Monday, February 28. 2005
Snow Day, here in New England. Should be beautiful. Bird Dog will take a few more photos to demonstrate God's grandeur. Good site, plus lots of information about hops - the more the better, it seems: Click here: All About Beer Magazine-Online A brand-new blogger: Click here: TigerHawk Can't get decent crab-cakes in Yankee-land - they are full of bread crumbs, but these are the real thing from Chesapeake Bay: Click here: Faidleys Award Winning Crab Cakes
Dear Idiot Fascist Editor, Your blog is an example of everything that is wrong with our country. It is about time the government began regulating these blogs like yours that are filled with hateful, venomous rage and anti-progressivism. You and your evil hateful types should be strung up and lynched before you destroy our country. (Signed) Disgusted Dear Loyal Reader, Just be patient, "Disgusted." I can tell that you are a very caring, sensitive guy-or-gal. When the Revolution comes, you can string up all of us bourgeoisie on the lamp-posts, in a caring, sensitive manner, to the rousing tune of the Internationale. Like the Nazis did. But remember - We Are Armed. Best wishes for a lovely, happy, freedom-loving, and prosperous day in our evil country, Bird Dog
This in from Old Doc Higgins: Dumbest thing I ever heard. I suggest they sue to regulate the salt in the ocean, in case someone swallows a mouthful when swimming in Cape Cod or the Jersey Shore, or, God forbid, hideous Florida: Click here: AOL News - Lawsuit Asks FDA to Regulate Salt UseHuman beings are omnivorous critters, by design. They should remain so, except for broccoli. My personal view? Meat, potatoes, and some iceberg lettuce salad - I'm 84 and working and still going strong, and I'd never eat a vitamin - poisonous junk. Heck, some folks mistake me for 80: Click here: BBC NEWS | Health | Children 'harmed' by vegan diets Count me as one Doc who will never be sued. Why? I "go bare" - no malpractice insurance - and what little I own belongs to my wife and my grown-up kids. Not to mention that, corny as it sounds, I care a lot about my patients and I think they know that, but there's a bad apple in every barrel. Here's yet another blogging Doc - Click here: So many lawyers, so little time... - and I have excerpted a piece of a recent essay of his below, which explains the effects of the trial lawyers on medical practice these days (read entire by clicking above): A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine asserted that we do too many colonoscopies. Physicians just can't let go of the old guidelines, it seems, and the result is unnecesary scopes. This study received a lot of flak on scientific grounds, and no doubt will remain a source of controversy for quite some time. My response is not so scientific: studies like this really chap my hide. If a patient requests a colonoscopy and you don't perform one because it doesn't adhere to existing guidelines, God help you if the patient ends up having colon cancer. If the patient requests ANY test and you don't order it because in your judgment it isn't necessary, God help you if the patient ends up with a serious disease that could have been diagnosed with the "unnecessary" test. Lawyers think this is a good thing. "When it comes to my health," my lawyer intoned, "I want you guys to practice defensive medicine. I don't want you to miss anything at all, even if it's rare and requires lots of expensive tests to diagnose." Whether we like it or even acknowledge it, the "leave no stone unturned and damn the expense" has become the standard of care for American medicine.
"You can observe a lot by just watching." Yogi Berra
Sunday, February 27. 2005
Christian blogs and websites are proliferating like loaves and fishes. Here are a few good ones:
from Psalm 39, a Psalm of David "Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
and hold not thy peace at my tears!
For I am thy passing guest
a sojourner, like all my fathers.
Look away from me, that I may know gladness,
before I depart and be no more."
Saturday, February 26. 2005
One of the clueless gets a clue on the ongoing Harvard tempest in a teapot: Click here: The New Republic Online: Self Interest Immediately after claiming we don't do breaking news, I'll break that policy and post this remarkable development: Click here: Yahoo! News - Mubarak Orders Egypt Election Law Changes Does anything further need to be said?
 One of the photos I took last week, before the snow. Snow would have been good. It is what it is.
In one short essay, James Nuechterlein takes Frank's entire book, What's Wrong with Kansas?, and mops the floor with it. And, at the same time, offers an alternate thesis which I both like and agree with. I began reading Frank's book in January, and read about a quarter of it - then did something I rarely do with books - I quit it. It is an elitist, Leftist, closed-minded condescending tantrum disguised as a book, with just one idea, which is a dusty 1930s idea. Please, Lefties, believe Frank's book, and do not read the following piece:
"If you would change the world, first change yourself." Gandhi
So many blogs - so little time.
And it's not just blogs. Websites, news and opinion outlets...well, like, duh? But I am realizing how much the net is like living inside a library - a big one, like the New York Public Library - a universe of words and thoughts and pictures. Even if you are retired, which the Bird Dog is far from being, you can't begin to scratch the surface. That is why, just like Taranto at the WSJ, Maggie's Farm has a team of retrievers - each one smarter than me. (They are listed under "About Us," but it isn't complete.) And it should not be surprising to me how many folks write and think well, and just want to put their stuff out there, hoping someone will appreciate it or use it. Writing ability, combined with thinking ability, is as much of a miracle as musical talent - and, like musical talent, it is remarkable how generously that miracle is handed out.
Obviously, most media opinion outlets offer essays, but most bloggers offer essays too - some very short and some lengthy and scholarly. As more people use the net for information and for brain food, we are seeing a resurgence of the essay. Francis Bacon would be pleased. I always felt that the late Stephen J. Gould was the best essayist of our time. Each piece was a compact, perfectly-constructed gem. Like a good sonnet. Blog essays are dashed off - people have jobs and kids and bills to pay and cows to milk. And the writing tends to be more colloquial and casual. But still dang good, as Napoleon Dynamite would say. Glenn Reynolds can sometimes say 100 words in just one "Huh?" Here at Maggie's Farm, we try to offer the new kind of format - the Blog Format - with no real hard news - there are plenty of good sources there. We want to be a source if interesting stuff, and some semi-frivolous stuff to provide an outlet for our amateur (amateurish?) auteurs. And, as we claim, politics is not our only interest. It is to us what professional sports are to many - entertaining and emotional and topical and silly but meaningless in the final end. But we will not tolerate fools trying to run our lives or to shape our world - we are proud Yankees. And we ain't fools, despite our lack of deep education.
Friday, February 25. 2005
"Merchants of Despair" - Hanson reviews the history of the Left's fearfulness and spinelessness during the 20th Century when it comes to defending America's interests. My personal opinion? The Left isn't spineless - it wants America to fail. Is that paranoid? Doubt it. As the world's beacon of freedom and capitalism and Christianity, anything that harms us helps the now-illusory international socialist movement. Well, they live in the 1930s. Click here: National Review Online (http://www.nationalreview.com)
Primates come down from trees to debate homosexuality: Click here: FOXNews.com - Anglican Church Asks U.S., Canada to Leave The American Library Association: Bravely leading the vanguard into the past: Click here: Library Journal - Revenge of the Blog People! Lighter fare - See video - The bird Einstein is good, but the Iams advt ain't bad either: Click here: Animal Planet :: Video :: Pet Star 3 Can't stop wondering...if America is so Evil, why does the whole world want to live here? One more example of media's reflexive anti-American bias:Click here: The Kerry Spot on National Review Online Race and Class and Education: The Left always makes every issue into a racial or class issue. It's a highly reductionistic, highly manipulative, and highly monotonous propaganda device. Bradley doesn't buy it: Click here: Commentary: Modern Myths about Race and School Performance
The Scrapple-Man reports on the Harvard flap: Click here: ScrappleFace: Harvard Chief Likens Women to Nazis, Saves Job
Euristan decides Bush was right...no - not that dumb goofy redneck Bible-thumping fascist cowboy who says nucular?: Click here: OpinionJournal - Featured Article Iranians like Americans. Are we supposed to be surprised that they can think for themselves?:Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story
Thank you baby for my tea. The Revolution is long past. Best Tea site on the web: Click here: Mighty Leaf Tea Company
You ask for more Vermont color. What the --- do ya mean by that, Mr. Circus Dog? Nothin quaint here, as you know. This ain't exactly Manchester or Ludlow or some other city-slicker joint down south. Well, Seth and the boys are milkin, and I just come in from the barn for a WallMart apple pie and sausage, and a coffee and a smoke. Then I'll bring them a pot down to the barn, and hope I don't slip on the ---ing ice or trip over one of the --- ----useless mutts and spill that pot of coffee all over my lap like that idiot McDonald's lady. It ain't cold - about 13. Today, will get the sugarin machinery going - got all the lines done. We run em all down the hills to the road now, like them modern sugar guys. Yer fancy friends in Connecticut would like to watch us pull the drowned mice out of the collection barrels, and think about that when they eat their ---- organic buckwheat pancakes or whatever they eat. The --- ----wood-pile is dry and ready, so we can start makin sugar with the first thaw. Any day now that sap will be runnin fast. Don't know why we ---ing bother, with prices so low the past ten years or more. Jes got too many trees up here nowadays, specially with farmin a dyin art. Oh, ----, there's that ---- mouse again - I'm gonna stomp that little ----- into the linoleum before Spring. Woops, too fast for this old fart. Anyway, my friend, is this what you mean by Vermont color? Remember, this is a favor to you. My writin ain't the best but I got my pride. Ayup, I do.
Conservative Girl: Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Buffy: Uh, you know, I meant to, but then I got really busy. from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Thursday, February 24. 2005
X-Rated. No, this isn't satire: Click here: AOL News - Court Rules Man Can Sue Over Surprise Pregnancy Thanks, pals- Canada refuses to help with missile shield. The Euristan community, including Canada, is either self-destructive or in a psychotic denial of the existence of evil: Click here: The Washington Times: AP Crybabies? Guess only a woman would be allowed to write this, eh?:Click here: Feminists Get Hysterical by Heather Mac Donald
Peggy Noonan on almost everything: Click here: OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan
If 130 felons voted, does that put the Repub in? :Click here: GOP Says Felons Voted in Wash. Governor's Race
Tom Wolfe on Hunter Thompson: Click here: OpinionJournal - Leisure & Arts -and Tim Blair also: Click here: Tim Blair
News Flash ! - Click here: Bob Dylan attacks modern rock bands - NME.COM
Dylan, from Every Grain of Sand In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need,
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed,
There's a dyin' voice within me, reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair. Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment, I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.
"Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could believe them." George Orwell
Wednesday, February 23. 2005
Dear Maggie's Farm Readers - I received the note below, and sent the money, in cash. Now I am beginning to wonder whether that was wise. I like to think of myself as being a trusting animal. I do have good pedigree, but have been insulated from bad Gods. I am not wealthy, but have carefully saved my weekly allowance. Advice? Am I being a paranoid Rottweiler? I have my retirement to consider. The Dog
Dear Sir:
I am Mugnbo Mibidgi, treasury secretary of the Republic of Nigeria. I need a trustworthy person to accept a transfer of $50 million for safekeeping. If you would be so kind as to wire transfer me $2,000 for my adminstrative expenses, I will send you these millions immediately.
Wise old Doc Higgins reminds us never to confuse a correlation with causation, but this is interesting. It doesn't prove cause and effect, tho. Click here: Friends fortify women's hearts / The Washington Times INSIDER
Bambi Department: Tony, arriviste New England rural hamlet plans massacre of the innocents: Click here: Greenwich Time - Town baits areas for deer shooting
We like Ben! Finally, some truth and balance on the subject: Click here: Ben Shapiro: Ward Churchill, Lawrence Summers, and the hypocrisy of the academics
I can see a Romney-Condi ticket...but it's a little early to think about...or is it? Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story
Earth to Charlie Rangel: Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story The ailing Pope has some wise words about medical care - (always pleased when the Pope agrees with me!): Click here: Vatican Officials Decry 'Religion of Health'
Dear Editor:
This is just one more stupid, extremist, irrational, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing blog. The world doesn't need any more of these. Quit wasting your time and mine, and get a real job, or find something useful to do. If you have any skills, which I doubt. Can you mow lawns? If not, become a journalist or a politician, ya big jerk.
Sincerely,
Anonymous Dear Loyal Reader,
Well, we can mow, but rarely in a straight line. We keep slanting to the right. But thanks for the constructive criticism. We can assure you that we will take it to heart.
Sincerely,
Bird Dog
This in from Doc Higgins, who swears he had nothing to do with any of these surgeries, which is probably true. His senile tremor is so bad, they haven't allowed him near the OR in ten years. If you are bored and really have nothing that you should be doing, take a peek: Click here: Awful Plastic Surgery
"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer, but wish we didn't." Erica Jong
Tuesday, February 22. 2005
Maggie's Farm is pleased to be included in this week's New Blog Showcase, hosted by Celebrity Cola. I think we are witnessing the Big Bang of the expanding Blogosphere. We are called "idiosyncratic and eccentric" - Who, us? We may soon have more blogs than blog-readers in this world. Competition is good: http://celebritycola.blogspot.com/2005/02/new-blog-carnival-showcase.html
A word from Gwynnie, on the recent Environmental piece: Gwynnie read the Celebrity Cola article “The Apocalyptic Battle Between . . ..” and even though she’s only a corgi she perceptively notes that the only thing dumber than politicians talking about the environment is environmentalists talking about Christianity! She even remembered the blog which said Christian fundamentalists didn’t care about the environment because the earth would be destroyed anyway in the “end days”. She asks us to remember that Christians have waited 2000 years for the second coming of Jesus, and have no reason to believe it won’t be another 2000 years, and that their faith requires them to be faithful stewards of what God has given them.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Hunter S. Thompson (who died yesterday in Woody Creek, Colorado)
Monday, February 21. 2005
"Shadows are fallin, and I've been here all day.
It's too hard to sleep, the time is runnin away.
Seems like my soul has turned into steel,
I've still got the scars that the sun let me heal.
There's not even room enough to be anywhere.
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there." Dylan, from Not Dark Yet
Two interesting pieces about the Environmental Movement - is it a post-Enlightenment Pagan Religion, or is it fact-based? And whose "facts"? You will find no-one more conservation-minded than the Bird Dog, but when gummint gets involved, it becomes more about image and symbol than substance - to get our gullible votes, of course. Gummint and science don't mix - and when they do, politics wins. Consider bottle-recycling - what a joke! - cheap feeling of false virtue, but useless. The Bird Dog happens to believe that the real conservation issue in the US is urban/suburban sprawl, but how do you balance people's desires and freedom with land-protection, other than by buying the land up? Easier just to bitch about oil in Alaska - again, cheap and easy feeling of virtue, but meaningless. And of course it is far away ! (Good conservation news - we saw three Bald Eagles yesterday next to the Bear Mountain Bridge. Hudson Highlands - cool. Does anyone remember Dylan's "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Blues"? Quite humorous.) Well, the Bird Dog was on top of this story too - is this a story about envy and class-warfare, or a story about animal lovers? If about animal lovers, they had better be vegetarians, or they have no credibility with me. But, finally, a cause for which Civil Disobedience makes sense ( if only Gandhi could see this - he'd have a good laugh): Wonderful piece by Michael Dirda on Love - the scribblers really went all-out for Valentine's Day this year - see previous recent posts on Love - my theory is that these dudes use their columns as mass-mailing Valentine Cards to all of their cute girlfriends - using erudition as seduction. Been there.
Looks like about a foot of snow arrived overnite here in Yankeeland, and this morning there is a needling email from the in-laws with their weather report in Cabo. Why do so many of us Yankees love what others call "bad" weather? Is is because it demands more from us, or because it reminds us of the grandeur of God's Nature and God's Cosmos? Or is it sour grapes? Speaking of Cosmos, old Mr. Hubble took some nice snapshots:
"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better." Andre Gide
Sunday, February 20. 2005
Bubble, bubble...A way to get the fates on your side? Witches brew for Somerset. From the Daily Rant Department: Two very good pieces about guns, and gun rights: Another example of why some of us are a little disappointed in Republican control of the Fed. govt - it is human nature that govts become sponges for power and money, regardless of who is in charge. Where is Newt when we need him?
"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go." WS, Hamlet
Saturday, February 19. 2005
This just in from Old Doc Higgins in Rhode Island: Everyone has ADD, and all boys have ADHD. Just a matter of degree. Heck, I remember back in med school, during the lecture on the use of ether for anesthesia, spending the whole time undressing (mentally) a gal in the front row (only gal in the class - this was 19 and 41 - and she was a bow-wow, too, but eventually she let me...(edited for family reading...), and I didn't remember a thing about the class. See, I have a bad case of ADD too. But it didn't matter - back then, I'd just have the patient chaw on a lead bullet and rip out their appendix, or their whatever. Ether-shmeether. We'd re-use those bullets until they were chawed to bits - didn't wash 'em either. There was a war on - needed those bullets to kill Krauts and Japs. So, to save bullets, they came up with this new-fangled novocaine stuff for the whining wussies. I'd have nothing of it - No Sir. Nowadays, it's more complicated, but I like to stick to the old, tried-and-true ways when I can. When I can remember them.
"Napoleon - if yer hungry, just make yerself a dang kay-sa-dilla." Grandma, in Napoleon Dynamite
Right or wrong? It's gotta be pure economics - a fat waitress will remind you of your diet, and you won't eat. Who else besides me is getting tired of hearing about "our failing schools?" But it's a real issue, and I don't think it has much to do with teachers - I suspect union control, and lack of parental involvement in inner city schools, are a big part. This is a thoughful piece. I don't know how Gwynnie's pal Rex found this bone, but it's a goodie, and related to the earlier essay "Life is so Scary." (Based on this website, the Bird Dog has made a significant investment in Safety-Flo, which should do as well as his other private placement investments - but this is NOT a recommendation that you should invest. Bird Dog is not a professional investment advisor.)
Friday, February 18. 2005
Well, I asked for something to eat
I'm hungry as a hog
So I get brown rice, seaweed,
and a dirty hot-dog.
I've got a hole
where my stomach disappeared.
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, I gotta think you're really weird. Dylan, from On The Road Again
It is called out-to-lunch. The age-old theme is the human reluctance to self-criticize, but the minor theme is "why are there schools of journalism anyway?" Name me someone in the press who writes better and is more devoted to truth than John Hinderaker of Powerline, and he didn't go, and neither did the sublime wordsmith Bird Dog...well, you can't teach writing....some folks can just turn a phrase around a concept like a boa around a rat - I love that, but cannot do it. Anyway, a review of Lehmann's piece in the New Yorker begins thus: Nicholas Lemann was named dean of the Columbia School of Journalism in 2003. It's too soon to tell whether he is making Columbia a stronger school. It's not too soon to say that Lemann, the author of two good books and many compelling articles, has made himself a weaker writer. Evidence of this decline comes in the current New Yorker, where Lemann devotes 5,000 words to asking, "Why is everyone mad at the mainstream media?" without saying anything clear or consequential in response.Nicholas Lemann was named dean of the Columbia School of Journalism in 2003. It's too soon to tell whether he is making Columbia a stronger school. It's not too soon to say that Lemann, the author of two good books and many compelling articles, has made himself a weaker writer. Evidence of this decline comes in the current New Yorker, where Lemann devotes 5,000 words to asking, "Why is everyone mad at the mainstream media?" without saying anything clear or consequential in response.
A Rather-fest? I guess the phony pompous blowhard deserves something for making an ass of himself all these years: If "Big Pharma" are the villains of today, the Dog would like to know who the good guys are. Has any technology done more for quality of life, in all of human history, than the mainly American drug companies have done inthe past 50 years? Well, the Bird Dog was ahead of the curve a few days ago when lamenting the removal of some drugs from the market due to side effects. Let's get a little rationality here:
The Bird Dog would like to plug The Teaching Company. He is neither paid by them nor does he own any shares in their company, but he does wish he had started the business. They collect the best college teachers - not the most famous, just the most engaging. Look at their website - on left column, under Other Swell Places. I have done about 8 of their courses and each has been wonderful. The music stuff by Greenberg is a pure delight. It is excellent for the car or for workouts. You can fill in all of the gaps in your education, and no exams! Like Brooks Brothers, they have regular sales, and that is the time to stock up.
Thursday, February 17. 2005
The only thing nuttier than Australia banning gun ownership - so that the Army has to be called in to shoot infestations of rabbits - is the banning of fox-hunting, otherwise known as "hunting," in the UK. Thank God for our revolution, or we might have become as nutty as England, Australia and Canada. This has got to be one of the saddest days for the time-honored Brit sporting traditions. What will be the next target of the self-righteous weenies? Soccer, because it leads to fighting? Pathetic. But maybe we can offer psychological counseling for those ex-hunters? Teach them knitting and TV-watching? And maybe those beautiful horses can be re-trained to be therapy-horses....hey - that would be a better world, right?
Read Norman Geras' piece in Dissent. A well-known Brit socialist, a retired professor, Norm is notable for not only being open-minded but for being a nice guy. And an articulate blogger. Got in hot water with the Brit Left for violating the Party Line on Iraq - how shocking ! Can you imagine such a thing ?! Bad form. Almost as distressing as a lady forgetting to wear a hat at Ascot, or sipping her tea before the hostess sits down. Who knows - it could lengthen the time 'til the Revolution, when we all will get free apple pie (or, more likely, guillotined). Click here: Dissent Magazine - Winter 2005 Another delectable dog bone. Speaking of guillotines, the Bird Dog is on the trail of The Enlightenment these days, with a fine Himmelfarb piece coming up tomorrow maybe. But this piece sets the stage. Whatever The Enlightenment was, it wasn't perfect, and even though we may live in it, like fish in water, we have to think about it. That is what Dog thinks is so cool and great about Western Civilization - not only can we think, but we don't get shot for doing it. Click here: OpinionJournal - Leisure & Arts
The whole world, it seems, is away in Vail or Telluride or Florida for the long weekend. Except for the Bird Dog, and of course the LYF. If you have a herd of 150 dairy cattle, you can't exactly drop them off at the kennel on your way to the airport.
This reminds me of the old saw: "Is there intelligent life on earth?" Isn't the real question "Is there beer on Mars?"
Wednesday, February 16. 2005
Well, not really...not yet anyway! Would not care to be Moonves right about now.
This just in from Vermont: Gol darn, nothin to read on the internet tonight. We got Mr. Bush runnin the gummint, so no worry there. Everything is peachy in I-raq. Miss Condi will have the ---ing Frogs and the Krauts kissin our butts soon, and it's not too long til -----ing mud season. Even good ole Norm is jes fussin about some --- Mayor from someplace or other. Who the --- cares? When things are goin good, the net gets ---ing dull. So dull, think I'll have a ----ing smoke and a snort and check for some new raccoon recipes on the Food Channel site. Or some snappin turtle recipes.
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