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.
In trackless woods, it puzzled me to find Four great rock maples seemingly aligned, As if they had been set out in a row Before some house a century ago, To edge the property and to lend some shade. I looked to see if ancient wheels had made Old ruts to which these trees ran parallel, But there were none, so far as I could tell - There'd been no roadway. Nor could I find the square Depression of a cellar anywhere, And so I tramped on further, to survey Amazing patterns in a hornbeam spray Or spirals in a pinecone, under trees Not subject to our stiff geometries.
(A bio and some commentary here. Buy the Collected Poems of this modern master here)
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's The Calling of Matthew (1600)
The notoriously brawling artist brought a new look to European late Renaissance art, and is viewed as a bridge between Mannerism and Baroque. He was a rock star artist in his time.
The Associated Press reports the most extensive study yet of whether engaging in sex causes heart attacks.
In its first science-based recommendations on the subject, the American Heart Association says having sex only slightly raises the chance for a heart attack. And that's true for people with and without heart disease.
Surprisingly, despite the higher risk for a heart patient to have a second attack, there's no evidence that they have more sex-related heart attacks than people without cardiac disease.
However,
The doctors' group offers advice for heart patients based on scientific research involving sometimes provocative sex-related topics:
—Who's most at risk for sudden death related to sex? Married men having affairs, often with younger women in unfamiliar settings. Those circumstances can add to stress that may increase the risks, evidence from a handful of studies suggests.
Still, “sexual activity is the cause of less than 1 percent of all heart attacks," says the lead author of the report.
The revolution of the left is the stratified revolution of Barack Obamas and Elizabeth Warrens, greedy political activists feeding at the watering hole of government and crying out for more. More power. More laws. More chains. Parse the rhetoric and all you get is the powerful demanding that we give them more power. This revolution of the greedy and corrupt would already be dead if it had not used the momentum of its ideological fervor to embed itself into every institution and seize control of the educational system and the cultural dialogue to program succeeding generations to give it even more power.
The time is ripe for a true cultural and political revolution of the right, but that revolution has been hijacked over and over again by the gatekeepers who warn us that it's time to play nice, that we must think of the long game, that some issues have already been lost and we need to fight only for the core issues that matter to them lest we alienate people. The long march never ends in a last stand, only another tactical withdrawal on issue after issue.
There was a brief period when Clinton actually sounded like a growth and prosperity Dem, but, since then, the party snapped back to its 1930s approach. Tyrrell:
...Obama is a reactionary. He believes in the past, a past of vast government control of the economy, redistribution, and slow growth. Christie and Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin believe in growth. The future is theirs.
Cabo, last March. A good time, great food, fun fishing with the whales and Sea Lions, and plenty of great pals of my in-laws. My, my, my, how time flies.
Nat Helms at Defend Our Marines and Tony Perry at the Los Angeles Times, both able reporters of the Haditha prosecutions, have similar stories up about the choice that Frank Wuterich must make tonight. As Perry puts it, “This could be the longest night of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich’s life since he became a defendant in arguably the largest war-crime case from the war in Iraq.” Helms brings in the deeper meaning: “The 31-year-old father of three can bite the proverbial bullet and ask for administrative separation, or he can dig in his heels and fight for the principles he has already proved he is willing to die for.”
Admittance to a minor charge and an administrative separation, meaning under less than honorable conditions, means that Wuterich would lose veterans benefits and carry on his record a crime. On the other hand, as Perry says, “But if he decides to continue fighting the charges against him-- manslaughter, assault and dereliction of duty--he could end up with a conviction on one or more of the counts,which would also bring a discharge under less than honorable grounds.” And, possibly, prison time.
The cost of one bad teacher for one year on an average classroom of students is a whopping $266,000 in that class's collective lifetime earnings, which is over $2.6 million which that lousy teacher will cost society over ten years, or possibly $7.8 million over the teacher's tenure.
That's just one bad teacher. Multiply that by the possibly tens of thousands of wretchedly bad teachers whom the teachers' unions protect, and you realize the cost to society of our monopolistic public school system.
So says Robert Redford. (But, I ask, who will stand up against Big Hollywood?)
I think our readers understand that this is not about "Big Oil." "Big Oil" is a straw man. This is about a supply of cheap energy for Americans, and a supply that does not come from the Middle East or from Venezuela. The moonbats, who depend on energy as much as I do for daily life, appear to believe that it grows on trees.
How does Redford heat all of his houses? And does he care what it costs him? Would he care if his estate in Aspen lost heat this winter?
During his campaign, Obama promised to raise the cost of energy. He and his EPA have been doing their best to do that. Makes no sense to me. Now Canada's fuel will be used in China instead of here. What sort of accomplishment is that?
After last week’s prosecution witnesses in the court martial of Frank Wuterich finished up, I was ready to write that they sounded more like prosecution witnesses testifying for the defense. It appears that the prosecution seeing its case collapse, as it has against the other Haditha Marines, may be ready to virtually throw in the towel.
In the middle of a Haditha Marine’s testimony today, the proceeding was halted, for the prosecution and defense to possibly negotiate a settlement of the case. A reporter at the court martial who for years has been a prime reliable source throughout the Haditha prosecutions writes,
With government witnesses waiting to testify, the military judge overseeing the proceedings at Camp Pendleton announced Wednesday afternoon that the trial was on hold while prosecutors and Wuterich's attorneys "explore options" and "go ahead with negotiations."
The judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, also informed the two sides that he was available for consultation if needed.
The sudden disruption in the trial is a strong signal that an agreement that would resolve the case was being discussed. A deal would end the last major war crimes trial arising from the Iraq war.
A source close to the case who spoke on the condition their name not be used confirmed discussions were ongoing.
Attorneys for Wuterich, a Murrieta father of three young girls, declined to comment Wednesday. Prosecutors are forbidden by Marine Corps policy from commenting.
A possible resolution could involve a guilty plea to a minor charge in exchange for manslaughter charges being dropped and little or no punishment.
It's been repeated so often that it's become a mantra. Google search. If you walk or run or elliptical or stairmaster or hoeing the fields or whatever over 10,000 steps daily, you have an "active life;" if under, you fall into the "sedentary life" category.
Nobody wants to think of themselves as leading a "sedentary" life because it sounds slothful and decadent, not luxurious. There are roughly 2000 steps per mile, but it's about the steps, not the distance. It is probably not a bad rule of thumb to do it, just to stay fit, energetic, and vigorous.
Urbanites walk far more, in the course of a day, than suburban or rural folks. My theory is that that is why city folk are trim, and country folk tend towards the bulky, but I am sure that fashion plays a role in it too. City people need to look like they have their act together or they won't get any respect.
"What a coinkydinky. I was just about to call you."
Synchronicity, Serendipity, Seriality, and Simulpathity. It's a fun topic, but I can't tell for sure whether Dr. Beitman is writing tongue-in-cheek or in all seriousness. Or perhaps he's a Jungian, in which case all bets are off.
I know people who say "There are no coincidences." Count me an agnostic on the topic.
'Dude, Where’s My Lifeboat?’In the Italian cruise-ship disaster, another death knell for the age of chivalry.
Women have been begging men for thirty years to treat them no differently from men. I never could meet that demand, having inherited a slight gallantry gene from my Dad. I'd be the sucker who drowned, and would receive no post-mortem gratitude.
Nor do I seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand. For this too I believe, that unless I first believe, I shall not understand.
The way I say it is that you can study the chemistry of water for years, but you can't know what water is until you jump in the pond and take a swim in it.
Improving graduation and transfer rates won’t be easy, in part because of the preparation of students who come to City College. More than 90 percent need remediation, and 36 percent are under the poverty line.
Perhaps they should worry about their high schools first...
In Trackless Woods
The 
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