Wednesday, June 18. 2008
The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month. Fyodor Doskoevsky
This is an old re-post: I stumbled onto this old Auster review on the View from the Right yesterday. He reviewed Brookhiser's The Way of the Wasp, (which I read when it came out in 1991, with the hope that I might understand myself a little better). America has been historically a WASP culture, in the best sense of the term, and that is why it is such a fine country. Does anyone doubt this? It's the culture that dares to interrogate itself. One quote from Auster's piece: In his account of the degeneration of this pattern of useful virtues into an opposite set of vices, Brookhiser illuminates our current disorder. Conscience, the monitor of the self, has given way to the untrammeled self, along with the attendant liberationisms; lower-class welfare mothers and upper-class S&L con artists are equally products of a culture that has thrown away the constraints of conscience. Instead of industry rewarded by success, we have ambition striving for gratification. Civic-mindedness has been displaced by the group-mindedness that now dominates our politics, while the objective test of use (which implies a moral standard derived from nature) has given way to diffidence: "[Things] are, therefore we defer to them"--a neat characterization of America's timorous response to every minority demand.
Consider reading the book, or at least Auster's review, whether WASP or not. It's the story of America's strength and freedom and traditions and manners, all based on stern Protestant moral codes of modesty, duty, sacrifice, self-sufficiency, courage, self-denial, integrity, work, respect, honor, and emotional restraint. With a strong, monitoring, rather punitive conscience to watch over it all. It is impossible to be a nation or a community without shared behavioral codes, and these are still the core of our culture, despite endless assaults upon them from a variety of directions. It's just too damn bad if these codes aren't always fun or instantly gratifying or ego-enhancing: They are for the grown-ups.
 St. Johnsbury, VT is about 40 miles south of the Canadian border, and with a population around 7000 it is the main town in Vermont's rural Northeast Kingdom. Calvin Coolidge went to school there and Dr. Bob of AA fame grew up there.
You drive through St. Johnsbury on the way to somewhere else, such as grouse hunting in NH or Maine. It's a sad, run-down old town today, with plenty of poverty and few jobs, and it gives you the feeling that those with the inner resources to leave, do so. Except for the farmers, the logging truck drivers and the Maple sugar bottlers, it's lots of folks on Vermont welfare who would have much better lives if they took a deep American breath and left the squalor behind by taking a bus to Atlanta, Alabama, or Arizona to find a new life and a real job where they could be of use. This 1900 fixer-upper pictured can be had for $89,000. I wouldn't take it if you gave me $89,000, unless it was wintertime and I was desperate for shelter. No amount of money could make this house charming or homey, but shelter is shelter and, in VT in the winter, ya gotta have some and to hell with charm.
Why are New Yorkers the way that they are? Joan Acocella in Smithsonian. And an annoyed response by the Chicagoan Huston.
One year ago, as the Immigration Reform bill was being debated, David Frum wrote How I Rethought Immigration. One quote: It seems impossible that the immigration bill can succeed: A large majority of the American people claim to be following the immigration debate closely, and that majority opposes the immigration plan by a three-to-one majority. And when the bill collapses, it will take what little remains of the president's political capital with it. Did I say capital? No, that has long since been spent. It is his credit that he is now exhausting.
Reality is only an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein
This 1866 Currier and Ives print depicts the "miniature ship" Red White and Blue. Details as listed on the print: Length 26 Feet. Breadth of Beam 6 Feet 1 Inch. Depth of Hold 2 Ft. 8 In. 2 33/100 Tons Register. On her Voyage from New York to London, August 1866 with Capts Hudson & Fitch & dog Fanny. Sailed from New York July 9th arrived at Margate, August 16th 1866 
Tuesday, June 17. 2008
I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness. Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
 My favorite handgun is my Les Baer 1911 Thunder Ranch Special.
Nobody builts a .45 like Baer, perfectly weighted and balanced so you can actually hit the target, and not get pushed backwards. A bit too heavy and bulky for carrying in your back pocket, however.
A quote from Arthur Brooks in City Journal, "Free People are Happy People:" Freedom and happiness are highly correlated, then; even more significant, several studies have shown that freedom causes happiness. In a famous 1976 experiment, psychologists in Connecticut gave residents on one floor of a nursing home the freedom to decide which night of the week would be “movie night,” as well as the freedom to choose and care for the plants on their floor. On another floor of the same nursing home, residents did not receive these choices and responsibilities. The first group of residents—no healthier or happier than the second when the experiment began—quickly showed greater alertness, more activity, and better mood. A year and a half later, they were still doing better, and even dying at half the rate of the residents on the other floor.
This chart from the article: 
Read the whole thing.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car."
-Author Unknown Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away from children."
-Author Unknown "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar."
-Drew Carey "The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house."
-Jeff Foxworthy "If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base."
-Dave Barry
"Relationships are hard. It's like a full time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay, and the day before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp."
-Bob Ettinger" A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: "Duh."
-Conan O'Brien "Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God...I could be eating a slow learner."
-Lynda Montgomery "I think that's how Chicago got started. Bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'"
-Richard Jeni "If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead."
-Johnny Carson "Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography."
-Paul Rodriguez "My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law."
-Jerry Seinfeld "Remember in elementary school, you were told that in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic in that? What, do tall people burn slower?"
-Warren Hutcherson "Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same."
-Oscar Wilde "Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least they can find Afghanistan "
-A. Whitney Brown "You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'"
-Dave Barry Do you know why they call it "PMS"? Because "Mad Cow Disease" was taken.
- Unknown, presumed deceased "Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer."
-W. C. Fields
Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. - G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
This is an elegant 2003 70' Hinckley. Hinckley builds sailboats to order, but it makes sense to buy a used one. Her details here. They are asking $3,400,000., and worth every penny. 
Monday, June 16. 2008
 There appears to be no popular biography of Rush, a man who would be of interest even if he had not been a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
As our readers know, Rush was the preeminent American physician of his day, the founder of American psychiatry, a pioneer in the humane treatment of the mentally ill and of prisoners, a pioneer of the therapeutic approach to addiction - and an ardent revolutionary who antagonized Washington (he wanted Washington out as being an inadequate strategist - which he was). He was also a passionate Christian whose faith guided his life, and his fierce opposition to slavery did not endear him to many. He founded the first Bible society in the US. This book by Brodsky seems like less of a popular bio than a compilation of Rush's huge correspondences. 2000 Rush letters survive. This one by David Barton might be the best one out there. Here's Rush's autobiography Here's his book, Medical Inquiries and Observations Upon the Diseases of the Mind.
 I've never understood the passion for the boiled or steamed Blue Crab on the Atlantic coast. Too much work for too little reward - though they are by far the tastiest crab in the world, and a true Maryland Crab Cake is the best. A lobster rewards effort better, but lobsters do not live in Maryland.
(Sauteed soft-shelled - moulting - Blue Crabs are another matter entirely. Great stuff.) Spelling note: "moult" or "molt" are both acceptable spellings, but apparently "molt" is more American. Some Blue Crab links: The Peoples' Lobster A little natural history of the Blue Crab How to correctly "pick" a crab How Blue Crabs moult
This is a re-posting from 2005:
Regular readers know that we are big fans of English political philosopher Roger Scruton. This is from a 6-page piece in the Intercollegiate Review this month:
Can there be a public spirit whose foundation is the internationalist idea? It seems at first that there can be. Some of the most public-spirited movements of our century have been expressly internationalist in their aims: the Olympic movement, the Red Cross, the United Nations, and the aptly named Médecins sans Frontières. Again, however, I do not think that any of these movements could have succeeded without the fund of national sentiment on which they drew—unless, that is, they take their inspiration, as does the Red Cross, from a religious idea. The Olympic movement seeks to bring about international cooperation through enhancing, rather than diminishing, national pride: for that is what competitive international sport requires. And as the Berlin Olympics of 1936 conclusively demonstrated, the result may enhance nationalist belligerence too.
Furthermore, public spirit is an attribute of nations. Not all people possess it in equal degrees. Indeed, there is a notorious difference between those people for whom family is the source and object of all social loyalty and those people who recognize the web of obligations to strangers. The Sicilians, being of the first kind, have often wrought havoc in America, where they have found themselves among people of the second kind, who are without effective defenses against them. And in the new international jurisdiction in Europe we find an interesting dividing line, which separates the Langue d’oc from the Langue d’oeil and the German-speaking from the Latin and Greekspeaking peoples. Above this line corruption is minimal; below it corruption is the normal state of affairs.
A serious read but well worth it: entire important essay here. If you need a reminder about langue d'oc and langue d'oeil, here's one.
Two plus two equals five is not without its attractions. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground
 Jim at Wild Goose Lodge on PEI is a good friend of Ducks Unlimited and is generous in his donations of trips to our fund-raising events.
To accommodate the increased costs of travel, he is reducing your 4-night package cost by $350 this year, while predicting another excellent year of waterfowl hunting.
Something I stumbled on: My worst date ever. A fairly bad date, but if that's his worst, I won't worry about him too much. My best first date was a blind date. (Future) hubbie picks me up and takes me sledding at night in New Hampshire. 12 degrees (F). Had his toboggan tied to the roof of his old wreck of a Jeep, and a six-pack of beer on the back seat. You just had to like the guy. Tall, dark and handsome too, with plenty of interesting quirks. I guess it was a test of my gumption, but, to his credit, the toboggan on the steep hill made me end up holding on tight to him - a total stranger (well, with the introduction by a close family friend). But it did feel pretty good. Only the beer was wrong. For nightime sledding, brandy is the thing, but he was a poor student at HBS at the time.
Today is Bloom's Day. Did I like the book? You bet.
Before the Renaissance, artists (like composers and songwriters) were artisans and did not sign their work, similar to illustrators and jingle-composers today. The "Master of St. Cecilia" decorated churches in Assisi and in Florence from around 1300-1320. This fresco is from his Legends of St. Francis, #27 (A heretic confessing) in the Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi (1300) 
Sunday, June 15. 2008
CS Lewis as quoted in an essay on evil at Belmont: My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. ... Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist--in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless -I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality--namely my idea of justice--was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.
 Back from the sea. Heading down to Maine now for a few more days of vacation. By this hour, there should be no traffic hassles. And, no - I have not been invited to anybody's grand waterfront "cottage" in one of those upper-crust Maine villages. I will be roughin' it in Acadia Park, like the working class, no-trust-fund, non-country club Reagan Republican that I am, with some old college pals. Definitely no golf. Clams, beer, and lots of fresh fried cod with fries and cole slaw. Salt and vinegar on the fish. A few lobsters, too. I shall swim - or at least immerse - in that ice-cold June water, if only to try to stay clean. Lots of hiking around. No golf, but some deep-water fishing. I have pre-posted some things to try to help keep Maggie's in business. See y'all in a while. (No, I do not do cameras. I do love looking at photos of stuff, but I learned that, when I go somewhere with a camera, I focus on the camera instead of on the thing itself. So I gave 'em up.)
Nike's relatively new line of Dri-Fit polo shirts, trousers, etc, is worth knowing about, especially in summertime. This stuff is extremely comfortable for golf, light as a feather, and never gets sweaty. The polo shirts are good for tennis, and do not get heavy with sweat. Polyester, but nothing like what one thinks of as polyester. Their Tour Pleat Golf Pants are also the most comfortable travel pants I have ever worn.
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