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.
My pic of a Congregational church carriage shed, just north of Hanover, New Hampshire. You'd be assigned a pew, and horse-and buggy shelter, by seniority. This was at a time when Congo services went on for several hours, at the least. Needed to protect horse, and buggy or wagon, from the northern elements.
In their desperation to avoid responsibility for the Benghazi debacle, Obama and Biden have pointed fingers in two directions: at the intelligence community for reporting incorrectly that the incident was a protest over a YouTube video clip, and at the State Department for not providing adequate security for the Ambassador.
Romney's Bain Capital, the object of constant Democratic denigration, invested private money in the following companies:
• AMC Entertainment • Burger King • Burlington Coat Factory • Clear Channel Communications • Dominos Pizza • Dunk n' Donuts • Guitar Centers • The Sports Authority • Staples • Toys "R" US • Warner Music Group
By all accounts, the main issue in this presidential race is jobs and their creation. One can only imagine the aggregate employment created by these companies. Once again, the key phrase here is "private money."
President Obama, playing businessman with your money, invested in:
• Solyndra • Ener 1 • Beacon Power • Abound Solar • Amonix Solar • Spectra Watt • Eastern Energy
All of these companies have two things in common: they were, coincidently, all contributors to Obama's campaign, and eventually all went bankrupt.
10:17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
10:18 Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
10:19 You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'"
10:20 He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth."
10:21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
10:22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
10:23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"
10:24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
10:26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?"
10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."
10:28 Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you."
10:29 Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,
10:30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life.
10:31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."
The Tiger Swallowtail of the Eastern US is dimorphic. This is a dark female on wild daisies.
She will not live very long. Except for our migratory, Milkweed-loving Monarch butterflies, most do not live very long in their winged form. Much more life as caterpillars and pupae. The brief task of the winged form is to produce eggs, then die. Short, sweet, and lovely.
I’ve spent my whole life hating the Cardinals. If I were to find an actual cardinal in the forest, twittering with happiness in the dappled sunlight, and I could get it to fly gently into my hand, I would squeeze it until I heard all its little bones break like tiny little twigs.
Power breeds paranoia and every group jealously hoards its privileges fearful that they will be taken away. The more these groups demand their rights, the more certain it is that they are already abusing the rights of others. When they call for freedom, they mean power. When they call for equality, they mean privilege. When they denounce hate, they justify their own hate. When they complain about the culture of bigotry, they are expressing how much they hate others.
Pie in the Sky, properly known as The Preacher and the Slave, is a parody credited to Joe Hill in 1911, and was published in the Industrial Worker's Little Red Songbook. (The tune is In the Sweet Bye and Bye.) The socialist-revoutionary Wobblies were big on songs. Brief entry on Joe Hill's life here- songs from an interesting piece of American history, when a Socialist revolution seemed near.
Long-haired preachers come out every night, Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right; But when asked how 'bout something to eat They will answer with voices so sweet:
CHORUS: You will eat, bye and bye, In that glorious land above the sky; Work and pray, live on hay, You'll get pie in the sky when you die.
The starvation army they play, They sing and they clap and they pray 'Till they get all your coin on the drum Then they'll tell you when you're on the bum:
Holy Rollers and jumpers come out, They holler, they jump and they shout. Give your money to Jesus they say, He will cure all diseases today.
If you fight hard for children and wife -- Try to get something good in this life -- You're a sinner and bad man, they tell, When you die you will sure go to hell.
Workingmen of all countries, unite, Side by side we for freedom will fight; When the world and its wealth we have gained To the grafters we'll sing this refrain:
FINAL CHORUS: You will eat, bye and bye, When you've learned how to cook and to fry. Chop some wood, 'twill do you good, And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye.
The Band with Dylan's hymn (live, 1970). So many of these good guys are dead now. Danko, Manuel, Levon. God knows where the incredibly talented Garth is today with his Lowrey organ and his sax.
Yesterday morning at about 7AM, to the west was a perfect double rainbow. My photo cut off the bottom due to trees. Here's someone else's photo. Look above the lower rainbow and you can faintly see the second one. I only recall seeing a very few rainbows as good as this one.
"Joe, are Iranian nukes really such a hilarious topic?"
"Joe, I am a fellow American citizen trying to talk with you and, as such, I expect as much respectful behavior as I offer you. In fact, as a fellow citizen, I'd expect you to at least listen to my opinion before giggling like a girl."
Harry Potter star Emma Watson is the favourite celebrity bait for cyber criminals trying to lure internet users, it has emerged. Internet security firm McAfee said today that the English actress is the 'most dangerous' celebrity to search for online.
That's because many sites use Miss Watson to trick users into downloading malicious software or to steal personal information. When searching for the 22-year-old, there's a one-in-eight chance of landing on a malicious site.
I'd add that the odds increase exponentially when the words "nude" or "topless" are included.
Dangerous!
Others on the top ten list include Jessica Biel, Eva Mendes, Selena Gomez, Halle Berry, Megan Fox, Salma Hayek, Sofia Vergara and Cameron Diaz, so kudos to the bandits for exhibiting exquisite taste. On the other hand, I've already initiated a law suit against them because Mila Kunis, my latest fave, was left off such a prestigious list.
Nearly two-thirds of search results on Bing were found to have links that spread malware or spam, compared to 30 percent for Google, said Sophos Security in a recent study.
"Search engine poisoning," as it's called, affects all search engines; it might turn up the link you see first, or high up in results, for example, when you search for a popular celeb like Jessica Biel or Justin Bieber. Clicking on the link can take you to a spam site or, worse, one filled with malware aimed at infecting your computer.
And remember the cold, hard truth in all of this; that you don't deserve one tiny shred of sympathy should you get infected and not be able to immediately remedy the situation. And this cold, hard truth is because:
1. With free programs such as Windows Restore at the ready, which make a great big 'image file' of your entire system, you would normally just fire up the boot-up disc, load last week's image file and you're back in business within minutes.
and...
2. You shouldn't have been infected in the first place. A careful investigation after the fact will reveal that the free anti-malware program being used wasn't protecting the browser in real-time, allowing the infection to sneak through. This is known as you get what you pay for. It's a lesson that should have been learned long ago.
While Windows Restore does an adequate job, I prefer a commercial backup program called True Image. More info on both programs here. For an anti-malware program with real-time browser protection, I use ZoneAlarm.
As a small side note, image file backup programs aren't just for catastrophes. The other day I was curious if the Chrome browser had made any improvements since I last tried it a year ago, so I first made a backup file of the system, installed Chrome, played around with it for a while, was aghast that absolutely none of its major shortcomings had been addressed — then restored the original system via the backup file and it was as if the whole sordid event had never taken place. No muss, no fuss, no extra clutter of files on the system clogging things up.
You don’t win a nationally televised debate by being rude and obnoxious. You don’t win by interrupting your opponent time after time after time or by being a blowhard. You don’t win with facial expressions, especially smirks or fake laughs, or by pretending to be utterly exasperated with what your opponent is saying.
Also, read Bruce's post from last night.
RNC instant ad:
Ryan's main job was to establish serious credibility. Seems like he accomplished that. Seems like Biden acted like a drunk in a bar even if he won or tied on points scored. Bad optics, not gentlemanly or dignified.
Driving through the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, en route to grouse and Woodcock hunting in northern Maine on the Quebec border. Great fun and a great work-out.
Go Go Hi Ho! We must grab life while we still have it, with both hands. Plenty of time to rest, watch TV, and surf the internet in the grave, in hell, or in heaven, as the case may be. This life was not given to us to be a waiting room.
Quick reaction around the networks and websites: Both Biden and Ryan scored some good points. Biden's sneers and constant interruptions were a turn-off, disrespectful in the extreme, to those who value courtesy in personal communications. The CNN tracking of men and women Independents throughout the debate found women favoring Ryan over Biden. That's a reversal from the past leaning of women toward Obama (now, Obama and Romney are about even in the polls with women). Biden's condescending attitude came through as consistent with Obama's. That's a negative for those tired of being talked down to by those whose promises and self-regard are hollow.
Biden may have encouraged his base by his boorishness, and Ryan may have not met his base's expectations of being tougher on Biden's assertions -- even when wrong as to facts. But, for many Independents the comparison comes down to Ryan's civility Vs Biden's rudeness. That's an important atmospheric. -- See the Twitter negative reactions to Biden's rudeness from reporters across the political spectrum. -- Allahpundit has a wrap-up headline quip: "Angry old man yells at Paul Ryan for 90 minutes". -- CNN instapoll gives the nod to Ryan.
Thanks for InstaPundit link. This Comment from an InstaPundit reader on target: “The Joker vs. Robin.”
Image stolen from PowerLine. Jackass split screen:
My prediction: Biden's rudeness and jokes about him will predominate conversations, and maybe even break through to legacy media reporting, over the coming days.
The instant polls: CNBC had it Ryan 56%-36%, CBS Biden 50%-31%, CNN Ryan 48%-44%, AP Ryan 51%-43%. Not nearly as one-sided as the instant responses to the first presidential debate in Denver. My sense: Biden pumped up partisan Democrats, but failed to win over the voters who are taking a serious look at Romney at a point when he is up in national polls.
The following appeared at Contentions blog today. I'm reprinting it all for you to read. If you belong to one of these denominations, you might contact your local church's leadership and demand that this letter be protested. As this commentary says, "It should be specified that in most cases, these positions are largely the work of a small group of left-wing activists that dominate the public affairs policy work of their churches. Most rank-and-file members of Presbyterian, Lutheran and Methodist churches are, like most Americans, strong supporters of Israel and have little idea that this assault on Israel is being done in their name. But it is incumbent on them as well as other decent church leaders to denounce this letter and other BDS activities."
If you are not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
For mainstream American Jewish groups, it has long been an article of faith that strong alliances with liberal Protestant denominations with whom they shared a common agenda on domestic issues is integral to the safeguarding of the security and the rights of the Jewish community. That has been tested in recent years, as some of their liberal Christian partners debated supporting efforts to boycott, divest and sanction the state of Israel. But the latest instance of liberal Christians attacking Israel ought to cut the cord completely.
Tonight will be our one chance to see Ryan and Biden face off. Unlike the last debate, where every MSM op-ed in the Central Galaxy predicted an Obama slam-dunk, I note that no one is predicting such an outcome tonight.
Because two things are true:
1. As everyone knows, Romney is extremely gaffe-prone. Just ask any objective, independent MSM reporter. But Romney won't be there tonight.
2. As everyone knows, Biden actually is gaffe-prone, and just because the protective MSM won't admit it doesn't make it any less true. It could pop out at any second.
Personally, if I were a Democratic operative, I'd be terrified.
I wonder if we'll see the words "draw" or "tie" tomorrow. If I were an MSM writer, I'd already be composing my "It was a draw" article. You know Ryan won't actually 'lose'; the only question is whether or not Biden will, and as long as he doesn't say anything too outlandish or (as they'll say in future elections) pull an Obama, they'll figure a tie is more than satisfactory.
One thing I think we'll see tonight is how much more of a 'regular guy' Ryan is, as referred to the heartless number-cruncher he's usually portrayed as. We'll need that since Biden's 'Regular Joe' persona is well crafted. Despite it being a complete lie, he really does come across as the working man's best friend in Congress.
If I were his press agent, I'd have the Callous Lady come in to rub small callouses on his hands. Then I'd have a cued reporter ask him about them at the next televised press conference.
"Say, Joe, are those callouses on your hands?"
"Uh-yup! I got dem choppin' me up some firewood!"
Whutta guy!
The show starts at 9 Eastern. More details here. It should be streamed from both that link and YouTube. On the subject, I would note that there are different streamcasts available. The first one I tried during the last debate was plastering these insipid Twitter comments across the bottom of the screen. I hunted around and found a 'clean' version.
For your reading pleasure, I highly recommend this article. That's the kind of post that actually sways voters.
Keller seems to have written his glowing essay about the Liverpool Protocol, How to Die, without talking to any practicing American doctors. He is writing as an advocate of Obamacare, and speaks as if American doctors won't let people die while the English people will.
If he had spoken with American doctors, he would know that most American internists do something very similar with patients whose condition is hopeless, and do so routinely. Daily. Everybody dies. American hospitals have plenty of patients with "DNR" (Do Not Resusitate) orders on their charts, and hospice units and hospice centers are common in the US.
I see two exceptions, occasionally. One is when the family or patient is adamant about "Do anything and everything." These tend to be people who don't know much. The second is with some terminal cancer patients. I have seen terminal cancer patients, with widespead metastatic disease in the ICU, dying while the latest cancer chemotherapy is still being pumped into their veins. It's pitiful.
Generally, doctors know when to give up and do not view death as an enemy. Unfortunately, Bill Keller seems to be addressing a straw man.
Hey, if you've been hoarding Krugerrands since Nancy Pelosi hove into view, have I got good news for you! Marketwatch says gold's at $17,727 an ounce right now. Think of all the ammo and beans you can buy with a pound or two of your wife's melted jewelry today.
Into each life some rain must fall, though. I wonder what a gallon of gas is going to cost tomorrow now that a barrel of oil is worth $9228. I'd fill up today before they change the signs, if I were you. Marketwatch. For the Lulz.
Not since World War Two has a great economy been as mismanaged as badly as the EU has fouled up the eurozone. For the hundreds of thousands of Europeans who have lost their jobs and life savings, the consequences of that mismanagement are very real. Is the answer to this catastrophe really “more Europe?” Do the authorities in Brussels really need more power — or deserve more public trust?
Today's announcement of the inaugural journalistic losers who won the Walter Duranty Prize for Journalistic Mendacity merits recognition:
First Place: Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Magazine, and Joan Juliet Buck, Author "For their stunning achievements in exemplifying the spirit of Walter Duranty, for their combined use of gumshoe reporting, headline packaging, impeccable timing and fearless dismissal of facts to produce Vogue's 2011 cover story, "Asma al-Assad: A Rose in the Desert."
First Runner Up: Bob Simon, 60 Minutes/CBS "For the gross distortions in his CBS' 60 Minutes episode, "Christians of the Holy Land."
Second Runner Up: Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic "For his unsupported accusation, unfounded claims and multiple blog postings asserting that Trig Palin is not Sarah Palin's own son."
Last April, I wrote that the qualifications for the new Walter Duranty Prize for dishonest reporting that caused great harm should parallel Walter Duranty's infamous career. At least the first and second prize losers who won meet the criteria, but the third place loser who won dates back 4-years, doesn't involve foreign policy or foreign affairs, and -- simply -- is such a disregarded fool that he doesn't even merit being beneath contempt. Further, my suggestion of the fourth qualification, to also honor a journalist who really merits it for courage and insight, was not taken up. Below are the four qualifications that I proposed:
1.In parallel to the reportage by Walter Duranty, the prize for dishonest reporting should be reporting on a foreign country. Walter Duranty’s infamous whitewashing of the starvation and death of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-3 will be hard to exceed, but there are enough terrible instances of widespread state brutality today that journalists who espouse the state line or distort the facts should be the priority.
2.In parallel to the reportage by Walter Duranty, the prize for dishonest reporting should be to a bureau chief for a major news agency, newspaper, or other prominent media, as Walter Duranty was the longtime bureau chief in Moscow for the New York Times. This ties the responsibility directly to the owners of the venue.
3.In parallel to the reportage by Walter Duranty, the prize for dishonest reporting should be the recipient of an award for journalism, as Walter Duranty was of the Pulitzer Prize for his. This ties the responsibility to the journalism profession.
For the presentation and more about the winning losers, read here. The recipients were not at the award ceremony, unless they were under the tables in their normal poses.
How Do Vultures 
Pie in the Sky, properly known as 
Excellent t-shirt is h/t the excellent 
Facebook Fought SEC