Maggie's Farm

Psalm 119:33-40

119:33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.

119:34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

119:35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

119:36 Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.

119:37 Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.

119:38 Confirm to your servant your promise, which is for those who fear you.

119:39 Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.

119:40 See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life.

Sipp:

1950: Your honor, the defendant just snapped and killed three people.
2010: Your honor, I'm innocent, I just snapped and killed three people.

I'm hard-pressed to come up with any segment of the population that doesn't have a pre-medieval answer ready to be trotted out, at flight-deck-McGlaughlin Group volume, for any social ill or misbehavior, and a ready-made template to call any productive behavior a crime, too. There's isn't a dime's bit of difference between Pat Robertson or Al Gore in these matters. (A)Gay people or (B)Ford Explorers cause hurricanes. Take your pick, but there's no (C)

Thanks, Vanderleun. How many roads? Bob was/is a strummer and a piano-banger with guts, and a vision, and crazy wondrous visions...

We link and enjoy many cool and intelligent sites, but Dan Greenfield of Sultan Knish, who we have been reading a lot lately, deserves a special mention. (Here's Why Liberalism is a Reactionary Ideology). Here ya go, Dan:

A quote from that post:

When its flashy clothes are stripped away, liberalism stands revealed as a fear of modernity. There is nothing progressive about liberalism, it is the ideology of a political, cultural and economic elite that reviles everything modern, that longs for a mystical right of kings and well ordered oligarchies, denounces technology as the tool of the pollution devil, distrusts all science that is not in the service of its ideology and is threatened by any sort of debate or opposition.

Today liberalism is the second most backward, most paranoid, most reactionary and totalitarian ideology in the West after Islamism. Both are based on the fear of the modern, the fear of the liberated individual, technology and the nation state. Their great dream is the same, a vast mystical world-state ruled over by the enlightened and providing an inhumanly perfect justice for all. Both believe that the only solution for mankind is to go backward, to crawl instead of walk, to fear instead of know and to obey rather than think. That is Liberalism and Islamism in a nutshell, two reactionary ideologies walking together into the dark ages.

The really good news - I've scavenged a lot of free firewood from the so-called storm. (It was a ton of rain and a stiff gusty breeze.)

I am with Vanderleun on this (listen to the music):

Me? I'm a believer because... well because I've really got Nothing Better to do. That's because measuring myself against even the smallest, most finite, and bounded idea of God I can conceive I'm about gnat size in relation to that. I wish others saw it that way, but among the smart monkeys most of us think of ourselves as some sort of gigantic intellect -- at least in comparison to, say, a clam. Those who are long on stupidity are always short on humility.

This is how to sell real estate

Incredible stuff: On its way to being the most perfected yet bankrupt and unlivable state in the nation.

A law that says you have to hire two babysitters?

Good news: Obama halts controversial EPA regulation

US economy created no job growth in August, data show

After calling for his kids and hearing no response, Jeremy grabbed his daughter’s rifle.

As many as one in 25 company bosses could be a psychopath, according to a new study.

Surber speaks:

America is more than just her president or her federal government. Liberals do not see that. They see government in every facet of life and thus politics everywhere. They cannot see a nation where people do not care about Washington. If people did care about Washington, then the Tea Party would be twice as large and twice as angry. But Americans are a tolerant people whose patience stems from the knowledge that this too shall pass. Barack Obama caved because a president is not omnipotent. He thought he was when he controlled Congress. He no longer does. It is no fun any more being president. He caved because he no longer wants to be president. Expect more, not less, of this stuff over the next year as the man who once smiled becomes a frowning, scornful and mocked man. The beauty of the American system is that, so far, it is bigger than any one man and it can — and will — correct itself.

York: Left paints the campaign as a religious war

Unions go nuts over successful charter school

Investigators Probe White House Role in Massive Energy Loan

Greedy Greenies

THE WIKILEAKS CABLES ON TURKEY: 20/20 TUNNEL VISION

Turkey's Akyol, An Apostle Of The Third Way

Maggie's Farm loves going to that country, regardless of the politics

Gore: Global warming skeptics are this generation’s racists

Study: Half of Hired Stimulus Workers Were Already Employed

S.C. Gov. supports crippling ‘un-American’ NLRB, including resignation of lone GOP member

Fast & Furious scandal may have its first cover-up

The Prof: 10 Things I Think I Think about Obama's Job Speech

Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: one of history's myths?

Israelis seek EU passports amid existential angst

Massive NSA Spying Program Challenged by EFF in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

The Costco king checks out

Impressive fellow

Maxine Waters Advocates Taxing Banks “Out of Business”

In His Activist Days Obama Sued Banks to Ease Lending Practices… Now He’s Suing Banks For Risky Mortgages

BBC: Climate Pravda

How Bad will the Job Picture Get?

Fascism and socialism

MI Bars Ban Lawmakers for Banning Smoking

The O: I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth.”. As Knish says,

The modern liberal is wedded to a thoroughly reactionary worldview in which he worships the institutions he controls and is full of paranoia and suspicion of those he does not. He disdains the common man and longs for enlightened leaders to uplift him and to transform his country into a messianic vision of a kingdom of heaven in which no one ever goes hungry and everyone is perfectly equalized-- a pseudo-religious vision of government as religion that is wholly primitive in its conflation of theology and civics.

A windy, rainy day called Irene, via Kimball:

As with all folk songs, there are many versions. This is the one used by Dylan on 1992's Good as I Been to You. Here's another,

Bob does a great job with it on that record. Nice guitar too. Bob is rooted in English/Scots/Irish folk, despite himself:

Oh, me and my cousin, one Arthur McBride
As we went a-walkin' down by the seaside
Mark now what followed and what did betide
For it bein' on Christmas mornin.'

Now, for recreation, we went on a tramp
And we met Sergeant Napper and Corporal Vamp
And a little wee drummer intending to camp
For the day bein' pleasant and charming.

"Good morning, good morning," the sergeant he cried
"And the same to you gentleman," we did reply
Intending no harm but meant to pass by
For it bein' on Christmas morning.

"But," says he, "My fine fellows, if you will enlist
Ten guineas in gold I'll stick in your fist
And a crown in the bargain for to kick up the dust
And drink the king's health in the morning.

"For a soldier, he leads a very fine life
And he always is blessed with a charming young wife
And he pays all his debts without sorrow or strife
And he always lives pleasant and charmin,'

And a soldier he always is decent and clean
In the finest of clothing he's constantly seen
While other poor fellows go dirty and mean
And sup on thin gruel in the morning".

"But," says Arthur, "I wouldn't be proud of your clothes
For you've only the lend of them, as I suppose
But you'll dare not change them one night, for you know
If you do, you'll be flogged in the morning.

And although that we're single and free
We take great delight in our own company
We have no desire strange places to see
Although that your offers are charming.

"And we have no desire to take your advance
All hazards and dangers we barter on chance
For you'd have no scruples for to send us to France
Where we could get shot without warning."

"Oh no," says the Sergeant, "I'll have no such chat
And neither will I take it from snappy young brats
For if you insult me with one other word
I'll cut off your heads in the morning."

And Arthur and I, we soon drew our hogs
And we scarce gave them time to draw their own blades
When a trusty shillelagh came over their head
And bid them take that as fair warning,

And their old rusty rapiers that hung by their sides
We flung them as far as we could in the tide
"Now take them up, devils !" cried Arthur McBride
"And temper their edge in the morning!".

And the little wee drummer, we flattened his bow
And we made a football of his rowdy-dow-dow
Threw it in the tide for to rock and to roll
And bade it a tedious returning.

And we havin' no money, paid them off in cracks
We paid no respect to their two bloody backs
And we lathered them there like a pair of wet sacks
And left them for dead in the morning.

And so, to conclude and to finish disputes
We obligingly asked if they wanted recruits
For we were the lads who would give them hard clouts
And bid them look sharp in the morning.

Here's a fun little ditty: Buckets of Rain: "I like the cool way ya look at me..."

Lots more below the fold, some probably NSFW - no attributions, alas -

Not the eagle, but the hawk that you almost missed seeing in this tree in Manitoba along Lake Winnipegosis:

“The budget must be balanced, the Treasury must be refilled, public debt must be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom must be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands must be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

Cicero, 55 B.C., as quoted by Bruce here yesterday

About the errors in science writing, and the importance of naming, from A Home Before the End of the World:

Our ignorance is truly staggering. According to some estimates, 95 percent of organisms in the soil alone are unknown to science. Many of them labor unseen, in the dark, serving as the churning stomachs of our planet, digesting dead plants and animals and, in the process, enriching the earth we depend upon for food and fiber. Other organisms expel their gaseous waste — a precious resource known as oxygen —to create the atmosphere that supports and sweetens the earth with such glorious creatures as toucans and manta rays and blue morpho butterflies, not to mention writers and academics. Some bacteria are even thought to contribute to the formation of clouds.

And from New Scientist, A field guide to bullshit: How do people defend their beliefs in bizarre conspiracy theories or the power of crystals? Philosopher Stephen Law has tips for spotting their strategies -

Wow. I should lose power and intertunnel more often. Great stuff below! Lots of it.

Thanks, Team!!! Go Maggie's!

Finally, my intertunnel, phone, and TV service has mysteriously returned via the mysterious and fragile workings of Optimum. This came in from a friend:

After the Japanese decimated our fleet in Pearl Harbor Dec 7, 1941, they could have sent their troop ships and carriers directly to California to finish what they started. The prediction from our Chief of Staff was we would not be able to stop a massive invasion until they reached the Mississippi River. Remember, we had a 2 million man army and war ships all fighting the Germans.

So, why did they not invade?

After the war, the remaining Japanese generals and admirals were asked that question. Their answer|...they know that almost every home had guns and the Americans knew how to use them.

The world's largest army... America's hunters! I had never thought about this. A blogger added up the deer license sales in just a handful of states and arrived at a striking conclusion: There were over 600,000 hunters this season in the state of Wisconsin. Allow me to restate that number. Over the last several months, Wisconsin 's hunters became the eighth largest army in the world. More men under arms than in Iran .. More than in France and Germany combined. These men deployed to the woods of a single American state to hunt with firearms, and no one was killed. That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of Pennsylvania and Michigan 's 700,000 hunters, all of whom have now returned home. Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia and it literally establishes the fact that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

The point? America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower. Hunting -- it's not just a way to fill the freezer. It's a matter of national security.

I took a few photos at the farm in the Berkshires. Last year, a nor'easter took out our foot bridge over the stream. This week, the storm destroyed the big tractor bridge, steel I-beams, cement posts, and all. This is not good at all.

We saw this big male Eastern Box Turtle in the woods on the edge of the field, near the beaver marsh. My favorite reptile except for maybe the Black Snake, even though this was a cranky old guy:

Here's the old well:

And here's the old hitching post:

More photos on continuation page below -

Re flooding and our government-subsidized flood insurance, here's what I have been hearing on the radio from upstate NY and from Vermont:

Men: Why should the taxpayer subsidize anybody for living in a flood zone, even if it's only 100-year floods? Actuaries can easily cost it out. If you live near water and not on a hill, you will inevitably get flooded. Duh. Why should your calculated risk and choice be my problem? All it does is to promote building in the wrong places - and insulate people from reality - on my nickel.

Women: These people have lost so much. It's not their fault that they lived where they could get flooded. The government has to help them out and help them rebuild their homes and their lives. It's compassionate.

Reno at First Things looked at the life of Moses from an interesting angle: the multicultural man turned uni-cultural by the hand of God. A quote:

Each of us must struggle to understand how to live our lives in a pluralistic, democratic society. But to my mind, however fuzzy and uncertain we might be about any particular public policy or social project, we must at least be clear about Moses. We should want to follow his trajectory, and there can be no compromise with those who prize his multicultural youth. For he who is not a servant of a cultural authority deeply installed is merely human�which is to say, a slave to his passions and servant of his self-interest, who, when he comes to realize his base existence, is all too easily victim of thin, ideological deities who promise the immediate psychological satisfactions of a veneer of moral idealism.

Read the whole thing. (h/t, Dr. Bob)

Still without phone, intertunnel, and TV (but who needs TV?). Posting this memo from a very crowded library - nobody around here has intertunnel connections this week. Even the cell towers got screwed up, somehow.

I appreciate everybody's pitching in to keep our Maggie's "product" coming. All I can really do is to recycle old items, due to the lines here at the library machines.

The first Barn Owl I ever saw was in the headlights swooping low over a marshy field on the North Shore of Long Island. It did, indeed, look spooky in its whiteness.

Barn Owls have a worldwide distribution, but they stay away from the colder regions. In North America, they aren't found much north of southern New England.

Barn Owls are prodigious mouse and rat killers. As such, they are birds of farms and meadows, not of woodlands nor of suburbia. In the Northeast, their numbers were surely higher when the countryside was filled with small farms and cow pastures. Midwestern industrial-scale farming offers them little of interest. I suppose they are the night-time analogue of the Marsh Hawk. The rodents never get a break.

I have never seen or heard one at Maggie's Farm, which would seem to be perfect habitat for them, but which might be towards the northern edge of their range. We even have an open shed with a loft which would be perfect for them to raise a family in. (The Barn Swallows think they own it, though, so maybe they would pester the owls too much.)

The subject of Barn Owls came up because Samizata, of all places, posted a piece on Barn Owl nest boxes. Nobody is going to make a lot of money producing these, but it's a great idea as the wooden barns and silos of the past are falling down.

Here's the CLO bit on the Barn Owl. Wiki has a more extensive write-up.

Photo is a Barn Owl family in an old silo.

That Irene was grossly over-hyped but, as I predicted, our area has lost power, cable, and phone. It doesn't take much to do that.

When I saw the eyewall disappear, I knew it would be just a stormy day. Took the pup for a walk in it to play in the puddles and flooding waters. Good fun.

I'm posting this from the local library, where everything is working. Lots of folks here using the machines. Will get back to normal posting sched when we all get back up to speed.

Ain't America something?

A farmer stopped by the local mechanic's shop to have his truck fixed. They couldn't do it while he waited, so he said he didn't live far and would walk home.

On the way home he stopped at the hardware store and bought a bucket and a gallon of paint. He then stopped by the feed store and picked up a couple of chickens and a goose. However, struggling outside the store he now had a problem - how to carry his entire purchases home.

While he was scratching his head he was approached by a little old lady who told him she was lost. She asked 'can you tell me how to get to 1603 Mockingbird Lane?'

The farmer said, 'Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that house. I would walk you there but I can't carry this lot.'

The old lady suggested, 'Why don't you put the can of paint in the bucket. Carry the bucket in one hand, put a chicken under each arm and carry the goose in the other hand?'

'Why thank you very much,' he said and proceeded to walk the old girl home. On the way he says 'Lets take my short cut and go down this alley. We'll be there in no time.'

The little old lady looked over cautiously then said, 'I am a lonely widow without a husband to defend me ... 'How do I know that when we get in the alley you won't hold me up against the wall, pull my skirt, and have your way with me?'

The farmer said, 'Holy smokes lady! I'm carrying a bucket, a gallon of paint, two chickens and a goose. How in the hell could I possibly hold you up against the wall and do that?'

The old lady replied, 'Set the goose down, cover him with the bucket, put the paint on top of the bucket, and I'll hold the chickens.'

Pic above via Drudge, Saturday night. Cabs are running but all public transportation is closed. The BD pupette was evacuated from her Chelsea apartment, worked all day Saturday (as usual), then joined a bunch of friends in Brooklyn Heights for a Hurricane Party and sleepover. That's the third Hurricane Party I have heard about.

ESPN Buttkissers Scold Paul Azinger for Goofing on Obama

The slow disappearance of the American working man

Steve Jobs: The Henry Ford of Our Time

In Malibu, even mobile homes command premium prices

Why fewer malarial mosquitoes in Africa? Climate change!

Tough to be bullish on Wall Street if you’re bearish on Washington

Repubs want to starve children

Gore Wants You to Eat Less Meat

Obama offers 2012 election supporters change they can believe in — next term

Michael Lewis, brilliant as usual

Israel turns tables on Turkey

Crazy Pete’s Enviro-Friendly Discount Galleria

Businesses plan health cuts because of Obamacare

That was the whole point

Delingpole: An open letter from my old mate David Cameron to the people of Britain

Times Watch Quotes of Note: 'Deep Cuts in Social Services' by Conservatives Led to London Riots

RIP: Joey Vento: Assimilation warrior

McArdle on Who was worse off after welfare reform?

Even as many families have climbed out of poverty, some families have plunged deeper into it; as I understand it, mostly those headed by women with severe mental illness, drug and alcohol problems, or personality disorders. Before, if your mother was smoking crack, she could at least still collect her welfare check. Cutting off the check after five years, or cutting benefits as some states did, didn't mean she stopped smoking crack. It just meant there was less money around the house.

Those people are unambiguously worse off since welfare reform.

Ecclesiastes  44:1-15 (NRSV) HYMN IN HONOR OF OUR ANCESTORS

1 Let us now sing the praises of famous men, our ancestors in their generations.
2 The Lord apportioned to them great glory, his majesty from the beginning.
3 There were those who ruled in their kingdoms, and made a name for themselves by their valor; those who gave counsel because they were intelligent; those who spoke in prophetic oracles;
4 those who led the people by their counsels and by their knowledge of the people's lore; they were wise in their words of instruction;
5 those who composed musical tunes, or put verses in writing;
6 rich men endowed with resources, living peacefully in their homes-
7 all these were honored in their generations, and were the pride of their times.
8 Some of them have left behind a name, so that others declare their praise.
9 But of others there is no memory; they have perished as though they had never existed; they have become as though they had never been born, they and their children after them.
10 But these also were godly men, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
11 their wealth will remain with their descendants, and their inheritance with their children's children.
12 Their descendants stand by the covenants; their children also, for their sake.
13 Their offspring will continue forever, and their glory will never be blotted out.
14 Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name lives on generation after generation.
15 The assembly declares their wisdom, and the congregation proclaims their praise.