Maggie's Farm

"Isn't it great to live in a society where the penalty for lying to a congressman can be up to 30 years in jail, but the penalty for a congressman lying to you is another two years in office."

Peter Schmuck, a Baltimore Sun sports writer, concerning the indictment of Roger Clemens

This is the most clearly stated, sensible, and historically accurate statement that I’ve read on this issue:

Statement on the Proposed “Cordoba House” Mosque near Ground Zero
Newt Gingrich, July 21, 2010

There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.

The proposed "Cordoba House" overlooking the World Trade Center site – where a group of jihadists killed over 3000 Americans and destroyed one of our most famous landmarks - is a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites.  For example, most of them don’t understand that “Cordoba House” is a deliberately insulting term.  It refers to Cordoba, Spain – the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest mosque complex.

Today, some of the Mosque’s backers insist this term is being used to "symbolize interfaith cooperation" when, in fact, every Islamist in the world recognizes Cordoba as a symbol of Islamic conquest.  It is a sign of their contempt for Americans and their confidence in our historic ignorance that they would deliberately insult us this way.  Those Islamists and their apologists who argue for "religious toleration" are arrogantly dishonest.  They ignore the fact that more than 100 mosques already exist in New York City.  Meanwhile, there are no churches or synagogues in all of Saudi Arabia.  In fact no Christian or Jew can even enter Mecca. And they lecture us about tolerance.  If the people behind the Cordoba House were serious about religious toleration, they would be imploring the Saudis, as fellow Muslims, to immediately open up Mecca to all and immediately announce their intention to allow non-Muslim houses of worship in the Kingdom.  They should be asked by the news media if they would be willing to lead such a campaign.

We have not been able to rebuild the World Trade Center in nine years.  Now we are being told a 13 story, $100 million mega mosque will be built within a year overlooking the site of the most devastating surprise attack in American history.

Finally where is the money coming from?  The people behind the Cordoba House refuse to reveal all their funding sources.  America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization.  Sadly, too many of our elites are the willing apologists for those who would destroy them if they could.

- No mosque.
- No self-deception.
- No surrender.
- The time to take a stand is now - at this site on this issue.

Discuss and debate -

Here she is again, not letting us get too close:

A flight attendant's comment on a less than perfect landing: "We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal."

Yes, it's for real.

Kulula is an Airline with head office situated in Johannesburg.

Kulula airline attendants make an effort to make the in-flight "safety
lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining.  Here are some real
examples that have been heard or reported:

A kettle of migrating hawks SE of San Jose, California, last weekend. It was my annual California deer hunt.

From The Union:

Planning continues for the restoration of a long-shuttered fire lookout in the Tahoe National Forest.

This fall, volunteers met with Forest Service staff to discuss fixing up the historic Grouse Ridge lookout for use as a rental facility. The circa-1923 tower near Washington sports a spectacular, 360-degree view and a fantastic location near a series of alpine lakes that are extremely popular with outdoor enthusiasts.

But the lookout off Bowman Lake Road has suffered quite a bit of damage over the years and includes an outhouse perched precariously on a cliff. One of the goals of the renovation is to maintain the historic nature of the facility, while still providing some amenities.

Contractor volunteers have met with Forest Service archeologist Bill Slater at the lookout to review restoration needs, said Public Affairs Officer Ann Westling.

“We're still putting together the work plan in terms of what needs to be done and the cost — and how it's going to get done,” she said.

The plans will deal with the needed restoration, health and safety repairs, and historical requirements. Because the lookout is a historic structure, the plans will need to be sent to the California State Historic Preservation Office for approval.

Grouse Ridge will be the third lookout on the Tahoe National Forest to undergo restoration.

The first two include Calpine Lookout, which has been available for rent for five years, and Sardine Lookout, which is expected to be available this year. The facilities are rented through the National Reservation System for about $45 per night.

Grouse Ridge Lookout with outhouse to right (my photos from this summer):

View from the top:

What's the origin of "the real McCoy"?

There are many theories - "folk etymologies," but this seems most likely: 

It is a corruption of the Scots "The real MacKay", first recorded in 1856 as: "A drappie o’ the real MacKay," and this is widely accepted as the origin.

MacKay (and the Irish McCoy and Magee) are all basically the same name. 

California, 7/31:

In the Sierra Nevadas, California, July 2010

Those holes are rocket launchers, also found on custom cabs and ambulances.

We'll will be in the Sierra for a month, and mostly out of internet range at our place except when we go to town. The aggregate snowfall (including 12 inches on Memorial Day) was 561 inches (see http://www.squaw.com/snowfall-tracker-2009-10), and this is what's left on July 7. Weather is 75 day, 46 night, but dry. It's early Spring - few flowers are out yet, but the pollen is heavy & everything (grass, skunk cabbage, shrubs, shoots) is bright green.

My photo last week:

This week, with sun trying to burn through.

View from the little island we stayed on last weekend with friends, looking across to another tiny windswept island.

Yesterday afternoon on Long Island Sound with a nice breeze, with some pics of pretty boats.

These folks are setting their sails:

This was a 12-meter race which we watched for a bit, mostly boats from the 60s:

God's air-conditioning, last Saturday, at our place in the California mountains:

My favorite Holy Day, 50 days following Easter.

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?

Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."

All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

The view from my hotel room this morning -

Knowledge grows by not only doubting your beliefs and believing your doubts, but by doubting your doubts and believing your beliefs.

We live in a culture that has, for centuries now, cultivated the idea that the skeptical person is always smarter than one who believes.  You can be almost as stupid as a cabbage, as long as you doubt. 

The fashion of the age has identified mental sharpness with a pose, not with genuine intellectual method and character.  Today it is the skeptics who are the social conformists, though - because of powerful intellectual propaganda - they continue to enjoy thinking of themselves as wildly individualistic and unbearably bright.

Dallas Willard

Failed to bag any pigs on my pig trip to CA, but did bag some pics of pig country:

More photos below -

Took this photo last week of what I am told is the largest sloop in the world: