Thursday, July 5. 2007
How are we doing in Iraq since January? AQ Feeling the Heat, at Flopping.
Wednesday, July 4. 2007
 We praise Sen John McCain for sticking to his convictions. Unfortunately for him, his convictions do not garner a great deal of support.
Hitchcock film techinques: Synthstuff A Victoria Cross and a Presidential Citation. Jim Miller. But the news is all Michael Moore and Paris Hilton. The great Artur Schnabel: Terry Teachout looks at Schnabel's life and career, at Commentary Re the UK bombings, a darn good question at SDA: How does a 26-year-old become a practicing neurologist? What is this, the Readers Digest version of medical school or just Mohammed Jamil Howzer?)
This was a great business concept. Talk about easy money. Coyote. Funny how people can't resist tossing a coin into a fountain. From the Weekly Standard review of The Dangerous Book for Boys: "If you see a girl in need of help--unable to lift something, for example--do not taunt her. Approach the object and greet her with a cheerful smile, whilst surreptitiously testing the weight of the object. If you find you can lift it, go ahead. If you can't, try sitting on it and engaging her in conversation." Ovid couldn't have put it any better.
The Scooter Libby manufactured outrage was totally predictable, as is the stench of hypocrisy. There is a fine line between a successful terror attack and one which looks bumbling and bungled. A good point, at neoneo Freak Show. Looks like the Coney Island side shows have moved to San Francisco. Old media vs. new media: Driscoll. With a bit of an inside view from an anonymous old media person. Women are perps of domestic violence far more often than men. Dr. Helen. Washington is not working? Who wants it to? Who wants "efficient government"? Mussolini was famous for it, but I prefer a paralyzed government most of the time unless they are killing our enemies. A quote from Jay Cost from a piece at Betsy: Washington is "not working" not because it lacks strong and effective managers. Washington is "not working" because it was designed not to work when there is an absence of political consensus, which there is right now. Washington "fails to work" more often than not because ours is a diverse nation with many competing interests, and our Founders feared the possibility that one interest might railroad another. They thought that the best way to preserve our republican form of government would be to make political change next-to-impossible without a political consensus.
Tuesday, July 3. 2007
BondC explains it all (it is Right Wing Prof's food blog). I am working on perfecting my cold smoking, but with an electric smoker.
A warning from John Adams, in a letter in 1814: Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide.
 From Hansen. A quote:
It is stereotypically easy to identify authoritarians who seek restrict civil liberties during war in the name of "national security." But it is much harder to take on crusading special interest groups, district attorneys, court justices, and liberal Senators who ignore, twist, or subvert our constitutional freedoms under the liberal clarion call of helping minorities, stopping the war, or championing the underclass. If we are to lose our civil liberties, it won't be all of sudden due to Patriot-Act zealots in sunglasses and flattops, but rather insidiously and incrementally by egalitarian professors, moral crusaders, muckraking journalists, and government utopians all unhappy that constitutional justice is too little and too late for their ever impatient desire to ensure heaven on earth.
Their utopia is my Brave New World nightmare, and I am sure that VDH agrees. Read the whole thing (h/t, Jules).
Dr. X has discovered the real reason for Moslem rage against Salman Rushdie. Her name is Padma.
 With the new server, Maggie's Farm should load noticeably faster, and pages should load faster, and it should speed up further over the next few days.
Still some problems if you access via AOL.
Cold-smoked these hunks of pork with cherry yesterday. One chunk came out a bit black on one side, and I don't know why. I think the rub makes the crust the tastiest part. 
Monday, July 2. 2007
Beverly "Bubbles" Sills died at 78. Una Voce Poco Fa (1976), from the Barber of Seville.
This little FICA review came in over the transom today, full of facts which the youths ought to be aware of:
Franklin Roosevelt introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:
1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent "Trust Fund" rather than into the General operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and,
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month - and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to "put away," you may be interested in the following: --------------------
Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent "Trust" fund and put it into the General fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically controlled House and
Senate.
--------------------
Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social
Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.
--------------------
Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the "tie-breaking" deciding
vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the U.S.
-------------------
Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
A: That's right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!
-------------------
Then, after doing all this lying and thieving and violation of the original
contract, the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!
And the worst part about it is, uninformed citizens believe it!
And I might add that none of the people controlling SS in our government
are dependent on it in the least. Congressmen have a completely separate fully funded retirement system. There is no decrease in their pay level at retirement.
 Dalrymple thinks about why Australian academics are in love with the idea of genocide of their aborigines. A quote:
...if you are unhappy in a country like Australia, you have to consider the possibility that the problem lies with you rather than with the conditions that surround you. This is a disagreeable thing, particularly for an intelligentsia, which is deprived by it of a providential role for itself. What does an intelligentsia do when a country is already as satisfactory in its political arrangements and social institutions as any country has ever been? Intelligentsias do not like the kind of small problems that day to day existence inevitably throws up, such as termites in the woodwork or conflict at work over desk-space: they like to get their intellectual teeth into weightier, meatier problems. What could be a weightier problem than a prosperous, fortunate country that was founded upon genocide? Clearly, if it was so founded, an intelligentsia is urgently needed to help it emerge from the dark moral labyrinth in which it exists, hitherto blindly. For only an intelligentsia is sufficiently used to thinking in abstractions to be qualified to act as guide to the nation.
Read the whole thing. Photo: Australian Aborigine with didgereedoo
Our host installed a super-duper new server today, so we have been down. It may take AOL a while to catch on, and for full function to reappear.
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, 1905, (h/t Anchoress, who has a cornucopia of fine QQQs in her piece: Bloom where you are planted)
Sunday, July 1. 2007
Earl Scruggs, with Joanie Baez doing Dylan's Love is Just a Four-letter Word Don Ross, guitar-picker extraordinaire, at LGF. Today, Maggie's Farm has warned ya, informed ya, fed ya, entertained ya, and provided holy inspiration. Now I am off-duty, with tennis, smoking a nice pork butt, and some outdoor jobs. See y'all tomorry.
 We have written many times about how using ethanol (alcohol, aka moonshine) as a gas additive is a scam, and nothing more than a massive farm subsidy which is raising the cost of food.
But I just learned more. When you use gas with ethanol, it can destroy your gas-powered power tools and mowers. I just had a conversation with my local Stihl and Scag dealer yesterday - my Stihl hedge trimmer needed a new carburetor. Guy said the ethanol kills these machines - their lines, their carburetors, etc. He says it's also murder on outboard engines. He explained that it's less of a problem for pros who use their tools daily, but if you use your tools occasionally, the alcohol - being water-soluble - separates from the gas and makes a mess. The new carburetor cost me $97. His advice: Run the machine down to empty if you aren't going to use it for a while, and always use fresh gas - don't use two-month-old gas. If you are like me, you have five gallon containers of vintage gas-oil mix left over from last fall. Get rid of it, somehow. Here's one article on the subject.
 You can either believe the officials, or you can believe that Cheney and the CIA are behind the UK bomb attacks. Right on cue, Red Ken jumps to defend Moslems. I don't mind his defending innocent Moslems, but he might mention defending his country first. Well, he would never do that.
Global warming claims melt under scrutiny. Sun-Times. Yes they do. Adding to Blogroll: Jon Swift Moscow is now the most expensive city in the world. How did that happen? Here's their new Ritz-Carlton Smaller high schools seem to work better in NYC. Not surprised. Can you pass an 8th Grade Science Test? Could Al Gore? (h/t, Ace) Photo: A view of Wellfleet Harbor, Cape Cod, right across from Harbor Freeze. There was a time when "Nothing happens on Cape Cod until July 4th." I happen to be fond of June on the Cape, but you can have some chilly, foggy days, and swimming in the ocean in June is not for weenies. You can tell how cold the ocean water is by how far a guy's testes recede. In June, they go up to your neck. By August, only about to your belly-button.
Psalm 16:1-11 1Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
3As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.
4Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.
5The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
6The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.
7I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
8I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.
10For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.
11You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Saturday, June 30. 2007
Update here. It's odd the way the Brits now term middle-easterners "asians." They are not what we consider asians. It's gratifying to see that the crowd tackled and captured the bad asian.
Shamelessly stolen borrowed from Powerline: 
 Excellent news video from ABC on the school desegregation case (from Patterico's piece on the subject). Forced bussing was a catastrophe for our cities and for kids of every color. In a city, kids should be able to walk to grammar school and, if you want parents involved, they ought to be able to amble over there too.
It was telling, on that video, that the black Louisville civil rights fighter applauded the Court's decision, but the white Lefties on the Court just don't get it. It's not the 60s anymore, and those battles have been fought and won. Hotheads with agendas and rent-seekers continue to try to stir the pot, but it's over: happily, race is not a big deal to anyone anymore and, as we have often said here, nowadays it can be difficult to tell what race somebody is anyway. America might not be a melting pot, but it's a racial melting pot. You could go nuts trying to put a racial label on people. We believe in color-blindness, character-awareness, and culture-alertness. For example, my so-called "white" Yankee kids have Irish blood and North African blood from southern Italians from their Mom, and American Indian blood and Brit blood from me. On the other hand, my daughter's friend is "Hispanic" for school and college purposes (where that 'hispanic" comes in mighty handy), with an aristocratic Spanish father with a family castle in Spain (with a large hunting preserve where they occasionally hunt with King Juan Carlos), married to an "anglo" American doctor. The Roberts Court: Sanity, Common Sense, and the requirements of the Constitution. It sounds like Breyer lost his cool during this case, but what does he know about being a black 8 year-old? Nothing. Justice Thomas does know, and he knows more than that: he understands the condescension of the Left towards their plantation darkies. He has been hunted down by their hounds for escaping Massa's plantation and for not being what the Dixiecrat Dems used to call "a good nigger." We are rarely reminded that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican (albeit a rather liberal one, back in the pre-conservative era), and that it was the Repubs (Eisenhower, for starters) who began the civil rights movement. (Well, maybe you could mention Repub Lincoln, too.) Photo: A famous 1991 Benetton advertisement
Here's part of the front shade garden we've been working on completing all Spring. The general idea here is low, mostly horizontal, serene and subtle, which is why this piece of the garden has no Astilbe patch. It has a some morning sun, otherwise Maple shade, except on one end. We re-did this garden about three years ago with deep soil enrichment, so most of the plantings are youthful or new. In a couple of years it should be just right - but every garden is a work in progress. Front to back: Bleeding Heart, Pee Wee hydrangea (which is a dwarf Oak Leaf), assorted rare interesting Hostas, a deciduous Azalea, a couple of low-growing azaleas with hostas in front of them, hybrid rhodies in the corner with a few special low hydrangeas in front of them, a patch of Coral Bells in front a row of Bridal Wreath hydrangeas, and where the photo is washed out, a large patch of Ladie's Mantle. Cinnamon Ferns scattered in the back along the garden. I need my good camera back from Olympus repair. 
From another angle, here's the newest section. I haven't fully set in the metal edging, and probably never should have bothered with it. The area with the grasses gets the most sun. An orange trumpet vine is trying to climb over the wall and into the garden. I believe a decorator would term that a color clash: 
Friday, June 29. 2007
Are there more? This is London. Al Quaida suspected of importing their quaint Middle Eastern cultural traditions, and their religion of love and peace, to a tolerant and welcoming Britain. Update: They IDed the guy. Has arrest record for Al Quaida bomb plotting. How can a country treat such cases as ordinary criminality? Makes no sense. Gentle Western law is of no concern to Jihadists.
It may not mean much more than an expression of sentiment, but Pence's amendment to forbid the FCC from resurrecting the Fairness Doctrine saw a lot of support in the House. Naming that thing "Fairness" was a slick piece of double-speak, wasn't it? It put people in the position of voting against fairness. On the other hand, I thought most people in Western Civilization grew past the "No fair!" schoolyard complaint around age 10. Maybe 11.
Some excellent sarcasm re the immigration debacle, from Ace: "Talk Radio is Running America" Believe me, if Talk Radio and Centrist blogs like Maggie's ran the world, people would still bitch and moan. It's human nature.
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