Maggie's Farm

Bush is Pissed

Click here to see Bush this morning in an unhappy mood. Whoever leaked the NSA intelligence to the NYT may be in deep trouble. Thanks P'line for the link.

Atlas has the good rant, and the senate vote.

VDH: We are "lancing the boil":

"So at year’s end, what then is happening at home and abroad?

For the last three years we have seen a carbuncle swell as the old Vietnam War opposition rematerialized, with Michael Moore, the Hollywood elite, and Cindy Sheehan scaring the daylights out of the Democratic establishment that either pandered to or triangulated around their crazy rhetoric. The size of the Islamicist/Baathist insurrection caught the United States for a time off guard, as was true also of the sudden vehement slurs from our erstwhile allies in Europe, Canada, and Asia. Few anticipated that the turmoil Iraq would force the Syrians out of Lebanon, the Libyans to give up their WMDs, and the Egyptians to hold elections — and that all the killing, acrimony, and furor over these developments would begin to engulf the Middle East and threaten the old order.

In the face of that growing ulcer of discontent, we quietly kept on killing terrorists, promoting elections in Iraq, pressuring Arab autocracies to democratize, and growing the economy. All that is finally lancing the boil, here and abroad — and what was in there all along is now slowly oozing out, making the cure seem almost as gross as the malady."

Read entire.

Was Mona Lisa happy? Definitely.

Norm found this: What are your gender traits? Try to be honest.

Paul Theroux on Africa: "There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can't think of one at the moment."  Read entire at NYT.

Steyn on Sinatra. Is there anything that Steyn isn't an expert on?

Man can believe the impossible but never the improbable.

Oscar Wilde

Fawlty Towers

Now that I have gotten my Christmas present copies, I will provide the link, as if you couldn't think of it yourselves.

The Complete. Nothin' better. And it's clouding over and the bad weather is on the way. Bring it on!

 Does anything beat a fire in the fireplace, snow and sleet falling, Fawlty Towers on the DVD player, Dylan on the CD, and a Grey Goose martini in one hand, one's sweetie-pie in the other, and a good Cuban in one's third hand? Multi-tasking. Except hunting or skiing or...

(Bad photo - 3-4 olives minimum, for healthy living.)

Where are the WMDs? Syria. Oh? Big surprise - where else? Watch the anti-war crowd go spastic now, or into clinical conniptions or psychotic hysteria (or, more likely, to ignore facts). P'line found it before we did: NYSun.

Ya gotta read the Sun each morning. Online, or they deliver around NYC. They are the next great newspaper, along with the CSM and the Sunday (hate to say it) NYT. Perfect for puppy house-training: LAT - suddenly no longer a national paper - and Boston Globe. But Chicago Tribune? Don't they run Mark Steyn?

When the NYT decides to run Steyn and/or VDH, I will re-subscribe - it's a promise - but until then, they are just a Lefty propaganda machine to me, daily destroying our precious trees and forests, to print what? Just see the NYT headline today: "Bush's Path Has Many Ifs" while a higher % is voting in Iraq than votes in the US. Arrogant jackasses always have a "but monkey" when it's not Dems or Lefties.

Need a Clinical Depression? A good Africa News source: Afrol News

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: a DVD for the youths. Not brand-new, but sounds like a good goof.

Literary Scholarship: Back to Aesthetics?

From an important piece by Lindsay Waters:

The problem is not just that literary scholarship has become disconnected from life. Something else more suspicious has happened to professional criticism in America over the past 30 years, and that is its love affair with reducing literature to ideas, to the author's or reader's intention or ideology — not at all the same thing as art. As a result, literary critics are devoted to saving the world, not to saving literature for the world, and to internecine battles that make little sense outside academe.

Read entire. It's about time we saw some reason from Harvard.

Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life.

Bette Davis

A (rare) Maggie's Nod to Multiculturalism

A reader reminds us that somehow - probably due to the effects of Bush's global warming on our brain - we neglected the essential topic of Virginia's famous Smithfield Ham in our little piece on Christmas Ham.

We deeply apologize for any possible offense, humiliation, pain, or other neurotic reactions we might have caused. Shame on us for neglecting a treasured, age-honored, and totally delicious cultural tradition of the great people of the great Commonwealth of Virginia.

At Maggie's, we are all a bit too busy during December, with hunting, Christmas stuff and events, kids, end of year business things, etc. to do the amount of writing we like to do. But we can compensate by continuing to locate cool stuff by better writers than we are.

Visiting NYC? Don't forget Old Bars.

Tookie the Ducky Beats the Rap. Iowahawk. Blame Bush can't resist the topic either: Schwarzenegger to Terminate Beloved Children's Author

Do not forget The Ladies in White, in Fidel's human rights hellhole. Paxety

Dec. 14, 1902. A big snow. The Brooklyn Eagle.

Is NO ready for human habitation? No, never was, either. The env. issues at Environmental Econ.

The new trophy wife. She's a bit older, makes a lot of money and can be hard to handle, but she keeps life interesting. That's the point of this piece, anyway, in Psychology Today.

11-12: Persimmon Picker Inspector
        Today, I was a Persimmon picker inspector.
        To Kibbutz Glil Yam (Ocean's Wave), in Herzilya, I went on bus, after
talking with Moshek last night to be sure I could join our "cousins,"
he says, his Bedouin pickers today.
        First, small town living vignette. I am up around 530, but Moshek had
asked me to come later, more like 800. So, I write, then head off for
the bus at just before 700, packing my laundry to be done before
shabbat (one set of sheets, guys).  The makhbesah, laundry on
Ostrovski is closed -- unusual. I won't dally, so head over to Ahuza,
figuring Alberto's (formerly of Argentina) is open. Nada doing.  What
to do, other then lug a plastic bag of linens about? I ask the owner
of the stationary store, who is setting up, if I can leave the laundry
with him to give to Alberto. He apologizes that he cannot leave the
store to deliver my laundry until 900 am.  (Goodness, even an apology
for this?)  Fine, I write a note to Alberto b'Ivrit to call me when
done.
        Which he does around 1200.  I field a call in the orchard, from a
foreign sounding Hebrew fellow, confuse him with Patrick placing a
prank call to me from San Francisco, then realize it isn't Patrick.
Alberto is done with my laundry and will close in half an hour. No way
I can leave and get back by then; we are just finishing and Moshek is
nowhere to be seen.   So?  Well, I ask him to deliver my laundry to
the stationary store. But to pay him.   No hay problemo; he says to
stop by on Sunday, after ulpan.  Beseder.
        Nice life, if you can get it.

A Wide-Screen Narnia Trailer

Here.

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan

A bit more on Gene McCarthy: TNR has a series of essays by McCarthy in this week's edition, including How Artificial Turf is Ruining Baseball.

Mary Mapes is back with her book, this time. Scott Johnson addresses her flagrant lies and distortions. How does she get away with this? Daily Std.

Real Hard Cash: A fine essay on Johnny Cash's career and life by Moore. One quote:

The prison imagery seemed real to Cash because, for him, it was real. He knew what it was like to be enslaved, enslaved to celebrity, to power, to drugs, to liquor, and to the breaking of his marriage vows. He was subject to, and submissive to, all the temptations the recording industry can parade before a man. He was a prisoner indeed, but to a penitentiary of his own soul. There was no corpse in Reno, but there was the very real guilt of a lifetime of the self-destructive idolatry of the ego.

It was through the quiet friendships of men such as Billy Graham that Cash found an alternative to the vanity of shifting celebrity. He found freedom from guilt and the authenticity of the truth in a crucified and resurrected Christ. And he immediately identified with another self-obsessed celebrity of another era: Saul of Tarsus. He even authored a surprisingly good biography of the apostle, with the insight of one who knows what it is like to see the grace of Jesus through one’s own guilt as a “chief of sinners.”

Read entire at Touchstone.

Wolcott defends bloggers against the condescending and arrogant press.

Will Israel attack Iran's nuclear facilities? Tammy thinks so. The Prof. hopes so. I can picture it.

What Condi thinks about the Middle East. Am. Future

A recoiless rifle? Aussies say they made one. Ace. Might come in handy in Cronulla. (H/T HH)

How did Bill Clinton suddenly become pro-Kyoto, just when the rest of the world is moving beyond it? View from 1776

Instant Narnia Review

It gets a 5/5 from the Bird Dog crew. Enchanted and enchanting, great casting, perfect computer graphics, absolutely loyal to Lewis' tale, and, if anything, more overtly religious than the books (which are mythic, allegorical, and a very good tale). Who knew Disney had it in 'em? A perfect Christmastime movie and an instant classic. Definitely not just for kids.

Fear of Success

We at Maggie's have been saying for many months that the Left is terrified by the prospect of an American success in Iraq, and is determined to paint a hopeless picture and to get us out of there before success is obvious to everyone. As we have pointed out many times, it already has been a success - not a perfect success, but few are. It's nice to see that Podhoretz agrees. One quote from his lengthy summary of the politics and distortions about Iraq in the WSJ Opinion Journal:

Like the mainstream media and the theorists in the academy and the think tanks, the Democratic Party--fearing that it might be frozen out of power for a very long time to come--is also in a panic over the signs that George W. Bush's new approach to the greater Middle East is on the verge of passing the test of Iraq. Hence the veritable hysteria with which the Democrats have recently tried to delegitimize the war: first by claiming (three years after the fact!) that it had begun with a lie, and then by declaring that it was ending in a defeat. Leaning heavily on the turn in public opinion largely brought about by reports in the mainstream media and the lucubrations of the theorists, the Democrats--with the notably honorable exception of Sen. Joseph Lieberman--now joined in by clamoring openly for a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.

Read the entire piece. It's a good reality check.

A Slave is he who cannot speak his thoughts. 

Euripides

Up in the northern US, you have to rely
on people like this: Burger's Smokehouse.  And all of our dear Brit readers probably don't even know about attic-aged ham. They need to learn about how ham is cured right, for a year, in the southern US. I don't know whether I prefer the pulled pork, or the attic hams, or the second-cut bacon, or the whole slabs of bacon, or the spiral cut hams, or the smoked turkey, or everything else they do.

(Yes, it's yet another Maggie's free advt. in support of commerce, free enterprise, and capitalism. But feel free to send me an aged ham, you guys at Burgers, if you want to. We'll eat more, easily. We will not be corrupted by filthy lucre, but by good pork - always. Please try to corrupt us with aged southern ham. Everyone has their price - right?)

Good Education for Christmas: The Teaching Company. They are the best invention since Books on Tape. Great fun, and I wish libraries would stock up on them. You'll have to find out for yourself how excellent these are - they use great teachers - not (necessarily) great researchers - which is the right approach. Get the CDs - there's never time to sit down and watch the DVDs. Hey - listen to 'em twice (assuming you have ADD too), then share and trade with friends and relatives. Like baseball cards.

Goldfish Hates Bowlmate. This will ring a bell with lots of people... life must be better somewhere else, outside of this bowl. Like jumping out and becoming a dried trisket of tiny bones on the carpet.

I wanna go. Hacienda de los Santos. They have a dove shooting package too. Happiness is a warm gun (but hmm, I wonder how nasty that sounds to non-hunters, especially at Christmastime. These are White-Winged Doves - not doves of Christ or of the Holy Spirit or Doves of Peace - they are practically almost sort-of pigeons, really.) Tasty things broiled medium-rare with a strip of bacon on top of each one, and stuffed with sauteed chopped onion, apple, and pear, their livers or maybe a hunk of foie gras, and served on a buttery, garlicky piece of toasted French bread with the drippings on top...man, getting hungry. Shmoosh some of the liver into the drippings, and some cognac, before drizzling on top. Lots of pepper. Great compensation for the sore shoulder from all of that arduous shooting.

Gene McCarthy. What a fine fellow he was. Fine people can be wrong.  He was wrong about the war, and would have made a rotten and probably Minnesota-socialist president - but a superb gent, and more poet than politician, although some people I know say he was craftier and more calculating than he seemed. His death saddens me - I was in New Hampshire for him in my callow youth, and met him at a Georgetown party, in the 60s. A special person who followed his own path and who asked God for answers to his questions.

The US economy is in great shape. Why don't we hear about the Bush Boom?

Department of No Gratitude: Katrina rescuees complained about Red Cross. Jeez - that takes some nerve. I do believe this country has somehow inculcated the ethics of grievance and entitlement over gratitude. Big mistake. That path leads nowhere except to wasted time and a wasted life.

Have enjoyed this for years - still have it on vinyl: Christmastime with The Judds.

Why bulls hate winter.  Hope this works: WhyCowsHateWinter.mpe

Narnia Comments

Collected at Blogs4God - thanks, Instapundit.

France hopes to improve image. Good idea. It needs it. And not just image - reality, too.

For gun buffs and military fans: A letter from a soldier re Iraq weapons, tactics, etc., at Atlas. Gotta love that gun that shoots around corners, but gotta hate 9 mm for stopping bad guys. One quote: "Fun fact: Random autopsies on dead insurgents show a high level of opiate use." No surprise there: on the morning of Austerlitz, Napoleon gave the soldiers a triple shot of brandy - would have given them opiates if he had 'em. Dutch courage. I enjoyed his "thumbs up" for the Mossberg 12 ga - cheap, simple, low-tech gun for ducks or bad guys in close quarters. Low tech always best in bad conditions.

For under the tree for someone: The new Sony R1 camera. My problem with such wonderful toys is that, by the time I learn how to use 1/20th of what they can do, they're obsolete.

We all have favorite charities to whom we'd give lots of money, if we had it.  Charity Navigator has all the info.

An amusing Kerry verbal gaffe. Sensible Mom

A book: Why do Men Have Nipples?: Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask Your Doctor After Your Third Martini

Effects of economic growth and population growth in the Galapagos

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

Woody Allen

The pheasant was an early game bird introduction to America. A very handsome Asian native, it had already been a popular game bird in Europe when first brought to the US during colonial times by sportsmen (to Virginia, in fact, where it did not prosper). The hen pheasant comes in a plain brown wrapper with a shorter tail, but the roosters can appear in atypical colors due to hybridizing efforts. The pheasant is a rare example of an introduced bird which has no deleterious effects on existing ecosystems.

Pheasant prefers northern, open agricultural lands with areas of dense cover, and does not survive in the southern US. Pheasant is widely pen-bred and reared for hunting purposes, but few released birds in the US survive assaults from red-tailed hawks and coyotes, as they have not had the opportunity to become street-wise. The bulk of the wild, breeding populations are in the Dakotas, but they are found throughout the northern midwest and can even be found occasionally in the northeast. As agriculture has become more efficient, their numbers have slowly declined.

In Europe, pen-raised birds are typically allowed to enter an area where they have the chance to become semi-wild, capable of strong flight, and independent, but are held by food until the day they are driven by beaters into high flight designed to be challenging for shooters. In the western US, pheasant are hunted with dogs, or driven to the ends of large fields where they are forced into flight. In the eastern US, typically, fat pheasants are hunted on the day of release, hence our pal L's expression "flying mattresses." Such birds are not particularly sporty but most of us have found ways to miss plenty of them, especially when given time to think. It is considered proper decorum to let them get well underway in flight before pulling the trigger since, unlike grouse, you usually have a fairly open shot and you don't want your pellets to turn them into ground hamburger meat. In the midwest and west, pen-raised birds are used to supplement wild populations for sportsmen.

Fun to hunt? Definitely. Good for dog work? Yes. Good to eat? You bet. Cook to pink in the center. Read more about Ring Necked Pheasant at CLO. An organization called Pheasants Forever works on land management for pheasant.

(Details of English pheasant rearing practices corrected thanks to our across-the-pond cousin Mr. FMFT)