Maggie's Farm

The oceans are cooling

The assault on free speech in Canada. h/t, Coyote

I had to look up The Incorporation Doctrine, but I am not sure that I fully understand it

Why does the GOP write off minorities?

Paper bags - moral or immoral? Neoneo. More foolish and misguided greenie tokenism

Obama's speech: A Brilliant Fraud. Krauthammer. On the other hand, Peggy Noonan liked it. Related: Is Obama a Typical Black Person?

What about Newspaper Addiction Disorder? I have heard that some people are upset if it isn't delivered every morning!

Mass Man and Totalitarianism, re Russia. Quoted by Roger K:

Mr. Nyquist draws some revealing and admonitory parallels between the mass men of the past, who proved such pliable fodder for the totalitarian ambitions of the twentieth century, and the mass men of today, that “susceptible” creature who “is fundamentally ignorant, though remarkably “well informed.” Mass man’s inertia accepts the dictates of bureaucracy. He has no “great idea” or “faith” to guard him against expedient compromise, or participation in genocide.”

Scary climate models are all about the theoretical feedback.

Newt on terrorism: Excellent brief video from the National Press Club

Get in shape for spring: The Military.com fitness site

Problems at Starbucks. Dunkin' Donuts doing fine, though.

Chose your battle rifle, through history.

Whatever happened to Moqtada?

These days, the streets of San Francisco resemble the streets of Calcutta.

Gov Paterson's "nice scandal." I think that was written before it came out today that he reportedly allegedly maybe used campaign funds for his no-tell motel get-togethers.

Re the Heller case discussed today, a commenter at the Chronicle of Higher Education blog says this:

The Bill of Rights, according to its preamble, adds “further declaratory and restrictive clauses” to the constitution, with the goal of preventing “misconstruction or abuse of … [government] powers.” By doing so, the first ten amendments extend “the ground of public confidence in the Government.” Amendments 1 and 3-10 do indeed restrict the government and empower the people. Thus, if the Second Amendment means merely that government can arm a militia — which would seem to be already permitted by the constitutional requirement to “provide for the common defence” — then it’s the only one of the first ten that gives rights to government, rather than to individuals.

Heading south to NYC right now, and I will be busy tomorrow, so I will leave these:

The demise of dead tree encyclopedias. Sad. When I was in high school, I could not understand much of anything without my Columbia Encyclopedia on my desk and my giant multi-volume Britannica on the shelf - a major gift from my parents. Still have it. If you don't look up stuff you don't know, you will never know the first thing about anything. Not that I do not appreciate Wiki for quick reminders, links, and superficial introductions: Wiki is not all that bad as a starting point for exploring things. For example, I gave myself a fine mini-survey of the history of China the other day. It was good. I like to get the big picture before the details or I end up disoriented.

Iraq slips off the radar. WaPo, and McCain strolls through Baghdad.

Climate change hoopla, 1890-present. Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything to make money from it but Al Gore.

Would the Dalai Lama resist any oppression? Doubtful.

My visit to the Boston Globe. Squaring the Boston Globe

"Barack, I didn't do it for this."  And yet, with Rev. Wright, Obama's appeal rises among black Democrats. Related: Michelle Obama represents the problem, not the solution. Finally, Dr. Sanity on Shelby Steele's essay on "bargaining." Honestly, I am sick of race. It's a stupid topic.

The BS Bailout. Mankiw. Also, What the Fed needs to do. WSJ

The sun is so quiet it's creepy.

Karl Rove's new job

Found. The HMAS Sydney

The Dem white male voters

Tibet update. Not good. The WSJ says it's about China's relationship with religion. A quote:

What is the appeal of Christianity to so many Chinese -- or, for that matter, of Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, the old-time peasant religions and the newfangled Falun Gong? In "smashing" organized religion, Mao Zedong also destroyed the traditional institutions of charity and social support that used to provide succor to the lonely and the needy. Now that succor is desperately in demand, and the churches are there to meet it.

South Africa update. Not good. Mr. Free market

From Surber on Hillary:

Americans don’t want President Walter Mitty. Hillary should relax, stick to the facts and let O’Bama implode.

Instead we get easy to disprove lies.

Her entire campaign is a fraud, IMO.

Photo: A protester tells the truth! At Gateway

All the latest on Bear Stearns and the credit crisis at Memeorandum

Ed Driscoll reviewed Liberal Fascism back in November

The demagoguery of "optimistic despair."  Related, as quoted at Insty:

One understands why that might not seem obvious to black people of a certain age: Condi Rice, for example, has childhood memories of a segregated south and racial violence. But that's what makes Obama's association with Wright so significant. He's not from Alabama. He's a biracial middle-class Kenyan-Kansan Hawaiian-born Indonesian-raised Columbia and Harvard graduate who chose to immerse himself in the most corrosive and paranoid end of a racial-grievance ghetto mentality that is nothing to do with him, his family or his upbringing. He doesn't have the same excuse as a Jackson, Sharpton or Farrakhan.

Banned in Boston. If town governments can ban foods, what can't they, in their infinite wisdom, ban?

"Everybody seems to be on the same side of this trade." Oil prices

"…anger at God is normal. And God has big shoulders, He can take it." And other Lenten thoughts at Anchoress

Death penalty for 9-11 planners? Bainbridge. Why is there any question? If I did something like that, I would lose all respect for anybody who would not kill me.

It's not nice to point.

Conversations with conservatives at NPR. "Diversity" is only skin deep.

How Moshe Feiglin was treated by the Brits. Those darn Jews are always the problem, aren't they?

Evil Oppressor of the Masses Ed Driscoll led us to his Folk Marxism post.

Snake Vodka? No thanks. Pass the Scotch, please.

Young Rolling Stones.

Taste-testing chocolate Easter Bunnies. I hate those hollow ones.

A place where I would be uncomfortable dining.

Obama's church responds.

A hearty Welcome to European travelers. See New York!

"Soft Jihad" is the next phase. Roger K. The other type didn't work too well, and they know we are all pussies, lacking in self respect, and do not value the civilization we have been given.

How was the skiing? Wonderful. Snow a bit soft at the bottom, as expected. I love skiing without six layers. Thanks for asking!

I am heading up to Stowe right now, our Vermont Yankee webmeister's home town, to ski tomorrow until my legs fall off. Spring is in the air, so ya gotta get it while ya can. Hope they have a case of Coors Lite cooling in the snow for me to cure my road buzz. Photo of Mt. Mansfield. Nice skiing, when the crowds go away. As they do, on the Ides of March. Here's some good stuff:

Lost u-boats found in the Black Sea.

Where is Michael Moore? Who would flee Paradise? Me, for one.

Re paradise, my Massachusetts tax paradise. Why do I live here, anyway? Sentimental, that's why. It's home. Just like beaten women who don't leave their husbands.

Joba Mania.

Why global economic inequality? Stumbling. Who cares, really? Money isn't everything. By American stats, I am poor, but I love my life. I just need a wifey, or a solid gal friend - preferably one who I can love, and who can make the big bucks.

My ancestors knew how to deal with jerks. Cowards die once, twice, or whatever.

But now, in my ancestral homeland, you can make money via polygamy. Cool. When can we get that progressive in the USA? with ten of them on the dole, life could be just fine. Shameful and disgusting, but profitable...

Religion and Dem politics? The Corner.

More on Social Security. Even if you are young, it comes on fast.

Dem unity? Moderate Voice, which ain't so moderate these days. More on that mess at Classical.

The WaPo makes an ass of itself. Dem Project. So many of my press colleagues are stuck in a past that they are too young to remember.

Obamagate II. Politicians are such schmucks. As a rule of thumb, only a fool would expect anything good from them. Being humans, they have their own agendas but, being politicians, they tend to have no morals.

Antisemitism is the cool new global thing.

Great butter. I like the Danish stuff. Good cows.

Dems having good fun with those FL and MI votes. It's ugly now, but somebody will make a deal. "What do you want?"

Mis-matches mess up "minorities." I have seen this.

Update on the whores in the Netherlands.

More on the Pentagon's report on Saddam and terrorism. Powerline

Leadbelly. The last tune is the best.

Speaking the truth could be criminal in progressive Finland. How nice for them.

The AP style guide on defending Obama, h/t LGF

Lying Hillary: Sullivan calls her a sociopath. Bill's ex-counsel calls her "misleading." No compunctions when it comes to getting cash. Her total BS about Northern Ireland. It's no wonder even her supporters question her integrity.

What is Bobby Jindal up to in NO? Good stuff. If this lad keeps his nose clean, he will go places.

Insty's new office. Nice. I guess he really does have a day job.

"Stupid Black Men - How to Play the Race Card, and Lose" a book by Larry Elders

The Dem current Social Security plan, and why Bill Clinton opposed it

We caught another bad guy. Where should these guys be stored, if not at the Guantanamo Resort? Is Australia still a penal colony?

Rescuing Bear Stearns. Looks like Morgan could end up owning them. With a little more consolidation of financial services, these guys will have no-one to trade with. After all, your Credit Desk makes nothing selling stuff to your own Distressed Desk - and that is the direction in which things are going. I am considering creating my own Distressed Credits Fund. Who is on board with me? Raise 300 million, buy up credits now, and sell it all off in about two years - then retire to full-time blogging and pursuing social justice - plus huntin and fishin. But I somehow doubt I could get the banks to extend me credit for the 30:1 leverage I want to do this right.

Rev. Wright: "The government lied about the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color." Sheesh, what an idiot: Everybody knows that Cheney created AIDS to kill the gays, and that Cheney made Katrina to kill the blacks. (Got to keep your facts straight.) More Wright quotes etc at Gateway, including a UCC defense of the fellow.

Understanding engineers.

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with a humanities degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

More at Theo's place.

Obama's ideas about taxes and the economy

Salsa and seltzer: Am Digest

Hillary's scorched earth strategy

Does McCain really want to be President and, if so, why? (Noonan)

Why Obama will be nominated. Blue Crab

Half-full or half empty? The Iraq report is being spun both ways.

Spitzer and Obama: "Non-judgemental nonsense." Sowell

Related: Monogamy is unnatural, says Spitzer defender. Oh, really??? A comment from Frontal Cortex

Does "big business" like free trade? Cafe hayek

How our media has gotten Americans killed.

America is a nation of givers. The American

But why are we giving our money to these dudes?

White House confusion about gun rights

Related, from Insty:

MORE ON THE D.C. GUN-BAN CASE, FROM U.S. NEWS:

Dick Heller, a longtime resident of the District of Columbia, carries a handgun for his job as a private security guard. But at the end of his shift, he packs up the .38 revolver and stashes it in a vault. He would like to keep a gun for protection at his Capitol Hill home, where he has endured the sound of gunfire for years. But he can't, because D.C. law forbids it. "They give me a gun to protect them," he says of the government, "but I'm a second-class citizen when I finish work."

Actually, you were a second-class citizen in their eyes before. You were just allowed to have a gun to protect the first-class citizens.

in a wife.

Four essays about competition. Wilson Quarterly

Dolphin rescues whales

CAIR comes clean on Hamas. Front page

Mosul: the battle continues

How Americans spend their money, by income level

Longevity genes

Spitzerized. Eric takes a serious look at the subjects of prostitution, prosecutors, and hypocrisy. Megan McArdle reviews how Spitzer Spitzerized people as prosecutor. Scary.

The EU is surreal.

Embattled prostitute Kristen expected to resign

Goldwater, The John Birch Society, and Me: Buckley

Symbolism can save the planet.

Walmart States vs. Starbucks States. Am Digest

Geraldine Ferraro speaks truth - or part of the truth. Fact is, though, that  Obama would be a talented politician no matter what his skin color. But not running for the presidency, though, if he were white. Not now, anyway. Amusing comments on this dumb kerfuffle at Insty. 

Same kind of thing applies to Mrs. Clinton. Would she be in this race if she were a guy, and never married to a president?

David Mamet: "Why I am no longer a brain-dead Liberal." Fascinating essay from someone who thinks (or thought) like the average Upper West Sider. A quote:

The play (his new play about politics), while being a laugh a minute, is, when it's at home, a disputation between reason and faith, or perhaps between the conservative (or tragic) view and the liberal (or perfectionist) view. The conservative president in the piece holds that people are each out to make a living, and the best way for government to facilitate that is to stay out of the way, as the inevitable abuses and failures of this system (free-market economics) are less than those of government intervention.

I took the liberal view for many decades, but I believe I have changed my mind.

As a child of the '60s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, that business is exploitative, and that people are generally good at heart.

These cherished precepts had, over the years, become ingrained as increasingly impracticable prejudices. Why do I say impracticable? Because although I still held these beliefs, I no longer applied them in my life. How do I know? My wife informed me. We were riding along and listening to NPR. I felt my facial muscles tightening, and the words beginning to form in my mind: Shut the fuck up. "?" she prompted. And her terse, elegant summation, as always, awakened me to a deeper truth: I had been listening to NPR and reading various organs of national opinion for years, wonder and rage contending for pride of place. Further: I found I had been—rather charmingly, I thought—referring to myself for years as "a brain-dead liberal," and to NPR as "National Palestinian Radio."

This is, to me, the synthesis of this worldview with which I now found myself disenchanted: that everything is always wrong.

and

And, I wondered, how could I have spent decades thinking that I thought everything was always wrong at the same time that I thought I thought that people were basically good at heart? Which was it? I began to question what I actually thought and found that I do not think that people are basically good at heart; indeed, that view of human nature has both prompted and informed my writing for the last 40 years. I think that people, in circumstances of stress, can behave like swine, and that this, indeed, is not only a fit subject, but the only subject, of drama.

Not your father's Ukrainian Army (photo)

Greenies want us back to the Stone Age. After you, friends. Rick Moran has some job ideas for when the Greenies take over. Related: Have you checked in with Junk Science recently? Related: What do warming religionists do when their faith is challenged? Am Thinker

Just meat.

Press privilege? I agree with Glenn. We are The Press, aren't we? In a land of free speech, anyone can be The Press.

Two current examples of government making things worse. Viking

The two Americas of Michelle Obama

The ten top reasons bloggers fail. Hawkins

Our Gwynnie on Spitzer:

Interested in hearing from Dr. Joy.  This guy is an angry, ruthless man who used the law to crush people for his personal political advantage, dropping charges after the headlines faded, and eradicating billions of shareholder value (mostly pension fund) from the companies he assaulted.  It seems his aggression was somehow sexually inspiring (wrong word) to him, that he sought a sexual outlet for his violent inner self.  Scary man!

Similar thoughts from Luskin

Also, over heard this morning at the coffee shop by a guy looking at the Spitzer headline:

Stupid bastard. These people think they're above it all.

Also, at Insty:

 "There is no honorable alternative to Spitzer’s resignation." Which doesn't narrow the field as much for him as it might for some . . . ."

Also, a quote from Spitzer the prosecutor:

"Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an e-mail because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need"

Editor's comment: The guy's political rise was a mirror image of Rudy Giuilani's, and his personal life is like Bill Clinton's. But Spitzer won't get away with this the way Bill did because he is an unlikeable person: having to pay for it is the  proof.

Quoted from Mankiw:

Since 1998, the U.S. population has increased by over 20 million. Nearly half of that growth has come from immigration, legal and illegal. Overwhelmingly, these immigrants enter at the lowest rungs on the income ladder. Statistically, this immigrant surge not only reduces the income of the "average" household, but also changes the occupants of the lowest income classes.

To understand what's happening here, envision a line of people queued up for March Madness tickets. Individuals move up the line as tickets are purchased. But new people keep coming. So the line never gets shorter, even though individuals are advancing.

I think that is true. We are an economically mobile nation, with no permanent underclass. People here rise and fall economically depending on their age, life choices, desires,  capacities, and luck.

Related: The poor in Europe do the same as in the US - but they lack the American outlets for any ambition they might have because their governments sit on their heads. If you define poverty as the lowest 10% in income, American poor do just fine. Worstall. And, of course, if you define it as the lowest 10% in income, you will always have them, even if they have two cars and wide-screen TVs (and do not include govt assistance as income).

From the WSJ (h/t, Buddy):

What is it about Democrats and Hugo Chávez? Even as the Venezuelan strongman was threatening war last week against Colombia, Congress was threatening to hand him a huge strategic victory by spurning Colombia's free trade overtures to the U.S.

This isn't the first time Democrats have come to Mr. Chávez's aid, but it would be the most destructive. The Venezuelan is engaged in a high-stakes competition over the political and economic direction of Latin America. He wants the region to follow his path of ever greater state control of the economy, while assisting U.S. enemies wherever he can. He's already won converts in Bolivia and Ecuador, and he came far too close for American comfort in Mexico's election last year.

Is it possible that people like Chavez and Fidel (and Stalin) really are ideal leaders in some peoples' eyes?  Why? Read the whole thing.

The Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change.

Hey! Your GPA is showing. Read the comment.

Dick Morris: It's over for Hillary

A camera that sees through clothing

Ivy League Conservatives. Endangered?

Dick Cavett on meeting Bill Buckley:

It was my freshman year at Yale. I was fresher than most — and from Nebraska — so just about everything I saw, heard and did that year astonished me.

Mr. Cecil Lang, my English teacher, ended a class one day with the words, “You might want to drop by the Law School tonight. A man I consider one of the most dangerous men in America is lecturing there.” I went.

Onstage was a tall, interesting-looking man unlike anything in my experience. A speaker so vocally various, so facially vigorous, so versatile of eyebrow, so eccentric of movement and gesture — even rising virtually “on point” at times for emphasis. This was not just a speaker. This was a performer.

Only a handful of the best comic actors could display such an arsenal of physical and vocal variety. Afterwards, I walked to my room, my head ringing with un-cliched, half-understood phrases. Like, “…and the mental spastics who read The Nation.”

This was some kind of strange genius, alien to anything I’d ever seen and heard.

Read the whole thing.

More on Watch what you read at work. The Thought Police need something to do, to justify their salaries. It could be me, next, because I have many bad thoughts. Put that Bible way, quick.

Top CIA operatives say Al Qaida does not exist. Don't tell New Yorkers. We already know that these Jihadists are not a well-organized military force. You can call them whatever you want, but they are still evil and dangerous creatures who require a good whuppin' to introduce them to either paradise or reality - whichever comes first. How to best administer the necessary whuppin' is debatable.

Hillary's phony foreign affairs experience.

The Thames Estuary Army forts. Who knew? It's something to visit, if possible.

Cool finds when digging in Rome.

How WalMart capitalism is uplifting the Third World.

Dumb IRS joke. Theo

"Better angels" are mean spirited, aren't they? Never judge an angel by his (or her) wings.

Cleaning up the cats - in the interest of The State. What is "in the interest of the State" can be almost anything, can't it? "L'etat, c'est moi," says I. 

Feelings, oh oh oh feelings....Tiger. Yale is all about feelings, isn't it? How nice for them. There was a time when they produced Army officers, long, long ago.

We're in Munster! Dang.

Want heaven on earth? Me too, but I know I won't get it because this beautiful world is also a vale of tears. As quoted at Driscoll:

The rich, churchless, blue-state elites, by contrast, are hungry for the kind of secular nirvana Obama is serving up. Obama-mania is a political expression of the same impulse that underlies a broader movement, among the educated rich, towards a post-Christian spirituality, evident in such fetishes as yoga, feng-shui, investment-banker Buddhism, and tennis-set Sufism — the small-is-beautiful and green-is-good crazes.

Thanks to Insty for the link today to the Blackbird essay. Well, thanks to all of our linkers - Jules, Theo, Ace of Spades, Reddit, Digg, et al. We have a banner month, thanks to Gwynnie's finger on the pulse of the world!

I have Friday off and will be skiing again for two days at Mt. Snow (current conditions here - when they call it "granular," they mean like gravel, but if it warms up a little it's a nice ride), so I will leave our readers with this "stack of stuff":

Kipling in Vermont. Neoneoneo

Map of the languages of Europe, via Siberian Light

Instrument of Surrender. Englishman's Castle

Al Gore's inconvenient wealth. And that's not including this extra $35 million on the way.

Let us Talk of Many Things. It's a good intro to Bill Buckley's thinking.

7 Senate seats to watch

Man-made floods in the Grand Canyon. We have mentioned many times here that flooding is good and natural. Foolish to live where floods happen, though: if you are asking for it, do not come crying to me.

Therapists' offices. NYT

Your gift cards could become worthless.

Cribbage Nazis in Maine. Speaking of the Nanny State, watch what you read. It might "offend" some Sensitivity Nazi.

I have a mental illness, says Eric:

It may well be that I am suffering from some sort of mental illness. Whether to call it "Hillaryphobia" I don't know. "Clintonphobia" is more like it, as I view them as inseparable people. FWIW, I think they suffer from Comegalomania. I know I complain a lot about Hillary's screeching voice, but to tell the truth, just about every time Bill puts on his angry satyr face and throws another tantrum, I have the same reaction. I've had Clinton fatigue for years, but to see them alive again and playing their same old dirty tricks, appalls, disgusts and annoys me as few things can.

Threat to home-schooling in Calif. I guess the union feels threatened.

Note to the RAF: Hide! Truly unbelievable.

How dare she? I am with Coyote on Mrs. Obama. A multi-millionaire Princeton and Harvard grad makes a national complaint about how difficult life is, about her college loans, and about getting good babysitters - while telling me to get a low-paying job in a "caring" profession. What a baby. Nobody owes her anything, least of all a (proud) UMass grad like me (where I stupidly majored in Domestic Beer Studies with a minor in Coed Studies - but it wasn't my fault).

From Insty:

ALI ETERAZ on Harvard's gym-closing mistake. Meanwhile, some readers wonder if Harvard will close its gyms to openly gay men at certain hours, so that straight men who are made uncomfortable by gays can work out without being uncomfortable. It appears that they're in sync with Islamic thought . . . .

Why Cass Sunstein likes Obama. A puff piece? I do not take political advice from Mr. Sunstein. Still, Obama seems like an amiable, bright guy. Wrong politics, though.

The Dems' FL and MI mess: The Hill

What happens next? Rove on politics

From No Pasaran:

Contrary voices are regulated, barred, banned when possible, mocked and marginalized when not. Progressive voices are encouraged, lionized, amplified. 

We have had problems with images as fallout from the things we had to do to manage our link storm this week. Bear with us.

Michelle Obama: A hand full of gimme. It is indeed unseemly.

Bill and Hillary's wealth. free Republic

Guess what causes traffic jams.

The trouble with Steve Jobs. CNN

NYT favors the death tax - in theory only.

Environmentalist dream: No humans

What's wrong with this picture? The debate about ape rights in Spain

Mr. Free Market found a good spot for a duck blind

What Putin has done for the Russians.

The Danny Boy rebellion.

Pour encourager les autres. North Korean executions

Sexualization of young girls. Wizbang

The looming Medicare mess

The Citgo boycott is having an impact.

Why Iraq matters, from Powerline. It begins:

For years now, the American left has been arguing that the war in Iraq is a distraction from the "real" war against al Qaeda and is counter-productive because it's "creating" new terrorists. Apparently, it never occurred to these deep-thinkers that inflicting a defeat on al-Qaeda in Iraq -- a defeat made possible because a previously sympathetic population turned with our help against al Qaeda -- might constitute a devastating blow to al Qaeda's standing in the Arab world.

More on the subject of Iraq: Al Qaida is losing the war of minds.  Also, What the media is not telling you about Iraq today.

What disease causes the most hospital days in the US? Schizophrenia

There's a big world out there. Maggie's Farm hangs out in a comfy little corner of the "blogosphere." Of course, hard-core porn is the biggest biz by far on these internets, but we are accustomed to thinking of an Instalanche or a Powerline link as BIG. And a FARK link as very big. But Digg, whose link is below each of our posts (please click our Digg link if something might be of general interest), has true global power. Digg has exposed us to more than a month's worth of potential readers in 24 hrs. We hope some of 'em will stick around.

And, since I am on the subject of ye olde blogge, please, readers - don't be shy. Post a reaction or an opinion. We know that you are all busy, but we like to hear reactions, and you do not need to sign in or any of that annoying nonsense because we have a potent spam-stopper which sometimes stops even us.

You be the pundit. What do you think about those primaries? Leave thoughts in comments.

Bring on the Bronze Age. Tim Blair

The nerve center of these internets. A big tangle of wires.

Osama's Country Camps

Who says Islam can't be changed? Blackfive

Gary Gygax died.

Perpetual adolescence at Rolling Stone

NY Times fooled again. Volokh. Because they want to believe.

Is shyness an illness?

Want to see Liberal Fascism? Read this and follow the links.

More problems at Citigroup. Is it a buy at $15-16?

Can you dig it?

Chavez sent $300,000,000 to the FARC. In essence, Chavez and Correa have been waging a covert war against Colombia. I doubt this comes as a complete surprise to President Uribe.

Most voters should not vote. I agree.

French Presbyterian youth have a new tactic against the police.

James Lovelock: It's too late. We're doomed. Meanwhile, Weather Channel founder blasts the newtwork for climate fraud.

Insty noted this book on Erotomania, Stalking, and Obsessive Love, written by a Psychiatrist who was targeted by an obsessive stalker.

Eco-snobbery: The hip new snobbery

Sexual incompatibility and marriage trouble.

Politics as religion. Neoneo

Fascism is appealing to Liberals and Conservatives. Pajamas. Not to me: without an anchor to windward in libertarianism, the rocks of statism are always a danger to the freedom our government was set up to guarantee.

Three rules for understanding Canada-US relations.

Conrad Black: Justice Denied

As American as... Chinese Food? From a review of a book by Jennifer Lee:

Given, as Lee points out, that there are about 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., "more than the number of McDonald's, Burger Kings, and KFCs combined," Chinese food might be our national cuisine. "Our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie," she writes. "But ask yourself. How often do you eat apple pie? How often do you eat Chinese food?"

Who Speaks for Islam? From a discussion of the new book:

The politicization of scholars, experts and media commentators post 9/11 has created a minefield for policymakers and the general public. Many are caught between the contending positions of seemingly qualified experts as well as a new cadre of Islamophobic authors and their revisionist readings of Islam and Islamic history. Today, we now have a new empirically grounded tool that enables us to go beyond the limited interpretations and opinions of experts when asking: What do Muslims think, what do they care about, and what do they want?

We got linked by Neatorama. They are one of those blogs that links random interesting stuff, like GrowaBrain does. I had not known about them before, but they must have large readership because they are sending us hundreds of linkers per hour. We had a similar mini avalanche from Bits and Pieces over the weekend.

Health warnings for cheese? Maybe it would be easier just to paste a generic sticker on every product and every food in the world: "Caution: Use with care. This item might be dangerous to your mind, spirit, or body."

Who are the new Soviets? Media, education, and Hollywood

The enduring power of ethnic nationalism. Foreign Affairs. Yes, humans are tribal creatures, and feel more in common with those with shared values, customs, assumptions, and world views. It is difficult to know whether to trust people with different views of the world.