Maggie's Farm

Started thinking about Christmas shopping yet? I began to think about thinking about it last night. At the Farm, the immediate blood-related BD family (my two parents with five kids, each with a very nice spouse, countless grandkids of all sizes) decided years ago to prohibit presents as an interference with just getting together for drinks, food, and fun - just too many people. For my in-laws and my kids, focusing on theater and music tix and restaurant vouchers in NYC. Cool memories last longer than things. Maybe some Christmas socks or a book too. (The Jesus part is the bigger deal for me, says the sanctimonious Bird Dog - but I do mean it.)

'God Particle' glimpsed at Hadron

Sheesh. Let's see God this Christmas!

What is attractive to men, and what to women

Boston: Oldest Black Church Building In US Reopens After Repairs

Mead: Christians Are Still Having Sex

Say it isn't so. That's terrible.

Colt Tells Connecticut, “You Can Keep Your Unions, Gun Bans, and Taxes”…Hello Florida!

Media Matters Blames Christians For Poverty

People who won't take a job until the unemployment runs out

I have seen this too. How can these people look at themselves in the mirror, knowing they are milking their working neighbors and avoiding opportunities?

European Central Bank Research Shows that Government Spending Undermines Economic Performance

There's a lot more to the presidency than debate performance

She is right about that. Newt is refreshingly blunt and smart, but is he a jerk too?

Jerry Brown's Disastrous Plan for California - The Golden State governor champions higher taxes when he should be cutting spending.

Via Driscoll:

Question: If warming really threatens to destroy human civilization, why was [Chris Jones of the Climatic Research Unit] hoping for warming?

And if the world was still warming in 2009, why did Jones refer to “lack of warming”?

If you ran this scam in the business world, you'd be in jail

NYU to Offer Courses on Occupy Wall Street

Good grief. Would a sane parent want to pay for that course?

Sultan:

The dystopian fantasies which imagined that a police state would be the product of some right wing takeover never seemed to anticipate that just as in the east, it would be the left that would resort to it. That is where George Orwell, who came out of the left, proved far wiser than many other writers. The police state is a consequence of the left's failures, its economic failures and its demographic failures. That is as true in the United States as it is in the UK as it is in Israel and throughout what was once known as the free world.

Chicago: Feds probe union pension deals - Subpoenas show feds investigating how 11 leaders qualified for inflated retirement payments

Great news: Congress trusted less than lobbyists and used-car salespeople

I'm Rich, Bitch! - A Peasant Theory Overview (h/t Vanderleun)

Romney now all negative all the time, just like in 2008

That's a terrible strategery, unattractive. He needs to show he can campaign against the O admin, not Newt.

Obama Wants His Drone Back: Look for one at WalMart soon

Insty:

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D); Gallup: In U.S., Fear of Big Government at Near-Record Level. With reason.