Saturday, July 6. 2013
 The Spider's Web (aka "Natural History")
The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unfolds a plan of her devising,
A thin premeditated rig
To use in rising.
And all that journey down through space,
In cool descent and loyal hearted,
She spins a ladder to the place
From where she started.
Thus I, gone forth as spiders do
In spider's web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.
White, never one to waste words, wrote this poem in 1929 as a love letter to his wife. Photo is the Maine boathouse he used as his writing studio.
Here's one of Mom's small perennial borders at the Farm. Not in full summer bloom yet, but it will be soon. It's a pleasure to see her gardening continue on after her death this past February. Perennial, and we'll keep it that way.
The pump don't work but the handle is still there. We shoot the vandals who try to steal handles, and throw them down the well.
Friday, July 5. 2013
The obsession with skin tone persists.
This is a remarkably forthright and dismaying report from a teacher in an 80% black school: Before-It’s-Deleted Of The Day.
(h/t American Digest)
What happened to large numbers of American blacks between the beginning of WW2 and 1970? Before WW2, blacks, mainly in the South at the time, led aspiring, family-oriented, church-going, bourgeois lives (despite social segregation). How and why did this subcultural transformation happen?
I blame government policy and the Law of Unintended Consequences. Charles Murray gets it. So does Justice Clarence Thomas.
The high school teacher begins:
The mainstream press gives a hint of what conditions are like in black schools, but only a hint. Expressions journalists use like “chaotic” or “poor learning environment” or “lack of discipline” do not capture what really happens. There is nothing like the day-to-day experience of teaching black children and that is what I will try to convey.
Most whites simply do not know what black people are like in large numbers, and the first encounter can be a shock...
another:
Once I asked my students, “What do you think of the Constitution?” “It white,” one slouching black rang out. The class began to laugh. And I caught myself laughing along with them, laughing while Pompeii’s volcano simmers, while the barbarians swell around the Palatine, while the country I love, and the job I love, and the community I love become dimmer by the day.
h/t American Digest
Thursday, July 4. 2013
Bill Whittle. He is not pleased, and reminds us that the government is dependent on us.
O'Keefe, aged 29, is good fun. An interview with James O'Keefe.
What a fine lad. In 1776 he would have held a musket but now the musket is a free press.
 Our True Founding Principle:
"To champion the nation's founding principles is to commit to a downsizing of government the likes of which can barely be imagined, in today's climate. Who in America is prepared to handle the whole truth and nothing but . . . or commit to so radical a cause? Who on talk radio would dare hint of mounting a righteous crusade of abolition against the welfare principle, as such? Which Tea Party candidate will run for office pledging to slash his constituents' benefits and put the civil servants in his district or state out to pasture?"
Related, from Judge Napolitano: How can we celebrate the degradation of liberty?
Related: Seventy-one percent of Americans think the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the way the United States has turned out, a Gallup survey released Thursday shows.
I deliberately did not write 'Independence Day'. As I'm sure many Maggie's readers are aware, technically the Fourth of July is not Independence Day. Legally, the day of separation was the Second of July (am I being cynical when I wonder why New York abstained?), which John Adams mentions in his letter to Abigail, regarding the importance of the day the Continental Congress voted to commit treason.
It's intriguing that Adams was so sure of the importance of the day. He knew they would not sign a document and that would be the end of any disagreement. It would be seven more years before independence was assured, during which every signer would face potential death for committing treason. One signer actually recanted after he was captured, imprisoned and treated miserably. Sad to say he comes from my home state of New Jersey. We did name a college after him, and it's worth noting he returned to the fold when he was released. He knew, like every other man signing the document, that this idea was bigger than himself. Possibly one of the greatest ideas in governance ever before conceived.
Despite the risks, Adams' statement of optimism regarding the Congress' decision was well-founded. He, and all the others, realized the power of ideas and the power of the individual. Today isn't a day for the government these men eventually founded, it's a day of us, the individuals which these men entrusted with the liberty they knew would free us to succeed and progress.
Via Sultan:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
That is not merely some bland reference to a mass of people. There is no collective here, only the individual. The greater good of independence is not some system that will meet with the approval of the mass, but that will make it possible for the individual, each individual, to live a free life, not a life lived purely for the good of the mass, but for his own sake.
Scott Ott: “The Declaration” offers exhaustive reasons for committing open treason, nonetheless, treason it was.
Holiday pic via Pirate
Wednesday, July 3. 2013
Happy 4th, and, above all, Stay Ultra-Safe and Boring, America, as we try to remember those who heedlessly and recklessly spilled their blood for freedom from government power and control.
When I reflect on America's revolution against Parliament and King George, I usually conclude that those rebel ancestors had trivial complaints compared to what they would have today against the very government they so carefully planted.
Valley Forge did not have these rules, but they seem to have no rule against firearms.
Photo h/t, Eratosthenes
Inside the academy and out, subjectivity is starting to replace the objective search for truth.
One quote:
Perhaps the most aggressive and outlandish attacks against science are attempts to inject value-driven methods into traditional science. Two academics at British universities, Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome Ravetz, came up with the concept of “post-normal science,” a decision-making tool for situations when "facts are uncertain, values are in dispute, stakes are high, and decisions are urgent." That is not the realm of science, but of politics. After all, who is to decide whether decisions are so “urgent” that they must be made even when “facts are uncertain?”
Another ruse for promoting political agendas under the guise of using science is the “precautionary principle.” That principle is summarized as “[W]hen an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.” On the surface, this almost sounds reasonable, yet it is really just another deception to insert subjective values into the scientific process.
As they say in The Program, "Feelings aren't facts."
Kenyon College's young Andrew Pochter was tragically uneducated in the existence of evil and malice. I do not blame Kenyon for that. It is a wonderful school which is not overly-steeped in moonbatism.
That kumbaya stuff is not "idealistic," it is playing with fire and in denial of human nature. Andrew Pochter: Murdered in Cairo
Related, Egypt: Epidemic of Sexual Violence - At Least 91 Attacks in 4 Days; Government Neglect Means Impunity Rules.
Is this fascinating country ready for representative rule? The Egyptian army always seems to be the only half-sane part of the government.
In a field at the farm last weekend. I do not know what it is, but I know what it isn't.
Tuesday, July 2. 2013
Media and academic elites prefer to focus on the old South while a new one marches on.
It is rising again.
Journey Through the Checkout Racks. One quote:
Start with something that hasn’t changed: American women’s obsession with their figures. The January 1963 Redbook featured a cover line on a 10-DAY DIET TO HELP YOU RECOVER FROM THE HOLIDAYS; the February 2013 issue cajoles readers to “get to your best weight ever” and promises “the plan and the push you need.” The April 1963 Ladies’ Home Journal pledged ideas on how to “dine well on 300 calories”; the February 2013 issue offers a more cheerful take on weight control: “Yay! Retire your fat pants forever.” One shudders to think of the pounds lost and gained over five decades of readership...
Article here.
Traditionally first-timers have accounted for around 40 percent of purchases in the resale market. But in May, according to the National Association of Realtors, they were just 28 percent, down from 29 percent in April and 34 percent a year ago.
Big deal? Yes. If predominantly young, first-time purchasers are not entering the home ownership pipeline at anywhere near their traditional rate, at some point the system begins to choke...
Well, many figure that owning property is just a money pit anyway. Truth be told, my place has been an excellent investment, but I would never sell it. I'll die here. Where else? It's home. And the bank still owns 1/3rd of it anyway.
Even though I am opposed to the mortgage interest tax deduction, I am not retarded. I would never pay off a mortgage unless to get a better one.
Traditionally
first-timers have accounted for around 40 percent of purchases in the
resale market. But in May, according to the National Association of
Realtors, they were just 28 percent, down from 29 percent in April and
34 percent a year ago.
Big deal? Yes. If predominantly young,
first-time purchasers are not entering the home ownership pipeline at
anywhere near their traditional rate, at some point the system begins to
choke. - See more at:
http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2013/06/student_debt_flunking_many_first_time_home_buyers#sthash.BXSGcD7E.dpuf
Traditionally
first-timers have accounted for around 40 percent of purchases in the
resale market. But in May, according to the National Association of
Realtors, they were just 28 percent, down from 29 percent in April and
34 percent a year ago.
Big deal? Yes. If predominantly young,
first-time purchasers are not entering the home ownership pipeline at
anywhere near their traditional rate, at some point the system begins to
choke. - See more at:
http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2013/06/student_debt_flunking_many_first_time_home_buyers#sthash.yeVwqfD2.dpuf
Traditionally
first-timers have accounted for around 40 percent of purchases in the
resale market. But in May, according to the National Association of
Realtors, they were just 28 percent, down from 29 percent in April and
34 percent a year ago.
Big deal? Yes. If predominantly young,
first-time purchasers are not entering the home ownership pipeline at
anywhere near their traditional rate, at some point the system begins to
choke. - See more at:
http://bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/2013/06/student_debt_flunking_many_first_time_home_buyers#sthash.yeVwqfD2.dpuf
 They make them to fit your height, weight, and arm length. Pretty snazzy to own a bespoke scythe. They even make them for southpaws.
Scythe Supply.
They have good choices of blades and accessories too, some for brush and saplings. (h/t, reader)
I don't know whether I would have the time or energy to scythe the 8-acre brushy hillside meadow which sits above the bridge, but it would be good for some areas that we can't get the brushwacker into due to slope or boulders.
One of my grandpas, a capitalist industrialist who hated paperwork and hated business, loved nothing more than a weekend day scything at the farm until the sacred cocktail hour. Then Dewar's on the rocks, well-deserved. Usually two of them; one for the blood and one to stimulate the appetite along with Pall Mall cigarettes or a Habanos ceegar. He taught my Mom how to use a scythe, and she taught me. We still have his pedal-powered grinding wheel in the barn with the water pan.
Nonetheless, I enjoy a gas-powered brushwacker. It's a good workout just to muscle that heavy machine around, and it shreds everything to bits, even 2" saplings. Leaves no swaths of cuttings to suffocate the grasses.
Pic above via Ace
Green Fail: New York Gives Up on Hybrid Buses Textaholics
Thanks for nothing, college! The studies extolling college's virtues are
outdated and misguided. Here's what's really happening to Millennials
Do you know what the Deep Web is?
Bloomberg: Frisk more black guys
Gitmo: Inmates running the asylum
Poll of Latino voters: Hillary 66, Rubio 28
Free Justin Carter Now The 19-year-old has been in prison since March for the crime of sarcasm.
Washington State’s bravest politician: Tells teachers to stop whining in open letter.
Noonan: Immigration: A Retrospective
The ObamaCare Flack at Your Dinner Table
Reynolds’ Law: “Subsidizing the markers of status doesn’t produce the character traits that result in that status; it undermines them.”
Arab Spring Prompts Arab-Israeli Christians to Reevaluate Israel
Can We Still Call Turkey Civilized?
A Young Jewish Man's Lethal Arab Spring Delusion:
Prochter attended Kenyon College, where he was a religious studies major, who co-managed the college's Hillel, and had just completed his sophomore year. Prior to his fateful sojourn in Egypt, Pochter interned for AMIDEAST, an American nonprofit that focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, and studied regional politics. His mother, Elizabeth Pochter, maintained that her son read poems to his girlfriend about the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict," and insisted that somehow the endless jihad against The Jewish State, "wasn't just about some detached war to him, but a struggle that he passionately wanted to resolve." Elizabeth Pochter added, according to a statement by Kenyon College, that her Jewish son,
...was a person who didn't see the world as separate nations, but a collection of vibrant cultures.
Is The Arab-Israeli Conflict Really About Economics?
Oh Brother… Obama Warns Africans If They Get Air Conditioning the “Planet Will Boil Over”
Government takes broader role as school food police
Study: Electric Cars No Greener than Gasoline Vehicles
"Upon closer consideration, moving from petroleum-fueled vehicles to electric cars starts to appear tantamount to shifting from one brand of cigarettes to another," Zehner, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, said.
Zehner, once an electric car enthusiast who has since changed his position and become an activist looking at a number of so-called green initiatives, is the author of the book "Green Illusions."
Like we say, electric cars run on evil, evil coal.
WH Touts Kenyan Program to Obtain National ID Cards for Voter Registration
Monday, July 1. 2013
As you can see, our bridge was washed out during the winter storms. Not entirely washed out, but undermined on the far end. The I-beams no longer reach the far bank. There is a 3-foot gap which the Ford tractor can not jump.
I got a consult from a local contractor who said it was a straightforward repair. He thought we could just jack it back up, add two I-beams to reach the far bank, and put in some cement blocks at low water in August to support the necessary extension. Around a $7000 job that he could do in two days.
But...he felt uncomfortable repairing it without a wetlands permit and an engineering OK. I explained that this bridge had been there for 60 years, and another bridge there for over 100 years before that, and that we had fixed it in the past without permits. He said I needed to consult an engineering firm to do the permitting and to ok his plan.
That has to be wrong, but instead of finding somebody else to consider the job, I did consult with a reputable local engineering firm. They inspected, and came back with an estimate of $27,000 for permitting and design, not including the actual repair. They said the permitting could take as much as two years, starting with the Army Corps of Engineers and ending with the Massachusetts Wetland Authority and the State and local DEP. Many hearings to be attended, apparently, by certified engineers. No guarantee, he said, that we could get a bridge repair permit in the end because the State wants "wild rivers." Mind you, this stream is in no way "navigable" except on barefoot, and is only as "wild" as a stream can be which winds through cow pastures and corn fields.
We do not have that kind of spare money in the farm's budget.
Meanwhile, one mile down the road, the state is widening a 1936 one-lane WPA cement bridge, about 20' long, over the same small river - a trout stream, really. Bulldozers, cement mixers, portapotties, portable office, road grinders, asphalt rollers, trucks, etc. Stimulus money. Modern infrastructure for a town of 600 permanent residents and more dairy cows than people. They have been working on it for four months, and it seems nowhere near done.
One problem is that we are required by our agreement with the local land trust to maintain the upper meadow with an annual mowing. We want to do that anyway. We can't get there now. There is no other way to get across the stream with a tractor because at least one side of the riverbank is always fairly high.
No wonder people get pissed off at government. However, I never consulted any government on this.
It's just a simple, ordinary repair. Property maintenance. I am sorely tempted to ask some illegal Mexicans to just come in with two 6' I-beams, a jack, a welder, and some cinder blocks to fix it. Nobody would notice - or care. No, you can't see it from the road. I'll find someone who wants to help me fix it the old-fashioned Yankee way: patch it and make it last.
This ain't the Brooklyn Bridge.
The article is here.
It's a strange premise, though. There is little that makes life easier about having kids. Perhaps when you're in your 80s kids can make your life easier, if you're lucky. Having kids is not about your convenience or career. It's about creating family. Life is easy without family.
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For your amusement: 
Is America in a Pre-Revolutionary State this July 4th?
