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The Southern Point: Remember the Alamo!? Part 3

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

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

The Southern Point: Remember the Alamo!? Part 1

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

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

Review of Roger Schlafly’s “How Einstein Ruined Physics”

How Einstein Ruined Physics
Roger Schlafly
Dark Buzz, 2011

Was Albert Einstein the smartest man and the greatest scientist who ever lived? Millions believe so.

But Roger Schlafly takes a different view, downgrading the rank of the 20th– century’s most revered scientist. Why? Schlafly presents compelling evidence that other leading physicists and mathematicians before and concurrent with Einstein made equally important breakthroughs in relativity theory and related fields. Further, Schlafly suggests that Einstein may have purloined some of his most famous insights.

What made Einstein so great? The official story goes this way: Albert Einstein, a young clerk in a Swiss patent office, single-handedly transformed physics from a static, three-dimensional science to a four-dimensional, mind-blowing, time-space universe via brilliant and solitary “thought experiments” involving gravity, motion, space and time. Einstein also made unprecedented inroads into understanding the nature of light and energy and was the first to comprehend the equivalence between energy and mass. Einstein’s discoveries not only transformed modern physics but the way we view the universe.

Schlafly disagrees. “It is all a myth.  Einstein did not invent relativity or most of the other things for which he is credited.”  Schlafly makes a very bold and persuasive case. Read more

A Winning Mindset for Effective Advocacy

James Edwards at AmRen

The following is the original text of the speech delivered by James Edwards to the American Renaissance Conference last weekend in Nashville, Tennessee.

Thank you, Jared, for that generous introduction, and thank you for inviting me to speak at American Renaissance 2012. The bi-annual AmRen Conference is the premier event in the cause of European-American advocacy. I’m honored to be here among my colleagues and my friends.

Let me first give you fair warning. I don’t have a silver bullet to offer you. If you came here today in hopes that any of the speakers will be giving you a previously unknown prescription that will cure what ails America, you will leave disappointed. The best I can do for you is to remind you that the political winds are fickle and can quickly change direction. Our job is to keep the pilot light burning until an opportunity presents itself to stoke the embers into an eternal flame.

Beyond that, I will talk to you about what I’ve been able to do that works and offer you practical advice that everyone can apply.

When Jared approached me about speaking here, he suggested that I talk about appealing to the mainstream, and about how I stay positive and professional, while at the same time, coming off as a “normal” guy.

Normalcy shouldn’t be overlooked. Obviously, I’m not talking about anyone here, but let’s face it, sometimes race realists can come across as either over intellectual and socially awkward, or downright angry and bitter. I’m neither. I’m not overly intellectual and one can usually find me in a good mood.

I’m often called “positive” by many folks who talk with me and email me, and I take that for the high compliment they intend it to be. God knows I’ve been called a lot worse. Read more

On the Path to Practical Politics

I was asked by Dr. MacDonald to write an introduction to a body of knowledge which he felt important to bring to the attention of TOO readers.  I struggled with this, first writing a long essay discussing and describing this knowledge, then I realized that the whole point of introducing it wasn’t to paraphrase or describe it, but to encourage you to follow a path toward this knowledge, and hopefully walk that path:  The Path to Practical Politics.

Most if not all readers come to TOO and similar sites because they’ve woken up to the feeling that something is going very wrong everywhere White people dwell.  They discuss the problem, who caused the problem, and present possible solutions.

This is all fine, but something is still missing:  A pathway for each and every reader to actually do something every day.   Most of us aren’t capable of authoring the fine articles that appear here and on associated sites, articles that discuss the problem eloquently.  But we are completely capable of acting effectively,  if only we have the right tools and a guide to using them.

A general summary of why things have “gone wrong” for the diverse White European peoples is contained in the phrase:  “We’ve Lost Control of the Message.” Read more