This is likely my last week as a regular at Maggie's, so I have been given a special vacation break dispensation to post ad lib. If I begin my new job after Labor Day thinking about this friendly Yankee site, I won't be doing what I need to be doing. And I need to get ready to move this weekend. My only issue is my guns. Guns to NYC? I will leave them with my buddy in Mass. I have no clue about NYC gun laws.
Volleyball is boring? Not if 1) you are playing or 2) pretty girls are playing in their underwear. h/t, Insanities.
Obama's tax plans would give you a 64% tax rate in California, for the self-employed. Bob Brinker. Would you work hard for that? Not to mention Obama's cap gains tax plans.
How Conservative are Americans? Just ask them. And how Left is Obama-Biden? Fred Barnes
Related: The "tender-minded". And speaking of tender...
I smoked a pork butt yesterday. Had some friends over for beers and pulled pork. Don't tell me that it isn't Yankee food. It is now.
Best ocean photos.
Gay parade, no vet parade. Are gays the new vets?
Who lied about Iraq?
Chronic plagiarist? Hey, that's old news. As somebody said, maybe he'll teach Barack to fish. I don't think Barry's Dad knew how to fish.
Since conventions no longer select candidates, what's their purpose now? To create a TV narrative. The narrative is always the same: "Things are terrible. We are wonderful."
"Hillary is like 'Are you kidding me?'" Dave Barry
Insty:
GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT: "According to a study by the Desert Research Institute, pollutant levels at the beginning of the 20th century were two to five times higher than current levels of pollution."
How to destroy a state (or country) - Malanga on New Jersey's gradual suicide. One quote:
...why has reform been so difficult? In part because the kind of big-government, tax-consuming policies that are doing so much damage have also given more and more residents a stake in the current system. State and local government employment is among the highest in the country on a per-capita basis, having increased by 15 percent from 2000 through 2006 alone. Hundreds of thousands of current and retired public employees aren’t about to vote for changing the system, for fear it would eliminate their perks and benefits.
Meanwhile, the state’s recent tax increases have fallen entirely on upper-income residents. Those earning more than $200,000 a year, who account for just 4.9 percent of households filing tax returns, are paying 60 percent of all personal income taxes. Jersey has even managed to make its onerous property taxes progressive by instituting a means-tested rebate program: higher-income residents don’t get cash back.
The effect of all this is to make New Jersey a place where just a few businesses and residents pay the freight while so many others are on the public dole, in one way or another, that reform becomes virtually impossible. Of course, such a system cannot sustain itself very long before collapsing, as some businesses balk at expansion, others (like the newspapers) shrivel, and declining opportunities stifle job growth. That’s why Jersey now lurches from crisis to crisis.
Is college worth it?
Consider a young man who is at the 70th percentile in language and mathematical ability. He is easily a good enough student to get into mid-level universities. As far as his “people skills” go he is average, but in small motor and spatial skills, he’s at the 95th percentile. The fellow could go to college and get a degree that would put him on track for a management job – where he probably wouldn’t rise far because he’ll be competing with many others who have better skills.
On the other hand, he could become an excellent electrician. If he were to do that, he would probably earn substantially more than if he became a manager and also enjoy far greater job security. Moreover, there is the important matter of personal satisfaction. Our young man will probably have far more of it in a career where he can see tangible results every day and quite possibly become his own boss.
Conclusion: “(G)uidance counselors and parents who automatically encourage young people to go to college straight out of high school regardless of their skills and interests are being thoughtless about the best interests of young people in their charge.” Murray has that exactly right. We need to break out of the mindset that you can’t be a success in life unless you have a college degree.
Obama hipsters! Iowahawk. h/t Jules
Clintonista whining. Sheesh.
We are all gonna drown! Greenland glacier does glacial things:
It is too early to say it is clearly global warming, Zwally said. Scientists don't like to attribute single events to global warming, but often say such events fit a pattern.
University of Colorado professor Konrad Steffen, who returned from Greenland Wednesday and has studied the Petermann glacier in the past, said that what Box saw is not too different from what he saw in the 1990s: "The crack is not alarming... I would say it is normal."
Normal? It's a crisis! Run and hide!
Photo on top: pulled pork. Mr. Brown is my favorite.
Lower photo, my new neighborhood hang-out:
Scratcher's. I will miss Rudy's, but Scratcher's has cute gals - without brown roots, and with all of their teeth, too. I am looking forward to a change. Hope and Change!
