Friday, December 17. 2010
 The first time I was exposed to the Pledge was in kindergarten. I had no idea what the words meant.
As this piece at Reason tells it, it was a late 19th Century response to large waves of immigration.
It's not really about a flag. It's about "the Republic for which it stands." It's a way of testifying that you agree to the American social contract. In other words, "I agree to this deal."
Kids cannot know what that deal is. It's quite a serious deal, really, because it can cost you your life, plenty of your property, and some of your freedom. It's freely given, too, if you're old enough to give it. You can always move somewhere else. Tom Friedman can move to China.
I don't care whether Rousseau's social contract theory is valid or not; it's an essential concept anyway because it makes it clear that a conscious choice of citizenship is meaningful and important - even if secular and not sacred.
From a comment on Henninger's What Are Taxes For?
Assume for a moment that a command-and-control economy or a benevolent dictatorship were necessary for the U.S. to remain the world's pre-eminent economic (and military) power for the next generation. I'd rather have a less rich and and less militarily powerful America that is more free. Luckily, this is pretty much a hypothetical...
 Chaucer claimed to be no more than a "lewd compilator" of other voices. All creators steal. From a recent "review" of Canterbury Tales:
Three Italian poets: Petrarch, Boccaccio (both of whom Chaucer may have met on a trip to Italy in 1373) and Dante. Boccaccio’s “Decameron” lent the inspiration and narrative template for “The Canterbury Tales”. More technically, Geoffrey de Vinsauf’s “Poetria Nova”, a passage from which Chaucer lifted for “Troilus and Criseyde”, armed him with rhetorical devices.
We are Chaucer fans here at Maggie's. I prefer to hear it read, rather than to read it. Audio of a modern translation here. When I was in school, we did it in the original and had good fun with it.
It's exempt from Obamacare rules, too: Medi-Share.
Readers know we hate government compulsion, and believe that government one-size-fits-all stuff fits about as well as a Mao jacket. My examples are, for a few, what if you're a Christian Scientist? What if you're wealthy and want to self-insure? What if you only want Major Medical (which I believe is the only thing that makes sense anyway)?
When they talk about medical insurance, they sneakily speak as if it were equivalent to medical care. It is not.
A reminder to readers on Medicare:
Give your doc a nice Christmas gift. He or she is losing money each time you see him in the office. A little - or a lot - of appreciation is in order, because you are the recipient of their charity and good will. They don't have to do it. Something special like this often goes over well:
Heck, I always give my docs a Christmas something even though I am not on Medicare yet.
I would not put this in the category of fun Christmas books, but it's an important book: The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life.
From the blurb:
One of the grim comedies of the twentieth century was the fate of miserable victims of communist regimes who climbed walls, swam rivers, dodged bullets, and found other desperate ways to achieve liberty in the West at the same time as intellectuals in the West sentimentally proclaimed that these very regimes were the wave of the future. A similar tragicomedy is being played out in our century: as the victims of despotism and backwardness from third world nations pour into Western states, the same ivory tower intellectuals assert that Western life is a nightmare of inequality and oppression.
In The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life, Kenneth Minogue explores the intelligentsia’s love affair with social perfection and reveals how that idealistic dream is destroying exactly what has made the inventive Western world irresistible to the peoples of foreign lands. The Servile Mind looks at how Western morality has evolved into mere “politico-moral” posturing about admired ethical causes—from solving world poverty and creating peace to curing climate change. Today, merely making the correct noises and parading one’s essential decency by having the correct opinions has became a substitute for individual moral actions.
That is well-said. Conspicuous virtuous posturing is no substitute for private morality. But, I know - private morailty isn't hip. It isn't even groovy.
There is no escaping the mysterious allure of liberal fascism. It's a cult.
 Pic of frightening pedophile psycho creep came in down the chimney over the transom
Americans are more hopeful than envious
Univ of California raises faculty retirement age from 50 to 55
That's not from The Onion
The good life on 36 weeks a year of work
Anderson at Am Thinker: Middle-Class Hypocrites
NYT: Mao's Great Leap to Famine
Central planning, for the Greater Good
Google is too successful for the French
DC feeding frenzy - Lame-duck Congress gorges
Great news: California to adopt cap-and-trade
Good timing - the mountains are getting 12 feet of snow this weekend
Omnibus contains earmarks for Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups
It still escapes me how this is a government function
Head Start gets more $ too, even though proven to be useless.
Useless - except in hiring thousands of unionized government babysitters
D.C. elites pronounce Palin a "negative influence in national politics"
Obama denounces Chabahar terror bombings, stands with Iran, which blames the U.S. anyway
Makes the O look like a shlomozzle (sp?)
Who said this?
"I believe that the primary engine of America's economic success is not government, it's the dynamism of our markets. And for me, the most important question about an economic idea is... whether it will help spur businesses, jobs and growth."
Obama's polling isn't really that bad
Dept. of Experts: Saccharine, after 35 years, is now OK
Dept. of Experts: Fruits and vegetables don't effect cancer rates (h/t Englishman)
Dept. of Experts: Advice to scientists:
Basically, it goes like this. As a scientist you have to decide at some point that enough is enough. You have to put your scientific commitment to the discipline of doubt aside and “blow past” your boundaries. Say what you feel, not what you can prove.
Thursday, December 16. 2010
I am informed by someone who knows about these things that this is what I want for Christmas: the Lumix LX -5. I guess it's a clone of the Leica D-Lux 5. This guys says to chose the Leica.
I'm not sure I need one, but it seems like a nice thing. I think I could take lousy snaps with any camera, though.
On second thought, maybe I'd rather have the Leica. Heck, I don't know. I'll take the Lumix, Santa.
I hesitate to file this under 'Politics', but since we don't have a 'Goofy Road Trip Adventures' category, into 'Politics' I suppose it must go.
I hadn't seen an old friend who lives in D.C. for a fair while, and since Jon Stewart's highly-anticipated "Let's Save America From The Racist Homophobic Teabaggers" rally and the election were just a few days apart, I decided to throw the ol' snow tires on my hot Firebird Formula...
...and hoof it up to D.C. for the festivities. Ever the impulsive one, I.
Below the fold I'll detail the highlights of my adventure, including my take on the rally, how I ended up scaring the hell out of scores of innocent passers-by at an energy expo, and how I got abducted by a busload of Tea Party revelers on election eve.
Continue reading "Road trip!"
Legal Insurrection reminded me of this:
"two-thirds of Americans believe that success is not outside their control. In Germany, 68% answered the exact opposite way.... By more than six to one, Americans believe failure is the result of the individual, not society… 71% of Americans believe people can escape from poverty. Only 40% of Europeans believe the same....Asked why people are wealthy, 64 percent of Americans say [it is] because of personal drive, willingness to take risks, and hard work and initiative." And why do others fail? When asked that question, 64 percent of Americans cited a lack of thrift, 53 percent ascribed the failure (at least in part) to a lack of effort, and a like percentage said that failure was due to lack of ability. ..... but “in Europe, a majority in every country – with the exception of the U.K., Czech Republic, and Slovakia – ‘believe that forces outside of an individual’s personal control determine success.'"
These really are different views of the world and of the human being.
Mom (with a Lefty non-profit behind her) sues MacDonalds over Happy Meals.
It's obvious that parenthood is beyond her.
Remember this summer when Palin was mocked by the MSM and the Lefties for that statement? On this day, in 1773:
A few of Bill Watterson's college-era toons (Kenyon College, '80) were posted on the Kenyon site:
Wednesday, December 15. 2010
Look, my dog can poop! Perfect gift if you don't want to go out to walk a real one on chilly mornings.
Venison Steaks with Apples, Pears and Crème Fraîche
Preparation time 5 minutes (that is, after you kill your deer), cooking time 15 minutes. Serves: 4
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
4 Venison Steaks
2 small Royal Gala apples and one small bosc pear, peeled, cored and cut into 12 wedges each
2 Cup Beef Stock (COSTCO’s box is best)
5 tbsp crème fraîche
4 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp pear, raspberry or red currant jam
Calvados
Put the oil in a small heavy-based frying pan over a high heat. Season the steaks well and place in the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until just cooked through and nicely browned. Set aside on a plate to rest for 5 minutes, covering with foil to keep warm.
Meanwhile, place the apple & pear wedges in the pan and cook for 1 minute on each side or until golden brown. Add the beef stock and cook for 5 minutes or until the sauce reduces by about two thirds and the apple is tender. Turn the heat down and add the jelly, stirring until it melts, then stir in the crème fraîche and parsley. Option: add a splash of Calvados to the sauce for a more complex flavor. Season to taste.
Cut the steaks into four or five diagonal slices and return to the pan, with any juices, to warm through.
Serve with mushroom wild rice or Cavolo Nero cabbage lightly steamed until tender.
From Totalitarianism and Education, at Brussels Journal:
I have heard a history teacher describe Stalinist Russia as a basically benevolent and prosperous society with a few minor problems. I have looked through a school library for a biography of Mao Zedong, only to find it populated exclusively by hagiographies written by 70s radicals. I have had philosophy teachers who have never heard of Friedrich Hayek. I have been told that dialectical materialism is an indisputable fact in which all historians believe. I have, as mentioned, read course plans which openly instruct teachers to fail students who affirm the existence of human nature or objective truth, and to give good grades to those who regard history as a political tool of the ruling classes. I have had textbooks on 20th century philosophy with dozens of pages devoted to mediocrities like Simone de Beavouir but not a single mention of Wittgenstein or Russell. I have had lessons on the Middle Ages that have consisted almost entirely of infantile urban legends. (Angels on the head of a pin, feudalism, etc.) I have heard of teachers who openly exhort their students to vote Socialist. I have been told that it is racist to pass moral judgment on female genital mutilation.
Make the Ten Commandments relevant.
Forgot to include The Complete Calvin and Hobbes to the book list yesterday. It's expensive but worth every penny.
Also, adding to blogroll:
Bernard Goldberg
Bookworm Room
Ricochet
Why does Maggie's get so political, when we never wanted to? Because the gummint keeps trying to play a larger role in our lives. We hate that. If they left us folks alone, we'd have a much more interesting site. It would be all food and hunting and fishing and guns and skiing and tennis raquets and books and the arts and music and history and gardening and God and stuff like that. Things that bring delight instead of exasperation.
 Readers know that we are fans of SureFire military and tactical flashlights. They are useful for blinding and illuminating a bad guy, or for illuminating a distant detail - or for finding a fox, beaver or owl at night.
The problem with them has been that the battery drain has been so fast that they were not useful for any regular flashlight use (for which they were not designed anyway - they were first designed to incapacitate and illuminate a human target).
They have now come out with a line of LED flashlights, some of which may not meet the same tactical specs but which have a longer battery life, and still should not be used in anybody's face unless you wish to disable them. A MagLite on steroids.
Also, Insty informs us that Amazon has deals on knives. Practical knives, not the fancy ones. Except when boarding a plane, a guy needs a knife in the pocket.
The intertubes seem to work just fine. I want no government hands stinking up my internet. I want it private. KERPEN: Silencing voices of Internet dissent.
Tuesday, December 14. 2010
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Pic via 
Ancient 