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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Wednesday, January 2. 2008

Back to reality Weds. Morning Links

A solar-powered fisherman's kit bag

Don't give up on the kids yet.

Poll: Immigration is top issue for Repubs and Independents

When reality is no constraint for Garrison Keillor

Nannie State in Australia requires internet filters - for the children of course.

What's going on in Kitsap County?

What accounts for differences in black and white mortality?

Why John Edwards' populism is in error

McCain still against the Bush tax cuts

What is LibiGel?

Another list: The 10 most corrupt politicians in 2007

Chavez fails again. Looks like FARC made a fool of Hugo again.

Brussels cancels New Years Eve out of terror fears. The EU is supposed to run everything in your life, but just keeping Brussels reasonably safe is too much for them?

A Bloomberg quote:

Without hesitation, Bloomberg responded, "No, I will not run for president, but I will speak out to try to get people to really focus on the issues and to get rid of partisanship and special interests."

What people mean by that is that everybody ought to agree with them. Partisanship is fine, as long as it has intellectual integrity and is consistent with reality - which is asking a lot of politicians. They always say "We can't get anything done": Thats good!

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:39 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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I agree that the Bush Tax Cuts were/are good but I am perplexed as to why he did not follow with streamlining the budget, i.e., cutting the pork at least as much as depended on his administrations leadership.
#1 Leo (Link) on 2008-01-02 07:34 (Reply)
Regarding the kids link:

I've spent the last few years working with kids. I inherited two teenagers. I've spent a lot of time with them and their friends, trying to be a good dad. I've learned a ton.
I had no previous good experiences with kids, but I tried to just be myself. I learned two rules:
1. be sincere
2. don't repeat yourself

Technically, the second rule is contained within the first, which makes it a repeat, which makes it ironic. But it is worth pointing out.

Anywho, my primary point is that kids understand a lot more than we adults give them credit for. They have a great 'bullshit' filter. They know when a teacher or leader (or anyone) is full of crap and they can ignore it. They know when they are being lead-along and they can deal with it.

Somewhere along the process of 'growing up', we adults begin to believe things we shouldn't believe. Perhaps because we really want to believe, so we ignore the bullshit clues. But the kids I've dealt with see it and make note of it.

I'm a 'learn from experience' kind of guy (versus a 'shelter from experience'), so the kids have had some disappointment. They've never felt they've been lied to when something didn't work out. But they've also told me that they knew I tried.


----
As for Leo's comment: W campaigned as a "compassionate conservative". Many ignored the 'compassionate' word and have been surprised that he has grown the government so much. He has been true to his word. But - as my comments above indicate - people heard what they wanted to hear, not what was said.
#2 _Jon (Link) on 2008-01-02 10:44 (Reply)
This Compassionate Conservative also promised to slash the budget in half by 2009.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2004/issues/issue_budgetdeficits.html

I think that I read somewhere that taxes from Corporate Profits have reduced the deficit somewhat but where...
#2.1 Leo (Link) on 2008-01-02 11:51 (Reply)
Side note to NJ:

I sure wish you'd write more. Your links are superb, and are (almost) the very definition of the word 'eclectic', but I miss your articles. Remember the "One Trans-fat Molecule At A Time" (or something like that) piece? I miss that hard-biting stuff. Just to stereotype, if Barrister is the sane, reasonable lawyer type, and Bird Dog is the outdoors intellectual, then you're the hard-core neocon, and we could use more of the tough words you used in the trans-fat article. Your writing style might not be as flowery as the other two, but therein may lie its strength.

As far as a topic goes, you might take the trans-fat article to the next step. What you touched on made a key, integral point. That, while all the Lefties have been moaning about all the supposed "civil liberties" that have been/will be lost due to Bushitler and his evil cronies, our REAL liberties are being eroded away by the nannies, do-gooders and food police.

You might contrast the list of liberties the Left fears we're going to lose with how few of them have actually been lost, and then swing into a list of what's actually been lost.

The problem is that you're going to have to criticize your own kind in part, because, after the dust settles, it's the Republicans who have held both Congress and the White House while most of this has been going on. Kind of a 'buck stops here' story. Yeah, maybe it was some activist judge who banned (fill in blank), but Congress is the ultimate lawmaker.

BTW, the reason I said "almost" eclectic, above, is because there actually is a popular niche that you rarely cover, and that's computer nerd stuff. It's no mystery; it's simply because none of you are computer geeks.

If you'll get hold of me via email, I'll start sending you the occasional link that the computer geeks in the audience would like, just to round out the mix and make the site truly "boutique", as we say in the biz.

It's my latest favorite word. :)
#3 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2008-01-02 12:56 (Reply)
The hi-tech fisherman's bag is pretty cool but it wouldn't help me one bit. Every time I go fishing, it rains for days.
Every. Single. Time.
I've been thinking of a second career as a rainmaker. I could hire myself out to any locale that suffers from a drought. Just pack up my gear and show up on a local lake and voila! No more drought.
#4 joated (Link) on 2008-01-02 13:32 (Reply)
One of my New Year's resolutions is that I will no longer dine at any Mexican Restaurant. I can get most of the stuff done at home (tacos,enchiladas,salsa, etc.) and by not supporting any/all Mexican restaurants I will be sending a message to one of the largest employers of "illegal workers" in the U.S.

It's quite simple folks, if you really want to start to do something about immigration--just don't go out for "Mexican Food" this year!
#5 apple pie on 2008-01-02 15:02 (Reply)
Our best Mexican Rest. in this area has a kitchen staff that is mostly white. No Latinos. And it is great food.
#5.1 _Jon (Link) on 2008-01-02 22:30 (Reply)
Thanks again for the link. Your my best customer.
#6 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2008-01-02 19:53 (Reply)

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