Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Wednesday, July 8. 2009Weds. morning linksRelated to the previous post on this site: An Abortion Party. I guess it's a sick variant of a baby shower? Why does the US still have a bicameral legislature? Becker-Posner Elegy found in a Seattle churchyard:
In my view, it's a misdirected striving for connection with God. Is the economy headed for an iceberg? Debt and inflation. England's new Green Cops. Good grief Re oil prices: It Flabbergasts Me. Not me. It's politics. Re cap and trade, at Q&O:
Meanwhile, Al Gore says it's the war against the Nazis. From IBD on the stimulus:
Extend and Pretend, via SDA:
Honduras in the WSJ: Why is the US not supporting the rule of law? Musical beds and coed dorm rooms. How much studying would you get done?
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I agree with your comment that "celebrity" is striving for a connection to God. Every human society/culture has a religious componet; from the primative to sophisticated there is a spiritual awareness. "Celebrity" is just a substitute. It allows an outlet for passion and emotions without the commitment necessary for a personal relationships with others or God. Jan
Substitute climate change for celebrity. Or any of a number of lefty causes. Explains a lot, doesn't it?
I'm not sure which side of the fence I'm on. Deflation is still a real possibility. Falling demand, falling prices, debt defaults, bankruptcies, and layoffs with wage reductions. Inflation could be a few years away. The banks that received Tarp money have to start lending the money out instead of propping up their balance sheets.
What the heck do I know. I'm a Nazis. Will someone please stuff an apple in Gore's mouth, so we can have a pig roast. Then we can watch the pigs eat him. From the Abortion Party piece: "An abortion party. For the price of whatever we were willing to donate, she explained, we could partake of baked goods, beer and dancing. It was going to start at 10 p.m. at Maggie’s." Who knew? Maybe that explains why the National Guard stands around her door...
I am simply copying this from the other thread out of sheer slack: "Let all the babies be born. Then let us drown those we do not like." -Chesterton, 1932 I would amend that to suggest that we provide for no age limit at which to determine if the babies are liked. Joe Biden, as an example, might still be considered a baby and would thereby qualify for a deep swim. We must, however, at least allow them each an equal opportunity to earn affection. And that bit about being human but not being a human being seems pure nonsense, a poesy attempt to reason ones way out of reality. While no credible statistics ever make their way out of an abortion clinic alive, I would have to surmise that fully 95% of all abortions are done for convenience, for purely socio-economic reasons. That we live in a land in which one can go to prison for harming the egg of a piping plover yet enjoy a Constitutionally protected right to exterminate their unborn human child speaks only the unspeakable about our national legacy. In reference to Honduras, a constitutional democracy, and our current administration coming out blatantly on the wrong side of their argument which he erroneously describes as a 'coup d'etat', we've been discussing this here on maggies since Zelaya first started to steal the right to serve multiple terms. It fascinates me that Obama, who was so timid and uncertain about verbally supporting the rebellious young Iranians in their effort to change their government, could plow his big feet into the efforts of a constitutional democracy to rid itself of a corrupt politician by removing him and passing the presidency, as their constitution dictates, to the next legal person, Micheletti, until the next election, which IIRC is in November of this year.
Hey, Mr. Obama, adjunct professor of constitutional law, didn't you do your homework on anything except racial rights and conflicts? It isn't as if Honduras has been hostile to the United States. It has been one of the all too few friendly countries in Central and South America. We can't afford to lose any of our proven friends these days. Marianne Why does the U.S. have a bicameral legislature? Because the Senate is supposed to be a sort of committee of the STATES -- the members that make up the United States. With only a House of Representatives apportioned by district, each state's status is greatly reduced. A major purpose of the Senate was and is to preserve the power of states with smaller populations (I live in one of them). The Senate is -- or should be -- the major proponent of federalism by representing the states as units.
Re: Debt
Pete Peterson (http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10443) worries about debt because we're being kept afloat by foreign lending. He expects a collapse of foreign support with dire consequences in the next five years if we don't do something about deficits. While he favors the stimulus, he believes that tax increases--not just for the top earners, but for middle income--will be necessary. The situation with Medicare and our growing aging population is simply unsustainable without tax increases and some sort of budget on Medicare-Medicaid spending rather than an open ended commitment to pay for everything. It seems that Bruce Bartlett has some similar thoughts about the deficit and taxes. http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/07/deficit-tea-party-opinions-columnists-bartlett.html This is a common fallacy: that increasing tax rates will increase revenues. This is true for some taxes, to a degree: if you increase the property tax rate, the property tax will bring in more money because the valuation is probably the same. BUUUTTTT -- the real answer to more revenue is more activity and more production. An increase in property tax rates is likely to divert money that would have raised revenue in another stream, robbing Peter for Paul and spilling half of the coins as you go.
If the pie is actually shrinking, the government doesn't suddenly have a right to more of the pie. Especially not for what most government money is going to: entitlements and income transfers. If economic activity increases, more people are working and their work brings them more rewards. From their greater resources, they will pay more taxes at a lower rate than they did at a higher rate. They may also be more generous when they feel they have taken care of their own families and can now offer more help to the less fortunate. I don't mind helping the less fortunate myself. I do mind helping the "less inclined". Regarding co-ed dorm rooms, last evening I was listening to my 16 year old daughter and her two friends one of whom moved away 4 years ago. They were going through a recent yearbook and the one friend was recalling who she remembered and the other two would frequently chime in -"oh, he's bi" or "He's gay" or "she's a lesbian". I told them I could go through my 1976 yearbook and not find a person I would have identified as gay then. If it's really that commonplace now, maybe it doesn't make any difference who your bunking with.
linda s ... I think it still makes a difference whom you bunk with. Young folks haven't changed that much since my college days in the 1940s. Can you imagine a typical young man, barely out of his early 'teens and still testosterone crazed, rooming with that delicious feminine morsel shown above? He'd lose at least 20 IQ points every time he looked at her, and his scholastic average would head south every time they communicated. If he ever expects to get and retain information to be used in his future employment activities, he'd better choose a same sex room-mate.
But he probably won't have nearly as much fun. Marianne I would agree Marianne, but I'd also say my teenage daughter would be grossed out by a female roommate laying around like that. The thing that has changed is the non-chalant attitudes of some about sex. It's not a good thing but it's a fact. --And you never know the homely fat girl could end up with the hot jock.
That looks like someone's teenage daughter in the above picture. Can't you choose women instead of little girls to be your "delicious feminie morsels" or is paedophilia that cloudy now you can no longer distinguish children from women to salivate over. Or maybe you all need spectacles. The average age of the poster perv Benny's on this site seems to be about 103.
Now, now, George, don't be cranky. In the fullness of time, if you control your rudeness to strangers, you too may attain the pleasures of age and wisdom.
But apparently not any time soon. Marianne |