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.
From Justification, Sanctification, and Grace, from Dr. Bob:
I recall a conversation I had some years ago with a young man in Britain, in the old Compuserve forum days. He, an atheist/agnostic, said something to the effect of, "All religions are the same, there's basically a set of rules to follow, and if you obey them, you get rewarded by going to heaven."
And I agreed with him (to his surprise) with one caveat: that Christianity is the one exception to his otherwise astute observation. In Christianity, it's not about doing something different, it's about being something different.
So how does that work? And aren't Christians all about being good, following the Bible, going to church, and condemning and judging those who don't?
Yeah, all too often we are. Sad but true. But that's not really how it's supposed to work, you know.
Christianity is not merely another framework of moral codes by which to live. It is not comprised solely of the teachings of a charismatic leader, urging compliance to please or placate God or promulgating some hidden wisdom. It asserts at its very heart an outrageous claim: that those who relinquish their right to self-centered autonomy by submitting to God through the specific and exclusive portal of Christ will become judicially guiltless before their Creator. It further claims, perhaps even more outrageously, by this act to re-create the person so submitting, in a manner so thorough and profound that the individual can no longer be thought of as the same person who existed prior to that moment of choice and submission.
Balsamic Dreams: A Short But Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation, by Joe Queenan. Boomers will see themselves almost too clearly in this book. Laugh or cry? Your choice, but the book's mirror could cause a boomer to want to off himself due to self-disgust.
I'll start with an introduction to a wonderful gentleman, personality and writer named Gordon Wickstrom. I came to meet Gordon at a fly-fishing trade show when he, as a member of the wandering press stopped by to check out our new concept in fly rods. He's grown to be an excellent friend. Gordon has published two books and writes a newsletter, now a blog, and I find his "take" on things to frequently be just a "twist" away from most of what we read these days about fly-fishing (theatre, politics, music and a great many other things). I think that Maggie's readers would likely enjoy many of his perspectives. Gordon is retired from a long and successful career as a professor of Literature and Theatre at Franklin and Marshall College (he's a master Shakespearean actor and director as well). He lives in his original hometown of Boulder, Colorado and is a frequent contributor to The American Fly Fisher magazine, the journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing. To initiate that introduction, following are links to two columns he's written - as a sample of his work.
Following is a link to a recent piece in Gordon Wickstrom's current blog - then another, as an introduction, and also a partial quote I lifted from another of his essays.
" .......As the snow keeps coming on, let me tell you that a few days ago an old friend sent me an old copy of an old issue of Gray’s Sporting Journal for April/May,1976-- an issue in which I had an essay on catch and release. That was thirty-one years ago. I thought that anglers were not looking hard enough at the ideology of no-kill, and so I should do it for them. As I re-read the essay now, it sounds all right, but the penultimate sentence caught me: pretty much what I believe today, and it’s in connection with my proposal of a sixth, The New Period, in American fly fishing. Here’s that sentence: “Now let us go a-stream more like our fathers-- individual, unself-conscious, unreconstructed, and quiet with our streamcraft and our love more important than our equipage and image.” But how, I wonder, can I both blog and, at the same time, in Walton’s use of Scripture, study to be quiet….? It’s snowing now, those great, beautiful, sloppy spring flakes. For us Westerners they fill the air with promise-- and are superbly quiet.....".
One final thing follows as well ... from my website for Hexagraph I've carried a "philosophy" page, the higlight being a poem you probably know from W B Yeats:
The Song of Wandering Aengus
I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread. And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in the stream, And caught a little silver trout.
When I had laid it on the floor, I went to blow the fire aflame, But something rustled on the floor, And someone called me by my name. It had become a glimmering girl, With apple blossom in her hair, Who called me by my name and ran, And faded through the brightening air.
Though I am old with wandering, Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands. And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done, The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.
Pic is a sea-run Brown Trout we caught from a stream in Long Islanda couple of years ago. Sea-run trout is a story in itself.
At our little New England Congregational church Lift High The Cross is sung each Lenten Sunday, and that tradition is much-loved. Here's another little church, Episcopal (corrected that) and full of old people, with the hymn. My church is packed with young people and their little kids, making me feel old.
This was my Mom's bird bath, now in its new home in our little entry garden. An heirloom of sorts.
It's big and deep enough to give a kid a bath in it. easily holds 8-10 gallons. Cast iron, too heavy for me to lift even the top alone, much less to seat it into its slots. It has a drain plug in it, and it's decorated with three dragons. The base has a bit of rust damage to the surface. I had to power wash it, spray it with Rustoleum and then with a coat or two of black. A delicate sand-blasting might have been better, but I thought that might be too much for the detailed ornamentation of the base.
It could have been forest green (and maybe used to be), but I went with black to be safe.
Like my Mom, Mrs. BD understands the structural requirements of garden design. Focal points, structured areas, plantings for interest each season, etc. We do gardens.
What is the value of a shot clock in basketball? In terms of keeping the flow and tempo of the game up, it's worth quite a bit. It prevents teams from stalling and keeps fan interest high.
But what is the cost of the shot clock? Is it worth having a clock at all?
Not in certain regions of the country, because the school conferences recognized even something as seemingly inconsequential as a clock may have costs which outweigh their value. It's basic math. Too bad it can't be isn't applied to more policies in our nation.
"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."
Frederic Bastiat
“To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.”
Charles Krauthammer
“The entire north polar ice cap will be gone in 5 years.”
Al Gore on the 13th of December, 2008 (So sorry, Al. It has expanded. Find a fresh new scam, or have you made enough money on that one? Last I heard, it was close to $200 million, which ought to cover your special massage charges including the Happy Endings too.)
Via Am. Thinker, explaining the deep thinking of a Soros employee:
...It’s an outlook that is deeply critical, even skeptical, of systems, models and sedimented language, but is ultimately rooted in worldly faith, rather than skepticism itself.
Letting beings be — trusting them to come forth — it seems to me, is the motivating sensibility of radically progressive activism. It’s a question of faith — in the world, in polar bears, in sea turtles, in pygmy owls, in the authority of poetry and painting, in the rightness of ice that has cooled our planet for 800,000 years and is now coming apart.
What about dinosaurs? And the "rightness of ice"? Ice is never right in a gin Martini but, OK, it is right in a Mint Julip and in a Coke with a lime. The guy sounds psychotic to me. Word salad.
Hardly a crisis, I think. There used to be bison, before that wild camels and all sorts of ungulates in the American West. The Indians killed 'em all except for the bison. What is best? I don't know. The wild horses are eating the food of the cattle.
Bloomberg always wants people to be just like him, like an old-time NY Jewish mother. "It's raining. Put on your rubbers or you'll catch a cold." Otherwise, he'll try to make laws to make you act that way.
Steyn: The slow death of free speech - How the Left, here and abroad, is trying to shut down debate — from Islam and Israel to global warming and gay marriage
After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, For whom are you looking? 5They answered, Jesus of Nazareth.Jesus replied, I am he. Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6When Jesussaid to them, I am he,they stepped back and fell to the ground. 7Again he asked them, For whom are you looking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8Jesus answered, I told you that I am he.So if you are looking for me, let these men go. 9This was to fulfil the word that he had spoken, I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me. 10Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was Malchus. 11Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?
12 So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. 13First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.
Peter denies knowing Jesus
15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. 17The woman said to Peter, You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you? He said, I am not. 18Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing round it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.
There is an 10+ minute intro on this video which can be skipped forward through. Masterpiece of world music? You betcha. I have heard it a number of times, but serious music always requires at least two or five listenings in a row for me to begin to get, or re-get, the gist and flow of it.
I have been so depressed that I have considered killing myself many times. I decided 30 years ago that I could never safely own a firearm because I knew what I would do with it someday. Even so, I have come close to buying a gun. A few years ago, I had extremely severe, treatment-resistant depression—an epoch more than an episode—that lasted several years and steadily worsened despite multiple medicines and weekly visits to my psychiatrist. Eventually, I did go shopping for a pistol. With great difficulty, I chose not to buy it and committed myself to the hospital instead.
As a home brewer, I've always considered potentially increasing my output and move into the 'craft' category. However, once you do that, you have to start considering laws, both state and federal, which guide the business. Some laws are left over from Prohibition, and put undue burden on brewers, distillers, or vintners. Still others are new, and some are just crazy.
During a recent lunch, my wife and I were discussing the growth of small distilleries in New York. They are making a comeback because of a change in the law which lowers the fees necessary to be a small output distiller. This has been a job growth engine for the state, while also producing some much needed state revenue. It is a classic example of how less law can increase economic growth and opportunity.
The conversation with my wife, however, revolved around any laws which may exist (and they do, in some states) that limit production to using only agricultural products which are produced in-state. My wife had no problem with this, saying it would grow more jobs. I pointed out any state putting such limitations on distilling or brewing would hurt the economy, because if a distiller wished to use product from another state to start up, he couldn't, and since the law would force him to purchase only in-state product, prices for those products would increase dramatically as more brewers or distillers opened, becoming a prohibitive factor in new business.
I'm all for local-grown product, if that's what you like. But everybody, from consumer to brewmaster to distiller needs to have choices. If I might like a product which is made in one state, but utilizes grain from another, I may never have the opportunity to try it. Laws which limit inputs are, by definition, limiting economic growth. Which is why protectionism is always a bad idea. Limiting opportunity can only limit growth. This concept can be applied across a broad swathe of legislation which seeks to 'create' equality by creating new inequalities.
That said, it is nice to see small pockets of legislators learning "less is more" when it comes to laws and jobs. As for my bourbon, I'm still a fan of Buffalo Trace and Maker's Mark. However, I've tried Widow Jane, out of Brooklyn, and it's quite good. I also received some Hillrock as a gift and it, too, is very good, though the cinnamon aftertaste is a bit different than I've had. Still another recommended Hudson Baby Bourbon, though I haven't tried it yet.
Still looking to try my first Pappy Van Winkle, though.
The otherwise-useful article concludes with the notion that "government could do more."
I have no idea what government has to do with it. After the basics, most lines of work are learned by apprenticeships and "practice" of various sorts. Just consider auto mechanics, cooking, gunsmithing, machine-tooling, law, medicine, bond sales, garden design, preaching, playing music, carpentry, jewelry design, flower arranging, cattle-raising, horse-grooming, dog training, leather-working, road-paving, politics and sales in general, fashion, etc., etc., etc. The list is endless.
I am very much in favor of the term and concept "apprentice," but I don't know what the heck government has to do with it. Why do so many people have this reflex that "government ought to do something"? As if it could.
Our fishing friend Harry Briscoe of 
The Song of Wandering Aengus
Duke Porn Star Inspires Other Co-Eds to Become Strippers
John 18:1-41
Photo is Czech Easter eggs 
Your tax dollars at work: 
We have snow this morning. How about you? 
