Tuesday, November 20. 2007
 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
The revolting, oily Sidney Blumenthal is back working for the Clintons again. This is the sort of Kos-like shrill hysteria, enraged derangement, fear-mongering, and distortion which is his stock in trade, from a piece at Salon: Under crisis conditions of an extraordinary magnitude political leadership of the highest level will be required in the next presidency. The damage is broad, deep and spreading, apparent not only in international disorder and violence, the unprecedented decline of U.S. prestige, and the flouting of our security and economic interests but also in the hollowing out of the federal government's departments and agencies, and their growing incapacity to fulfill their functions, from FEMA to the Department of Justice.
How much good news can people handle? What you won't get from the MSM: Gateway
Wednesday, November 14. 2007
 Howard Dean makes up his own theology. Everybody goes to heaven? That's not the deal, as I understand it.
Who told the Indians that Thanksgiving should be a time of mourning for them? Can you believe that Newsweek did this? If they really want to sell magazines, they should just switch to real porn instead of political porn. The rich are a pinata. Corner Two links to Rick in one day? What's a little vote fraud among friends? Vagina dentata. Sheesh. h/t, Vanderleun Gore goes to Kleiner Perkins. A part-time job. I'll bet it is. The strange war on homework. Am. Thinker The insane hatred of the Left towards Bush. Berkowitz in Opinion Journal. "You've got to be carefully taught," right? Oil speculation has driven gas prices. What is an "involuntary father"? Whatever it is, should it pay child support? Dr. Helen "Stewardship" of the people. Brits called upon to control their people more thoroughly. Moonbattery. This is totalitarianism, or monarchy, by bureaucrat, and Brussels is the new Versailles. A website to help people with disabilities - Disaboom. h/t, Slower Pace
 A negative hotel review from Rick. Tropicana. For starters, I would not be caught dead in Las Vegas. Second, if taken there dead against my will, I would stay at the Bellagio.
A fast food calorie counter.
Merry Christmas. NY Gov. Spitzer will collect sales tax from internet sales. 8.3%, if you can believe that. Aren't internet sales out-of-state? No? Bush supporter elected PM in Denmark. Denmark?!? Hmmmm. Maybe the world is waking up and smelling the chai skim latte. Rich Lowry has it right. From Quiet Victory (h/t, Ace): Forget the briefings from generals, the intelligence evaluations and the Pentagon status reports. There is a handy indicator for whether the war in Iraq is going well — its relative absence from the front pages.
Clintonian terror tactics to keep the press in line: CNN's Wolf Blitzer has been warned not to focus Thursday's Dem debate on Hillary. 'This campaign is about issues, not on who we can bring down and destroy,' top Clinton insider explains. 'Blitzer should not go down to the levels of character attack and pull 'a Russert.'' Blitzer is set to moderate debate from Vegas...
ie, No tough questions or you are screwed. Russert's question was a "character attack"? That is a lame spin. Related: Camille Paglia on Queen Hillary's Disruptive Court
Tuesday, November 13. 2007
 Our Yankee friend Raven has had enough of politics at And Rightly So, and has moved over to her Just Raven site - whence the moose photo on the right. As the New England moose population burgeons, this is becoming a common roadside sight. Scary, too: you do not want to hit one with your Prius. A year or two ago I enjoyed a moose filet. Very fine.
The gay choice of deathstyle in Iran. Gateway Hey students! Stay out of political "engagement" in our local politics. Praying for rain in Georgia. For Dalrymple fans, Decadence, Europe, America, and Islam, from a year ago. Adding to Ye Olde Blogroll in Science: The Frontal Cortex
Monday, November 12. 2007
 How well do dogs see at night?
Bolton kicking ass, back at the UN. The fungus that causes dandruff. John Hawks The brain does benefit from physical exercise. Higher taxes are key to happiness, says Edwards. Non-poverty in the West creates dire political crisis for Left. I guess their only option now is to convince the middle class that they are oppressed by The System. (h/t, No Pasaran) Band of Bloggers: video at History Channel Bluefin Tuna and overfishing. Number of foreign students in the US increasing rapidly. The fact that Antarctic ice is increasing does not deter alarmist visiting South Pole. Meanwhile, Vaclav Klaus speaks sense to Europe. State's economies compared with world economies. Why Obama's Social Security tax increase won't work. Curvy women are smarter.
Those sneaky, slippery Mormons. US Navy makes a boo-boo. Ouch. That isn't supposed to happen. 4000 year-old temple in Peru, with murals. This at a time when the Indians up here were living in stick and bark wigwams. What's wrong with Mexico that Mexicans break laws to come to the US? TCS France's Left wants to find out what Sarko is made of. This is his chance to kick some ass and teach the Euroweenies to grow up. Thompson first to offer a genuine Social Security plan. Oh, OK, now Obama has one too: Raise taxes. How original! The Big Green Scare Machine at Am. Thinker. And I cannot resist re-linking this: Weather Channel founder says AGW "greatest scam ever." Hitchins falsifies MLK's inspiration. Hitchins is by no means stupid, so can I assume that the errors are deliberate? Worried yet? Up to $400 billion in write-downs due to sub-primes? I see tasty buying opportunities in my near future: stocks, plus maybe a time to get out of my rental. Calling out the weak sisters at the NYT: Jules on Frank Rich Brad DeLong on Bob Herbert
Sunday, November 11. 2007
 Norman Mailer: Roger Kimball and I are on the same page." Mailer is/was a greatly over-rated would-be hipster.
Evangelicals rethinking divorce? Yahoo News (h/t, News for Christians) Rove: Pelosi's House is a mess. I prefer it that way. Blogworld update, from Rick Moran in Vegas. Liars on infant mortality. Dan Collins has it nailed. Always gets caught cheating. Maybe it's because they cheat so often. King of Spain tells Chavez to shut up. Intolerance of tolerance. Koukl at Town Hall (h/t, MouseNaround). It's about "tolerance traps." A quote: Most of what passes for tolerance today is nothing more than intellectual cowardice, a fear of intelligent engagement. Those who brandish the word "intolerant" are unwilling to be challenged by other views or grapple with contrary opinions, or even to consider them. It's easier to hurl an insult—"you intolerant bigot"—than to confront an idea and either refute it or be changed by it. In the modern era, "tolerance" has become intolerance. Whenever you're charged with intolerance, always ask for a definition. When tolerance means neutrality, that all views are equally valid and true, then no one is ever tolerant because no one is ever neutral about his own views. Point out the contradiction built into the new definition. Point out that this kind of tolerance is a myth.
He recommends: Be egalitarian regarding people.
Be elitist regarding ideas.
Photo: A red Labradoodle
Saturday, November 10. 2007
 A school voucher debate, at Pajamas
Dissecting Asus' EEE PC Where was your car made? Cafe Hayek The politics of planted questions. Patterico Beer, Harp and Horns: Always a good listen A unique blog: Indexed Tort awards on free speech, Pretty interesting. They call this reporting the news? The Globe just cannot stand the fact that Sarkozy - or anyone - likes America. Peggy Noonan on Hillary vs. Thatcher. Fort Worth, TX deals with "nigger" intelligently. There are many ugly and rude words in English. Sticks and stones... I hope the Supremes take on the DC 2nd Amendment appeal. How many academics feel like frauds? Norm. How many people, in general? Hate speech: If you are Conservative or Libertarian-minded, you will surely recognize yourself in these words. The Vioxx settlements. Worstall. Thus was an excellent drug taken off the market, and a great, innovative business damaged. It's probably just about greed that these lawsuits are brought. Does anybody really expect medicine to be without side effects? No free lunch. From a piece on Venezuela at Devil's Excrement: There is no milk but there is yogurt. There is no sugar, but there is Splenda. There are no eggs, nor meat, nor rice, but there is caviar, salmon and all the things to make Sushi. What type of economy is this? Who are the geniuses that play politics in the name of the poor and the result is that all that is available are the goods for the rich?
From the sane Joe Lieberman: "There is something profoundly wrong — something that should trouble all of us — when we have elected Democratic officials who seem more worried about how the Bush administration might respond to Iran's murder of our troops, than about the fact that Iran is murdering our troops.
Photo: Wine shop in Florence
Friday, November 9. 2007
 Convicted of poetry, in part. Daily Mail
Great public restrooms of the world Christmas ideas: Animatronic Elvis. Every home needs at least one. Reconstructing America. No Pasaran likes Ceasar's book. Why bother with those old tales? And other similar questions. Dr. Bob on scripture "Creepy and witless" indoctrination. Dino Quickies: What can be learned from speed-dating?
Thursday, November 8. 2007
 Randall Hoven on "Inordinate Fear" at American Thinker. h/t, RWN
Protein on Moslem science Why I never hire brilliant men. From 1924. h/t, Links at Flares FL company prohibits smoking off the job. That would be an interesting legal case, on either side. Makes you want to be a lawyer. The guy also doesn't want to hire fat people. Global warming "greatest scam in history," says founder of The Weather Channel Cramer: Cuomo's a communist. Probably true. If anyone thinks that the Islamists are focused on the West only, think again. It truly is a movement of hatred for "the other." Women too fragile for politics. Hatemonger Adding to our blogroll: Contentions at Commentary From a piece at Dino: 
Photo: That is not Dr. Bliss. That's a Theo girl.
Richistan: A journey through the American wealth boom and the lives of the new rich. A new book by WSJ writer Robert Frank, reviewed in The American. One quote: It’s not the existence of these well-heeled, free-spending Americans that’s remarkable, Frank writes, but their sheer abundance. In 1995, there were 230,000 U.S. households worth at least $10 million and 50,000 households worth at least $25 million (in inflation-adjusted terms). In 2004, there were 530,000 and 110,000 such households, respectively. The accumulated wealth of America’s top one percent of earners—about $1.35 trillion—equals more than the total national incomes of Canada, France, and Italy. Perhaps most striking, roughly half of all American wealth has been created in the past ten years.
What a wonderful thing it is that, if you want big money, you have the chance to make it. The reclamation of LA's Skid Row. Heather MacDonald in City Journal. A quote For 25 years, the advocates used lawsuits and antipolice propaganda to beat back every effort to restore sanity to Skid Row. They concealed the real causes of homelessness under a false narrative about a callous, profit-mad society that abused the less fortunate. The result: a level of squalor that had no counterpart in the United States. Smith’s policing initiatives—grounded in the Broken Windows theory of order maintenance—ended that experiment in engineered anarchy, saving more lives in ten months than most homeless advocates have helped over their careers. The forces of lawlessness are regrouping, however, and Smith’s successes may wind up reversed in a renewed attack on the police.
and An Urban Land Institute study warned in 1987 that the “invasion of the homeless” was threatening the older SRO population and local businesses; stronger police protection was essential, argued the institute. The recommendation failed to take into account a second new population invading Skid Row: homeless advocates. Some of the same groups that had challenged public-order laws and pushed for the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill now seized on the resulting homeless for a host of ends, including a right to housing and further restrictions on the police. A made-for-the-media “tent city” erected by sundry homeless advocates outside City Hall in December 2004, for example, sought to end workfare and job-search requirements for welfare recipients—measures that had nothing to do with why people were on the streets.
Read the whole thing.
Wednesday, November 7. 2007
 Climate skepticism on the rise in Europe
Fred fading? The guy is good, but does he really have his heart in this? Sarkozy in Washington: "We want to win your hearts back." Prude: How our sex-obsessed culture damages girls. A book, at Powerline Fred McDarrah died. An archive of his photos here. His photo on right - the wonderful Franz Kline in his studio, 1961. Business news you might have missed. Wizbang. Incomes rising faster than inflation. Princeton's Robert George: The Moral Purposes of Law and Government. h/t, MouseNaround Outstanding pencil sharpener. FMFT More on my "invisible knapsack" of privilege. Moonbattery Finally - Brit pubs rebel against smoking ban Sowell: Among the many mindless mantras of our time, "making a difference" and "giving back" irritate me like chalk screeching across a blackboard.
Whole thing at Town Hall
Tuesday, November 6. 2007
 More on the Dems' problems with illegal immigration. Barone.
What the press must do to regain some trust, Part 1, at Powerline. Related: Top newspapers take big hits. Dick Morris on Bill Clinton on Hillary The history of the victim card in Dem politics. Taranto Palestinian Jerusalemites want nothing to do with the Palestinian Authority. So much for "oppression". Dems are the party of the mega-rich. Ace Election Day: Do not vote today - unless you understand the issues, and have thought it all through. When uninformed and foolish people vote, everyone loses. As we have noted, it's all about whores Stooges pandering for a sinecure desiring to serve you. Looking behind those health care stats. Mankiw in the NYT. (h/t, Viking). He pokes a hole in all of the scare tactics. What people want is portablility, I think. Of course, everybody wants cheaper too - but not if it means less freedom of choice. Medical treatment is not a commodity, and a physician is not a factory worker. A good point on the supposed "problem" of income disparity. Cafe Hayek. The numbers are deceptive because women are working more these days, and the stats are based on household income, not individual income.
Monday, November 5. 2007
 Why doesn't Maggie's Farm enter those annual "Best Blog" contests that are going on now?
1. We think it's a little silly.
2. We might not win.
3. We have no clue about what blog category we could be in, and there are far better tractor blogs than we are. I reckon we could win, though, in the "Best Commenters" category - but there isn't one.
 The micro-celebrity and the world of image: Stumbling. Heather Mills? Should I care?
Race, marriage, and poverty. Econlog. What he said. Turn-around in Baghdad. Jules. The battle is over, except for some mopping up, and some mopping up of the tears of the Dems - and of Al Qaida. Just like olden times: US Navy beats the pirates. We are richer today than ever in history. Cafe Hayek. No doubt: I can't fit my hunting gear in my closet, and I am far from rich. NBC - "We'll leave the lights off for you." Driscoll. What a joke. Perspective in war stats: Patterico and Korea Real life in Russia today. via Siberian Light The Perils of Petrocracy. Something good from the Sunday NYT. It begins: Who holds the world’s oil? You might assume it’s in the hands of big private oil companies like ExxonMobil. But in fact, 77 percent of the world’s oil reserves are held by national oil companies with no private equity, and there are 13 state-owned oil companies with more reserves than Exxon-Mobil.
Read the whole thing. Tony afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted - like us. More on Tony Snow's speech, at SDA. Another quote from Tony: Political rhetoric has turned nasty, childish, and very personal, especially on Capitol Hill, and Americans are sick of it. Hotheads seem to be enjoying a false spring of fame. And members of the mainstream press are scratching their heads and asking, “What's going on here? Why are the nation´s newspapers hemorrhaging readers? Why are the television networks losing viewers? Why has cable news suddenly hit still water? What is going on? Don't Americans care about the news?" Well, of course they do: The problem is, they don't think they´re getting news — and they´re right.
Adding to blogroll: Official News Agency - good humor. Also, MouseNAround, which is miscellaneous like us but mainly a Christian-oriented site. Also, An Englishman's Castle.
|
