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Today’s quote is from a poet: “Man’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.”
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back to top65 Comments to “Whirled Views 6.19”
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
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The legacy of liberty (a quotation):
“I am not a warrior, but who is? …I have never learned to fight for my freedom. I was only good at enjoying it.” Oscar van den Boogaard, a Dutch gay humanist reflecting on the European continent’s accelerating Islamification.
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Another legacy quote:
“A society that puts equality … ahead of freedom will end up with neither.” — Milton Friedman.
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Odd when you consider that gays like Oscar van den Boogaard and the murdered anti-immigrant Pym Fortuyn are the “canaries in the coal mine” sounding un-heeded warnings about the muslim threat to liberal permissive anything goes Europe.
I still foresee a liberalized “Whatever, dude” diluted Islam to emerge from the hashish house culture
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While it has been a common theme to blame criticisms of Guantanamo on those evil liberals (closet friends of the terrorists that they are — did I mention they are also socialists?), today’s NYT has an interesting story about the military lawyers who put up the fight. You know, the ones that have actually challenged the process, brought it to the Supreme Court, etc.
What addled mind would take up the cause of an accused terrorist, you ask?
Now there’s a story for you.
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Joe B.: Enjoy your virtual iced coffee!
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I’ll be traveling to Johnson City TN (not too far from Ashville NC) in a few days, and wondered if anyone had any “Do NOT miss” recommendations in the area – (besides the Biltmore House).
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If it were Johnson City Texas I’d say visit the LBJ boyhood home. You can even see a replica of the stable LBJ’s fans say he was born in!
ha ha ha ha
Is Johnson city the home of Andrew Johnson?
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As some of you know, the USAF was tasked with buying an inflight refuel tanker aircraft. Only real guidance? It had to do the job, comply with requested specs and be the lowest cost aircraft among the competitors.
Well, the bureaucrats did what congress said and caught hell for it! They awarded the contract to the French.
After vociferous outcry from Boeing, its congressmen and the Boeing employee union’s lobbyists, the USAF has decided to award the contract to (drum roll) Boeing.
A govt contract awarded to the lowest bidder! What a concept!!
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#3 Another astute Friedman saying:
“If you want a welfare state you cannot have open borders. If you want open borders you cannot have a welfare state.”
How that man is missed!
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Q: Why is this guy still have a job in broadcasting?
A: Because he didn’t refer to the mothers of the babies he wants dead as “Nappy-headed hos.”
No, Republican conservatives aren’t fear-mongers. Reagan is so scared little Hezbollah will grow up and kill Americans someday that he finds it perfectly acceptable to kill him and his mother today.
What a sick piece of work.
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The truck is back and running well. If you have a diesel vehicle and put that new low sulfer diesel in it, it washes out the old varnish and gunk so the fuel filter gets clogged and needs to be changed. We did not know that. Now we do and so do you.
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Make it Man, I’ve been thinking about your question. I can’t think of a single “must see” that would divert you from I-81 over to Asheville. I-26 is a pretty drive north of Asheville, but gets tricky when you get to the mixes. I don’t even know that Biltmore House would be worth the diversion.
Lots of people visit Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, but really, the only thing they have is shopping and shows.
For scenery, you can’t beat the Blue Ridge Parkway. However, don’t get on that road if you’re in a hurry. The speed limit is 45 mph. and you will get behind several doing 35. But you can’t complain because they’re doing their thing and if you’re in a hurry, you’re on the wrong road.
The Smokey Mountain Nat’l park is a big attraction. It takes some time to appreciate it. And some go to Cherokee, NC to gamble. If you get the million $ on the other thread, you can dispose if it there. “Can we say,’high roller treatment baby?” You can see lots of indians in plain’s indian headdress. The Cherokees never wore that stuff.
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Where you live, will there be any sort of commemoration of Juneteenth?
It began in Texas but I now believe this holiday has spread out all over the USA amongst the black community.
19 June 1865: Texas slaves officially declared free by Union General Gordon Granger in Galveston Tx
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As a white man, how do I celebrate Juneteenth? My ancestors were Irish immigrants who supported the south (think of the OHaras in GWTW).
But I think Juneteenth is a great time for all of us to value our families and the freedoms we all enjoy. Its a time to advance freedom and brotherhood.
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Yes, Sawgunner I do know how congress worked on the Air Force deal. I live and work very close to the city that would have been the next Seattle. There are a lot of people here who really would have benefitted from the opportunities it would have given them to have a really good job locally, but Boeing won and that is all that is really important now isn’t it.
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Sawgunner,
I never heard of Juneteenth until I read your comment #14.
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Question for some of you creative types in WMB-land:
Boy v1.0 is turning six this weekend and really wants a Disney Cars theme decoration on his cake. I’m looking for suggestions about how to accomplish that a) when I am creatively and artistically challenged; b) as economically as possible; and c) without the use of red food coloring or chocolate. (One of his party guests cannot have chocolate, and another one is sensitive to red dye.) Any ideas?
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How about decorations AROUND the cake?
Reagan is wrong, extremely wrong.
Milton Friedman was a great man.
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MacMurray,
I made a cake with fire engines on a road (in front of a burning building) for a cake auction recently. I would think you could adapt it to do race cars on a track – though you might want to make it a straight stretch of track. And instead of a burning building you could have fans lined up on the side of the track – all of the fans being cars, of course.
You’d need an assortment of Hot Wheels size cards – I don’t know if that counts as economical to you but if there are other kids coming to the party then each one could take a car home (which is how I would justify the purchase). I think you can get a collection of them more cheaply than buying individual cars. And of course you’d need some Cars characters on the track.
For the road surface, I used graham crackers which I covered with black frosting from a craft store. I bought a tube of yellow decorative icing to make the double yellow line – I don’t remember what lane markings look like on a race track, probably white.
The grass next to the road/track you make with green frosting – I just used regular white frosting dyed with green food coloring. Dying coconut green looks better, but most kids don’t like coconut.
Depending on what kind of barriers you want between fans and the track, you could use pretzel sticks stuck upright, tootsie rolls to look like wooden logs, or a strip of froot-by-the-foot kind of stuff as a fence.
Hope that gives you some ideas. It really wasn’t hard to do (except for the burning building, which you wouldn’t need).
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#11 Frank in Phoenix:
Check your facts! Prior to 9/11 more Americans had been killed by Hezbo fighters than by any other terror group in the world.
And yes, there really are hezbo cell groups (”sleeper agents”) living [waiting?] in the USA.
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I know Wilton Cakes has a website that gives ideas for cakes. I haven’t used it, but my daughters have. TL, any ideas? It may prove more expensive, though, if you haven’t any equipment for decorating.
You could consider making a sheet cake (one without the dye in it!) and using your imagination: colored frosting etc. to make it look like a road or race track. Brown sugar makes great sand. Coconut,shaken in a jar with green food coloring, makes great grass. I am asuming your son has lots of little cars, so they could be washed and put on top. There might be packets of little plastic cars in the birthday section of a store also. Flat licorice candy could possibly be a road way etc.
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Yeah – I’ve been thinking about the cake. So, far, there have been some great ideas! If you prefer not to be so crafty, you could look into photo cakes. They do them at our local grocery store’s bakery, and you can put on a photo of yourself, or a character of some kind. Most likely, they have Cars characters, due to the popularity of the movie. Check the cake decorating department, and birthday favor isle at Target for Cars cupcake/cake toppers, invites, etc. Hope that helps!
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OK Milton Friedman fans, check this out. Seems some lefties are not such big fans. Not very diversity minded either. The link;
http://tinyurl.com/6zjekv
“In an Orwellian statement
… to U. of C. President Robert Zimmer, 101 professors — about 8 percent of the university’s full-time faculty — said they feared that having a center named after the conservative, free-market economist could “reinforce among the public a perception that the university’s faculty lacks intellectual and ideological diversity.”
And
“Listen to the liberal arts professors whine at the dire consequences of being associated with such an outstanding individual.
“It is a right-wing think tank being put in place,” said Bruce Lincoln, a professor of the history of religions and one of the faculty members who met with the administration Tuesday. “The long-term consequences will be very severe. This will be a flagship entity and it will attract a lot of money and a lot of attention, and I think work at the university and the university’s reputation will take a serious rightward turn to the detriment of all.”
Dissent cannot be tolerated.
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Great ideas, Pauline, KI, and TL – thanks very much! I think we’re off to Target shortly (wish me luck; all 3 boys in tow!)
Mumsee, glad to hear that your truck is back and working well again.
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From 2 June08 Air Force TIMES:
“USAF leads all services in rise of chlamydia”
Those airmen have too much time on their hands!
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Sawgunner (21): Check your facts! Prior to 9/11 more Americans had been killed by Hezbo fighters than by any other terror group in the world.
Frank: After a quick perusal of the matter online, I’ll concede that fact.
But how does that in any way justify Michael Reagan’s publicly stated desire to blow up babies named “Hezbollah” and to kill their mothers?
Sawgunner (21): And yes, there really are hezbo cell groups (”sleeper agents”) living [waiting?] in the USA.
Frank: Really? We know this? How? Who are they? Where are they?
And I ask again: How does that justify Michael Reagan’s publicly stated desire to blow up babies named “Hezbollah” and to kill their mothers?
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Just wanted to say hello. Today is my birthday and I decided to reward myself with an attempt to do something on the internet. It has been semi-successful. I have only been disconnected about 5 times so far.
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Happy AJISUUN
We’ve missed you.
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“Birthday” that is.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY AJISUUN!
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Hope you have a very happy birthday, AJISUUN !
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Ajisuun,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! said boldly and italicized, welcome back.
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Hi Ajisuun
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, you have been missed!
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Happy birthday, Ajisuun!
(For those of you who keep track, mine is next Friday, the 27th.)
Biltmore House: I once skipped the first few days of a family reunion, and one of the things I missed was the Biltmore House. Others privately told me that I hadn’t missed much, that they were really glad the host had paid because they couldn’t have justified paying that sort of money just to see someone else’s extravagance.
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I have never seen the Biltmore estate, but I would like to. One of the things that drew me into my current profession was a love of historic homes, buildings and design in general. I love touring them, and have been through many. Great fun! The symbolism in some of them is fascinating.
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One of the striking things about the Biltmore house was the fact that it ran the economy of Asheville for years. Artisans of all types were employed for quite some time. The owners were often around town caring for the poor and sick also.
There was more to the Biltmore than excess although it was extravagant.
I did enjoy seeing it the time we went. I wouldn’t mind looking in on it again sometime. I am fascinated by the wood work and stone work, not to mention the architecture.
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Thanks for the birthday wishes. Soon after posting that message, I got disconnected yet again and couldn’t reconnect. I tell myself that I’m practicing patience, but…
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Happy Birthday, Ajisuun! Keep practicing that patience. Practice makes perfect, or so they say.
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Happy Birthday, Ajisuun.
The Canadians have done it again. A father disciplined his 12 year old daughter for posting inappropriate pictures of herself on the Internet by cutting her off from the computer, she took him to court, and the judge sided with her — said it was too severe a punishment. They have lost it up there. (See Fox news.)
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According to Newsbusters website, the Chicago Tribune is giving away t-shirts for new subscribers. Obama t-shirts. Yeah, no media bias here, that’s just a myth after all.
http://tinyurl.com/6orsxn
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happy birthday Aijsun! HOpe it was lovely!
MMacmurray–how was your Target trip? I feel your pain, sister. I love my little guys, but I can feel the tension coming on as I walk through the parking lot to a store with all of them.
Here’s my embarassing, “You’re a Christian??” story. A few years ago, when I had all four in Food Lion and they were ALL being obnoxious (and I was already really tired), several people were turning their heads and looking at me. I stopped in the middle of the aisle, raised both my hands (and my voice) and said to all the surrounding customers, “Yes ya’ll, they are ALL mine!! Aren’t they lovely?”
One thing I really wish the Lord had taken away when I got saved was my red-headed temper…
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AJ: According to Newsbusters website, the Chicago Tribune is giving away t-shirts for new subscribers. Obama t-shirts. Yeah, no media bias here, that’s just a myth after all.
Right. This is a newspaper that’s endorsed the Republican candidate in every election since its founding, and you blow that off.
But they give away a cheap t-shirt with the name of a popular Democrat — FROM CHICAGO — in hopes of enticing more people to buy subscriptions, and you’re screeching about “bias.”
Do you even think before you type? Doesn’t it occur to you that, as a newspaper with a conservative editorial stance, maybe they’re just trying to capitalize on Obama’s popularity to make a buck?
Seriously. This is weak even for you, AJ.
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Frank at #27
Reagan’s remarks are horrible. You’ll get no argument there. You can’t justify that kinda stupid comment.
But this one,”Frank: Really? We know this? How? Who are they? Where are they?” is jsut too much. Do you really doubt it? The link here shows they are at a minimum, only as far away as Toronto, and South America. Our borders are quite easy to cross, to the north and south, so if they’re not here yet, they could be pretty quickly. Now I don’t think they’re gonna attack us, because their handlers in Iran would suffer to high a price, and they know it. But don’t think they’re not close enough, should they feel so inclined.
http://tinyurl.com/6czage
Isolationism only works if they don’t come look for you. But hey, they’re all the way up in Canada, so I’m sure you’ll be fine. Now if they come from South America, via Mexico, you might wanna be a bit concerned. Unless Arizona has secure borders that is. If they’re secure, I’m sure you’ll be OK. They are secure down there right?
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NJL
Thanks for the warning — I won’t tell my daughter — I’ve given more serious consquence for less grievous errors.
Its a Quebec case so luckily it won’t transfer to the rest of the country (civil law vs common law) Also it appears to be wrapped up with a 10 year custody battle.
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Happy Birthday, Ajisuun! Hope your internet troubles are resolved sometime soon – we’ve missed you.
Momoffour, thanks for asking.
We survived the trip to Target, though not without some drama and whining from Boy v.2.0 (age 2). He recovered eventually. I think Boy v.1.0 is pretty satisfied with the plan for his cake. Boy v.3.0 (9 mos.) just likes riding around in the cart watching his brothers.
My hair’s not red, but I do have quite a temper, unfortunately.
Thankfully, God is patient with me.
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OK stevie, so I’m supposed to base my opinion on the slant of the CT just from who they endorse for President? Never mind the bias often shown by the paper. Never mind the often biased slant of their writers and reporters, that ONE editorial every 4 years is where their true colors come thru. Why didn’t I see it before?
And you talk about weak? Sheesh.
And if your looking for reasons I call them biased? Here’s one;
http://tinyurl.com/6dgpjt
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Right. Doesn’t it occur to you that if they were really trying to cover up or minimize the role of Palestinians in Middle East violence, they don’t have to run those stories at all?
Weak.
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SteveG is weak. Period.
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Oh, I see what happened. You clicked the link to mybodotcom’s homepage. Funny how your response parrots what you read there. Do you like crackers too?
And really steve, is 48 the best you can do? If they did that, they couldn’t call themselves unbiased, could they. I at least provided a reason why I think they’re biased. Show me something that shows they’re not.
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There is no “liberal media” outside of the openly liberal publications (Mother Jones, Harpers, etc.)
Daily newspapers with only a small number of exceptions are either conservative or centrist.
Counting headlines means nothing. Headlines are usually the last thing to get written on a newspaper story, they’re written by low-paid copy editors at 11 p.m. and the most important thing about them is that they fit the space allowed. There is no grand conspiracy that dictates how headlines get written.
The “liberal media” is a myth. If it was ever a real thing, it is long, long past.
As for the homepage, the Trib’s record of endorsing Republican candidates is no secret. So all you really have is that they’re giving away a t-shirt with the word Obama on it (not even official Obama campaign shirts) in the city that Obama is from.
The bias is toward enticing a larger number of paid subscribers, nothing more.
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And if you’ll look at the bottom of that link in 47, you’ll see a little thingy there at the end that says click here for CT headlines about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Click it.
But we both no you probably won’t, so I’ll sum it up for you.
Palestinians taking action and identified- 11 headlines.
Israleis taking action and identified- 105 headlines.
Palestinians taking action, but not identified- 48 headlines.
Israelis taking action, but not identified-30 headlines.
It’s definately biased.
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Steve says;
“Daily newspapers with only a small number of exceptions are either conservative or centrist.
The “liberal media” is a myth. If it was ever a real thing, it is long, long past”
Click this link and get back to me steve. Reporters aren’t mostly conservatives, or centerists. The liberal media was, and is, a real thing. This will show you why I say that.
http://tinyurl.com/szc4m
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Oh yes, a study from 27 years ago. Wow. If we were having this discussion in 1982, it might even be relevant. Didn’t I just say something about “long, long past?”
Now I realize there is more recent data on that page as well, but it’s all about who reporters voted for … which means nothing.
It only matters if their political beliefs are reflected in their reporting. If they all voted Republican it wouldn’t mean their work was biased conservatively.
Journalism is a profession that expects people to report objectively regardless of their personal feelings. A lawyer is expected to represent his client as well as he can, even if he personally doesn’t like the client’s position. A doctor is expected to treat his patient as well as he can, even if he personally doesn’t like the patient. And a reporter is expected to report fairly and accurately, even if he doesn’t care for the truth being reported.
Now I’m sure you’re quite willing to impugn the professionalism of journalists and accuse them of showing bias even so. But you’re going to have to show it reflected in their reporting. And since reporters don’t write the headlines that go on the stories, a superficial survey of headlines doesn’t cut it. It takes careful and thorough analysis of the product.
So rather than trying to invoke guilt by association (they voted for Kerry so of course they hate Bush and can’t cover him fairly), show me some analysis of content. Because I really don’t care if the reporter voted for Kerry or Bush or wrote in Bruce Willis, as long as the article they write tell me what I need to know to reach my own conclusions about important issues.
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History, sadly, repeats itself, Stevie.
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SteveG,
Having lived in Chicago for a number of years, I thought the Tribune surprisingly conservative. (Chicago was really very liberal.) And then I moved to Nashville and got a free subscription to the paper. Trust me, there are liberal newspapers. I don’t even pick up an occasional copy off the newstand as I’ve done all my life (maybe twice in five years have I done that in Nashville); the paper’s bias is revolting and, yes, I mean revoltingly liberal.
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OK steve, if you like something more recent, try this.
http://tinyurl.com/bo5pk
or this
http://tinyurl.com/3b5zxv
The second one is kinda long, it’s a pdf. Scroll to page 12 and check out the findings of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 34% of journalists self identify as liberal, compared to 7% conservative. Contrast that to the public, where 20% say they’re liberal, and 33% identify as conservative.
And since you brought up Bush, 55% of the media surveyed say they are not critical enough of Bush. Only 8% belived they were too critical.
Yeah reporters are supposed to report fairly and accurately, but most don’t. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. And how are you going to reach your own conclusions about important issues, when you’re getting slanted info to pick from? Your view, like the reporting, would have an obvious tilt.
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Journalists don’t “represent” the public, Steve.
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NJLawyer (58): Journalists don’t “represent” the public …
Frank: Not in the sense that Congress “represents” the public, they don’t.
But that they do (or they ought to) represent the interests of the public against men in political power is not debatable:
Frank said
“But that they do (or they ought to) represent the interests of the public against men in political power is not debatable:”
I don’t think it’s debatable that they ought to. I think it’s debatable that they do. They mostly represent the interests of their agenda against men in political power who happen to have an R after their name. If there’s a D, not so much.
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Here’s your “liberal media” in action.
NJLawyer: Yes, they do. Journalists are the people whose job it is to hold public servants accountable. They ask questions of people most of us can’t get access to.
It’s imperative they do that job well, and that they do it fairly. If I believed for a minute there actually was a pervasive liberal bias, I’d be against it. I just don’t think there is.
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Steve,
So you’ve got 1 example of “conservative bias”? That’s it? And not to burst your bubble, but Liz Sidoti is hardly a conservative shill, which is probably why she’s a McCain fan.
From Captains Quarters;
http://tinyurl.com/6b9gx2
From the link.
“As we approach the midterms, the media will attempt to kneecap Republicans on one of the issues where they can point to real success: the economy.”
“Meet Liz Sidoti, who takes that approach in a release today from the AP, one that will no doubt be reprinted in thousands of client newspapers by tomorrow. Her piece, titled “GOP talk of vibrant economy rings hollow,” follows this tired and dishonest playbook to the letter:”
“Interesting, then, that she chooses to lead with such a distorted sense of the economy in the first five paragraphs of her piece. If Sidoti’s job is to report the news, then why doesn’t she do so until halfway down the piece, and why did the AP headline writer create such a misleading banner for the story?”
Try again Steve.
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SteveG, you live in a strange world. If I were my father, I’d say “I bet you still believe in Santa Claus.” Journalists only hold accountable those they feel like holding accountable. They gave up telling the truth a long time ago. They have their own agendas.
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What I described is the role of the press in a free society, NJLawyer. Whether they do it well or not is a different debate. But that’s what they’re supposed to do.
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As re. the “liberal” media (are not … are too …) I just read this at Rev. Doug Jones’ weblog, Scribblative Agincourting (read it all the way through to Rev. Jones’ observation — followed by my $64,000 question — at the end):
So I conclude with a Q. to all my fellow conservatives who insist that the mainstream media are all/mostly liberal:
Why haven’t we heard this story from them?
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