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.
Why doesn't Maggie's Farm enter those annual "Best Blog" contests that are going on now?
1. We think it's a little silly. 2. We might not win. 3. We have no clue about what blog category we could be in, and there are far better tractor blogs than we are. I reckon we could win, though, in the "Best Commenters" category- but there isn't one.
Don't believe all of the disparaging things that are said about hovering, overly-involved "helicopter parents." Apparently it helps kids get into college. Washington Post. Probably annoys them, too. Whether it really helps them do life is another matter.
I think people ought to be free at state and local levels to make decisions that even Fred Thompson disagrees with. That’s what freedom is all about. And I think the diversity we have among the states, the system of federalism we have where power is divided between the state and the federal government serves us very, very well.
The pittance that is a current Social Security payment was intended to maintain the doddering retirees of yore in their accustomed condition of thin gruel and single-car garages. Such chump change will hardly suffice for today's vigorous sexagenarians intent on (among other things) vigorous sex in places like Paris, St. Bart's, and Phuket.
How can present Social Security allotments be expected to fund our sky-diving, bungee-jumping, hang gliding and white-water rafting, our skiing, golf and scuba excursions, our photo safaris to Africa, bike tours of Tuscany and sojourns at Indian ashrams, our tennis clinics, spa treatments, gym memberships and personal fitness training, our luxury cruises to the Galapagos and Antarctica, the vacation homes in Hilton Head and Vail, the lap pools, Jacuzzis, and clay courts being built thereat and the his and hers Harley Davidsons?
And we haven't even touched on the subject of Social Security's civil union life partner, Medicare. It won't take much sky-diving, bungee-jumping, hang gliding, and white-water rafting before we all require new hips, knees, elbows, back surgery, pacemakers, and steel plates in our heads. And the expense of these will be as nothing compared to the cost of our pharmacological needs. Remember, we are a generation that knows drugs. From about 1967 until John Belushi died, we created a way of life based almost entirely on drugs. And we can do it again. Except this time, instead of us trying to figure out how to pay for the fun by selling each other nickel bags of pot, you the taxpayer will be picking up the tab. And did I mention that we'll expect to be airlifted to the Mayo Clinic every time we have an ache or a pain? Nothing smaller than a Gulfstream G-3, please.
So just give us all the money in the federal, state, and local budget. Forget spending on the military, education, and infrastructure. What with Iraq, falling SAT scores, and that bridge collapse in Minneapolis, it's not like the military, education, and infrastructure are doing very well anyway. Besides, you don't have a choice. We are 80 million strong. That's a number equal to almost two-thirds of the registered voters in the United States. Do what we say or we will ballot you into a socio-economic condition that will make North Korea look like the clubhouse at Pebble Beach.
1Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner."
8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
9Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."
Photo: A sycamore fig. Not the same tree as our American Sycamore.
Saw the Screwtape Letters today, a 90-minute off-broadway monologue by the subtle and crafty devil Screwtape which includes most of the memorable parts of CS Lewis' book. It is performed, appropriately, in Hell's Kitchen - in Saint Clement's Church.
Hell's Kitchen has come a long way over the past 20 years - what a hopping area which used to be creepy, dark, and semi-abandoned. I'd live there now in a flash. We had an excellent Turkish meal down there at Turkish Cuisine, with decent Turkish wines and Turkish dark beer. I am a big fan of the Turks and of their food - and that yogurt-mint sauce they make which is good on grilled lamb and everything else. It's not too easy to find good Turkish restaurants.
We took a nice stroll through the theater district to get over to the church/theater. On the cross-town shuttle from Grand Central, we met a group of 20 good gals from Ohio who came to NYC on a bus for a two-day shopping spree. They were all carrying these gigantic black vinyl shopping bags they found in Chinatown.
Article the Eleventh: The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Article the Twelfth: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved by the States respectively, or to the people.
I enjoy reviewing quaint, obsolete documents like the Bill of Rights. The online, handy source for the 100 most important documents of the Republic: Click here: Our Documents - Home
...the larger point is that her policy approach revealed all the impulses not of the New Centrism but the Old Leftism. Her statements were redolent of the 1990s phrase "command and control." They reflect a bias toward the old tax-raising on people who aren't rich, who aren't protected, the old "my friends and I know best, and we'll fill you dullards in on the details later."
Is this Hillary sex story for real? Her "body person"? Or is it "fake but accurate"? Or is it dirty tricks?
I hope it's not true. I'd like to see primaries and elections on the issues, but I have learned, over time, that politics is warfare. The young lady mentioned is certainly a cutie-pie, and rumors of Hillary's proclivities go back to the Little Rock days. Everybody's heard them.
The rescue of the Florida Everglades, the largest and most expensive environmental restoration project on the planet, is faltering.
Seven years into what was supposed to be a four-decade, $8 billion effort to reverse generations of destruction, federal financing has slowed to a trickle. Projects are already years behind schedule. Thousands of acres of wetlands and wildlife habitat continue to disappear, paved by developers or blasted by rock miners to feed the hungry construction industry.
The idea that the federal government could summon the will and money to restore the subtle, sodden grandeur of the so-called River of Grass is disappearing, too.
Instead of complaining about the federal government's stinginess, why not consider what more Florida can do now, if not to restore the entire ecosystem, to stop the development of a habitat and a hunk of land that most Americans agree is worth protecting as a precious piece of our national inheritance.
Photo: NYT photo of the Everglades in Palm Beach County
Why doesn't Maggie's Farm enter those annual "Best Blog" contests that are going on now?
Take the quiz, if you dare. 
The pittance that is a current Social Security payment was intended to maintain the doddering retirees of yore in their accustomed condition of thin gruel and single-car garages. Such chump change will hardly suffice for today's vigorous sexagenarians intent on (among other things) vigorous sex in places like Paris, St. Bart's, and Phuket. 
Boston Globe discovers relationship between 
Luke 19: 1-10
Blacks in the top chairs. 
The