Thursday, September 24. 2009
"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."
Mark Twain, at the beginning of Huckleberry Finn, quoted in an excellent piece on Joyce's Ulysses (I have read the book twice - love it) in The Chronicle, James Joyce for Ordinary Blokes
 We have linked to a couple of pieces lately - Rich Lowry on A Masterstroke of Weakness, and Hinderaker on What They Really Think.
I fear that we have an administration that thinks the US should be social workers to the world, instead of good cops. But if we aren't the cop, who will be? Surely not the UN: they have yet to stop a war or a genocide - and it is packed wiith lunatics.
The NY Post today opines on The Naif in Chief, but I do not think it is naive: I think it is a plan. A very bad plan which does not serve our interests.
Lewis at Am Thinker begins:
Yesterday at the United Nations, Barack Obama renounced Pax Americana, signaling an end to the United States' role as global cop.
Huge treasure trove of 1400 year-old Anglo-Saxon gold found in Staffordshire. Looks like things a king would have owned.
h/t, Synthstuff
 It's Beerfest time in Germany. Theo keeps us up to date.
Nuclear energy is the only solution. Or is coal the new clean fuel?
Dem health bills and their kickbacks to AARP. Lots of folks are quitting AARP
Pelosi tries to veer health bills to the Left again
Religious Left targets Conservatives with venom and hate
Our first "post-American" President? (I thought Carter was)
Telegraph: Was this Obama's most naive speech ever?
Start running. The O says the water is rising!
School children taught to sing praise to Obama. Yes, very sick indeed.
ACORN's lawsuit: A thin theory
Insty: "All these Chavez admirers who want to control media are making me nervous."
Related: How can the government tell Humana what to say?
I do not care for ad hominens, but often with the O you do get the feeling that he manages to make himself the main topic when he talks.
Wednesday, September 23. 2009
Lunatics running the asylum: Melanie Phillips on the feral youth of England. h/t, Dr. Helen. One quote:
When I blamed the children’s poor discipline and concentration on the layout, the teacher looked at me with horror. ‘The pupils are working together, directing their own learning,’ she said emphatically. Children are now expected, for example, to be ‘independent learners’ in charge of their own education. (‘Why do teachers keep asking me what I want to learn? How am I supposed to know?’ one boy asked me in exasperation.)
It depends on your precise definition of crash blossoms, (presumably from the old headline "Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms") but I did like some of these headlines offered in the comments:
Obama’s ad buys dwarf TV presence of McCain
British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
Prostitutes appeal to Pope
Marines beat off 500 Viet Cong
Reagan Nose Pimple Skin Cancer
Quote from Hewett re Obama on Afghanistan, etc:
The idea of rejecting the proposals of the new commander on the ground less than six months after his appointment is bad enough, but to do so because Slow Joe Biden has a bright idea is truly terrible.
The president's domestic agenda is in a shambles and his ratings are plummeting to near record levels for a modern president in his first year in office. His global warming hysteria of yesterday adds to the idea of a rookie being handed unvetted speeches --like the one in Congress with the man who died from denial of treatment, except he didn't-- and rushing off to his next media event.
Thousands of Americans died because of the Taliban's partnership with al Qaeda, a partnership that endures. Hundreds more have died pushing the Taliban-al Qaeda alliance deep into the remote mountains of the region. General McChrystal's report asserts that with the right forces, stability can be achieved, and within an acceptable number of years.
The choice facing President Obama is a defeat and vulnerability to more terror plots and a second mission back when one occurs, or the acceptance of the commanding general's recommendations. This isn't hard. The fact that Joe Biden is on the other side makes it even easier to tell Secretary Gates to proceed with the McChyrstal plan.
Those youth were all about image. Political fashion. The youths do not know reality yet. They only know entitled dependency.
Related re immaturity: do we need the nanny government to save us from ourselves? I happen to believe that the government is far more immature than I am.
Mrs. BD was determined to help me put Antoni Gaudi in perspective and to appreciate his work. That was her goal for our visit to Barcelona (my goal was some good tapas). She pretty much succeeded in hers, as did I in mine.
Her point is that Gaudi was very much in a Spanish tradition, and especially in a Spanish/Moorish Beaux Arts, Art Nouveau tradition. Just exaggerated in what I term a hallucinogenic manner. Barcelona has tons of unusual and exotic-looking architecture. My arm was twisted to take the tour of Gaudi's Casa Batllo (below) - but just check out the oddness of the townhouse next door which pre-existed the Gaudi house:
I guess Gaudi was a sort of half-crazy genius. He certainly got his math and engineering right. His Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) church, far from completion, is already - and rightly - one of the wonders of the world in its material evocation of the grandeur of God:
We did our exploring of Barcelona by buying a bus pass and a map. We probably walked 5 miles, which is fine with me. Love walking around places. Mrs. BD temperamentally doesn't mind getting lost at all, and we did. It's fun for her. I hate it. I have been lost in the Maine woods and other woods too, and it just does not agree with me. It's just one more of my numerous weaknesses.
More of my photos of Barcelona architecture, etc., below the fold -
Continue reading "My summer vacation: Gaudiland"
 My life is good but I'm worried yours is better. h/t, Tiger
I agree with Kate that you can't make this up: Career Fair needs to include left out liberal arts majors. How many times does it need to be said that a liberal arts education is not job training? American Liberal Arts education was designed to be life-enrichment for the ruling class gentry, and job training for the clergy.
Dems on path to repeat housing disaster
Do we now have the worst foreign policy ever?
Desperate law grads: Law firms just aren't hiring right now.
More legal fun: Prof B on corporations as persons
Roughing up the middle class. Insty
Most recent polls: terrible news for the admin
Axelrod nixes medical insurance across state lines. Cannot give a reason, but we all know why.
The NYT aims low - really low. Am Thinker. A quote:
...so columnist Bob Herbert tells us that a black man in the White House has "so unsettled much of white America that the lid is coming off the racism" that is this nation. This "garbage" is a "scourge" spread by the "hate-mongers on talk radio" and the Internet.
No black can succeed in this racist nation, he says, especially the one in the White House. And the racists themselves are tools of a Republican Party that has historically engaged in "race-baiting" and "hatred" for political gain. Herbert: These people killed John F. Kennedy and they will do the same to Obama.
Who killed JFK again? And is he referring to internet hatemongers like us who had once wanted Colin Powell to run for Pres? The NYT is publishing trash. It is deplorable.
Photo: Tractor time from Theo
Tuesday, September 22. 2009
Art that we masses can comprehend: the above stolen from a Protein Wisdom post on the O admin and the NEA
The earth is cooling off (especially here right now). They say it's just going to be a 20-50 year blip - but they did not predict this. So what good are their computer models at prediction? I would submit that they are not half as good as economic models at prediction - and theirs stink too. Only difference is that economists do not claim that their computer models are accurate at prediction.
At the end of the day, liberals want the government to be generous so they can avoid being generous on a personal level.
The hot dog across America
A re-post: Krauthammer on the preventive care myth
WalMart has good medicine for routine problems
Spot the dishonest slimeball. The WaPo and VA politics
My government just called me an irresponsible teenager. I'm rubber and you're glue...
Tom Sowell: Nobody ever told me that I couldn't be successful.
Michelle on the SEIU
Neoneo is wondering who the O is. A quote:
We may never know much about Obama the Man, but I believe we now know enough about Obama the President, despite his efforts to hide: he is a statist of the far Left, who wants to implement a statist Leftist agenda for America both domestically and in foreign affairs, and he will do everything he can to achieve these goals.
I never try to analyze people I don't know. I just go by their actions.
Crowder pays them a visit to find out, and it's worse than I though. An embarrassment.
What are these morans (nb - that's the cool blog spelling) doing in any competitive college? Or any college? Are these simple souls our best and brightest?
What happened to the old saying: "You can't shine sh-t"? These dopey kids should have real jobs, where they could learn something useful to do, shine themselves up, and become a credit to themselves. I think colleges are ripping these people off - or their parents.
Even attorneys like this site: Sick of Lawsuits. I view an important part of my job as to avoid lawsuits.
I like to make money, but I do not like to make dirty money.
Eze is a tiny medieval village perched on top of a 1400' rock overlooking the Med, between Nice and Monaco. The old castle on top that protected the town from invading Moors - not always successfully - was knocked down by the French in 1706 during the War of Spanish Succession. A shame that they did that, but it was a military decision and those guys were not thinking about my tourist interests.
From the small modern town of Eze, you have to walk up the old donkey roads to the village, which mostly consists of miniature shops tucked into the medieval houses. There is also the famous 5-Star 10-room hotel, Chateau Eza. I am told one must make reservations 1-2 years in advance.
Go for that reservation, readers! Carpe diem!
Nietszche and George Sand were big fans of Eze. Nothing not to like, except the prices: the fine-looking olive wood cutting boards and bread baskets were 200 E. I passed.
More of my photos of Eze below -
Continue reading "My summer vacation: Eze"
From G. Kim Blank at the New English Review. Blank compares search engines to Gutenberg. Good or bad? People want it, and that's what matters.
Naturally, the government wants to control it now.
No, it is not. From his analysis of the Dem push for government medicine:
For most of the previous presidency, the Left accused George W. Bush of using 9/11 as a pretext to attack Iraq. Since January, his successor has used the economic slump as a pretext to “reform” health care. Most voters don’t buy it: They see it as Obama’s “war of choice,” and the more frantically he talks about it as a matter of urgency the weirder it seems. If he’s having difficulty selling it, that’s because it’s not about “health.” As I’ve written before, the appeal of this issue to him and to Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, et al., is that governmentalization of health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture — one in which elections are always fought on the Left’s issues and on the Left’s terms, and in which “conservative” parties no longer talk about small government and individual liberty but find themselves retreating to one last pitiful rationale: that they can run the left-wing state more effectively than the Left can. Listen to your average British Tory or French Gaullist on the campaign trail pledging to “deliver” government services more “efficiently.”
The Dems are desperate to make us dependent slaves on their plantation before their chance disappears.
Prehistoric sat-nav in England.
Gwynnie tells me that our western Indians did the same with petroglyphs, but I do not have the links.
Amost everybody likes to go places without getting lost. I got lost in Barcelona, but it's not like really being lost when there's a cafe and tapas joint nearby.
Monday, September 21. 2009
 Book du jour on right, with thanks to Theo.
Using artists for political purposes. Powerline. Darn greedy artists will do anything for a check. They are all filthy Capitalists.
I did not get enough out of Bertrand Russell's effort. Maybe this one is better, I will give it the old college try.
Send your kids to ACORN High School! They will learn how to exploit the money made by the producers of society! Who they hold in contempt! Perfect for arrogant, supercilious weenies!
Phi Beta Cons:
Derb's piece nicely supports my contention that only a very wealthy country could afford an educational system that costs as much and delivers as little as ours.
Insty on how to gain respect in the UK:
...should Christians start sawing off heads to gain some respect? Perverse incentives . . . .
Quoted at Q&O:
“Further, a perception that our resolve is uncertain makes Afghans reluctant to align with us against the insurgents.”
Duh.
Is Federal mandatory medical insurance Constitutional? It depends on the politics.
Glen Beck embarasses me but
But he also very often seems to be right (small r). Beck has been the first and, for quite a while, the only one to be assiduously connecting the dots between Obama, Ayers, the two Joneses and the rest of the post-sixties crew that seems to have never gotten over the Port Huron Statement, with the Chicago School of neo-Boss Tweed politics. These are dots that should have been connected by the mainstream media long ago, but, as we all know, they didn’t want to look at them. New Media hasn’t done a great job of connecting these dots either because, frankly, we don’t yet have the skills or manpower. But Beck is doing it. More power to him.
The obnoxious nanny state in New York.
Sweden is on fire, and the firemen can't help. They are afraid of the Moslem immigrants.
DISHWASHER POACHED SALMON
1 whole salmon, cleaned and dressed (or 2 halves)
Salt, pepper, dill, parsley
1 carrot, peeled and slices
1 onion, peeled and slices
2 tbsp. chopped celery
Juice of one lemon
1 c. dry white wine
Sour cream and dill sauce, or Hollandaise, or whatever you like
Place salmon on 2 sheets heavy duty foil large enough to double fold all sides. Sprinkle fish cavity and sides with seasonings. In cavity, scatter carrot, onion, celery, lemon juice and white wine. Fold up foil so package is air and water tight. Leave airspace for steaming. Run dishwasher empty to clean out soapy residue. Place foil wrapped salmon on top shelf making sure no wire will tear foil. Run dishwasher 2 full cycles and check for doneness. Serve with desired sauce.
Serves 10
The Libs hate disagreement. They want me to shut up. Barone
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