Saturday, March 22. 2008
 I am back in NYC today for a family Easter weekend, and I will be happy to worship tomorrow with them at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Just in case anyone is online today, here are a few I found this morning:
Iranian textbooks. John Lennon: "I was a poseur." Ever had this disease? Disconnect anxiety. A symbolic form of separation anxiety, no doubt. MA casinos go down. Good. Obama did get us talking. Anchoress on racism. Freeze in the dark, then. Surber A lucky man? John McCain. "It's the Clintons, Stupid." Jules. Exactly right. Liberty and restraint. Dr. Bob takes on ye olde dilemma. There can be no liberty without a moral and civic-minded, civic-participating, and civic-volunteering population. Period. That's why Euroland is losing their liberty. How to win the energy wars. Vanderleun is sick of politics, and wants to clean his mind with better things, like Find Out Who Your Friends Are:
Friday, March 21. 2008
Neurophilosophy reports: The Visible Body is a small application created by the Massachusetts-based company Argosy Publishing. The software can be downloaded for free, and includes computer graphic models of more than 1,700 anatomical structures, which can be rotated in a three-dimensional 360 degree view: The Visible Body consists of highly detailed, anatomically accurate, 3D models of all human body systems. The models were developed by an extensively trained team with decades of experience in medical illustration and biomedical visualization. All anatomical content has been reviewed for accuracy by our panel of experts, including physicians and anatomists. The beta release includes content covered in an undergraduate-level Anatomy and Physiology course. Years of modeling and enhancement make it the most sophisticated and complete 3D model of the human body available.
An amazing resource. I know our readers can locate Ethiopia on a map, but it's one o'clock - do you know where your own Pineal Gland is at?
Russian Steel buys American mills A brief for Whitey: Buchanan At Foreign Affairs, The Unfulfilled revolution of Chavez. Name one socialist revolution that was "fulfilled." Cuba should be the Hong Kong or Singapore of Latin America. Canada.com. Used to be a great place to visit. Now it's a Commie dump - despite the wonderful Cubans. I believe they have gun control there.
This guy Pat Condel is not PC, but he doesn't care for religion. Video
"The Next Bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow's big crash" One quote: We have learned that the industry in any given bubble must support hundreds or thousands of separate firms financed by not billions but trillions of dollars in new securities that Wall Street will create and sell. Like housing in the late 1990s, this sector of the economy must already be formed and growing even as the previous bubble deflates. For those investing in that sector, legislation guaranteeing favorable tax treatment, along with other protections and advantages for investors, should already be in place or under review. Finally, the industry must be popular, its name on the lips of government policymakers and journalists. It should be familiar to those who watch television news or read newspapers.
The oceans are cooling The assault on free speech in Canada. h/t, Coyote I had to look up The Incorporation Doctrine, but I am not sure that I fully understand it Why does the GOP write off minorities? Paper bags - moral or immoral? Neoneo. More foolish and misguided greenie tokenism Obama's speech: A Brilliant Fraud. Krauthammer. On the other hand, Peggy Noonan liked it. Related: Is Obama a Typical Black Person? What about Newspaper Addiction Disorder? I have heard that some people are upset if it isn't delivered every morning! Mass Man and Totalitarianism, re Russia. Quoted by Roger K: Mr. Nyquist draws some revealing and admonitory parallels between the mass men of the past, who proved such pliable fodder for the totalitarian ambitions of the twentieth century, and the mass men of today, that “susceptible” creature who “is fundamentally ignorant, though remarkably “well informed.” Mass man’s inertia accepts the dictates of bureaucracy. He has no “great idea” or “faith” to guard him against expedient compromise, or participation in genocide.”
Thursday, March 20. 2008
 I became curious about the Irish beauty Mrs. Gilbert (1821-1861), aka Lola Montez, who was a world-travelling adventuress and dancer who broke many hearts during her short but exciting life. Even Sir Harry Flashman never forgot her, and that is saying something.
 Scary climate models are all about the theoretical feedback.
Newt on terrorism: Excellent brief video from the National Press Club Get in shape for spring: The Military.com fitness site Problems at Starbucks. Dunkin' Donuts doing fine, though. Chose your battle rifle, through history. Whatever happened to Moqtada? These days, the streets of San Francisco resemble the streets of Calcutta. Gov Paterson's "nice scandal." I think that was written before it came out today that he reportedly allegedly maybe used campaign funds for his no-tell motel get-togethers. Re the Heller case discussed today, a commenter at the Chronicle of Higher Education blog says this: The Bill of Rights, according to its preamble, adds “further declaratory and restrictive clauses” to the constitution, with the goal of preventing “misconstruction or abuse of … [government] powers.” By doing so, the first ten amendments extend “the ground of public confidence in the Government.” Amendments 1 and 3-10 do indeed restrict the government and empower the people. Thus, if the Second Amendment means merely that government can arm a militia — which would seem to be already permitted by the constitutional requirement to “provide for the common defence” — then it’s the only one of the first ten that gives rights to government, rather than to individuals.
 Our friend Dr. Merc invited us to address his piece on the Heller gun control case, titled The Roots of Fear. He believes that the purpose of the 2nd was to balance federal power with state power, including the states' power to raise armies of their own - and that the NRA has instilled unnecessary fear in gun users for their own institutional purposes.
As a humble farmer and no lawyer, my take on the history of the 2nd is that it is a mere reaffirmation of ancient English common law which enshrined the right to self defence to all combined with an affirmation of the military power of each state. Since the Bill of Rights is all about being clear about the rights of the individual and the limits of the power of the Federal government, it makes no sense to me that the authors would have slipped anything in there with a different purpose. We recall that the Bill of Rights was a bit of an afterthought. Many thought it was unnecessary, and that such rights of the people were assumed. In the end, NY and others refused to sign without those basic rights being made explicit. At that time in America, no-one would have even considered taking away anybody's private weapons. In any event, I think that the plantiff Mr. Heller made his case when he observed that he can carry a weapon on his job, to protect VIPs and politicians - but not to protect himself and his family. That makes him a second-class citizen in Washington, because I doubt that Mr. Heller could afford his own bodyguard. Viking, who listened to the arguments on C-Span, says: ...my favorite moment was when Justice Scalia revealed his knowledge of firearms: "You mean you can't have more arms than you would need to take with you to the militia? You can't have...a turkey gun and a duck gun and a 30.06 and a 270..."
Lithwick at Slate reviews the oral arguments here, which makes Dellinger's position clear: Dellinger asks the court to avoid turning every phrase of the Second Amendment into a "libertarian right." A well-regulated militia isn't about everyone owning a gun willy-nilly. The Constitution does not create some kind of sacred, fundamental right to guns. If there's a right here at all, he says, it's at the "penumbra of the periphery" of the Constitution: in a shack behind the river where the other unenumerated rights huddle.
Perhaps Liberty is not high on his agenda? Dellinger is walking proof for the necessity of the Bill of Rights, because that "penumbra" is where most of our rights exist (including the rights to privacy, abortion, etc etc). It seems to me that he comes from the position that, if an individual right isn't made crystal clear and specific, then it doesn't exist. He wants to always tip the balance towards government power, and I think that impulse is un-American and ignores Amendment Nine - which I think says it all: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The outcome will be interesting, but not as interesting as the case would be if some restaurateur would take NYC's trans-fat ban to the Supreme Court. That would be really fun.
Wednesday, March 19. 2008
Spitzer's replacement, ultra-clean, Lefty, affable, and not-too-blind-to-notice-babes David Paterson got a government job for his gumada, er, for one of the reported six of them. Claims his conscience is clean - which it probably is, by New York standards... or by politician standards. Bill Clinton lowered the bar for all Dems, forever.
White people like to throw dinner parties. Yes we do, and cocktail parties too. College students are stressed? Wait 'til they try real life. The fun part of war. I want one. Olympus Stylus 1030 SW Arthur C. Clarke's last message. Video This Easter, use a well-maintained whip. For Robocop fans. Obama, Fairy Tales, and Failure at S,C&A. Thoughtful. Related: "Teplost" commenting on Roger Simon's "Barack, I didn't do it for this" poem: How are people in this country going to face each other as human beings when white liberals won't stay in changing neighborhoods? We don't need Obama to bring us together, and all the high minded white folks espousing his rhetoric don't want it either. They want to PRETEND that's what they want. They want to believe that all they have to do is vote for a black candidate, and they are off the hook. Hey, if all those high-minded white liberals wanted us to come together, why did they move out of my neighborhood? All they ever had to do is stay. What a bunch of bull!
So true.
 Roger Scruton's 2003 New Criterion essay on discovering Burke, which we re-post annually, begins thus:
I was brought up at a time when half the English people voted Conservative at national elections and almost all English intellectuals regarded the term “conservative” as a term of abuse. To be a conservative, I was told, was to be on the side of age against youth, the past against the future, authority against innovation, the “structures” against spontaneity and life. It was enough to understand this, to recognize that one had no choice, as a free-thinking intellectual, save to reject conservatism. The choice remaining was between reform and revolution. Do we improve society bit by bit, or do we rub it out and start again? On the whole my contemporaries favored the second option, and it was when witnessing what this meant, in May 1968 in Paris, that I discovered my vocation.
Read the whole thing.
He doesn't care much for Obama. The Rev likes the Clintons. This is Feb 18, 2008. This guy is a piece of work. Listen:
The Spring fishing season is coming on fast. It's about time to exchange our Currier and Ives "Maple Sugaring" picture, up on top, for "The Trout Pool." That picture does look like our Berkshire Hills, but it could also be the Poconos or the Adirondacks. 
 "A nation is not in danger of financial disaster merely because it owes itself money."
-Andrew Mellon
Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil. C.S. Lewis
Last night, a young relation observed that "Writing college application essays is like trying to shit rainbows out your ass." Mrs. B. commented "If Obama can do that, so can you."
Finally, it looks like the Supremes are going to reaffirm the Second Amendment despite Justice Breyer's incomprehensible musings, roughly "I'm not sure why Washington DC shouldn't have the right to ban handguns, with their terrible crime rate." Hey, Mr. Justice: Why doesn't Waterbury CT have the "right" to ban McDonalds, with their terrible obesity rate? I thought people had rights to protect them from government powers. Or did I get it wrong? If this deal goes down the right way, there will be much to thank Pres. Bush for. Decision expected in June.
Tuesday, March 18. 2008
 Heading south to NYC right now, and I will be busy tomorrow, so I will leave these:
The demise of dead tree encyclopedias. Sad. When I was in high school, I could not understand much of anything without my Columbia Encyclopedia on my desk and my giant multi-volume Britannica on the shelf - a major gift from my parents. Still have it. If you don't look up stuff you don't know, you will never know the first thing about anything. Not that I do not appreciate Wiki for quick reminders, links, and superficial introductions: Wiki is not all that bad as a starting point for exploring things. For example, I gave myself a fine mini-survey of the history of China the other day. It was good. I like to get the big picture before the details or I end up disoriented. Iraq slips off the radar. WaPo, and McCain strolls through Baghdad. Climate change hoopla, 1890-present. Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything to make money from it but Al Gore. Would the Dalai Lama resist any oppression? Doubtful. My visit to the Boston Globe. Squaring the Boston Globe "Barack, I didn't do it for this." And yet, with Rev. Wright, Obama's appeal rises among black Democrats. Related: Michelle Obama represents the problem, not the solution. Finally, Dr. Sanity on Shelby Steele's essay on "bargaining." Honestly, I am sick of race. It's a stupid topic.
In a post about our post on The Default Brain, Dr. X mentioned Alan Shore's Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self, which is a broad and bold effort to integrate neuroscience, development, brain evolution with human psychology. That's the sort of thing that Freud, a Neurologist by training, aspired to do, but the data wasn't there at the time and he gave up on the effort. I know of Dr. Shore, and I will read the book. The reviews are impressive. ("Affect" is a fancy shrink word for emotions.) I think the reason it had not attracted my attention is because I react against any title with the word "self" in it. That word turns me off because it makes no sense to me, and neither do the theoretical constructs referring to it.
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