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.

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Much Sorry with Delays
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Wednesday, March 20. 2013

Weds. morning links

Cow manure is not good fertilizer


Chart of the day: As a share of household spending, the US has the most affordable food in world


Summer Boot Camp for Freedom Fighting Law Students


Is it possible for the legal profession to reform itself?


This Is the Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today


The Texas Growth Machine - The data show that the Lone Star State’s prosperity is no mirage.


Scott Walker: Obama measures success by government dependency


Democrat Gubernatorial Candidate Promises Free College


'Government-Established Regulatory Body' To Oversee UK Media


Many Americans are wondering how their country, a supposed
"center-right" nation, reached the point of electing and reelecting the
most radical leftist administration in its history.


A Major Take-Down of Howard Zinn by David Greenberg in TNR. Don’t Miss it!


Ben Carson's Problematic Views on Health Care


Explaining The Minimum Wage To Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren - My Arguments In Favor of a $50/Hr Minimum Wage (/sarcasm)


Back in the day, a real New Yorker would look that tiny troll in the mayor’s office in his beady little eyes and laugh, “Hey Mikey, I got
your Big Gulp right here.”:




    Obedience to arbitrary authority is counter to everything that America stands for. We didn’t reluctantly cede a tiny bit of our personal sovereignty to the government so a bunch of know-it-all twerps could tell us what to eat, what to smoke, what to do and how to live. We did it to allow them the ability to keep order, which they have manifestly failed to do, and to perform a few basic governmental functions, which they have likewise failed to do.

    So, a government that has failed to adequately perform the few discrete tasks which it should be performing now wishes to do a bunch of other things which it has no business doing in the first place, and which it will inevitably do badly and thereby cause even more problems than existed in the first place.

    It’s time to say “No.”


Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:29 | Comments (27) | Trackbacks (0)

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Elizabeth Warren has the finest training from America’s finest universities given only the finest minds that meet the finest standards of excellence. You shouldn’t make fun of her. She knows better than you in every field.

In America, lawyers write bills, vote in the legislature to determine which bills become law, sign the bills into law, write regulations to enforce law, then argue about the meaning of law before other lawyers who sit in judgement about the law’s meaning. This is called democracy.
#1 ErisGuy on 2013-03-20 06:33 (Reply)
QUOTE:
My father (a lawyer) told me: “Company
culture is driven from the top — if it’s the
people who make the product, you’re good;
sell the product, you’re OK. If the accoun-
tants take over, look for another job, and
if the lawyers take over, run as fast as you
can! –Alden Hart


I would observe that law is one job where having an excess of labor raises the costs rather than lower them. To many engineers, we get lots of new inventions at low wages. To many lawyers, we get lots of new regulations and "innovative" lawsuits to extract legal fees. Not, surprisingly, cheaper representation of criminal defendants.
#1.1 JKB on 2013-03-20 08:33 (Reply)
ErisGuy -

Ah, nothing starts off the day better than a good piece of comedy.

Thanks.
    #1.2 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2013-03-20 09:20 (Reply)
    Guy,

    I'm not following you. Was the first paragraph sarcasm (I hope) or sincere? If sincere, you really should have better self-esteem. Don't think so poorly of your own ability to think and reason. I'm also sure you are better than Elizabeth Warren at something. Remember, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

    Here is a LSATesque question. Just as Beer is not just for Breakfast then the Legislature is 1) just for lawyers, b) for Barristers and lawyers, iii) not just for liars or p) not just for lawyers

    http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/legisdata/legislator-occupations-national-data.aspx

    The legislature, it's not just for lawyers. Neither is any elected seat. So again not following you but don't take it badly. Just try again.
    #1.3 Karen on 2013-03-20 10:52 (Reply)
    "Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today" leads to "In 2012, newspapers lost $16 in print ads for every $1 earned in digital ads. "

    Given the lack in quality and diversity of opinion in almost all major publications in the Netherlands (and from what I see also outside the Netherlands) I'm happy to see their business models fail. Interested to see what alternatives will grow into the vacated space; already getting my news, opinions and in-depth knowledge from the internet.
    #2 Daran on 2013-03-20 06:36 (Reply)
    To ask “Why Obama?” to is ask “Why the last 80+ years?”

    Because the American people want this.

    They have voted with their eyes wide open again and again to choose leaders whose dire effects on the family, the economy, and on freedom were both anticipatable and obvious. The American people believe the future America and present America as defined by Obama and Wright.
    #3 ErisGuy on 2013-03-20 06:43 (Reply)
    ErisGuy -

    Obama won by a slimmer margin last year than in the previous election. Yet, according to you, "the American people want this." Well, I guess that's true -- assuming "slightly more than half" equals "the American people".

    "They have voted with their eyes wide open"

    You're new at this, right? Go ask your neighbor what he thinks of the sequester, Benghazi, Rand Paul's economic plan, or any other Washington, D.C., topic you'd care to name. A blank stare is what you'll most likely get in return. The average American voter is, not to be too kind, a total moron when it comes to what's really taking place in this country.

    Re: your handle:

    Eris was the god of strife, discord, contention and rivalry.

    So far, so good. The only hitch?

    Eris was a female.

    So "ErisGuy" would be a self-cancelling redundancy.

    Way to go, Slick.
      #3.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2013-03-20 09:35 (Reply)
      So "ErisGuy" would be a self-cancelling redundancy. Or a cross dressing female, or a cross-dressing male, or a transgender, or....
      #3.1.1 BillH on 2013-03-20 10:46 (Reply)
      Doc, he didn't say their minds were working, just that their eyes were open.

      Karen, I'm seeing sarcasm in EG's first post para.
      #3.1.2 Sam L. on 2013-03-20 12:38 (Reply)
      My bad. My comment on Warren was a riff on Obama's "I'm a better speech writer than my speechwriters..." She is not fit to govern. Credentialed--not educated. All those years married to an engineer and still no knowledge of math or reasoning. One marvels at her schooling. No autodidact she. It's not as if I can't conceive of someone who admires or respects her, but I am baffled at its persistence.

      My comment about the legislature, the judiciary, the regulatory bureaucracy, and presidency is based on observation. It happens to be true. The American people oft mistake a reading in the law for the ability to govern.

      The political will of the American people is expressed through elections. I remember Nixon's silent majority speech. The silent majority has stayed silent as it slides to oblivion.

      It doesn't matter how many people voted for Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Newsome, Brown, Lautenberg.... Even if it was 44%. Obama won; they win. Such is the political will of the American people. We are lead in the direction we have chosen by those whom we have chosen, and we who dissent will be dragged along.

      As to my neighbors, until my recent move, they were academics. If questioned about Ron Paul, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan or RuPaul, the result would not have been a blank stare. Except for the last Paul, the result would be a spew of fulminating hatred. I am happier now that I live among non-academics. Perhaps I should be BacchusGuy anew.

      Dr., I can only imagine what you make of people named Jesus or of Ramesh. They are not the dieties whose names they claim. And their names are their true names.

      I did not combine my name and the name of the goddess Strife by accident. Readers may hold differing opinions on whether I am good Strife or bad Strife (q.v. Hesiod).

      I am not some drive-by commenter, informed by Reddit of Maggie's Farm's heresies. I like this site. I visit nearly every day. If you'd rather I not comment. Just say so. You have my email address; at least I think so. Unlike Mater Tenebrarum, I feel no need to go where I am not welcome.
      #3.1.3 ErisGuy on 2013-03-21 00:21 (Reply)
      Always interesting is to see an Erisian, devotee of the Sacred Chao (who says Mhu), keeper (or not) of the Discordian Calendar and avoider of Grayface. They keep things interesting
      #3.1.3.1 walt moffett on 2013-03-21 01:24 (Reply)
      The typical Obama supporter is a low-information voter who is a conformist and belongs to a Cargo Cult that expects "free stuff" from the government. I take it that's an apt description of you?
      #3.2 Agent Cooper on 2013-03-20 19:44 (Reply)
      Re: The Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today

      What is happening is that a high-cost form of advertising (newspapers) is being replaced by a low-cost form of advertising (digital media).
      #4 John on 2013-03-20 08:17 (Reply)
      If I owned a lunch place or a bodega in NYC affected by the Mayors dictat against large-sized cups, I'd offer two half sized drinks for the same price and give away a free large cup for free (thereby avoiding the do-not-sell rule). I'd call it a "Bloomberg Special".
      #5 MTF on 2013-03-20 08:27 (Reply)
      “Hey Mikey, I got your Big Gulp right here.”


      That sounds like bullying and like violence, government now has a monopoly on all legitimate bullying. Plus that is hurtful and probably hate speech. There should be a "law".

      Your average NY City metrosexual is not amused but he is a submissive.
      #6 JKB on 2013-03-20 08:43 (Reply)
      There's apparently a word for that now, 'microaggression'. Just when we thought all the big bigotry, violance against 'blank' and racism was stamped out, we now have to deal with all of these microagressive behaviors.
      #6.1 phil g on 2013-03-20 14:07 (Reply)
      The government was smaller and less intrusive when we were a creditor nation. As we grow government and programs we are running out of our money (taxes) and the debt (other peoples money OPM)is growing and will grow until no one will loan to us. So yea, we'll keep voting for more stuff until there is nothing left to buy the stuff. End of game.
      #7 indyjonesouthere on 2013-03-20 09:45 (Reply)
      The Democrat vote cheating teams were on the ground in 4 or 5 states long before the election. ACORN, unions and number of other corrupt secretive groups were registering fake voters and applying for absentee ballots. On election day vans with volunteers carried homeless men and others paid to vote for Dems from polling place to polling place to vote for Obama and other local Democrats. In each of these states there were 4 or 5 key counties that were stolen for Obama. This is how you steal a national election. The Democrats have stolen elections like this in every state and county for decades. President Kennedy got elected this way, even Jimmy Carter was the beneficiary of the machine. Clinton got the voter fraud as well but would never have won except thanks to Republican voters shooting themselves in the foot and voting for Perot he got elected anyway. This cabal is controlled by Marxist/socialist and open communist and our MSM won't touch this or expose it. Thanks to over five decades of smearing anyone who might expose the communist underbelly in the Democrat party by calling them McCarthyist no one dares say the C word in public. Even Hugo Chavez has helped elect Democrats and played a big part in getting Obama elected. When it comes to our national elections "you didn't build that" the radical left did.
      #8 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-03-20 10:33 (Reply)
      Chicago and Cook County have been stealing votes since the 1st Ward was formed. They took it to an art form for Kennedy when they invaded the "old folks" homes, the underpasses where the hobos hung out, the barrios of non-English speaking, the social clubs where the politically-indebted met daily, the universities and community colleges where Howard Zinn's rewritten history was The Bible, union meetings of everyone from steel workers to teachers and all points in between thanks to the bankrolls of The Mob.

      With Obama and his crew at ACORN, they've taken it to a national scale. The mob now just has a Harvard degree, works on Wall Street, then becomes an advisor to or part of the President's cabinet. Or goes to Columbia or Wharton, becomes a bigwig in the media and serves as the government's propaganda machine with an ambassadorship in their future. Some things never change.
      #8.1 jma on 2013-03-20 11:35 (Reply)
      Cow Manure Other than spewing BS, the guy doesn't have a clue about cows or cow manure. He seems to think the manure only supplies minerals to the soil, which is BS. He implies that cows graze on soy beans, not seeming to realize there are other nitrogen fixers such as clover, which cows do graze on. He's not explaining mythology, he's adding to it with pure BS.
      #9 BillH on 2013-03-20 10:58 (Reply)
      Cow manure is great fertilizer! However the author is accurate when he suggests that there currently isn't enough manure to support extensive organic row cropping.
      #10 Jared on 2013-03-20 11:20 (Reply)
      Regarding cow manure/fertilizer: If only I had known, I could have said to my father while he, my brother and I shoveled not-fertilzer into the wagon behind the tractor: "You know this contains synthetic nitrogen and too much phosphorus. Therefore, we should find another source for fertiliazer." Then I would have found out if i could run faster than the Old Man.
      #11 SgtBob (Link) on 2013-03-20 11:32 (Reply)
      Yes, if only they'd known that before they did the experiments using dense herds to restore grasslands.
      #11.1 JKB on 2013-03-20 12:28 (Reply)
      What a bunch of bunk. Sure, he says he loves cows, but clearly hasn't spent any time around them, tending or raising them. Or, shoveling it, for that matter.

      Correction: he's shoveling it all right; just not something productive like manure.
      #11.2 KellyM on 2013-03-20 12:44 (Reply)
      If insurance companies don't make money, they won't be in business. Howsomever, med insurance was designed to get around WWII wage restrictions, and has now metasticized.
      #12 Sam L. on 2013-03-20 12:42 (Reply)
      The illo --how can the steeple be plumb and the tree not?
      #13 buddy larsen on 2013-03-20 19:19 (Reply)
      Who killed the newspapers? They themselves did, they committed suicide by insulting the intelligence of half their readership. The demise of my local, very left-leaning newspaper cannot come soon enough to suit to me (although I admit to taking some vicarious pleasure in the anxiety and pain the paper's staff must be feeling these days).
      #14 Agent Cooper on 2013-03-20 19:36 (Reply)
      Bill Halter's promise of free college supported by in part by lottery proceeds which won't raise taxes, state spending etc is reminder that Southern Democrats have no new ideas. Georgia did the lottery/free college thing first (and found out its not working as described) and every D has copied the idea. Why not state tax rebates at the end of the fiscal year, while jawboning the state colleges to control costs making sure tax dollars don't follow just to cronies and supporters.
      #15 walt moffett on 2013-03-21 01:37 (Reply)

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