Maggie's Farm

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.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

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Thursday, December 6. 2012

Thursday morning links

Today is St. Nicholas Day! Jolly old St. Nick!


Is it possible to love your dog or cat too much?


Dave Brubeck dead at 91


Heard him live a couple of times. You cannot not love his music


Study Raises Questions on Coating of Aspirin


The great mystery of my lifetime has been the 1960s



Are poorer Americans victims?



The kulaks will revolt


VDH: In D.C., being black and female is a plus — as long as you’re also a Democrat.


Rhode Island’s Blue Civil War


World Bank spends your money to support sharia


Pentagon peacocks


Hannan: Shale gas might just rescue our economy – but not if the EU gets its way


British Environment Minister: More Windmills Or More Wars Or Something


Netanyahu’s Message Was No Blunder


The Deadly Israeli House


Stalinism Lives in South Africa: Was Nelson Mandela a Secret Communist?

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:33 | Comments (22) | Trackbacks (0)

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Dave: time out pal, take five.
#1 wirraway on 2012-12-06 09:29 (Reply)
Cool comment --warm blue --like that 5/4 time that's probably where the '5' comes from, tho not where it has to stay fer sher.

Dig this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHdU5sHigYQ

Man, the film itself is too cool, with the gin-clear black and white throwing back-wall Deco doppelgangers shadowing the sounds.

We don't even hear the characteristic piano riff (and then he just limns it and throws it back in) until past four minutes. It's Paul Desmond's spotlight --the sideman who actually composed ''Take Five'' ( a nice touch in that Dave always let his sidemen step up the show-stoppers, that a sideman gave him his signature music color --blues on the upbeat, kinda unique, like that 'take five' propulsion experiment of Desmond's, seeing if he could warm up them sad sax minor keys. Cool and stylish like that whole stream of of the fifties --before JFK doffed that hat and we slid from our heads to our hair, from substance to style, from the crop to the field ).

Anyhoo, there's another DB vid where the drummer takes a solo where he beats out the whole drum vocabulary so fast and tight inside the melody that we don't even see him doing it, tho he's right there in close up doing it --i'll try to find it.
#1.1 buddy larsen on 2012-12-06 16:29 (Reply)
Chateau Down: The Tragedy Of The Language Barrier? Or The Poles Sticking It To the Russkie?

Blue Civil War: Couldn't happen to two not-nicer factions.

Pentagon Peacocks: Also get addressed at http://op-for.com/

Shale Gas: Why worry about the EU when it's our government that's against it first?

Brit Enviro: Commenter Mended wrote, "In other news: why the heck are we still paying attention to the climate change denial mob? Half of them think the world was created in 4004BC and half of the other half work for Exxon." Answer: Because there are fools proposing it.

Bibi: If Israel treated the Palis in the way they have long been accused of treating them, carpet-bombing the Pali areas would have already occurred.

Israeli Houses: Some of the finest sarcasm I've read!

Stalinism Lives: Why am I not surprised?
#2 Sam L. on 2012-12-06 09:57 (Reply)
Dogs, horses and cats have better characters than most people. Although it is my duty to love my family and my pleasure to spend time with friends, my pets are the only critters on God's earth that I have been able to rely on for lifelong, unconditional love. So, I spend more money on human charity, and think it wicked to spend money on excessive vets bills over helping needy humans, part of me thinks the animals deserve it more. They are more loyal and more loving. But Jesus called us to love other unlovable humans as He loved unlovable us. If we want to be truly loved, we shouldn't expect it from another human. We can just visit a local analysis animal shelter and rescue a future lifelong friend.
#3 Retriever on 2012-12-06 10:43 (Reply)
Fat-fingered Freudian touch-screen iPhone typo above....
#4 Retriever on 2012-12-06 10:46 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Steve Sailer: The great mystery of my lifetime has been the 1960s

If you remember the Sixties, you weren't there.
#5 Zachriel on 2012-12-06 12:56 (Reply)
I know you were just being cute, but I haven't at all forgotten my two tours to SVN in 66-68. Still got a taste of what you consider the 'real' sixties in 69-72. Took me years to realize that my time in SVN was much more valuable, rewarding, and sustaining than anything I've experienced since.
#5.1 XRay on 2012-12-06 20:58 (Reply)
Good thinking, X-Ray --you pulled it out --good for you.
#5.1.1 buddy larsen on 2012-12-08 00:34 (Reply)
Now we as taxpayers are supporting Sharia financing? We do know that it is NOT interest free; they simply apply the interest to the loan before making the deal. There's no way one gets an "interest free" loan for how-many-ever years. If you believe that, then I have some other myths for you:

1. Children do get their right hands chopped off for stealing a loaf of bread and women are killed without trial for affronting a male;
2. Infidels working as contractors in Islamist countries often "disappear" or meet unfortunate endings;
3. American women marrying and having children with men of Islam should not visit their native land as the children may never return to the U.S....and our government is helpless to help you.
#6 jma on 2012-12-06 13:01 (Reply)
Bird Dog: Are poorer Americans victims?

The essay starts out with a reasonable point:

QUOTE:
Loran Blood: Socialism is a great monkey's paw.

But then careens off into caricature, an example of black-and-white thinking.

QUOTE:
Loran Blood: The present occupant of the White House, and the party of which he is an iconic if standard feature, was born into and suckled upon the milk of zero-sum economics, perennial class antagonism, class envy, and a neo-feudal status centered mentality of human relations. Like many of his generation and worldview, he is convinced there is a "better world" possible in which humankind can be redeemed and made whole through a moral regeneration imposed by sheer force of will by the state and by the cleansing influence of a purifying ideology.

Which ignores the vast middle ground where you can actually find Obama.

QUOTE:
Loran Blood: One of the fundamental problems of the welfare state, and one that has long been understood as among the most morally and culturally deleterious of its social effects and costs, is the great transference of the consciousness of and responsibility for the care for the poor and needy among us from individuals and local communities to distant, impersonal bureaucratic institutions associated with the state, and especially with the central, federal government.

Again, a reasonable point worth exploring, but ...

QUOTE:
Loran Blood: Into this maelstrom comes leftist ideology. Now, poor people become "the poor;" a separate, stable, and invariant class of ideological pawns useful in the unending polemical games of power politics while acting as durable icons of the cosmic quest for "social justice".

Which is ironic, because he is creating his own stereotype of the left.
#7 Zachriel on 2012-12-06 13:11 (Reply)
Ironic? You could get to the truth by using the word 'honest' instead, seeing as how the Democratic party lives off of hiding the difference between a static and a dynamic list of the names of the people inside the stat collectives.

Horrors, they change, Young starters move up and out and old folks enter after retirement, and middle ages flow out and in upon the waves of endeavor and enterprise, luck and ambition, character and fate. Yes some of the names are permanent fixtures, but only about half. If the Dems were a bar floozy hiding her age, she wouldn't take off a few years, she'd take off half of them.
#7.1 buddy larsen on 2012-12-06 17:18 (Reply)
buddy larsen: Ironic? You could get to the truth by using the word 'honest' instead, seeing as how the Democratic party lives off of hiding the difference between a static and a dynamic list of the names of the people inside the stat collectives.

You seem to be conflating political left with the Democratic Party. Like all political parties, the latter is a coalition of various groups. Not sure your point, or even whether you addressed the implicit irony in Blood's diatribe. Blood is complaining about reductive stereotypes drawn by the left, while drawing an extreme stereotype of his own.
#7.1.1 Zachriel on 2012-12-07 09:42 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Paul Murphy: Who elected Obama? ... Nationally, Obama won the popular vote by 4,452,910 -- but because 4,516,701 of those came from California and New York, Romney and the GOP can reasonably argue that he won the rest of the country by just about 64,000 votes.

Generally, votes in California should be worth as much as votes in Wyoming, though, due to the Electoral College, they are only worth about 1/3 as much.

QUOTE:
Paul Murphy: Those Somali refugees bussed to polling places in Ohio were there not because they believe in Obama; they were there because Democrat militants brought them to count as voting for Obama.

If you Google Somali refugees bussed in to vote, you can confirm the intensity of the xenophobic right-wing echo chamber at work with articles saying it's "disgusting" and "fraud". In any case, there are about 45000 Somalis in the area, about 40% are citizens. There is no evidence of voter fraud other than that they look funny, dress funny, talk funny, and have funny names.
#8 Zachriel on 2012-12-06 13:48 (Reply)
Have you ever wondered why the U.S. decided one day to "import" half a million Somalis? Were we running short of semi-literate angry people who needed to be supported on welfare for the rest of their lives? Did we have too few rapist and criminals in Ohio and we needed more. How exactly was that decision made. I can assure you if you go downtown to any large city in Ohio you will find an ample supply of rapist, murders and thugs and violent felons. So what was the reason? Not suprisingly the reason was exactly what Zach implied but wouldn't quite say; that is they were a definable group that could easily be lead and co-opted by Democrats. Our "legal" immigration policy was designed to import groups who would "need" welfare and be amiable to the Democrat party for the "free stuff" they bestowed upon them. There are enclaves all over the states of newly minted citizens most of whom don't speak English, don't work (on the books) and thus are dependent on welfare and the Democrats for "free stuff". These new Democrat voters are often being placed in states with low populations so that they can overwhelm the voting trends easily. Each of these new citizens requires approximately $45,000 of YOUR tax money to just "get by" in their new country. And yet we continue to import people whose culture will never allow them to assimilate and a thinking person would wonder why? How was the decision made to "import" a million or so militant islamists? Did we not have enough criminals so someone decided to bring in more? In California the Russian immigrants have made a life carear out of getting on SSI and other forms of welfare. In Washington state Asian immigrants are provided with a home, full welfare worth the equivalent as much as a job paying $55,000. They are all considered to be poor but the typical car they buy within the first year is a Escalade worth about $75,000. These new Democrat voters never get off welfare and yet we will import over a million of them every year. Why? Why do we allow immigration when our own unemployment rates are approaching great depression numbers? Whose idea was this? In fact it was Ted Kennedy. He came up with this politically brilliant idea in the 60's and you have to admit it has worked extremely well. A million or more new Democrat voters every year and they could even place them where they were needed most. Never mind the impact on taxpayers the very citizens our politicians were supposed to be looking out for. If the democrats had to destroy the middle class to convert us to socialism then it was worth it. If you could no longer walk the streets of your city after dark because the culture of the new citizens the Democrats have placed among you allows them to rape and rob with impunity well that's too bad. If your taxes continue to rise to pay for welfare for the incredibly reproductive new citizens that's just the tip of the iceberg. You have lost your country thanks to Ted Kennedy and the Democrats. You are probably still wondering what happened on Nov 6th, still believing the media that the Republicans failed because they weren't inclusive enough. You cannot believe that the Democrats actually committed massive voter fraud and consider people who espouse that belief to be tin foil hat nuts. Hell, you probably also believe Obama won't raise the taxes on the middle class. I am left wondering when a majority of us will actually wake up to what has happened and once awake what we will do about it. No worries you can still buy a 30 pack of beer at the 7-11 for under $20 and watch sports on your widescreen TV 365 days a year. No worries...
#8.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2012-12-07 12:00 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Ron Radosh: Was Nelson Mandela a Secret Communist?

Mandela's leftist political views are hardly a revelation. In any case, Mandela did not institute a communist state upon his ascension to power. He threaded the needle about as well as could be expected considering the enormous difficulties he faced.
#9 Zachriel on 2012-12-06 14:18 (Reply)
Zach:

You may annoy some of our readers, but I enjoy your comments. We like diversity.
#9.1 Bird Dog on 2012-12-06 15:42 (Reply)
Mostly, he needs to pick up an Occam's razor, and learn to use it.
#9.1.1 BillH on 2012-12-06 17:46 (Reply)
Occam's Razor would suggest that when given the chance to become king or dictator or commissar, chose instead to become democratically elected President voluntarily retired after one term, would imply that this was his actual political stance.
#9.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2012-12-07 09:31 (Reply)
We really do try to add some value to the thread, supporting our positions. You may be surprised that we share not only admiration of Dylan, but certain conservative values as well.
#9.1.2 Zachriel on 2012-12-07 09:17 (Reply)
The 'we' --is your associate named "Harvey" by any chance?
#9.1.2.1 buddy larsen on 2012-12-08 00:32 (Reply)
Nice theory. Thanks. We'll add it to the list.
#9.1.2.1.1 Zachriel on 2012-12-08 09:01 (Reply)
Re the chateau: Maybe I read too many crime novels, but having Polish contractors "accidentally" demolish the new toy of a "Russian millionaire businessman" sounds like an organized crime thing to me.
#10 Ruby Lennox on 2012-12-06 22:18 (Reply)

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