Thursday, October 13. 2005
"Insurgent" We looked up “insurgent” in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, which defines it as “a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially : a rebel not recognized as a belligerent.” The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines “insurgent” as “someone who is fighting against the government in their own country.” We query the use of the term “insurgent” in Iraq, where it is pretty clear (to all but the mainstream media) that the terrorists or jihadists or Islamofascists, or whatever one chooses to call those pigs, are not Iraqis. They are not revolting (in the military sense); they are attacking and they certainly are “recognized as belligerent”; they are not in their own country and are not rebelling against their own government. They cannot therefore be “insurgents”. We also note that the pigs who bombed the subways in London were legally resident in England, and therefore were truly “insurgents”, but are referred to by the mainstream media as “terrorists” (which was also appropriate). It seems to us that we should henceforth reverse the terminology. Perhaps the mainstream media themselves are “insurgents” – they seem with great vigor to be “fighting against the government in their own country. As an aside, we are also deeply disappointed in the Cambridge’s mixing the singular “someone” with the plural “their own”!
Was Jesus a Marxist? Huh? View from the Right Cheese-eating surrender monkeys. RWRH Stevie Wonder back at work. Pennywit. A new James Bond? This guy looks like Putin. Ex-Donk. Remember the Cole. Michelle
Is the Army broken? A sad tale. Piece here.
Dylan Download Of The Day Thanks to new websites which allow the uploading of large files, The Dylanologist is pleased to be able to share some rare audio and video clips of Maggie's favorite "recording artist." Today's selection is from the 1996 tour, where Dylan - foreshadowing the direction his live act would take in years to come - debuted the Elizabeth Cotten classic "Shake Sugaree" with an understated, almost country-style arrangement that diverged sharply from the hard rocking/spare acoustic sets of the mid-90s. Get an mp3 version of a June 1996 performance of the song by going to this link and hitting "download now." Buy the original, listen to a clip, or just learn more about Elizabeth Cotten here.
 How did Shakespeare become Shakespeare?
One of those eternally fascinating questions. Heberle reviews "Will in the World", which, by coincidence, happens to be on my bedside mountain of things I am reading right now: "A young man from a small provincial town—a man without independent wealth, without powerful family connections, and without a university education—moves to London in the late 1580s and, in a remarkably short time, becomes the greatest playwright not of his age alone but of all time…. How is an achievement of this magnitude to be explained? How did Shakespeare become Shakespeare?"
Read entire extremely interesting review, and you will want to read the book.
From Barone, on Dem Strategy (H/T, Instapundit): "It is one of the interesting things about today's politics that most Democrats seem to have forgotten the lessons that Bill Clinton taught. Clinton's brand of Democratic governance was not as successful as some Democrats like to think: He was re-elected with just 49 percent of the vote in 1996 and his vice president won just 48 percent of the vote in 2000. And during the Clinton years, the Democratic percentages of the popular vote for the House of Representatives fell to 45 percent in 1994, 48.5 percent in 1996, and 49 percent in 1998 and 2000. The Democratic vote for president and House converged, at levels just below 50 percent. But Clinton and Gore did win popular vote pluralities in three straight presidential elections—something it was by no means clear in 1989 that Democratic nominees would do. And they did it because they followed much of Galston's and Kamarck's advice. So it is worthwhile, for Democrats and all of us, to pay attention to what they have to say now." Read entire.
 Robo-Duck
Duck hunters love robo-ducks, and even the most traditional are becoming converts. Robo-ducks draw ducks to your decoy spread, presumably by imitating the appearance of a landing duck. Are they sporting? That's a fair question. Do they work? Definitely. Lucky Duck is said to be the best. They also make a wind-powered version.
What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so. From Hamlet (II, ii, 115-117)
Wednesday, October 12. 2005
 Rick Moran on the Pennant Race and the Series, here. Rick is a multi-talented fellow.
And two from neo-neocon. I am very fond of her, and believe she should have Maureen Dowd's job, but for some reason this good lady ignores our emails. But we must not be thin-skinned, and she has two recent pieces to recommend: first, her piece on how New England Yankees delay turning on the heat as winter approaches, here, and second, a wise piece on originalism and the Constitution, here. Re the first, my first fire in the fireplace will be tonight, but I'm not sure about turning on the heat just yet. Need a bit more time to appreciate and enjoy God's good air-conditioning blowing in through open windows. We have no A/C in our old Connecticut farmhouse and consider it decadent, so October is a delight. Too much comfort and ease soften the character and weaken the spirit, do they not? As does too much time. (Photo is the fireplace at the hunting lodge in Canada. Yes, an old log cabin, but spacious.)
Zawahiri's letter to Zarqawi It's remarkable that the US intercepted this highly revealing letter, which discusses terrorist strategy, tactics, and goals, including their manipulation of the media and, implicitly, their manipulation of the anti-war crowd. Powerline has a bit of it, with discussion.
 The Snow Goose, seemingly endangered in the 1970s, has now become a threat to itself, due to a population boom which threatens its arctic breeding habitat and might be caused by the abundant food which farmers leave on their fields after harvest, along the Mississippi and Central flyways.
In recent years, I have seen their flocks block out the sun in Canada. It's referred to as a "tornado" when they descend upon your decoys in a field in enormous numbers. There are no large numbers in the Northeast, but they do gather in the Chesapeake and I have seen them flying over ski slopes in Vermont in the winter, and loafing on potato fields on Long Island. This goose comes in a "blue" form, and various mixed-color versions, including the "eagle-head' - blue with white head. The blue version was once called a Blue Goose, but is now known to be just a color variant. The Canadian and US govts are doing all they can to encourage hunting Snow Geese, including a spring season and permitting electronic calls. They are fun to hunt, if they chose your field, and if you hit them they "go down like a prom dress," as the expression has it: easy to kill, compared to other geese. The deeply frustrating situation is when they chose a field adjacent to yours, and you end up standing there like a dope in your dorky camo hat with earflaps and an unused pile of ammo while hundreds or thousands of them land out of range. Daily limits of Snows are high in most areas. They are not exactly delicious like a Canada Goose, but there are ways to make them an enjoyable meal, and the rule is that if you kill it, you eat it. More about Snow Goose at CLO here.
The Baltimore Sun ran this photo of 
the first airlift of dogs from New Orleans, on a flight chartered by T. Boone Pickens.
Thanksgiving Planning A tradition in the south - the Turducken. Aren't you bored with turkey? And they will do a shrimp and crawfish stuffing for you.
Ed Koch: "For me, the single most important issue the world faced in 2001 and now, trumping all other issues, is international terrorism. President Bush’s willingness in the face of all the attacks, so many unfair and ad hominen, to continue to stand up and exhort the world to continue the ongoing battle against international terrorism is why I admire and respect him so much." Read entire. Miers: No Oil says she's not good enough. But Dunn at American Thinker feels conservatives are getting too rigidly doctrinaire. Steyn on Bush, religion, and the self-hating Left: "We hear endlessly about "systemic racism" in British institutions, but the really rampant contagion seems to be systemic auto-racism, a psychologically unhealthy predisposition to believe the worst only about one's own culture. And the trouble with the Anne Owers school of pre-emptive misinterpretation is that the perpetually aggrieved interpret it all too accurately. Thus, Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, already feels Ms Owers's ban is insufficient. The cross of St George, he explains, is offensive to Muslims because it was carried by English crusaders in the 11th century. Hmm. Would that be the 11th century that ended nine and a bit centuries ago? When a fellow's got hang-ups about things that happened a millennium ago, there's no point trying to assuage them; he'll only unearth some earlier grievance, demanding the Natural History Museum be dismantled because some stegosaurus was disrespectful to Muslims back in the Jurassic era." and "Why is George W. Bush's utterly unremarkable evangelical Christianity so self-evidently risible but complaints from British Muslims hung up over the 11th century are perfectly reasonable and something we should seek to accommodate? Where is the secular Left's "insensitivity" when you need it? " Read entire.
Wetlands Litigation From Yahoo News: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Tuesday that it would decide the reach of the federal government's power to regulate wetlands, an issue pitting environmentalists against property-rights advocates. The justices agreed to decide a pair of Michigan cases, involving a shopping-center developer and a condominium builder, that will test whether the government's use of the 1972 Clean Water Act represented a permissible exercise of Congress' authority to regulate interstate commerce. The high court will consider whether federal regulators have gone too far by restricting development of wetlands that are not adjacent to navigable waters such as rivers or lakes. Read entire piece.
I hate cases like this in which strong ideas which I hold dear find themselves at war. Property rights? All for them - the foundation of economic freedom. Protection of the land? All for it. Trust states and localities to do the latter? Forget it. But is that right and principled? Maybe not. Are local, state and the federal govt corrupted by money? Yes - but it's not campaign contributions - it's tax money that corrupts them. They get to spend your hard-earned $ to buy re-election. Which is why a town govt will usually prefer a Walmart to a marsh.
Barone's election update including his thoughts about the very important California referendums, here. Tough love for those living in flood zones. Cole. King Gillette: his story, via Instapundit via Samizdata, here. Prager: Three ways the Left damaged America this week. A good piece. Anderson gets fired up about Intelligent Design. Why bother? It's a local issue, and schools teach all sorts of silly things. If you doubt it, skim through a recent college catalogue of courses.
Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind. Albert Einstein
Tuesday, October 11. 2005
Medical Advice or a Stock Tip? These people make a medical mask which kills the bird flu virus. No, I know nothing about the company and don't even know whether they are public or private, nor do I have time to find out. Alas, they do not make them for birds.
Robert Samuelson considers the Wealth Effect Another must-read by the Newsweek columnist: Ours is a wealth-driven era, when huge increases in home values and (before that) stock prices make people feel richer and cause them to buy more. They spend more of their regular incomes, borrow more or sell something, most likely stocks. You can imagine this "wealth effect" as a powerful afterburner that's boosted the economy for roughly 20 years.
Read entire.
Katrina's effects on LA wetlands An informal report from SW Louisiana, by Ducks Unlimited biologists:
Clay and I spent all day Tuesday in the Pecan Island area getting footage to show effects of the storm (Rita) related to the people in this devastating event and what they are trying to deal with.
Pictures and video can only show part of the devastation that we saw...homes washed away, dead animals and fish, decaying vegetation, mud, etc., etc. Miles and miles....
On Tuesday, most of our time was spent in Vermillion Parish. Hwy 82 runs along a Chenier ridge and through some great duck country. The water along Hwy 82, north and south is still high. Much of the vegetation is dead or dying. Effects of high water for this extended period will have significant effect on this marsh (hundreds of square miles). I am sure some areas will benefit and some will suffer and some areas will recover faster than others. Very difficult to tell at this time on specific areas. Water quality in much of this area is bad to worse. Not sure what effect water quality will have on recovery...if any???
On Wednesday, Clay and I spent the day near Gueydan. Clay took video of about 30 Mottled ducks at the NRCS WRP prairie restoration site.
Just west of Gueydan, we found several thousand Bluewinged Teal and a few Pintail in a fallow/idle field. Every duck we saw in two days was in flooded idle fields. Lots of water in the rice country...lots of unharvested second crop...Ag. dept. predict 95% of the ratoon crop was lost. Clay got some video of teal, mottled ducks, shorebirds, etc.
Read the rest on continuation page below:
Continue reading ""
Schelling and Aumann Two Nobel winners who well-deserve it. Tyler writes it better than I do, here. Scroll down to read it all.
Kristol on the Miers nomination "But the reaction of conservatives to this deeply disheartening move by a president they otherwise support and admire has been impressive. There has been an extraordinarily energetic and vigorous debate among conservatives as to what stance to take towards the Miers nomination, a debate that does the conservative movement proud. The stern critics of the nomination have, in my admittedly biased judgment, pretty much routed the half-hearted defenders. In the vigor of their arguments, and in their willingness to speak uncomfortable truths, conservatives have shown that they remain a morally serious and intellectually credible force in American politics."
Read entire.
"Beyond Parody at the Times" "The truth is, deterioration at the Times is a rich subject, full of cautionary tales about how a great liberal institution can go rancid by making a caricature of its principles and adulterating its work. When a great newspaper’s front page is indistinguishable from its editorial page, and its editorial page is indistinguishable from a transcript of a Democratic Party rally, journalistic decay is a certainty. But if what’s happened to the Times’s news reporting and opinion pages is an outrage—think only of the repulsive way in which the paper attempted to generate anti-Bush capital from the Katrina disaster—its coverage of culture is somehow more depressing than infuriating. Here, too, one finds the triumph of ideology over principle and an unseemly race to the lowest common denominator. Yet in matters of culture and the arts, the Times adds another dimension of depredation—we mean the element, half preposterous, half nauseating—of unthinking modishness."
Read entire at New Criterion
Freeh on Clinton, with video, at Atlas LBJ ordering a pair of custom pants - audio here. Thanks, Patterico, for this important piece of American history Antisemitism of the Left. Moonbat Central Proof of intelligent design, plus comments on the Nobel, from Shape of Days: "I mean, s--t. Take one look at this and tell me that Intelligent Design has no place in schools." Teach for America is useless. Nyhan. Taking lawyer jokes seriously, here. Churchill and the "Anglosphere" Am. Thinker Flat Tax debate at Town Hall Harriet's job application. Iowahawk Does high oil mean the death of the suburbs? The Commons
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