Excellent summary of the current state of the ACLU at Tammy Bruce (h/t, Driscoll).

I know well that the ACLU was founded by communists, but it once had a worthy mission nonetheless. No longer. Now it's mission is to undermine America and to subvert freedom and tradition. It is astonishing to me that they get $ support from the US government: Chavez or Osama would be more likely sources.

The ACLU is just one of many non-profits which have been taken over by Leftists, to their detriment. We have written about the YWCA, Planned Parenthood, the World Council of Churches, and the UCC, but there are many more examples.

And in case you have never checked it out, Stop the ACLU website is always on their case.

WHATEVER YOU DO IS WRONG

When you sit in the blind awaiting the flight

Of the white-breasted northern sprig,

While they circle high and think to light,

And they look so close and big,

You whisper your pard, as you both crouch low,

“Now! – Don’t wait too long!”

You shoot – too far – and off they go;

Whatever you do is wrong!

 

Then you curse yourself for a fool greenhorn,

Your pride has had a blow;

Sullen you sit and smoke and mourn,

When – in comes a bunch, fair low!

You watch them circle ‘round and ‘round,

“Just let them work along!”

When – off they swing, southward bound;

Whatever you do is wrong!

 

And so, through life, a poor wretch tries

To do what he thinks is right,

To place his funds so that when he dies

His family’ll be sitting tight;

To raise the young with the best in mind,

And sometimes it works like a song,

But often he finds like the man in the blind,

Whatever you do is wrong!

 

Still, I think that the God who sits in His sky,

And watches each man in his blind,

When it comes time for the hunter to die,

Surely, He’ll keep in mind

That each tried to do what it seemed he ought,

And He’ll put us where we belong;

For He’ll understand the fellow that thought

Whatever he did was wrong!

Remarkable - don't miss this: A German scientist did a comparison test to see how many people could tell the difference between the first and second picture.  3 things were different.  Only 49 out of 8,000 were able to solve it.  Can you?  Click below:

COMPARISON TEST

As usual, when Dust My Broom posts a blues mix, it's pretty darn decent. Last night he included a recording by Roy Buchanan, the guitar legend. (He also has Marcia Ball, the New Orleans piano player and blues belter who I saw in CT a year ago. She is a firecracker.)

Roy's bio here. Amazon has some Buchanan recordings.

Thanks to our Aliyah Diary guest author for bringing to our attention Armand Laferrere's essay The Huguenots, the Jews, and Me. Laferrere's piece explains some of the history of the growing links between Protestants and Jews in a hostile world.

The book by Matthew Levitt is Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad. Levitt, now deputy assistant secretary for intelligence in the Treasury Department, is interviewed here.

Levitt's "Hamas" (AZURE 26, Autumn 2006, reviewed by Leiter) and Laferrere's "The Huguenots, the Jews, and Me" are conceptually
related.

Laferrere's deeply personal essay describes a worldview established by the Reformation, refined by Calvin, and later articulated by Max Weber.  This worldview, Laferrere writes persuasively, connects the French Huguenot (Calvinists) and himself to the Jews.  Laferrere explains this in terms of the French Catholic persecution of the Huguenots. But Weber teaches us another perspective.

Weber, an economist and sociologist, connected the economic/social rise of capitalism (i.e. the rational group/societal pursuit of economic gain) with  Calvinist revision of a religious worldview, a revision begun radically by Martin Luther in his shift from Catholicism to Protestantism, but refined by Calvin. The latter emphasized worldly gain as a sing of salvation, emphasized group/societal wealth along with individual asceticism and modesty. That is, Weber argued, Calvinist "religious" beliefs influenced the
new economic belief and actions of capitalism. In fact, Weber cites Ben Franklin's recasting of Calvinist values into very secular anodyne proverbs about work.

How is this connected to the book, "Hamas"? Levitt argues that the contemporary Western constructs of "religion," "charity," "political versus militant" wings of an organization do not hold for Hamas (nor for Hezbollah, nor for militant Islam, including the Iranian regime).  Rather, there is a more seamless fabric of beliefs that cross Western boundaries such as "religion" or "politics" or "economy."

A quote from Leiter's review:

"...It is in this context that Levitt makes one of his most important contributions to our understanding of how terror works. Fungible funds, it turns out, are only part of the problem. The crossover between dawa and terror, he shows, extends to works of charity themselves. Ambulances are used to transport suicide bomb belts, schools are used to hide weapons, and charitable organizations are used as recruiting centers for terrorists. Hospitals are used to procure ingredients for bombs, such as the nitric acid and hydrogen sulfide used to produce nitroglycerin explosives, and hydrogen peroxide to make an explosive called tatp, which is favored by Hamas. Dawa-supported doctors use their freedom of travel privileges to smuggle suicide bombers into Israel. Likewise, libraries supported by the Hamas dawa are used for the dissemination of radical sermons glorifying death and murder, and in what is perhaps the most potent symbol of the link between dawa and terror, mosques are used for storing weapons and hosting operational meetings. In short, Hamas offers a holistic religious doctrine that treats good works toward coreligionists and terrorization of the enemy as two sides of the same coin."
Ironically, Weber makes an argument that with the rise of Protestant/capitalism, the societal (Catholic) compartmentalization of religion (otherworldliness) and secular become woven together. In fact, a change in religious worldview results in a change in secular action (in contrast to Marx's argument).

Clairvoyantly, the editor of Ha'Aretz, Carlebach wrote in 1956, shortly before his premature death, that the West did not comprehend the way of thought of Arab societies and how different is this way of thinking from the heirs of Western Enlightenment.  Carlebach did not use the perhaps more precise concepts nor terms used by Weber, but he seemed to get the basic idea.  And, Carlebach argued, if the West didn't get the difference in thinking about human relationships, then it didn't get the great struggle brewing between Islam and the West.

Levitt's book is a conceptual contribution to a Weberian understanding of the worldview of Hamas and related societies. To understand them better is understand the dedicated (mortal) enemies of not only the Jewish States, but also of a way of thinking and being and living together shared in the West.

Nathan Szajnberg, MD
Jerusalem

Forever young? For women (maybe men, too) 40 is the new 30, and 60 is the new 40. Daily Mail

830. A new record Scrabble score.

An ESV Bible trick. Middlebrow. Cool.

Why won't France send the army into the banlieus? Too many Moslems in their army? Brussels Journal (h/t, Dino). Great idea - a multicultural army.

Will Bin Ladin win the American election? From a piece by Scheuer in Wash. Times (h/t, Env. Republican)

Bin Laden, his lieutenants and their allies are no doubt pleased by the destruction of the Spanish and Thai governments and the exhilarating message it sends to the worldwide Islamist movement: The infidels are weak, politically divided, terrified of using full military power and think we can be appeased. In short, war works; keep at it.
    Even so, bin Laden, et. al, know the biggest prize looms just ahead — the chance that the Republican Party will be ousted from one or both houses of Congress. There are many factors contributing to this possibility: the Foley abomination, other corruption cases, the trumped?up "crisis" over First Amendment rights and the administration's ill-informed and ham-fisted handling of the Iraq and Afghan wars. If the Republicans are ousted, pundits on both sides of the aisle will find the causes strictly in America's navel.
    But what will bin Laden and his Islamist allies think? Well, if Republican defeat comes to pass, they will first thank the Almighty — "Allahu Akhbar!" or "God is the greatest!" — for tangible proof of approaching victory. In Spain, Thailand, and Britain — where Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered the fate of Messrs. Aznar and Thaksin for the same reason, but is leaving gracefully — al Qaeda and its allies see politicians winning power who argue: "The military option has been tried and it has failed. We must seek other-than-martial means to defuse the Islamists' appeal and power." As in Europe and Thailand, this has been the refrain of Sens. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Rep. Jane Harman, and a swath of Republicans who value their seats more than U.S. security.
    If Americans vote for what sounds like sweet reason from the Democrats, bin Laden and company will rejoice. What they will hear is the death knell for any prospect of effective U.S. military resistance to militant Islam. With the Republicans out, the Islamists will be confident that Democrats will deliver the best of both worlds: less emphasis on military force and a rigid maintenance of U.S. foreign policies that are hated with passion and near-unanimity by 1.3 billion Muslims. If Osama approved of music, he would be whistling "Happy Days Are Here Again!"

From Sailing Anarchy:

"Hydroptère, the radical 60' hydrofoil trimaran hauling ass. For those who haven't seen it, it is a pretty fascinating thing. Take a look at the "shock absorber" foils."

We need to create a blogroll category for media-watchers. Here's one dedicated to keeping an eye on the NYT: Timeswatch.

From Sailing Anarchy:

"We recently sailed in a race from St Simon Island GA to Ameilia Island FL with my 70 year old father, brother in law and brother last weekend. We won the race.

In the middle of a 60 feet deep channel between two islands separated by about two miles was a six point buck swimming at about three knots."10/27/06

Any breed of cattle can be - and is - made into hamburger meat, including old Daisy herself, when her milk production slows down. But today we'll just look at two of the historically popular American beef cattle.

The Shorthorn is a relatively minor breed now, but when it was brought from England in the late 1700s it became popular. It had its origins in Roman times. This is a bull:

The Longhorn was brought to the New World by the Spanish, and was the main Western breed until replaced via hybridization, and by other breeds like the Angus and the Hereford, by 1900. Now it only exists on refuges and there are few breeders, but its gene pool might have something to offer today's breeders.

Australia's top Imam explains why women are the cause of rape. LGF.

I will grant him one point: sexy women do elicit erotic thoughts, and they know it, and they do enjoy that magical witchcraft.

But where is the Imam's expectation of civilized behavior on the part of Moslem gentlemen... or is that not part of modern Islam?

Image presented for scientific purposes only. Middle Eastern scholars claim that this sort of devilish thing is what is hiding under all of those burkhas.

The department store is the ancestor of the mall, and of WalMart. From a piece in Washington Monthly:

Department stores emerged as the Wal-Marts of their time, known for low prices, convenience, and controversy. When the first stores opened in the 1870s and ’80s, they were cavernous, no-frills storerooms that stocked a hodgepodge of items once available only from specialty merchants. The different merchandise lines were known as “departments.” At these one-stop Victorian shopping destinations, the sales staff might not have known silk from twill, or how to trim a jacquard vest, but the prices were low, and one could pay in cash—an innovation at a time when most retailers required annual credit lines that were extended only to wealthy regular patrons.

Not everyone was a happy customer. Established venders feared being driven out of business, and indeed many Main Street tea merchants, booksellers, crockery stores, and glassware dealers did lose patrons and close shop. Other early critiques were less about cents than sensibility. In 1897, Scribner’s lamented the big stores’ tawdry sales events; banal and homogenous goods; and appeals to customers as crowds, rather than as selective individuals. Mark Twain found maddening the stores’ practice of heaping goods of no practical relation on adjacent tables for customers to simply rummage through. Of particular offense was the sight of an autobiography of President Ulysses  S. Grant strewn alongside the rugs and teapots at John Wanamaker’s store in Philadelphia. Clemens, who had co-published the book, blasted Wanamaker as “that unco-pious butter-mouthed Sunday school-slobbering sneak-thief.”

The worst digital cameras, here. (h/t Protein)

The new camera gift guide - it's all 10 megapixels now, even for point-and-shoot.

Isn't capitalism amazing?

And, speaking of capitalism, what is the best way to protect an industry? To permit competition - of course. Look at the City of London: The Economist . (h/t, BusinessPundit)

These three dudes are the modern masters of farce, absurdist and semi-black humor. They all have no trouble making fun of earnest silliness, and all of their humor is dead serious.

A friend turned me on to the Brit Tom Sharpe, who has never been afraid of political correctness. But I never knew about his Wilt series, which is on the way to me from Amazon at this moment. I had only read his two which were set in South Africa. The mental hospital staging a Zulu War as a therapeutic theater piece with the patients taking sides with real weapons is just unbelievable. But so are the people with the rubber suit fetishes.

Peter de Vries, a long-time editor at The New Yorker and Editor of Poetry magazine, and long-time resident of Westport, CT now, alas, dead, wrote a number of droll, warmly satirical novels, most of them about life in Fairfield County. He is the most religious atheist writer I can think of. Adultery, social climbing, book clubs, alcohol abuse, horny adolescents, existential crises, wonderful misfits, nouveau riches, do-gooders, old-time eccentric grouchy Yankees, wacky preachers, and hearty golfers are the grist for his mill. Favorite De Vries quotes: "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be," and "It is the final proof of God's omnipotence that he need not exist in order to save us." One more: "I was baptised, but it didn't take." Can you label this genre "comic seriousness"?

Carl Hiaasen - bio here - prize-winning Florida journalist and co-songwriter with the late lamented Warren Zevon, has a feel for the dark side of South Florida culture (is there a bright side?) which he illuminates with such characters as Skink, the one-eyed ex-Florida governor who lives in the swamp, eats only road kill, and trusts only vets for medical help. My favorites are Skin Tight, Double Whammy, and Tourist Season.

When asked by Parliament members why be believed so much in America, Tony Blair said:

"A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in, and how many want out."

The appropriate age for marriage is eighteen for girls and thirty seven for men.

Aristotle

Nancy Pelosi said this, re the chance she will end up as Speaker (h/t, Driscoll):

"The gavel of the speaker of the House is in the hands of special interests, and now it will be in the hands of America's children."

The truth shall set ye free, but first it shall make ye miserable.

Soren Kirkegaard  (h/t, Stumbling)