Maggie's Farm

He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

In today's piece at TCS, Prof. Bainbridge put into words some things we have been thinking about lately: is it reasonable, or dangerous, or foolish to extend the family analogy, in which individuals gladly sacrifice for the whole, to a nation state? Our bias is to say "no," because it's a false analogy. From his piece:

University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone recently offered 10 tenets of modern liberalism, which included the following nugget:

It is liberals who maintain that a national community is like a family and that government exists in part to "promote the general welfare."

It is this communitarian aspect of modern liberalism, of course, which marks a principal difference between the modern version and classical liberalism. I suspect it is this over-broad understanding of what it means to be a community that is one of the things conservatives and libertarians steeped in the classical liberal tradition find most off-putting about modern liberalism.

The great moral difficulty with communitarianism is that, if taken to extremes, it treats individuals as though they were little more than cells of a larger organism. Just as when doctors kill cells to prevent cancer from spreading, communitarianism readily justifies state intrusion into the private sphere in the name of some communal good.

Yes, the creepy concept of "the greater good" erases one's individual power and significance. And, as we say at Maggie's Farm: "Whose concept of the greater good?" What if freedom is the best route towards a greater good? Whole piece here.

...many people believe that you must first somehow decide whether or not God exists before joining a religion, but the opposite is true. One becomes religious so as to make God present in one’s life. Whether or not God exists is a separate issue. The important point is to make him present and real, and thus inhabit the space where our true humanness emerges.

Gagdad Bob (link here.)

We had another wave of the little guys last night,
because they were much in evidence this morning. Another flock of Robins and another flock of Blue Jays. And a bunch of warblers - some singing, for no good reason, and if you don't know their calls, you cannot identify fall warblers unless you are an expert. In their non-breeding plumage, they all look alike.

Among other birds, had a migrating Phoebe this morning, snagging bugs on the driveway. One of my favorite birds. This common flycatcher likes to nest on or near houses, bridges, etc., has a sweet song, and is readily identified without binocs by his tail-wagging. Some of the other flycatchers are far more challenging.

Birders often claim that waves of migrants tend to precede cold fronts. That could be true. On the other hand, there are always cold fronts coming during migration season. Anyway, many species do pass through in waves.

The Eastern Phoebe image borrowed from CLO. More about the likeable Phoebe here.

First gear (Honda Honda) it's alright (faster faster)
Second gear (little Honda Honda) I lean right (faster faster)
Third gear (Honda Honda) hang on tight (faster faster)
Faster it's alright.

As Bob would doubtless point out on his radio show, this song was a Beach Boys cover of the 1964 orginal Little Honda by the Hondells. Lyrics here.

My next vee-hicle. My friends say a real man wouldn't buy a Jap truck, but I tell them that they are just insecure about their manhood. They say "Buy American." I say "How many American-made parts are in your Ford?"  And so it goes.  Honda Ridgeline.

^{Psalm 90}

¹Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
²Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
³You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
⁴For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
⁵You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
⁶in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
⁷For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed. ⁸You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
⁹For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.
¹⁰The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
¹¹Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
¹²So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
¹³Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!

Image: Rembrandt's David Playing the harp for Saul 

Thanks to one of our fave bloggers, Betsy, for reminding us that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.

The evil, evil Normans - Norsemen - led by William, successfully invaded and conquered England from what is now part of France, on October 14, 1066.

Yes, that is a piece of the Bayeux Tapestry - a treasure trove of cool historical detail.

Have you tried Under Armour? I have both the warm weather and the Cold Gear, and I find that it all makes me feel cold and uncomfortable, even indoors.

I know many people swear by it: hunters, campers, hikers, athletes, etc. I think the line was designed for pro football players. It has strong wicking properties. It fits tight and it's light. It's expensive stuff, but I just do not like it.

Since I own it, I guess I will stubbornly keep trying it, and will keep not liking it. Like anchovy pizza.

Much as I am fond of many of my up-to-the-minute blog brethren, after 1 1/2 years of this blogging project I find that we at Maggie's Farm are still too wedded, or maybe addicted, to the news cycle.

While the news cycle itself is an interesting thing that I may feel moved to write more about some day, at the moment I just want to remind our team that we do not need to be chained to it, or controlled by it. We know, up front, that the Mark Foley (it's Mark, right?) story had about 7 days in it, and the airplane in NYC had about 36 hours in it, that the Lancet story has about four days, and that the Harry Reid paperwork thing has about 3-5 days.

Truth is, these stories come and go, as Solomon in Ecclesiastes reminds us constantly. We would not be bloggers if we didn't want to add our two cents to the universe - or to our modest number of devoted readers.

It's kind of funny the way we bloggers receive each "news" event - delivered to us by the professional press 99% of the time - as if it were a slow ball over the center of the plate. Or an assignment to say something interesting. Like hysteric valley girls, or newspaper people trying to sell soap, it's "omigod, omigod..." and, after a few days, it's off the front page and gone forever.

And then, two weeks later, the story is gone - evaporated like a summer rain on pavement - just as the Harry Reid thing will be forgotten in a couple of weeks. Ho hum, just another US representative with deals on the side, and sloppy paperwork.

The world needs a blog devoted to follow-up stories, a few months out. The MSM would never bother, because it doesn't sell. Headlines sell, especially with sex and/or crime.

At Maggie's Farm, we not only try to put the brakes on our personal lives which move too fast and seem to pass too quickly - we try to put the brakes on our experience of the news cycle. We do this by interspersing the blog with things that are not transient; which are not opportunties to spout off or to get the scoop.

News is fun, and everyone has an opinion or a talking point or a spin or an angle or an insight on everything. As the crude expression goes, "Opinions are like a-holes: everyone has one." But what survives from the Bridgeport Post-Telegram from 1968? I know, and can tell you. Walt Kelly. Not much else.

Therefore, it is the cows and the dogs and the girls and the recipes that we offer which have the endurance and solidity: the newsy stuff and our opinions about it are the entertainment, such as it is. Yes, politics are important, but most of what we address so earnestly is, in the end, ephemera. It matters because liberty matters, and liberty is the food for the human soul. But we need to bear the transience of the daily issues in mind. Our reminder, to ourselves, about the things that endure and really matter are our posts on things like cows and dogs and plants and God, etc.

However, our dear News Junkie, keep up the good work. I deleted your instantaneous post about the airplane in NY Wednesday afternoon because I knew it was a non-story (until the Yankee angle came out - sad) , and you were trying to keep up. Not to worry. Not necessary. As noted on our header, we all have ADD. Hey! We are VICTIMS! But SURVIVORS! And, thankfully, we all have day jobs. If anything, we produce TOO MUCH "content", and should cut back - if we can.

Image: With those thoughts, we must provide another breed of cattle. This one is the semi-obscure but ancient Limousin, a breed of beef cattle from France, of course, which makes a fine rib-eye steak for the grill. Avec pommes frites, of course, and an expensive cabernet. Read All About It! - here.

And thanks much to all for being a Maggie's reader. You are good folks, and the price is right, ain't it? As long as we can last, we'll be curious about the things that endure.

If you missed The Barrister's series here on the risks of inaction, read it, beginning with an explication of the Null Hypothesis: Fun with the Null Hypothesis, then to Appendicitis, and False Negatives and False Positives, and concluding with The Risks of Action vs. Inaction - with a comment on luck.

Basic, but good and useful. Check 'em out, if you haven't.

There were all kinds of things I was afraid of at first, ranging from grizzly bears to 'mean' horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid.

Teddy Roosevelt

Opie came up with this site assembled by Prof. Alan Godlas at the Univ. of Ga. Many links to many articles, from multiple perspectives, for those who are motivated to take a closer look at Islam and violence. From checking out some of the links, the site seems like a fine store of goods.