Beyond politics

Perhaps 50,000 to see Obama in Albuquerque last night; 100,000 in Denver today.

What’s happening?

October 26th

It’s the birthday of Pat Conroy. The author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini is 63 today. Four years ago NewMexiKen relayed a good story about Conroy’s introduction to literature at D.C.’s Gonzaga High School — We should both cherish it.

Today is Pat Sajak’s birthday. His wheel has spun for 62 years.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is 61 today.

And it’s the birthday of Mahalia Jackson, born on this date in 1911 (she died in 1972). As The New York Times noted in Ms. Jackson’s obituary:

“I been ‘buked and I been scorned/ I’m gonna tell my Lord/ When I get home/ Just how long you’ve been treating me wrong,” she sang in a full, rich contralto to the throng of 200,000 people as a preface to Dr. King’s “I’ve got a dream” speech.

The song, which Dr. King had requested, came as much from Miss Jackson’s heart as from her vocal cords. The granddaughter of a slave, she had struggled for years for fulfillment and for unprejudiced recognition of her talent.

She received the latter only belatedly with a Carnegie Hall debut in 1950. Her following, therefore, was largely in the black community, in the churches and among record collectors.

Although Miss Jackson’s medium was the sacred song drawn from the Bible or inspired by it, the words–and the “soul” style in which they were delivered–became metaphors of black protest, Tony Heilbut, author of “The Gospel Sound” and her biographer, said yesterday. Among blacks, he went on, her favorites were “Move On Up a Little Higher,” “Just Over the Hill” and “How I Got Over.”

Singing these and other songs to black audiences, Miss Jackson was a woman on fire, whose combs flew out of her hair as she performed. She moved her listeners to dancing, to shouting, to ecstasy, Mr. Heilbut said. By contrast, he asserted, Miss Jackson’s television style and her conduct before white audiences was far more placid and staid.

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Tombstone, Arizona, now a sleepy retirement community of 1,500 trying to milk its history, was a silver boom town of 10,000 in the early 1880s. Lawlessness was rampant — so much so that martial law was threatened by President Arthur in 1882.

Among the early residents were the Earp brothers, James, Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, and Warren (ages 40 to 25 respectively in 1881). The Earps were, more or less, itinerant lawmen, politicians, security guards, and gamblers. By 1881, Virgil and Wyatt were established in Tombstone, seeking political office and running gaming tables. When the town marshal disappeared, Virgil Earp was appointed to the job.

The Clantons — father N.H. “Old Man,” and sons Ike, Phin, and Billy — were part of the town rowdy cowboy crowd, probably rustling cattle from Mexico and generally being unsavory, at least as far the the establishment was concerned. They were also Southern Democrats. The Earps were Union men (James had been seriously wounded in the war).

The bad blood between the two families seems to have grown out of finger pointing between them. The Earps would accuse the Clantons of some nefarious activity and the Clantons would point right back — and, of course, both were basically telling the truth. Wyatt, intent on a big splash to assure his election as sheriff, negotiated with Ike to reveal the identities of the Contention stage coach robbers and killers so he, Earp, could capture them. The negotiations fell through, but knowledge of them became public, making Ike look like the turncoat he was. He blamed Wyatt.

On October 26, 1881, Virgil Earp arrested Ike Clanton, who had been making threats since the previous evening. As Virgil hauled Clanton to the courthouse, Wyatt ran into a friend of Clanton’s, Tom McLaury. They had a heated exchange that ended when Wyatt hit McLaury over the head with a pistol. After this, Ike and Tom, joined by their brothers Billy and Frank respectively, considered their options, including leaving town. Billy Claiborne joined them. Virgil Earp, the town marshal, enlisted Wyatt, Morgan, and their friend Doc Holliday to help arrest the Clantons and McLaurys.

They met in a vacant on Fremont Street near the O.K. Corral livery stable. Thirty shots were fired in about 30 seconds. Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were killed. Virgil and Morgan Earp were wounded. The two prime antagonists, Ike Clanton and Wyatt Earp, were unhurt, as was Claiborne. The Earps were accused of murder, but a justice of the peace found they had acted as officers of the law.

The gunfight was the end of the Earps political plans in Tombstone. Virgil lost his post as town marshal. Family and friends of the Clantons began a vendetta, seriously wounding Virgil in December and killing Morgan in March 1882. Wyatt killed a deputy sheriff and another man suspected of being involved in Morgan’s shooting.

Virgil and Wyatt took their skills and ambitions to California, Colorado, and Alaska. Warren Earp was killed in Wilcox, Arizona, in a gunfight that might have been fallout from the O.K. Corral. Virgil died of pnuemonia in 1906. Wyatt Earp died in 1929. He was 80.

NewMexiKen the Blogger

I for one appreciate the McCain campaign treating us like children. McCain will bring us back to a simpler time. A time when you could identify your neighbors’ jobs by the hats they wore. Like Sam the Fireman, Bill the Cowboy and Jose the stereotype. These are the people in your neighborhood. The people that you meet when you’re walking down the street. They’re the people that you meet each day. And what the people in your neighborhood, the Joe the Plumber, the Wendy the Waitress need are tax cuts for the wealthy and off shore drilling. They don’t need universal health care or last names.

The Colbert Report

Fear of fear itself

I see some of the commentariat are starting to fret at the “danger” of having the presidency and both houses of congress in Democratic hands.

It is something to think about. I mean look at what happened after the 1964 election when there was a Democratic mandate in the 89th and 90th congresses.

• Medicaid
• Medicare
• Voting Rights Act
• Head Start
• Immigration and Nationality Act
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Act
• National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act
• Freedom of Information Act
• National Historic Preservation Act
• Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
• National Trails System
• Public Broadcasting Act (PBS and NPR)

I hope we don’t get that kind of progress again.

9 days to go

Estimates for the crowd for the Obama rally in Albuquerque last night range from 35,000 to 45,000.

Three things to keep in mind.

1. People don’t vote at rallies.

2. Still, John McCain attracted a crowd of less than 1,000 in this same city only hours earlier.

3. If 40,000 people were at the Obama rally, while it lasted the rally was the 7th largest city in the state of New Mexico.

UPDATE: It now appears 45-50,000 were at the rally. That would make the Obama gathering larger than all but four New Mexico cities.

Or, put another way, 2½% of the entire state population.