Maggie's Farm

The Bird Dog would like to plug The Teaching Company. He is neither paid by them nor does he own any shares in their company, but he does wish he had started the business. They collect the best college teachers - not the most famous, just the most engaging. Look at their website - on left column, under Other Swell Places. I have done about 8 of their courses and each has been wonderful. The music stuff by Greenberg is a pure delight. It is excellent for the car or for workouts. You can fill in all of the gaps in your education, and no exams!

Like Brooks Brothers, they have regular sales, and that is the time to stock up.

The only thing nuttier than Australia banning gun ownership - so that the Army has to be called in to shoot infestations of rabbits - is the banning of fox-hunting, otherwise known as "hunting," in the UK.  Thank God for our revolution, or we might have become as nutty as England, Australia and Canada. This has got to be one of the saddest days for the time-honored Brit sporting traditions. What will be the next target of the self-righteous weenies?  Soccer, because it leads to fighting? Pathetic.

But maybe we can offer psychological counseling for those ex-hunters? Teach them knitting and TV-watching? And maybe those beautiful horses can be re-trained to be therapy-horses....hey - that would be a better world, right?

Read Norman Geras' piece in Dissent. A well-known Brit socialist, a retired professor, Norm is notable for not only being open-minded but for being a nice guy. And an articulate blogger. Got in hot water with the Brit Left for violating the Party Line on Iraq - how shocking ! Can you imagine such a thing ?!  Bad form. Almost as distressing as a lady forgetting to wear a hat at Ascot, or sipping her tea before the hostess sits down.  Who knows - it could lengthen the time 'til the Revolution, when we all will get free apple pie (or, more likely, guillotined).  Click here: Dissent Magazine - Winter 2005

Another delectable dog bone. Speaking of guillotines, the Bird Dog is on the trail of The Enlightenment these days, with a fine Himmelfarb piece coming up tomorrow maybe. But this piece sets the stage. Whatever The Enlightenment was, it wasn't perfect, and even though we may live in it, like fish in water, we have to think about it. That is what Dog thinks is so cool and great about Western Civilization -  not only can we think, but we don't get shot for doing it. Click here: OpinionJournal - Leisure & Arts

This just in from Vermont:

Gol darn, nothin to read on the  internet tonight. We got Mr. Bush runnin the gummint, so no worry there. Everything is peachy in I-raq.  Miss Condi will have the ---ing Frogs and the Krauts kissin our butts soon, and it's not too long til -----ing mud season. Even good ole Norm is jes fussin about some --- Mayor from someplace or other. Who the --- cares? When things are goin good, the net gets ---ing dull. So dull, think I'll have a ----ing smoke and a snort and check for some new raccoon recipes on the Food Channel site. Or some snappin turtle recipes.

In case you had the impression that New Zealand had grown out of the Stone Age. Maybe we don't let their astronomers use the Hubble.

"I'm busy right now, Napoleon."

Tad, in the quirky indie film Napoleon Dynamite - your 13 year-old will get it.

Courtesy of Instapundit - Law suits brewing at CBS:

A Milk-Bone to M and Gwynnie for retrieving these links:

Remarkable: Click here: Photos - Ice Hotel

Dear Editor:

This is a classic idiosyncratic Blog. I love reading it.

Sincerely,

Anonymous

Dear Anon.:

What does "idiosyncratic" mean? Flattery will get you nowhere. You do not win a signed copy of the new book.

Sincerely,

Bird Dog

Is there a life-boat for us when the universe dies?

You can read his work by clicking here.

May God bless and keep you always,

May your wishes all come true,

May you always do for others

And let others do for you.

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung,

And may you stay forever young.

Dylan, from Forever Young

The remarkable Belmont Club fills me with humility because of his/her/their  intelligence, breadth of knowledge, and breadth of information. But their  commentators are equally good. I hope people read them along with Belmont's commentary. Please note the following harvested (stolen?) from Belmont's readers recently:

"Both the Left and Salafist Jihadism are thouroughly modern rejections of modernism. Both are eschatological creeds, promising heaven on Earth and the abolition of injustice. Both see the US as main impediment to their dreams. Both are so fully convinced of the correctness of their creed, of the better future for humanity that they offer, that the ends justify the means. So it is no surprise that the Left would jump into bed with the Jihadis, and that Stewart, the promotor of civil rights, would make common cause with the choppers of heads and stoners of gays."

Note from Gwynnie:

Gwynnie noted that a pack of dogged blogs sank their canines into Eason and hounded him out of the CNN kennel yesterday.  Good dogs.  At least he had the dignity not to try the Mary Mapes/Dan Rather defense (there's no proof, in fact not a shred of evidence, but I want to believe in my heart it's true so I'll report it as news).

Yet another - wow - we sure are lucky to have such an active readership:

Hey Bozo:

This blog makes no sense. It is incoherent. Who is the dog?  Who is the owner? Is Bird Dog a dog or a person? Who are these other things or animals or people posting? And I can't tell what is serious and what isn't. Is it supposed to be funny? It isn't. What the heck is it about, anyway? I think you are a big jerk.

(wishes to be anonymous)

Dear Loyal Reader,

Thanks for caring and sharing.

Sincerely,

Bird Dog