Bigot

From the December 2008 edition of Hadassah magazine, a letter to the editor:

You asked your respondents to focus on "issues of concern to Jewish voters." Clearly the most important issue is Judaism itself and our freedom to practice it....I think [Sarah Palin's] candidacy changes the parameters of the debate.

Her public statements and the few glimpses of her that we have been allowed indicate that hers ls a Christ-centered worldview and that she believes in the primacy of that religion above all others. (Note: Is there anyone who does not believe in the primacy of their own religion?)

If there is any more frightening issue of concern to Jewish voters (Note: I can think of several others, but that's just me )than the possible (Note: But not probable in a million years) erosion of the free exercise of religion, I cannot imagine what it might be.

Be alert, Jewish readers! The Christians are apt to burn down your synagogues and Jewish Community Centers and invade Chabad houses, torturing and killing their innocent inhabitants--oh, wait! Those aren't Christians, they're Muslims!

If past performance can predict future actions, I would say that Jews in this country have little to fear from Christians, even evangelical Christians. But this bugaboo is raised every time a Republican professes a belief in evangelical Christianity. Barack Obama, in contrast, could attend a racist church whose pastor espouses the Palestinian cause for 20 years without incurring criticism.

Perhaps the president-elect slept through the reverend's more fiery sermons. I, at any rate, am inclined to give Obama the benefit of the doubt until he actually does something which adversely affects the Jews of this or any other country.

Hadassah, by the way, is a Zionist organization. You might assume that its readers are more concerned with the perils facing an embattled Israel than with the imaginary and highly unlikely persecution of American Jews.

This year's most useless Christmas present

 

Train your fish?

Miscellaneous

I haven't gotten any comments lately, which worried me--but then I remembered that I hadn't posted anything in ages, so what's to comment on?

So here I am, with what a lady I once worked with called "nits and lice," miscellaneous trivia dredged up from the hodgepodge in my mind.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving? Mine was very nice, thank you. My daughter and her husband love to take over the kitchen, so I let them. My kitchen's too small for more than one person, anyway. I made the stuffing and peeled the potatoes and disappeared. My daughter and aforementioned husband love to go to the Acme every day, so they do. They even checked on Wednesday night to make sure the Acme would be open Thanksgiving Day. (It was.)

Their life is a whirlwind of purposeful activity. This daughter is the mother of a 7-year-old who she is convinced will perish if he does not get broccoli and green beans every single day. We did have an very enjoyable time. My older daughter and her son were able to come for the holiday so we were all together, which doesn't happen often enough.

They came at dinnertime the Monday before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately there was a power outage at thee o'clock Monday afternoon so I was unable to cook anything. We all went out to dinner and then they very sensibly went to the Holiday Inn for the night.

I've been reading a book called "The Legal Limit" by Martin Clark. It's very good, particularly the small-town Virginia setting. But it could have been better if an editor like Maxwell Perkins had been on the job. I guess they don't edit anything these days, or maybe the authors are paid by the word, because this book would have been better if it had been shorter. It tells the story of two brothers, one of whom peaked as a high school football hero and has gone downhill ever since, and the other a striver who pulls himself up by his bootstraps to become the county prosecutor in his home town. The action takes place over a period of twenty years, with the younger brother--the prosecutor--as the hero.

The book covers his life from his early twenties to his forties. The parts dealing with life as a small town prosecutor and his relations with his friends and neighbors, and particularly his brother, are well handled. His courtship and subsequent marriage, not so much.

His wife sounds too good to be true: I am sure it's not outside the realm of possibility that there are women who are tall, beautiful, intelligent, honest and artistic geniuses, but it's not plausible or believable within the covers of a novel. Also--and this is a minor quibble--scenes of passionate abandon are much more fun to experience than to read about. I could have done with a little less of his gay best friend's problems as well. Still, I enjoyed the book, most of the characters are extremely well done, and I look forward to reading Clark's other books.

We win an award

Another meme, courtesy of Father Brown: I have to pick 15 blogs:

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.

The rules to follow are:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.

Okay, here goes:


decision '08 (time for a new name, though);
Jules Crittenden;
Mark Steyn;
15 minute lunch;
Iowahawk;
scrappleface;
gates of Vienna;
passing parade;
Jack;
powerline;
Wyatt Earp;
Michael Yon
citizen of the month;
Lileks;
Tim Blair.

There are many more excellent blogs I follow, so I set myself some criteria: I generally am prejudiced toward blogs written by one individual. I decided not to include any Delaware blogs--there are too many good ones. I also tried to exclude blogs whose owners only blog once in a while and those who have terminated their blogs.

Anyway, there you have it. Whew! It was exhausting, posting all those llinks.

Oy vey! The best and brightest are back!

Lock up the silverware and hide the car keys! David Brooks lauds the high school heroes who went on to make the Ivy League the sinkhole of political correctness and fraudulent scholarship it is today.

Jan. 20, 2009, will be a historic day. Barack Obama (Columbia, Harvard Law) will take the oath of office as his wife, Michelle (Princeton, Harvard Law), looks on proudly. Nearby, his foreign policy advisers will stand beaming, including perhaps Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale Law), Jim Steinberg (Harvard, Yale Law) and Susan Rice (Stanford, Oxford D. Phil.).
[]



The domestic policy team will be there, too, including Jason Furman (Harvard, Harvard Ph.D.), Austan Goolsbee (Yale, M.I.T. Ph.D.), Blair Levin (Yale, Yale Law), Peter Orszag (Princeton, London School of Economics Ph.D.) and, of course, the White House Counsel Greg Craig (Harvard, Yale Law).

This truly will be an administration that looks like America, or at least that slice of America that got double 800s on their SATs.

There's worse:

Any think tanker can come up with broad doctrines, but it is rare to find people who can give the president a list of concrete steps he can do day by day to advance American interests. Dennis Ross, who advised Obama during the campaign, is the best I’ve ever seen at this....

Dennis Ross--where have I heard that name before? Isn't he the guy who is always seen knowledgably opining on the Sunday talk shows, demonstrating with vast erudition that he always grabs the wrong end of the stick and beats up the facts with it?

Could this be the Dennis Ross who crafted the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process which has successfully settled the mid-East's problems, leading to peace and prosperity on both sides? Oh, wait--not quite at peace yet! Unfortunately Yassir Arafat sold Dennis Ross a bridge which he has not been able to locate yet.

In my opinion, getting through Harvard requires the skills needed to get into Harvard, and nothing else.

William F Buckley once said that he would sooner live in a society governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than in one governed by the 2,000 men of the Harvard faculty.

Me too.

Delaware people are so polite

Delaware people are so much politer than people in NY and NJ. I hardly ever approach a door that someone doesn't hold it open for me--even teenagers. They're friendly and pleasant, too.

Even the panhandlers are polite. I had occasion to be in downtown Wilmington a few times lately, and encountered three panhandlers in one day. They were polite, almost deferential: "Pardon me, ma'am..." Such a nice change from the panhandlers in San Francisco, for instance, who will threaten you and follow you around.

One young man had a novel approach. I was selecting stuff at a salad bar, when he came up to me and told me he wanted to buy something or other--a soda, maybe? He asked me if I could give him a dime. I was so struck by the modesty of his request, I gave him a quarter.

What should my bumper sticker be?

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

Anything worth taking seriously - is worth making fun of

What Bumper Sticker Should Be On Your Car?

We love our customers...

I mean the ones we don't have yet.

I'm referring to Comcast and Verizon, who are constantly sending me offers for Internet, phone service, tv, etc. at bargain basement rates. Once they get their claws on you, however, it's no more Mr Nice Guy. My mother told me that if I was too easy, boys would not respect me, and she's right. Verizon doesn't even take my calls.

Did it ever occur to these businesses that if they were nicer to their current customers, people would be content to continue paying their salaries?

Babies

 

 

Are Americans getting smarter?

The number of cars with "My son is an honor student at XXX school" bumper stickers seems to be multiplying exponentially. Also--and I admit this is anecdotal evidence--I never seem to hear a young person discussed without assertions that he or she gets nothing but As and Bs.

Are our children getting smarter? Has our educational system improved to the point where everyone is fulfilling his or her potential to the max? Can we rest confident that America's future is in the hands of these budding geniuses?

Or is there a new definition of honor student--someone who attends school most of the time, gives the teachers no lip and doesn't burn the building down?

In Alice in Wonderland there is a dodo race. Everyone runs around aimlessly wherever he wants to, and at the conclusion, everyone wins and gets a prize. Is this the model for the American education system?

God makes them...

and they find each other:



This unappealing pair met over the Internet, and they broke up after she caught him virtually cheating on her. I can't find a picture of their avatars, but you can bet your boots they look better than the actual couple, him ripped and studly, her svelte and slinky.

Amy Taylor, 28, split up with her husband, David Pollard, 40, after catching him digitally cheating on her in the popular online game "Second Life."

The British couple had a passion for "Second Life," in which people lead alternative existences over the Web, with personas - or avatars - that are typically far more svelte and suave than their real selves.

Pollard and Taylor spent countless hours living in the game as their attractive alter egos, Dave Barmy and Laura Skye, after getting married both in real life and in the game in 2005.

In real life, Taylor and Pollard are both overweight, and he is balding.

But in February 2007, Taylor caught Pollard having sex with a pixel prostitute ....

"I looked at the computer screen, and I could see his character having sex with a female character. It's cheating, as far as I'm concerned," she said....

"We made it up, and he promised her he would never do anything to hurt me again, and would never cheat on me again," Taylor told The Daily Mail of London.

But two months later,... She caught Barmy in a compromising position with another woman.

It wasn't long before Taylor confronted him while he was in the act.

[]
"He said our marriage was over and he didn't love me anymore," Taylor said.

She filed for divorce on the grounds of "unreasonable behavior." A divorce lawyer told her the next day that this was the second case involving "Second Life" she had dealt with in one week.

Taylor has since given up "Second Life" for "World of Warcraft," another online game.

I blame Al Gore. If he hadn't invented the Internet, this would never have happened,

Elections in this country are getting slipshod

Let's stop it. Voters are voting by mail (what an opportunity for fraud!), by absentee ballot, provisionally, with or without previous registration. Ballots are being conveniently found in the back seat of cars and other inauspicious places. Let's stop it now.

Elections should be clean and should be seen to be clean. If people want to vote, let them show up at the proper venue at the proper time and register. Then let them all vote simultaneously, on the same day. This system has worked for 200 years and there is nothing wrong with it. The idea that people have to be coaxed to vote is a rotten one. If you don't care enough to show up at the polls, that's fine. There should be no coercion, and no "volunteers" signing up "voters" in streets and homeless shelters.

At some pre-determined time, all the votes should be counted and the ballots sequestered. Ballots found after that period, no matter where, should be discarded. Precincts which report after that period should not have their votes added to the total. Polls should be closed at the previously announced time, and no latecomers should be admitted.

This Al Franken thing now going on is a disgrace to the republic. So is Franken, but that's an issue for another day.

Jesse weeping--the mean-spirited community weighs in

Several conservative commenters--I believe Krauthammer was one--were touched by the sight of Jesse Jackson weeping at Barack O's election. I can't believe the old fraud and shakedown artist was weeping tears of gratitude.

More likely, someone probably stepped on his toe.

Pumpkin display, Highland Orchard Farm

 

Another time-waster

You Are 90% Yankee, 10% Dixie

You're so Yankee, it's possible you've never even been to the South!

Are You a Yankee or Dixie?

A poem for our day

The Second Coming

by William Butler Yeats

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Obama's worker bees

Bill Bradley was on Hannity and Colmes tonight. He suggested that all the people who were campaigning for BO over the weekend ought to be enlisted into--what? I know not, but I don't like the idea of having the Soviet Youth dropping around the house to see whether I'VE RECYCLED or something. I want all these willing volunteers who are so eager to help Obama achieve his vision to leave me strictly alone. I prefer that they sink into apathy, or go off and get drunk or do drugs. I don't want to be part of Obama's corps of concerned citizens.

What I want to do is turn my thermostat to whatever makes me comfortable, to get gasoline that is reasonable and readily available, to eat whatever unhealthy food I feel like scarfing down. I don't mind paying for what I use. I don't want Big Brother looking over my shoulder.

At art class, one of the women said it was time we had a president who would save the planet. Could we first have a dispassionate look at what, if anything, is wrong with the planet? Ditto health care? Could we investigate dispassionately what's wrong with American health care, and how good--or bad--other systems are?

We take so many things on faith, without any proof. I'm not convinced global warming exists or that there is anything the United States could do to remedy it without crippling our economy. Obama talks blithely about bankrupting coal producers. If he delivers on any of his promises, he will be a piss-poor president.

I blame Bush for the Democratic victory, at least partly. He didn't bother to get the country behind him on the Iraq war. Or on anything. He just went on doing whatever he was doing without explaining himself or justifying himself. The presidency is a bully pulpit, but he ignored its propaganda function, and that's how he lost the battle for public opinion.

McCain was pretty pathetic, too. Why didn't he publicize the Rev Jeremiah Wright's relationship with Obama--a relationship that stinks to high heaven? Why didn't he articulate his plans for solving our financial crisis? Why did he tie himself to using public financing, the equivalent of tying one of his legs behind him?

Basically, I believe that Obama won for two reasons: one, the economy. The financial meltdown worked in his favor. Two: the man is just plain lucky. He only won his Senate seat because his opponent dropped out, among other things. I just hope his luck extends to the country.

Guy Fawkes Day--how could I forget?

I've always loved the idea of Guy Fawkes Day since I first read about it in Mary Poppins as a little girl:

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Instead of setting fire to cars--the French way--the Brits enjoy setting off fireworks to commemorate the foiling of a plot against the government. Fireworks must light up the dreary November skies nicely.

A quiet day in New Jersey

I went to New Jersey Thursday to visit a relative who is recovering from surgery. I was surprised at how uneventful the trip was. The generic, nondescript trees lining the turnpike didn't look as generic and nondescript as usual, due to the fall foliage. And the traffic--well, I came home at rush hour, and there were a minimum number of trucks on the road. Even at the place in the road where truck traffic and car traffic come together, which is generally pretty fraught, everything proceeded smoothly. Usually there is a snarl of traffic which causes tempers and radiators to boil over, but on that day everything proceeded quietly.

This must be the result of the economic meltdown. Business must be very slow. It was uncanny, as if a disaster had occurred somewhere nearby. I felt...uneasy.

However, I did get my car pumped full of New Jersey gas by somebody else.

Librarian fined for promoting daughter's book

Was this unethical?

For 39 years as an educator, Robert Grandt has been promoting other people’s books. So this year, when his daughter helped create a graphic novel of “Macbeth,” Mr. Grandt could not resist bragging a little in the newsletter he distributes as a librarian at Brooklyn Technical High School.


Mr. Grandt’sdaughter, Eve Grandt, co-illustrated a version of “Macbeth.” He said he was taken aback by conflict-of-interest charges. "I was just so proud of my daughter for writing it," he said.

“Best New Book: Grandt, Eve, ‘Shakespeare’s Macbeth — The Manga Edition,’ ” he wrote under the heading “Grandt’s Picks.”

He also placed a few copies of the book at a library display table, and posted a sign: “Best Book Ever Written.” If someone were interested, they got a book free.

But one person’s parental pride is another panel’s ethical transgression.

On Monday, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board announced it had settled a case it had brought against Mr. Grandt for promoting his daughter’s work. He agreed to pay a $500 fine and admit in a three-page stipulation that he had violated the city ethics code.

Turning leaves, Wilmington DE

 

 

 

 

All these phots were taken at the Delaware Art Museum.

The Charleston Library Society

 

I took this picture for no particular reason, except that it's a library, last July. Today I looked it up and it has a fascinating history:

The Charleston Library Society is the South's oldest cultural institution and the third oldest library in the United States. For more than 250 years it has collected, preserved, and made available cultural materials for the use of its members and researchers from around the world. Today, it is a circulating library and a repository of rare books, periodicals, manuscripts, clippings, maps, directories, almanacs, and visual materials.

Established in 1748 by seventeen young gentlemen of various trades and professions wishing to avail themselves of the latest publications from Great Britain, the Charleston Library Society paved the way for the founding of the College of Charleston in 1770 and provided the core collection of natural history artifacts for the founding of the Charleston Museum – America’s first – in 1773.

[ ]
During the war years of 1861 - 1865, part of the Library's archives was sent to the state capitol for safekeeping. The reunion of the collections at the end of the war also marked the merging of the Apprentice's Library with the Charleston Library Society, resulting in the long-standing practice of providing each adult member a free membership to gift to a minor twenty-one years of age or under.

The Charleston Library Society's building at 164 King Street is fronted by two of the city's largest ginkgo trees. This species represents memory and long life, and for many years the ginkgo leaf has served as the symbol of the Charleston Library Society.

I love libraries, particularly old ones!

How should I dress for Halloween?

You Should Be a Fairy for Halloween

According to our quiz, you'd make an ideal fairy. Your runner up costume: Showgirl

The Halloween Costume Generator

No comment.

No passport?

It has been said (sneeringly) of Sarah Palin that she doesn't even have a passport. And what might she have learned, had she had a passport? I've only been to Europe, so please excuse my Eurocentric bias:

1. There are a lot of churches in Europe.

2. Ditto museums.

3. Likewise historic sites where stuff happened.

4. (British Isles and Canada only) Cute young guys in kilts.

5. Also, the Euro is worth about a dollar, sometimes more, sometimes less.

6. Many foreigners speak English. Many do not.

7. There's a long wait to get into the House of Commons; sometimes you don't get in anyway.

8. Did I mention churches?

My trips to Europe did not result in any epiphanies or insights into how to run the nation. I might as well have stayed home and read some Fodor's guidebooks. Going was more enjoyable, but also more costly.

But it was fun, and I heartily recommend that Sarah, Todd, and the kiddies go on a nice family vacation in Europe.

Horse hits tree

From the Telegraph (UK).

The scholastic scribe: 200: This Bling's for You!

the scholastic scribe lists her favorite blogs:

An interesting idea. I can't wait to visit all the blogs she lists.

My own choices, among many: 15 minute lunch; lileks; tim blair; Iowahawk; the nose on your face; not necessarily in that order.

Whew! I'm bushed! Putting in all those links is not easy.

Open for business

What in the world is the Obama discount on the stock market?

Are investor concerns about an Obama presidency influencing the stock market? And by "concerns" I mean "existential panic." And by "Obama presidency" I mean "a tax-hiking and regulatory reign of terror." And by "influencing" I mean "eviscerating." At least that's the overwrought take I get from a few of my more skittish E-mailers.

Here's my thinking: I was supposed to get a minimum distribution on my 401(k)on Nov 15. However, I was pretty sure the market would tank if Obama were elected president, which appeared very likely. I didn't want to wait until after the election; that would be too late. So, the Friday before the market started to slide gracefully downhill like an Olympic skier, I called the company and asked them to send me the money now--I mean then, of course.

Well, the very next Monday the market started to plummet and has since continued the good work, so I have discovered that I have financial acumen which has hitherto been latent. I was as surprised as anyone to learn that I know as much about the market as anybody else, including Alan Greenspan (who confessed himself puzzled at the way things have gone.)

So, exhibiting the old pioneer spirit which led my ancestors as far west as Columbus, OH, I have decided to set myself up in business as a financial adviser. I am dedicating a corner of my office--the one formerly occupied by the mop and the broom--to my new business. Hours: noon to four, Monday through Friday.

Perhaps I will start a new website called "Miriam pix stox," to be consulted by my devotees when they are in need of some savvy advice. Or you can e-mail me.

What goes around comes around

I'm not happy about our country's financial meltdown, but it does have some positives. For instance, when you try to deal with some company on the phone, they are downright civil!--almost matey, in fact.

My car was recalled and I dreaded calling the dealer. People who work at automobile dealers are generally either rude or dismissive. Not this bunch! I told them I was sent a recall notice, and they directed me--in person, not voicemail--to someone to make an appointment with. They gave me the name of the person who would be taking care of my car. I couldn't have been more pleased if they had sent me a dozen roses.

I also ordered a computer for my husband from Dell, this time using live chat. Gabe was friendly and knowledgeable. I explained that we did not need a monitor. Gabe set me up with one of their promotions, and said someone would call me. (Apparently you can't order anything over live chat.)

A few minutes later Craig called and was downright friendly. Entire time spent ordering a computer: 15 minutes. Nor did either Gabe or Craig try to sell me a long-term maintenance contract or upgrade me from what I wanted to something more expensive. They also did not mention their own payment plan, under which you pay them a certain sum of money, an amount which increases arbitrarily from time to time, for the rest of your life plus 10 years.

Now if someone would just do something to Verizon....

grasshopper weathervane, duPont house, Hagley Museum

 

The day I gave away taxpayer money

I, along with a bunch of other librarians from the county, (which shall be nameless) were summoned to an urgent meeting at the office of the community college library director. It turns out there was some state grant money to be spent on the arts, they had a hatful of applications, and someone had to decide who got the money. That would be us. They couldn't think of anyone better equipped, knowledgeable, blah blah blah. Or maybe they couldn't get anyone else on such short notice.

It turns out there were two kinds of organizations looking for grants. First, those which were doing okay without the money but could have used some, and those that were hopeless. Among the hopeless was an application to paint a mural on the side of a disused barn in the middle of nowhere.

We had to decide where to disburse the money that very day. The applications had apparently been found in somebody's inbox just a day or two before the deadline, so we had to make up our minds very fast.

I discovered then and there how good it felt to spread money around. It was a small amount, but we felt powerful and important. A thousand here, a thousand there--we felt the thrill which undoubtedly motivated the Rockefellers, with the pleasing difference that it wasn't coming out of our pockets.

So I learned how easy and rewarding it is to give away somebody else's money. Well, it felt like other people's money, even though it was tax money and we were the taxpayers.

oysgevarfene gelt*

The Bill Ayers/Barack Obama/Annenberg Challenge mess chiefly inspires this sentiment in me: Shame on you, Annenberg Foundation! You gave enough money to rebuild a whole neighborhood in New Orleans, to a couple of radical fakers and time-servers who wanted to radicalize school children--and they couldn't even do that! (Neither could they teach them to read, write and calculate, which I bet is the reason their parents send them to school-- but that's another issue.)

President Roosevelt liked to build dams and other infrastructure projects, because something tangible was there to show where the money went. These Annenberg idiots could have built a school, a bridge, a bikepath, a dam for God's sake, and have something to show for the money. They could have bought every child in Chicago a Big Mac.

I'm all for eliminating tax-free foundations. They just make mischief.

*It means money thrown away.

Dirty work at the crossroads

There is a sinister plot afoot to mess with my blog. Blogrolling disappears, and comes back. Some of my links don't work, for no conceivable reason.

I blame Bush.

Also at Carnival of the Insanities.

Yom Kippur report

Well, the Jewish holidays are over, and I can now ignore the Jewish religion until Passover, when another spasm of piety will undoubtedly strike. I am not religious, but I draw some kind of strength and certitude from being among believers. There is something noble about those who take religious precepts seriously and govern their behavior accordingly.

When I visit my cousin Bernie for Shabbat dinner and he recites the blessing over wine, I admire his dignity and strength. I also acknowledge a direct connection between him--and me--and our ancestors who did the very same thing, far away, in a different country and in different circumstances, but using the very same words. Tradition continues l'dor v'dor--from generation to generation, and I am still part of this, one link in the chain.

People who found my site...

through Google and other search engines. They are a strange lot.

I would say the number one search that lands people on my site is Miriam's porn. I get them from all over--Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Australia. They must be so disappointed; it's kind of deceptive advertising, actually. I should take it down--that and my numerous references to nude blogging. Then no-one would visit me.

Another combo that gets hits is English towns with funny names. They are pretty funny. Example: Butthole Lane. Also, Mercedes-Benz: the car of choice for dictators. Some British automotive magazine linked to this one, and I got a lot of visits.

I get visits from people who want to view the soler system. At least half of them think that is the correct spelling. Poor education.

Survival techniques

I could survive for 28 seconds chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor

This is not good enough. Must practice.

Yeah, but she went to Harvard

So she must be qualified for a position of leadership.

It stands to reason. But certain soreheads resent her success:

Ken Lay and Jack Abramoff must be green with envy over the all the mischief that has been accomplished by Jamie Gorelick, with scarcely any demonization in the press.

Imagine playing a central role in the biggest national defense disaster in 50 years. Imagine playing a central role in one of the biggest economic disasters in your country's history. Imagine doing both as an un-elected official. Imagine getting filthy rich in the process, and even being allowed to sit self-righteously on a commission appointed to get to the bottom of the first disaster, which of course did not get to the bottom of that disaster or anything else for that matter.

Some people just don't want anyone to get ahead.

One of the advantages of being old(er) is that I've seen it all. From the perspective of a faculty wife, I've seen my share of blockheads who went to Harvard, Swarthmore, Berkeley, you name it. People who couldn't tie their own shoes without a government grant. These people, by the way, were employed as tenured professors in highly prestigious institutions of higher education. And they had sneering privileges over the rest of us, lowly graduates of state institutions that were probably founded to educate farmers on how to rotate the crops. Like the University of Idaho, where some nobody whose name escapes me got her degree.

Apparently the hardest part of going to Harvard is getting in. After that, it's duck soup. Cut classes, foment revolution, burn down historic buildings, rape the president's daughter, it doesn't matter. All will be forgiven. My brother the genius informs me that it's just the same at MIT. Just get admitted, and the faculty and administration are frightened that you will commit suicide if your little frailties are not overlooked.

ht to lead and gold.

The Palin-Biden debate

I thought they both did okay and did not commit any egregious errors. What struck me was how Biden kept dragging Bush into the debate. It's his King Charles' head.

Cheney was also dragged into the debate on topics that had nothing to do with him What is it about Cheney that makes him such a bogeyman? Parents apparently frighten their children by threatening to call in Cheney to discipline them if they don't mind.

Frankly, I can only think of two things Cheney did in his eight years in office. One was telling Senator Leahy to go f*** himself, and the other was shooting his friend on the hunting trip.

Will our country be ruined?

Maybe not.

From Milton Friedman: [W]hen Adam Smith was told that the British loss at Yorktown would be the ruination of Britain, Adam Smith replied, "Young man, there's a deal of ruin in a nation."

From an interview by Rightwing News.

Delaware and the tort bar

Perfect together.

A remarkable political fact of Mr. Biden's career is that his top campaign contributor is SimmonsCooper, a law firm in Madison County, Illinois, of all places. Aficionados of tort law will understand. SimmonsCooper is a big asbestos player, and Madison County was until recently one of America's meccas for jackpot justice. But the story gets better: Mr. Biden has been helping the tort bar turn his home state of Delaware into a statewide Madison County.

Thanks, Joe.

A statesman we can all get behind

Caligula famously made his horse a consul. Compared with Congress, the horse is looking pretty good.

Tomorrow is Rosh Hashonah

Happy New Year, everyone.

Siri Paboun mysteries by Colin Cotterill

There are five Siri Paboun novels at present, each complete in itself, but together presenting a snapshot of a place and an era. These stories start in 1975, when the Communists take over Laos to the immense surprise of everyone, not least themselves. At least 500,000 of the newly liberated citizens of this enlightened country have chosen to swim across the river or otherwise decamp to Thailand at the opening of the first book, The Coroner's Lunch.

When the story opens, the previous official coroner has fled elsewhere, so Siri Paboun, an elderly doctor who fought for Laotian freedom, has been appointed to fill his place. Although he lacks the training and the equipment, refusing the job is not an option. Siri supports the new governemt--after all, he fought for it--but has no illusions. He is hopeful that the Pathet Lao (the new Communist regime) will eventually get their act together and start governing efficiently, but skeptical of this happening any time soon. The new government is devoted to bureaucracy, requiring lengthy forms to be filled out for every trivial action, mandatory meetings, and pompous pronouncements. Under the new regime, Laotians are meant to "volunteer" for menial jobs, such as painting the new civic center, in their spare time. Vietnamese "advisors" are also present and represent a force be reckoned with.

Siri improvises from day to day, performing his assigned duties to the best of his ability, ably assisted by his nurse, Dtui, and by Gueng, a Down's syndrome man who tackles the menial tasks of the lab with great patience and zeal. The three of them manage to run the enterprise competently and resourcefully and to enjoy life despite obstacles put in their way.

All this takes place against a background of Laotian and Hmong villages, peopled by gentle souls still living as their ancestors did, people who never sought to fight anyone but were overrun by the forces of twentieth century history and left to cope as best they could.

The atmosphere of Vientiane and other venues in Laos is so skillfully depicted that you get a real feel for the place - primitive, exotic, yet suffering the discomforts and constraints characteristic of the twentieth century. Cotterill obviously has great respect and affection for the various ethnic groups who find themselves lumped together as a nation because it was convenient for the French — their former colonizers — to draw the map that way.

To complicate matters further, Siri, a man of science and a skeptic in matters spiritual, is the reluctant host for the spirit of a thousand-year-old shaman, who occasionally has prophetic dreams and gets him into all kinds of trouble. He also is pursued by a demon, a phibob, who is bent on destroying him. With the help of his occult powers, Siri is able to get to the bottom of all kinds of mysterious events which drive the plots of these five books.

The best way to appreciate these novels is to read them straight through chronologically from beginning to end. The main characters — sketchily described in the first novel — develop foibles and strengths as they cope with the difficulties which confront them. Their individual histories are revealed more fully, and they become more rounded and believable.

Amusing

Ht electicity.

Above my pay grade and in over my head

I admit I don't understand the plan advanced by Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke to save Wall Street, or whatever it is that they are saving. The Senators who are questioning them also seem skeptical. It seems I heard a figure bandied about of 7 billion $, that's 7 with a whole lot of zeroes after it.

I don't understand how the government taking over the entire economy is going to save capitalism, but heck, these guys went to prestigious colleges and won impressive degrees so they should know what they are doing. I hope.

The fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac donated oodles of money to various members of Congress was a big coincidence.

Another thing, if Freddie and Fannie both did the same thing, lend money foolishly, why did we need two of them? I would think that one quasi-governmental agency could mismanage very well all by itself, saving the government the cost of two buildings, two chief executives, two charwomen, and so on. I mean, the student loan agency manages to rip off the public just fine with only one agency mismanaging it.

But the ways of American politics are very exotic to me, more so than the rituals of some esoteric, remote tribe in the Amazon. I've never been able to understand the finer points of political activity. For instance, what was Watergate all about. I know what happened, but I fail to understand the reasoning behind it. Was Nixon afraid he wouldn't win the election because he was only 20 percent ahead?

Welcome, Insanities readers!

Delaware Symphony event, cont.

 

Above, a picture of the brass band that entertained the arriving guests. They were excellent. So was the program. The symphony, of course, is a pick-up orchestra, but performed ably. It was the guests that I found most remarkable. They all seemed to know each other. It was like going to a family wedding, if your family consisted of well-heeled and well-dressed people. The women were exceptionally stylish, except for one or two human skeletons in baby dresses--hanging straight from the shoulders and cut off below the hips. Not a good idea for women over forty, especially if you have legs like sticks. The younger women were ravishing. Women were all dressed to the nines, or at least to the eight and a halfs. Men, not so much.

And men look so great in evening dress!

Under the heading of old business....

I have some stuff to clear up:

I caused the stock market to tank. Yes, I am guilty. Last Friday I ordered my IRA to sell some shares. You saw what happened Monday? I am deeply sorry.

The pro-abortion cheerleaders act like getting an abortion is a fun thing, like getting a really nifty hairdo or taking a vacation in Bermuda. It isn't. It's a surgical procedure, not a cause for celebration, whatever you are, pro-choice or pro-life.

The Wall Street Journal quotes a a couple of supposedly representative Christians:

When I got home from church I... called my Jesuit friend, who I know hates these people, too. I asked, "Don't you think God finds these smug egomaniacs morally repellent? Recoils from their smugness as from hot flame?"

And he said, "Absolutely. They are everything He or She hates in a Christian."

I thought Christians were supposed to love their enemies, or their neighbors? Apparently not. I guess Jesus was just kidding around when he said, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." I suppose the quaint idea I picked up, that to a believing Christian, every one of us is a child of God with an immortal soul, was not applicable to Republicans. I'm not a Christian, so how could I know? I thought Christians were like the Rev Martin Luther King. You know, saintly.

I hope these tolerant believers don't extend their contempt to us Jews--oh wait, they already have. Only they call us "Zionists."

By the way, I just posted a new feature, called "Followers," on my blog. Humiliatingly, I have 0 followers so far. So if you want to follow my blog, sign up. If no-one signs up, I will remove the gadget.

Cirque de Soleil dancers, September 13, 2008

 

From the Delaware Symphony fund-raising event.

News flash: Cindy McCain and Laura Bush wear expensive clothes

while the poor run around in rags, no doubt.

Laura Bush's ensemble

Oscar de la Renta suit: $2,500
Stuart Weitzman heels: $325
Pearl stud earrings: $600–$1,500
Total: Between $3,425 and $4,325

Cindy McCain's wardrobe

Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600

Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100.

How contemptible this stirring up of class envy is, especially in a fashion reporter!

News flash to Elizabeth Snead: Oscar de la Renta is an American company. Stuart Weitzman is an American company. It provides jobs to American workers. The fashion industry is very important to the economy of New York City (hence NYC hosts fashion week and not Elizabeth Snead week)) and Los Angeles.

Wealthy women wear expensive clothes--deal with it. At least these two are buying American, unlike Jacqueline Kennedy, who bought French clothes, at least until she was in the White House.

Laura and Cindy are criticized for being wealthy women who dress nicely when they are on national tv. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, is considered white trash who probably goes around in the skins of the moose she kills.

How important is Delaware?

Answer: Not very.

[Palin's] state of Alaska has less [I would use the word fewer, myself, as more grammatically correct] than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure.

Well, Delaware only has about 850,000 residents, which reduces the job of governing Delaware to running--actually--about ten percent of New York City, assuming NYC still has 8 million. I missed a lot of school when we studied fractions, but by my calculations Delaware is about 12 percent more important than Alaska.

By these criteria, Delaware isn't much:

Delaware is 45th largest state in population, which makes it pretty negligible, although not as contemptible as Vermont or Wyoming, 49th and 50th, respectively. I don't know why we even bother to have an election for governor, really. The place could probably run itself.

Let's look at the world. Giuliani could probably govern both Luxembourg (pop 483,800) and Iceland (pop 319,355) together without turning a hair. Imagine what these two countries could save in salaries every year if they just had to pay one chief executive!

Welcome, Insanities readers!

People who find my site through Google

Every once in a while I check to see what combination of words brings people to my site. Here goes:

Miriam's porn site I should really remove this facetious post from my website--the poor dears must be so disappointed. Still, it does generate lots of traffic....

A short history of the United States This one is most often consulted by foreigners. Good grief! I hope they don't take it too seriously.

English towns with funny names: Self-explanatory.

Hairstyles of the 20th century: Also self-explanatory.

Natalee Holloway. In this post, I explained that there is no news about NH; still, people continue to visit the link. Go figure.

The left's favorite mythical animals

Bush's plastic turkey







Book banned by Sarah Palin

Yesteerday at Longwood--miniature railroad

 

Do we want to go this route?

It sounds unpleasant, if not dangerous.

Britain is “quite simply running out of power” and blackouts are almost inevitable within the next few years.

Campbell Dunford of the respected Renewable Energy Foundation said: “It’s almost too late to do anything about it. Nothing will stop us having to pay very high prices for power in future.

“If we pull our finger out now we can limit blackouts but it’s going to be pretty grim whatever happens.”...[ ]


Blackouts could force the Government to impose electricity rationing, last seen in the Seventies. The REF report says the Government “should prepare itself to intervene with social policy to prevent hardship and maintain order”.

It criticises ministers for focusing too heavily on such untried renewable energy sources as wind and tide power, rather than making sure that secure new power generation was put in place.

The report concludes: “A near fatal preoccupation with politically attractive but marginal forms of renewables seems to have caused a blindness towards the weakening of the UK’s power stations and a dangerous and helpless vulnerability to natural gas.”

Great Britain seems to have adopted the policy favored by the Democrats. Apparently it isn't working very well for them.

Thanks to Ker-Plunk for the link.

Banned books

The whole carry-on about Sarah Palin and the local librarian reminds me of my experience with censorship in my long years atoning for the sins of a former life by serving as a library director.

The politicians never took any interest in the books in the library. They didn't read them. I don't believe they read the reports I sent them. They didn't even have library cards. Only the inmates of these small towns noticed we had books, some of which they objected to.

The complaints were bizarre. One man poked his head around the corner of my office and dropped a copy of The Return of the Native on my desk, remarking that it was the dirtiest book he had ever read. He must have led a sheltered life.

In order to forestall citizen's complaints, we had a Procedure. I found that a Procedure, in writing, was a good way to cope with complaints and other problems. We had Procedures for every eventuality--unruly customers, opening and closing the library, checking out books, dealing with emergencies, etc. They were kept in a notebook entitled Policies and Procedures.

So, as part of this Procedure, we had this form which we asked our patrons to fill out if they wanted something removed from the shelves. No-one who complained ever wanted to fill out the form, so the matter usually died there. Most of the books people objected to were not obscene or objectionable; someone just had an aversion to a particular book for reasons of their own. I think some of them just wanted to talk to somebody.

Librarians love to talk about Censorship, but censorship was not my main problem with books in the library. Our main problem was donations. Ideally, we didn't want any. We particularly didn't want any copies of encyclopedias more than three years old or with volumes missing. Filthy or moldy books, books with pages missing or covers torn off, books whose contents were escaping their bindings--you get the picture. Nix. No. Nada. Non quiero. We of course had a policy stating what sort of books we would accept, but no-one ever read it. People just brought in books, left them in the bookdrop, or deposited them at our door if we were closed. It was a bad idea making them take them home again, so we quietly disposed of them.

Donated periodicals were a lesser problem, as sometimes one of our issues was missing and we could fill in our collection. But National Geographic! It's an excellent publication beyond a doubt, but we had so many of them that we gave them to school kids to illustrate their reports.

Other problem donations were books people were eager to add to our collection: books about little-known religions; books denying that John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln, hate-filled tomes blaming all the world's problems on the Jews, stuff like that. We had a Policy for these, thank God. It generally involved pitching them.

And there were the books donated under certain conditions: they must be kept in the reference collection, or the children's collection, or behind glass. We didn't want them either.

Shame on you, Sarah!

Praying! in a church!

What atrocity will come next?

I have noticed that we Jews have a prayer for our country's leaders which is recited some time during the high holidays--and they don't even add a footnote: "Except for George W Bush."

Clearly this prayer book needs revision.

Did Palin ever threaten a librarian?

Put up or shut up:

I have some news for Ms. Palin about the responsibilities of a community organizer. I know something about it because my son Matthew is a community organizer; and in south Chicago, as it happens.

It’s true that he doesn’t have the responsibilities of a small-town mayor. He’s never had the responsibility to use authority and power to threaten to fire the librarian for not banning books that were incompatible with the mayor’s personal beliefs and tastes.

Well, did this happen? Names and dates, please.

Meanwhile, about that community organizer job Barack Obama had--how did that work out for the community? More jobs? Better housing? Slumlords (Tony Rezco, call your office) persuaded to take good care of their properties? Are the schools any better? Does the city pick up trash more regularly and keep the streets clean?

Emotional Hippies - Crying Over Dead Trees

Glatt meshugah.

Defending a woman's right to choose...

Phyllis Chesler answers her own question. This is how she states her dilemma:

Do we vote to keep abortion legal and to stop the anti-Choice conservatives from taking over the Supreme Court–or do we vote to make sure that the American military is allowed to stop the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in their tracks? Can we really achieve both goals by voting for one candidate? If not, then what is the more pressing priority? For ourselves, for our country, for the world at this moment in history?

If American women retain the right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term–in my view, a prerequisite to female human freedom, what does this mean if the jihadists bomb the country back to the seventh century? If the jihadists triumph, American women will be forced to convert to Islam, to wear veils or burqas (body bags), and risk being stoned to death, hung, or honor murdered if they want to choose their own husbands, attend college, dress like modern American girls do, or convert to another non-Islamic religion.

First: No one is proposing to do anything in the near future to either restrict or promote abortion. Indeed, no president has the right to do so. He or she could propose either pro-abortion or pro-life bills, but there is little chance that anyone in Congress would want to pick up that hot potato. "The right to choose" represents left-wing lip service, and "the right to life" represents right-wing sermonizing.

Second: Supreme Court nominations: Supreme Court nominees are at best autonomous, at worst loose cannons. Once approved by the Senate and appointed to the Court, they are free to decide that the moon is made of green cheese and no-one can say them nay. The justices are absolutely free of any check on their power. They serve for life. A conservative appointee might want to discover his inner liberal, once he is appointed, and vice versa. So you never know what a nominee will do. You can guess, but chances are you will be wrong 50 percent of the time.

I'm sure Reagan wanted to appoint a conservative, but what did he get? Sandra Day O'Connor, for one, a woman who lurches from the right to the left like a drunken sailor aboard a ship in a storm.

For my part, I don't consider an abortion exactly a cause for jubilation. I reluctantly agree that it is up to the individual to decide for herself, but there is no denying it is an ugly business.

Completely pointless thoughts about political players

Just stuff that crossed my "mind," if you can call it that:

1. Everyone dumps on Nancy Pelosi for having plastic surgery. Just because she's stupid, does she have to be ugly too? Plastic surgeons have to feed their families, too, you know.

2. Sarah Palin's kids have awful names. Could there be an uglier name for a girl than Bristol? Is it worse than Crystal? It shouldn't be, but somehow it is. It reminds me of the bristles on a pig, or a hairbrush. Poor kid. Willow is not as bad, but I think one of the boys is named Trigger or something. Maybe it's Track. Sarah herself is lovely, of course. Why not Sarah jr?

3. Cindy McCain is too thin. When she stands sideways she disappears. She looks like the undead. Have a cookie, Cindy. Or drink some of the family beer.

4. On the other hand, Laura Bush is a perfect lady. She's tactful and soft-spoken--in a word, charming. She looks as she should look as the mother of grown children. But that doesn't stop anyone from saying ungracious things about her.

5. Hillary Clinton is the world's favorite dumpee. She is criticized for everything from her hair to her toes, with several stops in-between. People who aren't even personally acquainted with her speak of her pejoratively. She appears to be the second most hated figure in politics. GWB, of course, takes the honors.

6. McCain can't do anything about "a woman's right to choose," pro or con. Neither can Obama. Bush couldn't do anything about it either. Nor Clinton. So why can't we drop this topic from political discourse? The case is closed. The supremes have spoken. Give it a rest!

My bar code

 

I amused myself by downloading this. It's pointless but harmless.

No animals were used in testing this product.

The New York Times gets sarcastic

A little humor at Mayor Ray Nagin's expense:

Evidently intending to forestall the looting rampant after Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Nagin promised lawbreakers a quick trip to the state’s notorious penitentiary, Angola.

“We have double the police force, double the National Guard force that we had for Katrina,” the mayor said, “and looters will go directly to jail.”

It was not clear, however, how he planned to bypass the state’s usual law enforcement procedures.

It's simple: he'll just trample their civil rights.

Watching Bobby Jindal's report on hurricane precautions

...gave me some insight into what a governor can do and has to do. He exhibited mastery of a very serious situation, based on expertise and judgment. An executive such as a governor has much more responsibility than a senator does.

Fortunately, it doesn't matter how useless a senator is. There are plenty of senators who are crooks and liars and dumb to boot, but their stupidity and dishonesty don't really affect anyone much. I'm not referring to the senatorial powerhouses such as Ted Kennedy, but to run-of-the-mill dolts like Chris Dodd. A governor, however--like Kathleen Bianco-- can really louse things up.

So I would say that Sarah Palin has more relevant experience than Barack Obama does.

I have to moderate comments now....

because I am going to say the unsayable.

I like Bush. G W Bush, current president, and proud trampler of civil rights of Democrats. I mean to say: aren't the prisons full of Democrats?--Oh, no, that's Denver. Trample harder, George--they're still showing signs of life.

I am one of the 30 percent who approve of GWB. I think he tries to do what he considers right for the country, no matter how much he is reviled and hated. If popularity mattered to him, he would have set a different course.

So far, whatever he is doing, New York City is still intact; so is Washington, DC. Chicago. The Statue of Liberty. Hoover Dam. The Golden Gate Bridge. American nuclear facilities. All of these are still present and accounted for. Could any of Bush's activities have contributed to this, or is it just a happy coincidence?

He's made plenty of mistakes, of course. His public relations are a disaster. He should have made his case for the war in Iraq to the people of this country. He should have not been loyal to losers like Scott McLaren. He should have kicked ass at the State Department and the CIA. He should have changed strategy in Iraq when he saw that what he was doing wasn't working.

Still, I've lived a long time, and I doubt whether I have ever seen, or ever shall see, a president who is such a dedicated public servant.

Note to "Anonymous:" bugger off. I don't want to hear from you.

Suggestion for a caller direction system

From my brother, the genius:

Hello, and thank you for calling Furndock Corporation. Your call means nothing to us because we do not value our customers or their time. If we did, we would have a human to answer our phone. However, humans cost money and your time is free, at least for us, so we have bought a cheap automatic caller direction system. Since careful programming of this machine also costs money, we have programmed it very badly which means that you will waste a great deal of time getting to the person you want, if you get the person at all, which isn't very likely. We don't give a damn how much this inconveniences you.

I often think that we could solve the problem of unemployment by hiring every single unemployed person to answer the phone instead of using these caller direction systems. That would be the kingdom of heaven on earth and is as likely to happen as the kingdom of heaven is likely to come to earth.

Oops, I forgot--when Barack Obama is president, the oceans will recede. Can he spare a little of his time to cure the caller direction problem?

Nancy Pelosi speaks

In her view, natural gas is not a fossil fuel.

Good to know that, Nancy, old girl. Thanks for clearing that up.

From the interview:

MR. BROKAW: ...talking about the energy plan. And then we read in The Wall Street Journal that you and your husband have made a substantial investment in the plan that T. Boone Pickens has put forward, which has a heavy emphasis on natural gas as well.

REP. PELOSI: But let me see if you call substantial 03 three percent of our investments.

MR. BROKAW: Oh, it's what, between 100 and $200,000.

REP. PELOSI: No, no, it was between 50 and $100,000, and it's part of an, you know, entrepreneurial package. This is the package we sign up for, this is what they invest in. But that's not the point. I'm, I'm, I'm investing in something I believe in. I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.

Here's what I want to know: if 100,000, or 50,000 represents 3 percent of her wealth, her net worth must be--you do the math--quite a lot.

So what I want to know is, how many houses does Nancy Pelosi have?

Is going to church a bad idea for a presidential candidate?

Usually politicians make a big to-do about attending church, being believers, loving Jesus, etc., ad nauseam. Remember Bill Clinton on the steps of the church with his prayerbook in his hand? And all those prayer breakfasts?

For Barack Obama, unfortunately, the answer is yes, going to church was a bad idea. I bet he's wishing he had slept in on Sunday mornings, rather than attend Rev Wright's hatefests for 20 years.

An old post becomes relevant

Now that Joe Biden is hot news, I can do no better than to link to this old post:

Joe Biden, (D, Delaware), is the man with the golden foot in his mouth.

Hysterical commentors of all political persuasions have jumped all over his slightly lame comment, re Indians, 7-11s, and Dunkin Donuts.

If he had his mouth wired shut, Biden might be a candidate for President. But he keeps getting into hot water. Years ago, it was for quoting a speech from a member of the House of Commons without attribution. This puts him miles ahead of most of his fellow senators, who probably don't know what the House of Commons is. (Hint: it's not in Okinawa. Nor is it a house of what used to be called ill repute near Las Vegas, Nevada.)

What brings this on? you ask. I'm glad you asked. In looking at my statistics I notice several google searches about Biden, 7-11s, Dunkin Donuts, etc., which have landed on my site. I have never mentioned Biden, 7-11s, Dunkin Donuts, or even Indian food. The closest I have come to this is mentioning that I now live in Delaware. I haven't even mentioned Delaware that much, preferring to dump on New Jersey, a much larger and easier target.

I mean, Delaware is so small, we only have one Congressman. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. One is plenty. We only have three counties. We don't have any urban cesspools like Newark (NJ)or Camden. No sales tax. Just tolls, which are mostly levied on people who are trying to get the hell out of Delaware and go somewhere else, like New Jersey.

So now I have mentioned Biden, et al., feel free to google these topics and come straight to my site.

Biden is not the worst pick, not by a long shot. I believe he is quite intelligent, for a Democrat.

The most boring sport in the world

I am referring to volleyball. I never liked it. I don't like it in a gym or on the beach. I don't like it on the ocean. Or with green eggs and ham.

I've got a grudge against volleyball. When I was a kid, I was forced to play volleyball in gym class. Since I was extremely near-sighted, I never saw the ball coming at me until it hit me somewhere, usually in the stomach, but sometimes in other parts of my anatomy. Neither team wanted to have me on their side, for some reason.

I understand why gym teachers love it. All you need is a net and a ball. The students and the gym are already supplied by the management, so there you are. No lesson plan needed. Just line the kids up on either side of the net, go outside for a smoke, and the hour has safely passed. And after 25 years of this kind of stuff, you can collect a pension. With free health benefits.

But why would anyone want to watch it? Particularly in prelims, quarter finals, etc, etc, ad nauseam. Broadcast the finals if you must so we can see which country won, and let it go at that. They don't even have cute uniforms.

BTW, nobody needs to e-mail me the reason guys want to watch beach volleyball. I already figured it out. Still, beach volleyball! Why would people want to play stupid games on the beach, sweat a lot, and get sand in their bottoms, when they could sit quietly under an umbrella reading a book, with an occasional dip in the ocean? I guess some of us are incapable of sitting still and are never happy unless engaged in some organized activity.

Do any of my readers have another candidate for the most boring sport in the world? I can be open-minded about this sort of thing, so send me your suggestions.

Holmes thinks Americans are idiots

I don't think so. It's all about the name.

Fairness! Who could be against fairness? Fairness is, well, fair. It's an American virtue. We are fair people. We admire fairness. The people who name these things are not stupid. They know that whoever sets the terms of the debate wins.

Thus the peace movement. Not the surrender movement, or the anti-war movement. Or, God forbid, the pro-Saddam Hussein movement. Peace is really, really cool--who wants to be against peace, besides slavering, blood-lusting bigots? If you're against peace, you must want to murder babies by impaling them on the end of bayonets. Stands to reason.

So if you want to start a lefty organization, call it the Children's Defense Fund. Only unfeeling brutes are against children. And children must be defended, mustn't they? Someone has already invented a Children's Defense Fund, as it happens, so you'll have to come up with your own name for your organization. Try to include Hope and Change in the title. Obama did that, and has been quite pleased with the results.

Don't talk about crippling the economy, talk about saving the environment! Doing the latter will insure the former, but so what? Only the dopy slaves of middleclassness will suffer. The better class of people (us) can still jet around the globe, lecturing the great unwashed.

Is it an insult to be called a Jew?

My friend (Jewish) thinks it might be. She thinks "Jewish" is more proper. I think political correctness has muddled her brain. She also thinks that Barack Obama is going to appoint the right people to office when he becomes president and they will do what he tells them to and everything will be hunky-dory, so there are definitely some synapses that are not firing.

I don't think it is an insult. Hymie is an insult. Kike is an insult. Dirty Jew is an insult. Jew is a description. I am a Jew, and I don't mind being called that.

Do Arabs mind being called Arabs? Do Muslims mind being called Muslims? How about Christians? Would they prefer to be called Christianish? Jewish is an adjective. Jew is a noun. If you don't call a Jew a Jew, what do you call him? A filthy Zionist pig?

Then there's oriental. That's a big no-no. Since oriental refers to a direction on the map, I don't see the problem. Oriental is a good word for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc. persons. It excludes people like Indians and Pakistanis. The term Asian describes too many people--all those Chinese, plus India, and Japan, etc.. It covers half the world.

Negro long ago bit the dust, linguistically. Calling someone colored is a worse sin than calling him a serial rapist. I'm surprised the N double A CP doesn't change its name to the N quadruple A P, but I guess they've got a lot of stationery left with the old name.

To change the topic to another linguistic problem: President Bush says that Russia's invasion of Georgia is unacceptable. Iran having their very own nukes is unacceptable. North Korea's possession of nukes must be acceptable, though, because they've got them and there's not a damn thing we can do about it, except look down our noses in disapproval.

I find unacceptable--well, not acceptable. It's not a strong enough word, especially since we are not doing a damn thing about these things except to suck them up. Unacceptable is eating mashed potatoes with your fingers, or not writing your aunt a thank-you letter. Iran, Russia, and North Korea are doing as they please and thumbing their noses at us.

The word for such actions is deplorable.

When will John Edwards take a paternity test?

He's waiting for John Kerry to publish his military records.

I'm back from Lenox

We heard an all-Mozart concert, with Leon Fleischer as one of the featured soloists. he is famous for having lost the ability to play for many years due to a hand injury. The use of his hand has now been restored, and he played beautifully, for a guy who had not practiced for forty years. It's an amazing story.

Carnival of the Insanities is up

Lots of scorn heaped on B Obama, not least by me.

Here's where I'll be

I'll be sitting in the shed, not on the lawn, listening to Mozart.

Back August 10.

What is the Ebright azimuth?

It marks the highest point in Delaware, which is not very high.

I saw this sign and nearly killed myself trying to read it from the road with cars coming at me from two directions.

Does every state have an azimuth?

Men in shorts

The New York Times endorses men wearing shorts. The article is illustrated by pictures of three cute young guys wearing the aforementioned garments.

It's okay for them. They're young. They're cute. They're slim. They have nice straight legs. But they are not the typical men in shorts we encounter here in Delaware. Here in Delaware men don't care what they look like and prove it every day.

Almost any time I leave my house in the daytime I am treated to the unedifying spectacle of my across-the-street neighbor, who not only wears shorts nine months of the year, but has a beer belly hanging over the top of them. The beer belly can be easily seen because he seldom wears a shirt. I don't even want to talk about his tattoo--some things are better left to the imagination.

Know what makes the average non-gorgeous man look good? Sorry, fellows, it is a business suit, worn with shirt and tie. The suit covers a multitude of flaws, and can be designed to make the most of a man's best assets, such as broad shoulders. Stylistically, there can be no more forgiving garment, except maybe a toga.

I'm not suggesting that my neighbor wear a business suit to weed his garden. But how about a shirt, at least?

Standards of dress are in free fall, and not only among men. But that is a topic for another day.