The Republic of Texas

by on March 6, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Texas economy was fundamentally changed in 1901 when they found oil. It could be used to make fuel for the growing numbers of personal vehicles spreading throughout America, but so could crops. All major vehicles of the time could burn alcohol made by farmers, or oil-based gasoline bought at a town general store. Gas stations were coming into being in the big cities, but they had zero market penetration into the vast rural areas of the nation. Prohibition made it illegal to make alcohol, even for purposes of fuel, and drove the Texas oil industry to unheard of levels of profit and market dominance in the years that followed. And once Prohibition was finally repealed, the oil industry had generated a lock on the market, through a widespread network of gas stations, and “black gold” had become the fuel of the future that would make the United States of America the pre-eminent world power of the time.

 Comment 

The Republic of Texas

by on March 5, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency was a time of great change in the United States of America. His Democrats passed the 16th Amendment that overruled the Supreme Court ban on Federal Income Taxes, and he quickly initiated the first income taxes in 1913 as well as oversaw major tariff reform. He also pressed for the creation of the Federal Reserve and introduced national segregation into the federal workplaces, the military, and other elements of public life. The 17th Amendment made the Senate seats popularly elected, and the 18th Amendment introduced Alcoholic Prohibition. He also brought America into World War I and spearheaded the creation of the League of Nations. And he screened the first movie in the White House, The Birth of a Nation, which denigrated the Negroes and inspired the recreation of the Ku Klux Klan it portrayed as heroes of the Southern People. It truly was a time of fundamental change in America.

 Comment 

The Republic of Texas

by on March 4, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Though the Democrats dominated national Congressional politics in the later years of the 19th Century, they only managed to elect New York’s Glover Cleveland to the Presidency. Republican Presidents like Benjamin Harrison continued to push the restoration of Negro rights, but Democrat Congressmen successfully blocked those attempts. Then in 1912 Theodore Roosevelt split his Progressive Republicans away from William Howard Taft’s Republicans and opened the doors for Progressive Democrat Woodrow Wilson. Wilson won with 42% of the vote, making him the first Southern Democrat President after the Civil War. Texas and the Southern States voted in a solid block for him, bringing along the Midwest, and many other States to generate a crushing Electoral win. Wilson then proceeded to press an agenda to fundamentally transform the United States of America along Progressive ideals.

 Comment 

The Republic of Texas

by on March 3, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

With Negroes banned from carrying weapons to defend themselves and successfully denied the right to vote, what power base Republicans had in Texas and the other Southern States effectively evaporated. The literacy tests and poll taxes also weeded out many of the poorer White families, but that was no matter. Those the Democrats wanted to vote were granted grandfather status. The rest were just Poor White Trash who could not be trusted to vote the way they were told, so losing their votes was a feature, not a bug. Texas voter turnout dropped from nearly 90% to just over 20%, allowing the Democrats to generate a solid lock on political power. Similar disenfranchisement tactics in other Southern States built a nearly insurmountable Democrat majority that would dominate national politics for a century.

 Comment 

Happy Birthday To Me

by on March 2, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Yeah…I just passed my birthday again. At over forty, that puts me solid into the middling of my years, unless my plan to live forever works out. Then I’m just starting on this merry go round. 😉

I got a bunch of birthday wishes, the first one coming from Hallmark. Fitting I suppose. Then a bunch of random e-mail from companies whose newsletter mailing lists I’m on. Thank God I didn’t get one from Bloomberg. Then some people I actually know. Thank you. All of you. 🙂

I got in a fun game of BattleTech, where both me and a friend who will remain nameless for his own protection found out just how powerful electronic warfare can be. C3 for those who know it. For the rest of you, think of it as really good equipment for shooting stuff far away as if it is really close. It was a good game. It was a fun game. And spending time playing is always a good way to spend a birthday weekend. We also ate Indian, so it was a good time all around.

On a not-so-good point, one of my favorite authors released a new list of fans that made it into his work, and it appears my part has been edited out. He wrote me in after a call for names with the standard qualifications that nothing is guaranteed and that editing phase can take anybody out. And from what he said, this particular editing phase was particularly complicated with many scenes cut and added. Given matters are as they are, I expected I would be edited out, but it still disappoints me to see it happen. And finding out about it on my birthday weekend was a real bummer.

Outside that, on a personal update, I’m still writing my stories and about to publish a new one. Two are pretty much ready for it, but I’ve got real life matters to look at first. Taxes. Woohoo. And the not-so-fun job of seeking an eviction for homebuyers who decided they were going to stop paying me money for the house. So I go to court in a week. I’ve successfully gone over forty years without spending time in a courtroom, now a pair of squatters has me seeking it out. On the plus side, if I can get them out, and find someone else to buy the place and really give me actual money for it, I get to rebuild the retirement savings I lost to Obamacare. Which is pretty much a really good reason to go through with all of this lawyer and court stuff.

So Happy Birthday to Me. 🙂

 Comment