Wednesday, August 16. 2006
Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants. William Penn
Tuesday, August 15. 2006
"A pic of the Global Hawk UAV that returned from the war zone on Monday under its own power. (Iraq to Edwards AFB in CA) - Not transported via C5 or C17..... Notice the mission paintings on the fuselage. It's actually over 250 missions.... (and I would suppose 25 air medals). That's a long way for a remotely-piloted aircraft. Think of the technology (and the required quality of the data link to fly it remotely). Not only that but the pilot controlled it from a nice warm control panel at Edwards AFB. It has really long legs- can stay up for almost 2 days at altitudes above 60k.
They flew it via satellite control to Australia, and we flew missions during OT&E that went from Eddy to upper Alaska and back non-stop.
 It was Iran that humbled Israel. Plus Olmert, who did not want any casualties. Long-term, Israel cannot survive that way.
At that rate, they will all have to move to Arizona, and let the Moslems turn Israel into the useless, backwards dump they have done everywhere else. Moslems respect force, and nothing else. Now Olmert is in trouble. He was not ready for prime time, nor was the army ready for anti-tank missiles. No more angels and baby Jesuses, but the US will have this "Christmas" stamp this year, FYI. Reserve yours now! And Happy Kwanzaa, too! BTW, a mere 131 shopping days 'til Christmas. (Am I allowed to say that evil word?)
 Racial profiling begins in the UK. It's about time. If my sort of people were blowing things up, I would not mind a bit - it keeps everyone safer, including honest Moslems. Ace
Resurrecting the Wooly Mammoth. Always wanted a pet mammoth. And they would be the green way to get to work, except that the nether end of their GI tract probably produces more greenhouse gasses than the average Hummer. Darn those Indians for killing them off. Gunther Grass admits his membership in the Waffen SS. "...before anti-semitism was fashionable," notes Glenn. "Diversity" and the illiberal academy: good stuff. Protein. A quote: True diversity, of course, is to be celebrated:
We may be the only blog in the world who finds slime molds (good photos there of different varieties, including photo below) interesting. The first time you see one on the forest floor, the garden, or the edge of the lawn, you tend to think somebody spilled some poisonous orange glop from a bucket. They are difficult to categorize: not exactly fungi, and not exactly protista, but probably more like protista - eg animals. Their colony creeps around slowly, munching on bacteria, and when they run out of food, they creep into the sun and form spores, and wait. There is new science on how this thing adjusts to changing conditions. 
You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans. Ronald Reagan
Monday, August 14. 2006
Does Bruce Jenner know Castro's raiding his wardrobe?
 That was a huge billboard, many years ago, as you approached NYC from Yankeeland, via the Bruckner Blvd. Levy's rye bread. Good bread, with the whole flavorful caraway seeds in it. The perfect bread, for us gentiles, for ham and swiss cheese, with plenty of mustard!
That old sign was up there for 15 years or more. As a kid, it seemed exotic: I never had met a Jewish person. Later, they ran ads like the one on the right, in the newspapers. A sort-of precursor of Benetton. You do not have to be Jewish to find Nathan's Aliyah Diary interesting. Check it out, if you haven't. Israel is serious about citizenship: it is not a right - it is a hard-earned privilege. Requiring a Jewish doctor/professor from America to work in the persimmon orchards, and to clean the horse stalls, says it all. Would your doctor do that? What would you or I be willing to do to become an American citizen? It just happens that Maggie's Farm has no Jewish staff (except for our guest author Nathan, who posts willy-nilly from various points in Israel). However, we support Israel - not as a US puppet - but as a democratic, free, civilized, peace-loving state which has become the scapegoat of the Middle East, and their favorite hate-object with which they maintain power.
Re-posted from June 7, 2006  My grandkids know that summer with their Pops means it's time for new remote-controlled battery-powered flying machines (and fishing). I will link a few of my favorites, but will feature the blimp this year. You can fly these things all around the house, and outdoors - if it's not windy. How cool is that?
For regular airplanes, the Nikko Windjammer has a long glide path. The Defender has twin engines. The RC Mini is a fine starter airplane. The Z Planes are cheap and good, and if they crash in the water, it's no big loss (I have lots of these in the barn). This year, the flying saucers are hot items, but I still prefer propellers. Lots of other remote-controlled planes here. Never permit any Jihadists on board these things. They seem to enjoy blowing things up: nasty little devils, full of hatred and with an odd attraction to flying things: airplanes, rockets, etc.
I will pitch in and give Bird Dog a hand with some
Re-posted from May, 2005  Pacifism
The wonderful Kentucky author Wendell Berry wrote this piece a couple of years ago. There is much in it with which to disagree, but it is a point of view shared by many good people, presented by a fine fellow. I met him one time, and I have to say that I think he's the kind of rugged guy who'd be happy to shoot you if you came onto his farm and messed with his family. But he says not...I think. The view is not far from that of the RC Church, for which Life is the high sacred value, trumping all others. There is a conflict with other sacred values, such as human dignity and freedom. Remember the Brits in the 60's marching and carrying signs reading "Better Red than Dead"? It all comes down to the question of whether anything is worth dying for. The Pacifist might ask a different question: "Is there anything worth killing for?" "... we cling in our public life to a brutal hypocrisy. In our century of almost universal violence of humans against fellow humans, and against our natural and cultural commonwealth, hypocrisy has been inescapable because our opposition to violence has been selective or merely fashionable. Some of us who approve of our monstrous military budget and our peacekeeping wars nonetheless deplore “domestic violence” and think that our society can be pacified by “gun control.” Some of us are against capital punishment but for abortion. Some of us are against abortion but for capital punishment. One does not have to know very much or think very far in order to see the moral absurdity upon which we have erected our sanctioned enterprises of violence. Abortion-as-birth-control is justified as a “right,” which can establish itself only by denying all the rights of another person, which is the most primitive intent of warfare. Capital punishment sinks us all to the same level of primal belligerence, at which an act of violence is avenged by another act of violence."
Addendum: Another view, from a piece in One Cosmos: This is why I consider Gandhi such an unqualified--you will pardon the expression--ass. The notion that violence is a priori bad or immoral is one of the most pernicious ideas imaginable. As I have said before, it is as immature, stupid and dysfunctional as the idea that your immune system is bad because of the violent manner in which it greets invaders. Pacifism is the moral equivalent of AIDs; it is like equating a compromised immune system with robust health.
 Hello. Good morning. The Left is anti-Semitic. End of rant. Read it yourself "Nazi Kikes out of Lebanon." And the Left doesn't want to believe in Jihad. Why? Because they don't know what to do. And one more rant/thought: Why is war a "crisis"? War is not crisis. It is war.
Jihadists throughout Brit universities. Very nice. Aren't those Brits "nice." Very MULTICULTURAL! But they caught the head of Al Quaida in Britistan. Also, Brit Moslems urge Blair to "stop violence." Huh? Scoop? Good fun. "I was raised in the Hebrew faith, but I converted to narcissism."
If you don't read the newspapers, you are uninformed.
If you do read the newspapers, you are misinformed. Mark Twain
Sunday, August 13. 2006
Maggie's Farm can neither confirm nor deny that the suspects were handcuffed to one another of their own free will.
Ths is good - touches all of the bases. Watch it, and see anti-Israel propaganda at work, live. Fake, but accurate? http://www.aish.com/movies/PhotoFraud.asp
 Editor Bird Dog feels like a one-armed paper-hanger around the Farm right now, with the News Junkie in Mt. Desert Island, the Chairman at Northeast Harbor, The Barrister preoccupied with his grandkids, and Gwynnie at her California mountain retreat. With the help of some Summertime Re-posts, we shall persevere.
The Doryman's Reflection: A Fisherman's Life. This looks good. Bookslut And speaking of dory fishing, here's a good link about it. 51% of Dems want Bush to fail. There is something deeply wrong about that attitude towards one's country. Polipundit When you flush in NYC, where does it go? Sierra Blanca, Texas. Remind me to never go there. Does masturbation make you blind? Furedi at Spiked makes the case that the Masturbation Movement's agenda is to make people blind to love and passion. Brave New World: Biology. From a piece in The Atlantic: Inside the Billionaire Service Industry: "A comparable level of exclusivity is available to the well-heeled patient wanting insulation from the American health-care system. For initiation fees of $1,000 to $15,000 and annual dues of between $2,500 and $50,000 (six levels of membership are available), a company called PinnacleCare assigns “advocates” who will manage a client’s health care—investigating specialists and medical research, securing access to top doctors, and juggling appointments. (The cost of the treatment itself is separate.) Nearly all of the advocates are women, and they exude a motherly efficiency, cooing to their clients and sweet-talking the surgeons. But one suspects that their claws come out when necessary. Having an advocate present during a hospital stay, one client said, is like having an extremely knowledgeable relative on hand for hours a day, exerting relentless pressure to get whatever the patient needs."
 John 6:35-51
35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” 41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Saturday, August 12. 2006
Guys dancing on treadmills. Very clever You Tube The Fantasy World of International Law. Rabkin in Weekly Standard. h/t, Powerline The Eurosoviet Union? Free speech in the EU under threat. Classical Values NYT tries to understand terrorist "grievances." It's very simple, folks: The world isn't dominated by mullahs yet. That's the grievance. The Times is so Left that they cannot contemplate religious/spiritual motives: everything is material, and only the US is evil. And here is an example of what mullahs do to women. Betsy takes a look at Reuters' anti-Israel and anti-USA bias. A nuclear power website. h/t, Synthstuff It's time to profile terrorists. Duh. Examiner Al Gore: hypocrite.
Friday, August 11. 2006
Written 8/8/06 On Thursday a.m., before the harrowing trip into Katyusha land of Kiryat Shemona, I visited my friend Eliaz Cohen, a poet and a delightful human. He is called up for emergency reserves during this northern war, replacing some of the younger boys who have been sent up north. Eliaz insists on giving phone directions in Hebrew. He thinks this will improve my language skills, as directions by phone are more difficult. Directions to his outpost at the edge of Jenin, go something like this; Go towards Afula, but stop short after Junction Megiddo (that place where the last battle of the Apocalypse will take place between the children of light and of darkness) to Junction Sargel. Turn right on Sargel road (“Ruler road, as it is supposedly straight as a .....). When I get to this village (an Arab name), DON’T TURN THERE, when I get to that village, (another arab name DON’T TURN THERE, ibid. for the next few villages. When I get to a sign saying Msof M’atnim (which I later learn means, “collection place for cargo”), BUT DON’T GO TO THE END!
Continue reading "Aliyah Diary: A poet, a physicist, and a psychoanalyst at the edge of Jenin"
If these bombers were indeed second- and third-generation Brits of Pakistani origin, and therefore reasonably assimilated, then their plot and organization falls into the same category as all of the others: Jihad is what it's about, pure and simple. Hatred of the infidels. Here are some life details about one of them, at Jihad Watch. Thanks are due to the Brits, the NSA, and the Pakistan govt, for coordinating on this. What terror threat? RWN Charles Johnson has made it to the big time, again. CSM American Exceptionalism and the current Dem party. Betsy Trained rats locate land mines in Africa. Video Reducing the g-load for affirmative action. LaShawn. What it says is that blacks are not as intelligent as others: is that what Affirmative Action supporters really believe? I do not believe that, but I do believe that Affirmative Action is a political scam. U-Haul: Does anyone have any idea why U-Haul will not permit trailing with Ford Explorers? Apparently Taurus is fine with them - even Mustangs, but not Explorers. Strange.
When you put the Devil out, please make sure he takes his bags. h/t, True Grit
Thursday, August 10. 2006
 Statement from CAIR today h/t, Atlas):
"The American Muslim community supports efforts to ensure the safety and security of the traveling public," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "We once again urge law enforcement authorities and elected officials to caution against stereotyping entire religious or ethnic groups based on the alleged actions of individuals."
Ya never know what those Dubuque grannys might be carrying on their trip to Altanta to visit the grandkids. Am I retarded? Check the Moslems, and leave my granny alone. We might be stupid, but we aren't insane.
From an excellent essay by The Fjordman in Brussels Journal: Let me first say that there are positive aspects to the welfare state model. It would be hypocritical of me to say anything else, as I have enjoyed some of its benefits by growing up in one. It is also not entirely incorrect to say that it has worked better in Scandinavia than anywhere else. Still, my view is that there are critical flaws to this model. Although they may not bring the system down right away, they will do so over time. My bet is that we are approaching the point where the Swedish welfare state will cease to function. Even if you consider a national welfare state to be a totally closed system without migration in or out and without international competition – which isn’t possible, of course – there are internal flaws that will, over time, weaken the structure. Judging from the experiences in Scandinavia, the welfare state worked to some extent because it was based in small and ethnically homogenous nations, with a strong cultural and religious (Protestant) work ethic which had just experienced several generations of a booming capitalist economy. These traits kept the system afloat for decades, but the work ethic and the sense of duty slowly got eroded and replaced by a sense of rights, while the high taxation and the passivity bred by the system eroded initiative and the will to take risks. Again, these flaws are inherent to the model. They make time to develop, but they will, eventually.
Whole thing here.
 The bomb plots are the big news. Details at Drudge. More here at the BEEB. Gee, I sure hope they didn't trace any terrorist phone calls to catch these guys, don't you? How long will it take for someone to blame the US for this? My message: Yo, Brits - You have injected yourself with cancer cells, while pretending that all kinds of cells are "just cells." Yes, they are "cells" - terrorist cells. Now you have a big problem: metastatic cancer.
Getting to know you. We will learn more about Ned Lamont over the next few months. Kesler reviews his political heritage: A red diaper baby. Funny. Admadinejad on "the hook-nosed Jew." Bloomberg rushes to support Lieberman. CT happens to be a state with more Independents than either Rs or Ds. (Foolish of them, for sure, because they cannot vote in the primaries. You have a larger voice by registering, picking your candidate first, and then voting for whomever you wish.) Mike Wallace "impressed" by Ahmadinejad. Umm, what does this say about Mike Wallace? I recall that Joe Kennedy thought Hitler was a fine, earnest fellow who loved dogs (but neither of them were overly fond of Jews). Evil and danger rarely come with labels on them, but this guy has labelled himself. Image: Fine art from Australian Nude Surfing. They know how to have a good time. I like the wholesome, focused attitude of this gal: it appeals to me very much.
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