Maggie's Farm

We 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.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Sunday, March 4. 2012

Sunday links

I do not understand dark matter


Via Hot Air, One Third Of Young Women Would Trade Intelligence For Bigger Breasts, Survey Says


Is that the same third which has no brains to spare?


WSJ: James Q. Wilson - An empiricist with a moral sense—and he could write too.


Top 10 outrageous government actions


European climate policy seems to be driven by the usual bureacratic twins: more control and more tax revenues


Great sentence


Coffee is banned... from mums' coffee morning group


The Brits have become so risk-averse that it's embarassing. Who castrated them?


Rent, Don't Own


Classic Breitbart


Holder Wants Race Preferences and Benefits . . . Forever


Another 1,300 laid off after Obama’s bailout


Sandra Fluke has become the Poster Child for the No Morals Movement


Stunner. Georgetown “Coed” Sandra Fluke Is a 30 Year-Old Women’s Rights Activist


Fluke (h/t Am Digest):



Anyway, the birth control ruse is merely the KY Jelly to ease us into the giant butt-fucking that is nationalized health care. If conservatives buy into the frame that liberals are trying to push birth control on us – and, as a commenter pointed out, if we start talking dollars and cents – we’ve lost the game. The response should always be that any sort of government mandate – whether that be for individuals to buy health care or companies to provide certain pre-approved plans – is unconstitutional and coercive. To get sidetracked by birth control or morality plays is to let mandated health care become the norm. To let mandated health care become the norm is to set the table for a debate on nationalized health care. And who do you think will win that debate?



That's right. Never debate on the other side's premise, unless you accept their premise


Obama Likens Self To Mandela, Gandhi At Fundraiser


Why not Jesus Christ?



Obama versus the American Dream


Mead:



As I argued earlier this week, 20th century America put consumption rather than production at the core of its value system, and this cannot last.



Consuming is fun. Production is hard.


Unmarried baby boomers are five times more likely to live in poverty than their married counterparts, statistics show


Not easy to run a life without a partner


George Will is too defeatist


Knish is right - The conservatives fell into a political trap.


Stupidly, including Rush, who should know better

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 09:25 | Comments (18) | Trackback (1)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

PingBack
Weblog: blogs.dailymail.com
Tracked: Mar 04, 09:36
PingBack
Weblog: neveryetmelted.com
Tracked: Mar 05, 13:46

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

I have no problem at all with Obama comparing himself with Mandela and Gandhi. He's placed himself in exactly the right group.

Mandela is an old Commie and Gandhi was a nasty, vile little pervert.
#1 Kathryn of Wyoming on 2012-03-04 10:11 (Reply)
Neither do they. It's "value" is a place holder to balance the gravity equation, until they learn a little more about why the equation doesn't balance.
#2 BillH on 2012-03-04 10:16 (Reply)
Yeah. The name "Dark Matter" is probably more descriptive of scientists' lack of knowledge about whateveritis that the stuff itself.
#2.1 T.K. Tortch on 2012-03-04 13:21 (Reply)
I was reading James Q. Wilson this morning, and a friend of mine sent me this comment, which I think is outstanding:

"Those who are alarmed by the extent of religious belief in this country have roused themselves to make the so-called wall of separation between church and state both higher and firmer. . . . They would be well advised to let matters alone. We have been a free country even though "In God We Trust" is printed on our dollar bills, even though sessions of Congress begin with a prayer, and even though chaplains paid for by our tax dollars are part of our military forces. Our freedom does not depend on eliminating these acknowledgments of the power of religion; it relies instead on the fact that for many generations we have embraced a secular government operating in a religious culture.

That embrace will be weakened, not strengthened, by silly attacks on religiosity, stimulating the spiritual to question the seriousness of people who profess a concern for civil liberties."

James Q. Wilson, "Christmas and Christianity," Dec. 24, 2004.
#3 Bulldog on 2012-03-04 10:56 (Reply)
The rent vs. own debate has gone on for years. I've run the numbers many times, and the benefits of one versus the other shift from time to time, depending on many factors. These factors include:
1. How long do you plan to live in the house you buy? The main 'profit' of owning is living in a home after it has been paid off. In years past, the home was passed on to the next generation. Today, this benefit is diminished because of refinancings, selling a home when you retire and moving to a rental, and moving from your first, to a second or third home.

2. What is the ratio of rent to buy? I purchased my first 'home' (condo) at a time when I was paying $400 a month rent to share an apartment. By buying a 2 bedroom condo and renting out the other bedroom, I paid $500 a month in mortgage and got a tax break which made that closer to $350. Not a bad arrangement, and now I have a rental unit. Owning was a win for me.

3. Can you put away the difference? If renting is much cheaper than owning, the value of the monthly rent 'savings' is in actually saving or investing those 'savings'. How many of us are disciplined enough to actually make those savings a productive part of our financial regimen? Not many, to be honest.

4. Do you like paying a landlord to pay for his equity? Honestly, the idea that renting is better relies on a bit of a conundrum - somebody has to own the building or unit.
If owning is a lousy proposition, then who is the landlord?

Owning, as a friend of mine who does closings stated, is not for everyone. She has closed on many homes she knew would be in receivership because the personalities of the new owners was clearly not one of a homeowner. You need to know yourself and your need, desires, and abilities before you purchase. If you don't, you'll be a sad homeowner.
#4 Bulldog on 2012-03-04 11:11 (Reply)
Exactly.
Every time I read something along these lines I ask myself who is going to be the owner you rent from?
I wonder if these are attempts to push govt owned housing for all.
#4.1 Rick 9911 on 2012-03-04 13:35 (Reply)
Well, more than a third of the men I've known would trade their intelligence for a woman with bigger boobs... an they definitely all fall in the category of those with little intelligence to spare.
#5 Matty on 2012-03-04 12:01 (Reply)
I've read a number of different stories about the Georgetown Contraceptive Queen and the writer that seems to have captured the real issue best is Sultan Knish,
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/03/never-give-up-ball.html
Put a pawn in play, if the other side refuses to accept the gambit, no loss. But if they decide to attack you can be ready with a well planned defense and the momentum of the game goes to you.
The one thing that surprises me. A Degree in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality studies? The ultimate "easy A" course! You can get into Georgetown Law with THAT?

But still, was wrong to publicly call her a slut, it is correct to call her a tool and a fool. Isn't it isn't it interesting the vile and degrading uses that Democrats will put their women to?
#6 John the River (Link) on 2012-03-04 12:42 (Reply)
Ha! I agree.
But I called her a tool and a fool to a friend of mine, who went ballistic on me (I live in the NYC area, so it's not so surprising this happens).

Ohhh....the old "men have no right to discuss reproductive rights" saw was trotted out. You know, if you're not a woman, you can't understand - get it?

I simply replied that I'd had a vasectomy, which gives me every right to sit at this table and have a discussion. Not that I didn't have a right beforehand, just that the idea you have to be a woman to understand the issue of birth control is bullshit, particularly since I've done 'my part', as it were.

These feminists are morons. It's all about THEM, not the issues.
#6.1 Bulldog on 2012-03-04 14:02 (Reply)
Good for Rush to show the "absurd by being absurd." Bad for Rush in the choice of words/example.
But the words/example do raise a question of the moral fiber of Rush himself in using them.
The other question is Carbonite (and the other advertisers who bailed). Will it be better for them, or worse? Ethics or money? My guess is they will come crawling back for the money, unless Rush has committed show suicide. Time will tell.
#6.2 Jerry on 2012-03-04 16:21 (Reply)
"Unmarried baby boomers are five times more likely to live in poverty than their married counterparts, statistics show

Not easy to run a life without a partner"

I addition, people who cannot attract a spouse probably have a lot of other problems. I would imagine that a doctor could get married in a year from any point in time that they would decide to do that.
#7 tyree on 2012-03-04 12:44 (Reply)
Why not Jesus Christ? Because He didn't need a second term.
#8 Texan99 (Link) on 2012-03-04 14:16 (Reply)
re Rent, Don't Own:

"The carrying costs - what's needed to hold and maintain the asset - range from property taxes and home insurance to emergency repairs and renovations. In a rental situation, the landlord covers those costs, leaving the occupant free to invest revenue in other areas."

This comes from a professor of finance. He's an IDIOT! The landlord does NOT cover those costs, he includes them in the rent he charges his tenants. I should know: I once was a landlord and I can assure you I did not pay those "carrying costs" out of my own pocket. They were all included in the rent my tenants had to pay: my fire and casualty insurance, my property taxes, an allowance for repairs and renovation, re-roofing, re-painting, etc. My advice to any student who might be thinking of taking a course in finance from this moron: DO NOT, under any circumstance, sign up for his course. Find another instructor who knows what he's talking about.
#9 Agent Cooper on 2012-03-05 02:44 (Reply)
Trade Intelligence For Bigger Breasts

Humans are mammals, not cerebrals. Stands to reason they want more....
#10 ErisGuy on 2012-03-06 08:09 (Reply)
They can BUY big breasts...(improved models, completely waterproof and still pointing skyward when you get to the nursing home).

They CAN'T buy more brains.
#10.1 John the River (Link) on 2012-03-06 10:14 (Reply)
After reading newspaper articles the substances injected into the female body by so-called plastic surgeons (including tire inflator and rubber cement), it appears many can't buy bigger breasts, either. And haven't the brains to get it right.

There is a reason boob is synonymous with fool.

They CAN'T buy more brains.

People of every sex and race are already buying smart drugs.
#10.2 ErisGuy on 2012-03-06 17:03 (Reply)
People of every sex and race are already buying smart drugs.

Don't know or heard of any drugs that result in a permanent and measurable increase in reasoning, memory or mental processes.

When I was younger I discovered that three beers made me temporarily much wittier, and irresistible to women.
I found out (in the morning) that those women had taken something that, again, temporarily made them more attractive and clever.
#10.2.1 John the River (Link) on 2012-03-06 17:32 (Reply)
>Consuming is fun. Production is hard.
especially when your government militates against it....
#11 mysterian on 2012-03-07 22:45 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.