Friday, May 9. 2008
I do not think she and her team are deluded. I think they have known for a while that they cannot win this thing. The Clintons are hard-headed, practical, cynical and realistic when it comes to politics. She is running to firmly plant the Clinton flag in a Dem party which seems to be giving her a bit of a cold shoulder and to show her tough stuff so that she will be a major force in the Party - and maybe a Pres candidate - in the future. If Obama goes down in the election, she will look good. And if he doesn't go down, she'll be the heavyweight in the Dem Senate and the de facto #2 Dem in the country (overshadowing Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, etc.). Thus she has much to gain by not appearing to give up. She can win by losing.
 Why do men die first? Mr. Free Market
One reason many on the Left do not believe in Jihad Basic questions about farm subsidies The Maoist insurgency in India "Come over here and fertilize me." Flowers wave at passing bugs. The 5 mistakes Clinton made. Time. Related: The Clinton Divorce in the WSJ, which begins: No, we don't mean Bill and Hillary. We mean the separation now under way between the Clintons and the Democratic Party. Like all divorces after lengthy unions, this one is painful and has had its moments of reconciliation, but after Tuesday a split looks inevitable. The long co-dependency is over.
Green hypocrites A fight strategy for McCain Ethnicity and nationalism Tax 'em and regulate 'em until they begin to fail. They claim that it's a market failure and time for the govt to do it. Pharmsa, at EU Referendum Should I mention depression on my college application? Image borrowed from Vanderleun's comic book collection
Samuel Finley Morse Badger of Massachusetts, aka Sam Badger, aka Solon Francis Montecello Badger, painted ship portraits. This is the schooner Edward H. Cole: 
Thursday, May 8. 2008
 Donald Boudreaux considers his colleague Bryan Caplan's much-discussed book, The Myth of the Rational Voter. One quote:
Each of us has muted incentives to study the facts and issues carefully -- and to reflect upon them dispassionately -- because no one of us is responsible for deciding which policies the government will implement. But Bryan Caplan explains another reason why each of us as a voter generally exercises less wisdom than we do in our private affairs. This other reason springs from what Caplan calls our "preferences over beliefs." Each of us wants to believe certain things. Each of us gets satisfaction simply by holding certain beliefs firm to our hearts. Just as many of us enjoy feeling loyal to our favorite sports teams, many of us enjoy believing that our favorite political party is an especially wise steward of the public interest. Many of us enjoy believing that our troubles are caused by foreigners. Many of us enjoy believing that if the rich pay higher taxes, middle-class and poor people will be better off. We resist rejecting these beliefs even if the evidence before us suggests that they are mistaken.
Indeed, people are only sometimes rational, and even less often rigidly logical. We are not computers, or Mr. Spocks. In most things humans do, we engage our souls, hearts and our minds, and it is the challenge of adulthood to monitor, critique, and to balance those things in ourselves. For example, were it not for our hearts and souls, it might make sense for us to vote for a thoroughly pragmatic, efficient, and logical Brave New World. Wisdom is not the same thing as logic, and logic is not the same thing as virtue. Therefore I am in favor of a degree of irrationality in voting. And, anyway, who is the Grand Arbiter who gets to define "rational voting"? People like Thomas Frank, who believe that it is "rational" to vote yourself other peoples' money? Or "values voters" like me? Politics, government - and life itself -is messy and complicated, and even more so with freedom. Books that need to be written: "The Myth of the Rational Human" (well, Freud covered a lot of that ground already) "The Myth of the Rational and Virtuous Government" "The Myth of the Rational and Virtuous Politician" "The Myth of the Rational and Virtuous Bureaucracy" and "The Myth of the Rational Expert" Editor's Comment: Great blog minds think alike. Bainbridge today on The Imperfectibility of Human Institutions. He quotes: The Framers understood that the self-interest which in the private sphere contributes to welfare of society — both in the sense of material well-being and in the social unity engendered by commerce — makes man a knave in the public sphere, the sphere of politics and group action. It is self-interest that leads individuals to form factions to try to expropriate the wealth of others through government and that constantly threatens social harmony. John O. McGinnis, The Original Constitution and Our Origins 19 Harv. J.L.& Pub. Policy 251, 253 (1996).
In a short post on tax competition, Mankiw gets right to the heart of it all: ...are you more worried about too little government or too much?
 Mobile broadband options
What do Codfish have to do with red tides? Remarkable anti-Obama video How McCain can win the base. WSJ Tons of art critics in the Maggie's Farm comments Viking trading center discovered in Ireland How did "fake but accurate" become acceptable? "...social sciences in general, and racial/gender studies departments in particular, have the lowest academic standards of any group on modern campuses." Indeed. From Salt of the Earth Democrats at Contentions: ...salt-of-the-earth Democratic politicians are increasingly hard to come by, as cultural liberalism is the core of the party’s self-identity today. But maybe Clinton’s failed effort will get some conservative Democrats thinking. It would be good for the Democrats, and good for the country, if their leaders came to see that their cultural elitism, bordering on cultural separatism, is not only obnoxious but counterproductive. Maybe next time.
 Our Spring Peepers have been out for a while, but now, on warm days (we haven't had many), the larger frogs come out to play.
I have eaten plenty of frog's legs in my time, mostly in the South, and they aren't bad sauteed with a little butter, wine and garlic... but so is anything. However, I prefer that my Bullfrogs stay alive, croaking in the swamp. "Jug-a-rum." These large (3-6") frogs are native to the Eastern US and Canada, and have become pestiferous when they have been transplanted (as in California and Europe). They will eat anything moving that they can fit into their Jaba The Hut-sized mouths, including small snakes and frogs. I love swamps for their mysterious wildness and their abundance of life. Sippican isn't so sure that he does, but he is an effete, hyper-civilized egg-head sort, isn't he?
"Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev'rybody knows
That Baby's got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.
Queen Mary, she's my friend
Yes, I believe I'll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can't be blessed
Till she sees finally that she's like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.
It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what's worse
Is this pain in here
I can't stay in here
Ain't it clear that--
I just can't fit
Yes, I believe it's time for us to quit
When we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don't let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world.
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl." "Just Like a Woman," originally released on Blonde on Blonde, but appearing in no less than seven other official Dylan releases in various versions. Below is the performance from the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.
Wednesday, May 7. 2008
Watch James Burke's "The Day the Universe Changed" series, at your own pace, at Dr. Merc. What I find so handy about the series is how Burke puts everything into a context for us. Learning, without the context of the big picture, always felt dull and unanchored to me, and it took me a long time for that big picture to come into focus. Every teacher focused on their little niche, and nobody tied it all together. Be sure to watch #7, which is a sketch of the history of modern medicine.
 As the human race awaits the next inevitable Ice Age which will leave vast areas of the Northern Hemisphere under mile-thick glaciers, humans find it amusing to argue about the weather.
Quote from a piece at Global Warming Politics: “The warmers are getting more and more like those traditional predictors of the end of the world who, when the event fails to happen on the due date, announce an error in their calculations and a new date.” [Dr. John Brignell, Emeritus Engineering Professor at the University of Southampton, on Number Watch (May 1)] Oh dear! The inevitable is happening. The ‘global warming’ trope is unravelling on a daily basis - scientifically, economically, and politically. The wheels are coming off the hysterical bandwagon, and it is not going to be a salutary sight watching the politicians and the media junkies jumping cart and trying to throw mud in everyone’s eyes.
However, fear-mongers like well-known emitter Al Gore says cyclone a consequence of global warming. WTH? Does he believe that, or does he just have a policy that everything that happens in weather is man's fault? He parodies himself while frightening the ignorant. Meanwhile meteorologist John Coleman echoes our piece on how the warming frenzy is damaging worthy environmental efforts. From his Open Letter to Environmentalists: Here is what I am suggesting you do. Campaign for your environmental goals on the basis of their own merit. Let go of the global warming frenzy before it leaves you discredited and embarrassed. Stop screaming, “The sky is falling.” It is not. Do your good work. Devote your lives to our environment. In many ways you will succeed. We are all grateful for your love of the planet. But, don’t use scare tactics. Most of all I urge you not to become extremists. And, may I encourage you to live your lives in a loving way, love your fellow human beings and our wonderful advanced standard of living and way of life as much as you love the Earth.
Image is a free plug for Prehistoric World Images.
Actually, it's been over for quite a while. Via Drudge now: Superdelegates refusing to meet with Mrs. Clinton. Truth be told, she'd be tougher against McCain. But it's up to the Dems, and they don't like her. As some wag noted somewhere re the Kentucky Derby, "The filly comes in second and is euthanized; Big Brown wins."
 "The national median home price for existing homes is just over $200,000 right now. Knowing how difficult it is to find a home for that price in some areas of the country, I decided to do a little research to see how much it would cost to buy a '$200,000 home' in different cities."
That median house in Topeka: $115,000. In Greenwich: $1,400,000. Average home prices, at A Comparison of US Home Prices. (h/t, Wall St. Fighter) 
Photos: Larger photo is a $1,495,000 home in Greenwich, CT. The other is a $109,000 home in Topeka, KS. I believe I could have a fine life in anything with a roof, as long as I have my fireplace, my broadband, and a place to grow tomatoes.
 Some friends are leaving soon for a ten-day Ireland golf trip.
There seems to be some agreement that the Royal County Down Golf Club is the best links course in the world. They will also play Ballybunion and some of the other famous links courses. I find it pleasant that Ballybunion has their etiquette listed at their site. That's Nicklaus at the 4th tee in 2001.
Is there a post-Protestant Ethic, post-Consumption & Hedonism Ethic of Capitalism? I suspect this book review from Spiked is more interesting that the book itself. A quote: Barber argues that the new ethic of capitalism is one of ‘infantilisation’: money today is to be made in maintaining adults as needy children, who stuff down dumbed-down films, saccharine food and video games. While in the early stages of capitalism it benefited the capitalist system for everybody to save their pennies, now it benefits the system for us to splurge every penny and borrow more. While in the time of Franklin people were encouraged to restrain themselves and reinvest, now, says Barber, we are encouraged to act on every immediate whim, to be the grasping child in a sweet shop unable to say no.
Apparently I am way out of date, as usual, because I still operate on the Ben Franklin model, more or less.
|
post to del.icio.us