Monday, June 4. 2007
June is rose season in New England. Thanks, reader, for sending the photo. I think that color might be called "salmon." Whatever it's called, it is easy on the eyes. And, speaking of plants, thanks to tropical storm Benny or Benjy or Barry or whoever for the wind, thunder, and rain he carried up here. Much needed, and much appreciated. The annuals (Impatiens) and the hydrangeas (Blushing Bride) we planted yesterday in the heat are surely grateful too. True Yankees love stormy weather. 
Amusingly accurate, at Daily Dollop (h/t, Driscoll). Meanwhile, the eminently practical Chinese do not give a flying flip about it.
How good is our climate data? Keep scrolling down at Watts Up With That? You would think weather experts would know better. McIntyre discusses "urban bias" in climate data at Climate Audit.
Sunday, June 3. 2007
 A fine "health and safety" rant from the UK. Tangled. It's beyond Nanny State: Granny State?
The Media Mob. If they are so discontented, maybe they should do something else. I am part of the media, and I am happy as a clam. It's about The Narrative. The Anchoress gets it. Bring on the next phony scare. Kim Young Europeans think the EU is a joke. LA: In a green state with filthy water. The Second World War. Not politically correct anymore. Carbon Fraud. Moonbattery. The latest Wall Street scam. If a task is too easy, men won't do it. I am going to keep my burkha on until you give me $250,000. Gates of Vienna. Our money, by the way. That's a good gig, if you are a scumbag. The media admits its quagmire. It's a moral quagmire. Driscoll. We do not need you guys to make up our minds for us. The Earth is about to melt. Yikes. I am scared. (h/t, RW Nation) Why do we even pay attention to morons? Amusing, I guess. Hewitt: The Immigration Bill is dead. Probably so. The American people hate it. Moslem child abuse. In addition to their female-abuse, and etc. Gateway "Beyond parody." Like so many things these crazy days. Meat without death. All you might want to know about Vince Foster. He sounds like a good guy, who got in over his head. He was an aristocratic guy who had never encountered ruthlessness. Private jets for climate change. Blue Crab Un-American? Not a Yankee, that's for sure. About Hillary, at Betsy. Different values. Did somebody steal the Repub Party? Polipundit. The Guardian supports Chavez' closing of free media. It figures. Totalitarian socialism and free thought do not mix. New York Times: Rosie O'Donnell was a useful idiot. Miller Prison is a good deal. Sort of a socialist paradise? Ace. What's the difference? Gates says poverty is the problem. Wrong, and stupid. Jihad is the problem. Is that not obvious?
 One of our team posted a piece written by a psychiatric nurse, of all people, about peoples' views of God. It's a wonderfully provocative subject.
Often, when Christians discuss the pagan or heretical things that people worship, we discuss the things that we are tempted to put above God - the false gods: ego, money, comfort, power, worldly success, pleasure, toys, popularity, etc. I cannot claim to know exactly why we were given the gift of Jesus and His sacrifice, but He sure made it easier to worship God. However, when we think of God himself, what do we think of? The answers are highly varied. It's like a Rorschach test, probably telling more about the person's psychology than about the nature of God. My opinion? The face and mind and nature of God is too big for any human to get his mind around. Is that a theological cop-out?
 Good time-waster. Create your own action hero.
Finding faith in the Oval Office. Lincoln and God I have seen a number of articles noting that climate stats can be distorted by the "heat island" effect of urban measurements, but this example from Coyote takes the cake. India is growing almost as fast as China. Dino. Blinkx: Competition for YouTube? "Terror plot stopped at JFK. Yawn." Auster. Why isn't it a big story? Because it doesn't fit the narrative, of course. Re the Repubs: Dr. Sanity stands up for Bush. Riehl wants to let bygones be bygones, and to look positively towards the future. However, Rick Moran has a bad case of Republican Depression. His gloomy piece on the subject begins with this favorite Monty Python skit: C: I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique. O: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue…What’s,uh…What’s wrong with it? C: I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it, my lad. ‘E’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it! O: No, no, ‘e’s uh,...he’s resting. C: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now. O: No no he’s not dead, he’s, he’s restin’! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn’it, ay? Beautiful plumage! C: The plumage don’t enter into it. It’s stone dead. [...] C: Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been NAILED there. (pause) O: Well, o’course it was nailed there! If I hadn’t nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent ‘em apart with its beak, and VOOM! Feeweeweewee! C: “VOOM”?!? Mate, this bird wouldn’t “voom” if you put four million volts through it! ‘E’s bleedin’ demised! O: No no! ‘E’s pining for the Fjords. C: ‘E’s not pinin’! ‘E’s passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! ‘E’s expired and gone to meet ‘is maker! ‘E’s a stiff! Bereft of life, ‘e rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed ‘im to the perch ‘e’d be pushing up the daisies! ‘Is metabolic processes are now ‘istory! ‘E’s off the twig! ‘E’s kicked the bucket, ‘e’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!
Saturday, June 2. 2007
 A number of folks have linked to Roger Kimball's piece, Why the Art World is a Disaster. Kimball's ideas have been said before by others, but he is one of our favorite essayists, and it's definitely worth reading.
His point is not a curmudgeonly critique that "modern" art products are ugly, or not really art. His point is that art designed to shock the middle class is predictable, boring, and old hat. Political art, conceptual art, art that attempts "the domestication of deviance" is a tired idea, and was already tired in the 1940s when Orwell wrote: (The artist) is to be exempt from the moral laws that are binding on ordinary people. Just pronounce the magic word “Art,” and everything is O.K. Rotting corpses with snails crawling over them are O.K.; kicking little girls in the head is O.K.; even a film like L’Age d’Or [which shows among other things detailed shots of a woman defecating] is O.K. .I learned a few things from Kimball's piece, including the tidbit that Duchamp made art of urinals to mock the avant garde, and found that they took it seriously. At that point, he quit art. Read the piece. Image: Kandinsky's House in Munich, 1908. Yes, I do love Kandinsky. Maybe my favorite, if I had to pick one artist.
 Funky Coney Island amusements end up on the auction block. That's the Wonder Wheel on the right. The Cyclone will remain as a souvenir of a great American beach place. Shoot the Freak was a good sideshow, and the Fat Lady, of course.
A bit of perspective on Conservative Depression. Bruce Kesler is probably correct that the Republican Party is not the Conservative Party. Twelve laws every blogger should be familiar with. Superb comment from Jay Guevera at Moonbattery. It's about warming. Britain, lobotomized. This does sound like satire. Flip this house. It was a scam.
A reader sent in these nice rattlers caught outside Kingsville, TX., near the natural gas plant. I hope they are planning on eating them...or at least making a belt out of the skin. 
Her choreography renounces gravity. Great fun to watch. Two videos of her stuff here. (Thanks, Nathan. Mrs. Bird Dog says she knows Elizabeth from NYC, and says her work reminds her of the Multigravitational Dance Company which shared a space with the Alwin Nikolai Dance Company in the good old days. "Nik" was Mrs. Bird Dog's role model, mentor, and friend - and a good guy who is missed.) Who is Elizabeth Streb? In 1997 Elizabeth Streb was awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation 'Genius' award. She is currently the 'Dean's Special Scholar' at New York University at the Draper Program working towards an M.A. in Time and Space studying Physics, Philosophy and Architecture.
Streb's choreography, (she calls it POPACTION) intertwines the disciplines of dance, athletics, extreme-sports, and Hollywood stunt work into a bristling muscle and motion vocabulary that combines daring and strict precision in the pursuit of attempting to display publicly the aggressive and deep effect of 'pure movement.'
An MA in Time and Space? Hmmm. Well, OK. Whatever. Looks like pure, wonderful physicality to me which blurs the arbitrary lines between dance, gymnastics, and sport.
 From the NY Post gossip column (can't find the archive) a few weeks ago (Thanks, Sissy):
KINDERGARTEN kids in ritzy L.A. suburb Calabasas have been coming home to their parents and talking about the "weird man" who keeps coming to their class to sing "scary" songs on his guitar. The "weird" one turns out to be Bob Dylan, whose grandson (Jakob Dylan's son) attends the school. He's been singing to the kindergarten class just for fun, but the kiddies have no idea they're being serenaded by a musical legend - to them, he's just Weird Guitar Guy.
Mukesh Ambani is building a 60-story house in Mumbai. It puts our American hedge fund guys to shame. It has room to house 600 servants. I could definitely use 600 servants around here, if only for a few days. Yard work, closet cleaning, straightening out the attic, weeding the garden, polishing the silver, sorting out the pantries, a bit of painting, spreading mulch, moving shrubs, carpet cleaning, gun cleaning, etc. I could keep 'em busy for a couple of days, and would want them back for a visit next June
Friday, June 1. 2007
Chavez may have run into the internet. The youth want free speech. Socialists never want free speech - or free thought. We love those things at Maggie's Farm. Whether we are right or wrong, we require the freedom to say whatever we think - and we ain't stoopid: we is all highly and expensively eddicated.
 Tulsa. Packed with illegals.
Big Brother is watching. The UK observation bunker. This is sick. I guess it takes more than a village to learn how to spell "tomorrow." Men are natural, fully organic antidepressants. Of course we are. No wonder the gals need us, long for us, dream of us, desire us. I am going to try this line next chance I get down at Rudy's Bar and Grill, and hope I don't get smacked upside my head by a cute biker gal with a tatoo or two, a two-carat zirconia stuck in her belly button, and bigger biceps than my flimsy but sensitive sticks. My local pub in Pittsfield is not exactly a refined watering hole, but they have FOX News on one TV and ESPN on the other. Bill O'Reilly and Red Sox fans up here. I met O'Reilly one time. He was an arrogant jerk, plus he seemed about 10" taller than me, which I deeply resent as a reasonably-sized 6'1" fellow. George Will makes clear the differences between liberals and conservatives. Hillary's private jet travel. The press will give her a pass. Double standard, as usual. Why? Because in the world of leftist politics, the ends always justify the means. The historical imperative, ya know? Save the Catholic schools. Sol Stern at City Journal The Billy Graham Library. Modest, and just right. Sick of Bush? The amnesty bill has been the last straw for his supporters. I know he's a liberal, but still... Comments from RTLC, Paul at Powerline, RWNut House, Captain Ed, LaShawn, Classical Values, Flopping Aces, and our pal Dino takes another look at Peggy Noonan's harsh article. Bush is on his own now, methinks, and running on empty. Call us, W - we can help! It's not too late.
The TB Man is a personal injury lawyer. If he was short on cases, he may have a few now.
 Long-time readers know that, while we feel FDR was a fine wartime leader, his domestic and economic policies made him the most destructive president in American history, whose errors continue to plague us.
He and his advisors and allies exploited the Depression to try to create their 1930s-era statist-style, Soviet-inspired big government, and partially succeeded. Alas for America, many of our post-JFK Dems have clung to this antique idea for dear life. They haven't found a new, positive idea yet. When we look back at the Depression, we can see that Andrew Mellon was right, and that FDR's professors and socialist intelligentsia advisors like Ickes - all of whom played on FDR's well-intentioned but naive sense of "noblesse oblige" - were fundamentally wrong about the resilience of American enterprise and vigor - wrong because their anti-capitalist ideology required them to be wrong about their basic understanding of economics. About economics, and human nature - of which economics is just a reflection. Kling takes a gander at Amity Schlaes' new study of the Depression - The Forgotten Man (h/t, Buddy via Insty). The "forgotten man" is the guy who paid the bills for all of FDR's ultimately useless programs (guys which includes both of my grandpas who were dutiful but deeply unappreciative, and one of whose boats went to Dunkirk - never to be returned by the Brits). One quote: The struggle over economic policy in the 1930's was really an episode in the long, historical conflict between business participants in the market and anti-business academics. Roosevelt gave free rein to the professors, until the start of the Second World War led him to realize that he would need the tycoons to help mobilize to defeat Hitler. I suspect that one reason that Roosevelt and the New Deal come off so well in the conventional wisdom is that history books are written by professors, not by entrepreneurs.
Read Kling's whole piece. Despite the astonishing American post-war economy, we still see politicians trying to make hay with the Rooseveltian perennially-pessimistic, anti-commerce, statist view of the economy. (I recently read the interesting factoid that he drank exactly 12 gin martinis daily, beginning at noon, prepared to his specifications by his butler, until the day he died - but never appeared intoxicated. FDR, that is - not Arnold Kling.)
 The Dangerous Book for Boys, reviewed.
John Stossel on the double thank-you implicit in free-market commerce. A quote: I suspect ignorance about economics leads many to believe that when two people exchange goods and money, one wins and the other loses. If rich capitalists profit, the poor and the weak suffer. That's a myth.
The Left wishes to imagine that government is the reason for American prosperity. Wrong. It is the historical absence of intrusive and oppressive government which is the cause. Dinocrat discusses. The Thought Police at Tufts have no sense of humor. Satire under attack. Am. Thinker
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