Friday, February 25. 2005
Primates come down from trees to debate homosexuality: Click here: FOXNews.com - Anglican Church Asks U.S., Canada to Leave The American Library Association: Bravely leading the vanguard into the past: Click here: Library Journal - Revenge of the Blog People! Lighter fare - See video - The bird Einstein is good, but the Iams advt ain't bad either: Click here: Animal Planet :: Video :: Pet Star 3 Can't stop wondering...if America is so Evil, why does the whole world want to live here? One more example of media's reflexive anti-American bias:Click here: The Kerry Spot on National Review Online Race and Class and Education: The Left always makes every issue into a racial or class issue. It's a highly reductionistic, highly manipulative, and highly monotonous propaganda device. Bradley doesn't buy it: Click here: Commentary: Modern Myths about Race and School Performance
The Scrapple-Man reports on the Harvard flap: Click here: ScrappleFace: Harvard Chief Likens Women to Nazis, Saves Job
Euristan decides Bush was right...no - not that dumb goofy redneck Bible-thumping fascist cowboy who says nucular?: Click here: OpinionJournal - Featured Article Iranians like Americans. Are we supposed to be surprised that they can think for themselves?:Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story
Thank you baby for my tea. The Revolution is long past. Best Tea site on the web: Click here: Mighty Leaf Tea Company
You ask for more Vermont color. What the --- do ya mean by that, Mr. Circus Dog? Nothin quaint here, as you know. This ain't exactly Manchester or Ludlow or some other city-slicker joint down south. Well, Seth and the boys are milkin, and I just come in from the barn for a WallMart apple pie and sausage, and a coffee and a smoke. Then I'll bring them a pot down to the barn, and hope I don't slip on the ---ing ice or trip over one of the --- ----useless mutts and spill that pot of coffee all over my lap like that idiot McDonald's lady. It ain't cold - about 13. Today, will get the sugarin machinery going - got all the lines done. We run em all down the hills to the road now, like them modern sugar guys. Yer fancy friends in Connecticut would like to watch us pull the drowned mice out of the collection barrels, and think about that when they eat their ---- organic buckwheat pancakes or whatever they eat. The --- ----wood-pile is dry and ready, so we can start makin sugar with the first thaw. Any day now that sap will be runnin fast. Don't know why we ---ing bother, with prices so low the past ten years or more. Jes got too many trees up here nowadays, specially with farmin a dyin art. Oh, ----, there's that ---- mouse again - I'm gonna stomp that little ----- into the linoleum before Spring. Woops, too fast for this old fart. Anyway, my friend, is this what you mean by Vermont color? Remember, this is a favor to you. My writin ain't the best but I got my pride. Ayup, I do.
Conservative Girl: Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Buffy: Uh, you know, I meant to, but then I got really busy. from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Thursday, February 24. 2005
X-Rated. No, this isn't satire: Click here: AOL News - Court Rules Man Can Sue Over Surprise Pregnancy Thanks, pals- Canada refuses to help with missile shield. The Euristan community, including Canada, is either self-destructive or in a psychotic denial of the existence of evil: Click here: The Washington Times: AP Crybabies? Guess only a woman would be allowed to write this, eh?:Click here: Feminists Get Hysterical by Heather Mac Donald
Peggy Noonan on almost everything: Click here: OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan
If 130 felons voted, does that put the Repub in? :Click here: GOP Says Felons Voted in Wash. Governor's Race
Tom Wolfe on Hunter Thompson: Click here: OpinionJournal - Leisure & Arts -and Tim Blair also: Click here: Tim Blair
News Flash ! - Click here: Bob Dylan attacks modern rock bands - NME.COM
Dylan, from Every Grain of Sand In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need,
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed,
There's a dyin' voice within me, reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair. Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment, I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.
"Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could believe them." George Orwell
Wednesday, February 23. 2005
Dear Maggie's Farm Readers - I received the note below, and sent the money, in cash. Now I am beginning to wonder whether that was wise. I like to think of myself as being a trusting animal. I do have good pedigree, but have been insulated from bad Gods. I am not wealthy, but have carefully saved my weekly allowance. Advice? Am I being a paranoid Rottweiler? I have my retirement to consider. The Dog
Dear Sir:
I am Mugnbo Mibidgi, treasury secretary of the Republic of Nigeria. I need a trustworthy person to accept a transfer of $50 million for safekeeping. If you would be so kind as to wire transfer me $2,000 for my adminstrative expenses, I will send you these millions immediately.
Wise old Doc Higgins reminds us never to confuse a correlation with causation, but this is interesting. It doesn't prove cause and effect, tho. Click here: Friends fortify women's hearts / The Washington Times INSIDER
Bambi Department: Tony, arriviste New England rural hamlet plans massacre of the innocents: Click here: Greenwich Time - Town baits areas for deer shooting
We like Ben! Finally, some truth and balance on the subject: Click here: Ben Shapiro: Ward Churchill, Lawrence Summers, and the hypocrisy of the academics
I can see a Romney-Condi ticket...but it's a little early to think about...or is it? Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story
Earth to Charlie Rangel: Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story The ailing Pope has some wise words about medical care - (always pleased when the Pope agrees with me!): Click here: Vatican Officials Decry 'Religion of Health'
Dear Editor:
This is just one more stupid, extremist, irrational, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing blog. The world doesn't need any more of these. Quit wasting your time and mine, and get a real job, or find something useful to do. If you have any skills, which I doubt. Can you mow lawns? If not, become a journalist or a politician, ya big jerk.
Sincerely,
Anonymous Dear Loyal Reader,
Well, we can mow, but rarely in a straight line. We keep slanting to the right. But thanks for the constructive criticism. We can assure you that we will take it to heart.
Sincerely,
Bird Dog
This in from Doc Higgins, who swears he had nothing to do with any of these surgeries, which is probably true. His senile tremor is so bad, they haven't allowed him near the OR in ten years. If you are bored and really have nothing that you should be doing, take a peek: Click here: Awful Plastic Surgery
"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer, but wish we didn't." Erica Jong
Tuesday, February 22. 2005
Maggie's Farm is pleased to be included in this week's New Blog Showcase, hosted by Celebrity Cola. I think we are witnessing the Big Bang of the expanding Blogosphere. We are called "idiosyncratic and eccentric" - Who, us? We may soon have more blogs than blog-readers in this world. Competition is good: http://celebritycola.blogspot.com/2005/02/new-blog-carnival-showcase.html
A word from Gwynnie, on the recent Environmental piece: Gwynnie read the Celebrity Cola article “The Apocalyptic Battle Between . . ..” and even though she’s only a corgi she perceptively notes that the only thing dumber than politicians talking about the environment is environmentalists talking about Christianity! She even remembered the blog which said Christian fundamentalists didn’t care about the environment because the earth would be destroyed anyway in the “end days”. She asks us to remember that Christians have waited 2000 years for the second coming of Jesus, and have no reason to believe it won’t be another 2000 years, and that their faith requires them to be faithful stewards of what God has given them.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Hunter S. Thompson (who died yesterday in Woody Creek, Colorado)
Monday, February 21. 2005
"Shadows are fallin, and I've been here all day.
It's too hard to sleep, the time is runnin away.
Seems like my soul has turned into steel,
I've still got the scars that the sun let me heal.
There's not even room enough to be anywhere.
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there." Dylan, from Not Dark Yet
Two interesting pieces about the Environmental Movement - is it a post-Enlightenment Pagan Religion, or is it fact-based? And whose "facts"? You will find no-one more conservation-minded than the Bird Dog, but when gummint gets involved, it becomes more about image and symbol than substance - to get our gullible votes, of course. Gummint and science don't mix - and when they do, politics wins. Consider bottle-recycling - what a joke! - cheap feeling of false virtue, but useless. The Bird Dog happens to believe that the real conservation issue in the US is urban/suburban sprawl, but how do you balance people's desires and freedom with land-protection, other than by buying the land up? Easier just to bitch about oil in Alaska - again, cheap and easy feeling of virtue, but meaningless. And of course it is far away ! (Good conservation news - we saw three Bald Eagles yesterday next to the Bear Mountain Bridge. Hudson Highlands - cool. Does anyone remember Dylan's "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Blues"? Quite humorous.) Well, the Bird Dog was on top of this story too - is this a story about envy and class-warfare, or a story about animal lovers? If about animal lovers, they had better be vegetarians, or they have no credibility with me. But, finally, a cause for which Civil Disobedience makes sense ( if only Gandhi could see this - he'd have a good laugh): Wonderful piece by Michael Dirda on Love - the scribblers really went all-out for Valentine's Day this year - see previous recent posts on Love - my theory is that these dudes use their columns as mass-mailing Valentine Cards to all of their cute girlfriends - using erudition as seduction. Been there.
Looks like about a foot of snow arrived overnite here in Yankeeland, and this morning there is a needling email from the in-laws with their weather report in Cabo. Why do so many of us Yankees love what others call "bad" weather? Is is because it demands more from us, or because it reminds us of the grandeur of God's Nature and God's Cosmos? Or is it sour grapes? Speaking of Cosmos, old Mr. Hubble took some nice snapshots:
"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better." Andre Gide
Sunday, February 20. 2005
It is tough for me to say anything about The Gates that isn't corny, so I won't say much. New Yorkers are just too hip. They do not dare to be positive about anything (except left-wing politics, which they still think is cool even tho it's antique, but they don't know it yet - they are smart, lively, book-reading people who love ideas, but stuck in the political Stone-Age), so they predictably bitch about this thing. Will post some photos as soon as I can get them to size properly, but photos of course can't capture it. What I will say is that, the minute you step off the sidewalk into the Park, into the 23 miles of saffron-curtained gates, everyone - and there were tons of people of every description and every language on the planet yesterday - slows down. It is remarkable to see New Yorkers walking so slowly and taking pictures, despite the frigid wind. Whatever it is, I suppose I think it is quite wonderful. ("I don't know much about art, but I know what I like.")
Also had time to check out Frederick Church's Parthenon again (a sentimental favorite of mine, despite having been to the Real Thing), plus Washington Crossing the Delaware - forgot how huge this cornball, wonderful work is. And to check out the Washington exhibit - not very interesting.
Our favorite "Gates" photo:
Continue reading "News, Arts, and Other Entertainment: The Lovely Gates"
Bubble, bubble...A way to get the fates on your side? Witches brew for Somerset. From the Daily Rant Department: Two very good pieces about guns, and gun rights: Another example of why some of us are a little disappointed in Republican control of the Fed. govt - it is human nature that govts become sponges for power and money, regardless of who is in charge. Where is Newt when we need him?
"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go." WS, Hamlet
Saturday, February 19. 2005
This just in from Old Doc Higgins in Rhode Island: Everyone has ADD, and all boys have ADHD. Just a matter of degree. Heck, I remember back in med school, during the lecture on the use of ether for anesthesia, spending the whole time undressing (mentally) a gal in the front row (only gal in the class - this was 19 and 41 - and she was a bow-wow, too, but eventually she let me...(edited for family reading...), and I didn't remember a thing about the class. See, I have a bad case of ADD too. But it didn't matter - back then, I'd just have the patient chaw on a lead bullet and rip out their appendix, or their whatever. Ether-shmeether. We'd re-use those bullets until they were chawed to bits - didn't wash 'em either. There was a war on - needed those bullets to kill Krauts and Japs. So, to save bullets, they came up with this new-fangled novocaine stuff for the whining wussies. I'd have nothing of it - No Sir. Nowadays, it's more complicated, but I like to stick to the old, tried-and-true ways when I can. When I can remember them.
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