Friday, May 6. 2005
Social Security vs. Savings "Liberals want you to be entirely dependent on the Federal government. Otherwise, you might not have to vote for them." That deserves to be a QQQQ. Excellent summary of the issue by Brewton.
 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 Bates Clark medal, which is awarded every two years to America's best economist under the age of 40. (The Clark medal is widely viewed as a precursor for an eventual Nobel Prize.)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.
Thursday, May 5. 2005
Free Toby...I mean Save Toby This is dumb. But Toby will die, unless... Cinco de Mayo Daily Demarche tells us what this celebration commemorates.
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.
Wednesday, May 4. 2005
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.
Tuesday, May 3. 2005
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.
Monday, May 2. 2005
The Latin Beat There is always so much to report on the shenanigans going on Venezuela and other places in Latin America that it is hard to decide which to choose. Today, we shall report on the opening of a PDVSA office in Havana (for those not in the know that would be Petroleos Venezuelan) just another move by Chavez to be closer to his mentor and pal Castro. Of course, Fidel could not be happier now that he has found another oil producing country to help dig out Cuba from their permanent economic crisis. Now if he could only grow some vegetables. Since the only ones they tend to have are tomatoes and last I heard they are fruit. Guess who? Yep the Fidelito brothers taking their show on the road. Election of the next OAS Secretary General The OAS is an important organization and the USA has to be involved with its direction and its power. They are in the process of electing the new head and as Americans we should be watching. "the future of the Organization of American States (OAS) lies in "helping fragile democracies like Ecuador, which is going on right now." More of the interview follows: MR. GOMEZ-PABLOS: Is Hugo Chavez -- if you were to single out the greatest menace for the region, considering the purchase of weapons and his engagement with the FARC, et cetera, would you single out Hugo Chavez as the greatest menace today for the region? SECRETARY RICE: Well, I certainly think -- and we have said -- that we have serious concerns about the Venezuelan Government, about its behavior internally in terms of its own democratic government and in democratic institutions and its behavior in the region. The real threat, though, the real question, is: What kind of hemisphere are we going to be? Are we going to be a hemisphere in which people who are democratically elected govern democratically, in which there is transparency and accountability, in which democratic institutions are allowed to grow, in which there is a separation of powers between legislative branches and executive branches, in which there's a free press?
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.
Saturday, April 30. 2005
 The NYT Utters the G word
Too bad that it takes the power of miracles to move the souls of doubters and unbelievers. Isn't mere existence enough? But in this case, the amazing Ivory Bill: "It's huge and beautiful. "A whacking big bird," Roger Tory Peterson wrote, nearly two feet long with a three-foot wingspan, black and white with a streak of red on the male's pterodactyl crest and a fearsome glint in its yellow eyes. To see an ivory-bill left people thunderstruck; their exclamations inspired its nickname: the Lord God bird. It's alive. The word miracle is overused, but what else explains the survival in the 21st century of an animal considered lost to history so long ago? The ivory-bill was mourned as a mythologized victim of intense predation and habitat loss, of hunters and collectors, of the leveling of millions of acres of Southern forests into pulp and sawdust. Somehow it has endured." Read entire.
Friday, April 29. 2005
 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.
Wednesday, April 27. 2005
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.
Virtual Vacation Start the morning right. Click here for a non-stop NY to Tahiti vacation. Click here: NYC to Tahiti Nonstop
Playground Brawl As reported here on the 21st, the antics on Wall Street continue to amuse and baffle Maggie's Farm. One often hears that "fiction is stranger than truth" but it's true we just can't make this sort of thing up. John Thain must have been sleeping through the meeting that created the merger between NYSE and Archipelago Holdings because how else could he think he wouldn't be chastised for bringing in his old firm? Honestly where is the smarts, John? Langone, Mack and Druckenmiller also seem to be rubbing their hands together smelling a coup but I think this is going to get uglier as more and more people become involved. Clearly Mr. Thain must have thought the same thing or he would not have kept it under wraps until announcing it publicly. But New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is on the heels of anything that moves so it is highly unlikely that we have heard the last of this. Stay tuned to this channel for more on the "Boys from Downtown."
Tuesday, April 26. 2005
Tennis, Anyone? We have all heard about "Club cows," but this is ridi culous. Story here. AP photo. I like the way he is gallantly jumping over the net to congratulate the winner. But why does the other seem to be yielding the field in a fearful manner?
CT Gays Gay Patriot is pleased to see CT dealing positively with the civil union issue. Why should gays be insulated from the trials and tribulations of legally committed relationships? Share the joy! I know that Maggie's is not of one mind on the matter, but I'm the Bird Dog in Chief. It ain't "marriage."
Street-Fighting in Iraq An unclassified report from the field concerning small squad operations in Iraqi urban areas, with detailed tactical advice. Fascinating.
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.
Monday, April 25. 2005
 Must be a member of Ducks Unlimited - The World Leader in Wetlands Conservation.
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.
Friday, April 22. 2005
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.
Thursday, April 21. 2005
 The Wave of the Future: The Big Merger Click here: The New York Times > Business > Goldman Seals a Deal, and Its Status I understand we are always standing on the brink of the future. But this merger smells of nepotism. Of course, John Thain was instrumental because his allegiance is to Goldman the company which put him on the map and made him a zillionaire. I feel bad for the traders and seat holders who are going to be looking for jobs that no longer exist. Don't get me wrong, my feelings are not for the ones that made the millions and billions but for the guy on the floor yelling his head off that was just earning a living. Like the egg cream at the counter, the 5 & 10, and the penny candy, another memory has been made. At least the Plaza will remain and won't Eloise fans be glad.
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.
Wednesday, April 20. 2005
Blogthings Cool stuff. What Kind of English Do You Speak? I turned out 40% General American, 40% Yankee, and 10% Dixie. Try it. Plus their other entertaining quizzes.
 Style Wars
"Difficult art"? Spare me that condescension. I ain't stupid, and I'm not rich enough to be taken in by art industry hype. I like sporting art and I like Picasso, but if I could have one picture to look at daily, it would be a Cezanne. Any Cezanne. But conceptual art - gimme a break. Most of it could be said in one trite sophomoric sentence. And I did see Bouys, or however you spell it, live in Greenwich Village years ago. He wore a fedora and a raincoat, and seemed psychotic. James Panero previews the NY Art Fairs: "Anti-aesthetics is the new aesthetic. Untraditional materials, styrofoam for one, stands in for technical innovation. While we once complained that “my kid could paint that,” now it’s a problem if your kid couldn’t paint it, stack it, bash it, eat it, heckle it, play it on his Gamecube, tune into it on the Spice Channel, or fingerpaint it in his sleep." Nice, balanced piece here on the contemporary art scene - which means New York. Political Style And, speaking of style, Jay Cost has a good point here with which I strong agree. Style is important in national politics, and Hillary, for one, ain't got none. They used to say, in the old days, that people vote for the person they want in their living room every night - meaning on the MSM. Walmart Style How many times have you guys seen a sweet-lookin lady in the supermarket, and just longed to say hi, but chickened out? And how many times have you gals seen a single-looking hunk in the same place, and yet did nothing? Oh, man - the wasted opportunities in life. Big ouch. But finally, it seems, at least Walmart has made itself an official dating destination. 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.
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