Wednesday, July 18. 2007
 Banned in Britain: Christian purity rings. Moonbattery. Impurity rings? No problem.
JetBlue: Do you still like them after reading this? CAIR: Islamophobia is the problem. LGF. It is? What hutzpah these guys have. I am Islamophobic, now. I don't play golf in thunderstorms, either. Most lightning is harmless, so am I lightningophobic, or just sensible? Millionaire farmers and subsidies: Surber NYT and WaPo play useful idiots for Hamas Blair's Legacy: Corruption and a diminution of personal freedom. Opinion Journal An academic conference: No, the papers are not about Plato or Aquinas. What I saw in America Finally! A Media Mythbusters site. Their headline quote: "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." -- John F. Kennedy. Nowadays, we call that "the narrative," and they are deliberate, contrived and dishonest. How Italy is screwing the rest of the EU with immigration: Free Republic From Hatemonger's Quarterly: Simply put, contemporary Americans appear to want a few things out of their wars: 1) No casualties
2) No setbacks of any kind
3) No use of any troops
4) No mistakes
5) No waiting
John Kerry: We need more votes for surrender. Ace Quoted from Strategy Page in INDC: Corruption and lack of civic spirit continue to be the biggest problems in Iraq. This sort of thing does not make loud noises, so does not get into the mass media much. But what is done about corruption, will have more to do with Iraqs future, than the battle with terrorists.
 Has anyone seen this film? Someone mentioned it to me today with a strong recommendation. Here's the Amazon description:
Nestled deep in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is considered one of the world's most ascetic monasteries. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, they were ready. Gröning, sans crew or artificial lighting, lived in the monk's quarters for six months filming their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one. It has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental: time, space and light. One of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, INTO GREAT SILENCE dissolves the border between screen and audience with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life. More meditation than documentary, it is a rare, transformative experience.
You need to know, if you do not. Alan Caruba's piece at Intell. Conservative begins thus: In a month, August 20 and 21, the leaders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico will sit down together in Montebello, Quebec to discuss making the borders between these three nations disappear. They will discuss progress on a vast highway project passing through America to link Mexico with Canada. So far, no one has asked the citizens of these three nations whether they want to do this. It is not up for a vote in Congress and, indeed, Congress has no supervision over the gnomes in the U.S. Department of Commerce who are busily “harmonizing” the laws under the auspices of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP).
Read the whole thing.
The New New Atheism by Berkowitz in Opinion Journal. A quote: Unlike the Enlightenment atheism of the 18th century, which arose in a still predominantly religious society and which frequently went to some effort to disguise or mute its disbelief, the new new atheism proclaims its hatred of God and organized religion loudly and proudly from the rooftops. And unlike the anti-modern atheism of Nietzsche and Heidegger, which regarded the death of God as a catastrophe for the human spirit, the new new atheism sees the loss of religious faith in the modern world as an unqualified good, lamenting only the perverse and widespread resistance to shedding once and for all the hopelessly backward belief in a divine presence in history.
Is it not odd that intelligent people would view that as an important thing to do? I often think of modern proselytizing atheism as a form of religion, in which they replace God with a devil, who now must be driven from the land. I agree with Berkowitz' piece that the arguments are both thin and emotion-based, with minimal philosophical or theological background.
The correct response to the CAIR complainers should have been "Sorry guys, but this is America." The Barrister of Maggie's Farm, re CAIR's intimidation of the gutless wussie National Press Club
Romano at Chronicle of Higher Ed, on the Islamists. We agree. These animals are not welcome in my world. If they stay in their own world, and leave me alone, I don't really give a multicultural damn. We have been saying this for two years.
 I am finally scheduled for the required course to get my Connecticut concealed-carry license. I can't wait. Luckily, I have kept my record of violent felonies to a bare minimum thanks to a high innate degree of self-restraint, so they cannot deny me.
Gotta love freedom. The Brits are one thing, but I cannot believe that the manly Aussies voluntarily gave up the right to self-defence. What can be more basic?
 The press has this guy's phone number. When they want a "staunch Republican who plans to vote Dem this time," they call him. Every year.
Biofuels are messing up EU agriculture too. EU Referendum. It would seem rather elementary to me that one does not use food for fuel. We all live in a yellow submarine. Want one of your own? Theo Photo proof of GI torture of Iraqi children. Slower Pace Drugs and alcohol in the workplace. There's plenty of it, but who's surprised? It's been going on forever, and I guess it's just part of life. The Dem Iraq offensive: All Dems ordered by leadership to trash Bush and Iraq war. Yet another campus rape story that won't get big press. Ace. Does the press make the racist "low expectations" assumption here, that black campus rape is dog bites man, but white campus rape is man bites dog? Al Quaida leaders lurking in Iran. Big surprise there. h/t, Jules Nuclear fearmongering. Blue Crab. At Maggie's Farm, we love nuke power. It's as close to a free lunch as we will ever have. If you missed it, scroll down and read The Barrister's Railroad piece about retirement. Quite interesting, with Dr. Bliss' comments.
Tuesday, July 17. 2007
National Press Club permits CAIR to ban press from panel audience. This is sick, shameful, cowardly, dhimmitudinous, and truly un-American. Story at Don Surber. The correct response to the CAIR complainers should have been "Sorry guys, but this is America." Thoughts about it at Riehl.
 John Edwards vows to end all bad things by 2011. h/t, Sister Toldja
What would Hillary be without Bill? RWN Do dead people have rights? Or does their cadaver belong to "the collective"? Stumbling. My two comments: 1. There is no "collective" in the USA. 2. If dead people vote, they surely have rights. FBI says Iraqis being smuggled across the Rio Grande Dems actually find a federal program they want to cut. John Fund Moonbats dream of human extinction. Moonbattery The Coming War in Pakistan. Front Page. This should be interesting. 20,000 armed tribesmen. New Haven to issue ID cards to illegals. CSM Why a dollar spent on a Toyota gets you more than a dollar spent on a GM car. Small Dead Lemmings Why I am not a Marxist (anymore). At David Thompson Wicked, wicked ironies. Biofuels starve humans. Kim Europe indifferent to their own demise. Driscoll Environmental doomsayers usually wrong. Lib. Leanings. What is always their solution? "We're going to have to restructure the global economy." Of course." Speaking of which, plants can run for their lives down under. "Baiting the devout": Fitzpatrick reviews Hitchen's atheist book at Spiked. A quote: Intellectuals who have lost their belief in progress are turning venomously on those who retain a vision of the good society: the religious.
On mandated student volunteering, in the CSM. A quote: The real audacity of the situation lies in the underlying assumption that students would do nothing without their schools' guiding hand. Why else must kids document their hours? Schools clearly feel obliged to teach our children to care, implying we don't teach them ourselves. America is the most charitable country on earth, so it's an odd assumption. But more important, the schools' mandated volunteerism has slowly turned a noble tradition of philanthropic service into another competition, another thing our kids check off their to-do lists as they plot their college applications.
Photo: a 1958 Deere 320, in excellent shape
 From Timbro (h/t, No Pasaran):
If the European Union were a state in the USA it would belong to the poorest group of states. France, Italy, Great Britain and Germany have lower GDP per capita than all but four of the states in the United States. In fact, GDP per capita is lower in the vast majority of the EU-countries (EU 15) than in most of the individual American states. This puts Europeans at a level of prosperity on par with states such as Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia. Only the miniscule country of Luxembourg has higher per capita GDP than the average state in the USA. The results of the new study represent a grave critique of European economic policy.
In a funny kind of way, we Americans should be pleased that Euroland is so relatively poor. That way, it remains a lovely museum of the past to visit, just like Vermont.
 Bird Dog has already commented on the Left's upside-down understanding of economics in which it is assumed that the rich gain their wealth only through taking from others. While this "zero-sum" fallacy usually arises in the context of domestic issues, enterprising Leftists have employed it in an international context as well: see, for example, any of Bono's or Bob Geldof's commentary on Africa, or the lovable George Galloway, who recently remarked that India's economy is growing so rapidly only because it is making up ground that it was "not allowed to occupy" during colonialism.
Galloway is not worth paying any attention to, of course, but even The Dylanologist's old political science professor back in college gave a similar explanation for why the economies of Africa had failed to make any gains in prosperity since independence (it was because those nasty colonialists built railroads to serve resource exploitation rather than domestic growth, in case you were wondering. And no, do not ask how the countries would have been more productive without any railroads at all). The irony of the views of virulently anti-Western politicians such as Galloway is that they necessarily must cast the nations of Western Europe as all-powerful entities, capable of holding entire nations hostage to their will, while India and the nations of Africa are reduced to passive and helpless actors who can only be what the nations of Europe let them be. This point of view is hardly less patronizing than anything dreamed up by 19th century colonialists. The truth? As Bird Dog has mentioned, each nation must come to prosperity on its own terms: no poor nation ever grew wealthy through aid alone, nor have war and oppression ever been able to permanantly cripple an economically vigorous country. Photo: The splendid Masai, who do not welcome Western condescension or pity.
Bill Roggio's latest report (h/t, Jules C). Our folks are clearly very busy, and I know our young friend (a SEAL) who is over there is helping do the job. This is a very small war, as wars go - and not really a war at all, even though it receives the same level of negative press attention as bigger fights like Vietnam or Korea. Why? Pure partisanship, I believe. If Bill Clinton had undertaken the same project (he was in favor of regime change in Iraq), I suspect the Dems would be rallying their people behind the good and just cause of freedom and human dignity. Why are the Dems in a tizzy? I suspect that they are fearful that Gen. Petraeus will be successful, and they would like to sabotage it first. I pray that this effort will be successful, not for political reasons, but for the Iraqis and for the Middle East. And this from Wizbang, Why Liberals should love the war in Iraq.
Morning mist rising at 6 am in New Hampshire's White Mountains on Sunday. Thanks, reader. 
 All summer we see and hear the sturdy Belted Kingfishers rattling up and down the stream with their dipping flight pattern, hunting for minnows and small water critters. During migration, I have seen them around salt water inlets too, but I think they prefer freshwater streams.
I have no idea where they have dug their nest: they dig nest holes in banks, and are highly territorial. Our Belted Kingfisher is found across the US and Canada, and there are a number of species of Kingfishers found around the globe. Another bank-nester is the drab Bank Swallow, which nests in colonies near water. I have only seen a couple of Bank Swallow colonies in New England - one of them had about a hundred nests - and they are very local in distribution, unlike the Kingfisher. Apparently man has expanded their distribution because road-cuts provide good cliffs for their nest holes. Photo: A female Kingfisher. The males don't have the red band.
Monday, July 16. 2007
This bit came in over the transom: The New York City Public Schools have officially declared "Jewish English", now dubbed "Hebronics", as a second language. Backers of the move say the city schools are the first in the nation to recognize Hebronics as a valid language and a significant attribute of American culture.
According to Howard Ashland, linguistics professor at Brooklyn College and renowned Hebronics scholar, the sentence structure of Hebronics derives from middle and eastern European language patterns as they evolved into Yiddish.
Professor Shulman explains, "In Hebronics, the response to any question is usually another question with a complaint that is either implied or stated. Thus 'How are you?' may be answered, 'How should I be, with my bad feet?'
Shulman says that Hebronics is a superb linguistic vehicle for expressing sarcasm or skepticism. An example is the repetition of a word with "sh" or "shm" at the beginning: "Mountains, shmountains. Stay away. You should want a nosebleed?"
Another Hebronics pattern is moving the subject of a sentence to the end, with its pronoun at the beginning: "It's beautiful, that dress."
Shulman says one also sees the Hebronics verb moved to the end of the sentence. Thus the response to a remark such as "He's slow as a turtle," could be: "Turtle, shmurtle! Like a fly in Vaseline he walks."
Shulman provided the following examples from his best-selling textbook, Switched-On Hebronics:
Question: "What time is it?"
English answer: "Sorry, I don't know."
Hebronic response: "What am I, a clock?"
Remark: "I hope things turn out okay."
English answer: "Thanks."
Hebronic response: "I should be so lucky!"
Remark: "Hurry up. Dinner's ready."
English answer: "Be right there."
Hebronic response: "Alright already, I'm coming. What's with the 'hurry' business? Is there a fire?"
More examples on continuation page -
Continue reading "Hebronics"
 For those who appreciate the engineering marvel of bridges, Dr. Bob has #17 in his photo series on the construction of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
I have been following the construction with Dr. Bob all along. This is a new section of roadway being guided into place. I am in awe of people who can design and build such wonderful, useful things.
I disagree with Roger Simon that there are too many Pres. candidates. The more the merrier. And, speaking of merrier, Ralph Nader will probably run again. Ralph is always a cheerful, optimistic presence. Did you know that he is from the lovely Litchfield Hills town of Norfolk, CT? Rick Moran is gloomy about Iraq: Iraq really has become the stickiest of tar babies; we can’t withdraw too precipitously, if at all and yet our military cannot do much of anything to help solve Iraq’s massive political, sectarian, and security problems. We are well and truly stuck. We can’t move forward and we can’t go back.
But Bill Kristol is optimistic. Are you old enough to remember Green Stamps? Do you know what the Green Stamp Syndrome is? Most people don't bother collecting their rebates. Church and Community. Patrick Deneen doesn't care for suburbia, either as a place to worship or to live in. Sand sculpting at Revere Beach. SISU. Yes, it isn't ordinary sand. USMC officers get the M4. Never Yet Melted Free range chickens aren't happier chickens. Synthstuff Expensive study shows "Kids who are taught how to behave, behave better." Only 49% of teens have summer jobs these days. NE Repub. I consider that very bad news. Another scatological Hillary collection. She is a serious potty mouth. Re Africa, quoted by Glenn: The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and "civilization."
Now it's hypersensitive Sikhs. What next? h/t, Education Wonks Chavez: His polls don't look good. That's why socialism requires dictators. The Fairness Doctrine: its history, going back to JFK Citizens pay tuition. Illegals go to school free. Rhymes with Right Fear of Fred. Dems taking no chances. Blue Crab. Is he really all that scary?
...when I read much of what comes from the left, I'm left with the feeling that they want to consume the benefits that come from living in the U.S. and more generally the West without either doing the messy work involved or, more seriously, taking on the moral responsibility for the life they enjoy. From a piece about the BBC at Winds of Change, a blog we need to, and will, add to our blogroll. Also, Samizdata has an excellent piece on Anthony Jay's "confession." It does ring true to me, and applies equally well to the American MSM, I think: arrogant but strangely ignorant.
Sunday, July 15. 2007
 Summer blogging: A July-August dip in blog readership is predictable, especially on weekends. We want our readers outside getting exercise and sun, taking vacations far from broadband connections and cellphone towers, and lounging at the beach looking at the scenery, such as one of Theo's gals in photo. Still, don't forget to check in with us: farmers don't take vacations.
Canadians consider legalizing polygamy. Dust my Broom. Dhimmitude masquerading as sensitivity. Conrad Black: A "compromise verdict"? Prof B. Compromise verdicts do not serve justice. And at American Thinker - what are the business effects of criminalizing bad business decisions? And, about the case, Best Englishism of the Day. (h/t, Worstall) Police catch ETA terrorists with plan to blow up Brit tour ship. Is Michael Moore's agitprop career done? Blue Crab. He has no credibility except as a deceptive propagandist. More unpleasant truth about Che Guevara. No Pasaran Ahmadinejab losing support fast. We should just step back and let it happen. Iran poll at Dinocrat Did you read Dalrymple's piece on The Case for Distrusting Moslems? Hirsi Ali takes on "cartoonishly anti-American" Canadian journalist. Video at Hot Air Wary of getting to close to Americans. Captain Ed. Thanks to the defeatists, who for partisan reasons seem determined to sabotage freedom for the Iraqis. Quoted in the piece: Local Iraqis touched by the surge of US troops seem grateful for the increased security, but some are scared of getting too close to the Americans in case they leave. “I cannot help the coalition because I worry that if I do and the soldiers go then the terrorists will come back and kill me,” said Mokdat Ahmed Shahib, a 40-year-old security guard, who lives in a village near Patrol Base Murray. He was speaking as a group of US military medics handed out free medicine and advice to scores of families, who had no other healthcare facilities in their village. Can Iraq manage without the US? At Breibart. I wonder how serious they are. I thought there was a war, or something like it. Where do they go for vacation? Cape Cod? Maine? Sweden? A quote: In August, the parliament is taking a one month vacation—a shorter break than the usual two months, but still enough to anger some in Congress who say lawmakers should push through the measures.
Important Krauthammer piece: Deserting Petraeus. A quote: Just this week, Petraeus said that the one thing he needs more than anything else is time. To cut off Petraeus's plan just as it is beginning -- the last surge troops arrived only last month -- on the assumption that we cannot succeed is to declare Petraeus either deluded or dishonorable. Deluded in that, as the best-positioned American in Baghdad, he still believes we can succeed. Or dishonorable in pretending to believe in victory and sending soldiers to die in what he really knows is an already failed strategy.
Alistair's review at Flares of this German movie, The Lives of Others, is lengthy but fascinating. I want to see the movie - and I do not particularly care for movies.
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