Paragraph Farmer

• "The government's capacity is still somewhat limited"

  "Sheriff Joe" Biden said that like it's a bad thing.
  
  God love 'im.
  
  The Anchoress has more, and Tom Maguire wants to know where the green jobs are.' [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 2:30pm EST
  

• Not easy being green

  Other people are doing a fine job of covering "ClimateGate" in detail (Senator Boxer's attempt to rebrand it as something else is almost disarmingly inept). I found good stuff at Watts Up With That, Reason magazine (in an essay by Ron Bailey), [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 9:33am EST
  

• Ch-ch-ch-changes

  At least two German observers are underwhelmed.
  
  First, Matthias Küntzel in the Weekly Standard, writing about Iran:
  
  "Whereas in the past Washington sought to increase pressure on Iran, and Europe stepped on the brakes, today it is Obama who is stepping on the brakes while France and" [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 5:58am EST
  

• What I read in 2009

  I've been posting lists of the books I've read each month, but I decided that friend Anne the Palm Tree Pundit has a better idea for presenting information like that. She posts her cumulative list, updating it as necessary but not segmenting it out across multiple posts. That format makes [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 9:19am EST
  

• Why does he do that?

  A few thoughts on President Obama's executive leadership style, from yours truly.
  
  I'm hardly the first to think of Obama as "community organizer in chief." The essay linked above is original work, but Lee Cary had a similar insight last year, and Huffington Post blogger Nancy Cohen [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 3:29am EST
  

• Martin Niemoller was right

  And Albert Mohler was smart to follow Niemoller's insight as one of the original signers of the recent Manhattan Declaration.
  
  Sadly, there are Christians who plead "conscience" in refusing to stand up for the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage, and the rights of conscience' [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 12:29pm EST
  

• A movie recommendation

  "The Blind Side" is more than a feel-good movie based on a true story. With a director who takes his time, an excellent cast throughout, and Sandra Bullock leading the charge, it's an affecting and warm-hearted portrait of the modern American South. [...]
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  Posted: November 28, 2009, 12:11pm EST
  

• Just because

  [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 7:18am EST
  

• An account of the first Thanksgiving

  From the History channel web page:
  
  The most detailed description of the "First Thanksgiving" comes from Edward Winslow from A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in 1621:
  
  "Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special" [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 2:15pm EST
  

• A Modern American Thanksgiving

  Scott Simon writes a heartwarming essay for the Wall Street Journal, "How to Say Thanksgiving in Mandarin"
  
  A snippet:
  
  When my parents—a Jewish man and an Irish woman—married in the 1950s, they were warned, as transracial adoption families often are, that their children would face bigotry and [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 6:23am EST
  

• Midnight at the "Oasis"

  Robin of Berkeley on the wilding of Sarah Palin. [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 3:25am EST
  

• Save the Medieval Warm Period

  Jonathan Overpeck and scientists of his ilk are embarrassed by that medieval warm period, because it undercuts the preferred (and, for Al Gore and his Church of Warmery, lucrative) narrative about how industrialization is to blame for fluctuations in planetary temperature.
  
  But the cat's' [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 10:33am EST
  

• Russ with the book review

  Fair and balanced.
  
  Russ doesn't write for the Washington Post, the New York Times, or any wire service. But that's a point in his favor. Remember the old slogan about how we should "question authority"?
  
  UPDATE: John Mark Reynolds pans the Palin book. The [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 8:02am EST
  

• Electric guitar, Hammond B-3 organ, and depression

  

  It's a great Hank Williams song. My favorite version is by the Notting Hillbillies, but that's because Mark Knopfler was in the Notting Hillbillies. He plays here with Tom Jones on the vocal, and that pairing works wonderfully, too.

  [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 7:30pm EST
  

• Papist snake handling Jeebus phreak?

  Oh, she makes me laugh. I take that description as a badge of honor.
  
  As for "knee deep in guilt by association" -- it's a fair point. [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 2:15pm EST
  

• Defending logic and improving word choice

  Hey, Andrew Sullivan: Even if your dubious premise about the value of sniping at Sarah Palin's memoir is correct, it would be a "civic responsibility," not a "civil responsibility." You and your flunkies aren't the least bit "civil" when declaiming (17 times in one day!) about all things [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 2:26pm EST
  

• They're asking questions, too

  James Pethokoukis at Reuters looks at the economic questions that the Chinese are asking President Obama while he travels there:
  
  "[Chinese] Government officials are using his Asian trip as an opportunity to ask the White House questions. Detailed questions.
  
  Boilerplate assurances that America won’t default on its" [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:51am EST
  

• Thinking past centrifugal bumble-puppy

  Mark Steyn:
  
  “Diversity” is one of those words designed to absolve you of the need to think. Likewise, a belief in “multiculturalism” doesn’t require you to know anything at all about other cultures, just to feel generally warm and fluffy about them. Heading out from my hotel room [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 10:19am EST
  

• The short form of a good argument

  Law professor Ann Althouse: "By her own words, Sarah Palin is dumb."
  
  Althouse thinks there's evidence for that in Palin's recounting of the setup for her embarrassing interview with Katie Couric, because in her book, Palin says she felt pushed into talking with Couric rather than some [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 3:40am EST
  

• A sporting interlude

  The many reasons why the NBA has no business retiring Michael Jordan's number. [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 3:38am EST
  

• Another blown assignment

  The left side of the blogosphere is wondering why the right side of the blogosphere made such a big deal out of the deep bow that President Obama gave the emperor of Japan.
  
  In an echo of what the White House itself said afterward, some lefty bloggers [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 12:49pm EST
  

• The meaning of life

  "This is the meaning of life: getting a face, becoming real, becoming yourself-- but in ways and toward an end not even dreamed of by the pop psychologists who say these things so casually. Yes, life is a process of becoming yourself -- but this is done by suffering, not" [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 8:47am EST
  

• Weekend inspiration

  Amy Henry of World Magazine writes a "catch and release" essay that is more poignant than you might expect, and Mom at "Shoved to Them" reflects on the first Mass served by her eldest son.
  
  There's also this from Andrew Murray's book, Abide in Christ:
  
  "Faith" [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 12:50pm EST
  

• Meanwhile, in California

  I don't have that much of a megaphone, but I'm going to give a shout-out to the ever-vigilant Debbie Schlussel, who has details of a crime that I haven't yet seen acknowledged elsewhere. This is the kind of thing we should get all wee-weed up about (if I' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:38am EST
  

• Veterans' Day reading

  
  The photo of Sergeant Kimberly Munley chatting yesterday with the Secretary of Defense came from this CNN story. Munley is not herself a veteran, but I don't think anyone who is would begrudge her placement here. Her comrade in arms the other day, Sergeant' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 12:12pm EST
  

• Tax-exempt status as a political football

  Of course it's come to this. And the sad thing (one of several, actually) is that the Stupak Amendment carried Pelosicare over the finish line in the House but will probably be gutted or ignored by the Senate, where pro-lifers have an even tougher time than' [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 4:01pm EST
  

• Faith and gravity

  I would not ordinarily connect those two things either. But Reluctant Scribe did, to very good effect (as friend Bookworm noticed). Then Julie went and quoted from Kevin Knight and his astronaut analogy, which also fits. [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 8:42am EST
  

• Fort Hood and willful blindness

  Gerard at American Digest brought this tweet to my attention, and it strikes home as much for its perceptive analysis as for its pith.
  
  Jim Treacher is right about the preferred narrative now being advanced by the usual suspects, including Tim [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:08pm EST
  

• Iconography

  Remembering the fall (spontaneous dismantling, really) of the Berlin Wall, twenty years ago today.
  
  What's funny in a sad way is that -- to judge by their wildly popular home and search engine web page -- the Google people are still celebrating the 4oth anniversary of Sesame Street.' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:02am EST
  

• Sung last week in church but still appropriate

  Words by William Irons. Music by Beethoven. It's "Sing With All the Saints in Glory"
  
  Life eternal! heaven rejoices; Jesus lives, who once was dead.
  Join we now the deathless voices; child of God, lift up your head!
  Patriarchs from the distant ages, saints all longing for their' [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 6:30am EST
  

• Advice from a violin teacher

  "Sometimes you have to play through the ugly to get to where you want to be."
  
  -- Lyda C., while coaching a student for her friend and fellow violin teacher Mary [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 12:20pm EST
  

• Politics, anger, and prayers

  Orrin Judd (in an aside) and S.E. Cupp (in an essay) both assessed President Obama recently.
  
  Unfortunately, their unflattering judgments accord with the [dithering/paralysis/ineptitude/narcisssism] that Clarice Feldman and others (including, however reluctantly, Washington Post editors) have noticed.
  
  As long as I'm thinking uncharitably' [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 8:45am EST
  

• What does it mean to be an American?

  The question in this post title -- what does it mean to be an American? -- is something I seem to have sidled up to in a pair of recent essays for American Spectator Online. I guess a trip to Disneyland and an argument with a celebrity who offers [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:48am EST
  

• Paradigm shift

  John Steele Gordon on what happens when your view of the world hasn't changed since Dorothy traipsed down the yellow brick road with a Cowardly Lion and a Tin Man.
  
  Michelle Malkin on what the off-year election results mean.
  
  Methinks both writers have found a common' [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 1:50pm EST
  

• Cultural commentary onscreen?

  A Boy Scout meeting trumped TV watching last night (and we don't watch much TV around here anyway), but I find it interesting that a critic in Chicago reads the new "aliens among us" TV series "V" as a slap at Obamamania.
  
  Meanwhile, Roland Emmerich's epic disaster [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 7:06am EST
  

• Books I read in October

  Prayers for the Assassin, by Robert Ferrigno (recommended)
  
  Back to the Moon, by Homer Hickam (not as good as his nonfiction)
  
  The Shoes of the Fisherman, by Morris West (highly recommended) [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 8:00pm EST
  

• And news like this breaks on All Souls Day?

  Coincidence? I think not! [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 7:01pm EST
  

• Achtung, Baby

  My argument with Bono is now playing at American Spectator Online. [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 3:37am EST
  

• Speaking Goof to Power

  That Mark Steyn. He's got a million of 'em.
  
  But as Bookworm points out, with an assist from Jennifer Rubin, indecision has consequences. [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 11:25am EDT
  

• Reassessing Reformation approaches

  Peter Sean Bradley makes the connection between Hallowe'en and Reformation Day, and then adds a few nuggets from the fascinating reading he has been doing about the Apostle Paul, via Stanley Hauerwas and (as excerpted here) Thomas Aquinas:
  
  "Our view of the stark dichotomy of Law v. Grace'" [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 3:08am EDT
  

• Gruntled or disgruntled

  Christopher Johnson lends formidable wit to anything theological or pastoral. He's not Catholic, but he's keeping a friendly eye on Catholicism, and very few people provide covering fire for Pope Benedict as effectively as Chris does.
  
  Mr. Johnson smoked the ignorant atheist Richard Dawkins. He had already TKO'd' [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 3:55pm EDT
  

• Two musical thoughts

  WRVA drive time disc jockey Kitty Kinnin is a person who I've mentioned before. We've never met, but she struck me when I first heard her as a gracefully-aging hippie with suspect politics, a big heart, newfound respect for her alarm clock, and an ear tuned to that subset [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:02am EDT
  

• Paging the Ministry of Truth

  Over at Protein Wisdom, they've noticed the way Democrats try to rewrite their own party history:
  
  Jane Hamsher and Rachel Maddow - historical revisionists [Darleen Click]
  
  Posted using ShareThis
  
  UPDATE: Senator John Kerry wants in on the same rewrite gig. Maybe Bill Ayers can' [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 9:20am EDT
  

• Will not be sacrificed to global warmist fearmongers

  Would somebody please tell Al Gore and his ilk that they've already had their fifteen minutes of fame?
  
  Sophia and her siblings are not harms to the environment in any meaningful sense.
  The climate change crowd is not just anti-man, it's [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:01pm EDT
  

• In his own words

  Doug Hoffman (yes, that Doug Hoffman) writes a manifesto. [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 9:07am EDT
  

• An Afghan trifecta

  RAF police on the Helmand beat.
  
  "One Tribe at a Time."
  
  And Andrew Klavan on how the commander-in-chief got trapped by his own rhetoric, and why that matters. [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 8:44am EDT
  

• Now we have consensus

  I once heard a librarian make the same point that John C. Wright does here: "Being a pirate is passing brave, to be sure, but being a Space Pirate is the ne plus ultra of human ambition. It is like being a pirate, but with rayguns."
  
  And speaking [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 9:05am EDT
  

• John Zmirak on Ayn Rand

  Even the comments are interesting. Rand comes off poorly. [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 8:50am EDT
  

• Three cheers for the Little Flower

  St. Therese of Lisieux (Therese of the Child Jesus) probably had a lot to do with what Pope Benedict did recently to formalize a Catholic welcome for disaffected Anglicans.
  
  Her relics were in York Minster October 1 and 2. York Minster, a cathedral of the Church of England, [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 9:36am EDT
  

• Things to sing about

  Kudos to the S.P.E.B.Q.S.A., but I'm going to bracket "Lida Rose" and the typical barbershop standards, because here's something else to sing about, in the "How Can I Keep From Singing?" and "Band of Angels" sense:
  
  Think back to "I am the vine; you'" [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 8:06am EDT