Saturday, July 30. 2005
Bush is a genius, says Dick Morris. Bush is a genius, says Powerline. Van Gogh's son has been beaten up. Nice country ya got there, Holland. I was going to write a few sentences about the NYT calling people "un-American' re the 9-11 Memorial, but Moran did it better, here. The Grievance Collector femi-Nazis go over the top, (thanks, View from 1776), from John Stossel Air America caught stealing from orphans and widows. Jeez. Using our hard-earned money to buy votes: Ankle-Biter on the Highway Bill. Disgusting. And since when do we need more highways anyway? Frist has a poll for us to take, on immigration and other subjects, here New biography of Georges Braque. The review is interesting Are we cyber-sluts here at Maggie's? Maybe kinda sorta. We love new readers, and we love getting linked. We do believe we offer interesting stuff. And we, like many bloggers, have tried to get the great Glenn Reynold's attention with some of our stuff, but at some point you feel like a hopeful young actress who can't get onto Darryl Zanuck's casting couch. It's lousy for your pride and your dignity. Enough self-pity - we are doing fine and our readers are discriminating folk with wit, curiosity, and brains. Abe Lincoln famously said, "Maggie's Farm is my favorite blog, after Powerline," and Teddy Roosevelt said "The most influential and eclectic blog in America" but he may have been referring to another blog. American Digest has a humorous inside look at the mega-blog "gatekeepers".
Friday, July 29. 2005
Hail, Britannia Photo from Free Market Fairy Tales (UK) I like her steady, watchful gaze. God Save the Queen. Meanwhile, back at the ranch,
the bobbies are rounding
up the bad guys. BBC.
Why you can't count on moderate reason in the Middle East (as if that were hot news): Many Egyptian Moslems believe Israel did the bombing to frame Muslims! Here (thanks, View from the Right). There is no reasoning with the paranoid and ignorant. It's like a debate with a Hollywood airhead: "Well, it could be Bush and the CIA were behind 9-11 for an excuse to go to Iraq to get the oil...well, it's possible, right? With the Israeli Air Force and Haliiburton. As a favor to Cheney and his friends? Anything's possible, right? We'll never know for sure, right?" Al Quaida attracts rich kids, mostly. Gee, like the Weathermen here used to be? Mixed-up young pampered nuts looking for meaning? Austin Bay. The Truth about teen-rebel hero Che Guevara, the James Dean of the 70s: a re-posting here King Arthur and the Round Table: (really)...A good website for fans of Arthur Right Wing Nation picked this up from GOP Bloggers: Here’s an issue that deserves prominent play in the public discussion of what makes a good Supreme Court justice: In recent years, six justices of the Supreme Court have relied on foreign and international legal decisions and other legal materials to construe the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. It should be no surprise that these are the same six justices who have endorsed the vacuous New Age declaration that “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.”
His comment: "‘Scuse me? What kind of drugs are these morons on, anyway? I mean, can anybody doubt that these people need to be institutionalized after they spout silly tofu-brained nonsense like this?" My comment: Ditto about the tofu. The heart of liberty is political freedom and the right to vote. I never want to hear any branch of government dare talk about the meaning of life. It's way out of their league, plus it ain't their job.
Thursday, July 28. 2005
Conservative Food - yum yum - pretty funny - from Right Wing Nation More on food: Nutritional supplements not demonstrably important, says Tufts (but they might be if you live on that Conservative diet above) Bush's Oil Policy: Defeat the Arabs and Take their Oil. Great idea...hey, why didn't I think of that? Scrappledude. Orwell on Pacifism: MassRight The Kyl-Cornyn Immigration Bill - discussed here on NRO, and Tancredo's here Palestinians believe their terrorism drove Israel to withdraw from West Bank: JihadWatch Why I have stopped arguing with Liberals: A great piece by Pat Sajak which all Liberals shoud read, but won't. All of us reasonable folks have been through this and finally have given up. It's like a discussion with Palestinians. His story here. Sample: When Liberals want to legislate what you’re allowed to drive or what you should eat or how much support you can give to a political candidate or what you can or can’t say, they are doing it for altruistic reasons. The excesses of the Left are to be excused because these folks operate from the higher moral ground and the benefit of the greater wisdom and intelligence gained from that perspective.
Wednesday, July 27. 2005
Blog Power - Caught a murderer: Who Killed Theresa? , via Instapundit Romney, on abortion, The Globe A cool game - Geography - I know a winner for this game, via Chrenkoff
Why you have to shoot to kill, and why not to run from cops: Confed. Yank Thornton at VDH slams multiculturalism The "Constitution in Exile" fantasy....but I wish it were real. Hinderaker covers it thoroughly. Click here: False Exile A bare-faced lie from Dean (really bad): Irish Pennants Moslem arrests in Newark: JihadWatch An expensive eminent domain catastrophe in Boston: LA Times An opinion poll with Brit Moslems: Chrenkoff Steyn on "Mugged by Reality" : Bomb us, and we agonise over the "root causes" (that is, what we did wrong). Decapitate us, and our politicians rush to the nearest mosque to declare that "Islam is a religion of peace". Issue bloodcurdling calls at Friday prayers to kill all the Jews and infidels, and we fret that it may cause a backlash against Muslims. Behead sodomites and mutilate female genitalia, and gay groups and feminist groups can't wait to march alongside you denouncing Bush, Blair and Howard. Murder a schoolful of children, and our scholars explain that to the "vast majority" of Muslims "jihad" is a harmless concept meaning "decaf latte with skimmed milk and cinnamon sprinkles". Read entire here: Click here: The Australian: Mark Steyn: Mugged by reality? [July 25, 2005]
Tuesday, July 26. 2005
O Canada You could be next in line to suffer for your naive and innocent "niceness." LGF
 Vacations
Opie, our reporter on misc. topics plus The Latin Beat, is on Nantucket. Gwynnie is at the family's ancestral mountain retreat (photo to right), trout fishing, dodging (mountain) lions and wasting time. So I will not expect to see much from them for a few weeks, except for this emailed photo, taken from the back porch of Gwynnie's 120 year-old stone main house. (Can you find the bear in the photo?)
Revaluation of the Yuan is a Very Big Deal: Austin Bay explains why. Don't worry, terrorists. We don't profile. From Michelle Krugman and Monty Python: Ex-Donkey nails Krugman. Gotta wonder - Does the NYT take him seriously? Do they actually pay him $? And Atlantic Blog piles on to point out the basic errors in his understanding of economics. Tolkien and the Crisis of the West: View from the Right The Media's War on Iraq: Small Dead Animals has a good letter from a serviceman Roberts is imperfect - he gave a dumb and wrong answer, and he'd better think through the relationship between his faith and his official role. Story in LA Times A Blogger I haven't encountered before emailed us - James Baxter. And read his profile - a heck of a guy. The Blogworld is full of interesting people. Protests against terror in Egypt. Gateway Why the EU will never work: "That's Brussels for you - out of touch, out of control, and in charge." At No Oil...
Monday, July 25. 2005
Donald Trump may be a slippery self-promoting egomaniac, or he may be an inspired, self-made franchise (but not a self-made man, since his dad had a real estate empire too). Whatever Trump is or isn't, he knows real estate, and he can be articulate. So when he says the proposed UN renovation is a boondoggle, I would tend to believe him. (No offense to CT's Chris Burnham, a good fellow but not a real estate guy.) Story in NY Sun.
It's summer up here, so I'm a bit behind on my job. If you've seen all of this, please forgive me: Gimme a break. NYC won't use racial profiling to check subways. Huh? Right Thinking. That is the stupidest thng I have ever heard. And now there is an anti-search movement in NYC: Confed. Yankee. What jerks. So walk. Guantanamo soliders complain to Ted about his comments. No comment from Ted. Excellent point from Sean Hannity: Whatever "fight" there will be over Roberts will be the purposes of fund-raising for the Dems and Dem-allies, not substance. So true. Robert's humor in most recent decision, upholding a car search, in NYT: "Sometimes," Judge Roberts wrote in yesterday's dissent, "a car being driven by an unlicensed driver, with no registration and stolen tags, really does belong to the driver's friend, and sometimes dogs do eat homework, but in neither case is it reasonable to insist on checking out the story before taking other appropriate action." A legal take on how Roberts will effect the court. From Damnum. Infantile - but a principal orders removal of Bush portrait from classroom in NY. What a nut. Hey, Long Island, wake up! Inside North Korea: Stories from those who have escaped, in Open Democracy: Click here: A gulag with nukes: inside North Korea Jasper Becker - openDemocracy An interesting take on L'affaire Rove, with comments on the flaws of syllogistic logic, at Libertarian Leanings Bloggers, be careful, if your employer doesn't like what you have to open your oatmeal-hole about. Daily Bus. Review - woops - gotta re-find that link. Steyn on the supreme court: "The Democrats drew exactly the wrong lesson from their chad fever. If the case teaches anything, it's the importance of winning at the ballot box, which you do by promoting clear ideas confidently stated. The Dems prefer to leave it to the Divine Right of Judges. You might too if you believed in gay marriage and partial-birth abortion, but, simply as a matter of practical politics, it's disastrous for the party. Poor sad Richard Cohen, unabletomoveon.org after five years, is a fine emblem for the Democrats: Ask not for whom the chad hangs, it hangs for thee." Whole thing is amusing - read entire. Free Market Fairy Tales on a non-PC roll in the UK: I suppose that you, like me, have spent the last week being nice to Muslims. It must be a bit unsettling for the poor buggers – dozens of middle-class white people grinning inanely at them instead of completely ignoring them as usual. But you do feel the need to make some effort, if only to mentally project the message that “It’s OK, we understand that you’re not all fanatical suicide bombers … although actually that bloke over there does look a bit iffy”.
Saturday, July 23. 2005
The three most enraging news items of today (thus far) 1. Big Pharoah has more details on the Egypt terrorism. Thanks, Instapundit. Our condolences to the Egyptian victims of the latest madness. But, to add to the tragedy is this comment: Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as reported on Al Jazeera:
“The approach of the United States in the war on terror has made the world a less safe place. Every day we are seeing attacks around the world... it’s because of the incorrect and childish approach of the United States. “The United States must change its policy in the war against terror, give up its double standards and extend its hand to the international community, as the sole means of combating terrorism is through international cooperation.”
That is pure apologizing for terror, and the purest Grade A BS too. Surely he is well aware that he is spouting the latest Al Quaida talking-points - the latest propaganda excuse for the current Jihad, which he doubtless knows preceded the Iraq war.
2. Terrorists aimed shoulder-fired rocket at US military aircraft one month ago - in Oklahoma. Details as released by military in NIN. 3. 9-11 was intended to be much bigger, including the UK too. Jihad Watch
From Samuel Pepys IX July 21, 2005
Up early to-day, and straightaway to the office. All the
morning about a great deal of business, my wits being in a state
of disorder by midday. Dined with my protegee Miss G. at Mackay's, but two
blocks distant, a fine array of fowl and greens as I have ever
seen. She being much vexed by her compensation of late, and I
beseeching her to plead her case to her Company, that she might
entreat upon them to make some increase in her salary. Then she
went away, and I to the office, and endeavour to get a collection
of music which I have had a mind to. From thence at the close of
business to the alehouse, where I met Mr. Smith. We staid long,
but drank little, my stomach being ill-tempered on the evening.
So home and to supper, and afterwards a pleasant discourse with
Mr. Bates, who of late is hard at his studies in the south of our
country, but afeard of the weather in that land. So to my book
again, and to bed.
Friday, July 22. 2005
Two from Chrenkoff: Terrorists target gays, and Miss Universe is in trouble with her feminine wardrobe, in Canada (piece below the above) Sowell notes the abuse of words emerging in the anti-Roberts trumped-up silliness, at Town Hall. The Canada-Washington State bad-guy tunnel, with photos, here ACLU wins another one, against the EVIL EVIL Boy Scouts. This is not your father's ACLU - this is an ACLU which hates American tradition - a destroyer of culture and cultural traditions. It has been co-opted by the Left for years. Here is the Stop the ACLU website: Click here: Stop the ACLU - Beating the ACLU With Their Own Sickle and Hammer American Thinker notes one more reason Dems can't hit Roberts too hard - he is Catholic, and the RC vote matters to them. So Chuckie and Ted will just make enough fuss to throw some meat to the Daily Kos readers, and it will be over. The always interesting Bradley writes about "The Hip Hop Sellout" at Acton Inst.
Thursday, July 21. 2005
 Again
In London - here. Of course, in London you cannot call them "terrorists", which is insensitive and prejudicial to our Jihadist brethren. (Laura I. had great fun with that last nite on the radio.) Here's their strategy: Force Britain to clamp down on Moslems, thus further radicalizing the Moslems towards the goal of the British - or European - Caliphate. Simple, and straight out of the playbook of the 1960s American Left - force the cops and the govt to deal with you, and then complain about oppression. It's like a cancer that feeds on chemotherapy. Thus the only treatment is the scalpel. Interesting that these four didn't feel in the mood for death - too bad they didn't. This kind of warrior does not deserve British justice, which is not designed for the likes of them. Brit justice is designed for wayward Brits, not for alien soldiers bent on destroying the country, including its judicial system. What did the Brits do with Nazi spies and infiltrators? I am fairly sure they were a bit rough on them. So... let's not worry about whether crackdowns radicalize Moslems - let's just hope England and Europe wake up. No more of this return to "business as usual." This is not about criminal justice. It used to be called "war."
Thanks to Morning Coffee blog - it is Dunkin Donuts around here. Rarely Starbucks.
But their House Blend, black, no sugar, is real coffee, I hate to admit. The Dylanologist: Our own Samuel Pepys: July 20, 2005: Up by 7, washed, and to the office by 9, and there commenced blogging on the breach with the Mohammedans. At my office until departing for for supper at 1 with Mr. Smith, and discuss the late announcement of Mr. Roberts’ appointment to the high court. Then to the office again, and dispatch much business, though not nearly as much as I should have intended. That done, at the blog once more, until the necessity of settling our accounts with a client compelled me to attend to the matter. Then home, an unpleasant walk through great heat, and to dinner. Then to my book for a good hour’s time, and so to bed.
How the media helped Kerry lose - by mistake - Opinion JOurnal Feds encourage illegals to get mortgages...huh? Newsmax
Good piece on multiculturalism and cultural assimilation in the US - Bainbridge And Steyn - Our multiculturalism is the true suicide bomb
Wednesday, July 20. 2005
 An Unholy Alliance
Who is to blame for the London bombings? According to news reports, both London Mayor Ken Livingstone and radical Islamist Anjem Choudary agree: it's Britain's fault. The implied corollary in each case is that the bombings were a justified response to legitimate grievances (even if the method employed was a bit distasteful to the sensibilities of "Red Ken"). If both Britain's leaders and enemies are against her, who will stand for her?
Islam, Religion of Peace, Part 2 Continuing on the topic of yesterday's post, The View From 1776 has more analysis of Islam and the current geopolitical situation here. One particular point he makes that is worth repeating here is that of course there are many individual Muslims who are staunchly opposed to terrorism and mistreatment of non-Muslims, and I would add that it is not right to hold present-day Muslims accountable for the crimes of their forbears. That said, the bulk of the evidence from opinion surveys, muted and even positive reactions to terrorist attacks in many Muslim nations, and general attitudes toward non-Muslim minorities in these nations shows that these "moderate" Muslim voices, if they exist in significant numbers, have effectively no voice in making domestic or foreign policy. Those nations that are generally considered most "Westernized," such as Turkey, still conduct persecutions of minority groups (i.e., the Kurds), while the few nations that have legally-enforced tolerance, such as Iran, are happy to do so when over 98 percent of the country is already Muslim. If anyone knows of a Muslim-majority society with significant religious minorities where such groups exist in peace, harmony, and demographic stability, please let me know. View From The Right also tackles this issue here and elsewhere. The excerpted passage from Robert Klein Engler demands reading in full here - it's rare indeed to find someone able to write with this degree of honesty, openness and courage about the current "War on Terror." Here's one paragraph I might have cited the other day: "The West against Islam is nothing new. What’s new is that because of oil, the conflict has now expanded to the New World. There are no radical Muslims, nor Islamo-Fascists, there are just Muslims doing what they have always done--spreading Islam by force and terror. Compare the spread of Islam with that of Buddhism, and the truth of this history becomes obvious."
The truth hurts sometimes, but far better to confront it openly and with the courage of one's own convictions than to cover ones eyes and ears, as the English have done, and pretend that the problem simply doesn't exist.
Why Bird Dog keeps getting it wrong on Kelo Re yesterdays post on the Citgo story, Corzine, and the Kelo decision: - Kelo was decided the way it was because SCOTUS didn't want to decide a local issue - may their tribe increase.
- Citgo could offer it to Audubon or the Conservancy and accomplish the same result.
- Kelo is not new law. All railroads were build by condemning private property so railroad companies could provide a service for profit.
- IF New Jersey law permits a taking of the property AND New Jersey files an eminent domain suit to take the property, the only possible fight is the fair value of the property.
- Connecticut got the message from its citizens and the papers today report the Dems behind a new law to prevent future development takings. NJ could do the same.
In the wake of the London terrorism, we have CBS following in the footsteps of the BBC and counseling against the "T" word , from LGF. Dare I ask who is being protected here? Surely not the gentle, misunderstood "t-people" from the Religion of Peace. More on the limits of multiculturalism, by Bone, via Tim Blair More campaign finance encroachments on Free Speech, in Seattle now. This is scarey. At TCS Croatia - I have a friend who left for her summer family vacation in Croatia last week, and I thought it sounded odd. Not so - NYT Travel - it's the New Riviera Hillary panders to La Raza, offers free college for - illegals. Newsmax Brit Moslems to confront evil with Blair. Hope it works, but it won't. Jihad Watch "Fly the flag for Britain again" Johnson in the Telegraph: If these four young men were perfectly normal Yorkshiremen, then what the hell is happening to this country? Of all the shattering revelations of the past few days, the worst has been that these suicide bombers were British.
Simon quotes Gerecht on the effects of Western nations on Islam. Interesting, but I do not agree. The economic ignorance of the clergy. Where do they think the donations come from? Dollars are not manna - people work. In American Spectator
Tuesday, July 19. 2005
A great way to keep blacks unemployed - Ebonics is back, and Michelle has the story. I will hire anyone of any color, shape, age, culture of origin, etc. but I won't hire anyone who speaks ebonics. Or who cannot speak or write appropriate English. Sue me! The only conceivable motive for this nonsense is to keep people ignorant, poor, and dependent. The only thing as stupid is bilingual education. Learn proper English - it will serve you very well in life. Lots of good books written in it, and blogs too. And it is easy to learn - babies do it. Cell phones on airplanes? I am in favor of it - it is damned inconvenient not to be able to talk during flight. The CSM. Canada's Moslims: More worried about themselves than terror. Classic manipulative victim maneuver that all can see through. Thanks, LGF. Story here. TWA Flight 800 - with every mystery, the conspiracy nuts come out of the woodwork. Here is a good summary of the tragic 1996 explosion/crash.
 Citgo, Corzine, Conservation and Kelo: The Petty Island Story
This story was mentioned on a Rush trailer this morning. Citgo wants to donate its 360-acre Petty Island in the Delaware River to New Jersey as a nature preserve. New Jersey doesn't want it donated for a preserve: they seem to want to either force a sale or to take it - Kelo-ize it - for private development projects. Current Democratic Senator John Corzine, the fabulously wealthy ex-Wall Street mogul, now running for Governor, supports the latter plan, and thus alienated environmentalists. And Corzine's support of yet another massive development project in the Jersey Meadowlands has gotten him into further trouble. I guess birds don't pay taxes. Sierra Activist has a photo gallery of Petty Island. Eagles do winter on the island, but I think there are principles at stake here that are even more important than eagles - and we love eagles along with all living critters. We have posted, and quoted, various views on Kelo on this blog. To what extent does the Kelo decision make it easier for NJ to take the island via eminent domain rather than to accept it as a gifted nature preserve? Lawyers - please tell me the answer. It's about time this story makes the NYT - but will it? Or will they decide to protect Corzine? The NYT sure did love Kelo, which, they gushed, "strikes a blow at the property rights movement". And yes, as you have surely realized, Maggie's is a highly pro-conservation blog, but we are far from greenie-wackos. (And, by the way, the Republican candidate, Forester, is in favor of accepting the gift.) (Photo courtesy of P. LaTourette - his photo link to the left)
"The Constitution is not a suicide pact." A good post in Right Thinking: No matter who coined the phrase, the meaning is pretty obvious: freedom should not extend to the point where people have the right to destroy freedom itself. There was a brilliant story in The Onion a few years back that perfectly illustrated this principle, something to the effect of “ACLU Sues for Right of Neo-nazis to Blow Up ACLU Headquarters.”
Hillary's Campaign Website is up and it looks like the strategy is triagulation, again "The Framing Wars" - Matt Bai at the NYT has the Dems new language figured out From Northeast Intell: 18 July 2005: In a U.S. Treasury Department memo dated July 14, 2005 that seems to have received little press coverage, authorities allege for the first time that Abdurahman Alamoudi raised money for Al Qaeda in the U.S. For those unaware, Alamoudi, 53, portrayed himself as a “moderate Muslim” who served as a liaison between the U.S. government and American Muslims for two decades. A founder of the American Muslim Council (AMC), Alamoudi played a key role in developing the Pentagon's Muslim chaplain program, represented the State Department and attended meetings at the White House spanning two administrations. Accordingly, the significance of the allegations by the U.S. Treasury Department that Alamoudi raised money for al Qaeda cannot be understated.
Read entire. Diana West has had it with multiculturalism (who hasn't?) at Town Hall: Notice I didn't say "Islamists." Or "Islamofascists." Or "fundamentalist extremists." I've tried out such terms in the past, but I've come to find them artificial and confusing, and maybe purposefully so, because in their imprecision I think they allow us all to give a wide berth to a great problem: the gross incompatibility of Islam -- the religious force that shrinks freedom even as it "moderately" enables or "extremistly" advances jihad -- with the West. Am I right? Who's to say? The very topic of Islamization -- for that is what is at hand, and very soon in Europe -- is verboten.
Africa is poor because they are poorly governed I'd say that that is no longer debatable - it's a fact. More on this from Ammann at Reason.
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