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Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Monday, November 28. 2011A few more Monday links
Leonardo's To Do list, translated Because It Can Be Done (Just Barely) I'm with Jonah: Linked In? No thanks What if our daughters don't want to work? The United States of EPA - Ms. Jackson's agency takes over automobile design. How’s that affordable housing working out for you? Some jobs are going begging. Main skill required? Work ethic. Derbyshire: I'm a gloomy f-er How can government help the economy? End the corn ethanol subsidy If Africans want a bourgeois culture, they need a bourgeois economy Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13B VDH: Why Not Pay Higher Taxes? The Gulf Permitoriam, and Obama’s Disregard for the Law California rail boondoggle will fail, is worse than Solyndra NYT Campaign Blog: Obama Will Explicitly Give Up on the Working Class White Vote Like No Democrat Before Him Ever Has Paying Too Much for an Unneeded Smallpox Drug that Can’t Be Tested A half-billion bucks to an Obama fund-raiser? Don't we vaccinate our military already? QQQ“I will not cede more power to the state. I will not willingly cede more power to anyone, not to the state, not to General Motors, not to the CIO. I will hoard my power like a miser, resisting every effort to drain it away from me. I will then use my power as I see fit. I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth." William F. Buckley Jr, via Samiz Back in BlackOur national fascination with holiday shopping is once again at 'all in' mode. Black Friday has passed, Cyber Monday is upon us. Cyber Monday was originally a fictional concept, with online retailers suggesting for years that the Monday after Black Friday was the heaviest online shopping day of the year. It wasn't. When it was first suggested, it was twelfth largest holiday shopping day. However, Cyber Monday is now a cultural meme and last year became the largest online shopping day for Amazon simply because that's how it was marketed. Regardless of which day is largest online, Black Friday remains the shopping holiday that resonates. Every year, we hear it used as a bellwether on the health of our animal spirits toward spending. This year, we've heard that it's indicative of great things to come! Then again, it was used that way last year, too. 2011 has proven to be substantially larger than 2010, in terms of Black Friday spending (6.6% growth versus 0.3% growth year over year). Ultimately, Black Friday of 2010 indicated nothing of importance economically, because most of the holiday spending increases were from high income folk. The large initial growth on Black Friday this year may not say much more than people are looking for bargains, and retailers are seeking to burn off inventory. Or it could say much more. One thing it definitely says is we love our debt and getting rid of it will prove difficult.
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Monday morning climate hoax links
Canada to pull out of Kyoto Protocol next month Cameron's green guru reveals his doubts over global warming UK Daily Mail: 'Climategate scientists DID collude with government officials to hide research that didn't fit their apocalyptic global warming' Climategate 2.0: Emails Show Government Collusion with Biased Scientists Climategate 2 and the Corruption of Peer Review The Recession Hits the Green Movement Delingpole: Climategate 2.0 Climategate: The Things You'll Never See At The BBC And at EU Ref:
Alarmists Isolated: IPCC Extreme Weather Report Triggers Storm Of Protest Here at Maggie's, we don't understand why people do not pray for some global warming. The Medieval Warming, and the Roman-era warming - both now reversed by historic cooling - were excellent for civilization. Mostly, we worry about the effects of the next Ice Age on our property values. A mile-deep glacier on top of my house would have a negative effect, and another Ice Age is a certainty. Sunday, November 27. 2011Debt slaveryHow much do people love credit? Politicians love it, because they can pay for votes today, and the next generation can worry about it after they have retired. I can buy a boat today, and hope I keep my job so I can pay it off over the next five years. Or I could buy a tiny 1 BR condo in NY, and pay if off over 15 years while taking an interest deduction from my crippling federal, state, and city income taxes. Businesses need it, in fact, require it, for investment purposes, in the hopes that they can grow. Banks love it, because they can lend the money and profit from the interest. Students love it: they can go to school now, and hope to pay off their loans in the future. Christmas shoppers love it, of course, because Santa is credit. In the end, using credit makes people, and governments, debt slaves, slaves to bond markets and slaves to banks who offered the loans. This is annoying to debtors, who have already enjoyed spending the money and are peeved, if not in trouble, because they owe it. The bond market now controls the global economy, not because "it" wants to, but because of governments and people willingly, freely, democratically, taking on debt to pay the bills instead of taxing the heck out of the people who work. Borrowing is all voluntary, the loans are from one's neighbors, - and it is a big house of cards. I was raised by parents who refused to ever go into debt. They viewed it as a temptation for the weak. They never even had a credit card. They saved for 15 years to buy a modest house, and never viewed it as an investment. They made it home, and live there now while the trees they had planted become enormous, dwarfing their home. They have hardly ever gone anywhere, or had much fun or adventure as I think of it, but they love their church and their little town where everybody knows them. A simple life. In my adult life, I have learned to take out loans for no reason, and to pay them back after a few months, just to have a good credit rating. A good credit rating, today, is like a grade in reality living. Someday, I might want to use some credit, but today I do not. I use credit cards as if cash, to keep my rating perfect. I might need a loan, someday. Easy money is dangerous. Living within your means, whether as a family or as a government, is just no darn fun. There's always a good excuse or rationale for taking on more debt. I fear that the world will soon see the economic consequences of excessive debt in which everybody has borrowed from his neighbor, and his neighbor from him. A bank, after all, contains nothing but one's neighbor's money, leveraged. "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today":
Sunday morning links
Good caveats there for the youth There really IS a Python sketch for everything… “Support Builds for Premium Support Plan for Medicare” Terrorist Bill Ayers to Teach on Radical Theory at #Occupy Harrisburg Meeting - All that is old is new again.
Obama won’t fund UN climate fund Let no crisis go to waste: Germany, France plan quick new Stability Pact Will Vichy France and Germany finally win WW2? The Non-Green Jobs Boom - Forget 'clean energy.' Oil and gas are boosting U.S. employment. That's a good thing. Need lots more nuke plants, too. Everybody wants cheap energy, but they want it to come from nowhere. Occupy Brain Dead College Students We're Not Electing a Messiah Must be human nature to desire some sort of supernatural political salvation, but that is far from an American notion: it's the fantasy of a having a perfect Master or a child's fantasy of a perfect parent. New York Times on Solyndra: This Scandal Makes Republicans Look Bad, Right? MIDEAST NOTES:The Coming Oil-Shale Revolution? Venezuela Repeals the Laws of Supply and Demand Next, Chavez repeals gravity Scott Johnson loves Harry and Tonto:
Following the starFrom today's Lectionary on the first Sunday of Advent: "We are the clay, and you are our potter"Isaiah 64:1-9
New England architecture: Newport, RISaturday, November 26. 2011Einstein on the BeachI am grateful that Mrs. BD dragged me to see Einstein on the Beach on its world tour in 1992, at the BAM (for those of you in Yorba Linda, that's the Brooklyn Academy of Music). Philip Glass and Robert Wilson, with dancer/choreographer Lucinda Childs, decided to call it an opera, but it really was a spectacle, and, with all of the repetition, choruses, and dancing, something like Greek theater with technology. I have grown to sort-of enjoy the Glass music in this, but it just drives some people crazy. It's a sound track, really. The whole thing is hypnotically slow-moving (and it was over 5 hrs, no intermission, and people were welcome to come and go. We stayed, except for bathroom breaks - and they sold wine in the lobby.). There exist audio recordings, but, I believe, no video recordings of the whole thing. Video does not do justice to theatrical productions. You had to be there to be in the dream. One snippet of video - you can search on YouTube it to hear more of Glass' music for the show:
Addendum, by complete coincidence I see that the Met is celebrating Glass' 75th birthday with “Satyagraha.” Wierd coincidences: I posted a Tagore poem this morning, mentioned Robert Wilson in a photo post yesterday, and stumbled on the news of that Philip Glass/Tagore opera today after preparing the above post. The more you get out and about, the more fascinating life gets. Everybody needs to get out more, I guess. Possessions are expensive: cool life experiences are cheap by comparison.
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Public sees politicians as fools or knavesThat's what Ed Koch says, and I think he is right. In fact, that's why we Americans want them to keep their hands off our lives and out of our business.
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Why colleges are over-subscribedFrom Murray: Three Reasons Colleges Are Oversubscribed. One quote:
Will-power and Spandex
Many things in life test our will-power and, in a sick kind of Yankee way, I tend to enjoy such tests of mental strength. Few things present conflicts with one's will-power like facing another ten minutes on the Elliptical, or one more set of squats. Well, maybe paying bills and doing other paperwork almost compares. My personal attitude towards paperwork is infantile, defiant, and not admirable. I often fail these tests. Does persisting with the things we find difficult, and seek excuses to avoid, build character? We say Yes. The Maggie's heart says "Easy stuff first, hard stuff later." The Maggie's conscience and the Maggie's tradition says "Hard stuff first, easier stuff after." Spandex? All the women in my gym wear Spandex (or Yoga pants), and I'd say it's 50% women there early in the morning. Guys on the machines alternate their gaze from CNBC or FOX to the bouncing youthful Spandexed behind in front of them with the bouncing blond pony-tail, then back to CNBC. Being pure of heart and mind, I stay glued to the FOX. Don't you?
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11:39
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A perfectly good meme, down the drain
The bad news is that she wasn't referring to Obama, dagnabbit. She thought she was just doing a voice-over and was flipping off some guys in the studio who were trying to distract her. There's a nice summation of it here. Still, it's a beautiful moment. Maybe next time. Saturday morning links
“They don’t call them patients, they call them units” That's interesting, because I recently read a piece about tax policy which referred to taxpayers as "tax units." I guess that's how bureaucrats think. Are you an income unit, an expense unit, or neither? Newt’s Right: Put the Kids To Work Prepare for the retirement tax bite Chinese Solar Industry Goes Belly Up More emails: Climategate 2.0 emails – They’re real and they’re spectacular! They constantly refer to it as "the cause." That's a concern. There is no objectivity. In the UK, criminals and cyber bullies to be banned from the web Obvious question: Who is next? A Democrat Bites Union Story - In Rhode Island, liberals take the lead on pension reform. The NLRB Putsch - The labor agency tries to ram through quickie union elections. Cut a cabinet department? You must be joking - Growth of government, loss of liberty go hand in hand Reagan: "The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." ... The OECD’s report provides shocking new data on Britain’s socialised health system but even the Conservative-led government wouldn’t have it any other way The Perfect Terrorist PBS Documentary COIN is Dead: U.S. Army Must Put Strategy Over Tactics Heather on campus diversity boondoggles How Israel turned itself into a high-tech hub Egypt Spring: Kill the Jews and the Americans Saturday Verse: TagoreOn the Seashore, by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous. On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances. They build their houses with sand, and they play with empty shells. With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep. Children have their play on the seashore of worlds. They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets. Pearl- fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again. They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets. The sea surges up with laughter, and pale gleams the smile of the sea- beach. Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle. The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach. On the seashore of endless worlds children meet. Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships are wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play. On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting of children. Friday, November 25. 2011Vietnam UpdateBritain's Financial Times does its usual fine reporting on today's Vietnam. Some excerpts:
Authoritarianism seeds its own demise. Rather face the US or Europe's problems, wouldn't you? Protesting realityYes, Reality Sucks. Fantasy can be much more fun. Portugal is a perfect case in point: Portuguese unions launch austerity strike. Gee whiz, the banks won't lend them any more money to maintain a fake, debt-based life style. Why would they, if they know it cannot be repaid? Some of these countries have been, in effect, ripping off gullible lenders just as much as people taking mortgages or student loans who know they can never really pay them unless they get very lucky. It's close to theft, or fraud, or something. Related, and good from Anderson: The Eurozone Crisis Is Also a Governance Crisis — Isn’t It? A quote:
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Language NSFWIt it possible that lots of Americans do not understand America?
Progesssives hope citizens will sell their independence to the expert technocrats, without their realizing how venal and power-hungry those pols and technocrats are. Cannot fool all of the people all of the time, and there is no fool like an educated fool. My always-fragile trust in self-anointed experts and elites diminishes daily - see the EU, or Washington, DC, for plentiful current examples. As Barry Rubin said (linked here this morning:
Our rule of thumb at Maggie's: Never trust any human who wants any form of power, especially over you. No matter what they say, they do not mean well. If they claim they are doing it for your own good, run the other way as fast as possible. I am with George Washington: Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
QQQAll that we call human history - money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery - [is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity. Fair enough, CS, but being in requited love with a young lady comes close, given our human limits. Friday morning links
Tim Tebow, an emerging American folk hero answering a cultural need Protesters heading home for holiday- Occupy Thanksgiving table Forced To Join a Union: SEIU Getting Money From Michigan Medicaid Checks - Parents Taking Care of Disabled Kids Made to Pay Behold The New Anschluss: ECB's Paramo - "Prepare To Give Up Significant Sovereignty" Tom Friedman still loves Obama Yes, well, the press is part of the campaign: Why Is JournOlister Ezra Klein Briefing Dem Chiefs Of Staff Behind Closed Doors? Rubin: Thanksgiving is Due to the Fact that–Up Until Recently–America Preferred Balance to Statism Sowell: Alice in Liberal Land Governor Awesome on taxing the "rich" It’s refreshing to see leftists finally admit they’re rich. Democrat pundit tries to save GOP from terrible fate of winning Obama Peddles Myths About the Great Depression America’s Public Sector Union Dilemma New study: Global warming much less than feared Toon below via Theo:
Winter in OhioBustling downtown Gambier. I like the way my camera captured the Robert Wilson-like light which he used to amazingly enchanting effect in Einstein On The Beach at the BAM: Thursday, November 24. 2011Ye Thankful PeopleCome, Ye Thankful People, Come Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; The Pilgrims sustained so many deaths in their first year, it's a wonder they did not give up and return to Holland. They maintained their faith, and endured, and were relentlessly grateful for the Lord's will, whatever it might be. Some of the BD's ancestors were there, and survived. We connect. Besides the wonderful tune, what I especially like about this one is that it makes it clear that the true harvest to be celebrated is not pumpkins and corn and big birds harvested by man, but people harvested by God for His kingdom. Also, it's the first tune I learned to play, on an old foot-pedal pump organ at the farm. You had to brush the mouse shit off the keys first. They lived inside that old organ in the fall and winter.
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Wednesday, November 23. 2011Why is American Thanksgiving about food?It would be more fun if it were giving thanks for sex, or the intertunnels, or freedom from government "help" and control, or something. However, survival comes first, and God has provided us all with his fruits. Did the Pilgrims get the idea from Sukkot? Who knows. People have given thanks to God or gods since the beginning of time. What did the Pilgrims have for their Thanksgiving feast? Clams, Cod, corn meal, eels, turkey, vension, ducks. All organic! It went on for a few days, with plenty of Indians visiting with game meat in hand (the sturdy few who had not died off due to European diseases introduced by earlier explorers). Here's advice: Remedial Thanksgiving: Just Put the F*cking Turkey in the Oven. From the WSJ's The Desolate Wilderness - A chronicle of the Pilgrims' arrival at Plymouth, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton.
Bad luck. They were headed for the cozy Dutch village of New Amsterdam, and ended up in rugged Cape Cod due to bad weather and imperfect navigation. Decided to stay anyway, trusting God. "Occupy Plymouth!" They tried out a Christian commune, but it didn't work so they switched to free markets and private property. The investors got a successful colony, the Pilgrims got religious freedom and real estate, and the rest is history. My pics from a BD family TG groaning board a few years ago. The oven turkey was on another table. We always have Indian Pudding too, but I guess it didn't make this photo op (we always use fresh Indians from Costco). Note pup banished outdoors, drooling at the door. Two pups, this year. Maybe three. Thanks to God for all the dogs! Unlike we modern whining Americans among whom none go hungry or cold, the Pilgrims saw reason for thanks despite their hardships - half their number dead. "In everything, give thanks..." Yes, that's a Pumpkin Cheesecake. Our friend always makes one.
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