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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Saturday, March 15. 2008

Saturday Verse: T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

Verse 2 of The Burial of the Dead, from The Waste Land (entire poem here). You can hear Eliot reading the poem here. Worth doing. The words and rhythms of Waste Land have become part of our psyche, haven't they?

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow 
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,  
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only 
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, 
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, 
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only 
There is shadow under this red rock,  
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock), 
And I will show you something different from either 
Your shadow at morning striding behind you 
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; 
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.  
                Frisch weht der Wind 
                Der Heimat zu. 
                Mein Irisch Kind, 
                Wo weilest du? 
'You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;  
'They called me the hyacinth girl.' 
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden, 
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not 
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither 
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,  
Looking into the heart of light, the silence. 
Od' und leer das Meer.

Posted by Bird Dog in Saturday Verse at 06:45 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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Nice poem.

Obama's Incredible Denial Concerning His Pastor
letter to the editor

"Guilt by Association" is not the relevant concept. It's "Agreement by Association" that is.

It'd be like a man buying White Sox season tickets for 20 years, attending the games, and saying he's not a fan.

http://tinyurl.com/23yfga
#1 Habu on 2008-03-15 07:32 (Reply)
Very nice poem

Obama Describes Developer Deal as a Mistake
By JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama said Friday that he had made repeated lapses of judgment in dealing with an indicted Chicago real estate developer, Antoin Rezko, and acknowledged that Mr. Rezko had raised more money for his political campaigns than he had previously disclosed.

*http://tinyurl.com/2d63h6


5 years from now:

Obama, "Yeah selling our newest military technology to China and Russia was a mistake"
#2 Habu on 2008-03-15 07:39 (Reply)
Love root and branch poems


The First Rule of Obama

"If it offends you, I condemn it
"All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn." --Barack Obama

This seems to be the General Rule of Obama --if it's going to damage him, he condemns it! And rejects and denounces. Vehemently! The Rule would seem to apply to all past and future controversial statements-- his campaign could get that sentence printed up on little laminated cards and hand them out to reporters, or include them after the statements of all Obama surrogates, like those fine-print 'void where prohibited waivers. "Condemned if controversial."

http://www.slate.com/id/2186324/
#3 Habu on 2008-03-15 07:47 (Reply)
H:

Despite the urgency, pls. try to hold your fire and put your political comments with related posts!!! Despite roots and branches....
#4 BD on 2008-03-15 11:40 (Reply)
'Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
'Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
'You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!'
#5 Leag on 2008-03-15 13:28 (Reply)

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