Maggie's Farm

Attack Machine is on a subject we have discussed recently: the desire of some voters, mainly on the left, to seek more from politicians, or from government, than can be possibly delivered.

We recall that, when Christ arrived in Jerusalem, much of the enthusiastic crowd who greeted him with palm leaves were counting on him to be a political, if not military, savior for Judea - not a saver of souls for Judea and the world. Indeed, that was the meaning of the palms.

The piece, Obama as Messiah, quotes Oprah:

“We need a leader who’s going to touch our souls. Who’s going to make us feel differently about one another. Who’s going to remind us that we are one another’s keepers. That we are only as strong as the weakest among us.”

“Are you the one?” It’s a question the entire nation is asking — is he the one? South Carolina — I do believe he’s the one.”

I am only as strong as the weakest amongst me? Give me a break. It's a sad day when people equate their government with their country, and seek inspiration, strength or - God forbid - spiritual injections from political leaders. It is infantile, un-American, and too close to blasphemy in its sentiment. False idols, false gods.

It's pitiful. Pitiful because in a land of hard-won freedom we have earned the adult privilege of building our own lives, by our own individual lights, informed by our own spirits and our own gifts and our own beliefs. Therein lies the beauty and the grandeur of it - the faith in the individual - and that is why we hire random jerks to do the grimy government work: it's so they can protect us from enemies and tyranny, and to keep us free to pursue our personal goals in our own ways, as best we can.

That is all I ask of these job-seekers. If anybody imagines that a politician or the government will change their life for the better, they are nuts. It does not take much history education to know that.

In fact, the only reason we ever mention politics on this blog is because we wish to be left alone, and because some other arrogant jerks without normal difficult jobs, with the fantasy that they somehow know better than us, wish to bother us and to abscond with our hard-won freedoms and our hard-earned shekels - representing our sweat and time and tears and, in fact, our lives - to keep their stupid easy jobs. We do not appreciate that particular scam.

Wise up, guys. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

They are flattering to a lady. They look good against female skin.

What she wants in her stocking are good diamonds, and not a year's subscription to Maggie's Farm.

To fill up her stocking, of course, you could also add a Cartier watch wrapped in an Official Maggie's Farm Gift Certificate.

Good point: How come drunk women are assumed irresponsible and cannot give consent, but drunk guys are expected to make sober, sexless choices when they have a bit of a buzz going, and the girl next to him looks like a horse but, to him at that moment, looks like Marilyn Monroe? Englishman's Castle.

Isn't that based on a sexist assumption that women are mentally frail, but men are strong?

Most men aspire to mental, physical, emotional and spiritual strength. It doesn't mean that they achieve it.

From a piece in Opinion Journal, a quote:

Ironically, these government handouts are creating the tuition problem. Tuition has risen about three percentage points faster than inflation every year for the past quarter-century. At the same time, the feds have put more and more money behind student loans and other financial aid. The government is slowly becoming a third-party tuition payer, with all the price distortions one would expect. Every time tuition rises, the government makes up the difference; colleges thus cheerfully raise tuition (and budgets), knowing the government will step in.

and

Our financial-aid system also hurts middle-class applicants. Parents who have saved money for their child's tuition quickly find that, by the strange calculus of financial aid, they are charged more for college tuition than if they had blown their savings on a bigger house.

Read the whole thing.

EJ Dionne wonders whether Hillary Clinton's arrogance has gotten the better of her. I wonder that too. Isn't she just another one of those thousands of arrogant, self-satisfied Wellesley gals, born on third base and thinking that they hit a triple, who are taught that they are anointed to run the world? And how come she didn't get into Radcliffe if she's so darn smart? What were her SATs?

My question: Did Obama pull a rope-a-dope on her? 

Related: The anybody-but-Hillary vote. Apparently younger men cannot stand her, and some older women seem to like her, for whatever reason.

Killer Whales team up to break up the ice floe before making waves to roll their fresh seal sushi dinner into the water (h/t, Neurophilosophy):

10 Tips for bloggers from an original blogger. I agree with Kate's favorite of the ten:

... if you have more original posts than links, you probably need to learn some humility.

I think we're OK on that score.

A propos our recent post Is PC Fascism on the wane, falling of its own weight and self-satire?, A Slower Pace offers this (I modified slightly):

To All My Lefty Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, interpersonally-sensitive, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. This wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To All My Other Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

From a Bloomberg piece on Clinton finances:

When he left the White House in 2000, Bill Clinton reported assets of more than $1 million and legal fees of more than $2.4 million. In his wife's most recent disclosure, Hillary Clinton reported that the couple now has a net worth estimated at between $17.4 million and $53.7 million.

Both now claim to be uneasy about their place among the richest Americans. This "new experience,'' Hillary Clinton said during a debate Oct. 30, isn't "one that makes us very comfortable.''

I'll bet.

Ike Turner died last week, as you all know. This 1951 version of Rocket 88, sung by Jackie Brenston with Ike Turner on guitar, is widely considered to have been the first Rock and Roll song (h/t, Grow a Brain):

What unravelled the New Deal coalition in 1968? No Left Turns

Bill and Hillary's Hippie Daze. Vanderleun

h/t, LaShawn.

We have our first significant nor'easter of the year today here in Yankeeland. A collision of an arctic jet stream with warmer, moist air. Sleet and snow, and that tell-tale howling, blustery gale coming out of the nor'east. Wonderful.

Why does the wind blow from the north-east for a type of storn which tends to travel in a north-eastern direction? It's because the center of the counter-clockwise spinning cyclone tends to settle off-shore, feeding off of the Gulf Stream, leaving us with the western side of the storm. (The off-shore winds, for those on ships and boats, would be blowing from the south).

Here's Wikipedia on nor'easters.

Matthew 11:2-11

When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:
   " 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way  
   before you.' I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Image: Fra Angelico's John baptising Christ

A good example of what might be happening to Hillary Clinton. The more people see of her, the less they think of her. h/t, Balloon Juice.

Also, Wm. Kristol - Time to Move On...from the Clintons.

"We were forced to cut the lion's willy off with the aid of a computer." h/t, An Englishman's Castle.

Why not just cut every guy's willy off and be done with it? 

h/t, Grow A Brain