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
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Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
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Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
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A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
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Monday, August 27. 2007

Monday Morning Links

Britain in meltdown. Theo, at Jules

Real America: The Grange Fair

Government-driven urbanization in China. Amazing. Dino

Excellent handgun ID chart. h/t, Theo

Iraq gov't agrees to benchmarks. That's a good start.

De-fund the mullahs. Barone on Iran, in the NY Sun

Can Western aid help African poverty? I doubt it. What we call poverty is often the subsistence way of life they have lived forever. They need trade, home-grown industry, and sane, stable governments if they wish to enter the modern world, and that entails a major cultural change. Good debate on the subject at the CSM.

Hitler was a socialist, by John Ray. Indeed. "Nazi" was short for the National Socialist German Worker's Party, but the American Left never warmed up to him the way they did to Stalin. Interesting read. h/t, Reader. Also - a comment on Ray's essay by Lifson at American Thinker.

Re Vick and the photo below: I am a dog guy, but I believe that any dog owner is free to put down their own dog for any reason, assuming they do it in a humane manner (and obey the law). It is commonplace, I am told, for hunting dog breeders to put a bullet in their hound pups who don't show enough "hunt," and I see nothing wrong with that. We must be humane, but also not fall for the pathetic fallacy.

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:15 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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You miss the point on Vick. Of course any owner has the right to treat their animals how they please, including a bullet to the head for those that don't show enough "hunt". Of course, the Romans fed the Christians to the lions, also. My point is, in a civilized society, our conduct towards those over whom we have stewardship (to use the Biblical term), says alot about what who and what we are, as a society.
#1 BlackDog on 2007-08-27 08:12 (Reply)
Entirely agree with you.
#1.1 The NJ on 2007-08-27 09:26 (Reply)
Agree. How people treat animals shows their true character. I don't think anyone would be defending Vick if he were just an ordinary piece of poor scum in a back alley. Because he is rich now, he smells sweeter to some...

Killing an old, sick pet or working animal at the end of their life, or after a horrific accident is merciful. Preventing bad hunting dogs or unreliable companion dogs from breeding is good sense. But to train animals to be vicious killers merely to entertain more vicious humanoids and promote gambling, that is loathsome!

Dog fighting is primarily about the gambling, and yes, we Puritans believe that is a sin. People like to say that we Puritans live in fear that someone, somewhere might be having some fun. Thus, the arguments used against the British Puritans when they instituted Blue laws, abolished gambling, cockfighting, dogfighting, etc. Consider perhaps that those dour and unlikeable guys might have had tender hearts that were stirred to pity by the ruin of families by day in, day out drunkenness, gambling and the suffering of animals God gave us to care for not torture.

No, I am not some vegetarian animal rights activist. Nor am I a wimp about fighting under certain circumstances ("Cinderella Man" inspired our entire family, and I have a kid headed for the services). But I believe that God gave us the responsibility of stewarding animals, not torturing them. Thus, for example, every good hunter develops their aim for a quick and merciful kill.
#1.1.1 retriever (Link) on 2007-08-27 14:23 (Reply)
Hitler would be a modern leftest... American Thinker

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/08/an_important_and_rewarding_ess.html


An important and rewarding essay
Thomas Lifson
John J. Ray has written a stunning essay entitled "Hitler was a Socialist" that is the best treatment of the subject I have ever seen. This goes well beyond the usual talking points noting that "Nazi" meant "National Socialist" into detailed exhumation of strands of Hitler's influences, practices, writings, and relationships of which I had heard little or nothing.

Even better, Dr. Ray demonstrates the linkages between contemporary leftism and Hitler's beliefs and practices in greater detail than I have previously seen assembled. Other notables are at work on tracing the linkages between the rise of communism, progressivism, and fascism on the one hand, and today's left wing movements ont he other. But Ray's work is an important building block in that emerging intellectual enterprise, one that I believe is very important in understanding where we are today, and where we may be headed.

The American Thinker ...worth reading the entire article.
#2 Habu on 2007-08-27 11:09 (Reply)
Good. Added it to the post.
#2.1 BD on 2007-08-27 12:12 (Reply)
Okay, let's say Dog Killer A is a sadistic bastard and raises dozens of figting dogs and has the right to put them down where and when he wants. Also allow that he does it in a "humane" fashion like blowing their brains out. But the guy is a sadistic bastard and likes to snuff dogs with a gun. Really likes it.

Dog Killer B is not so sophisticated and hangs the dogs or electrocutes them but doesn't get off on it, just doing what he's grown up doing- puttin down the dogs with "no-hunt", go getta sandwich.

What's the difference?

And while we're at it, let's grouse about it while holding a ham sandwich, courtesy of the abattoir fairy.
#3 phil on 2007-08-27 11:21 (Reply)
Ditto on that ' Hitler was a Socialist' article Habu. Saved it to my desktop for future reference. The left likes to portray Hitler as the right wing bad guy and Stalin as the misguided lefty who couldn't hold a candle to Hitler for pure evil. Screw them. They own Hitler and Stalin and we'll throw in Mao, Po Pot, Lenin, Castro, Che and just about all of the 20th century despots. Do you think its going too far to put Kennedy, Clinton, Kerry, Boxer, et al in that bunch?
#4 sean on 2007-08-27 19:46 (Reply)

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