Maggie's Farm

Oh, the hours that I spent inside the Coliseum,
Dodgin' lions, and wastin' time.
All those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see 'em,
Yes it sure has been a long, hard climb.
Train wheels runnin' through the back of my memory,
When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese.
Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody,
When I paint my masterpiece.

Dylan, from When I Paint My Masterpiece

Dems gone psychotic - Byrd terms Repubs Nazis: Click here: Captain's Quarters and Dean claims Repubs "evil": Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story

This is Brit grouse, not the Dog's beloved ruffed grouse, but might it apply? Click here: The New York Times > Science > Observatory: What's Good for the Grouse

Campus conservatives getting louder: Click here: City Journal Winter 2005 | On Campus, Conservatives Talk Back by Brian C. Anderson

Another knee-jerk Liberal yields to the wisdom of W: Click here: ProfessorBainbridge.com: Kinsley on Bush  

"Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world."

Albert Einstein

First, Freedom - just as those evil neo-cons predicted, the dominoes are falling - Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon...Iran next? Let's hope so. It has to bring pleasure to every American heart to see tyranny fall.Even the NYT must admit it: Click here: The New York Times > Opinion > Editorial: Mideast Climate Change

Second, Free Speech. Students (remember Mario Fazio or whatever his name was?) are rebelling against the Stalinist tendencies of the modern universities at the University of AlabamaClick here: The Volokh Conspiracy -   and at Dartmouth  Click here: The Volokh Conspiracy - and here Click here: The Volokh Conspiracy -

Also:

"Only dead fish swim with the stream."

Malcolm Muggeridge

Snow Day, here in New England. Should be beautiful. Bird Dog will take a few more photos to demonstrate God's grandeur.

Good site, plus lots of information about hops - the more the better, it seems: Click here: All About Beer Magazine-Online

A brand-new blogger: Click here: TigerHawk

Can't get decent crab-cakes in Yankee-land - they are full of bread crumbs, but these are the real thing from Chesapeake Bay: Click here: Faidleys Award Winning Crab Cakes

Dear Idiot Fascist Editor,

Your blog is an example of everything that is wrong with our country. It is about time the government began regulating these blogs like yours that are filled with hateful, venomous rage and anti-progressivism. You and your evil hateful types should be strung up and lynched before you destroy our country.

(Signed) Disgusted

Dear Loyal Reader,

Just be patient, "Disgusted." I can tell that you are a very caring, sensitive guy-or-gal. When the Revolution comes, you can string up all of us bourgeoisie on the lamp-posts, in a caring, sensitive manner, to the rousing tune of the Internationale. Like the Nazis did. But remember - We Are Armed.

Best wishes for a lovely, happy, freedom-loving, and prosperous day in our evil country,

Bird Dog

"You can observe a lot by just watching."

Yogi Berra

from Psalm 39, a Psalm of David

"Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
and hold not thy peace at my tears!
For I am thy passing guest
a sojourner, like all my fathers.
Look away from me, that I may know gladness,
before I depart and be no more."

One of the clueless gets a clue on the ongoing Harvard tempest in a teapot: Click here: The New Republic Online: Self Interest

Immediately after claiming we don't do breaking news, I'll break that policy and post this remarkable development: Click here: Yahoo! News - Mubarak Orders Egypt Election Law Changes Does anything further need to be said?

In one short essay, James Nuechterlein takes Frank's entire book, What's Wrong with Kansas?, and mops the floor with it. And, at the same time, offers an alternate thesis which I both like and agree with. I began reading Frank's book in January, and read about a quarter of it - then did something I rarely do with books - I quit it. It is an elitist, Leftist, closed-minded condescending tantrum disguised as a book, with just one idea, which is a dusty 1930s idea. Please, Lefties, believe Frank's book, and do not read the following piece:

"If you would change the world, first change yourself."

Gandhi

So many blogs - so little time.

And it's not just blogs. Websites, news and opinion outlets...well, like, duh? But I am realizing how much the net is like living inside a library - a big one, like the New York Public Library - a universe of words and thoughts and pictures. Even if you are retired, which the Bird Dog is far from being, you can't begin to scratch the surface. That is why, just like Taranto at the WSJ, Maggie's Farm has a team of retrievers - each one smarter than me. (They are listed under "About Us," but it isn't complete.) And it should not be surprising to me how many folks write and think well, and just want to put their stuff out there, hoping someone will appreciate it or use it. Writing ability, combined with thinking ability, is as much of a miracle as musical talent - and, like musical talent, it is remarkable how generously that miracle is handed out.

Obviously, most media opinion outlets offer essays, but most bloggers offer essays too - some very short and some lengthy and scholarly. As more people use the net for information and for brain food, we are seeing a resurgence of the essay. Francis Bacon would be pleased. I always felt that the late Stephen J. Gould was the best essayist of our time. Each piece was a compact, perfectly-constructed gem. Like a good sonnet. Blog essays are dashed off - people have jobs and kids and bills to pay and cows to milk. And the writing tends to be more colloquial and casual. But still dang good, as Napoleon Dynamite would say. Glenn Reynolds can sometimes say 100 words in just one "Huh?"

Here at Maggie's Farm, we try to offer the new kind of format - the Blog Format - with no real hard news - there are plenty of good sources there. We want to be a source if interesting stuff, and some semi-frivolous stuff to provide an outlet for our amateur (amateurish?) auteurs. And, as we claim, politics is not our only interest. It is to us what professional sports are to many - entertaining and emotional and topical and silly but meaningless in the final end. But we will not tolerate fools trying to run our lives or to shape our world - we are proud Yankees. And we ain't fools, despite our lack of deep education.