Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Saturday, December 1. 2012Saturday morning linksPic is the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam CT Darn good magic trick When They’re Grown, the Real Pain Begins Can a Jellyfish Unlock the Secret of Immortality Pretty much everything you eat is associated with cancer. Don’t worry about it. Does Online Education Actually Work? George Will: Colleges have free speech on the run Art marketing: Damien Hirst: Jumping the Shark Commercial charity fundraisers and the bite they take New-York Historical Society Presents NYC at War Pat Buchanan: Americans are already seceding from one another Median Household Income Plummets to 43-Year Low Found it on Facebook — Socialism versus Capitalism How did Susan Rice accumulate $25-40 million? Susan Rice, Distraction: The Real Benghazi Questions A Lib's view of todays politics: A Liberal Moment Campaign for America's Future, Top Democrat Activist Group, Launches Class-Warfare Website Port strike update: SoCal at a standstill, shippers moves to Mexico, retailers beg Obama for help Cox and Archer: Why $16 Trillion Only Hints at the True U.S. Debt - Hiding the government's liabilities from the public makes it seem that we can tax our way out of mounting deficits. We can't. Angry New Yorkers say Obama pledge to cut red tape ignored by FEMA City Attorney Tells San Bernardino Residents To ‘Lock Their Doors,’ ‘Load Their Guns’ Because Of Police Downsizing Congressional report ties Middle East terrorists to Mexican drug cartels Federal Lawsuit Exposes Massive CAIR Fraud and Cover-up Can California Handle a Recovery? Interest-group politics could derail one before it really gets under way. A Symphony of Courage Rita Kramer Feinstein Slams Salazar for Using ‘False Science’ to Kill Historic Oyster Farm
Results of U.N. vote to grant PLO non-member observer state status The Greek Crisis: Yes, It’s That Bad - Greece today is a broken country, unable to break out of the vicious circle of EU over-dependency. Palestinians Still Embrace Spirit of 1947 The Times and Israel - Rupert Murdoch was right. What I Saw During Operation Pillar of Defense Are there any Vietnam War-era POWs still alive in Laos? – A trip to Sam Neua and Vieng Xai Caves. China's military crossroads Comments
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"Darn good magic trick"
Outstanding. At first, I thought he was using balloons with an air injector tube running down his arm, but balloons are awfully hard to rip in half and not deflate. But then I figured it out. He had a high-heat bread oven stashed under his wrist band. If that's not the answer, I'm guessing "Actual Magic" and "Divine Intervention" are next on the list. More good stuff by the guy here. See that tree to the right of the Opera House? 28" pike came out of there on the end of my fishing pole. Also caught a very nice catfish in that same area once.
Re: Online education
We can all learn something from the written word, be it in a book, or on a computer screen. What we must have to become truly educated is dialogue. Live, living words exchanged with another more wiser in the subject at hand than we are. Critical thinking being the rules of this game of dialogue exchange. Given that professors skilled in the application of critical thinking have been absent from the classroom for the last 20 years it is easy to understand why this one sided version of education (reading) is becoming so popular. You see there is no difference between sitting in a room reading a book by yourself, or sitting in a classroom where the teacher is going on about her needs. There is a huge difference when one is engaged in a verbal examination of a subject with someone more skilled. Would you like to try to get critical thinking and debate back into college? Good luck with that! When I saw somewhere recently that Susan Rice was worth about 33 Million, first thing I wondered was "how"? To my knowledge she doesn't have any kind of extensive background in the nuts and bolts of business or finance; hands-on managing, investing etc.
I don't have anything against somebody getting rich, whether they inherit it, work their fingers to the bone, or just get lucky. But when somebody who's spent so much time in the government / academic field gets that rich, a flag goes up. What has she done to earn that kind of dough? Assuming she wasn't born into wealth, how did she even start to earn that pile? First thing that came to mind is that on the basis of her government / academic credentials and connections she probably got appointed to this or that company's board of directors, which gave her the credentials to get appointed to more of the like etc. Don't know. But I think she's a good modern example of how far polish and credentials will get you in the absence of meaningful, measurable achievement. Another suit of clothes with no emperor. Government, Business and Finance are stuffed with such people these days; always have been, I guess, but currently there's a surfeit. Actually, she was given a piece of Intellibridge for her work with that company which was subsequently purchased by a Eurasian foreign policy think tank for a healthy sum. Her husband is also a ABC News producer and her father was one of the very first blacks on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. He was also a principle economist at Princeton I think. Her mother, Lois, made most of her money at Control Data Corporation and is on the BOD for 11 different companies.
Well that fills in the gaps. Well placed to pull the strings and make the connections. Certainly she's got the smarts to do that effectively; just because the strings and connections are there doesn't mean that much if you're an idiot.
It would be interesting to see what the substance of "intellibridge" was, but something that's valuable to a "foreign policy think tank" probably isn't the kind of job-creating, wealth-creating capitalist venture I wish more of our Executive Branch elites had come from. Well I guess it could have been bought by a foreign policy think tank with a penchant for investing in job-creating, wealth-creating capitalist ventures! I bet her folks worked more in that line than she has; but anyway it doesn't matter much to know. She's got the pros and cons of her own record to judge her by, now. [url]http://freebeacon.com/obamas-murky-relationship-with-bp/
[/url] Think real hard about that --at first glance, it do notr seem much sinister. Keep thinking for another few seconds. You'll experioence 'satori' i think it's called, followed by 'HEY!' followed by (-gulp-). 20 years ago, a community organizer youth became --and remained --the largest recipient of donations from this sinister giant. Buddy, it's not terribly sinister. It is our crony capitalism at work. Obama was just collecting the fees due from Amoco. As you certainly know, all large corporations with a significant presence in Chicago have to pay protection fees.
"Nice oil company you have there, it would be a shame if anything happened to it." I just wonder if BP/Amoco think they got their money's worth? Mike, could be --or not could be, Gladys the question...whether 'tis no bull in the mind or the slingzen narrows of outfageous rortune...uhhh
"What I Saw During Operation Pillar of Defense" Yeah, that's part of the problem with women in the armed forces, they are so easily distracted by lost kittens when they should be shooting the enemy. Which brings me directly to this question, what happened to war? Has anyone seen where it went? If you find it, can you bring it back please?
You see, I'm pretty sure all that crap the author of this article was talking about is something, but it sure as hell isn't war. Kill the enemy, destroy his ability to resist. Is that really so confusing? What's all this nonsense about civilians? Screw the civilians, they feed and equip the warriors don't they? They buy the weapons and ammunition don't they? Stupid. And we wonder why we lost every war since WW2? I say bring war back. Our enemies are not confused about the nature of war. So, we in the fancy-pants west need to wake up and smell the coffee. What ever happened to war? There ain't any. That's why we've only got a Defense department anymore, instead of a War Department.
"Are there any Vietnam War-era POWs still alive in Laos?" This MIA-POW stuff is always good for a nice, polite, unemotional exchange of ideas. Actually though, I really liked the author's take in this article. He was level headed. But, that doesn't matter. You see, I like lost in the woods stories. Does anyone else remember how that abortion bomber dude was found down south? I believe he was camped behind a 7-eleven so he could raid the dumpster. A pretty good idea, until he was careless and exposed himself. Now, what I propose to recover those soldiers and marines from the woods all over SE Asia is what I call operation Lure Them Out or LOONY for short. It's not complicated, but will cost billions of dollars anyway. All we have to do is set out packages of aromatic hamburgers, tacos and ice cold beer in the areas where headquarters receives reports of sightings. Leaflets should be dropped by low flying crop dusting type airplanes to inform the populace of our peaceful plan. That way, the locals will know to call in whenever they see an American stealing food from dumpsters and garbage cans. Usually, I suspect, they just ignore them or incorrectly report them as Bigfoot. Which, as everyone knows, is a sure way to be politely ignored. It might even help if the fast foods most preferred by local peoples are included in the packages. So, maybe a mix of burgers, tacos, beer and pork fried rice? Maybe we better use flares, smoke bombs and flashing lights also, just to be safe. Whatever, but you get the picture. In no time at all, the myth that no Americans are wandering around in the woods of Laos and Vietnam and Cambodia will be finally and permanently dispelled. I guarantee it.
Yep, I've been very helpful today. No worries, I was bored. OK, just one more quickie. "Pretty much everything you eat is associated with cancer." Yeah, duh. Finally, we have the proof we needed to confirm what I've suspected for a long time. Chem trails really are poisoning us to death. People dying wasn't enough for the foolish skeptics. Now, maybe they will listen when they learn that cancer from our food is also killing people. I told you so.
W. C. Taqiyya: You crack me up. Your parody/sarcasm is better then the stories you are commenting on. It reminds me of the time in 1983 when Jimmy Buffett dropped out of sight and started hanging around the bar I frequented in Southern Ca. He would sing with the band on Fridays and Saturday nights. We didn't know who he was at first but we knew the music had improved.
Thank you for your kind words Gone. I noticed right off from the comments that this blog attracted a finer class of reader. Which makes it all the more tragic when I try too hard and my material falls short. I guess I'll have to try very hard not to try too hard to be funny. No, that's not right. I need to relax and get a looser grip. Never mind, I'm getting such a loose grip right now, I better just shut up.
Dianne Feinstein's problem with the interior department reminds me of George Mcgovern's late in life revelation when he sought to start a small business that a lot of what he had supported and worked for during his political life was destructive to the people that actually made the country work. While I'm not holding out any hope I have seen a few other hints lately that make me wonder if Senator Feinstein is having the same kind of revelation.
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It's been quite wintery here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire this weekend, with light snow falling all day yesterday. It made the roads a bit slick, particularly after sundown. The driving conditions were challenging for one of BeezleBub's...
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