Maggie's Farm

The world revolves around Super Joe. Protein Wisdom on Joe Wilson and Scooter.

Obama, Clinton redistribute cash to poor campaign rivals.

If it's warm, it's global warming. If it's cold, it's plain weather. Tim Blair

Soaring state and local debt: The credit card approach to government has taken hold. It's quite clear that it's about getting re-elected. You buy stuff without raising taxes. However, in some towns, cities, and states, 30-40% of tax receipts go to debt payment. Only politicians would run things that way.

China's public self-criticism: It is a good sign. Dino

George Will on the Supreme's school integration case:

Breyer said that last week's decision abandons "the promise of Brown." Actually, that promise -- a colorblind society -- has been traduced by the "diversity" exception to the Equal Protection Clause. That exception allows white majorities to feel noble while treating blacks and certain other minorities as seasoning -- a sort of human oregano -- to be sprinkled across a student body to make the majority's educational experience more flavorful.

This repulsive practice merits Clarence Thomas' warning in his opinion concurring with last week's ruling: Beware of elites eager to constitutionalize "faddish social theories." Often, they are only theories.
As Roberts said, Seattle and Louisville offered "no evidence" that the diversity they have achieved (by what he has called the "sordid business" of "divvying us up by race") is necessary to achieve the "asserted" educational benefits.

Evidence is beside the point. The point for race-mongering diversity tinkerers is their professional and ideological stake in preventing America from achieving "a colorblind mentality."

The United States is Obviously the Most Benevolent World Power in the History of the Planet. RWN

Zawahiri on the Democrats, at Atlas:

"You must be patient and steadfast," he says. "Rejoice, for victory is near, with Allah's permission, and the herds of crusaders have begun to split up and their sole concern has become searching for a way out."

Arctic Monkeys make more sense to me than Al Gore does:

"It's a bit patronising for us 21 year olds to try to start to change the world," said Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders, explaining why the group is not on the bill at any of Al Gore's charity concerts.

"Especially when we're using enough power for 10 houses just for (stage) lighting. It'd be a bit hypocritical," he told AFP in an interview before a concert in Paris.

Photo: Our friend, webmeister, and master sailor Chris was messing with boats yesterday in CT, and took this photo of Hotspur while doing some work on her mast. He tells us: Hotspur is an old Holland 40. She is an old IOR (International Offshore Rules) boat built in the mid-seventies, designed by Ron Holland, who has gone on to design Mirabella V.  She use to be called Secret Affair and was famous for finishing first and being orange. She stood out in the races. As Secret Affair she raced against the best, like Ted Turner. Her sister ship, Imp, is very competitive in Europe. Imp is known for her weird green hull.  There are only two Holland 40's still racing in the world. Currently Hotspur is referred to as the big blue boat, or the boat to beat on Long Island Sound. The crew is unique - not pros, just all friends of the skipper who love to sail.

"Out-of-touch solons," government "solutions," and grandiose plans. Democracy Project

Hey Bird Dog. Here are some good sauces.

Captain Ed: excellent piece on education - and integration

Big Mac is booming in Paris. Attack

On holiday tonight and tomorrow. I plan to grill some burgers and to be served a few Coronas by a lightly-garbed sweetie who always needs to be reminded to bring me limes. The burgers will happen, but the other part is just a dream. Northern women don't seem to even want to try to understand men.

Coffee: The more you drink, the better. WebMD. (h/t, Dr. Bob)

Former radical Islamist: "I was a fanatic. I know their thinking." Daily Mail

Repubs move on border enforcement. Surber. It's a winning issue.

Hitchens: The London bombers were targeting women. (h/t, Tigerhawk)

Inflation police in Zimbabwe. (h/t, Memeorandum). This mess will end badly.

Brits skeptical about warming hysteria. Good for them. Always be skeptical about the science du jour, because science always changes.

Prof B. reminds me of the Mitt Romney dog story. Dumb story. Half the hunting guys I know drive long distances with their dogs in the back of the pick-up. No difference. I see traces of the Pathetic Fallacy here.

What if we hadn't gone into Iraq? Where would things be? Wallison at TCS

Howard Zinn: Have an Unhappy Fourth! Moonbattery

We have written so much about Jihad Denial that we are sick of writing about it. I'm just as happy to let S,C and A take on the subject, (with reference to the UK attacks) with Dr. Sanity's help.

However, I do object to the references to "Leftist stupidity." That is not an argument - it's an ad hominem -  and it does not do justice to the political calculation behind Jihad Denial.

Fact is, "jihad" just doesn't fit "the narrative." Especially Jihad by doctors. That's all there is to it. Like the New York Times, they just try to minimize or ignore facts that get in the way.

Larry Auster notes that there is no response in the UK to Moslems in the news yesterday advocating and justifying further terror in the UK.

Every time I think the Brits are just about to grow a pair, they let me down.

Replica Viking ship sets sail to Ireland. 

Two Buck Chuck wins wine competition.

A terror spectacular planned for this summer? (h/t, Jules)

With gas prices up, railroads are getting more competitive. I like that.

The "poor and disenfranchised" Brit terrorists. Yup. Two of them were MDs. Driscoll. Count on the NYT to ignore facts to make the story fit "the narrative du jour."

Michael Yon's latest: A grim visit to the Baquba suburbs.

Zimbabwe Archbishop requests an invasion

Chavez and Ahmadinejad: Perfect together. Gateway

Soldiers dancing with kids in Iraq.

Jupiter keeps changing its stripes. Space Daily

If you could put Newt's brain into another personality and another body, he'd be a great candidate.

The brain is not a computer: it's a sensory organ. Science Daily

Tennessee clean-up: Messy front yard lands lady in jail. You ain't seen a messy front yard til you've seen a messy Tennessee front yard.

Miss Hoosegow 2007. Vote early and often.

Is the domestic cat domesticated? Rick Moran

LaShawn on black pride, school integration, and liberal paternalism.

Tony Blair yesterday, via Michelle:

In his most outspoken remarks on Islamists, the former Prime Minister warns that Britain is in danger of losing the battle against terrorists unless mainstream society confronts the threat.

Blair’s remarks, in which he also attacks some civil liberty campaigners as ‘loopy loo’, were made in a Channel 4 documentary recorded last Tuesday on the eve of his departure from Downing Street.

‘The idea that as a Muslim in this country that you don’t have the freedom to express your religion or your views, I mean you’ve got far more freedom in this country than you do in most Muslim countries,’ Blair told Observer columnist Will Hutton, who presents the documentary.

‘The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we’re not actually fighting it properly. We’re not actually standing up to these people and saying, “It’s not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn’t justified.”‘

Mickey Mouse murdered in Gaza

Supply and demand. Cocaine prices, around the world.

Podhoretz on the End of Dubya. NY Post. "Something got broken on Election Night 2004." Indeed. Bush's real error was not to ask me for advice. Getting out of touch with regular people is a Washington disease. Arrogance is another.

Juries in criminal trials get it wrong one out of eight times. Science Daily

Andy gets something right. Kill "Big Pharma," and you kill the world's source of medical innovation.

Bloomberg's plans. Does anybody care? The NY Sun does, a little. Ego-tripping is a NYC tradition.

How business should manage talent: Make sure you have none working for you. Stumbling. 

Equal v. Splenda. There was a chemical trial, and a settlement. American Scientist. I ask "Who would eat that crap?"

Michael Moore likes Cuban medical care. Do you?

Do you really know how to tie your shoelaces? I realized that I did not. (h/t, Dr. Bob)

Why hate WalMart? The more good they do, the more the Left hates them. Why? Government is supposed to do it. Businesses are supposted to be greedy heartless pigs, and The State is in the role of Great Benefactor. That's the narrative.

A knowledgeable take on the school integration case. Powerline. Many subtleties here. Jon Swift approaches it from the Brown v. Board of Education angle. Very interesting to consider how the intent of Brown has been distorted.

Paul Krugman asks a very tough question. Worstall answers in simple terms.

Conservative global warming sellout? Malloy of Junk Science. Speaking of global warming, it causes Moslems to rape blonds. Who knew? Also, a nice take-down of Al Gore's "science" at American Thinker. Fortunately, most Americans remain skeptics about the hysteria.

Photo: another one from Beaver Creek last week.

"War is not the answer." Pacifism and pacifists - I agree with every word Neoneo wrote.

More details on the school integration decision, at SCOTUSblog

Demographics of illegal immigration: With declining birth rates in Mexico, will it solve itself? Maybe, but not fast enough. (h/t, Flares)

Are there any Mexican police who are not corrupt? TigerHawk

Pelosi reminds the Left that she is on their side. A reader tells us (I have not confirmed) that the multi-multi millionaire is a member of The Democratic Socialists of America, whose mission statement says, in part:

We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.

We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships.

Dean Barnett on the Immigration Bill. A quote from his piece:

I’ve admired this president for a long time, but I’ve reached a point where I’ve had it up to here (my hand is at my forehead) with this administration’s chronic obtuseness and arrogance. The top priority right now for the administration should be the war. And yet the president spent what little political capital he had trying to shove this atrocious immigration bill down the country’s throat. This whole gambit was the logical equivalent of Abraham Lincoln in February of 1864 seeking out the non-war related issue that would most effectively divide his base and then relentlessly championing that issue. That would have been dumb, right? And yet that’s exactly what President Bush did.

President Bush is going to need a united base come September if he wants to stay the course in Iraq. Given that consideration, calling 90% of that base bigots probably wasn’t a very good idea. Fickle, weak-kneed and misguided Republican senators like Dick Lugar are already preemptively declaring defeat.

Will the Republican base forgive the administration for its actions surrounding this bill? My guess is no. We’re moving on to finding another leader for the party, and in 7 months or so we’ll have one. In the meantime, thanks to this idiotic gambit, there’s a power vacuum right now in the White House.

Major Supremes decision: Reject school race plans on equal protection grounds. This may help reduce the obsession with race. Nowadays, you can hardly tell what race anyone is anyway - even if you cared. I don't give a damn what race anyone is.

Claim: All of Russia belongs to Canada? Wizbang. And, speaking of the Russians, I thought they liked vodka. Apparently their drink of choice is anti-freeze. Do not try that at home.

Sarbox has made US capital markets less competitive in the world. There is no doubt, from what I hear. Prof. B. agrees. Sarbox was using a sledgehammer on a flea.

The Anbar Offensive. Bill Roggio

Biologists look towards a paradigm shift in evolutionary theory. I have been willing to accept that random variation and selection/adaptation can account for minor variation, but not for the the big, dramatic, sudden shifts. All theories eventually die.

Honey, I have a headache.

Churches try to move Left, together. Front Page. The Left hates religion mixed with politics - unless it's their politics. Christ had no politics. He was way beyond and above that. And, in my opinion, caring for people has nothing to do with politics either.

The truth about the Pew Global Poll. Riehl. I usually say that what the world thinks about the US doesn't matter, but it does, if we want to be a model. On the other hand, everybody always hates and envies the top dog.

Credit markets: Junk mortgages and junk loans have replaced junk bonds as high risk, high reward debt. The junk mortgages have already taken a fall, but my inside info says watch that credit market.

As quoted in a piece at Betsy,

Political expression in America is being liberated as has never before been done in human history. Why does that bother Feinstein, Boxer, Clinton, Kucinich and other Fairness Doctrine advocates?

I wish those closet Orwellians would come after the blogs, because we would know how to fight back.

Photo: From Theo's Collection of Fine Art Photography

Orwell: "Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

Speech crime, from Brussels Journal: "Last week, a German court sentenced a 55-year old Lutheran pastor to one year in jail for “Volksverhetzung” (incitement of the people) because he compared the killing of the unborn in contemporary Germany to the holocaust." Read the rest.

More thought crime: "Belgian homosexual activists have brought charges against Mgr André-Mutien Léonard, the Roman-Catholic bishop of Namur, for homophobia, a criminal offence in Belgium according to the country’s 2003 Anti-Discrimination Act. In an interview last April in the Walloon weekly Télé Moustique, the bishop is said to have described homosexuals as “abnormal” people." Whole thing also at Brussels Journal

Euroland is going crazy with inventing speech crimes. It's sounding like the Soviet Union. Apparently Europeans don't mind being stripped of their freedoms, because I see no rebellion and no defiance - all I see is passive submission to the creeping, incremental tyranny of bureaucrats and politicians. One day, the honest among them will wake up and realize "I am afraid to think, to write, and to speak."

Flares quoted Roman historian Sallust today in a piece titled The Road to Serfdom: "Few men desire liberty: The majority are satisfied with a just master." A quote:

It occurs to me that there are two standard mechanisms by which our liberties are gradually removed, one for each party. Either they must be removed in the name of National Security or they must be removed in the name of Doing Good (aka Helping Poor People, Ending Poverty, Stopping Global Warming, Serving Gaia, etc.). It has famously been stated that "patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels", but I would submit that it is holier-than-thou do-gooderism which is the last refuge of mountebanks.

Amen to that.

35,000 year-old sculptures found in Germany. Example of mammoth, in ivory, on right. (h/t, Done with Mirrors.)

Tennessee fights back. They have the right attitude. (h/t, No Looking Back)

"Go spray flowers on the Americans." Kids in suicide vests. Gateway

How did they vote on the first cloture item? Right Wing News has the scorecard. Mexico wins that round.

Repubs protect secrecy of union votes from Dem assault. Wizbang

That's my Massachusetts. My granola-infested Berkshires have created their own currency. The Dylanologist suggests they just use wampum. (h/t, Mankiw)

Make yourself a PC for $72. Attack Machine

A flyboy joke. Alpha

Indigent defence counsel. Do disparities violate the Civil Rights Act? Volokh

Getting ready to punish your reps in DC? Here's the immigration polls. Dino

Senate just passed the largest farm subsidy bill in US history. But they termed it an "energy bill." Coyote.

Pay more for math and science teachers? Why not? They seem to be much more difficult to find.

Final proof: Matter does bend space-time, as Einstein claimed. Synthstuff

If you can't understand English, you have no business voting. Cramer

I am confused by all of these Iraqi refugees to the US. I thought we were saving their country for them, so why do they want to leave? And to move to Michigan, of all places? It's a fine state, but not too strong in the jobs department these days.

John McCain: Once a poll-leader, now going down the tubes. It is possible to respect the guy without agreeing with him on some of his strong views. Ankle-Biting

Boston Globe hypocrisy re campaign spending and the Court's decision. A quote from the piece from Squaring the Boston Globe:

Then why are many liberals appalled by this change? Only liberals with strong illiberal and authoritarian tendencies are in distress over this…epitomized by the Boston Globe Editorial Board.

Casting terrorists as defenders of the Constitution. JR Dunn in American Thinker. It begins thus:

The American legal system is the latest of our institutions to collapse in the face of terrorism. Cherished pillars of our society and polity have dropped, one after the other. In most cases, it was only to be expected. The media lasted a matter of days, the academy not even that long. The Democrats slid early, through a combination of cynicism, opportunism, and ideology. The Republicans are tottering, never having actually grasped what it meant to act as a "war party". The CIA, the State Department, and much of the federal bureaucracy have, as always, proven themselves masterly at looking out for their own interests.

But there was always some hope for the law. The legal system, with its deep sense of tradition,  its intellectual resources, its clear concept of mission, and its simple, stolid inertia (sometimes as much as virtue as a failing), its refusal to be hurried concerning matters of import, had plenty of anchors to keep it from slipping the same way that more ephemeral sectors had.

That hope is now gone. With a series of decisions made over the past few weeks, the American legal establishment - both civil and military -- has met and surpassed the lowest expectations of its critics.

Iran at war with Britain? The Sun reports, via Drudge.

Lever rifles? Kim likes them. I have never used one.

Murdoch makes surprise bid for Hatemonger's Quarterly blog! Haha.

Truly we are governed by the mentally ill. Tangled Web

Nobody likes the immigration bill. And Rightly So

Signaling Theory and educational level. Stumbling. Calling it signalling theory glorifies what every grandma knows - past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

Many Alzheimer's patients claim they don't have the disease. ONN video. (h/t, Humbug)

Gaza is a forward position for Iran. Guardian

CT creates more gun criminals with a stroke of a pen. Alphecca

The Supremes support free speech (NY Sun), and Hinderaker agrees.  A telling comment re the dissenting opinion - telling in that it says nothing about the Constitutional speech guarantee, from the NY Sun piece:

The single dissenting opinion — penned by Justice Souter and joined by Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer — argued that the majority's opinion flew in the face of Congress's will and would breed "pervasive public cynicism" about the American political system.

But I don't understand the Bong Hits for Jesus case. This adolescent bozo was off-campus, being provocative. Free speech must include the freedom to be a jackass. I agree with Moderate Voice.

Paying taxes doesn't count, morally, as charity. Indeed it does not. No Pasaran

Gas price gouging laws - possibly good boob bait, but terrible economics. NY Sun

Photo: a '95 Deere 8650.

Are the things going on in the ME now mere bullying, or for internal consumption for political purposes - or true threats of war? From Winds of War by Muravchik in Opinion Journal:

Several conflicts of various intensities are raging in the Middle East. But a bigger war, involving more states--Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, the Palestinian Authority and perhaps the United States and others--is growing more likely every day, beckoned by the sense that America and Israel are in retreat and that radical Islam is ascending.

Read the whole thing.

Chinese cars: not up to snuff...yet.

In praise of the whip: how flagellation makes people happy. New Statesman

Hitchens takes on the Rushdie matter. Youtube at Thompson. The "terrible silence" of the Western media: Ace

"To whom at The Times do I complain about their Public Editor?" Tigerhawk

Border problems - between Vermont and Quebec! Wizbang

The Islamic Rage Boy photo update, at Nose on your face. (h/t Crittenden)

Blue Smoke: a good barbecue site

Nashville announcement on Tuesday. Tour of primary states later in the week.

The Repub race already has plenty of talent. It will be interesting to see whether Fred has staying power.

I hope he does.

EU drops wording "free competition." Tangled Web. Replaced with "social markets." Um, OK. Good luck.

Illegal immigration's empty boxes. Moonbattery

What is "for the duration" with an enemy who sees war in terms of centuries? Neoneo

So many people running for Pres. We remain undecided: It's either George Papoon or Pogo.

CIA will reveal the family jewels. Bad idea. No sane country would do that.

"Could it be that Americans are just so aspirationally oriented that nothing is ever good enough?" Don Luskin

Polar ice-melt is a natural cycle. Scotsman (h/t, Synthstuff). Also, tropical frogs are the canaries in the coal mine? Call me a skeptic, but not the CSM. Also, the heat will kill Parisians. The more hysterical this stuff gets, the less people give it credence.

Quote from Tyler Cowen, via Coyote:

The power of wealth creation to produce net value is extraordinary. Most of America's poor are already among the best-off of all humans in world history.  We should be putting our resources, including our advocacy and our intellectual resources, into wealth creation as much as we can.

From 2003, KC Johnson's My Brooklyn College Tenure Battle. (h/t, No Left Turns) Prof. Johnson is the proprietor of Durham in Wonderland

How many al Quaida escaped from Baquba before the offensive? Maybe lots. Something to learn from. Those guys knew the offensive was coming. (h/t, Jules)

The Incredible Shrinking New York Times. Am. Thinker. Too bad they don't want my advice.

Image: Opie wanted some Rafael Nadal eye candy for the ladies. Half-decent bi's, for a tennis player. Wimbledon begins on Monday.

Khatami indicted in Iran for holding hands. Gateway. He listened to too much early Beatles when he was just a little imam.

Like outboard engines? Look at this. I don't know what it is, but I bet it is loud.

The story of the press donating 9:1 to Dems: I agree with Captain Ed. Let 'em do it. It's a free country. Pursue balance by starting your own newspaper, as did The New York Sun.

Be glad you didn't read Krugman. Atlas.

Betsy has been reading many of the same books I have been reading. She likes Jean Edward Smith's new bio of Marshall. OK, will do.

Scientific proof that Cheney did 9-11. Attack Machine video.

The Salon Blog Report has been reading and linking us lately. Much appreciated.

Taunting the Thought Police: A few non-PC but typical man-on-the-street comments via Tim Blair, who is awaiting the arrival of the Thought Police as we speak.

Photo: Theo stopped by to take a photo of one our our Maggie's Farm milkmaids wearing traditional Vermont barn clothing. When the gals head down to the cow barn at 4 AM in the summertime, they like to dress comfortably but elegantly. They need the gloves so they don't get calluses, and the heels keep them above the cowpies. The straps are, of course, a delicate female version of red suspenders.

Take a minute and let them know your thoughts about illegal immigration and the bill which is back before the Senate this week. Phone - don't email or write.

Phone info here.

Addendum: Just heard Sean Hannity interview Trent Lott on the radio. Lott was unconvincing and I found his condescending manner obnoxious. It seems that his main point was "We have to do something." Why? Sean noted that Reagan had promised that his amnesty bill would close the borders, but had not. Lott explained that government is not efficient, things take time, etc. Sean said something like "If you couldn't do the border part of that bill, why should anyone believe that you will do the border part of this one?" Sean argued that a bill providing border control would enjoy huge popular support, and that Congress can deal with the other things later.

Addendum: Congress is fed up with the voters. h/t, Insty. Why won't people leave them alone and let them do what is really best for us ignorant jerks?

Czech Pres. Klaus interviewed on global warming hysteria.

I want Klaus to run for US Prez. How does a guy this good get elected? He is sensible on every subject, from climate to the EU to economics to tennis.

The Czechs are lucky to have him.

How easy is it to cross the border from Mexico without hassles? Polipundit. Very.

Bill Gates needs a basic econ course. RCP

Candidates: Who gives you the creeps? Somebody did a poll.

Shuttle update. They had an interesting trip, but it's time to come home.

EU running scared of the people. Brussels Journal/ Tell me what the difference is between what Napoleon wanted and what the EU wants. More: Editorial on the subject of the EU Constitution at NY Sun. I remain confused about why the Europeans would want anything more than an economic treaty. What for? To solve what problem?

French regs putting French grape growers on the ropes.

Newt's immigration video. To the point.

What if the middle east doesn't want peace? What if many of them like to fight, and find peace a bore? What if many of them don't care whether they live or die?

A bad time to be a Christian in Gaza. But Gaza's wishes all came true, didn't they?

This kid has balls. RTLC. And so does this kid.

Aussies building a big new navy. At the same time that the Brits are shrinking theirs to nothing.

The immigration bill is back, key vote Friday.

Not your father's NH. NH bans bar and restaurant smoking. Trans fats next, and then guns?

Charles Kesler in the Claremont Review, via No Left Turns. A quote:

"The writ to use force against him [Saddam] and his regime was cogent and persuasive. But the decision to turn that deterrent, punitive, and preventive action into the occasion for elaborate democratic reconstruction was, alas, ill-conceived. Iraq was not that important to us. It could seem that important...only by imagining that an utterly transformed Iraq would be an outpost of liberal democracy in the Middle East...and that Iraq in turn would utterly transform the whole Middle East into a land of milk and honey, not to mention democracy and peace."

A reader quoted at Insty about Congress' terrible poll numbers:

I think there is a greater disconnect between the Political Class and the Public than ever before -- and, to quote a phrase -- deservedly so. The most liberal senator has more in common with the most conservative senator than either has in common with you or me, and we know it.

Image: A Cezanne still life

It begins right now. I need to follow Bill Roggio daily to keep up with all of the action.

I thought the "surge" would entail more aggressive policing, but no. This is turning into the first set of battles with Al Quaida. The bad guys are now facing a large group of tough customers, and what seems most hopeful is that they are being attacked everywhere at once. No place to hide.

But why isn't this battle being reported?

The Left dislikes Bloomberg's pay-for-grades idea. Why? From Moonbattery:

Incredibly, moonbats are attacking the program from the left. Screeches Margy Waller, a domestic policy advisor in the Clinton Administration:

It just reinforces the impression that if everybody would just work hard enough and change their personal behavior we could solve poverty in this country, and that's not reflected in the facts.

You see, the idea that people could rise out of poverty through their own effort is dangerous crazy talk.

Sheesh. Talk about dangerous crazy talk. Is she saying that everyone wants to come to America for the government freebies and not for opportunity? That is sick. If you have kids after you get married, and stay married, and finish high school, and quit drugs, and maybe move to where jobs are, it is almost impossible to be poor in America. Otherwise, you must want to be poor.

And, speaking of the Mayor, his party switch is really meaningless. He was a Dem, switched to Repub to run for Mayor. Now he's indep. I like and admire the guy, but his politics are for the birds. He is very smart but unwise.

I agree with Glenn:

I'd like to see a third-party candidate, but I'd like one who stands for more freedom, not less, and the nannyish Lee Kuan Yew-wannabe Bloomberg clearly doesn't fit that description.

James Hansen ups the ante yet again. But we're still not scared, Jim. Lubos Motl takes a look at Hansen's paper. And now China passes the US in CO2 production.

Ethanol: A farm subsidy program pretending to be an energy policy.  Exactly.  The idea of using food for fuel should be crazy on the face of it.

Gas prices:

   From Bernard at TCS:

Like most of the American public, I have stood at the pump at my local filling station and cursed the cost of gasoline. Yet, after filling my tank I inevitably drive to Starbucks to stand in line with other women seeking a reprieve from morning mommy detail, handing over $4.24 without batting an eye as I order my beloved venti, soy chai latte.

   And re taxing "big oil," guess who will be paying those taxes. Sneaky, because it won't show up as a tax at the pump - just in the pricing. So you won't get mad at Congress - you'll get mad at Mobil.

   Environmental Economics asks how high gas prices need to be before people reduce consumption.

The Scottish Enlightenment and the idea of America. View from 1776.

This is pretty funny: Hillary picking her theme song, Sopranos-style. video.

Al Gore made 100 million since he lost the election. Lucky or smart? Or handed deals because of who he is?

I don't know about you, but I prefer my gravy smooth and the sausage on the side.

Outdoor people often tend to misunderestimate black bears and only fear Grizzlies. Bad bear story. Tragic indeed. Up here in the Massachusetts Berkshires, we have tons of Black Bears. I saw one two weeks ago running across the road.

Brand new pair of rollerskates. Update on Melanie and Donovan. Assistant Village Idiot

The Pres of Vietnam comes to call. Not a free country, but definitely capitalistically-inclined. Gateway

Free Scooter Libby! Hitchens. The entire story stinks, in my opinion. Not to defend perjury, which needs to be a crime but which is frequently not pursued as a crime. I must confess that I had to look up "nugatory." Cool word because it sounds so nugaty.

More Hitchins: Fine summary of the story of Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates. America's first encounter with pesky Moslems helped create our idea of the United States.

Recycling is bad for global warming. But since I don't care about global warming, should I begin recycling?

Church shopping in the 1980s. Right Wing Nation

Go to jail in Sweden if you say something unpleasant - if accurate - about Kosovar Albanians. Gates of Vienna. Aren't they drug dealers?

Getting serious about Key Lime Pie. We are always serious about Key Lime Pie. In fact, in season, you can buy fresh Key Limes up here - in the fancy stores.