Maggie's Farm

 Remember this ad for pre-owned Beemers, "You know you're not the first, but do you really care?"

Well, somebody faked a similar ad for Aston Martin, and Aston Martin is not amused (below the fold)

From How the Democrats Destroyed Detroit:

Detroit has some of the highest big city property taxes in the nation, and property assessments remain overly inflated, amounting to as much as ten times the market price of the property, according to recent research compiled by two Michigan professors.

This has led to another phenomenon. Property owners are allowing themselves to be foreclosed upon, and then re-buying the same property at a reduced price, legally eliminating their outstanding debt in the process. Six hundred properties were repurchased in this manner in 2012, triple the number that occurred in 2010.
In short, Detroit is a city on the brink of ruination.

It's about time those of Portuguese descent get justice.

They have suffered too long.

End of the Mainline. It was suicide:

The arc of the NCC’s story showcases the rise and fall of liberal Protestantism in America. It’s a sad tale but also instructive for the more robust churches of today.

h/t, Dan Mitchell's Will Growing Dependency and Erosion of Social Capital Turn America into Europe?

Something that can't go on forever, won't.

Krauthammer: Hail Armageddon

Chart below via Gateway.

Some of these people seem clueless and inept, but for others there just isn't enough work to be done. From Unemployment Stories, Vol. 28: ‘I’m Inclined to Simply Disappear Into Silence’:

It has been many months since and after an internship and a deferred paying job I didn't see a cent for, I'm back living with my folks. I'd go elsewhere for work, but I honestly can't afford it. I'd take the terrible, boring jobs so many of my contemporaries accept without complaint, but I'm so depressed over my state in life I can't seem to find the energy to care enough to survive. I have been so very lucky and blessed to have parents that support me both financially (though I wish so hard I could finally be totally independent) and emotionally. But my dad (very reasonably) said he won't continue to help after I turn 26. I know it's supposed to give me initiative to get my life together, but even with this date looming I just can't find the energy to care about self-preservation.

It's tough out there if you don't know how to do anything with any meaningful value and need to support yourself without a partner. Obama's mess aside, it's never been easy to make a living and, with most under-50 women being in the workplace nowadays, there are twice as many people wanting work as there were in the last generation. Relative to the population, I mean. That worked OK in a booming economy, but not in the Obama Depression.

To be just slightly provocative, if all women went back to the kitchen, the garden, the home-schooling of the kids, and volunteer charity, (like Mrs. Obama), and if all Mexicans went back to Mexico, no American male would lack good work to do to support his family with dignity.

One word to the wise: Start at the bottom, as I did. Nobody owes you anything just for being your wonderful self. If you want money, you have to add value to an enterprise.

It is 60 very enjoyable and inspiring minutes. Podcast here. I have rarely linked to podcasts, so you have to trust me on this one. He is smart, quick, and funny.

My favorite quote: "The Constitution is my social contract."

Another good one: "No representation without taxation."

Vanderleun's favorite:

"If the Constitution doesn't count, you don't have any legitimate power. You're a thief, a brigand, an officious busybody, somebody who should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail for trying to exercise power you don't possess."

The parts about his career in music are fun too. They guy's energy, creativity, and productivity is remarkable to me. How does he find time to accomplish so much? He says "My life rocks."

Government unions own this lovely, tiny state, lock stock and barrel. They do not hesitate to use intimidation, either. A quote from the article:

    Some 16 percent or more of the state’s working population is employed by a state or local government. Add in their retired former coworkers, as well as their immediate families and close friends. And around 20 percent of the overall population relies on government for direct handouts, with the attendant industry for processing those transactions.

    Then we have the academics and wealthy liberals for whom government is more of a religion than a service provider, as a means both to supply meaning for existence and to perform charitable works. Conducting the Masses is the priestly class of political insiders, almost all Democrats.

A friend of mine just dumped his vacation seaside cottage there because of taxes. Will anybody be left to pay the taxes? The Mob (if they are still as big in Providence as they were a few years ago) doesn't pay taxes.

Yes, they do exist. It's the level above Platinum. A friend told me they saw somebody buy a necklace at Tiffany's with one before Valentine's Day. American Express calls it the Centurion Card. It seems to have no limit.

You can't apply for one. They offer it to you, and deliver it to you with a security guard. Sheesh.

FBI raids headquarters of The Scooter Store as part of $100 million Medicare fraud investigation.

the jellyfaced women all sneeze,
hear the one with the moustache say, "jeez,
I can't find my knees!"

New Book Just Comes Straight Out With It: "Against Autonomy: The Case for Collective Paternalism"

Our betters just want to do us good, don't they? Or is the book satire?

More on the topic: We want to rule you because you are stupid and powerless and we are wise.

Does anybody outside of DC care? Not likely. Taxing and spending is all they know how to do, and most of us are sick of that by now.

After all, these are not particularly intelligent or creative people but they have figured out how to keep their jobs. That's something - keeping a job.

This underappreciated book by Theodore Caplow covers the principles of running anything, from a church choir to a corporation.

Copies are available at Amazon for over $100. but I found a used copy somewhere on the internet for one dollar.

It's a practical, common-sense introduction to management. Fun to read with all of his examples. His main topics: Authority, Communication, Productivity, Morale, Change.

Previous books in this semester's not-for-credit course:

#3: You Don't Have to Learn the Hard Way: Making It in the Real World - A Guide for Graduates, by RJ Parrish

Men should dress like men

Homeland Security Now Armed With Enough Ammo for 24 Year-Long Iraq War

Drones are taking to the skies in the U.S. - Federal authorities step up efforts to
license surveillance aircraft for law enforcement and other uses, amid
growing privacy concerns.

Scarborough:  Paul Krugman is wrong - but don't take my word for it

Obama: I Actually Don’t Think We Should Ban Newspapers

Lady Pelosi: Cutting Congressional Pay Would Reduce the "Dignity" of the House of Lords, I Mean, Citizen Legislators

Via Insty:

“There is wide scientific consensus that the increased number and intensity of climate change induced natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions, tsunamis and hurricanes, is of alarming concern,” said Ruppel, though adding that not all climate events lead to disasters.

Via Pirate. Somehow, the guy forgot to include meteors and solar eclipses.

Civil Rights Leaders to Obama: Amnesty Will Crush Black Employment

Milton Friedman responds to President Obama’s proposal to raise the minimum wage, the most ‘anti-black law in the land'

Cool. It is 17 million digits long. Primes are a deep mystery.

Gallup: Americans Disapprove of Obama Policy on Nearly Every Issue.

Like I thought, I am in the mainstream.

Malanga's thorough essay deserves to be widely-read: The Right Immigration Policy. He begins:

The right debate should be about what kind of immigrants America should be admitting. It should ask how immigration can best benefit our economy and citizens. Countries with booming economies, countries that are, like the United States, immigrant magnets—Australia and Ireland, for instance—have set their immigration priorities in precisely this way, creating much more rational systems than ours. Managed as part of our broader economic policy, immigration can provide America with badly needed skills, boost productivity, and raise our living standard.

But we’ll never get to an immigration system that serves our national interest until we stop debating the issue in terms set down 50 years ago...

I agree with everything he says.

It's a classic. "This is the key to understanding the world." The wonders of the free market through a pencil, “I, Pencil”

H/t, SDA

We all want to be effective in achieving our life goals. Like all of the classic or semi-classic books in this seminar, the best advantage is to be gained from group discussion of favorite points in a seminar forum or a group of peers instead of just by reading them. A book group sort of thing.

Is it possible to create new habits? Of course it is, but learning requires humility and improvement requires self-discipline and risk-taking. I am eager to learn from others. We all tend to learn how to negotiate life by example, or by our failures. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.

All of these books have helped me enormously in my work life and in managing my personal life.

Previous books in this semester's not-for-credit course:

#3: You Don't Have to Learn the Hard Way: Making It in the Real World - A Guide for Graduates, by RJ Parrish

Life Basics 101, Book #1. Are you really too hip to read this book? How to Win Friends and Influence People

Life 101 Syllabus, book #2: Customer Service

Via AVI via Gay Patriot, at Bookworm: Conservatives need to create powerful, “sticky” messages that lead the electorate to a tipping point:

The reason the Democrat’s trash talk message worked so well is because it fell on fertile soil. The Left knew that it couldn’t sell Obama — his record did not speak for itself — but Leftist strategizers also knew that for decades the Left had created an intellectual atmosphere in which it was easy for people to believe, all evidence to the contrary, that Romney was an evil, soulless man...

"Everybody with half a brain is coming to California."

CA Gov. Jerry Brown