Monday, June 30. 2008
As quoted at Evangelical Outpost from an interview with the superb Roger Scruton, titled The Market and Human Nature: MG: What deleterious consequences result from the "free market ideology" you mention? Are there particular economic arrangements that conservatives ought to prefer? Scruton: The free market is a necessary part of any stable community, and the arguments for maintaining it as the core of economic life were unanswerably set out by Ludwig von Mises. Hayek developed the arguments further, in order to offer a general defense of "spontaneous order", as the means to produce and maintain socially necessary knowledge. As Hayek points out, there are many varieties of spontaneous order that exemplify the epistemic virtues that he values: the common law is one of them, so too is ordinary morality. The problem for conservatism is to reconcile the many and often conflicting demands that these various forms of life impose on us. The free-market ideologues take one instance of spontaneous order, and erect it into a prescription for all the others. They ask us to believe that the free exchange of commodities is the model for all social interaction. But many of our most important forms of life involve withdrawing what we value from the market: sexual morality is an obvious instance, city planning another. (America has failed abysmally in both those respects, of course.) Looked at from the anthropological point of view religion can be seen as an elaborate (and spontaneous) way in which communities remove what is most precious to them (i.e. all that concerns the creation and reproduction of community) from the erosion of the market. A cultural conservative, such as I am, supports that enterprise. I would put the point in terms that echo Burke and Chesterton: the free market provides the optimal solution to the competition among the living for scarce resources; but when applied to the goods in which the dead and the unborn have an interest (sex, for instance) it wastes what must be saved.
Hayek's concept of "spontaneous order" is what knocks me out. The world is manifestly full of that kind of mysterious order, from the nature of the cosmos to human nature (aka "design" as opposed to chaos), and I'd love to post a lengthy riff on that enticing topic - but it's too late tonight and I avoid discussing transcendent issues here on Ye olde Blogge. So, instead, I'll post of photo from our men's Bible study group's prayer-and-cocktails-and-sunset dinner-and-cigar outing tonight, down on Long Island Sound. The very existence of our group is an example of "spontaneous order," one tiny example of the order in the universe which I believe to be a manifestation of God. I wish I could post a photo of this cheery, self-disparaging, Christ-centered and humorous group, each one waving a fine ceegar with a glass of wine in his hand - but I wouldn't do that. Nice boat. Thanks, bro, for taking us all out on the water tonight. The sea brings me close to Christ. It reminds me of how much of Scripture takes place on or near the water. 
 Pic: Average student at Dr. Mercury's Computer Bed & Breakfast School For Wanton Women, blatantly stolen from Theo who had a much better picture than I did for last Saturday's computer lesson — that rat!
In the comments to Saturday's lesson on images, a couple of doods mentioned the free GIMP program. From what I can tell, GIMP stands for "Gastro-Intestinal Monetary Paralysis", or the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you see the $649 price tag for Photoshop.
Actually, it stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program, with GNU being the open-source UNIX-like operating system developed back in the 80's. It and SourceForge have produced a number of excellent free programs over the years and, of the sixty-odd free video programs I have on my own site, probably half of them are GNU or SourceForge.
Bottom Line: While a little odd, GIMP is an excellent graphics program and does all the 'trick' things, like smudging and freehand selection, that big bad Photoshop does. Download it here. Click on 'Downloads' then grab just the program, don't bother with the 'Installer'. Don't panic when it takes forever to run the first time.
On the other hand, you'll probably have a heart attack the first time it opens, so perhaps you'd better take a sec and...
Continue reading "Doc's Computin' Tips: the GIMP graphics studio"
Part 3 of Sowell's The Imitators series begins like this: Some of the people who are most adamant against outsourcing economic activity from the United States to other countries often seem to think we should outsource our foreign policy to "world opinion" or act only in conjunction "with our NATO allies." Like so many things that are said when it comes to public policy, there is very little attention paid to the actual track record of "world opinion" or of "our NATO allies."
In my post on The Centovalli Train, I asked "Where are all the people?" Many of these towns in Italy look neat, clean - but deserted, which adds to the stage-set feeling. Maybe it's the time of day, but part of the answer is No babies in Euroland. 
When reflecting on my re-post yesterday on Lionel Trilling, I realized that I had neglected to reference what is perhaps his most-read work, The Liberal Imagination. It's still worth reading: “The Liberal Imagination (1950) applied the dialectical method to cultural themes by exploring the ways in which literary masterworks deflated the pieties of trendy left-wing politics. Trilling, who identified himself as a liberal, called for a new kind of criticism that 'might find its most useful work not in confirming liberalism in its sense of general rightness but rather in putting under some degree of pressure the liberal ideas and assumptions of the present time.' That statement was almost a blueprint, or prophecy, of the neoconservative creed.” –The New York Times
And my allusion to Jacques Barzun, who as far as I know is still alive and retired in Texas, reminded me to reference his sweeping book, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500-Present. Via Amazon: From Publishers Weekly Now 92, Barzun, the renowned cultural critic, historian and former Columbia provost and professor, offers much more than a summation of his life's work in this profound, eloquent, often witty historical survey. A book of enormous riches, it's sprinkled with provocations. For example, Barzun contradicts Max Weber, arguing that the Protestant Reformation did not galvanize the capitalist spirit. With feminist ardor, he depicts the 16th century as molded and directed by women "as brilliant as the men, and sometimes more powerful" (e.g., Queens Elizabeth and Isabella). His eclectic synthesis is organized around a dozen or so themes--including emancipation, abstraction and individualism--that in his judgment define the modern era. Barzun keeps up the momentum with scores of snappy profiles, including of Luther, Erasmus, Cromwell, Mozart, Rousseau and Byron, as well as of numerous unsung figures such as German educator Friedrich Froebel, inventor of kindergarten, and turn-of-the-century American pioneer ecologist George Marsh. Other devices help make this tome user-friendly--the margins are chock-full of quotes, while vignettes of Venice in 1650, Weimar in 1790 and Chicago in 1895 give a taste of the zeitgeist. In Barzun's glum estimate, the late 20th century has brought decadence into full bloom--separatism in all forms, apathetic electorates, amoral art that embraces filth or mere shock value, the decline of the humanities, the mechanization of life--but he remains hopeful that humanity will find its way again. This is a book to be reckoned with. First serial to American Scholar; BOMC selection.
Both books well-worth reading, if you haven't. Would either of these great Columbia profs, who knew almost everything about almost everything, be welcomed on any campuses today?
 Squash-style wrist techniques are catching on in pro tennis. Times Online
Sunday, June 29. 2008
These people were always finding water all over their pool deck and furniture every time they came home after being away for a few hours. They thought the neighborhood kids were waiting for them to leave, and using the pool. However, they could never catch them doing it. So, they set up their video cam and left. This is what they found out:
Luskin on Obama, with comments on the Social Security mess Today's Insanities Repubs cannot reply to obvious Leftist intimidation Maternity Prom dresses? How enlightened and progressive. Just give me a dang table gift. Capt. Capitalism A deep thinker? Justice Kennedy's Song of Himself. Related: Liberals collectively pee in their pants. I just want one more guy or gal in there who reveres the Constitution more than their personal preferences. The self-inflicted economic death of Ohio. WSJ. A sad story. I like Ohio. A website about "Creative Capitalism." My view: "Creative Capitalism" is the opiate of the mega-wealthy. If I invest in a business, I want my full share of the profits. I will decide, myself, what to give away, and to whom. Nanny state fest, at Blue Crab. Just read a few of his latest. Related, at Betsy: No scores for games. As she comments, "It's clear that future battles of Britain won't be won on its playing fields." The greatest student prank of all time. Tiger Please remember this 13th Century Law from the City of Augsburg: The selling of bad beer is a crime against Christian love. — Law, the City of Augsburg, 13th Century
Via Free Republic: DURAGI, Afghanistan -- Early morning, and 14 U.S. soldiers stand in a semi-circle for a mission briefing. Four Humvees, engines running, rumble beside them. "We're going to Warshallah today," Army Capt. Sam Karr, 28, of Manhattan, Kan., tells his platoon. "I guess it has, like, 200 bad guys in it. That's nothing, dudes -- we've got 14, so we're good."
Another case for global cooling. Reference Frame
From the ELI's Environmental Forum publication (subscription only): Biofuels and the Prairie Pothole Wetlands
Government mandates for ethanol production are helping to create a perfect storm putting pressure on this vast wetland region spanning the U.S.-Canadian border. Increased demand for corn may be high enough to undercut the Swampbuster program banning price support payments when farmers convert wetlands to production. Expansion of the cellulosic ethanol industry, if implemented on existing cropland in a thoughtful and environmentally friendly way, could be an asset to the region’s economic and ecological health.
It's that good old Law of Unintended Consequences. More: Modern agribusiness is characterized by huge capital investments, large volumes of money, and thin profit margins. There is little room for experimentation — as a rule, change comes slowly to the agricultural landscape of the Prairie Pothole Region. But ethanol fever is sweeping farm country and setting the stage for dramatic changes in land use. Companies have been fermenting corn into ethanol for decades, and many of us have filled our vehicles with a blend of their product. But since the 1970s gas shortages, few of us have given serious thought to weaning our nation off foreign oil. And hardly anyone knew about a plant called switchgrass that, given time and new technology, might be an important ingredient in the recipe for energy independence. But things changed quickly when President George W. Bush referenced switchgrass in his 2006 State of the Union address and called for a national biofuels mandate at seven times current production by 2017. Congress followed with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which established a renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons per year by 2022. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is now a cornerstone of federal policy, and from all indications, biofuels are here to stay.
 We re-post this essay by Gertrude Himmelfarb each year. One quote, on the thoughtful Columbia guy Lionel Trilling's thoughts about T.S. Eliot:
Marxism was not the only thing that Trilling (by way of Eliot) called into question. He challenged liberalism as well. Totalitarianism, Eliot had said, was inherently "pagan," for it recognized no authority or principle but that of the state. And liberalism, far from providing an alternative to paganism, actually contained within itself the seeds of paganism, in its materialism and relativism. Only Christianity, Eliot argued--the "Idea" of Christianity, not its pietistic or revivalist expressions--could resist totalitarianism, because only Christianity offered a view of man and society that promoted the ideal of "moral perfection" and "the good life." "I am inclined," Trilling quoted Eliot, "to approach public affairs from the point of view of the moralist." Trilling hastened to qualify his endorsement of Eliot in "Elements That Are Wanted"; he did not believe morality was absolute or a "religious politics" desirable. But Eliot's vision of morality and politics was superior to the vision of liberals and radicals, who had contempt for the past and worshiped the future. Liberals, in the name of progress, put off the realization of the good life to some indefinite future; radicals put off the good life in the expectation of a revolution that would usher in not only a new society but also a new man, a man who would be "wholly changed by socialism." Marxism was especially dangerous, Trilling found, because it combined "a kind of disgust with humanity as it is and a perfect faith in humanity as it is to be."
A "new man" was all the rage for those who wanted me to be just like they weren't - but who wanted people like me to become some subservient but heroic prole they fantasized about. They were just the new version of the same "old men" of history - self-anointed for "virtue" and "wisdom," and seeking power and perks on our backs and on our nickel while they spun their grand theories. I think they forgot that proles like me learned to read in the meantime. Eliot, and Trilling, knew otherwise. Photo: Lionel Trilling. As demanding a Prof as you could ever have. The equally-great Jacques Barzun was out of that same mold: dignified, formal, remote, but willing to give you two chances to prove that you weren't a complete idiot and just an educated fool. No tolerance for fools, and these guys had a radar for glib assertions, shallow sentiment, and cant - and for out-of-context quotes. Academic boot camp is what these guys offered you.
 I'll begin with the hopeful message of Jeremiah 29:11-14 (which is not from today's Lectionary), regarding the dispersal of the Jews and their 70 years of captivity in Babylon. God does not like false prophets. As Matthew Henry's Commentary on this part of Jeremiah says: "Let men beware how they call those prophets whom they choose after their own fancies, and how they consider their fancies and dreams to be revelations from God. False prophets flatter people in their sins, because they love to be flattered; and they speak smoothly to their prophets, that their prophets may speak smoothly to them."
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." Here's the reading from today's lectionary, with the context of Jeremiah 28: In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, 2“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4I will also bring back to this place King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, says the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” 5Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord; 6and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. 7But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 9As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.” 10Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, and broke it. 11And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: This is how I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” At this, the prophet Jeremiah went his way. 12Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars only to forge iron bars in place of them! 14For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they shall indeed serve him; I have even given him the wild animals. 15And the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you made this people trust in a lie. 16Therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to send you off the face of the earth. Within this year you will be dead, because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord.” 17In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died. Image: The Prophet Jeremiah (1311, Siena)
Saturday, June 28. 2008
 Leaving tonight for a fishing trip (not for Catfish, however), so I will offer this good pile of items:
What it's like to be a bat. The Englishman appreciates Scalia's historical sense. As do I. Why humans left Africa 80,000 years ago Why men are becoming reluctant to volunteer with kids. Brits harassed for flying their flag The Canadian Human Rights folks blinked. Driscoll is quite right: it was to save themselves. What change does Obama offer us? JC Phillips Americans overwhelmingly support conservative economic policies Swedish nanny state wants to tell you who to invite to your birthday party. They should tell their nanny to go jump in the lake, or fjord, or whatever. More on "I hate practicing medicine." Via Bainbridge: Justice Breyer as culture warrior. Re guns, Surber's Just ask me What's really up with Arctic sea ice? (And do we care? Well, it is interesting.) My view on oil markets. Coyote Time for a Grand New Party? Beijing is ready. Just don't breath the air. I agree that this is stupid. Liberals as enablers of totalitarianism Taliban back to their old ways. Gateway I went to Wiki today to check the history of the Fairness Doctrine I also had to refresh my understanding of the Turing Test. The real question is whether people can think. The value of a practical education: John Hawks. Related, at Villainous, who wonders who should teach From a piece at Dino: The Beltway MSM are historically 12 to 1 for the Democratic ticket, and have said that their favorable coverage is worth perhaps 15 points in electoral results. That’s in a normal year. But this appears not to be a normal year; we sense that there’s payback on the minds of some in the press. The coverage could get pretty out-of-control before November rolls around.
Re "settled science," McQ at Q&O wonders whether Al Gore has read this yet.
I never thought we would see something this good happen for the Everglades: Florida buys 180,000-acre US Sugar tract.
Krauthammer observes that, as the years grow between 9-11 and the present, old-fashioned "sophisticated" doubt returns to fashion and "people with "deeply-held views"" are viewed with suspicion, if not with fear: "Nothing has more aroused and infuriated the sophisticates than the foreign policy of a religiously inclined President, based on the notion of a universal aspiration to freedom and of America's need and duty to advance it around the world. Such liberationism, confident and unapologetic, is portrayed as arrogant crusading, a deep violation of the tradition of American pluralism, ecumenism, modesty and skeptical restraint. That widespread portrayal is invention masquerading as history. You want certainty? You want religiosity? How about a people who overthrow the political order of the ages, go to war and occasion thousands of deaths in the name of self-evident truths and unalienable rights endowed by the Creator? That was 1776. The universality, the sacredness and the divine origin of freedom are enshrined in our founding document. The Founders, believers all, signed it. Thomas Jefferson wrote it. And not even Jefferson, the most skeptical of the lot, had the slightest doubt about it."
Read entire: Click here: TIME.com Print Page: TIME Magazine -- In Defense of Certainty
I wish I had written this piece by John Hawkins, Why Liberals lie about what they believe. It's really quite simple.
Stumbled into this Teddy Roosevelt web site recently. Teddy is a hero and a role model to many because of his overcoming illness as a youth, his adventures in the West, his wide range of interests, his voluminous writings on all subjects from hunting and natural history to policy (he published more books than any other President), his robust approach to life which allowed him to gallop his horse straight down the sand dunes of Oyster Bay and straight up San Juan Hill, and to hike through the chest-deep ice-covered Rock Creek in January as President, often with diplomats in tow. Not to mention his achievements as President, from negotiating the truce in the Russo-Japanese War, projecting American power world-wide, championing conservation, and championing economic justice for workers. The two Edmund Morris volumes tell it all, down to the details of Teddy's wacky tennis game and his remarkable skills as a rifleman, despite poor eyesight. This bird-watching family man with the high squeaky voice, a fine pedigree but chronic money problems, and a giant faith in America, was larger than life. It's well-known that folks from the NY Metropolitan area rarely or never visit their own tourist attractions, but a visit to Roosevelt's relatively modest home, Sagamore Hill, in Oyster Bay on Long Island (not far from NYC) is a good outing. Little has changed there since his death, except, sadly, for the selling off of much of his farm, which originally extended down to the shores of Long Island Sound. Read the Sagamore Hill sites here and here before you go, because tickets sell out. Photo of Teddy as NYC Police Commissioner around 1895.
 When asked "When is the best time to prune a (fill in the type) shrub or tree?" my horticulturalist friend replies "When your blade is sharp."
His point is that, even if there are optimal times to do it, it's more important that it just get done sometime. Poor-pruning or neglected ornamental shrubs are not only unhealthy for these hybridized plants but also makes for an eyesore: leggy shrubs, overly-dense shrubs, and hedge-trimmer buzz-cut shrubs. (Hedge-trimmers are for hedges.) Up here, probably the most common errors are made in neglected or wrongly-pruned hydrangea, lilac, and forsythia. Most people who grow roses know how to care for them (depending on the category of rose.) And I almost forgot to mention Privet. Here's the way to keep a Privet hedge going forever. Here's a good primer on pruning lilacs. I advise people to Google "shrub name + pruning" before taking a blade to a plant. Rejuvenating a long-neglected or wrongly-pruned shrub can take a couple of years because drastic correction can kill the plant. The reason to care about the timing of your pruning is because some ornamentals bloom on the previous year's growth, and some on new growth. For example, the Macrophylla types of hydrangeas bloom on last year's, but Paniculata types bloom on new growth (a good hydrangea pruning site here.) If you prune at the wrong time, you will have no flowers. This good pruning summary from Texas A&M says this: Pruning recommendations for most deciduous shrubs consist of thinning out, gradual renewal and rejuvenation pruning. In thinning out, a branch or twig is cut off at its point of origin from either the parent stem or ground level (Figure 8). This pruning method results in a more open plant; it does not stimulate excessive new growth, but does allow room for growth of side branches. Considerable growth can be cut off without changing the plant's natural appearance or growth habit . Plants can be maintained at a given height and width for years by thinning out. This method is best done with hand pruning shears, loppers or a saw, but not with hedge shears. Thin out the oldest and tallest stems first. In gradual renewal pruning, a few of the oldest and tallest branches are removed at or slightly above ground level on an annual basis (Figure 8). Some thinning may be necessary to shorten long branches or maintain a symmetrical shape. To rejuvenate an old, overgrown shrub, remove one-third of the oldest, tallest branches at or slightly above ground level before new growth starts. The general pruning procedure shown for crape myrtle (Figure 9, applies to many large shrubs and small tree species. If a shrub is grown for its flowers, time the pruning to minimize disruption of blooming. Spring flowering shrubs bloom on last season's growth and should be pruned soon after they bloom. This allows for vigorous summertime growth and results in plenty of flower buds the following year. 
Dr. Merc wants every Maggie's reader to have the chance to master the fine points of the computer. I want every Maggie's reader to have the chance to be a competent shrub pruner. Photo on top: A row of hydrangeas on Isola Bella, with a little rain blurring my lens. Those Italian gardeners prune everything.
Think about it for one second - don't you have a little itch somewhere on your skin right now? It's considered poor manners to scratch in public, but sometimes you just have to do it. I am not watching you. Learn all the latest about The Itch.
The Bad News Banks Amnesty International hits bottom The EU goes to ground Why guns are a feminist issue. Class. Values It's just a question of who they're afraid of. Indeed. More on the father of Canada's health care system, and his renunciation of it. It's a basic lesson in how reality works. Why McCain isn't doomed. The New Patriotism will be on display in Denver. Also, no fried food? Good grief. Change we can be shocked at. Rick Moran
 The Wild Swan is a 39' Sparkman & Stephens-designed sloop, built in 1947. Mahogany over white oak. She is for sale, here.
This is a perfect example of why boats are called "she."
This is a weekly Saturday morning feature that will slowly, over time, turn you into a full-fledged computer expert. More info here.
Lesson 12: Images
 You're a real blogger. And you know just what I mean.
A real blogger works only in real-time. His thoughts come to him in a blaze of profound insight that his flying fingers desperately try to keep pace with. If a mixtake is made, so what! Your readers know what you're really trying to say.
Because that's where the honestly lies. That's how they know they can trust you. Because if you went back and corrected every little mixtake and tidied up sentences and made everything 'just so', you'd be no better than the next bought-and-paid-for journalist. Your very integrity rides on your willingness to show the world who you really are, simple mixtakes and all.
Until today.
Today, that integrity was seriously tested when you realized what you had done mere seconds later, yet, because of the blogger's code, you were unable to touch a thing.
And the horrific results are just now starting to drift in.
How unfair, you think to yourself as the screen-grab from your site is spread throughout the blogsosphere and you become a laughingstock in the eyes of the world. Everybody does it with their vacation pictures! You remember watching slide shows as a kid of the family vacation and there was always one that slipped in! These things happen! It's just not fair!
No, it's not, my friend.
Oh, if only you'd thought to take that night school course in blogmastering. If only you'd thought to be a little more careful when adding pictures to the site. And if only you'd thought to...
Continue reading "Dr. Mercury's Computer Corner: Lesson 12 - Images"
Friday, June 27. 2008
John Hatcher's new book on the plague, reviewed in NY Sun. The glowing review begins: This totally absorbing book presents the best account ever written about the worst event to have ever befallen the British Isles. In the hands of John Hatcher, an English medievalist of sober and steady reputation who has for decades been squirreled away in one of the smaller, older, and least obtrusive of Cambridge colleges, the extraordinary tragedy of the great plague — which wiped out as much as 60% of the population of 14th-century Europe and killed an estimated 75 million worldwide — has been brought to life in a manner rarely attempted, and with a level of success even more rarely achieved.
 Related: How Dark was It? A new history of medieval Europe.
I know nothing about Italian gun laws, but it seems timely to post this photo I took of a poster for Delta Firearms Academy last week on a street in Domodossola, while wandering around waiting for the train to Locarno. Our friends in DC should maybe give Inizio a call. 
I had only one superstition. I made sure to touch all the bases when I hit a home run. Babe Ruth, with good advice for lawyers, carpenters, bankers, electricians, doctors - and everybody.
One quote from a piece with the above title by William Deresiewicz in The American Scholar: If one of the disadvantages of an elite education is the temptation it offers to mediocrity, another is the temptation it offers to security. When parents explain why they work so hard to give their children the best possible education, they invariably say it is because of the opportunities it opens up. But what of the opportunities it shuts down? An elite education gives you the chance to be rich—which is, after all, what we’re talking about—but it takes away the chance not to be. Yet the opportunity not to be rich is one of the greatest opportunities with which young Americans have been blessed. We live in a society that is itself so wealthy that it can afford to provide a decent living to whole classes of people who in other countries exist (or in earlier times existed) on the brink of poverty or, at least, of indignity. You can live comfortably in the United States as a schoolteacher, or a community organizer, or a civil rights lawyer, or an artist—that is, by any reasonable definition of comfort. You have to live in an ordinary house instead of an apartment in Manhattan or a mansion in L.A.; you have to drive a Honda instead of a BMW or a Hummer; you have to vacation in Florida instead of Barbados or Paris, but what are such losses when set against the opportunity to do work you believe in, work you’re suited for, work you love, every day of your life?
Yet it is precisely that opportunity that an elite education takes away. How can I be a schoolteacher—wouldn’t that be a waste of my expensive education? Wouldn’t I be squandering the opportunities my parents worked so hard to provide? What will my friends think? How will I face my classmates at our 20th reunion, when they’re all rich lawyers or important people in New York? And the question that lies behind all these: Isn’t it beneath me? So a whole universe of possibility closes, and you miss your true calling.
Read the whole thing (link above). A photo of the Yale campus, designed to make clever if snot-nosed kids buy into the illusion that they are 19th century aristocrats at Oxford or Cambridge rather than the humble but literate Congregationalist pastors Yale was originally created to produce: 
Getting the French to work. (h/t, Flares) It's about Amendments 1,2, and 14. The NY Sun on the candidates and Heller. And Tiger on the NYT on Heller. A quote: "There are plenty of Constitutional rights that drive inefficient, inconvenient, or even unwise public policy. One can recognize that a right exists and deplore the consequences of the right." Lots of wisdom in that simple sentence. Rights aren't about efficiency or even effectiveness - they are about human dignity and freedom. As the old saw goes, "Mussolini got the Italian trains to run on time." Save the planet - ban drive-thrus. The insane world of Congress. Powerline. Nevertheless, House Dems seem headed for a "permanent majority." Even if deserved, it's a depressing thought because they do not seem to understand even the basics of free market economics - or to value freedom as I understand it.
Thursday, June 26. 2008
 I have no problem whatsoever with physicians easing terminal peoples' path out of life with merciful doses of morphine, but I have great problems with the Brave New World of government rationing of medical care, and the hustling of people into death to save money as they seem inclined to do in the UK, Canada...and in Oregon.
Dr. Bob discusses. One quote: We have, at last, arrived. The destination was never much in doubt — once the threshold of medical manslaughter had been breached, wrapped as always in comforting words of compassion and dignity, it was only a matter of time before our pragmatism trumped our principles. Once the absolute that physicians should be healers not hangmen was heaved overboard, it was inevitable that the relentless march of relativism would reach its logical port of call.
In my view, easy abortion was the first big step in the direction of removing the annoying inconvenience of a human life. Perhaps it would be most expedient - or utilitarian - to do us in the minute we stop paying income taxes...assuming our function is to serve the "common good." Or at the moment of our birth, because it is certain that we will become expensively ill someday. And when it comes to medical treatment in general, I like TigerHawk's idea much better than any governmental idea. WallMart! Just as long as I have my own doc who knows me and cares about me first. Addendum: Father of Canada's medical system rejects what he created. "Woops. I goofed. So terribly sorry."
 From the Supremes today:
“The inherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right...” Without self-defense, a person becomes a sheep in a world with wolves. Bravo to the five Justices who honor our Constitution over their personal preferences, and bravo to Justice Scalia for putting it all in historical context. The justices' personal opinions should have no role in their job: it's not what they are paid to do. After all, everybody has an opinion on everything. Opinions on stuff are a dime a dozen. Anyway, it's a big step in the right direction. More later... Updates: Lots of links at Drudge and Memorandum. And here is the Supreme's announcement. Also, "Yahoo" at Yahoo.
For the birds that cannot soar, God has provided low branches. Turkish proverb
Sometimes forces defy control, like weather. This about captures it. It's not a perfect world, and only the seductive and subtle salesman Devil himself would suggest that it could be otherwise. Life will teach us humility, if nothing else: it seems designed to do so. Furthermore, as our Dr. Bliss often says, no two people would ever agree on what "perfect" might mean anyway. For some, it's the womb. For others, it's constant challenge and difficulty.
 The DC gun ban case should be out this morning. It won't be the be-all and end-all, but it will be interesting.
Why the Left abandoned Darfur. A quote from Bernard-Henri Levy at SC&A: We are prisoners of a scheme of thought in which, if you are a victim and if you don’t play a role, if you don’t have a part on the big stage, in the big history, in the big tale of the opposition of the evil empire and the good anti-imperialist forces, you don’t really deserve attention.
Why passenger trains don't work in the US: Charlie Martin at Pajamas A Utah warning for McCain Dems want the fairness doctrine back. At Tiger: "There should be no doubt that this is nothing less than a broadside attack on freedom of speech." Another guy eaten by a Mountain Lion. Too bad they won't stick with healthy fruits and vegetables. I guess they haven't had the advantage of modern nutritional "science." It's best to be armed in serious lion country. You can't throw them a banana any more than you can throw a Jihadist a pork chop. Anatomy of surrender. Bruce Bawer in City Journal: "Motivated by fear and multiculturalism, too many Westerners are acquiescing to creeping sharia." Global warming causes terrorism? Add it to the list. I'm pretty sure it causes my Athlete's Foot, too. Check these photos of Berkeley antiwar folks. The pics say it all. Our blog friend at Squaring the Boston Globe is resigning from blogging following his wife's cancer diagnosis. We will miss his good work, but it's the right thing to do. Best to his family, and God's presence. The case against Turkey's ruling party. Prison had "criminal subculture." That's headline news, folks. Why won't jailbirds behave like the sweet, passive, innocent victims of The System that they are? Guess they didn't get the memo. Who are the subprime villains? Every story needs a villain. If you're a paranoid, anyway.  And, speaking of witchhunts, has it occurred to Americans that those evil evil oil speculators might not be American? Hong Kong to have its own commodities exchange. Chart on the left from the piece at Dino.
Photo: Cahoon's Hollow, Wellfleet, Cape Cod
Wednesday, June 25. 2008
Losing the poetry is losing the soul. Neoneo on how the modern translations of the Bible drain it of vitality, and turn it into a Hallmark card. I rarely use the King James here, even though it's my favorite.
 That's a photo of Ellen Carrington, Miss Tennessee, who carries an S&W .40. I see nice bulges, but no gun bulge. Maybe she cutely stows it in the back of her panties.
European vexillophobia Stunning pic of Sting Ray migration. (h/t, Grapevine) 50 scientifically-proven ways to be persuasive. God bless the speculators. Stossel Great moments in climate alarmism. Climate Skeptic More Quincy. Mirrors FEMA doing a great job. That's not news, though. Obama's lack of normal modesty. Am Thinker Big governments serve the needy worse Performance-enhancing drugs in the white-collar workplace If Scalia writes DC v. Heller (h/t, Insty) Ethanol: minimal impact on gas prices, pressure on food Thank you for smoking. More on global cooling Physics prof says nothing you can do about warming. Too bad, because I think we need more global warming, and I'd like to help. When talking makes things worse. Max Boot Since when did the Presbyterians go insane? Good grief.
Ron Howard and Tom Hanks are here in Rome, filming the sequel to The DaVinci Code.
Imus interviewed Rolling Stone's Jan Wenner this morning, about Wenner's recent interview of Obama. (Wenner is an Obamamaniac, but it's all about style for him. And "change" - as Wenner profoundly said, and I paraphrase: "Everything is going so wrong. We all want change today.") Anyway, Wenner said that Obama told him that his favorite song is Dylan's Maggies Farm, which he has on his iPod. Clearly we enjoy the spirit of the song too, but if Obama really wants to be a cool dude, he needs to get hip to Maggie's Farm blog.
Tuesday, June 24. 2008
 The 100 push-up program. Like Joe Carter, I will begin today. Naw, maybe tomorrow...
The AP wallows in a parody of gloom. "Could be seen as patronizing" Really? Iran's "nightmare scenario" mulled: NY Sun Defending the faith: LaShawn on Christian Apologetics Another Obama flat-out lie. McCain gets meaningful endorsement. A Coney Island of the Mind, revisited. The first time I read it, I was blown away. Academic cannon fodder. A lesson in economics from a Chinese finance minister. Look at job growth in Texas. The Bush Paradox. David Brooks. A quote: Bush is a stubborn man. Well, without that stubbornness, that unwillingness to accept defeat on his watch, he never would have bucked the opposition to the surge. Bush is an outrageously self-confident man. Well, without that self-confidence he never would have overruled his generals.
 Quoted at EU Referendum:
He was asking, "Has Europe's terminal crisis begun with a triple no vote?", telling us that, "The ultra-Europeans have overplayed their hand," and then asserting: "We can now glimpse a chain of events that will halt, and reverse, this extremist push towards an Über-state that almost no one wants."
He may be right when he says: "the attempt to override the triple "no" votes of the French, Dutch, and Irish peoples has brought the EU to a systemic crisis of legitimacy," adding, "A line too many has been crossed. Any sentient citizen can see that the process has become unhinged."
Girls forbidden to whistle at construction workers Quote from a speech posted at Brussels Journal: To say that the luminaries of the conference disappointed my hopes is to understate things. But to say that that were luminous is to be perfectly accurate. I’ll just name three of the most prominent and powerful: • Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Ekmeleddin Ihsanouglu of Turkey.
• Former Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
• His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Faisal al Saud, former director of Saudi intelligence, and until recently the Saudi Ambassador to the United States. These men are educated… well traveled… experienced… wealthy… and Westernized. And each of them told the conference that for the West and Islam to reconcile, the West must abandon the principle of free speech.
Part 2 of the Pew study of religion in America has been issued. It shows that there is a lot of non-dogmatic religious thinking going on, which is no surprise really. An excerpt from the piece on the subject in the CSM: On some basics, the American faithful are much alike. Ninety-two percent believe in God, including 70 percent of those not connected with any religion. Three-quarters believe in life after death, and 79 percent believe in miracles. Prayer is a widespread practice, in which 75 percent engage at least weekly and 58 percent daily. Thirty-four percent say they have experienced or witnessed a divine healing of an illness or injury. Yet divergent perspectives coexist within many traditions. In regard to the conception of God, 60 percent of Americans believe in a personal God, while 25 percent believe in an impersonal force or universal spirit. Eastern Orthodox Christians split 49 to 34 percent on this question, while Muslims divide evenly, 41 to 42 percent. Among Jews, 25 percent believe in a personal God and 50 percent in an impersonal force.
From Investor's Business Daily: No one likes war. War is a horrific affair, bloody and expensive. Sending our men and women into battle to perhaps die or be maimed is an unconscionable thought.
Yet some wars need to be waged, and someone needs to lead. The citizenry and Congress are often ambivalent or largely opposed to any given war. It's up to our leader to convince them. That's why we call the leader "Commander in Chief."
George W.'s war was no different. There was lots of resistance to it. Many in Congress were vehemently against the idea. The Commander in Chief had to lobby for legislative approval.
Along with supporters, George W. used the force of his convictions, the power of his title and every ounce of moral suasion he could muster to rally support. He had to assure Congress and the public that the war was morally justified, winnable and affordable. Congress eventually came around and voted overwhelmingly to wage war.
George W. then lobbied foreign governments for support. But in the end, only one European nation helped us. The rest of the world sat on its hands and watched.
After a few quick victories, things started to go bad. There were many dark days when all the news was discouraging. Casualties began to mount. It became obvious that our forces were too small. Congress began to drag its feet about funding the effort.
Many who had voted to support the war just a few years earlier were beginning to speak against it and accuse the Commander in Chief of misleading them. Many critics began to call him incompetent, an idiot and even a liar. Journalists joined the negative chorus with a vengeance.
As the war entered its fourth year, the public began to grow weary of the conflict and the casualties. George W.'s popularity plummeted. Yet through it all, he stood firm, supporting the troops and endorsing the struggle.
Without his unwavering support, the war would have surely ended, then and there, in overwhelming and total defeat.
At this darkest of times, he began to make some changes. More troops were added and trained. Some advisers were shuffled, and new generals installed.
Then, unexpectedly and gradually, things began to improve. Now it was the enemy that appeared to be growing weary of the lengthy conflict and losing support. Victories began to come, and hope returned.
Many critics in Congress and the press said the improvements were just George W.'s good luck. The progress, they said, would be temporary. He knew, however, that in warfare good fortune counts.
Then, in the unlikeliest of circumstances and perhaps the most historic example of military luck, the enemy blundered and was resoundingly defeated. After six long years of war, the Commander in Chief basked in a most hard-fought victory.
So on that historic day, Oct. 19, 1781, in a place called Yorktown, a satisfied George Washington sat upon his beautiful white horse and accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
Practicing medicine has become a crappy job. Insty Tom Wolfe returns to Wall Street Where in the Constitution....does it permit Congress to tell us what lightbulbs to use? Ted Poe is funny.
 We have posted in the past about the role of natural Vit D - and the role of Vit D supplement, in cancer prevention.
Here's a piece at Pajamas on the subject. The take-home message is, I believe, get tan but not burned. It's good news, because those of us who are pasty-white Anglos look better with some healthy color.
Dalrymple begins: Is the European Union heading for a Yugoslavian-style denouement? It sometimes looks as if its political class, oblivious to the wishes or concerns of the EU’s various populations, is determined to bring one about. The French and the Dutch voted against the proposed European Constitution, but that did not deter the intrepid political class from pressing ahead with its plans for a superstate that no one else wants. To bypass the wishes of the people, the politicos reintroduced the constitution as a treaty, to be ratified by parliaments alone. Only the Irish had the guts—or was it the foolhardiness?—to hold a referendum on the issue. Unfortunately, the Irish people got the answer wrong.
Read the whole thing.
A pilot's ideal cockpit, via Theo: 
The Czech libertarian spirit is alive and well. SDA In defense of sweatshops. There is no reality in the Dem energy "policy." The best movie ever about Communist Romania Miss Tennessee has a concealed carry permit. Majority of Dems want to nationalize oil industry. Is that before - or after - they nationalize medicine and Big Food? Maybe they should just tell us what they don't want to nationalize. Evidence supports School Choice. Pajamas 27 daily affirmations for bloggers Carla and Michael attack the Massachusetts tax dragon. Good luck to them. I am breathlessly awaiting the Supremes' DC gun ban decision. Any day now.
 This is the old Grand Hotel des Isles Borromee, a 5-star place built in 1863 on the Stresa waterfront.
Monday, June 23. 2008
 Bad boys get more girls. (h/t, Flares)
Another drop-out who made good. Carl Right Wing Prof vs. The Power. Obama losing his sheen? Pajamas. Heck, he's just another Chicago pol. Breaking his promise re public financing clinches the argument. But the card he has up his sleeve is the Race Card. Is the high price of oil really unintended? Synthstuff. He is right: high oil prices is Dem official policy. Should McCain pick a lady Veep? Pot OK, tobacco not. The incredible disappearing Iraq War. Confed. Yank The Global Warming Inquisition. We just knew this was coming. Do you know your lumber? Not like Sipp, you don't. Citigroup to fire tons of bankers. A once-great company is now a mess. Thanks for nothin', Sandy Weil. Newspapers in deep trouble. Why I don't want kids. Captain Capitalism. Kids are, no doubt, impractical. But who wants to be practical? Correcting your Mozart deficit. NY Sun Sharpton vs Imus, Round Two? Good grief.
An excerpt from an excerpt from an Alan Charles Kors essay in New Criterion: The power of universities comes from their monopoly of credentials. As Richard Vedder so deeply understands in his “Going Broke by Degree,” they are the only institutions allowed to separate young individuals by IQ and by the ability to complete complex tasks. They do not add value to that, except in technical fields. Recruiters do not pay premiums because of what the Ivy League or the flagship state universities teach in English, history, political science, or sociology. They hire there despite, not because of, that. Recruiters do not pay premiums because our children have been sent to multicultural centers for sensitivity training. Recruiters pay premiums for the value already there, which universities merely identify. So long as recruiters pay premiums, however, it is rational for parents who wish to gain the most options for their children to send them to the university with the most prestigious degree. That will not change in the current scheme.
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Yellow Science.