A Cool Reverie in The Summer Heat !

A buddy's cabin on the northeast side of Yosemite NP. A great trout stream is at my back. It is an unreal hike up to the pass dropping down into the park's high country,one of my all time favorite hikes, stunning scenery.

My Niece

Christmas before last, alas, I have nothing newer on my machine, , I will have to go rummaging and bug Sis for some recent pics.

Summertime, Baseball,and Radio

What would we do without it? I don't watch TV . Our Sacramento Rivercats"AAA farm club for the A's" is a fun team in a great atmosphere with a really nice park. Anyway, isn't AM radio and baseball so synonymous? I am a Braves fan, quite avid, and I listen on the radio when able . My point is the joys of baseball on a summer evening, I tought my exwife to keep score at her boys games,. There are few things as fun as little league ball, believe this soccer player/coach/camp counselor. I have worked with kids a good portion of my life, though I have none, they are the focus of my life. I have a gorgeous niece, all of three and showing her mom's and uncle's fire in the gut. I won't die till I know this youngen' is set for life, as I have none of my own, the Lord has not yet graced me with the proper bride.

Santorum Wisdom

Senator Rick Santorum has written a book called " It Takes a Family" and was kind enough to let National Review print a chapter as a series of articles on judges and the courts. The first three can be linked to, here, here and here. These are must read articles for my fellow conservatives and possibly even the book. I look forward to the next two of the series.

"I often use the extended metaphor of various kinds of “capital.” When it comes to what has happened to our moral capital in the past generation or two, I am stymied for a verb to use. It wasn’t “squandered” or “spent down”; it didn’t “trickle away.” The verbs that come to mind are destroyed and replaced. Traditional morality is being destroyed, and being replaced by something that claims to be morality, but ultimately has little social benefit or ability to sustain the democratic experiment. In China during the so-called Great Leap Forward at the end of the 1950s, Chairman Mao ordered every town and village to participate in smelting iron for steel production. The promise was that through the new techniques of Communism, China would quickly surpass Western capitalist nations in steel. Obedient to their orders, peasants melted down pots and pans and farm implements, with the promise that shiny new and better utensils of steel would be quickly returned. What in fact happened was that these villagers were left with large lumps of useless iron — and with no tools left to farm with. One of the world’s greatest famines soon followed. What we Americans did with our moral capital over the last generation is like what those Chinese peasants did with their capital tools for farming: On government orders — in our case, on Court orders — we melted it down, for nothing."

And from the editors at NRO is this analysis.

Also: Michelle Malkin has a piece on why the FBI keeps an "eye" on the loony lefty groups, quite enlightening, I thought they were against violence even for a good cause.

A Good Thing

It seems all the my Dem friends are more involved with the emmys and Willy Wonka to pay attention to the SCOTUS untill they want it to rule for them. I can proudly say I have never seen one episode of "Seinfeld","Will and Grace" or "Survivor". Those goofballs on Survivor would not know what to do with an individualist survivalist countryboy, I hear enough about it from my friends to know I would either be booted the first day or leader. I have boycotted Hollywood for at least 20 years, with no regrets not available a block away at the video shop. I appreciate great cinema, they lost the ability to produce it in a meaningful way, that is if you are not a communist sympathizer. Hollywood gets my tilted kilt salute!

President Bush Picks Super Well !

Pun intended, W's pick to the SCOTUS is one of the top 3 conservative choices. John Roberts is probably the pick of the litter and there were several to choose from and good ones at that. Though M. Luttig and J. McConnel are right there as well and I hope to see one of them replace Renquist. Move C.Thomas to the head and bam 6-3 for Constitutional interpretation not legislation from the bench.

Sheepdog should be happy , maybe he will lower his alert level a notch, LOL. Sheepdog can you hear the regressives scream yet? B. Boxer is already whining and she voted for his confirmation to the DC Circuit 2 years ago, this is going to be fun. To oppose Roberts they will have to fully expose themselves as socialist regressives to a greater degree than they have shown with their opposition to Bolton at the UN, well ,he is the most qualified there as well, so we will see.
Bush Rises to the Occasion The Roberts pick is courageous and important.

William Kristol 07/19/2005 11:00

WITH THE SUPREME COURT PICK of John Roberts, George W. Bush rose to the occasion.
The occasion was an opportunity to reshape the Supreme Court. Bush seized the opportunity, in two ways: He moved the Court a solid step to the right (to speak vulgarly), and he elevated its quality. It's true that Roberts is a Rehnquist, not a Scalia or a Thomas. He'll be a little more incremental, a little more cautious, than some of us rabid constitutionalists will sometimes like. But he is a conservative pick, and a quality pick--and, to my surprise, a non-PC, non-quota pick.
I had expected Bush to choose a woman. Indeed, I pointed in last week's editorial to several competent and qualified conservative woman. But in preemptively yielding to gender quotas, so to speak, I made a mistake--and earned a well-deserved and well-argued rebuke from Charmaine Yoest at National Review Online, who said I (and others) had "conceded too easily" to the pernicious claims of identity politics. She was right. And the president, weighing a truly important decision for the country's future, agreed with her. By simply going for the best person, by not worrying about walking out to the podium last night accompanied by a white male, Bush did something important and courageous. He showed that he knows that on really significant matters, one has to ignore political correctness and political pandering, and even political convenience. For this lesson, as well as for an intellectually impressive and politically sound choice, Bush deserves a lot of
credit. I unreservedly give it to him.

William Kristol is editor of The Weekly Standard.

Goat Agrees, wholeheartedly!

Tilting at Windmills

Am I wasting my time doing this? I have lots of things that need doing, however, I felt a responsibility to keep putting information out there. No feedback, no interest, I have other things to do with my time than attempt to type if noone has feedback here.

Sunday Picture, Open Comment Thread

Atop Sacramento, from the top of the cathedral dome, my John Hancock is scrawled on the now unreachable beams. I love this city and its surroundings, did from day one as a passer through. This is one incredible state, the diversity of which would astound most. Looking north with the Capitol building a block behind me.
What is on your mind tonight?

Tiger Wins Again

Tiger can play the game, I love golf, it is a challenging fascinating game with more nuance than John Kerry could dream of. Something that goes unmentioned is Tiger's work ethic, in sports I would compare it to that of Jerry Rice. To be that good, even with natural talent, you have to work really hard. What he has accomplished in such a short time is a testament to working extremely hard for your goals. There is a huge range of abilities needed to compete at that level from ponding monster accurate drives to feather lite pitches as shown at this last Masters. He wields the short stick with the best as well. It appears he has learned to play the course a little better as well instead of just relying on his talent to recover. I love the game, fanatically so, I wish I had time to play more often, one day, grin. I will make it Harry, I promise, LOL.

On The Plame Hullybaloo

I have not commented on this because it is really a non-story, another lefty jab at the Administration. Joe Wilson is the raving lunatic idiot in this kerfuffle, not Rove , Cheney or Bush. Wilson has been credibly 100% discredited as a blatant liar. The left is becoming more ammusing than a serious political party.

"I HEARD THAT TOO" [John Podhoretz]So we learn, at last, from the New York Times, that Robert Novak called Karl Rove and said he heard Joseph Wilson's wife, who was NOT a clandestine agent at the time, worked for the CIA. To which Rove replied -- of the women who was NOT a clandestine agent at the time and who he almost surely had no reason to know had at some point in the previous years BEEN a clandestine agent -- "I heard that too."This surely qualifies as one of the "hey, big whoop" stories of all time. And I am not saying this because I am some partisan gunslinger. Simple fairness says that an official called by a journalist who volunteers a piece of gossip and then responds, "I heard that too," is not retailing a piece of incendiary information intended to destroy lives and place CIA assets in harm's way.And I'm going to be blunt here. Anybody who says different has an agenda that has nothing whatever to do with Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, or much of anything else besides doing damage to the Bush administration and character-assassinating Karl Rove.

Hattip: One of the best blogs going, NRO's "The Corner", their entire blog row is worth the regular glance, who needs newspapers except to wrap fish and game?

More: From Powerline

Notable Sunday Reads

Michael Ledeen has an interesting article on Iran's dissidents. We in the West need to find a way to help them before the mad mullah gets nukes.

MURDER'S ROW RULES

The mullahs and us.

by Michael A. Ledeen

NRO July 15, 2005
Iranian dissidents appealed to the United Nations to support calls for freedom for Akbar Ganji, the brave writer who is being tortured in Tehran for the sin of exposing the murderous activities of the theocratic regime of the Islamic republic. The top dog at the U.N., Kofi Annan, declined to take a stand, claiming he did not know enough to have an opinion. The U.N.'s lapdog at the U.S. Senate, Indiana's Richard Lugar, similarly declined comment, thereby relegating himself to the honor roll of appeasers of terrorists, murderers, and torturers. With the exception of the New York Sun, no major newspaper has supported Ganji, nor, for that matter, the broader cause of Iranian freedom.

Also Read: Saad Eddin Ibrahim's column, a pro-democracy challenger to Mubarak in Egypt.

AN EGYPTIAN 7/7 OF GRIEF AND CONFUSION

by Saad Eddin Ibrahim

Morocco Times July 13, 2005
Cairo -- The horrific terrorist attack in London on 7/7 understandably dominated the world's airwaves. It dwarfed other newsworthy events, including the G-8 Summit with its important agenda for combating African poverty and global warming. London's 7/7 is now added to New York and Washington's 9/11 and Madrid's 3/11 and the other terrorist tragedies which have spanned all six continents in four years.

Latest From The Patriot

As always Mark Alexander is right on the money with his latest, the first in a three part series on national security. I find myself being drawn into an ethnocentrism not of my creation but of those who would rather see me dead. I realize that not all Muslims are terrorists, it however is fact that all international terrorism is carried out by an extreme sect of Islam, even 5 % of a billion people is alot of fanatics. I will view all Muslims with a wary eye until they renounce and drive out this insidious murderous death cult before it does become a "Holy War" , they already believe that. I do not think they realize that we have the power to remove this planet from existence if we chose to, a nuclear strike here would see Iran, Syria and North Korea vanish. I pray they are not so stupid . This has nothing to do with Iraq or Afganistan and everything to do with a desert pirate's sham religion, worship my way or die. Well here is a Scots-Irishman's tilted kilt salute to ye.

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THE PATRIOT PERSPECTIVE
Top of the fold -- U.S. National Security: Imminent Threats (Part one of a three-part series)
Since the dawn of the American Republic, perilous national-security threats were symmetric, emanating from clearly defined nation-states with unambiguous political, economic and geographical interests.
Such symmetric threats are tangible, which is to say that American political leaders have been able to define them sufficiently so that the American people could generally grasp what constituted "the enemy." World Wars I and II involved symmetric threats and well-defined adversaries. Military campaigns in Korea and Vietnam, on the other hand, lost public support because the purpose of those campaigns (and "the enemy" in the case of Vietnam) was not clearly defined, and thus, American casualties in those conflicts were not tolerated.
Regarding Vietnam, not only did Kennedy and Johnson err grievously in their arguments for escalating our involvement in that "police action," but they, and Nixon after them, had to contend with a new arbiter of presidential messages -- TV news networks, and their political agendas which were, and still are (with one exception), overwhelmingly left of center. The Leftmedia can completely undermine a President's call to rally public support against a national security adversary, unless that call is clear and concise.
Having learned hard lessons from Korea and Vietnam, George Bush(41) did a far better job of both defining the enemy and defining American objectives when it came time to engage Saddam Hussein's million-strong army in Desert Storm. The result was overwhelming public support. But defining the enemy and our objectives in the second round with Iraq has been much more difficult for Bush(43), because the enemy and our objective was, and remains much larger than just "containing Saddam."

PS: If you don't already subscribe to this great E-Journal, I would highly recommend it.

Outages and Outings

Power was out here last night and I hear another decent conservative Christian has been booted from the FBZ. More later, the yard awaits while it is semi cool out.

Update: According to my sources 28 conservative voices have been removed from the FBZ in the last 3-4 months often for very little reason while much more flagrant violators of the T&Cs are allowed to post away. A definate trend against those with pro-military, pro-family, pro-life, anti-liberal establishment views. Something smells real funny and it ain't my feet.

Sympathy, Understanding ? This Swine Deserves Nought

James Taranto was on a roll tonight. I hope people can wake up to what we are facing in a very real reality. This is a religious war by their choosing, submit or die is their mantra. I would offer Serge Trifkovic's "The Sword of the Prophecy" or anything by Dr. Spencer at www.Jihadwatch.org . They want to kill us or rule us as slaves or converts, that is why they want to kill us. I hear their words and the words of Patrick Henry echo tirelessly in my brain; "What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!"

BY JAMES TARANTO

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 3:35 p.m. EDT
Why Do They Hate Us?

That's the question we've all grown sick and tired of hearing since Sept. 11, 2001. It's not that the query is inherently objectionable; understanding what motivates the enemy is obviously helpful in wartime. But the people who ask this question almost never genuinely seek to understand; rather, they have their own axes to grind against the U.S. or the West, and seek to use the prospect of terror attacks to scare the rest of us into supporting their views. This we have dubbed vicarious terrorism.
Now and then a terrorist actually takes the trouble to explain his motives. London's Daily Telegraph reports on the trial of the man who allegedly (and now confessedly) murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh:

Mohammed Bouyeri, a baby-faced 27-year-old with dual Dutch-Moroccan nationality, broke his vow not to co-operate with the Amsterdam court by admitting shooting and stabbing his victim last November.
"I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion," he told its three-strong panel of judges.
"I can assure you that one day, should I be set free, I would do the same, exactly the same." . . .
Bouyeri then turned to the victim's mother, Anneke, in the public gallery, and told her he felt nothing for her. Mrs van Gogh watched as he read out from what appeared to be a statement: "I don't feel your pain. I have to admit that I don't have any sympathy for you. I can't feel for you because you're a non-believer."
This had nothing to do with Israeli "occupation" of "Palestinian lands,"

America's "unilateral invasion" of Iraq, "torture" of prisoners at Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, the widening "income gap," or any of the other litany of complaints that the terror apologists trot out. Islamist terrorism arises from religious fanaticism and hatred, plain and simple.

Tag: I agree, while you are there read Claudia Rosette's piece on al -quaeda and Saddam's Iraq.

PETA Booth Ignored

Friend of the Barnyard, Sephiroth, reports from a large rock concert in Georgia that the PETA booth was completely ignored. I guess us metal-heads are saner than we are given credit for, good heavy metal requires alot of talent and gets a bad rap, a misplaced one at that. PETA is a supporter of domestic terrorism , burning subdivisions and SUV dealerships, credited to ELF and ALF.

Don't miss linking to Chrenkoff, he has the latest good news from Afganistan, he's on the side board .

The Federalist PatriotFounders' Quote Daily

"Of all the cares or concerns of government, the direction ofwar most peculiarly demands those qualities which distinguish theexercise of power by a single hand. The direction of war impliesthe direction of the common strength; and the power of directingand employing the common strength, forms a usual and essentialpart in the definition of the executive authority."-- Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 74, 3/25 1788)

Update: A great read from Michael Barone related to an earlier post.Also from Peter Brookes.

Monday Night Thoughts

Courtesy the TFP :

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THE FOUNDATION
"If 'Thou shalt not covet' and 'Thou shalt not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free." --John Adams
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INSIGHT
"The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent." --Charles Eliot Norton
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IChThUS IMPRIMIS
"The debate over freedom of religion has turned into a debate over freedom from religion. Religious men and women founded America, and for centuries, religious faith was considered by nearly everyone to be a key to good citizenship. The Founding Fathers would not allow religion to govern the state, but they appreciated the way religion governed the private lives of good citizens." --Suzanne Fields

Take Only Pictures, Leave Only Footprints

When you go somewhere like this, some hidden pools and falls, a quite pristene riparian zone , you would expect the beauty to be respected. Well they don't . I cleaned up a full kitchen bag of picnic garbage just left on the creek bank and I smashed the cans. No matter where I go, my pack invariably weighs more coming out than it does going in. The beauty of our small zones relys on us very few willing to pick up, if we didn't, it piles up. I have removed truckloads of garbage from really nice BLM campsites. and fishing holes. Yes I take game and fish in season and following all laws. I have to laugh because most lefty enviro-socialists would never venture to the pristene wilderness this conservative Christian republican loves and enjoys at every chance, on foot, pack on back and a song in the heart full of the Lord's Joy for His awesome creation . I know the litterbugs are just inconsiderate ingrates so I just make sure those that come behind me get to see it as they should, cleaner than I found it. They should do the same. If we all followed this simple mantra: Take only pictures and memories, leave only footprints and love. I have to wonder....?

Add On:

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CULTURE
"The ongoing collapse of courtesy is no surprise in a nation with so many people who are as self-absorbed as black holes. Consider this T-shirt I've spotted: 'It's all about me -- deal with it.' ... Push in your seat when leaving tables in restaurants, libraries, and conference rooms. Abandoning your chair or barstool in the middle of a path obstructs those who walk by after you depart. ... It remains civilized to hold open the door for someone who is walking a few steps behind you. Letting the door slam in his face is rude. When someone opens a door for you, say 'thank you.' Muttering 'Excuse me' makes a gracious person feel his thoughtfulness is abusive. Walking by and saying nothing, as if that lady or gentleman were your servant or simply invisible, is vulgar. ... 'Please' and 'thank you' are not vulgarities. Use them generously, especially around children. They need to learn two of the language's finest words, even if adults say them less than they should. ... Trash cans are there for a reason. Use them. ... A major airline's East Coast shuttle lounge in Washington, DC's Reagan National Airport -- gateway for learned attorneys, lobbyists, journalists, and members of Congress -- recently almost suffocated beneath whole sections and loose pages of various newspapers. They were strewn across the floor and on many seats. These literate adults apparently did not have their mommies on hand to locate the ubiquitous, neglected garbage bins. The point of all this is not necessarily to turn every American man and woman, respectively, into Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, though we could do worse. The idea is to encourage each of us -- every day, in tiny ways -- to subtract from, rather than add to, the worries of an impolite world." --Deroy Murdock

Hattip: The Federailst Patriot

This is Great!

All 5 should be targeted as well as a few other of the DNC leadership. New Hampshire businessman going after SC Justice David Souters property under eminent domain.

Update for those interested in the London coverage. All the major online journals of record have numerous fine articles and as always Hugh , LGF, Powerline and the Belmont Club all have a ton of info. Already some of the lefty conspiracy theorists are saying Bush and Blair planned it as a way to cover their mistakes and justify the war. Hogwash, even the far left Daily Kos has banned that type of lunacy from his blog. The basic Brit response" Pack up your bombs cram them up your asshole and get the fuck out of our country" and that from an editorial in a generally antiwar/Bush/Blair paper.

A Great Quote:

"Get the picture? New Hampshire businessman Logan Darrow Clements did. He wants to build a new hotel in the town of Weare and he's found just the right piece of land: the home of Supreme Court judge David Souter. In compliance with Justice Souter's view of the public interest, Clements' project will generate far more revenue for Weare than Souter's pad ever could. The Lost Liberty Hotel will include the Just Desserts Bar and a museum dedicated to the loss of freedom in America. I don't know about you, but the last time I was in Weare, N.H., I couldn't help thinking that what this town urgently needs is a good hotel. If it will help the Board of Selectmen in their decision, I personally pledge to take the most expensive suite in the new joint for the first month it's in service. I'll be sluicing plenty of big columnar bucks around town, racking up big N.H. Meals Tax payments at Weare's finest restaurants and, along with my fellow guests, doing far more for the local economy than one ascetic, largely absentee bachelor like Justice Souter could ever do. Indeed, under Souter's definition, it would be hard to think of a property doing less for the public interest than his own house. So let's get on with putting his principles into action, and with luck his beloved but economically moribund abode will be rubble by the end of the year. ... How's that banned-in-Kentucky Commandment go? 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his ass.' However, if thy neighbor is an a** and thou hast financing for a luxury hotel, covet away." --Mark Steyn

Update: A great piece from OPJ online from John Fund.

What's on Your Mind?

As this tiny poppy shows, beauty does grow from arid, rocky land ?!?

Update: Beethoven's 9th, a piece of magic, while deaf.