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.
You can try to rebuild buildings and ports, but buildings and ports are useless in what has become a feral, non-Western culture since the French abandoned it. In Haiti, guys with tire patches sit on the side of the road and throw nails onto the road to generate business. When people get a kid they don't want, they dump it off at the Catholic orphanages promising to return someday to pick the kid up if they get a bigger house. Many are oblivious to time and when they say next week they mean maybe next year. Haiti has two classes, the politicians and the rest. There are no oppressor Capitalists because there is no capital, so Socialism doesn't have a prayer.
Except that Haiti has tons of NGOs and GOs like AID with millions of dollars, and none of them make all that much difference. They seem to exist for purposes of moral vanity. The corrupt pols make deals with the NGOs. Foreign NGO administrators do stints there to earn their third-world stripes so they can earn a promotion while living in guarded NGO enclaves, then they get the heck out before they become clinically depressed or go postal from frustration. I've heard the stories from guys who have worked there for NGOs.
All you have to do is to compare the hell-hole of Haiti with the Dominican Republic on the other half of the island. The DR built itself and is now a major tourist, tobacco, and farming center. People in the DR work hard and worry like normal bourgeois people. Is that a good thing?
Culture is the ultimate infrastructure. You can quote me on that.
That's why it is so difficult to help Haiti get on a more solid footing, and why businesses are not eager to build plants there. Haiti's culture is dysfunctional from a Westerner's point of view but not necessarily from their point of view. They are fatalists ("Si Bondye testaman" is their key phrase), live day-to-day and there is lots of lying, cheating and stealing, bribery, and rape. That's why the NGOs so often fail in their efforts - except in providing the medical care which is entirely imported.
They are a happy, often amoral and hedonistic people, I am told, who don't bother with worrying the way we do. Go figure. OK, they are materially poor. They have a thriving black market in, I am told, extremely high-quality marijuana. The ports which receive donations are their cargo cults.
The Haitians will never become like New Hampshire Yankees, Germans, or Vietnamese no matter how much money people throw in there. If the West were truly multicultural, we would leave them alone to do their thing.
Just my amateur opinion. Debate, and better information, welcome.
Spain decided that liquor, games, and rudeness were acceptable because they brought in tax revenue. New Orleans needed this cash because its residents exhibited at least one all-American trait: they hated paying taxes. They did need expensive public infrastructure, though, to keep out the water and to rebuild when the water broke through. “Vice paid,” explains Powell. “Without the revenues it provided, government officials would have been hard-pressed to pay for maintaining the towns’ costly infrastructure.” Crown administrators likely would advise present-day Louisiana officials to build yet another casino or pleasure emporium to bring in jobs and cash.
On rare occasions I agree with the teachers' unions, to whom this was an election year favor. I don't think the feds have any proper role in education. I don't even think the states have a proper role in education. Important things like education and medical care need to be kept far away from politicians.
Related, from Harsanyi: Are Obama's Ideas Un-American? - If not un-American, the ideas that propel Obama's re-election campaign are certainly unprecedented.
"Does your cauliflower have a large carbon footprint?"
The shy master of the electric guitar, a guitarist's guitarist with, to my amateur ear, perfect taste without gratuitous flash. I think he was Robbie Robertson's hero, and hero of many others too: THE MESSIAH WILL COME AGAIN (LIVE 1976)
The man refuses to retire to his pads in Malibu, New Orleans, and Scotland on his Social Security, and thus sets a good example for us all. Most days now, he can only croak like a frog but on some days he can sort-of sing the songs. But that's not the point.
The rumor is that arthritis is what has him banging chords on the piano instead of using his guitar. I don't know. The olde expression is "It's good enough for rock n' roll." Sipp can maybe splain that to you.
I plan to catch Bob somewhere this fall, with the kids and some of my pals. Good fun, even if it were not with the great Knopfler.
You have to admire people who just won't quit, who keep on keepin' on. It's an American thing.
One feature of Dylan performances is the age range of the audiences these days. Are we tempted to bring the tiny one along? Yes, tempted. He did seem to enjoy Paul Simon.
If your thang today is to just log on and hang out, I have a couple of suggestions for your entertainment, education, and/or enlightenment.
Pic: From the 'Framing The Shot' collection in my art gallery
For starters, I've recently rearranged my video section and have collected my better 'video articles'; that is, articles centered around a video, into a new section called, appropriately enough, Video Articles.
As for my double-hip Special Vids section, I've recently added an interesting documentary on crossword puzzles. Before that were two documentaries on the Fukushima tsunami/meltdown, and the brilliant — if half a century old — flick, '12 Angry Men'.
I also opened up a Fave Vids section where I've collected the web vids that have really touched me over the years, usually because of the music. If you remember Gwynnie's 'seat belt' commercial from about a year ago, that's in there.
And, of course, there's the infamous Bag O' Clips, also known as "the last refuge of societal misfits everywhere", where movie lovers can slip away for hours. If you think my movie clips on Maggie's are sharp, the WMV clips in that area are the next step up, because I'm not reducing the quality by rendering them to FLV so the Mac bunch can see them.
And, just in case you're a music lover and have been away for the past month or so, allow me toss out the link to my Introducing Jackie Evancho post one last time. What a fun post that was.
Congress’ pathetic inability to manage the Postal Service won’t sink the republic, but the ineptitude and selfishness on display in the process just might. If Congress approaches the “fiscal cliff” it has set up for the end of this year with no more statesmanship and wisdom than it has exhibited in the USPS matter, the United States will be headed for the biggest man-made financial disaster in its history.
Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost at his house in Berkeley Square, And a Spirit came to his bedside and gripped him by the hair— A Spirit gripped him by the hair and carried him far away, Till he heard as the roar of a rain-fed ford the roar of the Milky Way: Till he heard the roar of the Milky Way die down and drone and cease, And they came to the Gate within the Wall where Peter holds the keys. "Stand up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer loud and high "The good that ye did for the sake of men or ever ye came to die— "The good that ye did for the sake of men on the little Earth so lone!" And the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as the rain-washed bone. "O I have a friend on Earth," he said, "that was my priest and guide, "And well would he answer all for me if he were at my side." —"For that ye strove in neighbour-love it shall be written fair, "But now ye wait at Heaven's Gate and not in Berkeley Square: "Though we called your friend from his bed this night, he could not speak for you, "For the race is run by one and one and never by two and two."
Then Tomlinson looked up and down, and little gain was there, For the naked stars grinned overhead, and he saw that his soul was bare. The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it cut him like a knife, And Tomlinson took up the tale and spoke of his good in life. "O this I have read in a book," he said, "and that was told to me, "And this I have thought that another man thought of a Prince in Muscovy." The good souls flocked like homing doves and bade him clear the path, And Peter twirled the jangling Keys in weariness and wrath. "Ye have read, ye have heard, ye have thought," he said, "and the tale is yet to run: "By the worth of the body that once ye had, give answer—what ha' ye done?"
Then Tomlinson looked back and forth, and little good it bore, For the darkness stayed at his shoulder-blade and Heaven's Gate before:— "O this I have felt, and this I have guessed, and this I heard men say, "And this they wrote that another man wrote of a carl in Norroway." "Ye have read, ye have felt, ye have guessed, good lack! Ye have hampered Heaven's Gate; "There's little room between the stars in idleness to prate! "For none may reach by hired speech of neighbour, priest, and kin "Through borrowed deed to God's good meed that lies so fair within; "Get hence, get hence to the Lord of Wrong, for thy doom has yet to run, "And . . . the faith that ye share with Berkeley Square uphold you, Tomlinson!"
Thanks to Mr. Vanderleun for finding this, the only extant recording of Dr. Freud speaking. Despite the current zeitgeist, his legacy and his students have provided powerful tools to help suffering people and to understand human nature.
I started my professional activity as a neurologist trying to bring relief to my neurotic patients. Under the influence of an older friend and by my own efforts, I discovered some important new facts about the unconscious in psychic life, the role of instinctual urges, and so on. Out of these findings grew a new science, psychoanalysis, a part of psychology, and a new method of treatment of the neuroses. I had to pay heavily for this bit of good luck. People did not believe in my facts and thought my theories unsavory. Resistance was strong and unrelenting. In the end I succeeded in acquiring pupils and building up an International Psychoanalytic Association. But the struggle is not yet over. -- Sigmund Freud.
What divides liberals and conservatives is not roads and bridges but Julia’s world, an Obama campaign creation that may be the most self-revealing parody of liberalism ever conceived. It’s a series of cartoon illustrations in which a fictional Julia is swaddled and subsidized throughout her life by an all- giving government of bottomless pockets and “Queen for a Day” magnanimity. At every stage, the state is there to provide — preschool classes and cut-rate college loans, birth control and maternity care, business loans and retirement. The only time she’s on her own is at her grave site.
The very good Whittle video we posted this morning revealed that government in the US provides an average of $65,000 annually in funds, "benefits," and entitlements to poor families in the US. (Little or none of this is counted as income in calculating US poverty stats, as far as I know, nor, of course, does it take into account off-the-books cash income which seems pretty common these days.)
That's roughly the yield of a $2 million trust fund invested at a safe 1-3%, if my assumptions are correct. It's not a hard sale to convince people to vote for their own $2 million trust fund delivered by magic unicorns.
(The current fad for easy Disability and food stamps - anybody can get these things right now and I receive calls daily asking me whether I do Disability forms - is a whole new arena for free stuff, but a different topic. No, I do not do Disability forms on principle because I believe everybody is capable of dignity and self-respect. Speaking of cash, I have been offered good hard cash to fill them out for people in the last couple of years. On the phone "Doc, I'll pay you $1000 cash to complete my form for me.")
I have had plenty of experience with trust fund people, and am even fortunate enough to be the recipient of a very modest one myself, far less than $2 million in capital due to generational dilution. While some use their trust fund luck for productive purposes, many, it seems to me, lead relatively unproductive if not decadent, purposeless, and unstructured lives. People with meaningfully-sized trust funds, and families on the dole, have more in common with eachother than either has with the middle class.
As we often say here, real life is scary and challenging for almost everybody else. I am not convinced that that is a bad thing. It's the nature of real life and helps bring out the best in us. People spend money for lottery tickets just to enjoy the momentary fantasy of security and ease. Security and ease are infantile fantasies in this world which presents one problem after another.
Progressivism, in the Marxist and post-Marxist forms that have been swallowing the world for a century, is, in its methodology, nothing but the moral infantilization of mankind. It seeks the establishment of a population dominated by the childish fear of facing the world alone. Its pretty slogans are all variations on this theme. From "Workers of the world unite" to "It takes a village," the message is always the same: you can't face this "dog-eat-dog" world without the safety of the herd, which means without material security provided by political force. An all-powerful mother government must always be there to protect you from the ever-present monster, which is just life itself. And such security is not "charity"; it is your right. You are entitled to it, as any child is entitled to his parents' protection.
Today's ever-expanding "entitlement mentality" is literally shamelessness elevated to the status of a moral code. Progressivism has created an entire euphemistic vocabulary to justify the unabashed demand that others sacrifice their liberty to save me from my childish fear of facing life as an adult. "Positive rights," "social justice," "redistributive justice," "creative individuality," and so on, are all part of the leftist lexicon of cowardice.
Read it all. My view is that every American kid is born with a trust fund: their body, mind, soul, opportunities, and the remarkable free culture at hand. Amazing gifts which are rare on this planet. With all of that, nobody needs to lead a life which wastes his talents and capacities, or neglects his spiritual development.
I should add that I have no problem with trust funds per se (and have doubts about the whole idea of inheritance taxes too, which hit small family farms and businesses but never the very wealthy. America should welcome and ecourage family wealth-building, which reduces dependency). Similarly, I have no problem with the safety net for the very poor and/or dysfunctional. I do find it remarkable that American poverty benefits net out higher than the average American worker's income, which, like a good-sized trust fund, can be a perverse incentive for the weak in spirit. That's a shame, but people make their choices and not all Americans, unfortunately, have absorbed the American "Can Do" attitude.
Governments are marketing the "You Can't Do" attitude. It sells.
Bill Whittle explains why Progressive policies exist regardless of whether they achieve their purported purposes. In case you haven't seen this excellent summary elsewhere:
More of these fun satirical pics here. (h/t Insty)
If Obama believes that anybody who achieves their dreams (very few of us ever do) did it by cheating or luck, does that apply to him too?
By hook or by crook, I achieved one of my dreams by constructing a website that Marianne reads.
Perhaps the implied message is that, if you are disappointed in life (and who is not, in some ways?), it's not your fault. And, of course, it often is not because Reality is a bitch and we are not perfect either.
There is something rather strange going on here, Mr. Jones, but it seems about half the country is OK with it.
Catboats remain common in New England. I wonder about other parts of the country, and the world. They were designed for comfort, seaworthiness, and ease of sail-handling - not for speed. It's never a terrible idea to have an ugly outboard on the stern of one, just in case.
In this blogger's case, not zero-carb but close to it. He did it without exercise. He helpfully reviews the nonsense about low-fat diets too. There is no evidence, it seems, that a low-fat diet does any good at all for heart disease or anything else.
That's basically the Maggie's weight-loss diet. Fruit, bread, cereal, pasta, beans, corn, juice, sugar - all are instant poison if you desire weight loss, energy, good vigor, and a springy step. Bacon is good for you!
People on no-carb diets feel better, feel less lazy.
I remember when I got upset years ago when my doc advised me to avoid fats and red meats to lower my cholesterol. My doc now (that older good fellow retired) is up-to-date. He says that, if you want to stay in shape, quit the carbs and eat all the eggs and meat you want. He says fruit is the killer, because people have the idea that fruit is healthy.
Details of tour 
If your thang today is to just log on and hang out, I have a couple of suggestions for your entertainment, education, and/or enlightenment.
Tomlinson (1891) 
More of these fun satirical pics 
In this blogger's case,