Updated Presidential Candidates page. /Questionnaire

I added in John Edwards' admirable anti-Confederate record from my former 2004 webpage.

I also found that Barack Obama has an anti-Confederate record and added it.

Deleted out some candidates that have dropped out. The following is the link and I always have the link to this page on the right side margin of my blog.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

I hope to mail the candidates a questionnaire. I am going to write a new questionnaire. I will have it online also. When it is online, I would like people in the states or district of the candidate to write a letter for those who have not announced, and for those who have announced I would like people to write letters.

I am thinking that I need to start sending questionnairs in the next three months.

I have been busy working on multiple papers and books and haven't had the time to work on the questionnaire yet.

Behind the Plantation Facade, Historical Societies and selective memory

The Abbeville Institute, the current Neo-Confederate institute, (http://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/), with the usual Neo-Confederate leaders announces that they are getting a grant from the Watson Brown foundation (http://www.watson-brown.org/index.html). Evidently this isn't the first time they have supported the Abbeville Institute, according to their newsletter, "Legacy," in 2002 they gave a grant to the Abbeville Institute (http://www.watson-brown.org/media/pdf/legacy303.pdf).

One of the Heroes of the Watson-Brown foundation is Thomas E. Watson, and this is their bio of Watson ( http://www.watson-brown.org/heritage/tw_bio.html). This is the bio of Thomas E. Watson of the "Georgia Encyclopedia" (http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2540).

I think that this selective memory of the past is typical of all too many small historical foundations and local historical societies. When you erase the past are you preserving heritage? For all too many, heritage is not history, but a gilded past that never existed, but is a fantasy. It is mostly a form of historical destruction and not preservation.

The other lesson is to see that the activities of the this foundation provide a beautiful exterior to the inner core of their mentality, support of radical Neo-Confederacy. The restored plantation houses, house a plantation mentality.

Here I stumble across the inner truth of this foundation, behind the token African Americans and the smiling faces. I doubt the local press or the "Atlanta Constitution" will report this, even if they know, and perhaps they will get some local African American group to defend them.

Just be aware, whether it is in Vermont or Georgia, or California or Minnesota, that often the "history" given out by historical organizations isn't but a frothy fantasy of the past, and this in itself is a political agenda. It is often a back door access to your thinking. Can you enjoy a beautiful plantation house, without subconsiously buying into certain views and fantasies? It is a question I can't definitely answer.

Bonilla Defeated

I see that U.S. Representative Bonilla from Texas was defeated by a Mr. Rodriguez. Bonnilla use to work with a group called the Descendants of Mexican War Veterans which was formed in the 1990s or late 1980s. They were busy working to erect monuments to glorify the Mexican American war.

http://www.dmwv.org/

There is a sort of Neo-Alamo movement out there, similar to the Neo-Confederates. I run into them here and there while tracking the Neo-Confederate movement.

Good to see Bonilla defeated. Though I suppose the Neo-Alamo movement will find their own Hispanic equivalent of H.K. Edgerton to trot around and show case.

Sons of Confederate Veterans Press Release in 2000

Click here to read the 2000 Press Release..

I found the 2000 press release by the SCV in the Wayback Machine.

I have updated the Presidential 2008 webpage with the new information.

John Edwards enters presidential race

The Neo-Confederates hate John Edwards, since they seem him as a traitor for not being Pro-Confederate.

He has entered the race for president for the 2008 elections.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061216/ap_on_el_pr/democrats2008

I will have to update the presidential campaign page.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

Good question, why isn't this a scandal?

Public Eye blog on U.S. Senator Biden's comments.

Read Public Eye by clicking on this link.

More on SCV campaign against the NCAA and the Black Coaches Association (BCA)

This website has the email sent out by Christopher M. Sullivan, Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). Sullivan is also the editor of the Southern Partisan magazine which is still being published.

http://shnvalerts.blogspot.com/2006/11/heritage-action-alert-scv.html

Humorous Editorial on the Neo-Confederates WMD, Weapons of Mass Denial

It is here.

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-93857

Senator James Webb, hero to Neo-Confederates

Tom DiLorenzo, leading Neo-Confederate, praises U.S. Senator (VA) James Web in this online article for his behavior towards President George W. Bush at a reception at the White House.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo117.html

The article quite correctly points out Webb's Confederate Celtic theories as the basis of his book "Born Fighting."

One part of Tom DiLorenzo's article bears review.

My intuition about Webb was confirmed recently when he refused to genuflect, scrape and grovel, and kiss the ring of George W. Bush at a White House reception (in stark contrast to every other member of Congress in attendance). Then, a day later, I really knew that Senator-elect Webb was a man to be admired when George "Statecraft as Soul Craft" Will, the resident Lincoln-worshipping Straussian /Neocon Iraq war apologist on the Washington Post op-ed page, called him a "boor" and generally trashed him in a column. Congratulations, Senator-elect Webb!

This is actually what happened from the "Washington Post."

Washington Post Article

At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn't long before Bush found him.

"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.
"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

It was nothing about "groveling," "ring kissing," or "genuflecting." George W. Bush was merely engaging in common pleasantries. This is called being civilized. If James Webb didn't want to talk to George W. Bush why did he go to the reception? If George W. Bush didn't talk to Webb at all and avoided him, that would be a scandal, and so quite properly Bush approached Webb and engaged in everyday pleasantries.

Keith Ellison, U.S. Representative elect from Minnesota didn't want to meet George W. Bush and so he didn't go to a reception at the White House. Ellison is perfectly in his rights not to go and his choice not to go didn't violate common courtesy.

James Webb's behavior was discourteous and underminds the workings of democracy. Some Democrats and anti-War activists think he is a hero. I think Webb is a loose cannon and the Democrats might consider that they have a serious problem on their hand.

The Democrats might also consider that they have a Neo-Confederate U.S. Senator which is likely going to received wide-spread public admiration in the Neo-Confederate movement. Perhaps U.S. Senator Biden is trying to get his endorsement.

Presidential Candidate Biden Panders to Confederate Sentiment.

As reported in "The State" concerning Biden's campaigning in South Carolina, Nov. 28, 2006, Jim Davenport, Associated Press. http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/16117154.htm

"He's not shy about talking about South Carolina's Confederate history either.

After a club member noted an upcoming event at the state Department of Archives and History included a chance to see the state's original copy of the Articles of Secession, Biden asked: "Where else could I go to a Rotary Club where (for a) Christmas Party the highlight is looking at the Articles?"

Biden noted Delaware was a border state and "a slave state that fought beside the North. That's only because we couldn't figure out how to get to the South - there were a couple of other states in the way."

The crowd roared with laughter.

Evidently Biden is campaigning for the Confederate Vote.

I have updated the Presidential Campaign page with this link.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidentialcandidates2008.htm

Sons of Confederate Veterans start anti-NCAA Campaign

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) has started a campaign against the National Collegiate Atheltics Association (NCAA) and the Black Coaches Association (BCA). The SCV has a reference to it on their website www.scv.org which has a link to a story in the "Washington Post" on their campaign against the NCAA. The following is the link to the "Washington Post" article.

"Washington Post" article.

The SCV also announces a link to a website, which has been launched for the anti-NCAA campaign. http://ncaainterference.org/ This site is an attack on the entire NCAA and the BCA.

The SCV is already running a campaign against NASCAR and that campaign seems to be largely going no where. Perhaps they have given up on NASCAR and think the NCAA is an easier target.

Deranged Lew Rockwell Ranting

This article on the highways is fairly typical what passes for thought at www.lewrockwell.com :

http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block66.html

Interestingly enough, Block has a table of deaths per 100M vehicle miles. It shows that the rate has decline from 5.98 to 1.64, from 1957 to 1994. This is nearly a 4-fold reduction. However, Block calls the government departments in charge of the highways "mass murderers." Reading through Block's article you come across all sorts of rants and rages, references to Stalin and Hitler, but I don't find an actual critique of this enviable record of improvement.

When you consider that you have to work on an existing built system of highways and can't rebuild anything easily, and that there needs to be learning cycles, and sometimes lax laws (Texas in the 1980s refused to ban open alcholic beverages in cars while driving.) It is quite an accomplishment.

Block rages on various irrelvant tangents and seems to be incapable of logical thought. This whole article is supposed to justify private roads and highways.

Block is a professor of economics at Loyola University in New Orleans.

No Plantation Christmas

Here in Texas we have Christmas Tree Farms and Christmas Tree Plantations. I would hope that no one would buy a tree from a Christmas Tree Plantation.

Now, I know that technically that a plantation is a farm with an organized labor force in the production of some agricultural product. A plantation is the agricultural equivalent of a factory. However, in some contexts, its meaning is fixed as mean Old South Plantation, in some cases it is stated as such.

We support banal white nationalism when we purchase these products. We promote the fantasy that the Old South Plantation was desireable and erase the crimes of slavery. Purchasing "plantation" labeled products, the purchaser is complicit the historical falsifaction of the "Old South Plantation" myth and is guilty of aiding and abetting banal white nationalism. With the great many products available to the consumer, there is no reason to purchase plantation-labeled products other than to consume the Old South Plantation fantasy. No one is going to suffer even the most minor hardship by purchasing something other than some "plantation" labeled product.

Corporations which produce "plantation" labeled products are not good corporate citizens. Their other products should be boycotted also.

The Dallas Racist Way

It is not accidental that I was living in Dallas when I discovered the Neo-Confederate movement. The city of Dallas has this racist underground and because of it I found ten years of the "Southern Partisan" magazine in the Dallas Public Library in their storage.

The city of Dallas has no human rights commission. You might wonder why there is no agitation from the minority community for one, but then you should understand that this is a city where the African American mayor, Ron Kirk, declared a Confederate Heritage Day for the City of Dallas.

In the "Dallas Morning News" 11/18/06, Saturday, front page 1A, and 4A, is a story of the Federal Courts ruling that the Preston Hollow Elementary School practiced illegal segregation of minority students. This is the full online story.

Dallas Morning News story

This is the link to Federal Judge Lindsay's ruling:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/11-06/1118phopinion.pdf

The judge pointed out that is was very likely that officials in the DISD knew what was happening or should have known in his ruling which was very critical. The DISD public statements are very weasely after this court ruling. The DISD attorneys actually argued for seperate but equal in their defense.

In 2003 Dallas was released from a Federal Court Ordered Desegregation Plan, because supposedly DISD had moved forward from the Civil Rights era. Didn't take long for DISD to revert to their old ways. Remember this when you hear politicians saying that the Voting Rights Act is no longer needed.

This is a Dallas Independent School District school, with many minority school board members. However, like Ron Kirk, many of so-called minority leaders in Dallas, are just looking for the goodie bags that they can get from holding office and have an interest in civil rights mostly during re-election time.

Trent Lott's Neo-Confederate past.

A couple articles, one on Lott's Neo-Confederate past.

Return of Trent Lott article.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1212-06.htm This is an article from 2002.

Jonah Goldberg's selective memory on Trent Lott

Jonah Goldberg blogs at National Review online on Trent Lott.

Blog here on Trent Lott

Some assertions are interesting. Goldberg says

"It also should be remembered that Lott’s downfall was essentially a coup orchestrated in part by a White House that didn’t think Lott’s Confederate nostalgia jibed well with “compassionate conservatism.” Retrieving Lott from his Mississippi Elba may be the Senate’s way of telling the White House, “You won’t have the Senate GOP to kick around anymore.”So let us concede that he will be the consummate inside man in the Senate.

Let’s even concede that the paroxysm of political correctness that cost Lott his leadership post in the first place was overdone. The question remains: What are those senators smoking?"

If I remember correctly, I think National Review was the vehicle which the White House used to orchestrate Lott's downfall. If it was a "paroxysm of political correctness" it was National Review's "paroxysm."

I think the GOP is saying that they are finished with this "Big Tent," let's-go-after-minority-votes, Republican party and are adopting some of Samuel Francis' vision.

Fever Swamps Rule! Trent Lott elected GOP Whip in U.S. Senate, GOP Party of Jefferson Davis Again

"Fever Swamps" is the derisory label applied by "National Review" magazine to conservative views which they consider extreme, such as Neo-Confederacy. Trent Lott said the Republican Party was the party of the descendants of Jefferson Davis in the "Southern Partisan." This link has the complete "Southern Partisan" interview. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/lott.sp.1.html

Trent Lott has been elected GOP Whip of the U.S. Senate. CNN Article.

Trent Lott had resigned his position of majority leader in 2002 because of his statements at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party where he stated that he thought the nation would have been better if the Dixiecrats won in 1948. This online Time magazine article explains it.

Time magazine article.

"National Review" waged a ferocious war against Trent Lott on the behalf of the White House driving him from his leadership position. I thought it was fairly hypocritical of them. It is not like they didn't know all along for the last 20 years what was happening in the Republican party with Dick Armey, Jesse Helms, Phil Gramm, Thad Cochran and others interviewing in the "Southern Partisan." If you have ever gone through the early "National Review" from 1955 to 1965, (and I have), you know that it is really hypocritical of them. The early "National Review" was anti-civil rights and fairly racist.

There was one good thing about the Lott controversy. Along with the Ashcroft controversy, the McCain/"Southern Partisan" controversy, just about everyone learned the term Neo-Confederate.

What does the election of Trent Lott mean? I think it is the start of a radically new direction for the Republicans. It really shows the collapse of George W. Bush's authority in the Republican party. I think all the controls and moderating Republican party activity in support of programs to outreach to Hispanic and African American voters is over.

The Neo-Confederates are on the loose again.

Party of Dixie, Also, Trent Lott running for Senate Republican Whip

The party of Dixie label and Southern conservative label are applied to the Republican party in these articles.


Party of Dixie article.

Southern conservative party article.

Trent Lott is running for Senate GOP Whip

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/11/8/143511.shtml?s=ic

Feingold not running for President/ 2008 Presidential Campaign

I am updating the Presidential page by both making not which candidates have declared that they are running and deleting those that declare that they aren't running.

Feingold voted for Ashcroft in both the the Senate Judiciary Committee and in the general vote. As a type of Democrat willing to give Neo-Confederacy a free pass, I am glad to see he isn't running for president.

I do need to start working on the Presidential Candidate page. The 2008 presidential campaign is underway.

If anyone has any information on the 2008 candidate relevant to Neo-Confederacy I would be interested. Of course I would need to have documentation.

Presidential candidates 2008 page revised

I removed George Allen's entry. I added Obama and Vilsack. I don't have any information on either one, either pro or con. I am interested in information I don't have.

I would appreciate letters being written by their constituents to Obama and Vilsack to get their position on Neo-Confederate related topics.

The link to the Presidential Candidates 2008 page is on the right side of the blog.