The Media Class lost no time in undermining the Republican take-over of the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi, having led her House colleagues to a disastrous defeat in the November elections, was treated by the Mainstream Media as though she had done a grand job. The fact that some 19 of the new Democrat members voted against her as leader caused barely a ripple in the Media, neither has the fact that the new body of House Democrats is much more extremist than the last, since most of the ‘moderates’ lost their elections. John Boehner, the newly elected (Republican) leader of the House has quickly discovered that he is going to be a constant target of every TV station except Fox News. His first TV interview was really a hostile grilling with no trace of the cozy chats that are the norm for Democrats politicians. He was ambushed immediately over his smoking habit, a vice he actually shares with Obama, though his interrogator was very seriously disapproving in this instance. This piece of (damaging) trivia was given priority as an interview topic, pushing aside the economy, the Wars, the terrorist threats and everything that might be considered important in a society ruled by rational people. It had the desired effect of catching Boehner by surprise and keeping him on the back foot for the rest of the interview.
Despite the united Media Class hostility, the House Republicans succeeded in grasping the initiative in the first few days- no mean feat when the Media controls almost all of the means of mass communication. The reading of the US Constitution from the floor of the House was a brilliant start for it immediately put the House Democrats on the defensive. Leftists were outraged, unable to contain their fear and contempt for this all-American document. Just when they thought that they had over the past few years, and with the assistance of their judiciary, consigned this document to the dustbin of history, here were conservatives placing it right back at the heart of politics. The Media did all it could to portray this historic event as a Republican tactical distraction, an empty gesture merely playing to the Tea Party mob in the gallery, but this is an example of the Media Class and its Leftist allies failing to have any sense of history and being only concerned with that which is immediate. The conservative Republicans would do well to keep hauling the Constitution back into the center of all debates about every issue, for the Constitution, along with the Christian roots of the US, is the bulwark against the revolutionary forces that threaten America. Despite Media and Leftist opposition, conservative Republicans will win increasing public support the more they demonstrate that their policies and their opposition to the revolutionaries are grounded in the Nation’s founding documents. The other successful initiative was the vote to repeal Obama Care. This again was portrayed by the Media as a meaningless gesture but it can only be portrayed as such by pointing out that the Democrat Senate and the President have to block it. The last thing that conservatives can allow is that Obama Care be seen as a fait accompli.
The reading of the Constitution was interrupted when a woman in the House gallery shouted out, drawing attention to that part of the document that demands that any President must be born a US citizen. The Media immediately set out to pour scorn on the ‘birthers’ and to blame this one-woman demonstration of ‘extremism’ on the Republican’s folly in reading the Constitution. I think the Media Class made a misjudgment in publicizing the event. The woman succeeded in drawing attention once again to the question of Obama’s legality and since Obama seems incapable of putting the issue to bed, its tenacity only serves to breed more doubters.
In my last article I did not get around to doing the musical slot, the intention of which is to highlight outstanding music from the period prior to the Media Class take-over of culture. This time I want to mention the Charlie Parker recording of ‘Parker’s Mood’. Since alto-saxophonist Parker was THE musical genius of the twentieth century and this one too, it is not easy to pick one recording as special. Just about every time he put the mouthpiece in his mouth he produced magic and I will probably feature more of him in the future. However, ‘Parker’s Mood’ recorded in New York on Sept 18 1948 meets our criteria for selection perfectly. Parker was in his prime at this time and recorded frequently. This number is really only a routine 12 bar Blues on which Parker improvises but from the dramatic introduction on to the rest of the 3 minutes of recording time Parker is magisterial. The simple format of the Blues is actually very challenging for a musician who wishes to avoid clichés and to say something memorable but Parker’s searing saxophone is as expressive as any great Blues singer. Parker was, in fact, a master of the Blues, seemingly able to be endlessly creative within the restrictive format. The record information names the fumbling and miserable Miles Davis as a member of the Quintet but fortunately he is not heard on this recording. The drummer, barely heard, was Max Roach and the bassist was Curley Russell but worthy of mention is the very sensitive piano accompaniment by John Lewis. Lewis went on to found the brilliant Modern Jazz Quartet. Music does not get better than this.
Here in California, the biting cold weather is now becoming a permanent feature, along with grey skies and occasional rain. Al Gore is rarely mentioned. I hear that ‘Global Warming’, which gave way to ‘Climate Change’ is now being referred to as ‘Climate Chaos’. What next?