Thursday, November 20. 2014
Or even for ordinary peoples' interest, there is a book: Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon:
Solomon’s startling proposition in Far from the Tree is that being exceptional is at the core of the human condition—that difference is what unites us. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, or multiple severe disabilities; with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, and Solomon documents triumphs of love over prejudice in every chapter.
 Immigration: Obama’s royal scam
Obama Is About to Commit an Act of Constitutional Infamy
And his f- you to the voters
Stories from around the world illustrate how immigration is a very difficult moral issue for liberal democracies today.
The Cubism Show at the Met
I hear from an expert friend that this is the best show the Met has ever put on
Why It's So Hard for Millennials to Find a Place to Live and Work
Colossal Mistake: Trivializing the Past
I disagree with the article. Old Roman constructions are used for modern activities with much success
Polar Bear update
If you go Black Friday shopping on Thanksgiving, you should be deported
How the War on Poverty Has Hurt American Marriage Rates
Mel Watt: Fannie and Freddie to Remain Under Federal Control
That's a mistake
This Gruber-gate supercut video is positively enraging
Cato: Grass-Roots Tobacco Bans? Not Quite
Purity politics, Democrat-style
Purity politics, regardless of viewpoint, is not politics
My Company Is Officially Required to Buy a Product That Does Not Exist For Us
NYT (!):As Sharpton Rose, So Did His Unpaid Taxes
StL U Law School Posts #Ferguson Solidarity Page
Sultan's Life Under the Victimocracy
There is no end to the oppression because the Victimocracy has to grow. America is always more bigoted than it was last year because the Victimocrats need more power this year. The more oppressed Americans become, the more they must be denounced for victimizing all the nice people running their lives and robbing them blind.
HERE’S WHY WOMEN IN COMBAT UNITS IS A BAD IDEA
Admiral Greenert Speaks: What Should the U.S. Navy’s New Maritime Strategy Look Like?
Germany Abandons CO2 Targets
Is NATO obsolete?
Egypt takes aim at Hamas' terror tunnels
Murder of 4 Jews praised by Abbas' advisor and Fatah
Being Jewish in Turkey
South Sudan, Samantha Power, and the Failure of Liberal Internationalism
Is Palestine a State That the US Can Recognize?
Wednesday, November 19. 2014
When I was a young lad I grabbed a beer at Max's Kansas City on Union Square during a late night ramble around the Village with some pals, and who comes in the door but Joplin and some band members (The Holding Company) after a show.
She pulls up a chair next to me at the bar and says "You're cute" then proceeds to ignore me and orders a few rounds of whiskeys for herself and the band. I do not know whether I was cute but she was not cute at all. They were all obviously drugged on something. I always thought Janis was a stoner suburban phoney. She could screech, though, and let it rip, which is not nothing.
Vanderleun on the general topic: Barnhardt-Van der Leun Musical Awesomeness Cagematch: Round Two!
Apparently, it is a protected opinion against religion and thus religious in some sense: Atheists and Secular Humanists are protected by the First Amendment regardless of whether their belief systems are “religions” or not.
It is legally interesting, but in my experience most atheists have faith in some thing or some things as a life foundation, mainly pagan or materialist sorts of things. In the US, most atheists live on a Christian foundation.
The Real Roots of Midlife Crisis - What a growing body of research reveals about the biology of
human happiness—and how to navigate the (temporary) slump in middle age. A quote:
“I think it must be something internal,” my 45-year-old friend S. told me. He described his 20s as exciting and fun (“I was really dumb but thought I knew a lot”) and his 30s as a time of hard work and steady rewards (“I felt on track … Things looked like white picket fences and the American dream”), but said he was bushwhacked in his 40s by an unexpected divorce, unmarried fatherhood, and a heart attack. He said he now experiences difficulty feeling contentment, leading to some of the same self-doubt that I felt: a creeping suspicion that he is fated to be whiny. He also wondered whether his dissatisfaction has been a cause of some of his problems, not just an effect. “Professionally, things looked pretty good,” S. told me. “But maybe something was going on. Something sufficient for my wife to leave. If I did a deep psychological dive, I might say that nothing will ever make me content. Maybe there’s something deeply psychologically wrong with me. I see life as a challenge to overcome rather than an adventure to be enjoyed. I’ve thought of running away to Brazil—changing my name and becoming a hotel clerk. Maybe that will change in my 50s.”
On reading about this piece, I found myself wondering about the premise of the questions in the surveys. A question like "How satisfied are you with your life these days?" seems like a very American question to me. Most people on this planet think about whether they are satisfied by their meal, or whether their god is satisfied with them, and all sorts of other things other than narcissistic or hedonistic satisfaction.
Masters of Love - Science says lasting relationships come down to—you guessed it—kindness and generosity.
The Modern Supermarket Is a Miracle - Finding euphoria in the bread aisle.
Weather Channel Co-Founder Predicting Snowier, Bitterly Colder Winter Ahead
Is New York the New Model for Startup Cities? Its rise has been remarkable. But should aspiring tech hubs really emulate the Big Apple?
Roadblock on Main Street - How federal housing policies run downtowns out of business
Promises Made, Promises Broken 2014: Unfunded Liabilities Hit $4.7 Trillion
Calling on the Brooklyn College Administration - Academic and administrative bias have, in the last few years, spread like a virus throughout the CUNY system. Stop the lies!
‘It’s Time To Push Back Against Feminist Bullies’
Under Obama, U.S. personal freedom ranking slips below France
Canada: How free market ideas went from marginal to mainstream in our neighbor to the north
Too-Big-To-Manage Emerges As New Concern In the Financial Crisis
Why Does Washington Want to Hide Science Data From the Public?
Gruber: Obama personally asked me to help disguise unhelpful Obamacare facts
Why Dems Lack Working Class Appeal: It’s Immigration, Stupid
How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico
Matthews: Obama Will Negotiate with Iran, But Not GOP on Immigration
Two U.S. Islamic Groups Called Terrorist by U.A.E.
Roger Simon: Oh, Jerusalem
Israel to ease self-defense gun restrictions after Jerusalem synagogue attack
Hamas, Inc.Gazans suffer, while their leaders continue to pile up the loot
America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder
Conrad Black: How the Mideast Plunged Into the Current Abyss — And the Opportunity Ahead
Tuesday, November 18. 2014
Princeton's Professor Will Happer, video at Powerline's Teach liberals not to hate).
 It can be simple or complex. Here's simple.
Classic way to serve it is with spaetzle, a dollop of sour cream on top, and a side of sliced cucumber and onion marinated in vinegar.
Elite colleges will have a hard time justifying the ways they limit Asian-American acceptances: Harvard discriminates against Asian Americans, ‘similar challenges’ planned
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Stolen from Vanderleun:
Nearly 36 million people are slaves, Qatar in focus: global index
Number of Foreign Students in US Hits Record High
Letter to a Manhattan Resident - A view from that big country outside New York
Once Thought Extinct, North America's Rarest Mammal May Bounce Back
Autopsy: Robin Williams had Lewy body dementia
Article makes no sense to me: The Pipeline From Hell: There’s No Good Reason to Build Keystone XL
Ice Visible on Lake Superior Weeks Ahead of Schedule
What the mainstream media wont tell you about global warming
Climatologist: 30-Year Cold Spell Strikes Earth
Obama: ’Like Your Plan, Keep Your Plan.’ Gruber, 2009: ‘Five Million People Will Lose Their Plan’
Gruber has exposed what liberals really think of the American people.
Sowell:
If the preconceptions of the Left were correct, central planning by educated elites who had vast amounts of statistical data at their fingertips and expertise readily available, and were backed by the power of government, should have been more successful than market economies where millions of individuals pursued their own individual interests willy-nilly.
Monday, November 17. 2014
The gigolo industry is gradually coming out of the closet: Male escorts - Is the growing market for male escorts a sign of female sexual liberation or just a re-run of the same old stereotypes?
This has nothing to do with "liberation." Women have always had healthy sex drives, but just kept quiet about it. The illusion of genteel innocence can be sexy to men. On the other hand, the image of dirty, nasty and accessible femininity can be sexy to men too. Almost anything can be sexy to men. Despite modern lesbian feminism, men should never underestimate female sexual longings and fantasies. Female fantasies are at least as reckless as those of men.
Women are, perhaps, more discriminating than guys but their needs for sex are abundant, especially in middle age. Perhaps Mother Nature wants us to get knocked up before it's too late.
Last day on the beach. Florida, east coast.
Relaxed and enjoyed the sound of waves, played dominoes with the in-laws, ate fish every day, did some surf-casting (caught plenty, but nothing big enough), read my book (The War That Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan), and today I'm going kayaking or paddle-boarding. If I can, paddle-boarding, it's better for your core. But either is a good workout.
I had blackened lane snapper last night at a restaurant that didn't appear to be more than a hole in the wall, probably the best I've had. Sometimes it's best not to judge based on the superficial appearance. We had breaded hogfish the night before, at the in-laws'.
Flight home tomorrow in the early morning. This is the second year I took a mid-November vacation. It's a good time to go south. Not only do you stay warm when the rest of the country is chilling, but you get two shortened workweeks heading into Thanksgiving. Then you roll right into the Christmas holiday season.
(Late note: We went paddle-boarding and learned a valuable lesson. Pay attention to the wind. Our trip north up the Indian River, I barely dipped my paddle thanks to the wind. I realilzed this would pose some difficulty for the return. In fact, we had to climb out and carry the boards for some stretches. Thankfully, they are not heavy. Just as thankfully, the Indian River is not too deep along the shore and mangroves, so we could wade if necessary. One thing about paddle-boarding, even if you're not paddling, you get a workout. Keeping your balance is tricky if you're not used to it. I got a mighty scare when I passed over a tarpon, who didn't take kindly to our presence.)
Toshiba enters high-tech food game with lettuce you don’t have to wash
Five-year-old passes Microsoft exam
Shale Oil: Expensive, Over-Hyped, & Short-Lived?
The Ways Climate Change Is Already Killing Us
Good grief, it's killing me already
Will Republican Know-Nothings Torpedo Climate Progress?
I guess I'm a know-nothing, but I am more Conservative-Libertarian than Republican and I do know a teeny bit about science.
"...the oceans have been rising for around 12,000 years, since the end of the last Ice Age. The rise was rapid during the first few millennia, then tapered off to where it has continued at a modest rate, with the usual fluctuations, for many centuries"
Who are the real know-nothings? Warm is good. Don't these people know that we are still in an Ice Age? It's just a momentary interglacial in a lengthy Ice Age. Ask Maine's Sippican about that.
The government is clueless as to what is nutritious because the science is nowhere near being settled in our lifetime.
Well, We The People know that mashed taters are nutritious. Fat is harmless, but you can live on taters forever.
More than holy, healthy and halal, Big Kosher is big money
New CBO study shows that ‘the rich’ don’t just pay a ‘fair share,’ they pay almost everybody’s share
Black prof.: GOP using Mia Love to advance ‘white interests’
What is a "white interest"? Mashed potatoes?
Douthat: The Great Immigration Betrayal
The Next Border Crisis - Executive amnesty would incentivize the next wave of families
to show up on an unprotected and unprepared southern border.
Via In Oregon Illegal Immigrant Referendum, a Warning for Obama:
“Whenever the public gets that sort of clear-cut, black-and-white issue for tougher controls — even in Oregon, when they’re legalizing dope — they support them,” Krikorian said. “It really highlights how this issue is not a Republican-liberal issue like, say, taxes and abortion, but an up-down issue, elites versus the public.”
Police state? More Federal Agencies Are Using Undercover Operations
The lies that are central to Obama’s agenda
Administration Tries to Distance Itself from Gruber’s Comments
Gruber: “Seniors Do A Terrible Job Choosing” Health Plans
Mr. Gruber, we Americans are all too stupid to chose our medical insurance, so do it for us. Please? It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.
Obama Says Gruber “Never Worked on Our Staff” …But There’s Proof He Met With Gruber in White House
Under the bus with Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, et al. It's getting crowded under that bus.
Republicans have made it clear that if Obama goes forward, it would be the equivalent of giving the middle finger to their incoming majority
You betcha
U.S. Navy Deploys Laser Weapon in Persian Gulf
1939 Palestinian Flag. What does it look like? Surprised?
Russian bombers to fly over the Gulf of Mexico. This is what happened last year in Central America.
Sunday, November 16. 2014
What I am reading now - judge me if you must, but be gentle because there is too much of our culture to keep up with, and it is up to each of us, as a duty, to contain and to transmit all of it that we can. Duty.
The Geography of Nowhere by James Kuntsler (the first half is better than the second)
The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization by Arthur Herman
Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel by David Limbaugh (it's ok, not great but raises plenty of interesting issues to talk about)
The Salt book: Lobstering, sea moss pudding, stone walls, rum running, maple syrup, snowshoes, and other Yankee doings (a good deed to write all that stuff down)
Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics by Charles Krauthammer MD (delightful - can't help but admire that fellow)
On my to-read pile:
The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth
The Real Nature of Religion by Rebecca Bynum
Traces Of The Past: Unraveling The Secrets Of Archaeology Through Chemistry by Joseph Lambert
Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt against Out-of-Control Psychiatric
Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life by Dr. Alan Francis
Your God is Too Small by J. B. Phillips
The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering by Melanie Thernstrom
The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson
Books maybe of interest:
The Joy of Automotion: Musings From a Vehicular Dilettante by Dale Franks
Where Have You Been?: Selected Essays by Michael Hofman
The Liberal Arrogance at the Core of Obamacare:
...paternalism is warranted, they argue, because without the government, people would fall prey to big, bad corporate interests and their efforts to relentlessly maximize shareholder value.
Thus, Obamacare is all about the federal government making decisions on behalf of Americans because -- as Gruber and his liberal brethren would argue -- the people are unable or unwilling to make the choices that elites believe advance the social good. That’s why President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress invented the mechanisms in the law that, for example, transfer resources from those who are young and healthy to those who are old and sick.
I don't think that I am unique in preferring big bad business interests to big, bad crony government and political interests. If you don't like a business, you can quit it. Not so easy to quit an armed government.
Being American is not supposed to be being a US subject.
Related: Gruber is an honest Liberal because he admits to grubering. Seems to me that his confessions are just bragging.
A new word: "Grubering." Lying your ass off to make a better world for you pathetic idiots.
Psalm 90:1-8, (9-11), 12
90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
90:3 You turn us back to dust, and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
90:5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
90:6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
90:7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
90:8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
90:9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.
90:10 The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
90:11 Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
90:12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
I am not sure whether that is one of David's Psalms, but there is a new book out about David: David Wolpe’s “David: The Divided Heart”
Saturday, November 15. 2014
 The kids are going to the NYBG Holiday Train show today. A field trip. 1/4 miles of track. Very cool for any age. Best to get tickets online.
Is It Time to Ditch Your Dining Room?
We only use ours about 20 times per year, but it is quite an attractive space with a nice old fireplace. With good friends, we tend to dine in the kitchen unless it's a special occasion.
Grown-Up Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake
Killer Shrimp, Flying Fish as Big as Teenagers: Great Lakes States Battle Invasive Species
Only women are supposed to be able to talk about gender issues.
Vodkapundit: Climate Change Made Simple
U.S. and China Are Blowing Smoke on Climate Change
Amazing to me that the NYT won't see through the BS
Surber: The first 2016 Electoral College Map looks bad for Democrats
They will find a way to blow it
Liberal Utopia: Boston Dumps Young Black Males into Special Ed
Senate to take up bill to stop mass NSA snooping
In Scathing Letter to Obama, Former FBI Assistant Director Slams Holder as "Chief Among Antagonists" in Ferguson
"And you think it's possible for the State to navigate between not enough minority members in the district and too many minority members in the district without taking race into account."
Grubered Again! Fifth Video of Liberal Mastermind Surfaces
The good story of the amateur Gruber sleuth: A word with the man who…
Also, Obamacare -- the Truth is Out:
It would seem that for the most part, the mainstream media has no issues with the recently surfaced videotaped comments of Jonathan Gruber. Presumably, the media agree with what he said. Of course, liberals have always been the ends-justify-the-means kind of feelers. In other words, they are people you cannot trust to be honest and straightforward when they have an agenda.
Now that the public is faced with the truth of what their government thinks of them, thanks to Gruber (who was paid approx. $400k for his stellar work), the only explanation the Democrats can offer is either 1) Gruber lied (yes, accuse the liar of lying when the lie is discovered!) or 2) everyone does it.
and
The process of passing Obamacare was ugly, the players corrupt, the deals underhanded and the methods disengenuous, but the end result, to a liberal Democrat, erases all that. Like Gruber, they would ‘rather have this bill than not’. If Democrats have to give up truth, transparency, the rule of law and their very souls to get what they want, so be it.
Yes, that is the game. Used car sales.
Noonan: The Loneliest President Since Nixon - Facing adversity, Obama has no idea how to respond.
Oh yes he does: Obama Taunts Republicans: Immigration Action Is “Going To Happen” In 2014 Whether You Like It Or Not…
Good news from NYT: Rogue executive feeling “liberated” by gigantic midterm landslide
Working for ICE 'is hell right now,' as Obama plans amnesty for illegals
The Next Border Crisis - Column: How Congress can fight Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty
Obama's executive amnesty, gateway to Obamacare for illegal aliens
Sultan's Super-Amnesty Will Turn Every City into Detroit:
92% of black male teens in Chicago don’t have a job. In Detroit, 50% of black men are unemployed. It’s not that there aren’t any jobs, but the entry level jobs have been mostly going to immigrants.
Immigrants, legal or otherwise, are doing the jobs I did as a youth
Elizabeth Warren gets rock-star reception at liberal donors confab
Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes
First, her tippet made of tulle,
easily lifted off her shoulders and laid
on the back of a wooden chair.
And her bonnet,
the bow undone with a light forward pull.
Then the long white dress, a more
complicated matter with mother-of-pearl
buttons down the back,
so tiny and numerous that it takes forever
before my hands can part the fabric,
like a swimmer's dividing water,
and slip inside.
You will want to know
that she was standing
by an open window in an upstairs bedroom,
motionless, a little wide-eyed,
looking out at the orchard below,
the white dress puddled at her feet
on the wide-board, hardwood floor.
The complexity of women's undergarments
in nineteenth-century America
is not to be waved off,
and I proceeded like a polar explorer
through clips, clasps, and moorings,
catches, straps, and whalebone stays,
sailing toward the iceberg of her nakedness.
Later, I wrote in a notebook
it was like riding a swan into the night,
but, of course, I cannot tell you everything -
the way she closed her eyes to the orchard,
how her hair tumbled free of its pins,
how there were sudden dashes
whenever we spoke.
What I can tell you is
it was terribly quiet in Amherst
that Sabbath afternoon,
nothing but a carriage passing the house,
a fly buzzing in a windowpane.
So I could plainly hear her inhale
when I undid the very top
hook-and-eye fastener of her corset
and I could hear her sigh when finally it was unloosed,
the way some readers sigh when they realize
that Hope has feathers,
that reason is a plank,
that life is a loaded gun
that looks right at you with a yellow eye.
Friday, November 14. 2014
We posted about Tarte Tatin last week, and there is no need to post more about Apple Pie because everybody makes it the way their Mom did. Here are more favorite apple desserts, all quick and easy to make (except for the Apple Tart), and all as American as Sarah Palin (except for the Apple Tart):
Apple Brown Betty (a classic American colonial dessert - a "betty" is a pudding)
Apple Cobbler (I think it's better with a few cranberries added)
Apple-Cranberry Crisp
Apple Crisp (a Dr. Bliss standard, with ice cream)
Apple Dumpling
Baked Apples
Apple Tart
Apple Pan Dowdy
I also like to make Apple Pancakes for breakfast. I just throw thin slices into the batter. A good pancake combo is some apple and a handful of cranberries. (Every fall I throw a dozen or so bags of cranberries in the freezer. They seem to last 10 months easily without any deterioration.)
Our Editor tells me his family refers to all of these apple desserts generically as "Upside-down Apple Town Dowdy Betty Bow Wow," and reminds our readers that, in Yankeeland, Apple Pie is traditionally for breakfast, not for dessert.
Common Core–The Elites Did It:
The broad view is that the Common Core didn’t grow out of grassroots demand for curricular reform. It isn’t the work of school boards or an initiative put in motion by dissatisfied parents. It didn’t come about because good teachers convened and came up with a proposal to improve K-12 education. It was instead the product of a handful of very-well connected intellectuals who dreamed up their own vision of what American schools should do.
and
One of the local realities is that many parents who are actively involved in their children’s education view the Common Core as state-imposed disaster. They are immune to the Coleman-Gates appeal for uniformity of teaching for the sake of uniformity itself. They are suspicious of an approach to math that vaults over tried-and-true approaches for the sake of the unproven benefits of a new “theory.” They are equally perturbed by an approach that derogates the importance of literature and, when it does introduce literary works, chops them into fragments and short extracts.
Combine arrogance, money, fancy degrees, and a top-down attitude, and this is what you get: a one-size-fits-all central plan designed for the masses by our moral and intellectual superiors whether you want it or not.
Same general philosophy as Obamacare. Or this: Liberal Masterminds Demand National Food Policy. No, that's not from The Onion.
A book (h/t reader) - Dining on the Shore Line Route: New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
South American Catholics Turning Protestant
It's time to abolish the Interstate Highway System
The Rudy Giuliani guide to beating Hillary Clinton
Rush: Amnesty is Irreversible
Geo. Will: Six Things GOP-Led Congress Should Do Right Away
Climate Change’ in the Land of Gruber/Obama
Obamacare's Foundation of Lies - There is only one kind of lie, it's apolitical, and it cripples the best of intentions.
Krauthammer on Obamacare:
On a separate video in a different speech, he explains what Obamacare intended: “If you’re a state and you don’t set up an exchange, that means your citizens don’t get their tax credits.” The legislative idea was to coerce states into setting up their own exchanges by otherwise denying their citizens subsidies.
This may have been a stupid idea, but it was no slip. And it’s the law, as written, as enacted and as intended. It can be changed by Congress only, not by the executive. Which is precisely what the plaintiffs are saying. Q.E.D.
Krauthammer on Pelosi: “If You’re Going to Lie Make Sure There Isn’t a Video”
Warren to the rescue - Democrats are reeling. So they're calling on their biggest star.
Hamas second-richest terror group in world, Forbes says
Forcing females into combat is real ‘war on women’
Video conference: Experiencing Vietnam
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