Vandal With a Handle

I grew up in Huntington, WV, a town with a complex. Not too small. Little crime. Nice little college. Interesting people. Wide tree-lined streets and some local industry. Not really bad for the second largest town in a state of about a million and a half. Somehow, I got the feeling from some folks that it was a disgrace not to be Chicago, or New York City, or Atlanta, or at least Columbus for pity's sake. The town could do nothing right. They did the wrong thing when the Interstate came through. They made the wrong decision when the Mall was built. They had screwed up and life was over. As it turns out, this phenomenon may well be a subject for the Handle Institute's further attention. Consider columnist James Lileks' parallel experience in his hometown, Fargo, ND.

For many years I looked down on Fargo, and found my big city peers agreeing. Why, the very word brayed provincial cluelessness. It was part of the American lexicon of two-syllable dunderheaded dullness. Fargo. Edsel. Nixon. I left at the earliest possible opportunity. Once free, I never made a secret of being a North Dakotan, but I used it to get praise from the clever crowd. You crawled out of that rude clay? Yet you're so worldly. You know history, you know art! I shrugged; one did what one could.



Gaah. What an insufferable twit I was! I had no idea how lucky I'd been to grow up in Fargo, to be dropped in the middle of this continent in the middle of that century. This is my apology to Fargo, and to North Dakota.

By all means, read the rest. For further colorful information on Fargo, see here and a lot more nostalgic material here.

James Lileks tells his simple pithy story in the manner to mirror the universal. After the tale be told, there is no real doubt where the lines are drawn. In truth, according to Donald Sensing, it is really only one line.

When the government itself becomes populated by people who think your money should be their money, then tyranny is right around the corner.

Rare and intriguing ebooks are here. I had the time to read A Confederate Receipt Book. Note the antique use of receipt for recipe. There is more information here than that about food. Samples:

Measure your berries and bruise them; to every gallon add one quart of boiling water, let the mixture stand twenty-four hours, stirring occasionally, then strain off the liquor into a cask; to every gallon add two pounds of sugar, cork tight, and let it stand till following October, and you will have wine ready for use without any further straining or boiling, that will make lips smack as they never smacked under similar influence before.

The compiler was ahead of his time with a coffee creamer:

Beat the white of an egg to a froth, put to it a very small lump of butter, and mix well, then turn the coffee to it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly done it will be an excellent substitute for cream. For tea omit the butter, using only the egg.

I guess there really isn't a lot of new stuff under the sun. Just some old stuff nobody bothered to remember.

I also checked out another cookbook, this one dated 1591. It has recipes for swan, "chickins" and "pigges". I guess hodgepodge is a real food, perhaps some kind of relish. There is a recipe for it here:

To make a Hodgepodge.
Boyle a neck of Mutton or a fat rump of Beef, and when it is well boyled, take the best of the broth and put it into a pipkin and put a good many onyons to it, two handfull of marigold flowers, and a handful of percely fine picked and groce shredde and not too small, and so boyle them in the broth and thicke it with strained bread, putting therin groce beaten pepper, and a spoonfull of Vinagre, and let it boyle somwhat thick and so lay it upon your meat.

In any event, there is a lot more here than cookbooks. Explore and enjoy.

I saw this blog today for the first time but I am amazed. In a not-very-long post he managed to be fair and balanced about both Michael Moore AND Rush Limbaugh. I am at a bit of a loss to know whether he is pro or con about either. Maybe none of the above. Anyway, the blog is certainly worth reading. There is an earlier post about Ambrose Bierce. I read his Devil's Dictionary in college and Incident at Owl Creek Bridge. Anybody who likes Bierce is probably worth reading.

Tom Sowell at JWR often gives his readers a collection of random thoughts that never developed into a full column. There are some dandies up there now with his characteristic common sense. A sample:

A recently reprinted memoir by Frederick Douglass has footnotes explaining what words like "arraigned," "curried" and "exculpate" meant, and explaining who Job was. In other words, this man who was born a slave and never went to school educated himself to the point where his words now have to be explained to today's expensively under-educated generation.

Priceless, simply priceless.

Religion and morality seem to be the note in the neighborhood today. Steven den Beste explores personal morality from the viewpoint of a former member of the Christian community. A couple of suggestive quotes:

I'm an atheist, but I was raised Christian. In my mid 20's, I went through a process of examining all my attitudes and beliefs to see which were the result of my Christian upbringing.

But I'm no fool, and if I determined that I believed something was "right" because Christianity had told me so, that didn't mean I would instead decide it was "wrong".

Rather, it became a proposition instead of a conclusion, something I would have to think it through and determine to be "right" or "wrong" without reference to Christian dogma. It turned out that I still agree with quite a lot of the practical ethical guidelines I was taught, but my justification for them is not related to the Church's justification.

. Den Beste also compares moral strength with the strength of the physical immune system and says:

A related idea in a different realm: there's research recently which suggests that homemaker-mothers who are too dedicated to cleaning and who use germicides too freely inside their homes actually raise children who are more susceptible to disease. Our immune systems operate better and are stronger if they're constantly challenged, and such mothers remove so many challenges from their children's environments that when the child finally gets exposed to something serious, their immune system is less able to handle it.

From a different perspective, Clayton Cramer, a historian who teaches college in Idaho, and who,incidentally, sometimes refers to his Christian background and church attendance(making his antiprudery remarks even more remarkable) discusses a recent lawsuit where a writers' assistant on the staff of the Friends tv series sued for damages for sexual harassment because the banter among the show's writers sometimes got a bit racy. There is a link to more information on the decision and Cramer's remark:

I would love to be the defense attorney who got to cross-examine the plaintiff:
Ms. Lyle, have you ever watched Friends before you took the job? What were you expecting the writers to be talking about while writing this show? Quantum mechanics?

An insightful discussion is in progress at One Hand Clapping. It centers about the film, Stepford Wives and the general topic of marital relationships with respect to work, the home, and children. A quote to get the subject introduced:

On balance, it is a fantastic thing that our society increasingly tells women they can do anything, and accomplish anything they set their minds to. We are a freer, more productive society than any other in recorded history (at least since the Garden), and our rough gender equality is a big part of the explanation. But when smart, talented women run into their own God-given biology, they are going to have a hard time reconciling the two. This is in some ways a consequence of our modern society (more on that below). Regardles, it's the rare stay-at-home mom who doesn't feel even the slightest twinge that she should be doing something "more" with her talents and abilities, and it's similarly unusual for a working mom to have no qualms about being away from her children during working hours.

It begins here continues here.

A couple of links point to an interesting contrast between the British and the American civilizations. One might agonize over which one actually qualifies for the denomination.

traveling Shoes points to the experience of British bus and commuter train passengers victimized by gangs. The link points to the news item about a gang of about 20 young people mostly adolescents who robbed and beat the passengers in old west style as they traveled on public transportation. A number of folks are enjoying the surmise about how this course would work out in the U.S. I think W. Va. would be a great place to try it here. Seriously, however, the point of discussion is the difference of perspective that would bring, in the same circumstances, Americans to resist aggressively and Britons to submit meekly.

The Smallest Minority also notes in an unexpected context the difference in the national personalities. I have not seen the Aliens movies but I gather from the discussion that they are science fiction and involve the use of weapons against invaders of some kind. The recently release collector's edition DVD set includes a lot of background about the cast, the effects and such. The interesting point was how difficult the film was to cast. Being shot in Great Britain, after about 3000 were tried and found wanting, it was necessary to seek out actors from the U. S. to get the aggressiveness required for realism in the film.
Further, there is some background of interest in how some of the cast who objected to the firearms and other weapons in the film were embarrassed at how they enjoyed shooting. A lengthy post but quite engaging.

Howard Snyder's essay, "A Nation of Cowards" has some pertinent observations on the topic:

How can a person who values himself so highly calmly accept the indignity of a criminal assault? How can one who believes that the essence of his dignity lies in his self-determination passively accept the forcible deprivation of that self-determination? How can he, quietly, with great dignity and poise, simply hand over the goods?

The assumption, of course, is that there is no inconsistency. The advice not to resist a criminal assault and simply hand over the goods is founded on the notion that one's life is of incalculable value, and that no amount of property is worth it. Put aside, for a moment, the outrageousness of the suggestion that a criminal who proffers lethal violence should be treated as if he has instituted a new social contract: "I will not hurt or kill you if you give me what I want." For years, feminists have labored to educate people that rape is not about sex, but about domination, degradation, and control. Evidently, someone needs to inform the law enforcement establishment and the media that kidnapping, robbery, carjacking, and assault are not about property.

Crime is not only a complete disavowal of the social contract, but also a commandeering of the victim's person and liberty. If the individual's dignity lies in the fact that he is a moral agent engaging in actions of his own will, in free exchange with others, then crime always violates the victim's dignity. It is, in fact, an act of enslavement. Your wallet, your purse, or your car may not be worth your life, but your dignity is; and if it is not worth fighting for, it can hardly be said to exist.

It is hard to find a firearms related site that does not include reference to Snyder's essay. It captures a large issue in a few words.

I have been to a few funerals where salutes were fired with rifles. Usually the local American Legion serves and the salutes are fired as I recall with Springfields and the fired blanks are presented to the widow by the honor guard. I now know that salutes are sometimes fired with real artillery. Drawing on his own experience as an artillery officer, Mr. Sensing of One Hand Clapping gives a very informative account of the whole procedure.

C&S is a pretty wild ride sometimes. You will see why when you get there. It IS worth it occasionally to see the humorous and bizarre unnoticed and in plain sight. Only the discerning eye catches such windows into things as they are.
Another "Truth is stranger than fiction." item is here.

I am not a Republican or a Democrat either. Mostly, I disdain politicians and politics too. Maybe that is why I always think of the following quote when Ronald Reagan is mentioned. It's difficult to be too harsh with a man who said:

Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.... We've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of government himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price. — Ronald Reagan

For further Reagan material, Tom Sowell has some interesting notes.

I had one. Did you?