Wednesday, February 28. 2007
Just a note to highlight that the dude Gwynnie ranted about here yesterday was indeed the esteemed commentator and fascist-in-training Eric Alterman, about whom the truly admired Ms. Althouse had a few words, today. I do not know this Alterman guy from Adam, but not only does he possess a dangerous attitude, but he is a first class schmuck.
The Free and Independent Republic of West Florida. Its complex history here. 
 “Drink deep…or taste not,” is a direction full as applicable to Religion, if we would find it a source of pleasure, as it is to knowledge. A little Religion is, it must be confessed, apt to make men gloomy, as a little knowledge to render them vain: hence the unjust imputation often brought upon Religion by those whose degree of Religion is just sufficeint, by condemning their course of conduct, to render them uneasy; enough merely to impair the sweetness of the pleasures of sin, and not enough to compensate for the relinquishment of them by its own peculiar comforts. Thus these men bring up, as it were, an ill report of the land of promise, which, in truth, abounds with whatever, in our journey through life, can best refresh and strengthen us.
William Wilberforce (h/t, Middlebrow)
Two Swedes from Wisconsin are sittin' in a boat on Dead Lake, fishing and suckin' beer, when out of the blue Sven comments, "I think I'm going to divorce my wife. She hasn't spoken to me in over six months."
Ole takes a sip of beer and says, "You better think that over. Women like that are hard to find."
 I would cut off Ronald McDonald's head!
Indeed this is beyond parody. Has everybody forgotten about "Live and let live."? Also, I'd bet a fiver that the Prince of Wales has never enjoyed a Big Mac with a large fries - hold the pickles, and therefore knows nothing about the subject.
 In a stunning turnaround, The Right Reverend Al Gore announced today that he has abandoned his "Crusade to End Exhalation and Bovine Flatulence," and has turned his attention to a more pressing concern: The apostrophe.
"I was jetting all over the world, Davos, Vail, Rhiyad to pick up my check, and I got a good long look at all the people who have been masturbating furiously in the front row of An Inconvenient Truth and screaming at evil republicans on my beloved invention, the internet. It hit me like a metric tonne of greenhouse gases, I'm telling you. I saw my one, true calling. We must ration apostrophes! The use of apostrophe's ... oh, damn... See? They've got me doing it now. We're going to run out of apostrophes if we don't act globally now!" "I'd read my supporter's...that one belongs there, right? That's possessive, isn't it? Or does it go on the end? Damn, I've lost track...at any rate, I've read their fevered comments on the usual Republitards webpages, and weep for the clear-cutting of the apostrophe forests necessary to form just one paragraph. I mean, it's like I'm reading Klingon or Arabic or something. Can't they just photoshop a Hitler moustache on a previously photoshopped picture of Bush eating a kitten, like normal people do, instead of this unsustainable use of precious apostrophe's... Damn! See? I did it again." "Look at this," Reverend Al ushered me over to the hand cranked laptop he had installed in his indoor riding ring/jetpark, to lower his carbon footprint. "Look at this! Look at this and weep for the coming world. A world without apostrophes!"
Continue reading "The Apostrophe Crisis: Reverend Al Gore's New Crusade"
 David Brooks determines that there is evil in the hearts of men.
(h/t, Jules C)
Rare image, on loan from LGF. Take a left turn, and you could be killed. Funny how often "tolerance" is a one-way street. Praise for Moslem efforts to kill Dick Cheney via SC&A. It's a disease. If we killed everyone we disagreed with about something, we'd be alone on the planet. Jim Miller has some fun Al Gore links. At this point, it is just getting too easy. Your children are your responsibility. LaShawn. What a radical concept! I thought they were the village's problem. RomneyCare not working out too well. Prof B. Celebrities can fart but I can't. Celestial Junk. No, their farts are pure and beautiful. One Baghdad family likes the surge. So do we. Too bad it's a few years too late, but who had the crystal ball? The fingers of unrepentant Nazi-collaborator Soros (woops - is that a character assasination?) invading government. Pelosi hires his guy as her Counsel. Front Page. Watch out. These deep swimmers of the internationalist Left have their own agendas. Seymour Hersh gives a hand job to Egypt, says Sandmonkey. Hersh has always been a knee-jerk America-hater. What's new? Buy a lie. Alibi Network at Business Pundit Gun ownership is not about hunting, nor is it mainly about self-defence or ordinary gun games. It's about war. Shape of Days. Quite right. Which is why it is critical - it's not about recreation. What is The Tides Foundation, and what are they doing? Like so many foundations created by benevolently-minded successful capitalists, they have been hijacked by the radical Left.
Tuesday, February 27. 2007
 "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."
That was the famous marketing quote for the sale of Papal indulgences to which Martin Luther took strong exception in 1517. Ever wonder how Al Gore with his three houses and SUVs, and Suzuki with his mega-bus, and Hollywood, etc. claim to be "carbon neutral"? Exactly the same way indulgences worked. Here's how. One quote: Example: a mid-sized 30 mpg car driving 12,000 miles/year will create about 3.55 tons of CO2/year. Using Carbonfund.org's calculator we figured this would cost only about $19.50 or $1.63/month to be offset! This means that for a very small amount of money you can drive the equivalent of a zero-CO2-emission car!
As quoted by Gore's office yesterday: What Mr. Gore has asked is that every family calculate their carbon footprint and try to reduce it as much as possible. Once they have done so, he then advocates that they purchase offsets, as the Gore’s (sic) do, to bring their footprint down to zero.
Another alternative for no footprints: Make yourself a helium-brained airhead and just float over the landscape without your feet touching. Instapundit found this Stalinist-sounding defence of Gore's hypocrisy, which truly gives me the creeps: Al Gore lives a life different from most folks. I'm not one to defend elitism, not as a matter of practice, but some elitism is inevitable. There must be a leadership class. There always has been and there always will be. Even societies organized around the principle of the equality and preeminence of the proletariat have had an elite class. It is the natural order of things. The key for a society is to create a responsible, responsive and fluid elite.
With him in it, no doubt. Would somebody remind this hideous un-American creep that, when searching for elites, the last place anyone would search is amongst politicians. They are the least-respected profession in America, and should be. You want an American Elite, Mr. Smarty-Pants who probably thinks he is elite himself? Try my plumbing, heating, and A/C guy Greg. He is honest, direct, gives sound advice; is smart, skilled, takes my calls, is overly-humble, and efficient - and has never overcharged me. More often, undercharges me, I think. Is God-fearing and God-loving, with a charming young family who understand that he needs to make house calls on Sunday night. And who quotes Shakespeare, and sometimes Milton. That is the American elite, my poor misguided friend: the people, and the government is our servant. Servant. Don't misunderestimate the wisdom of the regular folks, because being in real life can be worth a million-dollar education, especially if you have a curious mind and can learn from experience. Image: Al Gore owns three homes. This is a recent photo of his carbon-neutral home, in the Belle Mead neighborhood of Nashville.
1. Mexico: Remember our post about an American trying to get a job in Mexico? With this border story, it seems worth remembering now. No, you are not welcome in Mexico unless you are on vacation. 2. Hillary and the Black Panthers: Remember this one? We posted it, but I can't find it in the archives: Back in 1969 a group of Black Panthers decided that a fellow black panther named Alex Rackley needed to die. Rackley was suspected of disloyalty. Rackley was first tied to a chair. Once safely immobilized, his friends tortured him for hours by, among other things, pouring boiling water on him. When they got tired of torturing Rackley, Black Panther member, Warren Kimbo took Rackley outside and put a bullet in his head. Rackley's body was later found floating in a river about 25 miles north of New Haven, Conn. Perhaps at this point you're curious as to what happened to these Black Panthers. In 1977, that's only eight years later, only one of the killers was still in jail. The shooter, Warren Kimbro, managed to get a scholarship to Harvard and became good friends with none other than Al Gore. He later became an assistant dean at Eastern Connecticut State College. Isn't that something? As a '60s radical you can pump a bullet into someone's head, and a few years later, in the same state, you can become an assistant college dean! Only in America Erica Huggins was the lady who served the Panthers by boiling the water for Mr. Rackley's torture. Some years later Ms. Huggins was elected to a California School Board. How in the world do you think these killers got off so easy? Maybe it was in some part due to the efforts of two people who came to the defense of the Panthers. These two people actually went so far as to shut down Yale University with demonstrations in defense of the accused Black Panthers during their trial. One of these people was none other than Bill Lann Lee. Mr. Lee isn't a college dean. He isn't a member of a California School Board. He was the head of the US Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, appointed by Bill Clinton. So who was the other Panther defender? Is this other notable Panther defender now a school board member? Is this other Panther apologist now an assistant college dean? No, neither! The other Panther defender was, like Lee, a radical law student at Yale University. She is now running for the Presidency.
.TruthOrFiction.com reviewed this report in 2001 and found that it was TRUTH.
John Elvin of Insight magazine looked into the Hillary-Panthers eRumor as well as how it was handled by some urban legends sites and wrote his findings in an article that appeared in July of 2000. He quotes former sixties radical David Horowitz as saying that both Hillary Rodham and Bill Lann Lee organized demonstrations at Yale against the Panther trial. Elvin also says, "Insight reviewed biographies of Hillary Clinton by Milton, Brock and Roger Morris for this story and lengthy selections from such other biographies as Barbara Olson’s Hell to Pay. Together, relying on primary and other firsthand sources, they unquestionably back Horowitz’s contention that Hillary was a campus leader during the Panther protests."
 I just can't quit singing those unforgettable lyrics to Gorespell this snowy morning.
Why normal people avoid politics - or are driven away. P/T Pundit. And if you think that is bad, try Guatemalan politics. So now Europe wants Star Wars. Ungrateful wretches. More Clintonphobia. How come they only like rich people? Betsy. Don't they have any regular old friends? I suspect not. How birds plan ahead. Smarter than people who count on Social Security. Jihad is planning cyberwar against unfriendly websites. Why we are not McCain fans.
From Gay Patriot: 
Yes, and so is Congress.
There is no way this dictator can please both his US sponsors and his radicalized population. Yet he must. How can he walk that tightrope, with Taliban armies gathering in the north, and bomb attempts on Cheney? Only one solution: NATO forces attack the camps, and Musharraf screams about it.
Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves. Eric Hoffer
Monday, February 26. 2007
 We've got an exclusive peek at Al Gore's next infotainment triumph. Al's taking his tent meeting onto the groaning floorboards of Broadway with his gospels according to, well... himself, I guess: Gorespell!
Sing along with Al: -Day by day
-Day by day
-Oh Dear Al
-Three things I pray
-To see thee more clearly (You’re getting global looking yourself)
-Love thee more dearly (Dear Leader of our cult)
-Follow thee more nearly (In a private jet all the way, baby)
-Day by day -Day by day
-Day by day
-Oh Dear Al
-Three things I pray
-To discount the temperature variation trend inferred from ?18O of peat cellulose in a peat core from Hongyuan (eastern Qinghai–Tibet plateau, southwestern China) more clearly
-Love thee by offsetting your carbon emissions by paying someone else to plant on a tree on your behalf every time you breathe or drive your car more dearly
-Ignore the effect of diurnal correction on satellite-derived lower tropospheric temperature more completely -Day by day -Day by day
-Day by day
-Oh Dear Al
-Three things I pray
-To misinterpret the burial of the soils, triggered by environmental–climatic variations, that took place in several phases and overlook the last 3000 yr chronological correlation that can be drawn between phases of glacial advance, scree and alluvial sedimentation and development of periglacial features more weirdly
-Love to view the northern Antarctic Peninsula warming and Weddell polynya as local anomalies in the generally cooling Antarctic and find impetuous claims of association (and often causation) more dearly
-To bask in the glow of Cuba’s Union of Young Communist's newspaper report of acting Cuban President Raul Castro who recognized the effort of the former vice president to denounce" global warming during a two-hour meeting with youth leaders on Friday more nearly
-Day by day ... Um... There's 154 more verses. I'll put them in a PowerPoint presentation and e-mail them to you.
She demands no mention of unpleasant subjects. Mickey Kaus: Enforcing taboos doesn't work like it used to, back when all you had to do was muzzle a few gatekeepers.** Today, if people have things to say they're going to say them. If the candidates don't say them, and the MSM doesn't say them, that doesn't mean they won't get said.** Note to Hillary: Your husband cheated on you and was fined $90,000 for lying about it to a federal judge. Everybody thinks he's still cheating on you. Your fellow Democrats are tolerant, but they wonder what the deal is. That isn't the "politics of personal destruction." It's due diligence. Attempting to repress this discussion only assures that it will quickly come to the surface.
My question: Why do people call it "cheating" when it is so obvious that it's just part of their deal? It's not cheating until it makes the newspapers, and she can play the role of the hurt little wifie. They should quit the charade.
For PhDs in Car Control only. YouTube. The parallel parking is the best. Can't wait to try it downtown.
 Via reader, via NRO, via Blair, by Steyn, via Evangelical Outpost:
At last, an American hegemon the Canadian people are prepared to live under the jackboot of. And Al’s boot leaves quite a footprint. Evangelical Outpost has some interesting statistics on Reverend Al’s forthcoming Gore Aid concert: The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than Zimbabwe produced in any month in 2003.
The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than the total daily fossil fuel emissions for Austria, Chile, Finland, Greece, Iraq, Kuwait, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Sweden, the Virgin Islands, and a dozen other countries combined.
* The concert will produce more CO2 in one day than the entire nation of Afghanistan produces in a year.
We are all pygmies in the awesome depression of his Carbon Footprint! (via Tim Bla ir)
And we offer this tidbit too, via Sensible Mom: ...Gore’s mansion, [20-room, eight-bathroom] located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).
Hmmm. Does it sound like he is really worried?
Murtha now says it outloud: We need to get out of there before it looks like a success. Just as we have been saying for a year or more: the Dems now require a humiliating defeat. They have staked (staken?) their future on it. As pointed out by Horsefeathers, Chamberlain wanted to win the war, unlike our Dems. Their quote: We'd have to go back to Benedict Arnold to find Americans as eager as Murtha & Co. to see an American defeat on the battlefield.
And here is Woodward this weekend, as quoted in a comprehensive piece at Villainous: Woodward: I think that people have to rise above politics and party here. And, think, I’ve talked to these people who have come back from Iraq, and in communication with some there, and they wonder: “What the hell is going on in America? What? You know, we’re here, they sent us here. And we’re talking about cutting off funding.”
West 28th street in Manhattan has been the flower district for 100 years. I have always enjoyed the way NYC retailers and wholesalers have clumped together for the convenience of their customers and for the convenience of the trucks that deliver to them. The Diamond District, the Fulton Fish Market, the Hunts Point vegetable market, and so on. Heck, there is even a Financial District. Who knew? Such districts have not been created by fiat or by planners, but have grown organically with the relentless logic of market capitalism. 
You can find any flower or plant material you want in the Flower District, in almost any reasonable volume. 300 Bell Song tulips? No problem. As the second largest flower market in the world (after Amsterdam), the market serves retailers from MA, NJ, CT, NYS - and further. The vans arrive to load up on their day's purchases at 5 AM. 
At 6 AM, you will also see a smattering of garden club ladies hunting out stuff for their next creation, which is what brought me and Mrs. Barrister and her pal down to the district from central CT in snow and sleet at o-dark-thirty this morning. I was chauffeur, but I do get a kick out of looking at all of the strange stuff. Some look like science fiction creations, especially some of the strange Protea which, it seems, have been all the rage in recent years. There is one Proteus that looks like eyeballs on a stem. The Greek sea-god was a shape-changer. Her friend wanted these and these, and found them. And some other stuff like the winter Buckeye branches Mrs. B was looking for, plus a ton of pussy willows just for home. As the city changes, the flower district is slowly fading, from over 60 establishments 20 years ago to around 40 right now. But it remains a bustling, thriving place in the early morning. Now I will get out the old plow and do the driveway and the front of the barn so we can let the horses out. Snow day! I'll "work from home" this afternoon by the fire with a few warming glasses of something nice.
 This Iraq rape story is beginning to sound like Duke. Confed. Yank
Wesleyan Univ - remove from your kids' college list. A once-great school, but they drank the Kool Aid years ago. Small Dead Polar Bears IRS goes after EBay sellers. Sorry, folks. There is no escape, unless you are rich enough to know what to do. Very rich. Since we have Death Taxes, how come the Rockefellers and Kennedys and etc. still don't need jobs? But you will not be able to hand any of your hard-earned wealth down, because you cannot afford the lawyers who arrange these things. A cool political dirty trick from Long Island: Pester people with phone calls during the Super Bowl, ostensibly from your opponent. NY Sun Adding to our blogroll: Above the Law. Also, something new which I think has great promise, and aims to do what independent blogs have been trying to do: Reporters without Borders. Wonder if they have a job for me. NYC still doesn't allow dancing in bars. NYC is not exactly a Libertarian stronghold. Homeland Security Pork. Synthstuff. My guess: 70% pork. Government works for government. Is that news? Largest gun sales in the US? Walmart, of course. But they are cutting back. Alphecca. Hillary still afraid that Bill will blow it for her. Newsweek. Upset Mexicans? Too damn bad. What about our border? I am afraid that it is a two-way street. Some excellent comments on George Orwell, at Asst. Village Idiot Image: A damn good micro-brewery beer. Coddington's, from Newport, RI. Empty bottle, of course. A very pleasant gift from our RI friends. Something Dust my Broom needs to try.
 I do not watch Academy Awards, but I see Al won his statue. Deservedly so - he is as phoney and as full of himself as everyone else in Tinseltown.
As Michaels points out in NRO: In early February, Science published another paper showing that the recent acceleration of Greenland’s ice loss from its huge glaciers has suddenly reversed.
Nowhere in the traditionally refereed scientific literature do we find any support for Gore’s hypothesis. Instead, there’s an unrefereed editorial by NASA climate firebrand James E. Hansen, in the journal Climate Change — edited by Steven Schneider, of Stanford University, who said in 1989 that scientists had to choose “the right balance between being effective and honest” about global warming — and a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that was only reviewed by one person, chosen by the author, again Dr. Hansen.
So there you have Hansen commenting on his own honesty. Gore did it earlier, which we discussed here: yes, he admitted lying in the movie. But who in Hollywood cares whether it's a fairy tale or not? They live in, and by, fairy tales. Image borrowed from YARGB.
Sunday, February 25. 2007
 T.E. Lawrence was one of the most fascinating people in recent history, and his Seven Pillars of Wisdom remains a masterpiece - and a page-turner. His role in the formation of the present-day Middle East is not overlooked by Moderate Voice. I doubt that Gen. Petraeus is our Lawrence. I was told second-hand via someone who met Lawrence that he was an unusually mild-mannered guy who looked and acted like Stan Laurel.
What is with this story about Jesus' coffin? Some thoughts about it from Anchoress. If those are Christ's bones, then I will give you my piece of Noah's Ark for free - and throw in my splinter of the True Cross. Was Washington a Deist or a Christian? Michael Novak considers GW's statements at First Things CO2 shortage in South Africa. haha. Can't they just take it out of the air, or something? Why does the Left give a pass to Fundie Islam but no pass to Fundie Christianity? Wizbang. Aw, you already know the answer. The Watchers highlighted the Schulman piece on Nazi-collaborator George Soros Granddaddy found some nice Dylan Youtubes. I especially like the version of My Back Pages, of course. Virginia apologizes for slavery. What utter BS. What is this "mea culpa" fad? Dr. Bliss, any ideas? Since there can be no such thing as collective guilt, much less collective historical guilt (unless you are neurotic as heck), this must be pure pandering. I guess that's obvious. Hollywood applauds Jihad. If Hollywood loves Castro and Jihad, what are Americans supposed to think?
This is a re-post from 2005 Bruce Thornton on our Greek heritage: "The legacy of the Greeks under assault today thus deserves defense and celebration for the simple reason that much of what we are is the result of that brilliant examination of human life first begun by the Greeks: as Jacob Burckhardt says, "We see with the eyes of the Greeks and use their phrases when we speak." We must listen to the Greeks not because they will give us answers, but because they first identified the questions and problems, and they knew too where the answers must come from: the minds of free human beings who have control over their own lives. And this, finally, is the greatest good we have received from the Greeks: the gift of freedom."
Read entire: Click here: VDH's Private Papers::Defending the Greeks
 Romans 10: 5-15
5Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” 6But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? 15And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Saturday, February 24. 2007
An 85-year-old man was requested by his doctor for a sperm count as part of his physical exam, as a measure of his general health.
The doctor gave the man a jar and said, "Take this jar home and bring back a semen sample tomorrow."
The next day the man reappeared at the doctor's office and gave him the jar, which was as clean and empty as on the previous day. The doctor asked what happened and the man explained, "Well, doc, it's like this - first I tried with my right hand, but nothing. Then I tried with my left hand, but still nothing. Then I asked my wife for help. She tried with her right hand, then with her left, still nothing. She tried with her mouth, first with the teeth in, then with her teeth out, still nothing. We even called up Arleen, the lady next door and she tried too, first with both hands, then an armpit, and she even tried squeezin' it between her knees, but still nothing.
The doctor was shocked! "You even asked your neighbor?"
The old man replied, "Yep. Not one of us could get the jar open."
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. William Pitt, 1783 (h/t, our cousin Mr. Free Market)
 The large Barred Owl, like our Great Horned Owl, is hooting, nesting, and laying eggs about now, up here. You can hear his deep "Who cooks for yoooo? Who cooks for you-all" across the frozen nighttime moon-lit marshes.
It's tough being on the bottom of the food chain. In the uplands, rodents have to deal with the Red-Tail during the day and with the Great Horned at night; in the lowlands with the Red Shouldered during the day and the Barred Owl at night. More about Barred Owl here at CLO. Also, somebody made a Barred Owl Cam. It seems that they will use large nest boxes, but I have only seen them using old hawk or crow nests. Their range and numbers are expanding. They are the same species as Spotted Owl, since they interbreed. Different races.
Classical Values looks at "equality" and the genetics of IQ and ability. Giuliani gains on the Prom Queen. But what do such numbers mean now? Other than signs of Hillary's vulnerability? That's what Peggy Noonan thinks. How to tell a lib from a Leftist. No Pasaran Modern medicine meets Islam. What happened to Islamic Civilization? The Advanced Geometry of Islamic Art How secure are home networks? I just assume nothing on the internet is very secure.
 In a disused graveyard
The living come with grassy tread
To read the gravestones on the hill;
The graveyard draws the living still,
But never anymore the dead.
The verses in it say and say:
"The ones who living come today
To read the stones and go away
Tomorrow dead will come to stay."
So sure of death the marbles rhyme,
Yet can't help marking all the time
How no one dead will seem to come.
What is it men are shrinking from?
It would be easy to be clever
And tell the stones: Men hate to die
And have stopped dying now forever.
I think they would believe the lie. If you missed our piece on Frost this week, scroll down.
Friday, February 23. 2007
 ... Okinawa, if the lens caps are off.
I love the smell of miso in the morning. Smells like... Victory!
 FDR was an impressive politician, a true noblesse oblige aristocrat (who never knew a working man, and never had the chance to find out how wise they/we are), with a fine temperament (no doubt those 10 martinis/day helped with that).
He latched onto a fad pressed upon him by his advisors - the communalism fad of the world intelligentsia of the 30s - and almost broke the back of American freedom in the process. Not being particularly scholarly - or wise - himself, he bought into the notion that The Depression was due to Capitalism, requiring repair if not replacement by the geniuses in government. Good wartime leader? Yes. Moral: beware of fads, and stay away from cranks. A quote from a piece in View from 1776 on the subject: Mr. Chase said regarding the Depression, …the cycle is a direct product of that specialization which appeared with the industrial revolution. It is a product of laissez-faire, and the neglect to inquire what an economic system is for…There never has been control from the top, and that is the only point from which the cycle may be steadied.…I suspect it is the end of the economic system as we have known it – and suffered with it – in the past…a new deal is in order. What remedies did Mr. Stuart Chase propose? The drive of collectivism leads toward control from the top. … At bottom the conception of economic planning is science supervising a people’s housekeeping. … And so the final idea of a National Planning Board emerges; …a group which knows the past, can give capable advice as to the present, and sees into the future, especially the technological future. …The real work, the real thought, the real action must come from the technicians: that class most able, most clear-headed of all in American life, hitherto only half utilized in technical detail and in college class rooms. …This is a long-swing project we are starting, longer than the secular trend; longer than the industrial revolution itself. Errors will be made; methods will be tried out and discarded; but the principle of control from the top must go on.
Ah, control from the top. Of course. Isn't that always the solution for us foolish citizens? Hmmm, but isn't it "the top" that provides our basic education, too? Aw heck, never mind: Everybody knows that most of the smart people in America are too busy with life to get involved in politics. But that old FDR arrogant impulse, that views folks in government as being smarter than citizens, as knowing "what is best for us," persists. I know enough of them, and I can tell you that they are, on the whole, narcissistic idiots and sociopaths with a slick talk....with rare exceptions, who sooner or later get disgusted and quit. Have you ever known a politician who you would want in charge of your personal life? But the Stalinist impulse is still alive, still dangerous, and still wrong.
I thought all of the rats in NYC were at Taco Bell. 
Visiting the bird-feeder today: Purple Grackle, Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White Throated Sparrow, Mockingbird, Cardinal, Blue Jay, Slate-Colored Junco, Mourning Dove, Goldfinch. Not very exciting species, but all welcome. Usually a few Nuthatches, Downies, and Titmice, but not today.
 It would solve the terrible AIDS problem, would it not? My Way News. Plus it would solve the entire transgender crisis, and the whole patriarchy problem too.
Let's Think Progressive, Think Feminist, Think Sitzpinkler, and Think Incrementalism: Circumcision Was Just a Start! You have to wonder what kind of wierd sadistic nut would have thought of it, and don't tell me that God really wanted that. Our God is into neither physical nor mental mutilation, I believe. But male castration at birth - meaning the whole package -sounds like a good issue for the Left. A natural issue for Hillary. And it is multiculturally sanctified: the Moslems already take the knife to their girls. Why don't they take out the old snippers, and do it to their men too? Fair is fair. Ed. note: That is Mr. King Cobra. A very fine animal.
The monstrous evils of the twentieth century have shown us that the greediest money grubbers are gentle doves compared with money-hating wolves like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, who in less than three decades killed or maimed nearly a hundred million men, women, and children and brought untold suffering to a large portion of mankind. Eric Hoffer
Hollywood loves Cuba. Moonbattery. What should that tell all of us? Seriously, not as a rhetorical question. If someone defends or idealizes Fidel, doesn't that mean that they would like a Fidel here in the US? And is it not odd that someone would actually say that, in public? Is envy really such a bad thing? Augean Stables Another look at what the New Deal did to destroy America - and the thinking behind it. View from 1776. Totalitarianism always comes in the disguise of benevolence, or with the excuse of dealing with a "crisis." The guy or gal always "loves the people" but hates their freedom, which exposes their hidden contempt and arrogance. The power-hungry - not the money-hungry - are the enemies of freedom. Everybody wants some money, but few of us desire power over others: it is a disease. The strategery behind the surge. Austin Bay Illegal immigration will drive down skill and IQ levels, says ETS Why Brit women aren't getting married. Stumbling and Mumbling. Those may be the economic reasons, but aren't the real reasons that they do not like sex, and prefer dogs, horses, and shooting, to romance? What's a bigger kick to shoot than a 50 cal? See the video Canadians admit: We didn't mean it when we signed Kyoto The right time to quit smoking? How they treat "internet addicts" in China. Is Hillary's real enemy Ralph Nader? NY Sun From Gov. Mark Sanford, in a piece at WaPo: When George W. Bush, The Post and the insurance giant Lloyd's of London agree on something, it's obvious a new wind is blowing. The climate change debate is here to stay, and as America warms to the idea of environmental conservation on a grander scale, it's vital that conservatives change the debate before government regulation expands yet again and personal freedom is pushed closer toward extinction. The fact is, I'm a conservative and a conservationist -- and that's okay.
Yes it is: he is mostly on the same page as Maggie's Farm - except we don't take warming seriously. And, if real, we welcome it.
Man is a luxury loving animal. Take away play, fancies, and luxuries, and you will turn man into a dull, sluggish creature, barely energetic enough to obtain a bare subsistence. A society becomes stagnant when its people are too rational or too serious to be tempted by baubles. Eric Hoffer
 The best orchid show in the world opens Feb 24 at the NY Botanical Garden. Worth a drive. (That's a Schilleriana on the right)
I think these two Maggie's Farm readers below were in a bit of a hurry to get through the toll booth to catch the Orchid Show. The real question is - Whose EZ Pass paid the $3.50 toll? (I think it was the schlemozl on the right, and the schlemiel on the left tried to sneak past his "GO" signal.) Good old New York - if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Just throw your manners overboard. 
This ill-tempered, violent, foul mouthed, hateful and abusive woman wants to be your president and have total control as commander-in-chief of a military that her party so openly and proudly admit they detest. I can see someone like this gaining the respect of other nations, and especially from their leaders, who refuse to do as she tells them ...or else. No thanks, my country deserves a better leader, not a dominatrix.
Here is our collection of quotes from Mrs. Clinton: "Where is the G-damn f**king flag? I want the G-damn f**king flag up every f**king morning at f**king sunrise."(From the book "Inside The White House" by Ronald Kessler, p. 244 - Hillary to the staff at the Arkansas Governor's mansion on Labor Day, 1991)
"You sold out, you mother f**ker! You sold out!"From the book "Inside" by Joseph Califano, p. 213 - Hillary yelling at Democrat lawyer."It's been said, and I think it's accurate, that my husband was obsessed by terrorism in general and al-qaida in particular."(Hillary telling a post-9/11 world what a 'great' commander in chief her husband was; Dateline, NBC 4/16/2004.)"I have to admit that a good deal of what my husband and I have learned [about Islam] has come from our daughter."(Tru thInMedia.org 8/8/1999 - Hillary at a White House function, proudly tells some Muslim groups she is gaining a greater appreciation of Islam because Chelsea was then taking a class on the "religion of peace")"F**k off! It's enough that I have to see you shit-kickers every day, I'm not going to talk to you too!! Just do your G*damn job and keep your mouth shut."(From the book "American Evita" by Christopher Anderson, p. 90 - Hillary to her State Trooper bodyguards after one of them greeted her with "Good morning.""You f**king idiot."(From the book "Crossfire" p. 84 - Hillary to a State Trooper w ho was dr ivi ng her to an event.)"If you want to remain on this detail, get your f**king ass over here and grab those bags!"(From the book "The First Partner" p. 259 - Hillary to a Secret Service Agent who was reluctant to carry her luggage because he wanted to keep his hands free in case of an incident.)
"Get f**ked! Get the f**k out of my way!!! Get out of my face!!!"(From the book "Hillary's Scheme" p. 89 - Hillary's various comments to her Secret Service d etail ag en ts.)"Stay the f**k back, stay the f**k away from me! Don't come within ten yards of me, or else! Just f**king do as I say, Okay!!!?"(From the book "Unlimited Access", by Clinton FBI Agent in Charge, Gary Aldrige, p. 139 - Hillary screaming at her Secret Service detail.)"Many of you are well enough off that [President Bush's] tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for A merica to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to have to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."(Hillary grandstanding at a fund raising speech in San Francisco; SFGate.com 6/28/2004.)
"Why do I have to keep proving to people that I am not a liar?!"(From the book "The Survivor," by John Harris, p. 382 - Hillary in her 2000 Senate campaign)"Where's the miserable c*ck sucker?"(From the book "The Truth About Hillary" by Edward Klein, p. 5 - Hillary shouting at a Secret Service officer.
More charming quotes from the quotable Mrs. Clinton on continuation page below -
Continue reading "Ms. Potty Mouth runs for president"
Thursday, February 22. 2007
 Civilization. A Sid Meier update at Drezner. Meier says he cannot win at his game.
Greedy Geezers want more of our money. Viking. Of course they do - everyone wants to separate me from my money. Honestly, they don't give a damn about me. Why don't they get a job? How does Europe put up with the EU? Now the EU wants to re-write history to glorify themselves. Is this a would-be Empire? Israel's oldest kibbutz goes private. How about an LBO? (h/t, Samizdata) The strange story that refuses to go away. Why? Because you have to wonder who is protecting Berger - and why. If I walked out of the National Archives with national security documents in my underwear, would that be OK? Or an absent-minded mistake, because I usually put all of my documents in my underpants. More thoughts at RWNH and Blue Crab. Women in politics, at Gates of Vienna. A quote: The silence of the professional feminists in the face of the barbarities of Islam regarding women has long been a source of wonder — if not disgust — for regular folks. We keep waiting for them to speak out on behalf of women who suffer slave status in Muslim theocracies. There has been only silence…or even worse, a disturbing preoccupation with trivialities like the Vagina Monologues or the rage against those who dare to disagree with their victim whingeing. The decades-old complaint about gender inequity has been transformed into a full-fledged deep hatred of men that makes these upper middle-class women look like spoiled, overprivileged narcissists.
The elected women in Congress are a good example this narrow self-absorption, the kind that follows in the wake of setting oneself up as a victim…in this case, of course, women are the victims of patriarchy. Yawn.
Mississippi vs. State Farm: What does this sound like to you? It's about flood insurance. It sounds like tyranny to me. Theft of services, too. Gotta like this quote from Maliki (piece at Flopping): Iraqiya state television showed Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist leader, talking to an Iraqi soldier near an armored vehicle in central Baghdad. The soldier pointed to an area from where he said insurgents had been firing at security forces.
"Don't just fire back, crush the place where the fire came from," Maliki replied. "Don't treat them with leniency. This is an armored vehicle here, use it."
Would you call this stalking and this attack a hate crime? Quotes from a nice, tolerant Dem at Michelle. Not being big TV people, we never posted this obit. But it's interesting to see that the guy wasn't a TV-watcher. I often agree with Hewitt, but on this one, I am with Balloon Juice. No need to "go Lamont". Most boring legal case of the year: Libby update at Lib Leanings. Tell me, what did he supposedly do wrong, again? The myth of the shrinking middle class. Env. Repub Dems fight like girls. Atlas. Ouch. IBD, via Attack Machine: New Orleans: Nearly a year and a half after Katrina, most of the Gulf Coast is recovering nicely — with one major exception. So who is to blame for that?
 I always thought that, too - that he was an abyss-gazer and a frightening metaphysician. From The Fear:
You understand that we have to be careful.
This is a very, very lonely place.
Joel!" She spoke as if she couldn't turn.
The swinging lantern lengthened to the ground,
It touched, it struck it, clattered and went out.
No fuzzy, avunclular, laconic Yankee he. In fact, a Californian transplant to NH via Dartmouth College. "Accessible"? I don't know: his imagery is familiar and country, but that's just imagery. From a New York Sun review of Frost's newly-published Diaries: Frost's popular Yankee image, which he assiduously cultivated through readings, lectures, and even some of his poems, helped him to win the immense popularity that he enjoyed in his lifetime: four Pulitzer Prizes, a spot on the dais at the Kennedy Inaugural. Yet Trilling recognized that the aged poet would not be helped in his passage to posterity by this Norman Rockwell carapace, which could only seem more fake and dated with the years. That is why Trilling insisted on calling Frost, to his face, "a terrifying poet." Really, he had less in common with Longfellow than with Sophocles, "who made plain ... the terrible things of human life." Trilling's remarks came in for what seems now like a surprising amount of criticism. When the New York Times reported on the speech, affronted readers wrote to suggest that Trilling should be taken "to the woodshed," while Frost consoled himself with "a nice plate of buckwheat pancakes and Vermont maple syrup." This anxious resort to the very clichés of Americana, which Trilling had decried, only proved how right he was. It was vital, for Frost's longterm artistic reputation, to separate the maple syrup from the poetry.
If the Internet existed first, before newspapers, would anyone have invented newspapers? Warren Buffett, in reply to a question about investing in the newspaper business
Wednesday, February 21. 2007
 Hornet problem? Blame Bush. In fact, blame American global warming for all the weather that happens until there is a Dem in the White House. If fact, blame him for anything. Why stick to weather? I have ants in the kitchen this year... Or, for example, Fitzgerald today.
Reconstruction teams in Iraq. Dem Project. Sounds like a big piece of the puzzle. An enemy is not a friend. SC&A. Amazing that we are so far gone that this needs to be said. Long overdue. Adding to blogroll - Good old Mr. Smash at Indepundit Gore may get honorary doctorate in climatology. I say - why not a free real doctorate? After all, he discovered the Gore Effect. Another multicultural death. It should be a daily feature. Ghosts. This brief recollection of a Mom at YARGB is moving and disturbing. Clown awards. He should make it a weekly feature. Everybody needs their ideas challenged, but not by psychotic sociopaths. No Pasaran CAIR update, at Powerline There will always be an England: Hedgehog Rescue. How about a Culture Rescue? Do women make an informed "choice"? Villainous says no. Your eggs do get old, ladies, and your bodies do not make fresh ones. Did these idiots deserve rescue on my nickel? No, but the dog did. Lucianne. What would it cost to put up a sign saying "Climb mountain at your own risk", for the morons who think that Mt. Hood is a Disney Experience?
 This is already getting fun. Let's see if Her Holy Highness can take it as good as she can give it. Hollywood does not love Hillary, but it is fun to see people come right out and say what everyone already thinks.
She wants a coronation, but very few like her very much. What is there to like? And what has she achieved, besides sticking with a scum husband for her own ambitions? David Geffen calls her a bigger liar than Bill. Many links at Drudge. Best bit from the "Clinton intimate" and always outspoken Geffen: “Everybody in politics lies,” he said, but the Clintons “do it with such ease it’s troubling.” He went on to hint that Bill still had marital fidelity issues, and that Hillary was over-produced, over-scripted, over-ambitious, stiff-necked and haughty. And then he said the worst thing a Hollywood guy could say: The Clinton Show was boring. “And I’m tired of hearing James Carville on television,” he said.
Go, Obama! I wouldn't vote for Obama because he's Left-wing, but I like the guy's hutzpah to be willing to blow a possible VP spot. He has to bear in mind that Hillary is not a girl - and she is nobody's Prom Queen. A black opponent is her worst nightmare. And great fun for the press. The only thing the press likes more than a Dem is a good story with a byline.
This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people. C.S. Lewis
 As a one-time Episcopalian-Anglican before I was found, all of this both tickles me and saddens me. Is it what Dr. Bliss could term "the narcisissism of small differences", or is it about following Christ first and foremost?
Are the primates right? Don't ask me. I try to keep it simple, and I do not think about gays very much. Got many more important things to concern me in this brief life and I, in general, find other people's sexual predilections to be an unpleasant and inappropriate subject, which is best left alone. None of my business, and I do not care to hear about it.
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