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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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Tuesday, August 30. 2011Cranked Up LinksBird Dog’s electricity is out due to the The scoop from Right Scoop on President Obama’s (un)popularity ratings. Removing curtains of Arab harems Adam and Eve, the Muslim Version An EPA Moratorium: Obama has the power to delay new rules that will shut down 8% of all U.S. power generation. Even Beverly Hills can’t afford its government worker retirement benefits:
GOOD NEWS: You did notice the healthy wheat crop, didn’t you? How Anti-Semitism Prevents Peace Reducing waste in wartime contracts CNN Poll Also Shows Perry's Broad Appeal – And (heh, heh!) The Perils of Investigative Journalism... Hurricane Irene Poll Results: ‘Anytime Something Happens in New York People Always Go Overboard’ Hells Angels Go After Designer, Allege Copyright Infringement Senator “Bob” Smith: Some Thoughts on Presidential Debates Gallup: Government is least liked industry Next NLRB Assault On US Industry Critical Recall Notice For All BMW Drivers Monday, August 29. 2011Minor storm
When I saw the eyewall disappear, I knew it would be just a stormy day. Took the pup for a walk in it to play in the puddles and flooding waters. Good fun. I'm posting this from the local library, where everything is working. Lots of folks here using the machines. Will get back to normal posting sched when we all get back up to speed. "If you break it, you own it"
General Colin Powell's famous remark about foreign intervention, "If you break it, you own it", also applies to the truth. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, in detail, exposes the blaring untruths by Colin Powell regarding so-called PlameGate, its damage to the Bush White House, and unfair prosecution of Scooter Libby. Colin Powell won't own up to owning his complicity.
More on the case against college
Read the whole thing. He has an interesting suggestion too, but colleges won't go for it. For their own survival, they are committed to their marketing of their expensive credential, whether it means anything or not. In my experience over recent years, it means little-to-nothing. You used to know what assumptions you could make about somebody with a BA. Not any more. Now, they don't even need to know basic calculus. That's crazy. 9/11 Commemoration Invitation
Some of my columns here at Maggie's Farm are also carried by Family Security Matters. Last year I wrote a 9/11 column for FSM about what was going on in my life on 9/11, 9/11 With My Son. This year, FSM has produced a moving video for 9/11, and invites anyone to send in their reflections on 9/11 for possible publication. Go here for the video and the invite. I know that Maggie's Farm readers have much to add.
Presidential Hot Air Vs US Energy FactsThis video is less than 6-minutes long. The US can be virtually energy independent, and cut our trade deficits dramatically, if not even reverse them, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US. Wonder how? Listen. Sunday, August 28. 2011Wal-Martians, the songAin't America something?
Oldie
The farmer said, 'Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that house. I would walk you there but I can't carry this lot.'
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Early Sunday morning breezy day linksPic above via Drudge, Saturday night. Cabs are running but all public transportation is closed. The BD pupette was evacuated from her Chelsea apartment, worked all day Saturday (as usual), then joined a bunch of friends in Brooklyn Heights for a Hurricane Party and sleepover. That's the third Hurricane Party I have heard about. ESPN Buttkissers Scold Paul Azinger for Goofing on Obama The slow disappearance of the American working man Steve Jobs: The Henry Ford of Our Time In Malibu, even mobile homes command premium prices Why fewer malarial mosquitoes in Africa? Climate change! Tough to be bullish on Wall Street if you’re bearish on Washington Repubs want to starve children Gore Wants You to Eat Less Meat Obama offers 2012 election supporters change they can believe in — next term Michael Lewis, brilliant as usual Crazy Pete’s Enviro-Friendly Discount Galleria Businesses plan health cuts because of Obamacare That was the whole point Delingpole: An open letter from my old mate David Cameron to the people of Britain Times Watch Quotes of Note: 'Deep Cuts in Social Services' by Conservatives Led to London Riots RIP: Joey Vento: Assimilation warrior McArdle on Who was worse off after welfare reform?
Not from today's Lectionary: "These also were Godly men..."Ecclesiastes 44:1-15 (NRSV) HYMN IN HONOR OF OUR ANCESTORS
A rare daytime sight: an empty stationMain lobby of NYC's Grand Central Station yesterday, after trains and subways were shut down (h/t, Blodget at BI): Saturday, August 27. 2011The Bird Dogs Lose ElectricityI just sent an email to Bird Dog, and received an automatic reply that the Bird Dogs are expecting to lose electricity due to Hurricane Irene. Then, I got this photo of how they plan to cope. PositivityI am not a big one for self-help books. Like diets, their benefits seem to fade quickly due to the superficiality of the effect. However, I have heard good things about Barbara Frederickson's 2009 Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive. We all want to thrive and flourish in life, as best we can. Why not? Life is short. A quote from the Amazon review:
"I'd rather live in Africa..."I think this is satire, but I am not certain. If it's not satire, we should do a fund raiser for a one-way ticket to Uganda where nobody has to work, or give her a free subscription to eHarmony to find a husband to take care of her. Poor thing, who has let anger destroy her spirit. But, again, I think this is sly satire. h/t, Protein Wisdom: Material poverty in America is difficult to find; poverty of spirit not so difficultYou have to look pretty hard to find any. Whittle is getting close to my theme that poverty of spirit is a bigger problem than material proverty in the Western world. Perhaps they are alienated from the means of production...or something. This is a very good brief video (h/t SDA):
Saturday morning links
Local Man Ruins Date By Just Being Himself:
Web older than incoming college freshmen How much exercise do I have to do to live longer? I don't buy it. Correlation is not causation. But feeling fit and vigorous does matter. Sex Box With Genitalia Toys Will Teach Swiss Kindergarteners That Sex Is Pleasurable Maybe the Swiss never heard of playing doctor. Pedophiles with be grateful for this effort to overstimulate the kiddies. In fact, it comes pretty close to pedophilia. How would it be if your neighbor played with your little daughter's sex box? News Media has A Hurricane Neurosis Why EBay will never be great again Daniel Defoe wrote up a big storm in 1703 Buffett to host high-profile fundraiser for Obama That would be Warren, not Jimmy "Tell me again why Barack Obama has been such a bad president?” Jonathan Alter writes in his column. Wehner responds/ Peggy Noonan: Is Rick Perry too macho? Too macho for what? Greece shifting its debt to Brussels Power Line begins:
If the charge is that it is misleading to call something “natural” if it cannot occur naturally in nature, then no corn products would qualify, ever. Ignoramuses. Every crop has been engineered, for thousands of years. Surber: How to achieve 9.9% unemployment Doable, but it takes extra effort TNR: The Libyan War Was a Success. But It Won’t Be a Model For Other Wars. NYT apologies again for yet another error in the Issa hit piece Obama Raises Big Bucks From Wall Street, Lawyers and Hollywood CERN: 'Climate models will need to be substantially revised' But will they be? Re Al Gore, via Surber:
Klavan with three quick tips for would-be pundits. Rule 2 is the best:
Saturday Verse: ShakespeareSonnet XXll My glass shall not persuade me I am old, Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain, Manitoba sunriseOur duck boats on an inlet of wonderful Lake Winnipegosis, a couple of hunting seasons ago: Friday, August 26. 2011Hurricane music, plus Walker PercyEverybody needs something to do during the few hours the storm passes, and probably in the darkness thereafter:
We do not mean to make light of storms, but definitely to make light of the hype around them (to which I spose we are contributing by even mentioning it). We can deal with storms, for heaven's sake - and much worse things than weather too. Hurricane Irene is weakening rapidly as I write:
Here are some interesting storm thoughts from one of my favorite modern authors, the late Walker Percy, via Potemra:
Storms bring out the best in people. Well, with some exceptions: Bill McKibben: Global warming to blame for Hurricane Irene. I just knew that was coming, but not before the dang storm even arrived. You know, if this one just blew out to sea like most of them, he'd never have mentioned it. What a putz. "Let no storm go to waste." Additional good storm advice from our commenter Blick on this post. Supply and Demand in education: Why is a degree less desirable?Why is a college degree diminishing in its economic and social value? Because so many people are going, nowadays. It's not special anymore, and unselected people are getting degrees today who could not have gotten near higher ed one generation ago. It's a consumer-oriented biz now, desperate for gullible consumers. From our IBD link this morning:
How old books bring the past alive: "Let the dead French theorists lie."
Are the kids so uninformed that they don't know who a ball turret gunner is? Wish I had time now to discuss this essay, but I don't.
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Earthquake?From the Sultan's An Earthquake Comes to Washington:
QQQVia Vanderleun: "The loss of transcendence evokes the flight to utopia. I am convinced that the destruction of transcendence is the actual amputation of human beings from which all other sicknesses flow. Robbed of their real greatness they can only find escape in illusory hopes." Friday morning links
Storm advice from Ace:
Counselor Cheers Up Someone’s First Wife By Reminding Them That Their Life Is Meaningless Anyway Maine's 'Rockefeller' Home Values Make Rich Richer There ya go, Sipp McDonald's Unveils New Senior Citizen PlayPlace Sex with cavemen gave humans an immune boost: study Romance Hinders Women in STEM Courses?
Rubin: With Glenn Beck by the Temple’s Walls Iranians seize 6,500 Bibles, burn 300, claim they are protecting youth And no riots! Understanding Just How Harmful Obama’s Tax Hikes Would Be Reason: What Does Opposition to Government Rail Projects Have to Do With Individual Liberty? Stossel: Almost Everything We're Taught Is Wrong - Using economics to explode fallacies Business Regulation vs. Growth: The View from Middle America - It has become clear that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has been a real deterrent to companies that would like to go public. Zuckerman: Obama and the 'Competency Crisis' - Like many Americans who supported him, I long for a triple-A president to run a triple-A country. Excuse me, Mort, but a prez does not "run a country" - not in the USA anyway. And your "longing" is immature. Poll: 51% still blame George W. Bush for economy London’s anti-gun zealots ban children from Olympic shooting events in city ticket giveaway
IBD: Is Higher Education Worth It? Or Is It The Next Big Bubble? Another Obama Record!… Percentage of Young People Employed Is Lowest Ever Blame raising the minimum wage Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation - America's richest people meet to discuss ways of tackling a 'disastrous' environmental, social and industrial threat I doubt that the world "needs" more people, but I do think it needs more millionaires and billionaires because they buy stuff and invest in new enterprises. Study on global plant die-off faces questions Feds reject request to require seat belts on school buses I think this image is cruel:
Thursday, August 25. 2011Weather pornWeather nerds get very excited about storms. Brendan Loy is having fun with Irene. I can say for certain that I would reconsider any sailing plans around the Outer Banks, the Chesapeake, New Jersey or southern New England this weekend. I remember being on Martha's Vineyard a day after Hurricane Bob. Big waves. They were already selling "I Got Blown By Bob" t-shirts. Let no hurricane go to waste. Somewhere, somebody is already printing tees with "I Got Blown By Irene" - just in case they do. Irene seems to be weakening, to Brendan's ill-concealed disappointment.
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