The London Telegraph reports that First Lady Laura Bush would like to see Condoleezza Rice replace her husband as President in 2008.  Rice served as Director of the National Security Council(NSC) in Bush's first term and currently serves as his Secretary of State.  Philip Sherwell of the Telegraph also discusses in the article the hot Washington rumor that Ms. Rice "might be named as vice-president if the incumbent, Dick Cheney, were forced by his health to stand down."

There has been a lot of talk recently, fueled by (among others) former Clinton political consultant Dick Morris, that Condi Rice would be the most formidable candidate for the Republicans in 2008 against Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic contender at this time.  However, many conservatives have serious reservations about a Rice candidacy.  They were unimpressed with her performance as Director of the NSC and view Rice as having little real world experience outside her academic career and her governmental service.  Social conservatives are not comfortable with Rice's pro-abortion stance, and economic conservatives are skeptical that she would address the serious problems of our budget and trade deficits as President.  The Telegraph article also notes that neoconservatives would oppose a Rice candidacy since she has been less supportive of their policy positions after moving from NSC to State.  Most of the neoconservative leadership supports the candidacy of Sen. John McCain who is the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2008.  It is difficult to see how Rice could emerge as a serious contender in 2008 (Laura Bush's support notwithstanding) unless she wound up replacing Dick Cheney as VP prior to the beginning of that nomination process.

Robin Hood is dead.  The Texas Supreme Court killed him.  But how will the Texas GOP reconcile all of the conflicting demands for more education money, no new taxes, property tax relief, open ended enrichment by Republican voting school districts, and vouchers?  They probably can't.

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Get a taste of the real history of Dallas at the 7th Annual Legacies Dallas History Conference on Saturday, Jan. 28 from 8:15am to 1:00pm at Jack Evans Police Headquarters at 1400 South Lamar St.

The conference will featuring papers and resentations on:

Harlots, Hopheads and Policy Men: Combating Vice in Dallas, 1874-1960
- John Slate
Reichenstein and Manley: A Fatal Stabbing During President Taft's Visit to Dallas in 1909
- Steven Butler
The Trial of Toy Woolley: A Depression Drama of Love, Money and Murder
- Evelyn Montgomery
Bonnie Parker and Blanche Barrow: Two Women on the Run with
the Barrow Gang
- John Neal Phillips
Harvey Bailey's 1933 Escape from the Dallas County Criminal Courts Building
- T. Lindsay Baker
Police Chief Jesse Curry: A Kennedy Assassination Victim
- Gary Mack
The Dallas Police vs. the World Press: November 1963
- Stephen Fagin

Conference tickets start at $25 and include morning refreshments. Late registration is $35 on a space available basis. Student price is $15 with valid student ID.

Contact:
Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park
1515 S. Harwood
Dallas, Texas 75215
Phone: (214) 421-5141
Fax: (214) 428-6351

Our friends at the Texas Hedge Report explain why the hedge fund picture won’t be very pretty in 2006.

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A new poll conducted for the Houston Chronicle shows that Rep. Tom DeLay is running well behind his Democratic challenger, former Congressman Nick Lampson.  Lampson has 30% support of voters polled while Delay has only 22%.  Former Republican Congressman Steve Stockman, who is running as an Independent, has 11% of the vote.  Stockman's entry into the race clearly has hurt DeLay.  Ironically, Stockman was defeated by Nick Lampson in 1996 in his first bid for re-election after defeating Congressman Jack Brooks in the Republican landslide of 1994.

Someone get this man, a Dallas high school art teacher, a steak dinner on Monday. He knows the score.

Woo boy.

This is going to make next Thanksgiving uncomfortable.

Initially lured by big name Picasso, Meadows visitors will quickly discover that Prelude to Spanish Modernism has very little to do with the 20^th century painter. Instead, Picasso takes a back seat to Joaquin Sorolla and Mariano Fortuny – two artists revered in Spain but relatively unknown in the U.S. Finally, with the arrival of newcomer Mark Roglán something productive is being done with the Meadows’ collection of nineteenth-century Spanish paintings - which has maintained a rather sedentary existence until now.

Contributions from Spanish and American museums help flesh out the developments in Spanish art as a result of increased cosmopolitanism with monumental canvases by Ignacio Zuloaga, Hermengildo Anglada Camarasa, Joaquín Mir, Ramón Casas and two entire rooms devoted to Sorolla. Sorolla’s exquisite Spanish landscapes and life-size portraits clearly demonstrate the artist’s unequaled finesse with color and light. His work in and of itself could stand alone in this exhibition. In a connecting room, the viewer cannot overlook the psychological works of Santiago Rusiñol’s portrait of Miguel Utrillo and Ramon Casas’ Interior in Open Air.

The other side of the museum contains paintings and drawings by Fortuny and the artists that he influenced. These smaller canvases demand close attention. Fortuny’s color techniques and quick, yet precise brushwork make his Antiquaries and Arab Fantasia an indulgence for the eyes. Further into the galleries the visitor will be surrounded by the tranquil landscapes of Martín Rico and Sanchéz Perrier. Loans of paintings by Ricardo and Raimundo Madrazo help place the Meadow’s existing works within the context of nineteenth-century Spanish painting.

Though the need to include Picasso seems to be a pre-requisite to encourage Dallasites’ attendance, his works draw the viewer away from the intended narrative. His Celestina and Woman with a Pointed Hat are worth seeing, but certainly not the focal point. Because Picasso’s works and those of his Els Quatro Gatz cohorts are placed throughout the museum, a clear development of turn-of-the century Spanish modernism is vague. Limited loans of artists such as Ramón Casas and Isidro Nonell make it difficult to understand their particular artistic aims. Also missing are works by women artists who were actively involved in the international art market.

Overall, however, this exhibition is unprecedented in the U.S. Many of these works rarely travel outside of their home museums and they have never been organized in this manner. The viewer will have a greater understanding of art production in nineteenth-century Spain and will be exposed to dozens of exquisite paintings. Prelude to Spanish Modernism is certainly a refreshing reprieve from the run-of-the-mill blockbusters of the French Impressionists and worth the trip to the often-overlooked Meadows museum.

Prelude to Spanish Modernism held at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Museum is located at Southern Methodist University’s campus at 5900 Bishop. Parking is free. Hours: Tues thru Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $8 and free Thursday evenings.

http://www.meadowsmuseumdallas.org/exhibitions_current.htm

Michelle Swindell is a s a Phd. candidate at the University of Texas at Dallas who received her Masters in Art History at SMU.

Live TV is coming to your laptop on airplanes with Boeing's new Connexion connection that also includes high-speed Internet service.

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Maverick's coach Avery JohnsonMost coaches in any sport use the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach. But Johnson believes this club is championship caliber and by benching Erick Dampier and replacing him with DeSagana Diop Johnson’s sending a signal to everybody on the team.

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