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.
A pretty good cover of Bob's Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts by St. Paul's Martin Devaney and band. A bit too sing-songy for me, but I can't find Bob's edgier, darker version. (the remarkable lyrics here)
Lyme Disease (Borreliosis) is endemic in the Northeast US, and probably always has been. That complicates diagnosis because so many people in the area have been exposed to the germ, and thus show some degree of antibodies to it. Many if not most cases of Lyme are subclinical and never diagnosed.
The spirochete-like bug is transmitted by the bite of a mostly-mouse-born tick called a Black-Legged Tick or Deer Tick. The Tick is much smaller than the common dog tick, and much harder to find on your body. Ordinary dog ticks are harmless, if annoying, and can not be confused with the Deer Tick.
Lyme Disease is readily treated with antibiotics, but about ten years ago one of those disease fads came along, so appealing to hypochondriacs and hysterics, called "Chronic Lyme."
As with other fake disease fads like Chronic Fatigue and, in my opinion, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Lyme believers often made themselves into invalids with vague aches and pains.
I thought the Chronic Lyme fad had passed into the history of medical faddism, but I see this odd and credulous article in The New Yorker: The Lyme Wars. The Lyme-disease infection rate is growing. So is the battle over how to treat it.
There are two serious errors right in the title. The infection rate is not growing: the diagnosis is growing and probably many people with aches and pains are being unnecessarily treated for Lyme just because they have been exposed to it at some point in their life. Second, I have never heard of any credible Infectious Disease doc in New England who had any question about how to treat real Lyme.
Here's one brief index to fad diagnoses but I am sure there is a better, more comprehensive one. The current fad is "gluten intolerance." There are a few quacks out there, but many more crocks.
Many of us privileged baby boomers were fortunate enough to receive a rigorous classical education while the masses received the fad du jour from the teachers' colleges in the government schools.
Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, “I’d like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream.” The waitress replies, “I’m sorry, Monsieur, but we’re out of cream. How about with no milk?”
Russia has seen self-aggrandizing, luxury loving heads of state before. What really has turned Russian heads, according to my sources, is Obama’s eagerness to give things away. The Russians, you see, are hard-nosed. They drive hard bargains in their dealings with themselves and perhaps harder still with outsiders. They may even take what they can’t get through hard bargaining when you’re not looking.
Will this be bad for Republicans in the South? The Voting Rights Act resulted in an alliance between the NAACP and the Republican Party in the 1980s and 1990s to pack minorities into voting districts. This had the effect of ensuring that minorities would be elected to Congress (to the delight of the NAACP), but diluted minority influence elsewhere by reducing their numbers in all other voting districts (the GOP's end of the bargain). The end of the Voting Rights Act might have the long-term effect of making staunchly Republican congressional seats in the South more competitive and reducing the number of safe seats for members of the Congressional Black Caucus. I would say that is another victory for the nation wrought by Shelby.
I do not have time to put together a coherent post on the topic today, but I believe that the mandarins of my profession have lost all connection to what taking care of hurting people is all about.
Ran across a post on ZeroHedge last Friday, about the emasculation of men in the US today. The post itself was not particularly enlightening, but the topic is rather interesting. It's a theme my father and I discuss somewhat frequently.
What does it mean to be a man? There's the Y chromosome, and some private parts. But we are different from women in other ways, and we are under attack, in my view. I suspect one of the reasons we're under attack is because many men were raised with minimal male influence over the last 50 years or so. Divorce may play a huge role in the current attack on male society. My father was not your typical 'guy's guy'. He didn't play a huge role in my upbringing until late in my teens, because my parents were divorced. His personal tastes are less Hemingway and more Fitzgerald (though he enjoys Hemingway in a literary sense). He is definitely a red-blooded American man. He does the lawn, can use a chain saw, and enjoys a good fire. He doesn't share too many of his emotions, except when it's really necessary. I was lucky, however, to have several uncles who stepped in immediately, and later a stepfather, to fill the vacuum of a male presence. Most of the younger men in my office could use a lesson or two on being more masculine, though.
I think it is fairly common for commercials, and TV in general, to exhibit men as outlandishly stupid beings. Men on TV are usually infantile, unable to think about anyone but themselves, engaging in moronic behaviors, if not generally portrayed as drooling neanderthals. The media has gone out of its way to diminish the male psyche. It's evident in many ways. Why are there "Women's Studies" programs at universities and no "Men's Studies"?
I also think many high-profile men today are effete snobs, starting with our president and Joe Biden.
I'm all for women's rights, by the way. So it's not like I'm opposed to women in the workplace, seeing them succeed or even earning a just wage. But I don't understand why, every day, I'm told I need to think, act, or behave more like a woman. Women and men are different, and those differences are positive things. We complement each other extremely well. I don't believe women are more capable or smarter than men. I've taken classes (on the recommendation of women) on "Emotional Intelligence". I was underwhelmed, but I can see why women view the concept of "emotional intelligence" as important. To me, the recommendations were really just another way of saying "Because you're a man, you're incomplete."
We're #77 . Is that good? I was pleased to see that they now rate Centrist/Conservative/Libertarian together. Still, I'd term us "eclectic" and "centrist." We seem to be ranked higher than some superior, better-done sites. I'll blame that on our gardening information and our recipes.
Please make sure all of your friends read us here at Maggie's. No need to agree with our politics. We just try to keep it interesting and informative.
I had the pleasure of seeing a Least Weasel scurry past the front of the garage yesterday, going from one pachysandra patch to another. They are not uncommon in their multi-continental, northern-hemisphere range, but I rarely see them. It makes me happy when I do.
Most often, they are seen hurrying across a country road.
Least Weasels like to be in cover, not out in the open. They are both daytime and nocturnal hunters, and active all winter in the snow, when they have all-white fur.
They are said to be the world's smallest mammalian predators, around 8-9" long. Bloodthirsty little guys.
On further thought, that guy could have been an Ermine. Not sure I can tell the difference because they move so quickly.
It's disappointing. I can't tell what "race" anybody is anymore. Maybe they will need to reintroduce skin-tone meters and eye-slant meters. It's all too stupid for words. Remember when Sharpton accused Obama of being "too white" to represent black people? I mean, if Obama is "black," then he's "white."
Autopsy report: Douchebag terrorist dies from insufficient diet
provided by SNAP program, and from multiple gunshot wounds and his
douchebag terrorist brother's driving; but mostly from the gunshots and
his brother's driving.
This is an attempt by Democrats aided and abetted by anywhere from 10-15 Republicans, to damage the rule of law by rewarding law-breakers and making fools of law-abiders, and giving Janet Napolitano sweeping power to disregard the law in her discretion
Breaking:
NSA Internet Spying Foils NSA Plot To Attack NSA - See more at:
http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/in-the-news-nsa-internet-spying-foils-nsa-plot-to-attack-nsa-t11202.html#sthash.1aabgL9N.dpuf
Breaking:
NSA Internet Spying Foils NSA Plot To Attack NSA - See more at:
http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/in-the-news-nsa-internet-spying-foils-nsa-plot-to-attack-nsa-t11202.html#sthash.1aabgL9N.dpuf
Breaking:
NSA Internet Spying Foils NSA Plot To Attack NSA - See more at:
http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/in-the-news-nsa-internet-spying-foils-nsa-plot-to-attack-nsa-t11202.html#sthash.1aabgL9N.dpuf
Trunk says you should skip college unless you’re really great at school or got accepted into a top ten school. Instead “you should just go to work.”
In her recent article published on LinkedIn, Trunk advises young people to re-think college and focus on internships, saying that anyone can teach themselves the skills needed to be successful. She gives the example of an MIT program that gave iPads to illiterate kids in Ethiopia who then were able to teach themselves how to use it, program it and read it in English without a teacher or curriculum.
The moralising stridency of so many arguments for cap-and-trade, carbon taxes, and global emissions treaties was founded on the idea that there is a consensus about how much warming there would be if carbon emissions continue on trend. The rather heated debates we have had about the likely economic and social damage of carbon emissions have been based on that idea that there is something like a scientific consensus about the range of warming we can expect. If that consensus is now falling apart, as it seems it may be, that is, for good or ill, a very big deal.
Finally, even The Economist has become skeptical about weather alarmism. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Obama to Announce Sweeping New Powers on Tuesday – Will Regulate Power Plants to Save Country from ‘Global Warming’
Why not cut off power to the federal government first? Heat, a/c, and electric. That would show real leadership. Pres. Lincoln managed fine without electricity, central heating, or a/c, and he rode around town on a low-emission horse powered by biofuel. First, the gummint should cut the power to the NSA and the IRS. Then, the White House. Then Congress. Our moral and intellectual superiors should show us the way.
It's always "for the children" when there is no good argument. Now, I think Save the Polar Bears is a better angle to tug at the heartstrings. So cuddly, unlike bratty kids. The problem is that the bears are reproducing like crazy and are going to eat all the cute seals and all the Eskimos they can catch. But wait - the Kennedys are shooting seal pups. Too many seals? WTH?
Do the seals get a vote on that? At least the Kennedys aren't shooting the Eskimos who kill the Polar Bears and Killer Whales which would otherwise eat the supposedly "extra" seal pups, etc., etc.
I am waiting for the next crisis: Polar Bear population explosion attributed to global warming.
3:23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.
3:24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.
3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,
3:26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
3:27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
3:28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Here's a short piece about what Protestants view as "justification". It means something like straightening out your crookedness through Grace. That's a good deal.
College Graduates Take Jobs They Don’t Want Every 5 Minutes
Image via 
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