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
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Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

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Thursday, July 30. 2015

Thursday morning links


"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."


Why Women Like ‘Retro Sexism’


Why Do Government Services So Often Suck So Badly?


Mexico Cracks Down on Illegal Aliens From North of the Border


Indian restaurant fined for trying to hire Indian waiter


Don’t blame ‘evil’ landlords for the free market


Is it time for a racial classification system in America?


Would Cat-Lovers Give Up Their ‘Pets’ To Save the Earth?


What it’s like to be a veteran at one of the most liberal colleges in the country


Health Care Costs To Accelerate, Report Says


The Co-Founder of Greenpeace Explains Why He Left


Atlantic Writer Jeffrey Tayler Wants Christianity Officially Considered a Mental Illness


Networks Spend More Time Covering Cecil the Lion Than Planned Parenthood Videos


Raising the Minimum Wage Is the Perfect Way to Kill the Summer Job


Bernie Sanders schools Vox on immigration


Mexico
Cracks Down on Illegal Aliens From North of the Border - See more at:
http://moonbattery.com/?p=61263#sthash.6hcOtRCc.dpuf

Fed Keeps Interest Rates Near Zero, But Increase May Come Later This Year
- Debate continues on whether policy will cause economic distortions


Chinese Stocks Rise After Government Injects $100bn Into Sovereign (Rescue) Fund; Sell-off 'Blame' Shifts To Hong Kong


Federal Judge Threatens To Hold IRS Commissioner, DOJ Lawyers in Contempt of Court over Lerner


Media Struggling to Ignore Black Mob Violence


Unfortunately for Coates’ persuasiveness, white people, unlike blacks, have never actually done anything terribly bad to him.


Reporters Covered up Bill Clinton Affair During Hillary’s 2008 Presidential Campaign


Linda Tripp: Hillary Clinton Believes Americans Are Little More Than Plebeians


If Spending Is Our Military Strategy, Our Strategy Is Bankrupt


10 Ways for America to Deal with the South China Sea Challenge


Self-Contradiction, Priorities, Conflict, and Women in the USMC


US Military's Bomb Techs Fear Flying IEDs


What Information Collected by Israeli Intelligence Reveals About the Iran Talks



Has the U.S. Just Sold Out the Kurds?


Turkey and Syria: From Bluff to Buffer


TERRORISM TASK FORCE CHAIR: IRAN NUKE DEAL INCREASES HEZBOLLAH THREAT TO US


Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:14 | Comments (24) | Trackbacks (0)

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IEDs: Warfare is constantly evolving. I hope the drone IED "advance" didn't come as a surprise. I am just as concerned by the incorporation of sensors into IEDs. An enemy that is indifferent to civilian or bystander targets could use this at will.

This does tie in with the back forth over manpower reduction two days ago. While I have no personal experience with the military, just as a general proposition, it would seem that military is just as subject to changing manpower requirements, due to technology advances, as any other sector. Why would it be immune to the elimination of many routine mid level functions?
#1 Exasperated on 2015-07-30 08:10 (Reply)
"I hope the drone IED 'advance' didn't come as a surprise."

Dear Lord. If, after 9/11 when Islamists quite effectively converted passenger aircraft into cruise missiles, governments across the world haven't pondered the terrorist use of drones and considered countermeasures, then we're in trouble.
#1.1 JJM on 2015-07-30 10:28 (Reply)
"Is it time for a racial classification system in America?"

I thought we already had a racial classification system: The Democratic Party.


"Has the U.S. Just Sold Out the Kurds?" ....again
#2 JK Brown on 2015-07-30 08:45 (Reply)
"Is it time for a racial classification system in America?"

If I may, your country's principal problem is that it already has a societal racial classification system and has been devilled by it for the past century or more.

At the risk of sounding overly sentimental and mawkish, it would seem to me the late Dr Martin Luther King Jr got it right just over 50 years ago:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

(I hope this will be understood as simply an honest observation by a sympathetic foreigner, not as a patronizing sneer.)
#2.1 JJM on 2015-07-30 10:45 (Reply)
As I've commented here before:

QUOTE:
"Those who inherited the leadership of the Civil Rights movement looked deep into the content of their character...and decided they'd best be judged by the color of their skin or they were in trouble."


The opportunities for graft are far fewer if you judge people on their character.
#2.1.1 JK Brown on 2015-07-30 17:10 (Reply)
Again, and again, and again. The only entity that is successful in the fight against IS and the US is throwing them under the bus.
#2.2 gman on 2015-07-30 11:56 (Reply)
Re: ignorant prejudice against cats. (Because our Presidential candidates make the 7 Dwarves look statesmanlike, and home life matters more to me now, in sheer disgust at politics):

There was similar hatred of cats in the Misdle Ages and in 1600s Europe, precisely when their magnificent rodent hunting skills were most needed to limit the rats that spread bubonic plague. Los Angeles is currently using feral cats to hunt large pest populations of rats. New York City ought to do the same given the mountains of trash ripped apart on sidewalks afternoons the day before trash pickup (poor people looking for cans and salvage from careless rich people). Rat heaven. People forget that the Egyptians worshipped cats for their mousing abilities not their looks or qualities as pets.

Not all outdoor cats get toxoplasmosis. Even if they do, it can be detected and treated. And if you are royally paranoid you can always have the husband change the litter box during a wife's pregnancy (tho outdoor cats rarely need one).

Keeping a cat indoors is just plain cruel and is the equivalent of helicopter parenting. They need outdoor exercisee and to roam. So do dogs but since dogs can scare or hurt people and cause you to lose your house in a lawsuit as a result, one walks them many miles on a leash or takes them to the country to run. But indoor cats tend to be fat, badly behaved and to be unhealthy. People whine "" But they might get hurt or run over". I think the cats would rather take their chances outdoors and have a happy, active life, come what may.

Libertarians should understand a cat's desire for freedom. Better a short, free life than one in captivity. My yard has smarter birds as a result of a resident cat. They warn each other when she goes out. I am glad she lessens my risk of Lyme disease by massacring chipmunks, mice, voles. I wish she caught more of the rabbits and squirrels that ravage my garden and fruit trees. My cat and dog are best friends. Enough already w this anti-cat propaganda. Incidentally none of my cats have ever had toxoplasmosis so it is not inevitable w outdoor cats. And you can follow them when young and spritz w water and yell to deter them from bird hunting. Or just feed them a lot.
#3 Retriever on 2015-07-30 09:26 (Reply)
I agree 100% with everything you say. I still think it's interesting to note how people feel about saving the world when the pricetag is something that they value personally and deeply.
#3.1 Texan99 on 2015-07-30 17:25 (Reply)
"Atlantic Writer Jeffrey Tayler Wants Christianity Officially Considered a Mental Illness..."

I wonder if Tayler is yet another of those who practise "safe polemics"?

Attacking Christianity (or, for that matter, Judaism or Mormonism) is a pain-free exercise and requires no great personal courage.

Has he ever publicly asserted that Islam should be considered a mental illness?
#4 JJM on 2015-07-30 10:15 (Reply)
RE Would Cat-Lovers Give Up Their ‘Pets’ To Save the Earth?

from one of the comments:

QUOTE:
I would like to suggest to Michael Walsh that he start a separate blog where he can rant about his hatred of cats and leave the topic of cats out of his PJM articles entirely. That way he can vent his spleen as much as he wants without calling his own rationality into question. I say that because I genuinely believe he is not rational on the subject of cats. His hatred is so visceral and all-consuming that he repeatedly confuses correlation with causation and gives his scientific findings far more weight than they should be given at this stage.

... Walsh needs to recognize that and get some control on his emotions. It's abundantly clear that he hates cats and is flailing around looking for some reason to justify that hatred. He also has a missionary zeal about his cat hatred that compels him to try to convert all of us into fellow cat haters.
#5 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2015-07-30 10:47 (Reply)
Any one suggesting we should do something or change our lives "to save the earth" is another of those grand planners who KNOWS EXACTLY what must be done, and thinks not of unintended (but fairly predictable) consequences,
#5.1 Sam L. on 2015-07-30 15:32 (Reply)
more cat videos is a good start.
#5.1.1 Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz on 2015-07-30 16:58 (Reply)
"Self-Contradiction, Priorities, Conflict, and women in the USMC"

Women in the military are effective in medical and clerical fields. They are not effective in combat and combat support fields and this is especially true in the marines. This is because every marine is a fighter and can be expected/required to pick up their gun, shoulder their pack and go into the fight. Unlike the Navy or Air Force the Marines are all combat forces. The Marines can probably safely absorb 3% or so female members as medical and clerical but 25% would be a game ender. Everyone knows this and you have to wonder what the real goal is. Does the administration intend to emsculate our military and make it impossible for us to defend ourselves. Or are they truely this stupid?
#6 GoneWithTheWind on 2015-07-30 11:17 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Does the administration intend to emsculate our military and make it impossible for us to defend ourselves. Or are they truely this stupid?

These possibilities are not mutually exclusive.
#6.1 mudbug on 2015-07-30 11:29 (Reply)
I'm pretty sure stupidity is not a factor or a cause.
#6.1.1 Sam L. on 2015-07-30 15:36 (Reply)
You forgot to mention intelligence field. Those who speak foreign languages, conduct signals intelligence, analyze intelligence, etc. Women are very good in these military fields and it does not require physical strength.

The Air Force and the Navy both have a lot of 'non-combat' jobs that would be good for women. I met a man who flew drones from a trailer in the middle of the desert. Sounds like a woman could do that just fine.

Pilots. Women are great at being pilots. Etc. Saying 'clerical' sounds like women can only be secretaries. Sorry, there is a LOT more they can do in the military than answer phones and fill out paper work.
#6.2 MissT on 2015-07-30 14:15 (Reply)
I don't disagree. The sad fact is that women "could" function quite well in a number of military fields. BUT, we tried that and it was really never anything more then a springboard for total integration of women into ALL military fields. The classic case of the camels nose under the tent. How do we avoid that? In my opinion as long as there is a agendized group to seek affirmative action for women in the military we cannot avoid it. So if you want an effective military you will have to eliminate all/most women. Again I repeat that there is no doubt that any and all of the jobs that do not require greater upper body strength and OR the attitude that allows someone to eat, sleep and shit in a mudhole for days and even weeks at a time could be done quite well by women. It is the mission creep or the inevitable lowering of standards to allow women to qualify for more and more carear fields that scuttles the effort. We should not destroy our military in some misguided attempt to appear tolerant or 'cool/hip'.
#6.2.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2015-07-30 19:01 (Reply)
This was a good article. Thank you for posting...
#7 Phil Taylor on 2015-07-30 14:21 (Reply)
So, once you've classified most of the population as psychotic because they believe meaning isn't a lie, what happens to the genuine psychos, who don't get treated because the majority of resources are allocated for "curing" people of the "delusion" that the Caesar is not the supreme authority?
#8 Korora on 2015-07-30 14:44 (Reply)
Would Cat-Lovers Give Up Their ‘Pets’ To Save the Earth?

The earth doesn't need "saving". The whole circle of life thing.
Are little birds and small mammals; voles, shrews, mice, rats etc going extinct? No. The reason why they have large litters, multiple litters in a year is because THEY ARE PREY. Because they are not too bright and end up et by something bigger, or runned over, or hit by a lawnmower...

Is there a huge explosion of toxoplasmosis infections ? No.
Even if there were, the answer is not eradication of a species that has a niche in the ecosystem. although according to this "study" (which I no longer have any faith in the validity of "studies" anymore) cat people are infected and it is affecting their behavior.

So does having epilepsy. So does being autistic. It's nature. Deal with it. Are cat hoarders going around axe-murdering large amounts of humans? NO. Then I don't care.
#9 fjord on 2015-07-30 14:48 (Reply)
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/toxoplasmosis/
#9.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2015-07-30 19:05 (Reply)
Why Do Government Services So Often Suck So Badly?

In case anyone didn't notice, just about every business- private and state is affected in this "everyone gets a trophy for participating" society.

Government is just the most egregious example because they are so big and bloated and untouchable and in your face and flaunting it.
Like that quote stated elsewhere on MF. THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR PLACE.
#10 fjord on 2015-07-30 14:58 (Reply)
Retro-Sexism: REVENGE OF THE WOMEN on Feminism and SJWs.

Government sucks because their pay does not not come directly from us--they don't see us as valued customers that they should please.

Racial Classification: Don't matter. The leftists will game those classifications a million ways from the day after Saturday which must not be named.

Pittsburgh: Ignoring the problem ALWAYS makes it go away.
#11 Sam L. on 2015-07-30 16:10 (Reply)
I do consider all the concepts you've introduced for your post. They're really convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are very quick for starters. May just you please lengthen them a little from next time? Thank you for the post.
#12 sex tape videos (Link) on 2015-07-31 14:10 (Reply)

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