Quote Of The Day

Neurotics build castles in the sky.
Psychotics live in them.
Psychiatrists collect the rent.

Springtime Sunday Brunch

M'Lady walked out to the garden this morning and brought back some first year asparagus and new chives. We combined them with fresh eggs from our chicken coop and proceeded to make the most fantastic omelets I have ever eaten or expect to eat for that matter.

The difference in flavor and texture from store bought asparagus is astounding. And what better way to spotlight it than in a simple omelet.

I submit that it doesn't get much better than this.

My First Bumper Sticker

Inspired by the Tea Party sign below.

Facebook

I was recently bidden to enter the black hole that is Facebook by my brother-in-law. I responded to him "Aren't we too old for this?" Since that initial invitation, my brother-in-law's usage of Facebook has declined precipitously. I think the reason is that he thought he could keep up with it on his BlackBerry but the initial onslaught was so intense that he decided he might actually need his thumbs for something important someday.

I still check in periodically but it continues to feel alien to me. I have asked both of my progeny to explain it to me but to no avail; I am still an outsider looking in. Then I ran across a post by Future Pundit which put it all in perspective for me (emphasis added):

"Different media (blogs, discussion forums, social networking sites, phone messaging, etc) encourage and discourage different kinds of intellectual activity. My own writing of web logs has made me do a lot more reading of material to give me more accurate and informed opinions. The web logs end up serving as an extended memory bank on many topics and I understand far more about a variety of topics as a result. But from what I've been reading in Facebook posts so far what I see is that media form seems to discourage deeper intellectual development. A larger number of less informed people speak to each other in smaller groups about trivial things.

There are probably corners of Facebook that have more substantial discussions. But the format gives you so much coming from your old childhood friends that it seems defocusing and shallow. People writing higher quality material are better off writing blogs."

The Spirit Of '76

Celebrate Diversity . . .

except veterans, small-business owners, practicing Catholics, gun owners, talk-radio listeners, tea-party attendees, Texans, smokers, limited-government proponents, pro-lifers, taxpayers, NASCAR fans, Boy Scouts, oil-company employees, secure-border advocates, capitalists, global-warming agnostics, Cuban refugees, school-choicers . . .
-Peter Kirsanow at NRO

Tea Party Update

CNN reporter Susan Roesgen gets a talking to after the camera stops rolling. It's nice that someone set her straight but it's quite obvious she wasn't there to cover the story - she was there to do a drive-by hit piece.

The Shape I'm In

Is There Any Wonder CNN Is Last In The Ratings?

Smarmy condescension from the likes is this female reporter? The woman is a tool.

My Favorite Tea Party Sign

Quote Of The Day

"I wonder how many of the people who profess to believe in the leveling ideas of collectivism and egalitarianism really just believe that they themselves are good for nothing. I mean, how many leftists are animated by a quite reasonable self-loathing? In their hearts they know that they are not going to become scholars or inventors or industrialists or even ordinary good kind people. So they need a way to achieve that smugness for which the left is so justifiably famous. They need a way to achieve self-esteem without merit. Well, there is politics. In an egalitarian world everything will be controlled by politics, and politics requires no merit."
-P.J. O'Rourke

We're All Rightwing Extremists Now

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has decided in a recently released report that the specter of violent rightwing extremism now stalks the country.

First, let’s start Homeland Security’s definition of rightwing extremism:
“Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”

Just take the hate-oriented groups off the table for the purpose of this discussion. It’s safe to say that they are by no means a major player in 21st century domestic American politics. So that leaves us with “those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority” and “groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”

Since rejecting federal authority makes you a rightwing extremist – can you tell me who said this earlier today?
“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,”
“That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”
That would be Governor Rick Perry of Texas. Apparently he didn’t get the memo just like more than half of the states of this country which already have bills pending in their state legislatures telling the federal government to re-read the 10th Amendment and back off.

Even being “dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration” is enough to qualify you as a rightwing extremist. Surely Homeland Security must mean “illegal immigration” since not many folks are upset by lawful immigration. Even so, that’s a mighty big brush they’re painting with. It just seems that a differing opinion is all that is required to be labeled a rightwing extremist.

“Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of rightwing extremist groups, as well as potentially spur some of them to begin planning and training for violence against the government. The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by rightwing extremists in anticipation of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement.”
That, of course, would be the firearm restrictions and weapons bans that the President promised he would not impose when he was running for office and needed your vote. I can’t imagine why concern over something as basic as usurpation of our Second Amendment rights would cause citizens to buy every gun and box of ammunition in sight or how that would swell the ranks of rightwing extremist groups.

“Rightwing extremists are harnessing this historical election as a recruitment tool. Many rightwing extremists are antagonistic toward the new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of issues, including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities, and restrictions on firearms ownership and use. Rightwing extremists are increasingly galvanized by these concerns and leverage them as drivers for recruitment. From the 2008 election timeframe to the present, rightwing extremists have capitalized on related racial and political prejudices in
expanded propaganda campaigns, thereby reaching out to a wider audience of potential
sympathizers.”
“Perceived stance on a range of issues”? You must be kidding – his actual stance on a range of issues is enough to make most of us rightwing extremists take another inventory of our weapons caches. But I keep forgetting no one is allowed to have a different opinion about, well, anything. So get in line, speak only when spoken to, drink the Kool-Aid and remember that The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working tirelessly to keep you safe from those dreaded rightwing extremists.

The Oldest Profession

A physician, an engineer, and an attorney were discussing who among them belonged to the oldest of the three professions represented.

The physician said, “Remember, on the sixth day God took a rib from Adam and fashioned Eve, making him the first surgeon. Therefore, medicine is the oldest profession.”

The engineer replied, “But, before that, God created the heavens and earth from chaos and confusion, and thus he was the first engineer. Therefore, engineering is an older profession than medicine.”

Then, the lawyer spoke up. “Yes,” he said, “But who do you think created all of the chaos and confusion?”

CWCID: Theo

Talk About Your Unintended Consequences

Hostis Humani Generis

Bret Stephens nails it in this article in The Wall Street Journal:

"Piracy, of course, is hardly the only form of barbarism at work today: There are the suicide bombers on Israeli buses, the stonings of Iranian women, and so on. But piracy is certainly the most primordial of them, and our collective inability to deal with it says much about how far we've regressed in the pursuit of what is mistakenly thought of as a more humane policy. A society that erases the memory of how it overcame barbarism in the past inevitably loses sight of the meaning of civilization, and the means of sustaining it."

Quote Of The Day

"The single most damaging error of the modern age is the misperception of government as an agency of compassion. As a replacement for the "divine right of kings," this misperception has, for those in power, been an astonishing success. For the rest of mankind, it has frequently been a disaster beyond imagining. Government is nothing more than structured, widespread coercion, and the idea that it can implement compassion for us by force is simply a vile and cunning lie. It is cunning because people are primed and willing, even desperate, to believe it."
- Glenn Allport

Au Revoir

It's the end of an era down on the farm this morning. We just finished culling our first flock of chickens and they are now moving on to their next plane of existence as stock, chicken and dumplings or, in the case of our rooster Richard, Coq Au Vin. The hens were producing fewer and fewer eggs as happens when they get older and the eggs they did manage to lay they ate. So a new flock of ten Golden Buff hens will be taking their place shortly. And so it goes....

Little Queenie