Tuesday, October 17. 2006
Everybody should get some CPR training, with regular refreshers. You never know when someone is going to go down at the supermarket, in church, at the movies, in a parking lot, or at a baseball game. Be the person who knows what to do. In the tension of the moment, it's hard to think straight unless you are in an ER with support and help. And people collapse all the time, usually for minor and relatively benign reasons. But sometimes it's an arrhythmia, or a heart attack-related arrhythmia, and, if so, it's your chance to try to save a life as long as you aren't too far from definitive help. In the wilderness, forget it. They're a goner if they quit breathing. CPR is a temporary thing. Online CPR certification here. (with sound). It's best to practice it with a dummy, though. I have only had to perform this once in a non-medical setting. A rainy, cold, wet parking lot. She survived, but with mild brain damage from hypoxia (the cause of her collapse and subsequent respiratory failure was a ventricular arrhythmia of unknown cause). And I cracked a rib or two, but that hardly matters when someone is "trying to die," as docs call it.
 We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
You might be surprised to learn what the nation's preeminent college of education stands for. As FIRE notes: Teachers College’s Conceptual Framework, which represents the “philosophy for teacher education at Teachers College,” requires students to possess a “commitment to social justice.” Moreover, students are expected to recognize that “social inequalities are often produced and perpetuated through systematic discrimination and justified by societal ideology of merit, social mobility, and individual responsibility.”
Somehow, they forgot to add intelligence, ability, energy, honor, determination, persistence, and character to their list of evil excuses for discrimination by The System, not doubt for the benefit of the "ruling class." (This is like entering a time machine to 1968.) However, the point is that if you like the idea of merit, mobility, and individual responsibility, you are not cut out to be a graduate of Teacher's College. They actually assess their students on these political criteria. This is ridiculous politically-correct drivel worthy of the late 1960s - but if they really believe it, our kids are in trouble. I am so grateful that I was taught "critical thinking" in school. I learned to see through this sort of nonsense.
. Added comment from Dr. Bliss, at the editor's request: When they use the term "social justice," I get the creeps. It generally means quasi-totalitarian state control when people use it these days. But social justice can be seen in many different ways, depending on your reading of Plato, Montesquieu, Locke, Adam Smith, de Toqueville, etc; depending on your understanding of history and, perhaps most importantly, on your understanding of human nature. What is fascinating - if stereotypical - about the Teacher's College manifesto is that it is based on a vision of students - and people (except them, who get to make the rules) as victims of a "system," rather than free persons in the most free country in the world, with more abundant opportunity than has ever existed in history. Theirs is an oppressive message, designed to nurture blame, defeatism, dependency, resentment, and helplessness rather than to nurture optimistic, brave, energetic Americans with the can-do spirit. . Coment from The Barrister, of Maggie's Farm: . Ditto to the above. A couple of points: 1. This is warmed-over 60's stuff. I suspect the people who run the place are all in their 50s, and still fighting "the revolution" and seeing themselves as part of "the movement." Sheesh - you'd think they would have grown past that by now. 2. Who appointed teachers to be propagandizers? No-one would hire teachers to do that - that's the lowly, undignified job of politicians, journalists, and commentators! Don't they have to teach trig and calc and physics and chemistry and econ and music and all that? Isn't that enough to do? 3. The excuse-making angle: If kids don't learn much, it's not the teachers' fault or the schools' fault - it's the system. The system doesn't want them to succeed. Bad, bad system! The system should go sit in the corner for ten minutes. 4. But wait a minute - the public education system is already controlled by the Teacher's Unions. Woops. Oh, well, it must be the other system that wants the kids to be oppressed. Like, the kids' parents, who work and vote and pay the schools' bills and comprise the "American system"? This makes no sense. With these attitudes, it is no wonder that most Americans would quit the state schools if they had the choice to do so.
Monday, October 16. 2006
LaShawn has been hot on the Duke Phony Rape Case since the beginning. It smelled, from the beginning. But the 60 Minutes segment (which I missed - I do not watch much - or any - TV) put the nail in the coffin of this canard. We know politics: "Careers are at stake." Prosecutorial powers are terrifying when in the hands of those who seek not justice, but "success." This Nifong low-life schmuck should be disbarred by his peers, and the destruction of three young guys' lives should nag at his conscience until his death - if he has a conscience, which I doubt. I hereby pronounce the three lacrosse players as fully guilty of the crime of being adolescent white jerks. Now go in peace, with the heartfelt apologies from all of us that you got caught up in a political cesspool, and, in the future, just go to strip clubs for this kind of foolish titillating fun, where you cannot be caught up in this sort of disgusting mess. Better yet, keep looking to find a girlfriend to love and treasure, and try to find happiness. One effect of this entire story I have rarely seen mentioned: what has been the economic impact on black "sex-workers" in North Carolina? I am deeply concerned that they might be experiencing a decline in income. Perhaps some Congressman might help?
Sunday, October 15. 2006
First gear (Honda Honda) it's alright (faster faster)
Second gear (little Honda Honda) I lean right (faster faster)
Third gear (Honda Honda) hang on tight (faster faster)
Faster it's alright.
As Bob would doubtless point out on his radio show, this song was a Beach Boys cover of the 1964 orginal Little Honda by the Hondells. Lyrics here. My next vee-hicle. My friends say a real man wouldn't buy a Jap truck, but I tell them that they are just insecure about their manhood. They say "Buy American." I say "How many American-made parts are in your Ford?" And so it goes. Honda Ridgeline. 
Friday, October 13. 2006
 Much as I am fond of many of my up-to-the-minute blog brethren, after 1 1/2 years of this blogging project I find that we at Maggie's Farm are still too wedded, or maybe addicted, to the news cycle.
While the news cycle itself is an interesting thing that I may feel moved to write more about some day, at the moment I just want to remind our team that we do not need to be chained to it, or controlled by it. We know, up front, that the Mark Foley (it's Mark, right?) story had about 7 days in it, and the airplane in NYC had about 36 hours in it, that the Lancet story has about four days, and that the Harry Reid paperwork thing has about 3-5 days. Truth is, these stories come and go, as Solomon in Ecclesiastes reminds us constantly. We would not be bloggers if we didn't want to add our two cents to the universe - or to our modest number of devoted readers. It's kind of funny the way we bloggers receive each "news" event - delivered to us by the professional press 99% of the time - as if it were a slow ball over the center of the plate. Or an assignment to say something interesting. Like hysteric valley girls, or newspaper people trying to sell soap, it's "omigod, omigod..." and, after a few days, it's off the front page and gone forever. And then, two weeks later, the story is gone - evaporated like a summer rain on pavement - just as the Harry Reid thing will be forgotten in a couple of weeks. Ho hum, just another US representative with deals on the side, and sloppy paperwork. The world needs a blog devoted to follow-up stories, a few months out. The MSM would never bother, because it doesn't sell. Headlines sell, especially with sex and/or crime. At Maggie's Farm, we not only try to put the brakes on our personal lives which move too fast and seem to pass too quickly - we try to put the brakes on our experience of the news cycle. We do this by interspersing the blog with things that are not transient; which are not opportunties to spout off or to get the scoop. News is fun, and everyone has an opinion or a talking point or a spin or an angle or an insight on everything. As the crude expression goes, "Opinions are like a-holes: everyone has one." But what survives from the Bridgeport Post-Telegram from 1968? I know, and can tell you. Walt Kelly. Not much else. Therefore, it is the cows and the dogs and the girls and the recipes that we offer which have the endurance and solidity: the newsy stuff and our opinions about it are the entertainment, such as it is. Yes, politics are important, but most of what we address so earnestly is, in the end, ephemera. It matters because liberty matters, and liberty is the food for the human soul. But we need to bear the transience of the daily issues in mind. Our reminder, to ourselves, about the things that endure and really matter are our posts on things like cows and dogs and plants and God, etc. However, our dear News Junkie, keep up the good work. I deleted your instantaneous post about the airplane in NY Wednesday afternoon because I knew it was a non-story (until the Yankee angle came out - sad) , and you were trying to keep up. Not to worry. Not necessary. As noted on our header, we all have ADD. Hey! We are VICTIMS! But SURVIVORS! And, thankfully, we all have day jobs. If anything, we produce TOO MUCH "content", and should cut back - if we can. Image: With those thoughts, we must provide another breed of cattle. This one is the semi-obscure but ancient Limousin, a breed of beef cattle from France, of course, which makes a fine rib-eye steak for the grill. Avec pommes frites, of course, and an expensive cabernet. Read All About It! - here. And thanks much to all for being a Maggie's reader. You are good folks, and the price is right, ain't it? As long as we can last, we'll be curious about the things that endure.
Thursday, October 12. 2006
Harvard embarassed
itself last year, with
Larry Summers - to their eternal shame for caving in to the manipulative hysterics of a bunch of cranks. Now it's our turn, as more Ivy administrations prove their cultural dhimmitude and abandon the wisdom and experience of their supporters, who live in the real world. Mind you, I love these two schools, and have degrees from each of them. But you know how most donors feel: "I just dare you to give me an excuse not to give you my time and money." Let's do Dartmouth first. Joe's Dartblog provides a fine, detailed run-down of the sleazy actions of the antedeluvian administration, and their cohorts, as they seek to castrate their uppity, free-thinking, reality-oriented alumni organizations. The money involved is like a political campaign - which it is. Very disappinting to see an administration declare war against their own alumni. But the tactics will backfire, as they deserve to do. Next, let's do Columbia - the only College in the US besides the great University of Chicago which can guarantee that a graduate knows certain important things. At Columbia, the administration seems to happily cave in to the disruptors and the chronically aggrieved. It is pathetic to toss open, civil debate overboard because of noisy juvenile delinquents intimidating people with their politically-correct babble. Brownshirts. Remember courage? Come on, Pres. Bollinger. Stand for something! If Columbia stands for caving in to the most barbaric and aggressive - then at least admit it. Plenty of Columbia updates at Michelle, and more details at Allah Pundit. My opinion? Anyone who prevents the open exchange of ideas in civil debate does not belong in college. A new feature of campus Stalinism is discussed - and later mocked - on Althouse. They want UW kids to snitch about a long list of things, including "disrespect." Huh? Manners are fine, but respect is earned: I do not hand out respect like Halloween candy, either. I wonder whether they paid Kim Sung Il to write this code for them.
If you missed The Barrister's series here on the risks of inaction, read it, beginning with an explication of the Null Hypothesis: Fun with the Null Hypothesis, then to Appendicitis, and False Negatives and False Positives, and concluding with The Risks of Action vs. Inaction - with a comment on luck. Basic, but good and useful. Check 'em out, if you haven't.
Tuesday, October 10. 2006
 I am, in principle, in favor of a universal draft with service required for every young American boy and girl. I know the Armed Forces would not want all of those short-termers these days, as service has grown more technical and requires training well beyond Basic. Getting rid of the draft was an insidious, politically-motivated move by Nixon, and, as he cynically predicted, it did largely end the anti-war movement. So, although I do not have a Plan, I think it's an important concept. Service to the country used to be what all Americans (well, American guys) had in common. Now, there is nothing, other than paying taxes. This comes up because The News Junkie asked me to comment on a piece by Kim du Toit. A couple of quotes: At its most basic foundation, conscription addresses an unpleasant little fact: most people are cowards. They might be cowards on their own behalf, or because they want to protect their children from dying, but they are cowards nevertheless.
and We can dress this up with all the fine rhetoric, slogans and philosophy we choose: conscription is slavery; conscription is discriminatory; conscription is un-Constitutional, whatever. It’s all camouflage to hide the uncomfortable fact that many people consider their own lives to be more valuable than any ideal, or the needs of the community. (I don’t have a problem with people feeling that way: I just want people to be honest about it.) The most pernicious statement against conscription, however, is the famous one uttered by Robert Heinlein: “Any country that has to defend itself with forced conscripts is not worth defending.” It is depressing to think that a man who got so much right could utter such complete nonsense. The reason it’s nonsense, of course, is that (like many similar arguments) it ignores this basic facet of human nature: that many people value their own lives more than the existence of their country.
A coward? Me? Hell, yes. Read the whole thing. How can we be, as a country, comfortable and guilt-free leaving service to "others"? Freedom is not a free lunch.
Monday, October 9. 2006
 It is Indian Summer in New England. There is nothing finer. Nights are cool, in the 50s - perfect sleeping weather with the window open and the comforter tossed around, and the dogs at your feet. Blue skies, low humidity, nice breezes for sailing - and hunting season has begun, up north. And, at dusk, the crickets, which have grown large by now, cheer you up with their merry, end-of-life chatter. Here, near Hartford, few leaves have begun to change, but the crisp mornings tell you that they will, soon.
Why George Bush? Because he controls the weather, does he not? Thanks George, for this remarkable Indian Summer we are having. And, speaking of the diabolical Bush, isn't it time for a big Thank You to him for this economy too, which is rolling along with essentially zero unemployment, a shrinking federal deficit, a record-breaking stock market, and rising wages without inflation? Who shall we blame for this? It's called the Bush Miracle Economy, and it's the biggest news - except for the Foley thing, and NoKo's creepy nuke test - but it isn't reported, and will not be. The press will give Bush credit for nothing. They are on the other side.
Ye olde blogge has been interested in cattle, lately.
We have recently featured the most popular American diary breeds - the Holstein, the Jersey, the Guernsey, etc - for our city-folk readers who cannot tell a Jersey cow from a Jersey girl, and who have never milked a cow. (A post-test will eventually follow.) While there are many wild species of cattle - American Bison, European Bison, Gaur, Water Buffalo, Cape Buffalo, Yaks, etc, the domestic dairy and beef cattle breeds are all derived from the Auroch, a Eurasian species which has been extinct since the last one was killed in Poland in the 1600s. The word "cattle" is the antique French word chattel - same word as "possession". The word "steak" derives from the Saxon word for "stick" - that is, beef on a stick over the fire. Those Saxons ate well sometimes, I suppose, even without Weber grills.  A brief history of domestic cattle here. They were a great choice for domestication: relatively placid (not the bulls) grazing beasts which could provide milk, meat, labor, and leather. Since at least 6500 BC they were domesticated in Turkey, following pigs, dogs, goats, and sheep, but before horses.
Images: Aurochs from my time machine above, and an auroch from Lascaux to left.
Thursday, October 5. 2006
Columbia College has the chance to stand up for diverse opinions, or to collapse ignominiously the way Grayson Kirk finally did so many years ago, when the lunatics ended up running the asylum. Powerline wrote the story before we got to it, with the apt tagline "The whole world is watching." In the meantime, someone should inform these kids that it isn't 1968 anymore. The college is highly competitive - so where are they finding these infantile idiots? And will the college which prohibits a pussy reference for the hockey team recruiting (what a joke) stand up to these tantruming spoiled brat brownshirts-in-training? It's time to find out what Columbia University stands for: the mature discourse of civil, educated adults, or delinquent mobs. I think a semester's suspension might be reasonable. A little time to grow up, just like a "time out" for 4 year-olds. Your move, Administration. Update: More from Blue Crab here, and video from Michelle here.
 Our contributor Gwynnie is up there this morning, on Lake Winnipegosis.
I wish for the gang far worse weather than in the photo (last October), when we had Bluebird weather five days straight, and the ducks were not flying. For duck hunting, you want wind, fog, sleet, snow, rain. Things that make people uncomfortable make the ducks uncomfortable, and causes them to think about moving from place to place instead of staying put. My best hunts have been in snow. The expression "good weather for ducks" means good weather for duck hunting. Otherwise, the ducks just sit in the sun and sleep in the middle of the lake. On such days, in time, the intrepid hunter, who may or may not have had too much after-dinner port the night before, dozes off, too, leaving a silent lake, the pursuers and the pursued all peacefully dreaming in the October sunshine.
Saturday, September 30. 2006
This came in over the transom: Subject: Marine Intel Officer, Comments about Iraq Classification: UNCLASSIFIED All: I haven't written very much from Iraq. There's really not much to write about. More exactly, there's not much I can write about because practically everything I do, read or hear is classified military information or isdepressing to the point that I'd rather just forget about it, never mind write about it. The gaps in between all of that are filled with the pure tedium of daily life in an armed camp. So it's a bit of a struggle to think of anything to put into a letter that's worth reading. Worse, this place just consumes you. I work 18-20-hour days, every day. The quest to draw a clear picture of what the insurgents are up to never ends. Problems and frictions crop up faster than solutions. Every challenge demands a response. It's like this every day. Before I know it, I can't see straight, because it's 0400 and I've been at work for twenty hours straight, somehow missing dinner again in the process. And once again I haven't written to anyone. It starts all over again four hours later. It's not really like Ground Hog Day, it's more like a level from Dante's Inferno. Rather than attempting to sum up the last seven months, I figured I'd just hit the record setting highlights of 2006 in Iraq. These are among the events and experiences I'll remember best. Worst Case of Déjà Vu - I thought I was familiar with the feeling of déjà vu until I arrived back here in Fallujah in February. The moment I stepped off of the helicopter, just as dawn broke, and saw the camp just as I had left it ten months before - that was déjà vu. Kind of unnerving. It was as if I had never left. Same work area, same busted desk, same chair, same computer, same room, same creaky rack, same . . . everything. Same everything for the next year. It was like entering a parallel universe. Home wasn't 10,000 miles away, it was a different lifetime. Most Surreal Moment - Watching Marines arrive at my detention facility and unload a truck load of flex-cuffed midgets. 26 to be exact. I had put the word out earlier in the day to the Marines in Fallujah that we were looking for Bad Guy X, who was described as a midget. Little did I know that Fallujah was home to a small community of midgets, who banded together for support since they were considered as social outcasts. The Marines were anxious to get back to the midget colony to bring in the rest of the midget suspects, but I called off the search, figuring Bad Guy X was long gone on his short legs after seeing his companions rounded up by the giant infidels. Most Profound Man in Iraq - an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines (searching for Syrians) if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied "Yes, you." Worst City in al-Anbar Province - Ramadi, hands down. The provincial capital of 400,000 people. Killed over 1,000 insurgents in there since we arrived in February. Every day is a nasty gun battle. They blast us with giant bombs in the road, snipers, mortars and small arms. We blast them with tanks, attack helicopters, artillery, our snipers (much better than theirs), and every weapon that an infantryman can carry. Every day. Incredibly, I rarely see Ramadi in the news. We have as many attacks out here in the west as Baghdad. Yet, Baghdad has 7 million people, we have just 1.2 million. Per capita, al-Anbar province is the most violent place in Iraq by several orders of magnitude. I suppose it was no accident that the Marines were assigned this area in 2003. Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province - Any Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD Tech). How'd you like a job that required you to defuse bombs in a hole in the middle of the road that very likely are booby-trapped or connected by wire to a bad guy who's just waiting for you to get close to the bomb before he clicks the detonator? Every day. Sanitation workers in New York City get paid more than these guys. Talk about courage and commitment. Second Bravest Guy in al-Anbar Province - It's a 20,000 way tie among all the Marines and Soldiers who venture out on the highways and through the towns of al-Anbar every day, not knowing if it will be their last - and for a couple of them, it will be. Best Piece of U.S. Gear - new, bullet-proof flak jackets. O.K., they weigh 40 lbs and aren't exactly comfortable in 120 degree heat, but they've saved countless lives out here. Best Piece of Bad Guy Gear - Armor Piercing ammunition that goes right through the new flak jackets and the Marines inside them. Worst E-Mail Message - "The Walking Blood Bank is Activated. We need blood type A+ stat." I always head down to the surgical unit as soon as I get these messages, but I never give blood - there's always about 80 Marines in line, night or day. Biggest Surprise - Iraqi Police. All local guys. I never figured that we'd get a police force established in the cities in al-Anbar. I estimated that insurgents would kill the first few, scaring off the rest. Well, insurgents did kill the first few, but the cops kept on coming. The insurgents continue to target the police, killing them in their homes and on the streets, but the cops won't give up. Absolutely incredible tenacity. The insurgents know that the police are far better at finding them than we are. - and they are finding them. Now, if we could just get them out of the habit of beating prisoners to a pulp . . . Greatest Vindication - Stocking up on outrageous quantities of Diet Coke from the chow hall in spite of the derision from my men on such hoarding, then having a 122mm rocket blast apart the giant shipping container that held all of the soda for the chow hall. Yep, you can't buy experience. Biggest Mystery - How some people can gain weight out here. I'm down to 165 lbs. Who has time to eat? Second Biggest Mystery - if there's no atheists in foxholes, then why aren't there more people at Mass every Sunday?
Continue reading "A Marine's Letter from Iraq"
Tuesday, September 26. 2006
The null hypothesis is not a logical fallacy. We are discussing it as a base for further discussions of fallacies in future posts on the subject of the risks of action vs. inaction and Type 1 and Type 2 errors. Outside of the world of statistics, the "null hypothesis" has become equated with the "nil hypothesis," which means, basically, nothing. That is to say, that nothing occurred that was not by chance or accident, or maybe by undiscovered or undiscussed causes. Thus it is a handy tool to use as a starting point for an honest discussion, debate, or argument. The null hypothesis is what many logical arguments ultimately argue about, or around, whether it is made explicit or not (it is a basic assumption of thinking in Western Civilization). When a null hypothesis is not assumed, a case for something is often termed "biased." (As we will discuss in a future post, "bias" is often a very useful and reality-oriented posture, and is the reason we do not look for Bluebirds in Brooklyn.) In law, the null hypothesis is the presumption of innocence. In science, it is the presumption that there is no connection between two phenomena. (Scientists and social scientists often complain that it is difficult to publish papers which support null hypotheses.) Hypotheses other than null hypotheses are often termed "alternative hypotheses." In general, it is easier to destroy an hypothesis than to prove one: proof is usually too much to ask for. Let's take one incendiary example: Null hypothesis: Blacks are not economically discriminated against, and there is nothing of interest here to debate or discuss. Fact: Black households have lower incomes than white households. Hypothesis #1: Employers pay blacks less money, or blacks get lower-paying jobs because of their color. Fact: Black households with intact marriages have essentially the same average family incomes as whites, but blacks have very high rates of unmarried families. Logical conclusion: An extraneous factor, such as marital status, may be determining the data, not skin color. The null hypothesis is supported by these facts. A liability example: Null hypothesis: Jim is innocent of liability or neglect. Fact: Jim had no proper fence around his pool, and the neighbor's beloved Shitsu wandered over, fell in, and drowned, so the neighbor wants $100,000. for pain and suffering. Hypothesis: Jim is guilty of not properly fencing his pool. Fact: Hurricane Jose knocked down his pool fence a week ago. Logical conclusion: Facts support the null hypothesis. Jim is innocent of negligence because of an accident of nature. A vegetable example: Null hypothesis: What you eat has no relationship with colon cancer. Fact: People who eat lots of broccoli have lower rates of colon cancer. Hypothesis #2: Broccoli helps prevent colon cancer. Fact: People who eat broccoli tend to eat lots of other veggies too. Hypothesis #3: Eating lots of veggies helps reduce colon cancer rates. Fact: Volume of dietary roughage (cellulose) probably correlates with reduced rates of colon cancer. Logical conclusion: The null hypothesis is probably wrong. There is some relationship, although causality is not demonstrated (that would be a cum hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy - a favorite fallacy of litigators). You might reduce your risk of colon cancer a bit by eating plenty of daily veggies and salads. (Still, your genes - or your GI doctor - may determine the outcome, eventually.) We wll build on this null hypothesis subject in the next Fallacy posting, which will highlight Type l and Type ll errors. More on the subject of the very important Null Hypothesis here. (I enjoy giving myself this elementary refresher - hope you like it too. Next installment probably on Thursday.)
Monday, September 25. 2006
 When a snake-oil salesman has the crowd going good, the last thing he needs is someone in the crowd getting wise and breaking the mood. That's why they always have a shill in the audience, trying to keep the vibe going. Well, Bill Clinton had the mood going the way he wanted, but a crummy made for TV movie is mucking up his act. The shills are muffing it for him, and he knows it.
Now, Bill Clinton was two presidents, really; he spent his first term as a the most orthodox of liberals, trying to nationalize the healthcare industry like some Arkansan Peron. The voters slapped his nose, hard, with Newt Gingrich, and Bill Clinton 2.0 signed the the conservative's Welfare Reform bill and NAFTA, then settled in to his second term as a sort of Democrat version of Warren G. Harding. He spent a lot of time trying to cobble together some narrative that would serve as his legacy, but his legacy was both defined and degraded by his shameful behavior and the lengths he would go to avoid facing up to the essential infantilism of his tenure. And it's hard to get around it: Bill Clinton had nothing to offer on the central problem of the post Soviet Union age: Islamic totalitarianism. Neither he nor any of his acolytes identified the danger that would sweep into the vacuum left by the collapse of the CCCP, and they slashed the Defense budget, cheated at golf and just plain cheated, and waited around for Monica to bring him a pizza. But hindsight for his followers is not 20/20, it's blind; how many people even remember the World Trade Center was bombed the first time while he was president? Clinton's Whitehouse just worked overtime to make sure that the intelligence agencies never talked to each other, and never told him anything he didn't want to hear. But almost by mistake, the idea that Clinton slept while Osama Bin Laden worked late was broached, and Clinton desperately wants to get that toothpaste back in the tube. The president is never really "on vacation," They all go places remote from the WhiteHouse, but the duties, responsibilities, the staff -- all of the machinery of government -- never sleep. But there is a limited amount of attention any chief executive can pay to their duties, and Clinton seemed then, as we are being reminded now, to be preoccupied with all sorts of pointless and self-serving folderol to the detriment of the United States, and in its turn, the whole wide world. Clinton doesn't like that idea to be out in the ether, because the image he's trying to cultivate of his time in office pops like a bubble under close inspection. He was doing pretty good for a while, considering how many things that belonged to America got blown up while he was in office. But Sandy Berger can't stuff everything down his pants, after all. And Clinton's taken to shouting at everybody that will listen to him, going back into his old playbook for the only thing that has ever worked for him: pretending to be the poor victim of an unfair attack, while viciously attacking his opponents. So I leave you, dear reader, with visual evidence, intentionally made to make Bill Clinton seem like what he was not, which was charming; and unintentionally showing you exactly what he was, and is: a shameless pandering slacker, always on the make for attention, never paying attention when it matters: What President Clinton was doing while Osama bin Laden planned the second World Trade Center attack.
Continue reading "While Clinton Slept"
 This species of the Southern longleaf pine forests (which have been harvested almost to extinction and re-planted with faster-growing commercial pines) has been in the news recently (see Monday links below). It has been endangered since the 1970s because of habitat loss. I have never seen one, but haven't spent any time trying to.
They are one of a very few bird species which are found only in the US. As with other woodpecks like Downies and Hairies, the red cockade is usually not visible. These birds have unusual breeding habits: they are "cooperative" breeders, and the males incubate the eggs. Read about them here at CLO, from which we borrowed the photo. What can be learned from the news story? I think the message is that the Feds cannot expect American citizens to roll over every time a Federal bureaucracy decides they know what is best. However, it is one of the jobs of the Feds, for better or worse, to try to protect endangered species. These are Federal laws and, in this case, their enforcement threatens individual property rights, which Americans feel as strongly about - or more so - than they do about the Second Amendment. So if the Feds want to do their job effectively, they need to approach such issues in a humble, friendly, cooperative, compromising manner. In DC, far from the piney woods of North Carolina, it is all too easy to feel the power, and to forget who pays their salaries and for whom they work.
Sunday, September 24. 2006
Was in Nashville for the long weekend - found the big Home Depot, and of course the Outdoor World of Bass Pro Shops and Redhead. Saw Music Row twelve times, and passed by the Opry on I-40 about the same, but heard none of the music except from the speakers at the gas station and the hotel lobby. Do they have music in Nashville? Something about the South: the wives go to Outdoor World with their hubbies. Overheard: "Honey, don't you think you want that same thing in the waterproof version? You could get wet and miserable out there, sweetie. It's only a little bit more. We can put it on the Mastercard." Will some feminazi shoot me if I say "The women are women and the men are men boys men whatever." And we, at Maggie's Farm, love the Southern mentality, and the accents, too. And biscuits 'n gravy. We like to believe that the gravy provides a nice, smooth, healthy, slippery coating to those major arteries. This photo of the Nashville Outdoor World was early in the morning, before they open. But, as with Cabelas, you always wonder why there are so many people INSIDE on a weekend when it's about being OUTDOORS. The parking lot fills up fast. I know the answer: Guys love gear the way women love shoes. Did they have anything I needed? No. Did I buy a few things? Yes. It's the American Way. 
Saturday, September 23. 2006
Re-posted from August 11, 2005  Interviewing Morons and Slackers - Hot Tips for Senior College Students, Plus the Glory of Maine
Pardon my rant, but I am fed up. I am heading to Northeast Harbor through Labor Day tomorrow, thank God, to play with my little Hinckley Picnic Boat which I paid (!) someone to drive up there from CT, do a little bluefishing and striper fishing, get my three lobster pots out, play a little or hopefully a lot of tennis, read twenty books, go to a bunch of nice cocktail parties, and bang around the woods with the kids and the grandkids, and do some minor bird-watching, but I have been forced to run through what seems like a hundred educated fools over the past few months, so let me blow off a little steam. We hire lots of folks every year. All we care about is what you bring to the table. We do not care what sex, color, sexual preference, or anything else that you are (as long as you speak grammatical English including correct use of the subjunctive, which I am a stickler about, and can pass our own patented quick-essay-writing test which I instituted. We give you the topic, and you get 30 minutes to write the most penetrating and knowledgable essay you can. Your one chance to show us what you have under the hood - if we're impressed by it, you will have a great opportunity to prove yourself. If you cannot write adequately under pressure, you cannot think adequately under pressure). We'll also give you an IQ test, but none of those psychological tests. We don't even care where you went to school (provided you had meaningful competition to deal with. Third tier - sorry - we just don't have the time for you no matter how good you might be - you probably paid a lot of money for a second high-school-level education. Time is money, sorry to say, and we are beholden to unforgiving shareholders). We really just care about what you can offer us. We expect a lot, but if we get a lot, we'll compensate you well, and if we are disappointed, you'll be gone in a flash. Period. Everyone is on parole, guilty until proven innocent, useless until proven valuable. That's reality. Assume, at least for your first year or so, that your file will contain abundant negatives. You will deserve them, even if we like you a lot. We do it so we can dismiss you if we decide to, and to educate you, and to motivate you, and because you won't understand what you are doing for a while anyway. Among the other "delights" of my job is the pleasure of interviewing - I decided this year to personally make final approval for employees for two of our our companies, for new hires mainly over $90,000, bonus not included. These are companies that we are trying to aggressively move forward, and need good people. For my own education, and to assess the cut of their jibs, I took on this chore. (I tend to be partial to quirky, brainy, awkward people who love detail but can readily cut to the core of things. I am repelled by smoothies and I like people who will stand up to me, respectfully, of course - I do not find ass-kissers or flatterers useful, but be warned, because many dumb employers love it. At least this is my feedback from my pal in HR, who speaks to me fearlessly since I depend on his judgement so much, and is my tennis partner at home.) This group included plenty of 2005 graduates, BAs, MBAs, and assorted other degrees. A word to the wise in HR: I hereby do not want to waste my time interviewing anyone who has not taken calculus, statistics, macro- and micro-economics, or pre-med biology, and probably chemistry and preferably a few physics courses. Why? Because these are the only things left that are certain to demand intellectual rigor, and separate the men from the boys, as it were. I don't care about your grades, and I don't care what your major is - just show me you will tackle difficult things and that you have a problem-solving attitude. We can train you to do anything, if you arrive with the goods: IQ, discipline, strong sense of duty, enjoyment in taking on tough assignments, ability to use harsh criticism, and the right amount of ambition - not so much as to corrupt you, and not so little as to not be motivated. I could be missing some great hires, but I refuse to spend another five minutes of my life with a BS artist, basket-weaving major, "really nice guy" from Brown who can play squash. Nothing against squash. But got better things to do, like striper fishing. Well, I might seriously consider a Fly Fishing Major from Brown...do they have that major yet? Later, Bird Dog. I am on vacation as of right now.
Time to return to the old duck camp in Manitoba, on Lake Winnepegosis - the lake with the name that sounds like a rare infectious disease. Bird Dog, regrettably, will miss the trip this year, but Gwynnie will not. Boats gassed up and warmed up, and ready to go. No need to go out before daybreak - the ducks there like to sleep in. Weather is either Bluebird weather or sleeting in late September, but breakfast is coffee, scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon, toast, left-over steak from dinner, cereal, and fruit, and should suffice. Plenty of ammo, apples, granola bars and water on board our duck boat. Let's go. Wait...I left my gun in the gun-room. Anybody got their camera? And hey, where's the dog at? And did we remember the radio? Where the heck are my gloves? I thought I threw them in my bag... And my favorite, after you depart the dock: "Did anyone remember to grab the ammo?" 
Friday, September 22. 2006
Wierd conspiracy theories could not exist without this handy fallacy, but it is one for which juries are often total suckers. Argumetium ad ignorantium - "argument from ignorance", or "argument from incredulity", does not mean argument from stupidity - it means argument from a proposition which cannot be proven as fact, or from a proposition which cannot readily be disproven due to "ignorance" - eg lack of data. The lack of certain evidence for, or against, something does not make it either untrue, or believeable. Nor does the lack of certain evidence for something make an alternative theory more likely to be true. "It's hard to believe that a couple of terrorists knocked down the Trade Center, so it seems that Bush and the Israelis must have blown up the World Trade Center towers, and faked the TV images with the cooperation of TV news, so Bush could go into Iraq to get free oil to reward his rich friends. It's a huge conspiracy for the benefit of the Illuminati." Prove that is wrong. It is amazingly easy to make propositions which are simple lies, or absurd, but difficult to prove wrong. Thus you raise doubt, which can appeal to the paranoid part of people. Here's another: "Abe Lincoln greatly enjoyed his male friends and colleagues, so he probably was gay." Prove that isn't true. "The authors of the Second Amendment could not have intended that Americans should be killing eachother by having guns to protect their homes, so we should ban guns." Well, name me one of those guy's families which had no guns in their homes, but it's a bit late to do a poll now, so you can assert anything you want, based on your bias. I'd bet every one of the Founders had many guns in their home. Or, "Would my client, an experienced driver, forget to put n his parking brake? Impossible. My client deliberately declined to put on his parking brake, because he was afraid that the brake might fail on his '57 convertible Chevy, so he put it safely in "park" before it unfortunately, and tragically, but innocently, rolled down over all of those nice families at the beach." Try to prove I am wrong on that. Doubt? He's a nice guy - your next-door neighbor - not a murderer or a manslaughterer. He just likes antique Chevys, like we all do.
Thursday, September 21. 2006
Aliyah, 9 /9/06: A Wedding After war, my first wedding. Mordechai’s. And Sharona’s. In Netanya, how to find the wedding emporium? Netanaya, the Nice of French emigres, most of whom but a generation removed from North African refugees -- Algeria, Tunisia, Morrocco. Escapees to La Patrie, home of laicite, they now escape Paristan to find refuge in Israel. I fly in from the States the day of his wedding, cab to my Merkaz Klita apartment, drop off luggage, then seek out the wedding. But before I could get there, I will tell you of Mordechai. He, who calls me loudly, Akhi, “My Brother.”
He and I in Ulpan together for some six months. He made aliyah, because he is a Zionist, moved her to make a Jewish life, now needed a Jewish wife, an Israeli one. At one point, took a drag on a Gallouis, grimaced, then fiercely tossed it to the ground, never to smoke a French cigarette again. He is done with France.
Mordechai teases me. In France, his Jewish friends -- the Ashkenazi from Poland, Germany -- would tease Mordechai when he listened to Mizrachi tapes, the nasal singing from Morroco or Yemen. They accused him of being “almost an Arab,” and he responded, “You’re almost Jewish.” When I -- an Ashkenazi both Polish and German --worked at my Hebrew -- a throaty ayin or chet -- he would chide me, and I said that I was working at being almost Jewish. He left home at seventeen, his parents had told him several times that they had never wanted children. Lived in the streets. He did guitar, Jimi Hendrix his lodestar. Taught guitar. Played with bands. Cut some discs. Also did sports, got into school, first for a masters in sociology, then to the Sorbonne for his Ph.D. in sociology of science. We discussed Yossi Ben David at the Hebrew University, Michael Polanyi at Chicago, and Thomas Kuhn, who died too young. Mordechai wanted to talk with me about his thesis, wanted it translated into English. But he insisted that we only speak Hebrew -- our common language, he insisted. This limited what I could discuss about sociology. But it did not limit our friendship. He loved Rutie, our ebulliant, lizard-booted Hebrew teacher. The boots with engraved silver tips and especially the embossed heels gave her a heel, a height, a touch of attitude which she thinks she needed. When in a feather, she would about crow, straining at her full five feet, insisting that she was closer to six feet. Born during the rainy season in a tent in the early ‘50’s, her parents refugees from Syria. Always in a rush, she explained, so she couldn’t wait for the hospital. She envied Bridgitte of France, for her perfect waist, understated grace. She adored Mordechai; wanted me to uncle him.
And Mordechai loved her.
Continue reading "Guest Author, Aliyah Diary: A Wedding"
  This piece is a bit behind the news cycle, but what the heck. Breasts are interesting subjects which keep popping into the news: see Anchoress. More on "boobgate" at Protein. Boobgate is just too silly, and not worth commenting on at any length. (Ed: Basil does a great job with the subject today.)
But remember the fuss about that BabyTalk magazine cover last month? I thought it odd that many were upset by story about the mom breast-feeding her baby on the cover. Some termed the image "disgusting." Meanwhile, that magazine for new moms probably sat on a magazine rack five feet from a wide variety of porn magazines. Why did anyone find that Baby Talk cover worthy of comment at all, much less negative comment? Can a society be puritanical and licentious at the same time? Well, why not? We're not supposed to be reminded that breasts are for food? Nobody gets upset about using T&A to sell things (tits=hits, as the old blog expression goes), but something about using breasts to feed babies seemed to touch a nerve. Very strange, because feeding a baby is the most natural and beautiful thing in the world, or so we are told. I figured that it bothered people because it's an animal function, and we aren't animals, are we? John of Part-time Pundit has a theory, as quoted in his piece Where Feminism and Motherhood are Forced to Do Battle, in the Daily Illini: Earlier this summer, breast-feeding mothers were harassed by staff at Sholem pool for breast-feeding in public. Women caring for their children have been harassed in restaurants, parks and pretty much anywhere you find children congregating.
The law is quite clear that breast-feeding is not indecent or sexual. The medical community and community health advocates have concluded breast-feeding is what is best for the baby (and usually the mother). However, there is still tremendous public pressure against breast-feeding.
Despite the fact I see more boobs walking across the Quad, or for that matter watching C-SPAN, somehow breast-feeding is apparently too much for this promiscuous college town. After all, Champaign County does have a syphilis epidemic for a reason. A society that uses breasts to sell every conceivable product on the market is horrified by the concept of a breast being used for its designed biological purpose.
It could seem plausible to blame the religious right; After all, they were responsible for the protests over the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction of 2004. However, the religious right is generally more child-friendly than those on the other part of the political spectrum. The religious right supports women having children in the first place, as opposed to the left which supports slaughtering them on the altar of abortion.
Here is a more reasonable theory about the source of resistance to breast-feeding: It collides head-on with radical feminism. When former Harvard President Lawrence Summers suggested there are biological differences between men and women, he was run out of town. Breast-feeding is the ultimate expression, next to child-birth, that women are indeed different from men.
The whole piece is here.  In my opinion, breasts are multi-purpose organs: breasts are for feeding babies; tits are for fun, bosoms are for comfort, and snuggling; and boobs are ART to look at. Guys look at boobs - always. We cannot control our eyeballs, which have little tiny minds of their own. And, dear lady readers, we love 'em all, regardless of size or shape. I know that you understand, ladies: you check us guys out in your own sneaky ways.
No workplace rules or social rules will ever prevent men from staring, or admiring, or glancing, or covertly appreciating. Guys are made to like them - and women are always interested in their own, too. No amount of PC will prevent this fun and intriguing male pastime. But I think that it is an unusual guy - or an adolescent boy - who would find nursing mothers sexually titillating. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breast-feeding for a minimum of 12 months. Not only is it best for the baby, but it's best for the mom, too. Every month a mom breastfeeds, she reduces her risk of breast cancer. Moms with jobs find it challenging, unsurprisingly. Image on top of blog: Picasso's Nursing Mother For a t-rated, adolescent-type humor image, see continuation page for a gal for guys (or gals) who think they have it all.
Continue reading "Tempest in a B-Cup: Breasts, Bosoms, Boobs and Tits"
Monday, September 18. 2006
The story of the Dartmouth alumni rebellion has been well-covered in the blogosphere, especially by Dartmouth alums like Volokh, Roger Simon, and the Powerline dudes. Recently, the WSJ decided to highlight the story, as reported by Volokh. Joe's Dartblog follows the story closely from Hanover. It's an important story not only because Dartmouth is an important college: it's important because it sets an example for what alumni groups at other colleges could do when they are displeased by what is being done to their alma mater. In an era in which the tenured radicals and anti-traditionalists use their colleges and universities as laboratories for social engineering and experimentation, many alumni tend to feel dismayed, but helpless. Strangely - but not strangely - the Dartmouth administration is seeking to crush those who do not hew to the Party Line. The Party Line, at the moment, is to change the rules so that petition candidates cannot be elected as trustees. Their use of "push-polling" and intimidation are among the methods which are being applied. That sets one heck of an example for the academic ideal of diversity of opinion and considering different viewpoints. Woops - I forgot. Those ideals are just an antiquated, un-progressive, and obsolete tradition. Viva la Revolucion! Update: A comment from our Dr. Bliss: It's not just about setting an example for other higher education institutions - it's about setting examples for all levels of education. The teacher's colleges take their cues from the Ivies. The entire anti-traditionalist, political-correctness dhimmitude, dumbing-down, feel-good, social-engineering movement in primary school has been inspired by what the big guys do and say, and not just by their own socio-political agendas. One sobering example from a teacher patient of mine (a fellow who uses the subjunctive properly), who told me on Friday that the public schools in MA no longer teach grammar. It's too difficult for the kids, and it's elitist! If that's difficult and elitist, then try taking Physical Chemistry.
We are re-posting this item for three reasons: 1. We can't stand Soros, 2. We added this cute photo from Moonbattery, 3. We have this new youTube video link about Soros calling Bush a Nazi. ...complaining about suppression of speech - on national TV! What a jerk. May I apply the old expression "If you're so rich, how come you ain't smart"? Well, I think he is smart, but not wise. Who is this hero of capitalism?  George Soros, born Gyorgy Schwartz in Hungary in 1930, fled the Nazis in youth with his family, and ended up educated at the London School of Economics.
Since his arrival, almost penniless, in the US in 1956, he has become a legend of the hedge fund business. His specialty has been laying siege to currencies. His conviction for insider trading, and other financial wrong-doings, never garnered much negative attention and, indeed, it was peanuts - just the cost of doing aggressive business. His Quantum Fund is, predictably, registered in Curacao, an off-shore tax haven. Soros' extracurricular activities over recent years have been rightly attracting much attention, as he has become more outspoken in his political views, which tend to be anti-American, pro-world-government, and quasi-socialistic. His preoccupation with drug-legalization is well-known, but his efforts to spread abortion among traditional catholic nations is not. Besides being outspoken, Soros puts his vast amounts of money where his mouth is. Changing the world into his vision seems to be his life mission. His grandiosity, and his lack of respect for American traditions and principles, seem to be his flaws. There is no question that the man who broke the Bank of England understands markets, but that doesn't make him wise about other subjects. While his efforts to bend the Democratic Party leftwards over the past few years, through his Move On organization, have been most visible, Soros' money has been active through many other organizations which would not exist without it. Many say that Soros has bought the Democratic Party, and now he wants to buy America. Many are not aware of his role in Amnesty International, in getting support for McCain-Feingold, or of his formation of the Center for American Progress and America Coming Together. And that's just the beginning. What's his role in funding Air America? As a celebrity investor with billions to spend, he can always get a podium, and he can always find a way to support political goals while by-passing McCain-Feingold via the advocacy organizations he supports. Does he always get a pass from the press? Of course. He is one of the "good rich guys," as opposed to the "evil greedy Republican rich guys." They are in awe of him. Kincaid called him "the biggest political fat cat of all time." Horowitz and Poe, in a new book, view Soros as the banker of The Shadow Party. Atlas is always on Soros' case, unlike the MSM who leave him alone. Here's a good summary of his NGO activities abroad. But it's time to make "Soros-supported" a dirty phrase. Someone needs to do an in-depth study, and get the word out, more loudly. I do not have the time, but Discover the Networks doesn't do the job on Soros. We don't mind his being wealthy, nor do we mind his having opinions. We just want people to know what he wants, and what he is doing, and paying for, behind the scenes. Image of Soros as Dr. Evil stolen from Moonbattery (Ignore continuation page below)
Continue reading "Soros wants to buy your brain, The Shadow Party, and other things"
Sunday, September 17. 2006
 We did a post on Goldfinches in the past. We have discovered, this year, that the Goldfinches like echinacea seeds as much as they like thistles. Sitting on them every morning. There is nothing like birds and butterflies to add color and vitality to a garden. They provide the movement, like dancers on a stage set.
A sterile garden, with no animal life, is dull. Need the birds and bees to make it complete. Echinacea, aka Purple Coneflower, aka Snakeroot, is a Great Plains plant or herb. The usual forms are tall, for the back of the border, (and tend to tip over about now) but there is a shorter version now.
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