People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in the world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them. 

George Bernard Shaw  

Poetry lies its way to the truth.

John Ciardi

This is what a .28 ga. shotgun looks like. They are graceful-looking little pea-shooters used by good shots on small birds like quail and dove, and clay targets. The only smaller shotgun is the .410, used by expert shots on targets, also on starlings and pigeons around the barn. This one by Connecticut Shotgun Mfg. Co. This pretty side-by-side can be had for a mere $19,000. Too bad it's a little late for the hubby this V. Day.

And here's a nice new .28 ga side-by-side one from our friends at Griffin & Howe, for a reasonable $9950. Nice wood:

The Gospels have become so overladen with myth over the past two thousand years that some Christians - me, for example - are not always certain whether an event was added myth, or actually written in the Gospels. And, of course, the Gospels are not exactly gospel themselves, being oral reports written down years later.

I hope I am not the only Christian who thinks that the question of whether Jesus had a special relationship with Magdalene is 1) dumb, since there is no data, 2) uninteresting, 3) a distraction, and 4) irrelevant. What is highly relevant to me is the following scene from John's Gospel, as described by Jean Acocella, who considers the role of Mary Magdalene in her piece "The Saintly Sinner" in The New Yorker:

Magdalene goes to the tomb in darkness, before dawn, and she goes alone. We feel her hurry, her sense of danger. To her astonishment, she finds the stone rolled away. She runs back to the disciples and tells them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.” Peter and another disciple take over. They rush to the tomb; indeed, they race to see who can get there first. (This exemplary male competition became a favorite scene in medieval morality plays. In John’s Gospel, it adds a bright little note of comedy to the otherwise dark tale.) When they arrive, they see that the Magdalene was right: the body is gone. They go back home, presumably baffled, but the Magdalene stays behind, weeping. She looks again into the tomb, and now she sees two angels dressed in white. They ask her why she is crying, and she repeats her simple complaint: “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.” Even with angels, she’s still looking for the body. But then she turns around and sees another figure, who says to her, “Why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?” The tomb is in a garden, and the Magdalene thinks this man must be the gardener. A third time—it’s like a song—she repeats her complaint: “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him.” Now comes the stab through the heart. “Mary,” the “gardener” says to her, and instantly she knows. “Rabboni” (roughly, “My dear rabbi”), she replies, and apparently she reaches out to him, because he says, “Touch me not.” (This is the Latin Bible’s famous phrase “Noli me tangere.”) “But,” he tells her, “go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father.” He then vanishes, and she is left by herself.

Read the whole piece, which powerfully asserts Magdalene's authority on "matters of the soul."

It is widely accepted today that the early Indians were responsible for the extinction of the large animals of North America - the amazing Pleistocene mammals - mammoths, camels, etc. that were abundant here during the retreat of the most recent Ice Age. However, now it appears that the Indians had a major impact on all edible species, and that the abundance of animals found by the early European explorers may have been a consequence of the Indian population collapse due to disease. Story about the Indians and California wildlife here.

For really old animals - Spinosaurus.  It seems that this guy was the largest carnivorous dinosaur. H/T, Lucianne.

This migrating flock of mostly male Robins breezed in around 4 this afternoon, the day after the Big Snow.

Al Gore slanders the US with lies and brown-noses the Saudis - incredible. Cap'n Ed. Michelle has details also. Righteous indignation from Ace, too. Rick Moran also has a fine piece on the subject. What is Gore thinking?

Most popular dog breeds - after mutts, of course. Willisms

The world Lincoln was born into: Am. Thinker

A Shanghai Disney? Travelwire

A message to Sweden from Tammy Bruce:

The values of freedom are lovely and nice when one does not have to defend them.When we are challenged is when we find out who we really are. The Germans learned what was at their core in the last century. Sweden, are you to be the first Western nation in the 21st century to surrender to fascism?

Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.

Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

Snow Update: As of 2 pm, 19'' (58 cm.) and still coming down hard.

A dog photo, from right now:

One more:

The New Cabela's Limited Edition Spring Catalog. Email them, and get your own. Hard-cover, for your bedside table, next to your Bible and your current history book.

¹Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
²Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
³While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
⁴For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
⁶Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.
⁷You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah
⁸I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
⁹Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.
¹⁰Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
¹¹Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

Jake was dying. His wife sat at the bedside. He looked up and said weakly:
"I have something I must confess."
"There's no need to, " his wife replied."No," he insisted, "I want to die in peace. I slept with your sister, your best friend, her best friend, and your mother!"
"I know," she replied, " now just rest and let the poison work."

Last time, we did the Gordon Setter. The English Setter is a more popular favorite, an excellent family dog, and the finest of gun dogs.

Setters are members of the Spaniel family, with Spanish ancestry, as the name implies. Like most modern dog breeds, their blood lines were established in the late 1800s, but in the case of the English Setter, there are two lines: one bred for appearance and one for the field.

All setters retrieve, track, and point with a "set," a behavior which originally is thought to have been bred for bird trapping. More about the English Setter here.

The entire Cartoon War was staged by radical Imam-provocateurs. So it appears. But how many ignorant Moslems, without the internet, in the Middle East will ever learn that piece of the story? Makes CNN look like even bigger buffoons that we already thought they were.

One of the con-artist frauds here. The cartoons here. Even Dershowitz gets it, but the press doesn't.

Update: Wretchard summarizes all of the key events and issues here.

The guest author of our Aliyah Diary, Nathan (who has never fired a gun in his life) received this letter last week after expressing an interest in joining the Civil Guard Bicycle Unit. He will do it:

Dear Natan,

In terms of moving forward in becoming a Civil Guard Member and
joining the Bicycle Unit, here are the steps:

Application Form 6012 -   Please fill out both pages and fax it back to me. You can also pass on a hard copy to me or rescan it and email it. This is the first step.

Background Check -  After receiving and processing Form 6012, the police will conduct a cursory background check on you.

Rights and Responsibilities Lecture(s) -   Should the background check not find anything disqualifying, you will be invited to Rights and Responsibilities Lecture(s). These cover issues such as: legal authority, conducting operations, detaining suspects, making arrests, using communications equipment etc. This information is taught lecture style in groups of between 1 and 3 classroom meetings. After the last meeting, you are "sworn in" and receive a temporary Civil Guard ID. This allows you to go unarmed on patrols with more senior and experienced officers. Keep in mind that most of what you need to know you learn on the job.

Firearms Training -   You will be invited to the next scheduled firearms training sessions. They usually include a night-time classroom training session (dry fire) and a daytime actual shooting qualification at a firing range (wet).  The dry fire classroom training is usually held at an area school where you are acquainted with the weapons, view their field stripping and learn the basics of safety and marksmanship. General Civil Guards people train only on the .30 caliber M1 Carbine.  Bicycle and other special unit volunteers also train on pistols like the 9 mm FN Mk.III and the 22 caliber Beretta 71 (and sometimes on the Micro-Galil Assault rifle
though this weapon has little use in the bicycle unit). This extra instruction may require you staying on after the general Civil Guards
have completed their training on the carbine. I have prepared some
English language guidebooks for using each of these weapons which I will give to you at the proper time. The "dry-fire" training is followed within usually less than a week by "wet" training either at a commercial range (indoor) or at the regional police firing range (outdoor) in Bareket.  You will be required to demonstrate some (minimal) proficiency on the weapons (Rifles at about 30 meters, Pistols at about 10 meters) in order to be qualified to carry aweapon. You must repeat weapons training at least once every two years.

On the Job Training - You will be paired with senior and experienced officers (starting with me) for the first six months of your service, during which as a rule you will ride unarmed.

Thanks and Shavua tov,

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.

Friedrich Nietsche

Map via Michelle. Should have linked it but just had to post it. The grey color is the (thus far) vast area of dhimmitude. This is not the end of this kind of business. Just the beginning. Note the Brits in the dhimmi column.

Read the Analyst's piece on Internet Porn here.

Read the Laconic Yankee Farmer's non-laconic final post here.

Read our piece on How out to Lunch is Europe? here.

"Citizens assemble with the sole goal of declaring that they disapprove of the course of government. To meddle in the government of society and to speak about it is the greatest business and, so to speak, the only pleasure that an American knows...An American does not know how to converse, but he discusses; he does not discourse, but he holds forth. He always speaks to you as to an assembly."

Democracy in America, 1831

^{Psalm 147, 1-12}

¹Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
²The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
³He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.
⁴He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.
⁵Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
⁶The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground.
⁷Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre.
⁸He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry.
¹⁰His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
¹¹but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
¹²Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!