Tuesday, August 9. 2005
Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. David Lloyd George
Monday, August 8. 2005
Why Blogs are Necessary, more Who in the MSM, including the NYT or even our friends, the NY Sun, is covering this? Click here: Pardon My English: Report Documents Massive Democratic Voter Fraud. And why not?
Where does Federal Education Money Go? You assume that it goes down some rathole, right? Cato Institute did a serious study of the history of federal involvement in education - which is properly a local issue and probably unconstitutional - and sums it all up here. An important piece. Hey, guess what? It's all politics - ie sleaze. Just like Homeland Security, I mean Homeland Pork. Excellent and detailed Cato piece here: Click here: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa518.pdf
Border Patrol, Israeli Style Now that's what I call a well-guarded border: at right, the Israeli-controlled border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Though Israel is pulling back its settlers, it appears it will not loosen control of the border checkpoints around the territory. While terrorism is a day-to-day concern for many Israelis, Israel is equally cognizant of the even greater long-term threat posed by mass Palestinian and Arab immigration, which threatens to reduce Jews to a minority within Israel itself. Hence the need for strict border controls and rigid enforcement of immigration laws. If this country devoted one-tenth the effort to its own border, I suspect we'd see illegal immigration brought under quick control. Hopefully it will not take another terrorist attack to convince us of the necessity of securing our highly vulnerable borders.
Discovery's return home delayed by a day- read cool details about the ride home they will take tomorrow. Plasma blowing by the windows?
A reader sent us this interesting piece. It it against my religion to read sociologists, but even if the Prof is just making it all up, it's thoughful. I think his thesis about class is wrong, but sociologists tend to think along those lines. If it's from a book, I can't find it on Amazon, or I would reference it for the Prof: “What Went Wrong with Liberalism?” by Douglas S. Massey, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University:
Liberal pundits are asking why middle class Americans so often vote against their own economic interests. Mostly they look outside the liberal movement for answers. If they are being charitable, they chalk it up to the pervasiveness of “traditional values.” If they are being less charitable, they portray voters as dim-witted dupes of lying right-wing politicians. Often they just throw their hands up in exasperation
and wail, “What’s the matter with Kansas?” Yet survey data do not show a fundamental cleavage of values among Americans; and constantly asking people “what’s wrong with you?” is unlikely to win elections. Maybe it’s about time liberals looked to themselves and ask what they have done to drive so many people away from a party it is in their material interests to support.
Liberals often point to race as the wedge issue that broke apart the New Deal coalition, and of course they are right. As important as race is to understanding
the collapse of liberalism, however, it is only half the story. Opposition to civil rights was only partly based on race. As paradoxical as it may seem, resistance was also based on class, for by the 1970s the ruling elites of the Democratic party had grown
arrogant, self-righteous, and callous toward the sensibilities of the working class.
More on continuation page below:
Continue reading "What Went Wrong with Liberalism? And Does Anyone Care?"
Why most shrinks don't take many notes This is why, re Marilyn Monroe. Her doctor is dead, but someone supposedly got notes and/or tapes. Who does tapes? Bad idea. BTW, Atlas Shrugs has a charming photo - art, not porn - of Marilyn, here.
 Little Milton Dies at 70
Thanks RRWH, or I wouldn't have known. He never made it too big outside of the blues circuit, but what's wrong with that? All soul and blues fans knew him well. Another loss of one of the wonderful old-time guys. Chicago Sun Times. Music here. Little Milton Campbell's website here.
 Grouper Wars
This kind of story is becoming common: battles between commercial and recreational salt-water fishing interests, and secondarily battles between different state and federal agencies. In this case, the fish in question is the big, fat, delicious grouper, but we have seen this happen with Striped Bass. A sustainable natural resource has to be carefully and conservatively managed. I like the idea of auctioning quotas. But what happened to catch-and-release? How many of these big guys do you need to take home? Story in CSM: Red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico has become one of the nation's most sought-after fish, coveted both by commercial fishermen and rod-and-reelers in Bermuda shorts. But in an effort to safeguard the grouper, fishery management officials have driven a wedge between the two. In July they proposed closing the Gulf grouper grounds to sport fishermen this winter - while leaving the waters open for commercial operators. Read entire.
Telesur - Monty Hall's long lost son Hugo follows in his father's footsteps. New show entitled " I make the Deal, " From Venezuela Today: A private ideological tool financed with national money? Telesur labels itself as the answer to CNN. However, CNN is a commercial venture, privately owned. It conforms to publicly monitored journalistic ethics. CNN does not follow a government line. To create a Venezuelan financed regional TV channel to oppose CNN seems to be a highly debatable use of our national monies. In particular I would ask: Why should we finance the promotion of the Castro dictatorship? Although Cuba is one of the four "shareholders" of Telesur we all know that Chavez is putting the money. Cuba is not putting one cent.
Why should we finance the promotion of the Colombian guerrillas? Many Venezuelans have been kidnapped and murdered by those terrorists.
Why should we finance a line of systematic anti-democratic preaching if we are, overwhelmingly, a democracy-loving nation?
These and other reasons have to be taken into account when evaluating Telesur as a national project. I do not believe Telesur, as it exists, is a valid national project. I believe it is, clearly, a personal project of Hugo Chávez, financed with our national resources. I believe this situation is immoral, in the light of our numerous social needs.While the physical infrastructure and social fabric of the country is literally falling apart, due to the ineptness and the corruption of the political regime, Hugo Chávez is engaged in the utilization of enormous Venezuelan financial resources to buy political loyalties in Latin America. This is one of the main reasons why he has to go. Venezuelatoday.net - Gustavo Coronel
THE POTHOLE FROM ANOTHER PLANET ( or from the other government as chavez would say) this story from Daniel in Venezuela news: It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the main highway going to Caracas from the central part of the country. Not only 40% of the traffic to Caracas goes through the accident zone, but the alternative roads are in such a sorry shape, so congested already with local traffic, that the whole area is simply collapsing. I have not written on this yet as reading the news sometimes I felt that I was hallucinating. First, the size of the hole, and its shape,  revealed exquisitely that the waters had been dissolving the under-road for quite a while without the authorities doing anything about it even though local folks had reported officially the problem in 2004.
Chrenkoff is retiring from blogging - a very great loss. It's about his new job - hope it's a good one. Presbyterians now being anti-Israel. What Fifth Column took over the Protestants? LGF Massive voter fraud found in '04 Election - Pardon My English is on the details. Push-polling against Roberts - someone is paying someone plenty of $ to do this. Volokh. Truly a filthy maneuver, unworthy. Two straight guys marry in Canada: hahahahaha. They get a tax break. SDA The Decision to drop the Bomb on Japan: from Gen. Tibbets, here Islam is a cult of death: Auster seems to have reached his limit of modern tolerance, here. Tony Blair is "growing in the job:" "We're angry about them abusing our good nature and our toleration," Blair said. "Coming to Britain is not a right. And even when people have come here, staying here carries with it a duty. That duty is to share and support the values that sustain the British way of life." Ummm, what about fox-hunting, Tony? Anyway, as a consequence, Brit Islamists accuse him of being Hitler- Jihad Watch. and Dhimmi Watch. And, by the way, Jihad Watch has become a 501-c3. There's an idea. The NYT has gone over the edge. As if attacking Mrs. Robert's dress wasn't enough, now they have gone after the Roberts kids. This is why I quit my subscription. Are they biased, or a Fifth Column? (Thanks, Atlas.) Watch Shape of Days lose it at the NYT, here. X-rated. And Captain Ed finds yet more propaganda in the Gray, I mean Red Lady. The Sudan: All you need to know - here. Not ready for tourism. Sailboat math. Great site. The winners know all of this stuff. Plus a "feel for the sea," which you have to be born with. The NCAA vs. the Indians. What PC idiots. Don't they realize that sports teams are the only compliments Indians get? Who wouldn't want their ethnic group to name sports teams? It's a compliment - sports are good things, with very positive connotations. We've have had enough of the sanctimonious scolds who never seem to be part of the so-called "victim" group anyway. Who are these jerks? Ridiculous. See our resident Redskin Bird Dog's post below on the subject, last week. He loves Redskins and Braves and Squaws and Hatchets etc. One Hell of a Stock...here. Opie got some...did you? She sold hers already. Will give you her next tip in advance - promise. We owe our loyal readers something. Will $ suffice? Flirting will no longer get you a raise. Here. What a shame. The world is going to hell in a handbasket. A very bad, very nasty movie. Do not look. Samizdata has details. Gun-hating jerks. How many logical errors can you find in this piece?
Bird of a feather flock together,
and do will pigs and swine;
Rats and mice will have their choice,
And so will I have mine. (Trad.)
Saturday, August 6. 2005
| PAENE insularum, Sirmio, insularumque | 1 | Sirmio, bright eye of peninsulas and islands, | | ocelle, quascumque in liquentibus stagnis | 2 | whatever ones either Neptune bears | | marique uasto fert uterque Neptunus, | 3 | in liquid lakes or in the vast sea. | | quam te libenter quamque laetus inuiso, | 4 | how willingly and happily I visit you, | | uix mi ipse credens Thuniam atque Bithunos | 5 | scarcely trusting myself that I have left Thynia and the Bithynian | | liquisse campos et uidere te in tuto. | 6 | plains, and that I see you in safety. | | o quid solutis est beatius curis, | 7 | Oh, what is more blessed than to put cares away, | | cum mens onus reponit, ac peregrino | 8 | when the mind lays down its burden, and tired | | labore fessi uenimus larem ad nostrum, | 9 | with the labor of travel, we come to our own home | | desideratoque acquiescimus lecto? | 10 | and rest on the bed we longed for. | | hoc est quod unum est pro laboribus tantis. | 11 | This is the only thing that is worth such great toils. | | salue, o uenusta Sirmio, atque ero gaude | 12 | Hello, charming Sirmio, rejoice in your happy master, | | gaudente, uosque, o Lydiae lacus undae, | 13 | and you, Lydian waves of the lake, | | ridete quidquid est domi cachinnorum. | 14 | laugh whatever laughter there is in your home. |
Thanks to Catullus website. I like the metaphor of the watery island for a desired sexy girl. I won't vouch for the translation - will have Dylanologist translate the next Catullus - his choice. If you are deficient in knowledge about Catullus, the Roman aristocrat-soldier-poet-bohemian-skirtchaser who died about 50 years before Christ was born and was a family friend of Julius Caesar, check the website.
Friday, August 5. 2005
Why News Blogs are Necessary For just two examples, what major mainstream outlets are reporting these stories? 1. The Air America scandal 2. The truth about those oppressed, peace-loving Palestinians
Moving to Mexico Thanks MM for forwarding this piece which is making the rounds: TRY THIS: Enter MEXICO illegally. Never mind immigration quotas, visas, international law, or any of that nonsense. You won't need a passport. Once there, demand that the local government provide free medical care for you and your entire family.Demand bilingual nurses and doctors. Demand free bilingual local government forms, bulletins, etc. Procreate abundantly. Deflect any criticism of this allegedly irresponsible
reproductive behavior with, "It is a cultural U.S.A. thing. You would not understand, pal." Keep your American identity strong. Fly Old Glory from your rooftop, or proudly display it in your front window or on your car bumper. Speak only English at home and in public. Insist that your children do likewise. Demand classes on American culture in the Mexican school system. Demand a local Mexican driver's license. This will afford other legal rights and will go far to legitimize your unauthorized, illegal, presence in Mexico. Drive around with no liability insurance......and ignore local traffic laws. Insist that local Mexican law enforcement teach English to all its officers.
Good luck! But I need to warn you that this plan will not work in Mexico, nor El Salvador, nor Iran, Iraq, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, France, Argentina, Sweden, The Netherlands, etc. In fact, it will not happen in Mexico or any other country except right here in the United States......Land of the naive!
How to make us safe: Surrender. Yes, that has worked just great through history. Galloway - thanks LGF Uncle Norm walks us through terror apologism, Part 2, including a quote from Primo Levi: ... to confuse them [the murderers] with their victims is a moral disease or an aesthetic affectation or a sinister sign of complicity; above all it is precious service rendered (intentionally or not) to the negators of truth.
Imams in Australia urge young to go to Iraq to kill Aussie solders, Jihad Watch A blog we just found, which we like, from GRRRRLLL BLOGGER
A Request to our Readers from Bird Dog We have been looking for serious Democratic or "progressive" blogs for the past month, (and have even tried to enlist some liberal writers that we know for Maggies, without success thus far). We do not want to be part of a giant echo chamber - we modestly want to be a small part of a discussion about America and the world, among other things. Here's the problem: Everything we find is either ranting, or tin-foil hat paranoids, or hyper-emotional angry, or old-fashioned 30s-era knee-jerk anti-American lefty pacifists (ie, pacifism for the US, while apologizing for the warlike inclinations of others), or Kool-Aid drinkers, or Christian-hating, or just plain fountains of predictably transparent partisan spin and calculated rhetoric. So if you know of any blogs which represent different viewpoints, but which are thoughtful, intellectually honest, substantial, not afraid of guns (Yikes! Scary! Guns go boom!), and serious, please let us know. Not kidding. Email or post comment. Thanks!
Blair Takes on the "Compensation Culture" Same thoughtful speech could and should be equally well given in the US: Samples from his speech on May 26 at University College: It is what I call a sensible debate about risk in public policy making. In my view, we are in danger of having a wholly disproportionate attitude to the risks we should expect to run as a normal part of life. This is putting pressure on policy-making, not just in Government but in regulatory bodies, on local government, public services, in Europe and across parts of the private sector - to act to eliminate risk in a way that is out of all proportion to the potential damage. The result is a plethora of rules, guidelines, responses to 'scandals' of one nature or another that ends up having utterly perverse consequences.
and: So, for example, one piece of research into a supposed link between autism and the MMR single jab, starts a scare that, despite the vast weight of evidence to the contrary, makes people believe a method of vaccination used the world over, is unsafe. The result is an increase in risk to our children's health under the very guise of limiting that risk. And before we all just complain about the regulators, the public servants or indeed the Government, let us just pause for a moment in sympathy. A civil servant or regulator who fails to regulate a risk that materialises will be castigated. How many are rewarded when they refuse to regulate and take the risk? Bodies set up to guard the public interest have one-way pressures. It is in their interest never to be accused of having missed a problem. So, it is a one-sided bet. They will always err on the side of caution. It seems to be part of the DNA of regulatory bodies that they acquire their own interests and begin to grow. Max Weber famously noted the tendency of bureaucracies to tidiness.
Read the whole thing here: Click here: Speech on Compensation Culture given at University College London
Thursday, August 4. 2005
What Blair needs to do, according to Steyn - Click here: Telegraph | Opinion | Blair must overturn 40 years of mistakes He has to regain control of Britain's borders from the EU and of Britain's education system from the teachers' unions and of Britain's welfare programmes from wily Somalis and others. In 20 years' time, no one will remember whether Tony Blair abolished the House of Lords or foxhunting: that's poseur stuff. They'll judge him on whether or not he flunked the central challenge of the times. If "the images of ruin and destruction" come to pass, it will not be because of the bombers but because of a state that lacked the cultural confidence to challenge them.
Globalism, Thomas Friedman, and Karl Marx John Gray reviews Friedman's The World is Flat in the NY Review of Books: The belief that a process of globalization is underway which is bringing about a fundamental change in human affairs is not new. Marx and Engels expressed it in 1848, when they wrote in a justly celebrated passage in The Communist Manifesto: All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with his sober senses his real conditions of life and his relations with his kind. The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere. The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country.... It compels all nations, on pain of extinction, to adopt the bourgeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation into their midst, i.e., to become bourgeois themselves. In one word, it creates a world after its own image. Read the whole thing. It's about "market utopianism," and makes some provocative points albeit, I feel, against a straw man.
Five weeks of cutting brush. That's my idea of a good vacation too, GW. I guess the MSM just doesn't get it. Nothing clears out the fog like hard manual labor. Bolton's First Day on the job - very funny The Tolkien Geek Blog is underway. Pollster: Dems stand for nothing. (Yes they do, but they won't say it outloud.) Here. The News in France - can you believe this? No Wonder. Samizdata. One in two million lobsters are blue. Lobsterman in NH got one on Saturday - photo here Can't help wondering what color they turn when cooked. Georgetown Women's Tennis - How can you not be a fan? Go, Hoyas! The UN to run the internet? Not a chance, with the Repubs. Can you imagine? Spenser's book (from Jihad Watch). Good Amazon reviews. Click here: Amazon.com: Books: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) Brit Tory says Leave it you don't like it here. Damn right. Dhimmi Watch Beyond Kyoto: Kyoto is dead. I doubt it was ever alive. Glassman at TCS The report from Saudi Arabia - what a mess. Daily Demarche
Dear Old and New Readers, This is our seventh month of blogging, and we are realizing that our worry about running out of things to write about was way off. We are a centrist, rational, eclectic, and fearless blog but we very much enjoy covering non-political topics of interest to us because politics is fun escapist entertainment, like baseball, but it ain't what Life is about. But politics is like life insurance, too - you have to do it for your heirs. There are at least two rewards from doing this blog: First, having to write forces you to clarify your thinking and, second, it gives us motivation to look into some topics, such as dog's vision last week, that we would ordinarily be too lazy to do. So we try to keep a mix of stuff on our page, but much of it is not hot news - review our posts under The Analyst, or The Culture, or Medical, or Religion, or The Song and Dance Man (Dylan) to see what I mean. Since we have been asked, we assume our readers check Powerline and Instapundit regularly, to stay informed, but we cannot help linking those guys anyway. As far as newspapers go, we read (online) the NY Sun and the Christian Science Monitor. Plus the Tues. NYT Science Times and the Sunday NYT in the driveway. We quit the daily because who wants to begin the day p-ed off at a pile of paper? Except maybe a puppy. As promised, to the right is a photo of The Analyst on Cape Cod last week. (She has courage to be body-surfing in that outfit - likely to end up with the top around her waist, and the bottom around her knees. But if you've got it, flaunt it. Yes, she has had three kids.) If you like our blog (or like The Analyst), please forward it to your email list with a recommendation. We care about the quality of our readership, but we care about quantity too. It's vanity. Best Summer Wishes, Big Chief Bird Dog
Wednesday, August 3. 2005
More Condi Now there's a Condi for President blog, and Condi stickers and t-shirts like the logo to the right, here. Not a bad idea on the face of it, but I have no idea what her positions are on anything. Plus she ought to get married if she wants to know what real life is like. She is welcome to call or email me anytime she needs a date. I will be there, if I have to hitchhike all the way.
A quote from Oliver Stone, via No Oil: "In Cuba, I observed an openness and freedom that I had not found in any other country in the region, the Caribbean or Central America. I . . . have never seen the kind of spontaneous affection for a leader expressed on the streets as I have seen in Cuba towards Fidel." Shiny side out, Oliver. A quote re Condi, in Lib. Leanings: "Colleagues have dubbed Rice the "velvet hammer." Philip Zelikow, State Department counselor and a close adviser, said that "one of her gifts is that she knows how to say very direct things to foreign governments in a way that is not confrontational. She is very assertive, very firm, but doesn't leave them feeling sullen and resentful."
 14 Million
Instapundit reports that there are 14 million blogs now, doubling every five months. Is this a fad, or something real? My guess is that it's a fad, but more fun than hula-hoops and beanie babies.
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