Maggie's Farm

Don Surber is right. That line above is a joke headline of the New York Times. They use it so often that I suspect they hit one button to print it, then fill in the blank after it.

Global warming? Yup.

Grandaddy Long Legs reminds me that the actual joke line was "World to end tomorrow. Women and minorities hardest hit."

I would not want to be president without Kissinger's advice. Right or wrong, he always makes good sense. He says victory, in the usual sense of the word, is impossible. Quote from the piece in the Int'l Herald Tribune:

Kissinger said the best way forward is to reconcile the differences between Iraq's warring sects with help from other countries. He applauded efforts to host an international conference bringing together the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's neighbors — including Iran, Washington's longtime rival in the region.

"That is the sort of framework out of which it is conceivable that an agreement should emerge," Kissinger said. "One needs to be prepared to negotiate with adversaries."

Surely he is right. Iraq is beginning to feel like a giant game of Whack a Mole.

Throw the Jew down the well. Brits remove Holocaust from textbooks. Moonbattery. Comments from Dust My Broom.

Powerline permits a bit of Iraq pessimism. View from the Right. Yes, there is cause for pessimism. The glass is half full.

Rick Moran: "Words fail me." Same here. You just give up.

Bruce Kesler takes on the costs of higher education. Says parents are co-conspirators.

Now the Chavistas want to take over private media. I guess Cuba is their ideal. Adios, Venezuela. It was nice knowin' ya.

Yemeni women join army counter-terrorism force.

Ex-Bush aid expresses disappointment in admin. NYT. He has a point, especially Bush's failure to mobilize the country.

Another shameful vote, but at least right won out. The vote to protect those who express concern about other travellers. Putting Safety Second

The truck full of rocks was brought in for the occasion. "The cameramen are here - everybody grab a rock." Entirely staged, to fool their own people.

American students: Cocky but dumb. Self-esteem without substance.

Glenn Beck video on how Moslems try to stifle dissent in the US. Especially the flying Imams.

If you missed our April Fool's Day offerings, check 'em out. We'll begin taking them down, and recycling some of them next year, for newbies. Apparently we snagged some April Fools this time, for a minute or two.

From our friend Lubos, on Iran:

The internal politics of Iran is much more complex and non-uniform than one would a priori expect. That makes all things difficult. Moreover, the Iranian government is extremely good in manipulating stupid people which includes, for example, the majority of the Arab nations. So they forced the marines to apologize for their wrongdoing on TV and to praise the Iranian kidnappers for their heavenly hospitality that they will be always grateful for. The only female marine has even apologized in a written form - in a letter that she originally wrote in Persian. Not bad.

Meanwhile, at least the Brit Health Secretary has her priorities straight.

The EU flexes its international muscles. Dinocrat. Finds it has no biceps.

Is the NYT educable? Surber, on Darfur

I hadn't read this at Althouse, but it's here in a piece by Classical Values on Converts and Heretics:

bloggers on the right link to you when they agree and ignore the disagreements, and the bloggers on the left link only for the things they disagree with, to denounce you with short posts saying you're evil/stupid/crazy, and don't even seem to notice all the times you've written posts that take their side.

A spiral ramp to build the pyramids?

Where the Nanny State meets the Police State. Small Dead Polar Bears, on the UK. I have always believed that Welfare Statism leads to Nanny Statism which leads to Police Statism. It's a natural progression, and it's all for your own good, as defined by your betters!

How I came to Christ. LaShawn. A very difficult thing to do. Not child's play.

A brief history of zero. Neat. h/t, Thompson

Riehl says:

Iran is degrading and manipulating British sailors and marines, one of them a woman, and the world is probably waiting for America to do anything provocative so they can somehow blame this all on us.

There's no backbone left in the West and Iran knows it.

Or are they letting Tehran overplay their hand? "Bearded Mullah speak with forked tongue", as Tangled Web put it.

Another greenie hypocrite. Unbelieveable. Travolta. Find me a prominent greenie spokesperson who walks the walk. Just one.

Pius Xll - The Nazi Pope? Not quite.

What is an enemy? A political enemy, that is. SC&A. Too long, but good. 

More on the liberal hypocrisy over free trade. View from 1776. I think they just see a possible issue - and damn what is for the best. Drezner has more on the subject.

Women are angrier than men. Duh. Dr. Helen (h/t, Jules) Let a woman in your life, and your serenity is through...

Circuit City on a downwards slide.

Internet commerce growing fast in China. Dinocrat. Can a totalitarian state maintain itself if it has internet access?

"The ten questions I want to ask Al Gore." John Hawkins. It's about the same as our ten.

We have always opposed corn ethanol as a fuel. We fully support corn ethanol in whiskey. Corn ethanol is pure pork, but it won't work. Synthstuff explains, if you aren't already convinced. 

A cottage in Truro. Just wonderful. Sippican Cottage.

EU eliminates Islamic terrrorism, overnight. Gates of Vienna. Why didn't we think of that?

Largest tax hike in history. Details at Flopping. But why? On general principles?

Africa to Mugabe: "Love ya, dude."  No wonder Africa is hopeless.

Blogs. I recently read (I forget where) that only around 300,000 people regularly follow politically-oriented blogs. I have no way to confirm the accuracy of that number. Are we a politically-oriented blog? I don't know: kinda-sorta. The size of the market is small, and therefore even the biggest blogs are limited in their ability to grow readership. It's a matter of people's interest as much as anything else. One can only envy the porn and NASCAR sites for the level of interest they attract. I mention this because Kim du Toit has an interesting piece on the stats of American internet access. Around 30% of Americans have no interest in internet access, according to a study. (That must be the 30% of Americans who don't read Maggie's Farm daily.)

Image: Maker's Mark advt. via Mr. Free Market, who I doubt is a bourbon drinker but who has a good eye for ads.

The "surge" isn't so much a surge in force as it is a tactical change towards aggressive neigborhood policing, with the theory that effective policing will embolden the good guys to get on our side, so we can leave Iraq to the Iraqis. Problem is that everything the Dems and the media are doing works to undermine that effort. Villainous has a good summary piece: Killing the Surge

LaShawn Barber, one of our favorites, is planning to give up her blog. Read the link to learn why (hint: It's about God).

Biological Fantasies: A few basic immutable facts about human nature from Dr. Sanity, who sounds like she is on the exact same page as our Dr. Bliss.

Captain Ed thinks Tehran blew it. I think that depends on whether their purpose is international or internal politics. An attack would bolster a possibly shaky government.

How Germans view America. Don Surber. The condescension is what bugs me. Also, No Pasaran considers French anti-Americanism.

Chrysler for sale again. Drudge

New Gov Spitzer (a Dem) gets 100 more charter schools in NY.

The "six passengers formerly known as the Flying Imams" Powerline

Image: a 1948 Ford 8N on Maggie's Farm - had the year wrong at first. Runs like a top after a few months in the tractor hospital.

To My Fellow Immigrants. Kohlmayer, in the NY Sun

"Great moments in political priorities". Driscoll. And may I ask what is the big problem with either plastic or paper bags?

Clinton pays $400,000 for the Vilsak endorsement. Who is Vilsak again?

Dems inching away from free trade. Very bad idea, but it has cheap populist emotion behind it.

The DC scandal that was never reported. Gateway. Why not reported? That little "D" after your names comes in handy sometimes. It's a free pass.

Dog performs Heimlich on owner.

Arterial stents aren't much good, new study says.

Sad tales of foreclosures of subprime loans. NYT. Unfortunately, wishful thinking doesn't pay bills.

The Tort Tax. How much do trial lawyers cost the average American annually? About $9000. Never yet Melted.

The Hillary poll. I am surprised that it is so negative.

Are we at war with Iran? A cold war, at the least, ever since they took our embassy staff hostage during Carter.

Moslems acting strange and creepy in airports want to be ignored. Sorry guys: We are watching you especially carefully. Do we look stupid? We are all John Does.

World's tallest man gets married. BBC

A fine rant about the decay of American education. "Shame on us for allowing this to happen". S,C&A

Mugabe just won't quit. But it's OK - to create a socialist paradise, you have to crack a few heads.

The Envy Patrol at the NYT is always on the job: "The top 10% of Americans collected 48.5% of all reported income in 2005."

Since neither wealth nor income are zero sum games (although the NYT tends to make it sound otherwise - as if money were an Easter Egg hunt), I see no reason why anyone should care - other than envy. And besides, the top 10% pays most of the taxes, too, for the benefit of the rest of us.

My feeling is this: If I had the talent, drive, and personality traits to be a Hollywood star, a major league pitcher, a sought-after CEO, a genius investor, a clever entrepreneur, a neurosurgeon, or a Wall Street lawyer - or the luck to be a fortunate heir - I'd get a big kick out of it. But it's not all that bad a thing to be a regular American. In fact, it's the best thing to be on earth.

Re this video, a quote from Cato's David Boaz, at TCS:

And what about that giant screen? Even when the government doesn't step in to take children from their parents, Clinton sees it constantly advising, nagging, hectoring parents: "Videos with scenes of commonsense baby care -- how to burp an infant, what to do when soap gets in his eyes, how to make a baby with an earache comfortable -- could be running continuously in doctors' offices, clinics, hospitals, motor vehicle offices, or any other place where people gather and have to wait," she writes. The childcare videos could alternate with videos on the Food Pyramid, the evils of smoking and drugs, the need for recycling, the techniques of safe sex, the joys of physical fitness, and all the other things the responsible adult citizens of a complex modern society need to know. Sort of like the telescreen in Orwell's 1984 -- or the YouTube video.

His whole piece here.

I am wondering what I would do if I were Tony Blair.

Robert Petersen (of Petersen Publishing) died. A sportsman and car-lover, Petersen was very generous with conservation causes.

Frontline's News War site:you can have fun with this site for a while/

Love the planet. Ham video tells you how.

Another US income redistribution graph at Viking. When is enough enough?

Obama doesn't get it. Betsy. America is the people, not the government.

Offensive to women? World's best bourbon.

UK in a dreamworld. EU REferendum. I agree with neo-neo's comment yesterday:

Since Vietnam the situation is murkier because many conflicts (such as the present one) are not wars at all, although in earlier times such acts as that of Iran’s seizing of the sailors would be considered a casus belli. Now, as Admiral West says, we are reluctant to “escalate” to military action for fear of causing a larger war—and our opponents are not reluctant to provoke us because they know that. Paradoxically, our respect for civilian life is being used against us by an enemy that does not share it.

A Chris Ware video, at David Thompson

Does the internet put all of us in cocoons? Valid question. Don't know the answer. Drezner

Yankees or Red Sox fan? Are there any other teams?

The benefits of global warming. Jim Miller

I have a family friend who was in the Battle of the Bulge as a medic at 16. Are we keeping our kids too young too long? Samizdata wonders.

What county pays the highest federal taxes in the country? Average of $82,000/household. California Yankee lives in it.

If you like toads, you'll love this toad. Yes, I do like toads.

Locate the state on the map. Good game

Lower the drinking age? Addison Independent

Woops, says Army Corp of Engineers, re NO

Injustice. Shaquanda Cotton.

No facts needed. The new SATs

A prayer for Tony Snow. What a lovely guy. Very sad.

Mr. Sun has been acting strangely. Cramer

Arizona newspaper comes out against the education-industrial complex. Bravo.

Why McCain-Feingold is a terrible thing. Betsy

Hey - how about those marches in support of the 15 Brit hostages? (h/t, Viking)

$28 billion. That's the final tab for Pelosi's surrender vote. And she complains about the cost of the war?

"I was told there would be no math." Journalists are numerically impaired.

From a piece at Belmont Club, re the Brit prisoners:

As currently interpreted the Geneva Conventions only apply to individuals bent on destroying America. Individuals who blow up elementary schools, kidnap children, attack churches and mosques, kill invalids in wheelchairs, plan attacks on skyscrapers in New York, behead journalists, detonate car bombs with children to camouflage their crime, or board jetliners with explosive shoes -- all while wearing mufti or even women's clothing -- these are all considered "freedom fighters" of the most principled kind. They and they alone enjoy the protections of the Geneva Convention. As to Americans like Tucker and Menchaca or Israeli Gilad Shalit -- or these fifteen British sailors for that matter, it is a case of "what Geneva Convention?" We don't need no steenkin' Geneva Convention to try these guys as spies. That's the way the Human Rights racket works. Don't go looking for any Geneva Convention in Somalia, Darfur, Basilan or Iran. Try Guantanamo Bay.

Do we have enough tax redistribution, or do we need more? I think we are taking care of the poor - and this doesn't even include charity. Graph from piece at Willisms:

Look at how Time and Newsweek alter their covers for other countries. Registan. (Registan focuses on news from Central Asia.)

Australia's Geelong Advertiser has a strong editorial against global warming hysteria. People are beginning to catch on. (h/t. Tim Blair)

Decorum preferred to truth at the UN Human Rights Council. Democracy Project

The new Jane Fonda. Sean Penn. Do such folks really hate the America which has given them everything, or are they just looking for easy virtue (with photo ops) to redeem their empty, foolish, decadent and superficial Hollywood lives?

Caught up with Iraq the Model lately? He has three recent posts.

Children of alumni are harmed by admissions preferences.

Smuggling crocodiles into Gaza under her dress. WTH?

Why Thompson is a good candidate. (h/t, reader)

Our pill-popping world. Licensed to Pill - funny video

Did you take the time to listen to the Kayet How Liberals Think video? Please do.

What is Iran up to, with their Brit prisoners? It's almost a declaration of war.

David Stockman charged in securites fraud.

Barone on Al Gore and globalistical warmening. Sounds just like us. Sane and reasonable.

Kelo, Chinese-style.  All those years of Communism and they still want private property. (h/t, Small Dead Baby Seals)

There's a new medicine for restless leg sydrome. Don't mock it if you haven't had it.

Fact vs. narrative. Well put, by Asst. Village Idiot

In Canada, they give you a discount for energy conservation, then raise your bill because the conservation makes the power company lose money. How rational. Is there anyone left in the world who thinks that bureaucrats are smarter than markets?

A sheep that is 15% human. Definitely a good college candidate.

Super-size me. Ambulances for fatties in Australia.

A fine Monday morning rant, about WalMart, medical insurance, and CEO pay. And Rightly So

Bad things happen in wars. Never Yet Melted. War is not social work

What is Iran up to? Tweaking the nose of the West to prove something? Testing limits? Trying to demonstrate that the West will collapse easily? Do they want to trade personnel? Or do they want to provoke an attack? Or do they want to scare the Brits away from the Middle East? Or do they want to provoke a battle? And, more important, what is the Brit game now? More talk?

Iran has captured Brit sailors outside their waters. That is a calculated invitation - provocation -  for military reprisal. Will Tony Blair take off his skirt and put on his trousers? I know international affairs are more complex than the ordinary bar fight, but, ultimately, this is a test of resolve.  And Iran already decided that the Brits would fold, or they would not have dared this stunt. There is laughter in Tehran tonight.

Bush's speech yesterday on video, if you missed it. Hot Air

Massachusetts shows us how to do taxes right. Wizbang

Daddy government and Mommy government. One Cosmos. Transference is strong stuff, isn't it?

Kristol and Kagan. Wrong on Timetables. Weekly Standard

Comments from The Anchoress on the Immorality of Global Warming moralizing.

A blog we just found, thanks to Protein Wisdom, which covers German media. Take a look, and you will easily see why Germans think America is a terrible place filled with evil people. We'll add them to our Other Countries blogroll.

Phony treatments, to fill school seats. Same in the US, but less so. People love quackery - it gives them magical hope. Excellent for hypochondriacs. h/t, Junk Science

946 known billionaires on earth. I suspect many more who are not known. How did they accumulate this? Must be nice not to worry about orthodontia, car repairs, or vet bills - but that's Real Life.

Newsweek serves up large doses of false history. Pitiful...or deliberate misinformation?

If you want money, work hard and long hours. Duh. Villainous. Luckily for them, most folks do not target riches: they just aim to pay their bills and to be more-or-less content. If you want to hang out with your family, or go fishing, you will never be wealthy. It's a choice.

The New Orleans surge. Riehl. Get yourself a gun...

Why moderate Moslems never speak up.

There is a Civilian Gun Self Defence Blog. Cramer is part of it.

Image: Gotta enjoy these Mardi Gras or Key West or whatever celebrations of exhibitionism, decadence, frivolity - and loveliness. This one is an angel, and there is nothing naughty about her. Art.

How the Communist Party took over Hollywood in the 30s. View from 1776

A victory for white, racist, evil, capitalist, rapist, patriarchy: Duke lacrosse charges to be dismissed. Dr. Sanity slams the 88 profs. I think the absence of a crime is a deep disappointment to the Duke faculty moonbats. Would it not be a bit more normal to be relieved that your student-athletes are not rapists?

Was Houdini murdered? Mod. Voice

50 reasons to praise the EU. Not. Worstall

Jihad fun with Google Earth. Crittenden

Masai model prefers his goats.

Nations ranked by nuclear power use. Willisms. We should be at the top.

$45,620. per year for Harvard College. Worth it for a lifetime of bragging rights?

In what country were these photos taken? Moonbattery

Sun heats earth, claim scientists. Dinocrat. That's funny - I thought CO2 caused the heat. And the sun - that's nuclear, right? We don't want nuclear - I mean nucular.

China and the US feed from the same bowl. TCS

Rhode Island school bans Easter Bunny. Never Yet Melted. Bunny and State issue, I guess. What will they do if a bunny rabbit hops onto the school grounds? Or if my friend Harvey stops by?

Licensing interior decorators? Why? Betsy explains. Government doesn't have enough to do, I assume. What if they mixed mauve with peach? Tragedy. Good reason for government intervention.

Dems propose largest tax increase in history. Luskin. That's an original idea.

Subpoena Leahy's staff. Brilliant! Surber

A "splat" from Woodside Bible Church, via Bird of Paradise - a few minutes of Christ's peace. Give it a few minutes and settle your Friday morning.

Tick tock. The American Croc comes off the endangered list.

Not getting much attention: The China spy case in Calif.

Disorder and productivity. CSM

"The Koran seems to have become the basis for a court decision in Frankfurt." Dr. Sanity. Multiculturalism at its best.

Is this child abuse or neglect? Govt considering taking this 7 year old fat kid from parents. Looks like a case of too many Moonpies to me. The mom, too. But why should the govt care? The world has room for fat people, even though it's out of fashion.

Excerpts from R. Emmet Tyrell's The Clinton Crack Up

Colin Beavan and his wife want to leave no carbon footprint. Will this plan last after his book is on the remainder shelves?

That First Amendment thingie. Coyote

Remembering Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Commencement speech. Asst. Village Idiot

Bubble Wrap turns 50.

Image: Classic Southern breakfast: RC and a Moonpie. For Southerners trapped in Yankeeland, there's always the Moonpie General Store. Just one warning: the CO2 from soda pop adds to the warmening crisis.

Al Gore refuses to reduce his energy use. (h/t, Jules). RWNH wonders whether he is the Oracle or a bunko artist. Flopping Aces looks at Gore's testimony to Congress.

NC considers banning incandescent bulbs. I guess they really care. Ed Cone (h/t, Instapundit)

Inhofe tells it like it is.

That NYC debate that nobody covered - the skeptics won. In NYC, mind you.

I knew about warmening on Mars, but I didn't know about the other planets with the same crisis. Will our moon become one big cheese fondue?

95% of weathermen are climate skeptics. These guys learn humility fast.

Here are some concrete climate numbers (for whatever they might be worth) at Classical Values.

Winds of change at the EU. EU Referendum. If the idea was to create a Soviet Union Lite, then apparently people do not want that.

Did you already read about the Iraq insurgents using kids in car bombs?

The Fear Industrial Complex. Blue Crab

Is credit only for the rich? Marginal Rev.

Designer vaginas? The latest fad.

Obama rebuffs Soros. I like this Obama. Wouldn't vote for him, but kinda like him.

Does hanging out with Irish kids count as multicultural? Ankle Biter wonders.

The hidden costs of illegal workers. CSM

Al Gore declared a Planetary Emergency in Congress today. Personally, I think the hysteria is the planetary emergency. Losing the election shook a screw loose in this guy, same as it did to Jimmy Carter.

"There I was inside a bat infested sea cave." Ron Rosenbaum. A Jewish Christian on the Dead Sea scrolls and pre-Paul Christianity and the phony Jesus tomb.

Another view on illegals, from Jacoby at the Globe

Does Al Gore make money on his carbon offset company?

A Hummer is a greener car than a Prius. Truly. Not that it matters.

So many news items satirize themselves. Edwards claims his mansion is carbon neutral.

Al Gore makes his own rules. He is going to control his Senate presentation today and filibuster it - talk so much that he gets no questions.

Why Ethanol is a terrible idea.

Czech Pres. Vaclav Klaus - our hero - presented to the House Energy and Commerce Committee via letter yesterday. A quote from it:

“The so-called climate change and especially man-made climate change has become one of the most dangerous arguments aimed at distorting human efforts and public policies in the whole world.”

Tool humor. Cramer

The documentary Indoctrinate U is trying to build an audience via an internet campaign. Let's help. Hey, here's the trailer for the movie. Actually, the YouTube works better.

There is no such thing as a "global temperature." Of course not. How could there be? Meanwhile, the global warming hoax is gradually unravelling.

Zimbabwe. Inflation heading towards 4000%

The wealthy: Why not just paint a target on their forehead? Luskin

A Kennedy says Chavez "is a true friend of American and social justice." Blue Crab

Do expensive weapons systems make us impotent? A case for simpler, less costly military hardware.

This is what nation-building looks like. Totten via SDA. Malls?