Monday, March 21. 2005
The Bacevitch Piece Just read the excellent piece linked by The Chairman on Friday. Herein lies a great debate about oil and prosperity and the expectations of the American voter, but the American voter has made his/her decision several times already, right or wrong. Debate's over, for the moment. Personally, I vote for nuclear power, and we'll be free of the oil obsession. But it's so SCARY to folks. Shouldn't be. It's a heck of a gift to us all - almost a freebie.
More good news from Iraq. Watch Iraq quietly slip from the front pages, just as Afghanistan did. Eric Schmitt in the NYT: "The top Marine officer in Iraq said Friday that the number of attacks against American troops in Sunni-dominated western Iraq and death tolls had dropped sharply over the last four months, a development that he called evidence that the insurgency was weakening in one of the most violent areas of the country. " Click here: The New York Times > International > Middle East > Insurgency Is Fading Fast, Top Marine in Iraq Says
Thanks, Bird Dog Thanks so much, Bird Dog, for finally getting us all our own logging passwords, etc. We appreciate the trust. You did publish all of our stuff anyway. And thanks to CS for taking the time to set it all up. This way, Dog won't get blamed for all of our posts! "Too many of our colleagues seem to be unaware that they are not charged with saving the world and are, instead, commissioned officers of the President of the United States. If this keeps up, we'll be forced to implement the foreign policy of the United States." This from Click here: New Sisyphus who works in State Dept. This is an example of what drives us plutocrats crazy. It should drive everyone nuts. After all, we all pay for this crap. Click here: The American Enterprise: Lawsuit Lollapalooza I know colleges are the Bird Dog's domain, but this is just good: Click here: FrontPage magazine.com :: Symposium: Can Universities Be Fixed? by Jamie Glazov
In a broadcast designed to sound like a "smoking gun" Greg Palast of The Guardian breathily announced that "The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil!" Gwynnie wrote to the author: I watched your Bush/oil show for a while on BBC, but I think Michael Moore uses incomplete film clips, innuendo and a lack of facts more effectively. Is it bad that the US government made a series of alternate plans for the Iraqi oil industry? Is that worse than earlier accusations of it not having a plan? Having read the BBC web site article about your show and the evidence it discusses, I am left with a sense from the tone of the broadcast that you have made serious accusations of some sort, but try as I did, I cannot identify any substance. Is it Mr Bush's actions that you find objectionable or is it merely his existence?
Raise your hand if you knew that Krauthammer is a psychiatrist, is paraplegic, and is the best damn columnist in the US. In this piece, he argues for the relevance of my New First Commandment: "The international left's concern for human rights turns out to be nothing more than a useful weapon for its anti-Americanism. Jeane Kirkpatrick pointed out this selective concern for the victims of U.S. allies (like Chile) 25 years ago. After the Cold War, the hypocrisy continues. For which Arab people do European hearts burn? The Palestinians. Why? Because that permits the vilification of Israel -- an outpost of Western democracy and, even worse, a staunch U.S. ally. Championing suffering Iraqis, Syrians and Lebanese offers no such satisfaction. Hence, silence." Read entire: Click here: Charles Krauthammer: Vindicated
Friday, March 18. 2005
"At the very seat of Texas government," thunders the ACLU brief, "between the Texas State Capitol and the Texas Supreme Court, is large monument quoting a famous passage of religious scripture taken, almost verbatim, from the King James Bible." Horrors. From the tone you'd think they had a monument to Hitler on the Texas Capitol. Well, it's part of the job of the ACLU to provoke and infuriate, but it usually ends up with judges determining whether values and morals and cultural traditions and religion should have any role to play in legal decision-making. Lately, it seems not. To renounce values and morals and traditions is one good way to destroy a nation. Let's begin with a couple of new members of the Supremes. As I think about it, the Hitler monument would probably be fine with the ACLU... Click here: Mona Charen: Thou shalt have no others gods before the ACLU
Cuba Watch - Via Opie "The news today was pretty interesting - fidel came out screaming that Forbes magazine had included him on its annual billionaire's list earlier this month, under the special category of 'kings, queens, and dictators.' Since I know someone at Forbes, I'll add a few tidbits." Babalu Blog is the best Fidel-watching blog: Click here: Babalu Blog
Steroid-Ball The circus hearings yesterday were an embarassment. The players made fools of the grand-standing politicians, showing them minimal respect, which was a true delight. I could easily imagine McGuire and Sosa etc. thinking "Who are these jerks?" Well, it's the end of Steroid-Ball, and that's a good thing.
Thursday, March 17. 2005
There are 8 million blogs worldwide. Approximately. Let's hope there are more readers than bloggers, although bloggers read eachother's stuff. Besides general interest (or non-interest) blogs like this one, there are tons of niche blogs that get scientific or technical information around far better than email could. Here's just one example that I read regularly that focuses on Cognitive Psychology: Click here: Cognitive Daily
The Ten Suggestions Since we're eliminating the outdated, no-fun, difficult, insensitive commandments, along with the socially-dangerous Easter Bunny - I mean Holiday Bunny - it's time to begin work on the rational New Ten Commandments, as determined by clear-thinking, scientifically unbiased, psychologically-approved, sensitive, government-certified Professional Experts - logically and humanistically-determined with proven culture-free or culture-neutral methods under sterile laboratory conditions. They will be presented as they emerge from the Scientific Laboratory of Rational Human Behavioral Management, from a secret, secure, mountaintop location, via email. Here's the first: The New First Commandment Thou shalt love and worship the State as the source of all Good and all Wisdom and of Life itself. There shalt be only one other God before that, which is the State's Holy Sacred Father - the Great International State Uber-God, who knoweth your every thought and liketh them not, and who resides in the Heavenly umlaut-free interstices of cyberspace. The Beloved State (any State) was born by Scientific Miracle from the Sacred Spirit of the Uber-God, and is His only Son. You must have faith in Modern Social Science and Modern Chemistry that this is Truth. The following extract from The New Leviticus seems to expand somewhat on the above: Either are best worshipped by sacrifice of the individual soul and spirit at specially-designed, social-scientific altars which will soon be present at all government locations including fire-houses and police stations, where they will replace the antiquated creches of false gods.To help achieve this worship, thou shalt worship and love everything that advances the International Socialist Movement or The Brave New World as predicted by Huxley, and anything that undermines American values or American power or American prosperity or American individual freedom or American religious traditions, because Aermicans are the Uber-God's Unchosen People. Members of the media, educators, fashionably right-thinking people, socially-appropriate people, people of color, vegans, chardonnay-sippers, women, and related types SHALT NOT criticize any left-leaning, anti-American, or anti-religious organization or government, politician, dictator, mass-murderer anywhere in the world, ever. This includes Castro, China, Chavez, Kerry-Kennedy, the ACLU, Mbagawa Mgububwe, Kim Sung Il, Pol Pot, Saddam - woops - too late, NOW, the French, The New York Times, Al Quaida, and the like.
The age-old Liberal knee-jerk support for Castro is a typical example of why the Left has no credibility. It is no different from their past support of Stalin. Or their future support for Chavez. There is a simple principle behind it - support the Leftists or communists, and sweep the ugliness under the rug. Because it is not about truth-seeking - it's about Revolution. Or a Brave New World. Or just something much more important than truth. Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story
Wednesday, March 16. 2005
Francis Crick and Oliver Sachs seem like an odd pairing, but so does Oliver Sachs and anyone. A wonderful reminiscence from Sachs - two guys with huge curiosity and brainpower: "The central problem of consciousness and its neurobiological basis, he was convinced, would be fully understood, "solved," by 2030. "You will see it," he often said to Ralph, "and you may, Oliver, if you live to my age." Read entire: Click here: The New York Review of Books: Remembering Francis Crick
Ms. Malkin has the moonbats well-characterized, but the moonbats serve several useful functions: 1) the NYT can always use the word "controversial"; 2) objects of humor; 3) raising our self-esteem: "The most unhinged of left-wing activists, from breast-exposing pacifists to the conspiracy-mongers of MoveOn.org, will descend on New York, Washington and other major media markets to "mark the two-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq." Click here: Michelle Malkin: Moonbats on parade
Doug Giles always presents a muscular, SUV-style Christianity that is inspiring and a good antidote to more passive or goody-goody versions: "Listen: true spirituality is incredibly practical, robust and workable no matter where you dwell or what you do. If your spirituality/Christianity isn’t viable and stout in the most difficult of cultures, then it ain’t the stuff Moses and Christ sold." Click here: Doug Giles: Robust Faith
 A magical snowstorm in Vermont on Saturday. Better than the Gates?
Man can not live on bread alone. Is the Salvation Army gradually abandoning its soul-saving mission? Click here: Commentary: Soup, Soap, and Salvation: 125 Years of The Salvation Army in the U.S. The Great Steyn on the upcoming implosion of the EU: "But either way the notion that it's a superpower in the making is preposterous. Most administration officials subscribe to one of two views: a) Europe is a smugly irritating but irrelevant backwater; or b) Europe is a smugly irritating but irrelevant backwater where the whole powder keg's about to go up." Click here: U.S. can sit back and watch Europe implode It takes one to know one. David Horowitz, ex-radical Leftist, has it all figured out. The players, and the name of their game. And broken down into subcategories for ready reference ! The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, unmasked ! Click here: Defining the American Left Will North Korea be brought down by the information revolution? A good update: Click here: onefreekorea: Breaking the Information Blockade How come everyone gets it except for the university faculties. Or maybe they really do. "The idea that we should trust the Democrats because they are the good guys is what the postmodernists call a narrative, the myth that a ruling elite tells to justify its power. Don’t believe a word of such discourse, the professors of English Literature tell us. OK, we won’t. We understand now that the Democratic narrative about helping the little guy is just a naked bid for power." Click here: The American Thinker
An AP photo from the Cedar Revolution, thanks to New England Republican blog. Enough said? Well, it raises the question in a male mind - Is this what's under all of those burkhas over there? And speaking of beauty and political triumph, the latest on CPR may be to dial 911, lay them flat, then give 100 pumps/minute. And pray: Click here: The New York Times > Health > Health Care Policy > Doctors Hope to Push CPR to New Level"March 13, 2005: Al Qaeda is trying to deal with a public relations disaster. First, al Qaeda publicly announced, before the January 30th elections, that democracy was un-Islamic. When most Iraqis energetically turned out to vote, the damage to al Qaeda's prestige was considerable. Then there are the suicide bombs that miss their targets. Most of them kill Iraqi civilians, instead of Americans (the preferred target) or Iraqi police, troops or government officials (an acceptable substitute). This has gotten so bad that al Qaeda has tried to deny responsibility for some of the suicide bomb attacks that go spectacularly wrong." Read entire: Click here: military news about Iraq A review of Crichton's new book, State of Fear, featuring a Soros type and dishonestly ideological environmentalists. "Michael Crichton's latest novel may not be a great literary event, but it is a significant cultural event. " Click here: The Claremont Institute: Civilization and Its Malcontents An echo today of that Cronkite quote from yesterday. Maybe a smart person can explain to me exactly what is logically, historically, spiritually, morally and psychologically wrong with the notion of global government, cuz I know it is very wrong and very scarey, but cannot be succinct enough about it. Maybe something to do with freedom and self-determination? Thomas Hale - surely no relative of Nathan: Click here: Globalising freedom Thomas N Hale - openDemocracy
Tuesday, March 15. 2005
Gee, really? I hardly noticed. Or, as my 13 year-old would say (using Tom Wolfe's "Sarc 1"), "D'yuh think?" Study proves press went easy on Kerry: Click here: NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story Gene mapping technology has been a revolutionary tool, transforming the field of genetics. It is possible not only to identify specific genes, but to describe mutations and abnormalities in them. The identification of a tumor-suppressing gene is a big deal: Click here: Penn State Researchers Discover New Tumor-suppressor Gene Neuhaus discusses everything here - election, cultural wars, obscenity, decency, abortion, the role of cultural values in law-making. He is consistently smart. "Whatever happens, in times doleful and times hopeful, we must never forget our true home or the anticipation of that home in the life of the Church. The second century Letter to Diognetus says that, for Christians, “every foreign country is a homeland, every homeland a foreign country.” In this foreign country that is our temporary homeland, it may now be decided that the law is not permitted to take cognizance of virtue and vice." Click here: FT February 2005: The Public Square Cronkite. Taranto tracked down this actual quote from Cronkite in 2002: "So I'm just saying that I'd like to see this very rich nation of ours work on the diplomatic front, the diplomatic wars if you please, fight those diplomatic wars to get this world straightened out and make it work. And I think that's going to take an international body, like the United Nations, for that to be a true world government. It means giving up sovereignty; it means a lot of sacrifices. But aren't we prepared, for heaven's sakes, to make those sacrifices in order for a better world? I would like to think so." I find it highly revealing of a certain sort of mind-set, and also highly crazy. Not to mention traitorous. But I think there are lots of people who think this way, and it is the impulse that refuses to inspect the flaws in the UN, or idealizes the EU (which is already stifling under its distant overlord in Brussels). It is a left-over Marxist dream and a left-over human nightmare. Everyone probably can imagine "a better world" in their own way, but there is little doubt about what a "free world" means - it means a world of minimal government, and of minimal distant government, where we can try to make a better world, whatever that means to us, for our families and neighbors. Click here: OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today
"He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath." WS, King Lear
A thoughtful, conservative Californian discusses the immigration debate calmly, while gently bashing the "nativists." The Bird Dog tends to view the waves of immigration in Western countries as invasions without guns, and would much prefer that people try to improve their own home countries. Is that nativist? I suspect that the French, Brits, and Scandinavians would be happier today is they had been a bit more nativist as Islamic countries unloaded their poor on them over the past 15 years. Click here: The Hedgehog Blog: Illegal Immigration: The Issue The GOP Simply Must Get Right. Another update on the subject: Click here: Conservatives Oppose Bush Illegals Plan "All in all, the European model is unlikely to be replicated on the world stage--and it may be scaled back and even dismantled in Europe itself when the evidence that India and China are overtaking it becomes too embarrassingly clear." If you have 15 minutes, James Bennett has an excellent essay on the history and economic history of Europe. Click here: The National Interest | | Publications::Article It has become a truism that campus diversity means nothing more than diversity of skin color and sexual proclivities. Are these not the dumbest things for universities to be thinking about? Bird Dog was around during the mythic 60s, but the battle against segregation is long won. There must be a lot of self-righteous folks out there trying to relive it or to recreate it. Silly. Truth is that there is NO diversity of ideas on campuses, and yet ideas are what they are supposed to be concerned with. If they want to change the world, I'd suggest a little experience in it, first. Click here: The American Enterprise: Diversity on Campus? There Is None Steyn wonders where all of the "Not in Our Name" protesters went: "Islamism, with its plans to destroy America, take back Europe, colonise Australia and set you up with 72 virgins, may be bonkers but it’s a big idea. And you can’t beat it with a small, shrivelled idea like another decade or three of Mubarak or Assad or some such. The Bush administration decided that the only big idea they had to sell was liberty" Click here: SteynOnTheWorld
Monday, March 14. 2005
Finally. The NYT - yes - the NYT - reported yesterday that WMD equipment had been present in Iraq at the time of the US invasion. So much for "Bush lied." But the even bigger story is - why now? Why do we hear this now? Click here: The New York Times > International > Middle East > Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says The Bird Dog's first daughter, and second child, has always been a savvy kid and has always attended "exclusive", fancy schools up here in New England. She has always told us that part of the deal is that you figure out what angle the teacher wants to hear before you write a paper, regardless of subject. Give 'em what they want. This is street wise, but as Dylan says, "Ya gotta be more than street wise." She can be, fortunately. It's a damn shame that kids have to learn to play this game. The General didn't want to play it: Click here: FrontPage magazine.com :: Confessions of a Military Student by Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr.
King Tut's penis. Well, it's more interesting than anything about Michael Jackson. Does FOX news think we care about him? Who does? Thriller was good, I guess. And the lad can dance. But is he maybe mixed-up? Anyway, the Egytians finally found Tut's missing member so he can have some fun in his afterlife. "Case closed. Next case", as a wise old Doc I knew used to say. The latest on Tut's mummy: Click here: http://www.travelwirenews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000033/003315-p.htm Mini-movie Review: Alexandro Jodorowsky's El Topo: Bird Dog saw this movie when it came out, and just saw it again. It does not deserve to be out of print. My copy has Japanese subtitles, and the color is washed-out. A Western in name and setting only, it is a surrealistic, somewhat violent movie with abundant mystical Christian imagery. Is it phony or real - I cannot tell - you tell me. Very powerful and memorable images. Not a family movie. Try to find a good copy of it and see what you think. It moves slowly, like a violent meditation, if there is such a thing. It takes itself seriously, I think... Unique. The Bird Dog will not watch movies that implant images in his small bird-dog brain that he doesn't want in there. But these are OK.
Friday, March 11. 2005
This in via Gwynnie: The Penn Gazette, the Univ. of Pennsylvania’s alumni magazine, has the following bit: According to Phil Nichols, associate professor of legal studies and the faculty director of College Houses and Academic Services [at the University of Pennsylvania], the new guidelines for accommodating “mixed-gender,” or “gender-neutral” housing have been under consideration for a couple of years: “we want to make some progress toward effectuating change in [Penn’s] non-discrimination policy, which includes gender identification and would encompass transgender students.” Nichols added, “I’m sure there are students at Penn who are transgender who don’t necessarily feel comfortable with everything being classified [as male or female]. If we can make them feel more comfortable, that’s another wonderful goal the college houses can accomplish.” Gwynnie is afraid that the reason that there are so many transgendered people seeking transgender housing is the fact that they have been utterly emasculated by militant feminism. The new “metrosexual” male is only interested in feminist-approved pursuits (or else he won’t ‘get any tonight’). Soon, she says, football viewership will collapse; at present, the loser is hunting and wild game management and preservation. See News Day Story
"Why are so many Westerners, living in mature democracies, ready to march against the toppling of a despot in Iraq but unwilling to take to the streets in support of the democratic movement in the Middle East?" read piece:
Bird Dog feels validated and vindicated when smart folks agree with him - Terrorists are the cause of terror just as criminals are the cause of crime: "The roots of terrorism are TERRORISTS, and I can tell them one thing that reinforces the idea that terrorism is a good idea: CAVING IN TO TERRORISTS." Click here: The Daily Demarche
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