Granite Rants

2009-04-17T19:18:00.002-04:00

A Chicken in Every Pot...
...and a Scrotal Sack in Every Mouth.

In the way that teabagging rolls so easily off the tongue of a lot of left-wingers you would not help but think that they had intimate knowledge of the taste of this sordid practice.

Who knew that aside from HOPE and CHANGE the word TEABAGGING would resonate so strongly with the American Left?

No doubt Axelrod is at this very moment devising some kind of Mandingo theme to turn on his electorate for 2012. Open up America and relax the gullet. Your government is ready to deliver....

2008-11-13T21:25:00.003-05:00

Macaca Moments

It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.

Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.

-from NY Times

This revelation didn't surprise me. I've suspected that motivated sorts with malicious and/or humorous intent were working to game the system. And with a mainstream media staffed with J-school pretty faces determined to report the very latest bits that confirm their biases we're pretty much guaranteed rampant information corruption. Too bad our democracy hinges upon our consumption of this fetid stinking tripe.

I've thought about the potential for Macaca Moments. You know, those bits where new media is employed to call out politicians in unflattering moments. As such bits have become increasingly potent in there ability to drive the media conversation for lengths of time, engineering such Macaca Moments is imperative. Indeed, my suspicions were raised several weeks back when the issue du jure was the burgeoning "hostility" in evidence at McCain/Palin rallies where YouTube clips seemingly recorded spectators shouting epithets and threats. In such clips there's no way to vet whether the spectator shouting such epithets was in fact a McCain supporter. They could just as easily have been someone opposed to McCain who knew (perhaps even staged) that the camera-phones were rolling and let lose with the invective. Yet the media discussion revolving around the clips suggested that the McCain/Palin rallies had incited anti-Obama hatred. For practitioners of guerrilla media, having the MSM take the bait and froth at the mouth over such horrors (when it could just as easily be illusion) is indeed mission accomplished. Especially when the other side (the one favored by the guerrillas) stands to benefit from the media gnashing its teeth.

Clearly We the People need to be on guard for such as it will get worse - much worse. Will our democracy survive our media when our media is so easily gamed?

2008-11-11T20:23:00.005-05:00

The Book I Read:
At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: Travels Through Paraguay;
Theatre of Fish: Travels Through Newfoundland and Labrador;
Panther Soup: A Journey Through the End of the War
by John Gimlette

Good travel writing must have a bit of the Gonzo. Chances are, a place comes alive in the retelling if the author is brave enough to walk down dark alleys or strike up conversations with anyone - better if over a drink of the local fire water. A good travel writer has to be willing to turn over a bunch of rocks and see what scurries. John Gimlette has a knack for this kind of thing. He is by far my favorite of travel writers. His narrative is land looked at through a kaleidoscope - pieces of light and shadow, hints of time past and present, ghosts and beings treading the same space. Even in the heart of cities, his is a vision of the lost and the hidden. Perhaps not even the locals sense what he sees. Gimlette's narration is like that of some heaven-sent assayer - sent to catalogue all the untidy bits of life that most try to forget or refrain from acknowledging. A reckoning put into print. That's good travel writing.

Which is not to say Gimlette is not funny. In fact he is very funny. Very funny in a way that Americans always find funny with witty Brits. Gimlette's prose is parts sharp and oblique. He can sum up place and time within a sentence. Some places and events can never be thought of in a different way after Gimlette gets done describing them. Sometimes all it takes is a few words.

I post all three books of Gimlette's (Panther Soup, Gimlette's latest is the one I just finished). For the interested reader, I can't recommend which of his books to read first. All display in equal measure Gimlette's humor and wit. Panther Soup is perhaps Gimlette's most accessible work as it dovetails Gimlette's journey with an American WWII veteran through France, Germany, and Austria over ground that the vet battled through during the War. Gimlette intersperses his own present day observations of place with the vet's own recollections of same ground. As the veteran recollects a two-week leave to Paris granted him by the top brass, Gimlette uses this to launch into a chapter-length exploration of the WWII era brothels of Paris, underground bars, Moulin Rouge, and other examinations of French seediness. A great chapter. In Theater of Fish Gimlette tramps through the lonely and hardscrabble landscape of Canada's easternmost province of Newfoundland and Labrador (itself its own independent territory of the British Empire up until the mid 20th century). Sparsely populated fishing villages, wayward icebergs, wandering caribou, and healthy measures of desperation, desolation, and resignation - an interesting examination of daily bleakness. And then there is At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig - a bewildering catalog of Paraguay as told in snippets of hotel bar conversations, the lives of dictators, the palaces they lived in, and the ex-Nazi enclaves that sprouted up throughout the land. A funny journey through an improbable country.

Gimlette is great. I welcome to read his next journey.

2008-11-09T16:41:00.003-05:00

America's Best Idea
I have been anticipating Ken Burn's next documentary series: a look at our National Park system. As it is my own personal goal to visit all 58 National Parks (and as many of the National Historic Sites, Monuments, Memorials, Battlefields, etc as possible) here is a current tally of parks (in bold) that I have visited (with links to photos).

America's National Parks
(listed by geographic position East to West).

Maine: Acadia NP
Ohio: Cuyahoga NP
Kentucky: Mammoth Cave NP
Virginia: Shenandoah NP
Tennessee/North Carolina: Great Smoky Mtns. NP
South Carolina: Congaree NP
Florida: Everglades NP
Florida: Key Biscayne NP
Florida: Dry Tortugas NP
U.S Virgin Islands: Virgin Islands NP
Minnesota: Voyageurs NP
Minnesota: Isle Royale NP
Arkansas: Hot Springs NP
North Dakota: Theodore Roosevelt NP
South Dakota: Badlands NP
South Dakota: Wind Cave NP
Texas: Big Bend NP
Texas: Guadalupe Mtns. NP
Montana: Glacier NP
Wyoming: Yellowstone NP
Wyoming: Grand Tetons NP
Colorado: Rocky Mtns. NP
Colorado: Great Sand Dunes NP
Colorado: Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP
Colorado: Mesa Verde NP
New Mexico: Carlsbad Caverns NP
Utah: Canyonlands NP
Utah: Arches NP
Utah: Capitol Reef NP
Utah: Bryce Canyon NP
Utah: Zion NP
Nevada: Great Basin NP
Arizona: Grand Canyon NP
Arizona: Petrified Forest NP
Arizona: Saguaro NP
California: Channel Islands NP
California: Joshua Tree NP
California: Death Valley NP
California: Sequoia NP
California: Kings Canyon NP
California: Yosemite NP
California: Lassen Volcanic NP
California: Redwoods NP
Oregon: Crater Lake NP
Washington: North Cascades NP
Washington: Mt. Rainer NP
Washington: Olympic NP
Alaska: Glacier Bay NP
Alaska: Wrangell / St. Elias NP
Alaska: Gates of the Arctic NP
Alaska: Denali NP
Alaska: Kenai Fjords NP
Alaska: Lake Clark NP
Alaska: Katmai NP
Alaska: Kobuk Valley NP
Hawaii: Hawaii Volcanoes NP
Hawaii: Haleakala NP
American Samoa: National Park of American Samoa

2008-11-08T13:49:00.002-05:00

Bet Against Me
I just realized I'm 0-5 with my votes for President. (Going back to 1992)

GraniteRants: Views you can count on.

2008-11-06T20:00:00.005-05:00

The Language Gets Taken Away
Of all of important news that took place on November 5th, the event I had the strongest reaction to was when I learned that the author Michael Crichton had died. Of all the worst possible moments for a thoughtful, skeptical, and original mind to fall silent, this was it. For myself, I think of his speech on complexity as a delicious antidote to the inanities at work in current dominant thinking. It's like suffering a punch to the gut.

I remember seeing Crichton interviewed (I think it was by Charlie Rose) where he was asked what new project he was working on. Crichton replied that he kept returning to examining the question why humans fell sway to totalitarianisms benign and malign. This was a few years back and every few months or so I made it a point to check back and see if Crichton had developed something (speeches, essays, other works) based upon this line of thought. Sadly, nothing has yet emerged and given his untimely death may never.

Godspeed.

2008-11-04T21:34:00.002-05:00

My Vote 2008
This is my third time voting for John McCain for President (I wrote his name in on the ballot in 2000 and 2004). There's always been something about John McCain personally that I have found interesting. Certainly his biography. And even though maddening at times, his iconoclastic political style I find appealing. There's a touch of the classical with McCain, the way he reacts to personal affronts and slights to his honor. The way Bush, Romney, and Obama got under his skin and it was clear from his body language that he held these people in some manner of personal contempt. I liked his three Amigos routine with Lieberman and Lindsay Graham. There's something old-schoolish about it, like an old-time Senate when people of different parties could be friends. With more ideologues moving in to politics we'll probably see less of this kind of collegiality. Anyway, I digress. I'll have plenty of opportunities moving forward to complain about the state of things. My vote, to borrow a nickname from history, is for the Old Warhorse.

2008-10-29T20:57:00.003-04:00

Strange Love: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and to Love Obama
I've asked myself a few times why it is I'm not on board with Hope and Change. At times I look at his Hollywood-esque production and wonder if at my core there is some kind of darkness that prohibits me from swooning to Obamamania. Near my work is one of those old New England mills with plenty of office space. Many of the tenants are artists and the collection of sensible cars outside (a sprinkling of Prius) all sport Obama bumper stickers. Hope and Change. There's some kind of cult like aspect to it. A real love-in. Some of it I think is related to the Left's yearning to resurrect JFK and the Camelot myth. A belief that this youthful president was ready to propel the country to vaulted Utopian heights, only to be cut down by dark forces. Today's leftist has anointed Obama as the Kennedy heir apparent (remember that stage show early on in the campaign where the Kennedy's all gathered around Obama?).

This enduring need for the Left to create such hagiography and wrap themselves up in it is at the heart of Obama's appeal. Specifics are secondary. The imagery, the passion, the mythologizing, and the style of Obama's political theatre work more directly to the heart of the Obama supporter and perhaps less to the brain. Reason would suggest that electing such an inexperienced and judgmentally dubious person may not be the wisest of decisions. But in these uncertain times, and faced with such an emotionally stirring candidate, reason may prove secondary to passion as being the ultimate and final arbiter over one's electoral decision.

A funny thing about our Presidents, each attains a mythology after their holding of office. In the case of Obama, his whole campaign is geared toward manufacturing his myth before his even winning the office in the first place. I think all other politicians must be jealous to the core of such audacity of spectacle. To have at one's disposal nearly a Billion dollars ready to spend on tv spots, infomercials, stadium sound and light shows, mailings, merchandising, souvenirs, artwork, etc. The expenditures spent on manufacturing the consent of the electorate are truly staggering. But not only is the public's consent demanded of, but to a much greater degree the public's love and worship.

Are we to worship out politicians? Do our mortgage payments get any easier if we are on the floor, knees bent, supplicating ourselves to Change We Can Believe In? Frankly, I am comfortable admitting that I am not smitten. Who knows what the future will bear and who knows whether my views will change. But perhaps in the distant future, gathered with people of my age all exchanging stories of where were you the day when Obama did .... I'll be fine then as I am now that I was not there for Him the day Obama demanded of me my vote and my devotion.

2008-10-22T21:33:00.003-04:00

The Precipice
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

C.S Lewis

2008-10-22T20:30:00.002-04:00

The Book I Read: Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan
This tightly focused book examines the deliberations of the leaders of the UK, France, and the USA as they prepared the treaty terms for the vanquished powers of World War One. The book doesn't go into the details of the war, rather it walks the reader through the amazing process by which the map of the world was recreated from the crumbling remains of old empires. Whole nations were created from territories that had belonged to the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires. Some nations gained territory, some nations lost territory. Pockets of various ethnic groups found the names of their countries change as borders shifted and moved on them.

How this happened is observed by the author from the perspective of how the victorious allied leaders pursued each of their specific agendas as they horse traded. Wilson of the USA was interested to pursue his 14 Points progressive idealism (except where it clashed with the interests of France or the UK). France, ever fearful of a strong Germany at its border wanted its neighbor severely handicapped. The UK, mindful of its global Empire, strove to ensure a balance of power in Europe and its naval supremacy intact. With the three leaders playing a central role, various side actors representing the aspirations of emerging countries (Czech, Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania, Poland) each lobbied the allied powers their case for supporting their territorial/national claims. Typically, the most charismatic leaders succeeded while the less politically gifted saw their claims go unheeded (some even saw their situations get worse as territories previously under their domain were gifted to neighbors). Indeed, the map of the world radically changed as borders within Europe, the Middle East, and Asia were redrawn and lands and people contended with new governing powers.

The book is short on big picture analysis and editorial regarding the aftermath of what transpired in Paris 1919. Frankly, this is helpful as its factual examination of the events leaves the reader with a good basis to launch into further investigation of the aftereffects of the Great War's peace.

2008-10-18T22:34:00.002-04:00

Resistance
The possibility has been discussed whether a portion of the population will pull a John Galt and decide to opt-out from being a productive member of society. Frankly, after hearing so much spread the wealth around coming from politicians or left-wingers ruminating about stupid Americans and their inability to earn, spend, save, and invest properly I've just about had it. Count me out from the coming bullshit bazaar that's coming our way. I'll do anything to gum up the works for this bunch coming into power. I'll work less productively, accept any dole I can get my hands on. Man, I'm a freakin' moron. I can't handle my own checkbook. Pay me off. Send me dole. Bail me out. Bail me out now. Send me money. Send me someone else's money. Send it to me now. I am a moron. I can't handle my checkbook. I can't handle it. Bail me out. I need your tax cut or whatever you're calling it these days. I need your government check. I need it. I need the welfare. Pay me. Pay me now. I am stupid. You know better than me Mr. One. You know what's best for me. Pay me. Pay me to think and do. Keep me drunk, happy, and stupid on hope and change because I can't handle reality. I can't handle this world. I am stupid. Pay me to be stupid. I'll accept. I'll accept your stupid subsidy. Pay me now.

2008-10-15T22:38:00.002-04:00

Debate: Concluding Thoughts
I think the decision in the voting booth will come down to a choice between Gridlock with Partisanship (McCain stopping Pelosi/Reid and suffering attacks because of it) or further Big Government Expansion (Obama running wild with Pelosi/Reid).

McCain never makes it but I think a strong argument in these I am mad as hell times is how effective wielding a Veto Pen might be over the next few years. If there is anything that is true about Democrats incessant complaint about the eight years of Bush it has to do with the expansion of government size, power, and scope that he presided over. Obama's whole theme is not that government is too big, but that it is not effective and it needs to do more things. Is this what a majority wants? I just wonder, as the people cast the anti-Bush vote, will they want more of Washington DC? Or less? It is fair to believe that Obama will not be casting too many vetoes of Pelosi/Reid bills sent to him for signature. It is possible that McCain will veto away (it is also possible that McCain may actually sign away - doing so under Bipartisanship that he so values).

2008-10-15T22:07:00.002-04:00

Debate 3-6
Obama's closing statement is about choosing to side with same failed politics and policies or choosing to side with a new direction. He says we must all come together but how will this happen should Obama be president? With him, Pelosi, Reid running the show there will be no opportunity for moderate sensible solutions.

2008-10-15T21:48:00.000-04:00

Debate 3-5
Wind, tide, solar, clean coal technology....

2008-10-15T21:24:00.002-04:00

Debate 3-4
It's not about what Ayers did 40 years ago. It's why Obama felt perfectly comfortable working with Ayers less than 10 years ago. Why is it that Obama finds himself at ease keeping company with radicals, liberation theologians, and identity-group mobilizers, et. al., of a far-left bent?

Perhaps it has something to do with his interest in redistributing the wealth?

2008-10-15T21:16:00.002-04:00

Debate 3-3
Obama, Reid, Pelosi. Who thinks that bunch is going to show any kind of spending restraint?

2008-10-15T21:08:00.002-04:00

Debate 3-2
McCain brings up the plumber Joe Wurzelbacher that Obama is going to tax. Here's an interview with the plumber who ended up walking away more scared about Obama after speaking with him.

PM: Still, in that vein, Obama says he doesn’t want to “punish” you, but he wants to – let me see if I can see what his exact quote was…

JW: Redistribute the wealth.

PM: …taxing small businesses making $250,000 and above is going to help the people “behind you.” And yes, “spreading the wealth around.” How did you feel about that?

JW: As soon as he said it, he contradicted himself. He doesn’t want to “punish” me, but – when you use the word “but,” you pretty much negate everything you just said prior to that. So he does want to punish me, he does want to punish me for working harder to – you know, my big thing is the American Dream. I work hard. You know, I was poor; my mom raised me and my brother by herself for a very long time until my dad came along. So I know what it’s like to suffer. It’s not like I was born with a silver spoon. Usually it was a wooden spoon and it was on my butt. It was just a contradiction of terms, what he said: he doesn’t want to punish me but he wants to redistribute my wealth. And what I mean when I say my wealth, I mean the collective. Eventually – I mean, just to sound a little silly here, but you need rich people. I mean, who are you going to work for?

2008-10-15T21:01:00.002-04:00

Debate 3-1
McCain, like previous debates, addresses his answer to the moderator who asked the question. Obama speaks directly to the camera.

2008-10-15T20:56:00.002-04:00

Debate 3
Obama and McCain at Hofstra. Will McCain bring up ACORN and Ayers? Will Obama detail his plan to redistribute wealth away from the hordes of greedy fat-cat plumbers, carpenters, and HVAC technicians? Who knows. Here we go!

2008-10-12T08:56:00.002-04:00

We're Screwed (Part 1)
Ed Driscoll observes

If Obama wins, a large part of the country will feel angry and powerless against the will of the left leaning blue states, the news media, Hollywood and academia. (In fact, they already feel that way, I assure you.) They will believe that ACORN created enough false voter registrations to put Obama over the top. If McCain wins, the left will riot and claim, "The Diebold machines were hacked!" The blue states, the news media, Hollywood and academia will resent that the will of the "dumb hicks" in flyover country overruled that of their "betters". And we will hear the cries of, "Racism! Racism!" ad nauseam.

Yes, whatever the outcome we're screwed. Here's my take on what we can expect from either an Obama or McCain administration.

Obama as President: Expect the the convergence of this far left executive and far-left Pelosi/Reid legislature to send up for vote all manner of bills favorable to the environmental, labor, corporate farming and open-borders lobbies. Expect a mess of an energy bill with fig-leaf provisions for expanding domestic oil production and clean coal. The bill will be a grab bag of tax incentives for alternative energies long on hope but short on proven delivery. Expect no movement on the Pickens Plan approach due to opposition over expanding the electrical grid infrastructure needed for the Plan to be realized (environmental and NIMBY opposition).

Expect a cleanout of unsympathetic justice department officials and attorneys (a la Alberto Gonzalez) replaced by Obama loyalists. A muscular Obama justice department will pursue with vigor investigation, enforcement, prosecution of all manner of environmental, civil rights, and labor laws on all levels of business. Businesses with deep pockets will settle while small businesses will be driven out of business. Expect additional justice department action working in concert with local activist groups like La Raza and ACORN and organized labor against private companies and municipal governments.

Expect a renewed pursuit of faith-based initiatives under an Obama administration with an effort to forge an alliance between agenices under an Obama executive and churches of a progressive, urban, ethnic, or activist bent all animated by left-wing understandings of Social Justice and/or Liberation Theology theory. Overall, expect vervent attempts by progressive grassroots organizations to allign with an Obama executive for funding, leverage, and muscle toward deepening their influence within state and municipal government initiatives.

Expect no "middle class" tax cut.

....(Part 2 to follow)...

2008-10-10T20:50:00.005-04:00

Suffer the Little Children
From Obama's website:

On Sunday, October 12, Washington State kids and families will parade around Seattle's Green Lake. "Kids for Obama Parade" will illustrate one of Barack Obama's core beliefs: Everyone's voice counts. Join us as Obama's youngest supporters rally their families and call for change, for a better America. At 2 pm, rain or shine, children and teens will express with words and drawings their hopes for the future of America on "wish flags" that will be mailed to Obama. The first 300 kids will be given a helium balloon, an expression of solidarity

Sure it sounds like a nice family event and maybe a good day for a picnic, but there's also something a tad creepy about this mixing of kids with the political desires of their adult guardians. As I linked to earlier a group of kids singing some paean to Obama, children are certainly a focus of the Community Organizer.

While it may be pertinent, we need not get into a historical review of activist political movements that have mobilized children in service of the ideology. However, it is vital to recognize the interest that Obama has shown in matters of education. Indeed, a key point about the Ayers-Obama relationship is not merely the fact that Obama chose to associate with the domestic terrorist and left wing hyper-radical Ayers, but that he and Ayers teamed up together to reform Chicago public schools, most notably with their administering of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge effort. Currently employed as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago Ayers professional interest is primarily focused toward the teaching and shaping of young minds, as his degrees attest:

EDUCATION:
1987 - Ed.D, Columbia University, Curriculum & Instruction
1987 - M.Ed, Teachers College, Columbia University, Early Childhood Education
1984 - M.Ed, Bank Street College, Early Childhood Education
1968 - B.A., University of Michigan, American Studies

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS:
Bill Ayers's interests include teaching for social justice, urban educational reform, narrative and interpretive research, children in trouble with the law, and related issues. See www.billayers.org

Indeed, as his CV reveals, Ayers is working within the realm of public education to achieve his vision for political and societal transformation through the creation of education curriculae designed to achieve such ends. While this isn't the post to get into the revolutionary Marxism espoused by Antonio Gramsci, it is key to highlight one of Gramsci's chief contributions to the development of Marxism as a revolutionary movement was his exhortation to fellow radicals to engage their long march through the institutions. Gramsci understood that in order to affect revolution, one had to first work within the existing system in order to influence incremental systematic change. Once undertaken, such change over time would radically transform the system to one in line with Marxist ideology. Seen in this light, one begins to understand why the revolutionary radical Ayers would devote his life towards shaping the minds of young children - the transformation of society marches on one young mind at a time. Thus, families are rallied, and a solidarity takes shape around a revolutionary push for societal Change.

Win the children and you win the world.

2008-10-07T22:39:00.002-04:00

Debate 2 Conclusions
Dull and boring. Boring questions. Where the hell was this townhall located? It should be appropriated through eminent domain, razed, and replaced with a planetarium.

JackDied points out that a lot of the response was boilerplate cut & paste. McCain nervous. Obama arrogant. Now I see T.Boone Pickens on TV. Can I vote for him? Whoops! Spoke too soon. Now I see McGovern on TV. Man, we're doomed.

2008-10-07T22:22:00.002-04:00

Debate 2-16
Obama whiffed on the final question. McCain ends with a stronger close.

2008-10-07T22:10:00.003-04:00

Debate 2-15
No matter what McCain or Obama say about fixing Afghanistan the crux of the problem is the ridiculous NATO load-sharing arrangement where some member countries sit on their ass while others fight. The disjointed political military approach is due to the political / military disunity of the NATO forces operating there.

2008-10-07T22:03:00.002-04:00

Debate 2-14
Mrs. Rants notes that anytime a price tag is tossed out by the candidates, its always $700 billion dollars. Does everything cost $700 billion now?

I want to see a $700 billion dollar planetarium projector. That would make for a stunningly sexy cosmos.