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.
Now 71, Scruton has been the bête noire of British left intellectuals for more than 30 years, and gives them another beastly mauling in his new book Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left. It is a tour de force that, the introduction concedes, is ‘not a word-mincing book’, but rather ‘a provocation’. In just under 300 pages he Scruton-izes a collection of stars, past and present, of the radical Western intelligentsia – the likes of Eric Hobsbawm and EP Thompson in Britain, JK Galbraith and Ronald Dworkin in the US, Jurgen Habermas, Louis Althusser, Jacques Lacan and Gilles Deleuze in Europe. An expanded and updated version of his controversial Thinkers of the New Left (1985), the book ends with a new chapter entitled ‘The kraken wakes’ dealing with the ‘mad incantations’ of Alan Badiou and the left’s marginally newer academic celebrity, the Slovenian Zizek.
From comments and emails regarding our timepiece post on Tuesday, I am left with these recommendations (it's scientific consensus):
- Watches much over $100 are jewelry, not timepieces - and not very masculine but some guys need them for work - Expensive watches can't take the rigors of real work or recreation. - I think an ordinary American guy needs a wrist watch, a knife in his pocket, and $100 in his wallet.
Practical watches, zero-pretension, (semi-disposable) that our readers like (but surprising many guys seem to hate watches so I guess that's ok too):
What about watches for women? Don't most women prefer a nice Cartier piece? For when they are not working in the fields, I mean. A pretty reward for the rigors and hazards of bambino production:
What we need is to have individual rights protected by government, not doled out to us like candy by politicians and self-appointed guardians of the social 'good'.
I have an issue with the comment “Nobody needs (whatever it is I don't think they should have)”. In this particular case, Whoopi Goldberg says nobody needs certain kinds of guns. Really? Well, I don't think Whoopi needs chocolate cake, but I'm not going to pass a law to prevent her from extending her girth to even larger proportions.
Whoopi says she has no problem with someone who wants to search for her gun (she says she's a gun owner, which I don't doubt) and has no problem registering her weapon. Good for her. I do have a problem with it. Why do I have to do it because she doesn't have a problem? I need to register because she's OK with it? Well, I want her to register with my gym and start attending with me, because I did it and it's good for me and it would be good for her.
What people need isn't someone to tell them what they may or may not "need." What they NEED is to be left alone to make their own (however good or bad) choices. There is no justification for a bunch of dim-witted people sitting around a table on TV telling individuals who are viewing what they need. Nor is there any justification for a bunch of dim-witted politicians doing the same down in Washington by passing laws about what they think the citizens need.
I didn't need the extra piece of roast beef last night, but I wanted that extra piece of roast beef.
I didn't need to drive 40 in a 25 MPH zone, but I did and nobody was harmed.
I didn't need to cross 34th Street against the light while there was traffic, but I made a choice and I was prepared to deal with the consequences.
Laws which are created by people based on the belief they are needed for others miss an essential point. The 25 MPH zone exists to protect children who live on the street. But at 1am, with well lit streets, I am fairly certain I'm not putting them at risk and I can see very well to react in a timely fashion. While I crossed against the light on 34th Street, and stepped into traffic, it was at a standstill due to a jam. What we 'need' is not always what works in a given situation, and it does not properly address the desire to pursue happiness (my roast beef, or my wish to get across 34th Street quickly).
Others telling us what we "need" or passing laws based on what they feel we "need" are really just telling us what they want or don't want us to have based on their own biases and desires. That's not what this nation was built on. It is what totalitarian regimes are built upon.
The hole in the wall inexpensive gym I use to seek the fountain of youth rarely has more than 6 customers in it at a time (aged 14 to 90), and they are all working with a trainer, or under a trainer's advice. Not a commercial gym, owned in fact by a physical therapist. You have to have a trainer in charge of your program to use it, and the trainer has to be ok with the physical therapist owner. No spandex, no guinea Ts, and no visible boobs or bouncing female behinds to distract or entertain. You are allowed to grunt as much as you need to and, for me, that is quite a bit.
2015 is the year when I learned to hate my telephone. The FCC's willful neglect of the do not call list has resulted in a large number of commercial calls on top of the charitable and political calls that swamp my line.
I watch caller ID closely and no longer answer calls with numbers I do not recognize, figuring that, if they are friends, they will leave a message on the answering machine and I can pick up, or return the call.
This no longer is sufficient. I have therefore purchased a CPR Call Blocker through Amazon, and it allows me to blacklist frequent political and other calls. It has been very satisfactory to hear yet another call from Newt Gingrich be shut down after the first ring! It shows the most recent call, and then you push the big red octagonal button that says "BLOCK NOW" and that is that!.
Even this device does not help with the anonymous calls with blocked caller ID, but it turns out the phone company can block anonymous calls and this also seems to have worked very well!
It's time for another Maggie's request of our readers.
We want readers. We welcome commenters too, regardless of points of view. We don't only do politics - we do a perspective on Life in America.
We are a good site for international readers too, to get some idea about what ordinary, every-day, middlebrow Americans are up to and thinking about. We are interested in almost everything.
Readership growth is our only reward here, but that grows mainly by word of mouth (which includes others linking to us).
If you wish to do us a favor, let your (blog) readers, friends, colleagues, relatives, neighbors, etc. know about our eclectic website. It might be an uplifting, interesting addition to their days. Cheaper than a newspaper and we have very few ads.
Regarding comments - we do not require your emails, and you can use a fake name. Just follow the Three Unwritten Rules for Commenters:
Pic of old dude deadlifting 300+ lbs. from article below. Mrs. BD felt proud to be deadlifting 100 lbs on Monday. Not bad for a semi-beginner fitness-seeking lady but despite strength she still can't find the strength to "Make me a sammich." "Make your own - and make one for me too. I'm busy." Sheesh. These modern women.
I am reaching towards 200, but my grip is now becoming a limiting factor. I can lift it, but can't hold on to the bar for very many reps. Need more forearm strength to reach my modest goals. A weakling - I admit it. Deadlifts are the best, though, for middle-aged people, because it uses your whole fizzicle and mental self. Man, it is so damn hard. Back flat, chest up, ass back. F- gravity. Pick it up. Grunt loud. Drop it with a big crash. Good hard fun.
By hyphenating or ethnicizing one’s name, creating a non-Western superficial identity, or perhaps writing a diatribe against the West — the more venomous and incoherent the better — one increases one’s chances of tapping Western largesse. And in such a fat society, there are literally billions of dollars in excess that can fund therapeutic “ethnic studies” programs, assistant provosts of Diversity, ethnically separatist houses and centers, unprofitable Hollywood movies such as Truth, and “space to destroy” during times of riot.
... imagine it’s the old Soviet Union, and there’s a colorful dissident saying everything other citizens want to say but fear to. Now imagine the government sends its secret police to silence him, and they just get consumed. Bullets have no effect on him, and with every assault he simply becomes bigger. Imagine how frustrated and fearful the Kremlin commissars would become.
And imagine how the people would be in his corner.
Former State Dept. Rep. Says Stabbing Jews OK Under Islamic Law Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/michigan-woman-stabbing-jews-animals-okay-islamic-law-lina-allan-state-department-154182/#jIwQdiebiyXXtWh7.99
My leather watch band broke. Mrs. BD brought it into town and asked me about a $125 leather band. I told her my Timex had cost about $37. She advised me to toss the old watch and get another from Amazon.
Wrist watches: The young folks do not use them. I feel unclothed without one, even wear it to bed. Often, business people like expensive ones, to demonstrate that they know how to make money. That's fine - it's jewelry for men, like ghetto glitz, but it does not say much about how wisely they spend money. I had a semi-fancy watch once but it died and the parts were no longer available. Now I am a Timex guy.
The humble Timex is like Toyota - Timex can wear out many bands, and Toyotas can wear out many tires.
Interestingly, both of my doctors are Timex guys too. I do not like digital watches, because I like to see the bigger picture of time.
I was rummaging through my safe this weekend, looking for a car title, and found my grandpa's engraved gold watch. I think he used it in his youth, but switched to wrist at some point to keep up with the times. It's an Elgin. Mainly of sentimental value. Antique gold pocket watches do not have much value - under $1000 generally. My watch expert pal tells me they are gold-filled, not solid gold.
Do you use a watch? If so, a cheap one or a fancy one?
A friend of mine who has been in and out of work for the last few years contacted me today because I have a connection with the president of sales in an organization seeking someone with his skill set. My friend asked if I'd make an introduction. I told him there was a bit of a catch. My connection is old, I hadn't worked with him in 15 years, and I last spoke with him 3 years ago. I was hesitant to just call up and tell him about my friend who would be a great hire by his organization. As we discussed potential ways for me to make the contact, my friend explained the job had been open for some time. He noticed it a few months ago, then it was gone. It reappeared and was again removed from the listings. When he saw it recently he realized either they were having problems filling the job, weren't sure what kind of candidate they wanted, or were looking for a "purple squirrel" - something that doesn't exist. I laughed and suggested that it would be wise for him to speak with my old colleague and perhaps find out more about the organization, which offered me a respectable way to make the introduction as an informational interview.
The "purple squirrel" comment made me laugh because it's perfectly descriptive. I've been involved in many job searches for "purple squirrels." Watching the evolution of the job listing, from purple to brown or gray, as different candidates are interviewed can be alternately frustrating and comical. It's mostly annoying and aggravating, though.
On the other hand, as I pointed out to my friend, you can always have a purple squirrel if you have enough dye and the willingness to hold down the squirrel while you change its colors. It's not a good way to run an organization, but I've seen that happen, too. Happens every day in politics, which is probably why the process of electing a leader is about as enjoyable as the job search for that "purple squirrel." Not only are we trying to find one, but after we elect one, the leader usually becomes the one trying to inflict the dye job on the population.
60,000 pages of fed regs, and mounting. Nobody knows them, so everybody breaks them. Thus is everybody a crim so they can nail you whenever they feel like it
Just what is it that academics have to fear if they stand up for common decency, instead of letting campus barbarians run amok? At a prestigious college like Swarthmore, every student who trampled on other people’s rights could be expelled and there would be plenty of prospective students available to take their places.
National Community Reinvestment Coalition president John Taylor points
to “racial disparities in mortgage lending” in Baltimore as reason
enough for government to force banks to make more loans to blacks
“Future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early twenty-first century’s developed world went into hysterical panic over a globally average temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and, on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to contemplate a rollback of the industrial age.”
He was fortunate to be a guest at the Alhambra (when it was not in very good shape) for a month or so, exploring Grenada. Lots of treacherous travel, and many historical reminders - especially the remarkable contributions of the Moslems to Western civilization via Spain. As in Sicily, the Moslems had been good, intellectual rulers who were interested in justice, careful governance, science, architecture, music, and technology.
There was no sharia law or any of that barbarian nonsense. I suppose the Spanish natives were dhimmis, in a sense.
The Christian armies which chased them out were barbarians by comparison, but that was long ago. A quote from the book:
There are two classes of people to whom life seems like one long holiday - the very rich and the very poor; one, because they need to do nothing, the other, because they have nothing to do. But there are none who understand the art of doing nothing and living upon nothing , better than the poor classes of Spain. Climate does one half, temperament the rest...
Talk of poverty! with him it has no disgrace. It sits upon him with a grandiose style, like his ragged cloak. He is a hidalgo, even when in rags.
Most of the short book consists of tales and legends from the time of Moslem rule: genies and sorcerers and talking owls, hidden treasures, princes and princesses - even a Moslem prince who marries a Christian princess.
I support the idea of "holistic" college admissions. Not "holistic" as an excuse to admit unprepared students, but holistic in the sense of students with many different talents and areas of potential besides just their SAT scores. (I would use SAT for screening, though, as it is essentially an IQ test.)
I will want musicians, mathematicians, writers, actors, geniuses, etc. I would want people who comport themselves as ladies and gentlemen. I would not have athletic admissions though except as an extra extracurricular on an otherwise desirable resume.
Some admissions officer somewhere claimed that Stanford could fill its entering class with Asians with perfect SAT scores. Well, those kids are smart, and driven. Some are surely overachieving drudges but so are some non-Asians. Some claim that Asians are the new Jews, discriminated against because of their drive and academic success.
If I ran a college, I would ignore race and ethnicity entirely, and look for interesting people with depth, curiosity, academic and other talents, energy, and integrity.
More Young People 
You 
2015 is the year when I learned to hate my telephone. The FCC's willful neglect of the do not call list has resulted in a large number of commercial calls on top of the charitable and political calls that swamp my line.
It's time for another Maggie's request of our readers.
Pic of old dude deadlifting 300+ lbs. from article below. Mrs. BD felt proud to be deadlifting 100 lbs on Monday. Not bad for a semi-beginner fitness-seeking lady but despite strength she still can't find the strength to "Make me a sammich." "Make your own - and make one for me too. I'm busy." Sheesh. These modern women. 
My leather watch band broke. Mrs. BD brought it into town and asked me about a $125 leather band. I told her my Timex had cost about $37. She advised me to toss the old watch and get another from Amazon.
In 1829 the great American author 
John 1:(1-9), 10-18