Sunday, February 25. 2007
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.
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.
My blackbirds arrived up here today. They are my first sign of approaching Spring. Five days later than last year (yes, I write the date in pencil on my cabin wall, next to the window. Doesn't everybody?). Using basic math, that means we must be 1.36% colder this year than last year, and are entering an ominous cooling period. What is snow-cover, after all, but the big glacier - in kindergarten? Or in senescence? What are blackbirds? It's generic for grackles, red-wings, cowbirds, and their relatives, around here. They flock together and migrate together, as birds of a feather do. In breeding season, though, they stick with their own kind. Very wise to do so. I know exactly when they arrive, because they remember me, and empty my bird feeder in five minutes. Very hungry after their overnight flight, irritable, mentally ragged, noisily complaining, and jet-lagged. Like the Jet Blue customers.
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