The demise of Tacoma Park
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Some years ago when I was the president of the Tacoma Park board of
directors, I worked with a woman who was getting a Ph.D. in history. Her
dissertati...
Tripp County Weather
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A few days ago temperature was around 106F, then the wind shifted to the
north and in about 30 minutes, temperature dropped to around 71F. What
looked like...
Oglala Lakota oddities from 2016 election
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In South Dakota’s 2016 general election, Oglala Lakota was the only county
to vote yes to accept election-law revisions that the Legislature approved
in th...
The Ledge #652: Covers
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I've always said that I have a folder on my laptop where I toss any great
cover version that I encounter, and when that folder is "full" it's time
for a...
The End of Another Year
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I think it's back in 2005 that I started this blog without a clear idea of
where it might go. I got a lot of fun out of it at first, had some
followers and...
Goodbye, South Dakota
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At 12:55 pm CDT on Friday, May 27, my status as a lifelong South Dakotan
ended. I crossed the state line en route to the city in which my wife and I
now ...
Walking On
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The sun always sets, no room for regrets I Walk Away – Crowded House This
is somewhat of a difficult entry to write, though it’s likely going to come
as no...
In Between the Mixtapes
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Five paragraphs about my new writing habit, and how there's more to this
life than writing about your first Def Leppard concert, apparently.
Check out Dakotagraph on Facebook
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Thanks for stopping by Dakotagraph. I hope it is useful and provides some
inspiration for taking photos in South Dakota and elsewhere. For more
active post...
First look at Floating Horses now available
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Some great historic film footage and interviews are featured in the first
extended look at *Floating Horse: The Life of Casey Tibbs*. You can view it
on th...
Northern Exposure
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It was a gorgeous day to be outside. After what seemed like a month of
sub-zero temps, some of which was designated The Great Polar Vortex Event
of 2014, i...
11 years ago
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You're bound to get idears if you go thinkin' about stuff. ["Tom Joad," in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath]
Occasionally, I will mention my job, my public service activities, and other aspects of my life to offer my readers a better perspective on where I'm coming from. But to be clear:
"The views that I express represent my own opinions, based on my own education and experience, not the opinions of any other entity, party, or group to which I belong. I give these opinions in my individual capacity, as a private citizen, and as someone who gives a good gosh darn about his community, his country, and the truth."
In other words: my blog, my words, my point of view. Enjoy!
Madville Times: South Dakota's linkiest and thinkiest political blog, coming to you from the glistening green shores of Lake Herman. Always lakey, never shakey!
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[video capture courtesy of Hubba's House Global Entertainment Conglomerate]
Style yourself as Reagan, put your face on Mount Rushmore—I guess there's nothing wrong with shooting for the moon. But how did you Republicans feel last year when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were happily juxtaposing their mugs with South Dakota's greatest faces? Just checking....
Count on Kevin Woster to get the story: the Rapid City Journalist gets some good background on last week's Greenpeace Rushmore protest. Not that he had to work too hard: I suspect the Greenpeace folks are happy to tell their story. Among the salient details Woster provides in this morning's feature:
The protesters hiked in to the monument overnight, mostly by moonlight.
The hike took several hours, through thick pine and over boulders—no simple stroll up a trail.
Despite several days of serious scouting, the protesters faced one critical unknown: whether "the climbing anchors and related equipment in place on the monument would do the job." If the Greenpeacers had found insufficient anchors, they had no intention of installing their own or doing any other damage to the mountain. Their planning and climbing would have been for nought. (National Park Service staff, take note: look into removable climbing/maintenance equipment.)
Greenpeace called park officials just before the climbers popped over Abe's head to say, basically, "Peaceful protest! Don't shoot!"
Outrage? I'm having trouble getting there. Can we find grounds for outrage in any of the charges SHS levels at the protestors?
posed a security risk? To whom? What person did they threaten? What security hazard did they create? The protesters may have revealed a lapse in security, but even so, there was no risk to any Mount Rushmore visitor. They didn't bring any hazardous materials into the visitor center. They didn't threaten to push anyone off a cliff. This was a stunningly peaceful protest, worlds removed from the 9/11 doomsday scenarios we've spent big bucks to gird Mount Rushmore against.
harmed the "visitor experience"? Here I will grant that folks come to Mount Rushmore for relaxation, not ruckus. But was their experience ruined? Folks who got pictures and videos lucked into a little bit of news and history. They caught images that they could share with KELO and the papers. They have visual souvenirs that will make their home albums and YouTube videos stand out out from the millions of normal tourist snaps of the impressive monument. Years from now, Wednesday morning's tourists will still have vivid memories of their visit to South Dakota.
wasted taxpayer dollars at the monument? I could be wrong, but didn't this stunt happen during normal work hours? Isn't this the sort of thing we pay rangers to handle?
A few weeks ago, I suggested that the Tea Party rucki scheduled for July 4th were ill-timed. For me, the Fourth of July is the best holiday of the year, a patriotic time when we can put aside our partisan differences and poolicy disagreements and celebrate our common heritage and freedom. If I can see the Fourth of July as a sacred time ("sacred" in the sense of civic religion), I can accept that others could view Mount Rushmore as a similarly sacred place, where we should agree to set aside our differences and celebrate our shared freedoms, achievements, and aspirations.
But if someone chooses to violate the sacred times or spaces of civic religion with political dissent, do they commit an outrage? I found the July 4 Tea Parties bothersome, but not outrageous. And there were a lot more Tea Partiers shouting about socialism than there were skinny hippies unfurling a banner challenging the President to be a true leader (that's an important part of the message that Dr. Newquist astutely observes).
I would suggest that if this year's Tea Parties—and the original—were patriotic, then so was Wednesday's Mount Rushmore protest. The Greenpeacers are every bit as committed to their principles as the fellas in Boston Harbor, willing to break the law to get their message across. In the case of the guy at the bottom of the banner, that patriotism meant being willing to let a 65-foot banner take him for a parachute ride on the side of a mountain... and hang on to complete the mission.
Is it a crime? Sure. But an outrage? The four big fellas on the mountain might have thought otherwise.
------------------------------- p.s.: The Greenpeace activists do deserve credit for well-executed political theater. These weren't drunken anarchist goons out to smash windows. They were highly organized, well-trained climbers who took care not to do damage that could distract from their message.
[Update 07:40 CDT: Sibby says I lied and reminds me that the protesters "intentionally damaged part of the memorial's security system." My apologies, Sibby, for missing that line. But I'm not lying. Whatever the damage (smashed movement sensor? blacked-out lenses on cameras? snipped fences?), the protesters clearly took pains not to do damage to the memorial itself, the work of art that everyone sees.]
Symbolically, Mount Rushmore may have been the best place in the world to carry off this specific protest action. The activists ventured into the heart of the conservative West (I can't help thinking some of the Greenpeacers would rather have been back in the big city) to stand up for what here is a very unpopular position. They juxtaposed a gray image of President Obama next to the most famous stone representations of American Presidents, a setting that echoed exactly what their banner said: we memorialize Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln for brave leadership, not political craft.
To top it off, they achieved instant global attention, in a way no chanting in the streets of New York or Paris can. Not a bad day's work.
---------------------------- pp.s.: And don't forget the perspective from the last owners of Mount Rushmore: South Dakota Oglala Sioux Melvin Martin expresses "heartfelt admiration for this brave act."
Among the comments: "Hang 'em high!" and "Go back to Russia!" Har har. But what bothers me most: "Shut up!" Not exactly appropriate comments in the Shrine to Democracy.
-------------------------- Update 2009.07.10 11:02 CDT: Meanwhile, debris leftover from the July 3 fireworks display is still harming the Mount Rushmore visitor experience and incurring "huge expense." Trash on the trails! Fire danger! Where's the outrage?!
Update 2009.07.11 07:10 CDT: See Matt Leonard, member of the Rushmore 12, discussing the protest (they hiked in through the woods!) and the climate change bill ("so watered down by industry interests that it’s really lost its basis in science") on Democracy Now!