Maggie's Farm

In defence of Bishop Ussher. Makes good sense to me. Asst Village Idiot

Another scientist lines up among the warming doubters. Moonbattery

World's largest flower. Scarey: looks like a man-eater, meat grinder, bad loser. Science Daily

Am I the only cool dude who doesn't watch 24? Am I the only cool dude without a TV? When I need TV, I drop in at Rudys, with my CFM buds.

Mark Steyn, Doggerel King. His Sandy Burglar tunes. Powerline

As Nifong makes his exit, a parent says (via Drudge):

'Mr. Nifong, you've picked on the wrong families … and you will pay every day for the rest of your life.'"

Schubert teaches "the folly of despair." He died at 31! Telegraph, Via A&L

If you'll be my Dixie chicken, I'll be your Tennessee Man. Great guitar. Youtube at Blue Crab. (the link breaks. scroll down on Blue Crab's site - it is worth it) Yes, Little Feat is still in business.

The Now I Get It Department. Conspiracy to keep you poor and stupid.

Image: Why the photo of Diane Lane, besides pure love of beauty? Because our link about "24" gave us an excuse to steal a photo from the semi-obsessive Diane fan and fellow Yankee Ex-Donkey. Hope he won't mind. She is a charmer, even when fully clothed.

Still sick. Thought you'd like to know.

Sippican loves the Elvis on Ed Sullivan DVDs

Rick Moran is disappointed in Bush (pre-speech). Me too. The guy has no capacity to inspire.

Black Sheep movie trailer. YouTube. The violence of the lambs.

Crittenden has ideas about how to talk with Iran and Syria.

Is there any doubt that Al Sharpton is a con-man? Calif Yank

4.5 billion to die from global warming by 2012. Can you top that for a scare headline? SDA found the piece. Hey - what's the problem? It would solve the population crisis, right? I am going to buy a cemetery plot for myself today, so I'm prepared.

Any thoughts about Bush's speech?

Image? That's the coffee mug our local super-secret Christian Fascist Militia uses. Shhhh - don't tell Chris Hedges. What mug does your militia use? Do you have a Lady's Auxiliary? And do you have cool uniforms?

After this post, I am going to lie low today in my cabin with my DayQuil and a few bottles of ginger ale, plus a green tea every four hours. With this cold, I am irritable, sweating, achy, and marginally functional. If I die, give my Mac to my Mom.

What's this new iPhone? Is it a winner for Apple, or just another gizmo?

The 15 nations of the UK, described. Handy list. Asst. Village Idiot.

Why "multiculturalism" is baloney. The Nazanin story at Powerline.

Frequently answered questions. Tee hee. Am. Digest

Demonizing WalMart is a losing proposition. Betsy

A nice rant by LaShawn, in praise of Oprah.

There is no problem in the world that a little fascism cannot fix.

Venezuela voted for totalitarian socialism. Venez. News and Views

Sign of Global Warming? Snapshot on right sent in from a reader in Camden, Maine, taken at the beach on Sunday morning.

Adios to Freedom, Venezuela. You will soon be Cuba South. Blue Crab

Yes, this is surreal. SDA. Pedophilia support in Canada. I guess it's a "life-style choice" like necrophilia and all those other philias.

The quiet civil war in Spain. Am Thinker. Why not just give the Basques their freedom? What would that hurt?

Minimum wage. Easy to demagogue, but a dumb idea. Cramer explains. But the real point, as we have said before, is that many union contracts are pegged to the MW.

Britain's Channel 4 lifts up the rock, and doesn't like what they find underneath. Moonbattery

The story of the Pig Races, here. (h/t, Gates of V)

This story reminds me of the time my apt. got robbed in NYC, westside of Manhattan, but when we found the guy in the bathroom, he had my Brooks Brothers suit on, but I had a brand-new ice axe in my hands, and an annoyed attitude. Will tell the story sometime.

Red-blooded American defiance from Classical Values:

In a great post last week, M. Simon recognized how the Drug War helped facilitate the corruption so obviously apparent in the Duke University "rape" case. A common thread is popular hysteria, in which feelings are more important than freedom or facts. It's more important to win the drug war or stop cultural racism than to be concerned with trifles, and if the rules (or the Constitution) have to be bent or disregarded, so be it. Aren't we forgetting that under our system, certain principles are more important than facts? That if the police lied to get a warrant, it does not matter whether drugs were found? That even if a certain student displays evidence of racism (or a dislike of homosexuals), that does not make him guilty of rape?

I'd rather keep my freedom, even if it's 70 degrees outside.

There. I just said it. I'm prepared to face a Nuremberg tribunal for Holocaust advocacy.

Phallus 101? I once dated a girl who must have taken that course, because she knew all about...never mind. The 12 Most Bizarre College Courses. Parents: Wise up. Your hard-earned money could be paying for some of this idiocy.

Finally, science comes up with something useful. Self-cleaning underwear.

Hillary's flaws exposed. via RCP. I think her flaws are these: She is unlikeable, unpleasant, unfeminine, and appears calculating. That's leaving out her (for me) unacceptable politics.

The more people try to live multiculturally, they more they lost trust (via A&L). Yeah, utopia is an elusive thing, ain't it? It's a no-brainer: the more you realize that someone is living by a different rule book, the warier you become. And it makes sense.

Barak Obama is an apostate. Auster

Does legal education need reform? I have no idea, but no Carnegie Foundation Report on anything would fail to include a call for reform. Reform and progress - like, groovy, Dude.

Bush tells it like it is. Scrappleface.

Medical humor You tube.

Get yer fresh, warm, high-IQ Texas white embryos here. WaPo. What's the fuss? If you can pick your eggs at the supermarket by size and color, etc - why not your embryos? I must admit, though, that I always thought that the brown and white egg thing at the supermarket was a bit racist. On moral grounds, I always buy the brown.

Creative destruction. Painful but necessary, like surgery. Dem Project looks at destruction in the newspaper biz.

Two evil, nativist, immigrant-hating proposals, that came in over the transom:

New Gas Plan....Bush wants us to cut the amount of gas we use. The best way to stop using so much gas is to deport 11 million illegal immigrants! That would be 11 million less people using our gas. The price of gas would have to come down as a result.
 
 
New Immigration Plan... Bring our troops home from Iraq to guard the border. When they catch an illegal immigrant crossing the border, hand him a canteen, rifle and some ammo and ship him to Iraq. Tell him if he wants to come to America, then he must serve a  tour in the military.  Give him a soldier's pay while he's there and tax him on it. After his tour, he will be allowed to become a citizen since he defended this country.  He will also be registered to be taxed and be a legal patriot.  This option will probably deter illegal immigration and provide a solution for the troops in Iraq, and the aliens trying to make a better life for themselves.  If they refuse to serve, ship them to Iraq anyway, without the canteen, rifle or ammo. Problem solved.

Need to be up and out early tomorrow. Grouse out there in the swamps, wanting to play games with us. So here are a few goodies for tonite. (Am I not a reliable reporter? Especially considering the pay?)

Star Trek withdrawal. Basil suffers from this endemic disease. I have it, too, but my insurance doesn't cover the treatment.

Guess what? In England, they have a deal we do not have. Worstall. And one more, too: Sex at 16 yes, but no smoking afterwards.

Don't mess with my church. Ham at TownHall. Thanks, Instap.

Like Sinn Fein? My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy does not. Me neither. Low-life thugs, with a political scam. Like Jesse Jackson with bombs.

John Edwards' Con Game. Gay Patriot. Just another tax-dodging limo liberal, who never made an honest buck since he got out of school.

The mystery of capital. This deserves a separate post - but everything we post does. Read it. Shrinkwrapped

It's been so warm in New England this past month that the plant in the photo just popped up in my front yard. Is it some kind of giant daffodil or something?

I missed this. Bush and Steve Bridges at the 2006 White House Correspondent's Dinner. Cute.

Bill Bennet's Proposed 2008 Platform (h/t Cons Grapevine)

The Gummern Storks. WaPo. We wish them well.

When all else fails, lower your standards. LaShawn

New Orleans: as dumb and inept as ever. WaPo. Do they want Bush to send them another big hurricane?

Why we say Thank God when good things happen. Auster makes a good point.

Jews taking over the moon! Hot Air.

Americans see both Doom and Good Cheer. Huh? Patriot Post explains it.

Barney Frank is either a low-life liar, or insane. Wizbang. The former, I think. He's just trying to reinforce the theme that it's about Bush, not Nagin and that feckless governor. The deflection of responsbility has been stunningly successful. See our piece inspired by Scrappleface.

What would happen in the Middle East if they moved Israel to New Mexico? A Thought Experiment, at TCS

Andrew Cuomo, newly-elected Attorney General of NY, to open new offices of Social Justice and Economic Justice. Huh? Watch out, New York. Atlas. We need a post on this commie jerk.

Adult stem cells can grow new teeth. Just in time for me! Alpha. My amalgam-to-enamel ratio is already too high for my age.

"It's for the children, so they never have to grow up." Dr. Sanity. Exactly right. We, the government, will take care of you infantile, helpless morons.

Use skin creams? Raven says "Don't."

Don't waste your money on Noka chocolate, reports Synthstuff.  It's cheap stuff, re-packaged.

Is this OK with you? Social Security for illegals. Ankle Biting

Via a good piece at Flopping - a quote from an old NRO piece:

Although there is much in the history of America’s wars with the Barbary pirates that is of direct relevance to the current “war on terror,” one aspect seems particularly instructive to informing our understanding of contemporary Islamic terrorists. Very simply put, the Barbary pirates were committed, militant Muslims who meant to do exactly what they said.

Take, for example, the 1786 meeting in London of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Tripolitan ambassador to Britain. As American ambassadors to France and Britain respectively, Jefferson and Adams met with Ambassador Adja to negotiate a peace treaty and protect the United States from the threat of Barbary piracy.

These future United States presidents questioned the ambassador as to why his government was so hostile to the new American republic even though America had done nothing to provoke any such animosity. Ambassador Adja answered them, as they reported to the Continental Congress, “that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

Sound familiar?

Heather MacDonald "depressed" by number of God-fearin' folk in the US. I like Heather, but what a silly thing to be concerned about. Good piece. View from the Right

The Town of Amherst, MA is in cahoots with Iran. Didn't realize Amherst was that batty, but they are a college town...Viking. What's the principle here? Any enemy of the US is our friend? Where does that leave Amherst?

"Are we too good to kill our enemies?" wonders SISU. Or too lame? Mercy for the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.

What has happened to libraries these days? We agree with Never Yet Melted that it is "ruination." They aren't supposed to be a business, are they?

Photo on right of the new temporary Principal of my kids' grammar school.

George Bernard Shaw was a Fabian. So are most of our modern Dems.

True love? A beautiful thing. Wizbang. Obviously, the problem was taking the "obey" part out.

NYS doesn't want you to own this kind of shirt. Moonbattery

Do high taxes deter working? No sh-t, Shakespeare. Stumbling. Fact is, if you make the really big bucks, you don't care about taxes all that much. With the medium bucks, you're inclined to say "What the heck - why bother busting my ass?" Or, like most tradespeople around here, you insist on cash.

Assistant Village Idiot read Charles Mann's new Indian book. He liked a lot of it, but the PC parts clearly rankled.

Where's Waldo? The real truth about Jamil Hussein. We already reported here that we sighted him Christmas shopping in the Springfield, MA mall on the Thursday before Christmas, but he disappeared into the Gap dressing room before we could get photo proof.

Whither blogs? Media, or newsletters? Flares is skeptical about the value of Pajamas Media. Is it anything more than "Glenn Reynolds and friends?" I am skeptical about the value of blogs in general, except as hobbies - unless they keep the MSM on their toes.

On the other hand, what but a blog could link Chequerboard's collection of Glenn Gould YouTubes?

What do women want? Freud couldn't figure out it, but Raven can tell you.

What's your political rating? I got a 36, which makes me moderate, in my view.

What day is it? Back to normal life today, and back to work like our hard-working little truck. Holiday Season is done, except for putting the ornaments away, paying the bills, and losing the weight. A relief, and a sadness. Anyway, we hate New Years celebrations - they mean nothing at all. Well, an excuse to get together I guess, which is great.

The cow flatulence crisis. We have been on this crisis for over a year, and it continues to concern us deeply at Maggie's Farm, but we don't know what to do about it, except Beano. UN - Please help us!

Sideline the GOP. That's the Dem plan. I am not sure that it is a winning plan.

The new new short political shelf life. Newsmax

Dave Barry's Year-end review. (h/t, Protein)

The history of the game of Monopoly. Cool capitalism. It was banned in the Soviet Union.

The End of England, Part 76: The end of the pint? WTF? Gay and Right. "European Conformity"? Time to rebel.

The End of France, Part 753: "French" "youths" torch cars, to celebrate a New Year of car torching.

Want to keep Free Speech? Don't look to our Congress. Captain Ed

Can there be peace? Bowden at Opinion Journal. A quote:

We Americans consistently underestimate the deep hatreds that divide people. Our political system is designed to wrestle peacefully with the divisions of race, class, ethnicity, religion and competing ideological or geographical interests, and has generally worked as intended--the Civil War being the one glaring exception. Generations have struggled to live up to ideals of tolerance and diversity. When we look out at the world, we tend to see millions longing to get past the blood feuds, to be, in short, more like us. George Bush and the neocon intellectuals who led us into Iraq are just the latest in a long line of evangelical Americanists. No matter how many times history slaps us in the face, the dream persists.

Photo on right posted on SISU's nice piece, with Pres. Ford, Chief of Staff Rumsfeld, and Deputy Chief Dick Cheney.

Pork is a nice, sweet meat? Env. Economics

Not your Dad's diesel mechanic. Gateway

Is there something magic about 48 degrees of latitude?

The sad story of the Marsh Arabs. SDA

Was it grim? Or "really grim"? Daily Pundit. Would it be less "grim" if it were 1000, or more "grim" if it were 5000? Or is it sanctimonious jerks trying to write a catchy headline?

Up to 10 house seats will migrate to red states, likely including one from MA.

Life with and without risk. Via Crittenden

The end of climate "consensus." Moonbattery

Conyers, new head of Judiciary, promises to be more ethical in the future.