Wednesday, March 12. 2008
Quoted from Roger, who understands LaR's quip: La Rochefoucauld’s observation that “hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue” will doubtless be trotted out early and often when in the case of Eliot Spitzer and the girls. It is a famous, though often misinterpreted, observation. The epigram has generally been presented as meaning—in the words of one journalist—that “the loudest moralizers may be most suspect.” But I believe that La Rochefoucauld meant to suggest that hypocrisy was an implicit acknowledgment of the claims of virtue. Otherwise, why bother with dissimulation? There are, as I say, many reasons to dislike Eliot Spitzer. I, too, hope he goes away, and quickly. The music critic Tim Page, referring to an unpleasant and pretentious college president, observed that he was the sort of chap that gave “pseudo-intellectuality a bad name.” I feel similarly about Eliot Spitzer and hypocrisy. His behavior gives that ambiguous vice a bad name. What’s wrong with Eliot Spitzer is not so much that he praised good things and did bad ones. Most of the items he championed in his various moral campaigns were, when you looked behind the rhetoric, of dubious value. Really, he was a power-hungry, regulation-crazed functionary whose chief sin was to harness the power of the state to destroy his enemies and aggrandize himself. Had he been a little more hypocritical he might have been less dangerous.
If the face of the current credit and liquidity tensions on Wall Street, the public humiliation of Spitzer has provided an occasion for laughter, countless cruel jokes, and general levity in downtown New York City, and many off-color jokes will be made tonight over drinks to celebrate his political demise. Multi-millionaire Spitzer (family real estate money, I think) is known not only for being a sanctimonious, arrogant, self-centered SOB, but also for following the Guiliani script of building a reputation by ruthlessly destroying the reputations and lives of white collar workers in finance - people who, at best, might have been subject to civil cases - or no cases at all. As they say in NYC, a NY Grand Jury will indict a ham sandwich if the prosecutor asks them to. The New York Post gets it. Nobody is perfect, but there is no sympathy for Spitzer.
Meet the Empire State's new governor. Sounds like a moonbat. I think Bloomberg will run for governor, next chance he has to do so.
"There may well be outrage amongst the prostitutes of the District of Columbia this week."
Embattled prostitute Kristen expected to resign Goldwater, The John Birch Society, and Me: Buckley Symbolism can save the planet. Walmart States vs. Starbucks States. Am Digest Geraldine Ferraro speaks truth - or part of the truth. Fact is, though, that Obama would be a talented politician no matter what his skin color. But not running for the presidency, though, if he were white. Not now, anyway. Amusing comments on this dumb kerfuffle at Insty. Same kind of thing applies to Mrs. Clinton. Would she be in this race if she were a guy, and never married to a president? David Mamet: "Why I am no longer a brain-dead Liberal." Fascinating essay from someone who thinks (or thought) like the average Upper West Sider. A quote: The play (his new play about politics), while being a laugh a minute, is, when it's at home, a disputation between reason and faith, or perhaps between the conservative (or tragic) view and the liberal (or perfectionist) view. The conservative president in the piece holds that people are each out to make a living, and the best way for government to facilitate that is to stay out of the way, as the inevitable abuses and failures of this system (free-market economics) are less than those of government intervention. I took the liberal view for many decades, but I believe I have changed my mind. As a child of the '60s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, that business is exploitative, and that people are generally good at heart. These cherished precepts had, over the years, become ingrained as increasingly impracticable prejudices. Why do I say impracticable? Because although I still held these beliefs, I no longer applied them in my life. How do I know? My wife informed me. We were riding along and listening to NPR. I felt my facial muscles tightening, and the words beginning to form in my mind: Shut the fuck up. "?" she prompted. And her terse, elegant summation, as always, awakened me to a deeper truth: I had been listening to NPR and reading various organs of national opinion for years, wonder and rage contending for pride of place. Further: I found I had been—rather charmingly, I thought—referring to myself for years as "a brain-dead liberal," and to NPR as "National Palestinian Radio." This is, to me, the synthesis of this worldview with which I now found myself disenchanted: that everything is always wrong.
and And, I wondered, how could I have spent decades thinking that I thought everything was always wrong at the same time that I thought I thought that people were basically good at heart? Which was it? I began to question what I actually thought and found that I do not think that people are basically good at heart; indeed, that view of human nature has both prompted and informed my writing for the last 40 years. I think that people, in circumstances of stress, can behave like swine, and that this, indeed, is not only a fit subject, but the only subject, of drama.
Tuesday, March 11. 2008
 The proprietor of the blog Mister Snitch has contacted us in a friendly manner to find out what Maggie's Farm is up to. He is interested in blogs.
I'd like to be able to answer his questions, but cannot. We have no mission and no goals other than a steady growth in readership. All we do is to follow our doggy noses, and try to learn something - and to amuse ourselves - in the process. Yes, we want readers, but if we are to be a boutique blog, then so be it: We started this experiment as a lark, and it has become a somewhat serious hobby. Our March stats surely are gratifying, but most of those visitors won't settle down by Maggie's fireplace for a smoke, a chat, and a glass or two of scotch. Alas.
 Well, it's that time again on Wall St. In my experience, when the banks start letting people go in sizeable numbers, it's a sign that we're near a bottom of some sort of periodic mess.
They are always behind the boom-and-bust curve, and there is no such thing as job security on The Street: everybody needs an exit strategy. So it's a good time to be a young, junior person on The Street, because they mainly focus on dropping the expensive people. That means the junior folks might get a good 7-10-year run until the next round happens.
"My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world." "I hope you'll join me as we try to change it." Barack Obama
 Not your father's Ukrainian Army (photo)
Greenies want us back to the Stone Age. After you, friends. Rick Moran has some job ideas for when the Greenies take over. Related: Have you checked in with Junk Science recently? Related: What do warming religionists do when their faith is challenged? Am Thinker Just meat. Press privilege? I agree with Glenn. We are The Press, aren't we? In a land of free speech, anyone can be The Press. Two current examples of government making things worse. Viking The two Americas of Michelle Obama The ten top reasons bloggers fail. Hawkins Our Gwynnie on Spitzer: Interested in hearing from Dr. Joy. This guy is an angry, ruthless man who used the law to crush people for his personal political advantage, dropping charges after the headlines faded, and eradicating billions of shareholder value (mostly pension fund) from the companies he assaulted. It seems his aggression was somehow sexually inspiring (wrong word) to him, that he sought a sexual outlet for his violent inner self. Scary man!
Similar thoughts from Luskin Also, over heard this morning at the coffee shop by a guy looking at the Spitzer headline: Stupid bastard. These people think they're above it all.
Also, at Insty: "There is no honorable alternative to Spitzer’s resignation." Which doesn't narrow the field as much for him as it might for some . . . ."
Also, a quote from Spitzer the prosecutor: "Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an e-mail because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need"
Editor's comment: The guy's political rise was a mirror image of Rudy Giuilani's, and his personal life is like Bill Clinton's. But Spitzer won't get away with this the way Bill did because he is an unlikeable person: having to pay for it is the proof.
Monday, March 10. 2008
 The Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change.
Hey! Your GPA is showing. Read the comment. Dick Morris: It's over for Hillary A camera that sees through clothing Ivy League Conservatives. Endangered? Dick Cavett on meeting Bill Buckley: It was my freshman year at Yale. I was fresher than most — and from Nebraska — so just about everything I saw, heard and did that year astonished me. Mr. Cecil Lang, my English teacher, ended a class one day with the words, “You might want to drop by the Law School tonight. A man I consider one of the most dangerous men in America is lecturing there.” I went. Onstage was a tall, interesting-looking man unlike anything in my experience. A speaker so vocally various, so facially vigorous, so versatile of eyebrow, so eccentric of movement and gesture — even rising virtually “on point” at times for emphasis. This was not just a speaker. This was a performer. Only a handful of the best comic actors could display such an arsenal of physical and vocal variety. Afterwards, I walked to my room, my head ringing with un-cliched, half-understood phrases. Like, “…and the mental spastics who read The Nation.” This was some kind of strange genius, alien to anything I’d ever seen and heard.
Read the whole thing.
Sunday, March 9. 2008
 More on Watch what you read at work. The Thought Police need something to do, to justify their salaries. It could be me, next, because I have many bad thoughts. Put that Bible way, quick.
Top CIA operatives say Al Qaida does not exist. Don't tell New Yorkers. We already know that these Jihadists are not a well-organized military force. You can call them whatever you want, but they are still evil and dangerous creatures who require a good whuppin' to introduce them to either paradise or reality - whichever comes first. How to best administer the necessary whuppin' is debatable. Hillary's phony foreign affairs experience. The Thames Estuary Army forts. Who knew? It's something to visit, if possible. Cool finds when digging in Rome. How WalMart capitalism is uplifting the Third World. Dumb IRS joke. Theo "Better angels" are mean spirited, aren't they? Never judge an angel by his (or her) wings. Cleaning up the cats - in the interest of The State. What is "in the interest of the State" can be almost anything, can't it? "L'etat, c'est moi," says I. Feelings, oh oh oh feelings....Tiger. Yale is all about feelings, isn't it? How nice for them. There was a time when they produced Army officers, long, long ago. We're in Munster! Dang. Want heaven on earth? Me too, but I know I won't get it because this beautiful world is also a vale of tears. As quoted at Driscoll: The rich, churchless, blue-state elites, by contrast, are hungry for the kind of secular nirvana Obama is serving up. Obama-mania is a political expression of the same impulse that underlies a broader movement, among the educated rich, towards a post-Christian spirituality, evident in such fetishes as yoga, feng-shui, investment-banker Buddhism, and tennis-set Sufism — the small-is-beautiful and green-is-good crazes.
Thanks to Insty for the link today to the Blackbird essay. Well, thanks to all of our linkers - Jules, Theo, Ace of Spades, Reddit, Digg, et al. We have a banner month, thanks to Gwynnie's finger on the pulse of the world!
Saturday, March 8. 2008
"Health insurance" ain't insurance. Major Medical is insurance, Bob Dylan: Who was that girl? The Anti-Bali. Quote from Lindzen: Controlling Carbon is a bureaucrat's dream. If you control carbon you control life.
South America: Ricochet in the Andes. And more update on Colombia vs. Chavez Why is McCain angry? He'd be a fool not to be. Also, his new ad, Man in the Arena Stonewall Clinton. No info for the voters. How to bring the Aborigines out of their mess? Another view of our policy towards Cuba. Barack cannot play by Clinton rules.
Friday, March 7. 2008
 Some cartoons from the Arab press (sample on the right). Where's the outrage?
Poo for Peace Day Personal responsibility? What's that? Inside the Liberal Mind Never die lost in the woods with this Filthy rich Dems. This week we have linked on the Clinton and Gore multi-millions. Here's a new windfall for Bill Clinton. Meanwhile, all they can say is that everything in America is terrible: Bleak House, at Dr. Sanity. The UK: The lower your grades, the more money for college This golfer Isenhour is a good shot but he is a world class jerk. Maybe he should stick to indoor golf. S&P warns re NYT debt Noted scientist Prince Charles tells me I am insane. I guess that means that Frederick Seitz, who died this week, was also insane. Will Obama go to meet with FOX News? From SDA: If you speak out against Guantanamo Bay, that doesn't mean you're promoting terrorism. But if you speak out against the human-rights prosecution of Marc Lemire, you're "promoting" him and his views. Funny how that works, isn't it?" - Damian Penny
George McGovern at the WSJ. I can't believe my ears: Since leaving office I've written about public policy from a new perspective: outside looking in. I've come to realize that protecting freedom of choice in our everyday lives is essential to maintaining a healthy civil society. Why do we think we are helping adult consumers by taking away their options? We don't take away cars because we don't like some people speeding. We allow state lotteries despite knowing some people are betting their grocery money. Everyone is exposed to economic risks of some kind. But we don't operate mindlessly in trying to smooth out every theoretical wrinkle in life.
(Sorry - had the wrong piece earlier.)
Thursday, March 6. 2008
 I have Friday off and will be skiing again for two days at Mt. Snow (current conditions here - when they call it "granular," they mean like gravel, but if it warms up a little it's a nice ride), so I will leave our readers with this "stack of stuff":
Kipling in Vermont. Neoneoneo Map of the languages of Europe, via Siberian Light Instrument of Surrender. Englishman's Castle Al Gore's inconvenient wealth. And that's not including this extra $35 million on the way. Let us Talk of Many Things. It's a good intro to Bill Buckley's thinking. 7 Senate seats to watch Man-made floods in the Grand Canyon. We have mentioned many times here that flooding is good and natural. Foolish to live where floods happen, though: if you are asking for it, do not come crying to me. Therapists' offices. NYT Your gift cards could become worthless. Cribbage Nazis in Maine. Speaking of the Nanny State, watch what you read. It might "offend" some Sensitivity Nazi. I have a mental illness, says Eric: It may well be that I am suffering from some sort of mental illness. Whether to call it "Hillaryphobia" I don't know. "Clintonphobia" is more like it, as I view them as inseparable people. FWIW, I think they suffer from Comegalomania. I know I complain a lot about Hillary's screeching voice, but to tell the truth, just about every time Bill puts on his angry satyr face and throws another tantrum, I have the same reaction. I've had Clinton fatigue for years, but to see them alive again and playing their same old dirty tricks, appalls, disgusts and annoys me as few things can.
Threat to home-schooling in Calif. I guess the union feels threatened. Note to the RAF: Hide! Truly unbelievable. How dare she? I am with Coyote on Mrs. Obama. A multi-millionaire Princeton and Harvard grad makes a national complaint about how difficult life is, about her college loans, and about getting good babysitters - while telling me to get a low-paying job in a "caring" profession. What a baby. Nobody owes her anything, least of all a (proud) UMass grad like me (where I stupidly majored in Domestic Beer Studies with a minor in Coed Studies - but it wasn't my fault). From Insty: ALI ETERAZ on Harvard's gym-closing mistake. Meanwhile, some readers wonder if Harvard will close its gyms to openly gay men at certain hours, so that straight men who are made uncomfortable by gays can work out without being uncomfortable. It appears that they're in sync with Islamic thought . . . .
Why Cass Sunstein likes Obama. A puff piece? I do not take political advice from Mr. Sunstein. Still, Obama seems like an amiable, bright guy. Wrong politics, though. The Dems' FL and MI mess: The Hill What happens next? Rove on politics Contrary voices are regulated, barred, banned when possible, mocked and marginalized when not. Progressive voices are encouraged, lionized, amplified.
I will support this fellow. I do not agree with him about every issue - but I do not agree with anybody about every issue. I just hope he won't be another Bob Dole in the campaign. Here are some bits from his March 4 comments:
 We have had problems with images as fallout from the things we had to do to manage our link storm this week. Bear with us.
Michelle Obama: A hand full of gimme. It is indeed unseemly. Bill and Hillary's wealth. free Republic Guess what causes traffic jams. The trouble with Steve Jobs. CNN NYT favors the death tax - in theory only. Environmentalist dream: No humans What's wrong with this picture? The debate about ape rights in Spain Mr. Free Market found a good spot for a duck blind What Putin has done for the Russians. The Danny Boy rebellion. Pour encourager les autres. North Korean executions Sexualization of young girls. Wizbang The looming Medicare mess The Citgo boycott is having an impact. Why Iraq matters, from Powerline. It begins: For years now, the American left has been arguing that the war in Iraq is a distraction from the "real" war against al Qaeda and is counter-productive because it's "creating" new terrorists. Apparently, it never occurred to these deep-thinkers that inflicting a defeat on al-Qaeda in Iraq -- a defeat made possible because a previously sympathetic population turned with our help against al Qaeda -- might constitute a devastating blow to al Qaeda's standing in the Arab world.
More on the subject of Iraq: Al Qaida is losing the war of minds. Also, What the media is not telling you about Iraq today. What disease causes the most hospital days in the US? Schizophrenia
Wednesday, March 5. 2008
 There's a big world out there. Maggie's Farm hangs out in a comfy little corner of the "blogosphere." Of course, hard-core porn is the biggest biz by far on these internets, but we are accustomed to thinking of an Instalanche or a Powerline link as BIG. And a FARK link as very big. But Digg, whose link is below each of our posts (please click our Digg link if something might be of general interest), has true global power. Digg has exposed us to more than a month's worth of potential readers in 24 hrs. We hope some of 'em will stick around.
And, since I am on the subject of ye olde blogge, please, readers - don't be shy. Post a reaction or an opinion. We know that you are all busy, but we like to hear reactions, and you do not need to sign in or any of that annoying nonsense because we have a potent spam-stopper which sometimes stops even us. You be the pundit. What do you think about those primaries? Leave thoughts in comments. Bring on the Bronze Age. Tim Blair The nerve center of these internets. A big tangle of wires. Osama's Country Camps Who says Islam can't be changed? Blackfive Gary Gygax died. Perpetual adolescence at Rolling Stone NY Times fooled again. Volokh. Because they want to believe. Is shyness an illness? Want to see Liberal Fascism? Read this and follow the links. More problems at Citigroup. Is it a buy at $15-16?
Tuesday, March 4. 2008
 Can you dig it? The blog has been a little shaky because we were "Digged" last evening. We weren't prepared for that kind of volume, which was up to a dizzying peak of 15,000 visits/hour. It's interesting to see that Digg has a world-wide reach. A hearty "Howdy" to any Digg readers who explore Maggie's beyond that one linked piece (the bear release mishap). Chavez sent $300,000,000 to the FARC. In essence, Chavez and Correa have been waging a covert war against Colombia. I doubt this comes as a complete surprise to President Uribe. Most voters should not vote. I agree. French Presbyterian youth have a new tactic against the police. James Lovelock: It's too late. We're doomed. Meanwhile, Weather Channel founder blasts the newtwork for climate fraud. Insty noted this book on Erotomania, Stalking, and Obsessive Love, written by a Psychiatrist who was targeted by an obsessive stalker. Eco-snobbery: The hip new snobbery Sexual incompatibility and marriage trouble. Politics as religion. Neoneo Fascism is appealing to Liberals and Conservatives. Pajamas. Not to me: without an anchor to windward in libertarianism, the rocks of statism are always a danger to the freedom our government was set up to guarantee. Three rules for understanding Canada-US relations. Conrad Black: Justice Denied As American as... Chinese Food? From a review of a book by Jennifer Lee: Given, as Lee points out, that there are about 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., "more than the number of McDonald's, Burger Kings, and KFCs combined," Chinese food might be our national cuisine. "Our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie," she writes. "But ask yourself. How often do you eat apple pie? How often do you eat Chinese food?"
Who Speaks for Islam? From a discussion of the new book: The politicization of scholars, experts and media commentators post 9/11 has created a minefield for policymakers and the general public. Many are caught between the contending positions of seemingly qualified experts as well as a new cadre of Islamophobic authors and their revisionist readings of Islam and Islamic history. Today, we now have a new empirically grounded tool that enables us to go beyond the limited interpretations and opinions of experts when asking: What do Muslims think, what do they care about, and what do they want?
Monday, March 3. 2008
From the WSJ: ...tomorrow the eyes of America will be on these two states moving in different directions. Ohio has an economy burdened by high taxes and work rules that impose heavy costs on employers. Texas embraces free trade, keeps taxes low, doesn't impose unions on business and has tooled itself for 21st century global competition. Ohioans may not like to hear this, but for any company considering where to locate a new plant or move an existing one, the choice between Ohio and Texas isn't even a close call. The challenge for our national economy in a world of competition is to become more like Texas and less like Ohio.
We got linked by Neatorama. They are one of those blogs that links random interesting stuff, like GrowaBrain does. I had not known about them before, but they must have large readership because they are sending us hundreds of linkers per hour. We had a similar mini avalanche from Bits and Pieces over the weekend. Health warnings for cheese? Maybe it would be easier just to paste a generic sticker on every product and every food in the world: "Caution: Use with care. This item might be dangerous to your mind, spirit, or body." Who are the new Soviets? Media, education, and Hollywood The enduring power of ethnic nationalism. Foreign Affairs. Yes, humans are tribal creatures, and feel more in common with those with shared values, customs, assumptions, and world views. It is difficult to know whether to trust people with different views of the world.
Moonbattery reports: A moonbat cult calling itself Re-create 68 plans to liven up the Democrat convention in Denver this summer. Its schedule reflects an ambitious agenda.
Here's a practice run, in Berkeley in February (h/t, Wizbang). Note the peaceful and tolerant attitudes of the moonbats (WARNING - DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE A HEART CONDITION):
Conrad Black discusses his Faith in American Justice in the NY Sun. I still do not understand what crime he committed, and neither does he.
Sunday, March 2. 2008
 At this rate, there will be no more Al Qaida in Iraq.
Waiting to die. Pathetic. A sea turtle hero. (h/t, Jungle Trader) Useful advice? Don't take a high-paying job. Like clockwork. Every election season, 60 Minutes presents a fraudulent news story. Who didn't wonder about this? They shoot rockets at your civilians, then act outraged and victimized when you react. I had a baby sister who knew that trick. The teaching colleagues who annoy the hell out of you. Chavez wants a war, to distract his people from the misery he has given them. When the weather changes, suddenly you cannot use weather in support of global warming. You know what war-lover said this: It's good fun to be with just a normal bunch of guys, listening to their problems, listening to what they think. And especially getting through every day, its not painful to be here, but you are doing a job and to be with such fantastic people, the Gurkhas and the guys I'm sharing a room with, makes it all worthwhile.
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