Sunday, June 10. 2007
I guess I do not understand the French. Life remains interesting.
 Sopranos. I can't watch - haven't caught up with the season yet. Disgusting people, but great television. Don't tell me what happens, but I'll probably hear somewhere anyway.
Peggy Noonan on The Greatness of the Sopranos. Napoleon's battle sword at auction. Want a simpler way of life? Go for it, but leave me alone. Carnival of the Insanities. Always fun Cool facts about ants. Yo ho ho. Pirates and governance. Prof. B Cockburn slams Gore. Blue Crab Boy Scouts in Iraq. Surber Rick Moran: "I like Paris Hilton." Pelosi sleaze. Why are Dems always so obsessed with money? From Gates of Vienna: When reality clashes with dreams, is it then really the role and responsibility of the press to try to disguise reality? If so, I think the dream is becoming a nightmare, when unrealistic dreams are being forced upon us.
Sanity from Vaclav Klaus. Melanie Phillips (h/t, Tim Blair) And more insanity from Sen. Russ Feingold. Were we mean to Germans during WW2? Damn right we were.
It's about Goodness without meaning. Scriptorium. We might call it "obsessionalism," "sanctimoniousness," or "piousness" nowadays.
Psalm 30 1I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 2O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 4Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. 5For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. 6As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7By your favor, O Lord, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. 8To you, O Lord, I cried, and to the Lord I made supplication: 9“What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!” 11You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
Saturday, June 9. 2007
 A vigorous three-hour ride this morning - Mrs. Barrister wanted us to canter most of the time to tire out the horses, and I almost got thrown when a garter snake decided to cross the trail and freaked out the horse - as they always do. You know the sideways, backwards, up-in-the-air dance they do? It's a little snake rodeo. Two sets of singles tennis this afternoon. Now, it is cocktail hour. I think, maybe, a gin and tonic. Then a swim. Then a cigar and another G&T.
Who can beat the NYT in trivializing culture? New Criterion Shopping for medical insurance. Coyote London would be better off Islamic, says the Left. Out of left field. How Fred Thompson became a player, without playing. Immigration polls. Gateway. Also, a rant against filling the USA with Mexicans. Also, from Dino: I also asked my source why he thought so many Republicans had been supporting such an incredibly unpopular bill. He gave three reasons: First off, there was what he referred to as the “Rovian School of thought,” which says that passing this bill would capture the Hispanic vote for the GOP for decades to come. Next up, there’s the “Chamber of Commerce” vote. He says these Republicans were heavily influenced by business groups that want cheap labor no matter what the cost is for the rest of the country. Then there was the last group, the smallest group in his opinion, who were willing to sign onto a terrible bill just so they could say they were part of a big reform that had bipartisan support.
Last Weds, a mocking trout rises for a bug six feet to the right of our friend. Lucky photo, cruel fish. 
Friday, June 8. 2007
Photos taken at a pick-up at the U.S. Military Academy's Summer Leaders Seminar, today. It's a week-long picnic only for those who want to be pushed hard, and who hope to have the right stuff. If you are not familiar with West Point, that is the great Hudson River down below. The site was selected by Washington himself, and it is the longest-used military location in the US. At the time, it was a highly strategic site, commanding the water route to the inland northern colonies. 
An architect friend recently designed this molding, called Rolling Wave. I like it. I guess it can be made in whatever size you want. Amazing the way they can translate a design into a plaster molding, but it has been done for a long time. Useful skills. And such fine custom things cost less than one might think. 
 Our News Junkie is still at sea. Here are a few of my gleanings today.
A word on evil, capitalist Peach barons. Sippican. Big Peaches once ran America, back in the day. Then it was Big Prunes, then Big Tobacco, then Big Oil, and now - Big Blogs, like us, rule the world and, indeed, the cosmos itself. LaShawn is ready to shut down a certain organization. Who is supposed to pay for these stupid biofuels? Not me. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Brits fed up with immigration. The govt doesn't care. Small Dead Lemmings Found a new blog I like: The Oxford Medievalist. So many blogs, so little time. In praise of bad writing. Yes, some of us cannot help it. Is a G8 a jet? Mr. Free Market Also, re G8: A quote from Tangled Web: Oddly enough, and despite all the green rhetoric, EU emissions have been RISING even as US emissions have been FALLING. And even worse for the eco-wacko's, the carbon credits so beloved of so many, have been shown to be at best environmentally neutral, if not an outright fraud. And with China and India very clear that they will NOT be restricting their economic growth to keep Angela happy, the ambitions of Merkel and her socialists cronies can be seen to little more than hot air.
 What's the most important news story of the day?
Paris Hilton, of course. I guess life must be good in the USA if she is the Big Story. Paris Hilton is a great, walking, almost-talking argument for recreational sex without involvement. One small step above the inflatable sheep thing.
All the red-faced tirades of Lindsay Graham and Ted Kennedy, and the condescending and insulting comments by GWB (all furious at the "emotional" arguments of the opposition, apparently), were not enough to save the Senate immigration bill, which essentially died yesterday when it failed to garner enough votes to limit debate. This marks the second time in two years that an amnesty bill has been defeated before making its way to the President's ready-and-waiting desk. President Bush, who recently lashed out at his own Republican base by questioning their patriotism and accusing them of trying to "frighten" Americans by calling the bill an amnesty, apparently came down sick the same evening, according to Larry Auster. Perhaps not coincidentally, Bush was photographed drinking a beer (see above photo) before the episode, despite his well-documented abstention from alcohol. Update: As noted in the comments, the official line from the White House is that it was a non-alcoholic beer. The actual source of Bush's stomach ailment? A surfeit of rootbeer and raspberry cheesecake at the G8 dinner, apparently.
 At Home Depot, you can now just take whatever you want. That's what I call a good deal: why should greedy capitalist pigs make money on stuff I need, anyway? They should make it and give it to me because I am a nice person.
Well, maybe not all that nice, but I am special, right? We're all special, right?
 Chart is from an extraordinarily lucid piece by Kling on The Great Tug of War between Capitalism and Socialism/Communism. I thought that tug of war was over, but I guess, in some people's minds, it's not.
There are two utopias - the womb, and Heaven (if you can get in there before they close the door). Life is bracketed by utopias, but in between we must toil and strain and sometimes suffer. It's "the way things are", as the mice say. It's interesting to contemplate how distrustful and contemptuous of human nature and of human enterprise the anti-Capitalists are. What's that all about? If human nature is so dark, then what would make "policy-makers" any better than business people? I have never seen any evidence that policy-makers are angels. And, without the money generated by enterprise and commerce, where would the anti-Capitalists hope to get money to run things their way? Who would create the wealth that the policy-makers take from us to do what they want? Issue | Pro-Capitalist | Anti-Capitalist | Market Prices | valuable signals | corrupt | Our Behavior in Markets | rational, ethical | greedy | Solve Social Problems | spontaneous order | deliberate planning | Social Heroes | entrepreneurs | policymakers | Wealth Acquisition | positive-sum | zero-sum | Business Success | largely deserved | comes from exploitation | Business Failure | necessary | disastrous |
A good place to practice one's casting. Might catch something too. Besides some judicious dredging to create some deep holes for trout (which the otters will eat anyway) in the summer, this pond could use about ten Wood Duck houses. 
A quote from Don Surber: The first job of the government is not to give me food stamps; the first job of the government is not to give me Social Security; the first job of the government is not to give me a college loan; the first job of the government is not to give me free medical care if I am poor or old; the first job of the government is not to give me a guaranteed mortgage; the first job of the government is not to give me a check if I am unemployed; the first job of the government is not to give me one damned thing: The first job of the government is to protect the borders. President Bush needs to start doing his job.
Our best piece on the late lamented bill is here.
Yup. Be afraid. American imperialist tanks armed with chemical weapons are lined up on the northern Minnesota border at all times, just waiting for the "go" signal to advance to Winnipeg, and after that to take the real prize - Dauphin. Insanity at Dust My Broom
If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew. Albert Einstein (h/t, Free Market Fairy Tales)
Thursday, June 7. 2007
 I am filling in for the News Junkie while he is taking an undeserved boating vacation. I'll do my best.
The NY Sun defends Justice Thomas against NYT smears. The piece is highly revealing of the NYT's mind-set, which has nothing to do with the Constitution. From the standpoint of the Left, the Constitution has been replaced by the sentiment of the hour - which is exactly why you need a Constitution. Lifson on the neglected truths of the immigration debate. American Thinker. Excellent. If this bill dies in the Senate, everyone wins, more or less, and Bush did his best to sacrifice national sovereignty on the altar of the Mexican vote. Did you see Crisis on Omaha Beach at Powerline? Very mild. The Prof's revolutionary new cure for ADHD in the classroom. How is your albedo? A simple way to make the earth colder. But do we really want to? We are having the coldest June in 7,043 years here in Hartford. You can look it up. Al Gore's hell on earth. At RCP. The man is definitely over the edge. A quote, with Al Gore quotes: "When we do rise, it will fill our spirits and bind us together. Those who are now suffocating in cynicism and despair will be able to breathe freely. Those who are now suffering from a loss of meaning in their lives will find hope." When we rise, "we will experience an epiphany as we discover that this crisis is not really about politics at all. It is a moral and spiritual challenge."
Holy Mackerel, Al! Where's my spare straitjacket? Get the nurse. This is a severe case of psychotic hyperreligiosity.
Re "humanitarians": “A strange coldness and unreality hangs about their love for men. If you ask them whether they love humanity they will say, doubtless sincerely, that they do. But if you ask them touching on any of the classes that go to make up humanity, you will find that they hate them all. They hate kings, they hate priests, they hate soldiers, they hate sailors. They distrust men of science, they denounce the middle classes, they despair of working men, but they adore humanity” G.K. Chesterton, as quoted by Pat Deneen. Prof. Deneen's blog has got to be yet another regular read for us.
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is more relevant today than it was when it was written 75 years ago. This creepily prophetic, forcefully anti-utopian science fiction novel describes a world government which scientifically manages everything from hatchery to grave for the happiness and safety of all - except for the Alphas, who have the responsibility for running the whole thing. Truly rule by experts. Freedom is an antiquated illusion, and the government is an omnipotent, benevolent god. Caitrin Nicol, in The New Atlantis, takes a fresh look at the book. Some quotes from her piece: This “illusion of freedom” was cast into a clearer light by a reviewer who discerned that the temptation to sacrifice liberty to end suffering often becomes an attack on the reality of the liberty itself. Rebecca West, a prominent novelist and literary critic (and erstwhile mistress of H. G. Wells) said Huxley had “rewritten in terms of our age” Dostoevsky’s famous parable of the Grand Inquisitor from The Brothers Karamazov—“a symbolic statement that every generation ought to read afresh.”
and An unholy alliance of industrial capitalist, fascist, communist, psychoanalytic, and pseudo-scientific ideologies has brought about the end of history. The past is taboo—“History is bunk,” as “Our Ford” so eloquently said—and there is no future, because history’s ends have been accomplished. There is no pain, deformity, crime, anguish, or social discontent. Even death has no more sting: Children are acclimatized to the death palaces from the age of eighteen months, encouraged to poke around and eat chocolate creams while the dying are ushered into oblivion on soma, watching sports and pornography on television. Postmortem, the useful chemicals in every corpse are recovered in cremation to be used as fertilizer. “Fine to think we can go on being socially useful even after we’re dead,” gloats one character. “Making plants grow.”
and Unlike the other great dystopias, Huxley’s World State, though totalitarian in its orthodoxy, is ostensibly ordered on the wants of the governed rather than the governors. Threats are rarely used or needed. Rule by bread and circuses has proved more potent than force—and more pernicious, precisely because every means of control is a perversion of something people really want. The only people with any capacity for dissatisfaction are a handful of Alphas, who are as unable to articulate their objection as Russell is. It is difficult to reject the sinister when by slight distortion it masquerades as the sublime. Why feeling should be able to distinguish these things while reason cannot is an interesting question, one which could be left forever unsettled by tinkering, through biotechnology or psychological control, with what Huxley (in a later foreword to the book) called “the natural forms and expressions of life itself.” One such expression, of course, is a certain measure of autonomy over the meaning and direction of our lives. Its total absence in the World State is ominously signified by the professional title of the genetic engineers: the Assistant Predestinators.
The scariest things about Huxley's book are 1) On a bad day, anyone might be willing to sacrifice some liberty for security, and, 2) On a bad day, the Brave New World Huxley imagined has a certain regressive, hedonistic appeal and, 3) There are politicians who, unknowingly, use the idea of such a world as an ultimate goal - assuming, no doubt, that they would be the Alphas, and not me. At Maggie's Farm, we try to make a stand for the messy, often-difficult, often-painful freedom of the human soul and spirit. Please take the time to read the whole thing. And read the book, if you haven't.
It has been well-known for a long time that many, if not most, diseases have some genetic component - or at least a genetic predisposition. Most of the single-gene diseases have been identified, but now researchers are identifying diseases which are contributed to by more complex polygenic predispositions, such as Bipolar Disorder. Will insurance company actuaries want to rate your insurance based on your genes? Of course they will want to, same as they rate you according to other risk factors like obesity, smoking, and history of heart attacks. But is that right? That's another question. Insurance is about risk, not right and wrong.
I agree with Flares about that. It's going to continue getting more costly, but it's still a good deal.
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