Maggie's Farm

Connect the dots: China, internet, cartoons, etc. Democracy Project

On a roll! Expose The Left, aka Political Teen. Too much good stuff to link.

Unions kill jobs. So says And Rightly So.

Bring in the "suits." A VC

Fascist Dog replaces Sheehan. Blame Bush

350 BC wine and oil. Good stuff. Another ancient shipwreck found. If the wine is retsina, you can keep it.

Nasty internet worm going around: Do not open any emails with porn connotations today. Really.

Nasty bug going around: A deadly intestinal bacterium

A different category of "insensitive" cartoons: cartoons from the Arab world. Dinocrat. And Bird of Paradise has the wisest take on this whole cartoon subject, from a Christian standpoint. (Can't believe we are talking about cartoons.)

Feisty goldfish Phin makes fun of Pajamas Media. Wolcott goes after PJ too.

Building a wall of fear: Julian Bond says "blacks have no freedom" in America, and Repubs are Nazis. How does this kind of rhetoric help anything? Well, it seems clear that its purpose is to scare your constituency into staying on your political plantation. But this kind of talk goes way beyond routine lying demagoguery and pandering and victimhood-mongering: it is plain despicable and destructive and dishonorable. Confed. Yank has story.

Dems narfle the garthok at the SOTU. Indeed they did. RWNH And in those images is a gold mine of political advertisements. Must be devilish Rovian genius at work.

Afghan terrorists targeting schools. That's one way to try to win the hearts of the people.

Why go to Florida or the Caribbean? Here's a real vacation: The Four Seasons' Golden Triangle in Thailand. Tents.

Yes, we are finally updating our blogroll. Will provide a list of all of those sites we use, but have neglected to list, soon.

Yet another piece on the uselessness of the military 9 mm. One Hand Clapping

Michelle on the Danish-Moslem issue. The French caved on free speech, not let's see if the Brits do. And what about us? Michelle is on it, including how it is coming to the Brits too. (Image borrowed from Michelle)

Black families flee the government plantation in Minneapolis. H/T, Powerline. Given the freedom to do so, it would happen across the US - black, white, and other.

5'9", and scores 113 points.

As mentioned in the Dalrymple piece we posted earlier today, more on the French failure to produce visas for visitors to the US: Travelwire.

Union using non-union labor to picket Walmart. Hmmm.

Bush's poll numbers graph - pre- SOTU: Right nation

Will Brokeback Mountain create a Wyoming tourism boom? It was filmed in Canada.

Safe travel. Store your travel documents online. Good idea.

The latest on hormone relacement: Science Times

It looks good for Lynn Swann in PA

Are doctors prepared for the big moral decisions? Overby at The New Atlantis thinks not. And he is one of them. I suspect that he is mostly wrong.

How to ration beer and snacks at a Superbowl Party. But who would be so cruel?

A Lefty pro-abortion person tells Dems how they could have defeated Alito. My DD

Mass. defeated offering tuition breaks to illegals. Missed the conslusion of that story. Amazing.

A good, hard-working blogger throws in the towel. Blogging is a bitch. Quoted from the fine, but recently- defunct Conservative Friends. Sad:

What I'm really here to say is this: I'm done. No one reads this site. No one visits here. I've done everything I know for a year and a half to promote this site and traffic has actually gone DOWN. I'm tired and instead of being fun, it's become a pain in the ass. I dread every day trying to come up with enough content to keep a tiny handful of people from leaving along with everyone else. I can't do it anymore.

Bush on Iran: Jihad Watch

Sheehan at the SOTU. Johnson at Frontpage looks into the ridiculous details. She is great for comedy, at her expense. Call it tragicomedy.

Lots of bloggers on the story of France-Soir publishing the Moslem cartoons. Dr. Sanity has a nice post on the subject, also commenting on Slick Willy's loathsome comments. And the latest on this silly story at CSM.

Sen Reed (who he? D, RI) thought Alito wanted too much religious freedom, so voted against. You can't make this stuff up. Anchor Rising. Hey, RI - you are marching to your own kazoo.

Is there a "right" to a child? Touchstone says no. Of course not - what a dumb idea.

The Amazin' Dancin' Alito. Pretty cute. Court Jester

Math teachers are hard to find. Yeah, math is sooooo hard. Especially if you can't think straight or clearly. Education Wonks

The whining of the MSM. Finally, another arrogant quasi-monopoly falls. Buzzmachine. Teddy Roosevelt would love it. Welcome, newspapers, to the Kodak, Inc. experience. Or should I say the "Kodak Moment"? Obsolete tree-killers.

Hand-holding is good during stress. Yes indeed it is, at any age. Accidental Verbosity.

Google corrects. About time. I would not buy it.

What did I dislike about Bush's speech? I disliked the laundry list of things the Federal Govt wants to do for us. We elect conservatives for devolution of money and power. But politics drives things in the opposite direction. Example: CT has an over 300 million surplus this year, maybe much higher. Local municipalities want that $ so they don't have to deal with the political consequences of raising their taxes or cutting "services." Likewise, in other situations, CT goes hat in hand to the Feds for $ they can squeeze out of them so CT doesn't have to raise state taxes. Is government just a big vote-buying scam?

And, on the subject of CT, there is a push to remove one of the remaining Blue Laws of the puritan era: the Sunday hunting ban. The Sunday ban has been law since the 1600s. For working folks, it gives you only one day - Saturday - to hunt. That is not enough.

Did the MOMA sell its soul for its new building? Perl in New Republic says it has become a mall. There's no such thing as "modern art" anyway. Fra Angelico was once modern.

More on the Moslem cartoons. They need to work on their sense of humor. No-one is exempt from humor and satire. No-one deserves to be, either. Powerline joins the fray. Go Vikings!!!

CAIR is looking for a few good men. LGF. College credit available. CAIR has learned a lot from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, but they have learned nothing noble or honorable from either of those mountebanks.

Lileks is sick of this sh-t and so am I. PC Maoist BS run amuck. Not to mention anti-Christian. We should we way past this sort of thing - it's material for satire, not for real. But it keeps on coming.

Harper Lee. I didn't realize she was alive. She keeps a low profile, most of the time. NYT

Are the Danes caving in to the Jihadist bullies? BKP. Hope not. Please buy Danish - Democracy Project tells you what to buy. Of course, Bill Clinton has to have his say: Belmont

Moho is still on the job. They drilled a hole almost to the earth's mantle. Very cool.

Is there a health care crisis? Merline at TCS looks at the numbers and asks "Is there a Recreation Crisis in the US?" A quote:

If there is a crisis in health spending, it is the direct result of government policy over the past four decades, which has encouraged the dramatic rise in third-party payment of health care.

Two boys in Boston were playing baseball when one of them was attacked by a rabid dog. Thinking quickly, the other boy ripped a board off of a nearby fence, wedged it into the dog's collar and twisted it, breaking the dog's neck. 

A newspaper reporter from the Boston Herald witnessed the incident and rushed over to interview the boy. The reporter began entering data into his laptop, beginning with the headline:

"Brave Young Red Sox Fan Saves Friend From Jaws Of Vicious Animal"

"But I'm not a Red Sox fan," the little fellow interjected.

"Sorry" replied the reporter. "But since we're in Boston, Mass, I just assumed you were." Hitting the delete key, the reporter began:

"John Kerry Fan Rescues Friend from Horrific Dog Attack"

"But I'm not a Kerry fan either," the boy responds.

The reporter says, "I assumed everybody in this state was either for Red Sox or Kerry or Kennedy. What team or person do you like? "

"I'm a Texas Ranger fan and I really like George W. Bush" the boy says. Hitting the delete key, the reporter begins again:

"Arrogant Little Conservative Prick Kills Beloved Family Pet."

The Sears Roebuck 1975 Catalog. Cafe Hayek

Math in California. It's not your father's math. RWN. Why do we pretend that everyone can learn everything? It is so obviously not true.

Dean is going down. Too bad. Excellent source of humor and amusing press. Everybody loves a clown. Dean has been our Galloway. More from Vodkapundit.

The "urban heat island" in NYC. NASA is studying it. Interesting phenomenon. ScienceDaily

The Fed budget looks bad. We always said that there should have been a temporary war tax. Freedom isn't free. It costs blood and treasure.

Hillary has chosen not to be the standard-bearer for Dem centrism. NYSun: What was she thinking? And the Leftist bloggers are giving the Dems heartburn, and delusions of grandeur: Captain Ed

First Denmark, now Norway feels the Jihadist heat. Stand firm, Norsemen. Dinocrat. Moslems have to learn to take a joke - and to look at themselves: Classical Values has example, and links to more Moslem cartoons. Somehow I sense that Jihadists are lacking in a sense of humor. They need therapy.

Savings rate lowest since Depression. Not good.

Hamas: opinions at Am. Princess, Gay and Right, neo-neocon, Daily Pundit

Cindy for Senate! Something on which everyone seems to agree. Ace, Ten Napel, Michelle,

Standing by its values: Notre Dame. Sensible Mom

Do not raise your hand in England schools? This is the sure sign of a decadent culture, in decline. Painful to watch. Moonbattery

Who is an Indian? Phin

Not news, but the dumb pseudo-filibuster cum fund-raising effort went down fast. YARGB is right about that. Any press is better than no press, right? The DNC is desperate: According to Drudge tonite,  They are broke. A good way to look like an out-of-touch fool but, as on Wall Street, there is always a bigger fool to buy what you are selling. What should be interesting is the next Supreme nominee. She will be female, and a lady too. I can't wait. Anyway, Alito is a done deal now - but he always was. Now he can go back to his usual habits of smoking pot and chasing babes at the strip clubs and driving drunk and getting off on Ecstasy. A tip to radical Leftist Dems: Save your bullets....aw, it's too late now. You used them already.

"Aslan isn't safe, but he is good." Hunter at Ornery American digs into the Narnia movie, with some praise and some serious critique: A Defanged, declawed Aslan

I know Ted Kennedy just gets riled up, but I can't believe he said this about Alito and asthma. Makes himself look like a total idiot. Alito's not a doctor. Not that Mass. cares. Wizbang

Cement is not a boring subject. Neither is this graph of world cement production, via Synthstuff.

Why Mommy is a Democrat. It's a book. How come it's not "Why Daddy is a Democrat"? Maybe because he isn't. Right Wing News

Bush supporters are all bigots. Science says so, so it must be true. Expose the Left (did the Political Teen grow up? My, my, my - how time flies.)

Is eBay fundamentally a fraudulent enterprise? The Prof wonders.

Very funny photo of "Mrs. Clinton" with soldier. Confed. Yank

Hamas: Pothole-fillers or Nazis? Front Page says Nazis. They sure sound like it.

View from the Left: Americans even dumber than Bush. Paul Craig Roberts. Yup, no doubt that's the problem with America: we let dumb conservatives vote. I haven't heard the suggestion yet for "thought-adjustment centers." Wait a minute - we already have those. They're called "public schools" and "colleges."

View from the Clitoris: Shere Hite on orgasming the world to peace. Haha. She doesn't mean it as satire, tho. She needs to get out more.

The Great Wall of Cuba. The ongoing fear of ideas, at Paxety

New polls on immigration: Instap. It's a major political issue, and both parties wish it would just go away. This is a fundamental problem with immigration anywhere: if you have too much of it, it intimidates the politicans and, the next thing you know, it isn't your country that you know and love anymore. That is a big problem for national unity and identity and shared purpose. And that is why we believe that would-be immigrants should stay home and fix their own place. A country is family - or should be. Japan understands that basic principle of human nature. More tomorrow.

Our cousin and brother-in-arms Mr. Free Market and friends enjoyed a good shoot. But I don't get the jays and magpies. Are they edible? Or is it the old "If it flies, it dies" approach to shooting? I could get on board with that. Robin ravioli with gibier sauce and black truffle? Jay on toast? Chickadee puree with leek sauce?

Valentine's dinner at Alto. $4400 for two, (but tip is included, and one would hope a little romance too, afterwards). $4400 is pocket change for us Maggie's Farm sharecroppers - we made a killing by shorting pumpkin futures in October.

Not all Dems are Moonbats. Obama sounds rational. Calif. Yank

Brit poll: Less abortions. RTLC

Who is standing up for Denmark in their refusal to be bullied my Moslems? Classical Values is, and so are we, for what it's worth. Stand firm, Vikings.

Euro and American relationships with Libya are normalizing. CSM. Proof, is it not, that if a Moslem country renounces aggression toward us, we'll leave them alone.

American Future takes on The Nation, which asserts that the Iranians aren't scarey. They blame the US for "stoking a climate of fear."  WTF? And LGF posts a speech - Nukes for all Moslem countries.

Who is the enemy of America? Bush, or the Jihadists? Patterico attempts to clarify this knotty question.

We posted "Stuck on 1968" yesterday. Today, Barone makes a similar point at TCS, "Stuck in the 70s".

Condi says we won't give $ aid to Hamas. Duh. However, we do give over 350 million of hard-earned taxpayer $ to Palestine annually. Where does that $ end up? And why should coal miners in West Virginia, and cops in Paducah, be giving their $ to Palestine when they have their own Christmas credit card bills to pay? Not to mention their bar tabs.

Can you believe this? I guess I can. Naomi Wolf finds Christ. I should say that Christ found her. She was a very bitter, angry, destructive person, beloved of the man-hating feminists, but I guess divorce was tough. Can hardly blame the poor fellow who probably has to go out there and eat protein and try to grow his penis back. Now, she will be ostracized by the Moonbats.

Evil, evil Halliburton: No-one wants to buy their KBR subisidary, which isn't making any money in Iraq. Winding it all down.

I am fat. It is the restaurant's fault. Can't blame me: I just eat what they give me.

Recharge your cell phone by working out. There's a good idea. Engadget.

"Brea, buter en grienne tsiis is goed ingelsk." That is Frisian for "bread, butter and green cheese is good English". Frisian is said to be the mother tongue of English - but is English just Frisian? I guess so. A dialect of Frisian, with a bit of Latin and French added for flavoring.

Cockburn on Kristof's brothel issue. Hahaha

Pikeville wants its environment destroyed. Amazing. I know Pikeville. Good American coal town, with solid church-going people on their front porches in the evening, smoking and sipping coffee or beer in their undershirts while their wives are cleaning up in the kitchen, and saying Howdy to the folks passing by. Pronounced "pok-v'l."

Anti-Americanism at the Beeb. There has got to be a limit. YARGB. Hey, Beeb - we ain't all that bad, really. We're just your average blood-thirsty imperialist capitalist monsters who want to oppress the world with evil freedom and evil economic success and evil life opportunity. We are bad, aren't we?

France's D-Day Museum tried to go the way of the 9-11 Memorial. Got to keep an eye on the sneaky Moonbats. Moonbattery

The End of the Spear. HH recommends it. Will see it, and will bring Gwynnie.

Getting difficult to find dog on menus in China. What a shame. The sad loss of an iconic multi-cultural item. Like live monkey brain, which no doubt our kids eat in grammar school when they do their multi-cultural sensitivity section on China, immediately following their section on Tienanmen Square, no doubt. Am I a bit pissed off at China? Yes. Our growing handful of Chinese readers have abruptly disappeared. Why would they block a Farming Blog? Or am I paranoid? Yeah, I guess they probably just didn't enjoy Maggie's...

And where the heck are our Cuban readers? We love Cuba, hate Fidelito. Guess no-one there can afford a PC because it's a People's Paradise where everyone can be happy without being confused by information. Socialism has kept them a Third World country. Great free medical care, though, if you don't mind cockroaches, rats, and Russia-trained doctors: notice how many Americans go there for treatment? Exactly none, even though travel to Cuba by Americans is easy and often done these days. You just go via Mexico. They want dollars. As Fidel ages and dies, we should loosen up with Cuba. More connection with the US will help the next generation of Cubans, but I know the hard-ass Florida Cuban-American vote is important to the Repubs.

He is 7' and 323 lbs. He is "the beast from the east" and he is the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

A bird flu vaccine produced at Univ. of Pittsburgh. That is very good news and a big deal.

How can computer-generated animation convey emotion accurately? You have to study the human face: Cog. Daily

If you have not already, check Michelle today on two things: Harry Byrd's support for Alito, and Kerry's considering using the filibuster.

Scott takes a look at the Return of the Rosenbergs. Hey - these folks were criminal spies.

A cool science/philosophy site: Edge. H/T, Instap.

Ken Blackwell in Ohio: Malanga in City Journal. Malanga is always excellent. Quote:

Ken Blackwell has so many people worried because he represents a new political calculus with the power to shake up American politics. For Blackwell is a fiscal and cultural conservative, a true heir of the Reagan revolution, who happens to be black, with the proven power to attract votes from across a startlingly wide spectrum of the electorate.

Monkey police: Live Science

Google turns to the Dark Side: Blogcritics

Canada: Tory minority in Canada is for the best, says Cap'n Ed. And is "Canadian Military" an oxymoron? TCS And more on Canada: The Harper Derangement Disorder is rapidly developing - you won't believe the quotes: Belmont.

Hillary: To know her seems to be to dislike her. Maybe the Dems should take a pointer from Bill, and find someone else to love. She'll end up filling Ted Kennedy's shoes for the rest of her life, or for as long as New York puts up with her. Goldberg at LAT on Hillary's downslide:

But there's a great irony here. Hillary Clinton's success over the last decade and a half has been in pretending to be her own woman while really playing one part or another for the benefit of the media, her husband or various feminist constituencies desperate for a role model to confirm all of their comfortable stereotypes.

That's why there's something oddly satisfying in the possibility that Clinton being herself is politically disastrous. And, if she's really just playing one more role according to some classically Clintonian political triangulation, there's something equally satisfying to the prospect that even her fans aren't falling for it anymore.

The great Brit disgrace: The National Health. Tangled Web. Thank God we never went for that here in the US. Politicized medicine has got to be one of the worst ideas possible.

If what Loftus said last night on the excellent John Bachelor Show on ABC radio is true, this could be the The Story of the Year.  Tapes of Saddam discussing WMDs, how he fooled the inspectors, what countries are helping him, etc. Loftus is hyping the unveiling of this info, in February. Why wait?

Howard Dean & Co. may need to get ready for a rapid "adjustment." Should be interesting, especially if this intelligence is real, of course. But Loftus claims that a US intelligence agency has confirmed that it is Saddam speaking, and has confirmed the meeting dates on the tapes - but I will be a sceptic for now.

Similar, but separate info via the Sada book at RWNH and at Powerline.

"Domestic spying"? A phrase borrowed from the Nixon era. I do not believe anyone who claims they have been spied on. Pure narcissism. The Globe loves to write stuff like that.

Canadian Border Guards run away!!! Too funny. Maybe Harper will correct the weeniness in Canada. RTLC. Funny coincidence: Harper wants to increase Canadian tourism from the US. I guess a gun works better than a passport.

Steve Cropper. You can listen to him here and here. Didn't know he played so much with Wilson Pickett, but did know he is is the greatest soul and R&B guitarist in the world.

The Border War with Mexico. It is happening. Moonbattery

Is 12 years enough for reporters who reveal national security secrets? YARGB. I'd prefer banishment - why should we pay their room and board? And more on the press...since when do laws not apply to them? Lib. Leanings

Repubs should quit worrying about Hillary. Why do they worry, anyway? Cap'n Ed. Repubs should worry more about living up to their stated ideals.

The Joel Stein Follies. Pline

Michelle corrects the Ben Franklin misquote that had been going around. Thanks. Was gonna do it myself.

The "curious rise of anti-religious hysteria," from Furedi at Spiked

Religion of peace: Brit Moslems to boycott Holocaust events. Am Future

Education: Stossel: The poor are trapped in their schools.  And this new idea, the 65% solution to school budgets. 65%!!! WFT. CSM

Balance on the Court matters now, but it didn't with Ginsburg. Reason looks at the news, then and now.

The Blackberry case. NY Sun

Why are the once-optimistic Dems floundering again? McIntyre at RCP

Wolfowitz isn't getting it done at the World Bank. Financial Times

Clinic assists doctor's suicide. BBC

A fine TR (therapeutic rant) on American education. View from 1776

Confed. Yank on Hillary, blacks, Repubs and Dems. And Shelby Steele.

NYT argues against Alito in bad faith and dishonestly. P'line

Bloomberg wants NYC to go into the cigarette business big-time. NYSun. Why doesn't NYC simply build a cigarette factory of its own?