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.
Does any of that make any rational sense? Or am I stupid?
Since the recession, we have had a government doing everything it can to suppress, leash, and stifle the animal spirits of American enterprise. Why are the predictable results always "unexpected"? Where would we be, now, without China's loans?
We miss Reagan's common sense. The Dems are blinded to reality by ideological sentiment. Money doesn't grow on trees.
...the state's aggregate public sector employee compensation grew a robust 54 percent from 2000 to 2007, and another 13 percent from 2007 to 2010. For the decade from 2000 to 2010, it grew from $10.5 billion to $18.2 billion, or a whopping 73 percent.
Average compensation per worker reflects this dramatic dichotomy. In 2000, a private sector worker earned about $3,600, or 8 percent, more than a public sector employee. By 2009, the relationship had reversed: the average public sector employee out-earned his private sector counterpart by almost $9,000 or 15 percent.
The stumper of a question is what can be done to resuscitate a private sector stooping ever lower with this ever-weightier monkey on its back.
Well, we might start by segregating the "Class Apart" from the citizenry. Government employees and citizens are certainly not "in this together."
Study after study has shown that massive increases in spending for education per student have not shown any appreciable improvement in student achievement.
When one's kids get their own places, they tend not to have a lot of space. Few kids move out into 5000 square foot houses or apartments with giant closets and storage rooms. For both practical and sentimental reasons, their stuff tends to hang around, collecting dust and taking up potentially-usable space.
Even when you love them to death, at some point you want their stuff out. Baby birds have to fly. They will accumulate their own mountains of stuff, in time, and the cycle of stuff will repeat.
I remember when my Mom advised me to empty my old bedroom of anything I wanted to keep before it disappeared. I thought that sounded very cold at the time, but I now realize that it wasn't. They had done their job, and done it very well indeed at considerable sacrifice.
My old bedroom was destined to become a guest room - and a room where the grandkids could stay to visit. However, to this day it has a large ceiling to floor bookshelf with my old books on it.
From a medical malpractice defense lawyer: "I can pick any one of your charts at random and, in a little while, find a potential malpractice case in there. Why? Because few things in medical care work out perfectly, and they can easily find another doc in your specialty from an Ivy medical school to say, at $1500/hour plus expenses, that he would have done it a little differently. My advice? Move to Texas where they will appreciate you docs. Texas wants happy, caring doctors who do not view every patient as a potential lawsuit."
A "casino" (little house) is a place for social amusement and get-togethers, either public or private. The East coast used to have many clubs and assembly places called "casinos," often on the seashore. Gambling Casinos are a kind of casino.
Have you ever tried tennis on a grass court? I have. It's fast and the ball skids low. You skid, too. It's good fun.
Sipp, our American architectural expert, says that Newport, RI is basically the birthplace of Shingle Style. Here's his pic of the courtyard of the shingle-style Newport Casino, now the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
As of yet, there's no market mechanism to reward high levels of student success for the least possible cost. This is irrational. Thiel’s critique is based on an unstated assumption: market forces are starting to unleash on institutions that have not had to learn to thrive in a post-Internet, mobile device-oriented, and competitive marketplace. Indeed, few are currently asking themselves the important questions and embarking upon the dramatic transformations that will allow them to thrive.
A few ideas, while Mrs. BD and I plan our trip to visit the Pupette in Prague this Spring (think we'll use Club ABC to save $ this time. Prague is a hot place these days for the youths.):
VRBO - Vacation Rentals by Owner. It's worldwide. I like to move around on my trips, but it's a cool idea to rent a place, rent a couple of cars, and bring the whole family and your best friends for a week or ten days. When my Dad was slightly younger, he used to do this for the whole family in Tuscany. Kids, their spouses, grandkids, etc. Two weeks, villa with pool and a cook and a ton of bedrooms, spare cars, walk to the village. Nice. What's the point of a little money if you can't enjoy it and share treats with your family? Uncle Sam will take half your money when you croak to buy votes.
Vacations To Go: Discount ship tix. You have to pick a nice ship, however - not one of the tacky mass-market ones which are beneath the dignity of Maggie's readers. The Silver Explorer is a nice one, with only 132 passengers. Here are some pics of her. I am in favor of the cheaper rooms on ships, because you are hardly never in your room anyway. On ships, I like to spend my time up on the deck. My friends at the Holland America line let me hang out on the bridge.
"We will help you be a good steward for your health," Emanuel said Friday, "but if you choose not to, you'll pay that price and that is the price you'll have to pay."
There are, of course, lots of ways to be smart and lots of ways to be dumb. We often talk about book smarts and street smarts, as though the two are mutually exclusive. We know from experience that brilliant book people can be nincompoops when it comes to common sense, while people lacking formal education can be brilliant problem-solvers.
We know these things, yet we seem to have fallen in love with the notion that only book smarts matter when it comes to the nation’s problems. At least Democrats have.
Photo is the Litchfield, CT Congregational Church, c. 1750. Architecturally, classic New England Congo churches are plain old-time boxy meeting houses, gussied up with a steeple and a portico.
20:1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
20:2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
20:3 When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
20:4 and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went.
20:5 When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same.
20:6 And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?'
20:7 They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.'
20:8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.'
20:9 When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
20:10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.
20:11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,
20:12 saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'
20:13 But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
20:14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
20:15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?'
20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
Support your local DU Chapter this year. It's for conservation, not greenie silliness. Attend your local event. It's good fun.
We always have a good time at our annual dinner. Basically all guys, except for the delightful raffle gals. Our DU dinner is old-fashioned, but we realize that the fellas like a guy's night out.
Went down to NYC today to visit one of the pupettes. Had a delicious lunch in Chelsea. Deep-fat fried Cape Cod cod on a bun with mayo and fries. Read the Wall St. Journal which was plopped on her doorstep while waiting for her to get dressed. Dead tree version.
A fine, sentimental experience, as one who remembers the pleasures of such things. It's an interesting newspaper.
George Martin was really one of the Beatles, was he not?
Naturally, the Left is pushing the "oppressed victim" route instead of the success route. My experience of uneducated new Central American immigrants on the East Coast is that they have no interest in being oppressed victims.
America contains lots of cultures and subcultures.
In Yankeeland, men never seem to want to retire. It's a point of masculine pride in a part of the country where work and masculine pride and vigor have traditionally been equated.
Our tradition has always been a little suspicious of, and uncomfortable with, leisure. Perhaps "ambivalent" is the right word. People with Yankeeland roots tend to find some work to do when they find spare time on their hands. Idleness is a sin, and "relaxation" is not in the lexicon. I am not saying that this is right or wrong - it's just a cultural thing hereabouts.
Furthermore, Yankee women tend not to like having an idle guy around her domain.
Here's a link at The American: Entitled to Leisure? The growing length of retirement for men in part reflects a decline in the number of years spent working. Is this a good thing? One quote:
That men age 20 now devote only two-thirds rather than 90 percent of their remaining lifetimes to paid work will be regarded by many readers as a sign of progress. But would we be better off if such men “caught up” to women by devoting only half of their remaining lifetime to paid work? Or would it be better if instead women caught up to men by devoting two-thirds of their remaining lifetimes to paid work? From the standpoint of financing entitlements, the answer is clear. But whether that answer maximizes social welfare will be a topic of heated discussion in the months and years ahead.
The 92-year old who bags my wine says he keeps working so he can pick up chicks. He goes for the lonely 80 year-olds.
Here's how we cook corn on the cob: After removing the most loose outer husk, we soak the ears in cold water for an hour or so with husks on and silk still present, then toss them on the grill, turning regularly for roughtly 15 minutes.
They steam and char a little. Some of the husk will char a bit, and most of the silk will burn off. That's good.
Peel and eat. For me, no butter, no salt on it. Tastes good the cave man way.
Upon our Constitition's ratification, Dr. Benjamin Rush -- one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence -- commented, " 'Tis done. We have become a nation." We had crafted procedures and rules and limitations by which we could come together in civil discourse. That didn't mean we had created nirvana nor ended disagreements nor guaranteed only the best politicians.
We oppose racial preferences at Maggie's. We believe that an Asian gal is no less worthy a human than a Hispanic gal - other qualities being equal. But I do understand - race is all about politics. Still, I don't quite get why, if you're half Hispanic (is Hispanic a race?), you're Hispanic. Are you Hispanic if you come from Spain? Or Argentina?
I am middle class and I love to see the rich get richer. That's what they are trying to do. I am not trying to be rich so I have no envy of their accomplishing what I am not attempting. Bless the rich their good fortune; don't despise them for being able to do what you can't.
I'd be pleased to be rich, but I somehow never get around to doing anything about it other than buying Powerball tickets. My money manager pal tells me that most people stop worrying about money when they have $17-20 million. I'd make out OK with half of that if I scrimped on some things.
Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
Interesting fellow, Henley. He was a pal of Robert Louis Stevenson, who modeled Long John Silver after him. Henley had amputations for Pott's Disease - TB of the bone.
For those of you unplugged into the right-wing conspiracy that President Obama's AttackWatch.com is supposed to combat by your neighbors, friends, children reporting you for speaking against the new Reich, here's a sample of the reactions:
For those of you who watch Falling Skies: "I, for one, am honored to be recruited as an informer by our new insect overlords."
For you Dos Equis drinkers: ""I don't always report on my neighbors, but when I do, I use #AttackWatch." -- Stay snitchy, my friends..."
For you joiners: "Oooo, can I be a Neighborhood Block Captain? Do we get a uniform? When will you post the new rewards system?"
For those nostalgic for the 1920s or 1930s: "will the coming show trials be streamed? Can we recant our thoughtcrimes via Twitter, or must we appear in person?"
Regarding the jobless American economy, the esteemed 
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Vacations To Go
What Lucky People Do
Here's how we cook corn on the cob: After removing the most loose outer husk, we soak the ears in cold water for an hour or so with husks on and silk still present, then toss them on the grill, turning regularly for roughtly 15 minutes.
The excellent New English Review is 