Tuesday, March 28. 2006
Demonstrations against Christian youth group in San Francisco More on politicization of education, from Horsefeathers: ...as the dean of a California university’s school of education puts it, “Curriculum is not about content, it’s about empowerment.” Pressed for her meaning she adds, “It doesn’t matter so much what you teach; what matters is whose interests are forwarded.
Probably doesn't matter what you know, either...if you have her job. Can you believe a Dean said that? Euthanasia in Holland: Killing babies compassionately, in the Weekly Standard. Yes, if it's OK to kill them before they are born, why not after? This is the amoral consequence of pure Utilitarianism. Thanks, John Dewey. Georgia may OK Bible as textbook. Huh? The Bible needs to get an OK? Welcome to The Reconquista. Michelle. I do not think that they are kidding, either. Poll on illegal immigration. It's a loser for both Dems and Repubs.
... if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. Nietzsche
Monday, March 27. 2006
Who cares? Scooter Libby and the Potemkin Prosecution. I am afraid Fitzgerald has ruined his legal career. What is the difference between a moderate and an extreme Imam? The MSM makes no distinction between legal and illegal immigration. They call all of it "immigration." So I guess I can assume they support illegal immigration? Why would news media take a covert position on this? Or any position on this? Hire me, Mr. Brady. It's the honest-blogger bake-off. A ten-year contract, at $500,000/year. I will seriously consider it. Ace quotes Steyn: In a more culturally confident age, the British in India were faced with the practice of "suttee" - the tradition of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Gen. Sir Charles Napier was impeccably multicultural: "You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks, and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours." The Samizdata quote of the day: "You will take possession by military force, of the printing establishments of the New York World and Journal of Commerce... and prohibit any further publication thereof... you are therefore commanded forthwith to arrest and imprison... the editors, proprietors and publishers of the aforesaid newspapers" Order from Abraham Lincoln to General John Dix, May 18, 1864.
Welcome to visitors from other sites. While you're here, take a look around the Farm - click "Maggie's Farm" on top. The Barrister has already made a very thoughtful post on the topic of illegal immigration, but I'd like to add a little follow up to show another side to this whole debate that is frequently overlooked: the role of language itself in framing the issue. Perhaps the most commonly heard euphemism these days is "undocumented worker," an old standby of the illegal immigration lobby, but in truth it is only one term amidst an entire vocabulary of lies and distortion peddled by illegal immigrant advocates from Ted Kennedy to George W. Bush and used to dictate the terms of the broader discussion. With that in mind, I've prepared a little glossary of phrases to help the discerning reader wade through the abysmal media coverage of this issue as well as the half-truths, logical fallacies and outright falsehoods uttered by the political leadership of both parties. "Hard-working people" A favorite of President Bush, most often used to describe illegal aliens and thereby to excuse their illegality. An irrelevant point, since merely working hard at one's job (if we accept this premise) is obviously not a legitimate excuse for violating the law of the land. See also "good-hearted people." "Jobs Americans Won't Do:" Another Bush favorite, this phrase is used so casually by the President that hardly anyone has taken the time to study the implications of such a statement. In fact, this glib phrase is a true monstrosity, as it implies that there are entire types of jobs which not a single American is willing to do - and what's more, the President apparently is approving, or at least accepting, of this unwillingness of millions of his own citizens to perform such work. A tacit endorsement of the creation of a foreign-labor underclass to perform menial labor. "We Are A Nation of Immigrants:" A particularly vile half-truth. While a majority of Americans are descended from immigrant ancestors (that is, foreigners who entered this country after its independence), only about 15 percent of Americans today are foreign-born. And how does the fact that large numbers of legal immigrants have come to this country at certain times in American history serve as a good argument (or any argument at all, actually) for granting amnesty to illegal aliens in 2006? "Comprehensive Approach/Reform:" A phrase often on the lips of Bush and co., this is the current "hip" way to refer to a mass amnesty of illegals, without actually saying so. "Unwelcoming/Un-American:" Adjectives used more often by the left, but increasingly by the right as well, to delegitimitize any attempt at controlling our borders or enforcing immigration law. Hillary Clinton recently put a new spin on this old standard by calling a Republican immigration bill un-Christian as well. "Migrants/migration:" While civilized, lawful countries maintain immigration policies, the use of the word migration conjures up visions of flocks of birds headed northwards unimpeded, or perhaps of the great migrations of antiquity: nobody describes the Goths or the Huns "immigrating" across the steppes and into the Roman Empire. By using the word, the user hopes to create a psychological sense of a vast and imminent force beyond the control of law-abiding societies. "Welcoming society v. lawful society:" A relative newcomer, most recently found in Bush's weekly radio address (itself a masterpiece of immigration Newspeak), which draws a false parallel between enforcing the laws of the nation (a clear, concrete concept) and a vague notion of being "welcoming," which as defined earlier is simply an emotional appeal for non-enforcement of the same laws. Bush claims that we can be both at the same time, when the two concepts are clearly diametrically opposed. "This bill is not an amnesty/I am firmly opposed to amnesty but...:" Usually (but not always) an excellent indication that the bill in question is an amnesty. 
"Tightening/strengthening the borders:" Usually used in connection with initiatives to hire a couple dozen new border patrol agents, or to spend millions on surveillance equipment that doesn't either impede or capture anyone wishing to illegally enter the country.
At right: Hard-working Mongol immigrants facilitate a cross-cultural dialogue with Polish knights at Liegnitz, 1241 A.D.
 High praise for his new record.
Of all of his great tunes, my favorite is These are the Days from Avalon Sunset. A tear-jerker, and rightly so. And it happens to be a theme song of the wonderful Rockbrook Camp in NC, where girls learn about independence, courage, endurance, horses, white-water kayaking, rock-climbing, guns, corny camp songs, bonfires, heavy-duty hiking, God, life-long friendship, shaving-cream battles, and everything else that matters in life.
We posted Frederick Church last week. Since we're on a Hudson River School kick, here's a local favorite by Thomas Cole (1801-1848) - View from Mount Holyoke (1836), but often referred to as the Oxbow. That's the Connecticut River. A bit here about Mt. Holyoke. If you drive through Route 91 in Mass., you have been past the oxbow. 
"Marriage is for White People." WaPo, H/T, Instapundit You can't understand history without understanding microeconomics. Libertarian Leanings. And you can't understand Girl Scout Thin Mints either. IKEA founder flies coach and drives an old car. Just like me. A short history of numerology, and what it has to do with the WTC. Belmont The Top Ten Air Guitar solos. The Top Ten high-tech cars for 2006 From the Am. Princess on illegal immigration: No one has the "right" to live in America. This country is not the final destination of everyone who believes that they "deserve" something better than what they have. It is not the responsibility of this country to provide anything to anyone, despite the claims of a million Entitlement groupies. When the last wave of immigrants came here, it wasn't because their own government demanded that our government be open to giving them jobs, so that they could stimulate the economy of the homeland. When the last wave of immigrants came here, it wasn't because they wanted free school, driver's licenses, or medical care. The immigrants built this country, but they built it for themselves. They came here legally, they came here with skills, and with the idea that they were going to build for themselves and their families a better life, above board, and with everything that they could give to it. My grandparents, my parents, came here with papers, through Ellis Island. They came here legitimately, they earned their jobs legitimately, and they worked and paid taxes and sent their children to public school. They earned the right to be called an American through their hard work, through their desire to leave behind their old ways, the ways that had made them poor, and despite the pull of their nationalism, they made a commitment to this country.
"I am serene. I have full awareness of what I have chosen. If I must die, I will die."
Sunday, March 26. 2006
 ROSALIA Puerto Rico,
You lovely island . . .
Island of tropical breezes.
Always the pineapples growing,
Always the coffee blossoms blowing . . .
ANITA Puerto Rico . . .
You ugly island . . .
Island of tropic diseases.
Always the hurricanes blowing,
Always the population growing . . .
And the money owing,
And the babies crying,
And the bullets flying.
I like the island Manhattan.
Smoke on your pipe and put that in!
OTHERS I like to be in America!
O.K. by me in America!
Ev'rything free in America
For a small fee in America!
Entire lyrics here. Image: The Rio Grande. It gives me a migraine to think about the illegal immigration issue, but I think I understand what is going on. My view is simple. Our representatives make immigration laws that hopefully serve the nation and reflect the feelings of the people. People who break these laws are working the system. That is not the right way to begin a new life in a new land. And it especially saddens me when it can be so difficult for people who want to come here legally - it's a hassle, there are quotas, employers have to demonstrate a specific need, etc. Without boundaries, a country isn't a nation - it's just a place. But no ordinary place: it's a place to which countless millions in the world would come, if all they had to do was wade across the Rio Grande to get here. I know why the Dems are inclined to support illegals - they want their votes. And the Repubs not only want their votes - their business supporters want their cheap labor. I believe the majority of Americans, on the other hand, want their borders and laws respected, and do not want to be flooded by a de-facto invasion on which they were never consulted. Thus the majority of citizens are at odds with both parties of professional politicians. Being a regular sort of guy, I expect most Americans have the view that I do: Hey, illegals - stay home and fix your own countries, and make them be like us. Rick Moran has written a fine and calm piece on the subject. Update: In an email, Rick mentioned the "racism" charge which is often used against those who want our laws respected. Answer me this: If you were asked to vote in a poll for 13 million Brits, Poles, Irish, Yugoslavs or Russians to be shipped illegally and covertly to America, who would vote "Yes"? Damn few. I like Larry Kudlow, but he is wrong on this. Americans do not hate Hispanic people. Why would they?
 The Multiculturalism movement, which has been sufficiently mocked and demolished endlessly, represents cultural suicide.
A very fine piece by Dinocrat on the subject of the encounter of Sharia Law with Western Liberalism. That encounter leads to fire, as it has for over one thousand years. War is the only solution, and inevitable, as long as Islam requires submission from others. War, or submission, but submission is not my cup of tea. A fight is preferable. For the past week I have been reading about the wars of the barbarians against the Romans. Those barbarians never did quit. Tribal people for whom fighting and expansion of territory was their way of life. Why didn't they just want to make nice villages and farms along the Danube and the Rhine? We call them "warlike," and that captures it. Rome conquered Gaul not to expand empire - there was nothing valuable there that could not be obtained by trade - but for defense. The tribes would not leave them alone. Today, we are dealing with people of a similar mentality. If you compromise with them, they will only view it as weakness, and will be encouraged to push your limits further. It is difficult for Western Christian people to imagine the mindset of people who truly view us as subhuman, because we try so hard to be humane. Someone forgot to teach them multiculturalism and tolerance, and perhaps we have been over-taught not to respect and love our culture and our civilization. They can easily take France and Sweden, but they will never take the USA. We are not warlike, but we are proudly cranky.
The School Voucher push in Calif. This is an idea whose time is coming. Blogs are off the hook with the FEC. Thank goodness. A comprehensive review of the WMDs, Saddam and Al Quaida, and the Russian Connection - that you will never find in the New York Times. Facts do not fit their mindset. A dress that will truly fit: Spray-on "I love you" becomes sexual harassment. We must be in the End Times, because the world has gone nuts. How did we miss Scalia on judges? No better than Joe Six-Pack on moral judgements. No doubt. They're lawyers, for heaven's sake. Damn, he is 70 years old already. Paul a bit too easy on the NYT? Seems to me that they will buy any story that fits their view of the world, and reject stories that do not. From View from 1776: As Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in the 1850s, after half-a-century of socialism in France, the French had become a nation of self-centered people, heedless of the greater good of society, intent only upon getting their prescribed government benefits, and prepared to endure any degree of despotism, so long as the benefits arrived.
The new role of judicial review in government. The Prof The Marines notice kids. Meanwhile the Christian peaceniks try to schmooze the Imams instead - whose religion commands them to kill non-Moslems. When did God command Christians to stop using their God-given brains? Free money? Why not, just like speech? Who needs banks, nowadays?
Saturday, March 25. 2006
This Pepsi_Italian_Style.wmv one is as good as the Mercedes advt. If you missed the Mercedes advt we posted a couple of days ago, scroll down. This stuff is Art!
An online interview with Chomsky, here. Problems with polygamy: it leaves some guys with nobody to love. 75% of respondents (Who are these people?) agree with Charlie Sheen that 9-11 was faked. Normal folks call that spending too much time in Tinseltown, where all reality is fake. Easter Eggs banned in St. Paul. Worried about Jihad, folks? Afraid the Moslems might come in with a bomb to your Parking Violations Department in the Town Hall? Is that the American Way of Life? Dems floundering for a message? My opinion? They don't dare say what their real message is. Super piece by Ace on the subject. Bob Kerry admits new intel demonstrates Saddam-Al Quaida links. Russians gave Saddam US attack plans. Why? They want the oil. Epicures discover Basque cooking. Will it replace French cuisine? Not on my watch.
Friday, March 24. 2006
 The Song Sparrow may be the most common sparrow in the Eastern US, but is found across the country and Canada. He is on my mind because I have just begun to hear his spring song last week, which will continue throughout the summer (unlike most songbirds who sing territorially in the spring, and then keep quiet).
He is an easy sparrow to identify, with the streaked breast with the big blotch in the center. And, perched on the top of a shrub branch, head tilted to the sky, pouring his heart out, he is hard to miss. Interestingly, his song has many regional accents, but the basic format remains the same. More about the exhuberant Song Sparrow, with sample of his familiar song, at CLO. Photo courtesy of P. LaTourette.
Dear New Visitors to Maggie's Farm: Check out our entire blog - we are worth a couple of minutes of your time - and bookmark us - we are always informative and surprising... Man, the net is full of good advice - for free: Ask the Imam: Are women allowed to work? Ask the Madam: I am bored with my sex life. Ask the Guy: What about Feminism? Ask the Pastor: How can I tell if this guy is married? (and should I care?) Ask the Sexpert: Am I a Transgender? (Of course your are.) Ask the Doctor: Excess body and facial hair. Ask the Sexologist: How to masturbate. Ask the Plastic Surgeon: I need bigger boobs. Ask the Leftist: Like, ummm, How do Feminism and Marxist-Leninism go together? Ask the Gynecologist: I have PMS 30 days per month. Ask NOW: What Month is it? (It's women's Herstory Month!!!) Duh!!! Everyone knows that. Ask another Sexologist: How do I please a man? Ask the Anatomist: Is my clitoris too big or too small? Ask the Dating Pro: How do I chat up a man? (Image: Quit pushing that button - the video won't work here. We are a dignified blog.)
Since around three pandemics occur each century, it is inevitable that a next one will appear. But will it be of the H5 bird type? Research over the past year suggests not. It is comforting to know that this flu is a greater danger to birds than to people, unless you spend a lot of time with infected birds. So as the media dramatically report the movement of H5 flu in birds, this seems to be more of ornithological interest than human-medical.
The dihydrogen monoxide environmental crisis. This chemical can have a very serious impact on the environment. Gee whiz, what happened to the Harvard logo on that paper about Israel? Headline of the Week: (via Drudge): French Anarchists Riot over Job Security Our neutral news media: Bush makes me sick. The people will kill him if he is freed. As I said before, I want this guy at Yale. Neither rain nor sleet...what? This dude is fine for military duty, but not for the Post Office. I guess the Post Office is extremely picky about who they hire...and, from the opposite end of the moral spectrum, marathoner jailed for false disability claims in UK. Incredible photo, via Fark. Don't miss the crow. Now it's California levees. Why permit people to live in idiotic places, if taxpayers have to support it? Why not make dangerous flood zones into wildlife sanctuaries, and be done with it? Art News: Panda bear painted on a single hair. Nice for over the fireplace? German Beer update, from Der Spiegel "They were a really nice family." Tennessee Pastor's wife suspect in killing of husband. Haven't I always said "Beware of "really nice" people"?
You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. C.S. Lewis
Thursday, March 23. 2006
A glance at the current issue of the International Socialist Review: Noam Chomsky on Latin America. I don't know what authority Chomsky possess beyond that of any ordinary blogger, but these comments aren't his usual loony rants. (The article, "Latin America at the Tipping Point," is not online. Information about the magazine is available on its Web site.) Challenges from Latin America are "bubbling up" for policy makers in Washington, writes Noam Chomsky, the controversial author and professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Countries across South America are growing "completely out of control, with left-center governments" that are increasing their trade with China and the European Union, he says. Even in Central America, he says, "the lid is barely on." Indeed, writes Mr. Chomsky, "the noisy protests during President Bush's trip in November 2005 to the Summit of the Americas, in Argentina, amplify the dilemma." Washington's thorniest problem at the moment, he writes, is Venezuela, which provides almost 15 percent of the oil imported by the United States and whose president, Hugo Chávez, has accused the United States of supporting a 2002 military coup to oust him. Venezuela already has a closer relationship to China than does any country south of the United States, he says, "and is planning to sell increasing amounts of oil to China as part of its effort to reduce dependence on a hostile U.S. government." Compounding matters, he writes, is the close relationship that the Venezuelan government is establishing with Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba. The two nations have arranged a barter system whereby Venezuela provides Cuba with low-cost oil in exchange for help with literacy and health programs. "Joint Cuba-Venezuela projects are also having a considerable impact in the Caribbean," Mr. Chomsky writes. He mentions as an example a program under which "Cuban doctors are providing health care to people who had no hope of receiving it, with Venezuelan funding." According to Mr. Chomsky, "Washington's Latin American policies are only enhancing U.S. isolation." One example that he cites is the United States' trade embargo against Cuba, which the United Nations recently voted to condemn for the 14th straight year. The vote on the resolution was 182 to 4, he notes.
Great Mercedes advt - watch.
 A Slippery Slope fallacy is committed when there is no persuasive evidence or argument for things moving in the indicated direction.
That is bad writing, but blogging is hasty. Here's one example from Nizkor: "We've got to stop them from banning pornography. Once they start banning one form of literature, they will never stop. Next thing you know, they will be burning all the books!" or: If we let Bush wiretap calls from Al Quaida, next thing you know he'll wiretap my calls to my secret grilfriend in Des Moines. However, Slippery Slope arguments can be persuasive when there is reason to think that something will progress further: "If you give that dog an inch, he'll take a mile." When a slope is part of a political agenda, it is safe to assume that an issue may be in the process of being given a push down that slope, so it pays to be watchful. A strategery of "incrementalism" is often a clever political approach: First we'll ban assault rifles, then handguns, then rifles, then shotguns, then, eventually, BB guns and finally squirt guns...and snowballs. or We'll focus on banning late-term abortions, which no-one likes, and move forward from there to making abortion a state issue again. Like all of the logical fallacies we enjoy, Slippery Slope sometimes can be non-fallacious, which is from whence falllacies derive their power. Volokh recently posted an excellent example of the fallacy - with a good drawing.
 "God knows you ain't pretty,
God knows it's true.
God knows there ain't anybody
Ever gonna take the place of you.
God knows it's a struggle,
God knows it's a crime,
God knows there's gonna be no more water
But fire next time.
God didn't call it treason,
God didn't call it wrong,
It was supposed to last a season
But it's been so strong for so long.
God knows there's a river,
God knows how to make it flow,
God knows you ain't gonna be taking
Nothing with you when you go."
"God Knows," from the 1990 album Under The Red Sky (though originally written and recorded for Oh Mercy). Download a live version from 1995 here, or one from last summer's tour here.
|
