Tuesday, April 24. 2007
Toyota tops GM for first time in world car sales. Is anyone surprised that it finally happened?
We forgot to link the Peggy Noonan piece on VT, at Opinion Journal. Better late than never. A quote: The school officials I saw, especially the head of the campus psychological services, seemed to me endearing losers. But endearing is too strong. I mean "not obviously and vividly offensive." The school officials who gave all the highly competent, almost smooth and practiced news conferences seemed to me like white, bearded people who were educated in softness. Cho was "troubled"; he clearly had "issues"; it would have been good if someone had "reached out"; it's too bad America doesn't have better "support services." They don't use direct, clear words, because if they're blunt, they're implicated. The literally white-bearded academic who was head of the campus counseling center was on Paula Zahn Wednesday night suggesting the utter incompetence of officials to stop a man who had stalked two women, set a fire in his room, written morbid and violent plays and poems, been expelled from one class, and been declared by a judge to be "mentally ill" was due to the lack of a government "safety net." In a news conference, he decried inadequate "funding for mental health services in the United States." Way to take responsibility. Way to show the kids how to dodge. The anxiety of our politicians that there may be an issue that goes unexploited was almost--almost--comic. They mean to seem sensitive, and yet wind up only stroking their supporters. I believe Rep. Jim Moran was first out of the gate with the charge that what Cho did was President Bush's fault. I believe Sen. Barack Obama was second, equating the literal killing of humans with verbal coarseness. Wednesday there was Sen. Barbara Boxer equating the violence of the shootings with the "global warming challenge" and "today's Supreme Court decision" upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion. One watches all of this and wonders: Where are the grown-ups?
Read the whole thing.
Michael Scheuer, Former Chief, Bin Laden Unit, CIA, reported to Congress on April 17. His statement is an interesting read. One quote: The Rendition Program was initiated because President Clinton, and Messrs. Lake, Berger, and Clarke requested that the CIA begin to attack and dismantle AQ. These men made it clear that they did not want to bring those captured to the U.S. and hold them in U.S. custody. President Clinton and his national security team directed the CIA to take each captured al-Qaeda leader to the country which had an outstanding legal process for him. This was a hard-and-fast rule which greatly restricted CIA’s ability to confront al-Qaeda because we could only focus on al-Qaeda leaders who were wanted somewhere. As a result many al-Qaeda fighters we knew were dangerous to America could not be captured.
Read the whole thing. I guess they never considered using Gitmo.
 I can't believe Chuckie Cheese said this (piece at Cramer):
Hell is about to freeze over. Watch out for those flying pigs! I just saw Senator Schumer (D-NY) on The O'Reilly Factor admit that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. He went on to argue that the right isn't unlimited, just like the First Amendment "doesn't protect pornography." He even acknowledged that there is a right to defend yourself, and that can even include using a gun to do so.
This tells me that gun control is off the table. But where did he read that our Bill of Rights are not unlimited? Since when doesn't the First protect porn? Who gave govt the right to limit rights? Freedom is not a gift of government. Freedom came first, and our government was designed and employed to protect it, right? Or am I confused?
 Front Page mag interviewed Dr. Ted Dalrymple in 2005: Our Culture, What's Left of It. (h/t, David Thompson)
What does it mean to talk about "the gap between rich and poor"? Samizdata. Every Marxist attitude is based on the erroneous assumption that wealth is a zero sum game. Marx was not an economist. The Guardian reassures you: Don't be fooled. France is still Leftist. My theory: They want Louis XIV back, but won't admit it. If people are this uninterested and uninformed, why listen to polls? Betsy Why should Canada try to go Greenie, when China does whatever they want? Small Dead Baby Kittens Rick Moran encounters his first bidet. The secret Gore campaign? Is it for real? (h/t, Jules) An eco-chick. It's about fashion. Haha. Just so stupid. The Fastest Texter tournament. Teen wins. Big surprise there. Green power will ruin California open space. CSM More border violence. CSM Illegal immigration: An issue which damages both Dems and Repubs. Powerline Mark Steyn on Hoplophobia. Never Yet Melted Who gets shot every day in America? Youth gangs, and plenty of suicides. Iowahawk did some fun cars for Earth Day.
From Speak No Truth, at LaShawn: As this country has become more racially and culturally diverse, telling the truth about racial and cultural differences has become off-limits. At the same time, liberals want to apply separate standards to these diverse groups based on those differences. For example, you can’t talk about personal responsibility in the context of underachievement among black students, or you’re a racist. Yet, so-called affirmative action — a government-mandated racial classification system — exists to compensate for those differences (and not to combat racism, as some people believe). But to be PC is to pretend racial disparities like underachievement or high crime rates are caused by white racism instead of by individuals and something lacking within the subculture itself, and to say otherwise is taboo.
Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. Robert A. Heinlein
Walking can add minutes to your life for each day you walk. This enables you, at 85 years old, to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $5000 per month. My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was 60. Now she's 97 years old and we don't know where the hell she is. The only reason I would take up exercising is so that I could hear heavy breathing again. I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks. Haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there. I have to exercise early in the morning before my brain figures out what I'm doing. I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me. I have flabby thighs, but fortunately my stomach covers them. The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier. If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.
Confederate Yank on the psychology of courage. How do people behave when they feel trapped? I think a "Let's roll" reaction could have taken the guy down. We only know of one guy who even confronted Cho - Liviu. Not to blame the victims, but just wondering. For example, if Cho had decided to take on the Rugby team in their locker room or an ROTC class, instead of a German language class, would it have ended differently?
Monday, April 23. 2007
Many Asians, as I understand it, like to use their fingers. The French like bidets. Boy Scouts use Poison Ivy leaves, and Grandpa grew up using pages from the Sears Roebuck catalog. But the civilized world, despite Cheryl Crowe's suggestions, prefers nice, soft toilet paper made from friendly trees. What did people use in the past? Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has the fascinating facts for you.
 Tragedy exploitation: Hatemonger
Dylan summer tour dates. "Fighting back was not an option, #2." Big Lizards Mark your calendar. May 5 is Free Comic Book Day China's farmlands are in big trouble. Honk if you're married and can't cope with anger. Dave Barry Done with Mirrors took the time on Earth Day to post some graphs on climate. Prejudice. GSN will begin production on a new game show based on the UK format Prejudice (the original show Prejudice also airs on BBC America). According to Variety, the US version will be called Without Prejudice?, and is a sixty minute series. The network has ordered up 8 episodes. The game is about how the contestants are perceived to strangers, and they are awarded cash for each successful round they complete. Bedlam Revisited. Regarding the de-institutionalization of the dangerously mentally ill. Dr. Kellerman in the WSJ. A quote: Penning up and carefully scrutinizing the killer was never an option. Not in Virginia or California or any other state in the union. Because in our well-intentioned quest to maximize personal liberty, we've moved conceptual eons away from taking the concept of dangerousness seriously. The best predictor of future violent behavior is past violent behavior, yet we regularly grant parole to murderers, serial rapists, chronically assaultive individuals and habitual pedophiles. Even when we do attempt to segregate low-impulse multiple offenders with effective tools such as with three-strikes laws, liberationist clamor never ceases. Talk to anyone who's tried to commit a dangerously violent child or parent for even a few days: A stranger with a law degree will show up at the hearing and paint you as a fascist. So it's far too much to expect anything resembling a decisive approach to those whose level of threat remains at the verbal level.
 Department of Things You Always Wondered About: How does a snake swallow a larger snake? Live Science
North America's handsome King Snake is best known as a snake-eater, hence its name. He is immune to the venom of poisonous snakes. In the US, there are a number of varieties of King Snakes, including the stunning eastern Scarlet Kingsnake, but the taxonomy is unclear. I have only seen one wild Scarlet King Snake in my life, and I tramp the woods, fields and marshes as much as I can. Image is a King Snake subduing a Copperhead by constriction, preparatory to dining on it.
I have all the money I will ever need...as long as I die before 4 o'clock. Henny Youngman
Sunday, April 22. 2007
It's getting funny. You can hear a bit on the video here. (h/t, Powerline's piece on the wierd subject.) I have known plenty of Wellesley girls, and they do not talk like that, unless in mockery. Somebody already took down the YouTube of the entire embarassment. Do you think she believes that if she doesn't talk black, they won't understand her? And an even bigger issue: What sort of people would be courting the revolting race pimp Al Sharpton? Nobody. So maybe the deal is that you don't want him against you, because he has no morals and no limits. Hillary and Al - perfect together. Lives built of pure lies.
 40% of American women have no financial plan for their future. It is a good source for that info, but I do not have the link.
For a country where people are expected to be responsible adults, and to take care of themselves, that is pretty bad. The numbers could be as bad for guys, but they wouldn't admit it. But guys do not last as long as gals: life worries do them in. Grow up, you ladies without trust funds. Daddy won't be there to save you, hubbie will probably be dead, and you may no longer look like the charmer in the photo. Feminism entails demands along with the opportunities. Women tend to live a long time as old ladies: it's the price they pay for being so delicious in youth.
 A random though, in light of all the of gun control authoritarian folks trying to exploit the sad VT story: Why don't we ban destructive books too? And blogs? After all, the pen is mightier than the sword, isn't it? Screw our Constitution, right?
Biggest ignored story by the MSM of the week: I found Saddam's WMD Bunkers. Rutgers basketball team refuses to continue to be poster children for victimization. Good for them. They had already milked it enough. Time to regain some dignity and pride. Spanish company makes more profits selling carbon credits than their products. Small Dead Baby Polar Bears. Time for me to build a virtual factory, with abundant virtual carbon pollution. Like farmers making money for not farming. Brains made of toilet paper. Less well-endowed high school gals used to stuff kleenex into their bras, but they never stuffed toilet paper into their skulls. Cheryl Crowe wants to reduce use of toilet paper. Ahem. She is missing three basic facts: 1) Paper comes from tree farms, 2) Trees in the northern hemisphere appear to be worsening the terrifying global warming crisis which is causing me to lose sleep, and 3) Why does anyone (including me) listen to her at all? Legal: Does it make sense to criminalize "agency costs"? Bainbridge. I doubt it, or people will not be willing to run companies. It's not an easy job, and requires a remarkable combination of talents. The New York Times is headed for big trouble. I don't want the company to die. I want it to change. But I think they would rather die than change. Newspapers are not in trouble. Left-wing newspapers with bias on the front page are in trouble. Mullah on women: Women who are badly veiled are like buses: Anyone may ride them. Equally nutty: Moslems do not permit mixing tomatoes with cucumbers. Talk about filthy minds - who would have thought of that? Sheesh. Chavez' unique anti-crime plan. Unbelievable. NB: Venezuelans have been disarmed by gun control. Except their criminals, that is. Was Cho taught to hate? Never Yet Melted. It's an interesting take on the story. More on hatred. Good piece at Flares. If you are handed political power, do you really want to devote it to hatred? Is that wise? Lieberman slams Harry Reid. Blue Crab. It seems to me that the US is "losing the war" only by a very strange definition. We are killing the terrorists, but the terrorists are only killing their fellow countrymen now, and not us. Mayor Bloomberg said this: "Using economics to influence public behavior is something this country is built on," he declared. "It's called capitalism."
Huh? Excuse me? We are "built upon" government power? WTH? I thought Bloomberg was a smart guy. Piece at Driscoll. I thought we were built on the idea that government power was a bad thing. Somebody needs to re-educate our Revolutionary dead, I guess. And the Mayor, too: If you're so rich, how come you ain't smart?
 Acts 9: 1-20
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” 15But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” Image: Caravaggio's dark, psychological The Conversion of Saul. The other person in the painting is his groom.
Saturday, April 21. 2007
From Iraq the Model: Instead of telling us to stop fighting back, I'd like to see some people stand up and protest the crimes of the terrorists and tell them to stop the killing and destruction…turn the stop-the-war campaign against the terrorists, is that too much to ask for?
Tell the criminals to stop killing us and stop attacking the people who are risking their lives fighting for liberty and equality.
We're not asking the media and the stop-the-war crowd to carry arms and shoot the terrorists; we just want them to stop shooting at us.
 Am. Goldfinch, WB Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Red Wing Blackbird, Purple Grackle, BC Chickadee, Cardinal, Blue Jay, WT Sparrow, House Finch, English "Sparrow," Cowbird, Tufted Titmouse, Tree Sparrow, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove (large numbers, fighting over the seeds), Song Sparrow.
I get a kick out of the way the Grackles are always keeping an eye on the sky, for Sharpies. They understand "enemies." All of these birds are probably local breeders. The large flocks of Jays and Grackles have passed through and moved north. The Juncoes are gone, too. The Red Wings now are locals. Most of the WT Sparrows, with their brilliant breeding-season bright yellow on their heads, have left for the north. We have had the first two warm days of the year, and I expect to see the cheerful Box Turtles clomping around soon, begging for tomatoes. The tree buds are finally swelling up here in Yankeeland, but it is a week or two late this year. Soon, we will have the wonderful insectivore migrants to watch and to find. Not at the feeder, of course, but everywhere else. Good clean fun. Now back to the gardens.
A re-post from Dr. Bliss in October, 2006, after the Amish school slaughter. Few are talking about evil, re VT. Why not? Evil deeds deserved to be labelled as such. In reply to Lawrence Auster, re the lack of moral judgementalism around the Amish murders: People do not like to talk about evil, especially on TV. Some of them don't believe that evil exists, some of them do not want to sound preachy or morally sanctimonious, and probably some of them just want to avoid the unpleasant subject of evil so the watchers don't switch channels. I suspect that essentially everyone feels judgemental about the murders, but public moral judgement is out of fashion these days, except against Republicans, where it is always fashionable (as in the Foley story). Probably only a handful of misguided clergy, social workers, and academics truly withhold judgement from heinous acts. But many bloggers have no problem discussing evil. Dr. Sanity engages the subject regularly, as does Shrinkwrapped and One Cosmos. And we do too, here and here, for example. If the MSM did all that it should, most bloggers could retire. I hate the term "sociopath," because it sounds more like a medical diagnosis, or one of those phony Soviet diagnoses, than what it truly is, which is a disorder of the soul - an incapacity for guilt or remorse, and a capacity for putting of one's self and one's emotions before all else - above the rules, and above other people. It's a disorder for which there is no doctor's cure. They are built wrong, so they act wrong. They are better known as Evil People. There are also non-Evil people who have very nasty thoughts, or who do morally wrong things, but that's another subject. This child-killer is the face of evil, disguised as a regular harmless person. Remarkable to me, in this story, is the speed with which the Amish speak of forgiveness. It comes too soon for it to be convincing to me, but I know what it is they seek. They seek to have God cleanse their souls of hatred because a soul burdened and contaminated by hate or chronic anger is alienated from God and from one's spiritual community. But at the same time, I suspect (but I don't know any Amish) that they would expect to see this guy executed. Forgiveness is not a gift to a wrong-doer; it's a blessing which, with God's help, is conferred on ourselves to release us from the burden of hatred and vengefulness. It is difficult and it is not natural: it is supernatural soul-maintenance, like an oil change from above.
 Great story. Uplifting and heart-warming, and as American as apple pie.
Too bad she didn't wing the guy.
At Wizbang. What is there to say?
I doubt it. Dino on the AP "picked on" story. "Picking on" is what many kids do, in the hope that it will protect them from being "picked on" themselves.
When was the last time you heard a liberal talk about liberty? Mark Levin, on the radio
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