Monday, June 25. 2007
It's the sun. American Scientist. (It's a lengthy scientific report)
Are the things going on in the ME now mere bullying, or for internal consumption for political purposes - or true threats of war? From Winds of War by Muravchik in Opinion Journal: Several conflicts of various intensities are raging in the Middle East. But a bigger war, involving more states--Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, the Palestinian Authority and perhaps the United States and others--is growing more likely every day, beckoned by the sense that America and Israel are in retreat and that radical Islam is ascending.
Read the whole thing.
Grabar takes on Hitchens' atheism at TCS. Q quote: How odd, then, for Hitchens to invoke literature as he does: "We are not immune to the lure of wonder and mystery and awe: we have music and art and literature, and find that the serious ethical dilemmas are better handled by Shakespeare and Tolstoy and Schiller and Dostoyevsky and George Eliot than in the mythical morality tales of the holy books." But Hitchens must be banking on a readership that has not read Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Dostoyevsky. These Christian authors dramatized the themes and stories of the holy book that Hitchens disparages. Shakespeare has Iago explain the materialist origins of his wickedness: "Virtue? A fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens."
For Shakespeare, the sociopath emerges from a materialist conception of the self, from the rejection of the spiritual -- specifically, Christianity.
What rights do bugs have for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness? Moonbattery
From Cynopsis: It looks as though MySpace isn't the only major media site attracting phishers. Malware in the form of Zlob adware has been discovered embedded in YouTube videos. Attackers are using a fake video link to initiate a p#rn adware program that results in the installation of data-stealing code. Zlob Media's spyware codec was the most prevalent threat to PC users in the month of May, according to Sunbelt Software's Threat Research Center.
 Lots of stuff about unhappy feet recently. For one, there was that teen in Kentucky who lost her feet on an amusement park ride.
Here's neoneo on ballerinas' feet. The pain and destruction are worth it, she feels. And here's John Hawkes on cosmetic foot surgery: "Now I can wear whatever shoes I want."
Photo: Croc shoes. Our readers seem to like them. Is it comfort, or the anti-fashion thing? Or is it a rubber shoe fetish, like wearing latex clothing?
 Chinese cars: not up to snuff...yet.
In praise of the whip: how flagellation makes people happy. New Statesman Hitchens takes on the Rushdie matter. Youtube at Thompson. The "terrible silence" of the Western media: Ace "To whom at The Times do I complain about their Public Editor?" Tigerhawk Border problems - between Vermont and Quebec! Wizbang The Islamic Rage Boy photo update, at Nose on your face. (h/t Crittenden) Blue Smoke: a good barbecue site
Sunday, June 24. 2007
Took one of my smaller male Labs for a long walk this afternoon. He decided to hump a large male Lab, and, on his third try, the big homophobic one got truly pissed and gave him serious, deep bites just above the eye and on the nose. When we got home, he ran straight upstairs to our bed, curled up, and bled on our pillow. It is amateur vet time. I don't think the dog is exclusively gay - he just doesn't seem to discriminate, like a monkey: when he's in the mood, he doesn't care. This dog is supposedly spayed - wrong word - I mean castrated, or neutered, so maybe that explains it. Reminds me of the great Tex Ritter song, Blood on the Saddle.
This is my idea of America. A moving Video from Afghanistan.
"My first daughter is married to a NYFD firefighter, my second daughter is married to a NYPD officer, and my third daughter teaches in a Catholic school. It's like a New York triple crown." A caller on NYC's Religion on the Line radio show today.
I know it's grilling season, but I took a tip from The Prof and tried his blackened steak recipe - minus the salad part. (I have nothing against a salad course, but I am morally, spiritually, and philosophically opposed to serving salad with meat as they do in restaurants these days, like that revolting but ubiquitous Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad. They give you crappy bland slices of chicken, an out-of-the-can Caesar dressing, and expect you to like it because it is supposedly low-cal.) I had a 1" supermarket sirloin, coated the sides generously with a mixture of ground black pepper, salt, cayenne, thyme, garlic powder, and paprika and let it sit a little bit. Then I dipped both sides in melted butter and threw it on a maximum heat pre-heated ungreased iron frying pan on my gas stove. About 3 minutes per side made it perfectly rare and failed to set off the smoke alarm. Black and crunchy on the surface, but still trying to walk back to Kansas on the inside. As good a steak as I have ever had, and much tastier than steak on ye olde charcoal grill. From now on, steaks get cooked in the pan, and the grill will be for butterflied lamb, chops, London Broil (a tasty but un-chewable cut), chicken, burgers, hot dogs, sausage, bluefish, tuna, etc. After all, aren't grilled steaks always slightly disappointing unless they are from a premium butcher and extremely full of fat? They smell good, though.
 The stupidity of the Beautiful People. The Shelf. A quote:
There is no doubt that entertainment effects the development of the younger generation. I see it everywhere when I'm out and about and as my children get a day older every 24 hours I get more and more worried about this influence on them. It is important that we play a large role in the lives of our children. They need to learn about life and it's mysteries from us, not Sheryl Crow or Rosie O'Donnell. Values are timeless, yet pop culture changes their interpretation every decade or so. The popular consensus of what is good and bad, right and wrong are changed slightly every so often by that dirty tactic of "pushing the envelope". Where did the envelope come from and who said we wanted it pushed? The values that were taught to my father and his father are the values I should teach my children. Right and wrong does not change, so why do the Hollywood elite feel the need to mask it as if it does?
Photo: Sean Penn, a "Beautiful Person"
 Isaiah 40: 1-11
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. 9Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. Historical background on Isaiah 40 here. It is often thought of as predicting the ministry of John the Baptist, who "prepared the way" for Jesus. Image: Michelangelo's Isaiah from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
Saturday, June 23. 2007
Excellent video summary of what's most grievously wrong with the bill, from Lou Dobbs. What bothered me the most is that it provides for the taxpayer to pay the bills of the illegals' immigration lawyers. (Thanks, Reader)
John Barrasso, M.D. Read about him.
"Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified US worker." In Wizbang's words, ...a shocking video of a law firm offering a seminar to employers that teaches them how to deliberately avoid having to hire US workers so as to get guest workers on an H-1b visa. If the immigration bill that's currently in the Senate actually becomes law, be prepared for a massive effort by companies to find ways to dump American workers in favor of guest workers. Note how the speaker says that employers are "unfortunately" required to go through all resumes submitted for a job.
Here's the Youtube.
The world demand for oil. Look at this graph.
Mowing There was never a sound beside the wood but one,
And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground.
What was it it whispered? I knew not well myself;
Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun,
Something, perhaps, about the lack of sound--
And that was why it whispered and did not speak.
It was no dream of the gift of idle hours,
Or easy gold at the hand of fay or elf:
Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak
To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows,
Not without feeble-pointed spikes of flowers
(Pale orchises), and scared a bright green snake.
The fact is the sweetest dream that labour knows.
My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.
 Nashville announcement on Tuesday. Tour of primary states later in the week.
The Repub race already has plenty of talent. It will be interesting to see whether Fred has staying power. I hope he does.
Friday, June 22. 2007
Bill Roggio. Fascinating. He notes "No cordon is perfect." He leaves you hungry for more details about the traps and kill boxes. For another, I wonder who the enemy dead are. Where are they from? Do they carry identification? With what are they armed? Do they carry radios? How do they coordinate their actions?
 EU drops wording "free competition." Tangled Web. Replaced with "social markets." Um, OK. Good luck.
Illegal immigration's empty boxes. Moonbattery What is "for the duration" with an enemy who sees war in terms of centuries? Neoneo So many people running for Pres. We remain undecided: It's either George Papoon or Pogo. CIA will reveal the family jewels. Bad idea. No sane country would do that. "Could it be that Americans are just so aspirationally oriented that nothing is ever good enough?" Don Luskin Polar ice-melt is a natural cycle. Scotsman (h/t, Synthstuff). Also, tropical frogs are the canaries in the coal mine? Call me a skeptic, but not the CSM. Also, the heat will kill Parisians. The more hysterical this stuff gets, the less people give it credence. Quote from Tyler Cowen, via Coyote: The power of wealth creation to produce net value is extraordinary. Most of America's poor are already among the best-off of all humans in world history. We should be putting our resources, including our advocacy and our intellectual resources, into wealth creation as much as we can.
From 2003, KC Johnson's My Brooklyn College Tenure Battle. (h/t, No Left Turns) Prof. Johnson is the proprietor of Durham in Wonderland How many al Quaida escaped from Baquba before the offensive? Maybe lots. Something to learn from. Those guys knew the offensive was coming. (h/t, Jules) The Incredible Shrinking New York Times. Am. Thinker. Too bad they don't want my advice. Image: Opie wanted some Rafael Nadal eye candy for the ladies. Half-decent bi's, for a tennis player. Wimbledon begins on Monday.
 I predict that every life problem will eventually be labelled a "disease."
I wrote a piece on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder earlier this week, in which I suggested that some new diagnoses are being invented in psychiatry more for insurance and pursuit-of-disability reasons than because new diseases are being discovered. Perhaps the trend began in the 1970s, when addictions were declared diseases rather than very bad habits, for the purpose of obtaining insurance reimbursement for addiction rehab. Then "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" came along around the same time as "Sleep Disorders." Currently, we even have a diagnosis called "nicotine addiction," but I'm not sure whether we have "sex addiction" yet. "Morbid obesity" is surely a disease diagnosis nowadays, but I don't know whether being a fat slob is a diagnosis yet. We should no longer term such labels "disease diagnoses": We should just call them "Insurance-Codable Conditions (ICC)." For example, pregnancy is not a disease, and to term it a "diagnosis" is odd. Best just to term it an ICC. To support my view, we have two stories this week: AMA to vote on whether video game addiction is a disease. They vote on whether something is a disease? Disability for heavy metal addiction in Sweden. See what I mean? If medicine ever becomes politicized in the US, watch for an explosion of wacky ICCs. I have a few suggestions: Anger Disorder, Television Addiction Disorder, Unhappiness Disorder, Geriatric Disorder, Politics Addiction Disorder, Shopping Disorder, Hates-To-Go-Shopping Disorder, Can't Stand my Spouse Disorder, Carbon Abuse Disorder, and Ordinary Imperfect Person Disorder. Almost forgot an important one - Conservative-Thinking Disorder: the Libs will want to lock me away for that one. Photo: Dr. Emil Kraepelin, the father of Psychiatric diagnosis
 Surrender or die. Exciting. I'd like to be in Michael Yon's shoes, but I could not fill them: he is a retired SEAL.
It sounds like there is a major problem with Iraqi laziness and incompetence, but that isn't news. Al Quaida's plan is to outlast American defeatists. America's plan is to kill them first. Encircle and enclose them. Also, WaPo filed a report from Patrol Base Murray. The press is realizing that the real battle for Iraq is finally underway. Photo is a Stryker combat vehicle.
Rounding up illegals, illegal criminals, and gangs on Nantucket. Who knew? (h/t, Wizbang) When will they come to round up and remove the yuppies? The yuppies are the "root cause" of the problem because they don't want to do their own work. I can remember when Nantucket was a remote, rugged Yankee place that nobody wanted to go to, before the glitz invasion from New York, Dallas, Greenwich and Hollywood. I guess East Hampton got too crowded, and private jets have become more commonplace. What's left? Good old un-yuppified Cape Cod, and, of course, Maine (but you can't swim in Maine).
|
