Thursday, April 30. 2009
"Talented" pols never let the facts get in their way. On the current path, everybody is headed for some hefty tax increases which will begin to ramp up in 2011 and no doubt for years thereafter unless the tide changes.
 A new, better invisibility cloak
Conservatives live in different moral universes. It's true.
The ballerina and the Narwhals
Krauthammer begins:
I think it hasn't been the most important 100 days. I think it has been the most revealing 100 days in our lifetime. After all, this man when he was elected was one of the great mysteries of American politics. He was the most unknown, untested, untried, and really un-figured-out man ever to ascend to the office.
Via Ace:
Dennis Miller: We're Living In Odd Times When Miss California Gets Tougher Questions Than the President
BBC: Basra progress "staggering"
Precautionary principle gone wild: The flu. Related from Lewis in Am Thinker, who begins:
The Mexican swine flu pandemic? Oh, that's soooo yesterday. Global Warming? All those confident "scientific" predictions are falling apart around the world, even as greedy politicians still try to squeeze the last little drops of power and money out of them. Human flesh-eating bacteria? SARS? Ozone holes? Mad Cow? The Curse of the Killer Tomatoes? Water torture? CO2? Bee Colony Collapse? It never ends. As long as scare stories sell, as long as millions of indoctrinated suckers fall for them they will never end. They've got you on a rat-running wheel, running scared every day, like rats scrambling to get away from electrical shocks that never actually come.
Is the bipolar child a purely American phenomenon?
Solzhenitsyn on free medical care
From Insty:
DOES G.M. NOW STAND FOR Gettelfinger Motors? Actually, I like the idea of the unions owning the car companies — or I would, if they then had to stand on their own instead of getting still more bailout cash. I’m afraid we’re in for a decade of politically propped-up zombie carmakers, a sort of American Leyland.
UPDATE: Mickey Kaus is taking a positive view: “Let the UAW, as new owner of GM, pay the price for the overgrown work rules of its locals. Let the UAW demand above-market raises from itself. Let the UAW try to raise money from new lenders after the previous round of lenders has been royally screwed (thanks, in part, to the UAW). And then let the UAW try to sell the cars that result.” So long as friendly politicians don’t protect them from the consequences of their actions with other people’s money.
 I was working at home today, and took a stroll at lunchtime up the driveway for a quiet smoke and to give the horses some carrots. A new black F-150 pulls in. A well-muscled and well-tattoed guy leans out and says "Got a FedEx for ya." He rummages under the Lear top to find my package.
"Where's your truck?" I ask. "In the shop today." "Why all the plumbing tools back there?" I ask. "I'm a plumber." He pulls out his card for me.
I'm always interested in stories like this. Jimmy R. bought this FedEx route: he owns it. Three trucks, three drivers. His real job is plumbing contractor, but he helps the drivers on his route when a problem comes up. He started out as an apprentice plumber after getting out of the Corps. The man is a double entrepreneur, and Jimmy is a part of the America the libs neither know nor comprehend. He is also the part of America that the Dems are determined to damage.
"You need a plumber, you call me" he instructs as he leaves. Stickers on the back windshield of the Lear top: "Mossberg," an image of a leaping stag, and the US Marine Corp logo.
Man, I thought, I love this country just the way it is.
Megan addresses the issue of primary care docs. Fact is, internists are sort of our routine GPs now. It's not possible to be an old-time GP any more, doing obstetrics, pediatrics, minor surgery, cardiology, cancer, neurology, psychiatry. You couldn't keep up, for one thing - and no insuror would cover you. The closest things we have to real GPs today are ER docs.
The comments on her post are interesting.
Quote from the WSJ:
Free enterprise is culturally mainstream, for the moment. Asked in a Rasmussen poll conducted this month to choose the better system between capitalism and socialism, 13% of respondents over 40 chose socialism. For those under 30, this percentage rose to 33%. (Republicans were 11 times more likely to prefer capitalism than socialism; Democrats were almost evenly split between the two systems.)
The government has been abetting this trend for years by exempting an increasing number of Americans from federal taxation. My colleague Adam Lerrick showed in these pages last year that the percentage of American adults who have no federal income-tax liability will rise to 49% from 40% under Mr. Obama's tax plan. Another 11% will pay less than 5% of their income in federal income taxes and less than $1,000 in total.
To put a modern twist on the old axiom, a man who is not a socialist at 20 has no heart; a man who is still a socialist at 40 either has no head, or pays no taxes. Social Democrats are working to create a society where the majority are net recipients of the "sharing economy." They are fighting a culture war of attrition with economic tools. Defenders of capitalism risk getting caught flat-footed with increasingly antiquated arguments that free enterprise is a Main Street pocketbook issue. Progressives are working relentlessly to see that it is not.
Please read the whole thing, because he gets to the heart of the issue.
Our readers are already clued in to the Met Live in HD which, at least around here, is rapidly growing in popularity. The theaters sell out.
Now the Met has something even newer: Met Player. 200 Met performances in HD and state of the art sound. From May 1 - May 3, unlimited use of Met Player will be offered as a free trial. Sounds like a no-brainer.
No opera glasses needed.
 My first thought about our Theo photo this morning is that it looked like the Adirondacks. Wasn't that your first thought too?
No race bake sale at Bucknell. We support freedom of baking.
Was this a real Hobbitt?
Update me: Am I not allowed to say "pig" any more?
Advice for ladies in the workplace
Can gummint and a union run a car company?
Dick Morris says Obama will damage himself
"It is devolutional." Surber
"You're a Professor, really?"
The vast Obama-media conspiracy. A masterful job of seducing the press. Still, O is the second most reviled Pres in 40 years
Sir Michael:
"The Government has taken tax up to 50 per cent, and if it goes to 51 I will be back in America," he said at the weekend. "We've got 3.5 million layabouts on benefits, and I'm 76, getting up at 6am to go to work to keep them. Let's get everybody back to work so we can save a couple of billion and cut tax, not keep sticking it up."
What does the future hold for First Things?
Free Enterprise's 100 day death march. Key quote:
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told NPR’s Michelle Norris yesterday: “The President has said, and I couldn’t agree more, that what this country needs is a one single national road map that tells automakers who are trying to become solvent again what kind of car it is they need to be designing and building for the American people.” Norris then asked: “Is that the role of Government though? That doesn’t sound like free enterprise.” Jackson responded: “Well it is free enterprise in a way.”
Blakeman at Politico:
The Dems were able to get by defection something they may have never have gotten at the Ballot Box, a closure needed, debated ending 60 votes. The Dems will come to regret taking Arlen in. He knows how important his votes are to them. If you think dealing with Somalia Pirates is bad, try working with Blackbeard Spector. There is not much the GOP can do if the Dems have 60 votes. They need to stay united in opposition and work like hell for mid-term gains. Obama will put the pedal to the metal and steam roll as much legislation through as is possible while he enjoys his "dictatorship".
Related, the O says he is remaking America. Good grief.
Related, at Reason:
...he will reveal himself to be that least inspiring of all political characters: a leader beholden first and foremost to special interests and ultra-conventional voting blocs. This at a time when the electorate is becoming increasingly unaffiliated with either the Democrats or Republicans, conservatives or liberals.
That's our second truck load of it. This black stuff looks best, and only costs a little bit more for your garden beds. A 6" layer does the job.
Wednesday, April 29. 2009
Exams, contests, competitions, elections, business. Pollyanna-ish as it may sound, losing or doing poorly in these things offers learning opportunities. People tend not to learn much from winning: they tend to just keep doing the same thing until it stops working. That's when people are forced to re-think.
I have never watched Dr. Phil, but I am told that one of his favorite comments is "And how is that working for you?" It sounds like one of those great AA aphorisms.
Rick Moran has a very thoughtful and, I believe, realistic piece Moderates? Who needs 'em, about whither conservatism. It surely rings true up here in New England, where we lost our last R congressman, Chris Shays, in the last election. One quote:
“Changing historical circumstances” and the recognition that although our principles may be immutable, how they are interpreted is up to each generation. My interpretation of First Principles differs broadly from most of you reading this. Does this mean we can’t be allies in the struggle to bring those principles to the job of governing a great nation? Chasing away those who agree with you in principle but differ with you on interpretation will only lead to permanent minority status for conservatives. I have to think we’re too smart to allow that to happen.
Read the whole thing. Of course Conservatives need appealing, inspiring and articulate spokesmen but, to remain a national force, Conservatism, as a subsection of the GOP, has to recognize regional realities. You just cannot say "Good riddance" to every Chris Shays.
Gotta remember that "All politics is local," and that every voting lever pulled is done by an individual person in a certain place at a certain time with varying emotions, information, and environment. Most voters have no real political philosophy. If they did, we'd probably have a national Libertarian party.
From the NYT article:
Honeybees can tell their sisters how far away the food is up to a distance of about 15 kilometers. For good measure, they can also allow for the fact that the sun moves relative to the hive by about 15 degrees an hour and correct for this when they pass on the information. In other words, they have their own built-in global positioning system and a language that enables them to refer to objects and events that are distant in space or time.
Photos from the NYT piece.
From VA Tech, via Shibley at Pajamas:
We, the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Diversity Committee, use the term “diversity” to mean the desirability and value of many kinds of individual differences while at the same time acknowledging and respecting that socially constructed differences based on certain characteristics exist within systems of power that create and sustain inequality, hierarchy, and privilege.* The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences is determined to eliminate these forms of inequality, hierarchy, and privilege in our programs and practices. In this sense, diversity is to be actively advanced because it fosters excellence in learning, discovery, and engagement.
* These characteristics include, but are not limited to ability, age, body size and condition, class, color, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, geographical and cultural background, health status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, and veteran status. [Asterisk in original.]
Perhaps it was aiming for satire, but overshot the mark.
That's his griz. I'd rather see her bare. Story here.
Does aptitude matter at all? Does ability matter? Does anything matter, except skin tone diversity? As far as I can tell, the anti-test movement in edn is all about skin tone.
Tests are designed to discern and to objectively measure ability and knowledge, to - and here's the word - discriminate the competent from the less so. Crazy thing is that the SAT was introduced precisely to provide objective measures to eliminate favoritism and to reward merit.
 Via Driscoll:
On “CNN Newsroom” on April 28, Sanchez interviewed Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., about the departure of Sen. Arlen Specter, Pa., from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. He asked the senator from South Carolina if Specter was correct in his analysis that the conservative wing of the Republican Party was squeezing out a segment of the electorate.
“You’re shrinking the electorate to an extreme - to a point where a regular Republican can’t win,” Sanchez said, paraphrasing Specter. “What do you make of that argument?”
DeMint explained it was which ideology was best suited to give Americans the freedom to choose in their daily lives that propagated a more prosperous society - both economically and culturally.
“That’s quite the opposite,” DeMint said. “We’re seeing across the country right now that the biggest tent of all is the tent of freedom and what we need to do as Republicans is convince Americans that freedom can work in all areas of their life - for every American, whether it’s education, or health care or creating jobs.”
However, with that response, Sanchez had his Jim Mora moment - when Mora, the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts went into his “playoffs” rant after a 40-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Nov. 25, 2001.
“What the hell does that mean?” Sanchez said. “I mean, the biggest tent is freedom? Freedom? I mean you got to do better than that!”
It may be hard to believe, but that is what we're up against, friends. There are Americans who have no clue about why this nation exists.
Why schools of education are a joke. Sol Stern in City Journal. It is literally a conspiracy to keep the kids poor and stupid.
About beauty and kitsch and Scruton's new book on Beauty. One quote:
...if nearly everyone likes it, how bad can it be? "Kitsch is the daily art of our time, as the vase or the hymn was for earlier generations," said Harold Rosenberg, the great art critic. Milan Kundera argued, "No matter how much we scorn it, kitsch is an integral part of the human condition." And they were writing before the appearance of "reality" television, which repackages kitschy old conventions of popular drama as public competition, bringing to "real" people the humiliation and cruelty traditionally endured by imaginary losers in mass-culture fiction.
Photo: Flamingo decoys are still available, here.
In passing, we should note this curious mark of our own age: the only absolute allowed is the absolute insistence that there is no absolute.
.
 100 days at Jules begins thus:
Joyous event of the 100 days of the Obama Idea happily celebrated by cheering workers of the liberated United States Peoples Democratic Republic with inspiring song and deep reflection of gratitude!
There's no such thing as 'capitalism'; Marx made that up. It's just another way of saying 'freedom'.
Commenter "Ahem" at Maggie's Farm
 Quoted in a piece at Villainous:
In the 1970s, it took $46,870 to add a year to the life expectancy of 65-year-olds. By the 1990s, it cost $145,000.
Does gummint support for R&D do any good?
Quoted at Ace:
Isn't it fabulous how Obama has reconciled with our enemies and put fear into the hearts of Americans? Does any image illustrate so neatly the wrongheadedness of the Obama administration than Americans scrambling in terror from Air Force One?
Protein begins:
Obama is running the banking, housing and automobile industry out of the White House (along with letting Rahm play with the US Census) so why not be in charge of Science, too?
The politicization of GM. Quite discouraging and distressing, but that's what happens when you mix politics with real life. Everything becomes politicized and part of the spoils system.
Fair and balanced rules cable
Carville: Dems will rule for 40 years
The end of Capitalism? McArdle.
But not the end of Capitalism for Al Gore. He got rich quick.
I would say the Catholics win this round.
Tuesday, April 28. 2009
A friend emails this note:
I just finished reading Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich. He has an awesome born again story. If any of the guys in your Bible study like sports, it’s a good biography of a miserable superstar athlete who found his ultimate freedom and happiness in Christ at the end of his short life—and was able to pass it on to his father.
http://www.amazon.com/Pistol-Life-Maravich-Mark-Kriegel/dp/0743284976.
Can You Get What You Pay For? Pay-For-Performance and the Quality of Healthcare Providers
Misconceptions about the interrogation memos. WSJ
Truman's decision to recognize Israel
Hatikva 2009. A Guiness world record.
Nickel Creek with "Ode to a Butterfly" from their record "Nickel Creek." (h/t, LGF)
 The news mills are ginning up yet another medical crisis storm these days in an effort to pave the way for gummint medical care by the same good folks who run the DMV and the post office. They seem to imagine a problem with cost, access, and insurance. Maybe we are a nation of crybabies, because we have the best medical care in the world with which to pamper our so-called precious selves.
It's time we got beyond that self-love, and cared about the Greater Good. I have a few simple, rational, Utilitarian solutions.
Cost: Cost is driven by technology and modern pharmacology, cancer treatment, crocks (people obsessed with their health), gomers ("gomers go to ground"), and futile, guilt-driven end-of-life treatment for annoying old or sick relatives. The cost of American medical care can be dramatically reduced by forbidding all cancer treatment other than Oxycontin and at-home 10-gallon morphine pumps, all medical treatment for those over 57 (the children are our future!), all CT and MRI scans, all blood tests, and all medicines other than friendly, holistic, herbal organic ones. No more vaccinations - they cause Autism. No more antibiotics - everybody knows that they make people sick. Eliminate Dermatology (just stay out of the sun, people). Eliminate Opthalmology (bad eyesight is from masturbation - it's your own fault). Eliminate Psychiatry (mental illness is socio-political mind control). Eliminate Urology (do you want a #3 gauge tube stuck up your urethra?). Eliminate Surgery - it is physical assault on comatose victims. Eliminate Neurology - it's just nerves.
Access: Doctors are like waterfront trade unions: they limit their numbers to keep their payments high enough to join country clubs, to buy boats, and to take vacations. My idea: anybody who gets a C or better in Organic Chem is automatically admitted to a government medical school. Lots of good, caring people are weak in math and chem and bio and stuff, but that's who we need more of. My medical school flunk-out rate was 18%: what a waste of talent. Plus there are too many Jews and Asians in medicine anyway, and too few people of color or of gender identity diversity. So, with this increase in the numbers of docs, fees could go down to $5 per office visit and the docs who don't like it can open dry cleaning shops, cigar shops and wine shops like they do in Canada.
Insurance: Medical insurance is a dumb idea. Why expect your neighbor to pay your medical bills when they will be so low under my plan anyway? They will be cheaper than your garbage pick-up, your newspaper subscription, your cigarette costs, your car payment or your monthly payment for your big screen TV. (Did you ever notice how nobody complains about the cost of their TVs, computers, or Life Insurance?) Or just save your money if you want and die quietly without complaint, dude, and make space for the next generation. Too many people on the planet and, let's face it, life isn't all it's cracked up to be anyway. A vale of tears and toil, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. What's the big deal about death? Didn't your parents teach you that life is a bitch?
Another Big Rug: A floral carpet in Brussels. Thanks, reader.
Fisheries: "it is at least something that, after 25 years, the EU is recognising that one of its longest established policies has failed. It has yet to understand, however, the reason for that failure."
Woopsy. A mistake, viewed in retropect. The consequences of letting Lehman fail. This was new territory for everyone, but the fallout of this error were ginormous. Related: The amazing story of Paulson, The B of A, and Merrill.
Ben Stein on the honorable business of selling. h/t, Tiger
Masochist play makes $ for Pakistan. What's ouroboros? All sex play is good, in our view. At Maggie's, leather and whips are my fave, but sometimes we're in the mood for French maid outfits on the chicks, and maybe a little light bondage.
Deification of the planet. I thought culture had evolved past that. Why worship a rock spinning in space? There are millions of 'em. But OK, it's our rock. Our Pet Rock?
Krugman now admits that Laffer was right
Record declines in the newspaper biz. Except the WSJ. Seems odd to me. Everybody enjoys the papers, even if they also enjoy getting mad at them. How else would you know who starred in the high school basketball game against Pittsfield High?
The O talks to his teleprompter. Imagine if Bush...
From Lucianne:
100 days: Obama dumps Bush's
world view, but now what?
Monday, April 27. 2009
Anchoress emails:
This actually made me kind of sick. I threw up a little in my mouth. Please excuse the mass mailing...I think everyone should see it. To me it's sick and sycophantic, but it is also so cowardly. Insult the Christians, because you can, and never mind that we're still in Easter.
This makes me think less of Obama, who should have gotten out in front of this messianic talk, instead of silently encouraging it. It speaks volumes about the artist, but Obama's silent consent also speaks volumes about him.
CAPTION: "The Truth" by Painter Michael D'Antuono which will be unveiled on President Obama's 100th Day in Office at NYC's Union Square. (PRNewsFoto/NOAH G POP FAM)
Update: The artist changed his mind about doing that (see Dr X's comment below)
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Thanks, reader:
From the Center for Media & public Affairs at George Mason University
MEDIA BOOST OBAMA... HE ATTRACTS MORE EARLY COVERAGE THAN G.W. BUSH AND BILL CLINTON COMBINED
A quote: During his first 50 days in office, the three broadcast network evening news shows devoted 1021 stories lasting 27 hours 44 minutes to Barack Obama’s presidency. The daily average of seven stories and over 11 minutes of airtime represents about half of the entire newscasts. By contrast, at this point in their presidencies George W. Bush had received 7 hours 42 minutes and Bill Clinton garnered 15 hours 2 minutes of coverage, for a combined total airtime five hours less than Mr. Obama’s.
CBS led the coverage with 365 stories and 10 hours 46 minutes of airtime, followed by NBC with 327 stories and 9 hours 38 minutes, and ABC with 329 stories and 7 hours 20 minutes. Thus, CBS has given more coverage to the Obama administration than all three networks combined gave to the first 50 days of George W. Bush’s presidency.
scientism
- The belief that the assumptions, methods of research, etc. of the physical and biological sciences are equally appropriate and essential in all other disciplines including the humanities and the social sciences.
 Quantity vs. Quality
Pelosi plays defence on "torture"
Newspaper circulation crumbles (h/t, Insty)
Should you look out for "people who keep to themselves"?
Stereotyping: It's natural. I stereotype everybody: a-holes until proven otherwise.
From the mouths of babes
$ rules too onerous for unions. It's payoff time. Related, The strategery of the unions: Kaus
Latin leaders declare war on Capitalism. And freedom, too.
Anarchy at UNC. Mike Adams
The social challenge of speaking honestly about race
Apparently some people do not want to know what an assault rifle is. But our readers know an assault rifle is one with a full-auto setting.
Cannot do it without the teleprompter. Man, that is lame.
 Save the Humans! Reason
In cold blood. The Talibanz are taking over Pakiland.
The O tries to steal their prime time - for the 4th time. They have a biz to run.
Upper photo: My nooner date today, thanks to friend Theo who shares his girlfriends. Lower photo via Never Yet Melted
Thanks, Reader.
Our own new metal signs will say "Warning: You are entering the MF Assault Rifle Range at your own risk" That ought to work for everybody but the deer hunters who are half in the bag at 4 AM and do not give a damn. We considered having "You are being monitored by video camera," but that did not seem country style. Too much like England - and a lie, too.
I don't want to ruin it by understanding it. Hmm. Music. Gardening. Love.
Sipp
 It looks like our Dylanologist will be moving back north to Yankeeland - to New Haven, of all places. One of his great-grandfathers grew up in Woodbridge, and one of his gramps is a retired Yale prof.
With a new bride, too. Hope he will be able to find time to write more for us.
(Between law school, building stone walls and rebuilding kitchens, he has been truant here at Maggie's. If he doesn't get back on the job, that large monthly check, which is his share of the overly generous RTC donation we receive for mindlessly echoing Repub talking points, will stop coming to him.)
Ya gotta go South to find them high-quality brides. But everybody knows that.
Photo: Got dimples? The Dyl on a water taxi on Lago Maggiore last summer.
Peter Orszag is the guy in charge of Obama's domestic agenda. From The New Yorker's Letter from Washington:
Orszag dismissed the criticism as a caricature. “I don’t see how it interferes with the doctor-patient relationship to suggest that it would be better if your doctor had more information about what would work for you,” he said. “The best way of putting it is that your doctor shouldn’t have disincentives to give you the higher-quality care, which often happens now.” Far from a huge government bureaucracy, he proposes a simple adjustment of incentives: “You get paid more if the treatment has been shown to be effective and a little less if not.” Orszag seems more right than wrong about how to bring down health-care costs, but the truth is that, while there is obviously a great deal of waste in the American medical system, nobody knows for certain whether Orszag’s plan—which is now Obama’s plan—will work.
As Orszag explained his ideas, I couldn’t help remembering an encounter I had with him one day in the hallway at O.M.B. I told him that I had read his Princeton undergraduate thesis. He looked at me and smiled a little sheepishly. He said that at some point after his arrival at graduate school, in London, he had had a sudden realization: that he had made a mistake, and the crucial formula that he had used in his thesis, the one that had won him the prize, was incorrect. “It was so innovative,” he said, “that it was wrong.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber on the UK's new taxes. Related: Envy and social behavior
Dear Greens: Why not start here?
Quel horreur. Swine Flu hysteria. Must be a slow news week. Not worth linking.
Support your local Islamophobe
This is what I call an exciting cruise
How to solve MA's deficit: Jules
Why the Law is foreign to Justice Ginsberg. Am Thinker
A shortage of primary care docs?
MADD is mad, but they have some power now. At Maggie's, we say "Don't drink and drive: you might hit a bump and spill your drink."
More on the Ricci case. Ricci may be the rock upon which America's racial spoils system finally founders.
Al Gore: Raging Capitalist
Prince Charles gets it: It's about conspicuous virtue, not reality
Judd Gregg: Elections have consequences. A quote:
...while the aspiration for universal coverage may be noble, the practical realities of getting there may prove harder for the American public to swallow. "There's no question," the senator says, "that this is a debate about rationing to a large degree. All your single-payer systems are rationing systems. It's also a debate about technology and innovation. Because you will not have capital pursuing technology, innovation and science if it's health-care related, because the return on capital won't be there. And these things are so expensive, especially on the pharmaceutical side and the biologic side, that you'll dramatically slow improvements in the quality of health care through science with a single-payer plan." Mr. Gregg thinks that critique will resonate with the public.
Even so, given the balance of power in Washington, Mr. Gregg gives the Democrats good chances of success in nationalizing our health-insurance market. "I think the odds are pretty good that it's going to happen -- that you'll have a major health-care reform bill pass." As he says, "Elections have consequences."
Via Driscoll:
Judith Klinghoffer’s article, “Obama’s Polls Trail Those of W.; Gallup Covers it Up,” notes that Bush’s approval rating taken by Gallup stood at 62 percent after his first 100 days, while Obama’s currently stands at 56 percent.
A few minutes later, moderator John Scott returned to the subject:
JON SCOTT: And in the first term, George Bush had a 60 percent approval rating after his first 100 days-
PINKERTON: And Bush 41 as well, who I worked for way back when. And Laura Bush has a higher rating than Michelle Obama.
SCOTT: Is that going to get mentioned in the press?
PINKERTON: You just wouldn’t know it from reading the mainstream media.
 Story at Rug Rag
Sunday, April 26. 2009
 Terrific stuff. Cheap, too. We have had Crab Cake recipe wars here recently, but here are some more simple recipes. I put no flavorings in the cakes, because I like the main taste to be the tender, succulent, subtle crabmeat, which is why my favorite food in the world is sauteed soft-shelled crab.
Except maybe Halibut with capers, or Shad Roe with bacon, or Bluefin Tuna belly just seared on the grill, or rare roast beef with horseradish and Yorkshire pudding, or Shepherd's Pie, or barbecued short ribs with cornbread, or Chicken Pot Pie, or black bean soup with jalapenos and mashed potatoes, or plain mashed potatoes, or a real Gumbo made by my Louisiana pal, or a Woodcock dumpling with gibier sauce, black truffle, and Porcini mushrooms, or ...
To prosecute or not. I was going to write this, but somebody else got to it first.
Our Bastiat quote du jour, from this site. Fortunately, it's simple French:
Laissez faire! — Je commence par dire, pour prévenir toute équivoque; que laissez faire s'applique ici aux choses honnêtes, l'État étant institué précisément pour empêcher les choses déshonnêtes.
Cela posé, et quant aux choses innocentes par elles-mêmes, comme le travail, l'échange, l'enseignement, l'association, la banque, etc.; il faut pourtant opter. Il faut que l'État laisse faire ou empêche de faire.
S'il laisse faire, nous serons libres et économiquement administrés, rien ne coûtant moins que de laisser faire.
S'il empêche de faire, malheur à notre liberté et à notre bourse. À notre liberté, puisqu'empêcher c'est lier les bras: à notre bourse, car pour empêcher, il faut des agents, et pour avoir des agents, il faut de l'argent.
À cela les socialistes disent: Laissez faire! mais c'est une horreur! — Et pourquoi, s'il vous plaît? — Parce que; quand on les laisse faire, les hommes font mal et agissent contre leurs intérêts. Il est bon que l'État les dirige.
Voilà qui est plaisant. Quoi! vous avez une telle foi dans la sagacité humaine que vous voulez le suffrage universel et le gouvernement de tous par tous; et puis, ces mêmes hommes que vous jugez aptes à gouverner les autres, vous les proclame inaptes à se gouverner eux-mêmes!
 A friend highly recommends Monty Roberts' Shy Boy.
 100th Daygasm: Michelle
What's going on with Mr. Sun?
What happened to the H-word?
Good brief summary of Frederic Bastiat and the negative railroad
From the UK: Obama is confused about who the enemies are. I know other people who think that way.
From the 1984 Is Not A Handbook Department: In the UK Every Phone Call, Email, and Website Visit will be Monitored. Who are these people?
The political and economic consequences of dangerous CO2
What is truth? A quote from Dr. Bob:
Ideas have consequences, philosophies have predicates, and the rejection of absolutes absolutely dehumanizes us, for we devolve from a species of high principles and moral light to denizens of a depravity far lower than the animals. For animals have rational restraints on behavior, brutish though it may be, while there is no end to evil for the human mind unleashed from absolutes.
1 John 3:1-7
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
4Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Saturday, April 25. 2009
 Ain't Spring wonderful?
The youngest BD pupette is away, visiting a pal at Brown. I had a 3-mile walk with Mrs. BD and the puppy early this morning, then I played 1 1/2 hours of singles tennis outdoors (for the first time this year. Warm-up time with my best old tennis buddy, with plenty of bloopers.). He also explained to me why commercial real estate will drop 35%. The math is quite simple, really. It's a lagging indicator. He says give it two years, barring strange commie political surprises.
Since then I have been shampooing the carpets, because it's the first day of the year when I can open all doors and window. That chore requires a few semi-cold beers.
After that, I have been assigned a number of planting chores. With a bit of luck, it may get dark first.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness....
Starting to write about the US debate over torture, I first turned to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary. The word derives from the Latin, to twist. Three current definitions are offered: 1. to cause anguish of body or mind; or more drastically, 2. to inflict intense pain to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure; and 3. “straining” as in distortion or overrefinement of a meaning or an argument.
That definition allows greater clarity about the positions being argued about torture.
The Geneva Conventions apply to restricting the first definition unduly against enemy state soldiers and civilians. The applicability to nonstate terrorists is not addressed. Thus, the Bush administration labeled them “enemy combatants” and tried mightily – in the midst of great uncertainty, confusion, danger, and rapidly changing events -- to blend civilized restraints with practical considerations of gaining intelligence.
The Associated Press report of the speech by the very liberal President of the Israeli Supreme Court at Princeton a few days ago highlighted the problem facing Western governments, “that one of the main challenges the court faces is that international law has yet to fully adapt to modern terrorist threats.” This learned lesson is important from someone widely hailed by the Left for her other positions. Israel, like other parliamentary governments, does not have a Constitution like does the US, so its supreme court ranges more widely – and liberally -- in deciding right and wrong, legal and illegal. Israel, uniquely, sits on the frontline, within and without, facing existential terrorist attacks.
Israel has taken extensive measures to restrict its armed forces from breaching this elusive line between proper actions and excessively avoidable harm to civilians and to enemy combatants. In the US, the bipartisan Congressional remedy, led by John McCain, was to restrict our military. The argument is that our military does not have the necessary professional experience to apply extensive interrogation techniques, undue use undermines the order necessary to our military, and that leads to undermining both discipline and self-respect in energetically fighting for what is right.
The Bush administration went further in, pardon the pun, agonizing or torturing itself in defining restrictive conditions for the use of extensive interrogation techniques by CIA professionals upon leading captured terrorists.
None of this has satisfied those who take a more restrictive posture. There’s the camp, including some with dedication to fighting terrorists, who believe that a purist conception of Americans requires that we don’t use extensive interrogation techniques regardless of the possible benefits or risks. Then, there’s the camp that outright opposes US battles against terrorists, sometimes trying to mask their position with support conditional on impossible and impractical crippling hamstringing, borrowing from the self-righteousness of the first camp to distract from their own true priority. This camp is allied with a third camp, politicians whose primary motivation is to exploit the arguments for their own benefit. Democrats who, in the wake of 9/11’s awakening, supported or argued for extensive use of interrogation techniques in recognition of Americans’ expectations of firm resolve then denied and flip-flopped in their pursuit of power in unseating the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress. These Democrat politicians “strain”, the third definition of torture, in distortion or overrefinement of their argument, relying upon the idealistic or contorted arguments from the first two camps.
So, now, the Obama administration is hoisted by its own petard of its own most ardent supporters in confronting the practical needs to govern and to be held responsible for America’s security.
Those within the Obama administration who argued from experience and proper caution for moderation were overruled and selective release of documents and photos launched that seek to discredit the Bush administration’s efforts, and even criminalize policy. Opponents decry this as reckless self-endangerment and self-denigration of America, and call for fuller release of the record to demonstrate both the care taken and the needed survival results. Even the New York Times recognizes the danger but, true to its Obama-lean, couches it in the politician Obama’s self-interest: “Mr. Obama and his allies need to discredit the techniques he has banned. Otherwise, in the event of a future terrorist attack, critics may blame his decision to rein in C.I.A. interrogators.”
So, there we are, tortured for the past six years by tendentious and selfish attacks from within upon our ability to withstand and overcome tenacious, brutal and serious attacks from without. Now, due to the Obama administration’s irresponsibility, we face at least three more years of torture, of undue agony, that fruitlessly weakens our unity and resolve and exposes us all to potentially greater physical threats to our well-being and very lives. Our troops on the frontline are not bemused by this Obama administration recklessness with their safety and missions, nor should be the rest of us placed closer to frontline dangers as our intelligence professionals seek cover by retreating from their duties.
 New Canaan, CT, is known for the residential architecture of "the Harvard 5." Video.
Photo: The Bridge House
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