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.
Pay
Attention Republicans — Especially You, Mr. Trump - See more at:
http://bernardgoldberg.com/pay-attention-republicans-especially-you-mr-trump/#sthash.W23KWWdt.dpuf
In just days, Clinton has issued dire warnings about climate change; been caught jumping on and off a private plane; pledged, because of the plane’s emissions, to the make her campaign carbon neutral (without revealing how); jetted to New York City for a $600 haircut; and refused to reveal her position on the Keystone XL pipeline, which those same voters interested in climate change are asking her about.
Big game is hunted all the time in Africa, quite legally. All you have to do is pay and the guides will find a convenient target for all of the Bungalow Bills. Poor schmuck shot the wrong one (but with a bow, to his credit). For real heart-wrenching, ‘It’s Another Boy!’
So we progressively humanize animals and dehumanize people. Something wrong there. I am neither pro-abortion nor anti-all abortion. I have been in a moral limbo about it for years while finding the very idea of abortion spiritually revolting. Abortion is not health care. PP abortions should not be funded by taxpayers. They can abort all the lions they want if they have too many.
As we’ve poured more and more government money into college “access,” schools have pocketed much of the money and gone on a spending spree – and then increased their tuition and fees, leading politicians to cry that they must increase student aid more to keep higher education “affordable.”
“I am not here as a serf or vassal. I am not begging my lords for mercy. I’m a born free American woman, wife, mother and citizen. And I’m telling my government that you’ve forgotten your place. It’s not your responsibility to look out for my well-being, and to monitor my speech. It’s not your right to assert an agenda. Your post, the post that you occupy, exists to preserve American liberty. You’ve sworn to perform that duty. And you have faltered.”
"Although I grew up in a union household and surrounded by progressive peers, I kept noticing liberal policies sound good but actually reinforce poor choices. It dawned on me: I’m a conservative."
Sedentary workers and sedentary people tend to develop a hunchback, a slouch, termed Postural Kyphosis. This is not really the same thing as Senile Kyphosis ("Dowager's Hump"), but it's in the same direction. Postural Kyphosis is reversible, Senile Kyphosis is not.
Back exercises are the best things for posture, generally. Dead lifts, especially. Not a bad idea to stick a post-it on your desk saying what your Mom said at the dining room table: "Sit up straight with your shoulders back." (She also always said "Stand up straight like a soldier.")
Maybe you read about this today. Cecil the lion was killed by a dentist who is now in hiding due to death threats from those who 'cared' about Cecil.
I wish I could care about Cecil the Lion, but as much as I think his killer is a bit of an asshole, I'm more disturbed by the outpouring of death threats he has received.
More to the point, I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be upset about today? The kid whose body they found in the dumpster or a freaking lion who was killed legally (however much the kill was rigged to be legal, and however much of an ass the guy is, it was legal).
Yeah, Cecil is a sad story. Yeah the dentist is probably an idiot. But let's face it - we have a presidential contest about to start and a host of issues here at home that have led us to be concerned about way too much:
1. a moron former first lady who claims she is 'for the people' and gets $600 haircuts, while roping herself off from the people in parades
2. a moron socialist who occasionally says something cool, but is generally an asshole because he wants to pay everyone a minimum of $15 an hour but won't even pay his own staffers that wage - because it's too much.
3. a moron businessman who speaks plainly and pisses people off because running the country isn't the same as running a business. Yeah, he makes a few good points, but he has no shot at winning and even if he did I wouldn't trust him with my tax dollars.
4. a moron president who is no doubt hoping someone will change laws and allow him to run for a third term (while I'd support changing that law, I don't support him)
5. a bunch of morons trying to ban the Confederate battle flag, but not really caring about the 20 other Confederate flags which were equally "racist" then, but have different meanings today.
6. a bunch of morons who think banning guns is a good idea so they created "gun free zones" which have become kill zones - and they believe this supports their cause!
7. a bunch of morons who think certain words are triggers and should be outlawed because they 'offend'
The list of things I need to care about is endless. I have to remind myself each day to not offend anyone, to not be myself because someone else may not like what I am or what I stand for, to abide by some of the dumbest laws a nation can devise (and be concerned about others which are certainly headed our way), and generally be sensitive and caring to all people and all animals, all the time, everywhere, no matter what.
I'm pissed off about Cecil. But he's a freaking lion and he's thousands of miles away. There will be more lions, and he's not in my backyard. But I'm tired of having to care about every little thing that someone thinks is 'important' to them. I care about me, and my family, and my friends. I care if they are healthy, and I care if someone is impinging on mine, or their rights. So yes, I care. But I really just can't find time in my day to care about Cecil. Sorry.
Africa is beginning to go down that dark road towards western-style prosperity, development, and freedom. Like Cuba, see it now before the old Africa disappears. Is "poverty" a Western concept? Masai warriors with iPhones? What next? Disney Africa?
Already, there is no "wild Africa" remaining. Its future is like South America.
Nietzsche killed God in 1883, but man is hardwired to believe in something. Which explains why much of the 20th century was a search for alternate religions: The State, environmentalism, feminism, hallucinogenic drugs, and virtually all other aspects of the left take on religious aspects as they become more and more radical. But then, as Tom Wolfe wrote in “The ‘Me’ Decade and the Third Great Awakening,” “It is entirely possible that in the long run historians will regard the entire New Left experience as not so much a political as a religious episode wrapped in semi military gear and guerrilla talk.”
Geraldo
Rivera Frets Planned Parenthood Scandal ‘Might Put an End’ to ‘Garbage’
Used to ‘Be the Cure for Cancer’ - See more at:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2015/07/28/geraldo-rivera-frets-planned-parenthood-scandal-might-put-end#sthash.9BBnJKEi.dpuf
It's a new form of cheese to me: Burrata. It's a gooey variant of Mozzarella (a cheese which I do not like, even Buffalo Mozzarella. Flavorless and rubbery). Burrata, like Mozzarella, is a fresh cheese.
I'd be willing to try Burrata with sliced tomato. They may have it at our gourmet Italian market, and I am told Whole Foods carries it sometimes. I hate Whole Foods on principle, but they have always had a fine cheese department. Me love cheeses with fruits, nuts, jellies for dessert.
A good tomato platter might be sliced tomatoes, sliced mango or peach, a chunk of oozing burrata, a handful of chopped fresh basil, and a balsamic dressing.
Our friend Dr. Schneiderman discusses Adolescent Cutting. After many years of addressing self-mutilation with youth and some adults, I have become convinced that various sorts of self-harm entail "integrative" pain - a discomfort which helps a person feel more centered, whole, and complete. In fact, it is not unusual for somewhat shakily-constructed people to create or to be drawn to chaos and crises for their strange psychologically-integrating effects.
There might be an entire new theory of masochism in general built on that idea, but I think Freud sort of began to get there first. Perhaps he over-sexualized masochism, or over-death-wished it, but he was on the trail towards an understanding of masochism and its perverse gratifications.
A fun, wide-ranging interview. She gets it wrong on Clinton-Cosby though. It's not "wired-differently," it's a refusal to exercise conscience. Low-life pond scum. Most people manage to refrain from doing whatever they might feel like doing.
One quote from her re academic craziness:
I prophesied this in a piece I wrote in 1992 for the Times Literary Supplement called “The Nursery-School Campus”. At the time, nobody understood what I was saying. But I was arguing that the obsessive focus by American academe with students’ emotional well-being was not what European universities have ever been concerned with. European universities don’t have this consumer-oriented view that they have to make their students enjoy themselves and feel good about themselves, with everything driven by self-esteem. Now we have people emerging with Ivy League degrees who have no idea how little they know about history or literature. Their minds are shockingly untrained. They’ve been treated as fragile emotional beings throughout their schooling. The situation is worsening year by year, as teachers have to watch what they say and give trigger warnings, because God forbid that American students should have to confront the brutal realities of human life.
A pal is fishing for a couple of days on the Gulf. Yesterday fished for Speckled Trout, which is a type of Drum, not a trout. He emailed me a few pics.
Sunrise fishing off Pass Christian, Mississippi. Quite a history there.
A big game hunter speaks (
It's a new form of cheese to me: 
