Maggie's Farm

Had some of this last weekend.

Tastiest wine I've had in quite a while, and excellent for the price - but I am not good with wine jargon. Oregon's Willamette Valley Vineyards Whole Cluster Pinot, 2007.

Too young to drink? That's a matter of taste. I am old enough to drink and that's what counts.

Will Wilkinson directed us to a piece of poli-sci research titled Rich State, Poor State, Red State, Blue state. What's the matter with Connecticut?

They are asking why wealthier states tend to vote Dem, and vice versa. In wealthy states (CT is the wealthiest in the US), income has no correlation with voting patterns. An interesting piece of work.

Fun with metaphysics. It's always easy to forget that "no absolutes" is an absolute itself. Dr. Bob.

This church was built around 1860 after the previous one burned down. It sits on top of a hill overlooking the harbor, and rings ship's bells instead of landlubber time. As you can maybe see, the pews are all curved so as to face the front.

The stained glass, relatively unusual for a Congo church, depict nautical scenes from the Bible. One of them depicts the Mayflower.

Where did that famous list of sins come from?

Wiki has the info about them. After all these years, it's still a good list. Pride, of course, is the mother of all sin because it puts self and worldly interests above God.

A reader sent this in as a suggestion in response to my search for a new grill-smoker:

We'll Go No More A'roving

So, we'll go no more a roving
    So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
    And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
    And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
    And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
    And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
    By the light of the moon.

If I’d had a crystal ball a few years ago, I might have asked a few more questions when Sarah decided to join the PTA. It wouldn’t have mattered, though; when my wife starts talking about reform, corruption and making government work for the people, it’s just best to get out of the way.

Todd Palin, Sept. 4, 2008

I’ve been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. But I have been her servant first, last and always. And I’ve never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I didn’t thank God for the privilege.

John McCain, Sept 4, 2008

I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else's. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's.

John McCain, Sept 4, 2008

VDH: Target Palin

Roger Kimball: The Kael Syndrome

Andrew McCarthy on Palin

Are all bird-watchers filthy perverts?

Photo: Skinny-dipping male Wood Duck as observed through a sneaky telephoto lens.

It's on sale here.

If readers have any better ideas (where the shipping wouldn't be $1000), let me know.

Did I tell the story here about how the squirrels chewed through the propane hose on my old grill during the winter, and the unfortunate result when I opened the valve and tried to light the grill? Needless to say, that is an ex-grill.

From 1964, Sylvie Vartan, Petula Clark, and Francoise Hardy do a medley of hits. How ya like that 60s production style? Best: Francoise at 2:20 on the tape singing a bit of Je n'Attends Plus Personne. Pop gets no better than that:

Part 1

Part 2

Our friend Sipp's new logo. I like it. Sippican is a reference to the Sippican River in Marion, MA. You drive over that small river on I-195.

No doubt. It's Soros again. Details at Classical Values. The money quote from 2004:

In a December 9th e-mail signed by "Eli Pariser, Justin Ruben, and the whole MoveOn PAC team," the Soros front group stated: "In the last year, grassroots contributors like us gave more than $300 million to the Kerry campaign and the DNC, and proved that the Party doesn't need corporate cash to be competitive. Now it's our Party: we bought it, we own it, and we're going to take it back."

Labor Day is more about unions and marking the end of the summertime mentality than anything else. But, on Labor Day, I like to remember all the folks who are working today like cops, doctors, nurses, pilots, firemen, lifeguards, EMS crews, farmers, mini-mart clerks, chefs and cooks and dishwashers, junior financial analysts, soldiers - and, today, plenty of service folks and National Guardsmen are on duty down on the Gulf Coast.

None of those folks is doing burgers and beer today (except maybe the farmers, once their chores are done).

Since Labor Day is not, for me, any sort of patriotic day, I'll do two photos from our Brit farmer friend (and honorary Maggie's Farmer) who has just finished his harvest in our ancestral homeland:

 and will be heading back to the office job:

A friend brought me this CD of Rosa Passos this weekend. Excellent. Here's a duet with Henri Salvador:

Not her best song by any means, but it might give you a sense of why she was my pop favorite in 1964 - before I had heard of Joanie Baez.

Note to you youts - they made films like this long before MTV existed:

Dr. Merc, who is experiencing some nice gusts down in the Keys, wanted to make sure we didn't miss Steyn's piece on Sarah Palin - The Hostess with the Moosest. Steyn emerged from estivation to produce this. It begins:

First, Governor Palin is not merely, as Jay describes her, "all-American", but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I'm not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin' Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who's done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of "community organizer" and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.

Second, it can't be in Senator Obama's interest for the punditocracy to spends its time arguing about whether the Republicans' vice-presidential pick is "even more" inexperienced than the Democrats' presidential one.

I did kinda wonder what sort of person feels motivated to write two autobiographies at his age. Except for his odd parents and his nomination, what could he have to tell? Anyway, read the whole clever piece.

Photo: Palin works on her husband's commercial fishing boat on weekends. Oh, and did we mention that she runs 7-10 miles per day? Or that she turned Alaska's politics upside down? Or that she refused her governor's perk of car and driver to drive herself to work? Or that she has had more executive experience than Obama, McCain and Biden combined? Plus she is a likeable, non-angry female. As in Insty's case, the females in my family are like totally fired up. Win or lose, she will be a national figure for years to come.

Thanks for this photo from yesterday, reader:

Our pal Roger sent this in today:

Maybe Howard Dean can pick up Hillary Clinton on the waiver wire in the off-season.

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