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Jim Taggart, alive and well and living in Redmond…

(Chuck’s note: I’ve gotten a little behind these days.  Grrrrr.  But I had to stop and muse for a bit on some recent news that seemed to be so appropriate to the Atlas message. . .)

I’ve been accused of being cynical, paranoid and occasionally even a captain in the Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie Brigade (perhaps, on occasion, justifiably so.)

But sue me if I think that taking everything at face value is naïve.

Like this. What’s the point of this nonsense?

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A glimmer of hope

Atlas Shrugged – Day 043 – pp. 419-428

He explains briefly to Hank

“Do you know where all those fair share vultures have invested their profits from Rearden Metal?”

“No but — ”

“In d’Anconia Copper stock. Safely out of the way and out of the country.

And then Francisco suddenly gets confused about the time-space continuum. . .

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The wedding crasher

Atlas Shrugged – Day 041 – pp. 399-408

No it’s not a cuisinart.

It’s her husband at the reception. In the presence of so many of whom it will impress.

“Your guests are quite impressed. I can practically hear them thinking all over the room. Most of them are thinking: ‘If he has to seek terms with Jim Taggart, we’d better toe the line.”

So it’s not really a gift. More of an exchange? What’s she want?

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Of receptions and deceptions…

Atlas Shrugged – Day 040 – pp. 389-398

And on and on he’d ramble. About how good Dagny, his “ruthless, conceited bitch” of a sister and Hank Rearden and all the rest of them are at making money. Why wouldn’t they acknowledge his spiritual superiority.

Don’t know Jim.  Maybe if you were living in a monastery. . . but you’re president of a railroad.

Cherryl on the other hand, really had no idea what he is talking about. She does see that he’s in pain, however, and her youthful sympathy, like finding a rabbit or something equally cuddly caught in a trap makes you cry, draws her to him.

Actually did more than that.

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A Taggart merger

Atlas Shrugged – Day 039 – pp. 379-388

Chapter II — The Aristocracy of Pull

Finally a title that makes sense! This is the world we’re living in right now. Where if you are positioned correctly in the right office and know the right people, you can get – do – say – screw just about anyone or anything. H-E-L-L-O Washington.

The calendar in the sky beyond Dagny’s window said September 2. OK. We’re one year into the book — it read exactly the same when Eddie looked up at it on page 2 or 3.

Incidentally, I recently found out that Sept 2 is “Atlas Shrugged Day.” Happy Belated Atlas Shrugged day to all!

The calendar that timed her race to get the JG line built was now “clocking her race against an unknown destroyer.”

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The looters’ secret need

Atlas Shrugged – Day 038 – pp. 369-378

While she’s waiting she recalls all the incredible gifts he’s given her. . .

“The single pear shaped ruby that spurted a violent fire on the white satin of the jeweler’s box. It was a famous stone which only a dozen men in the world could properly afford to purchase; he was not one of them.”

“On the evening of a blizzard, she came home to find an enormous spread of tropical flowers standing in he living room against the dark glass of windows battered by snowflakes.”

“. . .he brought and put over her shoulders was a cape of blue fox that swallowed her from the curve of her chin to the tips of her sandals.”

Out for a secluded dinner one evening, he again confesses what he believes to be his sin.

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The book of absolution

Atlas Shrugged – Day 035 – pp. 339-348

Part II – Either-Or.

(What the hell was Part I called? “Non-Contradiction.”  Uh Huh. . .)

Chapter I (we’re resetting the counter.) The Man Who Belonged on Earth. (?)

It’s the book.

We are in Dr Stadler’s office. He’s waiting for Dr. Ferris to arrive. He is distracted by the unusual chill in the air. But more so by the presence of that book on his desk.

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Intermezzo. . .

Atlas Shrugged – Intermission – RMINPO. . .

I didn’t even realize there were parts. And I missed a day! Dang. So as I’m off schedule, maybe now would be a good time to pause for some RMINPO — random musings in no particular order. . .

Triumph and plotting. That’s the ticket here in part 1. So let’s look at how Rand divvys up the players on the field.

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One step from victory. . .

Atlas Shrugged – Day 033 – pp. 324-333

As Dagny gets ready to leave, Ivy is babbling on about how she never concerned herself with the things in the lab. But she does remember the Chief of the lab’s name.

“William Hastings. That was his name — William Hastings. I remember. He went off to Brandon, Wyoming. He quit the day after we introduced the plan. He was the second man to quit us . . . No, No, I don’t remember who was the first. He wasn’t anybody importnat.”

The guy possibly overseeing the building of a revolutionary motor not sticking around for a socialist ass-whuppin’. Go figure. But he was not the first. Who was? Maybe the guy inventing the motor? No one important?

But it’s off to Wyoming.

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A Hunsacker and two Starnes

Atlas Shrugged – Day 032 – pp. 314-323

Lee Hunsacker. . . Wasn’t that that one guy’s name in the first Lethal Weapon?  (imdb?  Michael Hunsacker!)

Whatever, this Lee Hunsacker is a fucking nut. First words:

“I never had a chance.”

By now we can always tell where this is going. Just down some variation of the “I’m owed” path. Let’s see which fork Lee takes.

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Tracking the motor

Atlas Shrugged – Day 030 – pp. 294-303

Chapter X — Wyatt’s Torch

They’re going to find the person who built that motor. Won’t be easy. First they have to find out about the owner of the factory. So they start at the hall of records. . .

“Nobody knows who owns that factory now. I guess nobody will ever know it. . .”

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The discovery

Atlas Shrugged – Day 029 – pp. 284-293

They’ve stumbled into what happens when industry fails. What happens when the businesses that provide people their livelihood close their doors.

“Through the open door, they could see the interior of her house. There was useless gas stove, its oven stuffed with rage, serving as a chest of drawers. There was a stove built of stones in a corner, with a few logs burning under an old kettle, and long streaks of soot rising up the wall. A white object lay propped against the legs of a table. It was a porcelain washbowl, torn from the wall of some bathroom, filled with wilted cabbages . . . A brood of ragged children had gathered at the door behind the woman, silently, one by one.”

A man comes up carrying water from the local well.

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Road trip

Atlas Shrugged – Day 028 – pp. 274-283

“Owen Kellogg.”

It’s the kid with all the promise Dagny wanted to make manager of the midwest region. The one who quit and dropped off the face of the earth so mysteriously. Doing transient labor now?

“Listen Kellogg, what do you think is going to happen to the world?”

“You wouldn’t care to know.”

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