember the Alamo!? Part 2

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Big Jim Bowie

James Bowie is cast as an absolutely fearless, daring, and dangerous leader of men — his impulsive recklessness matched by his extraordinary ability to repeatedly overcome overwhelming odds to the astonishment of all involved. He was a man of big ideas and fortunes, and men naturally were attracted to his banner, whatever the endeavor, legal or illegal. As far as the fight at the Alamowent, however, he did not participate at all. He was deathly ill with typhoid fever and was shot, stabbed and killed while lying in his sickbed. Davissuggests that he may not have even been lucid when the Mexicans overran the compound (561). He had been sent to San Antonioby Sam Houston to collect whatever he could in the way of useful equipment and arms and then to blow up the compound because Houstonbelieved that it could not be held (493). When Bowiegot there, however, he thought it was strategically valuable as a stronghold for preventing the Mexican army from infiltrating further into Texas. On February 2, 1836, Bowie wrote Henry Smith, provisional governor of Texas, that “the salvation of Texas depends on keeping Bexar [San Antonio] out of the hands of the enemy. … We will rather die in these ditches, than give it up to the enemy. … It would be a waste of men to put our brave little band against thousands. … Again we call loud for relief” (500). Of course, they never got it.

What is important, in regards toBowieinTexas, is the role that he played leading up to theAlamo. On several occasions he had been at the forefront of the Texians’ fight for independence and yet he never held a formal military commission. Davis writes that “Ironically, the one Texian who … had seen more action in independent command then any other held no official rank whatever” (492). Read more

Interview with Viktor Orban: “A majority of European leaders have lost their faith in what made Europe great”

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 4th March 2012.

In conversation with Viktor Orbán

“There is a hidden Europe”

“Nations without character and ambitions will not be able to make the European Community great”: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on national pride, Christianity, German greatness and Hungary in the eye of world politics

Translated by Peter Stuyvesant, with Tom Sunic. See also Styvesant’s “Encouraging Developments in Hungary.”

Mr. Prime Minister, you are being criticized by the EU institutions in Brussels like no other head of government. We will discuss this later. But first we are interested in how you see the state of affairs in Europe.

I have a mind map before me. And what I see there fills me with extraordinary worries. When I look at the development of the world in the next twenty years, I see on this map an ever weakerEurope. We are continually losing importance, and we are declining in numbers in comparison to the total world population and also in comparison to the earlier Europe. Our share in world trade and the global GDP continues to decline. In our European democracy and our economic and social system more and more people lose their European self-confidence, because they see that those who set up their economy and society differently than we do are more successful in ever growing numbers than we are.

Why is that?

I have this feeling that a majority of European leaders have lost their faith in what made Europe great and into an influential factor in the world. Moreover, it seems as if it would be something shameful or something forbidden to talk about this issue. We can not help to see that those who are coming up now, stand firm for their spiritual identity: the Islamic peoples to Islam, the Asian peoples to Asian traditions and their spiritual system. It’s not just about God, but also about the culture that was influenced by their traditional beliefs. We on the other hand reject the power that comes from the fact that this is the world of Christian culture. The successful ones make sure that there is no future without children and family. Read more

The Southern Point: Remember the Alamo!? Part 1

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Dawn at the Alamo, Henry Arthur McArdle (1905)

The corn-shuckings and square dances, the fiddles,
The barrels of gin and whiskey, the jerked venison,
Juicy bear meat, hot corn pone, molasses,
And the girls giggling in corners — those are the things
That make life merry. But there came a time
When I neglected them all, and we made merry
(My Betsey and I) at a different kind of party,
Playing with powder and ball at the Alamo
I regret nothing, not even the lies and jokes
I told in Congress. But what is this I hear?
Tennesseans, have you forgotten the songs
Of Old Zip Coon and Turkey in the Straw?

–from The Tall Men, Donald Davidson

It never occurred to me that the phrase “go ahead” actually had a history in the lexicon of authentic Americanisms. It was just a thing one said, especially if someone nearby was expressing hesitation or anxiety about an imminent course of action and was in need of a little encouragement. “Go ahead and jump!” or “Go ahead and do it! I dare ya…” etc.  The phrase has a tale behind it.

“Go ahead” was actually coined in the 1830s by none other than David Crockett. Over time, it became his personal motto and even turned into a national sensation, as Crockett was a well-known celebrity—a famous frontiersman turned charismatic populist. The phrase was synonymous with a rough yet laid back, direct, transparent, active, open and moral approach to life, for which Crockett was the ultimate symbol. The way he finally framed it was “Be always sure you’re right — THEN GO AHEAD.” But usually it was reduced to just “go ahead.” Read more

The Liberal Rule of Law and the National Socialist Rule of Law

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Introduction

What follows below is my translation of a short chapter (Ch. 40) from Otto Koellreutter’s book Der nationalsozialistische Rechtsstaat (1938) (The Rule of Law in National Socialist State). Koellreutter was professor and dean of law at the University of Munich from 1933–1945. Along with Carl Schmitt, he was one of the prominent legal scholars in National Socialist Germany. He was also a NS party member (see Peter Caldwell’s article, “National Socialism and Constitutional Law : Carl Schmitt, Otto Koellreutter, and the debate over the nature of the Nazi state, 1933–1937”).

The translated chapter from his book is interesting in so far as it sheds a different light on the semantic and legal manipulations of words such as “the rule of law,” “totality,” “total state,” “absolutism” — words and concepts which have obtained a radically different meaning in the Liberal System of today. The author, however, writes favorably about the liberal experiment in 19th-century Europe and suggests that Liberalism, during that epoch, helped create the modern nation-state, including modern Germany. The author points, however, to the dated nature of Liberalism in comparison to National Socialism, which is seen by him as the best answer to the 20th-century crisis of modernity. Read more

Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman: Reaffirming the Anti-White Religion

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Recent photo of Trayvon Martin tweeting as No_Limit_Nigga

Trayvon Martin as usually depicted in the media

You have to be living under a rock not to notice the deluge of media coverage of the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman affair. The accounts I have seen inevitably emphasize Blacks as victims and implicitly at least, the message reaffirms the narrative of Blacks as innocent victims of Whites. This of course flies in the face of data on crime showing that Blacks are much more likely to victimize Whites than the reverse, with the media bending over backwards to prevent any indication that race was a factor. I don’t recall any national media outrage recently when two Black teenagers set fire to a White teenager after dousing him with gasoline, even though they said they did it because he was a “white boy.” This happened only a few weeks ago. Rather than the wall-to-wall coverage seen in the Trayvon Martin case, there was only a brief and fleeting mention in the New York Daily News and no mention at all in the prestigious national media. It doesn’t fit the narrative that the media feasts on and promotes. No angst from Obama; no Justice Department investigation of a possible hate crime.

Indeed, it’s quite common for the media not to identify the race of non-White perpetrators. And somehow Mr. Zimmerman’s Latino background also slips into irrelevance.

Also virtually unmentioned is that Martin and Zimmerman were fighting, with at least one witness emphasizing that Martin had the upper hand just before the fatal shot. Although Zimmerman seems to have been overzealous in his scrutiny of possible criminals in his community, he may indeed have been “standing his ground” once the encounter escalated into violence. Indeed, the Orlando Sentinel reports that the police are sticking with the version that Martin was the aggressor.

Police sources say Martin was the aggressor on Feb. 26, knocking Zimmerman to the ground with a single punch and then climbing on top of the 28-year-old neighborhood watch captain and slamming the back of his head into the ground. Police say this account, given by Zimmerman, is supported by eyewitnesses, according to the Sentinel’s report.

One such witness reportedly told police that he saw Martin on top of Zimmerman, striking the man, while Zimmerman cried out for help. The attack left Zimmerman bloodied, police sources told the Sentinel, and led him to fire at Martin in self-defense.

Police say Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose, had a fat lip and confirm that the back of his head was cut. He received first aid at the scene but refused to go to the hospital and received medical treatment the following day, according to the Sentinel’s sources. (see “Trayvon Martin case: Martin was the aggressor, police sources say.“

The above report also indicates that Martin was suspended from school because he was found with an empty baggie for marijuana, a violation of  the school’s zero tolerance for drugs policy. Read more

Displacing Whites in the cities

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An Associated Press article of March 19 caught my eye: “Chinese learning French to emigrate to Quebec.” Quebec follows its own immigration policy and passing a test in the French language is often enough to be granted entry in the French-speaking part of Canada. Once in Canada they will move to other parts of the country. Chinese are the largest group of immigrants in Northern America after the Mexicans, and in Australia they have become the largest since 2009, accounting for tens of thousands of immigrants every year. It reminds me of a conversation between U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping during the Cold War. During their conversation Carter brought up the human rights issue, just as he did with the Soviet Union, raising questions about the possibility of emigration. Deng replied that he does not mind Chinese moving out: how many Chinese immigrants does Carter want —10 million or 20 million?

Until far into the 20th century it was obvious that America and Australia were reserved for European immigrants only. In Americait was official policy until the Immigration Act of 1965 and the “White Australia” policy was pursued until 1973. Strict quotas were placed on immigration from anywhere but Europe. It is not well known but the American immigration restrictions were strongly supported by labor organizations like California’s Workingmen’s Party and the Knights of Labor. They—rightly—believed that big business used the Asians as a means to press down the wages of the White workmen.  Read more