Friday, May 9. 2008
 I do not think that she and her team are deluded. I think they have known for a while that they cannot win this thing without a miracle. The Clintons are hard-headed, practical, cynically calculating, and realistic when it comes to power (and money - when Dems get rich, it isn't greed).
But she is getting more than her share of time in the media sun (BTW, is a Repub also running for Pres? You would hardly know it.) It's all about power. She keeps running to firmly plant the Clinton flag in the center of a Dem party which seems to be giving her a bit of a cold shoulder, and to show her tough stuff so that she will be a major force in the Party - and maybe a Pres candidate - in the future. If Obama goes down in the November election, she will look good and will become the #1 Dem. And if he doesn't go down, she'll be the heavyweight in the Dem Senate and the de facto #2 Dem in the country (overshadowing Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, and whoever the VP nominee is). Thus she has much to gain by not appearing to be a "quitter." She can win by losing, but the timing is key to polishing her halo. She needs to sell on an up-tick. The speech she will eventually give in support of Obama will bury the hatchet, and will be designed to make her look like a Dem angel. The Dem angel.
 Why do men die first? Mr. Free Market
One reason many on the Left do not believe in Jihad Basic questions about farm subsidies The Maoist insurgency in India "Come over here and fertilize me." Flowers wave at passing bugs. Loving violent criminals The 5 mistakes Clinton made. Time. Related: The Clinton Divorce in the WSJ, which begins: No, we don't mean Bill and Hillary. We mean the separation now under way between the Clintons and the Democratic Party. Like all divorces after lengthy unions, this one is painful and has had its moments of reconciliation, but after Tuesday a split looks inevitable. The long co-dependency is over.
Green hypocrites A fight strategy for McCain Ethnicity and nationalism Tax 'em and regulate 'em until they begin to fail. Then claim that it's a market failure and time for the govt to do it. Pharma, at EU Referendum Should I mention depression on my college application? Image borrowed from Vanderleun's comic book collection
Samuel Finley Morse Badger of Massachusetts, aka Sam Badger, aka Solon Francis Montecello Badger, painted ship portraits. This is the schooner Edward H. Cole: 
Thursday, May 8. 2008
 Donald Boudreaux considers his colleague Bryan Caplan's much-discussed book, The Myth of the Rational Voter. One quote:
Each of us has muted incentives to study the facts and issues carefully -- and to reflect upon them dispassionately -- because no one of us is responsible for deciding which policies the government will implement. But Bryan Caplan explains another reason why each of us as a voter generally exercises less wisdom than we do in our private affairs. This other reason springs from what Caplan calls our "preferences over beliefs." Each of us wants to believe certain things. Each of us gets satisfaction simply by holding certain beliefs firm to our hearts. Just as many of us enjoy feeling loyal to our favorite sports teams, many of us enjoy believing that our favorite political party is an especially wise steward of the public interest. Many of us enjoy believing that our troubles are caused by foreigners. Many of us enjoy believing that if the rich pay higher taxes, middle-class and poor people will be better off. We resist rejecting these beliefs even if the evidence before us suggests that they are mistaken.
Indeed, people are only sometimes rational, and even less often rigidly logical. We are not computers, or Mr. Spocks. In most things humans do, we engage our souls, hearts and our minds, and it is the challenge of adulthood to monitor, critique, and to balance those things in ourselves. For example, were it not for our hearts and souls, it might make sense for us to vote for a thoroughly pragmatic, efficient, and logical Brave New World. Wisdom is not the same thing as logic, and logic is not the same thing as virtue. Therefore I am in favor of a degree of irrationality in voting. And, anyway, who is the Grand Arbiter who gets to define "rational voting"? People like Thomas Frank, who believe that it is "rational" to vote yourself other peoples' money? Or "values voters" like me? Politics, government - and life itself -is messy and complicated, and even more so with freedom. Books that need to be written: "The Myth of the Rational Human" (well, Freud covered a lot of that ground already) "The Myth of the Rational and Virtuous Government" "The Myth of the Rational and Virtuous Politician" "The Myth of the Rational and Virtuous Bureaucracy" and "The Myth of the Rational Expert" Editor's Comment: Great blog minds think alike. Bainbridge today on The Imperfectibility of Human Institutions. He quotes: The Framers understood that the self-interest which in the private sphere contributes to welfare of society — both in the sense of material well-being and in the social unity engendered by commerce — makes man a knave in the public sphere, the sphere of politics and group action. It is self-interest that leads individuals to form factions to try to expropriate the wealth of others through government and that constantly threatens social harmony. John O. McGinnis, The Original Constitution and Our Origins 19 Harv. J.L.& Pub. Policy 251, 253 (1996).
In a short post on tax competition, Mankiw gets right to the heart of it all: ...are you more worried about too little government or too much?
 Mobile broadband options
What do Codfish have to do with red tides? Remarkable anti-Obama video How McCain can win the base. WSJ Tons of art critics in the Maggie's Farm comments Viking trading center discovered in Ireland How did "fake but accurate" become acceptable? "...social sciences in general, and racial/gender studies departments in particular, have the lowest academic standards of any group on modern campuses." Indeed. From Salt of the Earth Democrats at Contentions: ...salt-of-the-earth Democratic politicians are increasingly hard to come by, as cultural liberalism is the core of the party’s self-identity today. But maybe Clinton’s failed effort will get some conservative Democrats thinking. It would be good for the Democrats, and good for the country, if their leaders came to see that their cultural elitism, bordering on cultural separatism, is not only obnoxious but counterproductive. Maybe next time.
 Our Spring Peepers have been out for a while, but now, on warm days (we haven't had many), the larger frogs come out to play.
I have eaten plenty of frog's legs in my time, mostly in the South, and they aren't bad sauteed with a little butter, wine and garlic... but so is anything. However, I prefer that my Bullfrogs stay alive, croaking in the swamp. "Jug-a-rum." These large (3-6") frogs are native to the Eastern US and Canada, and have become pestiferous when they have been transplanted (as in California and Europe). They will eat anything moving that they can fit into their Jaba The Hut-sized mouths, including small snakes and frogs. I love swamps for their mysterious wildness and their abundance of life. Sippican isn't so sure that he does, but he is an effete, hyper-civilized egg-head sort, isn't he?
"Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev'rybody knows
That Baby's got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.
Queen Mary, she's my friend
Yes, I believe I'll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can't be blessed
Till she sees finally that she's like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.
It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what's worse
Is this pain in here
I can't stay in here
Ain't it clear that--
I just can't fit
Yes, I believe it's time for us to quit
When we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don't let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world.
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl." "Just Like a Woman," originally released on Blonde on Blonde, but appearing in no less than seven other official Dylan releases in various versions. Below is the performance from the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.
Wednesday, May 7. 2008
 As the human race awaits the next inevitable Ice Age which will leave vast areas of the Northern Hemisphere under mile-thick glaciers, humans find it amusing to argue about the weather.
Quote from a piece at Global Warming Politics: “The warmers are getting more and more like those traditional predictors of the end of the world who, when the event fails to happen on the due date, announce an error in their calculations and a new date.” [Dr. John Brignell, Emeritus Engineering Professor at the University of Southampton, on Number Watch (May 1)] Oh dear! The inevitable is happening. The ‘global warming’ trope is unravelling on a daily basis - scientifically, economically, and politically. The wheels are coming off the hysterical bandwagon, and it is not going to be a salutary sight watching the politicians and the media junkies jumping cart and trying to throw mud in everyone’s eyes.
However, fear-mongers like well-known emitter Al Gore says cyclone a consequence of global warming. WTH? Does he believe that, or does he just have a policy that everything that happens in weather is man's fault? He parodies himself while frightening the ignorant. Meanwhile meteorologist John Coleman echoes our piece on how the warming frenzy is damaging worthy environmental efforts. From his Open Letter to Environmentalists: Here is what I am suggesting you do. Campaign for your environmental goals on the basis of their own merit. Let go of the global warming frenzy before it leaves you discredited and embarrassed. Stop screaming, “The sky is falling.” It is not. Do your good work. Devote your lives to our environment. In many ways you will succeed. We are all grateful for your love of the planet. But, don’t use scare tactics. Most of all I urge you not to become extremists. And, may I encourage you to live your lives in a loving way, love your fellow human beings and our wonderful advanced standard of living and way of life as much as you love the Earth.
Image is a free plug for Prehistoric World Images.
Actually, it's been over for quite a while. Via Drudge now: Superdelegates refusing to meet with Mrs. Clinton. Truth be told, she'd be tougher against McCain. But it's up to the Dems, and they don't like her. As some wag noted somewhere re the Kentucky Derby, "The filly comes in second and is euthanized; Big Brown wins."
 "The national median home price for existing homes is just over $200,000 right now. Knowing how difficult it is to find a home for that price in some areas of the country, I decided to do a little research to see how much it would cost to buy a '$200,000 home' in different cities."
That median house in Topeka: $115,000. In Greenwich: $1,400,000. Average home prices, at A Comparison of US Home Prices. (h/t, Wall St. Fighter) 
Photos: Larger photo is a $1,495,000 home in Greenwich, CT. The other is a $109,000 home in Topeka, KS. I believe I could have a fine life in anything with a roof, as long as I have my fireplace, my broadband, and a place to grow tomatoes.
 Some friends are leaving soon for a ten-day Ireland golf trip.
There seems to be some agreement that the Royal County Down Golf Club is the best links course in the world. They will also play Ballybunion and some of the other famous links courses. I find it pleasant that Ballybunion has their etiquette listed at their site. That's Nicklaus at the 4th tee in 2001.
Is there a post-Protestant Ethic, post-Consumption & Hedonism Ethic of Capitalism? I suspect this book review from Spiked is more interesting that the book itself. A quote: Barber argues that the new ethic of capitalism is one of ‘infantilisation’: money today is to be made in maintaining adults as needy children, who stuff down dumbed-down films, saccharine food and video games. While in the early stages of capitalism it benefited the capitalist system for everybody to save their pennies, now it benefits the system for us to splurge every penny and borrow more. While in the time of Franklin people were encouraged to restrain themselves and reinvest, now, says Barber, we are encouraged to act on every immediate whim, to be the grasping child in a sweet shop unable to say no.
Apparently I am way out of date, as usual, because I still operate on the Ben Franklin model, more or less.
 McCain goes after Reagan Democrats. Smart move. Sort-of related: Bobby Jindal for VP? Sort-of related: What is wrong with being a roofer? It's good honest hard work. Is everybody supposed to want to work in cubicles and offices?
Give Rick Moran some Prozac How Sarkozy blew his chance to make a difference Boris hires NYC's Bill Bratton. Good move. (h/t, Theo) Global warming dissenters are censored. How to stay married and love it The pussification of the English male 40 years ago. Neoneo The Kiwi disease. There are fewer people in NZ than in Massachusetts. More sheep, however. Via Insty: DUDE, WHERE'S MY RECESSION (CONT'D): Heck, this time it's Where's My Depression? "Whatever happened to the Great Depression? Not the real one from 70 years ago, the lost decade of unimagined misery and Steinbeckian angst, the worst period in the history of modern capitalism. I mean the replay we were promised this year. . . . Well, it’s early days, to be fair, but so far the Great Depression 2008 is shaping up to be a Great Disappointment. Not so much The Grapes of Wrath as Raisins of Mild Inconvenience."
Lewis at Am Thinker, a quote: White Guilt is the locomotive propelling the Obama campaign. Without it the Junior Senator from Illinois would be just a skinnier Bill Clinton. American kids are being guilt-tripped in all the public schools today, from grade school to graduate school. By the time they get to voting age, they feel so bad about the slave trade and Jim Crow that they are ready to pay up for forgiveness. That's Senator Obama's Youth Vote.
Photo: I was just given this good CD from the somewhat unusual Buzzola label
See the charts and graphs at Fox News.
Tuesday, May 6. 2008
Episode 3 (which deals with geometry, maps, architecture and the Renaissance). All on one tape at Videosift, or on big screen at Dr. Merc.
 Does the American Constitution protect unenumerated rights? Of course it does. Their intentions were clear as day: to limit the power of government, not to limit the power of the people. The notion that unlisted rights are not for the people turns history on its head.
Digital sticky notes. A man with no regrets. Pathetic. Clinton attacks Wall St. NY Sun. Also, Clinton to attack Dem Party. Might be easier to report who she isn't attacking today. Via Insty: OUCH: "Now that he's disowned his pastor, I'm looking forward to Obama initiating a national conversation on religion to explain his church."
Microsoft's war for the web The housing "crisis" is over.  A millionaire's gospel of bitterness. Related: Cosby is the real prophet
McCain's health plan. Radical and right From Prager: Though many individual liberals have only goodwill toward black Americans, the liberal world since the late 1960s (i.e., after the major civil rights legislation of the mid-1960s) has done incalculable damage to black America and to race relations in this country. Whether out of guilt or because of its own racist views (i.e., the unspoken but regularly implied belief in the inferiority of African-Americans), the left-of-center's general attitude toward black Americans has been that they cannot be judged by the same standards as others. From lowering standards of admission to universities to blaming the high number of black men in prison for violent crimes on white racism to decades of cultivating black victimhood and the subsequent Wright-like rage against America, liberals and their party, the Democrats, have immeasurably hurt African-Americans and America.
Top Photo from Theo: "U.S. Marines assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, wait aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyz Republic, March 27, 2008, to be flown to Kandahar Air Base in the Helman province of Afghanistan. U.S. Marine photo by Lance Cpl. Jason T. Guiliano" Lower photo: from Gateway: "U.S. Army Warrant Officer Leslie "Scott" Henry fishes in a lake surrounding a former palace of Saddam Hussein at the U.S. headquarters Camp Victory in western Baghdad April 13, 2008. Henry is an experienced fisherman who helps other soldiers learn how to fish at the Baghdad Angler's Club and School of Flyfishing set up by U.S. troops. (REUTERS/Peter Graff)"
I found the link to Keith Thompson's 2005 SF Chronicle op-ed piece, titled Leaving the Left: I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled Progressives in a comment somewhere recently. I cannot recall whether I had read it in the past or not, but I post it because it sounds much like what happened to my thinking in my 30s. Like most well-educated Protestant families in New England at the time (and much less so, today), I was raised in a soft-Left-oriented home. You know: "Joe McCarthy was the devil, but Joe Stalin meant well and besides, the Russians have free medical care." (The only Socialist we were willing to hate was Hitler.) This was combined with a solicitous condescension towards blacks, the "poor" people who worked with their hands, and any other convenient "victim" group. We "cared" about them, or so we convinced ourselves in our self-admiring superiority - but we didn't really know any of them very well, and had no clue about how they ran, or planned, their lives. What else did we take on faith? That the UN would bring an end to war, that higher taxes (on other people) were a very good idea, that pacifism usually made sense even in the face of an enemy ("Better Red than Dead"), that FDR was a great president, that the world of business - as compared to the "professions" - was tainted with "selfishness" and thus dishonorable, that patriotism was jingoism and nationalism a bad thing, that there was no real "evil" (other than Conservatives), and that DDT was a terrible thing. Socially "nice" stuff like that. (Of course, we took many good, solid things on faith too, but that's another story and another blog post.) We all felt smugly virtuous, I think, and quite superior to the ignorant and presumably unwashed masses who cast votes for "idiots" like Nixon and Barry Goldwater instead of for the enlightened ones who only wanted to "help them." That was before I fully appreciated how much Americans - and I - appreciate our freedom from government power and intrusion. And what a sturdy, thrifty, resourceful, practical, independent, hard-working bunch we Americans really are. I will never forget my first lesson in this on a summer job during high school, but it took years of exposure to real life and to real people to cure me of my malady which was, at the bottom of it, I think, related to pride: the sickest form of pride - the notion that we - the fortunate and privileged "intelligentsia" - the bien-pensants - knew what was best for other folks and for the country. We were educated in everything except humility, common sense, and an adequate appreciation for freedom. Life's wisdom cannot be taught. Only learned. So, to return to a quote from Thompson's essay, which is similar to, but better than, the one I would have written: I grew up in a northwest Ohio town where conservative was a polite term for reactionary. When Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of Mississippi "sweltering in the heat of oppression," he could have been describing my community, where blacks knew to keep their heads down, and animosity toward Catholics and Jews was unapologetic. Liberal and conservative, like left and right, wouldn't be part of my lexicon for a while, but when King proclaimed, "I have a dream," I instinctively cast my lot with those I later found out were liberals (then synonymous with "the left" and "progressive thought"). The people on the other side were dedicated to preserving my hometown's backward-looking status quo. This was all that my 10-year-old psyche needed to know. The knowledge carried me for a long time. Mythologies are helpful that way.
If you never read it, please do so.
 Our Dylanologist is flying to Prague today for a visit with friends, thence by train to Rome to work for a few months.
He will need to dust off his Italian, but I know he can do that. For what it's worth, his conversational Latin isn't bad either, for a Protestant. We trust that he will be able to continue his Thursday free ads for Bob Dylan, and that he will send us some fresh photos. Especially train photos. And photos of Roman and Greek ruins. Bon voyage, and Arrivederci. Photo: Bridges of Prague
There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person. G. K. Chesterton
A quote from Sowell's latest: ...I received a letter recently from a man who grew up in my old neighborhood back in Harlem. When he and I were in the same junior high school, one day a teacher who saw him eating his brown bag lunch suddenly arranged for him to get a lunch from the school cafeteria without having to pay for it. It happened so fast that my schoolmate had already taken a bite from the school lunch when he suddenly realized that he had been given charity-- and he wouldn't swallow the food. Instead he went to the toilet and spat it out. By now his brown bag lunch had been thrown out, so he just went hungry that day. He went on to become a very successful psychiatrist.
I am heading down to NYC today to see Claudio Bravo's show at the Marlborough Gallery. This is his Terracotta Triptych (oil on canvas): 
|
