Wednesday, March 16. 2005
Doug Giles always presents a muscular, SUV-style Christianity that is inspiring and a good antidote to more passive or goody-goody versions: "Listen: true spirituality is incredibly practical, robust and workable no matter where you dwell or what you do. If your spirituality/Christianity isn’t viable and stout in the most difficult of cultures, then it ain’t the stuff Moses and Christ sold." Click here: Doug Giles: Robust Faith
 A magical snowstorm in Vermont on Saturday. Better than the Gates?
Man can not live on bread alone. Is the Salvation Army gradually abandoning its soul-saving mission? Click here: Commentary: Soup, Soap, and Salvation: 125 Years of The Salvation Army in the U.S. The Great Steyn on the upcoming implosion of the EU: "But either way the notion that it's a superpower in the making is preposterous. Most administration officials subscribe to one of two views: a) Europe is a smugly irritating but irrelevant backwater; or b) Europe is a smugly irritating but irrelevant backwater where the whole powder keg's about to go up." Click here: U.S. can sit back and watch Europe implode It takes one to know one. David Horowitz, ex-radical Leftist, has it all figured out. The players, and the name of their game. And broken down into subcategories for ready reference ! The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, unmasked ! Click here: Defining the American Left Will North Korea be brought down by the information revolution? A good update: Click here: onefreekorea: Breaking the Information Blockade How come everyone gets it except for the university faculties. Or maybe they really do. "The idea that we should trust the Democrats because they are the good guys is what the postmodernists call a narrative, the myth that a ruling elite tells to justify its power. Don’t believe a word of such discourse, the professors of English Literature tell us. OK, we won’t. We understand now that the Democratic narrative about helping the little guy is just a naked bid for power." Click here: The American Thinker
The Bird Dog's vision of utopia would be a world in which the government would leave him alone as long as he follows minimal, uncomplicated, reasonable laws. He would much rather spend his time in the world of big enduring ideas, the worlds of farming and gardening and hunting and bird-watching, the world of poetry and music and dance and science and the Kingdom of God. While he believes that politics is cheap entertainment (since the Greeks - Demosthenes was a big draw), but it is also about dopey, mercenary, small people trying to mess with our lives. Like the LYF, the Bird Dog has a strong Libertarian streak. So, with politics, unless you are talking about freedom and human dignity as granted by God, not man, the Bird Dog feels he's dealing with trivia. Still, ya hafta fight the good fight even though it may not mean much in the big picture, and even though the tyranny of one Caesar or another may win out in the end. In moments of frustration, the Bird Dog just feels that we need to politically crush the Lefty totalitarians, the Statists, and the World Government dreamers, so we can get on with what is important in life. But it feels never-ending. It is never-ending. Our forefathers set up an arena for a permanent struggle between individual freedom and government power. I notice that even some serious science-dedicated blogs cannot resist detours into politics. Being Citizens of a Republic is a big deal, and a big part of our identity as Americans. So we can't drop the ball. It's a matter of Duty. (And anyway, if all of the Leftys saw the light, we Americans would still find plenty things to argue about.) But I still wish that that Duty didn't have to intrude quite so much on the important stuff...
"It's easy from the cheap seats." Anon.
An AP photo from the Cedar Revolution, thanks to New England Republican blog. Enough said? Well, it raises the question in a male mind - Is this what's under all of those burkhas over there? And speaking of beauty and political triumph, the latest on CPR may be to dial 911, lay them flat, then give 100 pumps/minute. And pray: Click here: The New York Times > Health > Health Care Policy > Doctors Hope to Push CPR to New Level"March 13, 2005: Al Qaeda is trying to deal with a public relations disaster. First, al Qaeda publicly announced, before the January 30th elections, that democracy was un-Islamic. When most Iraqis energetically turned out to vote, the damage to al Qaeda's prestige was considerable. Then there are the suicide bombs that miss their targets. Most of them kill Iraqi civilians, instead of Americans (the preferred target) or Iraqi police, troops or government officials (an acceptable substitute). This has gotten so bad that al Qaeda has tried to deny responsibility for some of the suicide bomb attacks that go spectacularly wrong." Read entire: Click here: military news about Iraq A review of Crichton's new book, State of Fear, featuring a Soros type and dishonestly ideological environmentalists. "Michael Crichton's latest novel may not be a great literary event, but it is a significant cultural event. " Click here: The Claremont Institute: Civilization and Its Malcontents An echo today of that Cronkite quote from yesterday. Maybe a smart person can explain to me exactly what is logically, historically, spiritually, morally and psychologically wrong with the notion of global government, cuz I know it is very wrong and very scarey, but cannot be succinct enough about it. Maybe something to do with freedom and self-determination? Thomas Hale - surely no relative of Nathan: Click here: Globalising freedom Thomas N Hale - openDemocracy
Tuesday, March 15. 2005
Gee, really? I hardly noticed. Or, as my 13 year-old would say (using Tom Wolfe's "Sarc 1"), "D'yuh think?" Study proves press went easy on Kerry: Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story Gene mapping technology has been a revolutionary tool, transforming the field of genetics. It is possible not only to identify specific genes, but to describe mutations and abnormalities in them. The identification of a tumor-suppressing gene is a big deal: Click here: Penn State Researchers Discover New Tumor-suppressor Gene Neuhaus discusses everything here - election, cultural wars, obscenity, decency, abortion, the role of cultural values in law-making. He is consistently smart. "Whatever happens, in times doleful and times hopeful, we must never forget our true home or the anticipation of that home in the life of the Church. The second century Letter to Diognetus says that, for Christians, “every foreign country is a homeland, every homeland a foreign country.” In this foreign country that is our temporary homeland, it may now be decided that the law is not permitted to take cognizance of virtue and vice." Click here: FT February 2005: The Public Square Cronkite. Taranto tracked down this actual quote from Cronkite in 2002: "So I'm just saying that I'd like to see this very rich nation of ours work on the diplomatic front, the diplomatic wars if you please, fight those diplomatic wars to get this world straightened out and make it work. And I think that's going to take an international body, like the United Nations, for that to be a true world government. It means giving up sovereignty; it means a lot of sacrifices. But aren't we prepared, for heaven's sakes, to make those sacrifices in order for a better world? I would like to think so." I find it highly revealing of a certain sort of mind-set, and also highly crazy. Not to mention traitorous. But I think there are lots of people who think this way, and it is the impulse that refuses to inspect the flaws in the UN, or idealizes the EU (which is already stifling under its distant overlord in Brussels). It is a left-over Marxist dream and a left-over human nightmare. Everyone probably can imagine "a better world" in their own way, but there is little doubt about what a "free world" means - it means a world of minimal government, and of minimal distant government, where we can try to make a better world, whatever that means to us, for our families and neighbors. Click here: OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today
"He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath." WS, King Lear
A thoughtful, conservative Californian discusses the immigration debate calmly, while gently bashing the "nativists." The Bird Dog tends to view the waves of immigration in Western countries as invasions without guns, and would much prefer that people try to improve their own home countries. Is that nativist? I suspect that the French, Brits, and Scandinavians would be happier today is they had been a bit more nativist as Islamic countries unloaded their poor on them over the past 15 years. Click here: The Hedgehog Blog: Illegal Immigration: The Issue The GOP Simply Must Get Right. Another update on the subject: Click here: Conservatives Oppose Bush Illegals Plan "All in all, the European model is unlikely to be replicated on the world stage--and it may be scaled back and even dismantled in Europe itself when the evidence that India and China are overtaking it becomes too embarrassingly clear." If you have 15 minutes, James Bennett has an excellent essay on the history and economic history of Europe. Click here: The National Interest | | Publications::Article It has become a truism that campus diversity means nothing more than diversity of skin color and sexual proclivities. Are these not the dumbest things for universities to be thinking about? Bird Dog was around during the mythic 60s, but the battle against segregation is long won. There must be a lot of self-righteous folks out there trying to relive it or to recreate it. Silly. Truth is that there is NO diversity of ideas on campuses, and yet ideas are what they are supposed to be concerned with. If they want to change the world, I'd suggest a little experience in it, first. Click here: The American Enterprise: Diversity on Campus? There Is None Steyn wonders where all of the "Not in Our Name" protesters went: "Islamism, with its plans to destroy America, take back Europe, colonise Australia and set you up with 72 virgins, may be bonkers but it’s a big idea. And you can’t beat it with a small, shrivelled idea like another decade or three of Mubarak or Assad or some such. The Bush administration decided that the only big idea they had to sell was liberty" Click here: SteynOnTheWorld
Monday, March 14. 2005
Finally. The NYT - yes - the NYT - reported yesterday that WMD equipment had been present in Iraq at the time of the US invasion. So much for "Bush lied." But the even bigger story is - why now? Why do we hear this now? Click here: The New York Times > International > Middle East > Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says The Bird Dog's first daughter, and second child, has always been a savvy kid and has always attended "exclusive", fancy schools up here in New England. She has always told us that part of the deal is that you figure out what angle the teacher wants to hear before you write a paper, regardless of subject. Give 'em what they want. This is street wise, but as Dylan says, "Ya gotta be more than street wise." She can be, fortunately. It's a damn shame that kids have to learn to play this game. The General didn't want to play it: Click here: FrontPage magazine.com :: Confessions of a Military Student by Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr.
King Tut's penis. Well, it's more interesting than anything about Michael Jackson. Does FOX news think we care about him? Who does? Thriller was good, I guess. And the lad can dance. But is he maybe mixed-up? Anyway, the Egytians finally found Tut's missing member so he can have some fun in his afterlife. "Case closed. Next case", as a wise old Doc I knew used to say. The latest on Tut's mummy: Click here: http://www.travelwirenews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000033/003315-p.htm Mini-movie Review: Alexandro Jodorowsky's El Topo: Bird Dog saw this movie when it came out, and just saw it again. It does not deserve to be out of print. My copy has Japanese subtitles, and the color is washed-out. A Western in name and setting only, it is a surrealistic, somewhat violent movie with abundant mystical Christian imagery. Is it phony or real - I cannot tell - you tell me. Very powerful and memorable images. Not a family movie. Try to find a good copy of it and see what you think. It moves slowly, like a violent meditation, if there is such a thing. It takes itself seriously, I think... Unique. The Bird Dog will not watch movies that implant images in his small bird-dog brain that he doesn't want in there. But these are OK.
Sunday, March 13. 2005
Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians, 2:14
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.
Friday, March 11. 2005
This in via Gwynnie: The Penn Gazette, the Univ. of Pennsylvania’s alumni magazine, has the following bit: According to Phil Nichols, associate professor of legal studies and the faculty director of College Houses and Academic Services [at the University of Pennsylvania], the new guidelines for accommodating “mixed-gender,” or “gender-neutral” housing have been under consideration for a couple of years: “we want to make some progress toward effectuating change in [Penn’s] non-discrimination policy, which includes gender identification and would encompass transgender students.” Nichols added, “I’m sure there are students at Penn who are transgender who don’t necessarily feel comfortable with everything being classified [as male or female]. If we can make them feel more comfortable, that’s another wonderful goal the college houses can accomplish.” Gwynnie is afraid that the reason that there are so many transgendered people seeking transgender housing is the fact that they have been utterly emasculated by militant feminism. The new “metrosexual” male is only interested in feminist-approved pursuits (or else he won’t ‘get any tonight’). Soon, she says, football viewership will collapse; at present, the loser is hunting and wild game management and preservation. See News Day Story
"Why are so many Westerners, living in mature democracies, ready to march against the toppling of a despot in Iraq but unwilling to take to the streets in support of the democratic movement in the Middle East?" read piece:
Logic and Political Science and Terrorism Leftist rhetoric about "underlying causes" has always been an annoying pebble in the shoe for the Bird Dog. Always has seemed like an excuse for not acting with confidence and force in the face of ugly stuff. Makes it sound as if life were nothing but one big psychotherapy session. Therefore the discussions on the causes of terrorism are wearying to the Bird Dog. They are based on the assumption that terrorism is like a disease, and the assumption that political behavior can be explained, in a cause and effect manner, as if Political Science and Sociology were hard sciences. Furthermore, since few in those fields ever took hard sciences in college, they may have an illusion that Science has certainty and rock-solid truths. Even in medicine, simple "causes" are rarely found, and predictive powers are poor when it comes to an individual case. War, terrorism, crime, the Jim Jones mass suicide - other sorts of society-disrupting behaviors are really just as difficult to predict or to explain as is their absence. These things are rooted in individual psychology and group psychology as much as they are rooted in history and social conditions. Destructive people tend to do destructive things, and even a small number of power-seeking people without inner restraints can do a heck of a lot of damage. That's why even the civilized US needs laws and cops and morals and values. Civilization always hangs on a slender thread And this is why, for example, Bin Ladin does not need understanding or psychotherapy, but needs to be killed. The causes of cancer are literally academic - but the solution is often the knife.
Bird Dog feels validated and vindicated when smart folks agree with him - Terrorists are the cause of terror just as criminals are the cause of crime: "The roots of terrorism are TERRORISTS, and I can tell them one thing that reinforces the idea that terrorism is a good idea: CAVING IN TO TERRORISTS." Click here: The Daily Demarche
"The road to good intentions is paved with hell." Peter DeVries
Thursday, March 10. 2005
I was standin' by the side road,
Listenin' to the billboard knock.
Standin' at the side road
Listenin' to that billboard knock.
Well, my wrist was empty
But my nerves were kickin',
Tickin' like a clock. Dylan, from Black Crow Blues
"An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought." Simon Cameron
Can political blog speech be regulated by the FEC? Here is where we get into deep and scary waters: Click here: Captain's Quarters The Deterioration of French Wines: Click here: ++ Briefing ++ - and review of the piece by Maggie's Farm expert:The segment of the market that is addressed in the article, the middle, is indeed served better by growers outside of France on price/value analysis as long as you like the sort of big, saturated, fruity wines that they make. I personally don’t. My preference is for the more austere wines that show terrior rather than the sculpted, standardized products from most of these other areas. The article really says that the AOC system is unreliable. Not a surprise to anyone who keeps track of these things or has some sense of what chiselers the frogs are. There are always stories of some poor Algerian truck driver getting lost with a tanker load of highly alcoholic, tannic “bone setting” red from an Algerian vineyard, looking around for the cellar that he is supposed to deliver it to. This and the other practices are well known. I still contend that for $25/bbl, the 1990 Simard is the best value on the market. Load up!Dan Rather - nothing to say, except bye-bye.
You heard it here first - Dylan writing and working on new album for 2005.
Wednesday, March 9. 2005
Politics and The Annual Hawk CountEach fall, intrepid, eccentric birders head out to the ridgelines and shores to count migrating hawks along the nation's flyways. Hawks, eagles, and ospreys inhabit the top of their food chains, so hawk populations are an indirect measure of environmental health, plus plenty of folks just dig hawks and eagles for their size and grandeur. A wise pal (MM - thanks) warned me in the Fall, during an Audubon hawk-count, that if the Dems end up without either the House, the Senate, or the White House, they would go berserk and get wierd and dangerous. Man, was he correct. In just a few weeks, we see Teresa Heinz, Bill Moyers, Jimmy Carter, Screamin' Dean, Harry Reid, Robert "Sheets" Byrd, George "Bong-Man" Soros, Teddy "Hic" Kennedy, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Dan Rather, Barbara "Fang" Boxer, and God knows how many other members of the Liberal Establishment, go bonkers. In public. Plus even the Big Media - the only "Big" anything they don't bitch about - is in trouble. Even if they still have their easy day job, powerlessness makes some folks nuts, especially when they are accustomed to having it. The only one not going nuts is the Man With The Plan - Hillary the Re-Born Conservative. And it's not just the election - it's the fact that Bush is doing well. How can an assumedly idiot (Andover, Yale, Harvard) Republican succeed in anything? When I heard that Kennedy had suddenly removed his famous negative speech (from just before the Iraq election) from his website, I knew these guys were in deep trouble. All they can hope for is a recession, a major reversal in the ME, or really anything bad. The Great Rushbo has been saying for years that if ANYTHING goes right, it hurts the Libs. For years, he has been pointing out how the press can find the one negative statistic out of 100 good ones, but I figured that was his typical hyperbole. It isn't. I believe they hope for trouble, because trouble will help them, and invent crises if they can't find them. Forget the Country, forget Freedom. Dr. Joy Bliss, our Blog Shrink (every blog needs one), always says that power is far more corrupting than money. Power is psychologically intoxicating to weak people - it's a drug - as mind-distorting as heroin or TV. Money just sits there quietly, and it's never enough anyway. (Well, power is what democracy is about. It's the brass ring, along with job security and a pension anyone would envy. I guess we have to be glad that some people are willing to do it. But it's not like the good old days (?) when regular folks would run for elections as a brief public service, an interruption of their normal life. It's become a career, so you get careerists. Will not term them professionals.) Anyway, we are seeing people - a political party - in acute withdrawal. A Detox Ward. People in DTs. But instead of seeing the traditional pink elephants, all they are seeing are Republican elephants. Well, it's been a long hard climb for sanity to enter Washington, DC. We "normal" folks had the power to get it, but do we have the power to keep it?
Complaints about morality in movies - 1917: Click here: The New Republic Online: Movie Morals Speaking of guns, a good shooting game for cat-haters: Click here: Clay Kitten Shooting / CKS 1
Elizabeth Drew, with a critical view of the Republican Revolution and Newt: Click here: The New York Review of Books: He's Back! Another view of Putin - Is it weakness that is making him appear dictatorial?: Click here: The west gets Putin wrong Mary Dejevsky - openDemocracy
Re-posting this critique on Franks' Kansas book - it is too good (the review, not the book): "Kerry did, to be sure, have a message problem, but that problem was and is not just his, but his whole party’s. To sum up in a phrase: the Democrats are a center-left party in a center-right nation. They stumble over their message because if they clearly say what they most deeply believe it gets them in political trouble. Consider the contrast with their opponents. Republicans are conservatives who are proud to say so and who do not fear that saying so will hurt them. Democrats are liberals who, in a correct analysis of their political situation, assiduously avoid using the word that most commonly describes them. Their label discomfits them and their positions give them an edgy relation with the majority of voters." Read entire review: Click here: FT March 2004: The Public Square
"Tell me who you're with, and I'll tell you who you are." Everyone's Grandma
Tuesday, March 8. 2005
Christians are the enemies of the environment? Huh? Watch Bill Moyers crack up before your eyes: Click here: The New York Review of Books: Welcome to Doomsday Opie the pup is on the South American story. The Media would be on it if it were right-wing dictators taking over: Click here: Journal of Democracy Movie Reviews: DO NOT watch John Water's Polyester or his Hairspray either. Boring. Good music in Hairspray, tho.
The Dog's review of every movie ever made: "Licked a few Paul Newman popcorns off the floor, lay down and got comfortable, and, quite honestly, I think I slept through it."
Monday, March 7. 2005
Dear Editor: Your blog is kind of fun to read, because of the variety. It's good to have poems plopped in front of me - I read them. It's like college. But your blog seems like an oddball collection. Not entirely normal, I mean, like how come you don't have college basketball discussions. Sincerely, (anonymous) Dear Loyal Reader, 1. Why are compliments always followed by a "but"?
2. Oddballs? Every one of us.
3. College basketball? Well, we rarely cover business news. Kudlow does it better. Sincerely, Bird Dog
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