Wednesday, May 31. 2006
Danger lies in the writer becoming the victim of his own exaggeration, losing the exact notion of sincerity, and in the end coming to despise truth itself as something too cold, too blunt for his purpose—as, in fact, not good enough for his insistent emotion. From laughter and tears the descent is easy to snivelling and giggles. Joseph Conrad
Yes, it certainly is. Al Gore used a euphemism for playing fast and loose with the truth, and the estimable Dr. Joy Bliss called him on it. To all my Fark friends, I send you back to the dictionary, where you can find all sorts of words for stressing important things, like: reiterate, and stress; accent; accentuate; belabor; dwell on; feature; harp on; headline; italicize; emphasize; play up; point up; repeat; rub in; spotlight; underline; underscore. Those are words used by people NOT trying to give a false impression to create a panic they can capitalize on politically, and seeking to innoculate themselves from future criticism by making their bona fides in the good intention department to excuse their ambivalence about accuracy and proportion. The antonym for these words is relax, by the way; sound advice. Do we at Maggies Farm... ahem... over represent the Environmental Carbon Cavilling Cavalier's love for everpresent looming armageddon and false alarmism, as characterized by Mr. Gore? You tell me: Greenpeace's fill-in-the-blank public relations meltdown Before President Bush touched down in Pennsylvania Wednesday to promote his nuclear energy policy, the environmental group Greenpeace was mobilizing. "This volatile and dangerous source of energy" is no answer to the country's energy needs, shouted a Greenpeace fact sheet decrying the "threat" posed by the Limerick reactors Bush visited. But a factoid or two later, the Greenpeace authors were stumped while searching for the ideal menacing metaphor. We present it here exactly as it was written, capital letters and all: "In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE]." Had Greenpeace been hacked by a nuke-loving Bush fan? Or was this proof of Greenpeace fear-mongering? The aghast Greenpeace spokesman who issued the memo, Steve Smith, said a colleague was making a joke by inserting the language in a draft that was then mistakenly released. "Given the seriousness of the issue at hand, I don't even think it's funny," Smith said. The final version did not mention Armageddon. It just warned of plane crashes and reactor meltdowns. (From Monday's Philadelphia Enquirer Thanks to a Chequer Board of Nights and Days for the link)
Would it look any different, really, if it said: FILL IN OVER-REPRESENTATION HERE ?
Whew. I have been thoroughly farked. I have never had one of my pieces "farked" before (see my post prior to this one), but I have also never been subjected to so much rage in my life, as in the abundant comments. "Wingnut"? Me? They would never call me that, if they were lucky enough to meet me. 172 comments! It wasn't even a piece about global warming - just a piece about how the human conscience works. What's the big fuss? Is Al Gore a sacred cow?... or a Sacred Bull? And then does his BS not stink? This is not war, dear gentle readers. What especially bothered me is that essentially all of the over-heated comments missed the entire point of the post. Perhaps I should have used the example of "Bush lied so we can get all of this nice cheap oil?" But I have no comparable confession from Bush, nor do I see all of the cheap oil. Yes, that photo is me, at Cape Cod last summer. Surfer's Beach (White Crest Beach), where the strong and manly hands of the waves will firmly, steadily and relentlessly disrobe a lady of both her upper and her lower bathing garments, if she is not careful, and unveil the glory of her secret delights. By the way, if I misread Gore's intent, I will say so. I am not convinced, but I am a Mass General doctor with a Harvard MD. Not a lawyer, but not stupid either: I do not parse - I just read, like a normal person. I can't help it if I am attractive - God made me this way, to be a good breeder, and I like it. Image: Copyright Harvard Medical School Faculty Facebook
A rough day for the ol' blog. We had to shorten things up  a
bit to accommodate the avalanche of very welcome but often
argumentative visitors. We never dreamed there would be so much interest in Al Gore...and Al Gore wasn't even the main subject of Dr. Bliss' piece today. Please argue, visitors and readers - but argue rationally or, if irrationally, then at least with humor. I have to hand it to Fark - they have some big numbers of avid and loyal readers. Wow. Many thanks to Chris for keeping us up and running with duct tape, baling wire, and chewing gum. Australian High Schools complain that the press is looking at their curriculum plans. What are they - secret revoutionary cells? Almost sounds that way. Protein. Maybe they should remember who pays them. Put down the bong, Canada. Update on the Moslem cartoons in Canada and Denmark. Atlas Why did Bush beat Kerry? Funny photos - very revealing. YARGB Bad news on how immigration amnesty has been working under current law - a hotbed of corruption, sneakiness, government contract deals, cheating, lying for pay, scummy politics, and general sliminess. VDARE. This needs to be sent around. Iraq is safer than Washington, DC. More stats at Gateway. Something we missed on Memorial Day: The 553rd anniversary of the fall of Constantinople. It wasn't pretty. Gates of Vienna. Radical Chic. You thought it was something from the dopey 60s. Nope - some still think it's cool. Dalrymple on The Guardian's antiquated fascination with totalitarian Marxist thugs and murderers - and their clothing. What is the hatred of WalMart all about? Is it envy of success, or is it snobbery of the elites, or what? Zinsmeister at AEO takes a look at the subject of the most successful retail organization in the world.
Welcome, visitors from all over the world! Please visit us often - or bookmark us. Check us out, while you are here. We are always interesting, often provocative, and always eclectic and suprising.  For us head-shrinkers, public figures make for great case examples, because there is no confidentiality issue. The downside, of course, is that we don't really know them in any depth. All we have are public words and behavior.
Al Gore offered us a nice example last week when he stated, about his admittedly propagandizing and fear-mongering movie Inconvenient Truths: "...I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous (global warming) is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis."
So it is appropriate to lie? Should we re-name it Convenient Lies? Although this is not the first time Big Al has made similar statements about his choices (the "no controlling legal authority" case), I will not throw stones, because I do not claim to be perfect. Instead, I'll just take a minute to look at the meaning of his statement. I take it as a given that all humans are prone to immoral thoughts and to wrong-doing, or temptations for wrong-doing: there would be no need for laws, rules, or morals if that were not so. And it is known that, while a small fraction of the population lacks any meaningfully-functioning conscience, most people have consciences of varying degrees of strength and effectiveness. Whenever we "size up" a new person, that is always an essential item on the list. The conscience functions by sending up warnings to us when we are heading into behavior we feel might be morally questionable; by punishing us with guilt or shame or remorse when we cross our moral lines; by rewarding us with the wonderful feeling of self-respect when we follow our moral expectations; and by holding up for us an ideal of who and what our best self could be. Living with one's conscience is one of the great challenges of being an adult: we struggle with it, and sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. There are a number of tricks we can play on our conscience, though, in an effort to make it leave us alone and give us a free pass. Our case example of the day highlights one of the most effective tricks: Rationalizing. What Gore said - and I believe that he believes what he said - is that it is OK for him to deceive the public by distorting and cherry-picking and exaggerating facts, because it's for a good cause and because he means well. (No doubt he rationalized illegal fund-raising with a similar justification. Hey - everything can be a "crisis", right?) Translated, this says: "If my intentions are good, or if I have a good excuse, then the ends justify the means and my inconvenient morality can take a vacation." (When you think about it, though, morals are always "inconvenient." Always. The Ten Commandments were a great gift to our better selves, from a God who well knew our weaknesses and flaws, and who longs for the best for us and from us, but who offers us the respect to make our own choices.) That form of thinking is enormously corrupt and corrupting, because it can justify anything - lies, theft, mass murder, adultery, injustice, mayhem, exploitation, cruelty, disloyalty - you name it. To use this trick, all you need to do is to convince yourself that you are aggrieved, or that "everybody does it," or that you are such a superb person that you are on the side of the angels - and you get a free pass from your conscience. No wonder it's such a popular self-deception for those with, shall we say, "flexible" consciences, aka serious moral flaws. If you can believe that the angels are on your side, or that you are a victim, or that you are better than other people - anything goes (especially if you can burnish it with a gloss of phony idealism or victim entitlement). How damnably convenient! Matthew 16: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Image: I like the image of Jiminy Cricket as the representative of our conscience. We all need him, perched on our shoulder and whispering into our ear, at all times. If you want to enjoy yourself in the short-term - ignore him. He is a party-pooper but, in the end, he is on your side. Editor's note: For an honest and rational discussion of the greenhouse effect, try Junk Science. And click on our blog headline to read more posts this week responding to this piece, and to the commenters on this piece.
Here's a 1997 Peugeot you might want to bid on, on Ebay. Unemployed? Like outdoor work? Like sunshine? Want a macho career where you can drive a pick-up, drink beer all day, and wear whatever you want? Gator-catcher. Chief No Nag explains how illegals are driving Americans out of the middle class. Maxed Out Mama The Man Without a Country. We all used to have to read this - not a bad thing. Neo-neo reflects on patriotism - another good thing, even if un-cool at Manhattan cocktail parties. How does Saint Al do this, and how can I? Purchasing indulgences, at Moonbattery. Beyond Marx: Class Autobiographies. Here's one at S&M. Great quote: "Everyone is scarred by their upbringing. The only question is: how?" It's about time: a blog called Chesterton and Friends.
Preach the Gospel always, using words if necessary. St. Francis of Assisi, to his followers (If I had been his editor - God forbid - I would have had him say "using words, only if necessary")
Tuesday, May 30. 2006
This great lady, now dying, is profiled here in The New Yorker. H/T, Hewitt
 The names of warblers have been changed like crazy over the past few years. This little guy with his raccoon-eyes is now the Common Yellowthroat - not to be confused with the Yellow-throated Warbler, which is rare.
We are now at the end of the warbler migration, as these tiny jewels illegally migrate from Central and South America to their breeding grounds in the north. This common warbler loves to skulk in thick underbrush, especially near water, but his loud, penetrating song gives him away. Song, and info, here at CLO.
 Best piece I have seen on the politics of immigration. McIntyre at RCP
California Cabernets beat French wines, 30 years later. Starbucks plans for the future: More than latte. Check out that stock chart, too A new book from Larry McMurtry: CSM says his best since 1988 Quoted from a piece at Atlas: The way I see it is this. European societies face a problem in that the Muslim populations in their midst are growing at a faster rate than the native population. Over time, the proportion of those societies made up of Muslims is going to increase. It's often said that one consequence of this is that Europeans adopt a spineless attitude towards Islamic terrorism, attempting to appease it rather than address it, for fear of provoking civil unrest in their own countries. This invertebrate attitude on the part of Europeans is cited as something that will lead to the inevitable downfall of their civilisation and, maybe within our lifetimes, their eventual partial or total submission to an Islamic way of life with all the horrors that brings. It's seen as a suicidal strategy, born of weakness.
How the federal government plays a huge, but hidden, role in land use. NYT Science Times
The new DVD of The Producers is selling like hotcakes... I wish it was selling like DVDs. Mel Brooks, heard on a radio interview on Saturday with Mark Simone.
Monday, May 29. 2006
Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace - but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775 We posted the Image below of Arlington National Cemetery, last Christmastime, along with the story of Merrill Worcester, of Maine's Worcester Wreath company, who donates these wreaths: 
Sunday, May 28. 2006
Al Gore admits lying in his warming movie. He calls it "over-representation of facts" - but it's "for a good cause". I guess there is "no controlling legal authority" for Leftist propaganda. Will write more about this moral weakness of his later, because I think it is dangerous. Bertie Wooster and the "insurgents" have something in common. They hate shorts. Iraq insurgents murder tennis players - LGF. At the same time, Anchoress points out the hilariously redemptive humor of P.G . Wodehouse, without whom life would be much less delightful than it is. The military murders in Iraq. A damn shame, if true. We train very professional soldiers, but we must have some sympathy for those few who lose it, in combat. Not to forgive it - but some understanding. Tragic, terribly wrong, but it does not discredit our effort to build freedom. The anti-American, anti-freedom forces will exploit any evil to the max in the effort to create false moral equivalencies. In war, bad shit happens. The best trained soldiers are only human and, who knows, it could have been me. I pray that these guys have not shamed our country by descending to the moral level of the enemy. John Kerry just won't go away. The reason the Swiftvets had an impact was because it was clear that the guy just smelled like a phony, pompous person, regardless of his military service. Our pal Kesler.
1 John 5: 9-13 9If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. 10Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Saturday, May 27. 2006
This is a somewhat re-worked piece from earlier in the week: We have always asserted on Maggie's Farm that the Left has fascist impulses, which is the main reason we fear them. Many of us have been there - in our liberal youths - and done that, so we know what it's like to imagine that one knows how to run a utopian world. We believe that the Left wishes to control everything and anything they can -from the food we eat, to the games we play, to the cars we buy, to the guns we shoot, to the medical care we seek, to the stores we use, to where we enjoy tobacco, to the ways we participate in politics - in their illusion of wisdom and their will for power. I believe that this is why they can seem so strangely sympathetic towards, and apologists for, dictators like Stalin, Fidel, Chavez, Saddam, Hamas, etc. No Pasaran takes a look at the "progressive" adoration of Chavez. The concept of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" persists, but, as it has always been, that becomes the dictatorship of thugs and the power-mad. Plato's philosopher-king doesn't work in real life. When I see people from liberal democratic societies kissing the feet of socialist dictators - feudal kings, in effect - it gives me a chill, and gives anyone a chill for whom individual freedom - the free choice which confers dignity, and the consequences of our choices which confer humility as often as they confer joy and glory - is the holy grail. I know I am preaching, but I fear the tendency in the human species to be willing to sell one's birthright for a bowl of lentils or a bottle of snake oil. But more than that, I fear the lentil salesman. Life was meant to be difficult and to stretch our neurons and muscles and spirit to the fullest as we seek our path through the dark woodlands and deserts of life, guided by whatever star or stars we chose. And still, we will fail in many ways. "Fail, and grow. Succeed, and stagnate." I said that. Which leads to the subject of Risk. The freedom to take risks is one of the fine things about free capitalist societies, and you could make a case that people are compensated, in part, by the amount of risk they are willing or able to shoulder in their work (military, cops, miners, and firemen excluded - those are government jobs, so they don't count). Risk and responsibility go hand-in-hand. As a newspaper reporter, I have minimal responsibility other than covering my local assignments glibly, and, if I screw up, no-one really cares. But a whole world of work is open to me, if and when I decide to jump into the cold water and make a change. Freedom to fail - a very fine thing indeed. But it hurts. Part of being American is a willingness to sustain the hurts without running to Mommy Government for a kleenex. (Americans run to trial lawyers instead - which is almost as much of a culturally-subversive trend.) I guess I have little more to add to what The Beatles say in Revolution and what Dylan says in My Back Pages. (excerpt): A self-ordained professor's tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
"Equality," I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.
In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now. (Ignore that continuation page below - I can't make it go away)
Continue reading "The News Junkie Lets it All Hang Out"
Friday, May 26. 2006
 As regular Maggie's readers know, Roger Scruton is in our pantheon of essayists, right up there with Dalrymple. From his recent piece on John Stuart Mill (a very smart guy but perhaps lacking in wisdom and life experience - but I detest retrospective judgements, especially when performed by intellectual inferiors like me) whose thinking evolved from utilitarianism to liberty to socialism:
Mill's defense of liberty, which was enunciated with great force and seeming clarity, soon followed the path taken by his defense of utilitarianism, and died the death of a thousand qualifications. "On Liberty" sees individual freedom as the aim of government, whose business is to reconcile one person's freedom with his neighbor's. "The Principles of Political Economy" by contrast, while pretending to be a popular exposition of Adam Smith, accords extensive powers of social engineering to the state, and develops a socialist vision of the economy, with a constitutional role for trade unions, and extensive provisions for social security and welfare. The book is, in fact, a concealed socialist tract. While "On Liberty" belongs to the 18th-century tradition that we know as classical liberalism, "Principles" is an example of liberalism in its more modern sense. Mill's hostility to privilege, to landed property, and to inheritance of property had implications which he seemed unwilling or unable to work out. His argument that all property should be confiscated by the state on death, and redistributed according to its own greater wisdom, has the implication that the state, rather than the family, is to be treated as the basic unit of society--the true arbiter of our destiny, and the thing to which everything is owed. The argument makes all property a temporary lease from the state, and also ensures that the state is the greatest spender, and the one least bound by the sense of responsibility to heirs and neighbors. It is, in short, a recipe for the disaster that we have seen in the communist and socialist systems, and it is a sign of Mill's failure of imagination that, unlike Smith, he did not foresee the likely results of his favored policies.
Yes - in other words, a return to Feudalism. And ah, that pesky Law of Unintended Consequences. Here's the whole piece at Opinion Journal. Mill's thinking on various subjects seems as alive today, as ever. Here is a brief synopsis of his life.
Booze is healthful for men, but not for women. Call it "medicine." We do. Review of the R. Crumb Handbook in NY Review of Books. Hey, Mr. Natural - we miss ya, dude. Galloway claims it's OK to kill Tony Blair. Or at least understandable. No wonder that this jerk likes Fidelito and Chavez: he is a latent fascist murdering thug himself. Who elects this guy? And also - Blair himself is Left, just not totally loony Left. But close enough for government work. Why the "hockey stick" is a new low in climate science. Bow-fishing. The Indians did it, but I did not know people were doing this for sport. I do not like the idea of "snap back". And I wonder how the refraction of the water's surface effects one's view of the target. Age Warfare? In Britain, as in the US, it's the older folks who have the wealth. So what? Wealth is wasted on the young.
The following report is from this week's Stratfor Geopolitical Report at Strategic Forecasting, Inc.Break Point, by George Friedman
A government has been formed in Iraq. It is a defective government, in the sense that it does not yet have a defense or interior minister. It is an ineffective government, insofar as the ability to govern directly is at this point limited institutionally, politically and functionally. Ultimately, what exists now is less a government than a political arrangement between major elements of Iraq's three main ethnic groups. And that is what makes this agreement of potentially decisive importance: If it holds, it represents the political foundation of a regime.
If it holds.
If it holds, the rest is almost easy. If it doesn't hold, the rest is impossible. Therefore, the fate of this political arrangement will define the future of Iraq and, with that, the future of the region -- and in some ways, the future of the American position in the region. It is not hyperbole to say that everything depends on this deal.
The deal that has been shaped is about two things: power and money. First, it addresses the composition of power in Iraq -- defining the Shia as the dominant group, based on demographics, the Kurds next and the Sunnis as the smallest group. At the same time, it provides institutional and political guarantees to the Sunnis that their interests will not simply be ignored and that they will not be crushed by the Shia and Kurds. In terms of money, we are talking about oil. Iraq's oil fields are in the south, unquestionably in Shiite country, and in the north, in the borderland between Kurd and Sunni territory. One of the points of this arrangement is to assure that oil revenues will not be controlled on a simply regional basis, but will be at least partially controlled by the central government. Therefore, at least some of that money will go to the Sunnis, regardless of what arrangements are made on the ground with the Kurds.
Continue reading "An objective, non-political view of Iraq"
 During World War II, the Japs developed a way to try to demoralize the American forces. Psychological warfare experts developed a message they felt would work. They gave the script to their famous female broadcasters generically termed "Tokyo Rose" by GIs, and every day they would broadcast this same message packaged in different ways, hoping it would have a negative impact on American GI's morale.
What was that demoralizing message? It had three main points:
1. Your President is lying to you.
2. This war is illegal.
3. You cannot win the war.
Does this sound familiar? Is it because Tokyo Reid, Tokyo Kennedy, Tokyo Pelosi, Tokyo Feingold, Tokyo Murtha, Tokyo Kerry and their ilk, have picked up the same message and are broadcasting it on Tokyo CNN, Tokyo ABC, Tokyo CBS, Tokyo NBC ... directly to our military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan?
The only difference is that they claim to support our troops before they demoralize them. Come to think of it, Tokyo Rose told our soldiers, sailors and marines she was on their side, too!
Why do they want this effort of liberation to fail? Is it purely political? Or worse? Image: One of the best-known of the Tokyo Roses (Iva Toguri d'Aquino) in prison. She was the seventh American - yes, she was an American - to be convicted of treason. She was ultimately pardoned by Pres. Ford as his last act in office.
 In our past pieces on weather and climate, we have predicted that any bad weather from 2005 until the election will be attributed to Bush. I even heard our Lieut. Gov. of Massachusetts last week attribute a week of heavy rain to global warming. A typical political ignoramus: did global warming give us this past gloriously cool and sunny May week in the Commonwealth, too? If so, give me more of it.
You might almost imagine that bad weather began with Bush. Somebody tell Noah. From the two reviews (links below) I have seen, Al Gore's movie sounds like a propaganda exercise, filled with distorted, incorrect, and cherry-picked data points. And why ignore the Medieval Warm Spell? But why did he approach the subject in a non-objective way? And to what end? Altruistic? Political? Grandstanding? Playing Chicken Little? Or hoping for a TV weatherman job ("A band of thunderstorms with heavy hail are working their way across Kansas this morning, due to Bush.")? You tell me. My opinion on climate? Climate changes happen. It is never static for long, regardless of the cause. And even if mankind did cause the current tiny upswing, nothing will be done about it. So enough hysteria, please! And Al Gore is a scold and a crank, like an old lady. What is the cure for the Common Scold? One critique here, by Dr. Robert Balling, a Prof of Climatology, at TCS And a letter to Al Gore from Dr. Roy Spencer, also at TCS
 It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
Mark Twain, with a slick hair-do
Thursday, May 25. 2006
"Up in the mornin' Out on the job
Work like the devil for my pay
But that lucky old sun got nothin' to do
But roll around heaven all day.
Had a fuss with my woman, toil for my kids
Sweat till I'm wrinkled and gray
While that lucky old sun got nothin' to do
But roll around heaven all day
Oh Lord above, can't you hear me cryin'
tears rollin' down my eyes
Send in a cloud with a silver lining
Take me to Paradise Show me that river, take me across
Wash all my troubles away
Like that lucky old sun, give me nothing to do
But roll around heaven all day." "That Lucky Old Sun," lyrics written by Haven Gillespie and Beasley Smith in the 1940s and covered by numerous artists including Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Jerry Garcia. Dylan has played the song only three times in concert, the most recent being this version from Irvine, California in June of 2000.
Is your house a "tear-down'? Around here, they are called "scrapers" if each bedroom lacks its own bathroom and walk-in closet, or if the parlor is larger than the family room. Prosperity sure does spoil folks in the US, but don't tell me they don't work hard for it, or take risks for it. Dean reassures Dems: "We will find a way to screw this up." Maggie needs to lose 1000 lbs., but she won't exercise. We need to put her to work on the Farm, pulling pick-ups out of the mud, or pulling a plow, or pulling up stumps, or stomping deer poachers into fertilizer. Love and Suicide. A new Moro film, made in Cuba. With a great photo of Cuba today. Wounded soldiers (and healthy ones) find distraction and productivity via their laptops. The limits of reason. John Stuart Mill got the importance of reason, but not of wisdom. Sir Edmund Hillary advises - Don't leave the dying behind - help them. Hey, Sir Edmund - when you need to get to the top of the heap, who cares? Let 'em die. "Honor" is old-fashioned and obsolete. Remember when Hillary Clinton told an audience in Australia that she was named after Sir Edmund - but it turned out she was born before he climbed Everest? The Everest climb has become a tragic joke, but an expensive one, in money and lives. If you want to do something with your life, do something worthwhile...not that there is anything wrong with climbing mountains.
 She told me we couldn't afford beer anymore and I'd have to quit. Then I learned she had spent $175.00 on make-up. And I asked how come I had to give up stuff and she didn't. She said she needed the make-up to look pretty for me. I told her that was what the beer was for.
Peter Wehner in the WSJ on May 23: Iraqis can participate in three historic elections, pass the most liberal constitution in the Arab world, and form a unity government despite terrorist attacks and provocations. Yet for some critics of the president, these are minor matters. Like swallows to Capistrano, they keep returning to the same allegations -- the president misled the country in order to justify the Iraq war; his administration pressured intelligence agencies to bias their judgments; Saddam Hussein turned out to be no threat since he didn't possess weapons of mass destruction; and helping democracy take root in the Middle East was a postwar rationalization. The problem with these charges is that they are false and can be shown to be so -- and yet people continue to believe, and spread, them. Let me examine each in turn:
Read the rest of his essential piece here. Despite its accuracy, the article will be largely ignored, because the erroneous talking points have been repeated so many times that it seems too late for correction - and the White House hasn't done a good job refuting them.
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