Mazurland Blog

It's Up To Gore

Those Eurocrats are at it again. The US Department of Defense creates the internet, spends millions of dollars developing it and now the Eurocrats and one world order types want to take control. This article  describes what they are after.

"The European Union insisted Friday that governments and the private sector must share the responsibility of overseeing the Internet, setting the stage for a showdown with the United States on the future of Internet governance.

EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said a new cooperation model was important "because the Internet is a global resource."

Yes it's a resource used by the global community, but it's still was developed by the US. If they want a global internet, they can build their own.

Now that I think about it a little more, I guess this decision is really up to Al Gore. He is the inventor after all.

 

We're Off

Jamie, Anna and I are off to Buffalo today to visit Ma Mazur, and to sample some of the city's cultural and culinary offerings. So, posting from my end may be a little sparse.

On my agenda will be to go to a big-city bookstore where I might find a good book on the photography of Diane Arbus. She was apparently famous for capturing the inner humanity of the world's freaks and downtrodden in her pictures, but also for penetrating photographs of more "normal" subjects. I became intersted in her when, during some web browsing, I was struck by this picture, which I feel is amazing in capturing innocence and anguish. Could make for an upbeat coffee table book.

I'd also like to visit the Virgil Avenue Tobacconist to check out their offerings. With that full plate, I feel rested and ready.

Gun Fix

It's been a while since I've had a pro-2nd Amendment post, so I thought I'd link to this site. It's unique, because it gives you two ways of viewing the information. If you are already pro-gun, it supplies you with a nice overview of firearm history, laws, technology, etc.

If you support gun control, or are uncertain of your stance, it gently persuades you toward the proper way of thinking using the Socratic method.

An interesting site design.

Buffalo Treasures

A trip to Buffalo is a time for nostalgia for Mazurlanders in the great Buffalo diaspora, a time to take in old sights, sounds, and smells. But it's also a time to discover new treasures, at least ones that are new to us. Both Chris and I have reported on the state of Buffalo Central Terminal, and the efforts to preserve it. I'm continually amazed at all the great restaurants and clubs that are in the Franklin-Chippewa area downtown, a seedy and dangerous part of town in my youth. And every time one of us Mazurlanders returns from a pilgrimage, we have stories about new discoveries.

Well, I visited some places old and new in my trip to Buffalo last week. First, the old: Mazurlanders Chris and Marysia chided me recently about my ignorance of the delights of Louie's Texas Red Hots. Not that I had never sampled them. I recall occasionally going to Louie's original place on Bailey Avenue with Chris back in our college days after a night of bar hopping. I never could figure out then what he saw in the place (or its food). Truth be told, I still can't. The dogs themselves are fine. Sahlen's makes a good weenie. But they're not distinctive. They have no 'snap'. The chili sauce, though mildly piquant, is pretty nondescript. And the rolls, which to my mind are a sorely neglected element of any sandwich, are basic Wonderbread. I much prefer Ted's, or even The Hatch, which serves fried bologna and onions as well. By the way, there's another Louie's in Buffalo, Louie's Hot Dogs on Elmwood near Utica. They've been around since 1951 (16 years longer than "Louie's Scumdogs"). They serve foot-long, char-broiled dogs that look like they're worth the trip. I'll be trying that Louie's next time.

Now for the new. The first is new to me, but has been around for over 10 years. It's Papa Jake's Saloon on Elmwood across the street from the old Pierce-Arrow factory. A group of Mazurlanders sat out on Papa Jake's noisy (due to Elmwood traffic) patio for a Friday evening dinner. Ma Mazur and I had the fish fry, which included a very large piece of nicely fried haddock, home-made cole slaw, crab noodle salad, and some excellent fries, all for around nine bucks. Vicky gave me a taste of her superb roast beef on weck, It was tender and delicious on a fine kümmelweck roll. I had a disappointing experience the last time I visited one of Buffalo's supposedly best beef on weck establishments, Schwabl's. It seems that Schwabl's is one of those long-established places that keeps garnering good reviews out of sheer inertia. The beef there was cold and stringy, the restaurant drafty, and the service inattentive. Papa Jake's had great service, a full selection of bottled and draft beers, and a first rate tavern menu.

A true Buffalo treasure is Babcia's Deli, a hole in the wall in the ramshackle Garden Village Plaza on Union and French Roads in Cheektowaga. Babcia's is operated by Jadwiga Adamus, a Polish immigrant, with help from family members. The place is overflowing with the tastes and smells of Polonia. When I visited, Ma Mazur chatted in Polish with the clerk, who provided us with samples of head cheese, pork tenderloin, kielbasa, peppery kabanosy, and a delicately flavored liver sausage. My wife and daughter were more interested in the Polish baked goods, so we brought home airy plum-filled pączki, delicious eggy chruściki, and placek. The deli also has a large selection of Polish canned and dry goods. The proprietor made sure to inform us that the food is "not Brod-vay Market" (a dig at the Broadway Market, the old center of Buffalo Polonia), but authentic, shipped in from Chicago, Canada, and Poland. I'll have to drop by the Broadway Market to see how that landmark is faring the next time I'm in town, but my impression from this trip is that Babcia's is just like Grandma's.

We've Been Eating Grass!

The title of this post refers to a famous Far Side comic that shows a group of cows, grazing peacefully in a field, with one startled cow raising his head and declaring: "Wait a minute!... This is grass! We've been eating grass!"

Well I know how that cow feels after reading this article, which claims that societies that are considered the most religious (the US in particular) have a much greater incidence of social ills (such as murder, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide) when compared to more secular cultures:

"In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.

“The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”

I knew the country was on the wrong track, and this shows exactly why. Time to purge God from my life. Or,.... maybe I'll first wait for follow-up studies. Maybe some of these social ills actually stem from the least religious segments of our society. Could there be other variables involved? Maybe we could compare red states (more religious) to blue states in these measurements. Or better yet, look at the most densely religious enclaves within this Country (Utah and their Mormons, Pennsylavania's Amish region), and compare their results with the population as a whole. I'll reserve judgement for now.

Here's the entire study if you care.

"From Palestine To New Orleans...."

"....No More Money For The War Machine"

The above is one of the chants heard at last weekend's Anti-War Rally in Washington. National Review's Byron York has written a nice first hand account of this Leftist carnival. He makes a good point that the unifying theme of these events seems to be Bush-hatred, rather than any single political message. Subsequently, their unfocused rantings about every imaginable cause not only dilute their message, but make their entire movement unpersuasive:

"....while Iraq was first among many causes at the demonstration, the one cause that truly united everyone in the crowd was opposition to George W. Bush and virtually everything he has ever done in his life. If that is the ultimate goal of a demonstration, then, from an organizer's standpoint, it is nearly impossible to go off-message, provided that whatever one is discussing ultimately results in pointing a finger at Bush.

Indeed, if anything, the weekend showed that the antiwar movement remains constitutionally unable to focus its protests sharply — and exclusively — on the war, and not personally on the president or on all the sideshow causes. There seems little question that the aggressive anti-Bushism, along with the side causes — which were often not on the side at all, but center-stage — diminish the credibility of the antiwar movement and alienate moderate Americans who might have serious misgivings about the war but would never align themselves with the likes of International ANSWER. Yet the protests continue."

It's interesting to note that major Democratic politicians, especially those with Presidential aspirations, steered clear of this event. I only wish the MSM would show MORE of these events in all their glorious entirety.

Update: Little Green Footballs has a nice post about the simultaneous LA rally. There's even a slideshow! The protesters think they appear oh so enlightened and would never understand a Conservative like me praying they get as much publicity as possible.

Another Solution

Not to be outdone by France, Canada has proposed it's own solution to declining birth rates; an increase in immigration:

"In a bid to counteract Canada's declining birthrate and aging population, the federal government is looking at a dramatic boost in immigration — up to 100,000 additional newcomers each year.
The increase, part of a new immigration plan to be unveiled next month, means Canada would open its doors to 320,000 immigrants a year by the time the plan is fully implemented in five years.....

The new plan would implement a long-standing Liberal pledge to increase immigration to 1 per cent of population.
It would also reflect the high priority placed on immigration by Prime Minister Paul Martin in a speech earlier this week.
'Canada needs more immigrants, plain and simple, and we need them to succeed,' Martin told civil servants. Immigration will be key to countering a low birth rate, an aging population and a growing shortage of skilled workers, he said....

Welcoming more immigrants and encouraging more of them to settle outside big cities like Toronto and Vancouver, where they have traditionally settled in the past."

Interesting. Aren't the cities of Toronto and Vancouver, which have had the greatest "success" in attracting immigrants, also the cities most responsible for Canada's rising crime rate? Haven't Western European countries, such as the Netherlands, Britain and France, already shown the disastrous demographic consequences from such policies? Wouldn't it be better to somehow promote traditional families, churches and social networks?

No matter who fills these immigrant slots, Muslims or digruntled Leftist American expatriates, it doesn't bode well for our friends to the north.

Free Buffalo!

During our trip to Buffalo last weekend, my wife, daughter, and I took a walk on Hertel Avenue in the Parkside area to do a little window shopping. This area is one of the more prosperous sections of town, and there is a nice concentration of antique shops, clothing boutiques, and restaurants. As with any such neighborhood, where the antique stores are run by pairs of well-coifed, earringed gentlemen, and the coffee shop barristas sport tongue studs, one expects to see an occasional store front for some radical left-wing organization. The place usually has Che posters in the window, and on the inside, shrill pamphlets on offer by an Andrea Dworkin look-alike in a hemp sun dress.

I was passing what I thought was one of these Chomskyite warrens. The T-shirts in the window looked radical, with "Join the Revolution" and "Free Buffalo!" printed on them. But out of the corner of my eye I spied a book by the libertarian economist and author Henry Hazlitt. That spun me around. I looked at some of the other books in the window and they included books on Jefferson, free markets, and a title by a fellow named Jim Ostrowski. That really got my interest.

I went to high school with Jim Ostrowski, and knew that in college he had gotten deeply into libertarian thought. Jim is a lawyer in Buffalo, but over the years Jim has devoted himself to libertarian activism. He learned economics personally from libertarian icon Murray Rothbard, has written for Lew Rockwell, and is an adjunct with the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He was also on his way to making a run for governor of New York State in 1994, but the Libertarian ticket was hijacked by Howard Stern. 

Now Jim is embarking on a new project: Free Buffalo. According to its mission statement, the group desires "to free Buffalo from big government, political machines and special interests". Its approach is called "libertarian populism". I spent a few minutes talking with the pleasant volunteer who was busily organizing things at Free Buffalo's cluttered headquarters. Judging by her enthusiasm, Jim has an inspiring message, one that sorely needs to be heard in Buffalo and places beyond. I count Jim among those who are working to bring Buffalo into a new era.

A Pilgrimage

Beyond holidays and birthdays, most families have yearly rituals that mark the passage of the seasons. This weekend, Jamie, Anna and I did our mandatory pilgrimage to Curtis' "All American Bar-BQ" in Putney, VT.

Curtis Tuff has been barbecuing ribs and chicken over a wood fire in an open pit for well over 30 years. He is the son of migrant farm workers, and grew up partly in the South (hence his BBQ credentials). His ties to Vermont began when he would travel there to pick apples as a youngster. His mom died when he was 15 (in an auto accident), but he continued the migrant lifestyle for a while, before settling in Putney. He started cooking for others at local schools and private functions, during which time his fans dubbed his food "The 9th Wonder Of The World". Encouraged, he purchased two run down school buses, and opened his outdoor "restaurant".  Word spread, and over the years his popularity has been further helped by reviews from the NY Times, Michael Stern (at Roadfood.com), CBS News and Frommers, to name a few. Check out some of these links to get a feel for the place's ambiance. Although I'm no expert on real Southern BBQ, his food is excellent, certainly the best available in this region.

I have a great deal of respect for this man. He seems calm, patient and friendly. It must have been difficult being a black in Vermont 40 yrs ago, but due to his hard work, dedication and love of BBQ he's lifted his family out of what could have been a very meager existence. Well, Curtis is getting on in years (I think he's in his 60's), so it's always nice to see that plume of smoke and know that he's still grilling when a new season rolls around. With the passage of time, there is always the good and the bad. Over the winter, Curtis' ever-present grilling companion (Isabelle, a pot-bellied pig) passed away. She had put on too many pounds over the years and, despite last year's crash diet. she was overcome by health problems. The really good news is that in her place is 4-month-old CJ (pictured, the name stands for "Curtis Junior"). A hand-written sign reassures people that he is a "housepet and Curtis' supervisor".

This all  just shows how life moves on. But with the addition of little CJ, it also tells me that hopefully Curtis plans on staying there for at least a few more years.

California Dreaming

In the wake of Katrina, the political developments out of California aren't getting the press they otherwise might have. Earlier this month, their State Senate and Assembly approved redefining marriage as a "civil contract between two persons", thus allowing same-sex marriages if enacted. Governor Schwarznegger has vetoed the bill, citing a State-wide initiative banning same-sex marriage that passed with 61% of the voters in 2000.

This article summarizes the developments, and makes the interesting point that major national Democratic politicians have been given a pass on questions by the MSM regarding this major issue:

"How to explain the media's collective pass issued to big-name Dems?

Simple enough: They are sparing them a series of questions that would embarrass them. Such as:

'Senator Clinton, the California Democrats have pushed through a same-sex marriage bill. Should Governor Schwarzenegger sign it?'

'I need to follow up on that senator. I realize it is a local issue, but it has national implications, senator. Does it make sense to you?' ....

There isn't an honest journalist in the country who would deny that those are interesting questions which would generate news no matter how Senator Clinton or Senator Reid or Schumer answered. That they haven't been asked--by any reporter in any venue of any big-name Democrat--speaks volume about the mainstream media's bias and its adjunct status to the Democratic party."

This is just one more area where if Liberals were honest about their stance, it would only hurt them at the ballot box. Thanks to the MSM, they're not being put in that uncomfortable position.