Monday, April 24. 2006
The architect Filippo Brunelleschi 
(1377-1446) is the giant of Florentine
design. More than anyone else, he is responsible for bringing Renaissance architecture to the old medieval city.
What is the goal of "higher education"? Meaning college. I would say that it is the ability to write clearly, which means to think clearly; to know a ton of stuff about all sorts of things; to know Shakespeare, the Bible, geology, calculus (which also means to be able to think clearly) and Locke and Aquinas etc., and I could go on and on. Kalthoff at American Spectator reports that the old goals have been co-opted by the moonbats. That is not news, thanks to good ol' Dave Horowitz, but Kalthoff does a good job with the theme. One quote: Universities were not created to encourage diversity or throw parties in its honor. Rather, they were founded upon the principle that ascertainable Truth exists. These days many conservatives seek to reform higher education by demanding that universities practice their professed diversity. These conservatives grant the diversity crowd's premise. Then they beg, in the name of fairness, for a seat at the table. They plead, "Let us traditionalists, let us strict constitutional constructionists, and let us defenders of Intelligent Design Theory have seats beside the queer theorists, the professors of deconstructed whiteness studies, and the post-Marxist feminist evolutionary biologists."
This tactic betrays the historic purpose of higher education, which is not to give every view a place at the table. The university ought to be concerned with truth, not diversity. Giving every side an equal say denies that some things are actually higher and more worthy than others. Universities exist to serve the higher things -- the pursuit, preservation, and propagation of the Truth. Alongside this goal stands the traditional aim of American colleges to foster virtue, both moral and intellectual.
I agree with every word. Read the whole thing.
We claim to be Centrist in outlook - not
"moderate," whatever that means. Your Editor in Chief, pictured on right, took this highly-reliable political-orientation test and came out "Centrist." That is good proof. But if we come out "centrist," then who the heck comes out "conservative"? Or has the "center" moved a bit, over the past few years? Take the test and find out what you are. And stop pushing the button below that photo. The video is disabled. What do you think we are?
Dr. Dave had slept with one of his patients, and felt guilty all day long. No matter how much he tried to forget about it, he couldn't. The guilt, and sense of betrayal of his Oath was overwhelming. But every once in a while he'd hear an internal, reassuring voice in his head that said: "Dave, don't worry about it. You aren't the first medical practitioner to sleep with one of their patients and you won't be the last. And besides, you're single. Just let it go..." But invariably another voice in his head would bring him back to his conscience, whispering:
"Dave ....
Dave .....
Dave......
....you're a Veterinarian"
 New news about the art and science of hitting a baseball: "Don't keep your eye on the ball." Why? It's not possible.
Auster explains "anarcho-tyranny", as exemplified in Britain. He does have a point. All About Mary McCarthy - a couple of posts at Belmont. Wizbang comments on Kerry's bizarre claim that McCarthy did the right thing - and this guy wanted to be Commander in Chief? There is a big story here - maybe worth a Pulitzer? Duke: This was not a normal police lineup. (h/t, La Shawn) Where are all the Lutherans? Haha. Marg. Revolution knows. Celebrate NYC, and its secrets: Another goodie from Marginal Rev. If you haven't seen this: Anchoress on the Cult of Lying - Malevolent Mendacity Joe Jemail demonstrates how interviewing a witness should not be done. A bad lawyer - post, with video - by the Prof. Mobbing. An interesting group phenomenon. Something to watch out for in organizations. Here's an appealing new car. What is it? Story at Owner's Manual. I guess the NYC Auto Show is this week. 
Sunday, April 23. 2006
Enviros have been clamoring for expensive gas for years: they have figured that costly energy should be a driving force for less gas use, and for the development of alternative sources. Indeed, the US has been spoiled by dirt-cheap gas prices for many years. But the prices we pay now are in fact politics-created. If you want cheap gas: 1. Remove the taxes. What is the federal and state tax per gallon where you live? 2. Get rid of this dumb ethanol additive nonsense. It costs more, complicates distribution, and is nothing more than a boondoggle for corn farmers. 3. Let's drill for oil in the US. Let's use our own, offshore and in Alaska, etc. Or do not complain. 4. Let's increase refinery capacity. And, whatever is done, the price of oil will increase due to worldwide demand. Pejman takes a look at how gas prices have become a political football. And Ex-Donk takes a look at how the Dems will try to exploit it - without offering any solution other than empty bromides, like "alternative sources instead of drilling," as Brewton points out today. Attack, attack, attack.
Mary McCarthy, who was fired by the CIA this week for leaking CIA secret information to reporter Dana Priest, is just one of a bunch of ardently Democratic folks at State and the CIA who have been using their positions to undermine the Administration. A great Left-Wing Conspiracy?, asks Ace. McCarthy, Sandy Berger, Richard Clarke, Joe Wilson... Powerline has been talking about that for a year, in a non-paranoid manner, but I doubt that they imagined that such efforts might reach the level of treason. But it looks like it has, and she has let us down grievously and probably criminally. I doubt she was caught in a "mole hunt," as some have speculated - but she was caught in a leak-hunt. It matters not whether the CIA or NSA was sending terrorists to Uzbekistan for interrogation: the morality of that is a separate subject. From a piece by Protein on the subject: The subtext in the clause I highlighted suggests that these leak investigations could be a net negative inasmuch as they’re already beginning to “worsen” the White House / MSM relationship—one that the WaPo acknowledges was “already-tense.” And that of course misses the point entirely, I think, and is doubtless borne of press arrogance (which is now practically institutionalized) and 30+ years of having ideological reign over shaping and controlling narratives: because the fact is, the White House knows relations with the media will never normalize, it knows that it has been treated with hostility by an increasingly activist ideological press, and it has decided that protecting America’s security is more important than trying to get on the good side of the fourth estate, which has been hell bent on scandal-mongering, with the hope that something will stick and sink the Bush administration, ever since the start of the Iraq campaign. Further, Porter Goss said he was going to clean up the CIA, and he—like John Bolton—seems to take his job seriously. Which is why there was such resistance to both men, though the resistance against Goss happened once he was appointed CIA head and it became apparent he really meant to shake things up. And if this story breaks like I’m starting to sense it will (for instance, McCarthy was Larry Johnson’s boss, and the connections between familiar players favored by the anti-war left are starting to pile up1), the press calculus could play out in such a way that they see tough coverage of this scandal—an ACTUAL SCANDAL this time, mind you
Saturday, April 22. 2006
1. Travel Tip: When you're out for your Sunday drive tomorrow, watch out for old folks. They move slow, but they're mean and crafty. (video) 2. Still Free tags Air Force One. Amazing hoax video. 3. Rush Limbaugh on immigration: It sounds like a Rush rant - but wait 'til the end for the punchline: quick video download: Apr_6_Rush.wmv
Business news: Google is still on a roll. I sold all of mine already, but I try to be prudent with hot stocks. And guess who is back? McDonald's. Their food is revolting, but not their profits...except their fries - better than in France. I know people who pick up a load of fries there when they are grilling steak for dinner. What suckers! The Brits are moving their jail toilets to please Moslem inmates. Is there a better place to pray, or read, than on the old throne? It must be in the Koran, right next to "Kill the infidel": "Toilets must not face Mecca." Those Blairite Brits are turning into metrosexual saps. Katrina frauds don't want to give their money back. Huh? It's not their money. Go ahead, play the pity card. That card does not work with the IRS.
Galaxies on a collision course, from the Hubble deep field image: 
IowaHawk has outsourced his humor to India! Rooty toot toot! Protest season. Quote from NE Repub: How come when Clinton or Jimmy Carter, or any Democrat won a Presidential Election…..we don’t have Republicans protesting on the streets of Washington? Call me crazy…but I strongly feel it has something to do with “having to go to work”…………Conservatives need to go to work-right? They have kids, and jobs and all kinds of responsibilities..I mean, even I do.
How soon will Hamas collapse? The legal migration from the high-tax blue states to the red states: Why is it happening? Daily Pundit. The sky is falling. Justin on environmental hysteria. Russia's demographic choice: Suicide. Perhaps they might welcome 30 million Mexicans? Venezuela become a military camp. What a joke. I guess it keeps the population from getting pissed off at Chavez - plus gives them a job. Pathetic. Another quote from One Cosmos' confession (read it all here): While harping on my own shortcomings, mention should also be given to my intellectual arrogance and my moral superiority. Scratch any leftist and this is what you will find: a bottomless reservoir of conviction that they not only know more than you do, but that they are a better person than you are. You are greedy, or homophobic, or sexist, or racist, or hate the poor, or don't care about the planet, while I am the opposite of all those things. I am kind, compassionate, wise, generous and tolerant.
The reason why leftist ideas are so devoid of substance is that they often come down to a simple affirmation of these self-flattering adjectives, as in the example a couple weeks ago of Jimmy Carter's abuse of the innocent elementary school student. To summarize, it went something like this: "Are you a nice person?," asked Carter. "Yes," says the girl. "Then you are a Democrat." Easy.
Friday, April 21. 2006
So Scott McClellan has resigned as the White House press secretary. Say what you want about the fellow, at least he had better skin tone than Marlon Fitzwater. People are bandying about names for his replacement, mostly speculation centered on Fox News Channel's Tony Snow. Does it really matter who you have as your press spokesman?
Thursday, April 20. 2006
 Two noted economists, Kahneman and Krueger, think they can solve the "problem of human unhappiness" using their "U-index." Not only that, they believe policy-makers should listen to them.
If it were satire, it would be pretty funny. If they were psychologists, it would be ridiculous, because no psychologist or psychiatrist or psychoanalyst would claim to have the key to happiness, much less claim to be able to define the word - much less claim happiness to be the goal of human existence: defining the meaning of life is not their/our job. (Not to mention the fact that lots of folks are quite happy being grumpy and unhappy, while lots of others seem to be insatiable.) And one secret known well by psychoanalysts is that the way folks feel has mainly to do with their relationship with themselves, not to their material or life circumstances - unless their circumstances are dire, which is rare in the Western world. Thus, in the end, reading about these two guys feels a bit like reading a speech by Kim Il Sung, or something in Brave New World. Creepy. No-one wants government messing with our souls: we will deal with our own souls, thank you very much. Delivering the mail, killing terrorists, and leaving me alone are all that I ask of them. A quote from Kling's usual fine essay at TCS: My point is that -- with the exception of the Austrians -- economists have been going down a slippery slope of interventionism for a long time. Krueger and Kahneman are simply further down that slope.
another: Perhaps the original sin here is to think of the economist's role as that of policy advocate. The policy advocate combines the job of a technician with that of a preacher (Robin Hanson made this point to me during a discussion that we had after hearing a talk from the economist Deidre N. McCloskey). The technician predicts the consequences of a policy. The preacher argues for the policy. With research into subjective well-being, economists are making statements about what constitutes the good life. In doing so, we are encroaching on territory once claimed by philosophers and theologians -- and, more recently, by self-help gurus. In the 70's, it was I'm OK, You're OK. Now, we are saying "I have positive net affect, you have positive net affect."
Someone should tell these arrogant jokers and closet utopian totalitarians to stick to their knitting: I don't trust people with power who obtain their happiness by figuring out how to make me happy. Read Kling's entire piece here.
Second homes: They were 14% of the real estate market in 2004. Are they driving the real estate market? Clayton Cramer Georgia's new immigration law: details here at YARGB Free political speech and 527s. Coyote rips Repubs for their role in this mess. Carl Bernstein makes a case for impeaching Bush. Claims it's not partisan. I think it's just payback time. Rick Moran takes a look. What plants like to grow on beaches along the Atlantic coast? I have a project going, so I needed to check. Here they are.
"I'm beginning to hear voices and there's no one around
Well, I'm all used up and the fields have turned brown
I went to church on Sunday and she passed by
My love for her is taking such a long time to die
I'm waist deep, waist deep in the mist
It's almost like, almost like I don't exist
I'm twenty miles out of town, in cold irons bound
The walls of pride are high and wide
Can't see over to the other side
It's such a sad thing to see beauty decay
It's sadder still, to feel your heart torn away
One look at you and I'm out of control
Like the universe has swallowed me whole
I'm twenty miles out of town in Cold irons bound" "Cold Irons Bound," from 1997's Grammy-winning Time Out Of Mind. While many of Dylan's earlier lyrics could stand on their own as poetry, those on Time Out Of Mind cannot - to me anyways - be separated from the music without having their impact significantly diminished. In this sense, though, they may work better as complete songs than some earlier masterpieces. In live performances Dylan uses the music to heighten the emotional impact of the songs to an even greater degree than on the albums: try, for instance, a fiery version from 1998 here, or a subdued new arrangement performed just a few days ago in Grand Prairie, Texas, here.
I disagree with lots of it, and agree with lots of it. But I welcome a sane, adult, and friendly debate about the proper role of government in the lives of free people. Our Uncle Norm has posted it here. If I had the time, I would go through it point by point. But I have a business to run, jobs to create, opportunities to nurture, money to be put to work, and new ideas to develop. Maybe I will find the time soon. In the meantime, I wish Uncle Norm would covertly take on a real job in the real world, and have the chance to find out what it is like. He might be quite surprised: Good capitalist work is great, challenging, life-affirming, scary, creative, rigorous, and infinitely more exciting than being a professor to a bunch of drooling, hormone-poisoned, brains-full-of-mush late adolescents. And it is fun to make a real income. I wish those good guys would try it, before they pontificate about socialism. But I like them and enjoy them anyway. There is lots more to life than politics - but individual freedom is high on my list of pleasures. For better or worse, let me deal with what I have been blessed with, and leave it to me to figure out what my goals are - if any.
There are of course a number of Pointing breeds which contain that strange and fortunate DNA which causes them to freeze when bird scent is close, but in the US "Pointer" refers to many generations of breeding of the English Pointer. I have been told that the Show lines can make good family pets, but the Hunting lines seem to Live to Work, like your friends at Maggie's Farm. Pointers are typically hunted with a bell or a beeper collar to keep track of their location. They are the classic dog for quail hunting, and are a more popular breed in the southern US than elsewhere: in the South, "dog" tends to mean Pointer, and "bird" means Bob White quail. There are few sights as dramatic as that of a Pointer on point. Photo below is an example. This dog which hunted with some friends in Valdosta, GA in March, is pointing a covey of quail in the palmettos. Here's an excellent review of all of the basic types of bird dogs. 
The CEO of Tyson Foods manages to arrange a meeting with the Pope at the Vatican. After receiving the papal blessing, he whispers, "Your eminence, we have an offer for you. Tyson Foods is prepared to donate $100 million dollars to the church if you change the Lord's Prayer from "give us this day our daily bread" to "give us this day our daily chicken.'" The Pope responds, "That is impossible. The Prayer is the word of the Lord - it must not be changed." "Well," says the Tyson man, "We anticipated your reluctance. For this reason, we will increase our offer to $300 million dollars. All we require is that you change the Lord's Prayer from 'give us this day our daily bread' to 'give us this day our daily chicken.'" Again, the Pope replies, "That, my son, is impossible. For the prayer is the word of the Lord and it must not be changed." Finally, the Tyson guy says, "Your Holiness, we at Tyson Foods respect your adherence to your faith, but we do have one final offer. We will donate $500 million dollars to the great Roman Catholic Church if you would only change the Lord's Prayer from 'give us this day our daily bread' to 'give us this day our daily chicken.' Please consider it." And he leaves. The next day the Pope convenes the College of Cardinals. "There is some good news," he announces, "And some bad news." "The good news is that the Church has come into $500 million dollars." "And the bad news, Your Holiness?" asks a Cardinal. "We're losing the Wonderbread account."
Wednesday, April 19. 2006
Jetlag Cures: Water, darkness, and earplugs. The Chinese organ-selling story. Hey, why not? It is "rational", isn't it? Travel and Do Good: Adventurers bring cataract surgery to Indian villages. Only Americans would do things like this. An MD with a Medicaid practice: That ain't a medical practice - that's charity. God bless him. We agree with Pejman: Scott McClellan was never comfortable around the White House Press Corps. He was hardly what one would call an effective or charismatic spokesman for the Administration's interests. And at times, McClellan could just be clumsy. His successor will have a low bar to clear. As for Rove, it (embarrassingly) never occurred to me to think that the White House's political problems may stem from the fact that its chief politico took up policy matters in addition to his political portfolio at the start of the second term. Correlation is not causation, of course, but one cannot help but wonder whether the expansion of the Rovian empire might have detracted from the effectiveness of the Administration's political operations. In any event, Republicans will likely welcome the renewed attention that Karl Rove will pay to political matters. The midterms, after all, will be upon the country quite soon now.
The Boston Globe tries its hand at multicultural "understanding." Seems like they "understand" suicide bombers. Of course they do. Who could doubt it? As an essayist, I see Dinocrat rising to the level of the Great Right Wing Nuthouse. From a piece on multiculturalism: Modernity carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. Modern society, with its technology, ease, mobility, and wealth weakens the traditional bonds of tribe, religion, family and tradition that have been the bonding elements of human society over many millennia. One of the chief sources of internal rot in modern society is multiculturalism. Multiculturalism arises out of a number of factors, including (a) the lack of understanding and instruction about how our bountiful time was created; and (b) the guilt of Western elites. Multiculturalism both creates internal rot, and finds itself easily intimidated by and unable to deal with pre-modern societies with deep tribal and belief structures such as the sharia societies of Islam.
Raskalnikov, a Canadian Indian, is fed up with blogging. One quote from Manitoba (with comments from S,C and A, where you can read the whole piece): The white liberal guilt in this country has gone into overkill. It's like a dysfunctional family that buys new appliances when one son comes out of the closet, or the youngest daughter gets pregnant. Throw money at it, spend it away, ignore it under a pile of material compensation. Granted some if it does go to honorable ideas such as education, culture and health. These are vital aspects of life and the opportunities in them for us are now endless. The playing field may not be completely level, but it's much better than it was 50 years ago. Shit, 20 years ago. Any Indian not handcuffed by mental illness or addiction can be anything he or she wants to be. A doctor, a cop, whatever. It's sad most of them choose to keep on perpetuating the victimhood cult. In a society where we place such small value on thinking, is it any surprise the victimhood pimps use emotional fervor to brainwash future generations into whining and bitching? Mix this with the revolting, degenerate hip-hop destroying the minds of our youth and it sure beats having to take responsibility for yourself. And the welfare being handed to us by the Government only serves to put more value on the role of victim; not only does it appeal to baser human instincts, but you can get paid for it too.
As for our own Leadership, as much as I despise most Chiefs and Councils in this country, they are only human. How many of us could be handed endless streams of money, then find out all you need to do is cry racism when anyone asks what you did with it, and not be corrupted? This certainly doesn't pardon them, but I can sympathize with their fallibility. That being said, they are reprobate thieves and sawdust dictators for the most part. There should come a point when you recognize the errors you have made. We Indians are supposed to be so wise, especially our 'leaders". Yet we keep on making the same mistakes over and over, first and foremost keeping our lips tightly sealed on that big sweaty bleeding-heart progressive tit. Raskalnikov is tired- and has been, for a while. ...I expect more. I am, by nature, a very cynical and skeptical person, however as I got older I realized, of course, most of that was just my own crap to deal with, and life, and people, really aren't that bad.....then I read something or hear something that just verifies my cynical outlook and I get enraged. Wow. People really are that stupid. Life really is meaningless and nasty, solitary, brutish and short. All that Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and Camus I read isn't just adolescent navel-gazing. People really are dogshit on the sole of the universe. And I guess nowhere is this more blatant than in politics and current events.
From the Financial Times on Hollywood’s Pellicano scandal: “The scandal in Hollywood, by contrast, is about that community’s special currency, deal-making leverage. The leading man is Anthony Pellicano, a private investigator, who has been indicted for bribery, racketeering and illegal wiretapping. Mr Pellicano is alleged to have secretly listened in on celebrities and entertainment industry figures, including Nicole Kidman (when she was divorcing Tom Cruise), on behalf of industry big shots. At issue in the ongoing investigation is whether the agents and studio executives who hired Mr Pellicano to gain the upper hand in their negotiations and lawsuits understood his methods. “It may be far from routine for Hollywood bigwigs to stick spies on their enemies or send goons to intimidate prying journalists, as is alleged in this case, but the ruthlessness and aggression that prompted producers, agents and L.A. lawyers to hire Mr Pellicano are perfectly normal in Hollywood. This is merely a hyperbolic expression of the narcissism and paranoia that characterise the movie mogul’s relentless drive for dominance in pursuit of mediocrity.”
When Lincoln, with his son Tad, was taking the Presidential train back from Richmond following the fall of Richmond in April, 1865, shortly before his assassination, he saw a Box Turtle sunning near the tracks. He had the train stopped, and went out and played with the turtle with Tad for a while before re-boarding the train. Anyone who likes Box Turtles is OK with us. They are coming out of hibernation now, hungry, and looking for mates. Don't run them over, and help them across the road. And don't take them home - they don't work as pets, and they like their home territory. How do I know they are awake? Saw my first one of our local colony, taking the sun yesterday morning. Funny how they always look cheerful.
The Sprint Family Locator. Here.
 We have posted earlier on the hazards of being an illegal in Mexico, and the huge obstacles to becoming a legal immigrant into Mexico - while the Mexican govt. takes great joy in dumping their unwanted citizens into the US:
Considered felons by the government, these migrants fear detention, rape and robbery. Police and soldiers hunt them down at railroads, bus stations and fleabag hotels. Sometimes they are deported; more often officers simply take their money. While migrants in the United States have held huge demonstrations in recent weeks, the hundreds of thousands of undocumented Central Americans in Mexico suffer mostly in silence.
Read the whole sorry, hypocritical, ridiculous story, at Ace. Mexico is beautiful, but a screwed-up joke of an irrational country - as bad as Sweden.
John Kekes refreshes our memory of The Terror of the French Revolution, for which the ends justified the means. One quote: ...in declaring his aim to be a society in which “the immortal principles of equality, justice and reason” would prevail, Robespierre simply dropped liberty and fraternity, substituting whatever he regarded as justice and reason. The justification of the massacres was that those killed were enemies of the republic, counterrevolutionaries who had conspired against that equality, justice, and reason whose realization would “establish the felicity of perhaps the entire human race.” The pivot on which all turned was those principles of equality, justice, and reason, which Robespierre spelled out in a declaration that formed the basis of the Constitution of 1793. Some extracts: “Article 1. The object of every political association is to safeguard the natural and imprescriptible rights of men.” “Article 3. . . . rights belong equally to all men, whatever their physical and moral differences.” “Article 4. Freedom is the right of every man to exercise all his faculties at will. Its rule is justice, its limits are the rights of others, its source is nature, its guarantee is the law.” “Article 6. Any law which violates the imprescriptible rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical.” How did Robespierre actually interpret these principles? He said: “[W]e must exterminate all our enemies with the law in our hands”; “the Declaration of Rights offers no safeguard to conspirators”; “the suspicions of enlightened patriotism might offer a better guide than formal rules of evidence.” Commenting on an execution, he said: “Even if he had been innocent he had to be condemned if his death could be useful.” In a letter advising the Revolutionary Tribunal, he wrote: “People are always telling judges to take care to save the innocent; I tell them . . . to beware of saving the guilty.”
Read it all and remember. The guy was a creepy loser. Whenever you hear "equality, justice and reason," run for the hills. It means they want to kill you: it is "rational." If someone says "freedom from the state," - go there: it means they respect the human heart and soul. As much as I like Norm Geras, I would not want to be a serf or slave on his socialist plantation. It would be soul-destroying, and could turn me into a lazy, undignified, working-the-system bum, like the blue-eyed hedonistic jerks in Sweden or the brown-eyed infants in France.
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