Monday, December 13. 2010
My brunch at Petrossian yesterday was blini with Beluga, smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict, and Pear Tart, with a Bloody Mary first, and then some champagne. A fine day on the town with my in-laws who love my kids more than words can tell. Some pics - don't know who those guys are at the door in the rain, but they did not enter and were not properly dressed anyway.
Carnegie Hall has some exterior renovations going on.
They almost tore down Carnegie Hall in 1960:
 Everybody's talking about Bedbug infestations these days. Somebody recently told me that they had their house checked for bedbugs, but the exterminator only found Carpet Bugs.
I thought Carpet Bugs were mythical.
Pic is Carpet Beetle and beetle larva.
Scroll down and catch up on our posts over the past few days. Some meaty stuff there.
Quite amusing: The 12 days of Winter
QUO VADIS FIDEL? WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
The Leftist World Council of Churches and the Jews:
Get used to it my fellow Jews, the World Council of Churches hate you. These empty-church clergy with their theology that turns Jesus into a mere symbol, they hate you
Sunday, December 12. 2010
 Off to NYC for the day. Will bring camera, just in case.
Warren Buffett, Robber Baron?
A very sly dude behind his folksy persona.
Lord Monckton does the simple math.
Nobody else in Cancun could do math. How did they get through college?
Ron Radosh takes a look at that Mead article we posted: TNR and the Crisis of The American Intellectual: Can the Old Liberal Stalwart Play a Role in Today’s World?
No, not really. And I grew up on TNR, The New Yorker, and the NYT. I think I have learned more, over time.
The Leftist war against doctors: Asclepius Shrugged
Why do they hate docs? They sure like them when they need them. Maybe, like children, they want love and care for free. Well, who doesn't?
Everyone Hates Ethanol Subsidies. Why Can't We Get Rid of Them?
I think the reason the O put Clinton on stage was because the O doesn't understand Econ 101 well enough to talk about it without a teleprompter. And I think the O left because he didn't want to feel upstaged by Slick Willy. Just my opinion. The O needs to learn more, study a little, get eddicated.
Gov. Awesome goes after tenure
He cracks me up, but he's too skinny to be President.
Bernie Sanders is a classic New England crank, a perennially disgruntled nut. He thinks people who make money have a "sickness of greed." I think he has a sickness of power, and maybe a sickness of envy. And a sick greed for my income, which I mainly use for tuition payments. Does Bernie want to throw my kid out of her college? Furthermore, I don't know hardly anybody who could not use a few more bucks. Hey, Bernie - the "rich" already pay almost all of the taxes in the US. That's not right. We think every citizen who benefits from living in the US should pay his dues, and all at an equal rate. That's what I said - all income, no deductions, equal rate. No death tax. Death tax destroys family farms and family businesses - and taxing cadavers just doesn't seem fair. Not fair to pick the pockets of those who cannot fight back - especially when the wealthiest cadavers have ways around it.
Amusing, at Insty:
OH, ABSOLUTELY: Democrats hurl f-bombs at Obama. Are they racist now? Racist, racist, racist. Also, racist. And there’s nothing worse than being racist, believe me. Stupid Democrat racists.
Matthew 11:2-11
11:2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples
11:3 and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"
11:4 Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see:
11:5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.
11:6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."
11:7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?
11:8 What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.
11:9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
11:10 This is the one about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'
11:11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Saturday, December 11. 2010
Coolest version of this dumb song ever made. That's New Orleans, or meant to be, I suspect. Minnesota accordion plus New Orleans. Only Dylan would do that.
 While the rest of the world was shopping or wrestling with fir trees or hunting, the Mrs. and I slipped in to see Dawn Treader.
All 20 theaters at our megaplex were empty this afternoon. If you haven't read this book in the Narnia series, you should. It's sort of a Christian version of Jason and the Golden Fleece tale with the theme of spiritual warfare and redemption.
It would take me an hour to write a half-decent review, so I'll just say that it is faithful to the book, and the special effects do not overwhelm the story. I passed on the 3-D glasses. There is no sex, good clean righteous violence, and neither the name of God or Christ are mentioned once. Eustace is good. Aslan seems a tamer God than usual.
You don't get to see heaven, but Reepicheep travels there at the end.
For wristwatch hoarders and collectors, a 6-watch watch winder. I didn't know such things existed, but I did not need to know.
 Saw a Hermit Thrush hopping around my shrubs yesterday. Unmistakable with his chestnut tail and spotted breast. A few years ago I had one over-winter here. He would roost each night under a bush next to my chimney.
They are the only Thrush which winters in North America (unless you count Robins, which are in the Thrush family).
I am not being an internet hermit this season. We hit two very nice Christmas parties last night, another one tonight, and tomorrow we are taking my in-laws to a nice lunch and a show down in NYC. (Gwynnie always tells me I need to get out more, so I do.)
 Pic: The O walks away, leaves presser to Clinton.
WHT? Something weird
The most expensive gift at 12 American retailers
True Loves Will Have to Dig Deeper This Year
News to me: You can get high on Salvia
We have Salvia in one of our borders
Judgment Day for Climate Change Litigation
What the teachers are learning.
Good grief.
LA bans new fast food restaurants in poorest area of the city
Let them eat cake.
Krauthammer says the tax deal was the O's best swindle of the year:
Obama is no fool. While getting Republicans to boost his own reelection chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound, second-chance, post-Bush, Tea-Party, this-time-we're-serious persona of debt-averse fiscal responsibility.
And he gets all this in return for what? For a mere two-year postponement of a mere 4.6-point increase in marginal tax rates for upper incomes. And an estate tax rate of 35 percent - it jumps insanely from zero to 55 percent on Jan. 1 - that is somewhat lower than what the Democrats wanted.
Rope-a-dope?
Read the Mead piece that we posted last night. Please.
Dawn Treader: Potemra enjoyed the movie more than the book.
OK, I'll go see it.
Global cooling killing Manatees
Use more oil - Save a Manatee
NY Post: A recent survey finds that countless MDs will respond to ObamaCare by limiting which patients they'll see.
At Driscoll:
For 30 years the Democrats have refused to think “dynamically” about the connection between tax rates and economic behavior (or, for that matter, between regulation and business activity). It is precisely because liberal Democrats (who are particularly well represented in Congress) have rejected dynamic tax policy for so long that they are now experiencing a spasm of frustration and anger.
It’s not easy coming to grips with the 21st century, when your view of taxes, labor and the economy is permanently stuck somewhere between the years of FDR and Harry Truman.
h/t, Vanderleun - Richard Burton reads Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem 'The Leaden Echo & The Golden Echo'.
Friday, December 10. 2010
The 1920s Christmas pics on this site are great fun. Some can be embiggened, with wonderful detail. (I don't know how to enable embiggening on our site.)
I notice that Santa did not seem to use wrapping paper back then.
 A good pal and his charming and lovely missus recently moved to Austin, but stopped by up here this week for a hello and for a sentimental taste of our Yankee chill.
I advised a gun rack for his Porsche, and alligator boots (When in Rome, etc.).
The Lucchese customized gator boot pictured here is nice for formal wear. Better, of course, to get a pair made for your own feet like the stars do.
Put something like this on your list, old buddy. Might need something to put on that gun rack, too. We can offer advice on that.
 Need this? I need it: Pray on the Full Armor of God.
Also this one: The Spiritual Warfare Armor Of God
Prayers of comfort for Aretha Franklin. Went to see her at a benefit performace a year or so ago. Gotta love her. She has added lots of beauty to my life.
WSJ: The Grapes of Wrath Democrats: For Obama and the Democrats, the new economic royalists are anyone with a taxable income over $200,000.
Around here, those royalists could be a cop married to a grade school principal, or a middle-manager married to a nurse, or the guy who owns my dry cleaners.
Is SAC in the SEC's crosshairs?
SAC is a biggie. However, the SEC seems to be expanding the definition of insider trading to the point of good, aggressive research.
What Congresscritter Fred Upton (R - Middle America) will be up to in January
Sounds good to me.
Greg Sullivan: The Copper Thieves Are Back - The current government is not sweet, is anything but clueless
Ron Paul, Author of `End the Fed,' to Lead Panel Overseeing Central Bank
Imagine that.
Am. Thinker: Class Warriors Got What They Wished For:
A funny thing happened on the way to spreading the wealth: wealth dried up.
That caribou was organic. All natural, like at Whole Foods.
WaPo: Wasting tax dollars on ethanol. A quote:
...the policy directs cash to farm states that are rich in political influence, lawmakers are rallying to save this payoff from expiration. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who insisted Sunday that President Obama's fiscal commission didn't go far enough in its deficit reduction plan, has paired with Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) to press for renewal of the gratuitous corn ethanol tax credit and the ethanol tariff through 2015. Typically, the farm lobby has won out on such issues. But this year it's meeting stronger than usual opposition from a bloc of fiscal conservatives and environmentalists, backed by such strange bedfellows as Tea Party organizer FreedomWorks and ultra-liberal pressure group MoveOn.org - even Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Al Gore.
Thursday, December 9. 2010
There are many different views and they collide. Control should only be extended to the most dangerous and the most destructive, and the rest should be compromise. Compromise does not excite but it is very necessary. Values collide so it is very difficult to have perfect liberty and perfect equality. We should try to prevent intolerable choices and alternatives.
Isaiah Berlin, from these Berlin quotes
Heads up! Meteor showers and Lunar eclipse this month
And later in the month, heads up for Santa and reindeer.
Concerning Wikileaks, Governor Mike Huckabee said: "If we want to keep our nation's secrets 'SECRET,' store them where President Obama stores his college transcripts and birth certificate."
The American: Demography vs. Geography: Understanding the Political Future
Hot New Fashion Trend: The Femiman
Trolls, Spoiled Boys and Tired Women
Chart below via Shrinkwrapped's Misunderstanding the Tea Party Movement:
Waivers Double to 222 as More Unions ‘Opt Out’ of ObamaCare
Honey, I got trapped in the pub by the snowstorm
Yes, the Gore Effect is on track this year. Record chill for Cancun.
Also at Watts: Cancun COP16 attendees fall for the old “dihydrogen monoxide” petition as well as signing up to cripple the U.S. Economy
Harsanyi on the O:
...this is the thanks he gets?
Obama gave us health care reform. In the middle of a downward economic spiral, he turned all his political capital, all his considerable power, all his impressive popularity and his two congressional majorities into a grab bag of liberal policy schemes that, in the end, could only be passed with reconciliation.
True, some squishy Democrats wouldn't go for the entire single-payer nationalization scheme — which was, until today, considered "compromise" — but give it time. "When Medicare started, it was a small program. It grew," explained the president on Tuesday. Things grow. This thing of ours, he explained, "is a long game; this is not a short game."
There - he said it again. The long game, the long march. Pure Gramsci/Alinsky.
Obama Opens The Door To Raid Social Security
Wednesday, December 8. 2010
 WSJ thinks maybe Bob should retire from touring.
It's been years since Bob could sing like a bird. Now he croaks like a frog. So what? It's not opera, and he still has the phrasing.
Pic is Bob at his house in Woodstock, NY, 1960-something.
 That's what Freud wrote on his Austrian exit papers, when the Gestapo informed him that he could finally leave if he would put in writing that he had been treated well by them in the lengthy process. The grim sarcasm, no doubt, went over the heads of the Gestapo thugs.
Freud had a wry sense of humor which was rarely evident in his writing. He was 82 at the time, the Anschluss had happened, and his friends like Ernest Jones had to drag him out of Vienna to London, with the assistance of Pres. Roosevelt.
Fearful as he was of growing anti-Semitic sentiment, he did not want to leave home.
The NYT announced his departure on June 5, 1938. He died a year later, in London.
 Pic of Maggie's Farm office hours via Theo
The folks at Friends of Maine Mountains asked me to get this link right: Seems like lots of folks are getting out of the wind/solar scam market.
Some booze ads Capt. Tom liked
I like those real-time billboards.
More health care waivers
Tiger: Mortgage interest deduction may do more harm than good
Probably true. But getting rid of it, however slowly, would be like taking candy from a baby - and would lower home values since it is a de facto subsidy.
California's Parent Revolution - 'Triggering' school reform in Compton.
Great stuff.
Baby Aspirin Linked to Reduced Cancer Deaths
Some chance they reduce heart attacks too. Nothing to lose by taking one.
The Lightbulb Nazi has changed his mind
That's good. But it's a bit late. They already stopped making them in the USA.
EU Ref on Cancun:
... the really interesting issue is how scares so easily become exploited by regulators to pursue their specific interests – in what we came to call the doctrine of the "beneficial crisis" - and how slow people are to recognise the dynamic. This, with huge amusement we see in a WUWT post, where there is this observation:
What really strikes us is the fact that all this Copenhagen/Cancun stuff has nothing to do with the Climate, or saving the World. It's about political positioning, money, and plain old fascism cult promotion.
Well, you don't say! And if this is not a recognition of "Ursine subarboreal toilet activity" of the type identified by Dellers, I don't know what is.
The odd thing though is that so many of the clever little politics wonks you meet don't understand the scare dynamic either. They either ignore the scares or take the so-called scientific agenda at face value. They rarely appreciate that the "scare" or "beneficial crisis" is a means of institutional queue-jumping, a means of by-passing institutional inertia and democratic processes.
As always, look at a scare and you will find that science is only the dressing. At the heart, you will find it's the politics stoopid. It always is.
What's the next big thing? Blogging about blogging at the Other McCain's ‘A Communicational Schematic That Is Superior to Anything Else in Existence’
We are all traffic whores, cybersluts. We're disgusting.
Bill Gross on how to fix the economy
"Country Dumb":
Just finished watching the TV show Sarah Palin's Alaska. Stunned at the political brilliance of the concept.
I have lived in the South. Gotta watch out for those country dumb types.
Englishman: Thank goodness Climate Change is the number one priority for the Scottish Parliament. Related, in Scotland: Pupils banned from playing in the snow
HUD pushing low money down mortgages again
Worked out great last time. BTW, what's so great about home ownership?
Tim Blair tries to buy a used car
All the usual tricks of the trade.
Gaza growing rich on aid dollars
If they wanted to, the Palestinians could try to create a real economy like Israel did. They seem to prefer the victim role. Money for nuthin and the virgins for free.
Babalu:
Ever since travel restrictions to Cuba were relaxed by the Obama administration, more people from the U.S. are traveling to Cuba making the this country one of the regime's largest source of tourists and subsequently tourist dollars second only to Canada.
But...
Tuesday, December 7. 2010
 Praising the Puritans, at First Things (h/t, AVI). Lawler begins:
There’s little less fashionable today than praising the Puritans, especially for their egalitarian political idealism, their promotion of genuinely humane and liberating learning, and their capacity for enjoyment and human happiness. Praising the Puritans is especially difficult for us because even most of our Protestants have abandoned them. When a European calls us Puritanical we don’t say, “yes, thanks a lot, you’re right.” Instead, we either deny it, saying we’re way beyond those days. Or we admit it, saying that, “yes, we should be less capitalistic, less repressed, and more free thinking, just like you.” But the truth is that the Puritans remain the chief source of the American difference—our ability to live freely and prosperously without unduly slighting the longings of our souls. It’s the Puritans’ idealism that made and even makes Americans civilized.
Read the whole thing. I do not know how, or whether, immigrants to the US can, or have been able to, or even want to, learn the code. I sure hope they can.
Picture is Jonathan Edwards, a member of the Maggie's Farm pantheon. You would not know from the prissy portrait, but he loved to have fun.
We mentioned the cross country prehistoric obsidian trade last week in Capitalism is not a theory.
Here's a piece on the West Coast obsidian trade of the Paiute.
Parts 2 and 3 below the fold -
Continue reading "Obsidian trade"
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