Maggie's Farm

St. James Church, Woodstock, Vermont.

Rep Doggett says the public protests about government medicine only reinforce his determination to pass it.

As Insty notes, it's happening all over the country, and I see no public push for this except from the politicians, who of course are wiser than us foolish little people who don't know what is best for us.

With John Stossel (h/t, Moonbattery):

A re-post from June 30, 2008. Sure is hard to believe that was one year ago, because it feels like yesterday.

With TV, you are more-or-less forced to watch the thing because it tends to grab our passive brains. With blogs and newspapers, you can easily skip stuff you chose to ignore. So if I am boring you with my northern Italy travelogue posts, please skip over them. It's just fun for me to post the photos - and it motivates me to get them organized.

One day last week we took the train up to Domodossola to catch the regular Centovalli train (not the tourists' Lago Maggiore Express which doesn't do much stopping) through the Alps to Locarno, Switzerland, on the northern tip of Lago Maggiore.

It is our travel custom to make things complicated and to plan tight connections - and to thereby create adventures, memorable mishaps, stress, and close calls. The free-spirited Mrs. BD thrives on such things, but I do not. As it turns out, The Dylanologist loves to cut things close, too, and to dash off somewhere when he has a free 3 minutes to spare.

We got off the train halfway at the whistle-stop of Santa Maria Maggiore (nobody else got off) to take a hike in the Alps. We planned to hike up the mountains in a circle through the mountain hamlets of Toceno and Craveggia, and to arrive back down at Santa Maria Maggiore in time for the last train to Locarno, to arrive there with 16 minutes to find and to catch the last boat down Lake Maggiore to where we were staying in the cozy village of Baveno.

We are tireless and intrepid walkers, but we characteristically underestimated the distance of our hike as we always do, and did not expect the heat. No water, and no cafes open. But we did get to stumble into the rarely-visited Alpine village of Craveggia (pop. 730). Eventually, with ten minutes before the train and without knowing our exact location, we swallowed our pride and flagged down a passing house painter who happily and cheerfully got us to the station in his tiny two-door rattletrap car - just as the tiny train pulled into the tiny "Disney Italy" station.

No passport checks, by the way, training into Switzerland. We brought them anyway.

Here's a map showing the northern tip of Piedmont where it pushes into Switzerland. The Centovalli train runs on one track from Domodossola to Locarno, at the tip of the Lake, over fearsome gorges and hairy mountain cliffs.

Let's begin this photo tour, though, with this northern Italian lovely in a cafe on the old square of Domodossola, who our sneaky paparazzi Dylanologist photographed on my dare. I call that "La bella figura." Plenty of real blonds up there.

Travelogue of this side-trip with lots of photos below on continuation page -

Quoted by our Pastor this morning, from a letter from a Christian martyr in Zimbabwe, quoted in Brennan Manning's (1996) The Signature of Jesus:

I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit's power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made - I'm a disciple of his. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, smooth knees and colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminance, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean in his presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and I labor with power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions are few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go til he comes, give til I drop, preach til all know, and work til he stops me.

The coming boom in tax shelters

What is wrong with AARP?

Southern Baptists take on New England. Welcome, friends. We are tired of the UCC and the Episcopalians. They do not seem to focus on God any more.

Does the O represent a new template? neoneo

Re our cold summer, from Surber:

Remember: Everything proves global warming.

And the only way to stop global warming is to tax the hell out of the American people.

It is intended to be stimulating

Why no medical tort reform?

What's up with all the czars? h/t, Doug Ross

Why you do not want to get cancer in Europe

If Bush had an economy this bad, would he get this headline?

What does "Let me be clear" mean?

Revisiting Liar's Poker, with some thoughts about military officers. Volokh

Via Riehl, a blog by a few Marine Corps officer candidates. Cool. The responsibility they take on is mind-boggling.

Really good post on news, reporting blogs, Cronkite, etc., at Driscoll

Ten reasons why America’s health care system is in better condition than you might suppose.

Quoted at Viking:

...New Jersey created only 6,800 private sector jobs from 2000 to 2007 - while public sector jobs grew by more than 55,800. Big Government is the reason New Jersey ranks as the worst of 50 states on the Small Business Survival Index.

Generations of debt. Human Events

Dems re-do their sales pitch

Related: Families and Small Businesses to be Taxed to Pay for Health Reform

The obesity brouhaha: at WSJ, Obesity costs taxpayers. Freedom needs to include being fat, even if it is sometimes more offensive than free speech. Yes, one of the problems with getting government involved in medical care is that the State then has a financial interest in your life, and an excuse to try to control it. Thus checking kids' lunchboxes in the UK. Therefore,

thank you for saying this, Mr. Steyn:

...if you think I’m being frivolous in positing bureaucratic regulation of doughnuts and vacations, consider that under the all-purpose umbrellas of “health” and “the environment,” governments of supposedly free nations are increasingly comfortable straying into areas of diet and leisure. Last year, a British bill attempted to ban Tony the Tiger, longtime pitchman for Frosties, from children’s TV because of his malign influence on young persons. Why not just ban Frosties? Or permit it by prescription only? Or make kids stand outside on the sidewalk to eat it? It was also proposed — by the Conservative party, alas — that, in the interests of saving the planet, each citizen should be permitted to fly a certain number of miles a year, after which he would be subject to punitive eco-surtaxes. Isn’t restricting freedom of movement kind of, you know . . . totalitarian?

Freedom is messy. In free societies, people will fall through the cracks — drink too much, eat too much, buy unaffordable homes, fail to make prudent provision for health care, and much else. But the price of being relieved of all those tiresome choices by a benign paternal government is far too high.

Government health care would be wrong even if it “controlled costs.” It’s a liberty issue. I’d rather be free to choose, even if I make the wrong choices.

Is medical care a zero-sum game? From Pajamas:

Obama’s command seizure of one-sixth of the American economy is based on the assumption that medicine is a zero-sum game. The trouble is that Obama’s assumption is false — and destructive.  It has been falsified by every single advance in human health since the Industrial Revolution. It’s simply not true that there is a fixed supply of medical care, one that cannot grow, become more effective, cost less, and make our lives better and longer. It is not true that my gain must be your loss.

Obama thinks the way Thomas Malthus did in 1798. But Malthus was wrong then, just like Obama is now. So here’s the question for every American. Under ObamaCare, when we really will have to divide up a Malthusian lockbox of federal money, how much will your life be worth?

Brussels Journal begins:

These are not happy days for Americans, particularly if raised on traditional American values of Northern European provenance. Conscientious work as redemptive virtue, thrift, self-reliance, self-restraint, Biblical ethical principles, modesty, high-minded civic culture, love of liberty, distrust of centralized power.

America’s ruling elite – once the embodiment of such values and now a putrid trench running from Wall Street to Madison Avenue to Washington DC to Hollywood -- has debauched and upended them as thoroughly as though it has been teleported directly from 3rd century Rome.

Photo: The Briar Bowl Tobacconist, 1950s. Maggie's Farm supports the responsible use and enjoyment of tobacco.

John 6:24-35

6:24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

6:25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

6:26 Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

6:27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."

6:28 Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?"

6:29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

6:30 So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?

6:31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

6:32 Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

6:33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

6:34 They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Cool (h/t, Neatorama):

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Jawa reports on a mass wedding, sponsored by Hamas, of what appear to be 450 pre-pubescent girls. You just have to put your multicultural hat on to appreciate the joy of this occasion.

Video on that second link. The AFP article mentioned nothing about the ages of the girls, but did report:

"We are saying to the world and to America that you cannot deny us joy and happiness," Zahar told the men, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and hailed from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp.

Each groom received a present of 500 dollars from Hamas, which said its workers had also contributed five percent of their monthly salaries to add to the wedding gift.

These guys do not need to anticipate "When forty winters..."

When forty winters

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery so gazed on now,
Will be a tattered weed of small worth held.
Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,
To say within thine own deep sunken eyes,
Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use,
If thou couldst answer, "This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,"
Proving his beauty by succession thine.
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.

David Warren posted on this sonnet in July.

From Rick Moran's More Paul Ryan Please:

Photo is a Smart Car

Betsy McCaughey's website, Defend Your Healthcare. She has read all of the bills.

Related, Krauthammer says it's a tactical retreat, not a defeat

How computer high-frequency trading makes it all more fair for all of us. Back in my youth, I remember how Wall Street worried that the introduction of the telephone would ruin trading - meaning the profits of traders.

It costs a lot to survive your heart attack. Do we care?

Henry Allingham died.

Waxman and Pelosi: Imperfect Together. WSJ

How the elderly are leading the fight against Obamacare

Golf tournament fails to cure Crohn's Disease, once again. It begins:

Area man Josh Mulders reports that the four-man charity scramble he attended on Thursday of this week at The StoneLedge Links of the Pine Point Country Club at Tall Oaks Gated Preserve Community failed to eradicate Crohn's Disease for the second straight year. Mr. Mulders reports that in addition to failing to find a cure for "some sort of disease or something," the tournament failed to meet many other expectations of the participants. "This place sucks, and the open bar only has well drinks," he said.

A federal subsidy for "community organizers." Good grief. How about subsidizing some young producers instead of the professional parasites?

Town Hall meetings are the new venue to emote

Newspeak in Venezuela. Speech is dangerous for dictators. Related: Laws against blasphemy return to Ireland

More on the Repub insurance reform plan. For one thing, it doesn't damage medicare.

Thanks to Vanderleun.

Here's one of them:

Barney Frank says: "I think if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer, and that's the best way to reach single payer."

Via Wizbang:

Obama isn't telling the truth when he is trying to sell this thing.

Like Massachusetts, Maine decided to try its own government medical insurance plan. Betsy recounts the grim outcome of that effort.

It's not your grandfather's Maine anymore. 23% of the state is on Medicaid - which is welfare. Whatever happened to the gritty, independent New Englanders? And why don't they pack up the U-Haul and move to Texas, where there are jobs, low taxes, and opportunities?

Nobody imagines that a good job market will ever return to Maine with their current politics, taxation, and increasingly decadent culture. What are the people waiting for?

Some new disturbing info about ACORN (which recently has been the recipient of how many billions of "stimulus" money, and which is supposed to be part of taking the next census).

This needs to be stopped. This is creepy.

I am referring to CT's Sen. Chris Dodd.

Here's Dylan with the relevant (wonderful) song, Duncan and Brady. Too bad he messes up the verses, but who can keep 1000 lyrics in his head?

One of Tigerhawk's young Bald Eagles at his place in the Adirondacks. Is he echoing the silhouette of the pump on purpose?

"I got the pork chops, she got the pie,
She ain't no angel and neither am I."

Some bonus Bob for thunderstorm season. Sorry, but it's not embeddable: Thunder on the Mountain.

A 38' 1928 Matthews Cabin Cruiser, for sale here. Not a lovely boat, in my opinion, but a good-looking hull.

A guy named Fleckman is going through the Dem insurance proposal page by page. A few samples:

Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!

Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments and benefits you get

Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!!

Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC benefits for you. You have no choice!

Pg 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise

Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access to individuals' finances and a National ID Healthcard will be issued!

Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access to your banks' accounts for election funds transfer

Pg 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in unions & community orgs (ACORN).

Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating a HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Govt control.

Pg 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs for private HC plans in the Exchange

Pg 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!

Pg 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates linguistic-appropriate services. Example: Translation for illegal aliens

Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups (i.e., ACORN & Americorps) to sign up individuals for Govt HC plan

Pg 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Ben Levels for Plans. #AARP members - your health care will be rationed.

Pg 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid-eligible individuals will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No “judicial review” against Govt Monopoly.

pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make.

Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST automatically enroll employees into pub opt plan. NO CHOICE

Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for health care for part-time employees AND their families.

More of the details here. I hope Mr. Fleckman keeps the details coming, because the MSM is not - and neither are our Congressmen.

The folks who brought you the War on Drugs, The War on Poverty and the War on Cancer now want to win the War on Obesity.

I wouldn't give a darn, except that this useless Nanny nonsense is on my nickel.

The Dems never listen to my advice.

I have advised them several times over the past years to do something very simple: put every American citizen on Medicare, and raise the Medicare tax as needed to cover the costs (with no employer contribution, however - purely from the income-producer. The Medicare FICA tax is currently 2.9% on all income: all they'd have to do would be to double it or at most triple it, I imagine, since the older folks who cost most of the money are already on Medicare. Thus if you make $50,000 you would pay around $4000, and double that for $100,000).

Was my suggestion too simple?

Mind you, it is not what I would like to see done, because it would put an instant government stranglehold on our medical care, medical research, the drug and biotech industries, etc - not to mention threatening the survival of Docs and hospitals. And not to mention politicizing medicine.

But since the Left loves to control things centrally, I have no idea why they didn't do something so obvious and easy.