Sunday, August 5. 2012
Psalm 51:1-12
51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
51:4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
51:5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
51:6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
51:9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
51:11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Lots of glacial kettle ponds out there. Very deep in the middle.
Saturday, August 4. 2012
At Inside Higher Ed, here's a truly educated fool speaking:
“As an administrator, those are the kinds of things I’m really sensitive to – what are the students saying – because even if it’s not true, the perception is their reality,” said William L. Howard, assistant vice president of academic services at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. In other words, while a student’s method of calling attention to perceived prejudice may be flawed, that perception of prejudice still exists. “If you say, ‘This is not an issue on my campus,’ and a student has an experience that is counter to that, you have to listen to them.”
Baloney. If the fraud is their reality, they do not belong in school.
This appellate decision from 1993 (h/t Volokh) is interesting to read, as much for its content as for the decision.
It tells a life story and a legal story.
After recommending Gombrich's Meditations On a Hobby Horse and Other Essays On the Theory of Art a month or so ago, I have been re-reading it after 20 years.
It's the deepest and most thoughtful stuff I have ever read about image-making and our responses to them, so dense with ideas that I can really only digest a sentence or two at a time.
Over the transom:
More below the fold -
Continue reading "Fatal Fotos"
 In a disused graveyard
The living come with grassy tread
To read the gravestones on the hill;
The graveyard draws the living still,
But never anymore the dead.
The verses in it say and say:
"The ones who living come today
To read the stones and go away
Tomorrow dead will come to stay."
So sure of death the marbles rhyme,
Yet can't help marking all the time
How no one dead will seem to come.
What is it men are shrinking from?
It would be easy to be clever
And tell the stones: Men hate to die
And have stopped dying now forever.
I think they would believe the lie.
Friday, August 3. 2012
 Day two and counting.
So far, so good. In case you haven't heard the horrific news yet, Bird Dog is on vacation until Tuesday, leaving the site in the clutches of the likes of me and Bulldog.
The modern, sophisticated mind reels at the very thought.
If you happen to see the big guy, let him know that everything's cool. I simply deleted all of those warning notices I received from the FCC yesterday, figuring by the time they get around to handing out the indictments, our valiant editor will be long back. I'm sure a quick phone call to Washington will clear everything right up.
As for today's video, I've run across a small handful of web vids over the years that really touched me inside, mainly because of the accompanying music. The collection is here.
Here's the latest addition.
From Liberals’ Tyranny of Tolerance:
One’s reaction to Cathy’s remarks shouldn’t turn on views of gay marriage – an issue so far from being a closed conversation that polling routinely shows the public split roughly down the middle on it. Rather, it should be anchored in the simple fact that the Chick-fil-A president didn’t breathe a word of intolerance, bigotry or even derision. In fact, he didn’t even make a political statement.
The poisonous trend at work here is a complete inversion of the traditional understanding of “tolerance.”
As articulated in the great Western tradition of liberalism (the name given to the political philosophy espousing individual liberty before it was hijacked by statists), tolerance means granting others the freedom of their own actions and views so long as they don’t harm others.
This view was ably expressed by Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia, when, in regard to religious liberty, he said, “It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
 Is the Mojito really the national cocktail of Cuba? This drink seems to be enjoying a craze recently. Sounds like a Mint Julep but with rum.
I have never tried one, but I steer clear of hard booze most of the time. I like anything with mint in it, though.
Here's how to make it.
Arthur Brooks makes the winning case for free enterprise.
If conservatives are to succeed, we need to convince people in the U.S. and around the world that capitalism makes them richer and freer. Given the mountains of evidence on our side, why is it so damn hard?
Thursday, August 2. 2012
"You can get in trouble for saying almost anything these days on a college campus,” says Greg Lukianoff.
Photo below via Prof. Jacobson:
This is how it works:
Putting normal lives on a leash will be given an ideological aspect. Thanks to the opinion makers, the helpers will occupy the moral high ground. Earthly material interests mute into moralizing excuses. Stipulated justifications will exploit the original purpose of the regulating bureaucracy and thus protect it from criticism because of its claimed service of a higher purpose. Helping the poor might be virtuous. The institutions that fight poverty and thrive as a result, are not quite as noble as is their original goal. Existing values can also be hitched in front of bureaucratic carts. The values that preach helping and solidarity are enlisted to bless whatever the “office“ does. Accordingly, the critics are accused of lacking solidarity, of egoism, or to abuse the environment if, for instance, they dare to articulate the waste of some ecological regulations.
From Sailer on Gov. Andrew Cuomo: "I actually don't mind Cuomo, but he has a real big problem: he has a smarmy face you just want to punch."
Yesterday I received a notice in the mail. Apparently, Obamacare be beri beri good to me. My kindly insurance carrier is sending me government has forced my insurer to send me a rebate on 0.5% of my premiums from last year. That should be about, let's see, $32.50.
I really like getting money back from anyone. I suppose I should be pleased. But I'm not, I'm offended.
It seems that the ACA has set what is considered to be a 'reasonable' amount for spending on administrative costs and the coverage of medical fees. That split is 15% for administration, 85% for fees and services. My carrier hit only 84.5% on the fees and services portion, which means I get .5% back.
Continue reading "My Rebate"
 Dreadful news, I'm a'feared. Bird Dog has gone on vacation for a week.
(the old-timers in the audience burst into tears at the thought of the horror to come)
That's right, the tyrannical, oppressive firm, guiding hand of our beloved editor won't be around to keep us in check, and I suppose just about anything might happen. As, unfortunately, usually does. Hence the tears.
For example, one really horrible thing to see would be a link to the Maggie's Farm Smut Guide, which isn't normally available because no self-respecting blogger would ever link to such a vile, disgusting piece of trash.
Much less blog on the site that produced it!
Also, you might still see a few pre-dated posts by the big guy. That's his not-so-subtle way of telling us Mutinies will NOT be tolerated! Death awaits those who try! It's a fair precaution, given the ripe opportunity.
So, buckle down, me hearties, and we'll see if we can't weather this storm together. In case of fire, please throw a glass of water at your monitor and maybe some of it will seep through and cool down the server. If you see a big "CENSORED BY THE FCC" screen, well, that's why we usually have an editor.
Good luck, everyone!
 So, let us recap what's transpired since we last discussed the election.
As I recall, once Time Magazine and the New York Times picked up on the Maggie's posts and started printing them, the entire world realized that the wise and kindly Dr. Mercury was correct that Newt 'Big Picture' Gingrich was the one candidate with the historical perspective and across-the-aisle contacts to really-
Oh, wait. That was a dream I had the other night. Never mind.
Okay, so, while other blog sites were still mocking Romney by calling the others the "not-Romney" candidates, we'd all-but decided over here that it was probably Romney or bust. I believe he won my prestigious 'most presidential' award in every debate except one, where he shared the honor with Jon Huntsman.
Once the primaries started, the 'presidential' difference just became all the more apparent and the only surprise was the strong showing some of the other candidates made in certain states. But only in certain states.
Which brings us to today.
Like others, I'm expecting the Romney VP pick any moment now. For the record, I publicly called for Sarah Palin to be John McCain's running mate three weeks before he announced it.
But that was a gut call; wishful thinking. This is me actually trying to be politically analytical.
The standard "It won't be pretty" warning is in place.
Continue reading "Election 2012: The VP slot"
 Image via Eratosthenes
Mumbai lovers find haven as attitudes to dating change
Oxford University Degenerates Into Transsexual Farce
Very old tools (45,000 years old)
Why Toilets Are Still Made of Porcelain
Why the Amish Population Is Exploding
Shackleton and Scott's Antarctic huts are put online
Belarus generals sacked over Swedish teddy bear stunt
Oldie but goodie: New Wool Blanket Tears Commune Apart
Dispelling the misconceptions about feminism.
What Ever Happened to Jayson Blair?
Chicagoans hungry to flip the bird to Rahm, nicely
Beetle could delay Keystone pipeline
Enrollment Off in Big Districts, Forcing Layoffs
New Online Help Wanted Ads Plunge The Most Since January 2009
Meredith Whitney: Banking Industry to Shed Another 50,000 Jobs
What’s More Important, Monopoly Privileges for Union Bosses or Educational Opportunity for Minority Children?
Harry Reid offers still more evidence……that he’s a lowlife bottom feeder.
Jenkins: Is Obama Beating Himself? With "you didn't build that" going viral, the president's campaign is reportedly looking for a positive message. But what message?
Mitt Romney is right, culture matters
Oy Vey! Nancy Pelosi Wants to Protect Me from Being Exploited
Obama’s Campaign Most Cynical in Recent Memory
Santorum: Chick-fil-A a victim of ‘intolerance and bigotry’
Ann Romney slammed for $990 Shirt, Michelle Obama praised for $6,800 jacket
Steyn in Europe:
How many more millions will be on food stamps and disability by the end of the decade? According to the Heritage Foundation, in the United States government spending accounts for 42 percent of GDP, in Canada 44 percent. Those two points are apparently the difference between a sturdy republic of limited government and self-reliant citizens and a notorious semi-French socialist basket case of effete wimps. Oh, wait: New Zealand's about the same as America.
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