Maggie's Farm

Vermont Health Care Revolution?  McClaughry in Opinion Journal: "All of this would seem to be a tempest in a very small teapot, but for one thing: Over the past 30 years, Vermont, with a liberal majority, a hive of activist left-wing organizations, and a press corps largely hostile to anything smacking of conservatism, has become the nation's premier blue-state testing ground for virtually every imaginable liberal proposal. Putting single-payer health care in place in Vermont would be an enormous breakthrough for the left. This year its advocates are closer to victory than ever before. If they ultimately succeed, the reverberations will be felt from coast to coast."

Logic:  Auster at The View from the Right explains the peculiar logic by which the Left  equates individualism with racism.

Bush's Historic Speech: John at Powerline provides an excellent exegesis of Bush's Saturday speech in Latvia. Freedom is the key. One guote: "To a greater extent than any politician since Churchill, President Bush has set forth and defended his policies in a series of speeches that combine intellectual brilliance and philosophical gravity. Today's speech in Latvia was the latest in this series, and, like the others, it will be studied by historians for centuries to come."  Read entire

Facts: Two dismal facts I recently stumbled upon:

- There is one employee of the US Dept. of Agriculture for every farmer in the US.
- 1/3 of the inmates in federal penitentiaries are illegal immigrants.

The Blog Revolution: Gawker Media in the NYT. Despite all of the sarcasm in the NYT article, there is a blog revolution, and Maggie's is pleased to be one small part of it.

Sinatra's Arrogance Explained

He was in the mob. See Captain's Quarters.

Robert Sheer Exposed

By Horowitz, of course.

Freakonomics

You heard it here second. The new book by Steven Levitt.

From Dean Barnett's review:

"Levitt graduated Harvard in 1989 summa cum laude and received a Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1994. After becoming a chaired professor at Chicago at the tender age of 35, Levitt recently won the John

THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF FREAKONOMICS is to reveal counterintuitive and often unsettling truths. Levitt aims to show the world how it is, not how we wish it were or how the "conventional wisdom" deems it.

Levitt knew that exposing such truths would cause no small amount of offense in numerous quarters. In one chapter sure to make enemies, Levitt asks, "What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?" The answer: Both groups are willing to cheat. I don't want to ruin all the fun and describe how Levitt reaches his almost undebatable conclusion, but one must admire the audacity of a man so willing to stand up to both the teachers' unions and sumo wrestlers."

Read entire review.

Venezuela Follies

Chavez sends troops to protect his oil industry. I can hear the words to his mother: "Mom, when I grow up I want to be just like Fidel."

Religion and Politics

I believe there is no issue, except pure partisan warfare. New England Patriot has a good piece:

"The new liberal talking point is that Republicans, led by conservatives, seek to blur the lines between separation of church and state. Liberal Democrats like Howard Dean and Al Gore have given us a primer on what is ahead in the next election cycle - those who oppose abortion, gay marriage or euthanasia are religious zealots."  Read entire.

And More on the Subject from Taranto

Non-believer Taranto supports the religious right:

"One can disagree with religious conservatives on abortion, gay rights, school prayer, creationism and any number of other issues, and still recognize that they have good reason to feel disfranchised. This isn't the same as the oft-heard complaint of "anti-Christian bigotry," which is at best imprecise, since American Christians are all over the map politically. But those who hold traditionalist views have been shut out of the democratic process by a series of court decisions that, based on constitutional reasoning ranging from plausible to ludicrous, declared the preferred policies of the secular left the law of the land."

Read entire interesting piece. - and the companion anti-  piece by Hitchins.

Dartmouth Insurgents: The ongoing excitement.

What Next for Britain's Tories?: Wheatcroft in WSJ.

Piling on Jane Christensen: The holocaust-denying History Prof who teaches that 9-11 was done by Zionists. Hey - tenure doesn't protect you from criticism or mockery.

New Pope "too Catholic," says Media: Just found this.

A Sad Day for Texas: State bans sexy cheerleading. Lighten up, people.

Iraq: I don't post much on Iraq. War's over, good guys won. They have the first elected government in their history. But Instapundit is on Al Quaida's current woes. Seems like their only remaining boosters are in the American Left, all 14 of them.

Bob Herbert: Powerline is on the job, exploring Bob Herbert's hearsay-based smear of the US military in Iraq. Look out, Bob. If you rathered the story, ie screwed up your due diligence because of a desire to believe, John will call you on it, big time.

More on the Great Horowitz: David H. is doing a great service for all of us. He is a man on a mission, and his Academic Bill of Rights has been effective in smoking out the covert fascists and the latent fascism among the academic Left. Here.

Pelosi Hypocrisy: Captain's Quarters also on the job, as usual. Guess what, Delay isn't the only sleaze in DC - big surprise.

More Frank-Bashing: We enjoy making sport of Thomas Frank, and so does Mac Johnson - who does a better job of it than we do. But then again, he is such an easy target, it almost feels cruel.

Pat Robertson is a Skunk Stinking up the Tent

So says A Moderate Voice.  Pat does tend to be one of those folks who make Conservatives look silly, if not creepy. Fortunately, the Liberals have their own barnyard full of loonies.

The Barrister

"Do you think the Repubs still think they're in a debate, when what they are really in is a shooting war with real bullets?"  Damn good point. Read yesterday's post by him - scroll down.

Vietnamese Capitalism

Chrenkoff, with a Vietnam Mastercard ad:

Ejecting American imperialists out of the country: 2 million dead

Building communist utopia: 1 million refugees, hundreds of thousands of "reeducated" political prisoners, basic human rights suppressed, economy ruined while the rest of Asia is thriving

Admitting after three decades that your stupid communist policies have failed and the experiment is just about over: priceless.

David Limbaugh Saying What we Know

"Just as when John Kerry masqueraded as a hawk on national defense and the Michael Moore/Howard Dean wing of the party stayed right on board with him, Hillary has virtual immunity for any such apostasies. Why? Because they know she'll always be a card-carrying, hardcore liberal no matter how much she pretends otherwise." read entire.

Oh Man. Not another finger?

Here. Yuk. But let's see. On average, 10 fingers per person, and 296,000,000 Americans - so call it 3,000,000,000 fingers in the US. No wonder some of them go missing once in a while.

VDH, "On Being Disliked"

"Last year the hysteria about the hostility toward the United States reached a fevered pitch. Everyone from Jimmy Carter to our Hollywood elite lamented that America had lost its old popularity. It was a constant promise of the Kerry campaign to restore our good name and "to work with our allies." The more sensitive were going to undo the supposed damage of the last four years. Whole books have been devoted to this peculiar new anti-Americanism, but few have asked whether or not such suspicion of the United States is, in fact, a barometer of what we are doing right — and while not necessarily welcome, at least proof that we are on the correct track."

My comment: What "allies"? Germany - two wars against them. France - two rescues. Allies?

Read entire.

Brit Nanny State and Schools

How wonderful to live in a place where adults can be children, and the State can do all your thinking for you. Brit school bureaucrats complain about parents' involvement in schools.

And the US Public Schools vs. Charter Schools

Debra England:

"Despite wave upon wave of touted educational “reforms” over the past several decades, this failed government monopoly has succeeded in producing a sclerotic bureaucracy that has flatlined American K-12 academic achievement for the past 35 years.  Interestingly, this same timeframe has seen the birth and rapid growth of modern teachers’ unions and a nationwide explosion in average annual per pupil spending, which has more than doubled since 1970 - from $4,700 to roughly $10,100 today in constant dollars. Basic economics tells us that when expenditures increase by more than 100% while outputs remain unchanged, we are witnessing a huge productivity decline in the public education sector. Money is clearly not the problem"

Read entire.

"We're smart, you're dumb" Politics

Gelerntner, via RCP.

Steyn: Blair will win, but...

"At one level, Tony Blair is an absurd figure: In the jurisdiction he's supposed to be governing, the hospitals are decrepit and disease-ridden, crime is rampant in the leafiest loveliest villages, in the urban areas politics is fragmenting along racial and religious lines, and the IRA have been transformed with the blessing of Blair's ministers into the British Isles' homegrown Russian Mafia. But, in the jurisdictions for which he has no responsibility, Blair flies in and promises to cure all. He's particularly keen on Africa: Genocide? AIDS? Poverty? Don't worry, Tony's got the answer. He can't make the British trains run on time, but he can save the world." Read entire Steyn piece.

Nuclear Energy

Is anyone opposed to it anymore, except for skittish utilities and their insurance companies?

Scopes Trial Redux

Wake up, Kansas. You make believers look like dopes. And when God needs help getting appreciation for creating evolution, I'm sure He'll ask for it.

News = Entertainment: Al Gore Speaks

See the video of Gore at Move On last week, on Jackson's Junction.

A Bainbridge Two-fer

His casual regard for immigration laws is ticking people off. Well, that's what blogging is all about. Diversity. Debate. Fun. The stuff that the MSM has been missing.

And interesting info re wines from the Prof.:

"Contrary to wine's male image, in which men score vintages and then hoard them in cellars, women buy 77 percent and consume 60 percent of the wine in America."

New England Values

Michelle is on the story about the homosexual movement in grade school. At Maggie's, we like gays as much as we like anyone else, but come on! Geez.

A New Dem Hero: Hugo Chavez

What does this tell us? Thanks, LGF.

The Sacred UN: The One Hope for Humanity

Mugabe appointed to UN Human Rights Commission. Thanks, Right Wing Nuthouse.

Horowitz on the Job

If Dave didn't exist, we'd have to invent him. His campaign for Academic Freedom is worthy of support. Have to quote his piece:

"Today, I am grateful to my Columbia professors for their professionalism, for the fairness with which they treated me as a student and for their faithfulness to the educational concept. They did not regard the classroom as a place for airing their political prejudices or where students were expected to adopt opinions their teachers regarded as politically correct. As I set out on my campaign of academic reform in the year 2003, the educational environment I experienced at Columbia in the 1950s was the gold standard of what I wanted to achieve.

It is my view based on thirty years of experience around college campuses, that American universities are less intellectually free today than they were in the McCarthy era. The difference is that then the commissars of political correctness were political figures who were outside the university community and whom the university community regarded with hostility as well as fear. Today, the commissars of political correctness are an integral part of the university itself. They are professors and administrators who think it is the university’s place to train students in “progressive” attitudes and ideas, and enlist them in the armies of “social change.” But the university is not – and should not be – a political party. As the liberal scholar Stanley Fish put it in a well-known article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Save The World On Your Own Time.”  "

Read entire.

News Junkie Posting

After these months, I am still trying to self-define my role on Maggie's Farm. We're not a Hot News blog, and I cannot compete with Instapundit - how does he find the time to provide the service he does? Does he have a team of elves? Must be. Plus all the hot tips he receives via email. As for Taranto, I assume it's a full-time job. Some good gig - getting paid to surf the web. For the time being, I will just march on, and see where the path leads. To fame, riches, and chicks, no doubt - or why bother?

And speaking of gaining fame, riches, and fillies, the photo is of triple-crown winner Secretariat in 1973 - see piece below, on the bottom of the pile. I know Bird Dog saw him once in the flesh, retired, at stud like The News Junkie, and happily grazing at Keeneland.

Conservative Environmentalists

Of course there are millions of them around. They tend not to be "the sky is falling" hysterics, nor do they equate capitalism with rape of the land. Socialist nations have been far worse.

Jonah Goldberg: "The truth is that nobody is anti-environment. I have lots and lots of conservative friends and colleagues. I go to many of the most sinister right-wing meetings and parties. I've simply never heard anybody say they want to hurt the environment. No matter how many pave-the-planet jokes conservatives tell to annoy liberals, the truth is none of them really wants to."  Read entire.

TCS: "Semper Infantilis"

" In its April 25 edition, Washington D.C.'s newest newspaper ran an article from Joanne Cronrath Bamburger decrying the growing presence of military recruiters in American public schools. It seems that the No Child Left Behind Act contains a clause that requires public high schools to allow military recruiters on campus. That's bad!

"In promoting this type of recruiting effort," Bamburger writes, "our government apparently realizes what advertisers and marketers have known for years -- teens are fertile ground for influence because they still are at a point in life where impulse can overrule rational thought. So it's not a leap to worry that our children also might be unduly and dangerously swayed in these times by a call to patriotism. It's not a stretch to imagine that when they sign on the dotted line for boot camp, our children have focused more on the well-cut uniforms and group camaraderie and not on the long-term, and possibly deadly, consequences of even a short stint in the military."

Calls to patriotism! Camaraderie! Well-cut uniforms! Oogah-boogah-boogah! Such starry dreck too well deserved the Rath of Cron."

 Read entire.
Here's an idea - recruit via the AARP Magazine?

Scott's Paean to Zell Miller

Scott at Powerline loves Zell. Us too.

Cash in at Denny's (unless you're white)

The ongoing Denny's scam.

Hate Speech

New Sisyphus takes the subject on, and I could not agree more:

"We understand that freedom of speech is painful to liberals. We know what you're going through, having had to live through the era when you controlled the public debate and no dissenting voices to liberal orthodoxy were allowed into the hallowed halls of CBS News or the New York Times. Hate speech codes are nothing more and nothing less than an attempt to criminalize one's political opponents and should be resisted by all who care for liberty, be they right or left." Read entire wise, lawyerly, thoughtful piece.

L.A., Mexico

Story making the rounds. Thanks, Michelle.

Designer Babies in Englistan

This is what happens when you abandon your moral compass for the noble principle of "whatever works."

The Death of Canada

by Austin Bay - a funny piece which might be prophetic (thanks Instapundit):

"Oil-producing Alberta might join the United States and instantly find common political ground with Alaska, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. Canada's struggling Atlantic provinces might find statehood economically attractive and extend the New England coastline. A rump Canada consisting of "Greater Ontario" -- with remaining provinces as appendages -- might keep the maple-leaf flag aloft. As for poor, isolated Newfoundland: Would Great Britain like to reacquire a North American colony?" Read entire. 

Steyn Applauds Multiculturalism

The great movie buff loves multiculturalism in the movies.

3000 Words/Day

A piece on prolific writers, featuring Alexander McCall Smith, author of the wonderful #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. Apparently writing too much can saturate your market, and writing too little will send readers away. Wish I had that dilemma.

Secretariat

If we have any frozen cells, I will place my bets on Secretariat. This will be great fun for the Kentucky horse country.

Pray for Laura

First Tony Snow, now Laura Ingraham. Tough year for a couple of my favorite people. You Go Girl!

Air America Fires a Gun!

We covered the Air America Follies last week, but now they have really pooped in their pants. And who knew extreme leftys had guns to shoot? Are they legally registered?

Can You Believe This?

A North Carolina college course:

"One text required in Christensen's 9/11 course holds that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States were orchestrated and carried out by U.S. government elites. The course teaches that the official story about Sept. 11 is the result of "government involvement in the cover-up."

The attacks were used by neo-conservatives in the Bush administration, acting on behalf of pro-Israel Zionists, as "a catalyst for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the attack on civil liberties in the United States," according to the course's syllabus." Read entire.

Against the "Ownership Society"

There is an argument against the Bush idea. I do not agree that we need less, not more, ownership, but Kuttner does make the case as well as it can be made for the role of government in everything. Guess you could call it the "Dependency Society":

 "...in reality, America’s long tradition as a society of owners has been substantially the result of activist government -- making social investments, taking regulatory initiatives, and shielding individuals from economic risks beyond their personal control. Today’s conservative program for an ownership society, by contrast, transfers hazards back to individuals at a time when people are already bearing increased risks. Bush has done us a favor by putting this idea in play. It invites us to devise a program for a true ownership society, built on broadened social investment. Reclaiming a proud tradition, we could broaden America’s middle class by once again expanding education and homeownership, resuming the march toward secure retirement income and health care, and raising the real incomes on which a middle class depends."  Read entire.

A Little Prick for Pregnancy

Acupuncture for infertility here.

Is Zapatero Going Down?

He deserves to, but never should have been elected anyway. (PM of Spain, if you forgot his name. Should be called Mr. Lucky.)

Hamilton on Appointments

Federalist 76. Thanks, Real Clear Politics.

NYSE Scandal?

Watch this story unfold - we first posted on it on the 21st, thanks to Opie. Now John Mack joins the fray.

Who is Against Bolton?

You know how The Chairman feels. You won't believe this. From Taranto.

Fat is Good

Big fat surprise. They changed their mind about obesity being a problem - it's just morbid obesity that's a problem. Why didn't the CDC just say what they knew - that fat is unattractive? Click here: TCS: Tech Central Station - Whoppers and the End of an Epidemic

AD/BC

Removing BC and AD from historic time. Maybe some academics just don't have enough to do.

Reporters fired for Drinking Beer

And all along I had thought that drinking was part of their job description. Crazy.

Bill Weld Returns

A run for gov of NY? He is putting out feelers. He is a good guy. Thanks for the tip, New England Repub.

BBC Corruption

The BBC takes a page out of the CBS playbook to advance the Leftist cause. If you considered their veracity before, will you ever again?

"The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones and sending them into a campaign meeting addressed by Michael Howard, the Conservative leader."

Read entire. The Tories are going too easy on the govt.-supported BCC.

NYSE Heats Up

Watch the action as Thain, Grasso, Paulson, etc. get ready to fight in the big stadium here. Lots of $, pride, etc. at stake.

Roe V. Wade

David Brooks argues that Roe v. Wade resulted in a catastrophic example of legislating from the bench. Am I naive to think that rights are about protecting the people from the govt.? Personally, I find the idea of abortion disgusting and sad, but that's irrelevant. What is relevant is the will of the people, which has not been heard.

"The fact is, the entire country is trapped. Harry Blackmun and his colleagues suppressed that democratic abortion debate the nation needs to have. The poisons have been building ever since. You can complain about the incivility of politics, but you can't stop the escalation of conflict in the middle. You have to kill it at the root. Unless Roe v. Wade is overturned, politics will never get better. " Read entire here.

Internet Hunting

Last post I'll do on this ridiculous subject. The target shooting seems harmless enough, but literally killing via the internet and remote-controlled firearms seems like a travesty of the idea of sportsmanship, and which California is now banning.

Those Evil Christians

What is it with the Christianophobics? I can't tell whether they are sincere, and therefore paranoid to a degree, or whether they are being tastelessly provocative, or whether it is more cynical target-practice using American institutions for bulls-eyes. This isn't a Christianity I see around me. This example from Charles Cutter:

"...it’s necessary to understand the fundamental goal of the fundamentalist Christians: To deny basic human rights to segments of society they deem unworthy in their god’s eyes. They believe that Americans should reject the Constitutional concept of equality in favor of their religious caste system. They seek to legally stigmatize all non-fundamentalist Christians. Historically, Christianity has been used to justify such atrocities as the genocide of Native Americans and the institution of slavery; current favorite targets include women, gays, atheists, and pro-choice supporters." Read entire if you can stand it.

Raising the Hoop

We thought we raised them big in the US. Click here: FOXSports.com - NBA Playoffs- Great 'tall' of China: 7-foot-8 Sun eyes NBA  We may still think the Chinese tend to be short people but what the heck are they putting that bowl of rice? The NBA has three players and now comes the fourth "big guy" on the block. No telling when they will have to raise the hoops.

Fishing

First trout expedition of the year, leaving noon today for the weekend. Where's my waders? Where's my wooly-buggers? Where's my brain?

The Next Clinton Scandal

Just when the news was getting boring...don't hold your breath for the MSM to get on this case, despite FBI involvement. Thanks to Scott at Powerline.  Piece here.

Greg Parke for Senate

Got to be an improvement on Jeffords, who is retiring. Read here.

The New Food Pyramid

What kind of idiot would look to the govt. to find out what to eat? The last one suggested 8-11 servings of grains, cereal, pasta, and bread/day. The new one is visually incomprehensible. It says I should have 3 cups of milk and 2 cups of fruit. Cups of fruit? What the heck - I'm having coffee for breakfast. Dunkin Donuts.

Soros' Five Year Plan Exposed

All very hush-hush. Hans Nichols reports: "George Soros told a carefully vetted gathering of 70 likeminded millionaires and billionaires last weekend that they must be patient if they want to realize long-term political and ideological yields from an expected massive investment in “startup” progressive think tanks." Read here. 

Benedict

Joseph Bottum in the NYP: "Benedict XVI understands his predecessor's support of both democracy and life — because he understands what ties these issues together. The encyclical that John Paul II issued in between, Veritatis Splendor ("the splendor of truth"), insisted that there are certain moral markers about human life and human behavior that cannot be argued away. A grown-up, serious people doesn't abort its babies. A grown-up, serious people doesn't murder its sick and old. And a grown-up, serious people doesn't destroy the structure of the family just for the sake of easy sex." Read entire here.

Kudos to Bird Dog

You got it right yesterday morning, big guy. You know all! And a very powerful Ratzinger sermon/homily that hit me hard and did me good.

Conservatives are Writing!

The sky is falling! Here.

Ratzinger Election Not a Mandate

You nailed it this time, Scrapple-buddy. Here.

No-one is Flying Air America

Hmmm. Don't those folks already have their Pacifica stations? And NPR? The sad, sad, story here.

Habemus Papem: Hewitt, the New Pope, etc.

Hugh Hewitt has outdone himself. Always good, but on this subject he has been inspired.

NYT - Please Hire Steyn

We have tried to say these things, but Mark does it better, as always:

"The root of the Pope's thinking - that there are eternal truths no one can change even if one wanted to - is completely incomprehensible to the progressivist mindset. There are no absolute truths, everything's in play, and by "consensus" all we're really arguing is the rate of concession to the inevitable: abortion's here to stay, gay marriage will be here any day now, in a year or two it'll be something else - it's all gonna happen anyway, man, so why be the last squaresville daddy-o on the block?'

Read entire here. 

Hillary Watch

She is crafty but not wise. Why is she so scary? Or is she just a Repub fund-raising tool? As that, she excels. I think folks find her scary because she is a shrill, ruthless bitch. However, she does not wear well. Overexposure will damage her, and her false modesty is grating:

"The former first lady and her top aides steadfastly maintain that her focus is on winning a second Senate term. In fact, they have stopped talking publicly about the White House and 2008. But Republicans say her sights clearly are on the presidency and they are determined to make sure she never gets anywhere near an Iowa nominating caucus."  

Read piece here.

McCain

New England Repub announces the end of McCain's political aspirations here.

Right Wing Nuthouse

RWN outdoes themselves: First, a cool and literate piece on Ann Coulter, comparing her to Tom Paine here. And then a thoughtful and complimentary piece about David McCulloch here. Good thinking and good writing. 

The Demise of Community Block Grants

The excellent reporter Steven Malanga of The City Journal:

"By killing the program, the Bush administration will do more than just save billions of taxpayer dollars. It will send a message that cities must cast off the 1960s dependency mentality that viewed federally subsidized programs as the only road to inner-city community revival and economic development—a notion that years of failed efforts should now put to rest."

Read his detailed report of the program's failures here, and feel grateful that Bush is taking out some of the trash.

Media Elite

Something tells me that I'm not a member of the media elite. Raising this subject may be beating a dead horse, but it never ceases to amaze. Kathleen Parker:

"With a few exceptions, journalists tend to think mostly alike about most things, and they generally tend to be more liberal than mainstream America. This isn't a criticism necessarily - there's no Fourth Estate conspiracy - it's just the nature of the beast. After all, what kind of person wants to labor long hours in exchange for public contempt and low pay? Brilliant people, obviously."

Read entire here.

Ramsey Clark

Good for a laugh. A dog bone to NC via LGF:

"Ramsey Clark’s radical left wing International Action Center will be hosting a conference tomorrow at Public School 41 in Manhattan, to fight a nonexistent draft and work out effective strategies for sedition: National Conference Against the Draft & Military Recruiting. (Hat tip: NC.)"

Read entire comment here.

How Soon We Forget

VDH summarizes all of the wrong predications, reckless claims, timid attitudes, and plain stupid things that have been said about the war on terror since 9-11. He does not omit our intellectual leaders in Hollywood:

"Do not dare forget our Hollywood elite. At some point since 9/11, Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Whoopi Goldberg, and a host of others have lectured the world that their America is either misled, stupid, evil, or insane, bereft of the wisdom of Hollywood's legions of college drop-outs, recovering bad boys, and self-praised autodidacts."

Read entire here.

France has Always Hated the US

Matthew Price reviews Phillippe Roger's "The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism" in the Boston Globe. It's a fascinating review of the long history of French condescension and contempt:

"In his book ... published in English this month by the University of Chicago Press, Roger surveys two centuries of political polemics, pulp sci-fi serials, and travelogues, unearthing an often entertaining treasure trove of outrageous overstatement and bitter accusation that variously depict America as a stunted wasteland, a soulless technocracy, and a racist behemoth hell-bent on world domination."

Read entire here.

Gays in the Military

Clinton's cowardly maneuver gave us the ridiculous situation which exists now in the military. It's not every politician's favorite subject, but people's sexual fantasies and habits are none of the military's business. We don't have to like everybody's habits. America should be, and is, grateful to, and proud of, anyone who is willing and able to pick up a rifle and serve the country. Period. Not surprised that the WaPo agrees.

DeLay

I don't think Tom DeLay is the nicest guy in the world. He is a tough guy, not a metrosexual, and his morals are probably about average for politicians, which isn't saying much. You maybe wouldn't have him over for dinner. But the guy has been targeted. Why? Because he is strong and very smart and effective at managing legislation. And the now-weak Dems want blood. Humans are most destructive when they feel small and weak. My advice? Take it on the chin, Tom. Take it like a man. Use the rope-a-dope technique, like Clinton did. It's part of the job we pay you to do. But stick around, Tommy.

Here's The Real Story by Wes Vernon.

Here's the Soros angle of the story.

I'm with Stupid

It's all over the blogosphere (we need a better name for it, it's an awkward word to type) that John Kerry has been complaining that Democratic Ohio voters were told to vote on Weds, Nov 3. Turns out his reference is a piece in The Onion, a satirical website.

Prayer Immoral?

I don't understand why the NYT/ACLU/Democratic Party etc. keep getting their panties in a wad about religion in America, because in fact it is beginning to feel like the pre-Constantine Roman Empire around here. My neice jokes about not using the "J" word or the "G" word in school. Here at Maggie's, we feel that a little prayer never hurt anyone. Massingale reports:

"The Louisiana ACLU is recommending that officials at a public school in New Orleans be "fined or jailed" for failing to stop prayer before a high school baseball game. ACLU of Louisiana executive director Joe Cook says that prayer at a school related function is "un-American and immoral.""

Well, at least they haven't proposed throwing Christians to the lions...yet. But would they object? My pastors would say "Pray for Joe Cook." Massingale offers link to: Ten Ways to Pray in School.

Tax Freedom Day

is April 17th this year. That is to say, you have worked until then to pay taxes.

An Alternative to King Parker

Professor Bainbridge is a double threat - 2 blogs.  His wine blog here. I hate the way Parker dominates the field - not his fault tho - no competition.

Troop Cuts in Iraq

Ahhhhh. That feels just right. Here.

Vengeance

The Delay pile-on and the Bolton thing are all about puerile political vengeance. Some folks haven't gotten over the election yet. Re Bolton - who wants a UN Amb. who won't criticize it? 

A Fifth "Great Awakening"?

It just could be happening. In the US, the RC Church isn't participating, but it didn't participate in the first three either, did it? I don't want to give advice to the RC Church, being a Protestant, but the evangelicals are leading the charge in bringing the life of the spirit to a world of malls, self-obsession, and empty holidays. Not the Presbyterians, not the Methodists, not the RCCs, not even the Congregationalists or the Dutch Reforms. It's not a competition, and it's not a race, so whoever does it doesn't really matter. I have no fear of the role of religion in public life. In fact, I feel it's essential. Humans are worshipping beings, so we will find something small, like Self, or booze, or fun, or $, or power, or whatever to worship if we can't imagine something bigger and more worthy.

Jack Kelly discusses here.

Married Priests

Why not? It's an 11th Century artifact.  Just like infallibility is a 13th Century artifact. Nothing to do with anything Christ taught that I know of. Celibacy is fine for monks. Kristof in the NYT here

What Direction for the Church?

"If getting on the side of history means embracing the radical individualism at the core of what passes for today's thought, the church's slide could accelerate."

Thomas Bray in the Detroit News. A thoughtful consideration of where the RC Church finds itself today. But his piece contains the common error of confusing filling seats with saving souls:

 "For the fact is that John Paul II, far from being a simple-minded reactionary who everywhere and always opposed modernity, was a theological moderate who wrestled hard to rediscover, on behalf of his drifting flock, the hard truths that lie at the center of human dignity and an ordered society.

His real legacy may be less a matter of conservatism or liberalism than a church that uses both faith and reason as the means of finding its way -- a church largely reconciled to the Enlightenment, in other words."

Good piece. Read entire here.

Secularists Don't Get It, Says Steyn

Why bother writing, when Steyn does it better:

The root of the Pope's thinking - that there are eternal truths no one can change even if one wanted to - is completely incomprehensible to the progressivist mindset. There are no absolute truths, everything's in play, and by "consensus" all we're really arguing is the rate of concession to the inevitable: abortion's here to stay, gay marriage will be here any day now, in a year or two it'll be something else - it's all gonna happen anyway, man, so why be the last squaresville daddy-o on the block.

Read entire here.

The "Jewish Cabal"

You have to check into Al Jazeera once in a while to see what some Moslems are thinking - and, in this case, some leftists in Britain. It's not news that the US supports Israel's existence, but this is nuts:

"A Jewish cabal have taken over the government in the United States and formed an unholy alliance with fundamentalist Christians," said Tam Dalyell, a Labour party deputy and the longest-serving House member. "There is far too much Jewish influence in the United States," he added. Read entire here.

Turkey

It pains me to see a wonderful, fascinating country run into problems. I love Turkey, and would hate to see it turn to the Dark Side. From The Week:

Why we are reading Mein Kampf: Dogu Ergil  Turkish Daily News

Islamic fundamentalism is gaining ground in Turkey, said Dogu Ergil in Ankara’s Turkish Daily News. Hitler’s Mein Kampf is a current best-seller. So is that absurd anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Strangely enough, this wave of hate has been growing ever since the U.S. invaded Iraq. The war angered many Turks, who feared that it would lead to Iraq’s Kurds forming an independent Kurdistan on their borders. That, in turn, would lead Turkey’s Kurds to want to break away, fracturing our nation. Over the past two years, Turkey’s ruling party has been steadily distancing itself from the U.S. Rather than derive their power from a close relationship with the superpower, Turkey’s rulers have begun to rely more on “internal forces,” particularly the “nationalists, statists, and Islamists.” These disparate “fringe groups” want to take Turkey in different directions. The one thing that unites them is “anxiety of change and hatred of the enemy,” and they view America, the Jews, and Israel as the enemy. Fortunately, these groups are not yet in charge. Turkey can still return to the pro-Western path if it regains a more positive “unifying idea”—the promise of E.U. membership.

Russia's Culture Wars

"The absurd witch-hunt in Russia is a cautionary tale for the United States as well. If nothing else, it should show us the true worth of President Vladimir Putin's protestations that Russia is firmly on the road to democracy. It is also a demonstration of the dangers of hate speech laws, of criminalizing expression that offends people's sensibilities, and of equating criticism of religion with bigotry. These are relevant issues we face at home, too."   Read entire piece by Cathy Young here: Click here: Reason: Religion in Art? Nyet!: Casualties in Russia's culture wars

Still Not Fonda Fonda

She sounds severely messed-up and lost, but is selling books. Her savings account is probably OK. Jonathan Yardley: "But then with Fonda -- for all her intelligence, her commitment to her ideals, her fundamental decency -- it always boils down to self."  Read entire, and you will have up-to-date chat for your fancy cocktail parties with the disgusting baked brie, when you usually have nothing significant or scintillating to "bring to the table." Plus you don't have to read the book, if you're a "slow reader": Click here: First Person, Singular (washingtonpost.com)

Tom Delay Spotted Crossing Border

Jeb Praises Horowitz

Tick Tock

It has been 65 days since John Kerry promised to sign Form SF-180 to release his military records. How do I know? PoliPundit has an SF-180 Clock: Click here: PoliPundit.com » The SF-180 clock

Motu Proprio

"The life and martyrdom of Saint Thomas More have been the source of a message which spans the centuries and which speaks to people everywhere of the inalienable dignity of the human conscience, which, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us, is "the most intimate centre and sanctuary of a person, in which he or she is alone with God, whose voice echoes within them" (Gaudium et Spes, 16). "

I have never read an Apostolic Letter. This one by Pope JP II proclaims Thomas More Patron Saint of Statesmen and Politicians. God knows they need their own saint. An interesting document:Click here: Motu Proprio proclaiming Saint Thomas More Patron of Statesmen and Politicians - John Paul II (31 October 2000)

The Global Church

The RC Church, of which I am not a member, grew from 700 million to 1.2 billion members during the papacy of JP II. As the Cardinals ponder, surely global evangelism, global freedom and global justice will be on their minds. Click here: TCS: Tech Central Station - Where Is the Poland In This New Cold War?

Newspaper Index

1.   The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2.   The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3.   The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country.

4.   USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand the Washington Post. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie-chart format.

5.   The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn't have to leave LA to do it.

6.   The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and they did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.

7.   The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country, and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8.   The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country, as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9.   The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist gay dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from ANY country or galaxy as long as they are Democrats.

10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the

     baseball scores.

11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line in the grocery store