Maggie's Farm

THE 40 MOST INFLUENTIAL ROCK GUITAR SOLOS

Important essay: George Will on Why liberals fear the ‘Lochner’ decision:

Long execrated by most law professors, Lochner is the liberals’ least favorite decision because its premises pose a threat to their aspiration, which is to provide an emancipation proclamation for regulatory government. The rehabilitation of Lochner is another step in the disarmament of such thinking.

The Meteor is worth reading just for the headlines

One sperm donor, 150 offspring

Why don't guys offer their sperm to the highest bidder? With discount if they get to deliver it in person.

Bravery hurts: Never trust anybody who hasn't been punched in the face

The world's master palindromist

Moslems and Jews unite against foreskins

Figures. Palestinians Use Obama’s Own Words In a New Radio Ad

Let Business Pioneers Do What They Do Best: Create New Wealth, Not Redistribute Wealth

The Calm Before the Storm - Cyberwar is already happening -- and it's about to get much, much worse. A veteran intelligence official explains how America can prepare itself.

John Kerry: No Blind Trusts, Tax Avoidance, and Conflicts of Interest

Taxes for thee but not for me. Kerry reminds me of Leona Helmsley

Social Security is Not a Ponzi Scheme, Mr. Perry

Morning Bell: Four Ways Obama Has Blocked Job Growth

When the Obama 2012 campaign asks itself what accomplishments it can run on, the answer is not much.

What the jobs speech will not propose

Shiver's The Five Biggest Reasons Republicans Keep Losing the Propaganda War:

Ask yourself: when was the last time you freely discussed any conservative or even moderate political view with friends at work, or on campus, or in public, or at a large social gathering — without hedging your every word? When? Can you identify a single recent instance when you felt your conservative or even moderate views would be tolerated without provoking name-calling or public shaming into the nearest corner of societal oblivion?

Good point. I had that experience at a cocktail party last weekend. Me and my big mouth.

Image via Vanderleun

Is Marriage for White People?

Real Clear Science: We Must End the Organic Food Scam Now

Extending the Payroll Tax Cut Is a Cop-out

Land seized in Kelo used as debris dump

Major essay by Princeton's Russell Nieli: Global Warming: The Campus Non-Debate

Beast lets no storm go to waste: As a brutal hurricane season bears down, former Vice President Al Gore says there will be worse disasters ahead if we don’t act soon—and when it comes to national security, Mother Nature is as fearsome as terrorists.

Academics conclude that, yes indeed, Tea Partyers are likely racist

Tea Party Zombies Must Die

Rhode Island Pension System Collapsing

The revered and reviled Bernard Lewis

California is crumbling

WHALEN: And now a word from a job creator …Even Keynes would think Obama’s bunch are chumps

Obama Leaves the Bases Loaded. Dems Lose.

Obama ratings sink to new lows as hope fades

Obama-Biden Egos Put SEALs in Jeopardy

It’s no longer Obama-land in the Hamptons

Illinois unions vow to sue basic arithmetic

Reason: How Scared of Terrorism Should You Be? - Not very. You are four times more likely to be killed by a lightning bolt than by a terror attack.

R2P is a Doctrine Designed to Strike Down the Hand that Wields It

Romney’s jumbo jobs plan

Voices of the defenders of grad school. And me crushing them.

Bachmann: Why do we need a Department of Education, anyway?

She is right. We do not need it. Not their job.

USPS — a case study in government incompetence:

More U.S. Workers Unhappy With Health Benefits, Promotions - Workers least satisfied with on-the-job stress, tangible rewards for their work

Driscoll: This Just In: Fictitious Movies Still Fiction

Fineman, Ignatius: Healthcare Obama's Biggest Mistake

Economy giving few opportunities to self-employed

The Financial Times reports that market pressures in Brazil, the 2nd largest producer of biofuels after the U.S., are pushing the price of ethanol above that of gasoline

Paper and Plastic: When Political Ideology Trumps Sound Science

Report: 'Clinton Adviser Greenberg is Behind Israeli Protests'

Mission Accomplished - Dick Cheney was relentless and unapologetic in pursuit of his policy goals—and Americans are safer for it.

View from the Left: What Democrats can do about Obama - A liberal argues that the 2012 Democratic nomination should be debated -- with all options open

SANDERS: India’s perfect storm of problems

Nearly 40 percent of Europeans suffer mental illness

Jenifer Rubin: Enough with the green jobs

The United States, Not Gaidar, Killed Yeltsin's Reforms

Forbes: Why Do Companies Hire?

Rebel without a bra: Jane Fonda said her biggest regret was not sleeping with Che Guevara

Muslim protesters “will make as much noise as possible” during 9/11 moment of silence

China's fourth fleet

Kenneth Clarke blames Brit riots on 'feral underclass'

Erickson: Sunday Reflection: Ignorance widespread in media about Christianity

Via Anchoress on God and art:

Beautiful art is not just for cultural enrichment but is an important way to experience God and become aware of the human thirst for the infinite, Pope Benedict XVI has said.

I Get My News Direct From The Seat Of Oxford County, And You Should Too: Read The Rumford Meteor

Names for a brook or stream. He left out "kill," as in the Dutch areas of New York state

Powerline: The Climate Scam Marches On:

“But one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy.

Media: Challenge the dominant narrative? Who, us?

If Jefferson and Sally had a relationship, who really cares?

Krauthammer: “Obama Is ‘President Zero’ – Zero Economic Expansion, Zero Jobs, Zero Ideas”

Rep. Walsh to Bashir: ‘Your Profession Did Not Vet’ Obama

Nobel Laureate Al Gore got a D in Science for Dummies:

Global Frauding works like a huge criminal racket, and it should be subject to criminal prosecution, like Bernie Madoff. No wonder George Soros keeps funding the left out of the goodness of his heart. For him it has to be a big profit center. According to Center for Media Research, Soros has spent 48 million dollars funding media. Similar amounts of Soros money are funding all the usual fronts for the radical left, from Moveon.org to The Nation. This is going on while the major media like the New York Times are staggering toward bankruptcy. Soros and friends are buying influence on a huge scale.

Radosh: Obama Pursues the Bush Foreign Policy, or We Are All Neo-Cons Now

American Way: Barack Obama, 2008 man of hope and change, becomes 2012 candidate of fear and status quo

Knish: The Messiah of Hate:

His transformation into a Messiah of Hate is timely in the worst possible way. A politician's mask shouldn't start coming off during a campaign. Let alone before it. But the unctuous smile is sliding off and what's underneath it is the entitled anger of a man who is always used to getting his way. And who has yet to understand that for the first time in his life, he's about to lose.

 Obama admits his regulatory agenda is killing jobs

Chamberlain's secret bid to reach a deal with Hitler, revealed in newly released documents

The Limits of Counter-Insurgency in Afghanistan or the Failure of the EU

Dowd:

Obama is still suffering from the Speech Illusion, the idea that he can come down from the mountain, read from a Teleprompter, cast a magic spell with his words and climb back up the mountain, while we scurry around and do what he proclaimed.

The days of spinning illusions in a Greek temple in a football stadium are done. The One is dancing on the edge of one term.

New Fast and Furious details indicate gov’t cover-up, White House involvement

If you are without sin, you may have no need to pray or worship. Lucky you.

Working with a lazy stoner

Dealing with fuck-ups

John Hinderaker is in the North Woods

Zoning, Here and in France

Shameful: Gov. Christie goes crying to the Feds

One lingering effect of the Great Recession could be poor academic performance and behavioral problems among children of the unemployed.

We Are in 'Worse Situation' Than in 2008: Roubini

Roger: Damned if you do, damned if you don’t: banking in the age of Obama

Gibson: Feds Want Guitar Woodwork Done by Foreign Labor

AVI: Maybe The Schools Are Okay

They are OK, but I think they would be better if they got out from under the thumb of government and unions and let entrepreneurial schools flourish. Educational monopoly is not a good thing.

Kos: Perry likely wins. Says Surber:

Having watched the Left preach all my life, to say they lack zealotry is to ignore the truth. In summary, liberals realize Obama looks hopeless right now and are greeting this news with a great sense of ennui. They should cheer up. In 2013, they get to be the screaming yahoos and unlike the Tea Party, the Left will be embraced by ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, MSNBC and CNN, as dissent becomes patriotic again.

The People of the State of California Are About to Officially Go Crazy

Related: This is an AWESOME Idea. I Want to Propose California Do Much More of This

Chait:

Liberal critics of Obama, just like conservative critics of Republican presidents, generally want both maximal partisan conflict and maximal legislative achievement. In the real world, those two things are often at odds. Hence the allure of magical thinking.

Early Obama Letter Confirms Inability to Write

A Warmer Planet Is a More Peaceful Planet

Kudlow: Obama's Economic Policies Have Failed

Duh. But are they supposed to work?

Gary Becker: The Great Recession and Government Failure - When comparing the performance of markets to government, markets look pretty darn good. A quote:

The misdiagnosis of widespread market failure led congressional leaders, after the 2008 election, to propose radical changes in financial institutions and, more generally, much wider regulation and government control of companies and consumer behavior. They proposed higher taxes on upper-income families and businesses, and extensive controls over executive pay, as they bashed "billionaire" businessmen with private planes and expensive lifestyles. These political leaders wanted to reformulate antitrust policies away from efficiency, slow the movement by the U.S. toward freer trade, add many additional regulations in the medical-care sector, levy big taxes on energy emissions, and cut opportunities to drill for oil and other fossil fuels.

That was "Let no crisis go to waste" to advance the Leftist, statist cause

Will League of Women Voters now run anti-Obama ads featuring sick children?

Don't hold your breath. LWV has been totally coopted by Leftist activists, like so many non-profits

The New, Neoconservative, New York Times

Diversity is Poison Dept.

Palin fizzles

David Brooks is only half-right: The Vigorous Virtues

Half-right is pretty good for mush mouth Brooks

America is drowning in a river of rules:

 As the President's approval numbers go down, the manic production of new regulations rises to a fever pitch in case the liberal last chance is afoot. According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, 3,752 new rules were created last year and there are 4,225 new ones in some stage of preparedness.

These rules vary from the absurd, such as regulating that dolls of 3 different races must be represented in day care centers to far more substantive power grabs. The list of aggressively abusive implementations of a "social justice" agenda is very long and growing fast.

They think that the O will not be re-elected. Last chance to control every little detail of our lives and businesses.

The really good news - I've scavenged a lot of free firewood from the so-called storm. (It was a ton of rain and a stiff gusty breeze.)

I am with Vanderleun on this (listen to the music):

Me? I'm a believer because... well because I've really got Nothing Better to do. That's because measuring myself against even the smallest, most finite, and bounded idea of God I can conceive I'm about gnat size in relation to that. I wish others saw it that way, but among the smart monkeys most of us think of ourselves as some sort of gigantic intellect -- at least in comparison to, say, a clam. Those who are long on stupidity are always short on humility.

This is how to sell real estate

Incredible stuff: On its way to being the most perfected yet bankrupt and unlivable state in the nation.

A law that says you have to hire two babysitters?

Good news: Obama halts controversial EPA regulation

US economy created no job growth in August, data show

After calling for his kids and hearing no response, Jeremy grabbed his daughter’s rifle.

As many as one in 25 company bosses could be a psychopath, according to a new study.

Surber speaks:

America is more than just her president or her federal government. Liberals do not see that. They see government in every facet of life and thus politics everywhere. They cannot see a nation where people do not care about Washington. If people did care about Washington, then the Tea Party would be twice as large and twice as angry. But Americans are a tolerant people whose patience stems from the knowledge that this too shall pass. Barack Obama caved because a president is not omnipotent. He thought he was when he controlled Congress. He no longer does. It is no fun any more being president. He caved because he no longer wants to be president. Expect more, not less, of this stuff over the next year as the man who once smiled becomes a frowning, scornful and mocked man. The beauty of the American system is that, so far, it is bigger than any one man and it can — and will — correct itself.

York: Left paints the campaign as a religious war

Unions go nuts over successful charter school

Investigators Probe White House Role in Massive Energy Loan

Greedy Greenies

THE WIKILEAKS CABLES ON TURKEY: 20/20 TUNNEL VISION

Turkey's Akyol, An Apostle Of The Third Way

Maggie's Farm loves going to that country, regardless of the politics

Gore: Global warming skeptics are this generation’s racists

Study: Half of Hired Stimulus Workers Were Already Employed

S.C. Gov. supports crippling ‘un-American’ NLRB, including resignation of lone GOP member

Fast & Furious scandal may have its first cover-up

The Prof: 10 Things I Think I Think about Obama's Job Speech

Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: one of history's myths?

Israelis seek EU passports amid existential angst

Massive NSA Spying Program Challenged by EFF in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

The Costco king checks out

Impressive fellow

Maxine Waters Advocates Taxing Banks “Out of Business”

In His Activist Days Obama Sued Banks to Ease Lending Practices… Now He’s Suing Banks For Risky Mortgages

BBC: Climate Pravda

How Bad will the Job Picture Get?

Fascism and socialism

MI Bars Ban Lawmakers for Banning Smoking

The O: I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth.”. As Knish says,

The modern liberal is wedded to a thoroughly reactionary worldview in which he worships the institutions he controls and is full of paranoia and suspicion of those he does not. He disdains the common man and longs for enlightened leaders to uplift him and to transform his country into a messianic vision of a kingdom of heaven in which no one ever goes hungry and everyone is perfectly equalized-- a pseudo-religious vision of government as religion that is wholly primitive in its conflation of theology and civics.

A windy, rainy day called Irene, via Kimball:

Re flooding and our government-subsidized flood insurance, here's what I have been hearing on the radio from upstate NY and from Vermont:

Men: Why should the taxpayer subsidize anybody for living in a flood zone, even if it's only 100-year floods? Actuaries can easily cost it out. If you live near water and not on a hill, you will inevitably get flooded. Duh. Why should your calculated risk and choice be my problem? All it does is to promote building in the wrong places - and insulate people from reality - on my nickel.

Women: These people have lost so much. It's not their fault that they lived where they could get flooded. The government has to help them out and help them rebuild their homes and their lives. It's compassionate.