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.
The Democrats have been reduced to the party of the rich elite (George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Jonathan Gruber-types, edit al.) and the party of the poor exploited by those elites — a lethal combination that takes society exactly nowhere. In essence, they are the party of racism and sexism — that’s about it.
[Erdely was] going from campus to campus auditioning rape victims, contacting advocacy groups and asking for introductions. But the rapes she found at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Penn didn’t have the right narrative feel. They were just rapes, and she needed a cover-worthy rape. So she kept shopping until she found someone who would tell her a version of the story she had already decided to tell. She needed a big rape — something splashy, something with wild details and a frat house. She needed a rape that would go viral. You can’t do that with just some regular boring rape.
Mrs. BD snapped this pic of one of the wonderful tiles in NYC's Astor Place subway station."In the mid-to late-19th century, the area was home to many of the wealthiest New Yorkers, including members of the Astor, Vanderbilt and Delano families"
Why beavers? Because John Jacob Astor, at one time the wealthiest man in America, made his fortune in beaver pelts (and wisely went on to invest his beaver wealth in NYC real estate).
Why the Waldorf-Astoria? Because Johann Jakob Astor was an immigrant from Waldorf, Germany.
Other websites ask you to use their Amazon links or whatever to bring them a little revenue. Not us. It's just not worth the trouble (unless you wish to carry suitcases of cash to our bank in the Caymans like the Dunkin Donuts people, Sierra Trading Post, Bob Dylan, Sippican Cottage Furniture, and several others we routinely advertise, do).
We like give you ideas of other places to donate at Christmastime Holiday Season.
Like most people, I find Wikipedia to be an extremely handy introduction to all sorts of topics. At the very least, it offers enough information to be able to fool people into thinking that you know what you're talking about. At the most, a pretty good elementary education.
The old Britannica totally missed the boat. The writing was wordy, pedantic, the print was too small, it was expensive, and there were not enough pictures.
As everybody knows, Wiki is non-profit because Jimmy Wales just does his own thing and refuses to monetize his remarkable creation. They need money to operate, though, so throw them a few bucks if you use them. Their fundraiser is now.
1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
1:2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, "See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;
1:3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'"
1:4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
1:5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
1:6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
1:7 He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.
1:8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
ermany’s
Environment Minister Calls On Citizens To Turn Off Lights During Sex –
To Protect Climate! - See more at:
http://notrickszone.com/2014/11/28/germanys-environment-minister-calls-on-its-citizens-to-turn-off-lights-during-sex-to-protect-climate/#sthash.YfER6BKy.dpuf
Cook: Democrats Paved the Way for Their Own Decline - They have subordinated their traditional focus on
helping working-class Americans move up the economic ladder in favor of
other priorities.
Economic Fact of the Day. For every $100 in sales, the average discount retailer like Walmart and Target earns $3.10 in profits, while the average take for the states with state and local sales taxes is more than twice that amount — almost $7
“I only deemed it lawful to kill whoever claims that the sun is static and refuses to repent of this after clarification. This is because denying the circulation of the sun constitutes a denial of Allah (Glorified be He), His Great Book, and His Honorable Messenger. It is well established in the Din (religion of Islam) by way of decisive evidence and Ijma` (consensus) of scholars that whoever denies Allah, His Messenger or His Book is a Kafir (disbeliever) and their blood and wealth become violable. It is the duty of the responsible authority to ask them to repent of this; either they repent or be executed. Thanks to Allah that this issue is not debatable among scholars.”
Feds
spend $466,642 to study why obese girls have less sex - See more at:
http://poorrichardsnews.com/post/103931307318/feds-spend-466-642-to-study-why-obese-girls-have#sthash.kFIYAUsf.dpuf
1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 3For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.…
... it ought to outrage taxpayers that the government’s crop “insurance” program — originally intended as a safety net for family farms — is going to pay out $10 billion this year to these same hugely successful corn growers. Largely because of the success of the harvest, corn prices per bushel have declined, thus triggering automatic payments.
Germany
Desperate For More Coal Power To Keep Lights On - See more at:
http://www.thegwpf.com/germany-desperate-for-more-coal-power-to-keep-lights-on/#sthash.TAfHZ5mb.dpuf
I long to talk with some old lover's ghost, Who died before the god of love was born. I cannot think that he, who then loved most, Sunk so low as to love one which did scorn. But since this god produced a destiny, And that vice-nature, custom, lets it be, I must love her that loves not me.
Sure, they which made him god, meant not so much, Nor he in his young godhead practised it. But when an even flame two hearts did touch, His office was indulgently to fit Actives to passives. Correspondency Only his subject was; it cannot be Love, till I love her, who loves me.
But every modern god will now extend His vast prerogative as far as Jove. To rage, to lust, to write to, to commend, All is the purlieu of the god of love. O! were we waken'd by this tyranny To ungod this child again, it could not be I should love her, who loves not me.
Rebel and atheist too, why murmur I, As though I felt the worst that love could do? Love might make me leave loving, or might try A deeper plague, to make her love me too; Which, since she loves before, I'm loth to see. Falsehood is worse than hate; and that must be, If she whom I love, should love me.
Is Atheism a Specifically Western Phenomenon?Peter Berger - We know atheism in its Jewish or
Christian context, as a rejection of the Biblical God. What would
atheism mean in a Muslim, or Hindu, or Buddhist context?
"In Nature organic growth proceeds according to a Master Plan, a Blueprint. Such a ‘master plan’ is missing from the process of growth and development of the world system. Now is the time to draw up a master plan for sustainable growth and world development based on global allocation of all resources and a new global economic system. Ten or twenty years form today it will probably be too late." - Club of Rome, Mankind at the Turning Point
On Pearl Harbor Day, Boston Globe (Said) 
The Spiritual Shape of Political Ideas
Key elements of Rolling Stone’s U
Pic is the 35,000 year-old 
Mixed race:
Driving 
Love's Deity