Tuesday, July 31. 2007
 Via Free Republic. He is going to grab the Reagan mantle before Fred ambles up to the starting gate.
I think Rudy learned a thing or two during his post-Mayor years in the real world.
We need scientists, experts, federal research grants, etc, to help us understand things like this. Where would we be without such people to splain it all to us? 
 Pulling the army out of Northern Ireland, that is.
After 38 years of counterinsurgency operations, they are turning it over to the local cops.
 The cost of travel in 1800. Marginal Revolution. No wonder nobody ever went anywhere beyond their local market village, unless they were rich. Stagecoaches were expensive.
Sovereign Wealth Funds: The new thing. Government entities are learning to be capitalist investors. Guess they realized they can't run businesses themselves. Dinocrat. Yes, governments love money and power, don't they? Uppity whites in Boston. Debka Files is not the most reliable source. Gateway linked this story. Is it true? I hope it is true, but count me as a skeptic. The tax hike that the Dems long for. John Kyl discusses. Pure class warfare, if you ask me. Great comments by Old Man Tyme on this Jules piece. For some reason, I have been having trouble getting to his site this week. How Congress is hampering terror surveillance. Never Yet Melted. Idiots. Boy Scouting turns 100 years old. Brits "horrified" by Olympic shooting sports. Who are these people? Joe Lieberman escalates his attacks on Dems. The Hill From Wretchard (h/t, Reader): The US campaign in Iraq is probably one of the most complex campaigns in military history. It is an event fundamentally unsuited to facile political characterization. And I am afraid that, if General Petraeus' efforts meet with some success, what was officially a "bad" war -- after first having been a "good war" -- will become a "good war" again, as politicians anxiously reposition themselves according to the latest polls. Iraq will become, whatever it is, exactly what the politicians want it to be. And that's bad. Because the one thing that Gen Petraeus is doing right -- if he is doing anything right at all -- is adapting; moving through the OODA loop faster than his enemies and unfettered by restricting shibboleths and doctrinal dogma. Success is based on seeing things as they are as opposed to viewing them through political lenses. In some sense you have to see things different from Washington to have a snowball's chance in Hell.
Fred on Federalism. I strongly agree with this piece (h/t, Right Wing Nation). A quote: A good first step would be to codify the Executive Order on Federalism first signed by President Ronald Reagan. That Executive Order, first revoked by President Clinton, then modified to the point of uselessness, required agencies to respect the principle of the Tenth Amendment when formulating policies and implementing the laws passed by Congress. It preserved the division of responsibilities between the states and the federal government envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution. It was a fine idea that should never have been revoked. The next president should put it right back in effect, and see to it that the rightful authority of state and local governments is respected.
Why are we importing doctors? From a piece by Kesler: Physicians in the USA: 794,893.
Foreign graduate doctors in the USA: 185,234 (from 127 countries).
* Percentage of doctors in U.S. training programs who are foreigners: 24%.
"Five reasons why I love Jesus." Anchoress
That's a paraphrase of what Dem leader James Clyburn said the other day, about Iraq. Does he realize what he said? He told the truth. As Surber asks, "Who is the enemy to Clyburn?" See Jules on the latest optimistic view from the NYT, of all places.
Does one have a right not to be offended in America? From a piece on the toilet Koran story by Rick Moran. Also, with photos, at Moonbattery. In my view, it is the privilege of every American to both offend and to be offended. This kid was charged with a felony? Gimme a break. The only thing he is guilty of is bad manners.
You can't really find vast fields of wild Lowbush Blueberry south of Maine. They especially seem to grow where there has been forest fire or clear-cutting. Always keep an eye out for bears in a lowbush blueberry field. And Rightly So has a little photo essay on the subject. Here's one of her fine photos: 
Monday, July 30. 2007
Fascinating, from Totten, today. With photos.
 Building on flood plains. Free Market Fairy Tales
The generic blog post. Sippican. Just fill in the blanks. Harry Reid wants power without power plants. Miller Counting hurricanes. How can you compare the present with the pre-weather satellite era? Wizbang Adding a blog to our Education category: Minding the Campus. (h/t, Classical Values) Cartoon from Leo Cullum's excellent Scotch and Toilet Water?
This moth on a window (thanks, reader) reminds me of Billy Gibbons, with the RayBans and the dirty beard. I think I'll post a ZZ Top tune (below). Correction: That is two moths, facing in opposite directions, mating. It's more farm p*rn from Maggie's Farm. I did think the leg count was strange. 
How do they produce so much sound? Every girl crazy about a sharp-dressed man.
 We posted a piece this week on the terrible recent home invasion in Connecticut, about 20 minutes from where I live. By coincidence, this was the same week I was taking my required Concealed Carry course down in Bridgeport (which was excellent, and good fun blasting away at targets with 9mm Glocks and H&Ks, plus some .22 revolvers).
One could not help but wonder what good protection might be from home invasion. In the reported story, the good doctor was downstairs, and knocked out by the invaders with a baseball bat immediately, then tied up and carried to the basement. No handgun in the bedside table would have been of any use. As home invasion becomes more common, I wonder what good protection might be, unless you carry 24 hrs/day, as many do. I had a good chat, during a break in the course, with a husky young black kid with a du-rag, silver earrings, and pants half-falling off - nicest kid in the world - who wants to be a bank guard. He told me that he was dozing in front of the TV when he was awakened by an intruder, while the rest of his family was upstairs. The intruder was a bit frightened, and this kid told him to leave in 3 seconds. The minute the guy turned, the kid slammed him in the back of the head with an aluminum baseball bat that was lying around. The kid had been at softball that afternoon, and never put his bat away. The one swing knocked the guy out. He called the cops who cuffed the skull-fractured intruder and took him away in an ambulance. He said the cops came back one more time to ask more questions, and told him "You done good, kid." He never heard any more about it. I told him to forget being a bank guard - go into the Army. He told me his Dad was a jarhead, and his granddad was in the Army. I told him he had an innate tactical sense. The way my life is, I do not have enough contact with du-rag kids. (I told my wife the story, and told her that the kid looked scary until I chatted with him. She said "It's just fashion: he wants to look scary, and you want to look dorky.") A man's home is his castle. My friend and I concluded that a short-barreled pump 12 ga., like a trench gun, might the the best tool - assuming it's handy. It is tough for an amateur to hit anything moving with a handgun, unless it's ten feet away. 
Photo on top: The Petit family of Cheshire, CT, the victims of the home invasion/rape/murder. Photo below, The entrance to The Tower, of course.
 Some folks like to read and think about reason and revelation. For some reason, when I think about it much my brain gets numb. Maybe I believe that existence itself is a mysterious dream from the mind of God.
Dr. Bob takes on the subject of reason and faith once again. A quote: Sweeping generalizations about what “most Christians think” seem common among those who understand little of what any Christian thinks, and miss the mark anyway: the standard is not what “most Christians” believe, but what Christianity as a faith has taught and maintained throughout its two-thousand year history. And while Christianity maintains that aspects of its core beliefs may be reached through reason alone — such as the existence of God, the nature of the soul, and the existence of a natural moral law — Christianity is above all a faith based on revelation. It maintains that God exists, that He is personal, and that He has intervened in human history, making Himself known both by written revelation and through the person of Jesus Christ. While the secular materialist views such a position as irrational – contrary to reason — Christianity maintains instead that it is supra-rational: not contrary to reason, but above reason by the very nature of God. It stands to reason that man — confined by his very nature to space and time — cannot through reason alone understand a Being who transcends space and time — eternal and self-existent in nature, unlimited in intellect and power, unchanged and unbound by time, having existed both before time and throughout eternity.
 From American.com:
The U.S. now has 125 opera companies. That’s more than Germany or Italy, and roughly as many Americans attend live opera performances as attend NFL football games. Jonathan Leaf examines a surprising phenomenon—beyond the Met.
If that is true, then why don't we have more opera on TV? I wish we did. Read the article here. Readers know that we like the Met, but are also very happy with the NYC Opera just next door. Other than in Lincoln Center, where in the world are there two opera companies performing next door to eachother?
 He died at 89. A genius, or just pretentious? I don't know.
He always had excellent cinematography, and The Seventh Seal, which was ostensibly about The Plague, was darn interesting to watch. I saw it the first time at The Thalia.
 Is it art or a crime? Never Yet Melted. It's not a crime, just terrible manners.
In defence of Ward Churchill: He's just like the rest of them. Coyote Always late? No matter - time may not exist. Samizdata How the Brits prevented us from catching Osama. Ace. This was sick. More from Dinocrat. Dr. Pettit speaks about his lost family. A free public service school? I say nuts to that commie, Frenchie notion, and so does Tammy. Part of the idea of America is citizen-politicians, not trained managers of us masses. That is why I am sympathetic to term-limits. If our gummint can't run a passport office, why should we imagine they can run American medicine? Cafe Hayek The Dissident Frogman is back. The Gonzales story. There is no story. He is just another potential scalp. The Democratic Party: The Party of Hate. Not to defend the dopey Repubs or to be unbalanced, but the Dems have gone over the edge. Mr. Sun is good for you. Take off that greasy sunblock. Cool new US Army weapon systems. Ulrich Muhe died. Still need to see this movie. World's tallest woman. Video. That is one big hunk of woman. Waziristan update. Powerline. It's an un-reported battle.
 Our friend at Sippican Cottage has a mind-boggling photo collection. For example, last night he emailed me a photo he had of the interior of Penfield Light, which we wrote about yesterday.
Where does he find this stuff? He won't say.
Sunday, July 29. 2007
Penfield Reef, a long-time hazard to ships and boats, extends south from the Fairfield (CT) beach one mile into Long Island Sound. It is covered at high tide, but exposed otherwise as a broad ridge of sand, now reinforced with large riprap in parts so you can walk out - but not without slipping on slabs of rockweed. Here's a photo of Jennings Beach, the wide and excellent town beach of Fairfield: 
During the Revolution the Brits landed on this beach, marched a mile into town, and burned a few houses and the Congregational Church. I don't think they killed anybody. I knew a girl whose family showed the burn marks on the inside of their house. After the Brits began to march back to their boats, the owners quickly returned and put the fire out. Many moons ago, an awkward, dorky, bookish young Bird Dog was rejected by a number of young fillies on that beach in the sunshine, and made out with one or two others on that beach in the dark. That photo brought back memories... And I shot my first duck from Penfield Reef, just a few hundred yards away. In the good old days, the hunters would huddle on the reef with their Labs and get wonderful passing shots at the Bluebills buzzing around. I don't know whether they even allow it anymore, but a mile-long reef could accommodate quite a few duck hunters comfortably and happily. On the southernmost tip of the reef sits Penfield Light, a handsome 1880s structure which was manned by a lighthouse keeper until 1970. The light is automated now. The place is well-known for being inhabited by a ghost. Here's Penfield Light at high tide: 
The subject of Penfield Light comes up because the Coast Guard, which is responsible for navigation aids, has decided that they don't need to own it, and are putting it up for sale. It would be a fine dwelling for a non-social blogger who wants to get away from it all, and who wants to shoot their supper every day in the winter from the front porch, and to catch their fish dinner the rest of the year from their back porch. Moonbattery noted that PETA is considering buying it, and using it as a place to study the souls of fish, or something equally PETA-ish. I would like to warn them off. In a good storm, spray and crashing wave tips reach the level of the roof. I doubt that PETA types would be comfortable with that much raw nature... not to mention the cormorant shit everywhere.
The world is full of insanity. Dr. Sanity offers a collection each Sunday, and always links our relevant pieces. Make it part of your Sunday afternoon ritual. I believe it is important to label insanity for what it is, or we could lose our fragile grip on reality.
 "Attempts to Islamize the West cannot be denied," warns the Vatican. Gates of V.
The foreign policies of Spain are not usually a hot topic, but right now it's an interesting subject. Brussels Journal While the surge seems to be working, the government of Iraq is in splinters. CSM. Maybe they need a dictator or king or whatever, to be civilized. We had lots of posts about hippies last week. Driscoll looks back on that era via Tom Wolfe. The Red Fox making a comeback in the Northeast. That is good. We have a family of them on the farm. Our coyotes are known to kill fox kits - so much for canine multiculturalism. Speaking of foxes, more on the war against FOX News, at Gateway And speaking of the dog family of animals, Derbyshire ponders whether dogs have consciousness, based on the latest research - and thus whether they have souls. Photo: That is our North American version of Mr. Red Fox. We wrote about him in Dog of the Week a while ago.
I like this quote from Bob at One Cosmos (whose puns and triple-edged spelling you have to let yourself enjoy), from a piece of the above name: Eckhart said that we are held back or "estranged" from God by three primary conditions, time, multiplicity and matter. As a result, one cannot "know" God per se. Rather, one can only undergo him. Bion would have oppreciated this observation, for he recognized that if one cannot suffer pain, one cannot suffer pleasure, and knowledge is rooted in the pain of separation -- separation from O. Unknowing this separation is the highest form of knowledge, but it can only happen if you exert enough passivity or strive with enough effortlessness.
Me? I've given up completely.
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