Saturday, April 30. 2005
 The NYT Utters the G word
Too bad that it takes the power of miracles to move the souls of doubters and unbelievers. Isn't mere existence enough? But in this case, the amazing Ivory Bill: "It's huge and beautiful. "A whacking big bird," Roger Tory Peterson wrote, nearly two feet long with a three-foot wingspan, black and white with a streak of red on the male's pterodactyl crest and a fearsome glint in its yellow eyes. To see an ivory-bill left people thunderstruck; their exclamations inspired its nickname: the Lord God bird. It's alive. The word miracle is overused, but what else explains the survival in the 21st century of an animal considered lost to history so long ago? The ivory-bill was mourned as a mythologized victim of intense predation and habitat loss, of hunters and collectors, of the leveling of millions of acres of Southern forests into pulp and sawdust. Somehow it has endured." Read entire.
 Gen. Peter Pace
Unpublished remarks GENERAL PETER PACE Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [now nominated to be Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff]Extemporaneous Remarks as delivered at theUSS HUE CITY’S 11th Annual Memorial Service marking the 35th Anniversary of the Battle for Hué Mayport, Florida 2 February 2003 Captain Young, to you and to your magnificent crew, thank you. Not only for the extraordinary hospitality that you have given to all of us here, but also for all that you do with your ship of the line to protect U.S. interests around the globe. And it's great to see you're back in the water. And in April when you get back to the sea, it's going to be with the same professionalism and spirit this ship has exhibited since it was christened on 21 July 1990. Admiral, Captains, Colonel Al Colter, and to all of you who are here today, I've given a lot of speeches along the way and I don't get intimidated very easily anymore. But today is one of those days where my heart is pounding a little harder than it normally does because I need to find the right words. And also because I know there's Italian blood in my body that will rush to my heart, and it's going to be a contest whether my brain gets to rule or my heart gets to rule while I'm speaking to you. So if I slow down a couple of times while I'm up here just bear with me. First of all, you should know the ground rules of who Pete Pace is. I am here in pride as an observer of those who fought in Hue City, not with pride as a participant because by the time I got there all the hard work was already done. And we should not forget that, if you study military history you know that attacking forces normally like to have a ratio of about three good guys to about one bad guy if you're going to attack. In the case of Hué City, about 2,500 U.S. servicemen, mostly Marines, attacked 11,000 N.V.A. (North Vietnamese Army) in a well-defended city...and kicked their butts. But I can say that because I wasn’t a part of it. It would be inappropriate if I had been and said it that way. But to get there, and to join that magnificent group, I graduated from the Naval Academy and went on to The Basic School like all Marine officers do, and I got trained up to go to Vietnam. If you recall, those of you who were alive back then, in the winter of '67-'68 there was a huge blizzard on the East Coast. And that blizzard closed down training at Quantico. And it happened to be at a time when we were supposed to learn how to fight in cities. "Not doin' it," one instructor said. "Have to learn how to fight in a tight space. And, so it's unfortunate that you're going to miss this training. But if you have to fight in a city, we'll train you up for that before you go." So off I went to Vietnam. And I still didn't know I was going to go to "Two/Five." So I got into Da Nang and got on a cattle car, which is basically a big old tractor-trailer truck that had seats in it. And it had seats in the middle, and it had seats on the outside. So I sat on the outside, and I was across the way from a major who looked at me and said, "This is your first tour in Vietnam, isn't it?" And I said—and I'm wearing my gold bars—and I said, "Yes, sir. It is." He said, "You know how I know?" And I said, "Other than my rank, sir?" He said, "Yeah, see, the veterans sit on the inside so the guys that sit on the outside can take the bullets." So this is good. This is day one, and I'm saying to myself, "I'm already dead." Found out I was going to "Two/Five." Still didn't know what the words "Two/Five" meant. Just knew that I was going to be proud to be part of that great, great unit. Got up to Phu Bai, and then I started realizing that Phu Bai was close to Hué and that all that stuff I'd been reading about in the papers was about to become part of my life. Then-Major O. K. Steele, who is now a retired Major General in the Marine Corps, who was the battalion XO (executive officer), said, "Come on. We're gonna' go." And we got in a jeep. He's in the front seat. We had a driver. We had a guy in the back with a rifle and me, and we take off for Hué City. So we drive from Phu Bai to Hué City with one jeep. And I'm saying to myself, "OK, I didn't die in Danang; I am going to die en route to Hué City."
Continue reading ""
And now, Big Master, I'm broken and bent and twisted and scarred,
But I've held my job, and Thou knowest, and Thou wilt not judge me hard.
Thou knowest my sins are many, and often I've played the fool -
Whiskey and cards and women, they made me the devil's tool.
I was like a child with money, I flung it away with a curse,
Feasting a fawning parasite, or glutting a harlot's purse,
Then back to the woods repentent, back to the mill or mine,
I, the worker of workers, everything in my line.
Everything hard but headwork (I'd no more brains than a kid).
A brute with strength to labor, doing as I was bid;
Living in camps with menfolk, a lonely and loveless life,
Never knew kiss of sweetheart, never caress of wife.
A brute with strength to labor, and they were so far above -
Yet I'd gladly have gone to the gallows for one little look of love. from The Song of the Wage-Slave, by Robert Service. Read entire: Click here: RPO -- Robert W. Service : The Song of the Wage-slave
Friday, April 29. 2005
Dylan Live Good sample - the music itself - of recent and not-so-recent live performances. Best ones: Hank Williams' Cant Get you Off of my Mind and Po Lazarus from 1961. Plus they have Hazel. Word to the wise: if you don't know what Dylan is, you'll never know until you hear the live stuff. Even then, you won't know what he is.
Gwynnie Responds to The Barrister with the following lyrics from God Shaped Hole, by Plumb "Every point of view has another angle
And every angle has its merit
But all comes down to faith
Thats the way I see it
You can say that love is not divine and
You can say that life is not eternal
"All we have is know"
But I don't believe it
There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And the restless soul is searching
There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And it's a void only he can fill
Does the world seem gray with empty longing
Wearing every shade of cynical
And do you ever feel that
There is something missing?
That's my point of view... "
Video of Ivory Bill If you aren't into God's nature, you don't understand what a big deal this is. We posted the news yesterday AM. For the video - Click here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/video/qt/woodpecker.mov Of course, Scrapple-Man has to put in his two cents.
 News Junkie Posting
After these months, I am still trying to self-define my role on Maggie's Farm. We're not a Hot News blog, and I cannot compete with Instapundit - how does he find the time to provide the service he does? Does he have a team of elves? Must be. Plus all the hot tips he receives via email. As for Taranto, I assume it's a full-time job. Some good gig - getting paid to surf the web. For the time being, I will just march on, and see where the path leads. To fame, riches, and chicks, no doubt - or why bother? And speaking of gaining fame, riches, and fillies, the photo is of triple-crown winner Secretariat in 1973 - see piece below, on the bottom of the pile. I know Bird Dog saw him once in the flesh, retired, at stud like The News Junkie, and happily grazing at Keeneland. Conservative Environmentalists Of course there are millions of them around. They tend not to be "the sky is falling" hysterics, nor do they equate capitalism with rape of the land. Socialist nations have been far worse. Jonah Goldberg: "The truth is that nobody is anti-environment. I have lots and lots of conservative friends and colleagues. I go to many of the most sinister right-wing meetings and parties. I've simply never heard anybody say they want to hurt the environment. No matter how many pave-the-planet jokes conservatives tell to annoy liberals, the truth is none of them really wants to." Read entire. TCS: "Semper Infantilis" " In its April 25 edition, Washington D.C.'s newest newspaper ran an article from Joanne Cronrath Bamburger decrying the growing presence of military recruiters in American public schools. It seems that the No Child Left Behind Act contains a clause that requires public high schools to allow military recruiters on campus. That's bad! "In promoting this type of recruiting effort," Bamburger writes, "our government apparently realizes what advertisers and marketers have known for years -- teens are fertile ground for influence because they still are at a point in life where impulse can overrule rational thought. So it's not a leap to worry that our children also might be unduly and dangerously swayed in these times by a call to patriotism. It's not a stretch to imagine that when they sign on the dotted line for boot camp, our children have focused more on the well-cut uniforms and group camaraderie and not on the long-term, and possibly deadly, consequences of even a short stint in the military." Calls to patriotism! Camaraderie! Well-cut uniforms! Oogah-boogah-boogah! Such starry dreck too well deserved the Rath of Cron." Read entire.
Here's an idea - recruit via the AARP Magazine? Scott's Paean to Zell Miller Scott at Powerline loves Zell. Us too. Cash in at Denny's (unless you're white) The ongoing Denny's scam. Hate Speech New Sisyphus takes the subject on, and I could not agree more: "We understand that freedom of speech is painful to liberals. We know what you're going through, having had to live through the era when you controlled the public debate and no dissenting voices to liberal orthodoxy were allowed into the hallowed halls of CBS News or the New York Times. Hate speech codes are nothing more and nothing less than an attempt to criminalize one's political opponents and should be resisted by all who care for liberty, be they right or left." Read entire wise, lawyerly, thoughtful piece.
L.A., Mexico Story making the rounds. Thanks, Michelle. Designer Babies in Englistan This is what happens when you abandon your moral compass for the noble principle of "whatever works." The Death of Canada by Austin Bay - a funny piece which might be prophetic (thanks Instapundit): "Oil-producing Alberta might join the United States and instantly find common political ground with Alaska, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. Canada's struggling Atlantic provinces might find statehood economically attractive and extend the New England coastline. A rump Canada consisting of "Greater Ontario" -- with remaining provinces as appendages -- might keep the maple-leaf flag aloft. As for poor, isolated Newfoundland: Would Great Britain like to reacquire a North American colony?" Read entire. Steyn Applauds Multiculturalism The great movie buff loves multiculturalism in the movies. 3000 Words/Day A piece on prolific writers, featuring Alexander McCall Smith, author of the wonderful #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Apparently writing too much can saturate your market, and writing too little will send readers away. Wish I had that dilemma. Secretariat If we have any frozen cells, I will place my bets on Secretariat. This will be great fun for the Kentucky horse country.
"An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it also will make a better soup." H.L. Mencken
Thursday, April 28. 2005
 Filibuster
Thanks to Michelle Malkin and Powerline, Gwynnie would like us to reflect upon the following official quotes, all by Democrat leaders deploring the filibuster in judicial nominations. Gwynnie would also like us to reflect upon the fact that they are completely consistent with the positions of the speakers today: "It is not the role of the Senate to obstruct the process and prevent numbers of highly qualified nominees from even being given the opportunity for a vote on the Senate floor." Sen. Barbara Boxer, Congressional Record, May 14, 1997 "I find it simply baffling that a senator would vote against even voting on a judicial nomination." Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, October 5, 1999 "Let's bring their nominations up, debate them if necessary, and vote them up or down." Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Congressional Record, September 11, 1997 "I respectfully suggest that everyone who is nominated is entitled to have a shot, to have a hearing and to have a shot to be heard on the floor and have a vote on the floor. . . .It is not appropriate not to have hearings on them, not bring them to the floor and not to allow a vote." Sen. Joe Biden, Congressional Record, March 19, 1997 “If, after 150 days languishing on the Executive Calendar that name has not been called for a vote, it should be. Vote the person up or down.” Sen. Dick Durbin, Congressional Record, September 28, 1998 “I do not believe that I as a member of the minority ought to have the right to absolutely stop something because I think it is wrong, that that is rule by minority.” Sen. Tom Harkin, Congressional Record, January 5, 1995 "The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court said: 'Some current nominees have been waiting a considerable time for a Senate Judiciary Committee vote or a final floor vote ... The Senate is surely under no obligation to confirm any particular nominee, but after the necessary time for inquiry, it should vote him up or vote him down.' Which is exactly what I would like.” Sen. Pat Leahy, Congressional Record, March 7, 2000 "The U.S. Senate likes to call itself the world's greatest deliberative body. The greatest obstructive body is more like it. In the last session of Congress, the Republican minority invoked an endless string of filibusters to frustrate the will of the majority. This relentless abuse of a time-honored Senate tradition so disgusted Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, that he is now willing to forgo easy retribution and drastically limit the filibuster. Hooray for him." New York Times editorial, "Time to Retire the Filibuster," January 1, 1995 Question: Why are these statements consistent with the apparent opposite statements being made by the same persons today? Answer: Because they are Liberals. Liberalism is at its very core a sincere desire to get into a position of power to do good things for people who are unable accomplish (or even attempt to accomplish) those good things for themselves. That nice statement contains four underlying assumptions - Liberals know what “good things” are;
- Liberals know what other people (loosely referred to as “masses”) really need;
- Resistance by the masses to those ideas is based on ignorance; and
- It is in the best interests of the masses to impose “good things” on them, even if they are do not agree (presumably, they will understand later).
Any questions so far? Remember; it’s superior knowledge or understanding vs. ignorance or apathy. When these concepts are put into practice, what one principle must necessarily fall by the wayside? Well, it’s democracy, of course. The power of the Liberal to do good things must be maintained – at all costs. If the masses can be persuaded, so much the better, but if not, they must be overruled. Gwynnie remembers a law professor at a highly regarded university who was utterly horrified at a student’s impertinent suggestion that the state legislatures convene a Constitutional Convention as they have a right to do under Article V. He said, “can you imagine what the PEOPLE might DO to the decades of protections added to the Constitution by the courts?” No, the American people clearly cannot by trusted to act in the manner the elite want them to, which is why Liberals are passionate about power, not democracy. All the statements made above by Boxer, Daschle, Feinstein, Biden, Durbin, Harkin, Leahy, and the New York Times , although couched in democratic terms, have nothing to do with any notion of moral or ethical principle, or democracy; the statements are about their own personal power and control. In that light, saying that a Democrat filibuster is good and a Republican filibuster is bad are completely consistent. It’s not about principle; it’s about WINNING!
How easy it is to forget that the heart of democracy is a willingness to lose, to accept the control of the majority, and to come back fighting in the next election. The Democrats are attacking the very foundation of democracy.
 Shipping Boats
Never knew how this was done. Here is Super Servant 3 entering Newport, RI with a precious cargo of sailboats as the boating season begins up here in New England. This ship is essentially a mobile dry dock - submerges to load.
Bird of the Year For birders, a VERY BIG DEAL, and very heartening. The Ivory-bill, long believed extinct, likes the swamps of the deep south. The definite ID of one on the Arkansas border with La. is wonderful. Story here
Medical Dummies I hadn't heard about the new medical dummies until I saw it in The New Yorker. I have to say that I think it's a wonderful thing, mainly for medical emergencies. There is nothing wrong with American medical education - best in the world - but the fact is that when you graduate, and it's your first night covering a NYC emergency room as an intern, you do see things you've never seen before, and you don't have time to think. I'll never forget one night in my first month when I was the only medical intern on duty in the ER. I had 17 patients in there. One acute MI who coded and didn't make it, one respiratory failure who didn't make it, a rule-out MI who didn't have one (we didn't do the enzymes then), a bad asthmatic who finally did well, a total-body disintegration from a nursing home, a drunk with acute pancreatitis, a diabetic with an acute hyperglycemia who we got under control but later died of aspiration pneumonia, various gomers here and there trying to either die or to fall off their gurneys ("Gomers go to ground", remember House of God? Good book), an arrhythmia or two - can't remember, an upper GI bleed vomiting blood, and who knows what else. With time to think, I could have taken care of any one of them fine. After a year of that, everything became routine. In the ER, it's about rapid, accurate diagnosis. What is surgical, what is medical, and what can wait. Diagnosis is easy in books, tough in real life. Not only do I wish I had had a week to be challenged by one of these new dummies, I wouldn't even mind it now, even though it's been decades since I've done ER work. I've heard that aviation simulators can almost give pilots heart attacks, so I'm sure that a few hours with the dummy would be quite an adventure. Worth paying for. Read the piece about medical simulation. Written with The New Yorker's usual craftsmanship.
What's the matter with me
I don't have much to say
Daylight sneakin through the window
And I'm still in this all-night cafe
Walkin to and fro beneath the moon
Out to where the trucks are rollin slow
To sit down on this bank of sand
And watch the river flow Dylan, from Watching the River Flow
on New Morning
"Beware of any enterprise which requires new clothes." Thoreau
Wednesday, April 27. 2005
Pray for Laura First Tony Snow, now Laura Ingraham. Tough year for a couple of my favorite people. You Go Girl! Air America Fires a Gun! We covered the Air America Follies last week, but now they have really pooped in their pants. And who knew extreme leftys had guns to shoot? Are they legally registered? Can You Believe This? A North Carolina college course: "One text required in Christensen's 9/11 course holds that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States were orchestrated and carried out by U.S. government elites. The course teaches that the official story about Sept. 11 is the result of "government involvement in the cover-up." The attacks were used by neo-conservatives in the Bush administration, acting on behalf of pro-Israel Zionists, as "a catalyst for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the attack on civil liberties in the United States," according to the course's syllabus." Read entire. Against the "Ownership Society" There is an argument against the Bush idea. I do not agree that we need less, not more, ownership, but Kuttner does make the case as well as it can be made for the role of government in everything. Guess you could call it the "Dependency Society": "...in reality, America’s long tradition as a society of owners has been substantially the result of activist government -- making social investments, taking regulatory initiatives, and shielding individuals from economic risks beyond their personal control. Today’s conservative program for an ownership society, by contrast, transfers hazards back to individuals at a time when people are already bearing increased risks. Bush has done us a favor by putting this idea in play. It invites us to devise a program for a true ownership society, built on broadened social investment. Reclaiming a proud tradition, we could broaden America’s middle class by once again expanding education and homeownership, resuming the march toward secure retirement income and health care, and raising the real incomes on which a middle class depends." Read entire.
 Leaves of Grass
150th Anniversary of Leaves of Grass. A good time for a Whitman-fest at the Virginia Quarterly Review. They are a subscription site, but many of the articles are free online. From the intro by Ted Gennoway: There's a manuscript in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia that I consider the most important single sheet of paper in American literary history. It doesn't look like anything so grandiose. In fact, it looks like little more than a scrap of paper with a few scrawled lines. There are words scratched out here and there in the penciled script, alternate words tried out, question marks inserted over uncertain choices, but the words could hardly be more significant:
The spotted hawk salutes the approaching night;
He swoops by me, and rebukes me hoarsely with his invitation;
He complains with sarcastic voice of my lagging
I feel apt to clip it and go;
I am not half tamed, yet.— VQR's Whitman issue here. Their interesting gallery of Whitman photos here.
Dylan and Lousiana A piece from 2002, but an interesting review of his fondness for New Orleans.
 Theocracy?
I agree with Barone that you would think the Taliban had come to town, if you go by the headlines. It seems to me that it's all political scare tactics. When Dems like Clinton used Christian moral arguments to support a goal, no-one complained. When Repubs do the same, it's suddenly creeping theocracy. Politicans tend to use "situational ethics". They want to win elections and keep their jobs. So if they apply religious moral principles, even if only as window-dressing, voters ought to be at least a bit pleased - not fearful. The real issue is that the Left is ticked off about the 23% evangelical voters who don't see the world their way, but they don't know how to deal with it and become shrill and hysterical and throw a tantrum. The message is that it's OK to appeal to unions, or the AARP, or the ACLU, or the NAACP, etc., but it's not OK to appeal to the views of voters who go to church. But 70% of voters go to church, believing or hoping that there is more to life than self-interest and materialism. Barone: "The real question is whether strong religious belief is on the rise in America and the world. Fifty years ago, secular liberals were confident that education, urbanization and science would lead people to renounce religion. That seems to have happened, if you confine your gaze to Europe, Canada and American university faculty clubs. But this movement has not been as benign as expected: The secular faiths of fascism and communism destroyed millions of lives before they were extinguished. America has not moved in the expected direction. In fact, just the opposite. Economist Robert Fogel's "The Fourth Great Awakening" argues that we've been in the midst of a religious revival since the 1950s, in which, as in previous revivals, "the evangelical churches represented the leading edge of an ideological and political response to accumulated technological and social changes that undermined the received culture." " Read entire. And an amusing piece on the subect that has been floating around the b-world by a Charlie Otto, via Borowitz Report:SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE VANISHES, REPLACED BY NEW ENTITY CALLED STURCHWill Offer Salvation, Motor Vehicle Renewals on Sunday
The separation of church and state, long considered a hallmark of American democracy, vanished early Sunday morning, replaced by a new institution called sturch.
Scientists at the Clausen Observatory at the University of Minnesota, who for years have been monitoring a widening hole in the wall separating church and state, said that the wall disappeared entirely on Sunday morning shortly after 8:00 (EST).
"We first noticed the hole in the wall developing about four years ago," said the University of Minnesota's Davis Logsdon. "But now it's pretty much no wall and all hole."
While the exact shape and dimensions of the new church-state entity, sturch, remain to be determined, President Bush today installed as its official leader the Reverend Bill Frist (R-Tenn), the star player in this week's "Justice Sunday" broadcast.
At a formal swearing-in ceremony at the former White House, now called the Big White Cathedral, Rev. Frist said that jettisoning the wall between church and state would benefit all Americans "except those who are anti-faith, and they know who they are."
He added that by combining the two traditionally separate institutions, sturch would allow congregants to seek salvation and motor vehicle renewals on Sunday without leaving their pews.
As for the longstanding debate over taxing places of worship, Rev. Frist said, "Since sturch is part of the government, it will be collecting taxes, not paying them, thank you very much!" "
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Virtual Vacation Start the morning right. Click here for a non-stop NY to Tahiti vacation. Click here: NYC to Tahiti Nonstop
Playground Brawl As reported here on the 21st, the antics on Wall Street continue to amuse and baffle Maggie's Farm. One often hears that "fiction is stranger than truth" but it's true we just can't make this sort of thing up. John Thain must have been sleeping through the meeting that created the merger between NYSE and Archipelago Holdings because how else could he think he wouldn't be chastised for bringing in his old firm? Honestly where is the smarts, John? Langone, Mack and Druckenmiller also seem to be rubbing their hands together smelling a coup but I think this is going to get uglier as more and more people become involved. Clearly Mr. Thain must have thought the same thing or he would not have kept it under wraps until announcing it publicly. But New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is on the heels of anything that moves so it is highly unlikely that we have heard the last of this. Stay tuned to this channel for more on the "Boys from Downtown."
"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof,
fot the Lord reproves him who he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights." Proverbs 3 (Solomon)
Tuesday, April 26. 2005
Tennis, Anyone? We have all heard about "Club cows," but this is ridi culous. Story here. AP photo. I like the way he is gallantly jumping over the net to congratulate the winner. But why does the other seem to be yielding the field in a fearful manner?
CT Gays Gay Patriot is pleased to see CT dealing positively with the civil union issue. Why should gays be insulated from the trials and tribulations of legally committed relationships? Share the joy! I know that Maggie's is not of one mind on the matter, but I'm the Bird Dog in Chief. It ain't "marriage."
Street-Fighting in Iraq An unclassified report from the field concerning small squad operations in Iraqi urban areas, with detailed tactical advice. Fascinating.
 The Essential Rolling Stones
Hey you youth out there! Enough of that Jimi Hendrix stuff, and that semi-lame Jim Morrison. If you want to get familiar with the good stuff, the Brit blues guys really got a grip on white rockin blues. Too gritty and menacing to be pop. Despite the wonderful Yardbirds, the Stones take the cake. And they usually mix it up with some sweet ballads. As good as ZZ Top is, what would they be without the Stones? As a lad, we heard the Stones before we latched onto the Beatles. Maybe it was just chance - we were the trendy bunch that used fake ID's to hit the hot NYC clubs during vacation, and it was our baby sisters who listened to the Beatles. Not that you could hear any of these guys in NY. (Soon, I will need to post my pop music essay.) LOVE The Beatles - everything they did in their very short, brilliant career. The Beatles were highly innovative pop, but the Stones rocked it nasty, which well-bred, mannerly kids got a big kick out of. Like the college kids today liking rap. At the time, we had not heard of Dylan yet - only the wierd granola folk-guitar kids had heard his first album - and we were all in love with Joanie Baez; we heard The Kingston Trio (Charlie on the MTA) and stuff like that as an alternative to the smarmy "greaser-pop" crap of the time (which I very much enjoy hearing now...once in a while..it's a bit one-dimensional). Motown didn't exist yet in our universe - that is another huge story. Still in love with Joanie's voice. Gotta start with Out of Our Heads. The first Stones recording I heard. As I recall, I heard this before I ever heard Dylan. Man did it sound earthy and hard and real compared to the tripe on the radio, but I had never heard Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf or Robert Johnson. I would soon, and would finally become a Delta Blues fan. But they had studied those guys, and Chuck Berry too. Satisfaction, and The Last Time, and more good stuff. Advance to 12X5, with the immortal Time is on My Side and It's All Over Now. Like the Beatles, the Stones began with a lot of borrowed American songs but they used all that history as a foundation for their development and growth. It's still only 1965, but December's Children represents the real beginning of Jagger and Richard's song-writing. Get off Of My Cloud and Blue Turns to Grey. I understand that the Stones weren't fond of this album, but I was/am. It's an almost sentimental collection. In 1966 came Aftermath, as the musicians took over from the businessmen. The UK version is much better than what I heard in my prep-school dorm in 1966. Think, Flight 505, the wonderful Under My Thumb. "Under my thumb, she's a siamese cat of a girl...." On Between The Buttons - there are two versions of this album - the Stones came into their own, and began to claim their territory of blues-influenced edgy rock-pop. Ruby Tuesday was Beatle-ish, but Let's Spend the Night Together was fairly straight-forward Jagger & Richards. And it has Complicated, now used for TV ads. Relieved to know these guys aren't starving. 1969's Let It Bleed is my final Stones recommendation. Their masterpiece, with creepy stuff, druggy stuff, country stuff including my favorite Honky Tonk Women. Brian Jones died during this recording - I have no idea how Keith Richards has kept himself alive all these decadent years. Lucky. Same for Mick, I guess. Since then we have had Jumpin Jack Flash and lots of other stuff, but this fine early stuff is what the Stones stand on today. Not one bit of this is old-fashioned.
 What's the Matter with Thomas Frank?
Honestly, this guy - the auteur of What's The Matter with Kansas - is so out to lunch I cannot believe it. This guy is trying to understand the "culture wars." Hello, Thomas. This has been going on for years. Where have you been? He's supposed to be a cultural commentator, but the guy needs an expedition to talk to normal folks. It's like a safari for him. Load all the Range Rovers with brie, chardonnay, Evian, and baguettes. Make sure the drivers are well-armed, but keep those scary guns away from me! So now Frank has a big piece in the NYROB in which every "insight" is, like, duh! Who knows - maybe for regular readers of NYROB these are insights into the great unwashed. But I read it regularly, and I bathe (when I have time), and I am a fairly regular sort. The average redneck Yalie Yankee lawyer who prefers Dewars to chardonnay, which is a lady's drink. Besides seeming only average-bright, Frank aspires to stylish writing and stylish views. But his style is obsolete. As in his book, he assumes that class and materialism are what life and politics are all about. It's his only lens - or is he just pretending it is? He doesn't use the Marxist term "false consciousness," but it's what he thinks he is talking about. That tells me a lot about him, but not much else. An example: "But in the election of 2004 all the class anger was on the other side. Now it was the Democrat whose aristocratic lifestyle was always coming into question, who couldn't seem to take a step without detonating some explosive reminder of his exalted position. And it was Republican operatives who were gleefully dropping the word "elitist" on the liberal at every turn for his affected, upper-class ways. For his supposed love of brie cheese. For his wealthy wife's supposed unfamiliarity with chili. For his mansion. His yacht. His windsurfing. His vacations with celebs on Nantucket Island. The secretary of commerce said he thought Kerry "looks French." The House majority leader made a habit of starting off speeches with the line, "Good afternoon, or, as John Kerry might say: 'Bonjour!'" The NRA came up with an image that brilliantly encapsulated the whole thing: an elaborately clipped French poodle in a pink bow and a Kerry-for-president sweater over the slogan "That dog don't hunt."[10] Yeah, I forgot. He also uses footnotes! What is he - a scholar? My point is that you can tell how out-of-it he is by his statements he presents as revealing, as if he were studying the sexual habits of the natives of New Guinea, while he's talking about you and me. Why doesn't he simply give Maggie's a call? I know you won't read it, but here it is anyway.
 Along the New England coast, we have mainly Common Terns, some Least Terns, some Roseate and some Forster's Terns if you can ID them, and some Arctic Terns passing through.
Tough to ID them, but their white secondaries are field-marks, plus their blood-red bill. These birds, like Peregrine Falcons, are the great travellers of the world, wintering in Antarctica and breeding in the Arctic. A 25,000-mile migration. I haven't seen one in years, but haven't looked for one either. Have seen them on Cape Cod, taking a rest on their way south. Not too much known about these fine minnow-munchers, but read more here. Photo courtesy of P. LaTourette.
 Cuba Libre? Well if only the drink meant something other than rum and coke because it sure don't mean "free Cuba.' Below are some of President Fidel Castro's comments made in another very long-winded and very verbose hot afternoon in Havana. First we here of the marvelous educational system existing in Cuba founded and completed by the Revolution. Secondly we read another one of those long-winded treatises by the effervescent ego manic Castro on the anniversary of General Maceo and Che; the heroes that Castro considers to be the inspiration of the Revolution. These excerpts are taken from Radio Cuba and I can just hear it blaring incessantly through the radios made in America from the 1950s when Capitalism claimed the Island and we know the rest. I can only imagine Lenin, Stalin and Hitler blaring over their radiowaves too. And now we have Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution to contend with so "buckle up it is going to be a bumpy ride." Bette Davis "Today we are striving to perfect the work accomplished up until now,
and proceeding on the basis of entirely new ideas and concepts. Today
we are seeking for what should be and will be, in our judgment, an
educational system that increasingly corresponds to the equality,
full justice, self-esteem and moral and social needs of all people in
the type of society that Cubans have decided to build.
Such goals will never be within the reach of a capitalist society.
The required doses of humanism and solidarity do not exist and never
will exist in such societies, and their rates of education and
culture, no matter how great their technology and wealth will lag
further and further behind those of Cuba. There are already many
indicators that provide irrefutable proof of this fact."
"Today we are taking another oath, an oath that will be also taken by
the overwhelming majority of Cubans: that we shall be unshakeably
faithful to the homeland, the Revolution, and to socialism, that
imperialist domination and the capitalist system shall never return
to Cuba -- that would be like going back to the colonial system, or
even the feudal system or the slave system which preceded it, and
which were long ago abolished by history.
General Antonio Maceo: Cubans today, brought up on your immortal
example, would like to have shared with you the honor of being with
you that glorious day when you said to the representative of Spanish
colonial power "We want no peace without independence."
Che, beloved brother: all your comrades in arms would have liked to
have fought with you at Quebrada del Yuro and to have battled for the
liberation of America. It was an unrealizable dream. Destiny had
given our heroic people the mission to withstand 43 years of
aggressions and to finally say "NO" to the imperial government which is
threatening us and trying to impose a new Platt amendment on Cuba,
one more obnoxious than that of 1901.
This is why the people whom you helped to overthrow the tyranny are
today waging the most glorious battle in its history against the
government of the hegemonic superpower, which wants to destroy us.
Fellow Cubans:
Revolutionary Cubans, in the thick of the Battle of Ideas we are
waging and embroiled in the arduous and heroic defence of our
Homeland, the Revolution and Socialism, on a day like today we are
rendering a special tribute to our two great heroes, with a firm,
unshakeable decision:
We shall all be like Maceo and Che.
Long live socialism!
Homeland or death!
We will overcome!"
Official Translation - New York, 15 June 2002
A Little Prick for Pregnancy Acupuncture for infertility here. Is Zapatero Going Down? He deserves to, but never should have been elected anyway. (PM of Spain, if you forgot his name. Should be called Mr. Lucky.) Hamilton on Appointments Federalist 76. Thanks, Real Clear Politics. NYSE Scandal? Watch this story unfold - we first posted on it on the 21st, thanks to Opie. Now John Mack joins the fray. Who is Against Bolton? You know how The Chairman feels. You won't believe this. From Taranto. Fat is Good Big fat surprise. They changed their mind about obesity being a problem - it's just morbid obesity that's a problem. Why didn't the CDC just say what they knew - that fat is unattractive? Click here: TCS: Tech Central Station - Whoppers and the End of an Epidemic AD/BC Removing BC and AD from historic time. Maybe some academics just don't have enough to do. Reporters fired for Drinking Beer And all along I had thought that drinking was part of their job description. Crazy.
"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself." Proverbs 26
Monday, April 25. 2005
 Must be a member of Ducks Unlimited - The World Leader in Wetlands Conservation.
Bill Weld Returns A run for gov of NY? He is putting out feelers. He is a good guy. Thanks for the tip, New England Repub. BBC Corruption The BBC takes a page out of the CBS playbook to advance the Leftist cause. If you considered their veracity before, will you ever again? "The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones and sending them into a campaign meeting addressed by Michael Howard, the Conservative leader." Read entire. The Tories are going too easy on the govt.-supported BCC. NYSE Heats Up Watch the action as Thain, Grasso, Paulson, etc. get ready to fight in the big stadium here. Lots of $, pride, etc. at stake. Roe V. Wade David Brooks argues that Roe v. Wade resulted in a catastrophic example of legislating from the bench. Am I naive to think that rights are about protecting the people from the govt.? Personally, I find the idea of abortion disgusting and sad, but that's irrelevant. What is relevant is the will of the people, which has not been heard. "The fact is, the entire country is trapped. Harry Blackmun and his colleagues suppressed that democratic abortion debate the nation needs to have. The poisons have been building ever since. You can complain about the incivility of politics, but you can't stop the escalation of conflict in the middle. You have to kill it at the root. Unless Roe v. Wade is overturned, politics will never get better. " Read entire here. Internet Hunting Last post I'll do on this ridiculous subject. The target shooting seems harmless enough, but literally killing via the internet and remote-controlled firearms seems like a travesty of the idea of sportsmanship, and which California is now banning. Those Evil Christians What is it with the Christianophobics? I can't tell whether they are sincere, and therefore paranoid to a degree, or whether they are being tastelessly provocative, or whether it is more cynical target-practice using American institutions for bulls-eyes. This isn't a Christianity I see around me. This example from Charles Cutter: "...it’s necessary to understand the fundamental goal of the fundamentalist Christians: To deny basic human rights to segments of society they deem unworthy in their god’s eyes. They believe that Americans should reject the Constitutional concept of equality in favor of their religious caste system. They seek to legally stigmatize all non-fundamentalist Christians. Historically, Christianity has been used to justify such atrocities as the genocide of Native Americans and the institution of slavery; current favorite targets include women, gays, atheists, and pro-choice supporters." Read entire if you can stand it. Raising the Hoop We thought we raised them big in the US. Click here: FOXSports.com - NBA Playoffs- Great 'tall' of China: 7-foot-8 Sun eyes NBA We may still think the Chinese tend to be short people but what the heck are they putting that bowl of rice? The NBA has three players and now comes the fourth "big guy" on the block. No telling when they will have to raise the hoops.
 Counting Coup Before the Battle for the Court "Here comes the blind commissioner, they've got him in a trance,
one hand is tied to the tight-rope walker, the other is in his pants."
Yes, it's about Desolation Row. Indian braves, in inter-tribal warfare, found glory in counting coup – demonstrating that they could kill, without killing. Like Mountain Sheep butting heads. But when it came down to protecting their buffalo land, things got bloody quick.
Since the election, we have seen the Dems probing, posturing, testing, lining up their moderate Repubs, and counting coup, in preparation for the big war for which they are girding themselves – the battle for at least two seats on the Supreme Court. Nothing in DC can be viewed outside of that context.
And never underestimate the destructive impulses of the weak and the small. The Condi hearings were part of it. The Bolton thing is another. I have no doubt that Mr. Bolton is a hard-ass, and pro-American. Two strong points in his favor. But the Bolton thing isn’t about Bolton – it’s about demonstrating the power to deny Bush his appointees. Everyone knows the UN is a Sacred Joke - that ain't news. And everyone in DC knows full well that Frist was playing a game of poker with his nuclear option - it was obvious. It was always meant to be an empty threat and a bluff, and he got called on his bluff. Suddenly, now, he either has to go forward or go backwards. Bad poker player – doctors always are. They have a native tendency for trust which doesn't work in DC, even when the trusting try to be sneaky. Decent folks can't pull it off. He had never intended to go through with it – it would have been a disaster in the Senate. He will now try to quietly retreat while appearing as if he isn't, but he got hurt because he was a schlemiel. He tried to be crafty, but he got out-maneuvered by the big boys like Chuckie Shumer, with Hillary in the wings, doing the hard math and the mafioso work: two Real Greasy Men with sharp elbows and minimal conscience who know the difference between a schlemiel and a schlemozle.
It's a game for this kind of people, I am sorry to say. It is no longer a sport for well-bred gentlemen who respect their opponents with good cheer and and sporting manners - not that it ever was. Honest folk need not apply: "I'm a politician, meaning I'm a cheat and a liar. When I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing their lollipops." (Hunt for Red October) But the Repubs – not Frist - could win the long game by losing the hand, and I suspect that is part of the calculus. Filibustering judicial nominees is a double-edged sword, or a double-edged nuclear weapon. Now that it has become “acceptable” for routine use, it will be used much more in the future by Repubs – and they may need it in time – maybe sooner than Repubs want to imagine. The gamble was hedged in that way. Karl Rove ain’t stupid and wouldn’t endorse an unhedged bet. But Frist gets to be the shmuck in the game, and he should suffer because of the impaired judgement in going public by showing a very weak hand of cards. For the time being, the Dems have won the skirmish by playing rope-a-dope with Frist in the classic Cassius Clay manner. They succeeded in roping a dope and have made the super-majority requirement acceptable for judicial nominees, and for who-knows what else. Maybe everything. Frist blew it big-time, thinking he was clever. Pride goeth before a fall.
But these things are all minor skirmishes as the main battle looms on the horizon. Thanks to poor and arrogant calculations, the Repubs enter the battlefield weakened. There will be blood on the saddle and blood running on the prairie. It’s a damn shame and it didn’t have to be this way. We will have open warfare, with too much at stake, and tainted by the desperation of the resentful, weak but emboldened Leftys that remain. All because of pure stupidity and arrogance. At least this is what it looks like to me now. I hope I'm wrong, and there's still a little time for the bluff to work...
You couldn’t run a business this way.
"You cannot be too cynical to understand politics." The Chairman, a Maggie's Farm contributor
Saturday, April 23. 2005
 A 1962 Farmall Model Super A.
A collector's item.
Friday, April 22. 2005
Dear Editor. I feel offended by the Maggys posts about colleges, all the criticizing etc. It makes someone feel like they aren;t good enough if they didnt go to Harvard or UCONN or someplace fancy. I graduated college and I had a good job doing the books at a very important body shop in Waterbury but no benefits but they let me go for no reason even though I had a degree and I had to drive 6o miles to get there, and my mom paid for it by working OT at Kmart for 4 years plus her regular job in the school cafeterai with good benefits because a union job, plus financial aide from the State, and my Dad left for Vegas before they had Foxwoods many years ago, and now I can't find a job anywhere around here even though I'm not afraid of work. That farmer now he is a good guy and sounds like my gramps who was a chicken farmer and a turky farmer which are all big business now and not around here, and your blog is nice but lets get off this college thing. My whole family was very proud to have there first college grad and they had a big party about it at the Lithuanian Hall, and gramps drank some beer and gave a little speech about 3 genertions of Lithuanian farmers in Uncasville CT and now we finally had some education in the family and no more chicken-shit and dirt etc. and he said it in Lithuanian for the old ones and in English too, and about being ready to move to the city like Bridgeport or Boston or Providence or Worsester where the big money and important jobs are. Sorry if this is like a term paper. Anonymus in Uncasville Dear A in U: I am sorry you feel that way. I do happen to know where Uncasville is, in eastern CT. Nice country. We don't want to disparage anyone, unless we do it on purpose. It sounds like college taught you to be easily offended, which is something they are specializing in these days. You sound like a fine young fellow, but a bit self-pitying, and your Mom is great, but it's not like 40 years ago when you could walk down to Wall Street with a freshly-minted degree and at least land a spot for life on the bond desk at Morgan Stanley. If you don't want to move away from your comfort zone in northern CT, then maybe you ought to consider something entrepreneurial or a franchise, etc. Good luck to you, Bird Dog (note from BD: I think this email from Anon. illustrates exactly what is going on. Innocent kids like him get scammed into all sorts of expectations, while street-wise but unwise kids know they're just buying a piece of paper - but it looks better than no piece of paper. It's a damn shame. Soon, we will do a feature on college cheating and plagiarism, when we collect enough true stories to report.)
Fishing First trout expedition of the year, leaving noon today for the weekend. Where's my waders? Where's my wooly-buggers? Where's my brain? The Next Clinton Scandal Just when the news was getting boring...don't hold your breath for the MSM to get on this case, despite FBI involvement. Thanks to Scott at Powerline. Piece here. Greg Parke for Senate Got to be an improvement on Jeffords, who is retiring. Read here.
Next Dylan Tour Announced today. Interestingly, again with Willy Nelson. Drove down to see them in New Haven last August - seeing Willy was a nice appetizer.  Get your tix beginning Apr. 23, via BobDylan.com, link to left.
"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more champagne." John Maynard Keynes
Thursday, April 21. 2005
 The Wave of the Future: The Big Merger Click here: The New York Times > Business > Goldman Seals a Deal, and Its Status I understand we are always standing on the brink of the future. But this merger smells of nepotism. Of course, John Thain was instrumental because his allegiance is to Goldman the company which put him on the map and made him a zillionaire. I feel bad for the traders and seat holders who are going to be looking for jobs that no longer exist. Don't get me wrong, my feelings are not for the ones that made the millions and billions but for the guy on the floor yelling his head off that was just earning a living. Like the egg cream at the counter, the 5 & 10, and the penny candy, another memory has been made. At least the Plaza will remain and won't Eloise fans be glad.
 Never seen in New England! And never will be.
This Lilac-Breasted Roller, also known as the Rainbow Bird, photographed by Matt Grimes on the Savuti Channel in Botswana last month. Bird photography is tough. Just try it. This is a very fine shot.
The Poetry Issue The New Criterion's annual poetry issue is out, covering Richard Wilbur, Eliot, Lord Rochester, etc. And including a fine essay on Formalism by poet David Yezzi. Excerpt: "Today, as I have said, it is not necessary to understand prosody at all in order to write a successful poem in English or to be a successful poet. Still, I can’t help wondering if the art isn’t made poorer by contemporary poets’ self-assured disregard of traditional verse technique. As Brander Matthews himself once famously said: “A gentleman need not know Latin, but he should have at least forgotten it.” Prosody is not far behind Latin in terms of its obsolescence, even within the specialized discipline of poetry. And this goes for readers and critics, as well as for poets."
Read entire here.
Tour Review Jon Pareles reviews Dylan's current tour: "His lates t band, anchored as it has been since the early 1990's by Tony Garnier on bass, could turn "John Brown," his early-60's song about a shattered soldier, into banjo-picking Appalachian rock, and it could sashay through Mr. Dylan's Tin Pan Alley-flavored "Bye and Bye." It had a violinist, Elana Fremerman, who was joined for keening, soaring twin-fiddle passages by Donnie Herron in "Absolutely Sweet Marie." But its core was in the blues, with Denny Freeman playing jagged guitar solos, George Recile on drums making shuffle beats leap ahead, and the whole band, completed by Stu Kimball on guitar, finding new riffs behind old songs like "Masters of War" - almost a minor-key blues in its latest incarnation - or "All Along the Watchtower." With this band, Mr. Dylan's indictments became both pitiless and exhilarating." Read entire review.
 As you know, Bird Dog, in Vermont it is now Mud Season. They call it Spring down south. But we're just getting into a world of ---ing brown mud, and will be for a couple of months. Gotta be careful where I park my precious Fairlane - could be sucked under the mud by morning, unless there's a good frost. Got my shiny new black Wallmart wellies on every day, and about 50 times a day the mud tries to suck them off. Or does. My old pair had so much duct tape holding them together they looked like silver dancing shoes when I hosed em off, so I finally splurged on new. $19.99. Made in Thailand. But if I turn into a shopper, please shoot me. Well, too muddy to plow anything this early of course, still got standing water, but we got the equipment mostly tuned up and greased and ready to go. That Ford machine is burning oil like a -----, but life ain't never perfect, is it? When it burns as much oil as gas, I will worry. We'll do #1, #2, and #3 and #5 in silage corn as usual, but as I said we'll do #4 in red clover this year and give it a rest and fatten my venison and my turkeys. Plus the hay fields which I think are fairly good for this year, seeing as we redid a couple of them last year with timothy and they are beginning to green up nice. And no, those are not two fat bucks hanging in the dark corner of the barn - those are sheep - lamb. Somebody give em to me, I forget who. But no bear. Bad luck. Coulda had a few turkeys but who wants a body-shot turkey? Nobody. And I think I see a bit of a rain leak in one of the silos. We may have to call Art the silo man down in Rutland. Seth says he can fix it. I doubt he can.
(note from Bird Dog - silage is the corn (maize to non-Americans) - stalks and all, that sort-of ferments in the solo and provides winter food for dairy cattle.)
Think Tanks? Who needs expensive think tanks when you have one-man volunteer think tanks like Bainbridge and Brewton around? In this piece, Brewton hits every important button: "Those two doctrines of human understanding – individual economic liberty and individual moral responsibility – are inseparably intertwined. Mandating a purely secular society, as liberal-socialists do, is the equivalent of removing an individual’s oxygen and draining his life’s blood. It is metaphorically to decapitate civilization." Read entire Adam Smith vs. Robert Reich.
The New Food Pyramid What kind of idiot would look to the govt. to find out what to eat? The last one suggested 8-11 servings of grains, cereal, pasta, and bread/day. The new one is visually incomprehensible. It says I should have 3 cups of milk and 2 cups of fruit. Cups of fruit? What the heck - I'm having coffee for breakfast. Dunkin Donuts. Soros' Five Year Plan Exposed All very hush-hush. Hans Nichols reports: "George Soros told a carefully vetted gathering of 70 likeminded millionaires and billionaires last weekend that they must be patient if they want to realize long-term political and ideological yields from an expected massive investment in “startup” progressive think tanks." Read here. Benedict Joseph Bottum in the NYP: "Benedict XVI understands his predecessor's support of both democracy and life — because he understands what ties these issues together. The encyclical that John Paul II issued in between, Veritatis Splendor ("the splendor of truth"), insisted that there are certain moral markers about human life and human behavior that cannot be argued away. A grown-up, serious people doesn't abort its babies. A grown-up, serious people doesn't murder its sick and old. And a grown-up, serious people doesn't destroy the structure of the family just for the sake of easy sex." Read entire here.
In the lonely night
In the blinking stardust of a pale blue light
You're comin thru to me in black and white
Where we were made of dreams
You're blowin down the shakey street
You're hearing my heart beat
In the record breaking heat
Where we were born in time Not one more night, not one more Kiss
Not this time, Babe, no more of this
Takes too much skill, takes too much will
It's too revealing You came you saw, just like the law
You married young, just like your Ma
You tried and tried, you made me slide
You left me reelin with this feelin
from Born in Time, by Bob Dylan
Buy the book, buy the CD
Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day;
teach a man to fish, and he'll spend the rest of his life on boats drinking beer. Anon.
Wednesday, April 20. 2005
Blogthings Cool stuff. What Kind of English Do You Speak? I turned out 40% General American, 40% Yankee, and 10% Dixie. Try it. Plus their other entertaining quizzes.
Ernie Pyle's Death of the Captain The great war correspondent, on Jan 10, 1944, here. With thanks to Michelle Malkin.
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