Thursday, March 22. 2007
 I have arranged today to be a mental health day for myself from the old firm. I am going to walk around the place in the foot of snow we still have (no globalistical warmening here), and make a to-do checklist for myself and my slaves. I know I have some trees down at the edge of the horse field, and an Ash tree has crushed the fence, but our foolish horses haven't noticed. But I know there are plenty more projects to begin when the snow finally melts here in central CT. I also know I will need to clean out the Bluebird houses (I have about 20), but our Wood Duck houses are all set for arrival. Have not seen one yet, though, on the stream.
Speaking of mental health, one thing is as clear as day to me: I predict war. With control of Congress, the Dems are going to slam and smear and create an atmosphere of disarray and chaos in DC until the next election. Everything that moves is going to be a Big Scandal, and they will try to handcuff the administration with accusations and hearings, with "perjury traps" laid everywhere. As they say in DC: "If you throw enough sh-t at the wall, some of it will stick." This will be hardball, it will be mean and nasty, it will be slash-and-burn, it will be ridiculous and dishonest, it will further degrade the always-dubious reputation of the federal government - and it will be relentless. Doubt it? See today's Hillary says "Get Rove." Are such people America's best? Of course not. America's best people have real jobs. Just one little problem: These Dem folks were elected to govern. They do not fully realize that yet. They are so eager to attack and destroy that they cannot bother to present positive, fresh, interesting plans for governance. It is partly strategic, but partly emotional, and it could come back and bite them in the end. It's neither healthy nor mature nor responsible - but what do we expect from most politicians? But "the government is endogenous," isn't it? Image: An Eastern Bluebird house from our favorite vendor, Best Nests. If you have a few acres of open meadow, "If you build it, they will come." I prefer those snake-proof metal posts.
Regular readers know that I was an ambivalent Dem until Reagan. Then I began to put it all together. Vote-buying is their MO. Period. Freebies with Other People's Money. They need a new idea. And they even use that one idea to accumulate votes in Congress. Look at what they have had to promise - of our hard-earned money - to try to get votes for their Defeat In Iraq Program: Gateway. Totally pathetic.
 We received a nice email from Olivier Martin at CaliEagle of Aigle Boots, regarding our piece on Wellies. We like their stuff, and own some. He said this:
Correction accepted. We like to be open about our mistakes.
He also updated our link for Aigle (above), which we will correct in our piece on Wellies, since we will use it again next year.
A case of mistaken identity, below, on continuation page. Don't waste your time with it. Plus I think it is 100 years old.
Continue reading "Dumb joke"
 The Museum of the City of New York has decided to perpetuate the leftist myths - the Communist Party of the USA propaganda - of the "Lincoln Brigade," which was no brigade, which mainly came from NYC, and which fought (only for a few months) under the control of the Russians and never for the army of the Spanish Republic in their civil war against Franco.
Heroes, or "useful idiots"? The facts would seem to support the latter. Report in the New York Sun.
 We are great admirers of Bernard Lewis. A quote from his speech this week:
I mentioned earlier the important difference in what one means by religion. For Muslims, it covers a whole range of different things–marriage, divorce, and inheritance are the most obvious examples. Since antiquity in the Western world, the Christian world, these have been secular matters. The distinction of church and state, spiritual and temporal, lay and ecclesiastical is a Christian distinction which has no place in Islamic history and therefore is difficult to explain to Muslims, even in the present day. Until very recently they did not even have a vocabulary to express it. They have one now. What are the European responses to this situation? In Europe, as in the United States, a frequent response is what is variously known as multiculturalism and political correctness. In the Muslim world there are no such inhibitions. They are very conscious of their identity. They know who they are and what they are and what they want, a quality which we seem to have lost to a very large extent. This is a source of strength in the one, of weakness in the other…
More of his speech at Dinocrat.
The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship. Robert A. Heinlein
by our friend: 
Wednesday, March 21. 2007
 You know, there's comedy; high comedy, low comedy, farce, satire; there's people that think Al Gore understands the universe and everything in it, when of course he's pushing sixty and can't dress himself yet. And of course, there's always fat women slipping on banana peels. That sort of thing.
It's cruel to laugh at people in distress. We shouldn't do it. It's unkind. For instance, if someone was to get hold a stash of old Dating Service videotapes, and edit it for all the real winners, and then posted it on YouTube, and you were to watch it, it would be mean to laugh. Really. So don't laugh. I dare you to try not to. It's just not the Christian thing to do. Good luck. Line forms at the left, ladies
 Winds of change at the EU. EU Referendum. If the idea was to create a Soviet Union Lite, then apparently people do not want that.
Did you already read about the Iraq insurgents using kids in car bombs? The Fear Industrial Complex. Blue Crab Is credit only for the rich? Marginal Rev. Designer vaginas? The latest fad. Obama rebuffs Soros. I like this Obama. Wouldn't vote for him, but kinda like him. Does hanging out with Irish kids count as multicultural? Ankle Biter wonders. The hidden costs of illegal workers. CSM Al Gore declared a Planetary Emergency in Congress today. Personally, I think the hysteria is the planetary emergency. Losing the election shook a screw loose in this guy, same as it did to Jimmy Carter. "There I was inside a bat infested sea cave." Ron Rosenbaum. A Jewish Christian on the Dead Sea scrolls and pre-Paul Christianity and the phony Jesus tomb. Another view on illegals, from Jacoby at the Globe Does Al Gore make money on his carbon offset company?
Readers have asked about the equipment used for this week's Patagonia photos. It's a Canon 20D EOS body with a 70-200 f2.8 L series Canon lens, with Singh Ray polarizing filter.
 Here's a succinct description of the Prisoner's Dilemma, from this site:
In this hypothetical situation, two accomplices to a crime are imprisoned, and they forge a pact to not betray one another and not confess to the crime. The severity of the punishment that each receives is determined not only by his or her behavior, but also by the behavior of his or her accomplice. The two prisoners are separated and cannot communicate with each other. Each is told that there are four possible outcomes: - If one confesses to the crime and turns in the accomplice (defecting from a pact with the accomplice), his sentence will be reduced. - If one confesses while the accomplice does not (i.e. the accomplice cooperates with the pact to not betray each other), the first can strike a deal with the police, and will be set free. But the information he provides will be used to incriminate his accomplice, who will receive the maximum sentence. - If both prisoners confess to the crime (i.e. both defect from their pact), then each receives a reduced sentence, but neither is set free.
It's fun for two people to play this game repetitively, and see who wins over time. My idea was to write up something about that Prisoner's Dilemma game, but then I got lured away by the topic of the Tragedy of the Commons. Game Theory ties these subjects together, and so those subjects may need to wait a bit. My calculus is not what it used to be but, as an attorney, I still find that Game Theory has its appeal for me. Appeal, if not too much practical utility, because Game Theory tends to assume some degree of rationality, and humans are only rational on occasion. Indeed, one reason for hiring an attorney is to apply some degree of objective rationality to a situation. Still, I believe that formal Game Theory - as opposed to normal legal strategizing - can inform legal practice. Here's a nice summary of the book Game Theory and the Law, which has some good references at the bottom. People are often gaming things, aren't they? There's a survival instinct to make the most of a situation to best achieve your own goals. Only conscience, character, tradition, care for others, and the desire for the respect and trust of others stand in the way of humanity's being a pure gaming, calculating, scheming, strategic machine. We consider people who operate that way all the time as sociopathic. When I studied calculus in college, the teachers were all into game theory. Their heros were von Neumann, Morgenstern, and of course the great John Nash, who elaborated the Nash Equilibrium - and who can still be seen wandering around Princeton - about whom Sylvia Nasar wrote the fascinating book, and then Ron Howard produced the wonderful "Best Picture" Beautiful Mind. The spiritual home of Game Theory is the RAND Corporation, where very smart people work on interesting economic, military, and policy problems. I was interested to find that they have a graduate program. That would be one cool place to hang out for a while, in Santa Monica. OK, this is already long enough and, as usual with my occasional rambles, I arrived both nowhere and somewhere. I will do the Tragedy of the Commons - more accurately termed The Tragedy of the Unregulated Commons (since, historically, all commoners (those with the right of commons) were of necessity highly regulated either by tradition or by law) - sometime soon. And eventually work my way back into the Prisoner's Dilemma.
We'll fix the comment problem ASAP.
 Re the war and the protesters, from Vanderleun (h/t, Flares). It begins:
Four years in. An inch of time. Four years in and the foolish and credulous among us yearn to get out. Their feelings require it. The power of their Holy Gospel of "Imagine" compels them. Their overflowing pools of compassion for the enslavers of women, the killers of homosexuals, the beheaders of reporters, and the incinerators of men and women working quietly at their desks, rise and flood their minds until their eyes flow with crocodile tears while their mouths emit slogans made of cardboard. They believe the world is run on wishes and that they will always have three more. Like savages shambling about some campfire where all there is to eat are a few singed tubers, they paint their faces with the tatterdemalion symbols of a summer long sent down to riot with the worms. They clasp hands and sing songs whose lyrics are ash. "We shall... over... come." Overcome what, overcome who? Overcome their nation? Is that their dream? It is the lifelong dream of those that lead them that much is certain.
Read the whole thing. Would someone please give this guy a columnist job? Image: Photo of this slim young exhibitionist and deep thinker about international affairs borrowed from Ace.
 A Hummer is a greener car than a Prius. Truly. Not that it matters.
So many news items satirize themselves. Edwards claims his mansion is carbon neutral. Al Gore makes his own rules. He is going to control his Senate presentation today and filibuster it - talk so much that he gets no questions. Why Ethanol is a terrible idea. Czech Pres. Vaclav Klaus - our hero - presented to the House Energy and Commerce Committee via letter yesterday. A quote from it: “The so-called climate change and especially man-made climate change has become one of the most dangerous arguments aimed at distorting human efforts and public policies in the whole world.”
Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy. Robert A. Heinlein
From our Maggie's Farm photographer friend. In case you wondered, she does not use a point-and-shoot. 
Tuesday, March 20. 2007
A JFK ground traffic controller, maintaining his sense of humor. Keep listening through the silent bits. What a job! The guy is a real New Yorker.
 A review of Louann Brizendine's The Female Brain, in The Daily Male Mail. A few quotes:
Many men find post-menopausal spouses suddenly cool, selfish and impatient - like completely different people. Pharmaceutically, we do become completely different people. As for menopause, here's what really depressed me: Between the ages of 42 and 52, 50pc of women lose interest in sex altogether. That's primarily because by 50, women lose up to 70pc of their testosterone, the driver of sexual desire for both genders.
and In the professional sphere, you often can't be both - perhaps that's why so few major companies have women at their helm. A woman's instinct to seek approval puts her at a disadvantage in a position of power. Women are driven to achieve consensus, and to keep social bonds intact at all costs. Thus, they always try to get their way through 'agreement', without telling people directly what to do. Brizendine points out that women assert themselves in the form of questions, which made me laugh out loud. Since reading this passage, I've started to notice how I compulsively email my editor with constructions such as "Why don't we do that?", or "Might it be better if we didn't do X, but Y?" I constantly round off a potentially harsh demand with a timid, solicitous 'OK?'
and Men want to be respected. Women want to be liked.
Read the whole review here. Funny how, if you say outloud the things that everyone's Mom and Grandma knew, you could get fired as President of Harvard. I think this book runs up against Cultural Marxism. Our Dr. Bliss wrote on this subject a while back: Cowboys and Cowgirls Image: William Blake's Adam and Eve
Martin Strel is swimming the length of the Amazon. His swimmer's diary, to date, with photos, here.
 Betsy makes a good point when she asks why the Dems are not pushing for the US signing Kyoto, now that they control congress. Is it possible that they don't really believe it? Or that they know it's a political loser?
Bjorn Lomborg, who is clearly an anthropogenic warming believer, notes in the Daily Star re the EU emission goals: But nobody sees fit to reveal the agreement's dirty little secret: It will do next to no good - and again at very high cost. According to one well-established and peer-reviewed model, the effect of the EU cutting emissions by 20 percent will postpone warming in the 21st century by just two years, yet the cost will be about $90 billion annually. It will be costly, because Europe is a costly place to cut carbon-dioxide, and it will be inconsequential, because the EU will account for only about 6 percent of all emissions in the 21st century. So the new treaty will be an even less efficient use of our resources than the old Kyoto Protocol.
His whole piece here. Indeed, even if there is real climate change, and even if it is partly man-made, nothing that is done will do anything more than raise taxes, raise prices, and raise government control over people and the economy. But effect the earth's climate? Not possible.
 Disturbing photos of the Portland peace marchers. Who are all of these people?
They do not seem to understand anything about America. I ask myself how hard I want to work my brain to try to understand how they view the world. I am more inclined to let Dr. Sanity do that dirty job. Addendum from The Barrister: Some folks are beyond persuasion, and some folks are willing to listen to logical argument and disputation. We all like to think that we are in the latter category, but I do not think I would get too far with that 1960s holdover geezer in the photo. He hates America, and you cannot argue with hatred.
 Tool humor. Cramer
The documentary Indoctrinate U is trying to build an audience via an internet campaign. Let's help. Hey, here's the trailer for the movie. Actually, the YouTube works better. There is no such thing as a "global temperature." Of course not. How could there be? Meanwhile, the global warming hoax is gradually unravelling. Zimbabwe. Inflation heading towards 4000% The wealthy: Why not just paint a target on their forehead? Luskin A Kennedy says Chavez "is a true friend of American and social justice." Blue Crab Do expensive weapons systems make us impotent? A case for simpler, less costly military hardware. This is what nation-building looks like. Totten via SDA. Malls?
Re-posted from March, 2006 April is the beginning of trout season around here, 
but it is also turkey season. Non-hunters may not know that April is Spring Turkey season in many states in the US. Last April, early morning, Gwynnie and I were warming up our fly casting on a pond when a proud acquaintance stopped by with his heavy gobbler in one tired hand and his shotgun in the other. Surf 'n Turf? If you have never eaten a wild turkey, you have never eaten turkey. The farm-raised birds are as bland as cardboard. Our past piece on the Wild Turkey here. At Maggie's Farm, we are grateful for the work of organizations like the National Wild turkey Federation, plus all of the non-profit and governmental agencies which have restored the magnificent wild turkey around the US. We even saw some in Maine last fall. Turkey hunting has more in common with deer-hunting than bird-hunting. In other words - boring... until the last moment - if the bird shows up. It's like they say about Obstetrics: 99% pure boredom, 1% terror. But in this case, 1% thrills. Some folks get a kick out of turkey-calling, but I think it's for the birds. Decoys are fine. Image from the NWTF website. Those are males, displaying for a hen's attention.
This comment came in over Buddy's transom: The population of this country is 300 million. 160 million are retired. That leaves 140 million to do the work. There are 85 million in school. Which leaves 55 million to do the work. Of this there are 35 million employed by the federal government. Leaving 15 million to do the work. 2.8 million are in the armed forces Which leaves 12.2 million to do the work. Take from that total the 10.8 million people who work for state and city governments. And that leaves 1.4 million to do the work. At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals. Leaving 1,212,000 to do the work. Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons. That leaves just two people to do the work.
You and me...
and there you are, sitting on your ass, at your computer, reading jokes. Nice. Real nice.
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