Maggie's Farm

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Friday, August 9. 2013

Friday morning links

Matt Damon Explains It All


SAT Scores No Longer Important to Some Colleges


Any customer is better than no customer


Monstrous - Polyamorist Michael Philpott killed his children in pursuit of welfare benefits.


NYT Spotlights Obama’s Middle East Mess


Al-Qaeda Is on the Run? Obama’s Foreign Policy Projects Confusion and Weakness


Chris Matthews: The Fact That I Speak Openly of Barack Obama's
Speeches Giving Me Erections Does Not Prove That Either I or My
Clownshow Employer Is Baised In His Favor


Why Seniors Are Turning Against The GOP


Where are all the children?


NYC:  If Giuliani, like Alexander, had run out of problems to conquer, Bloomberg never had any to begin with.:



 Republicans still believe in being the party of good government, while Democrats, under lefty influence, believing in being the party of moral government. The more pragmatic authoritarianism of the good government party only paves the way for the moral authoritarianism of the left.

The cycle ensures that the left will always have a right to clean up their messes and to rebel against. They need their Nixons to get them out of Vietnam, try to make their social welfare policy disasters seem workable, and act as the father figure that they can pull down and destroy. They need the Reagans and Giulianis and Eisenhowers to denounce as authoritarian conformists, thoughtless buffoons who prevent progress, because the alternative is the eternally stultifying rule of the left whose existence in a country destroys the left as a meaningful moral force in human affairs.

The authoritarian cycle allows the right to claim credit for cleaning up the messes and the left and allows the left to claim credit for cleaning up the messes of the right. The left blames the right and its "budget cuts" to social welfare programs for causing the mess. The right blames the left's flirtation with criminality and its hostility to the solid citizen. The dynamic is a familiar one from elections.



The Peace Process’s Turkey
Problem


The Vietnam War, via chopper


The UN’s Millennium Development Flop


Washington fixes Obamacare --- for Washington only!

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:51 | Comments (24) | Trackback (1)

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It's not that the "seniors" are turning against the GOP, it is that the Woodstockers are aging out and are now the growing segment of seniors. They never were for the GOP 'cause of Nixon or some such childish rant.

BTW, it must be terrible to be an old Woodstocker, unable to trust your friends or yourself for that last 35 years or so. Or course, in their narcissism they now don't trust anyone under 60.
#1 JKB on 2013-08-09 08:51 (Reply)
I went to Woodstock!

It sucked.
#1.1 Bird Dog on 2013-08-09 08:54 (Reply)
But you gotta admit - seeing Jimi play the Star Spangled Banner that day must have been a marvel...
#1.1.1 fred zeppelin on 2013-08-09 12:32 (Reply)
Hey, cut them some slack! After all, Mick Jagger is still singing, and he's well past 45 and singing "Satisfaction."

I was at Woodstock, too. Sort've. I was 7 and my aunt and uncle lived up there and we went to visit them. All I really remember was lots and lots of people looking like a younger Doc Mercury wandering around.

Back then, I was afraid of them, because they were 'different'. 10 years later, working at a summer camp, I got to hear young kids vocalize similar thoughts, which put things in perspective for me, what with my shoulder-length hair and rock 'n roll music.

My aunt and uncle, who were prototypical hippies (and beatniks prior to that), would never have been Republicans. College professor and journalist, they raised a family that, even today, lives with 'the people'.
#1.2 Bulldog on 2013-08-09 09:13 (Reply)
There are plenty of seniors on the dole - named nicer things like Social Security, Medicare, etc... They freak out whenever it is suggested that we give them a little less wealth seized from working age people.

There is a generational economic battle coming. The geezers are wrong if they think my kids are going to pay 50% taxes to support retirees' permanent vacations.
#1.3 NJSoldier on 2013-08-09 09:14 (Reply)
The baby boom generation continues is legacy of selfishness and greed.
#1.4 DrTorch on 2013-08-09 10:17 (Reply)
Little skeptical of something from James Carville.
#1.5 grant1863 on 2013-08-09 22:27 (Reply)
I have an idea: what d'ya say we look for indicators that will strongly support the notion that Hillary has already been chosen president? Let's see if we can make a very strong case before the elections of 2014. Wanna bet?
#2 faculty wife on 2013-08-09 08:58 (Reply)
RE: Seinors leaving the GOP - I find suspect with anything Carville has to opine on, but I can see his points on why Grandpa\ma are leaving, due to the threats to the 'free sh!t army' and the goodies they rely\demand.

Some of the points are strange - expand Obamacare? Better child care? All are the rally cries\talking points to the DNC message output.

I'm to the point of letting them have it all, go the Full Clowerd-Pivin, and let this whole house of cards fall.

It cannot go on in its present state.
#3 fred zeppelin on 2013-08-09 09:04 (Reply)
Matt Damon?

I never agreed with his politics, but everyone I know, even those who disagree with his views, insists he's quite intelligent.

I read the interview, but I had a hard time finding proof of this.

What I think of Matt is, ultimately, meaningless. Except that I'm sure his view of himself is guided by what others think of him. Isn't that why most people get into acting?
#4 Bulldog on 2013-08-09 09:07 (Reply)
I heard him give proof of his intelect by saying his mom was a school teacher. Couldn't see the connection, but it was better than associating it with a cow-pat.

Tho, at times, the cow-pat shows sings of intellect ....
#4.1 fred zeppelin on 2013-08-09 09:21 (Reply)
'sings'? #%!#@ keyboard.... meant 'signs'...
#4.1.1 fred zeppelin on 2013-08-09 09:26 (Reply)
I didn't find any evidence of intelligence in either him or his mother, but I do find the usual leftist lack of awareness of his positions. He wants school choice (for him - but not for you), yet I'll bet he considers himself to be the ultimate egalitarian.

What does he see when he looks in the mirror?

What a putz!
#4.2 mudbug on 2013-08-09 09:53 (Reply)
Matt Damon is a twit.

He only seems intelligent because of his character in Good Will Hunting.

He's just another celebrity who needs to shut up and perform.
#4.3 phil g on 2013-08-09 15:09 (Reply)
Seniors leaving the GOP? For what? Most conservatives are extremely unhappy with the GOP but not for what they want to do but rather for what they fail to do and refuse to even talk about. Do conservatives want amnesty and the inevitable rush on our borders that will follow amnesty? Do conservtaives want to extend the debt ceiling every six months? Do conservatives want Obamacare? Do conservatives want to emasculate the military while expanding welfare? Most conservatives are advocating for a third party. Of course it would be political suicide but that seems to be the concious intent. A third party movement gave us Bill Clinton as president and it seems likely to give us his wife in 2016. The third party is not the answer but until or unless the Republican party purges Rinos I think the game is over. I fully expect the Democrats to give us "Detroit" nationwide. The problem is about half of our current Republican congressmen will vote for it.
#5 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-08-09 10:57 (Reply)
More than half the retiring Baby-Boomers were already liberals. Now they are liberals on senior welfare. You think they will vote for anyone who doesn't promise them more of my stuff?
#5.1 NJSoldier on 2013-08-09 11:27 (Reply)
Most of the middle are no longer comfortable voting for a party, or it's candidates, who refuse to discuss or even mention the biggest problem of all. Shhhhh.... you can't say the "P" word. We'll just keep going along with the dems to try to help "alleviate the impact" How can anyone support a party that cannot name the real problems? Also, the R party has lost so much ground over the years with it's A platform. Hard to recapture all those female votes of any color, or conviction. Why don't the Republicans get smart and start to name it like it is--if they do that they could recapture so many votes. For starters they could start with a strong stand in support of bringing into the criminal justice system any/all of the wrongdoers on Wall Street. They could also start a discussion around the "P" problem first by calling it what it is and second by putting out to the public the suggested solutions and ways of dealing with it. As it stands now they are just trying to "pass immigration" that has no intention of securing the borders, because they are not able to acknowledge the real problems--The Over POPULATION in Mexico, our inability to stop the drug lords in the US. NAME IT, NAME IT, NAME IT and they can win in 2016. Dance around these things and they look like a bunch of white male wooossses!
#6 faculty wife on 2013-08-09 11:30 (Reply)
Its the age-old story of being brow-beaten, demonized, and operated outside their OODA loop, that the likes of Graham and McCain are 'normal' in the party, and Cruz and Paul are 'abnormal'

Frankly, they are quickly becoming the Whigs of the 21st century...

There is no loyal opposition - just a lighter shade of blue that thinks its red and wants the incremental march of progressiveness just a few steps slower than what the Dems foster.

I said it earlier - I'm almost to the stage of embracing the full power of Cloward-Pivin, and let this whole house of cards implode, but, my sense of obligations to all whom have fallen in defense of this nation, its ideals, and what the founders gifted to us, prevents me. But, the fight is just too much for the (seemingly) handful of us whom can see what's happening, and the avalanche of support the progressives have.

I've grown weary of our crop of politicians, and long for a true statesman\woman, with the mantle to wield the sword of truth, honor, and principles of this nation, not the murky, inclusive, neo-socialist quagmire our leftist friends have heaped upon us. We need 535 of these, but I'd settle for 260-odd, not the spineless waifs whom harbor these positions.

Where are the Washingtons, Jeffersons, and Jacksons when we really need them, like now?
#6.1 fred zeppelin on 2013-08-09 12:28 (Reply)
Help me understand this. I assume the "A" word is abortion. And I assume when you say it is "Hard to recapture all those female votes of any color, or conviction" that is because in general conservatives oppose abortion. This is what it appears you are saying. But it does not make sense to me. I have grandkids and friends with kids, I love kids. Are you trying to tell me that women who vote Democrat don't like kids and therefore love abortion so much they would vote for someone like Obama??? I am truely stumped by this thought. If I favored abortion (killing babies) as a birth control method I still wouldn't vote for Obama or Reid or Pelosi or most/all the Democrats in congress. About half the Democrats in congress are themselves socialist/communist or have pandered to and made promises to communist organizations in the U.S. How in the world can anyone vote for one of these communist A#*holes simply because they want to abort babies?? I am stunned.

I will offer a simpler and more believable theory: Democrats, men and women, vote for Democrats because they want free stuff AND (most importantly) they are stupid/uneducated. Now I do know people who vote Democrat because their parents did and everyone they know does and maybe they do it for no better reason then that but most vote Democrat for the free stuff and are clueless to what Democrats are and where they are leading us. Having said that I don't think 1 in 100 of these people care about the abortion issue or at least don't care enough to change their vote. There are a lot of reasons the Republicans are losing their base and are unable to convert Democrats but I put abortion way down on that list (and the so-called war on women almost non-existent on the list). It is about the free stuff; food stamps, section 8, welfare, Obama phones, Medicaid/obamacare, etc. If you could convince them that the Democrats will turn the entire country into a "Detriot" (and that's only if they don't get us into WW III first) they would still vote for the free stuff. Let's face it the culture of welfare is not the culture of deep thinkers. The Democrats play to the lowest common denominator and that doesn't include brains or common sense.
#6.2 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-08-09 21:44 (Reply)
They might also mention the fact that we are living next door and supporting one of the world's most corrupt governments. They could also call out the fact that the government of Mexico no longer has any control over almost anything--it is collapsing from the corruption within at a rapid rate. The new president will do nothing to correct the problem--this nation is too far gone to be cleaned up for a long, long, long time. By the way you might also acknowledge the impact of these conditions on So. California.
http://www.examiner.com/article/mexican-gangs-trying-to-run-black-families-out-of-southern-california
#7 another one on 2013-08-09 11:39 (Reply)
As a retiree I find myself leaving the Rino GOP and joining the tea party GOP. If the Bushes, Roves, Grahams, McCains, Ryans, Cantors, and Boehners can not carry the conservative message then I will count on the Pauls, Cruzes, and Lees to carry the load. In Indiana we managed to get rid of Lugar as a democrat lite, but there are more to get rid of each election. Obamacare is just another transfer of wealth from young to old and to many of the boomers don't care. Dump government paid health care all together and let national rather than state markets dictate price. While many boomers had Woodstock, I had RVN...I don't claim boomers as my generation.
#8 indyjonesouthere on 2013-08-09 12:38 (Reply)
It's a rough old world, with a lot of uncertainty about jobs, incomes, technological change, social change, medical costs, and lots more. It's no wonder people crave some stability and security, and they see SS and Medicare as mitigating some the the risk inherent in this crazy life.

The GOP makes a mistake pushing a message that sounds like "we want to stop the freeloaders" and "these programs were a mistake!". Plays right into the Democrats saying they want to push Grandma over the cliff.

How hard is it to make the message that we want these programs to help those who need it, and to be around for the future? That's the part you rarely hear Republican politicians emphasize, so everybody just hears "cut programs", because we hate people, apparently.
#9 Ed on 2013-08-09 15:18 (Reply)
Hi Ed--You got it just about PERFECT!
#10 apple pie on 2013-08-09 21:27 (Reply)
Born in 1962. Mised Woodstock by a fair margin. Missed the point entirely. Too young to be an actual boomer, too old to be a Gen X-er. I have no illusions about the welfare state. Food stamps, medicare, medicaid et al. I have always supported myself. I have castigated family who have continued to smoke and drink while recieving foodstamps and housing assistance. Unconscienable. If you think I am dumb enough to pay 20 grand per anum for "health insurance" so that retirees and illegals can have free medical care you are insane. I will tune out, drop out, and opt out quicker than you can say "oh shit we're screwed." To heck with Obamacare. I will not participate and you (In spite of the idiot Justice Roberts idiotic ruling) can not make me. I am a human being. I am not your slave. Take care of yourself ya friggin deadbeat!
#11 Jeffersonian on 2013-08-10 01:29 (Reply)

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