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.
A pal has been traveling across the US with family in an antique camper. He reports that they had possibly the best dinner they have ever had in the US at The Windsor Hotel in Del Norte, Colorado. Not likely that you would be passing through there, though.
51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
51:4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
51:5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
51:6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
51:9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
51:11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
The ideal fitness program for those over 35 is 2-3 days of an hour of varied, intense resistance work and 2-3 days of 25-40 minutes of focused cardio/endurance work. That's all it takes. This will keep you going strong and looking good until everything finally breaks down and you throw in the towel on vigorous life and write your wills, get a trust and estates lawyer, and set things up to await the grim reaper.
Plus, of course, your usual sports activities and Yoga, shopping, work, hiking, jogging, casual bicycling, swimming, sex, whatever which are fun but of no health benefit. (People with physical jobs don't necessarily need this stuff.)
We mentioned in the past that, except for the elderly (over 78-80 in the US these days) or those with serious cardiac or pulmonary problems, walking, fast walking, comfortable elliptical or biking, do nothing at all to improve fitness or to burn fat. For the otherwise healthy, I consider those to be little more than anorectic rituals or wholesome entertainment.
Cardio can be boring as heck. My cardio exercises use intervals to keep it interesting. Here's an interval program that even cardio-hating people can stick with because it mixes variety with challenges: A Way to Get Fit and Also Have Fun:
The essentials of 10-20-30 training are simple. Run, ride or perhaps row on a rowing machine gently for 30 seconds, accelerate to a moderate pace for 20 seconds, then sprint as hard as you can for 10 seconds. (It should be called 30-20-10 training, obviously, but that is not as catchy.) Repeat.
Their research showed that many do not stick with a prescribed program, making it all useless. Lazy does not work. To add interest, I rotate this sort of thing from bike to elliptical to rower with minimal rest in between. Depending on my free time, I quit it all after 30-40 minutes.
USDA reported in 2012 that 43 percent of the 571 samples of “organic” produce that were tested contained prohibited pesticide residues, and that “the findings suggest that some of the samples in violation were mislabeled conventional products, while others were organic products that hadn’t been adequately protected from prohibited pesticides.”
She’s just a classic, corporate exec or bureaucrat type who would prefer to be at her desk behind closed doors, imposing her power schemes on the proletariat.
I'm sure she calls us plebes, not proles. I know her type.
I was the shadow of the waxwing slain By the false azure in the windowpane I was the smudge of ashen fluff--and I Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky, And from the inside, too, I'd duplicate Myself, my lamp, an apple on a plate: Uncurtaining the night, I'd let dark glass Hang all the furniture above the grass, And how delightful when a fall of snow Covered my glimpse of lawn and reached up so As to make chair and bed exactly stand Upon that snow, out in that crystal land!
The remainder of the 4-Canto poem below the fold, with some interesting links about it at the end
Pay
Attention Republicans — Especially You, Mr. Trump - See more at:
http://bernardgoldberg.com/pay-attention-republicans-especially-you-mr-trump/#sthash.W23KWWdt.dpuf
In just days, Clinton has issued dire warnings about climate change; been caught jumping on and off a private plane; pledged, because of the plane’s emissions, to the make her campaign carbon neutral (without revealing how); jetted to New York City for a $600 haircut; and refused to reveal her position on the Keystone XL pipeline, which those same voters interested in climate change are asking her about.
Big game is hunted all the time in Africa, quite legally. All you have to do is pay and the guides will find a convenient target for all of the Bungalow Bills. Poor schmuck shot the wrong one (but with a bow, to his credit). For real heart-wrenching, ‘It’s Another Boy!’
So we progressively humanize animals and dehumanize people. Something wrong there. I am neither pro-abortion nor anti-all abortion. I have been in a moral limbo about it for years while finding the very idea of abortion spiritually revolting. Abortion is not health care. PP abortions should not be funded by taxpayers. They can abort all the lions they want if they have too many.
As we’ve poured more and more government money into college “access,” schools have pocketed much of the money and gone on a spending spree – and then increased their tuition and fees, leading politicians to cry that they must increase student aid more to keep higher education “affordable.”
“I am not here as a serf or vassal. I am not begging my lords for mercy. I’m a born free American woman, wife, mother and citizen. And I’m telling my government that you’ve forgotten your place. It’s not your responsibility to look out for my well-being, and to monitor my speech. It’s not your right to assert an agenda. Your post, the post that you occupy, exists to preserve American liberty. You’ve sworn to perform that duty. And you have faltered.”
"Although I grew up in a union household and surrounded by progressive peers, I kept noticing liberal policies sound good but actually reinforce poor choices. It dawned on me: I’m a conservative."
Sedentary workers and sedentary people tend to develop a hunchback, a slouch, termed Postural Kyphosis. This is not really the same thing as Senile Kyphosis ("Dowager's Hump"), but it's in the same direction. Postural Kyphosis is reversible, Senile Kyphosis is not.
Back exercises are the best things for posture, generally. Dead lifts, especially. Not a bad idea to stick a post-it on your desk saying what your Mom said at the dining room table: "Sit up straight with your shoulders back." (She also always said "Stand up straight like a soldier.")
Maybe you read about this today. Cecil the lion was killed by a dentist who is now in hiding due to death threats from those who 'cared' about Cecil.
I wish I could care about Cecil the Lion, but as much as I think his killer is a bit of an asshole, I'm more disturbed by the outpouring of death threats he has received.
More to the point, I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be upset about today? The kid whose body they found in the dumpster or a freaking lion who was killed legally (however much the kill was rigged to be legal, and however much of an ass the guy is, it was legal).
Yeah, Cecil is a sad story. Yeah the dentist is probably an idiot. But let's face it - we have a presidential contest about to start and a host of issues here at home that have led us to be concerned about way too much:
1. a moron former first lady who claims she is 'for the people' and gets $600 haircuts, while roping herself off from the people in parades
2. a moron socialist who occasionally says something cool, but is generally an asshole because he wants to pay everyone a minimum of $15 an hour but won't even pay his own staffers that wage - because it's too much.
3. a moron businessman who speaks plainly and pisses people off because running the country isn't the same as running a business. Yeah, he makes a few good points, but he has no shot at winning and even if he did I wouldn't trust him with my tax dollars.
4. a moron president who is no doubt hoping someone will change laws and allow him to run for a third term (while I'd support changing that law, I don't support him)
5. a bunch of morons trying to ban the Confederate battle flag, but not really caring about the 20 other Confederate flags which were equally "racist" then, but have different meanings today.
6. a bunch of morons who think banning guns is a good idea so they created "gun free zones" which have become kill zones - and they believe this supports their cause!
7. a bunch of morons who think certain words are triggers and should be outlawed because they 'offend'
The list of things I need to care about is endless. I have to remind myself each day to not offend anyone, to not be myself because someone else may not like what I am or what I stand for, to abide by some of the dumbest laws a nation can devise (and be concerned about others which are certainly headed our way), and generally be sensitive and caring to all people and all animals, all the time, everywhere, no matter what.
I'm pissed off about Cecil. But he's a freaking lion and he's thousands of miles away. There will be more lions, and he's not in my backyard. But I'm tired of having to care about every little thing that someone thinks is 'important' to them. I care about me, and my family, and my friends. I care if they are healthy, and I care if someone is impinging on mine, or their rights. So yes, I care. But I really just can't find time in my day to care about Cecil. Sorry.
Africa is beginning to go down that dark road towards western-style prosperity, development, and freedom. Like Cuba, see it now before the old Africa disappears. Is "poverty" a Western concept? Masai warriors with iPhones? What next? Disney Africa?
Already, there is no "wild Africa" remaining. Its future is like South America.
Nietzsche killed God in 1883, but man is hardwired to believe in something. Which explains why much of the 20th century was a search for alternate religions: The State, environmentalism, feminism, hallucinogenic drugs, and virtually all other aspects of the left take on religious aspects as they become more and more radical. But then, as Tom Wolfe wrote in “The ‘Me’ Decade and the Third Great Awakening,” “It is entirely possible that in the long run historians will regard the entire New Left experience as not so much a political as a religious episode wrapped in semi military gear and guerrilla talk.”
Geraldo
Rivera Frets Planned Parenthood Scandal ‘Might Put an End’ to ‘Garbage’
Used to ‘Be the Cure for Cancer’ - See more at:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2015/07/28/geraldo-rivera-frets-planned-parenthood-scandal-might-put-end#sthash.9BBnJKEi.dpuf
The ideal fitness program for those over 35 is 2-3 days of an hour of varied, intense resistance work and 2-3 days of 25-40 minutes of focused cardio/endurance work. That's all it takes. This will keep you going strong and looking good until everything finally breaks down and you throw in the towel on vigorous life and write your wills, get a trust and estates lawyer, and set things up to await the grim reaper.
Photo of the new American rural landscape 
Pale Fire (from his 1962 novel 
A big game hunter speaks (
