Tuesday, May 16. 2006
 The speech? What speech?
Outsourcing tutoring to India: Naturally, the unions are going bonkers. Too bad - it's a global economy. And a good idea too. WaPo The Comfy Chair: This is a good day to link to the Spanish Inquisition and the Comfy Chair torture.
Am I the last person to find out that you can get XM satellite radio free on AOL?
Monday, May 15. 2006
Everyone on the radio, TV, and on the blogs are concerned - or, in some cases, pleased - by the prospect of Bush falling on his face tonite with his immigration speech. The whole issue is a no-win for him, whatever he does. Like HH, most of us at Maggie's want a fence. And want people to get in line for their legal immigration status. NYC up to its ears in cash: Highest tax receipts ever. Want to bet they find some way to spend it all? NY Sun Joke of the Day: Last night, my wife and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her, "I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."
She got up, unplugged the TV and threw out my beer.
Bitch...
Sunday, May 14. 2006
 Pimm's #1 is IN. Who knew? It has been around since the Celts, I think. My Life in Stockholm. Plus a recipe. Perfect for a wedding - punch! - in a carved-ice bowl. Cheap, Anglo-Saxon, delicious, and not overly-intoxicating. A sort of Brit Mint Julip.
Dems join suit to quit terrorist surveillance. Good for them. What a genius idea! Osama and pals salute your dhimmitude. A Hornet at 30 feet. Nice photos. We are deploying aircraft carriers in the Gulf. Damn - is anything finer than an aircraft carrier? Tammy. Passenger dies. Tour bus continues on schedule. Hilarity ensues. What's the big deal? A dead person is just a person who quit breathing. People do that all the time, on a daily basis. At a certain point, it just becomes too tiring, and people say "what the heck." Fewer Americans go to church weekly than has been thought. Of course - there are so many more worthwhile things to do, like, ummmm. (h/t, News for Christians) How to endear yourself to Philly fans. Some catch. Some bruises, too. Nude fencing? There's an idea whose time has come. I'd prefer they wear the standard helmet, though, in case they aren't attractive enough in the face. For their eyes, too. Still, this could be a boon to the fencing world. A list of books Uncle Norm likes to read to kids, and grandkids. The complicated politics of illegal immigration. Rick covers it, with reference to Podhoretz's piece. It is a maze. Just do what is right, and boldly cut through the tangle. Antidepressants cause suicide? Great - a new trumped-up hysteria. Trial lawyers - take note. And they will. Guess what? Depression can be a serious problem. If you frighten folks from treatment, you are doing them a serious disservice.
Saturday, May 13. 2006
 It becomes clearer that this sad, feckless, larcenous gal got caught up in something bigger than she could handle, and then it became too late to back down. But it is never too late to tell the truth. She could be facing some serious civil suits, but she has no money, so she is "insulated." Latest news.
By the way, note that she is referred to as a "dancer." Martha Graham was a dancer; Baryshnikov is a dancer. This lady is a stripper: I believe the liberals refer to that as a "sex worker," not a "dancer." Check your manual, AP writers. Yes - there is definitely racism at Duke: black racism against whites. Sexism too: Women against men. That is proven, now, by all of the loud noises emanating from Durham. Also, for a small minority, envious hatred of the athletes with their puny SATs. Who wants to address those "issues"? What is with this assumption that white guys are always guilty, just for "happening to be" white and male? How about a federal "program" to deal with that "crisis"? God knows, for college admission and job application purposes, we would all be black females. I would happily be black - I don't care. Or maybe, to be fully up-to-date and totally cool, an illegal Mexican. No "race or gender" has a monopoly on wrong-doing or stupid-doing or lying. We are all prone to it, which is why we all need to be careful about what we do and say. If I am wrong in my instinct about this, I promise to drink a 6-pack of Ballantine Ale in one hour, without enjoyment. But, by the way, where are our fave race-pimps, Jesse and Al? Running away? Hmmm. Show some courage; come back, fellas! Jump into the fray and get your pretty faces on the news again. Hey! Where did they go? Hit and run? What? Oh...I heard that they are all in their black-tinted window SUVs, heading out of North Carolina, leaving smokin' tire marks in the parking lot. Must be nice to have professional drivers, just in case you'd like to have a few roadies on the way home, with an "intern" or two in the back seat. Image: Note to the Associated Press - That is a "dancer": Suzanne Farrell in Serenade. "My Stradivarius", as Balanchine referred to her. Your reporters need to get out of the Bada Bing Club and see the world.
Friday, May 12. 2006
I am shocked - shocked! The sudden phony shock and alar m about NSA phone data-mining is a nice bit of acting, but congress has known about it for years, and the whole story was reported earlier by the NYT, as seen here. Is it constitutional to data-mine phone records in search of suspicious international calling patterns? I don't know, but the laws are on the books - Calif Conservative lists them. I can easily see its potential usefulness: it's like taking a CAT scan of the nation, to find a tumor. There really is no other way to try to do it, and our phone records are not secret or confidential - but their content is, so wiretapping is another matter. However, effectiveness is no justification for unconstitutional acts: only in love and war can the ends possibly justify the means. (It's a shame that the Supreme Court forgot that principle over the past 30 years.) So I suspect that how people feel about all this depends on whether they view us as being in a war or not - a war against Jihad, but an unconventional war with a pre-industrial people, which requires that Jihad plant organizations within the US. Is this crime, or war? You tell me. It might be a matter of semantics, but to me, it's a kind of war. If anyone wants the NSA to stop doing this, they should speak up and say so. I trust the NSA not to mis-use their data, but I still do not like the idea. My plan: let no-one into the US unless properly vetted and checked, and find and kill the terrorists, and then quit this operation.
The "white guy" won! Booker won in Newark, despite being a lighter-skinned black than his opponent. Talk about playing the race card. The good news? Democrat Booker is pro school choice. Moonbattery Enviros are anti-illegal immigration, but they won't admit it because they do not want to alienate their liberal donor base. CSM Half of US kids under 5 are minorities. Related chart below from the CSM story above: 
Thursday, May 11. 2006
Call the Chianti Squad: Haha. It must smell like my kitchen. Blair Won't you be my neighbor? (h/t, Allah) 
The whole mess summarized by  Michelle.
Sowell takes a look at the politics of illegal immigration. Honestly, I have no idea where either party really stands on this. Buy American? A Ford Mustang is 65% American, and a Toyoto Sienna is 90% American. Cafe Hayek All too true-About sex, from Ace: Hold the phone, you're saying heterosexual women are attracted to men? In my personal experience, I have not found that to be the case. What did Ahmadinejab's letter mean? Was it a heart-felt reaching out, or war talk? Dino says that there is no doubt - it was a last chance to convert to Islam. I'd tend to agree with that. Melanie Phillips on the EU: It is astounding that Europe is not merely systematically unravelling the moral settlement at the heart of western civilisation but is using such coercion to do so, riding roughshod over the democratic rights of individual countries to pass laws in accordance with their own religious and moral beliefs and values. It is a clear illustration of the totalitarian impulse at the heart of not just the EU project but the ‘progressive’ universalism which the EU project embodies: the belief that individual nations have no right to express their known particular values through their own laws, because laws and values rooted in the particular are by nature exclusive and discriminatory; that the only legitimate laws and values must be universal and supranational; and that because these are universal, they are by definition unchallengeable and therefore any person or state who defies them must be guilty of prejudice and punished accordingly. This is cultural totalitarianism: a supranational religion of nihilism that is now to be ruthlessly enforced by the Savonarolas of secularism.
Brit High Court requires armed hijackers be given refugee status. Unbelievable. I never owned a slave (altho I could use a few), nor did my ancestors, at least in the past 400 years. I am guilt-free, and if this is what the Dems offer, then I am agin it. The Caliphate is becoming a serious goal of Islam. How much denial can the West tolerate? Quite a lot, I guess. CSM What women can see in men's faces. Live Science Via Instapundit, on Europe: LES JONES: "The consequence of Europeans not having children is that their elaborate social welfare system and free healthcare are liable to collapse in a generation or two as a consequence of their birth rate being below replacement level. They obviously know where babies come from, but it's less clear they know where adults come from."
Wednesday, May 10. 2006
At Maggie's Farm, we link things we would like to discuss, had we the time to do so. But what with milkin' the cows, feedin' the chickens, chasin' the bunnies out of the lettuce, poachin' deer, paintin' the shed, bakin' bread, teachin' the goats to speak English, practicin' juggling, shootin' rats at the dump, trainin' the dogs for fall, replacin' the geronificator on the old Ford, arguin' with the neighbor, beatin' the dog, greasin' the snake, and plowin' and plantin', we jes' cannot do it all. Country life. Leatherback sea turtles stage a comeback. That is happy news. All credit to Bush, of course. 
Date Rape. The very notion of date rape seems to be an invitation to injustice - although I am sure it occurs. Here's one guy who really got screwed, at RCP. The un-sayable dirty secret is that gals can get just as out of hand, and excited, as guys. The radical feminists deny that - probably because they don't: they are as sex-less as they are humor-less. What's Wrong with Harvard? Plenty, and the college alums should get on the job and fix the mess. A new book. Newark and School vouchers. Slowly but surely, it's an idea that is coming. The insane rage of the Left. It will not help their case, but it energizes their base. Am. Thinker
The safest cars. Talent vs. Hard Work: A new book proclaims hard work to be the winner. Piece at Marginal Rev - read the comments, too/ Ayaan at Harvard. LGF. "What are they learning here?", she asked someone. Do you doubt the tilt of the LA Times? Patterico Barry Bonds is no Babe Ruth. Here are the numbers. A simple solution to illegal immigration. PoliPundit. Sensible, too. From Country to Heavy Metal: The Telecaster. Driscoll A Google Manual: Part-time Pundit. Google can do lots more for us than most of us realize. More on Jane Jacobs. It's great to see the outpouring of essays about her. This from View from 1776: Jane Jacobs and Adam Smith Land of Oz. California judge proclaims a legal right to a dlploma. I Are Educated, at RTLC
Tuesday, May 9. 2006
This is the Second Annual Riesling Week. This reminds me - I need to drink more Riesling. Behave yourself, and leave your arrogance at home. Travel tips for Americans. I might add - leave your expectations of efficiency, politeness, and energy at home, too. Bush's best day in office - the day he caught a 7 1/2 lb. bass As the waters warm, it's kite-tubing season. Video. Polish Joke of the Day: A Polish immigrant goes to the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles in Milwaukee to apply for a driver's license and is told he has to take an eye
test. The examiner shows him a card with the letters:
C Z J W I X N O S T A C Z
"Can you read this?" the examiner asks.
"Read it?" the Polish guy replies, "I know the guy."
A way with words: Who came up with these phrases? “Let there be light,” “Eat, drink, and be merry,” “The powers that be,” “A prophet has no honor in his own country,” “Ye of little faith,” “Fight the good fight,” “Am I my brother’s keeper,” “The spirit is willing,” “The salt of the earth,” “A law unto themselves,” “Filthy lucre,” “A man after his own heart,” “Signs of the times.”
It was William Tyndale. Read about him at Auster's. Fag weekends? That's what the Brits are coming to. First they came for the cigarettes, then they came for the ice-cream..."Smoked Haggis" at Tangled Web. How can proud Celts and Saxons permit themselves to be ruled by nags and cranks?
And it is possibly the best-assimilated illegal alien in the entire country, a white, Anglophile American expatriate speaking perfect British English and living as a faux-English Lord, and who was guilty only of possessing a false passport. Meanwhile, immigrant rapists, terrorists, thieves, murderers and violent offenders of all stripes walk out of British jails and back onto the streets of London, secure from the threat of deportation and free to repeat offend (or just live off public benefits if they prefer). Such is the sad state of affairs in 21st century Britain, where the government hastens to limit personal freedoms while failing to uphold its basic duty to protect the lives of its law-abiding citizens.
Monday, May 8. 2006
 Brits want to ban ice cream trucks! Is there anyone as totalitarian as someone who wants to do you good?
Orlando Patterson of Harvard wants to know why black males fail to learn, and he is not afraid to explain that it is cultural. Augean Stables. How come this is obvious to everyone except academics? Adios, police. 200 mph on a motorcyle. Video here. (h/t, RRWH) Hugh Hewitt has this right, I think: I can't seem to find Eleanor Clift's age on the web, or Rutten's, but I suspect both began their media careers in the Vietnam/Watergate era, a time in which media folk became convinced --no matter their particular distribution of talents-- of their collective moral superiority, their obvious intelligence, and the divine right of columnists/pundits.
Gaia will blow her stack - because of Bush, of course. Maxed-Out Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome. Guess what, honey - now you know what it feels like to be a guy. via Mens'News Daily An appreciation of Jane Jacobs, by Husock at City Journal. We are all in her debt, today. She, single-handedly, saved our cities from becoming soul-less Soviet-style mass housing projects. Just look at thriving "Alphabet City" in NYC today: the Lyndon Johnson era planners would have torn the whole place down as a slum, and now one-bedroom apartments there are going for over a quarter million bucks - in that old slum. The Vatican roughs up the DaVinci Code. Definitely the wrong approach. I do not like to see the Vatican learning from the Jihadists. They should either ignore it, or use it as a teaching opportunity. RTLC The renovation of the Met: And, one hopes, no more banners. Nice job, Board of Directors.
Sunday, May 7. 2006
NYT defends Zarquawi. Very strange. Powerline/ If the Times ran the country, we'd be France, which is creaking towards collapse, according to Captain Ed. Secret Castro jokes, in Cuba. Publius King Tut's penis found: it was there all the time. Lucky him: an Afterlife without it would feel like an eternity. Which reminds me - don't edit this out, Bird Dog - about hyena clitorises, somehow. The Egyptians believed that they could change from male to female, because their clitori (?) are large enough to be the envy of any gal. The top ten conservative colleges. Iraq labor unions targeted by terrorists: Norm Ron Howard and Andy Griffith had a chat about DaVinci Code. Middlebrow Using Kelo to block WalMart in Calif: Big Lizards
Saturday, May 6. 2006
 Got the radio on in my Dodge pick-up, but I hate to work far from the truck when she's on 770 WABC on Saturday afternoon, which I pick up easily from NYC, up on our hill.
(Taking a minor beer break. Beer and chain saws -perfect together.) She interferes with my outdoor work, and it is her fault. Who do I love more - Monica or Laura? A gentleman would never say.
What is "Supermax"? That's where Moussoaouoioui will spend his life. Nice place, full of lots of fun guys with a wild streak. But not quite the YMCA: Young man, there's no need to feel down.
I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground.
I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town
There's no need to be unhappy.
Young man, there's a place you can go.
I said, young man, when you're short on your dough.
You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find
Many ways to have a good time.
 States ranked by tax burden. Interesting. Surprised to see Wyoming as #2.
National maps of religious identification. Isn't it great that somebody bothers to make these? A planetarium on your PC: a fine thing for amateur astronomers. Remembering Nixon - the last liberal Republican. Driscoll. Probably further to the left than today's Dems will admit to being. Stats on church-going across the country. Al Quaida has been defeated. Is that clear? Lib. Leanings If socialism is dead as an idea, why isn't it buried? Synthstuff LomaAlta is not pleased with GOP treachery on immigration. Need a job? Find one. Unemployment is headed towards zero. Does the MSM mention it? Polipundit Can students mention religion? Or is it forbidden? A travesty, in NC. Rhymes with Right (h/t, News for Christians) Latest immigration poll: Americans want enforcement. Calif. Yank Image: my bodyguard
Friday, May 5. 2006
Patrick Kennedy? As sad as any addict, but would this guy ever have been elected if his name were Pat Shaughnessey? What has he ever done with his life? Resign, and take care of yourself, Patrick, and grow up. And try to make something of yourself, on your own. And quit it with the self-pity and pity-mongering - and the lying. Do not repeat your father's life. How long has it been since I recommended this stuff? The Teaching Company. Great. LaShawn makes some good points, and has some good immigration links. Mexico's shame: No-one wants to live there.
Thursday, May 4. 2006
 So Moussaui gets life. There's a ill-considered meme racing around the internet that since he said he preferred death, life in prison was the worse punishment.
Prefers death? He said he preferred death. That's not the same thing. Many men have the nerve to pitch themselves out of planes. Who can say if they are prepared to hit the ground? Bluster is not courage. He was perhaps willing to die on his own terms. But on ours? I doubt it. We should not care one whit what Moussaui or his ilk say they prefer anyway. Our society allows for the execution of those convicted of heinous crimes. What crimes could be more heinous, than to contemplate and participate in mass murder, and fervently pray for the deaths of those you could not kill yourself? Moussaui dared you to kill him. He and his kind will understand only that we didn't have the nerve to do it. He'll be perfectly happy in his solitary jail, offering his life up as a kind of prayer, just as he offered it up before, praying all day, every day, for the deaths of those that spared him. "There is in Islam a paradox which is perhaps a permanent menace. The great creed born in the desert creates a kind of ecstasy out of the very emptiness of its own land, and even, one may say, out of the emptiness of its own theology. It affirms, with no little sublimity, something that is not merely the singleness but rather the solitude of God. There is the same extreme simplification in the solitary figure of the Prophet; and yet this isolation perpetually reacts into its own opposite. A void is made in the heart of Islam which has to be filled up again and again by a mere repetition of the revolution that founded it. There are no sacraments; the only thing that can happen is a sort of apocalypse, as unique as the end of the world; so the apocalypse can only be repeated and the world end again and again. There are no priests; and yet this equality can only breed a multitude of lawless prophets almost as numerous as priests. The very dogma that there is only one Mahomet produces an endless procession of Mahomets." G.K.Chesterton
Portion of painting by Washington Allston--Elijah in the Desert --from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA
Wednesday, May 3. 2006
Who is lying about Bin Ladin, Bill Clinton or Albright? Pardon my English. Three myths about Islam. Atlas General McCaffrey, a strong critic-skeptic on Iraq, has returned with a report, which does sound like a turning point has arrived, finally. Belmont Herndon, VA sets a standard for the country. Wizbang
Able Danger and the Clintons: They want to get rid of Curt Weldon, real bad. Gateway. Kill the messenger. Blankley blows off a load of steam on illegal immigration, here. Echoes of Shelby Steele's piece. More good news from Canada: Captain Ed aka "Special Ed." What a pleasure it is to see Canada begin to return to sanity. And more on Transgender bathrooms. WTH? What is wrong with these people, Dr. Bliss? And why should anyone care? Clayton Oh, I forgot to mention - That day without illegals was great! Can we have more of those? Please?
|
