Monday, June 14. 2010
The New York Times’ headline could have been “Turkey’s Islamist Government Is Just Doing the U.S. A Favor, Wink, Wink” instead of “For Turkey, an Embrace of Iran Is a Matter of Building Bridges,” by Sabrina Tavernise.
With the imprimatur “News Analysis”, the NYTs bureau chief in Istanbul, Sabrina Tavernise, with a 1993 B.A. from Barnard College in Russian Studies, tells us that “Top leaders of Mr. Erdogan’s party believe that only a Turkey that is independent from the United States will be an asset for Washington in the long run.” Tavernise adds, “Turkey is not lost, they say, but simply disagrees with the United States over how to approach the problems in the Middle East.”
Although mildly disagreed with by some sources in her article, her “news analysis” is an apologia for Turkey’s Islamist government siding with Iran, Syria, Hamas against the US, Israel, and the West. Oh, and now Hizbullah. Erdogan has invited the head of Hizbullah, on the recommendation of Hamas, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may attend also, to attend a rally in Turkey honoring Erdogan.
Tavernise is mostly carrying water for the Erdogan government, akin to the NYT’s Walter Duranty for Stalin’s.
Continue reading "NYTs “Walter Duranty” Bureau Chief In Istanbul"
Sunday, June 13. 2010
From City State at The American:
For the first time in recorded human history, more than half of the world’s population has moved into a city or its environs from rural areas and small towns.
Considered historically, this process of urbanization has moved at lightning speed, especially in the past half-century.
Walked past the Joyce the other evening. $10 sounds good. Mrs. BD was trying to remember how many times she has seen Appalachian Spring.
I remember when old Martha herself would wobble out to the stage at the end of the performances.
A re-post -
The Greeks colonized Poseidonia - now Paestum - on the south-west coast of Italy (90 miles south of Napoli) around 650 BC. Poseidonia became the Roman city Paestum in 273 BC.
Paestum contains the finest complex of Greek temples in the world, which was discovered in 1762 by a road crew. They were built before the Parthenon was completed in the 400s (BC).
The modern town of Paestum is a seaside resort, but the reason to go there is to see the Greek temples outside of town. Our Dylanologist did just that (and brought me back a Paestum t-shirt!).
The splendid, if heavy-looking, Doric temple in this photo is known as The Temple of Hera ll.
Here's a photo of the 450 BC Temple of Hera l, later rededicated to Neptune. More info on the Hera l temple here.
Here's a photo bank of the contents of the Paestum Archaeological Museum.
A bit of commentary from the Great Buildings Online website:
When the ruins of Paestum were 'rediscovered' by 'antiquaries'�chiefly Johann Joachim Winckelmann�in the 1750s, "the ruins [were] then made widely known, and an enthusiastic appreciation of Greek art and architecture was also sparked...Because of Paestum, the Classic Revival was born with Greece, not Rome, ascendant."
� Deborah Fritz from G. E. Kidder Smith. Looking at Architecture. p16.
The three Paestum temples are all in the Archaic Doric style of heavy columns with capitals that are squat, or as Goethe termed them, 'oppressive.' By the time the Parthenon was finished (438 B.C.), columns were elegantly slender, capitals had an alert, load-bearing profile, and refinement attended every detail. Moreover, they were carved from Parian marble; Paestum's now crudely exposed shellstone shafts, it is only fair to say, were originally covered with lime stucco. As in Greece proper, the temples at Paestum face easterly so that the rising sun will awaken the statue within."
� G. E. Kidder Smith. Looking at Architecture. p16.
I wrote earlier today that Mozart had a negative feeling towards Roman Catholicism. I don't know where I read that. He certainly was a Freemason, and at least impatient with Catholic requirements, but never formally left the RC Church.
By coincidence, today Potemra has a post about Merton, Barth, and Mozart. A quote:
Merton and Barth were both wrestling with what it meant to be created in God’s image, and — as in the famous passage, Matthew 18:3 — saw that image most clearly in human beings who could express childlike joy.
Since I am specializing today in posting statements which I cannot source, I may as well mention that I once read that Barth said that this song summed up all anybody needed to know about Christian faith.
Yesterday I posted a link about "like" at first sight. Today, love at first sight: Why men will judge a woman in milliseconds.
- Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you.
- What people don't realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.
Both from Flannery O'Connor
 Story here.
Photo of Dr. Bob's grave in Akron, from the story.
We finished up yesterday with a performance of Figaro by the Chelsea Opera in their usual space, St. Peter's Episcopal Church on W. 20th St. Just wonderful to be so close up to the sorts of remarkable singers small opera companies can get in NYC. I have decided that I prefer this sort of thing to the Met or the New York City Opera - and it is not just the price.
Lorenzo da Ponte was the librettist for Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. A Jewish convert to Catholicism, it is said that he hated the RC Church as much as Mozart did, but I am not certain of that from a Mozart who said “Protestantism was all in the head.” Da Ponte was a priest for a while, and a famous scoundrel, debtor, womanizer, and MILF-predator.
Another cool factoid: St. Peter's was built in 1836 on farm land donated by Clement Moore who became Warden and organist for the church. The Moore family had a good-sized estate there, which was named "Chelsea." Moore also donated the land on which General Theological Seminary still stands, a few blocks away. St. Peter's is a fine old church but a bit down at the heels:
Luke 7:36-8:3
7:36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.
7:37 And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.
7:38 She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.
7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him--that she is a sinner."
7:40 Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," he replied, "Speak."
7:41 "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
7:42 When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?"
7:43 Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly."
7:44 Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
7:45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.
7:46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
7:47 Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
7:48 Then he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
7:49 But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
7:50 And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
8:1 Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,
8:2 as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
8:3 and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.
Saturday, June 12. 2010
Colorado's 3rd District (h/t, Moonbattery). Yes. I like the cut of his jib.
 It always amuses me when expensive and time-consuming studies are done to demonstrate something that everybody and his grandmother knew already.
Great example: Personalities Accurately Judged by Physical Appearance Alone
Without that subliminal processing, neither actors nor con men could exist because there would be nothing to imitate.
At Maggie's Farm, our preference shows:
File under "Political Statements."
Episcopalians against Israel: Religious Rally Against Israel. Good grief.
Why didn't the O give his Auntie a hand? Oh, I get it. Government is supposed to take care of our aging and dysfunctional relatives. We pay taxes, don't we? Are there no workhouses?
They lied. Health overhaul to force changes in employer plans
Nobody in America could read before the Federal Dept of Education was created. Harsanyi: The Revolt Against Liberal Orthodoxy
TNR: Why haven’t progressives mounted more of a challenge to the war in Afghanistan?
Stasi-Style Doctors On The Way. Can't wait.
Kagan: A results-oriented justice. Is that like a hangin' judge?
Tiger: ACORN, voter fraud, and Barack Obama. Can you imagine if Bush...
Powerline: Take back South Dakota
Big Hollywood: Mad at Christians
Eric asks Do you have the freedom to eat what you want? Of course not. Government gets to decide for you, thus simplifying your life and keeping you healthy for work on their tax plantation. Too bad there is no reliable prescription for a healthy diet, yet. And who would care anyway? I was raised on Cheerios, Fluffernutter sandwiches, TV dinners, and spaghetti from a can, and I turned out fine, 6'2", strong, slim, Conservative, and a highly intelligent chick magnet. I never saw a salad outside an Italian pizza restaurant when I was a kid. I thought salads were an Italian thing. My Dad called it "rabbit food," and he still will not touch it. He warns everybody eating a salad, without a trace of pc, that "the Mexicans shit in the fields."
How Little League baseball put me on the road to Conservatism
Sweden: 13-months of Paternal leave? I can think of a fun way to game this so you'd never have to work until retirement age. Heck, why should guys have to work at all? We guys are mostly too cool to work. Too sensitive, too. God made us for lovin', fishin' and huntin'.
The O as Anglophobe. That is shameful. For all of her faults, she is America's Mother Country.
On what grounds can Lefties attack Ayaan Hirsi Ali? And why would anybody want to? She is brilliant and beautiful. Maybe too cute for the Lefties...
Now off to our special annual urban hike with pals and gals: Battery Park to the Cloisters (if we make it). With whistle stops at pubs along the way. Need good shoes and a good liver for this event. Broadway was the old Indian trail. One good thing about urban hikes is that you don't need to carry anything except a few bucks in your pocket. Another is that you can take the subway back home. Next year, I am considering handing out Maggie's Farm t-shirts for the hike, with a Farmall and a logo. Our group is around 25 people now, and we draw straws in advance for who gets to decide on the route. I was hoping for the end point to be Alexander Hamilton's farmhouse, but somebody picked the Cloisters.
Recessional
God of our fathers, known of old--
Lord of our far-flung battle line
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!
The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!
Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!
If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe--
Such boasting as the Gentiles use
Or lesser breeds without the law--
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!
For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard--
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding, calls not Thee to guard--
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!
Posted today because Driscoll recently linked Derbyshire's 2002 post on Kipling's poem which had been written for the 1897 Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Many do not know that Kipling later became a resident of Vermont for many years.
Friday, June 11. 2010
- Washington Reb is working on getting past a sound-bite conservatism, with Russell Kirk at his side.
- Steyn on "We are the ones we've been waiting for." (I would never wait for myself. In general, I tend to be annoyed with myself.)
NAACP Branded As "Racist" For Promoting Idea That Black People Are Stupid. Make sure you go to Ace's link and watch the very brief video.
The pathetic part is that these folks don't see how they are beclowning themselves, and if they know what black holes are, it doesn't show. They are looking for black hos. Black hos, if they are seeking them, are easy to find on 11th Avenue in the 30s and 40s after 9 pm, along with the white and hispanic and even asian hos. It's as multicultural as a White House Cabinet.
Black holes are a trickier business.
The issue, of course, is not stupidity. Stupidity comes in all colors, as does beclownment. The issue is using real or feigned ignorance, or real or feigned paranoia, or real or feigned offense, to score points by bullying innocents. That is immoral.
Very good brief history of medical insurance at National Affairs: Health Care and the Profit Motive. One quote:
When it comes to health care, liberals and conservatives often seem to be living in two different worlds. To those on the left, America's health-care system is a heartless capitalist jungle: a place where the bottom line is king, and the working poor are exploited. President Obama, for example, has accused insurance companies of holding Americans hostage in exchange for profits, and doctors of cashing in on children's sore throats by needlessly removing their tonsils. The right, meanwhile, sees American health care as an outpost of socialism: The government distorts prices and suppresses innovation, impairing the quality and affordability of care and constraining individual autonomy. Hence Republicans' call for less government involvement in insurance, and their complaints that heavy-handed Medicare rules are the source of our woes.
Simply put, liberals believe that health care is treated as a market commodity today but should not be, and conservatives think that health care is not treated as a market commodity but should be.
 Our friend Gregory (aka Sippican) is doing just that: Quiet, Numskulls, I'm Broadcastin'
From our friend Nathan in the future JerusaLand:
 Business Flash.
Dateline: The City formerly known as Jerusalem
In a shocking market coup, former Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, has been awarded the 99-year lease for Jerusalem, outbidding Jews and Palestinians.
“I am delighted, like I am in heaven, almost,” Eisner elated. “We pulled an all-nighter, God’s team and ours, but came out with the best deal for Him, a lucrative, exclusive contract for Disney, and Family Fun For All.”
God’s representative, C.O.A (Chief Operating Angel) Gabriel Raphael, added, “That Michael. Eisner has the first name of an archangel had no bearings on the negotiations: the deal was struck on its merits: the best price for God and a history of Disney’s fine management. Our C.E.O, whose name we do not use in vain, has had concern about management of this city, since Kollek was retired. We had handsome offers from the Vatican, Dubai, and Jimmy Carter, but our CEO is not in this for the money and we were searching for a manager and corporation with a reputation for excellent, consistent customer service. Based on market research, we have counted more smiles and a child-friendlier atmosphere at Disney than at churches, mosques and synagogues, or at Carter’s lectures.” God was not available for comment and messages were not returned.
Eisner effused, “After an international naming contest on Inter-American Idols, we are renaming the city, “JerusaLand,” City on the Hill, Fun-Town for All. Runners up were “Jewro-Disney” and “Mickey’s Heaven.”
“This is a new era for JerusaLand,” Eisner ebullianated. Since there are already only two entrances to the city, there will be entrance fees covering all events within, with VIP packages additional. No money will be used by tourists: everyone can buy Holy-Gelt chips, like Club Med, but without the Mediterranean nor sand. Everyone living in the city will be employees of JerusaLand Corp., International. We are professionalizing the beggars,” he continuated. “Everyone now begging, will be an employee of JerusaLand, and will be uniformed in historically authentic beggars’ tatters from the various eras. You can give Holy-Gelt chips to a beggar from Jebusite, or King David’s era, or Roman right up to the present, knowing that each beggar will turn in his chips at the end of the workday for a salary and benefits. We will have an incentive system for all employees, including beggars, with vacations to EuroDisney or Disney World. Beggars will be promoted based on performance, with areas near the Western Wall as prime.” Eisner notated that any Beggar-employees caught praying at the Western Wall, then requesting charity from others for their prayers, will be restationed by the Dung Gate. “Prayer will be free, no charge, in JeruseLand! This, the Big Guy insisted on.” Eisner enunciated.
“You will notice,” Eisner persisticated, “that we have renamed this the Western Wall: wailing is not permitted. Other activities, such as shuckling, dancing, spinning and bobbing are encouraged. We will have rides, including a praying roller coaster that while not the highest ever built, will be the holiest: imagine getting closer to God while looping the loop on the holiest mount.”
“And if that isn’t close enough to God,” Eisner emphasated, “We have an introductory package that includes DirectLine. For only fifty cents a minute children can use the Red Phone to talk with God!” When asked about the very reasonable price, Eisner pointed out that this was a local call. “God has specified that he will only talk with children, as they seem to hear what he says better.” (This reporter was able to use the service and can ascertain that God speaks with a Viennese accent, and responds with “Uh, huh.” Yesss,” and “Vat do you make of zet?”) Videophone service – called MosesPhone -- for those reclined, is planned in the future.
“We have specialty packages, for instance for Cohens. Since they can’t mount the Mount until the Temple is rebuilt, we have a hover-craft package, called Lift-a-Cohen (or, Coney–on-the-Spot) so that they can float over Aaron’s spots.”
Continue reading "JerusaLand"
 Jobs report a nightmare for Obama progressivism
Rabbi Who Taped Helen Thomas Is Inundated With Hate Mail and Death Threats. If you go to his site, you can read the emails he's been getting.
VDH: The Incredibly Wonderful World of our Sensitive Elites
Pence to Obama: Whose side are you on, anyway?
Lindsey Graham Said What About Climate Change?
Rasmussen: Angle Leads Reid by Wide Margin. Also, It Begins: Nevada GOP Winner and Tea Party Favorite a 'Far-Right Conservative'
How can the powerful run a country for the common good if people can say anything they want? Free Speech: Use It or Lose It
You greedy bastard. You want to keep your mortgage deduction. I haven't heard people mention that the mortgage deduction, like all itemized deductions, fades out with income level and has done so for many years now. I am a flat-taxer: 13% on every penny of everybody's net income.
Our planting and transplanting season is now done, as is my anniversary gift to Mrs. BD which entailed two solid weekend days of being a submissive garden slave, taking all orders with shovel, wheelbarrow, trimmers, saws, mulch, and the final load of plantings. Beer breaks and a couple of ceegars, natch. I am the brawn, she is the brains.
Transplanting shrubs and perennials is like musical chairs. There is always at least one thing that ends up with no place to go, and is left to die, roots up in the sun. Murder.
Mrs. BD has been getting interested in putting dwarf shrubs in perennial borders in recent years. In this bed, we had moved some hybrid Rhodies out two months ago, and moved those lacecap hydrangeas back against the wall (they will revive just fine, but look a little wan right now). That left a hole for these three new red-leafed dwarf Weigelas to the left of the dwarf Buddleas. It will all fill in nicely in a year or so with the goal, of course, being no space between plants for weeds to grow:
The edge is Lady's Mantle, in full bloom. It makes a solid and subtle perennial edge with its pale yellow-green florets.
Here's one site with dwarf Weigelas.
Thursday, June 10. 2010
What’s this Turkey hash with Erdogan’s fingers in it?
Many, including in Washington, don’t “get” how a NATO nation, since WWI on a Western-oriented course (at least until 2002), could be so complicit in the IHH thugs upon the Marvi Marmara and so palsy with Iran, Syria and other despots challenging regional peace and the US.
I turned to Gerald Robbins, the Turkish-speaking expert and Associate Scholar at Philadelphia’s Foreign Policy Research Institute, about what’s on the plate in Ankara.
Turkey’s internal politics are a mystery to most Americans. Robbins says, “The folks around President Obama have no sense of the nuances involved. Symbols far outweigh substance with them.” Robbins continues:
Their mindframe is Turkey should be elevated in regional importance since it is large, Muslim, and Western-oriented. Remember that Obama visited Turkey shortly after his inauguration to symbolize a new outlook in regional US diplomacy. Israel is seen as less important since it can’t serve as a “bridge” into the Muslim world.
Robbins asks, “I wonder if the US Jewish lobbies understand this mindframe?"
I asked Robbins to sketch out what Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan’s political environment is about.
Continue reading "Who “Gets” Turkey? Interview With An Expert"
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