Burnin’

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of conjecture from the talking heads about a Democratic Party sweep of the upcoming midterm elections. Living deep in the heart of a Republican county in a Republican state in a Republican region, I find the national news distant at best.

Basically, I have no indication whatsoever that Joe Wilson, my representative in Washington will be sent home next month. The guberatorial race, on the other hand, does provide a glimmer of hope.

Columbia’s newspaper, The State, recently spoke to some disconcerted voters.

Some Columbia voters want Sanford to join the pool of South Carolina’s 135,700 unemployed residents next year and want state Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Aiken, to take his place.

“I would support Mickey Mouse if he was running against Sanford,” said Vicki Price, 46, office manager for Van de Grift Veterinary Clinic. “I don’t think he’s done anything for us.”

University of South Carolina librarian Paul Schultz said the state’s economic woes the past six years are in line with national trends.

“My impression is Sanford spends a great deal of his term squabbling with the Legislature, playing musical chairs with state agencies and twiddling his thumbs,” he said.

After graduating from high school Moore worked several jobs, before starting a company that sells, installs and repairs industrial boilers. He was a nontraditional college student, attending classes at night while working and raising two sons with his wife, Dale. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina Aiken in 1989. In other words, he’s not a blueblood. He’s a guy who worked hard to make his way in the world, and as such will most likely have the working person’s concerns in mind should he be elected CEO of the Palmetto State.

New York Times Magazine today looks at the resurgence of moonshining, or do-it-yourself distilling. The article touches on Frtiz Maytag’s interest in distilling. Of course, Maytag and his company Anchor Brewing are not distilling outside of the law like true DIYers making hooch at home. But he does have an interesting line of micro-distilled spirits for sale.

San Francisco Chronicle looked at Anchor’s “side business” in 2004:

Anchor Distilling Co. released its first bottling of Old Potrero Single Malt Rye Whiskey in 1996. The micro-distillery makes 18th- and 19th-century- style rye whiskeys in small, single-pot batches.

The 18th-century-style whiskey is aged in new uncharred oak barrels for one year. The brash, highly aromatic whiskey is Maytag’s attempt to reproduce the original whiskeys of America, the kind that George Washington reportedly made. America’s first whiskeys were made with rye, a plentiful grain on the East Coast. Corn-based bourbon came later. The 19th-century-style rye whiskey is a bit mellower and aged for three years in charred oak barrels, an innovation that helped mellow its flavor.

“We’re starting a rye whiskey revival,” he says.

The distillery also makes a fine gin called Junipero. There are plans to release grappa, too.

Jon Armstrong and his wife Heather recently journeyed 100 miles northwest from their Salt Lake City home to Golden Spike National Historic Site in Box Elder County, Utah. Their destination was Spiral Jerry, a 1,500-foot coil of rocks placed there by Robert Smithson in 1970.

Smithson built the spiral out of black basalt rocks taken from the shore and arranged them to a height just above the surface of the water so people could walk on the earthwork as if on a pier. The sculpture can appear white today (as it does in the photo above) due to salt encrustation.

Smithson was one of a number of artists in the 1960s and early 70s who chose to build site-specific pieces outdoors in the West, far from the commercialism of art galleries. I first took an interest in this art form after discovering the work of Andy Goldsworthy, a contemporary British artist.

Nora Ephron witnessed some crazy shit in Las Vegas recently. And everyone was fully clothed!

According to her report on Huffington Post, billionaire developer Steve Wynn (a friend of Ephron’s) put his elbow through a Picasso he was about to sell for $139 million (he paid $48.4 million for it in 1997). No painting has ever sold for that amount. Not yet. But this one–Picasso’s 1932 portrait of his mistress–almost did.

Ephron says Wynn was glad it was him who did the damage. You have to admire a man who can accept responsibility and shrug off a nine-figure loss like that.

For more on the story see The New Yorker’s version.

Today’s New York Times looks at an effort in the Russian Far East to conserve Pacific salmon habitat and promote a sustainable fisheries industry.

Kamchatka caviar harvest

The government of Kamchatka seeks to protect nine entire rivers and more than six million acres. The protected watersheds would exceed the scale of many renowned preserved areas in the United States. Together they would be more than four times the size of the Everglades, nearly triple that of Yellowstone National Park and slightly larger than the Adirondack Park, which is often referred to as the largest protected area in the lower United States.

The government’s position has surprised even the scientists and conservationists who have lobbied to protect habitat from the development pressures of post-Soviet Russia. They support the initiative unequivocally. Yet, even if the rivers are protected, some conservation advocates warn, the fish runs could remain at risk if locals ignore the new rules. Estimates of the region’s salmon fisheries’ annual value range to $600 million, and poaching is rampant today.

Brian Schweitzer, a 51-year-old farmer and irrigation contractor is presently govenor of Montana and a darling of the Democrat Party. According to an in-depth look in New York Times Magazine, some Democrats think Schweitzer’s brand of fresh air could sweep across the region and maybe even go national.

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas Zuniga puts it this way:

“Schweitzer is the antithesis of the Democrat stereotype. Too many Democrats look like targets for the school bully. Schweitzer is a tough guy. And people like guys who will bar-fight their way across a state.”

The article leaves no one doubting this man’s political abilities. He picked a Republican as a running mate, for one. Proving you can work across party lines is something we rarely see today. Yet, we need to see it regularly.

Here’s another interesting passage from the article:

As fertile as the West may seem for Democrats, some in the party remain skeptical that it matters much. “The problem with the Democrats is that they can’t count,” Dave (Mudcat) Saunders, a Democratic campaign strategist, said. Saunders’ book, Foxes in the Henhouse, argues that the party would be wrong to focus on the West and ignore the South. He notes that 30 percent of the country’s electoral votes come from the South, and that by 2025 that percentage will be 40. “Georgia and Florida have as many votes as all the West put together,” Saunders points out.

While Saunders makes an important point about how power works, let’s not overlook the power of one man to inspire many. John F. Kennedy did it when this nation needed it most. We’re at that place again. We need men and women of character to step up.

I was fortunate to visit Salt Lake City last week, where I saw live music, close friends and mountains ripe with color. Here’s my photoset from the trip.