We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
New York City's swirling, tide- and current-tossed East River, which runs from New York Harbor to Long Island Sound (and is therefore not a river in the usual sense and more of a salt-water connection left over from the last Ice Age) separates Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens, and further east separates the Bronx from Queens.
It is spanned by eight bridges and has 13 tunnels, all but one of the tunnels (the Queens-Midtown Tunnel) for rail. A friend took this photo on Saturday, with the majestic Brooklyn Bridge in the foreground, the Manhattan Bridge behind, and the great city of Brooklyn itself on the right.
With 2.5 million people, Brooklyn would be one of the largest cities in the US had it not merged with NYC in 1898.
If you disassembled the current slate of candidates from both parties into their component parts, then stitched together the best bits from each of them, (good luck looking for the good bits) you might be able to make a zombie Franklin Pierce out of the mess. Maybe. After you re-animate the dodgy potlach politician you've assembled, it could wear any one of their empty suits. Not one of them is qualified to go out and get Eisenhower a pack of smokes. America has always produced great men (and women) like Ike.
A reader sent this 1954 personal letter from Dwight Eisenhower to a relative, in which he discusses governance and the Supreme Court. It is a pleasure to read, and it gave me a better sense of who he was. A sample:
Now it is true that I believe this country is following a dangerous trend when it permits too great a degree of centralization of governmental functions. I oppose this--in some instances the fight is a rather desperate one. But to attain any success it is quite clear that the Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it. The political processes of our country are such that if a rule of reason is not applied in this effort, we will lose everything--even to a possible and drastic change in the Constitution.
In Ike, an abundance of common sense and practicality became uncommon sense. Read entire letter.
Image: "I Like Ike" was the slogan of 1952's Draft Eisenhower movement. The Left always viewed Ike as stupid. Some things never change.
OK, I will grant you that Frank Loesser caused 9/11. But did the demonic imperialist Loesser also cause the Moslem hate and murderousness in Bali, Thailand, Burma, Turkey, England, India, Pakistan, and Africa? "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a great song, but who knew that it was that well-known in places like Bali?
To play it safe, let's just go ahead and ban that terrible tune which has understandably caused the world so much misery, hate, and bloodshed.
But first, before the EU and the UN ban it, one more time with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan with the insensitive Moslem-offending song that began it all:
A friend of Maggie's took this shot at the WTC site yesterday:
The wind of freedom blows, our university motto declares, but perhaps only until someone gets offended.
A three-month investigation by the Stanford Review has discovered that university organizations declined to invite two high-profile intellectuals—Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before his inauguration as Pope Benedict XVI—after consultation with faculty and students who objected to their views.
Muslims' demands for religious exemptions. Volokh believes that many of them are in the American tradition.
Not from today's Lectionary, but the first reading for our upcoming Lenten study group. I find something new in this every time I read this foundational story of Judaism and Christianity. Genesis 2-3 (King James).
Genesis 2
1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 4These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 3 on continuation page below.
Image: Detail from Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights
"In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all - security, comfort, and freedom. When ... the freedom they wished for was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free."
We posted a QQQ last week from the fiery Mark Levin: "When was the last time you heard a Liberal talking about liberty?"
They never do. The term "liberal" is a misnomer, as classical liberalism was about freedom and firm limits to state power. The "new liberalism" is about expanding state power and parentalism over the citizens. And, as I always say, power, unlike wealth, is a zero sum game.
The New Liberalism is Authoritarian Populism, more or less, with a socialist reflex, and has a very high tolerance for state involvement in, and control over, our lives. Hence the Left's past idealization of Stalin, and current idealization of Castro and Chavez. And, of course, FDR.
On Maggie's Farm, we are classical liberals of the "Live free or die" variety. We feel that is what America is all about, and why we are the shining city on a hill - not because of our government, but because of free people. The government is not America.
This fundamental subject comes up because our editor emailed me a piece in Salon cited by a reader in response to Mark Levin's rhetorical question.
It is an essay by Walter Shapiro in favor of repealing the Second Amendment. (The fact that legislation has effectively already repealed the Second Amendment for criminals and madmen carries no water for him. He doesn't want me to have guns.)
So it is a good example of New Liberalism. Here is the key quote:
Only in a nation forged by 18th century concerns about liberty and states' rights do firearms have a hallowed place in the Constitution.
How revealing. "Concern" about freedom and liberty is now obsolete, and replaced by...what? Let me share something: I know the "elites," and I am down with them, socially. And they have no more common sense than the fingernail of my pinkie.
Thank God that the New York delegation to the Constitutional Convention, and a few other delegations, insisted on the Bill of Rights. Most delegations thought it was unnecessary, and that such freedoms were implicit in the battles they had fought.
Perhaps Mr. Shapiro would be happier if he also could advocate a movement to repeal Amendments 9 and 10 also.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Or why not just repeal the whole darn thing? We could replace it with this, and have a nice Bloomberg-style, Hillary-style dictatorship of the elite who are way smarter, of course, than us folks, and know what is best for us. After all, we are too stupid, and liberty is so scary.
A friend visited this place last summer, and just told me about it. Humber Valley Resort.
Salmon fishing, golf, sailing, ocean fishing, spa, fine dining, hiking, skiing, kayaking, sailing, snowmobiling, wildlife-watching, etc. In Newfoundland, a place I have always been curious about even before I read any Annie Proulx. (I thought Proulx was from Newfoundland, but she is from Norwich, CT, same as my Grandpa.)
Take a look at their website: good slideshow. They have 150 chalets.
I cannot understand willing suicide-bomber Jihadists, but I can understand being willing to die for a (good) cause, and can imagine doing so.
But I cannot even imagine a sort of human who could imagine using mentally disabled kids as remote-controlled bombs. It is sub-human - no - satanic, as far as I am concerned. I have at least as many devilish thoughts as the next guy, but I never would have had that idea nor, I would like to believe, would your average Moslem.
No American, even the most sympathetic multiculturalist, knows what it might be like to inhabit the soul of a person who would do such a thing - for any reason. Everyone knows these people are barbarians, but most are too polite to say so. However, the Western notion of "polite" does not go far in the Middle East, where different codes are in operation.
People have spoken to me about Western secular humanism and making a religion of human life. As a Christian, I do not believe that human life is the most precious thing. A gift, perhaps, but during most of human existence it has been "poor, nasty, brutal and short," and more of a burden than a gift. It is unique - a world miracle - that Western civilization has arrived at a point at which it is unthinkable to use a dog, much less a human, as a guided missile against innocents. We have largely escaped the "brutal and short," except for our sociopaths.
Quantitative differences, accumulated, become qualitative differences. In radical Islam, we are dealing with something that is beyond our civil, soft, and sentimental comprehension. If they would leave us alone, I think we would be more than happy to leave them alone in their own Dark Ages like a historical zoo, an anthropological curiosity, a quaint tourism destination, or a Disney show - to emerge from cocoon when ready. Meanwhile, don't tread on me, because a soft and decadent Rome already went through a barbarian invasion and it did not work out well.
I do not want these people to like me.
(If this is incoherent, it is because Mark Levin is screaming in my ear with McCain Derangement Syndrome. And, mind you, I was a Fredhead, but I always simply vote for my most Conservative and electable choice. If I can be convinced that Mitt can win a national election, I will vote for him. I am old enough to know that one must always hold one's nose when voting.)
Editor's note: Our loyal reader AVI notes, in a comment, that NPR reported this story tonight simply as another suicide bombing. Incredible...but not. NPR is our BBC, omitting inconvenient facts when they do not fit their ideological biases.
h/t, Gateway. Hey, I thought the Dems were upset about high gas prices. So what's up with that gas tax? Can Mitt be a tough enough SOB to win a national election?
An excerpt from Twyla Tharp's The Little Ballet with Misha, and Deirdre Carberry. Watch, especially if you think you do not like ballet: this ain't ballet - it's dancing.
A superintelligence from another galaxy, whom we shall call Omega, comes to Earth and sets about playing a strange little game. In this game, Omega selects a human being, sets down two boxes in front of them, and flies away.
Box A is transparent and contains a thousand dollars. Box B is opaque, and contains either a million dollars, or nothing.
You can take both boxes, or take only box B.
And the twist is that Omega has put a million dollars in box B if Omega has predicted that you will take only box B.
Omega has been correct on each of 100 observed occasions so far - everyone who took both boxes has found box B empty and received only a thousand dollars; everyone who took only box B has found B containing a million dollars. (We assume that box A vanishes in a puff of smoke if you take only box B; no one else can take box A afterward.)
Before you make your choice, Omega has flown off and moved on to its next game. Box B is already empty or already full.
Omega drops two boxes on the ground in front of you and flies off.
Surber attempts to inject some rationality into Conservatives. It may be true that Leftists seem to own the Dem Party, but Conservatives do not own the Repub Party. If the Repubs cannot be a "big tent," they will never regain power.
It's a center-right country, not a right-right country and, if you will pardon my pontificating, politics is about compromise - even when it hurts. I'd like to be a purist too, but the reality of other voters, with other views, keeps getting in the way... and it always will.
Obviously Man is intelligent. That's the problem. In fact, almost all his troubles are caused by his intelligence, through which he believes so many amazing things that can't be so. More often than not, the greater the intelligence, the more catastrophic the error, which is why it has been remarked that philosophy is "error on a grandiose scale."
after a bit, he gets to the heart of the art vs. porn issue, which he uses as an example of how things can be "despiritualized":
In Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce's alter ego, Stephen Dedalus, discusses the criteria for great art. He says it is the task of the true artist to record "epiphanies," that is, the sudden ingression of spirit into matter, when something leaps through its outer appearance and reveals its true nature in a way that illuminates the soul.
Didactic art is the opposite of this -- in fact, it is not art at all. That is, it lowjacks the medium of an art form and tries to cram some merely worldly message into it. In other words, instead of transmitting radiance from another dimension -- from the higher -- it forces in a message or "lesson" from the lower, from this side of manifestation. This is why nazi or communist or leftist art is so tedious. It is also why so much contemporary art is so awful. It's not really art, but what Joyce called pornography.
Pornography has nothing to do with sex per se; from the Greek, it means "writing of whores," which pretty much summarizes my point. It occurs whenever we completely despiritualize anything and divest it of its otherworldly radiance and spiritual telos. Therefore, there is much that is pornographic that is not sexual at all. By this definition, most contemporary music is indeed pornographic, as is most TV, certainly MSM news. Most literature is pornographic. Even religion can easily be pornographic. And certainly most politics.)
Nacreous clouds. Cool, and a sign of a cold upper atmosphere. We have warned against global cooling many times here, and I think it is beginning...we're all gonna freeze.
Pew has some research about the issue that matter to Republicans and Democrats, highlighted by the 38 point gap in how important it is for the government to insure the uninsured.
What struck me about the poll was the stark difference in philosophy. The Democrats overwhelming (60% or more) think the government should deal with global warming, improve jobs, reduce health care costs, deal with poverty, protect the environment, secure medicare, improve education, reduce crime, reduce the deficit, secure social security, deal with energy, strengthen the economy and defend against terrorism. That’s quite a laundry list. I’m surprised they don’t wnat the government to advise them on fashion.
Never mind that not only has government proved inadequate to deal with most of these problems (apart from crime), it’s frequently made them worse.
By contrast, the majority of Republicans only think the government should strengthen the military, strengthen the economy, deal with immigration and secure social security. Slim majorities unfortunately also favor dealing with “moral breakdown”, energy problems, improving education and reducing health care costs. It’s not that I don’t care about those things as well. it’s just that the governments record on all those issues is so dreadful.
... the American people are leading the surge away from the hyper-partisans and the muck-raking, purity wars. Not only were the parties raging against each other - they had turned on the moderate middle and attacked with visceral hate towards anyone who could ’sell out’ and reach compromise. And of course the support for both sides of the aisle tanked as each end of the spectrum tried to see who could denigrate the midstream voters the most.
I saw most of the debate Wednesday evening. McCain’s meanness, egotism, and nastiness, so unsuited for a president (though perhaps some people see it as toughness), were again apparent, and Romney again showed himself an all-round better human being. But that’s not enough. If Romney is going to stage a major rally in the next week, which he must do to stay alive in this race, he has got to express two qualities he has so far not expressed. First, he has got to show the will to lead, and I don’t just mean generic executive abilities, which are manifest in Romney, but the will and toughness to be the leader of the U.S. Second, he has got to show a killer instinct, the ability to convey an attitude of (excuse the vulgarity) “ef you” to opponents and enemies. Bush demonstrated that quality against McCain in South Carolina in 2000, and it saved his candidacy. Romney hasn’t yet demonstrated it against McCain in 2008. Instead, he comes across as a nice businessman type, not as someone with the quality of controlled anger (Reagan had that quality), someone capable of coldly sticking in the knife when necessary.
Photo: John McCain, from Dr. X. Reader H reminds us that 40 years ago, McCain was enduring daily torture in the Hanoi Hilton.
A repost from May, 2005
Genesis 2
We posted a QQQ last week from the fiery Mark Levin: "When was the last time you heard a Liberal talking about liberty?"
A friend visited this place last summer, and just told me about it. Humber Valley Resort.
From Gagdad's 
Hillary claims she can