Maggie's Farm

Talked with an older gent this weekend who had been a Skipper of an LSM in the Pacific during the war. He correctly guessed that I could not describe an LSM. Landing ship, medium. Odd-looking craft.

We built over 500 of them. Designed for island-hopping, smaller and quicker than LSTs, carrying just 3-4 tanks and crews. He said he did a lot of ferrying, and they were too small potatoes for kamikazes or subs to bother with. He said they put plenty of 40 mm in the air, but thinks that they never hit anything.

For landing, they threw out a stern anchor, then headed for the beach. As the tanks off-loaded, you could maybe float off. When you loaded tanks on, you needed the stern anchor winch and hoped for the best.  You were not supposed to get stuck.

Marines deploying in Afghanistan

Attitudes of disdain. VDH

McCain triangulates. Powerline. Also, McCain never saw the ad he criticized. No wonder he sounded out of touch.

Greenpeace founder wants nuke power. So do I.

Reverse racism in the Dem primaries. Jules

Rev. Wright, in context (if you want to hear more)

Duck hunting on Long island: Dec 26, 1920

Willow Creek changes direction. Interesting. (h/t, Smart Christian)

A good rant about the govt and oil prices. Wizbang

Not a warrior, and other thoughts about war. Comfortably dumb.

John 14:15-21

‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

18 ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

Quoted from our old friend Marvin:

Obama is also emerging as a more eloquent version of four recent Democratic presidential candidates—Mondale (1984), Dukakis (1988), Gore (2000), and Kerry (2004)—all of whom polled well early in their campaigns but faltered as they failed to understand and convey the truth that the United States is a country founded on ideals rather than tribal ethnicity or simple economic interests.

That idealism moves some millionaires to vote Democratic for environmental reasons and some poor folks to vote Republican for pro-life reasons. And those voters who do put economics first often think long-term. William McKinley beat William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and 1900 because many workers cared more about opportunity for their children than maximization of current income. George McGovern in 1972 was surprised to find the working poor opposing his guaranteed income proposal because they saw themselves as upwardly mobile and wanted others to compete as well.

Many academic liberals see themselves as eminently rational and others as warped or dumb. Some conservatives readily grasp the importance of worldviews because, surrounded as they are by generally hostile big media, they come to see how people look at the same facts and come to different conclusions. Many liberals aren't forced daily to think presuppositionally, so it's easy for them to view dissenters as psychologically or intellectually inferior.

Politics sucks, but Socialism doesn't quite make it in the Land of Opportunity. Almost, I am sorry to say, but not quite. You can go to other countries if that is what you want. Sweden or England. Not China. Vive la difference. Except for the slackers who want freebies, people who come here to the USA want the opportunity, not the hand-outs. If America doesn't stand for individual freedom and the opportunity to pursue your own goals and values and to stand on your own two legs, it stands for nothing at all. It works pretty well, too, if you are willing to take your lumps along with your chances.

American ideals, perhaps, are not for everybody, and yet we take darn good care of those who stumble, run into bad luck, or cannot handle it. Charity, via government and via private charities. We are generous as heck here, thanks to our Christian values. Love to help folks, but do not enjoy doing so at gunpoint. That doesn't count as virtue - and taking care of our own families comes first. As it should, for adult humans.

Figuring out your own path through life is the blessing of freedom.

(Thanks, reader. A great old tune, and Spier is the best.)

    "It may be perpetual motion, but it will take forever to test it."
                                

A site for perpetual motion machines and other things that don't work. (Toon from the site). h/t Neatorama

We enjoy seeing our local Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds buzzing around, and we plant things that they like.

Wayside lists 56 varieties for them. Butterflies tend to like similar plants.

Gardens without hummingbirds and butterflies feel sterile.

Photo: An Agastache (Hyssop).

Simon at Classical Values asks whether the demonstrations/"direct action" planned for the Denver (and Minneapolis) conventions might be a Rovian plot.

This Clinton site says that the umbrella group Recreate 68 is hoping to provoke violence. Oh, man, that is so 60s. They used to say that the tactic was to provoke the cops to "expose the covert brutality of the Capitalist system."

What a bunch of grandiose immature jerks: they self-satirize without realizing it. Plus they do not know that '68 was a terrible year. They should get a life.

Scott at Powerline has a good grip on the penis stories. Honestly, I would not eat a Reindeer's Johnson if you paid me, but maybe I am homophobic or something.

Or maybe I just feel bad for all those poor Reindeer who are now running around the tundra without their equipment.

Speaking of the Noble Male Member, I was entertained by some hot Purple Grackle (aka Common Grackle) romance on my lawn this morning. The male does quite a display for the lady: he hunches up his shoulders, splays his wings, and raises a dramatic iridescent ruff of feathers on his neck as he struts before her: he tries to make like a Bird of Paradise. Then he hops on top of her for about 4 seconds. He did that twice in five minutes.

Afterwards, she did a shake to compose her feathers and her excited feminine heart, no doubt - and he walked off cheerfully, with a bit of a swagger, looking for bugs in the grass.

I think it was consensual, but she did seem a little put out by it all. Women are sometimes like that.

We have somehow failed to pay enough attention to blogger/columnist Mike Adams who writes at Town Hall. We will correct that oversight forthwith.

I read his bio. He sounds like a Maggie's Farm sort of guy, so we are putting him on our blogroll.

We are also adding Real Clear Markets  which is a good resource with the same handy format as Real Clear Politics.

With Spring warbler season upon us, it seemed timely to note that Nikon has finally come up with a binocular that can compete with the Germans.

Here's the 7X42. There is also an 8X32.

Image: A few Spring Warblers, by Peterson

"The more I learn of physics, the more I am drawn to metaphysics."

Albert Einstein

From story at Dino:

There is a clear and detailed look at oil prices at The Library of E and L

The Cornell Farm, 1848. It is believed that Hicks was schooled in sign-painting: his primitivism was no affectation. He was also a Quaker minister. This pictures the Cornell farm's (Bucks Country, PA) prize animals.

From the Peoples' Cube:

Now that the idea of social awareness and class struggle has reached American pulpits, it was only a matter of time before progressive historical revisionism left its academic confines and flooded the nation's churches, raising consciousness of the worshiping masses and prompting them to re-evaluate archaic concepts of "faith," "freedom," and "morality." Armed with the winning theory of class struggle, more and more oppressed churchgoers are finding the courage to speak out against violations of human rights in the ancient world, and indeed against the entire litany of "traditional" "conceptions" based on the "Bible" and its "teachings."

In this sense, the conference of religious leaders and scholars from around the world, titled "From Security to Homelessness: Moses and the Renegade Exodus of the Hebrews" was the first major event of its kind, focusing on Moses' fraudulent activities and the resulting major humanitarian disaster called the Exodus.

Convened at the Cathedral of the Victim Trinity in Chicago just before the Easter and Passover holidays, the confab manifested itself as a global showcase of progressive religious studies.

Read the whole thing. (Image from the piece.)

Mark Twain

The comments on this Mormon fundy polygamy piece are pretty good.

So what's the issue? Polygamy? Or the under-age marriages? Or the arranged marriages (which are not illegal at all)?

Moslems quietly practice polygamy in the US without being hassled. Single teen-age pregnancy is of epidemic proportions in the US, so why is teen pregnancy within marriage worse?

I am confused, not about the moral issues, but about the legal issues. 

Coming soon to your town.

This could be some competition for Dunkin Donuts. I like the red bandana idea.

As quoted from a piece at SDA:

Wind power is a toy anywhere; it isn't dependable, and it's even more diffuse than solar. Both of them are boondoggles designed to separate you from your tax money and give power to the bureaucrats who "manage" the projects. People who tell you otherwise are lying, and the only thing the numbers they give you establish is that liars can figure.