Maggie's Farm

from Paul's Letter to the Philippians:

Finally, brothers and sisters, fix your thoughts on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious. If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

A Man and a Maid 

There was a little man,
Who wooed a little maid,
And he said, “Little maid, will you wed, wed, wed?
I have little more to say,
So will you, yea or nay,
For least said is soonest mended-ded, ded, ded.”
The little maid replied,
“Should I be your little bride,
Pray what must we have for to eat, eat, eat?
Will the flame that you’re so rich in
Light a fire in the kitchen?
Or the little god of love turn the spit, spit, spit?”

Whaleburgers

Aw, man, gee whiz, can you Japanese give the whales a break? What is it about the Japanese and whales? They taste like beef? So eat beef. We will never run out of cows.

"Dylan Republicans"

A perfect piece - custom-made for Maggie's Farm - by Hynes in American Spectator.

Kelo - Another Viewpoint

In contrast to the Barrister's hysteria and hyperventilation here last evening, Gwynnie would like to offer a more sober point of view. Gwynnie sought help from an old ex-lawyer, who dissected the news reports for her, noting that reading the court's opinions might bring about a different interpretation, because the MSM invariably got everything wrong. 

The old lawyer looked at the Fox News report, and will comment on extracts (shown in italics).

He reminds us of the great property takings of the recent century: urban renewal and the interstate highway system, and of the fact that the people who did the construction of those projects made money at them.  The Supremes (which her lawyer friend detests) said:

New London could pursue private development under the Fifth Amendment, which allows governments to take private property if the land is for public use, since the project the city has in mind promises to bring more jobs and revenue. Under the ruling, residents still will be entitled to "just compensation" for their homes as provided under the Fifth Amendment. . . . New London has suffered the kind of economic woes afflicting urban areas across the country, with losses of residents and jobs. . . . City officials envision a commercial development including a riverfront hotel, health club and offices that would attract tourists to the Thames riverfront, complementing an adjoining Pfizer Corp. research center and a proposed Coast Guard museum.. . . A city council member who approved the development, said, "I am charged with doing what's best for the 26,000 people that live in New London. That to me was enacting the eminent domain process designed to revitalize a city ... with nowhere to go."

Old lawyer says that maybe this is what city officials should be thinking about for the community good.  Strong words are being used against the project:

"It's a little shocking to believe you can lose your home in this country," said resident Bill Von Winkle, who said he would keep fighting the bulldozers in his working-class neighborhood. "I won't be going anywhere. Not my house. This is definitely not the last word."

Yet eminent domain is settled law; the Supremes haven’t expanded anything here.  Homes were lost for the interstate highways, Idlewild Airport (a.k.a. to you kidlets as JFK in Jamaica, NY), Lincoln Center, and many other projects that transformed their communities.  This is a judgement best made locally, the Supremes are saying.

"Promoting economic development is a traditional and long accepted function of government," Stevens wrote, adding that local officials are better positioned than federal judges to decide what's best for a community. . . .

There is a local alternative:  throw the dummies out of office (unless the community thinks they made the right decision).  If the local dummies are too corrupt, make state law:

At least eight states — Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, South Carolina and Washington — forbid the use of eminent domain for economic development unless it is to eliminate blight. Other states either expressly allow a taking for private economic purposes or have not spoken clearly to the question. . .

Holy Cow

The Great Horowitz wins a big one.

Rove Speaks Out

Worth reading, in Ankle-Biter (News Junkie is on vacation)

And Fallacci nails it on Euristan

in Powerline. I like her use of the word "servility"

Well, I sailed through the storm
Strapped to the mast
But the time has come
And I'm seeing the real you at last.

When I met you baby,
You didn't show no visible scars
You could ride like Annie Oakley
You could shoot like Belle Starr

Well I don't mind a reasonable amount of trouble
Trouble always comes to pass
But all I care about now
Is that I'm seeing the real you at last.

from Dylan's Seeing the Real You at Last, on Empire Burlesque

The War is Over

And it has been for some time. The press won't admit it, though. Random suicide-bombers do not make a war, unless you are a complete 'fraidy-cat. American Enterprise makes the point.

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."

Albert Einstein

The Iran "Vote"

In Gateway Pundit

Daily Life in London, 1662, June 20

We already posted the Samuel Pepys site, but I just want to underline how fine it is. You can just follow him through day by day, without having to sit in bed with the heavy book or the big volumes. This has become a fine moment in my day, along with Pejmanesque, Powerline, etc. Part of the charm is his writing, part of the charm are the details, and part of the interest is how similar his life was to ours - balancing his checkbook, and doing errands and buying a pair of tweezers! Sam would have been an interesting slice-of-life blogger. Name pronounced "peeps." A bit about his impressive career - did not realize that he had been First Sea Lord - here. June 20 excerpt:

Then I went to the Exchange, and hear that the merchants have a great fear of a breach with the Spaniard; for they think he will not brook our having Tangier, Dunkirk, and Jamaica; and our merchants begin to draw home their estates as fast as they can. Then to Pope’s Head Ally, and there bought me a pair of tweezers, cost me 14s., the first thing like a bawble I have bought a good while, but I do it with some trouble of mind, though my conscience tells me that I do it with an apprehension of service in my office to have a book to write memorandums in, and a pair of compasses in it; but I confess myself the willinger to do it because I perceive by my accounts that I shall be better by 30l. than I expected to be. But by tomorrow night I intend to see to the bottom of all my accounts. Then home to dinner, where Mr. Moore met me. Then he went away, and I to the office and dispatch much business. So in the evening, my wife and I and Jane over the water to the Halfway-house, a pretty, pleasant walk, but the wind high. So home again and to bed.

The Hijacking of the Memorial

Buzzmachine has more, including a link to an online petition and a report on yesterday's protest. This issue needs to be of concern to the entire nation, not just to those in the NY Metropolitan area, who lost so many friends, neighbors, and relatives.

We will continue to post this story weekly.  Don't let the termites hijack the 9-11 Memorial. This issue deserves a major stink. With a comment from Vodkapundit.

Here is a list of sites dedicated to the 9/11 memorial. Personal stories and photographs that are worth revisiting especially in light of the continuing discourse on the topic. Click here: Paxety Pages

It's...the Arts

Counterfeiters, in Art News:Click here: Full Editorial from Current Issue

The art price bubble, including $18,000 for a pound of Belusconis' flesh.

The Worst President?

Tom Brewton puts into words what many have come to believe:

"One of his (Roosevelt's)advisors, Stuart Chase (who coined the term New Deal), wrote that anyone, from private citizen to Supreme Court Justice, who believed that the Constitution should stand in the way of socializing the nation had better step aside or be crushed.

Liberals allege that Roosevelt’s policies ended the depression.  Yet, for eight years, unemployment remained above 10 percent (not bad for today’s socialist Germany and France, but unheard of in the United States).  Anyone looking at the facts must conclude that Emperor Hirohito, not Mr. Roosevelt, ended the American Depression.

In my assessment, Franklin Roosevelt stands alone as the worst President in our nation’s history, a man who corrupted the nation’s founding ethos in almost every respect and destroyed the single most important element in the Constitution’s checks and balances: the independent power of the states and local governments.  When Mr. Roosevelt took office, more than 70 percent of taxes were collected at the state and local levels.  During his tenure, the ratios were reversed."

Indeed. "Follow the money." Roosevelt's distortion of the Constitution has led to an array of evils. And much national strife would be eliminated if states still had the power and autonomy they once had to follow their own paths - short of slavery and human rights abuses. We suspect FDR was not wise enough to know what he was doing as a tool for the Left, but that is giving him the benefit of the doubt. (Hey, "He cared, right?") We prefer Teddy Roosevelt, much more. Read entire Brewton letter.

Junior Wells

The Godfather of the Modern Blues, Wells (1934-1998) brought his harp and his voice from the South to Chicago in 1948 where he played with The Muddy Waters Band until he went out on his own. Whatever country flavor he might have had rapidly disappeared in a unique funky urban sound, with unmistakable harp and unpolished voice. Close your eyes, and imagine yourself in a smoky 1950s Chicago dance club, if you can. (I am listening to his sensual Take Your Shoes Off as I write, from his final live recording, Live Around the World.)

He is considered to be the heir of my favorite old-time bluesman, Sonny Boy Williamson, and of Little Walter Jacobs, who he replaced in the Muddy Waters Band. Since his association with Muddy Waters, he had been especially associated with the great and seemingly ageless Buddy Guy, with whom he did several recordings including the live Drinkin TNT and Smokin Dynamite. (Now I am on his great Messin with the Kid.) HooDoo Man, with Buddy Guy on guitar, was his first widely-known album, in 1960. He was known to produce handguns from his skin-tight suits and shotguns from his cars, whenever appropriate. A couple of reminiscences here and here.

From an old review by Kelton:

The terrific thing about Junior Wells is that he's an unqualified bluesman, stylistically a direct descendant of the Chicago greats and personally an eccentric whose unpredictable singing and harp playing distinguish him from everyone else alive.

"Comin' Right at Ya" was the title of one his breakthrough albums in the 1960's and it still describes the Wells oeuvre. In short, he takes no prisoners.

Recording to legend, Wells shoplifted his first blues harp and got caught. The judge who heard his case was so impressed with Wells' story that he just wanted to make music that he paid for the instrument himself and set Wells free on the condition that, if he ever made a record, he send one to him.

Wells did, years later. The album was called "Blues Hit Big Town."

Massachusetts Weekend Plans

For this coming weekend: Catch Dylan in Pittsfield Thurs nite, home of Gwynnie's grandfather's Pittsfield Eagle, now the Berkshire Eagle. Well, the Tractor is up and going again after our fiasco. Finish clearing out that field, including the trees downed by beavers and the giant white pine trunks downed by brother, and finally mow it cleanly. More big mulch piles for the box turtle habitat. Then clear out the north side of the river the way it used to be. Chain saws, clippers, and the brushwacker-mower. Bring lotsa gasoline and raw middle-aged muscle.

Jew-Baiting Leftists

Is the Left anti-semitic? Well, they do not wish to appear so. Anklebiter. also in American Thinker.

Ataraxy

A good explication of the oft-misunderstood Epicurus, who was no epicurian, in NRO

Our Rights in Time of War

Shape of Days adds some good perspective to the subject.

The Gitmo Torturous Muzak

Ya gotta love Steyn:

"Well, readers had plenty of suggestions of their own, and so the Tribune’s website put together a list of “Interro-Tunes” — the most effective songs for aural intimidation, mood music for jolting your jihadi. A lot were the usual suspects - like the Captain and Tennille’s blamelessly goofy “Muskrat Love”, which, as I recall, put the Queen to sleep at a White House gala, though the Duke of Edinburgh sat agog all the way to the end. Someone suggested Bob Dylan’s “Everybody Must Get Stoned”, which even on a single hearing sounds like it’s being played over and over. I don’t know what Mr Kass has against “Ballerina”, which is very pleasant in the Nat “King” Cole version. But he seems to think one burst of “Dance, ballerina, dance/And do your pirouette in rhythm with your aching heart” will have the Islamists howling for the off-switch and singing like canaries to the Feds. Who knows? I sang “Ballerina” myself once on the radio long ago, and, if it will discombobulate the inmates, I’m willing to dust off my arrangement and fly down to Guantanamo, if necessary dressed liked Christina Aguilera. If they want an encore, I’ll do my special culturally sensitive version of that Stevie Wonder classic, “My Sharia Amour”. '

What vitamin or drug or homeopathic stimulant or herb or steroid does Steyn take? And where can we get some? Read entire hilarous piece.

Auster and Brooks Pile on Bush

OK, Bush isn't the Great Communicator. That is true. "Witless"? Not sure. Heart in the right place? Definitely. Raw deal from the media? For sure, but it's partially his fault - he doesn't court them or charm them. His bad. Throw them a quote from Sartre like JFK used to do and they'll eat out of your hand forever. Like, you'll be complex and groovy, like, can you dig it, dude? Just not that super-square no-fun Jesus dude all the time, ya see where I'm comin from, like? You have to understand the psychology of The Press: Because they just report, and don't DO, they have an inferiority issue. They compensate by wanting to feel like swashbucklers, macho guys, big drinkers and cutting-edge thinkers, etc. Feed their adolescent egos by flattering their intelligence: assume they believe there is a mini-Hemingway or Norman Mailer or Bob Woodward inside of each of 'em.

Red Tide

The worst red tide in memory has hit the New England coast this spring, from Maine to Nantucket, slamming Cape Cod and Cape Cod Bay. This nasty algae bloom renders mollusks toxic, so it's a disaster for the shellfishers as well as for the shellfish-eaters. Thus far, it has not moved south into Rhode Island. Details in Boston Globe. Basics on algal blooms here.

Wow

Paul Johnson gets it re Euristan, with a punch:

There is another still more fundamental factor in the EU malaise. Europe has turned its back not only on the U.S. and the future of capitalism, but also on its own historic past. Europe was essentially a creation of the marriage between Greco-Roman culture and Christianity. Brussels has, in effect, repudiated both. There was no mention of Europe's Christian origins in the ill-fated Constitution, and Europe's Strasbourg Parliament has insisted that a practicing Catholic cannot hold office as the EU Justice Commissioner.

Read entire piece about the failures and arrogance of Europe on Opinion Journal  here.

Non-Stop Cartoons

from the New Yorker's archives. Just leave it on your screen. It changes every 30 seconds. You will never leave your seat. You will just waste time, like the rest of us.