Maggie's Farm

Asa Yoelson, aka Al Jolson, one of the top American entertainers of the 20th Century. A reader reminded us that Dylan thinks of Jolson and Sinatra as his role models/inspirations for making a song come alive with good phrasing.

Here's some Jolson:

The earth has a fever a cold!  AlGore trudges through snowstorm to deliver warning to Congress. Does anybody take him seriously any more? Related: Hansen's former NASA supervisor calls Hansen an embarassment.

It's the economy, girlfriend. NYT

Who was Arthur Rimbaud? A teenage dirtbag?

Your government bureaucrats at work.

Some scummy, low-life, ungrateful guy wants to sue US Airways. Maybe he doesn't believe in Hell. He should believe: he is it, or is in it.

Texas added jobs in 2008.

Bernard Goldberg on the press' man-crush on Obama

Culinary Olympics begin in France

All sorts of good stuff to read at Powerline

Obama admin tries to destroy US auto biz. No, not rational.

Economists against the stimulus. Krauthammer on stimulus follies.

The Sarah PAC. Why not?

The Pope and Mozart's Mass in C Major. SISU. The Pope:

I understood that we experienced something other than a simple concert, that it was music at prayer, the divine office, in which we almost could touch something of the magnificence and beauty of God himself, and we were touched.

From guest poster Bruce Kesler -

I heard Rush Limbaugh on radio say that the stimulus bill being worked on in Washington should be split in proportion of the popular vote percentages for Obama and McCain between Democrat ideas of “infrastructure” and Republican ideas of “tax cuts.”

One is never sure whether Rush is joking.  Regardless, I gagged. (Ed note: It was irony, BK)

Indeed, I’m gagging at the whole stimulus discussions.  Whether spending or tax cuts. The concept of the stimulus bill is that by putting more money in some people’s pockets, demand for goods and services will be increased, which will stimulate business spending.  There are several slips between cup and lip in this.

First, much of the demand we were accustomed to was speculation, and much else was reckless to prudent family budgets.  Much home and auto buying, as well as much other consumer spending, was by those who couldn’t afford the purchases.  This should not be restimulated.  Those who can afford purchases will make purchases.

Second, relatively few of those who can afford purchases are rejected for credit.  Loosening credit will mostly reallow those who cannot afford purchases to resume.

Third, though the stimulus bill is not based on currently increasing most taxes, unless we want to see a future major inflation tax on everyone due to this huge deficit spending we will see huge future tax increases on most to pay for the otherwise unsustainable deficit spending.

In short, the very idea of the stimulus bill is inane.

There may be grounds for some very, very limited and targeted, proven boosts to some people or businesses in real dire need, provided it does not become ongoing or contrary to their getting their affairs and operations in effective order. 

The rest is sheer hooey. The politicians who support it are just trying to buy votes and contributions from their constituencies, at the expense of everyone else and of reason.  

See John Cochrane's Fiscal Stimulus, Fiscal Inflation, or Fiscal Fallacies

"A dark hour for the Netherlands." You may insult Christianity all you want, but don't hurt the tender, sensitive and delicate Islamic feelings. Allah supposedly hates that, and would like your head separated from the rest of your body to emphasize his holy, sacred point. 

h/t to Moonbattery for this excellent bit by Pat Condell re Geert Wilders' insane and frightening  persecution. Yes, we are all sick and tired of Islam and the multicultural Mafia - and also of the Dutch-style suicidal idiocy. What's in their water? If a religious belief cannot handle a little multicultural criticism, what good is it?

Our version of Godwin's Law: This is like the Spanish Inquisition. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. 

Deeply related: Never be rude to an Arab

Come and get us, you Dutch moonbats. You are a disgrace to your heritage and your history.

From The Teaching Company. Building Great Sentences: The Writer's Craft along with Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning.

I have listened to the Argumentation series and enjoyed it a great deal. In fact, listening to it persuaded me that structured and rule-bound disputation is an excellent way to get to the heart of things, if not to ultimate Truths.

It is no doubt obvious to readers that I have not yet listened to the Building Great Sentences series.

Stolen in toto from Insty:

THE GEITHNER CONFIRMATION: “Tacit permission for everyone to cheat on taxes.”

UPDATE: Bernie Kerik plays the Geithner defense.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Feel like a chump?

A reader sent a nice photo of a Cedar Waxwing in an apple tree in Lenox, Massachusetts, taken this past weekend. These birds can be seen in every state in the US either as breeders, migrants, or over-wintering.

These are usually flocking birds, and fruit is their favorite food. They have been known to get drunk or die from eating rotten, fermented fruit. They will roam the countryside all winter, stripping trees and vines of their remaining fruits and berries. That's why you will never see them at a bird-feeder.

You can read about this elegant songbird here. Interesting detail: the orange at the tip of the tail indicates that this bird ate plenty of Japanese Honeysuckle berries (an invasive alien species) when those feathers  were growing.

Those photos of Florence, Alabama moved me to post this, a Dylan cover of the Grateful Dead's Alabama Getaway from 1997. I heard Dylan do this great song in New Haven around that time. Same band. He had so much incense or smoke or whatever he uses that you could barely see the band through it. And he did shake hands or slap hands with everybody up front, too. I do remember that he opened with a rousing  Crash on the Levee that night, and did an acoustic set too including Girl from the North Country.

My theory is that he always likes to keep his band off balance and challenged. I do not think that they rehearse. Dylan was playing some interesting electric at this time.

Lyrics here.

Thanks to LGF for this dose of extreme cuteness:

The politics of campaigning are so simple: I’m going to beat you and leave you dead in a snowbank in New Hampshire and never look back.

Lawrence O'Donnell, via our Caroline link this morning. He goes on to say in the New Yorker piece:

But in the Senate you can be trying to prevail over another senator on Tuesday afternoon whose vote you know you’re going to need on Wednesday afternoon for something else. The ordinary work of the Senate never involves fighting. Virtually all the people who run for Senate seats lie and say they’re going to fight, but what they’re actually going to do—which they may not know when they go to Washington for the first time—is beg. And beg people like me, whom they’ve never heard of, the staff director of this or that committee, before they ever get to meet the chairman. So the personal qualities necessary for Senate work are politeness and charm and graciousness and generosity, which New York tabloids have no comprehension of. Why should they? The press is never allowed in the rooms where governance actually takes place.

Prof. John Sutherland says those have been the three dominant story-telling tools in English, since Beowulf.

His Classics of British Lit. at The Teaching Company is a delight. (I hate the word "literature." I prefer to call it "story-telling.") Get the CDs and, as Mark Levin would say, Thank me.

The "Can" is probably the most sought-after duck for hunters (but I know I have described Mallards and Black Ducks similarly). Not only is his 60 mph flight a challenge, but he is considered the most tasty duck at the table. He is probably tasty because, despite being a diving duck, he prefers plant material. He's fairly large, too.

He breeds in the West and Northwest up through Alaska, but winters all along the Eastern Seaboard. You can read about them here.

Gwynnie took this photo of a male Can in breeding plumage on Saturday in CT. The sloped head is diagnostic, even in poor light. I suspect that he used a long lens:

Photo above via Moonbattery. It would be a good ad for Dunkin Donuts. (Yes, that is The Kid from Brooklyn.) Starbucks seems to be in trouble.

Went to see Slumdog last night, but both seatings were sold out.

Waxman as Boogie Man

Would a nicer NRA be more effective? Reason

Mitch Daniels, Hoosier rock star

Black preachers did not like Obama's religious references

What's up with GE? Megan. Always been one of my favorite stocks...

Obama's attack on Rush. Good for Rush. His plan is working. Says Insty:

WERE OBAMA’S ATTACKS ON LIMBAUGH AND FOX A MISTAKE? “Beyond the absurdity of a Democrat barking orders at his political opposition, he’s especially foolish to air his fear of Limbaugh and talk radio in a public setting.”

Plus this: “I’m picturing Rush delirious with glee, pacing the cavernous rooms of his mansion, booming out monologues to his kitty cat Pumpkin, as he waits for Monday noon to finally roll around. This will be good.”

Is Iran terrorism's Mother Regime?

I didn't know PBS did stuff like this: Lesson Plan on the Economy

Welcome back Carter? Anchoress

Sarkozy to rescue French newspapers.

Eric Holder on the fairness doctrine. NRO

Headline comparison:

Headlines 4 years ago:

"Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops Die in unarmored Humvees"
"Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times"
"Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft"

Headlines last week:

"Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $120 million"
"Obama Spends $120 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party"
"Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate"
"Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration"

Female tree below from Theo, of course.

Duccio, The Calling of the Fishermen, 1308

Mark 1:14-28

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.  And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.  And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.  

And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.  And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.  

And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,  Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.  And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.  And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. 

 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.  And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.

Amusingly pointed, from Steyn. He rightly quotes Matthew Parris:

This recession is not a failure of market economics. It is a reassertion of market economics after a decade in which we paid ourselves more than we were producing, and funded it precariously and temporarily by complicated credit instruments that it took a while for the market to rumble.

another

Originality is not, therefore, a virtue in itself, moral or artistic; and a man who sets out to be original without both the technical ability to express something new, and (most important of all) the possession of something worthwhile new to express, is merely egotistical. That is why the art critics, who are inclined to praise works as being original, path-breaking, taboo-breaking and transgressive, without any reference to their transcendent worth, are wrong, and Roger Scruton is right.

Where does the fear in modern art of such qualities as beauty and tenderness towards the world come from? (I am talking here of art that achieves public notice and notoriety: there may be hundreds or thousands of excellent artists who fear neither beauty nor tenderness, but whose work goes unremarked.)

I think it has something to do also with our inflamed egotism, that requires that we should be entirely self-sufficient and autonomous, philosophically, morally, intellectually and economically.

Read the whole thing. Re the latter quote, there are indeed thousands of artists today who "fear neither beauty nor tenderness," and, however unremarked, people do buy their stuff. One example is our friend Elissa Gore, who will be having a gallery show in NYC this winter:

Our post on A P-51 named February moved us to post Magee's well-known sonnet, High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds...and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of...wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew.

And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

RCAF Spitfire pilot Magee, an American, was killed in an airplane accident during the Battle of Britain, 1941, age 19. He told his mother that the final verse came to him at 30,000 feet, and that he finished the poem on his way down.

Remarkable photos of the Airbus salvage in the Hudson on the Manhattan shore, taken mainly by the crane crew. Jersey shore opposite. Photos are in sequence in continuation page below.

From Bruce Kesler:

Now that the grand coronation, er inauguration, is old news, with our major media continuing in its electoral path of ignoring the troubling portents of the policies and appointments coming from now President Obama, can we look forward to the major media resurrecting its role as -- it likes to view itself, but polls showing majority distrust from its consumers -- speaking truth to power?

There are plenty of opportunities for the major media to do so, from a bloated economic recovery bill that explodes with political payoff boondoggles and catastrophically expands inflation-inducing inflation, to payoffs to unions that reduce independent worker protections and hobble efficient business management, to ignoring the desires of the 85% of Americans who don’t want their health care dictated by bureaucrats in Washington, to half-hearted defenses against worldwide terrorists.

As readership and viewership continue their sharp declines, and major newspapers shrink in content and TV networks increase their cheaper to produce unreality offerings, they might stop to reconsider the poor survival sense of being inane lackies of the reckless ideologies and pontifications that now hold power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and its echoing commercial failures from Hollywood.

Not likely, but one can hope for change, can’t one?   

From guest poster Bruce Kesler:

Murtha's Latest Pork - Guantanamo

Never missing an opportunity to bring pork to his congressional district, the porkmeister Congressman Jack Murtha says he’ll be pleased to relocate the prisoners at Guantanamo to his district. 

The news report notes: “Murtha only has a minimum security prison in his district. But he says he'd have no reservations about holding detainees there in a maximum security prison.”  

The construction cost of a maximum security prison is upwards of $110 million, and operating costs in US prisons run an average of almost $100 per day per prisoner, and higher for maximum security.  Plus there will be all the extra costs of housing and officing the government lawyers needed.  Then, there’s the boon to the local hotels and restaurants from all the defense attorneys and reporters. Murtha’s constituents might disagree with Murtha’s comment that, "They're no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo." But, hey, there’s jobs and profits involved. I wonder which friend or contributor of Murtha owns the site that would be sold to the government.  I wonder how close the site may be to Murtha’s house. 

I don’t wonder anymore at Murtha’s gumption to bring home the pork, er or whatever it might be renamed in respect to Moslem food sensitivities.

Heads up, cousins. Jonah is coming! (The author of Liberal Fascism - if they still permit you to read such radical and subversive books.)

Of course, the Brits are already experts on liberal fascism. They live it.