The Smoothing Plane

Disagreements...

2012-02-01T07:30:00.000-06:00

from the previous link.

There is no such thing as "the constitutional principle of separation of church and state"

And if "...priests in every parish ...read ...at Sunday mass a letter denouncing Obama as anti-Catholic for denying the Church its right to live according to its beliefs....The White House will come around, fast," we do not want the White house to "come around", we want them and the secular left to be electorally, totally crushed.

We are pleased to hear...

2012-02-01T07:18:00.003-06:00

when...

"In November, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, held what he describes as an "extraordinarily friendly" meeting with Obama at the White House.

and...

"The president assured the archbishop of his respect for the Church, and the archbishop came away persuaded Obama would never force the Church to adopt any policy that would violate her principles."

when...

"He informed Cardinal-designate Dolan by phone that, with the sole concession of the Church being given an extra year, to August 2013, to comply, the new policy, as set down by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, will be imposed. All social and educational institutions of the Catholic church will offer health insurance covering birth control, or face fines."

...that these are to be "his last territorial demands". (Hint, note the " " )

Blindsided

2012-01-30T05:50:00.000-06:00

From the Telegraph UK, this: "EU leaders will meet in Brussels tonight amid growing concern that Greece will fail to implement the austerity measures its international backers are demanding as a condition of the latest package of financial support. Without that bail-out, Greece will be unable to repay €15 billion of loans due in March."

Oh my...how will the 'news readers' at the layers of reportage mouth this asteroid hit , "Unexpectedly"?

The moral order is inverted, and about to be corrected, the way cool water in lakes and the colder surface water invert in the fall. The water on top sinks and the water beneath, now warmer rises. The great government Blue Social Order will be sinking to the bottom. Those on top will be the last to know. One hopes it will not be every man for himself, but every man his brother's keeper. We have a moral obligation to help strangers in need. From Matthew 25:44-46

⁴⁴Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee?

⁴⁵Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.

⁴⁶And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.

This is serious stuff. Life is short, eternity is long. Nine year old Francisco, one of the seerers at Fatima said, If people thought about eternity, they would amend their lives.

Interesting Video

2012-01-27T07:02:00.000-06:00

Captured German weapons. Do guns cause Nazis?

One of these Days Barry, ..

2012-01-26T06:37:00.000-06:00

One of these days, "Powie!" right in the kisser.

American Values

2012-01-25T07:51:00.000-06:00

How is it that abortion is an American value to Democrats? If abortion is such a great idea, why not just kill them all?

Hmm...

2012-01-25T07:23:00.000-06:00

We are pleased that others watched the moving lips of the Teleprompter's SOTU. From the AEI blog, I told you so. This was the housing policy bombshell from President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address:

And while Government can’t fix the problem on its own, responsible homeowners shouldn’t have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief. That’s why I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks. A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that it won’t add to the deficit, and will give banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust.

His lips are moving, so it must be doublespeak. Such a gentle spirit, with a soft, patronizing tone, "shouldn't have to sit and wait". Will he be tossing the Palantir in a rage anytime soon as the electorate says "We did not give you leave to go"? And demand that he get out.

2012-01-25T07:07:00.000-06:00

This is interesting:

Mortgage Settlement Between Banks, States 'Close'

A $25 billion settlement between the nation's major banks and U.S. states over deceptive foreclosure practices during the housing crisis is nearing completion.

How do we know it is really "over deceptive foreclosure practices"? Is it robo signing? Transfers of titles without legal possession of the real estate specified? What?

Five major banks — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) — and U.S. states are "very close," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Wednesday.

And the deal is "very close". Tell us more about what was said by whom, to do what en exchange for what.

Separately, two officials briefed on internal discussions say a proposed deal could be announced within weeks. Negotiators are finalizing a draft of the agreement, which must be reviewed by state attorneys general. Under the deal, banks would pay states and the federal government, which would fund programs to compensate homeowners.

Fraught with peril words, "internal discussions", "fund programs". Solyndra was a funded program, sort of.

The two officials asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal.

Talks have been dragging on for more than a year between major U.S. banks and state attorneys general over fraudulent foreclosure practices that drove millions of Americans from their homes during the housing crisis.

And the housing crisis itself was caused by....what....where...whom?

In October 2010, major banks temporarily suspended foreclosures following revelations of widespread deceptive foreclosure practices by banks. That has backlogged millions of foreclosures that must be cleared before the housing market can fully recover.

"That has backlogged...must be cleared...before" recovery. This is an opinion. It may be correct. It might even be true. But cited without evidence, it remains an opinion. I trust no deals between HUD and banks I cannot see with my own eyes.

The settlement would only apply to privately held mortgages, not those held by government-controlled Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Fannie and Freddie own about half of all U.S. mortgages, roughly about 31 million U.S. home loans.

Individual states can opt out of the proposed deal. Some have disagreed over what terms to offer the banks.

There is more here unsaid than said.

In September, California announced it would not agree to a settlement over foreclosure abuses that state and federal officials have been working on for more than a year.

New York, Delaware, Nevada and Massachusetts, which sued five major banks earlier in December over deceptive foreclosure practices, have also argued that banks should not be protected from future civil liability.

And both sides have also fought over the amounts of money that should be placed in the reserve account for property owners who were improperly foreclosed upon. Many of the details of the deal, including a $25 billion cost for the banks, have been agreed upon, officials say.

I'd be happy for the most transparent administration in history to show up sometime soon. My guts suggest this is more payoffs and fundraising for someone.

Apparently the Pres...

2012-01-25T06:40:00.000-06:00

promised a "blueprint for the economy" in the STFU, er SOTU address last night. We are extremely comforted to learn he has streaked past mimeographs and alighted on blueprints. Perhaps in another several years, he will discover CAD, or maybe even 3D printing.

We would prefer he relearn the art of the quill pen by reading certain document written out using quills. The buildings are even in walking distance from the Casa Blanca, so the armed motorcades may be dispensed with.

Perhaps if he even went about disarmed, as too many people must do in D.C., he would learn how loved he still truly is.

The State of the Union

2012-01-24T21:03:00.000-06:00

"When a long train of usurpations and abuses..."

Why watch or listen. Will there be any new lies?

Thinking again...

2012-01-24T06:38:00.000-06:00

on the obscene words of the Pres.below, it is apparent he sees human beings only as means to an end. But the end in itself is 'We the People'.

"Highly Erratic"

2012-01-24T06:15:00.001-06:00

What Mittens called Newt, "Highly erratic".

And the antonym of highly erratic is bland moderate...?

While I am loathe...

2012-01-23T06:46:00.000-06:00

to post the remarks of liars, nevertheless:

Statement by the President on Roe v. Wade Anniversary

As we mark the 39^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we must remember that this Supreme Court decision not only protects a woman’s health and reproductive freedom, but also affirms a broader principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose and this fundamental constitutional right. While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue- no matter what our views, we must stay united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant woman and mothers, reduce the need for abortion, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption. And as we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.

There is no point dissecting this. Words tumble out of this man's mouth like metal shavings from a can. "Yes, bits of metal, yes, all magnetic...yes, sharp. " Only those who believe what the words say will believe what the words say.

Not even the Mighty Kenyan can be both what he is, and what he is not.

And, P.S. Nothing he does can ensure rights. They were ensured some time ago by the endowment from "Our Creator". He can only assault them.

On The Abomination of Sibelius

2012-01-22T09:47:00.000-06:00

...and the abomination of desolation sitting in high places where it should not. And the HHS giving Catholic hospitals one year to abandon their beliefs of conscience.

"Should governments have unlimited powers overriding the consciences of individuals?"

Rabbit photos.

2012-01-14T07:06:00.002-06:00

These lads & lasses are six week old crosses, Champagne d'Argent sire with Silver Fox doe. I have one of the seven left, named 'Lucky', now 20 weeks old. He retains the black with silver seen here. They were born all black, as Champagnes are.

Political Acts

2012-01-13T06:54:00.001-06:00

First, from this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWsE9jvwjLA comes this statement:

"The right to bear arms is not about hunting, it's not about target practice. The right to bear arms is a political right designed to safeguard Freedom, so that no govt. can take away from you the rights which God has given you, and it was written by people who had spent their lifetime fighting the greatest empire in the world, and they knew that if that had not had the right to bear arms they would have been enslaved, and they did not want us to be enslaved, and that is why they guaranteed us the right to protect ourselves. It is a political right of the deepest importance to the survival of freedom in America. (Long applause.) "

Because all the candle lighting and public weeping of the Brady Clusters et. al., are political acts, and as they show by what they say, that they are impervious to reason and facts, I therefore do not believe anything they say about their intentions beyond believing they want nothing more than to completely remove firearms from the hands of their fellow Americans. They want to do this with commoner and commoner-sensical "gun laws", which only criminals will obey, the elite can ignore, and upon the law abiding, there will be no impact. By gnawing away with inconveniences and by erecting "...a multitude of New Offices, and (sending) hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance", they hope to wear us down into compliance, believing that last line will not be crossed. However, "Victory or Death", (watch the video), at some point there will be nothing left to lose. We wish to simply be left alone; they refuse to do this. (If they really want to grab guns, it would be simpler to ignore the Fourth Amendment and go into the homes of criminals and just take them. There are fewer criminals with guns than otherwise.) Nevertheless, they make return fire not less, but more likely, and do not see it. God help us.

Candles, Prayers and Penance

2012-01-13T06:06:00.000-06:00

If one really wanted to help the victims of criminal violence, lighting candles will attract attention certainly. But you must pray. Without prayers and penance, candle lighting is just a political act, a self-focused political act. Pray to God, the Father, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, and all the Angels and Saints for the repose of the souls of all those affected by criminal violence, those suffering the pain of loss, those hospitalized from injury and trauma. And pray for the perpetrators of violence, that their hearts will change from violence and aggression to charity and love. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

And another...

2012-01-12T07:32:00.000-06:00

Once more. Dear 'Candles in the mind' types. Did your candles resurrect anyone from the dead? Did you try "Lazarus, come out!" ? If not, why not?

And another thing

2012-01-12T06:48:00.000-06:00

...candle waving name callers. Who the hell made you people the custody of other people's sentiments, what is proper and what is not? Besides, the 'victims' are not impressed by how much you pretend to care. And about that vile, bile, name calling, cant and invective you spray at we drunken hillbillies...when will you turn that towards the criminals whose "hand fired the gun" ?

From Locke's Second Treatise on Government, (written by candlelight, no doubt), Sec. 8, Ch. 2: "In transgressing the law of nature, the offender declares himself to live by another rule than that of reason and common equity, which is that measure God has set to the actions of men, for their mutual security; and so he becomes dangerous to mankind..." And from Sec. 11, Ch. 2: "in the state of nature, has a power to kill a murderer, both to deter others from doing the like injury, which no reparation can compensate, by the example of the punishment that attends it from every body, and also to secure men from the attempts of a criminal, who having renounced reason, the common rule and measure God hath given to mankind, hath, by the unjust violence and slaughter he hath committed upon one, declared war against all mankind"

My Dear Brady Cluster. There be scary words in those sentences, most assuredly. Yet assuage yourselves certainly from shrieks by answering this, does any government have the authority to declare self defense a violation of the Law. And if your heads quickly nodding up and down proclaim "Yes, yes, hater!!", a violation of whose law?

The "Designed to do" Fallacy

2012-01-11T17:58:00.000-06:00

Quote about "assault clips" courtesy of Weer'd World via 'The Brady Cluster'. "Assault clips are designed to enable shooting mass numbers of people quickly and efficiently without reloading. They have been used in numerous mass shootings, including in Tucson, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, and Columbine, but they are not useful for hunting or self-defense."

Their assertion is of course, both false, and true.

"Language is designed to enable lying to mass numbers of people quickly and efficiently without reference to facts on the ground. It has been used to justify numerous mass murders including genocides in Armenia, Germany, Europe, China, Cambodia...."

One wants to know who is doing the lying, the shooting, why, and at whom? The Brady Cluster will never think past their answers, and are incapable of understanding the nature of evil, or acknowledging its existence. Never. I think their tacit, (and unconscious) assumption is, "We don't do bad things, bad things are therefore caused by evil objects. Evil objects did this. Evil objects. See. See. See how evil they look?" They and their fellow believer hold up candles to make themselves feel better, and important. Superior caring skills lighted up with piety. And Miss Japetty says 'They don't care about the victims'.

Really. If a firearm owner was on the scene of a criminal attack on the unarmed, would he protect the innocent, or join in the shooting?

(And one wonders if any of the Brady Cluster at the time cheered at Regan's being shot.)

All those people with Candles...

2012-01-10T14:46:00.002-06:00

but where were their holsters?

Testing the Candle Hypothesis.

2012-01-10T08:58:00.000-06:00

"We're lighting candles to stop gun violence!"

"How will you test whether it works or not?"

"We don't have to test it."

"How do you know it works?"

"It works because we believe it works, that's obvious to everyone here."

"It's not obvious to me. Have you tried it in real life situations? Say, an armed hold-up at a convenience store?"

"You're only saying that because you don't love the murdered victimsas much as we love the murdered victims because you're a gun rights extremist who thinks the answer to gun violence is more gun violence and...."

"Really, how do you know that?"

"Because we're lighting candles to stop gun violence."

When Doonesbury was still funny, one ice age ago, he penned a long strip centered on "Roland Burton Hedly Jr., tough, cynical reporter just back from Vietnam". When his long story on "The New Hedonism" turned out all bravo sierra fed him by Zonker Harris, Hedly was asked if he checked out and confirmed his story. "I don't have to", he said. "They assured me it was true." "What" his superiors asked, "What did you cover in Vietnam?"
Hedly, "Sports!"

One wonders whether anyone cowering beneath a desk or behind a door wished they only had a few lighted candles.

Imaginary Candle

2012-01-09T19:34:00.003-06:00

This shot was taken at night, illuminated by a giant candle, providing both light and security...well, maybe the CZ helped on security.

The Religion that hates...

2012-01-09T14:46:00.002-06:00

homosexuals speaks Arabic.

If Catholics hated homosexuals....

2012-01-09T10:00:00.002-06:00

We should be disrupting their events, instead of the other way round.

Untitled

2012-01-07T09:17:00.000-06:00

While loathe to merely cut and paste, (cf. Steven den Beste's "linkers and thinkers" description of the blogosphere, this from Sec. 222 of John Locke's Second Treatise on Government led to the preceding posts:

"...whenever the legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any farther obedience, and are left to the common refuge, which God hath provided for all men, against force and violence."

Perceptive readers will follow up on that word, "absolved".

Which of These 'Subjects'...

2012-01-07T07:48:00.000-06:00

From Sen. Klobuchar's "Subject, please select":
Abortion, Academy Nominations, Agriculture, Animal Welfare, Arts and Humanities, Banking, Budget, Business, Commerce, Communication, Crime & Judiciary, Civil Rights, Defense, Economy, Education, Energy, Environment, Federal Govt. Agencies, Financial Crisis, Foreign Affairs, Gas Prices, Govt. Reform, Health/Health Care, Housing, Immigration/Visas, Internships, IRS, Iraq/Middle East, Labor, Native Americans, Press Request, Scheduling Request, Small Business, Social Security, Taxes, Trade, Transportation, Veteran's Affairs, Welfare, Other...

"Academy Nominations" is not in the Constitution.

And this: "The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session." was not in the "Subjects, please select".

Write the Congress Weasel's

2012-01-07T07:29:00.000-06:00

Just sent to my MN representative and Senators, beneath the heading(s) "other" and, in Amy Klobuchar's case, "crime". And in the subject line, "When Govt. doesn't obey the Constitution, what's Treason?"

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Was he lying then? You have an obligation to stop these unconstitutional recess(sic.) appointments. Or do you only support the Constitution when Republican presidents "shred it"?

From John Locke's 'Treatise on Govt': The reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property; and the end why they chuse and authorize a legislative, is, that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the members of the society, to limit the power, and moderate the dominion, of every part and member of the society: for since it can never be supposed to be the will of the society, that the legislative should have a power to destroy that which every one designs to secure, by entering into society, and for which the people submitted themselves to legislators of their own making; whenever the legislators endeavour to take away, and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any farther obedience, and are left to the common refuge, which God hath provided for all men, against force and violence."

The Founders believed this. You took an oath too. What do you believe?

From Father Z

2011-08-07T17:29:00.000-06:00

And "the 1931 “social” encyclical Quadragesimo anno of Pope Pius XI", exactly what I could not say below, and what I think:

“Wherefore,” to use the words of Our Predecessor, “if human society is to be healed, only a return to Christian life and institutions will heal it.” For this alone can provide effective remedy for that excessive care for passing thingsthat is the origin of all vices; and this alone can draw away men’s eyes, fascinated by and wholly fixed on the changing things of the world, and raise them toward Heaven. Who would deny that human society is in most urgent need of this cure now?

Minds of all, it is true, are affected almost solely by temporal upheavals, disasters, and calamities. But if we examine things critically with Christian eyes, as we should,what are all these compared with the loss of souls? Yet it is not rash by any means to say that the whole scheme of social and economic life is now such as to put in the way of vast numbers of mankind most serious obstacles which prevent them from caring for the one thing necessary; namely, their eternal salvation. "

You probably don't believe this; it would be good if you changed your mind, and your heart.

The Way Out.

2011-08-07T07:31:00.000-06:00

We cannot tax the country out of insolvency, nor spend the country out of insolvency, nor can the Present-dent lie our way out of insolvency, as he continues lying apace . The bankruptcies here and around the world are the external reflections of interior conditions. our countries' greatest indecency and public crime in the room remains the murder of our unborn citizens. (Bumper sticker: Planned Parenthood-Curing pregnancy-50 million cures since 1973. Darker version: Planned Parenthood-"When a baby just needs killin' ")

Lincoln's Second Inaugural come always to mind: It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

If we do not go to our knees voluntarily, it's likely we shall be forced there by events.

Why He Can't Put out a Plan

2011-08-07T05:41:00.000-06:00

Because if he does, he can't lie about it later.

Back from Where ever.

2011-07-26T05:27:00.000-06:00

Audrey, Champagne d'Argent, stares into the lens.

Wood Movement

2007-11-30T14:35:00.000-06:00

Here is a photo of a bread board end on a cherry table. It is a table made by Timothy Clark, furniture maker. Notice the grain directions on the two boards are at 90 degrees to one another. Notice also the end board is proud of the top itself. What? He can't make them flush? Yes, he, and we can. But wood moves; it expands and contracts across the grain with changes in humidity and temperature. (I have a table whose drawer fits too tight in the summer, but loosens up in the winter. I made the tolerances are too tight. It sticks.) Here, he made the breadboard end a little extra bit proud for looks. I expect it flushes out in the summer. Build it flush in the summer, and in the winter the top is wider than the ends. Who has asked yet, "Why are these pieces moving? Aren't they glued together? " Nope. They are not. Bad idea,if they were glued together the breadboard end would constrain the table top from its normal seasonal expansion and contraction. As a result, it would split, lengthwise. I've seen cracks almost 1/4" wide. There are tenons on the table fitted into mortises on the breadboard. Glue is used only in the center 8" or so of the joint. The outside joints are pinned with dowels. See the small holes up there? Also, the holes in the tenon we do not see are elliptical so the tenon can move about. And they are usually draw bored. The holes for the dowel pins are offset from each other so that tapping in the dowel aligns the holes, and pulls the joint tight.

Boards with grain at 90 degrees to each other is called a cross grain situation. When 30" & 40" diameter trees could be logged, (colonial times), tables could be made using a single board. However, in addition to expanding and contracting across the grain, boards of this size tended to cup and bow. Breadboard ends were used to control this cupping. ( I presume those with glued-on ends survived as kindling.) Even though the tables we now make no longer cup, as they are made to width from several smaller boards, breadboard ends are still used. They look nice. The little pegs look nice. I make mine from contrasting woods with square heads, and leave them slightly proud. On the sideboard of mine(below) the curved up edges are pinned breadboard ends.

Tabletops. This is another place to avoid a cross grain situation, attaching a tabletop to the apron and legs beneath it. They are never glued on. Now, you understand why. S-shaped clips can be bought commercially to attach tabletops. One end is fitted into shallow grooves cut into the aprons, 1/8" high, 1/2" wide, 3/4" inches deep. Fit the clip into the groove and screw it to the underside of the table top. The top is held down, but can still move with the weather. I attach mine with wooden 'buttons' made from scraps of tropical hardwood. (I just don't have photos of everything!) I have also seen tables from the old days attached using screws. The screws fit into little pockets made on the table aprons using a brace and bit, and chisels. (The tables I've seen this on were made in the 1880's.)

Frame & Panel. Referring again to the sideboard below, look at the doors. This sort of door is called a frame and panel. The frame is made of stiles, the vertical board, and rails, the horizontal boards. Rails and stiles fit together with mortise and tenon joints. Around the inside perimeter of the rails and stiles a groove has been cut. The panel is let into the groove. Frame and panel doors solve two problems at once. They avoid cross-grain situations, and cover lots of area without having to use all solid boards. I use frame and panel construction on the backs of all my cabinets. (Instead of 1/4" plywood.) One can vary the widths and thickness of the frame members, beads can be cut in the stiles, etc. The left hand panel below, as an etc.,is not made of a single board, but five glued up to get the pattern I wanted. (In person you can't tell either.) Frame and panel construction is beautiful.

Sheet Goods, Veneers, Thicknesses

2007-11-27T14:10:00.000-06:00

This photo is a piece of Camphor Burl Veneer from the nice folks at Certainly Wood of East Aurora, NY. This piece's actual size is about 13" x 20". Priced by the square foot, at $8.95 this veneer is moderately high priced. By comparison, Amboyna burl veneer, very rare, is $25/sq. ft. Crotch Mahogany veneer, for appearance no slouch compared to either, sells at around $6.00 per square foot. Other quite stunning species can be very low priced, $2.95 per square foot. See Certainly Wood's Designer veneers. I like the Makore veneer, and plan to use it on my now both unfinished, and unedged kitchen cabinets. When I first began my day job, for thirty days in a row I was assigned to work on the same/or similar large cabinets. The company was sub-contracted to build these for another firm west of Minneapolis. The other company provided the sheet goods, quarter-sawn ash-veneer plywood with MDF cores. (At the completion of the job I scrounged what was going to be thrown out, about 14-20" and 32" by 96" pieces. All my kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors are made of this ply. It will take veneer wonderfully. Read on.) Sheet good? MDF? What, you say. Sheet goods are commonly called plywood. But more accurately, all plywood is a sheet good, though not all sheet goods are plywood. Particle board, particle board core melamines, compressed masonite, MDO, MDF et. al. are all sheet goods. There are lots of sheet goods. The hardwood plywoods alone come in all the northern (temperate zone) species, and lots of exotic (tropical) species. The standard sheet size is 4x8, feet. Common thicknesses are 1/4", 1/2", 11/16" and 3/4". (Watch yourself here though; we work with 3/4" stuff that sometimes is 11/16", and 11/16" +. Spoken aloud, read that plus sign as "strong", and understand by strong I mean 1/32". To me/us, the words strong and shy are nomenclature for 1/32". It 's easier to say, "32 and 13/16th's strong", than 32 and 27/32nds.) "With MDF cores..." MDF stands for medium density fiberboard; it's a sheet good made from compressed cellulose. And by God it is compressed! Four by eight sheets of3/4" MDF weigh eighty pounds. What's it good for? When I had 2000 sq. feet of shop space in Montana, and in St. Louis I made 4x8 workbenches for my students using a piece of MDF on top of a piece of laminate grade particle board. (Forty pounds/sheet.) I used 4x4's for legs and 2x6's for stretchers, and mounted a vice at two opposite corners. I addition to weight, MDF is very,very flat, and exceedingly impact resistant. If one intended to build a home work bench for general home use, MDF on top is very nice. Screw it down with screws intended for deck construction, the square-head screws that look light green. Countersink them so the heads are below the surface. If you ever need to move the bench, the top can be easily removed. It's eight pounds, remember. Avoid the gold and/or black drywall/sheet rock screws as the heads can be easily snapped off. The "Oh sh*t" feeling comes .3 seconds after the snapping sound. Not a heh. (If this happen with sheet goods, one can often pry things loose. But avoiding it is preferred.) MDF, because it is so flat, makes an excellent substrate to which to apply veneers. (Substrate: the board(s) to which veneers are glued. Before sheet goods, joiners and cabinetmakers had to make their own substrates from solid lumbers. A tricky proposition at best because of our next topic, "Wood Movement". Stay tuned.) The better hardwood plywoods have plywood cores with a thin (@5/16") layer of MDF to which the veneer is attached. At this writing, fair hardwood plywoods in the common species of red oak, birch and hard maple can be had at your local Home-Men-Lowe-Depot-ard-'s for about $60 per 4x8 sheet. It's OK stuff, not lousy, not premium. For better quality expect to pay $140 per sheet or so. The lower priced goods will not be flat, but bowed, some by 1-2" over four feet. This can cause problems if one is making some sort of door. We like these sorts of thing to be flat. But for rough and better bookshelves etc., the $60 stuff is OK. Build your kitchen cabinets from the good stuff.

One last word about the thickness of veneers. At Certainly Wood's 'thicker veneers' page, the thicker stuff is (!): 1/32nd, 1/20th, 1/16th, 1/10th. How thick/thin then is the 'not thicker' veneer? Very thin: 1/42nd of an inch. Veneer is cut from logs using either rotary cutters or large slicers. When veneers were hand sawn from logs, stumps and burls, the thicknesses were about 1/10th to 1/8th of an inch. Some contemporary furniture makers in small shops will cut their own veneers. We are, to be sure, limited to small boards or logs, but can then obtain thicker stock. Why does this matter? Appearance. I do not think there is enough wood thickness on sheet goods to do justice to any finish except the film finishes, and they are best applied by spraying. My preferred finish is a fast-dry, thinned wiping varnish. Thinner materials do not, to my, do justice to their species. Curiously though, the veneers not already glued to sheets goods behave somewhat more like their thicker kinfolk. Also, I usually double layer my veneers, applying first plain cherry or mahogany, $1.25-1.75/ sq. ft. I believe the improvement in thickness translates to improved appearance.

One more last word. Why use veneers at all? The log goes further. All the Brazilian Rosewood veneer currently on the market, (the cutting of Brazilian Rosewood has been banned since about 1992), comes from logs cut and/or harvested before the ban. It starts at about $12/sq. ft. But it is beautiful stuff. I'll show you sometime.

A Primer on Furniture & Terms

2007-11-14T12:52:00.000-06:00

Why would you commission me to build furniture? With some notable exceptions, contemporary factory made furniture is tawdry. The designs 'sort of' replicate what they seem to be imitating, but really are copies of derivatives of interpretations. Xeroxes of xeroxes, muzaked elevator furniture.

The joinery is not joinery, but a variety of fastening systems: screws, staples, pin nails and so forth. These fasteners function as little clamps, holding various components in place until the glue sets. Traditional furniture is held together with mortise and tenon joints, square tongues fitted into a square holes, the well known dovetail joint, in its two incarnations, half-blind and through, and permutations of these two- scarf joints, through tenons, tusk tenons, mitered mortise and tenon and so on. Rarely, dowel joints. Factory furniture too often has resorted to dowel joints, especially that factory furniture from the 30's to 60's. ( Dowels have their place. But when dowels are used parallel to-, rather than 90 degrees to the sheering forces playing on them, they will fail. A common failure I've seen is the 'sort-of-Duncan-Phyfe' table. This table has a vertical center pedestal, or pedestals, and curved, quarter-of-a-circle legs fastened to the pedestal. The weight of the table top eventually works the dowels out of the pedestal. The proper joint to connect a curved leg to a central pedestal is the sliding dovetail. An elongated triangular cut is made in the pedestal, and corresponding triangular tongue cut in the leg. The joints lock and cannot fail, even if the glue loosens. The well known Shaker three legged table used sliding dovetails, cut, of course, by hand. They had great skill. The repair for these failed dowels is dicey as best. The joinery used was incorrect to begin with. And by the way, despite the name, with rare exceptions, certain table leaves, the sliding dovetail is not a moving joint.)

Another quarrel I have, the finishes. Very broadly there are two categories of finishes, film finishes and penetrating finishes. Film finishes, as the name suggests, sit on the surface of the wood. Varnishes, lacquers and shellacs are film finishes, in all their polyurethane, acrylic, solvent based and/or water clean-up flavors. Industry favors lacquers for three or four reasons. Lacquers spray wonderfully, dry virtually instantly and are very tough, especially the catalyzed lacquers. And lacquers will carry color. It is this last feature which, in my opinion, and to my aesthetic, brings grief. A walnut colored lacquer sprayed onto a soft larch, tulip poplar and gum wood sideboard, with two square feet of walnut burl veneer, is passed off as "Walnut sideboard". If you want dark wood, use dark wood. With rare exception, I do not use stains. (What are the exceptions? Some woods take stain horribly, hard maple for instance. It has small pore that fill with color and immediately look blotchy. If you insist on changing the color of hard maple, us a dye stain. Dye stains dissolve in their carrying medium. Others take stain very well, red oak notably, and mahogany. Poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera, takes stain very,very well. I knew someone who described it as, and used it for 'poor man's cherry'. However, it has no particular beauty by itself. On the other hand, tulip machines beautifully, and makes excellent molding and trim. And as it takes stain well, it takes paint very well. Look at your baseboards.)

What do I do? First understand the nature of working with solid wood. Apprentices used to do all the tedious work. Now, machines have replaced apprentices. Hardwood dealers have replaced men with pit saws. And in the factory, machines have replaced the skilled hand and eye of experience and tradition. When materials were expensive, labor was cheap. Now materials are cheap, and labor is expensive. I am expensive. I am very good at what I do, and I expect to be well paid. Let's go back to that whatever, that whichever overseas or wherever furniture factory manufactured. You'll never see it on The Road Show. It will not improve with age. Your children will never fight over it. It may eventually be thrown out, after passing through several households and second-hand shops. Sure, it was functional and useful and...was it beautiful? Was it a delight to open and close the drawers? Dis you marvel at the skill and eye of the maker? Could you see the person behind the work?You see where I am going here.

About the photos. There are two drawers in this sideboard. They, and the panels in the doors are made of a wood from Mexico called goncalo alves. (Pronounce the 'c' as an 's', gon-salo.) The shaped legs, the figured wood panels on the back and the top are Honduran mahogany. (By the way, each leg took an entire day to shape using planes, files, rasps and a spokeshave. Tedious, but worth it. I think they are beautiful. The owner of this piece, a physician in St. Louis, put it in the center of a room so the back was visible. Makes my day.) The wood around the panels, the frames, is cherry. (Two of the pieces from a tree cut down by my father. Special to me.) When I can jpeg some more photos, I'll post the drawers so you can see the dovetails. Comments? Questions on woodworking are welcome. Orders?

"Valor"

2007-10-12T14:55:00.000-06:00

It is altogether fitting this man's courage is honored.

Often the citation includes the phrase, "Conspicuous gallantry..."

They sounds like words from another age. For such men as this one, thank God that they are not.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners, 1901-2006

2007-10-12T06:14:00.000-06:00

The list of winners is here. (One winner, Fridtjof Nansen, I'd heard of for the first time.) My cursory glance showed many prizes given to representatives from or for organizations with talking skills, advocates for this, or proposals for that. I may be wrong to presume ineptness. Maybe the League of Nations was terrific. Or the 1927 Kellogg-Briand pact winners, the "TREATY PROVIDING FOR THE RENUNCIATION OF WAR AS AN INSTRUMENT OF NATIONAL POLICY ", spectucularly successful. I notice there was no Great War after the Great War, well, at least until 1939. They meant well. I suggest the Peace Prize be renamed as the "We Hope This Will Work This Time" Prize. Of the integrity of Albert Schwweitzer, Norman Borlaug , Mother Teresa, Lech Walesa or Elie Wiesel, I have no doubts. But for "as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me", no prize is needed.

Yasser Arafat Freezes Over

2007-10-12T04:42:00.000-06:00

From Nobel Prize dot org, (gag me!):

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2007
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace
Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr.
for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made
climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to
counteract such change.

Here are a few funny one-liners, italics mine:

Indications of changes in the earth's future
climate must be treated with the utmost seriousness, and with the precautionary principle uppermost in our minds.
Thousands of scientists and officials from over one
hundred countries have collaborated to achieve greater
certainty as to the scale of the warming.
Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians.
His strong commitment... has strengthened the struggle against climate change.
By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the
IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a
sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to
protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the
security of mankind.
Action is necessary now, before climate change
moves beyond man’s control.

What is the precautionary principle? Is it "We don't have any evidence for this, but nevertheless..." ? Is it like Boyle's Law? Warning label on fireworks, "Award prize and get away fast!", or hair driers, "Do not use underwater" ? Did the Nobel Committee follow the precautionary principle in awarding the Peace Prize to Albert Schweitzer? Norman Borlaug? Yasser Arafat?

"Collaborated to achieve greater certainty"...conspired to fix the evidence? When found out, ought we shave their heads?

"Leading environmentalist politicians"... sounds like some of our soldiers' descriptions of meals ready to eat," MRE's,three lies in one".

"Struggle against climate change..." I thought Algore was struggling with peronal issues, not climate change.

Who better to sharpen the appearance on the focus for the decisions necessry for the process to the strengthing of the constributions...than Algore?

"Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man's control." How can it possibly do that? If it moves beyond man's control, what moved it beyond man's control? Parts of it are not yet in our control, so we must do something with the parts we do control, to keep the other parts from escaping our control and careening into catastrophe?

I am certain of two things. Albert and Yasser will never bump into one another. And Yasser is hoping The Next Great Ice Age reaches the underworld.

One Woman, No Vote

2007-10-12T03:59:00.000-06:00

This quote from Michael Yon's Under Distant Stars,

"Once back in America, the quality of care is apparently not as consistently excellent or compassionate. I get frequent and disturbing reports from veterans that the strained if not broken system tends to be uncaring and often is just
flat incompetent. It seems counterintuitive that the system would break down,
not under the stress of combat conditions, but back there on stable American
soil. Yet, I hear versions of this same scenario all the time."

replies to a certain Madame Mao...

Universal Health Care: the VA for all!

School 'Security' Guards

2007-10-12T03:38:00.000-06:00

The 'Security Guard' at the Red Lake School (shooting) was armed...with a telephone. If a school security guard armed only with a telephone sees someone approaching, armed, "With a sack full of guns and bullets", who does he phone for help? Someone packing a sack full of telephones, wearing a bandoleer of spare batteries? Uh uh. Nope.

He calls for someone who is armed.

Tit for Tat for Turkey

2007-10-11T17:44:00.000-06:00

The House Foreign Affairs committee votes 27-21 to condemn as a genocide the 1915 killings of Armenians.

Here are the last three paragraphs of the opening statement by committee chair Tom Lantos:

All eight living former secretaries of state recently cautioned Congress on this matter. And I quote, “It is our view,” write former Secretaries Albright, Baker, Christopher, Eagleburger, Haig, Kissinger, Powell and Shultz, “that passage of this resolution … could endanger our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and damage efforts to promote reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey.”
Three former secretaries of defense – Carlucci, Cohen and Perry – this
week advised Congress that passage of this resolution, and I quote again, “would
have a direct, detrimental effect on the operational capabilities, safety and
well being of our armed forces in Iraq and in Afghanistan.”
Members of this committee have a sobering choice to make. We have to weigh the desire to express our solidarity with the Armenian people and to condemn this historic nightmare through the use of the word “genocide” against the risk that it could cause young men and women in the uniform of the United States armed services to pay an even heavier price than they are currently paying. This is a vote of conscience, and the Committee will work its will.

Lantos' last sentence translated: "If the troops get caught in the crossfire between us and the President, screw 'em!"

Turkey should pass a resolution condemning the 1975 Democrat Congress vote cutting off funding for the Republic of South Vietnam as genocide.

"But words will never hurt me"

2007-10-08T03:50:00.000-06:00

As an experiment, over the past two days, I visited every site from the 'Liberal Links' sidebar at Michael Brodkorb's Minnesota Democrats Exposed. This is something I have never done before. I will stipulate the limitations of the sample size. All were Minnesota sites, and that may be the only statistically valid conclusion. I didn't click through similar lists of links at any of the sites I visited. Perhaps if I had, and noted which sites were commonly linked from different locations, other patterns might have appeared. As is surely common throughout the blogosphere, present site not exempted, many got only a glance. What I wanted to find was genuine thoughtfulness; if this, then that, to "then surely it must follow as the night does the day" reasoning. Only The Loyal Opposition sufficed. Here is an entire post, from July 8th:

In order to get beyond rhetoric…
08Jul07
Then:
“In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.” - Justice Harry Blackmun (in Bakke)
Now:
“The only way to stop discrimination based on race is to stop discriminating based on race.” - Chief Justice John Roberts (in Parents
It’s about time the Supreme Court actually got to interpreting the Constitution. The Democratic candidates, to their disgrace, do not like the equal protection clause, and can’t differentiate between de jure and de facto segregation.

"As the night must follow the day...."

At the other extreme, concatenated enthymemes, serious and therefore not to be taken seriously at all, name calling...mud wrapped in cooked cabbage leaves, garnished with dog dew, flung without reason, with extra exclamation points. Wherever I find this, I cannot shake the mud from my shoes and leave quickly enough. But I've thought about this irrationality. It is, I think, an argument for the validity of the position or issue from an appeal to superior virtue. (Note I do not say the validity of the idea; I cannot cite the missing.) What do I mean by this? The clearest example may racism; imagine post Civil War, reconstruction era racism. Blacks of that era got no respect; their full character was known, defined and confined into a single, starts with 'n-' word. All injustice, hatred, contempt, unfairness etc. would have been winked at. Just the 'darkeys', right? Or "Those damn wingnuts", eh? "They don't care, but we do! They want to deny...". Fill in your own diatribe.

When the political opposition is defined, de facto, as deranged, evil, uncompassionate, lying, what must one needs to but dismiss them with contempt, smears, slanders and libels? After all, the dignity and honor of "Suthen' white wimmen"shall not be smirched. Insisting on this position, no assertion need be defended logically. Instead of truth, that absolute defense, virtue pinch hits. This is false. The claim that ones ideas are valid bacause of some moral superiority is objectively false. It can be falsified, shown to fail, by asking this question- on the basis of what, does the left, or anyone, oppose any moral vice, pedophilia for example? "You don't care about...the poor, the homeless, the transgendered multi-cultured litany of victims of oppression" would never be offered up to excuse the pedophile by knighting him as a victim, or to condemn the behavior as reprehensible. Such behavior exists outside of "those damn nigra's" or "those damn right-wing nuts". Can it be the left will admit to right and wrong?

In an Alabama accent, "The Wahr"

2007-10-03T03:48:00.000-06:00

In the opening minutes of the last installment of Ken Burns' documentary (docu-person-tary?), The War, the Marine Pilot says, "There is evil in the world". I took his comments to be Burns' opinion; perhaps they are not. But if he meant evil derives from "specific historical sources", Niebuhr disagrees.

"The inclination of modern man to find the source of evil in his life in some particular event in history or some specific historical corruption is a natural consequence of his view of himself in a simple one-dimensional history. But this modern error merely accentuates a perennial tendency of the human heart to attribute wrong-doing to temptation and thus to escape responsibility for it. Every man has at some time or other repeated the excuse of the first man: 'The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.' ...In the eighteenth century human evil was variously attributed to the corrupting influence of religion or to tyrannical governents and ignorant legislators who had disturbed the harmony of nature. In the nineteenth century Marx traced the self-alienation of man from his true essence to the rise of the class organization in society. Each of these explanations has the virtue of throwing light upon the character of particular social evils and may point the way to their mitigation of elimination. But none of them explain how an evil which does not exist in nature could have arisen in human history."

In the historical timeline, 1945, the ending of WWII 62 years ago is a mere slip of tissue paper. We believe we can see the past far behind us; its evils safely trussed in footage and bound up in books. The past, as the classical Greeks would remind us, is not behind but always before us. The future is hidden.

Niebuhr, "The fact that modern man has been able to preserve such a good opinion of himself, despite all the obvious refutations of his optimism, particularly in his own history, leads to the conclusion that there is a very stubborn source of resistance in man to the acceptance of the most obvious and irrefutable evidence about his moral qualities. This source of resistance is not primarily modern but generally human. The final sim of man, said Luther truly, is his unwillingness to concede that he is a sinner. (Smoothing Plane, "I feel you wincing at the screen again.") The significant contribution of modern culture to this perennial human inclination lies in the number of plausible reasons which it was able to adduce in suport of man's good opinion of himself. The fact that many of these reasons stand in contradiction to each other did not shatter modern man's confidence in them; for he could always persuade himself of the truth of at least one of them and it never occurred to him that they might all be false. "

"Yet they were all false. Whether they found the path from chaos to order to lead from nature to reason of from reason to nature, whether they regarded the nrmony of nature of the coherence of mind as the final realm of redemption, they failed to understand the human spirit in its full dimension of freedom. Both the majesty and the tragedy of human life exceed the dimension within which modern culture seeks to comprehend human existence. The human spirit cannot be held within the bounds of either natural necessity or rational pridence. In its yearning toward the infinite lies the source of both human creativity and human sin."

Remember that phrase, "The end of history"? History has not ended. We are not outside history, looking either in or back. We are astride history. And we are trapped and freed in our inclinations to freedom and desire. There is no vantge point from which we can transcend and escape the corruptions of self-interest.

A Slogan for the Progressives v. Rush

2007-10-02T04:58:00.000-06:00

"Support free speech! Censor Rush Limbaugh!!"

... makes as much sense as the other signs.

Burnt to Death in Waco

2007-10-02T04:06:00.000-06:00

The Gifford Lectures were given by Niebuhr at The University of Edinburgh in 1938 & 1939, and later published in two volumes. Volume one, from which I quote was published by Scribner & Sons in 1941. (Note that in 1938, Edinburgh invited Niebuhr, not Goebbels to speak.) Niebuhr's learned, astute observations on human nature still breathe. From chapter IV, The Easy Conscience of Modern Man:

"Our introductory analysis of modern views of human nature has established the complacent conscience of modern man as the one unifying force amidst a wide variety of anthropological conceptions. In the words of T.E. Hulme: 'All thought since the Renaissance, in spite of its apparent variety, forms one coherent whole...It all rests on the same conception of the nature of man and all exhibits the same inability to recognize the meaning of the dogma of original sin. (Smoothing Plane- I can feel you wincing at the screen. Hark! More wincing approacheth!) In this period not only have its philosophy, its literature and its ethics been based upon this new conception of man as fundamentally good, as sufficient, as the measure of things; but a good case can be made out for regarding many of its characteristic economic features as springing entirely from this central abstract conception.' " (Hulme quote ends, Niebuhr continues.)

"The most surprising aspect of the modern man's good conscience is that he asserts and justifies it in terms of the most varied and even contradictory metaphysical theories and social philosophies. The idealist Hegel and he materialist Marx agree in their fundamental confidence in human virtue, disagreeing only in their conception of the period and the social circumstances in which and the method by which his essential good is, or is to be, realized. The romantic naturalist Rousseau agrees with the rationalistic naturalists of the French enlightenment, though in the one case the seat of virtue is found in natural impulse unspoiled by rational disciplines (Smoothing Plane: These are the 'Breasts not bombs' topless activists protesters et. al.) and in the other case it is reason which guarantees virtue....

The whole Christian drama of salvation is rejected ostensibily because of the incredible character of the myths of Creation, Fall, Atonement, etc., in which it is expressed. But the typical modern is actually more certain of the complete irrelevance of these doctrines than of their incredibilty. (emphasis, Smoothing Plane) He is naturally not inclined to take dubious religious myths seriously, since he finds no relation between the ethos which informs them and his own sense of security and complacency. The sense of guilt expressed in them is to him a mere vestigial remnant of primitive fears of higher powers, of which he is happily emancipated. The sense of sin is, in the phrase of a particualarly vapid modern social scientist, 'a pshcyopathic aspect of adolescent mentality.' "

Today our 'secular, progressive, humanist, responsible for other peoples' feelings, superior moralists' might say, "happily e-person-cipated". Niebuhr continues, comments upon the tyranny of the Marxists in Russia and notes other "Contemporary...manifestations of man's hysterias and furies...evidences of his daemonic capacity and inclination to break the harmonies of nature and defy the prudent canons of rational restraint." He then says:

"Yet no cumulation of contradictory evidence seems to disturb modern man's good opinion of himsself. He considers himself the victim of corrupting institutions which he is about to destroy or reconstruct, or of the confisions of ignorance which an adequate education is about to overcome. Yet he continues to regard himself as esentially harmless and virtuous. the question therefore arises how modern man arrived at, and by what means he maintains, as estimate of his virtue in such pathetic contradiction with the obvious facts of his history."

"Yet this brute, he is an honorable man". I suggest this quote plays light on our denial, "Hey, I had nothin' to do with that. You'll have to ask Janet Reno."

Unworthy by any other name

2007-09-30T09:09:00.000-06:00

When one abandons the notion of perfecting human nature, and by that is usually meant perfecting it in others, focus ought rightly to return to one's own nature, perhaps the only healthy self-absorbsion, and one's own imperfectability. A counter to the self absorbtion at riot in the modern consciousness. Schemes for changing the world, by changing all those pesky "others" ought to recede like the tide, and 'calls to action', and 'campaigns' for this or that "Universal at long, last final answer!" to the beam in the eye, replaced by prayers for humility and wisdom.

The Coming Eden

2007-09-30T06:39:00.000-06:00

Why does all this matter? Who really thinks any longer about human nature; or if there is such a creature? If you cannot get your mind around that term, try 'human spirit'. What persisted through the horrors of Dachau or the Bataan death march or Stalin's Gulags if not the human spirit? Was it something learned that drove survival? Or an innate quality? Say yes to the latter, and reason will force you to agree that, though men can behave as animals, we are something more than creatures of Nature. The revulsion we feel at the left's celebration of things carnal, the elevation of homosexuality to a virtue for example, the celebrate diversity nonsense, which equates humanity with skin culture or tribalism, etc. We are revulsed not by the acts or flawed ideas, but by the lowering of the spirit of humanity to mere animal urges.

When these flawed ideas are directed towards changing the political foundations of the United States of America, they portend anarchy and tyranny. Why change America from the 'Land of Opportunity' to the land of the special accomodation? If one disagrees that this country is unique, what other country in the world can one emigrate to, and become, say, Chinese, or French, or...Saudi? Do you know there are countries in Africa where one cannot own property? Countries where the government considers your money in the bank to be theirs, and one needs their permission to withdraw more than certain amounts? 19th century European peasants flocked to America because here they could do what they could not in Europe, buy and own farmland. America is the only country in which citizenship is based upon an idea. Not tribal identities, nor skin color, nor any other purely animal-out-of-nature characteristic. Equality under the law, i.e. justice. Religious freedom. Free expression. The utopian leftist schemes to change the political system of America are founded, (albeit I think unconsciously) on the notion of the perfectibility of man. All it will take, at last, after all the failures of the last two centuries, the 1000 year Reich, the Great Leaps Forward, various worker's paradises and Mullahocracies, stretching back to the founders of this urge, the Jacobins, are the right people in charge.

If you can't see this, you just don't care about people.

The" We Care Community" & Transnational Progressives

2007-09-29T05:24:00.000-06:00

I've written about this before, but as my other reader missed it, a reprise. (The author, John Fonte is "a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. This piece is adapted from his article, 'Liberal Democracy vs. Transnational Progressivism,' which is scheduled to appear in the Summer 2002 issue of Orbis, and is based on a presentation made last fall to FPRI's Study Group on America and the West. Note, the link below is not the full article. The full rticle in pdf is here, at the Hudson Institute's home page.)

Compare the words of the 'We Care More than You Do' community with quotes from The Ideological War Within the West. I know lists of quotes cause drowsiness. ( Keep in mind the structure of American democracy recognizes, among other things, the tendency of human beings towards self-interest, power, aggrandizement etc. The founders intended to limit, and therefore thwart, corruptible human nature with checks and balances on government. While the three branches continually grappled in interconnected headlocks, mischief committed upon the people and the states, to whom "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people", is limited. Transnational progressives, the 'We Care more than You Do' community et. al. have surpassed the limited powers of human nature through superior caring skills. This gives them, they believe, the duty and right to tell you "We the people" how to behave. No smoking in restaurants, do not eat polar bear meat, etc. You knew that, didn't you?)

"The key concepts of transnational progressivism could be described as follows:

The ascribed group over the individual citizen. The key political unit is not the individual citizen, who forms voluntary associations and works with fellow citizens regardless of race, sex, or national origin, but the ascriptive group (racial, ethnic, or gender) into which one is born.

(Smoothing Plane: In his Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville praised voluntary associations. The 'We Care more than You Do' communities are associations based not on the individual, but an assumed identity, with covalent bonds to special status and privleges. This is abhorrant.)

A dichotomy of groups: Oppressor vs. victim groups, with immigrant groups designated as victims. Transnational ideologists have incorporated the essentially Hegelian Marxist "privileged vs. marginalized" dichotomy.

(Smoothing Plane: I ask, " Who designated the designaters?" To which victim group do they belong? Plato's Philospher Kings? Pernicious and abhorrant!)

Group proportionalism as the goal of "fairness." Transnational progressivism assumes that "victim" groups should be represented in all professions roughly proportionate to their percentage of the population. If not, there is a problem of "underrepresentation."

(Smoothing Plane: Isn't there a problem of "underrepresentation" in the NBA? Too few NASCAR slots for blind drivers? Is there a slot for me and thee amongst the Philosopher Kings?)

The values of all dominant institutions to be changed to reflect the perspectives of the victim groups. Transnational progressives insist that it is not enough to have proportional representation of minorities in major institutions if these institutions continue to reflect the worldview of the "dominant" culture. Instead, the distinct worldviews of ethnic, gender, and linguistic minorities must be represented within these institutions.

(Smoothing Plane: I see one group- a common humanity, suffering under the same flaws and limitations of human nature. With two subsets, male and female. Other distinctions are chaff. No political solutions to the problems of human nature can escape the problems of human nature. Quoting Niebuhr from his essay The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary." I do not want to discard the smallest unit and replace it with man made transnational elements. Supposedly the physicists who named it Einsteinium, wanted to name this trans uranium-238 element, Pandamonium.)

The "demographic imperative." The demographic imperative tells us that major demographic changes are occurring in the U. S. as millions of new immigrants from non-Western cultures enter American life. The traditional paradigm based on the assimilation of immigrants into an existing American civic culture is obsolete and must be changed to a framework that promotes "diversity," defined as group proportionalism.

(Smoothing Plane: Again I ask, "Who put these people in charge?")

The redefinition of democracy and "democratic ideals." Transnational progressives have been altering the definition of "democracy" from that of a system of majority rule among equal citizens to one of power sharing among ethnic groups composed of both citizens and non-citizens. James Banks, one of American education's leading textbook writers, noted in 1994 that "to create an authentic democratic Unum with moral authority and perceived legitimacy, the pluribus (diverse peoples) must negotiate and share power." Hence, American democracy is not authentic; real democracy will come when the different "peoples" that live within America "share power" as groups.

(Smoothing Plane: "Only blacks can represent blacks, only left handed cripples..., only partial Martian ascetics represent..." There is no end to this lumping. Do you remember what the LA rioters shouted at truck driver Reginald Denny as they slammed bricks into his skull? "Now you know how Rodney King felt!!" Slamming bad ideas into skulls is a very bad idea.)

Deconstruction of national narratives and national symbols of democratic nation-states in the West. In October 2000, a UK government report denounced the concept of "Britishness" and declared that British history needed to be "revised, rethought, or jettisoned." In the U.S., the proposed "National History Standards," recommended altering the traditional historical narrative. Instead of emphasizing the story of European settlers, American civilization would be redefined as a multicultural "convergence" of three civilizations—Amerindian, West African, and European. In Israel, a "post-Zionist" intelligentsia has proposed that Israel consider itself multicultural and deconstruct its identity as a Jewish state. Even Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres sounded the post-Zionist trumpet in his 1993 book , in which he deemphasized "sovereignty" and called for regional "elected central bodies," a type of Middle Eastern EU.
Promotion of the concept of postnational citizenship. In an important academic paper, Rutgers Law Professor Linda Bosniak asks hopefully "Can advocates of postnational citizenship ultimately succeed in decoupling the concept of citizenship from the nation-state in prevailing political thought?"

The idea of transnationalism as a major conceptual tool. Transnationalism is the next stage of multicultural ideology. Like multiculturalism, transnationalism is a concept that provides elites with both an empirical tool (a plausible analysis of what is) and an ideological framework (a vision of what should be). Transnational advocates argue that globalization requires some form of "global governance" because they believe that the nation-state and the idea of national citizenship are ill suited to deal with the global problems of the future.

Smoothing Plane: There is very much more in Fonte's essay. The religious emotion common to the "We Care More" community, and all its splinter subsets of the victims and privleged is Messianic superiority. (At the Minnesota Shares website, their header says, "Charity is good, Change is better".) I've said before, as have others, that the left has made a religion of their politics. It may be more precise to say they have made a theology of it. God help us.

Utopia, "We care more"

2007-09-28T16:44:00.000-06:00

I read a lot; recently I've been reading Reinhold Neibuhr. The Essential Reinhold Neibuhr, Selected Essays and Addresses. I want to understand the utopianism of the progressive, secular left. (They are of course, not 'progressive' but reactionary. Speech codes which specify acceptable and verboten language, hate crime laws which punish thought, and the 'Holy of Holies' dogma of political correctness are all consrictive and coercive. They are an effort to protect feelings by prohibiting certain words and thoughts. For the reactionary left, ideas espress less validity than the proper attitudes and feelings . The root of the left's anger can be found here; when on must defend not ideas but emotions, anger and invective are the ally.)

Here is the member group list page of Community Shares Minnesota. Go to any of these groups' home pages, (I am choosing two I've already read, and two at random,) and they all have in common language such as this:

From Isaiah: As people of faith, we believe that all people are sacred, that all people are meant by God to have access to dignity and power, that any oppression is a sin and should be rooted out systemically. We are called to act powerfully to eradicate that which undermines the fundamental sacredness of every human being.
We see a world of economic and racial injustice. The real abundance of the world is only shared by a few. This injustice is upheld by a myth of scarcity. This myth of scarcity builds a world of fear. Because we are afraid we act in isolation, as individuals. Our sense of community erodes and we become even more afraid and more isolated. This perpetuates the myth of scarcity. The world becomes more unjust.
We can see that the world does not have to be this way. This present reality can be transformed. We are called to play a role in this transformation.

ACT, Advocating Change Together says it is "... a disability rights organization that is:
run by and for people with developmental disabilities and other disabilities.
committed to this premise: It is not the individual who must change to fit society, but society and systems that must change to accommodate all people.

One of the member churches of Isaiah is Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church of Robbsdale. They have a list of eleven 'Core Values. Here is number one:

We, the members of Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church, value:

1. Our identity as a welcoming community. Because God unconditionally welcomes each of us, we seek to do the same to all who come to us.

(God, I believe, will not accomodate our sinfulness. We are expected to repent.)

The Mission of Access Press is: "To inform the disability community about topics of concern to us and to provide accurate information about disability issues to the general public. We exist to be a catalyst for discussion of critical issues facing the community and to bring together the diverse voices of the community to promote equal access for people with disabilities in all areas of life."

(There seems to be no end of special communities of this or that group which these coalitions and organization exist to 'bring together'. Critical issues are always discussed.)

Against all this utopian language I set these paragraphs from Niebuhr's essay Mystery and Meaning:

"The source of the evil in us is almost as mysterious as the divine source and the end of our spiritual life. ' O Lord,' cried the prophet, 'why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?' ...There is a deep mystery here which has been simply resolved in modern culture. It has interpreted man as an essentially virtuous creature who is betrayed into evil by ignorance, or by evil economic, political, or religious institutions. (Smoothing Plane-note how the quoted groups see themselves free from any evil, and indeed the saviours of their particular 'community'. As if the problem all along has been the wrong people running things. Their salvation is to 'empower' ...someone or another. Human nature is not considered whatsoever.) These simple theories of historical evil do not explain how virtuous men of another generation created the evil in these inherited institutions, or how mere ignorance could give the evil in man the positive thrust and demonic energy in which it frequently expresses itself. Modern culture's understanding of the evil in man fails to do justice to the tragic and perplexing apect of the problem. "

Skipping a bit, to this:

" The final mystery about human life concerns its incompleteness and the method of its completion. Here again modern culture has resolved all mystery into simple meaning. It believes that the historical process is such that it guarantees the ultimate fulfillment of all legitimate human desires. It believes that history, as such, is redemptive...Utopia is the simple answer which modern culture offers in various guises to the problem of man's ultimate frustration. History is, according to the most characteristic thought of modern life, a process which gradually closes the hiatus between what man is and what he would be."

"The difficulty with this answer is that there is no evidence that history has any such effect. "

If the utopian progressives had been present when Niebuhr wrote this last sentence, they would have branded him a heretic, and been shouting, "You don't care!". What I think all the Minnesota Shares members, and all the rest of the 'superior caring skills' left share is a blindness to the potential for evil in human nature, a scorn of any need for admitting this potential exists within oneself, and ones own inability to change this nature. This latter means we must admit to a need for redemption of some sort. And to admit this means we absolutely must abandon our pride. Very difficult if one's identity is grounded 'peace, justice, sharing, access, welcoming' etc.

As C.S. Lewis said, "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Utopia will never arrive on earth. No matter how well meaning the caring and sharing.

Envoys from Heaven, Emissaries from Hell

2007-09-28T08:15:00.000-06:00

Heaven does not invite emissaries from Hell to come speak to the assembly of Angels, Archangels and Blessed Saints. Though an emissary from Heaven once visited Hell on a three-day weekend. He went uninvited. No manuscripts of the conversation, dialogues, questions, chatterings and recriminations from the faculty there survived His visit. Just this early postcard of the faculty, dialoguing and free expressioning...

Did academics somewhere recriminate their peers for incivility?

"Columbia the Gem of the Ocean..."

2007-09-25T04:28:00.000-06:00

Except as otherwise noted. All the Columbia verbiage stinks, (note the off-rhyme of verbiage with 'cabbage'), both raw and cooked. Having no moral sense at all, can't the Deans at the great (sic) school still trust their noses?

If, (when...oh God!) Iran blasts Israel with a nuke, I expect the Columbia faculty to have been humming The Moody Blues, "Somebody exploded an H-bomb today. But it wasn't anybody I know."

End the Slogan! Troupes Route Cows!!

2007-09-24T04:22:00.000-06:00

"Troupes what?" you say. Well...it is as sensible as any other leftist shout. I could not attend the Union shout fest on Sunday. To answer the expected 'End the War' slogans I offer this one, "End terrorism! End Jihad!". Catchy, no? In imaginary dialogue with the left, I asked, "I have heard of wars being won or lost. Not war ended. What does that mean? Will the other side stop, and also go home? Will they stop killing Iraqi children? " Eventually the screaming and shouting will start. At the Saturday counter-protest several times I heard, "You can't talk to them", and "They just don't get it, idiots." "Them" was us. "Well" I says, "If we are such idiots, surely you can change our minds." "Screaming & shouting & +==*%%!!!" follow fast my question. (The lefts' positions are deeply felt, but thought out not an inch. The trick is tricking them into thought.) "Well" says I, "Do you expect to change my mind by screaming "What an idiot you are!" at me?" "Did you come to believe what you believe because someone shouted, screamed, and confirmed idiotness?", says I.

The rest, I suspect, will be silence. Though I once encountered a "Sign my 'Stop CVS Pharmacy!' petitioner" in the street. And stopped her with this question. "Instead of opposing CVS, why don't you just put limits on how much of any drugs they can sell.Then, when the quota is met, people will have to shop at the 'Little Pharma' across the street?" Deep silence, then this, "I don't think you can do that" she said.

I remain hopeful.

Some More Niebuhr on Human Nature

2007-09-22T06:49:00.000-06:00

From the introduction to his book Nature & Destiny of Man:

"This study of human nature...is based upon the conviction that there are resources in the Christian faith for an understanding of human nature which have been lost in modern culture. However scientific various studies of human nature may claim to be, they are rooted in definite philosophical presuppositions. Broadly speaking these philosophies are either idealistic or naturalistic. If the former, they tend to understand man too much from the standpoint of his rational facuties only and therefore to misunderstand him. They do not understand the full dimension of his 'spirit' nor yet the intimate relation between the human spirit and teh human physical organism in its insecurity and weakness. The naturalists on the other hand seek to equate the stature of man as much as possible with the dimension of 'nature' in which his life is embedded but which he nevertheless transcends. The romantic naturalists who interpret man primarily from the standpoint of his sub-rational vitalities have undoubtedly added may valuable insights to the study of human nature. But they have confused their insights by seeking to explain aspects of human behavior in purely biological terms which can be understood only as aspects of that curious compound of 'nature' and 'spirit' which all human behavior manifests."

______________________________________________________

If the casual progressive leftist shouter of slogans cannot abide the idea of a human nature, do they also refute such a thing as human spirit? In favor of what...diversity of cultures? Narratives of power? Moral equivalancy? Blindnesses such as these indicate aspects of the very human nature their superior moralisms attempt to deny.
I hear in my mind's ear from Aaron Copeland's A Lincoln Portrait, "My fellow Americans, we cannot escape history". Equally, we cannot pretend we have no inherent nature. By denial to escape the worst of our nature, we also trash the best of our spirit. A paradox. It may 'suck'. Embrace the suck.

The Communion of Saints

2007-09-20T03:50:00.000-06:00

I like the sound of those words, "The Communion of Saints". It comes from The Apostle's Creed. (Note: My wife and I are slowly becoming practicing Catholics. We practice prayer. We need the practice...) I think of the Saints as "my team". We cheer for them, they cheer for us. I promised Augustine...

Forgive the long quotes again from Hard Decisions:

"In his seminal Moral Man and Immoral Society, Niebuhr explains the sea change in his religious and political views by arguing for an interpretation of human nature that traces its origins to the fifth century and the theology of St. Augustine. The Gospel of Jesus Christs commands man to exercise perfect Christian love, but as Christs's suffering revealed, man is by nature incapable of such perfect love. (Emphasis, mine.) Human consciousness recognizes 'the ego as an insignificant point amidst the immensities of the world.' Man, in his distress, tries to aggrandize himself with a larger purpose, invest himself with absolute moral authority, particularly in the society he seeks to structure, 'to universalize himself and give his life a significance beyond himself.' Selfish desire corrupts man in all his social pursuits no matter how well intended. Utopian schemes, no less than the basest impulses of human beings, manifest that moral conceit, the original sin of pride, which makes an idol of our individual and collective goodness. Those who believe that Christ's perfect love is more than an ideal for which man should strive but, in fact, is attainable by human beings practice a heresy. They credit their own efforts with making a place for 'Christ in history, whereas the only true Christ is he who was crucified in history.' 'The quintessence of sin,' he later wrote, 'is, in short, that man changes the glory of the incorruptible God innto the image of corruptible man.' He always usurps God's place and claims to be the final judge of human actions."

Does not the left claim to be the judge of human actions? (In charity we, I, must admit to sharing in this same sin.) And this bears repeating, "Utopian schemes, no less than the basest impulses of human beings..." Think about that for a moment. Niebuhr is saying the basest impulses of the pedophile and the most virtuous imaginings of the Utopian idealist are flawed, and lead to the same ends. I oppose the Utopian schemes of the left because they bring about only misery. The scripture does not say, "Be thou in charge of perfecting the world", but "Be therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect." We have heard, too often the radio ads for University of St. Thomas, "Challenge yourself, change our world." This too is backwards, and ought to read, "Commit yourself to prayer".

Support the Vikings! End Football!!

2007-09-17T04:18:00.000-06:00

One slogan, among many signs carried on Saturday read "Support the troops. End the war." I shouted "Support the Vikings! End football!!" whenever someone passed by carrying that sign. I don't remember seeing the lights of comprehension go on. Several of the 'protesters' shouted at me, "We don't use that word anymore!". My sign read, "Anti-war is Anti-Victory". Which word don't they use any more, Victory...? Quite a number of others shouted, "What's victory?" The funniest moment? One passer by said to his fellow, "They were paid by the Republicans to be here." "What!?", I shouted, "You guys got paid?!! Where's my check?" Still no lights in their eyes. One girl,(yes, an 18-20 year nowadays is a girl, tart-look not withstanding), condescendingly said, "There's more of us than there are of you." Later in the day I thought, "Why then, if your numbers make ours insignificant, do you feel the urge to point that out to me?" No lights. No brass. No ammo. Someone who identified himself being from the blog lloydette asked the young man behind me with the "Osama says support the troops, Vote Democrat" sign to explain it to him. The young man, (probably not driving age yet) seemed to stumble a bit. I said to the questioner," In April of 2005, we intercepted a letter from Ayman al Zawahiri to Zarqawi. Zawahiri said their main goal was 'To drive the Americans from Iraq'. Since the Democrats have been saying, including all their Presidential nominees, that they will 'Get us out of Iraq', and Zawahiri and Osama are pals, of course Osama isn't going to vote for George". I believe I saw a triple AAA 1.2 volt lightbulb come on.

The brightest light of the morning came on when all the 'protesters' had passed. ( A note on etymology. The words testament and testify have at the root, the word testes. The Romans would swear oaths "By the testes", and even, I believe, grabbed hold of those bulbs while swearing the oath. As the suffix 'pro- ' means 'for' or 'in favor of', are the 'protesters' in favor of testicles? I wander.) Someone with another blog and a microphone was asking questions. I don't recall what he asked. In reply I asked, "Do you believe that human nature is perfectible?" He was bewildered and silent. "I don't understand." I asked this question, "Do you believe the human heart has a capacity to do evil?" More bewilderment. "It's a yes or no question" I said. "And it's not a trick question." "Let's say I do", he answered. "Well", I said, "Then we agree that human nature is not perfectible". He was less bewildered but still puzzled, and went to talk with Dave Thul of Foreign & Domestic blog.

So I come to my point, most easily stated through questions and imaginary dialogue with the pro-balls people.

"US off Iraqi soil!" they shouted. I ask, "If the death of innocents in a conflict obligates the US to withdraw it combatants from the fight, does the death of innocents similarly obligate Al queda?"

I must get ready for work. More anon. Stick around. I will update this with help from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and, of all people, Reinhold Neihbur. Oh, and St. Augustine.

Continuing: It's now Tuesday morning, the 18th. To my query above I expect my imaginary respondant to eventually repeat the "We brought it on ourselves" catechism. (I do not use the word catechism idly. The left has made a religion of their ideology. In this they are consistent with G.K Chesterton's words, " When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing -- they believe in anything". The left is in a crisis of faith as much as the Wahabists are, fortunately with much, much less bloodletting. The Wahabists have severe definitions of fun; it's Verboten! Thank God for the self-indulgence of another of the left's catechisms, 'Freedom is self-indulgence', and its various corollaries. Their idolatry, I think, explains much of their anger. Unlike Catholics, whose faith is backed up with the very reasoned Catechism of the Catholic Church, the left has unquestioned, and unquestionable assumptions. Ask the right questions, and the entire artifice will capsize. Anger is their defense mechanism. In deriving questions, one of my goals is to collapse their intellectual world upon itself.) To the 'We brought it on ourselves' trope I ask, "Are the Islamists entirely without free will? Are they only capable of reacting? Their ideolgy cannot answer no to this question; it is an article of faith that the west and the US are the sources of evil in the modern world. I want to know, then, how this comes to be? That is, how is it possible for creatures to exist in the world, some with free will and some without? Is every single Islamist, committing every single act of horror and perfidy only reacting like Pavlov's Moo-ahem Id? These poor victims of Bushitler foreign policy have no choice but to cut the heads off eight year old Iraqi girls? Why is the United States denied this freedom to similarly react? Trying to write about this tangle of mirrors tangles one up in it. I think this line of reasoning finally arrives at that question, what is the source of evil in the world. I think the human heart has the capacity for evil becauses we have free will. The left believes in the perfectability of human nature. So do the Islamists. The latter, like the Communists before them, and the Nazi's before them, and the Jacobins before them thought the paradise on earth could be brought about if only enough of the wrong sorts were killed.

Again, I must stop. Back tonight, or Wednesday morning. A quote from Niebuhr, replying to a pacifist of the time who claimed to "detest Hitlerism" but detested war even more as a sin "against the revealed righteousness of God".

"You are willing to slightly favor the Allies against Hitler, but you are unwilling to allow such discrimination to result in an action in favor or one side against the other. To allow such an action is to involve yourself in sin. Your difficulty is that you want to live in history without sinning. There is no such possibilty in history."

This quote, I think, explains the isolationism of the left perfectly, illustrates the corrupt essence of their arrogant pose of moral superiority. We simply do not have the freedom not to oppose evil, even though we must commit acts often horrifying to us to enforce that opposition.

Wednesday, Sept. 19th, 0435. "We simply do not have the freedom not to oppose evil..." Let me comment on my own words. We actually do have the freedom not to oppose evil; it is, however, an immoral position. Here is another very pertinent quote from Niebuhr (and qotes from the book Hard Call, Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People who made Them, by, John McCain & Mark Salter. I suspect Salter did most of the writing but the decisions and the people probably came through McCain). The book: "Americans who claimed a religious foundation for their pacifism and isolationists who expressed only a fear and contempt for the political turmoil of the old world demanded Roosevelt adhere to the Neutrality Act and avoid any action or statement that might appear to take sides in the coming war. Niebuhr denounced the act as a pernicious abdication of moral responsibioity. 'The protagonists of a political, rather than a religious pacifism end with the acceptance and justification of, and connivance in tyranny,' he wrote. 'They proclaim that slavery is better than war. I beg leave to doubt it and to challenge the whole system of sentimentalized Christianity which prompts good men to arrive at this perverse conclusion' ." Doesn't this perfectly describe those passing us by in the streets on Saturday, six years and four days after a pernicious tyranny incinerated 3000? Curiously enough, I agree with the religious pacifism of the Quakers we saw strolling with the sign carriers. They however, are not trying to impose their positions upon us all by political means. Their is an individual decision of a kind only an individual can impose upon himself. Really, they should have stood on the sidewalks with us. During the Vietnam protest era, when the draft ended, the protests collapsed, suggesting the opposition was motivated not by opposition to US violence but the draft, that is, to forced service. Now that all our soldiers and Marines and all are entirely volunteers, I wonder how the crowd can be in such opposition to the liberty of individuals to make personal choices. But then inconsistancy is the hobgoblin of little minds. And again the argument comes squarely to what I believe is the secular left's fatal flaw, more perfectly spoken by Niebuhr that written by me. They want to impose religious virtues by political means. Pacifism cannot be imposed collectively; not everyone has the moral strength, and courage to take that choice to its logical end, that is, accepting one's own death at the hands of a tyranny. I certainly do not. I would fight. Our soldiers to a woman and man choose to fight. The signs I wish had been carried by a few more on Saturday are these:

"Bring peace to the world. Do battle with evil." "Peace is better than war. War is preferable to tyranny."

Some postscripts: "Saddam was boxed in. We should never have gone there". (The left always knows what should have been done, never what ought to be done.) My question to this, "Do we have a moral responsibility to oppose injustice?" If the uses of violence in our cause damns it to immorality, what of our enemies in this causse? Do they get a pass because they hate George Bush with equal intensity? They are motivated by American Imperialism? We brought this upon ourselves...? Through what actions, and when, do they bring consequences upon themselves? (This question is really asking, "How many heads of children are they allowed to cut off before we're not to blame any longer?"

A few note about Niebuhr and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. From Hard Decisions: Reinhold Niebuhr, the eminent American theologian of the last century, recognized (the) contradictions about the nature of war and man at war. The former pacifist who offered the most astute, eloquent, and persuasive denunciation of pacifism argued that , in essence, there are worse things than war, and human beings have a moral responsibility to oppose those worse things, even by violence if necessary. A man who understood the paradoxes of war, he urged us to fight with all our strength but without hatred. (Emphasis mine.) That is easier said than done, of course, but Niebuhr knew that , too. 'To love our enemies cannot mean that we must connive with their injustice,' he wrote."

You must read more about Dietrich Bonhoeffer on your own. He studied at Union Theological Seminary when Niebuhr was a professor. When Hitler came to power (Hard Decisions, pp. 322-324) "Bonhoffer appealed to Niebuhr for help in finding refuge in the United States, and Niebuhr quickly secured a teaching position at Union for him. Bonhoffer stayed only a few months in New York before he decided to book passage on the last ship to sail for Germany before the outbreak of the war. He explained his reasons in a letter to Niebuhr that has not survived but that Niebuhr has paraphrased: 'I have come to the conclusion that I had made a mistake in coming to America. I must live throught this difficult period of our national history with the Christian people of Germany.' His decision was to cost him his life." (Skipping a bit.) " He came to believe that ethics could not be reduced to general principles. We cannot claim self-justification for our actions, nor can we know with certainty that we are right. We must accept the guilt and the necessity of our actions, which we are called to not by duty or ideology or moral certitude-those are God's to judge-but by Christs's example, which reconciled God to this sinful world. His example summons us to take responsibility for the needs of our neighbors, accept he guilt for any sin committed in the exercise of that respnsibility, and submit ourselves to God's mercy That is how we act in accordance with God's will: by taking responsible actions against injustice, against evil. To not act condones evil. And it is better to sin to oppose evil directly than to accept evil in the steadfast devotion to one's private virtue.

We must uses our free will, Bonhoeffer believed, to make exceptions to our ethical principles for the sake of coming to the aid of a neighbor in need. Those who believed that Christ's command to love thy neighbor enjoined them from taking necessarily coercive action to oppose an evil or who believed that evil in the world required them to withdraw from it as much as is possible were manipulated by that very evil. To be passive amid the suffering of others was a greater sin than using violence to oppose it. He believed Christ's selfless scrifice taught us that 'what is nearest to God is precisely the need of one's neighbor'. (From Bohnoeffer's book Ethics, Minneapolis: Augsberg Fortress, 2004.) And we must not refuse, out of the fear of sin or worldly consequences, to answer that need: 'No one who lives in this world can remain desentangled and morally pure and free of guilt'. (Dietrich Bonheoffer, the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.) The reality of Christ reconciled the reality of the world, all its corruptions and evil. to the reality of god's infinite love and mercy."

Of course when the question of evil arises, discussion must turn to God. We are all tangled amongst the corruptions of the world. The question of Christ will frighten many; to believe demands a great deal. Bonhoeffer went to his death, as a prison doctor noted "...In almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God". I can hardly fault the left for what I believe is an immoral position. But I pray for Mercy for all of us.

A Mrs. Bill Clinton Bumper Sticker

2007-09-14T18:01:00.000-06:00

I WAS FOOLED. VOTE FOR ME!

Thanks Mitch Berg

2007-09-14T17:48:00.000-06:00

Thanks for the nod Mitch. I'm just an undifferentiated amino acid not even in the blogosphere ecosystem, and my biggest reader is someone named Google Search. A counterprotest sign that says "Anti-war is Anti-Victory" or "We side with Our Side" or "The War in Iraq? We're winning! Get over it!" puts the left in a corner they cannot name-call their way out of. Logic is useless with ideology. So if only shouting will do, then let's shout for all to see what these people truly stand for but are too cowardly to say.

Why are the Dems griping...

2007-09-14T17:46:00.000-06:00

about the very small troop reduction?

We can't lose with so many still there.

The Marines on the radio

2007-09-14T17:35:00.000-06:00

On the local radio show before Rush, the host, Dan Conry had several Marines visit for a few minutes. The Marine Major said "...despite the political stuff...", he, of course, meant the Democrats. Whom do the Democrats think they are fooling? Eventually, soon maybe, only themselves. "Then die, Caesar".

Homes & Businesses

2007-09-14T04:35:00.000-06:00

The City of St. Paul has a program to help homeowners keep their homes, presumably from the pits of forclosure. Our money being handed out to someone else's hands, yet again. Will they do the same to keep a business from failing? If not, why not?

"Choice " Vouchers

2007-09-14T04:06:00.000-06:00

If we are free to choose termination of the undifferentiated tissue masses formerly known as babies, why don't we have the equivalent freedom to choose where to educate the masses which evade these choices?

Democrats scramble for Iraq strategy.

2007-09-13T17:23:00.000-06:00

After six years they still can't make up their minds to win?

A Four Star fools Professional Liars

2007-09-13T17:10:00.000-06:00

General Petraeus ran the gauntlet of professional Democrat liars, Boxers, Reids, Durbans, and the hive Queen, Hilary. "He lied to us!!"

If a frat boy, boob, drunkard from Texas can continually outwit, outmaneuver and outclall the smartest woman in the world and her minions, a Four Star with a Ph.D. needn't lie this gallery of buffons to put one over on them. All he needs do is show up and smile as they speak.

Ronaldus Magnus Lives

2007-09-13T04:44:00.000-06:00

Ronald Regan said, "Do you want to hear my ideas for the cold war? We win and they lose."

From POLITICO this headline: Democrats scramble for Iraq strategy.

Don't the Dhims have any two-headed coins to flip? The one which reads heads "We can't win", tails "Let's just lose". I translate the headline, Democrats look for new words to describe losing.

Back End of Cattle

2007-09-13T04:35:00.000-06:00

The Hildebeest throws manure at a four star:

"You have been made the de facto spokesman for what many of us believe to be a failed policy in Iraq. Despite what I view as your rather extraordinary efforts and your testimony both yesterday and today, I think that the reports that you provide us really require a willing suspension of disbelief."

I think the reports that you provide us on catle futures demand disbelief.

Anti-War = Anti-Victory

2007-09-13T03:42:00.000-06:00

Dear Anti-war = Anti-Victory,

We're sorry this is too hard for you, facing up to an implacable enemy. The responsibility is grevious, and you're just not up to the task. Won't you just go home and let the adults handle this? We know you miss Bill and the carefree 1990's Oval Office Reality game shows, "Burn the Jesus Zealots", "What is Is?", "That's not Sex?", "Show me the Money!!!","Send Elian to the Island", "Arkansas Legal" and "Find the Zipper". And yes, in the moment just after you will admit those were American embassies bombed in Africa, but you didn't know any of the Africans personally. And those 150 Africans blinded by flying glass when they went to the windows to look out after a grenade exploded but before the truck blast went off, they brought it on themselves, didn't they? And how terribly personally, upsetting it is to you all, that young men and women who voluteer to go kill terrorists might be injured or killed. Oh, your humanity! It's OK. We know your entire lives orbit around what you feel . There there, that's all right. But if you will not enter in yourselves, won't you stop hindering the rest of us. Unlash yourselves from the mast of outrage and pretend, pull the wax from your ears, and redeploy yourseslves home. Your candidate Oprah is on the telescreen.

What the Dhims...

2007-09-12T17:35:00.000-06:00

Did not get from General Petraeus.

A sound bite.

Was that all they wanted from their hectoring and lecturing of General Petraeus? I believe it was. He did not rise to the stinkbait.

Now Harry "I've told no lies ever you Liar you, you, you General you!" Reid says he'll find "Legislative ways to change the course of the war."

Good luck Harry. A Pfc has a better chance of changing a general's mind that you have of taking on the role of commander in chief. Have you forgotten LBJ and MacNamara leaning over maps of North Vietnam and picking out targets? Go back to Nevada and eat cow pies.

About that Lost 9-11 Unity

2007-09-12T03:44:00.000-06:00

I was born in 1949, just a whisper away from WWII, still audible to my young ears. My father flew F6-F's in the Pacific, off the escort carrier Sangamon. They took a kamikaze off Okinawa in 1945. My two older brothers were born in 1944 & 1945. Their father was killed in 1945. My father met my mother and they married in 1948. Not different at all from others of those years.
My mother once said this about America then, "The unity was incredible!"

You see where I am going with this narrative. Around what goal were we "unified" after September 11th? A resolve to find and defeat Al Queda, no? To defeat the terrorists, wherever they may be, no? The language from the AUMF says:

"That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons."

I can see from the language some people might say it suthorizes military action against only those "nations, organizations, or persons" involved in the September 11th attacks. But re-read that "...or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future (attacks)..."

On February 6, 2003 in front of the UN Colin Powell said

"But what I want to bring to your attention today is the potentially much more sinister nexus between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network, a nexus that combines classic terrorist organizations and modern methods of murder. Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda lieutenants. "

Zarqawi carried out the bombing of the Golden Dome mosque, which fueled the Sunni-Shia violence, the so called civil war. It was a calculated attempt to create chaos and death, headlines Al queda would exploit to achieve their main goal, as Zawahiri said in a letter to Zarqawi interrcepted in, I believe, April of 2005, that is, "To drive the Americans from Iraq". Yesterday the Dogs and Ponies of the Senate, repeatedly asked General Petraeus, "Yes, so what if you say we are winning, when can we leave?" Are they ignorant of the goals of our enemies? Are you, my fellow Americans?

The unity of 9-11 evaporated because people did not make holding onto it a priority. I fault the Democrats for splintering off into their urge to achieve political gain from a war we did not choose, and must not flee from fighting. I fault the President and various Republicans for not saying, "Learn about these enemies! This is serious, deadly stuff." I fault the Press for not caring to dig into unpleasant facts because the policy America is set upon was decided by someone they despise, and carried out my an institution they hate, the military. I reserve use of the word blame for the place blame belongs, upon us, the citizenry. Whosoever has not bothered to learn what they must about this vicious, irreconcilable enemy, has only themself to blame for squandering the unity we all had on September 12th, 2001.

Osama, Tokoyo Rose and Axis Sally

2007-09-11T19:07:00.000-06:00

In the movies when the G.I.'s are around the radio listening to Tokoyo Rose, she usually says, "Well boys, why are you fighting Roosevelts war? We have a hot reception planned for you." And so forth. None of this from OBL. He castigates his allies in Iraq for their failure to get the American soldiers out of the fight. If I were a Dhim, I'd be embarrassed as hell about this.

More Signs

2007-09-11T18:59:00.000-06:00

No one who Wants to Quit, Wants to Win.

Insurgents have switched side, What about you?

A Vote for Dems is a Vote for Defeat

About some Dim Dhims

2007-09-11T18:51:00.000-06:00

Barak, (Klingons hold this half-Klingon in contempt), and I think Biden and several other dhims today grilling Gen. Petraeus asked him, "When can we leave Iraq?", "Can we leave in five years", and so on. On even asked, "If the President asked you, when can we leave" to which Petraeus said something like, "I wouldn't give him that advice", and then said, "If he pressed you..." Petraeus gave the same answer, but I wish he's said, "The President is too much a gentleman to press me".

But, as we all know, these are questions from the political party whose only goal is the next election. Nothing about victory. We can leave when we win.

Hilary Clinton's AUMF Vote

2007-09-11T18:23:00.000-06:00

"I was fooled" she says. Actually she says she was mislead. If she cannot now take responsibility for a vote that she perhaps disagrees with now, she lacks the character to occupy the Oval Office. If any decision she might make would later be blamed on someone else, or blamed on some other agency than her own will should events change, she cannot be trusted to make policy, nor execute dedisions. In this respect she is and would be just like Bill, "I don't know anything about that, you'll have to ask Janet Reno". If unable to say, "That was my decision", she is insufficient in character to be Cheif Executive.

Some Political This & That

2007-09-11T18:10:00.000-06:00

In our soldiers we see the very best character of our fellow Americans. What then is Code Pink? Whither Moveon.org? Code Pink would have interrupted the Sermon on the Mount "The people of Jerusalem don't believe you anymore Nazarene!" Was Moveon among the crowd shouting "Give us Barrabas"?

__________________________________________________________________________

"Not enough political progress by the Iraqis..." and other such criticisms. It's unrealistic to expect the Iraqis to progress as quickly as the House Democrats. Heh.

____________________________________________________________________________

Rush played Larry King talking to Bill Clinton..."As soon as I saw those planes I said, Bin Laden's behind this." And then he talked about his "virtual obsession with Bin Laden". Hmmm...who knew he named his penis Bin Laden?

A Few More Yard Signs

2007-09-11T04:47:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more short ones. During the day while I am working with sharp, spinning sawblades, I have lots of time to daydream and think. I still have ten fingers. (I used to have eleven.)

We side with our side!

We're going for the Win!

Go for the Win!

The Iraq War? We're winning, get over it.

It's not too late to join the winning side!

Marines: Blessed are the Peacemakers.

Your guys are losing... Our guys are winning!

See you on Saturday at triangle park.

True North Counterprotest Signs

2007-09-10T04:48:00.000-06:00

Arguing with the deranged shows optimism but is futile. The unreasonable do not come to reason through reason. Humor and ridicule, that's the ticket.

Some signs:

Osama sez: "C'mon, lose this one. Do it for my children."

Quitters are losers.Wars love a winner.

We don't run from a fight.

End the war = "Let's just quit"

We side with Our side!!

Anyone have any others?

Font Test

2007-09-09T07:39:00.000-06:00

Font Test Arial
Font Test Courier
Georgia
Lucinda Grande
Times
Trebuchet

"Fish Virus Afraid of Horses"

2007-09-08T05:46:00.000-06:00

Sunday, Sept. 9th update: Some things the news article did not say- where the virus was found, that is, in what species of fish or fishes, how many infected fish were found, who found or caught the fish. In other words some very specific, relevant facts. How did I not notice these missing facts... I think the report-the-narrative/not-the-facts template the drive-bys use is so ubiquitous, we don't see what is not there. But it was, and is right there in the headline, subject and verb,"Fears mount". Not "Infected fish in Lake Winnebago, VHS deadly to Salmonids". The Dog that did not report...?

Well, the storyline was actually, "Fish virus fears mount". Curious that snippets of news in papers of news are called stories. There is no story there, but there are always storylines. This one reports on feelings. Fears Mount! Eeeeeee!! When I see an AP byline, what mounts in me is gorge and bile.

"It's another gorgeous morning for fishing on Lake Winnebago. Clear skies. Sunshine. Fishing boats cruising across the horizon." (I don't know Lake Winnebago, but is it large enough to see boats on its horizon? The sight distance is about three miles. If Lake Winnebago were a perfect half circle, one could see "...boats cruising across the horizon" from the center of the half circle. Three miles to the left, right and center. I quibble, I know. Update from two seconds ago: "Aha! I see it's a big lake. A very big lake, some 30 miles by 10 miles. My trust in the AP is not restored. ) Where was I...

"...across the horizon. But under these sparkling waters lurks an invader anglers fear could devastate Wisconsin's billion dollar-plus fishing industry and, if left unchecked, threaten waters to the west." Storyline: invaders always lurk, fears always mount, checks are always could be unleft. I thought the press hated billion dollar industries.

"Wildlife officials detected the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus..." (Is that not redundant? Shouldn't it read hemorrhagic septicemia virus? One would not write bacterial such-and-such bacteria. I quibble.) Aha! I am corrected again. Thank you Fish Disease Leaflet 83,
Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia of Fishes, Philip E. McAllister.

"Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a systemic infection of various salmonid and a few nonsalmonid fishes, is caused by a rhabdovirus designated as the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (Office International des Epizooties 1963). The virus infection occurs in salmonids and certain other fishes of any age and may result in significant cumulative mortality. Fish that survive may become carriers. Viral hemorrhagic septicemia has been reported under various names, of which "Egtved disease" and "Infektiose Nierenschwellung und Leberdegeneration" are the best known. The viral etiology of the disease was established by Jensen (1965), and several serotypes of the virus (also known as "Egtved virus") are currently recognized"

Well, if the AP had called it "Egtved disease" I'd uh seen it right off! Doesn't "significant cumulative mortality" carry greater specificity than "lurk", "fear could devastate" and "if left unchecked"? And the upcoming "...viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus in the Lake Winnebago chain in May, alarming the fishing community." (Note that it does not read 'fishermen', or 'the state's anglers', or Wisconsin anglers. What other communities lurk among the alarmed fishing community?)

Skipping a bit through the murky waters of the AP: "It has already spread through much of the Great Lakes, causing massive fish kills. ("Eeeeeee!!" Fish kills, indeed any kills must always, by rule, be massive. "i before e, except after c; fish kills and any other animal species 'kills' must be labelled massive.")

AP: "Ohio wildlife oficials estimate (guess?) the virus wiped out, (" wiped out..."; "i before e...."), hundreds of thousands of freshwater drum in Lake Erie last year. The virus hasn't been detected in Lake Superior or the Mississippi River-yet- but it has appeared in inland waters in Michigan, New York and Wisconsin ( it's 'lurking' though). (I thought it had "spread through much of the Great Lakes"? The Great Lakes are five lakes; spread through much of allfive except for the fifth? I quibble; massively. Nor lurk neither. Lunkers also lurking, Esox lucius, Salvelinus namaycush, Oncorhynchus mykiss and other O's: O. tshawytscha, O. kisutch etc. (That lurking lunker "yet" was caught and then released by the AP, not me.)

AP: "No one knows for sure how much damage the virus could cause in smaller, inland waters." Wait!!! I thought it could "devastate Wisconsin's billion dollar-plus fishing industry" and "...threaten waters to the west"? AP: "But the Lake Winnebago system is a gateway to hundreds of miles of trout streams and lakes, and some...." Wait!!! How many are in a some? "...some anglers (in the "fishing commuinity...?) fear (FEAR!!!Eeeeee!!!) Wisconsin's prized game fish-and the state's reputation as a national fishing destination-could be in jeopardy." ("I'll take press innuendo for $.11 Alex. " Answer: "Four". Question: "How many are in a some Alex." "That's correct, for $.11).

The "some": "Absolutely serious stuff, said Steve Severing, assistant tournament director with Angler's Edge Premier Bass Series in Loves Park, Ill. ...It could escalate all over the country, eventually, if left unchecked. ...Is it going to wipe out fishing? No, said Mike Staggs, Wisconsin DNR's fisheries management director. But this is a threat. A signigicant threat. ...Craig Hoopman's family has run Bay Fisheres, a commercial Lake Superior fishing company in Bayfield ("i before e") Wisconsin for four generations. Hoopman, 38, fishing primarily for whitefish, which travel in schools of thousands making it easy for the virus to cause massive kills. If it does get into Lake Superior...it would put us right out of business, Hoopman said. It could just devastate the entire lake. " Wait!!! See those ellipses up there, after "Lake Superior" and before "it would put us out..."? Those are not my ellipses; they belong to the AP. In Jeopardy that's a $1000 Daily Double! Answer: "This is an audio Daily Double. Here's the interrupted quote-'Lake Superior...it would put" Answer: "Who knows what is hidden behind the ellipses?" Correct, for about a gazillion dollars!

"...schools of thousands...easy for the virus to causse massive kills." Hmm. What does Fish Disease Leaflet 83 say about this? Unless hidden by ellipses, the words 'school', 'schools' and 'massive kills' are absent from Leaflet 83. Nor lurking neither. It does say this under the heading Transmission:

"The VHS virus is readily transmissible to fish of all ages, and survivors of infection can become lifelong carriers that shed virus with urine and sex products. The virus ostensibly gains access to the fish through the secondary gill lamellae. Virus shed with sex products appears to be solely a surface contaminant of the egg and is readily dissipated. Although virus can be isolated from eggs for 3 to 4h after spawning, true vertical transmission has not been demonstrated. Experimentally, fish can be infected by cohabitation, immersion, intraperitoneal and intramuscular injection, brushing virus on the gills, and feeding (Jorgensen 1980; de Kinkelin and Castric 1982; de Kinkelin 1983; Castric and de Kinkelin 1984).
In Europe, the gray heron, Ardea cinerea, is known to be a mechanical vector of VHS virus (Olesen and Jorgensen 1982; Peters and Neukirch 1986), but the virus is inactivated in the gastrointestional tract of birds (Eskildsen and Jorgensen 1973). The virus is apparently not transmitted by parasitic vectors and, as judged from a study with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, it does not replicate in insects (Bussereau et al. 1975).
In the hatchery environment, mechanical transfer of VHS virus on the surface of animate or inanimate objects presents a substantial hazard. The virus has been isolated from feral fish in waters receiving hatchery effluent, and can persist in water for several days (de Kinkelin and Scherrer 1970)."

Refreshing the clarity of scientific writing, no? "Readily transmissible to fish of all ages." Yes it sound serious. Under Factors Affection the Disease we read:

"Fish of any age are susceptible to infection, although sac fry and fish older than 6 months are sometimes resistant, (Ghittino 1965). Epizootic losses occur at temperatures of 3° to 12°C (mortality is greatest at 3° to 5°C); mortality and the proportion of virus carriers decrease at higher temperatures (de Kinkelin 1983). Deaths from VHS rarely occur at temperatures above 15°C." The Fahrenheit for the temps, respectively are 37.4 to 53.6, 37.4 to 41, and 59 degrees. What this means to this fisherman is that VHS is a cold water fisheries disease. All those O's above are Salmonids, specifically Brown trout, Steelhead and Coho Salmon. By the way, whitefish are salmonids. Quoting from Host Susceptibility:

"In Europe, epizootics of VHS occur primarily in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss; brown trout, Salmo trutta; and to a lesser extent in northern pike, Esox lucius (Jorgensen 1980; Meier and Jorgensen 1980). Natural infections have also occurred in grayling, Thymallus thymallus, and whitefish Coregonus sp. (Wizigmann et al. 1980; Ahne and Thomsen 1985; Meier et al. 1986). Outbreaks of VHS have been suspected in pollan, Coregonus lavaretus, and lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush. In the United States, natural infections have been diagnosed in chinook salmon, O. tshawytscha; coho salmon, O. kisutch; and steelhead (searun rainbow trout).
Fish shown by experimental challenge to be susceptible to VHS virus infection are Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar; brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis; golden trout, O. aguabonita; rainbow trout x coho salmon hybrids; giebel, Carassius auratus gibelio; sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax; and turbot, Scophthalmus maximus (de Kinkelin and Castric 1982; Castric and de Kinkelin 1984; Wolf 1988). Fish shown by experimental challenges to be refractory to VHS virus infection are common carp, Cyprinus carpio; chub, Leuciscus cephalus; Eurasian perch, Perca fluviatilis; roach, L. rutilus; and tench, Tinca tinca. "

Epizootic: [adj] (of animals) epidemic among animals of a single kind within a particular region; "an epizootic disease" Refractory to infection means resists infection, or, that is, not susceptible.
I will leave it to the reader to go to Leaflet 83 for the effects of VHS on fish. They are not heartening reading but far more informative and specific than the histopathology of the AP.

Oh, I almost forgot the fourth person from the "How many in a some" question. I was in jeopardy of massive lurkiness. AP writer Todd Richmond.

Catching Up, This & That

2007-09-08T04:10:00.000-06:00

A small thing, but I've heard many comments on Fred Thompson's decision to announce on Leno and skip the debate. (Of course he made the debate anyway, as Rudy, Romney, McCain et. al. talked up his absence.) But he's now somewhat immune from the Drive-By smear of "Won't appear on Fox", because the Dhim's also didn't and won't appear on Fox. Where Drive-By logic is, there(their?) also lies tortue. Can they say, "Well, the Democrats don't want to appear on the mouthpiece of the Republican attack machine"? Perhaps not. They will continue posturing objective and non-biased. It's a subtle point, but this admits their bias. The Democrat candidates have gone and will go where they are among friends. No..?

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From a T-shirt ad I saw on another blog: "People that hate guns haven't met enough people that deserve to be shot." Heh. I read something similar in Robert Kaplan's book, Imperial Grunts. An Army Captain, (I believe) said, "We'll seduce who we can and kill the rest."

___________________________________________________________

Also heard on the radio, a caller said, "Yes, but it gets cars off the road". It, was 'mass transit', trains, light rail. .."Swimmin' pools, movie stars". The reactionary, progressives again desiring to impose their private policy preferences on us all by governmental fiat. (Fiat, not the car, "Fix It Again Tony", though also Italian for unrefusable offers). " Hmm", Mr. caller, "How do you know which cars should be gotten off the road?"

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Bicycles get cars off the road. Big crowds of bi-(polar?)-cyclists blocking traffic attract police the way 55 gallon bins at State Fair food booths attract sweat bees. Don't carry the analogy and conclude police are sweat bees; Glocks and Smith & Wesson M&P's are nastier than sweat bees, although the attitudes of the bicyclists stink worse than the cans. I heard the "The police attacked us!" crap from the bees. Suppose a slightly Alzheimer-ish 81 years old grandmotherly driver, all of 5' 2", peering sometimes over, sometimes under the steering wheel, panicky at a bee in her car plowed into the crowd of bee-cyclers, instead of the brakes, hitting accelerate and Mindy Goodbye (aural pun in the last name) simultaneously, smashing spokes and Mindy, pinning her between the front grill of the pristine 1983 Buick Electra husband Al and she bought in 1982, and which she's driven alone since husband Al passed on in 2003, and a steel stoplight post. Will the "We own the streets" people object if 38 of their cadre, arriving late to the chaos and two miles away, manage to spontaneously block not only a few more cars, but a speeding ambulance? After all, they are "Getting cars off the road".

____________________________________________________

A second scenario for the peace loving "The police attacked us" whiners. For their next happening, the police, in a fit of pique and who would blame them, stay away from or arrive late for the traffic tie-up festivities. Members of Local post #1187, Big Mo's Ho-ho Skull Boy's, of that national fraternal order "We Be Thugs" swarm some of the "White ho's on thay bikes, dissin' us", restoring the respect due them with bricks, kicks and, from the subsequent police report "several black males forcibily raped". What will happen to the "Police attacked us" chants then? Hmmm....?

Grief not Closure

2007-08-10T03:59:00.000-06:00

"Families will get closure...", "Closure...", "Another body pulled....closure". Will billboards be pulled onto the roofs of buildings, "Got closure?"...? Relatives and families of the dead will not get closure; they will learn what happened to their missing father, son, mother or daughter. The palpable empty nothing of not knowing will untangle into dense, light cannot escape its gravity grief. Didn't Lincoln lead the country in grieving during the Civil War? Did not Golda Meir lead her country in grieving after terrorists murdered the Olympic athletes in Munich, in 1972? All language less than rituals of grief for the dead shame and banish grief, as if it were some drooling cripple, muttering shattered curses, from whom we look away, masquerading the stone in the stomach.

Mayoring and 'Caring'

2007-08-10T03:41:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday or Thursday, RT Ryback, Mayor of the Green Emerald City spoke on televisioin about 'caring'. I do not have the transcript, but he said something like, "The community needs to care not just for a week or a two, we need them to care for a year...two years..." Uh huh. Just what is needed, a call for narcissistic uselessness. If 'caring' is so important, then the Mayor himself should lead a campaign to snare federal $$$$$$$$$ to install dedicated phone lines and computer backed-up answering systems into the houses of every family who lost a member in the bridge collapse, everyone who knows someone who lost a family member in the bridge collapse, everyone who 'cares' about anyone who knows someone that may have lost anyone in the bridge collapse, and every other single person in the entire metro area who read about the bridge collapse, saw the bridge collapse, knows where the bridge was, can find the City of Minneapolis on a map aor has heard about the "dark, swirling waters of the Mississippi River", so all of us can leave messages telling one another how much we 'care', for the next two years...a sort of "Windows of Caring" event.

Artie, care is not prayer.

After the Collapse

2007-08-03T04:46:00.000-06:00

I worry about Iran attacking Israel with nuclear weapons. They want to. At least, the maniacs at the top of the heap, (but at the bottom of the moral continuum) have said so. If it happens, it would be as if bridges across the entire 50 states dropped at once, in the same monents into the rivers beneath.

The Bridge Collapses

2007-08-03T04:28:00.000-06:00

And shared, common humanity rises. Always. Why? Really, why does it? (Notice: long, run-on sentence approaches. Take a deep breath.) If the "We are rainbows, let us in your church, you intolerant bigots, you need to change what you believe so we can be accepted into what you used to believe but no longer do so we can join" homosexual crowds were outside any church hit moments later by a small airplane, would they use the signs to fan the flames or use the sticks on the signs to pry open the doors of the burning plane to free the trapped?

The press drops its "The jury was made up of 8 women, 4 men, three sorta of lesbians, two left-handed, partial Puerto Ricans, three Greens, seven converted Baptists, two blacks, three whites, eleven..."

For genuine victims of tragedies and disasters, there are no made up victim identity groups. Only men,women and children, their ages, and injured, uninjured, missing or dead.

Obscene Profits

2007-08-03T04:20:00.000-06:00

A lightning rod phrase. Pulls electricity from a clear sky. Only the government makes obscene profits. I have a question for the "Oil companies, drug companies, Hollywood movies' ticket price companies, overpriced-overpaid sports figgers companies, celebrities in skimpy gowns companies, et and cetera...

Is the porn industry making obscene profits?

The Dow Plunges a Gazillion Points in a Nanosescond!

2007-08-03T04:09:00.000-06:00

Gas prices drop to $2.82 from $3.13!!!

Neither of my cats noticed.

Let's calculate...$3.13 minus $2.82 = $.31 Mmm...that's a 10% drop! Fall!! Plunge!!! Plummet!!!! Catastrophic blunder for the oil price fixing cartel!!!!!

No pictures of worried people on the floor of the dow photos follow:

Amazing what the press misses when they stop inventing gas price frenzy.

More "Longing for the Day When"

2007-08-03T03:50:00.000-06:00

Does long time Northender long for the day when...

-Children had manners.

-The style choices for 14 year old girls didn't include "Tart or slut?"

-Career choices for boys didn't include "Gangsta o' thug?"

-Hats had fronts.

-Men had backs.

-Midriffs were covered.

-Music had lyrics and, well, music.

We cannot go back to the past, especially one that never existed. And I thought the secular-humanist-reactionary progressives AKA liberals always wanted to "move forward".

Longing for the day when...

2007-08-02T04:08:00.000-06:00

"...people could buy everything they needed on Rice Street."

Hmm...was there a car dealer on Rice Street? A computer store? A supermarket? An abortion clinic? A coffee shop? A running-shoe store? A wifi cafe?

Does "Longtime North Ender Jeff Martens..." also "long" for the days when children had fathers at home? I hope so. When up to 70% of black children were not born, as the Elizabethans might say, "as bastards"? Does he long for the days when 90 decibel car speakers didn't exist? When there was no such nonsense as "cool". I hope so. (Curse you Frank Sinatra.)

When tolerance for deviance and bad behavior was not considered a virtue? I hope so.

About that 60% of Median Income

2007-08-02T03:58:00.000-06:00

I have one question. If an apartment dweller, (sounds very different from 'home owner', does it not?), if an apartment dweller in the Winnipeg makes more money than the 60%, do they have to move out? If so, who would agree to move in? I wouldn't. Can I get the same deal here, in my house? Will they pay 40% of my mortgage? If not, why not? Because I can, and the Winnipeggy's cannot? This puts clamps on the natural desire to do better, and creates deviousness. I certainly wouldn't tell them I was making more money if my reward for it was to be tossed from my house. Would you? Whose goal is to live in subsidized housing and never earn more money? Not me. This is a trap, a disincentive to do better.

"But We're Cats! We don't have thumbs!"

2007-08-01T03:40:00.000-06:00

My cats favorite excuse why they can't do something, the dishes usually. I think the Winnipeg development has no thumbs. In another part of the article I mentioned yesterday: "Longtime North Ender Jeff Martens, (why is North Ender capitalized?) heads the District 6 Planning Council's land use committee and longs for the day when residents could buy everything they needed on Rice Street without driving out to a suburban mall."

Would he be against people driving in from suburban mall to shop on Rice Street? Those days are gone. The world beneath them no longer exists. My question about the Winnipeg, and its "6000 feet of commercial space that many hope spark a turnaround", will the people who live in the apartments ever be able to own them? If not, isn't this just old wine in new wineskins? "The apartments will be available (available?) to people who make 60% of less of the area's median income, and six units will be subsidized apartments for the homeless."

I would put people on a track toward owning these places. "All right. You've got five years. We're covering the down payment. Such and such amount of your rent goes for interest. So much for principle. You will begin paying this much. After five years, you will be paying this much more, and the subsidy will slowly fall to nothing. This is make or break, just like anyone else who's ever bought a home. We can give you this push start, but after that you will be on your own."

Who ever says, "Look at the beautiful apartment I don't have to pay full price for?" We say, "This is mine. I did it." What's wrong with that? The is a great difference between "restoring hope" and genuine achievement. Hope doesn't have thumbs.

":A New Hope", Star Wars, North End

2007-07-31T04:02:00.000-06:00

The entire headline is "In building plans, a new hope for the North End", and below, "City and developers' goal is neighborhood revival and a showpiece for Invest St. Paul".

This article from July 23rd in the Pioneer Press is what began my past days' wading through the weedy language of the Housing Initiative org and Center for Neighborhoods. Two lots on Rice Street "If all goes according to plan...will become the Winnipeg, twin three-story apartment buildings with 6,000 square feet of new commercial space that many hope spark a turnaround in a working-class neighborhood whose reputation has declined."

The article is filled with these yearnings. "...could bring more life...", "Rice Street...is very crucial to the image of the neighborhood and how it is seen by the rest of the Metro", "...officials expect a showpiece developemnt to highlight neighborhood revitalization", "...some hope a new project echoing the past will inspire shopkeepers to apply fresh paint...", "We think (it) will be a major statement about what's going on in the neighborhood...said Lee Helgen".

I hope they are right. Time crashes in on me, (I write mornings before work). I think the equating of new buildings with new, revitalized neighborhoods is specious. An unvital building is the symbol of problems, not the cause. More anon.

A Beautiful Day in the Center for Neighborhoods

2007-07-29T04:11:00.000-06:00

Had Algore been elected in 2000, Mr. Rogers would have been Secretary of State..."Hello boys and girls, what a lovely day it is. Don't you think so? I do. Would you like some syrup with your syrup?"

From the Center for Neighborhoods, Our Work, Support:

Facilitation and

technical assistance

to help neighborhoods,

community

organizations and

public entities build

bridges, create

collaborations and

increase community capacity

I'm looking for the bridges. Collaborations and community capacity are mythical creatures. A street named Atwater crosses Rice. I don't know where the water it names is at, but if there is water, surely there is a bridge. Aha! There is more in their next window.

"All neighborhoods have developed ways to reach out to residents and recruit volunteers. The capacity to tap this energy and channel citizen engagement is often limited, however. Insufficient funding, the lack of skilled local neighborhood organizers, and a perspective that is often too parochial in nature can all work to hinder a neighborhood organization’s ability to fully engage its residents. The Center provides tools to help organizations overcome these barriers to participation."

"Zxspft blixt qpezrts!", say the aliens."Yes, but what work do you do?" says Spaceman Spiff.

Well, there is the Corridor Housing Initiative. " This year, the Center's Corridor Housing Initiative will facilitate a planning process that merges the community development priorities of neighborhoods and the City of Minneapolis and identifies viable sites for affordable housing development." Open the link and you get this:

Corridor Housing Initiative
Providing a framework for housing development

"The Corridor Housing Initiative is an exciting partnership among neighborhoods, city government, and a technical team of development consultants, design experts, and facilitators to connect market opportunities with neighborhood goals. Our goal is to support great neighborhoods as they explore housing choices for a mix of incomes and households, with access to transportation options, retail amenities, parks, and job opportunities.
The Corridor Housing Initiative reduces front-end costs for developers by providing community support for development through suggested development guidelines, neighborhood and City support for higher density development through zoning recommendations, and increased access to available City funding cycles."

"Zxspft blixt qpezrts". Or was it "Blixpft, qpsprxt sxzpwqts"?

By the way, every letter is a link opening onto more worlds' alien languages. There ought to be a notice above the door for any who enter there.

"Speeches for Ourselves"

2007-07-28T04:35:00.000-06:00

John Hinderaker says the "Ghandi is the most overrated man of the 20th century". I wouldn't want to argue against him on that point. But I did like the movie. After the actor playing Jinnah ends with "India needs home rule. India demands home rule!", Ben Kingsley says, "We make speeches for ourselves. What we say here means nothing....India is 300,000 villages...."

The Center for Neighborhoods says nothing, and I quote:

The Center for Neighborhoods promotes

innovation, equity and

sustainability at the neighborhood and

community level.

What does this mean? There is more...

" C4N’s work is predicated on the understanding that while public policy can help us delineate our values as a society, it is in the day-to-day life of neighborhoods and communities that those values are kindled and ultimately find expression. We therefore work to improve the capacity and effectiveness of local civic relationships while serving as an incubator for new models of public sector/community/citizen collaboration on the issues we face as a region. Our approach is unique in that our efforts address issues with the understanding that individual civic engagement, local community initiative and progressive public policy must inform each other in the creation of real and sustainable change."

I suppose this is the language of the professional do-gooder. Can they change a flat tire? Do they know how to clean fish? Maybe they can delineate the policy necessary to hone the edge of a filet knife while improving the capacity of incubators to address envelopes so individual civic engagement can inform each other...? I'll bet that their approach is unique; so unique that it is impenetrable to common sense.

Beneath the "OUR WORK" button is this:

"The Center for Neighborhoods uses a variety of tools and formats for gathering and sharing information, analyzing policy, and increasing the ability of citizens to participate effectively in public decision-making".

I'm so glad they are "increasing the ability of citizens to to participate effectively in public decision-making". In Communist Russia, a peasant, somehow, through enormous effort, made his quota for wheat production. He was given a medal. He asked if, perhaps, could he have a bit of wheat. The commissars laughed at him.

How does the C4N do these things? They convene "Events that offer opportunities for diverse interests to reflect on critical issues and opportunities". And they support "Facilitation and technical assistance to help neighborhoods, community organizations and public entities build bridges, create collaborations and increase community capacity". I'm opposed to hockey, but I support the players.

Time wanes. More on the "technical assistance" anon. Magical thinking all, methinks.

"What Would you build on Rice Street?"

2007-07-27T03:17:00.000-06:00

So says the poster in several store front windows on Rice Street between Maryland and Atwater. At the bottom, Housinginitiative.org. Meeting at St. Bernard's Parish on such and such a date. I believe the question is framed wrongly; it asks about what sort of buildings on would build. What needs building is greater character in people. I will ask them about this at their next meeting. I did not make the July 12th meeting. One of our Maternity of Mary parishoners, returned from 18 months of service, 12-14 of them as the only medic in his company, (...brigade...? battalion...?...) gave a slide presentation. Mostly pictures of the most beautiful Iraqi children any of us had ever seen. He asked the Sheiks and was told, "Keep the children around you. If the terrorists ever attack or kill the children, the parents will seek revenge." And a short video of a fragmentation grenade blowing a washing machine to Maytag Repairman Hell. The man has intense character. Devotion to the proper ideals build character.

The ideal and ideas of the Housinginitiative.org? From their homepage:

Welcome!

Convened by the Center for Neighborhoods, this project brings together neighborhoods, a technical team, and city staff to develop a strategy for attracting well-designed, higher-density and affordable housing to transit corridors and town centers.

Brings together neighborhoods to do what, I ask? From the same homepage:

What the Initiative Has Done:

-Won the 2006 Innovations in Minnesota Government Award.

-Won the American Planning Association (APA) National Planning Excellence Award for a Grassroots Initiative in 2007, the 2006 Innovations in Minnesota Government Award, a Special Community Initiative Award from the Minnesota Chapter of the APA in 2005, and was a finalist in the Innovations in American Government Awards, also in 2005.

-Helped foster several housing developments that are planned or under construction in the corridors.

-Developed a range of user-friendly educational materials.

How many of us answer a "What have you done?" question with a list of the A's and B's on sixth grade math pop quizzes? In Spartacus, when Tony Curtis says "I am a singer of songs and teller of tales", Kirk Douglas asks him a second time, "Yes, but what work do you do?" I don't know who these people are; they may be very nice people, well intentioned and all. ( "What work do we do? We are the makers of paving stones of intention.")

More, (now we're getting somewhere! They are moving forward!!) :

Coming Events:

Moving Forward! Rice Street: Thursday, August 2, 2007

Rice Street
Want to be a part of creating the future of Rice Street?
With the City’s “Invest St. Paul”, and a renewed energy and excitement to address many of the vacant and blighted property along Rice Street, now is the time to get involved! Join us for a series of innovative and interactive community workshops where participants will be able to test out their own development concepts to see what’s possible. A team of design experts, development consultants, and facilitators from the nationally award winning Corridor Housing Initiative will join District 6 Planning Council, Sparc, and St. Paul’s Dept of Planning & Economic Development to help raise the level of dialogue around redevelopment issues. You don’t want to miss it!
Mark your calendars for the following events:
Thursday, June 21, 2007 Rethinking Rice Street 6:30-8:30 pm at St. Bernard's Parish Center, 147 W. Geranium AveLearn about what makes Rice Street work, and share your ideas about how housing, transit, and commercial development can make Rice Street a more vibrant corridor and asset to the community.
Thursday, July 12, 2007 Development ABCs 6:30-8:30 pm at St. Bernard's Parish Center, 147 W. Geranium AveJoin your neighbors in an interactive workshop to create feasible development scenarios for Rice Street. Design and development experts will be on hand to share ideas and insights.
Thursday, August 2, 2007 Moving Forward! 6:30-8:30 pm at St. Bernard's Parish Center, 147 W. Geranium Ave Explore the opportunities and challenges for development along Rice Street with a panel of developers, business leaders, and city representatives to build a strategic road map for the future of Rice Street.
All events are free and open to the public.

"Yes, but what work do you do?"

"We are singers of songs, tellers of tales. We explore opportunities and challenges. We create feasible development scenarios. We raise the dialogue around development issues! We address the blighted property!!

Ed Norton, "Hello, blighted property."

Why is the property 'blighted'? Before the property was blighted, what was it? What changed? Property does not' blight' itself. As the joke goes, the Irish priest says to the farmer, "Ah, you an' the Lord have done a wonderful job with this land." Says the farmer, "You should have seen it when it was just the Lord's." Guessing and speculating here, when it cost less to let property go than to keep it up, it blights. If I don't constantly attack the weeds, my garden is overrun with purslane, Johnson grass, chenopidium, knotweed and bindweed. I can build all the lovely fencing in the world, explore opportunities to dialogue and create vibrancy and potential, etc., etc.

I wonder if any of the " design experts, development consultants, and facilitators from the nationally award winning Corridor Housing Initiative" will actually move to Rice Street to help pull weeds from the character of the people.

More anon about the Center for Neighborhoods.

More" Arsenic is Everywhere!" News

2007-07-26T03:45:00.000-06:00

This is interesting, from Canada, the Ministry of the Environment in Ontario.

Excerpts:

Arsenic in the environment

Arsenic occurs naturally and as a result of human activity. The most usual source of arsenic exposure is from food and drinking water, and small children sometimes ingest contaminated soil or dust. You can take steps to reduce your exposure to arsenic.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element in the earth's crust, and is found throughout the environment. It is important to maintain a distinction between inorganic and organic arsenic, since the organic forms are usually less toxic than the inorganic forms.

Pure arsenic is a gray-colored metal, but this form is not common in the environment. Rather, arsenic is usually found combined with one or more other elements such as oxygen, chlorine or sulphur. Combined with these elements it is referred to as inorganic arsenic, whereas, combined with carbon and hydrogen, it is referred to as organic arsenic. Many arsenic-containing substances, both inorganic and organic, are naturally occurring, while others are man-made.

How much arsenic is there usually in our soil?

All soil contains some amount of arsenic. In Ontario, background arsenic concentrations in old urban parkland range up to 17 parts per million (ppm), while concentrations in rural parkland can reach 11 ppm.

Although significant amounts of arsenic can be released from natural ore bodies, human activity accounts for most arsenic contamination in soil. In Ontario, many gold, silver, nickel, copper and zinc ores are contaminated with arsenic. As a result, the areas of highest contamination are in the vicinity of mining and smelting operations. Arsenic concentrations in soils around mine sites have been reported as high as 4,700 ppm.

SmoothingPlane: Remember yesterday's post? Cam Gordon wanted to clean up soils with 5-10 ppm of arsenic. He'd be on the job a long time. This is just typical human nonsense, the inability to ask the right questions. Note: Just now rereading what he'd said, "The MPCA recently downgraded the level of arsenic in soil that they consider to be a chronic risk to children from 10ppm to 5ppm"; this does not sound right. A downgrade in the acceptable level would mean an increase in the acceptable concentration. It doesn't surprise me though that a city councilman in the Magic City cannot tell up from down. If his word use is correct then maybe it is a downgrade from parts per billion to parts per million. The suspicious language is the phrase "chronic risk to children". What other catagories of risk exist? Along with the chimera "fairness", the other great mythological animal of the modern reactionary progressive is "safe". "Is it safe?" "We must make this, that and all other (activities) safe". I recall Jung's joke, "Life is a disease with a very poor prognosis. It lingers on for years and eventually ends in death". (Feel free to check me on this. I'm quoting someone reputedly quoting Jung. The sentiment holds though.)

Arsenic ate their Homework

2007-07-25T03:52:00.000-06:00

I love my wife more than I hate the local FOX newsreaders. She likes to watch the weather. I wince at the news oozing from the scrunchy, sincere faces. Aresenic has been found in soil in Minneapolis. I saw the picture of the woman with the baby, worried about "our neighborhoods being safe". Arsenic, FOX said, can cause problems/effects from "...(something mild) to death."

"How much arsenic is in the soils?" I shouted. "What is the acceptable level?", I yelled. (The 'appropriate level'?) "How much soil would someone have to eat to kill themselves?", we wondered.

"Brer FOX, he lay low. De reporters, day say nuttin."

Here's a wee bit of information from the EPA. Note the bolds. I quote:

EPA schedules three neighborhood meetings for South Minneapolis soil contamination site

Release date: 09/12/2006

Contact Information: Mick Hans, (312) 353-5050, hans.mick@epa.gov

CONTACT: Mick Hans, (312) 353-5050, hans.mick@epa.govFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 06-OPA161
EPA schedules three neighborhood meetings for South Minneapolis soil contamination site

CHICAGO (Sept. 11, 2006) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has scheduled three open-house-style neighborhood meetings to answer questions and update residents about the ongoing South Minneapolis Soil Contamination sampling and cleanup project. About 3,000 properties have been tested for arsenic this year. Preliminary data received so far has shown at least 130 properties may contain arsenic in the soil above EPA's 95 parts per million safety level. EPA began sending results letters to residents in August. This process will continue through September.

Meetings will be held:
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 6 to 8 p.m., Powderhorn Park, 3400 15th Ave., S.
Wednesday, Sept. 20, 6 to 8 p.m., YWCA, 2121 E. Lake St.
Thursday, Sept. 21, 6 to 8 p.m., Franklin Avenue Safety Center, 1201 E. Franklin Ave.

On a separate track, EPA and its partner agencies have begun the process of determining how much health risk the arsenic contamination poses to neighborhood residents. A public meeting to discuss this in more detail and answer questions will be held Tuesday, Sept. 26, 7 to 9 p.m., at the YWCA.

Poking around my Google search results, I find this post on the blog of "Cam Gordon, 2nd Ward (Green) City Council member".

I quote, "The risk assessment is how the EPA will determine what minimum level of arsenic contamination they will clean up. Arsenic in soil is generally measured in parts per million (ppm). The EPA is currently cleaning up yards where they find 95 ppm or higher.

Having studied reports from the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, I believe that 10ppm is the very least we should be cleaning up, if not lower. The MPCA recently downgraded the level of arsenic in soil that they consider to be a chronic risk to children from 10ppm to 5ppm. MDH considers 10ppm an acute risk to kids with pica (an eating disorder marked by eating dirt, which is linked to poverty).

I join Environmental Justice Advocates of MN, SNG Environment Committee, the Sierra Club Northstar Chapter and others in calling for the EPA to clean up soil contamination above 10ppm."

How widespread is dirt eating in Minneapolis? What do they substitute for dirt in the winter?

I must go. More anon. I'm going to look for data on exposure.

The Distorted Fountain

2007-07-23T04:11:00.000-06:00

I can put it better.

"They could not see the fountain because they already knew what it looked like."

The Petraeus Interview

2007-07-21T03:54:00.000-06:00

I assume anyone visiting this small trickle of a blog has read the interview. On another page I have finished the article and am reading the comments to Attacking General Petraeus: The Hysterics of the Anti-War Fringe. What astonishing delusions! Because the pack does not hear what they 'know' to be true, what they read must surely be lies, spin, and propoganda! I thought the interview would be heartening to those of us who want to win this fight with the terrorists, and give those who want to lose new facts to deny. I was correct.

The Nelson-Atkins art museum in Kansas City has an enclosed outdoor Spanish plaza inside the museum. There are columns, sculptures and a fountain in the middle. Above, a balcony looks down on the fountain from all four sides. An art class of eighth graders was once gathered there, drawing the fountain. Without exception, every one drew the fountain as a perfect circle! They drew not what they saw, but what they knew to be true! To see a fountain from above as a perfect circle, you would have to be floating in the air, directly above it.

Where in the air is the left floating?

Magical Thinking

2007-06-21T03:49:00.000-06:00

The was a roads blocked off, traffic re-routed, busses stranded through four traffic light cycles in left-turn lanes without left-turn arrows bicycle race in downtown St. Paul yesterday. An adventure of sorts-new buildings and people to look at and watch, a change from the right on Layfayette, left on Wall, right on sixth, "Jackson!", "Cedar!", "Robert!", "Minnesota!", "Wabasha!" routine cry. On a two way street there are cars to look down into. A thin woman with short dark hair and glasses carefully rests a Tissot tin on her lap, opens it, puts one orange colored hard candy in her mouth. A woman appears to be talking to a child, (I see only a large white cloth in the passenger seat.) As the bus appears to advance, I see a large man, with a larger stomach, seatback fully back, and his large stomach beneath the large white t-shirt. He exhales a cloud of smoke, smoothly. Small shouts from the rear, "Hey! What's goin' on?" Three police not-cars but not Humvees, but some tactical vehicles pass in procession on our right. In the last I see a man in camo-fatigue looking clothes, helmet, vest and M-4 carbine slung over his shoulder. "Here because of the bike race", I think. Later, "Are they patrolling because of some threat, or suspicion of threat...?" Now I think, just practice, using a convenient crowd and disrupted traffic patterns.

I heard Micheal Chertoff on the radio yesterday. I only remember one quote, "Then, if there is a problem later, (Smoothing Plane, later than the magical 24 hours), we can always do something about it, " or pick them up, or whatever it was he said. I am certain about that "if".

I didn't trust anything he said. All of it was too shiny, too slippery. He used the word "operability", and not the Italian meaning of the word, talking about 80 millions of these kinds of checks, and overlaps with precision, and greater capabilities. The car he was pushing did have a very nice rear view mirror. All he had to say was no more than magical thinking.

It was exciting to see, as my put-on Irish accent says, "Men with guwns" in the street.

It wouldn't be as exciting to see them everyday, because we needed them there, everyday.

"Oh my God! What Have I Done?"

2007-06-16T06:55:00.000-06:00

We all know this moment. The enormity of Colonel Nicholson's blunder hits him like an axe to the forehead.

My very blunt point; look at the flashing photos just to the right.

What must crash down upon you, upon us, to let go the pettiness of lefist ideology, the progressives of Minnesota, the victim culture, the "feelings matter above everything nonsense", the chatterings of the corpse feeders of the press and all the rest. Greenies. Catholic hating rainbow "god is Gay" crap, and any and all the assorted nonsense of the contemporary visage? The Goracles and the World's Warming to its Doom Dumbasses. Vapid non-reality Reality TV, dancers, idols and all the assorted images from Hell. The thug culture, its rude, booming cars, sounds of the pit-hip-hop crap, pants falling down, hats on sideways, boys-not-men nonsense. Children without fathers, suckling at the teat of the state...etcetera, ercetera.

Must I go on? I, for one, do not want to have millions of Americans come to any, "My God, what do we do now?" moments if anthrax swirls through Phoenix, or Ak rounds puncture children on an outing to the Mall of America, or Americans kidnapped in Rockford appear on YouTube begging to be rescued- "Please pay the ransom!!! They have serrated knives."

However, I remain discouraged and pessimistic. Sorry for the gloom.

Harry Reid's Medals

2007-06-15T05:01:00.000-06:00

Harry Reid's awards:
The Sticky Tongue Out Regarde, with Rough Cat Textures
The Blazing Eyeball Glance, with Enfant Terrible clumps
The Impacted Ear Wax Attentive Blodge, with Crossed Q-Tips
Three Pink Pig's Ears, two with Meritorius Bristles
The Blind Elephant Bluster Medal, with Trumpet and Honky
The Las Vegas Campaign Medal, with pasties
The Nevada Desert Land Campaign Medal, with attached strings
The Show Girl Campaign Medal, with Pelosi Braids and Pennants
The Fox Dhimmi Debacle Accolade, with Mason Jar Rings
Fourteen Blunt Bluster Ribbons, six with the coveted Greasy Gag Bolo Tie
The Smeagol Smegma Campaign Ribbon, with extra Lint
The Toe Jam Pin, with Clippings & Scissors Brocade
Three Anti-Patria Pasta Ribbons, with Sauce Stains & Cloves
The Tom Daschle Voice Over Mask, with extra Eye Holes

And finally, Harry Reid is the first recepient of the 'Jimmah' Personal Conduct Ribbon, awarded for Public Prouncements ofSurpassing Disgrace & Ineptitude, and surpassing lapses of Honor, Decency, and Squinting under the Lights.

The Citation:

"With complete aplomb and disregard for the welfare of his constituentsand the greater country he is pledged to serve, Senator Harry "Very, very Dismayed" Reidis hereby awarded the 'Jimmah' Personal Conduct Ribbon, with Caramel & Peanut Clusters for the following actions-Expressing public contempt for the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.Declaring, with unrelenting perseverence and complete disregard of his own voting record,his own public statements from the recent and not so recent past, that Major General David Petraeusis a failure.For repeatedly using the phrase "This President...", to assign blame and assert failure for virtually any policy, he was further able to conjure up the forlorn, lost, misapplied, misappropriated,misspoken, mrspoken and mislaid, effectively shielding himself from responsibility, while directingall bucks elsewhere to stop.And finally, for his courage phrase, "This war is lost", Senator Harry "Verry, very dismayed" Reid is hereby awarded the 'Jimmah' Conduct Ribbon with Caramel & Peanut clusters.

Getting The Courts to Switch Sides

2007-06-14T03:59:00.000-06:00

The Fourth Circuit decision is another defeat. As was the Hamdan decision. If only the terrorists could be convinced to blow up a few abortion clinics. Perhaps then the courts would say, "Hmm, this is a war."

When the British revealed their logo for the 2012 London Olympics, I had the sickening thought that there will not be a 2012 London Olympics. Or if there is, it will be remembered as a vast target. In my darkest moods, I think England is in serious trouble, stuck in the same blindness as our courts. What will it take? Taking these guys to court isn't fighting. Perhaps that's the reasoning of the courts, under no conditions, fight back. But we are being lawyered to death. God help us, as the courts are not going to.