Tuesday, May 8. 2007
Amusing 32-second YouTube.
I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket trying to lift himself up by the handle. Winston Churchill
In the past year we have posted quite a bit on pigs. A reader was kind enough to send in his Show-and-Tell photo above of a recent Texas pig hunt. Is that a piglet his friend is holding in his mouth? (By the way, which crude, culturally-insensitive reader suggested dropping these from 20,000 feet on Baghdad to clean out Sadr City?) Our contributor Gwynnie sent this note on Friday: This weekend, Gwynnie will join a group of ranchers using their depredation permit on a Northern California ranch to try to dent the population of European wild boars that have invaded the California Coast Range and beyond. She will try to post pictures next week or so. She has done a little research on the issue and found an excellent article excerpted below:
Continue reading "More on Pigs and Pig Hunts"
Monday, May 7. 2007
I always enjoy reading Lileks' The Bleat. But I believe that Jim is missing the point there: the Minneapolis Strib obviously wants him to leave. When they move you from the executive suite to the mailroom, that's the message, isn't it? However, there is another point to be made here: Newspapers have a future in local news, and, I think, a rosy future if they have good online editions - with reader commentary.
"It ain't my first rodeo." The Fred Thompson Breitbart TV interview.
 "Through me the way into the suffering city,
Through me the way to the eternal pain,
Through me the way that runs among the lost.
Justice urged on my high artificer;
My maker was divine authority,
The highest wisdom, and the primal love.
Before me nothing but eternal things were made,
And I endure eternally.
Abandon every hope, ye who enter here."
Take Dante's Hellfire and Damnation Quiz (Copyright 1327) and find out where you stand.
 Poverty is, of course, relative. The functional American poor have cars, washing machines, and cell phones. Poverty statistics themselves can be a snare and a delusion, especially if they are defined as the bottom whatever-% of the population, as the Brits do.
If you use that method, there will always be a bottom whatever-%, no matter what sort of safety net is provided through government, and our amazing abundance of American charities, most of which are desperate to find somebody - anybody - to help. In fact, if you declare yourself poor in this neck of the woods, 20 government agencies and 20 charities will descend upon you like vultures - if only to justify their existence. Poverty in the US is defined as below a $20,000 (declared) income, not by a percentage. I include "declared" in parentheses because there is a heck of a lot of black market labor out there where the boss would far rather hand you a pile of bills than put you on the payroll. We all see it, daily, just as well all see folks who will only accept cash. Is "poverty" a useful concept at all, nowadays? I wonder. Or is it like "global warming" - just a handy excuse to expand government and entitlements? Tools for politicians? What rankles me is that American poverty figures are driven by political agendas rather than by truth-seeking. Thus American poverty can include recent high school grads in their first job living at home. Or grad students, or hippies living off the land in northern California. Or addicts who don't get to work. Or crusty Appalachian hill-dwellers who don't like to come down to town to work (the original hippies), but poach, grow some stuff, make a little 'shine, and send the wife to town for the monthly check. Or other sorts of voluntarily poor such as those who won't move to where the jobs are, or rural and inner-city single 17 year-old moms with four kids. Or those whose second jobs are paid under the table. Or an unmarried couple where the partner works part-time at WalMart. The icing on the cake, though, is that American income figures do not include any government or charitable transfers, grants (welfare, Social Security Disability, unemployment checks, etc), housing subsides or the value of subsidized housing, or other benefits such as food stamps, child care, and Medicaid. If that money is not included, there is nothing government can do to change the numbers. Furthermore, poverty numbers do not take assets into account - just income. Thus I would be a poverty stat by being a 70 year-old Maine potato farmer with a paid-off 150-acre farm, living on Social Security in the big old family farmhouse, and selling $16,000 of potatoes every year. (I like to use Maine as an example because they have high poverty stats, but no-one going hungry or without a pick-up truck.) The estimable Arnold Kling at TCS makes the case that the only war on poverty that works is the building of character in a capitalist system. One quote: Our moral and mental development, and the high productivity that accompanies it, have taken place under a system of decentralized capitalism. I would claim that the capitalist system accounts for more than 100 percent of the reduction in poverty that has taken place over the past hundred years. How can capitalism account for more than 100 percent of the reduction in poverty? Is that mathematically possible? If we take into account the factors that have retarded poverty reduction, then we can argue that, by overcoming those factors, capitalism accounts for even more than 100 percent of poverty reduction. That is, if world poverty has fallen from 90 percent to 20 percent over the past 200 years, then capitalism would have reduced it by even more were it not for the retarding factors. Ironically, the biggest factor retarding the capitalist solution to poverty may well be the crusade to end poverty using conscious planning. Certainly if one includes among the planned solutions to poverty the experiment with Communism (and I see no reason why it ought to be excluded), then the case against intentional anti-poverty efforts is rather compelling. Simply compare poverty in North Korea with that in South Korea, for example.
Kling is probably correct about the world in general, but, in the US, I doubt that applies because we are already a wealthy nation with plenty of jobs and no meaningful unemployment. You have to know there is work for everyone when my supermarket now has folks with Down's Syndrome doing shelving and bagging - which I think is wonderful. But first, I want to know who the poor are, and what they own, and what they do all day. I am not hard-hearted, but I am hard-headed. My guess is that the truly American poor are mainly emotionally or physically disabled, dysfunctional, or exploitative and sociopathic - or the voluntarily poor (which includes new immigrants) or temporarily poor - and thus unlikely to benefit much from any kind of job growth. Please correct me if I am wrong about any of this. Addendum: Bruce Kesler of Democracy Project was kind enough to send some readings explaining how poverty has been dealt with in the US. 1. The Safety Net Delivers. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 2. The Effects of Government Taxes and Transfers on Income and Poverty. US Census Bureau 3. Federal Transfer Payments to Low-income Households Tops $17,000. The Tax Foundation Photo: Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother (1936) during the Dust Bowl years. This 37 year-old mother of 7 would be benefitting from much help today, if her pride would permit her to accept it.
 The US Air Force must have been listening to EU Referendum. They want some light attack aircraft for counter-insurgency work.
Photo is Brazil's Super Tucano. Nice little airplane, and it looks like it would be fun to fly to Cape Cod for the weekend - or low over Sadr City.
 Quote from Paul at Powerline:
The U.S. has now seen the leadership of both France and Germany pass to figures who believe, as a general matter, that American power is a force for good in the world, and not something that needs persistently to be constrained. Let's hope that in 2009 the U.S. still has a leader who concurs.
How long do we wait for the American Dems to figure out what the Europeans have figured out?
 When Spring comes, you are supposed to have a solid inventory of Spring-related stuff. I picked up 20 bags of that Black Forest dark-colored mulch that I prefer, on Saturday. (That red-colored stuff they sell looks like crap - it is fake-looking, detracts from the plants' loveliness, and will make your place look like a MacDonalds.) So I schlepped back after church yesterday to pick up another 20 bags and they were SOLD OUT!
Can't the government do something about this kind of problem? Nationalizing Home Depot might help a lot, dontcha think? It was a great inconvenience for me, and think of the gasoline I wasted on that second trip...plus Home Depot, in their greedy, cruel and evil Capitalist way, makes a profit on this stuff that I need. It's just not fair and it's not right to make money off stuff I need, is it?
The Father of Modern Climatology, Reid Bryson, says anthropogenic warming is bunk. (h/t, Drudge)
Why? Because they don't do any good. Education Wonks
LaShawn is generally a sweetly reasonable, mild-mannered soul, but here she vents on illegals. One quote: Working- and middle-class Americans are the ones suffering. While illegal alien scourge-supporting elites are living it up in gated communities in California, for instance, everyone else is dealing with hispanic gangs. While the elites are working the kind of jobs that put them in contact with zero illegal aliens (well, maybe the janitor), working class folks have to compete for jobs with people who aren’t supposed to be here. Forget that illegal aliens are working for less money. I’m a staunch supporter of the free market, and if legal aliens were driving down wages, I’d complain less loudly. But since the market is being manipulated by illegal means, that’s a problem. (Understatement of the year!)
Yes, there is a great deal of frustration out there in the land about this, especially because the Repubs and the Dems have decided, in a de facto conspiracy of cowardice, not to make it an issue of contention (except for Tancredo).
Blues fan Dust My Broom saw BB King in Calgary this weekend. The man is 81 and still on the road. God bless this lovely, amazingly-talented guy.
Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. Anon.
Sunday, May 6. 2007
Photo stolen from a good analysis at Publius Pundit. Other comments and links at Gateway, to whom I owe a h/t for the former piece. There is no doubt that Sarko had the babes on his side, which is a good sign. Maybe we need to re-think our view of the government-teat-sucking, cafe-drinking, work-allergic, lazy-ass cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Did I just write that? I take it all back, after today. TigerHawk feels similarly, and has a lot of interesting Sarkozy quotes. Yes, Sarko is a Yankeephile. And he is conservative by French standards - but not by American standards.
 Sarko wins - big time. Three cheers for France! Maybe we will finally have a friend in Paris.
Al Zawahiri mocks Dem Iraq pullout plan. We all die of heat in 8 months. Yikes! Better bring my will up to date. Wait a minute - that will be mid-January. What the heck? The wrong house from which to steal a gun. Picking a jury for the Padilla case. Are people really this stupid? The DC Madam's employees: It's hard to say that these hos had no choices in life. They were moonlighting. Tony Blair plans last-minute surrender to the EU. These are not our grandparents' Brits. Devil in a red dress. Big Lizards. Condi scares the Imams away. Is there a military tactic to be learned from this? Maybe get the Dallas Cowboy cheerleading squad to stroll around Sadr City for a few hours a day in skimpy cowgirl outfits. Where is Annie Oakley when you need her? A bad joke? No. It's our new Dem leaders. How the Nanny State kills. Bainbridge. On a similar subject, Brit NHS docs finally admit rationing of care. Dem. Project. Vilmar Tavares shares his Antarctica adventures. Children are the problem! Quoted in Worstall from a Brit enviro-family planning offical: “The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child.”
Hmmm. Does that mean one less than I have now? How do I do that - is that an Abraham and Isaac-type command from Gaia? Or does he mean one less than I wanted? What if I only wanted one? What if I have one more by mistake? I need more detailed instructions, please, from our wise government officials, or I won't know how to live. Also, I wonder whether this just applies to the English, or does it apply to their immigrants too? Have they informed them, yet? Photo: A nectarine bloom in southern New England this weekend, sent in by a reader.
 Vote "YES" on impeachment of Bush, and vote early and vote often. As noted at Wizbang,
I urge you... no beg you.. to vote YES early and often as W. C. says, "MoveOn.org and the Kos kids drive the Democratic Congressional agenda. If we can get them focused on impeachment, it will distract them from passing bad laws."
You can help whip the Soros-funded nuts into a psychotic self-destructive frenzy by pouring a bit of gasoline on the flames as an amateur agent-provocateur. For my reasons for impeachment, I said "Bushitler is a Capitalist mass-murdering facist dictater." (Typos deliberate, for authenticity.) I will send a few more from my other rarely-used email addresses, with much stronger comments. Yes, it is beneath Maggie's Farm standards of decorum, probity, integrity, and respect for all humanoids to suggest such a devilish act, but we just report. You decide for yourself. You vote here. Of course, if you actually believe that Bush should be impeached for something, you'll be voting on my side - for once! Photo: George Soros as Dr. Evil.
New York City Fun (and old bars) Cooking ducks. It's time to empty ye olde freezer. Hosta City. The variety of Hostas you can find now is remarkable. Genetic engineering must be fun and profitable. Overfishing and the Atlantic Fish Crisis (Yes, it is a real crisis, if you like fish either on your plate or in the sea) The Dark Side of God?
 Not from today's Lectionary as usual, but from my Bible group's reading last week.
Mark 10:17 17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 18Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.” ’ 20He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ 27Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’ 28 Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ 29Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
Saturday, May 5. 2007
People will point a camera at almost anything. Other people like me will point a hyperlink at people who will point a camera at almost anything. Here's a marvelous and mundane look at what's quickly becoming an anomaly: A payphone. They've got all the continents, including Antarctica. The sign on the Antarctic phone says: "Emergency? Dial 911." Who would come?
If they wanted to keep the collection smaller, they could have only included clean payphones in safe locations. Rarer than honest congressmen, those are. Payphone Pictures.
Victor Wooten owns a bass guitar. Often plays with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: this example is slick. And here's Dylan doing Idiot Wind in 1976. The astonishing lyrics are here.
"I am fine, and we are kicking ass." A typically cryptic email from a friend's son, a Navy SEAL, on duty somewhere where bad guys are abundant.
"According to Harry Reid, the Kentucky Derby is already lost." The likeable but Commie Attorney Ron Kubie, on WABC yesterday
"I'll have a Grande Cafe-Mocha-Vodka-Valium-Latte to go, please." . Maggie's Farm's contributor Opie
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