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.
Why do Asians and Ashkenazi Jews seem to be so smart, multi-talented, and clever? Is it genetics, cultural, or both, or what?
Or do we just see the smartest of them in the USA? In any event, they often make those of us descended from northern European immigrant bumpkins seem a little slow on the uptake.
From Daniel Hannan: The World of English Freedoms - It's no accident that the English-speaking nations are the ones most devoted to law and individual rights, writes Daniel Hannan. A quote:
Wasn't the American) republic founded in a violent rejection of the British Empire? Didn't Paul Revere rouse a nation with his cry of "the British are coming"?
Actually, no. That would have been a remarkably odd thing to yell at a Massachusetts population that had never considered itself anything other than British (what the plucky Boston silversmith actually shouted was "The regulars are coming out!"). The American Founders were arguing not for the rejection but for the assertion of what they took to be their birthright as Englishmen. They were revolutionaries in the 18th-century sense of the word, whereby a revolution was understood to be a complete turn of the wheel: a setting upright of that which had been placed on its head.
I agree with Penn and Teller. Prohibition does nothing but create criminals. Fortunately, most people do not want to be druggies because it is a lousy plan for a good, wholesome, dignified, and productive life. If you want to be a druggie, that's your problem, but don't do it on my nickel.
21:5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said,
21:6 "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."
21:7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?"
21:8 And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them.
21:9 "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately."
21:10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
21:11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
21:12 "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.
21:13 This will give you an opportunity to testify.
21:14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance;
21:15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.
21:16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.
21:17 You will be hated by all because of my name.
Jeff Lynne is almost a necessary addition to any group with his addition of depth, rhythm, and complexity to instruments with strings. He would make even me sound good. And nobody can compete with Roy. Even Elvis envied him. He is just too much. George has good taste on guitar, too. RIP, you two wonderful guys who enriched our lives.
What a Supergroup, just good guys having fun with tunes, with Bob always a humble minor player: "I've been f-ed up, and I've been a fool..." Indeed.
Government is, for some reason, exempt from fraud claims. Works nicely for our moral and intellectual superiors in Washington to be insulated from their consequences. A good gig for glib low-lifes.
That's why wise people are always skeptics about "studies." Ten years ago, transfats were to save us from butter. Now, vice versa. Ten years ago, broccoli was good. Now, it's said to be carcinogenic. Ten years ago, the experts told us to avoid fats. Now they tell us they made a mistake; bacon is back and carbs are the bad thing (I think this seems correct from what little I know about insulin and carb metabolism). I take to heart little of what I read, but I read it anyway. Reading is recreational, often entertaining, and beats hard work.
Were I to live with no TV, no internet, and no newspaper, I think I would be a wiser man to simply focus on my daily experiences.
This article explains nothing: Why Teenagers Are So Impulsive, but it's a good example of the nonsense that is coming from brain imaging.
The article spins the imaging data to be about crime. It's not about crime, it's just about the young male brain as compared to the female. It's not a bug, it's a feature. Young male humans are designed to defend the tribe, to kill food, and to be willing to die doing those things, but no brain scan can explain that. Vive la difference.
Churchill is technically sub-arctic, but it's in a band where the Red Fox and the Arctic Fox ranges have historically overlapped: Red Fox mostly to Arctic Circle, Arctic Fox mostly above. Here's his Arctic Fox pic:
Genital mutilation. The Christian view of God does not demand that slicing and dicing but the Jewish view of God does, and the Muslim god requires it of both men and women. What's that all about?Sacrifice?
Can't blame Con Ed. It's the taxes. Only the poor and the rich can afford NYC - and the struggling ambitious youth and new immigrants whowill put up with anything to be part of the Big Time.The youth and the immigrants should not care about comfort.
Nothing new about government idiocy. Everybody knows that governments are idiots.
Niall Ferguson: Paul Krugman Has Gotten Nearly Everything Wrong,
And Yet This Has Only Provoked Further Arrogance, Self-Flattery, and
Sneering At Those Who Got It Right
So shalt thou rest- and what if thou withdraw Unheeded by the living- and no friend Take note of thy departure? All that breathe Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care Plod on, and each one as before will chase His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave Their mirth and their employments, and shall come And make their bed with thee. As the long train Of ages glide away, the sons of men, The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes In the full strength of years, matron and maid, The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man- Shall one by one be gathered to thy side, By those, who in their turn shall follow them. - So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, 'Thou go not like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
Read entire master work by the Massachusetts Berkshire poet below the fold.
Bryant is the man for whom NYC's Bryant Park was named, a lawyer-journalist-poet who turned the New York (Evening) Post into a Republican, abolitionist, pro-Lincoln and highly influential newspaper.
In this case, the kids did not want to hear Charles Murray. Seems like they did not want to hear fresh ideas. Fresh, thought-provoking ideas are threatening.
If you do not want to hear new viewpoints and new information, what are you doing in school? Murray is always interesting, because he is one smart dude who just follows his data wherever it leads. I have no doubt that he is smarter than those arrogant students. As with Sen. Moynihan, it was data that led Murray from Lefty to Centrist.
To learn, one must become humble because new ideas and new information disrupt comfortable biases. Disruption of biases is uncomfortable.
Speaking of logic, here's a comment on the fallacy of the precautionary principle from one of this morning's links:
... the precautionary principle itself — a framework under which no one would venture outdoors at any time for work or play, as any number of horrors loom, all of which carry probabilities greater than zero. Even indoors, of course, the precautionary principle requires eternal vigilance, as Pravda in its glory days would have put it, as the roof might collapse at any time. I am surprised that the Left has not proposed a requirement that individuals wear hard hats when indoors, a diktat qualitatively identical to seatbelt and motorcycle helmet laws and other such manifestations of nanny-statism.
The precautionary principle, accordingly, is a fundamentally totalitarian construct, as it leads inexorably toward a world in which government dictates which risks are acceptable.
A little risk is good, isn't it? It adds zest to life, the hot sauce. I would never go outdoors without my tin foil hat, however. Never know who might be listening in to my brain waves. Beware of the Thought Police.
Friends send us this pic from this rainy week in Paris. I just wonder whether they got themselves a personal shopper at Hermes. That's what the gentry do, isn't it?
Many of the women who purport to speak for the modern woman sound as if testosterone were toxic. However, I wonder how many of them (the non-Lesbians, that is) would ever claim that they seek a husband who is timid, frail, non-physical, unforceful, indecisive, unauthoritative, unadventurous, passive rather than restless, and lacking in intellectual and sexual aggressiveness and vigor?
Try it again, Icarus - it will work this time. Obama today basically says "Never mind. Keep your old plan for one year until after the election next fall, then we go back to now."
Insurers have spent two years revising their plans to meet Obamacare legal requirements, erasing their old plans and creating new ones with new pricing and new, expanded coverages (in many cases) and new deductibles. Not to mention 20,000 pages of government regulations to try to understand. Thus we had, today, yet another phony false promise which, as I understand it, is not even consistent with the law even if it could be done.
You break it, you own it.
Our government moral and intellectual superiors have done it once again. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but hubris exists as does Nemesis, even today. Good Lord, save us from others with good intentions towards us.
We at Maggie's HQ are lucky. Our very cheap $10,000 deductible family policy didn't change at all, so "we can keep it." "Allowed" to keep it? Well, thanks, geniuses. I bought that, my choice. Our IQ is over 100 (if you add Mrs. BD's IQ in there), so we aren't stupid. Am I allowed to keep my car too? Or is it "substandard"? It gets me to Dunkin' Donuts every morning at 4:45 so it's good enough for me.
I recall my first deaths in medical school, in the ER. Two ambulances, family of four after a parking lot accident. The cool efficiency of the ER senior resident doing five-second triage: the 7 year -old - "Dead." The ten year-old - "Dead." The Mom - "Dead." The dad, blue but not grey like the others - "Breathing. Get him in a room and let's work on him. Tube here now, chest tube, EKG, crash cart, IV. Get a surgeon down here. Let's go, team."
In just a couple of minutes the unconscious Dad was intubated, had an emergency chest tube, IV, monitor, etc., survived.
Yesterday we had a post by Bulldog about colleges as teen fun 'n sex resorts. By coincidence, this morning I chatted with a dad whose daughter is applying to college. She only willing to consider a college with a major football or basketball team, modern dorms with pool, sauna, and work-out room, and which offers a major in pre-school education. Plus she wants to go out of state to "be independent."
Would "the college experience" cost any more or less without the "education"?
She has high grades but mediocre SAT scores. Clearly the slick college marketing has captured her attention. She wants to try out for cheerleader.
I've been reading Edmund Wilson's A Prelude: Landscapes, Characters & Conversations from the Earlier Years of My Life. Wilson had the real, old-time "college experience," investing himself in a rigorous and vigorous life of the mind at prep school and at Princeton (advanced math, Greek, Latin, French, and his own literary and intellectual pursuits and interests on the side) while inhabiting spartan quarters and making many lifelong relationships.
He writes with such relaxed clarity and innocence that even his musings about aunts and uncles are a delight.
Yes, it's a bit over the top but there are a lot of people out there who know their Bob lines better than they know Scripture. On the other hand, I know people who know their Billy Joel lines better than Scripture.
This is pretty good, I think, and from the soul. What are the images?
For years we’ve been told that Democrats were more “reality-based,” that “facts have a liberal bias,” in the words of Paul Krugman, and that if they could just have their way, they could fix all of our problems. No one represented this arrogant promise more than Barack Obama himself. But, with an irony so rich it would be made of Corinthian leather if it was a car seat, the only way he could get his signature legislation passed was to baldly and brazenly lie about it, over and over and over again. He created a rhetorical cloud castle where no one would lose his insurance, every family would save thousands of dollars, and millions of the uninsured would suddenly get coverage. Anyone who doubted this was called a fool or a liar, or even a racist. It was, in the parlance of liberalism, a “false choice” to assert that Obamacare couldn’t be a floor wax and a dessert topping.
And all of this — every bit of it — is their own fault.
Norway Moves Against Circumcision
Excerpted from Thanatopsis:
Here's an online course: 
Amazon's Greatest Weapon: 
Try it again, Icarus - it will work this time. Obama today basically says "Never mind. Keep your old plan for one year until after the election next fall, then we go back to now."
4 World Trade Center opens