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.
Jurassic President - Obama's preserved in the amber of an echo chamber where the romanticized version of the 1930s, seen through the new-age gauze of the 1970s, is paradise.
As we have always contended here, the Left are dinosaurs and the myth of the omniscient State is dead. Defunct. An ex-myth. Gone to the choir invisible.
The Lefties often express thoughts about killing, suppressing or censoring those with whom they disagree. Ideology is their Jihad. At Maggie's, we enjoy having our ideas challenged. We welcome fact-based disagreement, but not emotional rants.
America has 400 billionaires with a combined net worth of $1.3 trillion. Congress could confiscate their stocks and bonds, and force them to sell their businesses, yachts, airplanes, mansions and jewelry. The problem is that after fleecing the rich of their income and net worth, and the Fortune 500 corporations of their profits, it would only get us to mid-August.
...President Obama is the culmination of a century of foreign infiltration already in place. The turning of America’s institutions of higher education took place decades ago; it is too little too late to focus on such infiltration now. Beginning in the early 20th century, America’s colleges and universities were infiltrated by German thought, then thought to be the most sophisticated in the world. That school of thought, a merger of Hegelian utopianism and Marxist classism, quickly infected America’s halls of power. Theodore Roosevelt, always trendy, bought into the new “progressivism” with alacrity, jettisoning the Constitution and capitalism in the process. Bringing this perverse ideology to American shores, Teddy announced, “We of to-day who stand for the Progressive movement here in the United States are not wedded to any particular kind of machinery, save solely as means to the end desired.” This was the philosophy of incipient dictatorship. It was brought to its near-term apex under a college professor, Woodrow Wilson, who thought that the Constitution itself needed to be stripped away.
The fact is that we can't keep Medicare as it is. It's broke. We are only arguing about how to transform it. Obama wants the experts to ration, and Ryan wants individuals to chose the type insurance they prefer. Do you trust 50 million consumers making their own financial decisions, or a dozen carefully chosen experts? What could go wrong?
... the rate of income taxation on the highest earning Americans has fluctuated drastically, from 25 percent of income in 1930 to 92 percent of income in the early 1950’s. Despite these vast differences in these top marginal rates, the total percentage of GDP the federal government has collected in revenue has changed little.
The "rich" won't work for nothing. If you take too much of their compensation for their efforts, they just retire, cut back on work, invest in munis, or give their money away. One interesting fact in her essay is that the "rich," as measured by income, are not the same people from one year to another in the US. We have high income mobility here.
God grant that I may live to fish, until my dying day, And when it comes to my last cast, I then most humbly pray, When in the Lord's safe landing net, I'm peacefully asleep, That in his mercy I be judged, As big enough to keep.
I was happy to find out that my Facebook page was doing pretty well,” he said, “I’ve got 19 million friends. Which only puts me half a million friends behind Sponge Bob Squarepants. So that’s something to aspire to, keep up with Spongebob.”
If it’s good, the government should subsidize it. If it’s bad, the government should ban it. If outcomes are in any way perceived by any group to be sub-optimal, then the government should regulate it. Anyone who opposes these bans, subsidies, and regulations must therefore be a supporter of bad outcomes, hate poor people, want people to get sick and die, etc.
Ever looked at the rage-driven Lefty site Wonkette? It's fairly immature and unenlightening in general, but I guess it makes people feel good. Well, they do posts about Trig Palin which probably will hurt the feelings of every parent with a mentally-disabled kid, but which are probably driving their traffic into the stratosphere: Humiliating Meltdown Continues… Wonkette Hatesite Hits Bottom… Digs
"I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE: NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME".
"I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE: HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE: AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH AND BELIEVETH IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE."
Botticelli's late work, Mystic Crucifixion (c. 1597). Sadly, in poor condition at the Fogg Gallery.
Looks like they had some snow in Iowa. Global cooling is gonna freeze all the baby birds on the planet if we don't change our evil habits.
Man, those chicks do grow fast. At this moment, Dad just brought home a small fish, hung around for a few minutes, and went off hunting again. These are devoted parents, more so than many humans.
Australian Reptile Park macropod expert Tim Faulkner said Irwin's quality of life needed to be the No. 1 priority.
My point being that the macropod expert sees Irwin as a person too. I'd say that Irwin has got it pretty good when you consider the lifestyle of your average paralyzed Kangaroo.
It is not healthy for our democracy to have half the population with its hand out and no skin in the game. Necessary and proper taxes ought to be the patriotic duty of every citizen.
... there is no such thing as a “McJob.” Putting down the workingman because his wages are not as big as yours is a luxury only a liberal can afford.
True, but I think there was a deal there: We get an Obamacare waiver, and we'll hire 50,000. Maggie's Farm wants a waiver, but we don't know who to call.
Government distorts markets. Problems inevitably ensue. Then government steps in to claim to solve the problems they created - while blaming it on markets.
My church holds a Seder on the Thursday before Easter, with the traditional foods (but no Matzoh Balls or Gefilte Fish - I don't think our folks would eat that). A Seder in total silence.
The Last Supper is thought to have been Seder. Maybe the bread was Matzoh?
Alas, we do not serve wine in our church so cannot follow the Jewish tradition of drinking a little too much of it at supper.
At The Teaching Company. Got the set of 3 Medieval History courses for $160 (usually $750).
Mrs. BD and I live on their courses. There is no reason in the world to watch the crap on TV (except NCIS). I think The Teaching Company is part of the future of education, unless education is about credentials instead of learning.
Egyptian bondage was not a feel-good time for the Hebrew people, and the Crucifixion is a not a feel-good symbol. These are not Hallmark cutie holidays. They were shaped by people who were not sloppy, sentimental, goofy liberals. And no, Jesus wasn't one of those either, no matter what your neighbor thinks.
Passover and Easter are stories of ultimate hope, but they are also pretty unflinching warning about human evil. They are centuries-old warnings, but they are pretty relevant today, aren't they?
Lord Jesus, come Yourself, and dwell with us, be human as we are, and overcome what overwhelms us. Come into the midst of my evil, come close to my unfaithfulness. Take my sin, which I hate and which I cannot leave. Be my brother, Thou Holy God. Be my brother in the kingdom of evil and suffering and death. Come with me in my death, come with me in my suffering, come with me as I struggle with evil. And make me holy and pure, despite my sin and death, in Jesus' name.
One annual fee. Doesn't cover consultants, though, or hospital. Free markets for medical care would solve all of the problems. For example (with apologies to our local Opthalmologist), our family uses the Costco doc for eye care. Nice guy there. You just write him a manageable check, and their eyeglasses and contact lenses are very reasonable (if not high fashion).
Just one more reason for polygamy. Why not have 5 or 6 of 'em? Send them all out to work on jobs on Wall St., and the stud stays home, works out, goes to gallery openings, writes on blogs, practices his trap shooting, goes fishin', makes a venison stew for dinner, and generally conserves his strength for nighttime fireworks.
Cute spoiled kids, looking for meaning and purpose in their empty, easy, self-indulgent lives through telling me to turn off my lights, my heat, and my computer. (Not their own, of course, because they have important "organizing" work to do, and organizing people is hard, important work.) Furthermore, they want me to quit eating Whale Sushi. I can't help it: it must be a chemical addiction and not my fault.
Via Tim Blair, a vid on Greenpeace indoctrination and training:
I graduated in the recession of '75, wanted to return to NH, and was willing to take any job I could get. Apparently people who enter the job market during recessions have some tendency to never recover from that, always selling themselves short and never making as much at graduates in other years. That's true in my case, but also a good thing. I was terribly arrogant and needed to be brought down a few - no, several - pegs. I counted myself lucky to get a part-time job at the Goodnight Motel in Hooksett at $3/hr. The owner's name really was Goodnight - first Fred, and then his son Gary - and their main business was selling mobile homes on the other side of the highway. Marlette mobile homes, I'll have you know. The Cadillac of mobile homes. And they were moving into Yankees (very stylish) and doublewides, 24' x 36'.
...the primacy of local or township government in American society made it possible for a great number of Americans to participate in political institutions on a regular basis. Whether as Fire Chief or head of the St. John’s Mint Festival, whether as Dog Catcher or Mayor, Americans were continually forced to turn away from themselves and to attend to the life and business of their neighbor. The long habit of such participation in public life convinced Americans that, despite their equality, they need not and could not be indifferent to the particulars of social life. This also preserved Americans from the tendency to invest their political beliefs in a few general ideas. Accustomed to the details of daily participation in political life, they did not let what is often called (wrongly, I think) “ideology” substitute for active engagement in the public realm. This was possible chiefly because the actions of political life were largely confined to the local level, even when the legislation directing that life occured far away.
It's 
Fisherman's Prayer
The government makes 
Is there a pill 
My church holds a Seder on the Thursday before Easter, with the traditional foods (but no Matzoh Balls or Gefilte Fish - I don't think our folks would eat that). A Seder in total silence. 
Business School: Where Education Dies