Saturday, December 31. 2005
Georgetown Univ. to host hatefest: LGF. Isn't "tolerance" a beautiful thing? And isn't it interesting that "tolerance" is always a one-way street (anti-American culture, anti-Christian, anti-Jew, and anti-Western civilization)? But this is Jesuit Georgetown! To whom I pay an extraordinarily hefty and seriously life-cramping annual tuition...say $70,000 pre-tax income. So please forgive me if I ask "WFT?" Front Page covers it in detail. The Idiot's Guide to Victimhood, by Dr. Sanity (H/T, RWNH) ACLU upset by DOJ investigations. Stop the ACLU. May I ask, one more time, why they are supported with taxpayer $ when their mission appears to be to destroy their country? We would be safer and better off giving the money directly to the Al Quaida idiots instead of passing it through the ACLU bureacracy. Pilot maroons drunk passenger on desert island. Telegraph. What is this world coming to? First, they won't let you smoke, which makes everyone cranky and edgy and psychotic, and now they don't want you to get drunk and act up either. What kind of pussy world is this? Dump the bombers out the window without a FISA warrant, and leave the poor drunks alone. But OK, it's a funny story and the jerk deserved it, no doubt. CNN's sleazy and secret deal with Saddam: Atlas Forever young: Powerline says it all here - some people are lost in the 60s.
New Year's Thanks to our soldiers As Mudville quotes George Orwell: "Good men sleep peacefully in their beds because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." This cowgirl sends her best wishes to our men, and says "All cowgirls prefer a military guy." 
Friday, December 30. 2005
Finally, DOJ goes after leakers. Protein covers it, as do many others. And now we see the MSM backing off: Libertarian. Cap'n Ed has the latest leak. Guess it's finally time to bring in the grown-ups.
John Lott in NRO: You don't have to live next to the United States to see how hard it is to stop criminals from getting guns. The easy part is getting law-abiding citizens to disarm; the hard part is getting the guns from criminals. Drug gangs that are firing guns in places like Toronto seem to have little trouble getting the drugs that they sell and it should not be surprising that they can get the weapons they need as well. The experiences in the U.K. and Australia, two island nations whose borders are much easier to monitor, should also give Canadian gun controllers some pause. The British government banned handguns in 1997 but recently reported that gun crime in England and Wales nearly doubled in the four years from 1998-99 to 2002-03. Crime was not supposed to rise after handguns were banned. Yet, since 1996 the serious-violent-crime rate has soared by 69 percent; robbery is up 45 percent, and murders up 54 percent. Before the law, armed robberies had fallen 50 percent from 1993 to 1997, but as soon as handguns were banned the robbery rate shot back up, almost to its 1993 level. The 2000 International Crime Victimization Survey, the last survey completed, shows the violent-crime rate in England and Wales was twice the rate of that in the U.S. When the new survey for 2004 comes out later this year, that gap will undoubtedly have widened even further as crimes reported to British police have since soared by 35 percent, while those in the U.S. have declined 6 percent. Australia has also seen its violent-crime rates soar immediately after its 1996 Port Arthur gun-control measures. Violent crime rates averaged 32-percent higher in the six years after the law was passed (from 1997 to 2002) than they did in 1995. The same comparisons for armed-robbery rates showed increases of 74 percent. During the 1990s, just as Britain and Australia were more severely regulating guns, the U.S. was greatly liberalizing individuals' abilities to carry firearms. Thirty seven of the fifty states now have so-called right-to-carry laws that let law-abiding adults carry concealed handguns after passing a criminal background check and paying a fee. Only half the states require some training, usually around three to five hours. Yet crime has fallen even faster in these states than the national average. Overall, the states in the U.S. that have experienced the fastest growth rates in gun ownership during the 1990s have experienced the biggest drops in murders and other violent crimes. http://nationalreview.com/comment/lott200508190817.asp Canadian blogs point out that the US must be exporting our violence because we don’t have nearly as much now: Writes Herschblogger in The Other Club: Bah-nanada The Drudge Report today linked to this story: USA is exporting its violence to Canada, says Canadian PM... Lo and behold, Prime Minister Martin must be right, because in 2004 Canada’s rate of violent crime per 100,000 people was 946. That same year, continuing a decline that began in 1994, the US recorded 465 violent crimes per 100,000. Not only that, but US Homicide rates recently declined to levels last seen in the late 1960s and have been stable since 2000. While gun ownership is up, US rates of nonfatal firearm crime have declined since 1994, reaching the lowest level ever recorded in 2004. Violent crime in general has also declined in the US. Where did all this crime go? To Paul Martin, Prime Minister of a country where the national homicide rate increased 12% in 2004, the answer is obvious – it was exported to Canada. It must be NAFTA, the North American Firearm Trafficking Arrangement. Toronto Mayor David Miller is facing the fact that gun deaths have doubled in his city since 2004 and won’t be left out of any scapegoating: "The U.S. is exporting its problem of violence to the streets of Toronto," he said. http://otherclub.blogspot.com/2005/12/bah-nanada.html
Chips after silicon: NYT Science Times LAT falls for a whopper. Newsmax The state of the conservative mind, parts one and two: the Prof The year's top ten stories from Latin America. Publius Military recruiting, and parent's "opting out": CSM Consider the Lobster and other Essays by David Foster Wallace: Just finished my first Christmas book, and I can recommend this fellow whose style is unconventional but who is exceeding smart and clever, whether writing a review of a new dictionary or wondering whether lobsters feel pain. The only sour notes are from his politics which are the usual Calif/off-the-shelf/Lefty/condescending/academic in style but it's forgiveable since he lives in Calif., and it doesn't intrude on his abundant curiousity about everything. You could call it Gonzo essays by a guy with a big brain.
 CANADIAN POLLUTION
Our Green Canadian friends have a Dirty Little Secret - their only source of wealth comes from the oil sands of Alberta which much be mined through pumping water into drill shafts, and the view from Google Earth shows 18-20 miles of settling ponds for the used, polluted water -- on the banks of a river. For Google Earth users, the location is 57 deg, 2 min North by 111 deg, 37 min West. Gwynnie cannot wait for Paul Martin to declare that the US is exporting pollution to Canada the same way he said the US is exporting crime!
Thursday, December 29. 2005
We carried you in our arms
On Independence Day,
And now you'd throw us all aside
And put us on our way.
Oh what dear daughter 'neath the sun
Would treat a father so,
To wait upon him hand and foot
And always tell him, "No"?
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Why must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so alone
And life is brief.
It was all very painless
When you went out to receive
All that false instruction
Which we never could believe.
And now the heart is filled with gold
As if it was a purse.
But, oh, what kind of love is this
Which goes from bad to worse?
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so alone
And life is brief. From "Tears Of Rage," officially released on The Basement Tapes and covered by The Band on Music From Big Pink.
The NYT is unAmerican, says Michelle in her column. Them is fightin' words, but it's worth considering. And more on the ripple effect of the NYT leaks at Protein. And with all this mess, centrist Dems are appalled. Who is doing a better job cleaning up after Katrina? Govt or private companies? Hayek Canada blames US for their gun violence. I blame Canada for the cold fronts they attack us with. Why Big Labor is opposed to socialized medicine. NYT Art needs moral vision. VDH on the new film Munich.
 Turtle Conservation
Among the many predators of sea turtles, Mexicans with the notion that they enhance potency may be the most devastating. So there's an ad campaign. Worth trying. Story here. Moral of the story: Guys who like turtles get the hot babes.
When we step into the family, by the act of being born, we do step into a world which is incalculable, into a world which has its own strange laws, into a world which could do without us, into a world we have not made. In other words, when we step into the family we step into a fairy-tale. G.K. Chesterton
Wednesday, December 28. 2005
 War vs. Law Enforcement
It is simple. Either we are at war with Jihadist Moslems who have proven that killing Jews and Christians, and destroying Western Civilization, is their goal, or we are facing a simple law enforcement problem. The first World Trade Center bombing, in 1993, should have put us on adequate notice, because that was the Pearl Harbor of the Jihadists: it was a declaration of war by an organized enemy which was stateless, but supported by a number of states and tolerated by a number of witless European states. Thanks to America's pathetically lax and undemanding citizenship or immigration policies, we now have countless Jihadists, and Jihad supporters, in the US who would be delighted to see millions of us infidels die horrible deaths. To deny that, or to ignore that, is suicidal. I don't even know why the Jihadists which have been caught are facing criminal charges. They should be in military tribunals and, if they are US citizens, should be charged with treason. As should the Washington leakers, even if they are Senators. All or most Americans are criminals in big or small ways - whether caught or uncaught, we have all screwed up, driven drunk, had a bar fight, finessed a tax item, exercised bad judgement, or gone totally to the dark side, as every cop knows. But still loyal Americans, mainly, who would be happy to take up an M16 on our shores to repel invaders. We all have some basic values, even if we mess up due to personal weakness. Treason to country is an entirely different deal. As is being an enemy of our country. That's why we have firing squads. And that is why we have to track them down. The Founding Fathers never really anticipated this kind of enemy: they lived in an age of Honor, but traitors to the Crown - all of the Founding Fathers - knew, and accepted, that hanging would be their fate if they lost the war. That was part of the deal. Our modern-time traitors need to know this too, and be confronted with the hangman. It's not a joke, even in a free country. Freedom is not free. And may I repeat another cliche: the Constitution is not a suicide pact. If you are a US citizen, and supporting or assisting US enemies in a war (regardless of how you may feel about it), you are a traitor. If you hate us, move to France or South Africa or Saudi Arabia or Russia. Please. You will find happiness there. (Image from a painting by Pisanello)
From Dan, EOD technician, on the reality of Muslim culture: Willisms The Real Scandal, and the NYT Toys with Treason: NERepub Dem chances in 2006 squandered by Moonbats: Capt'n Ed How does church-going make you wealthier? The Economist Hilary fund-raising annoying Liberals: NYSun Talking and Driving don't mix. Cog. Daily. Surely true with women. Christmas thoughts from Mark Roberts. Bob Dylan on Ricky Nelson: "Ricky's talent was very accessible to me. I felt we had a lot in common. In a few years' time he'd record some of my songs, make them sound like they were his own, like he had written them himself." Review of Ricky's Greatist Hits Taxpayer funding of the ACLU. A terrible, self-destructive thing. Stop the ACLU Cultural suicide: Shrinkwrapped. What kind of mess has the NYT handed us? Am. Future. Can you imagine this during WW2? The Christmas Truce of WW1. The Week.
Candidates for Idiotarian of the Year. Why didn't we think of that? There is a plethora of fine candidates this year. LGF, via Michelle MSM Spreading FUD: Olive Tree (H/T, Instap.) Moslim rape sprees in Europe: Front Page. Let's all be multiculturally sensitive, OK? Paid punditry: we do not approve. Belmont. But somebody try us - give us an offer I can't refuse. Paranoia in Liberalism: Kriston in Wkly Std. How religion and universities led the vanguard of the Left in the US: View from 1776 Movie ticket sales down again in 2005: CSM Francis Bacon's secular politics: McKnight at New Atlantis
Tuesday, December 27. 2005
HH on the multiple political parties in the US right now. Good analysis. Lived on MacDonalds, and LOST weight. Town Hall Repubs may lose some statehouses in 2006. WSJ Bush's 2006 agenda. Yahoo News Dispositions tests at teacher's schools. Is this Stalinist, or what? New Criterion.
Ya Gotta Laugh or Cry Media seeks "truthiness." It's bigger than facts. Owner's Manual
Ten Most Unhinged news video clips of the year: Michelle Trying to equate Bush with Nixon. Daily Pundit rebuts. Is racial bias a psychiatric illness? Classical Values A third of Tsunami donations wasted. LGF A war without (named) heroes. GOP Bloggers Freedom advancing in the world. Norm Is the Reformation over? First Things Christian Left labels Fed. budget cruel to the poor. Am Spectator. I thought religion was supposed to stay out of politics. You religious folks are better at caring for the unfortunate than the govt, anyway. Do you want a Theocracy? Assimilation of Moslems: Does it matter if immigrants enjoy strip joints? Steyn For guys: Secrets to a happy marriage. Evangelical Outpost
If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise. Anon.
Monday, December 26. 2005
Future i-Pods: A VC Do sports teams help a region's eonomy? Probably not. The ongoing saga of DC and The Nationals. Reason All About Ice: book review in the NYT Something new in politics: The NYT stoops lower and lower: Dinocrat
"Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism" From the review in The Telegraph: "Who wrote this? That's right. It's P J O'Rourke, letting another poor booby tire himself out by bouncing pompously around the ring until such time as our man deems it fitting to deliver one of his knockout, two-syllable blows. No big words for P J. And never a great notion: "America is not a wily, sneaky nation. We don't think that way. We don't think much at all, thank God. Start thinking and pretty soon you get ideas, and then you get idealism, and the next thing you know you've got ideology, with millions dead in concentration camps and gulags. A fundamental American question is, 'What's the big idea?' " That's as good a definition of conservatism as I know, and funnier than anything you'll come across in Reflections on the Revolution in France. You could say the same of every sentence in O'Rourke's latest book, Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism (Picador, Ł7.99), a never less than provocative collection of his occasional pieces on wars and the "poultry with BMWs" who don't want to get involved in them any more. He may disparage the idea of ideas, but O'Rourke does have a pretty big idea of his own: everything is up for grabs as fuel for the great engine of his comedy." Read entire entertaining piece/
Why are the non-radical mulsims silent? They are intimidated. Schwartz at TCS The well-paid limo liberals at the Beeb. Am. Thinker/ Tax-supported Leftist propaganda. Do you know about the New Yorker's Film File? It's online and you can check their movie reviews. The campus war against Christian organizations. Tapsscott at Town Hall Governors giving up Christmas cards. The Hill The warrantless Geiger counter. Are we at war, or not? RWNH
Gotcha Games, and a Fecal Election Strategy With the Left and the press playing all of their gotcha games with the Administration, something is missing. No-one, that I am aware of, has called for a cessation of wiretapping Al Quaida connections, and no-one has called for a cessation of hunting for nukes. And, of course, none of those folks have made a stink about leaking NSA secrets, which is a truly serious matter compared to the trumped-up Plame silliness. So it is clear to me that the Dem/press alliance has a strategy of sorts for the 2006 elections - keep throwing fecal matter against the wall hoping that some will stick - regardless of honor and regardless of the nation's interest. One problem with that strategy is that your hands get filthy.
What they are taking in college these days: Am. Future. You won't believe some of these courses. The End of Bolivia? Front Page Who are the leakers? Bird of Paradise. And why no investigations? Intell. Cons. Tories make a left turn. Cap'n Ed Impreachment nonsense: Krauthammer Bad Science: Alcohol and obesity. Guardian. One good thing about The Guardian - a Bad Science feature. Always back up your PhD thesis: a true story. WaPo
Sunday, December 25. 2005
Friday, December 23. 2005
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Deeply disturbing. Nuclear monitoring done without warrants. How absolutely awful. How dare this dictatorship of Bush look for our private, personal nuclear weapons? This is a privacy matter. Let's get the ACLU on the case here. Truly deeply disturbing. Amex played games with currencies. That is a no-no and we are supposed to be able to trust Amex. The Vatican finally takes a close look at Islam. View from 1776 Scruton on the EU: Voting doesn't matter if if doesn't fit the leftist agenda. Open Democracy Bin Ladin's neice: A cutie-pie. Those arabs have BIG families, don't they? 20 wives - and each one with a Platinum American Express Card. Jeez. And every kid in private school in the US, the UK, or Switzerland. Oil is good stuff. Too bad we can't find any in New England or Virginia. I could handle one lousy well in the basement of my condo. A fed-up Dem rants about Dem politics: Front Page Americans growing in wealth and standard of living: Cafe Hayek. No kidding. It is obvious everywhere you go. The poorest in the US have cell phones and multiple TVs. The middle class is filthy rich, by world standards, and our bus drivers retire at 55 and spend their winters in Florida. What a country! Al Quaida targeted Bush: Newsmax Spying on bad guys was OK with the NYT in 1982: Ankle Biter. Suddenly, it's not OK with them? Pure partisan BS. The great, booming US economy, and the press: Gainor at RCP Kofi Annan's Mercedes, and the UN debacle: NRO The Google Deal. They bought the names. Long term, I would be short Google. American girls torture Christmas Barbies. Haha. And they should - a wholesome outlet, and good practice for us evil, evil Americans for when we catch the dastardly Moslem terrorists. Put goop in their hair, make them listen to Eminem, and cut their heads off. Good clean fun. Marginal Rev. Reason, Faith, and Kristof (?)- Am. Thinker: Indeed, it is now science that strains our credulity. Relativity and quantum mechanics were preposterous enough but we are now asked to swallow absurdities like black holes, wormholes, and superstrings that would make Baron Munchausen blush. Compared to these, belief in the Virgin Birth is easy.
A True Quagmire (Thanks to American Future): 
God is a Republican and Santa is a Democrat From PJ O'Rourke via RTLC
Worried Some folks have got to be worried right now. Pline. And Jeff nails it: "With few exceptions, I don’t think many of them actually believe this story. But what such allegations provide for, however hypothetical and farfetched they turn out to be (and NSA oversight is some of the tightest in the country), is an ethos of romanticism, intrigue, and—for those hoping to experience or recapture that heady counterculture ethos—heroism, in precisely the mode of the antiheroes who peopled the political dramas of the early 70s, from 3 Days of the Condor and Parallax View to All the President’s Men and The Candidate."
Working for the enemy is not heroic.
Half of Americans have had "moments of truth" that led to a religious awakening of their souls: CSM Unions equivalent to organized crime. Polipundit. The union problem in NYC: A New Class War in NYPost Zarky moving into Europe. LGF Blogging at 30,000 feet. A VC. (Not our Yankee politics, but a good, personal blog with a venture capitalist, deal-oriented angle.) 6th Circuit gives ACLU a lump of coal in their Christmas Holiday stocking, next to their Christmas Winter Solstice Tree Bush? Pol. Teen The human cost of freedom: a good post by Confed. Yank China's economy set to surpass that of Britain. Samiz. The NSA: The "big" NYT story is unravelling. Am Thinker. Where is the outrage about the NSA leaks? Max Boot (woops- they are Dems - what happens to Senators when they leak top secret intel? Jail, perhaps? I would just love to be running against those guys right now, but my job is better.). It's insanity: Willisms - and I agree. Christmas defended. Yes, Virginia, the Founding Fathers did celebrate Christmas. And how! With parties, booze, and dancing. They were not barbarians. They did love life, they trusted in God, and they wanted freedom from State Power and viewed government as a necessary evil, and not as a free lunch. God Bless those brave, optimistic patriots who risked their lives and their sacred honor, and who continue to inspire us today.
A sign in the Bank Lobby reads: "Please note that this Bank is installing new Drive-through teller machines enabling customers to withdraw cash without leaving their vehicles. Customers using t his new facility are requested to use the procedures outlined below when accessing their accounts. After months of careful research, MALE & FEMALE procedures have been developed. Please follow the appropriate steps for your gender." MALE PROCEDURE: 1. Drive up to the cash machine.2. Put down your car window. 3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.6. Put window up.7. Drive off.
***********************************************************
FEMALE PROCEDURE:
1. Drive up to cash machine.2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.
3. Set parking brake, put the window down.
4. Find handbag, remove all contents onto passenger seat to locate card.
5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.
6. Attempt to insert card into machine.
7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.
8. Insert card.
9. Re-insert card the right way.
10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.
11. Enter PIN.
12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.
13. Enter amount of cash required.
14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.
15. Retrieve cash and receipt.
16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.
17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.
18. Re-check makeup.
19. Drive forward 2 feet.
20. Reverse back to cash machine.
21. Retrieve card.
22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided.
23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.
24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.
25. Redial person on cell phone.
26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.
27. Release Parking Brake.
A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together. Garrison Keillor
Thursday, December 22. 2005
Metaphor and Learning Metaphor, analogy, imagery, and the like, not only make it easier to learn something - often they are what we know (shadows in the cave). The picture of that Neils Bohr atom comes to mind, like a mini solar system: that picture is a visual analogy, bearing no resemblance to a real atom. It is tough to integrate anything new without a metaphor to carry it into the brain. Jesus spoke in parables for the same reason. The below excerpt is from a piece by Hudson at The Ornery American: "The very pervasiveness of this strange way humans have of explaining concepts to one another should lead us to question why metaphor is so prevalent in our communication. Why should the conflation, for example, of roses and cheeks in the same sentence conjure up images of cherubic children with the healthy pink pallor of youth? What do lemons have to do with defective cars? I believe that the answer to these questions may have its roots in the fundamental nature of human learning. Nobel prize-winning neurobiologist Eric Kandel has shown that memory and learning are tied to structural changes in the connections between neurons that form the functional units of the brain. Essentially, whenever we learn something new there are new connections made in the brain, and those connections are what allow us to think about the new knowledge we have acquired. It is safe to say that any bit of knowledge that we have - whether it is knowledge about how lemons taste or what the color yellow looks like, or even how it feels to be in love- this knowledge must be reflected in the physical structure of the brain." If you can concentrate at this hectic time of year, read entire.
 Political Warfare
As we have said on these pages in the past, presidential politics is open warfare, and has been at least since Watergate, when a fine President with some personal flaws (as they all have) was brought down for essentially trivial reasons which did not justify undoing an election. In fact, if Nixon had only had the balls to say, in the beginning, "We screwed up," the whole thing would have blown away in a few weeks. I believe in the concept of "loyal opposition." I thought it was wrong to go after Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton in the vicious, disrepectful, and blood-thirsty ways in which they were hounded - always searching for the scandal that would either destroy them or handcuff them. (Nobody bothered going after Carter except for the attack rabbit. Bush Sr. took a lot of gratuitous hits from the press, but the opposition did not seem determined to destroy him.) With GW, as with Reagan, we see the opposition, with their leftist bedfellows in the press, frothing at the mouth. Let's see how many trumped-up and invented "scandals" Bush has endured: 1. He really lost Florida. 2. He really lost Ohio. 3. He caused Abu Graib. 4. He lied about Iraq so his friends could make oil money. 5. He caused Katrina to kill blacks. 6. He spies on innocent Americans. How many have I missed? These are all calculated, opportunistic, and dishonest assaults, hoping to cause damage or to draw enough blood to attract the sharks. It's the wrong thing to do, and the "concern" is as transparently feigned and phony as can be. These president guys mean well for the country. They are normal humans, but they mean well (insofar as any politicans mean well, anyway). I am no lawyer, but I have read the legal analyses of the NSA thing. My conclusion is that if the NSA and the CIA were not secretly monitoring foreign calls to potential terrorists, that might be cause for impeachment. That would be a true scandal. Given how easy it is to be on American soil, and how easy it is to become a citizen (far too easy for this amazing privilege, if you ask me), our spooks had better be looking for them and watching them, because there are guys out there who want nothing more than to kill you and me. How quickly we sink into our decadent complacency.
Craig's New Layout Boat, and some hunting photos Layout boats fool ducks. Here's the new one, on Saturday on Long Island Sound, surrounded by Bluebill decoys. You just lie down in it and hope a big wave doesn't drown you. You tow it out and anchor it. Another boat has the dog, etc. (Click Continuation Page below to see photo of Harley) 
Continue reading "New Layout Boat"
Powerline's exchange with the NYT re legality. Pelosi's religious litmus test. Bird of Paradise Enviros buying up hunting licenses. Env. Econ. Judge says AZ must spend more to teach English to illegals. Edn. Week
Wednesday, December 21. 2005
Shopping in the Renaissance: Guardian Book Reviews Spying question, cleared up by the Princess. Also discussed in some detail on a blog Mr. Gumshoe referred us to - another group-effort, eclectic blog that looks good: YARGB Yiyun Yu and her immigration problems. WaPo. Why are they going after her, amongst the millions who need deportation?
Winter Solstice After today, in the northern hemisphere the daylight begins to lengthen. The ancient astronomers had it all figured out - the bottom of the year, after which re-birth begins: "between the woods and frozen lake, the darkest evening of the year."The precursor of Christmas festivities: Saturnalia. And, symbolically, a great place to put Christmas, regardless of whether Christ was actually born in April, because the themes of birth and re-birth, and the coming of the light, run strong and deep in the human soul.
"The President is not the Enemy", by Ed Koch. For rabid Dems, he is the enemy. Bush is at war with the bad guys, and the Dems are at war with Bush. Feeling powerless makes immature people feel mean and angry, and pushes them towards hysterical extremes. Please tell me, Dem readers of Maggie's, of whom there are plenty - why no focus on the real enemy? Iraq vote pushes Iraq in Islamist direction. Too bad, but it's their country. CSM Brandy contains healthful antioxidants. Science Daily The politics of the cruel and destructive NYC transit strike. NY Sun New Bolivian President Morales praises Castro, plans to "liberate" Bolivia. Paxety. And you can scroll down and read about how Castro banned Christmas.
War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes an ability to execute, military plans. Niccolo Machiavelli
Tuesday, December 20. 2005
Thanks for the wiretaps. WSJ Updike's new book (essays) on the visual arts. CSM Peace prevails in Sadr City. CSM Resurrection of the Wooly Mammoth? Cool. Cenozoic Park? Everything about Ice Ages here. Those primitive Iraqi voters. Squaring the Boston Globe The ugly sources of the Kennedy millions. The Prof
Taken Sunday night, with cell phone camera: 
To find out what this is all about, click the ALiyah Diary Category at upper left and scroll through. 12-9-05: To Jerusalem, and not yet back.
In Jer, cafe Tmol Shilshom (the day before yesterday) sitting in
Yehuda Amichai's corner, around 5. Today, after an early a.m. bike
ride, bad spill, bent rear wheel, I collect myself, limping a bit like
an old 'rthitic farmer feeling the rain coming on. Deliver my bike to
Pablo to repair, check email at Ilan's, hop the bus to TA to give
lecture at Geha hospital, one of the largest Psychiatric hospitals in
Israel. As usual, I am on the wrong bus, but relying on the goodness
of strangers, the bus driver in this case, I am redirected at the
Azraeli Twin Towers, to catch the Petah Tivka (Hope's Opening) bus to
Geha.
Talked about dream interpretation, a paper I wrote some two years
ago, unpublished, in which I build on Erikson's idea that dreams are
dreamt at a certain moment in a person's life, sometimes embracing an
era's dilemmas, and we can explore this fruitfully, using both latent
and manifest content (the space, the time in the dream, the
physicality of it and its sensuality). I give examples of a child's
dream, a young adult, older adult, followed by dreams in different
phases of psychoanalysis, including an elegant end phase summary
dream.
Well, to begin, Gil Zaltzman, new head of child psychiatry, does the
usual nice introduction, then adds that I am an oleh hadash. First
quiet clapping, then across the auditorium of some 60 faculty, the
applause continues. At the end, applause again. And good questions,
very good, making me think harder on the paper. They ask me to stay
for lunch to talk more. The two administrative assistants attend the
talk and thank me.
Continue reading "Guest Author: Aliyah Diary, #9"
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.Mark Twain
Monday, December 19. 2005
Auto-translation Found it amusing when I pushed the autotranslation button on Google for this French recipe for boeuf bourguignon. Given that the translation is mechanical, it is actually comprehensible, mostly. Wasn't sure what 1 cup of flour soup meant, or 100 gms. of plugs. Translating boeuf to ox is curious. Or maybe they really mean 1 kg. of ox. Hard to find that hereabouts. And can I assume that purpose of the "grass of Provence" is to enhance the appetite? (grass is mixed herbs, plugs are lardons)
Gladiators - new book reviewed by Gillette Media bias quantified by UCLA researchers. And it's worse than I thought. Friedman's new book - if you haven't read it yet. The World is Flat. How near is legal polygamy? If done right, it could be a good deal for guys. I can see 4 or 5 beautiful young women, all working at lucrative executive jobs and "fulfilling themselves" in the modern way, while I hunt and fish all day, and blog, read, stop by the gym and maybe Starbucks afterwards to read the papers, have my nails done, take naps, have a few beers, do some online trading, and conserve my strength for the arduous evenings of husbandly duty. I might let them rotate cooking me dinner. This could be good. I'm ready, plus it's Biblically OK. Old Testament, anyway: only losers have just one. Monogamy is monotony. Pre-nups for all though, gals, and tuitions for any kiddies are not my problem. We will all be very modern and progressive. Kurtz in Wkly Std.
Steyn on Iraq, in Chi. Sun-Times: "The Democratic Party have contrived to get themselves into a situation where bad news from Iraq is good for them and good news from Iraq is bad for them. And as there's a lot more good news than bad these days, that puts them, politically, in a tough spot -- even with a fawning media that, faced with Kerry and Murtha talking what in any objective sense is drivel, decline to call for the men with white coats but instead nod solemnly and wonder whether Bush is living "in a bubble." One day Iraq will be a G7 member hosting the Olympics in the world's No. 1 luxury vacation resort of Fallujah, and the Defeaticrat Party will still be running around screaming it's a quagmire. It's not just that Iraq is going better than expected, but that it's a huge success that's being very deftly managed..." Read entire.
Ye parlor of Ye Olde New England Yankee Farmhouse on Sunday evening, with a fine granddaughter working hard on something academic in front of the fire. 
Where's the Outrage? Religious Left Marches in Protest of Budget Cuts. But I thought religion and politics shouldn't mix? No, no, I see, I got it wrong. I misunderstood. I was being a bit too literal. Collectivist Christians good; individualist Christians bad. Now do I get it? What I would say to these marchers is "DONATE." It's that time of year. Donate the $ you wish the city had taken from you, to the city govt or to your favorite charity. That's what Red Staters do. That's what caring people do. When it's voluntary, it means much more, and is far more satisfying.
Does politics have anything to do with why movie-going is declining? Tammy Harold Bloom thinks Bush is stupid. Neo. My opinion: Harold, stick to your knitting. Are the Sunnis working with us now? Could be. Captn Ed Why people don't like Israeli wines - they cook them. Am Thinker The Northeast is moving south. Geologically. Live Science. They'll be Red States in 1/2 million years. Was Buffy stolen from another solar system? CSM. I call it Grand Theft Planet and it is wrong, wrong, wrong. Reform Judaism goes over the edge. Charen (Aren't these the same folks who go nuts when Christians get politically involved?) More on the Ladies in White in Cuba. WSJ Katrina coverage. Instapundit Bill O'Reilly watchers are Yahoos, according to Sam Donaldson. Pol. Teen. No doubt true: I watch him sometimes, and I'm a Yahoo. Able Danger - finally getting looked at. The Religion of Peace: Cleric urges killing of infidels. LGF Is that 80% a real number? Protein
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