Thursday, June 7. 2007
This does not bode well for them. No Pasaran
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
Wednesday, June 6. 2007
 I will be away for a few days fishing, boating and beaching around Rhode Island and "The Islands." Heading off to Watch Hill tonight, and will pick up the boat in the morning in Newport. We are planning on touching down on Block Island of course, Cuttyhunk, the Vineyard, Yuppie Nantucket where we will be the smallest craft in the harbor, and probably Chatham - living on fish, beer, and clams on our leased new Whaler 345 (photo below), which has no wifi. We might stop at Monomoy for some birding, and maybe hit the rips at Montauk for some fishing if we have time. I'd rather sail, but we need to cover plenty of miles to do what we plan. When you are an employee, they might not pay you too well, but they give you paid vacation days. Why they do that is beyond me, but they do it. (Photo is one of Theo's girlfriends who I would like to meet on the beach, but she would not give me the time of day. "Hey, babe. Nice bathing suit. Are you lonely? Whatcha doin' tonight?"). Where's my tackle box?
Is this Hell? 1,680 guitarists play Smoke on the Water. LGF Which Repubs voted in favor of illegal immigrant felons becoming citizens? Daily Pundit Keep an eye on this guy Gupta. Powerline. He knows how to hire people. Web censorship. The latest fad. All of the cool countries are doing it now.  Younger wives in the White House. Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. I think Frances Cleveland was a great looking lady - maybe not babelicious, but very fine.
God, evolution, and politics. Can you find the ten dumb assertions/statements in this piece in the usually-good New English Review? Better off illegal? Immigrants take heed, and get on board. It's much better to be illegal than legal. Gets it wrong. Edwards claims gun ownership is a privilege. Huh? Given by whom, John? (h/t, Viking). I thought it was all about "endowed by our Creator..." White Lit Prof takes a niggardly look at tar babies. Protein Wisdom. You would have to be a total ignoramus - and a paranoid - to construe such things as racial slurs. He discusses "intentionalism." A fun letter to the editor rant from Brit Barry Beelzebub, who has had it up to here.  Hillary's plastic surgery? I guess she can afford it. From Granny to Soccer Mom. Before and after photos to the left. Can Botox alone do that? And can they get Fred Thompson to get the same treatment? He looks older than he is.
Moslems really do not trust their women. Moderate Voice. Why not? Harry Reid claims that illegals are Americans. Wait just a minute, Harry. When I am in Japan, am I Japanese? Or am I Japanese only if I am in Japan illegally? What happened to passports and all that stuff? Fark's Drew Curtis on news, etc. from an interview at Right Wing News: I think news is kinda like church: we all say we go, but most people don't and it's one of those deals where the...numbers don't bear out (what people say).
Brit nose art defeated by political correctness. Don't want to offend Moslems. Maybe the missiles will contain buttered popcorn and the bombs will be filled with goody bags.
"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." (Text of note found in the pocket of General Dwight David Eisenhower long after the D-Day landings succeeded.)
Rick, the esteemed, amiable, and often-provocative proprietor of the Right Wing Nut House, is indeed nutty enough to try to make a living blogging. Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin? We'd hate to lose him because he is one of those guys who has the time to dig into things rather than going off half-cocked, as we sometimes (some would say often) do here.
“...a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization.” The FDR audio here. D-Day was an excellent trick. 
If you know wonderful Stowe, VT, you know St. John's in the Mountains church, on Mountain Road in full view of Mt. Mansfield. The old building, for some reason, now sits forlornly in the parking lot in the photo below. I'd buy the building if they included delivery. The parish's brand new digs, on the same spot as the previous, here. It looks like a happy little church. (h/t Chris, a Stowe native who took the photo) 
 No Looking Backwards (in this morning's links) linked to an editorial in New Hampshire's Union Leader, which explains the freedom view of the world in terms of the minor issue of mandatory seatbelts.
When freedom is removed from the political equation, and replaced by benevolence, the result is tyranny. Don't all tyrants say they want what is good for some or most of "their people"? I love the C.S. Lewis observation, which we often quote: - Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
I will trust free markets over government any day of the week. The problem with all of the "minor" issues - trans-fats, smoking, motorcycle helmets, seatbelts, gun control, etc - is that they eventually add up to an oppressive, dispiriting burden, as in the UK. A quote from the Union Leader article: When the state crosses that line and begins protecting adults from themselves, the people have lost their authority over the state. At once, there is no decision the state may not make regarding an individual's personal behavior. The people have conceded that power, and it is no longer theirs. New Hampshire remains the "live free or die" state, and its people take that motto very seriously. Start telling them how to live their lives, and they will start telling you exactly where you can go.
That's right. But you can feel like a nut and a crank standing up and opposing each tiny, seemingly well-intentioned step that government takes, even though the imposition of most of these issues is really driven by controlling do-gooder cranks with too much time on their hands. The problem, as I see it, is that these are laws, not advice. Heck - I usually use my seatbelt - especially when I am driving my pick-up, drinking Coors Lite, reading the paper, shooting various animals and shooting various annoying people out the car window, listening to the radio, eating a bagel, talking on my cell, and blogging on my Blackberry - all at the same time, like every normal busy red-blooded American does. If America doesn't still stand for individual liberty from state power, then what good are we? If we, and our politicians, remove individual liberty from the equations they apply to law-making, what are we? If laws have to have "Environmental Impact Statements," how come they don't have to have "Freedom Impact Statements"? (I don't think I am the first to say that, but if I stole it, I don't remember from whom.) Addendum: I should also have re-linked the Cafe Hayek piece on the subject of trans-fats (which government experts insisted upon, just a few years ago, as an improvement over lard) and the food Nazis. A nanny with cops and guns backing her up is worth calling a Nazi, in the sarcastic Seinfeld sense of the term, if you ask me. (See our Mayor Bloomberg satire, which some readers thought might be real.) Appalling examples delivered fresh, daily, at Moonbattery
Finns? As one commenter on the story at Free Republic notes, "My question is- why don’t we hire the Iranian border guards? Those suckers don’t miss anybody."
While the Repubs duked it out (Rudy was excellent), Fred went solo on Hannity. Video
 Will you marry me for an hour or two? It's wedding season, and wedding anniversary season, and Moslem clerics have endorsed the "One-hour marriage." Cool. No alimony, one would hope. (h/t, Vilmar)
Rip Van Winkleski wakes up, finds world changed. Attack Machine Freeman Dyson on video, on warming hysteria, via Classical Values Bush rocks Prague. Quotes from his speech on freedom. Gateway Do not read this book, says the New York Times Hillary talks about "her faith." Tammy Bruce. Meanwhile, Obama catches up with her in polls. Remember the kid who shot that monster pig? It might have been a farm pig. (h/t, Reader) New Hampshire rejects a seat belt law, and No Looking Backwards explains, in no uncertain terms, why that's a good thing. Similar issue re trans-fats, at Cafe Hayek. A quote: None of these things are really worth fighting for, are they? Are you going to picket a politician for making some other folks stop smoking or wear their seat belt? Not worth it. Of course, that's how the nanny state grows. It's just not worth fighting any one infringement of liberty. So no, I'm not going to fight for the right to buy a locally-baked pastry with good mouth feel. But I will fight against the idea that the Montgomery County Council has the right to ban trans-fats. That's why I'm writing this post. That's why I mention it to my neighbors. It requires a bit of schizophrenia. But it's healthy. I don't care about trans-fats, but I care about the ban. I care about the principle. The principle is tricky. It's not the right to eat trans-fats. The principle is that I don't want powerful people to decide what I do with my body or my life. Those are my responsibility. They are my responsibility because that's what adulthood is. Adulthood is being responsible for the risks you take, reaping the rewards and enduring the costs.
Tuesday, June 5. 2007
 Bella Thomas spent some time in Cuba in April, and reports on the visit in Prospect Magazine.
Thomas feels that the US embargo has been a major factor in keeping Castro in power. A quote: Most also know that liberalisation is vitally needed, but they are cautious about speaking openly, partly because they have too much else to think about (such as how to get food), partly because living under a dictatorship generates extraordinary levels of patience, and partly because questioning the regime can lose you your job or even land you in prison. Also, whatever the iniquities of the current system, there is still a certain sort of fear about what may be in store once the regime passes and, in some cases, there is even an affection for a tyrannical parent figure.
There are plenty of visitors to Cuba from rich countries (including a disproportionate number from Britain) who believe they have encountered a true alternative to capitalist democracy. Why? Perhaps it is a way of keeping alive the idea of some ideal society, without having to experience the disadvantages oneself. It may also be a facet of a general dislike of the US, or a way of expressing unease with capitalist excesses. But it is also, in all probability, related to a nostalgia for the political certainties and the handsome design of the 1950s and before: the cars, the bars and the glamour. It is not for nothing that Cuba sells itself with the music of the pre-revolutionary period. If North Korea had charm and salsa and innuendo and beaches, perhaps a lot of politically naive people would be advocating its merits too.
Thanks for the photos, John - but this is not what I would call roughin' it. 
More photos of the vehicle on continuation page below -
Continue reading "Deer Camp Truck"
 He's fine - he's just Astral Travelling. (h/t Right Wing Nation). Indeed he is.
Candidates for the Darwin Awards? As they say, There is no cure for stupid.
Like the Barrister in his fine piece on the subject of poverty, I am interested in understanding who the poor are in the US, and why. What lies behind the census data and stats? In medicine, we of course deal with many people who are poor due to various physical and mental dysfunctions and disabilities, and our charities and government programs offer them a great deal of help and support. In fact, the poor in general are beneficiaries of a huge safety net in the USA thanks to the generosity of our citizens. But what I found most interesting in The Barrister's piece was this notion of the "voluntarily poor." In America, we are too quick to assume that everybody wants to be rich. Indeed, I think no sane person would refuse a $160,000,000 check from Powerball, but the word "voluntary" refers to behavior, not to idle thoughts and dreams. If you aren't willing to move from Podunk, Maine to Charlotte, NC to get a good job, you are indeed voluntarily poor. And if you would rather drop out of high school and have four kids as a single Mom in St. Johnsbury, VT, you are also voluntarily poor. If you are an uneducated, illiterate immigrant, you are voluntarily poor - but presumably better-off than at home. I would like to be able to look behind the poverty stats to try to understand what choices in life the poor have made, with the understanding that these choices probably reflect a part of what they want in life. Not everyone is materially-driven, and most people are only partially materially-driven. Some people are driven to nothing at all, including basic self-respect. Some are, in fact, motivated by dependency. There are only two facts that I know for certain: Single moms are often poor, and people who do not work full-time are often poor. Gals who get knocked up without "a ring and a date" are deeply foolish. Government support (if it were included as income) would bring them out of the poverty stats, however - but that support from their neighbors rewards bad decisions made by folks who have not been taught better, or who simply haven't made any life plan. Life lived recklessly sometimes - but very rarely - works out. I'd like every kid to be taught, by example and by words, that they have something of value to add to their families, their country, and to other people, but that none of that will be be realized without making smart choices and without making a plan. Freedom demands a lot of maturity from people because it offers so many choices. LaShawn has a piece on the subject: Why Mothers Need to be Married. The recent, widely-quoted piece in The Economist makes it clear that getting and staying married correlates highly with good kids and correlates highly with a secure life. Apparently, if you graduate from high school, get married before having kids, and if at least one of the couple has a job, and if you have no more kids than you can afford, things tend to work out fairly peachy in the USA. However, the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy implied is not addressed. In the end, do the data say anything more circular than "People who run their lives well do well in life"?
 60% of Brit Moslems think the London bombings were an inside job. Driscoll
Global cooling anticipated in next 20 years due to solar cycle. A few challenges to the AGW True Believers. Tangled Olympics logo, improved. It you can believe it, the logo which appears to represent something collapsing cost $800,000. But it is slightly improved, at An Englishman's Castle The Brits are "a people." DNA confirms it. They are not a "nation of immigrants." Is it possible for a nation to retain its identity and its sense of family-like connection with massive immigration? Doubtful. Discussion at Brussels Journal Even Nat Hentoff has had it with the UN. Close it down. As we have said many times before, nations can, and do, talk to each other anytime they want without the UN getting in the way. Just one more failed utopian dream. Moonbattery. It is painful to think that any of my money is going to support them. More at Viking.
 From the National Research Council (h/t Insty):
Domestic cats: 100s of millions a year
. Striking high-tension lines: 130 million - 1 billion a year
Striking buildings: 97 million to 976 million a year
Cars: 80 million a year
Toxic chemicals: 72 million
Striking communications towers: 4 to 50 million a year
* Wind turbines: 20,000 to 37,000 If one must have an outdoor cat, the least you can do is to put a bell on the animal.
CBO says immigration bill will not accomplish its stated purposes. Captain Ed. But when has that kind of conclusion ever deterred politicians?
 New guidelines on increasing the survival rates of released fish.
I would think that the suggestions would apply to trout.
Monday, June 4. 2007
Re forceful intervention in the world. Barone, as quoted in a piece at Betsy: Democrats like Biden and Feingold seem to want the United States to abide by children’s playground rules. It’s selfish when you intervene to help yourself, but it’s acceptable when you intervene to help others. It’s egotistical when you do things alone, but it’s commendable when you play well with others. But those rules aren’t much help when a child molester stalks the playground. Sometimes you have to act alone and act out of self-interest to prevent evil people from doing evil things.
It is so basic that one would not think that this needed to be said - but it does.
Interesting lawsuit. Ouch. TigerHawk Vermont secession movement advances. What would Lincoln do? Can the media admit that anything is good? Conspiracy What was the Number 1 song on your birthdate, wedding date, etc? (h/t, Never Yet Melted) Have you seen Panoramio? Map your photos. Google is buying the company.
 That is Fred and Jeri. We would post her alone, if she had just had a thong on and were posing at a beach. Jeri for First Lady, and forget about Fred! (photo via Viking)
Islamberg, NY. I do not like their practicing with Port Authority uniforms. Does that make me Islamophobic? Wizbang "Are you now or have you ever been an AGWOCS Denialist?" Classical Values Where's the outrage? 12 year-old beheads kafr (kaffir). LGF. No outrage because of multicultural tolerance, I suppose - same as taking scissors to clitori: those cute Moslems have their quaint habits. The Tiananmen Massacre was 18 years ago today. Seems like yesterday. Needs to be remembered. A naive Bush was wrong about Putin. Putin is a normal paranoid Russian. I say paranoid because nobody harbors ill will towards Russia - nor does anybody think very much about Russia at all. And paranoids always imagine that people are thinking about them.
 We mentioned the above notion in the post about Kimball's essay on art yesterday.
How is this quote, from a piece at Right Wing nation on Green sex toys, to illustrate the concept? Also, note: inflatable sheep can easily be repaired with a bicycle patch kit if popped.
Is it legal to marry an inflatable sheep in Denmark yet?
A quote from a good rant from the New Media Journal, posted at Synthstuff: Why do Democrats keep claiming that they represent the middle class, when everything they campaign on is aimed at minorities, illegal aliens, the ignorant, and the poor? What have they done for middle class Americans other than to raise their taxes, lower their self-esteem, and attempt to destroy their national pride? What have they done for the country other than to divide it, criticize it, regulate it and tax it?
Definition via Samizdata. This is why we are suspicous of all government "benevolent" action.
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