Completed my visits to downtown Austin today. In the morning I went to the Jyndon Johnson Museum, which was fascinating. It showed just how under-rated his is as a US President; he introduced more bills than any other President, with ground-breaking reforms in Healthcare, Education, Housing, and the Civil Rights Act. He did far more than just carry on where Kennedy left off - he negotiated the country through some of the most tumultuous years in its history while producing much of the legislation which has taken the US away from the repressive era in the 50s (and which has survived the assaults of Reagan and Bush).
Unfortunately he is always associated with the Vietnam War, a war he neither initiated nor wanted to escalate. In 1968, following his decision not to stand for re-election, he started negotiations for a wind-down in hostilities. Unfortuntely the Nixon regime which succeeded him did not follow in this direction. Just goes to show how we tend to be remembered for our problems rather than our achievements.
After all that I sat outside and read for a while. I'm reading a classic novel called the "Illuminatus" trilogy - a sci-fi/conspiracy theory affair. A woman came up to me wanting to enlist my support in a demonstration happening elsewhere in the city, where apparently they were "talking about the Illuminati" (!). I tried to explain that the reall Illuminati was a German cult initiated in Bavaria in 1776 and behind the vile fascist philosophies expressed in Wagner and Nietsche (leading ultimately to the Nazis) - and that they had no relevance to the US. This seemed too tough for her to take in, so I moved on. After a brief trip round a couple of other areas I returned back. The hotel have finally found a bath plug for me !
Talking of Wagner reminds me of how class-ridden England still is. It's ok for a work to be full of evil and malevolence if it's deemed to be "high culture". But just imagine if a rock group came up with stuff about Aryan supremacy, elimination of racial "weaknesses" etc. They'd be piloried ! (remember the stick a drunken Eric Clapton got when he spoke in praise of Enoch Powell in 1976 ?). That's one reason I love the US - there are no cultural barriers.
Was amazed to see Palace up there in 5th place, having won on both Saturday and Tuesday. If this keeps up there could be a scenarion whereby Palace meet Brighton in the Play-Off final.
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