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.
Tomorrow, June 14, is Flag Day. So, please get out your flag for your house or flag lapel pin or whatever, and celebrate our flag and what it represents.
The Thomas More Law Center helps us:
"A Brief History of Flag Day:
On June 14, 1777, Continental Congress adopted the American Flag in the First Flag Act. They declared: "That the flag of the United States shall be of thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, with a union of thirteen stars of white in a blue field, representing the new constellation."
Over 100 years later, in 1885, a small-town Wisconsin teacher named Bernard Cigrand came up with the idea of an annual flag birthday to be celebrated every June 14. He lobbied Congress for years to celebrate it as a national holiday. He is sometimes called the "Father of Flag Day." In the following years, many schools and communities observed their own flag celebrations. On May 7, 1937, Pennsylvania became the first state to establish Flag Day as a legal holiday, a recognition that Pennsylvania holds today.
Both President Wilson, in 1916, and President Coolidge, in 1927, issued proclamations asking for June 14 to be observed as the National Flag Day. But it wasn’t until August 3, 1949, that Congress approved the national observance, and President Harry Truman signed it into law.
The U.S. government encourages its citizens to display Old Glory outside of their homes and businesses. Today is a day of reflection as we consider the sacrifices our ancestors made and consider how we might carry on their work so that our children and grandchildren may live in the freedom the Stars and the Stripes majestically proclaim.
God Bless America"
And sing along "You're a grand old flag" with James Cagney as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy
I think one major impetus for my change was the fact that, despite being in default liberal environments all of my life, I nevertheless always adored the works of the Western literary tradition. And when I saw the 1980s’ multiculturalism taking over university campuses, and ignorant students who had never read the works of the Western canon feeling empowered to reject those works on the basis of the gonads and melanin of their authors, that to me was appalling.
Ironically, people I don’t think understand this distinction, in the 1970s, which was the height of this very abstruse literary theory known as deconstruction, that you mentioned, and that I was an uncritical acolyte of. However odd the theories of language were, holding that meaning is impossible, that the human self is just a fiction, a trope of language, we read the canon without ever once thinking to say, if I’m a female, “Oh, gee, I can’t read Milton because he’s a dead white male.” It never came up. So, I fortunately had a strong grounding in greatness, in beauty, in eloquence, in sublimity. And when that came under attack, that started to turn me away from the broader trends that were going on in academia.
Do many adult humans reveal, in their behavior, a preference for a life with minimal exertion? Some days I feel that preference, some days I don't. That's why I need to apply some force to myself to consistently measure up to my expectations. I don't know about you, but I tend to despise myself when I disappoint myself, make excuses for myself, or rationalize. That's the Yankee way, harsh conscience and a reasonable dose of self-contempt.
People vary a lot in their innate energy and vitality, but I do know that hard exercise increases them for everybody. I'll offer readers a tip: Just Do It. Some mornings at 4:15 I feel "too tired" to face a hard workout at 5. After a cup of covfefe or two while checking Drudge, and then a 5-10 minute warm-up, I'm ready to challenge myself for 60 or 80 minutes. Another tip: An exercise partner or a trainer to push you is a yuge help. I can always do more with a bit of encouragement. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak...and vice-versa.
If you are considering making a commitment to exercise (which I prefer to term "exertion" because "exercise" can mean anything other than sleeping or sitting, while exertion implies pushing the limits to stress, discomfort and sometimes pain), the first step is to define one's goals. The goal(s) determine the path.
Common exercise goals include the following:
- Weight loss - Looking better and/or sexier - Cardio fitness (or rehab) - Health and mental health - Activity as an alternative to drugs, alcohol, and food issues - Muscle "toning" (it's a chick thing, meaning not flabby) - Training for a specific sport or activity - Body-building (muscle bulk for guys) - Power lifting (focus on building physical power/prowess) - General conditioning (getting in better shape for sports and recreation, and maintaining full functionality with a decent physical presentation without clothing)
I'll take Weight Loss off the list, because the only exertion for that is using your right arm to stop your left arm from opening the door of the ice-box.
Each goal requires a different approach. Our fitness posts on Maggie's are all oriented around General Conditioning for Life because it is what we know something about.
Why the hatred? Is it fashion, is it about personality style, or is it about policy?
Hatred is ugly. If it's about policy, I'd like to know what these people object to with their megaphones, not that their opinions deserve to be of any more interest than my own are.
As I recall, many of my pals hated Obama's policies, but never had a visceral hatred for the man himself. I'd gladly have a beer or two with Obama anytime because I think he is a clever bullshitter. Glib clever bullshitters amuse me.
The USA is the worst country in the world. Europe is a terrible ex-colonial place in its death throes, a quaint museum with food. European civilization is the worst the world has produced. The Western World is obsolete and evil, etc.
... in the aftermath of the G-7 summit the Democrat-Left-Media complex and the Eurabians are all butthurt that PDT has insulted them and not knuckled under, like previous administrations have (for the most part) since the end of World War II. With all due respect to Europe and the Left, which is to say none at all, GFY. The President is right; we spent our blood and treasure liberating you from ideologies of your own making twice in a generation and after rebuilding your continent and economies, we've spent nearly 75 years afterwards funding your dissolute, insane, cheese-eating, wine-guzzling, adulterous lifestyles while protecting you from Russia, all to see you committing cultural suicide at our expense and then blaming us, evil Jooz, capitalism, Christianity and the 40 hour work week for the ills you brought upon yourselves, as the illusion of the European union collapses around you. Enough.
Bush 2 and Obama began the turn away from "Old Europe," and it continues. Europe needs to take care of itself, but shows little desire to do so. Spoiled and weakened for too long by America's sentimental largesse in trade and protection. Trump just says out loud what the State Dept. has been thinking for decades.
Trump is willing to militarize the Korean peninsula, in order to demilitarize it; and surround Persia with enough reasons to actually take its nose out of its neighbours’ affairs. To caricature the man as a warmonger or protectionist is to get him backwards. He is pushing “America First” and trying to communicate that if we, for instance, want to put Canada First, he’ll deal. But he isn’t going to deal with what he might characterize as a bunch of wankers.
Libertarians and “conservatives” will read this and reflexively start chirping about free markets and invisible hands, but there is a reason they are now a punchline. That’s because these are ideologies, if you want to be generous and elevate them to ideologies, that make all the same assumptions about humanity as the Marxists. That is, they see man as the ultimate consumer, a beast that devours his environment, in the same way a plague of locusts wipes out a field...
This young man does not feel oppressed. In fact, he feels privileged. He is. He is smarter than me and is attending an elite school. He appreciates that. I think this guy has a good future.
In my experience, males are just as emotionally-vulnerable as any other gender. Without male emotional vulnerability there would be no country music.
What the people promoting this notion miss is that most males spend years trying to be, or trying to at least act or appear, emotionally strong, brave, and tough. There are many good reasons for that, not the least being because these are things that appeal to women.
It's not just cultural, though. There's a biological substrate to it, obvious to anyone who has raised kids. Guys work to be emotionally strong in the same way they work to be physically strong, and to be tough in their effectiveness in the world. It's their job. Might be womens' job too, but that's another subject.
So enough of this baby-talk, Princeton, unless you wish to become a high-end kindergarten..
3:8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
3:9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
3:10 He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
3:11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
3:12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate."
3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."
3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."
For many purposes, I prefer these things to wheelbarrows - even to two-wheeled wheelbarrows. I have the smaller one.
Over the years, I have kept the wood waterproof because I store it outdoors.
Because they have narrow tires, they are not suitable for loads of rocks or heavy loads of dirt, but great for most outdoor purposes. At rural lodges etc. they are commonly used to bring luggage from boat docks, etc.
Our friend AVI noted the Gini coefficents in the US, by state. The Gini statistical method measures income "gaps" and is seen as a measure of economic inequality. And inequality is supposed to be bad, for no reason I can understand other than that it just sounds bad. "Gaps" sounds bad too.
It seems to me that if a state has lots of wealthy people, it's good for the state. But if a state has lots of rich people and lots of poor immigrants, it gets a bad grade. A solidly middle-class state like Utah (few very rich, few poor immigrants or "inner cities") gets a "good" grade because it is neither a magnet for immigrants nor a magnet for high-income industry.
In any event, all of the states in the US seem pretty close. The only one that bothers me is that Washington DC tops the "bad" list and it is obvious why that is. Government makes for a very wealthy industry in that factory town thanks to us taxpayers - and a large part of it is a ghetto.
Anyway, if government wants to "solve" these "gaps", the easiest way to do it is to drive the rich out of state. Problem solved, statistics fixed. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are trying hard to do that.
Florida, Texas, South Carolina, and Wyoming are very welcoming of prosperous people and prosperous businesses.
Environmentalists
For many purposes, I prefer these things to wheelbarrows - even to two-wheeled wheelbarrows. I have the smaller one.