Tuesday, January 31. 2006
Unfortunately or fortunately, Bush lacks charisma. But he has other, better qualities. Two good takes on Bush's speech tonite: Althouse, and John at Powerline
No time to comment right now, but tons of detailed immigration polling data from Time/SRBI, here. It is the issue of the year, but the pols are too chicken to touch it.
Harper Lee. I didn't realize she was alive. She keeps a low profile, most of the time. NYT Are the Danes caving in to the Jihadist bullies? BKP. Hope not. Please buy Danish - Democracy Project tells you what to buy. Of course, Bill Clinton has to have his say: Belmont Moho is still on the job. They drilled a hole almost to the earth's mantle. Very cool. Is there a health care crisis? Merline at TCS looks at the numbers and asks "Is there a Recreation Crisis in the US?" A quote: If there is a crisis in health spending, it is the direct result of government policy over the past four decades, which has encouraged the dramatic rise in third-party payment of health care.
Two boys in Boston were playing baseball when one of them was attacked by a rabid dog. Thinking quickly, the other boy ripped a board off of a nearby fence, wedged it into the dog's collar and twisted it, breaking the dog's neck. A newspaper reporter from the Boston Herald witnessed the incident and rushed over to interview the boy. The reporter began entering data into his laptop, beginning with the headline: "Brave Young Red Sox Fan Saves Friend From Jaws Of Vicious Animal" "But I'm not a Red Sox fan," the little fellow interjected. "Sorry" replied the reporter. "But since we're in Boston, Mass, I just assumed you were." Hitting the delete key, the reporter began: "John Kerry Fan Rescues Friend from Horrific Dog Attack" "But I'm not a Kerry fan either," the boy responds. The reporter says, "I assumed everybody in this state was either for Red Sox or Kerry or Kennedy. What team or person do you like? " "I'm a Texas Ranger fan and I really like George W. Bush" the boy says. Hitting the delete key, the reporter begins again: "Arrogant Little Conservative Prick Kills Beloved Family Pet."
The Sears Roebuck 1975 Catalog. Cafe Hayek Math in California. It's not your father's math. RWN. Why do we pretend that everyone can learn everything? It is so obviously not true. Dean is going down. Too bad. Excellent source of humor and amusing press. Everybody loves a clown. Dean has been our Galloway. More from Vodkapundit. The "urban heat island" in NYC. NASA is studying it. Interesting phenomenon. ScienceDaily The Fed budget looks bad. We always said that there should have been a temporary war tax. Freedom isn't free. It costs blood and treasure. Hillary has chosen not to be the standard-bearer for Dem centrism. NYSun: What was she thinking? And the Leftist bloggers are giving the Dems heartburn, and delusions of grandeur: Captain Ed First Denmark, now Norway feels the Jihadist heat. Stand firm, Norsemen. Dinocrat. Moslems have to learn to take a joke - and to look at themselves: Classical Values has example, and links to more Moslem cartoons. Somehow I sense that Jihadists are lacking in a sense of humor. They need therapy. Savings rate lowest since Depression. Not good. Hamas: opinions at Am. Princess, Gay and Right, neo-neocon, Daily Pundit Cindy for Senate! Something on which everyone seems to agree. Ace, Ten Napel, Michelle, Standing by its values: Notre Dame. Sensible Mom Do not raise your hand in England schools? This is the sure sign of a decadent culture, in decline. Painful to watch. Moonbattery Who is an Indian? Phin
 Mexico has been invading the US illegally for many years. But without arms, without armies, and with only covert governmental support from Mexico. What kind of President wants its population to leave their country? The East Germans used to dig tunnels to get out, but Mexicans are digging tunnels to get into the US.
In recent years, their armed forces have been engaged in this invasion, behind the scenes. Thanks to the blogs, this quiet war is getting some attention. The MSM ignores it, due to psychotic political correctness or something like that. Kind of similar to the Moslem invansion of Europe. My suggestion is that Mexico get its act together, and become a country people want to live in and stay in. Why can't they do that? No-one is stopping them, and the US does all it can to help them. They have natural resources, great beaches, good hunting, a big population of nice folks, religion, a work ethic - everything you need to make a proud, successful nation without trying to colonize the US. (We tried being colonies already, and we did not like it very much.) Message to the invaders, and legal immigrants too from around the planet: Why not stay in your own country, and make it a better place? It's not like the 1920s anymore - there is a world economy and the internet, and we are all connected. Show some pride of homeland - some patriotism. You can do it. Everyone in the world who wants to breathe freedom and who wants to take the risk of economic opportunity and personal development and achievement instead of being weak dependents of a totalitarian or corrupt or socialist State, wants to come to the US. We only have room for a few of you brave good people, and it is a big loss for your home country to have the ambitious and most energetic folks walk away. Why should the US and Australia be the only Meccas for those excellent, energetic people seeking such fine but difficult things? Be patriots, honor your own traditions, and fix your own place. We did it here. India is doing it, too, Vietnam, even Libya - of all places - among others. It is not easy. For us, it required a war or two or three, but we paid our dues. It is worth the effort.
Another classic versatile 
hunter. What do setters do, and why are they called "setters"? They point in a crouching manner - "setting," and they will track, and retrieve too.
That is all very good stuff. The Gordon Setter Club here.
If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself. Bob Dylan
Monday, January 30. 2006
Not news, but the dumb pseudo-filibuster cum fund-raising effort went down fast. YARGB is right about that. Any press is better than no press, right? The DNC is desperate: According to Drudge tonite, They are broke. A good way to look like an out-of-touch fool but, as on Wall Street, there is always a bigger fool to buy what you are selling. What should be interesting is the next Supreme nominee. She will be female, and a lady too. I can't wait. Anyway, Alito is a done deal now - but he always was. Now he can go back to his usual habits of smoking pot and chasing babes at the strip clubs and driving drunk and getting off on Ecstasy. A tip to radical Leftist Dems: Save your bullets....aw, it's too late now. You used them already. "Aslan isn't safe, but he is good." Hunter at Ornery American digs into the Narnia movie, with some praise and some serious critique: A Defanged, declawed Aslan I know Ted Kennedy just gets riled up, but I can't believe he said this about Alito and asthma. Makes himself look like a total idiot. Alito's not a doctor. Not that Mass. cares. Wizbang Cement is not a boring subject. Neither is this graph of world cement production, via Synthstuff. Why Mommy is a Democrat. It's a book. How come it's not "Why Daddy is a Democrat"? Maybe because he isn't. Right Wing News Bush supporters are all bigots. Science says so, so it must be true. Expose the Left (did the Political Teen grow up? My, my, my - how time flies.) Is eBay fundamentally a fraudulent enterprise? The Prof wonders. Very funny photo of "Mrs. Clinton" with soldier. Confed. Yank Hamas: Pothole-fillers or Nazis? Front Page says Nazis. They sure sound like it.
At the request of Mr. Free  Market, we bring you one of
the ugliest birds in North America. These large carrion eaters and scavengers have expanded their range north in recent decades, and now can be found throughout the US during the summer breeding season. They move to the southern US and South America in the fall. Birders call them "TVs." They find their food by sight and by smell, and are most commonly seen coasting around on thermals, effortlessly searching for dead animals with their long wings at a marked dihedral. They like to nest on cliffs. Identification: The Black Vulture of the American south is one similar species, and, because of its size, it could be confused with Golden Eagle at a distance. Why "turkey"? It's not just because of the unfeathered head, but also because they resemble Wild Turkeys from a distance when seated on the ground as they hunker over a dead deer or road kill. More about this vulture at the CLO site here. Image by Audubon.
View from the Left: Americans even dumber than Bush. Paul Craig Roberts. Yup, no doubt that's the problem with America: we let dumb conservatives vote. I haven't heard the suggestion yet for "thought-adjustment centers." Wait a minute - we already have those. They're called "public schools" and "colleges." View from the Clitoris: Shere Hite on orgasming the world to peace. Haha. She doesn't mean it as satire, tho. She needs to get out more. The Great Wall of Cuba. The ongoing fear of ideas, at Paxety New polls on immigration: Instap. It's a major political issue, and both parties wish it would just go away. This is a fundamental problem with immigration anywhere: if you have too much of it, it intimidates the politicans and, the next thing you know, it isn't your country that you know and love anymore. That is a big problem for national unity and identity and shared purpose. And that is why we believe that would-be immigrants should stay home and fix their own place. A country is family - or should be. Japan understands that basic principle of human nature. More tomorrow. Our cousin and brother-in-arms Mr. Free Market and friends enjoyed a good shoot. But I don't get the jays and magpies. Are they edible? Or is it the old "If it flies, it dies" approach to shooting? I could get on board with that. Robin ravioli with gibier sauce and black truffle? Jay on toast? Chickadee puree with leek sauce? Valentine's dinner at Alto. $4400 for two, (but tip is included, and one would hope a little romance too, afterwards). $4400 is pocket change for us Maggie's Farm sharecroppers - we made a killing by shorting pumpkin futures in October. Not all Dems are Moonbats. Obama sounds rational. Calif. Yank Brit poll: Less abortions. RTLC Who is standing up for Denmark in their refusal to be bullied my Moslems? Classical Values is, and so are we, for what it's worth. Stand firm, Vikings. Euro and American relationships with Libya are normalizing. CSM. Proof, is it not, that if a Moslem country renounces aggression toward us, we'll leave them alone. American Future takes on The Nation, which asserts that the Iranians aren't scarey. They blame the US for "stoking a climate of fear." WTF? And LGF posts a speech - Nukes for all Moslem countries. Who is the enemy of America? Bush, or the Jihadists? Patterico attempts to clarify this knotty question. We posted "Stuck on 1968" yesterday. Today, Barone makes a similar point at TCS, "Stuck in the 70s". Condi says we won't give $ aid to Hamas. Duh. However, we do give over 350 million of hard-earned taxpayer $ to Palestine annually. Where does that $ end up? And why should coal miners in West Virginia, and cops in Paducah, be giving their $ to Palestine when they have their own Christmas credit card bills to pay? Not to mention their bar tabs.
 Heard Peter Noone (Herman of Herman's Hermits) interviewed on Mark Simone on WABC, Sat. nite. What a charming, unpretentious, and smart fellow. Among other things, he said that "Henry the Eighth" was a pub song that his grandfather was known for singing. He is a third-generation musician. And Peter is still on tour.
 The first time that this day hath been yet observed: and Mr. Mills made a most excellent sermon, upon “Lord forgive us our former iniquities;” speaking excellently of the justice of God in punishing men for the sins of their ancestors. Home, and John Goods comes, and after dinner I did pay him 30l. for my Lady, and after that Sir W. Pen and I into Moorfields and had a brave talk, it being a most pleasant day, and besides much discourse did please ourselves to see young Davis and Whitton, two of our clerks, going by us in the field, who we observe to take much pleasure together, and I did most often see them at play together. Back to the Old James in Bishopsgate Street, where Sir W. Batten and Sir Wm. Rider met him about business of the Trinity House. So I went home, and there understand that my mother is come home well from Brampton, and had a letter from my brother John, a very ingenious one, and he therein begs to have leave to come to town at the Coronacion. Then to my Lady Batten’s; where my wife and she are lately come back again from being abroad, and seeing of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw hanged and buried at Tyburn. Then I home.
 The frazzled Left would like to limit your free political speech, as was clear from Stalin's quote which we quoted in QQQ last week. Now that we no longer have a monolithic leftist media, they are getting very upset about diversity of ideas. However, the Left historically likes to limit available viewpoints. Bad idea, for a country full of thinking, imaginative people. Important piece by Anderson in Opinion Journal. Quotes:
The irony of campaign-finance reform is that the "corruption" it targets seems not to exist in any widespread sense. Studies galore have found little or no significant influence of campaign contributions on legislators' votes. Ideological commitments, party positions and constituents' wishes are what motivate the typical politician's actions in office. Aha! reformers will often riposte, the corruption is hidden, determining what Congress doesn't do--like enacting big gas taxes. But as Mr. Will notes, "that charge is impossible to refute by disproving a negative." Even so, such conspiracy-theory thinking is transforming election law into what journalist Jonathan Rauch calls "an engine of unlimited political regulation."
Uh huh. Yup. McCain-Feingold, the latest and scariest step down that slope, makes it a felony for corporations, nonprofit advocacy groups and labor unions to run ads that criticize--or even name or show--members of Congress within 60 days of a federal election, when such quintessentially political speech might actually persuade voters. It forbids political parties from soliciting or spending "soft money" contributions to publicize the principles and ideas they stand for. Amending the already baffling campaign-finance rules from the 1970s, McCain-Feingold's dizzying do's and don'ts, its detailed and onerous reporting requirements of funding sources--which require a dense 300-page book to lay out--have made running for office, contributing to a candidate or cause, or advocating without an attorney at hand unwise and potentially ruinous.
McCain wanted the goody-goody independent image. This is the price we pay for his goo-goo image. Not for nothing has Justice Clarence Thomas denounced McCain-Feingold's "unprecedented restrictions" as an "assault on the free exchange of ideas."
For sure. The man speaks the truth. Campaign-finance reform has a squeaky-clean image, but the dirty truth is that this speech-throttling legislation is partly the result of a hoax perpetrated by a handful of liberal foundations, led by the venerable Pew Charitable Trusts. New York Post reporter Ryan Sager exposed the scam when he got hold of a 2004 videotape of former Pew official Sean Treglia telling a roomful of journalists and professors how Pew and other foundations spent years bankrolling various experts, ostensibly independent nonprofits (including the Center for Public Integrity and Democracy 21), and media outlets (NPR got $1.2 million for "news coverage of financial influence in political decision-making")--all aimed at fooling Washington into thinking that Americans were clamoring for reform, when in truth there was little public pressure to "clean up the system." "The target group for all this activity was 535 people in Washington," said Mr. Treglia matter-of-factly, referring to Congress. "The idea was to create an impression that a mass movement was afoot--that everywhere they looked, in academic institutions, in the business community, in religious groups, in ethnic groups, everywhere, people were talking about reform."
That is what is called "advocacy." This advocacy is performed by the people Horowitz calls "the deep swimmers of the Left." Mr. Treglia urged grantees to keep Pew's role hush-hush. "If Congress thought this was a Pew effort," he confided, "it'd be worthless. It'd be 20 million bucks thrown down the drain."
Read entire. Everyone, regardless of their politics, should be upset with what is happening. This is infringement of free political speech, and it is an insidious erosion of the Constitution. Repeal McCain-Feingold.
I reject your reality, and substitute my own. Adam Savage (Host of Mythbusters & Visual Effects Creator)
Sunday, January 29. 2006
From Ralph Peters at NYPost Opinion: Osama's latest plea for attention suckered the media into blowing last week's real story: Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice's declaration of war on her dysfunctional department. In a speech at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where students are deformed into diplomats, Condi cancelled the tea party. Her message was revolutionary and essential. As a result, she may go down in history as the SecState most hated by Foggy Bottom bureaucrats.
Read the piece. She's changing all the rules, for the better.
Can you believe this? I guess I can. Naomi Wolf finds Christ. I should say that Christ found her. She was a very bitter, angry, destructive person, beloved of the man-hating feminists, but I guess divorce was tough. Can hardly blame the poor fellow who probably has to go out there and eat protein and try to grow his penis back. Now, she will be ostracized by the Moonbats. Evil, evil Halliburton: No-one wants to buy their KBR subisidary, which isn't making any money in Iraq. Winding it all down. I am fat. It is the restaurant's fault. Can't blame me: I just eat what they give me. Recharge your cell phone by working out. There's a good idea. Engadget. "Brea, buter en grienne tsiis is goed ingelsk." That is Frisian for "bread, butter and green cheese is good English". Frisian is said to be the mother tongue of English - but is English just Frisian? I guess so. A dialect of Frisian, with a bit of Latin and French added for flavoring. Cockburn on Kristof's brothel issue. Hahaha Pikeville wants its environment destroyed. Amazing. I know Pikeville. Good American coal town, with solid church-going people on their front porches in the evening, smoking and sipping coffee or beer in their undershirts while their wives are cleaning up in the kitchen, and saying Howdy to the folks passing by. Pronounced "pok-v'l." Anti-Americanism at the Beeb. There has got to be a limit. YARGB. Hey, Beeb - we ain't all that bad, really. We're just your average blood-thirsty imperialist capitalist monsters who want to oppress the world with evil freedom and evil economic success and evil life opportunity. We are bad, aren't we? France's D-Day Museum tried to go the way of the 9-11 Memorial. Got to keep an eye on the sneaky Moonbats. Moonbattery The End of the Spear. HH recommends it. Will see it, and will bring Gwynnie. Getting difficult to find dog on menus in China. What a shame. The sad loss of an iconic multi-cultural item. Like live monkey brain, which no doubt our kids eat in grammar school when they do their multi-cultural sensitivity section on China, immediately following their section on Tienanmen Square, no doubt. Am I a bit pissed off at China? Yes. Our growing handful of Chinese readers have abruptly disappeared. Why would they block a Farming Blog? Or am I paranoid? Yeah, I guess they probably just didn't enjoy Maggie's... And where the heck are our Cuban readers? We love Cuba, hate Fidelito. Guess no-one there can afford a PC because it's a People's Paradise where everyone can be happy without being confused by information. Socialism has kept them a Third World country. Great free medical care, though, if you don't mind cockroaches, rats, and Russia-trained doctors: notice how many Americans go there for treatment? Exactly none, even though travel to Cuba by Americans is easy and often done these days. You just go via Mexico. They want dollars. As Fidel ages and dies, we should loosen up with Cuba. More connection with the US will help the next generation of Cubans, but I know the hard-ass Florida Cuban-American vote is important to the Repubs.
Mark 1:21-28 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Saturday, January 28. 2006
I have never thought that it made much sense to talk about "happiness." For one, I do not know how to define it. For another, I suspect that joie de vivre is probably more of an inborn talent than something which can be sought. For another, I think people were made for work and responsibility and to find God - not for happiness. Self-respect is a tall enough order, in itself. And "self-esteem" is psychobabble: I have yet to meet the person who deserved it. I still blame Jefferson for being a weeny and giving in by replacing the words "pursuit of property" with the vague and new-agey "pursuit of happiness." (Yes, that did happen.) I think that set a crazy standard for a life which is in many ways a vale of tears, confusing, mysterious, and an endless challenge. It is much easier to talk about what doesn't make us happy, or makes us unhappy, or upset, angry, disappointed, fearful, or pained. As our readers know, I rarely refer to pop, or especially "lite pop" psychology pieces, but this one on "Happiness Traps" by Baker in Prevention Magazine has been brought up by a couple of my patients in Boston. It is simple, clear, and practical.
That was the "intellectual impresario" Brockman's highly-stimulating Question of the Year for 2005. Answers from a number of scientists and thinkers via The Edge website were compiled as a book. The Edge 2006 Annual Question is "What is your dangerous idea?" My dangerous idea, or one of them, is "What if life is real?" Another is "What's for dinner?"
"The New York Times editorial page is like a Ouija  board that has only three answers, no matter what the question. The answers are: higher taxes, more restrictions on political speech and stricter gun control."
Ann Coulter Well, we believe than gun control means a steady aim. Got the idea from Mark Levin to check this out: Here are the folks who write those NYT editorials, with a bit about their backgrounds. If you care. A bunch of lard-asses, as a reader delicately observed.
Have I mentioned lately how much we like The Teaching Company? Check it out, if you aren't familiar with them. Great stuff, and a good alternative to Books on Tape if you spend time in the car. Sign up just to get their catalog - it's an interesting read in itself. This month, a piece on Michael Haydn. Michael? Yes, Joseph's brother, who frequently collaborated with Mozart. The Robert Greenberg music courses are spectacularly enjoyable, entertaining, and educational. But so is most of their stuff.
 He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
(I do not want to ruin this magical piece by getting pedantic, but check his rhymes.)
Friday, January 27. 2006
David Warren has the same take on things that we do down here: The over-urbanized are the willing clients of the nanny state. They are loathe to take responsibility for anything; they assume when anything goes wrong, some specialist or expert will fix it. Even when they have children they expect “child-care facilities”. They are salaried people; few have ever taken a risk on their own dime. Their taxes are lifted from them at source. They are easily frightened when a Paul Martin or a Jack Layton warns that a bogeyman from Alberta is going to take their entitlements away.
Sounds familiar. Who is picking up the tab for all of these state-castrated souls? Read his entire thoughtful piece.
He is 7' and 323 lbs. He is "the beast from the east" and he is the Heavyweight Champion of the World. A bird flu vaccine produced at Univ. of Pittsburgh. That is very good news and a big deal. How can computer-generated animation convey emotion accurately? You have to study the human face: Cog. Daily If you have not already, check Michelle today on two things: Harry Byrd's support for Alito, and Kerry's considering using the filibuster. Scott takes a look at the Return of the Rosenbergs. Hey - these folks were criminal spies. A cool science/philosophy site: Edge. H/T, Instap. Ken Blackwell in Ohio: Malanga in City Journal. Malanga is always excellent. Quote: Ken Blackwell has so many people worried because he represents a new political calculus with the power to shake up American politics. For Blackwell is a fiscal and cultural conservative, a true heir of the Reagan revolution, who happens to be black, with the proven power to attract votes from across a startlingly wide spectrum of the electorate.
We don't believe in saints at Maggie's Farm, but we do love Dylan and Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy was a progressive Republican with more interests and ideas than he knew what to do with. He was always concerned about the power of industrial monopolies and "trusts," and always genuinely concerned about the farmer and the factory worker at a time when you would have to have been heartless not to be. Here's Teddy's voice, with a speech on Social and Industrial Justice, 1912.
Recent tragic deaths of children in New York City have resulted in a massive pointing of fingers where? At the City. Not at the parents. Blame the poor social worker who is probably doing her best to juggle and salvage all of the hopelessly dysfunctional homes she has on her roster - as if anyone could, regardless of the numbers of social workers. Even one social worker per family couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together. Is it realistic to expect a city government to be 100% effectively in loco parentis, with a population of 8 million? I don't think so. NYC has an enormous and very professional department of social services. And yet the press seems to approach it that way: anytime anything goes wrong in this world, it's a government failure. But these deaths are, in fact, not signs of government failure as much as they are signs of family failure. Blaming government for everything that goes wrong in this world reveals a deeply dependent attitude towards government - it reveals the immature fantasy that government could make life nice and safe for everyone, if it only wanted to. As if it were a perfect parent, or God. But even God doesn't make everything nice and safe, does he? I don't mean to be nihilistic here, and not hard-hearted - just realistic. Being alive is intrinsically risky: most years, 43,000 American adults die in cars, and 2500 kids. No matter what efforts are made, hurricanes will come, mines will cave in, people will get sick, planes and cars will crash, families will unravel, and bad people will do destructive things. (And trial lawyers will bring law suits, claiming that if we had crystal balls, the event could have been prevented.) Stories of kid's deaths and murders are heart-breaking, especially when there are two-year waiting lists for adoption. If people can't handle kids, or life, the caring thing to do is to give the kids to someone who can, and who longs for the responsibility and the chance to give love and care and protection. Those are things that even a perfect government could not provide. Gelinas at City Journal wrote about the deaths here: Why Didn't anybody save Nixmary?
 This turn-of-the-century Austrian artist has millions of admirers of his emotionally intense work. There is now a major show of his work at the Neue Galerie, which specializes in Austrian and German art (86th St. and 5th Ave., NYC).
This is his "The Artist's Wife." Both Schiele and his wife died young in the flu pandemic of 1918. His bio here. More of his work here.
I promised, a while ago, to do something on the Dark Side of God. But it is a tricky, teacherous path to walk, and I am surely not the person to blog on the subject. The Christian's God may be a God of love, but love is not a simple matter, is it? A God of love is no cuddly thing. Life isn't Sunday School, either. Nor did C.S. Lewis select the giant lion Aslan, to depict a divinity, casually. So I will refer you to this site, with a weighty piece on the Dark Side of God, by Nysse at the Luther Seminary. Be forewarned - he does refer to the "cheap, trivial Grace so often proferred in our midst." Sadly, the site will not permit me to cut and paste some quotes. Powerful stuff for those who are interested. theme is a major source of the cheap, trivial grace so frequently proffered in our midst. How shall we preach and teach the dark side of God? Candidly and hon- estly—with regard to both the biblical texts and our own lives—is the first answer.
Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea. John Ciardi
Thursday, January 26. 2006
"There's a long-distance train rolling through the rain, tears on the letter I write.
There's a woman I long to touch and I miss her so much but she's drifting like a satellite.
There's a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze, laughter down on
Elizabeth Street
And a lonesome bell tone in that valley of stone where she bathed in a stream of pure heat.
Her father would emphasize you got to be more than street-wise but he practiced what he preached from the heart.
A full-blooded Cherokee, he predicted it to me, the time and the place that we'd part.
There's a babe in the arms of a woman in a rage
And a longtime golden-haired stripper onstage
And she winds back the clock and she turns back the page
Of a book that no one can write.
Oh, where are you tonight?" "Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)," from 1978's Street Legal.
Eric asks "What is news?" He wonders why the Canada elections and the border war with Mexico aren't considered news by the MSM. And, after reading Gwynnie's post below, I have to wonder why the NYT is not subject to McCain-Feingold. If blogs are theoretically subject to them, then why isn't an overtly partisan dog-training tool like the NYT? At least blogs don't kill trees to be published. We posted our last rant on the subject, "Cancelling the NYT," in Sept. We'd be on their case more often, but it's just too easy. Give us a harder target.
More two-faced political advocacy from the house organ of the DNC. The NYT is not “biased toward” liberalism and the Democrats, it is their intellectual core, an active participant; it has long since eschewed trying to report news – it prefers to try to create news! New York Times deplores use of the filibuster in editorial, "Time to Retire the Filibuster," January 1, 1995: "The U.S. Senate likes to call itself the world's greatest deliberative body. The greatest obstructive body is more like it. In the last session of Congress, the Republican minority invoked an endless string of filibusters to frustrate the will of the majority. This relentless abuse of a time-honored Senate tradition so disgusted Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, that he is now willing to forgo easy retribution and drastically limit the filibuster. Hooray for him."
New York Times demands use of the filibuster in editorial, “Senators in Need of a Spine” January 26, 2006: Judge Samuel Alito Jr., whose entire history suggests that he holds extreme views about the expansive powers of the presidency and the limited role of Congress, will almost certainly be a Supreme Court justice soon. His elevation will come courtesy of a president whose grandiose vision of his own powers threatens to undermine the nation's basic philosophy of government — and a Senate that seems eager to cooperate by rolling over and playing dead. It is hard to imagine a moment when it would be more appropriate for senators to fight for a principle. Even a losing battle would draw the public's attention to the import of this nomination. Senate Democrats, who presented a united front against the nomination of Judge Alito in the Judiciary Committee, seem unwilling to risk the public criticism that might come with a filibuster — particularly since there is very little chance it would work. Judge Alito's supporters would almost certainly be able to muster the 60 senators necessary to put the nomination to a final vote. A filibuster is a radical tool. It's easy to see why Democrats are frightened of it. But from our perspective, there are some things far more frightening. One of them is Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.
Ya can't make this stuff up.
Monkey police: Live Science Google turns to the Dark Side: Blogcritics Canada: Tory minority in Canada is for the best, says Cap'n Ed. And is "Canadian Military" an oxymoron? TCS And more on Canada: The Harper Derangement Disorder is rapidly developing - you won't believe the quotes: Belmont. Hillary: To know her seems to be to dislike her. Maybe the Dems should take a pointer from Bill, and find someone else to love. She'll end up filling Ted Kennedy's shoes for the rest of her life, or for as long as New York puts up with her. Goldberg at LAT on Hillary's downslide:
But there's a great irony here. Hillary Clinton's success over the last decade and a half has been in pretending to be her own woman while really playing one part or another for the benefit of the media, her husband or various feminist constituencies desperate for a role model to confirm all of their comfortable stereotypes.
That's why there's something oddly satisfying in the possibility that Clinton being herself is politically disastrous. And, if she's really just playing one more role according to some classically Clintonian political triangulation, there's something equally satisfying to the prospect that even her fans aren't falling for it anymore.
The great Brit disgrace: The National Health. Tangled Web. Thank God we never went for that here in the US. Politicized medicine has got to be one of the worst ideas possible.
If what Loftus said last night on the excellent John Bachelor Show on ABC radio is true, this could be the The Story of the Year. Tapes of Saddam discussing WMDs, how he fooled the inspectors, what countries are helping him, etc. Loftus is hyping the unveiling of this info, in February. Why wait? Howard Dean & Co. may need to get ready for a rapid "adjustment." Should be interesting, especially if this intelligence is real, of course. But Loftus claims that a US intelligence agency has confirmed that it is Saddam speaking, and has confirmed the meeting dates on the tapes - but I will be a sceptic for now. Similar, but separate info via the Sada book at RWNH and at Powerline.
While chuckling over The Barrister's post yesterday about spying, I arrived at a mini-epiphany: those goofy but loveable entertainers Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh are right: the American Left really does hate America. And the Democratic Party follows their lead just like a pig on a leash. I hate to admit it, because I like the idea of a two-party system, with each holding the other to account, but both loving their country and what it stands for. That ain't what we have now. So, for amusement, next I Googled "anti-war" and some variants therof and saw what popped up. Please sample some of these to see where the current anti-war movement is coming from. Talk about living in the past! Truthout, via Geocities, Communist Tactics for the Anti-War Movement, Lessons from Vietnam, Socialist Viewpoint, Tom Dispatch, Veterans for Peace, again Socialist Viewpoint, The Nation, Atheism.com Now I do not mean to smear anyone with serious and principled misgivings about the War on Terror, or the liberation of the Middle East, with Communist intentions. But I think these sorts of people on the links are where the rhetoric, the talking-points, and the attitudes are coming from: Vietnam and a wish for the defeat of the US, just like The Barrister's character with the tin-foil hat. Too bad they're too young to remember World War 2, or are willfully forgetting it.
Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water-bath is to the body. William Shakespeare
Wednesday, January 25. 2006
 Dang. The reporters I call won't write up my evidence that he did. I figured they'd be suckers for my story. They say I have evidence, not proof. They worry about proof when we are in a Class Struggle? And didn't Jesus teach his socialist revolutionaries "What is proof?"
I did hear some tap-tap-tap on the phone a few months ago, but it turned out to be a water leak from the gutter but it was suspiciously aimed at my keyboard and f-ed it up. Then I had some computer problems, and that should be a sure sign of secret government hacker intrusions, so it's very possible they were into my email, but the only emails I get are "Naughty Farm Girls" and my favorite "Fat Girls get Frisky" etc which I hope Bush and those CIA boys enjoyed. I know the dog was barking very loud the other night to warn me the FBI was going through the garbage, and it could have been raccoons - but you never really know for sure, do you? But I wish I could show that he spied on me. I could go on TV, be famous, write a book, get lots of chicks - or at least one chick maybe (even if she doesn't shave her armpits), and be a Hero of The Movement, like Kerry or Jerry Rubin. Oh, that was 30 years ago? What's it called now? It's all over? And you say chicks prefer military guys nowadays... aw sh-t. Am I too old to sign up? Hey Dude, please spy on me. I am definitely a certified beer-powered anti-Establishment Revolutionary and a walking talking danger to capitalism - wanta see my disability card? Not working and getting my share is my heroic personal revolt against The System. I would have even voted for McGovern but I was drunk that day. I am so totally supporting Osama's People's Socialist Revolution in Iraq and Afghanistan against the Capitalist System. So listen to me now, Mr. CIA Agent: Viva Che; Make Love not War; Impeach Earl Warren Nixon Warmonger Babykiller Johnson; Ho-ho-Ho Chi Minh, NFL NLF is Gonna Win; US Out Now; Hell no - we won't go; 1-2-3-4-, We don't want your f-ing War; Smash the Glass of the Ruling Class; Support our Troops - Bring them Home Now; America, Love it or Leave It, Draft Beer not Boys; Peace, Baby; Power to the People, Go Steelers and all that other happy horsesh-it. If the government won't spy on me after saying all that, what can I do to be groovy?
"Domestic spying"? A phrase borrowed from the Nixon era. I do not believe anyone who claims they have been spied on. Pure narcissism. The Globe loves to write stuff like that. Canadian Border Guards run away!!! Too funny. Maybe Harper will correct the weeniness in Canada. RTLC. Funny coincidence: Harper wants to increase Canadian tourism from the US. I guess a gun works better than a passport. Steve Cropper. You can listen to him here and here. Didn't know he played so much with Wilson Pickett, but did know he is is the greatest soul and R&B guitarist in the world. The Border War with Mexico. It is happening. Moonbattery Is 12 years enough for reporters who reveal national security secrets? YARGB. I'd prefer banishment - why should we pay their room and board? And more on the press...since when do laws not apply to them? Lib. Leanings Repubs should quit worrying about Hillary. Why do they worry, anyway? Cap'n Ed. Repubs should worry more about living up to their stated ideals. The Joel Stein Follies. Pline Michelle corrects the Ben Franklin misquote that had been going around. Thanks. Was gonna do it myself. The "curious rise of anti-religious hysteria," from Furedi at Spiked Religion of peace: Brit Moslems to boycott Holocaust events. Am Future Education: Stossel: The poor are trapped in their schools. And this new idea, the 65% solution to school budgets. 65%!!! WFT. CSM
We did a piece here many months ago on Cowboys and Cowgirls, and another piece on What do Men Want? Now Newsweek has a major piece on "the trouble with boys." One quote: In elementary-school classrooms—where teachers increasingly put an emphasis on language and a premium on sitting quietly and speaking in turn—the mismatch between boys and school can become painfully obvious. "Girl behavior becomes the gold standard," says "Raising Cain" coauthor Thompson. "Boys are treated like defective girls."
Well, duh. More from the piece: Boys have always been boys, but the expectations for how they're supposed to act and learn in school have changed. In the last 10 years, thanks in part to activist parents concerned about their children's success, school performance has been measured in two simple ways: how many students are enrolled in accelerated courses and whether test scores stay high. Standardized assessments have become commonplace for kids as young as 6. Curricula have become more rigid. Instead of allowing teachers to instruct kids in the manner and pace that suit each class, some states now tell teachers what, when and how to teach. At the same time, student-teacher ratios have risen, physical education and sports programs have been cut and recess is a distant memory. These new pressures are undermining the strengths and underscoring the limitations of what psychologists call the "boy brain"—the kinetic, disorganized, maddening and sometimes brilliant behaviors that scientists now believe are not learned but hard-wired.
Exactly right. Hard-wired. Read the whole thing. Once upon a time, every grandmother in the world knew all of this.
Bernard-Henri Levy's new book. He is an interesting and colorful French intellectual and psychoanalyst who considers himself to be "anti-anti-American." The book, his 30th, aspires to follow in de Toqueville's footsteps. Quoted from the New York Magazine review: American Vertigo, while somewhat adhering to the “footsteps of Tocqueville,” careers around, allowing him to drag the ironies out of Cooperstown (which he describes as a church), a suburban Chicago megachurch (“neo-paganist”), an anti-Semitic Indian leader, the Mall of America (“a church,” again), John Kerry (“a European at heart”), and a big retirement community (it reminds him of apartheid). He visits with clueless Hollywood liberal Sharon Stone (whom he manages to observe crossing her legs) and finds Las Vegas strippers mechanically standoffish (“the wretchedness of Eros in the land of the Puritans”). In Michigan, he marvels at the solidity of the American identity among Arab immigrants. (The book was finished before the riots broke out in Paris: “We have our crisis there, sure,” he says. “You had your riots in the nineties.”) In Dallas, at the assassination site of JFK, he wonders, “What is a myth that you no longer believe in that still functions?” And amid all that is what seems to be his conclusion: that America is a curious sort of empire—not at all like Rome at its zenith or decline—with a particular character of individualism that he hopes will cause the country to do the good it could do in the world. He’s disappointed that we aren’t living up to our noblesse oblige responsibilities. “The reason I am so angry against neoconservatives is that they spoiled the very idea of intervention,” says the self-described Wilsonian. And he’s flabbergasted that the American left can be so accommodating to the puritanism of the right. There is, in fact, for a secular blue-stater, little in this book to disagree with: It has, at times, the reinforcement-of-a-worldview pleasures of a well-argued Frank Rich column, or, for that matter, The Daily Show.
Like many French writers, he may have a tendency to imagine that he is smarter than he is - but I would not put de Toqueville in that category. It's worth a minute to read entire review here.
Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons ev’rywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on ev’ryone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all From Joni Mitchell's Both Sides, Now. You only need to write one song like that in your life. But this piece is about changing cloud cover, and how it effects heat balance on the earth. It seems to be a changeable thing. Scientists don't understand clouds very well.
People today are still living off the table scraps of the sixties. They are still being passed around - the music and the ideas. Bob Dylan
Tuesday, January 24. 2006
A remarkable piece by Michael Mandelbaum in Foreign Policy. Opening quote: The rest of the world complains that American hegemony is reckless, arrogant, and insensitive. Just don’t expect them to do anything about it. The world’s guilty secret is that it enjoys the security and stability the United States provides. The world won’t admit it, but they will miss the American empire when it’s gone.
I highly recommend the entire piece.
Balance on the Court matters now, but it didn't with Ginsburg. Reason looks at the news, then and now. The Blackberry case. NY Sun Why are the once-optimistic Dems floundering again? McIntyre at RCP Wolfowitz isn't getting it done at the World Bank. Financial Times Clinic assists doctor's suicide. BBC A fine TR (therapeutic rant) on American education. View from 1776 Confed. Yank on Hillary, blacks, Repubs and Dems. And Shelby Steele. NYT argues against Alito in bad faith and dishonestly. P'line Bloomberg wants NYC to go into the cigarette business big-time. NYSun. Why doesn't NYC simply build a cigarette factory of its own?
This is a real email. The bold highlights are mine. Don't you just love their sensitive concern with "hate"? And don't you just love the idea of reporting speech to campus security? If I find this email offensive, or the SJP offensive, to whom do I report that emotion? I find this creepy, and wonder whether such tender solicitude (aka fear-enforced speech-control) would be shown to Ann Coulter, or George Bush, for that matter. For maximum effect, read out loud with a German accent. Achtung: Members of the Georgetown University Community,
The Georgetown University Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) will host the fifth annual national conference of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement at Georgetown University over the President’s Day holiday weekend, February 17th to 19th, 2006. As Vice President for Student Affairs, I wanted to take this opportunity to respond to a number of questions our office has received concerning this conference and the controversy associated with it.
In conjunction with the University’s Office of Communications, we have created a website to respond to inquiries and provide other relevant information about the upcoming conference and related activities. That website can be found at: http://explore.georgetown.edu/documents/?DocumentID=12105.
It has also come to my attention that some members of the Georgetown community have received unsolicited emails criticizing the conference, its organizers, and the University. While we have and will continue to investigate these messages to the best of our ability, it may not always be possible to determine their origin. We anticipate
that such emails may continue. Conference organizers have informed the Office of Student Affairs that at least one such email, representing itself as from the Palestine Solidarity Movement, is fraudulent.
If you receive emails that are offensive or hateful in nature, please forward them to the University Information Security Office at %3Cmailto:abuse@georgetown.edu%3E. If you have further questions, please visit the website above.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Todd A. Olson, PhD
Vice President for Student Affairs
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