Monday, December 3. 2007
 I am heading off hunting early tomorrow morning, but wanted to leave our readers with a few good links before I leave. Related:
A quite extraordinary thing happened to me on Wednesday. I was out shooting with a few friends and we were walking from one field to the next down a country lane when a battered old Citroen screeched to a halt, the window was wound down and a young hippyish woman stuck her head out and shouted “Murderer” at me.
Read the whole thing at Devil's Advocate. I need to keep an eye on Barry Beelzebub. Mummified dino shows its stripes.  “Is the AP going to be charged with an in-kind contribution to the Clinton Campaign?” Rick Moran
Sarko is wrong about at least one thing. Who in the world is impressed by French policing? Harry Reid: Iraq is getting worse. CNN is the Corrupt News Network. LA Times. Kinda like the BBC. Let us not be timid in the face of bullying. David Warren Vote for the white guy! The hamlet of Narvik lost money speculating in subprimes! Great moments in progressive taxation. Coyote A fine gardening site. Garden Web. h/t, MouseNaround Photos: The 20 ga. I am bringing for grouse tomorrow. It's an old Abercrombie and Fitch. Well-banged-up, but shoots straight. Below, a happy Tuesday Morning tottie from Theo who is not coming with me, I am sorry to say.
 I am listening to Imus this morning on his debut on WABC. He is talking about the Rutgers thing in a wonderful, serious, and personal way. He is talking about his alcoholism and drug addiction. He says "Things worked out the way they should have worked out." He says the experience changed him for the better. "You can waste a lot of your life being bitter and unforgiving." Final bit of his monologue: "Dick Cheney is still a war criminal, Hillary Clinton is still Satan, and I'm back on the radio." He has Levon Helm playing on the set with Larry Campbell. Just terrific to hear Levon shoutin' it out. And no, I am not a big Imus fan, but I thought I would give him a chance this morning.
A big NO for Chavez. That is great news for the Venezuelans. But, like the EU constitution, he'll find another way. "The things America spends money on." Auster Teddy Bears, Parked Cars, and Moral Equivalence. Powerline Dr X responds to the NYT piece on Psychoanalysis Behead the enemies of Steyn! Dr. Sanity Zimbabwe ringtones. h/t, Theo
 I mentioned The Fear of a Blue Planet yesterday morning. In a piece titled Clear as Mud, Crittenden reminds us of a Hillary Clinton quote:
“We can talk all we want about freedom and opportunity, about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but what does all that mean to a mother or father who can’t take a sick child to the doctor?”
He comments: Well, okay, what does “all that” mean to someone stuck in congested traffic? Or annoyed by the price of cable television? What does Mrs. Clinton mean?
I do not find her quote to be ambiguous. It's plain as day. I believe that she is saying that "liberty and opportunity" are obsolete. Show me one sick child in America who is denied medical care, but, before you begin looking, I will warn you that you will not find one. (Me? I just want free legal care when I get my DUI. And free gas, please, for my truck - and would you throw in free car insurance, please?) How does her view differ from that of Lenin or of Chavez? My point is that if the ends justify the means, then any unmet human want or desire or personal responsibility can be used to rationalize the whittling away of freedom, American values, and the American way of life. And in whose hands does that power end up? In the hands of politicians - the last people in the world one would want in charge of your personal life. We should not re-design the government for those few who have big trouble in life. We should just charitably arrange to take care of them, but not sacrifice our ideals to do so. Charity is good. Government power is not, because government is populated largely by arrogant, ego-driven, power-oriented folks with minimal experience in the real world, and who know more about DC restaurants than they know about folks like me who want nothing from them except to be left alone. Give me American freedom, and let me take my own chances and live by my own choices, wits, and my own luck, and let me deal with my own difficulties without government interference or "help". I am an adult. As readers know, my view is that life in America is meant to be difficult and challenging (while full of opportunity to find one's own path, and with abundant charity from people and from government to protect those who stumble), because that is the price we pay for freedom. Serfdom is secure but soul- and spirit-stifling, whether the Lord of the Manor is the King of France, the Duke of York, a bureaucracy in Brussels or Moscow, a plantation owner, or the US government. A weak government is a good government. I believe that the once-worthy Dems (eg JFK) have been entirely captured by the "deep swimmers of the Left", as Horowitz terms them - abetted by the guilty or noblesse-oblige-oriented ultra-wealthy.
Sunday, December 2. 2007
Some of these links don't work - I apologize - will fix after church.  The Fear of a Blue Planet. NY Post. Yes, it does frighten be a bit because I do not think those folks give a darn about my individual freedom. They claim to care about the "greater good" of "the people," but I never met "the people." History tells me that "the greater good" means a power grab from me to the State, with efforts to placate me with bread and circuses and cheap doctors trained in Pakistan, Russia, and Africa. I do not like that; I do not approve of that, and I do not think that is the American way: that's what our Revolution was all about. If I were running for office, I would run on "the American way."
The Pope on eternal life. NRO Repub candidates and immigration. Flares Dutch CIA spies on Dutch media. Pajamas Canadian Molson Beer drinkers will drown French prisons? The Enigma Machine in flash. h/t, Grow a Brain The Museum of high-heeled shoes. h/t, Thompson Catching up on the teddy bear story. Yes, I am sick of Moslem Rage too. As someone noted recently, Hate Week is every week for the Moslem Rage boys - and for the rabid Dems too. The NYT always finds the negative. Since war is no longer staggering Iraq, now corruption is. Trying to be multiculturally sensitive, I thought that bribes were an intrinsic part of Midde Eastern culture - so this must mean that things are returning to normal. The ripple effects of the subprime mess: Nobody knows what it will mean. Dino Photo from A Slower Pace. Kentucky is Dan'l Boone country.
Friday, November 30. 2007
More thoughts on the Dems as the party of the rich. Dr. Sanity Venezuelans flee to NYC. NY Sun Rodney King. Still an icon of dysfunctionalism. How to go to college for free. How to date at the office. Dr. Helen Keep your laws off my body. Except... Coyote The Dems want a bilingual America. Pure pandering, IMO. I can speak French and German (and a little English, aka Modern Friesian), and the only thing that might motivate me to learn Spanish is to read Cervantes. The only language I covet is Sienese Italian. The latest on cybercrime and spambots. We have had our tussles with spambots here. Prepare ye for the end! Rick Moran thinks Pat Buchanan's new book is over the top. CNN: We're not embarassed by our lack of journalistic integrity Dr. Bob on Medicare: The history of Medicare is a history of regulatory tyranny which invariably results in “unintended and perverse consequences.” When your local hospital closes, after this proposal is implemented, be sure to write your Congressmen and local Medicare officials to express your deepest appreciation for their efforts to improve health care quality.
Wednesday, November 28. 2007
 I always wondered about this too: PC says kids cannot hold hands, but they should get condoms in school. Protein
Gingrich predicts Obama in Iowa. Why does Free Speech matter? Stumbling All about the Sten Gun. FMFT Excllent update on the endlessly-annoying and tedious subject of the Palestinians, at Jules Update on Hillary Clinton's radical past: via Powerline Is $97,000 family income rich? Polipundit discusses. No, it certainly is not rich in the Northeast, after 45% state and federal taxes and a mortgage payment. More on The Sound of Settled Science. Small Dead Lemmings. Jewish students flee Moslem mob in Canada Control freakery in the EU: Tangled. And speaking of creeping tyranny via nanny state regulation of everything, see "Reasonable Regulations" at Alphecca. The history of ideological hatred. It's about ideology replacing religion. From a piece by Dunn at Am. Thinker: It will grow more rabid in time, as it always does. When Rudolph Giuliani is elected, they will turn on him the same way they did Bush. They already have in New York City. (In all discussions of Giuliani's "failings" I have yet to see anyone point out that Giuliani is the sole Republican candidate who has put the boot to the liberals successfully and repeatedly.) For that matter, Mitt Romney would be in for the same treatment if he were elected. Even Ron Paul, borderline radical that he is. Any Republican elected to high office will be treated the same for the foreseeable future. So the media may as well knock off all the marveling on how hated Republican office holders are. At this point, it's simply part of the job description. Liberalism has become the party of hate -- the first major party to fit that description since the heyday of the Know-Nothings. You can check the record and see how long they lasted.
Tuesday, November 27. 2007
 As ye sow... Intellectual, peace-loving Presbyterian youth with guns in France battle cops.
More on Vin Gupta and the Clintons, via Lucianne Eric at Classical Values on guns, urban and rural. Gun rights are one of the third rails of politics in the US. Gives you whiplash. During the first Bush campaign, Gore was the muscular neo-con and Bush the quasi-isolationist. Then 9-11. When Iraq got challenging, the Dems changed horses in mid-stream and became limp defeatists. But now what? And is it all just partisan wrestling, really? My opinion? Yes. That's our system. As The Barrister always says, "You cannot be too cynical to understand politics." Jules on Iraq=Korea. A quote: This sets up a logical strategic arrangement, addressing vital U.S. and Iraqi interests, that illustrates how ridiculous withdrawal proposals have been, as they concentrated on abandonment without regard for any internal or external consequences. Particularly the Murthite “over the horizon” proposals. I’d suggest 50,000 U.S. troops in bases would have to have significant combat capability if they were to be prepared to carry out any of the roles outlined above. Sounds almost … Korea-like. Maybe more like our 62-year arrangements with Germany and Japan. Watch and learn, as Iraq and the United States forge an opportunity not to repeat the wretched experience of Southeast Asia. Who wants that? Oh yeah, right.
Photo: Why the odalisque from Theo? Because I think she could add a bit to the discussion of epistemology in the previous post.
Monday, November 26. 2007
 Rudy's Roots. Who is Rudy, and what does he believe in? Much detail in Newsweek.
A Chavez Freezing Fenzy. Gateway. Fur is Green. FMFT The insanity epidemic. Moonbattery. Paranoia, stupidity, or plain boredom with life? Insty found this brewing story about the Clintons and Vin Gupta. MVRWC asks: At one point will a Clinton candidacy prompt the following question of Laura Bush “Do you feel qualified to run for President, after eight years as First Lady”? What would be the reaction if she said “being First Lady doesn’t qualify you to be President”?
Total Control: How Brussels regulates our daily lives. Der Spiegel The Times of London tentatively outs Hillary Clinton American Thinker outs the Nazis Chauncey Bailey and Oakland's Moslem Bakers. Classical Values Thompson has a tax plan. Makes sense to me. Kudlow likes Fred. Immigrants an economic boon to NY State? NY Sun. I see no distinction made between legal and illegal in the story, and I wonder about those numbers. Rowan Williams - Public Embarassment. Roger Kimball From useful idiot to useless idiot. The Tanja Nijmeijer story.
Sunday, November 25. 2007
 The Greatest Generation won the war, but how were they as parents? Walter Williams, via Driscoll.
Drive-by immigrants from Canada Who wins in shareholder lawsuits? Coyote "Can I claim my minority status now?" Protein on 9-11 conspiracy theorists "We are losing our Englishness." h/t, Theo We, and others, warned about this last winter: The Dems could be making the wrong bet on Iraq. Hillary was shrewd - but not wise - to muddle her statements and to say many different things to many different audiences. Chavez is getting hysterical, and more scarey. The spiritual discipline against resentment. With reference to Christopher Lasch. Prof Deneen. From Insty: KNIGHTS IN RED SATIN: "In my own opinion, the only really dangerous government is an efficient, effective one. The best judgment of a particular democracy is how well it keeps the busybodies occupied while the rest of us get on with running things."
Well said. How good John Howard left Australia (big mistake to retire him, but I think they got tired of his face): Unemployment rate: 4.3 per cent
Interest rate: 6.75 per cent
Economic growth: 4.3 per cent
Stock market: 6650 points
Australian dollar: US90 cents
Surplus 2007 Budget: $10.6 billion
Growth in real net national disposable income per head over the past five years: 16 per cent
Photo: I saw one of those over a river this weekend, looking exactly like that. That's an immature Bald Eagle.
 Mankind is killing the entire universe? Dino. There's a subject for Gaghdad Bob.
LA Times tries to make beach erosion into a global warming issue. Dumb, or deceptive? The vast power of the Saudi lobby. Israpundit Up to one billion songbirds may be killed during each migration - hitting glass. Worst archbishop in history? Times Online. Commenter Tony G says: If anyone wishes to understand why the Church of England has lost all relevance to society in the 21st century they need only examine the biased, sanctimonious, naive utterings of Williams. He should restrict himself from lecturing others on their behaviour until he has set an example of how to constructively face and overcome the many problems facing society in his diocese.
Stockholm Syndrome? Kidnapped by Taliban and now defending Jihad. My sense is that Hillary Clinton's heroes are Saul Alinsky and Eleanor Roosevelt. A good summary of Alinsky's political tactics for radicals here. A sample: You do what you can with what you have and clothe it in moral garments. Goals must be phrased in general terms like "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," "Of the Common Welfare," "Pursuit of Happiness," or "Bread and Peace."
Saturday, November 24. 2007
NPR explains why Bush is Hitler. Moonbattery What is a "cargo cult"? h/t, BL More on how they think of us. Dissident Frogman Secular Shakers. As long as these Gaia-worshippers, with a doctrine approximating child-sacrifice, keep this up, they may mercifully remove their genes from the gene pool. An insider's look at the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound. h/t, Growabrain Patri Friedman in a comment to his own post: Lafayette - Democracy everywhere is a farce, in the sense that an individual voter's actions do not matter, and the system as a whole produces many decisions which are detrimental to almost all of its constituents. See the field of economics called "Public Choice Theory" (wikipedia) for a more detailed explanation.
He's a thoughtful guy with all sorts of interests. Going to our Blogroll so we don't forget to keep up with him. If you have been away from the blog for a few day as I have, you might have missed The Barrister's heart-warming Thanksgiving reminiscences. Also worth a look - my link on Weds to The Feminization of Churches/
Friday, November 23. 2007
Four years in prison for quoting scripture. The linked story here. We agree that the Bible conveys a dangerously subversive message. Does government ever work? If not, then why give them more to do? EU Ref Great bathrooms of NYC. Coyote Immigrant sense of entitlement. Powerline. We detest any sense of entitlement in immigrants or in citizens. If you want freedom, apply to come to the US. If you feel entitled to anything other than the gift of freedom, go elsewhere. The Second Amendment case: Big Iguana. You know my opinion: Self-defence is the most fundamental civil right. Why the Left parties are the parties of the rich: Never Yet Melted, Right Thinking, No Left Turns, Surber.
Wednesday, November 21. 2007
I am heading off to Familyland to help give thanks for being a free American, and to pray that I and we will continue to be. Will dig ya when I get back.  Tiger: The civil rights the NYT does not like.
Iraq: What went right? NY Post All you need to know about the Care Bear Stare. Lord, help me keep my mouth shut about politics this holiday. A hate-filled Europe. Lib. Leanings J School propaganda. Minding the Campus. Worse than teaching colleges. Affirmative action, hyphenated Americans, and other conumdrums. Kimball Feminization of the churches. Maxed Out Mama. One quote: I really have no great desire to be in touch with my feelings. To be a man is to know that if you really expressed your feelings, you’d be locked up for some of the more salacious criminal articles.
I have no desire to lectured to by someone who knows less than I do. I stopped going to a particular church because the rector persisted in discussing economics. Her theory of economics might have best been described as Seussian-Marxist ("I have none and you have two/ Let’s share everything, skippy-do” and “Tell you what, just for a laugh/ Let’s break everything in half").It’s bad enough when the ignorant discuss theology, but I’ve been lectured on law, history, business and politics by total idiots from the pulpit. The conservative clergy generally restrict themselves to Scripture, about which they generally know something.
Read it all. Good stuff. True, too. When they get off the subject of God and Jesus, they are just as foolish as you or me.
 Photo on right: Baghdad by night, from a piece at Attack Machine
Ingratitude at Thanksgiving. James Lewis at Am. Thinker. More on the Supremes and the DC gun ban. LaShawn Redefining "swift-boating," and re-writing history. The age-old dilemma: in a party primary, do you vote for your favorite, or for the most electable? Powerline Busted: NYC cheats on school performance exams. Jefferson would have preferred blogs to newspapers. Pajamas
Tuesday, November 20. 2007
 It's good to see that VDH was awarded one of these.
A classic Vermonter asks a classic Vermont question: "Have I created a monster which I'm begging to help me preserve or am I just a nuisance to people?" Webster said. "It's a big question." I say that it's too bad more people don't ask themselves the same question. Ya gotta love this codger. Women sexually abused as kids make more money. Al Gore gets seriously serious green. TigerHawk. Sounds like a filthy Capitalist to me. Thomas Sowell on "making a difference," quoted in a No Pasaran piece on how the UN defines poverty: I would be scared to death to "make a difference" in the way pilots fly airliners or brain surgeons operate. Any difference I might make could be fatal to many people.
Making a difference makes sense only if you are convinced that you have mastered the subject at hand to the point where any difference you might make would be for the better.
Very few people have mastered anything that well beyond their own limited circle of knowledge. Even fewer seem to think far enough ahead to consider that question. Yet hardly a day goes by without news of some uninformed busybodies on one crusade or another.
Darfur for Dummies. Cinnamon Cultural deterioration in a mediocracy, a quote: If cultural deterioration is acknowledged in a mediocracy, it is blamed on marketisation. The implication is that cultural products are somehow traded more than they used to be, which is specious. Culture has always been bought and sold, and would not get produced at all without someone to pay for it. What is different about a mediocratic market for culture is that purchasing power is in the hands of the mass consumer and the state, rather than those of a small elite. The characteristics of the prevailing culture will therefore reflect the tastes of the mass, and the ideological preferences of the political class, rather than the tastes of the bourgeoisie.
Whole thing here. h/t, David Thompson. Speech recognition comes of age. Photo: Infidel, from Theo
 Neo-neo recalls her first visit to the Main Branch of the NY Public Library on 5th Avenue. Photo of the main reading room on right, from her piece.
NEA study says people aren't reading as much as they used to. A tour of NYC's holiday window displays in the NY Sun: Window Wonderland Novack: Clinton is Nixonian Racist or Culturist? A quiz Have you ever been served an assault rifle with your coffee? They think this is us Lawrence Weiner's "mind-stretching retrospective" at the Whitney Texas challenges "Everyday Math". NY Sun. When clergy make pronouncements about things they don't understand.
Monday, November 19. 2007
Why the free ad for Maker's Mark? We are providing "equal time" due to the sympathetic post on Jack yesterday. Maker's is the best mass-market Kentucky bourbon. More on the corrupt CNN debate. Who were the neutral "undecided voter" questioners? A Democratic Party bigwig
An antiwar activist
A Union official
An Islamic leader
A Harry Reid staffer
A radical Chicano separatist Conservatives and climate change, by Rick. A good piece. Personally, the only politics I see in the climate bandwagon is that the Left sees in this a golden opportunity for more government, more taxes, more control, less freedom - and to put a ding in the mighty, uplifting power of free enterprise. One half a degree Centigrade in a century, even if accurate, matters not one bit to me. Count me in as one of the Not Afraid. I still cannot get a decent Beefsteak tomato crop up here, and, as I mentioned, it's snowing. Teaching the Euros about Thanksgiving. Jules Driscoll's Quote of the Day a couple of days ago, from Prelutsky's Hypocritical Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: "The plain truth is that if guys like DiCaprio, Clooney and Robert Redford, were women, they’d be called bimbos."
Related, at Humbug: The fallacy of Appealing to Celebrity From Anchoress: ‘Bout a year and a half ago I wrote: Nothing good will show up in the news until Bushitler is out of office and the Dems are back in. Nothing. Good news has been disallowed. If you want to find good news, you will have to look for it yourself. Bad news, though, is so welcome it even gets made up.
Read the whole thing.
Clinton Derangement Syndrome? Last Man Standing. Climate Derangement Syndrome? NYT. It's snowing here, as I write.
Sunday, November 18. 2007
We said it wouldn't happen, but the NYT is reporting on the CNN debate corruption. Insty Verboten: Fire-breathing dragons Governments don't produce wealth. A quote from Madden at TCS: Unfortunately, many people are heavily influenced by some news media that preach a fixed-pie-and-keep-others-from-the-table mentality. Wealth creation is missing from their world views. Somehow they have overlooked the essential facts that business is a creative activity, and that something always must be created before it can be used by its creators, voluntarily exchanged, or sent to Washington to pay taxes.
Warren Buffett and estate taxes. Wrong. Update on the Bangladesh cyclone death toll
Saturday, November 17. 2007
 Hunted this morning. Four or five hours in beautiful woods and swamps, busting brush, and one fine grouse in the bag. Not bad. We only put up three birds, but who cares? Thanks to my friend who lets me hunt his land with its old orchards, tangles, raspberry brambles, and streams. We saw no Woodcock, alas, because I know how to make a killer Woodcock hors d'oeuvre on toast, using its sauteed guts and liver with a bit of wine, garlic, and butter as a sauce for the tiny legs and breasts.
On the right to give offence, at Thompson Thoughts about Conservatives and Climate Change. Tigerhawk. Who is blogging, and why? Is the blogosphere in a digestion phase? h/t, Flares. Lots of interesting data on blogs and blogging. Would somebody please remind me why we do this? Is Belgium a nation? Not really. Department of Irony. I guess it isn't working very well. Samizdata would like this one. Yum. Traditional Christmas Pudding. Driscoll's Quote of the Day: "The plain truth is that if guys like DiCaprio, Clooney and Robert Redford, were women, they’d be called bimbos."
Friday, November 16. 2007
 Is Santa saying "ho,ho,ho" a new taboo? Wizbang. Ya can't make this stuff up.
From a piece at Surber: "Arizona Republic reports: “you must be a legal resident to get a driver’s license” — in Mexico." Excellent site for those in, or who wish to be in, the music business. h/t, Worstall More people killed by wind energy in the West than by nuclear power Warmongering, fascist Boy Scout fund-raiser for troops blocked in Cambridge. Cambridge is so sophisticated, isn't it? NYT warns: Resort owners affected by...snow? Smoking bans were just the first step for the Health Nazis. Samiz. Harry Reid,via Breibart: "Every place you go you hear about no progress being made in Iraq," said Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid. ..."It is not getting better, it is getting worse," he said.
How badly does the press want Hillary? Really bad. The truth about those poor Polar Bears. Jim Miller Ivy League profs overwhelming donate to Dems. Big Surprise. It must be because they are so much smarter than me. CBS says Rather has gone off the deep end. Reagan was a racist politician? There are so many logical holes in this guy's argument that I don't have time to address them. h/t, Dr. X Photo: Man's best friend, from Theo
Thursday, November 15. 2007
As everybody knows by now, NY Gov. Spitzer dropped his vote fraud plan, AKA drivers' licenses for illegals, and Mrs. Clinton "changed her mind" six minutes later. I guess that is what they call "practical politics." 80% of Iowa voters opposed the notion. In my opinion, the damage is done, because now we know what they want, if they could only get it. And I have no doubt that Spitzer got an earful from Hillary on the phone.
 Working for Murdoch: Buzz Machine
Nature vs. nurture re race is no longer taboo at the NYT. Auster Jules after one year of his blog: "I also discovered it’s a colossal pain in the ass, like owning a restaurant." Indeed. Only idiots like us would even try to do it. John Thain goes to run Merrill. Moslem wetsuits. Gates Blame the doctors. Overlawyered Rangel on "our voluntary tax system." Conspiracy Ira Levin died, author of This Perfect Day. Cafe Hayek
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