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.
If conservatives are to succeed, we need to convince people in the U.S. and around the world that capitalism makes them richer and freer. Given the mountains of evidence on our side, why is it so damn hard?
The False Allure of Group Selection:Group selection has become a scientific dust bunny, a hairy blob in which anything having to do with "groups" clings to anything having to do with "selection....
I bought two new cars, from different manufacturers, in the past year. I want to shoot the screens. It's time for a revolution in car audio and electronics "It still seems like most car manufacturers think the best way to build in their electronics is by working with partners, and most of those partners know as much about how their software and services work in an automobile environment as the car manufacturers know about how to build good electronics."
Putting normal lives on a leash will be given an ideological aspect. Thanks to the opinion makers, the helpers will occupy the moral high ground. Earthly material interests mute into moralizing excuses. Stipulated justifications will exploit the original purpose of the regulating bureaucracy and thus protect it from criticism because of its claimed service of a higher purpose. Helping the poor might be virtuous. The institutions that fight poverty and thrive as a result, are not quite as noble as is their original goal. Existing values can also be hitched in front of bureaucratic carts. The values that preach helping and solidarity are enlisted to bless whatever the “office“ does. Accordingly, the critics are accused of lacking solidarity, of egoism, or to abuse the environment if, for instance, they dare to articulate the waste of some ecological regulations.
Yesterday I received a notice in the mail. Apparently, Obamacare be beri beri good to me. My kindly insurance carrier is sending me government has forced my insurer to send me a rebate on 0.5% of my premiums from last year. That should be about, let's see, $32.50.
I really like getting money back from anyone. I suppose I should be pleased. But I'm not, I'm offended.
It seems that the ACA has set what is considered to be a 'reasonable' amount for spending on administrative costs and the coverage of medical fees. That split is 15% for administration, 85% for fees and services. My carrier hit only 84.5% on the fees and services portion, which means I get .5% back.
Dreadful news, I'm a'feared. Bird Dog has gone on vacation for a week.
(the old-timers in the audience burst into tears at the thought of the horror to come)
That's right, the tyrannical, oppressive firm, guiding hand of our beloved editor won't be around to keep us in check, and I suppose just about anything might happen. As, unfortunately, usually does. Hence the tears.
For example, one really horrible thing to see would be a link to the Maggie's Farm Smut Guide, which isn't normally available because no self-respecting blogger would ever link to such a vile, disgusting piece of trash.
Much less blog on the site that produced it!
Also, you might still see a few pre-dated posts by the big guy. That's his not-so-subtle way of telling us Mutinies will NOT be tolerated! Death awaits those who try! It's a fair precaution, given the ripe opportunity.
So, buckle down, me hearties, and we'll see if we can't weather this storm together. In case of fire, please throw a glass of water at your monitor and maybe some of it will seep through and cool down the server. If you see a big "CENSORED BY THE FCC" screen, well, that's why we usually have an editor.
So, let us recap what's transpired since we last discussed the election.
As I recall, once Time Magazine and the New York Times picked up on the Maggie's posts and started printing them, the entire world realized that the wise and kindly Dr. Mercury was correct that Newt 'Big Picture' Gingrich was the one candidate with the historical perspective and across-the-aisle contacts to really-
Oh, wait. That was a dream I had the other night. Never mind.
Okay, so, while other blog sites were still mocking Romney by calling the others the "not-Romney" candidates, we'd all-but decided over here that it was probably Romney or bust. I believe he won my prestigious 'most presidential' award in every debate except one, where he shared the honor with Jon Huntsman.
Once the primaries started, the 'presidential' difference just became all the more apparent and the only surprise was the strong showing some of the other candidates made in certain states. But only in certain states.
Which brings us to today.
Like others, I'm expecting the Romney VP pick any moment now. For the record, I publicly called for Sarah Palin to be John McCain's running mate three weeks before he announced it.
But that was a gut call; wishful thinking. This is me actually trying to be politically analytical.
The standard "It won't be pretty" warning is in place.
Jenkins: Is Obama Beating Himself? With "you didn't build that" going viral, the president's campaign is reportedly looking for a positive message. But what message?
How many more millions will be on food stamps and disability by the end of the decade? According to the Heritage Foundation, in the United States government spending accounts for 42 percent of GDP, in Canada 44 percent. Those two points are apparently the difference between a sturdy republic of limited government and self-reliant citizens and a notorious semi-French socialist basket case of effete wimps. Oh, wait: New Zealand's about the same as America.
The Lance-Schliesser boycott proposal was endorsed by many of the philosophers who commented on the pair's blog entry. Indeed, "some proposed that the boycott be expanded to include conferences with all-white line-ups or with lack of diversity in sexual orientation or nationality," Inside Higher Ed reported. The notion of merit, aptitude or interest as relevant to scholarly endeavors from majoring in chemistry to speaking at a philosophy conference seems to be falling by the wayside.
Like most parents, at least those who care or don't give up, I argue with my son Jason about some of the music he listens to, the Rap music. Aside from its lack of musical skill, when I can get past the speed with which they speak, the jargon and the accents, the message is misogynistic and elevates drugs and violence. Yesterday, Jason told me about a rapper he'd been listening to, Marcus Hopson, who goes by the stage-name Hopsin. He is very successful and has gathered some other rappers to his recording company. In this video, below, you can understand the words, and I hope that others who listen to Hopsin will take them to heart. Warning, there is cussing in the video, NSFW. (In case you do not understand the words or want a record of them, here's the same rap with the words.)
Now, on to white trash. Yesterday I took Jason to see the film Ted. I thought it was supposed to be a funny movie about a grown man and his wise-acre living teddy bear. What a screw-up that was. Including pornography, I have never seen a film that had so much non-stop vulgar language, allusions, and behavior. To me this film is the epitome of the white trash mentality too common among our artistes and elites. Hollywood and the actors should really be ashamed of themselves. But, of course, aren't. -- I didn't hear anyone in the movie theater laughing.
The U.S. was created to foster human flourishing. The means to that end was the exercise of liberty in the pursuit of happiness. Capitalism is the economic expression of liberty. The pursuit of happiness, with happiness defined in the classic sense of justified and lasting satisfaction with life as a whole, depends on economic liberty every bit as much as it depends on other kinds of freedom.
Another:
... these capitalists of the left are concentrated where it counts most. The most visible entrepreneurs of the high-tech industry are predominantly liberal. So are most of the people who run the entertainment and news industries. Even leaders of the financial industry increasingly share the politics of George Soros. Whether measured by fundraising data or by the members of Congress elected from the ZIP Codes where they live, the elite centers with the most clout in the culture are filled with people who are embarrassed to identify themselves as capitalists, and it shows in the cultural effect of their work.
"Milton Friedman, who would have turned 100 on Tuesday, helped to make free markets popular again in the 20th century. His ideas are even more important today":
Well over 200 million were liberated from poverty thanks to the rediscovery of the free market. And now as the world teeters close to another recession, leaders need to urgently rediscover Friedman's ideas.
I remember asking Milton, a year or so before his death, during one of our semiannual dinners in downtown San Francisco: What can we do to make America more prosperous? "Three things," he replied instantly. "Promote free trade, school choice for all children, and cut government spending."
How much should we cut? "As much as possible."
A Libertarian at heart. The man believed in American freedom from the state and had faith in human potential - when unleashed. Listening to him talk, for me, is like seeing the sun come out from behind a cloud.
And a 15-minute walk to the YMCA and the library. Plus a fairly dense neighborhood where kids can hop on their bike, or just walk down the street, and find tons of kids to hang out with and play ball with. How good is that?
The train would be the New Haven line (NYC to Boston). Fairfield is around an hour and 15 minutes by train to Grand Central Station. Not too bad, especially if you can get work done on the train. A little less time to New Haven. It's part of the "Gold Coast," but this neighborhood is more like Silver. Pricey for what little you get.
The lad and I took our annual journey to the great Pequot Library Book Sale in Southport, CT on Sunday afternoon, then spent a few minutes scouting out the Fairfield real estate (south of the Boston Post Road, near Long Island Sound), just for giggles - but thinking as investors.
With all of the amazing amenities, one might think these neighborhoods near the beaches would be charming as heck. They are not. They are mostly post-war, poorly-built and poorly-designed with lots of split-levels and other charmless ticky-tacky stuff, built on small lots on marsh fill and thus subject to flooding during big storms. But that's the price you pay to walk to the beach. Laws would not permit such wetlands construction today.
My lad says that post-war neighborhoods are rarely gentrified, or spruced-up, due to lack of charm and construction quality. Because of the local amenities and conveniences, the land here is worth about the same with house or without. It's mostly 1/4-acre lots, some less. That means the houses are what are termed "scrapers": the house adds no, or minimal, value to the lot. In fact, the cost of demolition detracts from the value. Those lots are valuable with or without a functional house - around $450-800,000, and well over a million post-scraping and rebuilding. As a result of the near-zero value of the building, many of them are not well-maintained or improved up to modern standards.
Only a few of them have been scraped and replaced by 3-story houses of indeterminate, ungainly style. (Due to setback requirements, you have to build up to 3 stories to get the square footage people want today.)
When people realize their houses are hopeless scrapers, they stop putting money into them and thus make the neighborhood - and themselves - look scruffy, dilapidated, or dysfunctional. Often, they are best off renting the darn thing. Here's an example of one below, a snout house I suppose, which has had nothing done since 1958 except paint. Landscaping, I think, by Home Depot. With a little effort in that department, it could look like a fairly good starter house or retirement shelter. An American flag over the entry, and some interesting landscaping, would add a lot to this basic dwelling without scraping it off.
(By the way, I hate those set-back zoning rules. Stupid. Houses could have friendly porches right off the street, and larger back yards for gardening, etc., without them. People making zoning rules are usually idiots. These are not exactly grand estates with gracious lawns full of grazing sheep.And, speaking of annoying zoning rules, these post-war neighborhoods are zoned as single-family residential, so there are no corner stores to walk to for coffee, a newspaper, an ice cream, or to chat with neighbors over a beer. You have to drive when anybody would prefer to push the stroller a few blocks for a coffee.)
Dreadful news, I'm a'feared. Bird Dog has gone on vacation for a week.
So, let us recap what's transpired since we last discussed the election.
Image via 
Image via 
"Milton Friedman, who would have turned 100 on Tuesday, helped to make free markets popular again in the 20th century. 
Shark bites swimmer in Truro
And a 15-minute walk to the YMCA and the library. Plus a fairly dense neighborhood where kids can hop on their bike, or just walk down the street, and find tons of kids to hang out with and play ball with. How good is that?
