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.
This is how it begins: Doctors urged to limit practices. Next come the "guidleines," then come the one-size-fits-all requirements. At that point, the patient becomes helpless and choice-less, and the physician becomes an agent of the state rather than a confidential and private partner with his patient.
At that point, I will reluctantly quit and abandon you suffering patients - and myself when illness comes my way - to whatever unionized government lackeys, technicians, and drones they can find who are willing to pretend to take care of you, between their mandated lunch, coffee breaks, and 1 hour/day study time to master the government treatment manuals which will tell them what they can do for your age and category.
I have seen that kind of medicine, and will not be part of it. Watch for the politicization of medical care. Ugly. Every real and imaginary disease, and every real or imaginary treatment, will have a lobby in DC.
Government contaminates and corrupts almost everything it touches. Why any Psychiatrist or psychotherapist could be anything but Libertarian-minded is beyond my comprehension, because we are all about freedom, individuation, self-determination, and self-reliance.
No time to check the hearts of girls' dollies. A damn shame.
The riots by anti-Vietnam war protestors at the Democrat Convention in Chicago in 1968 received mostly favorable coverage from the major media at the time, as it bemoaned the police actions. Contrary to their expectations, public opinion was negative toward the protestors and Democrats seen as weak on public order, which helped elect Richard Nixon.
Democrat and Republican presidential campaign sages likely studied this and are planning for similar events in 2012.
Then, avoiding the draft motivated most college-age protestors to join in with radicals whose program was supporting North Vietnam. Now, the financial and career repercussions of loan debt and fading job prospects sends students to the barricades to demand continued societal financial support for avoiding their fate, and liberals are supporting this to defeat Republicans who want to face up to our debilitating deficits and stagnant economy.
That is the sharp difference between then and now. The anti-Vietnam war protestors, although having much support among leading Democrats, were largely independent of the Democrat Party and its organizations. Their primary target was to elect anti-Vietnam war Democrats and to confront Democrat presidential nominee Vice-President Hubert Humphrey for his public fealty to President Johnson’s war policies. Today, there is major financial and manpower support for the OWSers from a key and critical Democrat base, the liberal labor unions, and there are major Democrat leaders, right up to President Obama, publicly for the OWSers.
Now as then, protestors provoke police actions to clear their blocking of public spaces, not to mention police the violence and rapes occurring within their encampments or clean up their fetid messes. Now as then the liberal media neglect to report mush of the excesses by protestors and castigate the police, and by extension those who believe in public order.
A prediction. Although some OWSers will interrupt Democrats, (President Obama today replied to the OWSers, “You are the reason I ran for office.”) the Democrat powers behind the OWSers will try to gather them at the Republican presidential nominating convention in 2012 in Tampa, Florida, for a repeat of Chicago 1968. The question. Will the OWSers end up helping the Republican nominee’s election in 2012 as in 1968?
Snark question: Will they bus in "homeless" people?
"But, gee whiz, we sure have had a lot of weather lately, haven't we? Storms and droughts? Terrible."
The climate alarmists are corrupt and contemptible, but we try to be sympathetic to their scam. They need government grants to pay their mortgages, and we also understand why governments like this stuff - it means more tax income for them. Governments will take tax income anywhere and everywhere. They don't care where it comes from so they will get on board with any "crisis," real or imaginary. (With the MSM in the tank with them: See the NYT's "near-poverty crisis." We are all near poverty, for heaven's sake, unless we work. That's life unless you are on the dole or, on the other end of the bell curve, hit the jackpot and live in Hollywood.)
How many "crises" have governments used to rip us hard-working souls off in the past 30 years? It's always something, if only to justify their existence. Always a crisis to be addressed, and only government experts can deal with it. Who believes that baloney anymore? You can only cry wolf so many times until people learn the game. And you can model anyway you want. That's the beauty of models: you'll be retired when the long-term results come in. Too bad Corzine didn't have time for his models. Neither did Long Term Capital.
I think I'll fly to Paris in my plastic glued-up model of a P-15 I made in 5th grade.
Rahm Emanuel said it best: "Let no crisis go to waste." Meaning, government should grab power at every opportunity. These incompetent, sleazy, professional politicians know best. That's the Chicago Way, the old Big City machine way. It helps them maintain their meal ticket while others work to pay them for attending meetings, lunches, and lobster dinners while picking up chicks. Models, whenever possible, of course.
Of course, most of us at Maggie's would welcome a global warming trend. It would be a blessing to the darn human species, and would lower our heating bills in the Northeastern US.
Ah, there you are. Couldn't find you in the crowd. Thank goodness for that GPS tracking device in your iPhone, huh? I hopped on the Web, punched in your telephone number and there you were. This modern technology is just amazing.
Me, I'm not partial to any OS. Hell, given my druthers, I'd be on my Amiga 1200 right now. See, I hold to this wild, unconventional notion that once a program is up, it doesn't matter what the hell the OS is. Not once, in umpteen billion computer articles written over 20 years, have I ever said one OS was "better" than another.
So, now that you don't hate me too much for being one of those prissy, starched-shirt PC users, can I ask a question? I'd normally just do a Google search, but since I wouldn't have a Mac to test it on, it wouldn't do much good.
As I understand it, there's some way Macs can play online WMV video files. They can't normally because WMV is a proprietary streaming format and the prissy, starched-shirt PC users at Microsoft want a bazillion dollars from Apple for the licensing rights to play them. In turn, Apple wants a bazillion dollars from Microsoft so PCs can play streaming Quicktime videos, so it all evens out, neither can play the other, and thankfully the only people hurt are us users.
The solution was mentioned once in the comments here, years ago. I had (innocently, to be sure) posted a link to a clip in Doc's Bag O' Clips, which are WMV files, and one Mac user promptly bitchedmoanedcursed me out politely noted that WMVs don't play on Macs. Another Mac user piped up with the answer, but I failed to jot it down.
I'd like to put the info in the 'tech' section of the 'Clips' area so Mac users can enjoy the videos as well. All of the rest of the videos on the site are in standard FLV format, but for full-screen, knock-your-socks-off, almost-DVD quality online videos, WMV is the only way to go in the streaming world.
Since I won't be able to run it myself, please leave some brief instructions on where to get it and how to install and run it. I'll not only put the info in my 'Clips' area but also make a post of it here for future linkable goodness. I'll even mention you by name in the article so later you can impress the babes by shyly admitting, "Well, yes, I am published."
Thanks!
Update: I think we got it, thanks to MikeNC and 'muleheadedfarmer'.
For you daredevils out there who want to give this a go, try this site. Then click on the above link and test out one of the clips. In theory, Quicktime should open and everything should play just fine. Please let me know in the comments what blows upmelts down how it goes.
Tech note: streaming WMV files are 'activated' by a small WMA text file. I point it out so you won't be confused if you see both extensions mentioned. The actual video is a WMV file, initiated by a WMA file, which is what the link goes to.
Today, the first of two GDP revisions was issued. It was revised down from 2.5% to 2.0%. Revisions are a natural part of our economic reporting structure. We can't get all the data in a timely fashion, so certain guesses are made regarding the data that is missing when initial results go out. 'Guesses' should be incorrect. 'Estimates' would be the correct term.
It's not unusual for data to be revised downward, and it's not unusual for revisions to get little fanfare. What is unusual is the consistent nature of the downward revisions we have seen over the last few years and how little attention this receives.
I'm sure the bureaucrats view their 'guesses' as 'estimates'. But I wouldn't be surprised if they have been told to paint a pretty picture, within reason. Few of the downward revisions have been outlandish. Given the nature of the economy the past few years, however, wouldn't it make sense to have a slightly more negative outlook on the initial print?
No, because the initial print is what gets all the press and it's what everyone will pay attention to. Politics isn't supposed to alter the economic reporting, but in this administration it has taken a decidedly political turn.
JFK was assassinated by an ardent Leftist and Castro-lover, and RFK by a Jordanian who hated his support of the nation of Israel. Might as well get the facts right.
...the failure of the Supercommittee should be no surprise. The Democrats have only one election strategy and that’s to blame the Republicans. They have nothing to gain from cooperation and everything to gain from conflict. They would see the economy burn, even if they didn’t have anything to gain from the flames—but they do.
Hypocrisy abounds on the Republican side where symbolic votes cover a multitude of economic sins. And when he symbolic votes tank, then the masks come off. But why expect anything different? The United States is not a one party system and congress can only be held hostage so far. The Republican Party is not innocent, only comparatively less guilty, their crimes those of greedy and complacency, rather than the ideological agenda that fattens up the spending of the left.
Everyone talks cuts, but no one makes them because cuts are a dangerous thing. Elections are expensive and someone has to pay for them. Indirectly that someone is the poor schmoe sending off money to D.C. without getting anything for it but aching fingers.
Just as housework withers away, so the obligations of parents to their children wither away gradually until finally society assumes the full responsibility. Under capitalism children were frequently, too frequently, a heavy and unbearable burden on the proletarian family. Communist society will come to the aid of the parents. In Soviet Russia the Commissariats of Public Education and of Social Welfare are already doing much to assist the family. We already have homes for very small babies, creches, kindergartens, children’s colonies and homes, hospitals and health resorts for sick children. restaurants, free lunches at school and free distribution of text books, warm clothing and shoes to schoolchildren. All this goes to show that the responsibility for the child is passing from the family to the collective.
Supporters of Obama's foreign policy are sure to be scratching their heads now. Anyone who feels Obama has done a better job than his predecessor, particularly with regard to the Mid East and Islam in general due to the OBL mission, have new questions to ask themselves. Such as, "What the heck was Leon Panetta paying attention to?"
General David Petraeus took over just 2 months ago, and faces his first crisis as a massive network of operatives have, no doubt, been executed or face execution. All the goodwill Obama may have had for catching and killing Bin Laden should now be tossed right out the window. Early reports on what occurred may prove incorrect, but it appears the operatives and their handlers "got lazy" regarding their communications. In that business, laziness carries a high price.
Yesterday, The Barrister posted a terrific video in which the manipulation of Europe was exposed in a speech at the European Parliament. The thought that a 'conspiracy' may be taking place seems far-fetched, but the fingerprints are showing up everywhere.
The Euro is probably doomed. It was a lousy idea from the start, but once it was implemented, it was managed poorly. The EuroZone is a mess, democracy there is a thing of the past. It's amazing how the mismanagement of money can alter politics, but we are seeing the same theatre take place here in the US, although it's happening in slow motion. For all intents and purposes, the dollar remains "the best looking horse in the glue factory."
As it stands, the central bankers are the power brokers now. Bernanke will choose the next president, just as the ECB drove two Prime Ministers from office.
Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws. ~Mayer Amschel Rothschild
This was just as good, maybe even better, than the round table debate. The video is here. There's just something about the candidates sitting at a table that both lends itself to a more relaxed atmosphere, yet makes the whole event seem more 'businesslike', rather than sterile and 'debatelike'.
Like the last two debates, no bombs or barbs were hurled, and, much like the Cain-Gingrich confab, it was usually left to the participants to decide who answered what. More specifically, the moderator might ask the question of a specific candidate to get the ball rolling, then it was left to the group if anyone wanted to pipe up after that. It was cool, calm and collected.
There's a point to be made right from the start. This was a forum about morals and values, which actually is the definition of 'political party', in the sense that pragmatic and scientific issues such as defense spending, immigration and global warming have no business, whatsoever, being aligned with one political party or the other. The parties are supposed to be about moral issues like abortion and capital punishment; things that define a human being. How carbon dioxide reacts in the atmosphere is not something that defines a human being.
This does, however, work to our benefit, because there are many people out there who might identify with the Democrats on moral issues, but not buy into the AGW hoax and think we ought to drill, baby, drill in ANWR and immediately start building a hundred nuclear power plants. So they end up being Independents simply because they have nowhere else to turn. And Independents usually study the facts and know some history and, in theory, will be able to deduce that keeping a socialist in the White House for another four years is perhaps not the best of ideas.
So this debate was a little more important than how it might appear at first glance. This is the one that goes to the core.
University of California President Mark Yudoff on Sunday issued a press release that “ I am appalled by images of University of California students being doused with pepper spray and jabbed with police batons on our campuses.” President Yudoff went on:
I intend to convene all 10 chancellors, either in person or by telephone, to engage in a full and unfettered discussion about how to ensure proportional law enforcement response to non-violent protest.
To that end, I will be asking the chancellors to forward to me at once all relevant protocols and policies already in place on their individual campuses, as well as those that apply to the engagement of non-campus police agencies through mutual aid agreements.
Further, I already have taken steps to assemble experts and stakeholders to conduct a thorough, far-reaching and urgent assessment of campus police procedures involving use of force, including post-incident review processes.
This prompt action stands in stark contrast to how President Yudoff handled the outrageous and illegal interruptions of Israel Ambassador Oren’s speech at UC Irvine in February 2010.
It's White Truffle season right now (Oct-early December) in Italy. Black Italian truffles are often jarred, but the fresh Italian White Truffle is "the diamond of the kitchen" and is only obtained fresh.
At $300/oz., they ain't cheap, but you shave them into paper-thin flakes with a truffle-shaver so just one truffle goes a long way in making ordinary things into something miraculous. One is good for many meals. That incredible funky, earthy fragrance is the thing. The rule is that you never cook truffle: only add it after the cooking. D'Artagnan has them now, until they run out.
My very best truffle experience was Woodock Ravioli in jus gibier, with shaved black truffle on top. Perhaps my best taste experience in my life. My chef pal and occasional hunting buddy made it for us, with Woodcock he had shot. (Non-American readers may not know that wild game cannot be sold commercially in the US. You have to fetch it yourself.)
Some friends treated us to dinner last Weds. night at their favorite Italian restaurant because they were having a special White Truffle Night there. We chose the Carpaccio with Truffle, the Truffle Risotto, and a wood-grilled Tuscan Steak on a bed of Truffled Potato. That's Italian! Not many places I know where you can get a real Tuscan steak. It's not bland like an American or Argentinian corn-fed steak, and it's grilled with Italian Bay.
They even had a White Truffle Gelato, but we passed on that.
I commented that, if I were eaten by a tiger on my way to the car, he would be pleased because I was White Truffle-infused.
Most of the time, when we want a truffle flavor, I just use truffle oil. It comes in either White or Black, and it is wonderful stuff. D'artagnan sells that, too. As with fresh truffle, you add truffle oil after cooking.
I'm going to make up a nice big venison stew to go along with the turkeys this year. I have a few nice shoulders and loins shrink-wrapped in the freezer. Something sort of like this. I will make a venison bone stock for it instead of a veal stock but I will make it with the magical Porcinis.
Best to make a stew a day or two ahead. Better that way.
Do my friends shoot does around here? Darn right they do. Bow-hunting, usually. It's about the meat. Trophies are silly. Where ya gonna put them? We hang the deer for a week or two in the garage, and butcher them ourselves. In parts of New England, White Tails are almost pests. Many areas, no limits on does.
Contemplating oyster stuffing for the oven turkey this year. Seems like a bit of a waste of good oysters, though. I noticed that the Brits sometimes put Parmesan in their bird stuffings. Hmmm. I dunno. Best bird stuffing I have ever eaten had chunks of foie gras in it. Great. I have done cornbread/chestnut/sausage/apple stuffing too long, and got tired of it. Plus it's a pain in the neck to make, chopping all that stuff like a prep cook.
This has been floating around recently and I thought it deserved a spot here.
The Debt Generation speaks:
Dear Republican National Committee: Come the general election, please discourage our candidate from running any self-promotional ads. Just run variations of the above over and over and over and over and over again, covering all ages, styles, types and classes of Americans.
Why Lefties hold bureaucrats, technocrats, and dictators in such high esteem remains a mystery to me. I think it might be a substitute for faith in God - and in onseself.
More people shop at Macy's in NYC every day than are involved in OWS, but those normal Macy's shoppers don't get on the news. Silent majority, I guess, getting on with life without any hystrionic public bitching.
Windmills are a joke. Solar is mostly a joke unless you live in some place like Nevada. For fuel and power, we love nuclear, coal, oil, and gas. And wood!
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
This is how it begins: 
Ah, there you are. Couldn't find you in the crowd. Thank goodness for that GPS tracking device in your iPhone, huh? I hopped on the Web, punched in your telephone number and there you were. This modern technology is just amazing.
Did you know 
Depleted Texas lakes 
It's White Truffle season right now (Oct-early December) in Italy. Black Italian truffles are often jarred, but the fresh Italian White Truffle is "the diamond of the kitchen" and is only obtained fresh.
I'm going to make up a nice big venison stew to go along with the turkeys this year. I have a few nice shoulders and loins shrink-wrapped in the freezer. Something sort of
Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms