Maggie's Farm

David Thompson disputes Geras and Bauman on socialist assumptions. A quote:

I doubt anyone here disapproves of social safety nets of some kind, or resents help being offered to people in distress and positions of severe misfortune. The question is how much help is to be offered and on what basis. But given the role of individual judgment in how a person’s life plays out, questions necessarily follow. Lots of questions. How, one wonders, does a community “insure” its individual members against all manner of “misfortune”? How are people to be insulated from, and compensated for, what are often consequences of their own choices and priorities? How much control is to be exerted and how many freedoms curtailed - including the freedoms of those suffering misfortune? What, exactly, are the intimate practicalities of this vision?

Yes, we certainly are in favor of social nets - but as nets, not as things which are to be an approved way of life except for the most disabled. Due to human nature, socialism only works half-well within familes, where there is a combination of authority and love bonds. Even kibbutzes fall apart over money and effort issues. Whole thoughtful piece here.

Whales evolved from dogs. PBS Video. That explains a lot. We love dogs.

The new Puritans. A new moral code, but just as annoyingly controlling as the old Puritans. Betsy on this piece by Ferguson at Weekly Standard

We don't know what it is, but there is a heck of a lot of it. Dark matter

Not your ordinary small luxury cruise ship. The Atmosphere, at Forbes

Cleared by DNA after 20 years in jail. A terrible story.

Europe's demographic collapse. Quote from a piece by Sensing:

There is no longer a single country in Europe where people are having enough children to replace themselves when they die. Italy recently became the first nation in history where there are more people over the age of 60 than there are under the age of 20. This year [1998 - DS] Germany, Greece and Spain will probably all cross the same eerie divide. [link]

The greedy geezers of the AARP. Conspiracy to keep you poor and stupid quotes a letter written to AARP:

"Even though senior citizens are the wealthiest demographic group, your organization is forever finding new reasons to take trillions of dollars from working people to give to your constituents, so they can go on cruises while working families are struggling to pay the rent."

A harsh piece by Bernard Lewis quoted at Insty. One quote:

During the Cold War, two things came to be known and generally recognized in the Middle East concerning the two rival superpowers. If you did anything to annoy the Russians, punishment would be swift and dire. If you said or did anything against the Americans, not only would there be no punishment; there might even be some possibility of reward, as the usual anxious procession of diplomats and politicians, journalists and scholars and miscellaneous others came with their usual pleading inquiries: "What have we done to offend you? What can we do to put it right?" . . .

Old Cape Cod fireplaces. Sippican has photos of several. I stole the photo on the right from him. It's in Truro. Hope he doesn't get mad.

Why I am a nationalist. Tangled Web

Manhattan residential real estate up 23% in the past 12 months. Average sale price? 1 million. That is mainly apartments, of course. Prices also up in the boroughs. Average sale price outside Manhattan: $411,000.

Moderate drinking and heart disease. NYT Science News

How cool is Fred Thompson? Quick video on Michael Moore

Bottom-scraping fishing trawlers plow and destroy the ocean bottom.

To what extent is addiction-proneness genetic? Live Science Video

Is France ready for Sarkozy? LLosa at TCS thinks not:

In a recent article in the Times of London, Parris wrote that for all their impatience with economic stagnation, unemployment, social ghettos burning in the suburbs and the proliferation of violent youth groups, the French are not ready to make the "emotional leap'' necessary to reform a system under which people are used to relying on the government rather than on their own efforts for their welfare.

"I don't sniff in the wind in la France profonde (though I begin to in urban Paris) that palpable sense of having reached the end of a road," Parris wrote. "The changes France needs to embrace will be convulsive. The pain will be intense. ... We British found that when Thatcherism arrived. But even at the low point of Thatcher's first term ... you almost never heard anyone suggest a return to what had gone before. There was a sense, in 1979, that we had burnt a bridge behind us, and had wanted to.''

Whole thing here.

Iraq: We could eliminate the enemy and stabilize the nation in 48 hours with a few of these handsome airplanes on the right (that's a model H on the left, and a B on the right). However, we are trying to fight a half-war - or a Nice War - or what I would term a Police Action. Neoneo takes a look at two of today's pieces on the so-called war in Iraq.

Free markets and medical care. Betsy. It's already happening. And (via Opinion Journal)  speaking of government medical care, Illinois just nixed the idea.

JK Rowling pleads not to leak the outcome of the final Harry Potter.

Al Quaida in Iraq. Dino. Yes, they are there, and it is an excellent opportunity to kill them. Let's do it now.

Whining about work. France is #1, but the US is up there. Spoiled babies. Everyone should be thrilled to have work to do. My friend says people need only three things: Something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to.

Public housing. Get rid of it, and give the apartments to the renters. Instant millionaires. Why not? NY Sun

Special treatment for Moslems. Wizbang. Why do people do this?

I like this quote from a piece on Clinton's legacy at The Anchoress:

Why did welfare reform work? Perhaps when people were liberated from the shackles of socially-engineered government dependence, when they were freed from the quicksand and muck of “Free Government Cheese” and able to move to the higher ground of “Unleashed Potential,” they grew in self-respect, self-confidence and - most importantly - in hope. The message “you can, if you try” was a louder, clearer and more spiritually sustaining message than “you can’t, so just give up”

The reformation of our Welfare system, which in the early 1990’s was burgeoning out of control, became a pushback against what President Bush has called “the soft racism of low-expectations,” and the long-term effect of that pushback is not surprising. Encouragement will always trump condescension, and the fisherman who catches his own supper will always feel better about himself than the man who begs the scraps.

I am planning my goose trip for this fall.

Jerry Falwell. RIP

More Hitchins: Londonistan Calling. A quote:

I find myself haunted by a challenge that was offered on the BBC by a Muslim activist named Anjem Choudary: a man who has praised the 9/11 murders as "magnificent" and proclaimed that "Britain belongs to Allah." When asked if he might prefer to move to a country which practices Shari'a, he replied: "Who says you own Britain anyway?" A question that will have to be answered one way or another.

Whole thing here.

The New Yorker reviews two books about the 4th largest religion in the world - Atheism.

Well, all this talk about atheism is no big deal to me. Let's face it - very few of those Greeks and Romans ever really believed in their Gods: these cultural ancestors of the West lead secular lives until Christianity arrived on the scene, and changed the color of everything. 

Atheism is the oldest religion in the world, and the easiest to follow: it spares you the trouble of having to trouble the brain by contemplating an entire dimension of reality - by just closing the shutters on the windows to it. Very appealing, really.

A darn nice bass. 25 lbs. even, caught outside San Diego. Story here. With freshwater fish, you learn to display them towards the camera, to make them look more impressive - but this is a big fellow.

Stumbled upon a good website. The Real Cuba. Opie would like it. Lots to peruse.

I was taught that Tulipmania was real. Now it is thought that it was a myth. Tulips are OK, but far from my favorite flower.

Four months of Dems in Power. Kudlow. Same old.

Thinking big about fuel, from an engineer's brain. Small Dead Lemmings. You need to read the whole thing.

Ten billion served, and hundreds of millions fleeced. Transit subsidies, at The Commons. We usually agree with The Commons, but there is no comparison in the piece with the federal subsidization of highways. I am opposed to the latter, sort-of.

Bush's greatest speech. Kim. I could have written that.

Medical insurance should cover this. All male Coyotes need them.

Eurabia. Add Kyoto to the mix, and they could create a new Afghanistan! Classical Values.

How experts think. A Parliament of Clocks, via Kim, via Instap.

Moms are great! Our best to all Mom readers, and to all future Moms. How you put up with us when we were kids, God only knows. A bouquet of thanks to y'all. Just quit worrying about us, OK? Let us worry about you for a change.

Hilarious. The Hillary-Osama Obama Debate. Very clever video at California Yank

Many are eager to visit Cuba when travel restrictions are ended.

What could possibly go wrong with banning guns? TigerHawk

Education, and sliding down the razor blade of life. Hatemonger

Powerline throws down the gauntlet. Sue us, please. It must be fun to be a First Amendment lawyer.

Mao embalmed. Roger Simon

The New Puritans. It is getting strange out there. Driscoll. Thankfully, here on planet Earth, things are OK.

More on the Tufts Psychosis. Captain Ed does a good job with it. I would think the alumni donors would be going berserk about now.

A vote for Romney is a vote for Satan, says one TV Fundie. That is the sickest thing I've heard today. Romney's dad ran for president, and nobody said that about him. And nobody has said it about the other Mormons in government, like Harry Reid. And isn't Orrin Hatch a Mormon too? This is just pathetic, if not downright evil. I don't mind fundies at all, as long as they worry about their own relationship with God, but leave other people alone to find their own way.

Is there any reason for the FCC to exist anymore? Driscoll doubts it, and so do I. Let markets deal with it. The sources for information and entertainment, these days, go so far beyond broadcast that the FCC is obsolete.

Psychotic breakdown at Tufts. Fortunately, good old FIRE is on the job. I hope this story gets around, because it is a truly shameful thing for a fine American university. I read about it first at Powerline, and now Wizbang has an update, with good excerpts from Volokh. Yes, it's about those hypersensitive Moslems who must be protected from facts. Not that the Moslems are complaining so much - it's the loonies who want Islam to be a "protected class."

I am opposed to windmill farms, but the Cape Wind story is hilarious anyway. Update from Libertarian Leanings. Why am I opposed to windmills? Because wind power is a joke and will never, despite subsidies, make a meaningful contribution to our energy wants. It's just "feel good" stuff, like fluorescent lightbulbs

Sperm donor must pay child support? Not a joke. Hey fellas: God should have put a warning label on that thing of ours.

Now Farmer's Branch, TX wants to be rid of their illegals. They are voting on it.

Viking's Quote of the Day:

"The more you fail, the more money they throw at you," he said. "We're filthy rich; I don't want any more of your money. Send me quality teachers."

Adding to blogroll: Theo Spark, under Anglosphere. The charmer on the right with the very nice smile is borrowed from Theo, who posts lots of mostly-political graphics. Hmmmm, is the pool open yet? Where my Ray-Bans at? So I can stare without anyone noticing. Ya gotta love this globalisticalistic warmening.

Also adding to blogroll: No Left Turns.

Also, re-adding to blogroll: Right Thinking from the Left Coast.  We lost Lee somewhere along the way.

Disaffected youths hold anti-Sarkozy riots in New York City. Haha.

What is Babelgum? It is something new.

Doomsday Called Off. The five-part CBC documentary, via S,C &A.

The health Nazis now going after virtual smoke. RTLC. I am so sick of these controlling busybodies. Quit trying to "do good" for me, OK? I am an educated adult in a free country, which includes the freedom to be stupid and to defy "the experts" whenever I feel like it.

NBC hires "Diversity Leader." Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Does anyone take this junk seriously? Michelle. It's called a payoff to Jesse Jackson, and everybody knows it.

 US cancer care 10X better than the UK. Anchoress

Also from Anchoress, Class and Class Warfare. Anchoress appreciates true class.

Oral sex can lead to throat cancer? Our reader suggests reading the humorous comments on this scare piece, but I will not go down on record by opening my mouth about this story.

Sisu and Roger Simon are upset about PBS' cancelling of America at a Crossroads. I understand their point, but I don't watch TV, much less PBS, anyway. It's a waste of time.

A gunless gunship. In From the Cold. (h/t, Reader)

LA Charter Schools, and Steve Barr. The District and the unions hate him. Barr had the cojones to wonder whether the school district leaders are "pig f-ers." Nobody likes competition, but government hates it more than most because they like to think they are smarter than everyone else. And they are smart, when it comes to taking care of themselves. Politics is a very ugly business.

The photo on the left is a compelling argument for why Persian women should never be veiled. Indeed, covering such loveliness should be illegal. From a piece on rebellion against the burkha laws in Iran, at Gateway (photo borrowed  stolen from the piece at Gateway).

A propos of The Barrister's post on Market Failure, Dan Boudreaux discusses how "altruistic" lawmakers, and those with market agendas, conspire. The Bootleggers and Baptists theory.

Since when were the '06 elections about Iraq? Just One Minute. Dems stalled out in Congress.

Obama is for bans on semi-auto weapons. Hello? Does he know what semi-auto means? I have two semi-auto shotguns. Perhaps he means full auto, or does he not know what he is talking about?

Why is income inequality a good thing? Because it indicates a good return on investment in human capital. It rewards it. Mankiw. If you tax away higher incomes to create an artificial income equality by erasing the free market for labor, you reduce the return on human investment, eg education, talent-improvement, self-discipline, delayed gratification, and skills acquisition - and thus discourage people from those desirable and life-enhancing things. Plus you obviously discourage people from working hard at difficult tasks.

A divorce rate reversal in the US. AOL News

Makers of Oxycontin get screwed. People get addicted to the meds, and the maker is blamed. Oxycontin is apparently a great drug: my oncologist friend says it has been a gift from God for patients with cancer pain and other chronic pain. There is no "high" at the correct doses.

"Sending a chill."  The NYT is worried. (But aren't they always worried about one thing or another, like a bunch of old women? They need a strong dose of optimism - or Oxycontin.) A darn good point from Dino. Read the Bonus Question about Imus.

There is a movement to try to keep Paris Hilton out of jail, but did you know that there is a more worthwhile movement to keep her in jail - forever? Right Wing Nation. Truth is, I sort-of feel sorry for her: she is just a cute kid with a cute name, but without substance or brains, who has made herself an empty celeb. The attention must be gratifying, but what can it possibly lead to?

From a piece at Econlog:

A reasonable theory of modern politics is that it is all melodrama. People take government less and less seriously, which makes politicians shout louder and louder to get our attention. Whenever a story breaks in the media, whether it be Terry Schiavo or the Virginia Tech killings, politicians rush to get in front of the camera to take advantage of it. That, I would suggest, is a sign of their desperation.

Allons enfants de la Patrie... See why they use the word "enfants" in La Marseillaise? Students protest French election by going on strike, presumably against their own free education. No Pasaran

From a piece at Protein Wisdom:

“Hate crimes have no place in America,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi boldly declared last week, “no place in a nation where we pledge every morning ‘with liberty and justice for all.’” Pelosi was urging her colleagues to approve a bill aimed at violence motivated by hostility toward members of certain designated groups.

I guess she didn't want to say what she should say, which is "Crime has no place in America." I am considering designating myself a crime-free zone because I am not in a government-protected class. Instead, I am in an S&W protected class.

Cut the BS, Mr. Maliki. Who better to deliver that message than Dick Cheney?

Lonesome George may get a girlfriend. But will he know what to say? What to do?

Sound familiar? EU Referendum, on the UK politics of Iraq:

...this is not what Cameron has in mind. The strategy is to present the government sinking into an ever-deepening mess in the hope that it gets such a bad name (not that it actually needs much help) that even the previously unattractive Conservatives look electable. Power is the name of the game. If that means abandoning the people of Iraq, the good name of our Armed Forces and the national interest, so be it.

Good for Prof. Bainbridge for writing The Complete Guide to Sarbanes-Oxley. I hope his book is obsolete soon, though, because Sarbox is a crazy thing which has hamstrung American finance. Oxley himself agrees.

Many have read Barone's piece on changing American demographics and the Interior Boomtowns. If not, a quote:

The nation's center of gravity is shifting: Dallas is now larger than San Francisco, Houston is now larger than Detroit, Atlanta is now larger than Boston, Charlotte is now larger than Milwaukee. State capitals that were just medium-sized cities dominated by government employees in the 1950s--Sacramento, Austin, Raleigh, Nashville, Richmond--are now booming centers of high-tech and other growing private-sector businesses. San Antonio has more domestic than immigrant inflow even though the border is only three hours' drive away. The Interior Boomtowns generated 38% of the nation's population growth in 2000-06.

Read the whole thing.

What high heels do to a lady's body. Ah, the sacrifices women make for beauty. Just like Spring flowers, splurging their resources to make sure they get well-pollinated by healthy, clean and articulate, eager, sharp-dressed bumble-bees like me.

Cancer genetics tests for life insurance buyers? Why not, if they already want your cholesterol numbers, which are also largely genetically-determined?

Another prominent scientist - Josef Reicholf - makes jokes about global warming. Moonbattery.

More on tainted Chinese foodstuffs, this time it's fish food. Never, never eat anything from China, whether you be a dog, cat, fish, or human.

 Panda fun. It seems to require candle-lit dinners.

More on why Hummers are more green than Priuses. Am. Princess

Clinton quickly distances herself from her heroine, Segolene. Does this mean they won't be baking madeleines together?

Beyond the usual pork. Reparations for Guam? Hmmm, do I recall that Guam is in Pelosi's district?  Flopping. Ask the Japanese for money. I did nothing to harm Guam. (I have noticed, interestingly, that we have a regular reader in Guam.)

Why Blinder is wrong about off-shoring jobs. Drezner

A new Political Dictionary to educate the incorrect: ACRU. (h/t, and a couple of more definitions at Powerline)

Speaking of polical correctness, look what is happening to this poor prof: Inside Higher Ed. His crime? He linked to the website of a former White House speechwriter and former presidential candidate.

What is anthropology these days? At Harvard, they aren't sure. John Hawk's Weblog. I like that blog - will add it to our Science category.

Car-burning party time in France. Why do they like to burn cars? Maybe it's fun to do? Or is it evidence of their famous "sophistication" and "intellectual nuance"? No - I am sure it is just ordinary destructive adolescent fun, with a hip political cover for it. I'd try it too, if I could do it legally, just for the fun of it. Plus it must be good for auto sales.

Political demographics. People are moving from blue states to red, in search of lower taxes, better jobs. and a better life. But they carry their blueness with them. Betsy

What should the Left propose, now that it has become morally and politically bankrupt? It has been 70 years since the Left had interesting new ideas and, in those 70 years, all of the problems they sought to cure have solved themselves in the US. So now what do they do? Book review in Dissent. If this makes sense to you, let me know.

The Fort Dix jihad story. No interest in it. Lock these moron Moslemists up for life - no, don't do that. Jailing somebody costs over $40,000 per year, paid by taxpayers. Better idea, Sharia-style: Execution, or just cut off their right hands and send them back to Albania.

Silky Pony said this:

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Tuesday that he worked for a hedge fund to learn more about financial markets and their relationship to poverty in the United States.

Ya can't make this stuff up.

No Bush-hating liberal bias in the news. Anchoress. You see, Bush is too crude to greet a Queen, unlike Clinton. The NYT doesn't like Sarkozy either, because of his strained marital siutuation, unlike Clinton of course.

Social cohesion. Stumbling and Mumbling. Of course people prefer to hang out with people who are on the same page. It's called tribalism, and it is normal and healthy - and adaptive. I am careful to never underestimate the communication, understanding, trust, and assumption gaps when dealing with those from other cultures or even subcultures. I have been burned too often by erroneous assumptions.

Do not eat any food made in China. SDA. Seriously.

In the UK, politicians rank lower than car dealers in trust. (h/t, Worstall)

From a piece at The Moderate Voice (h/t, reader):

Well, it’s very simple: they can all point the finger to themselves. They are all to blame, as is their socialist ideology. Socialism has had its day; socialism has brought moral decline, high unemployment rates, weak, unstable economies, huge governments, regulation in just about every area of one’s life; it has caused something called personal responsibility to disappear; it has brought moral relativism; it has learned us that we cannot be proud of our respective country; it has made large groups of people unnecessarily dependent on the government; it has forced us to accept the failed concept of multiculturalism; it has taught us (I mean Europeans in general with that) that whatever you do, you have to be politically correct; it has created an environment in which one is not allowed to name problems, let alone deal with them; it has taught us that criminals are not to blame for their crimes, society as a whole is and that they, therefore, should be coddled instead of punished… oef, the list goes on and on.

Socialism has weakened France, and Europe as a whole; it is time to get rid of it.

Yup. It's hard to know which is worse - the economic damage or the psycho-cultural damage.

The US Air Force must have been listening to EU Referendum. They want some light attack aircraft for counter-insurgency work.

Photo is Brazil's Super Tucano. Nice little airplane, and it looks like it would be fun to fly to Cape Cod for the weekend - or low over Sadr City.

Photo stolen from a good analysis at Publius Pundit. Other comments and links at Gateway, to whom I owe a h/t for the former piece.

There is no doubt that Sarko had the babes on his side, which is a good sign. Maybe we need to re-think our view of the government-teat-sucking, cafe-drinking, work-allergic, lazy-ass cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Did I just write that? I take it all back, after today.

TigerHawk feels similarly, and has a lot of interesting Sarkozy quotes. Yes, Sarko is a Yankeephile. And he is conservative by French standards - but not by American standards.

Sarko wins - big time. Three cheers for France! Maybe we will finally have a friend in Paris.

Al Zawahiri mocks Dem Iraq pullout plan.

We all die of heat in 8 months. Yikes! Better bring my will up to date. Wait a minute - that will be mid-January. What the heck?

The wrong house from which to steal a gun.

Picking a jury for the Padilla case. Are people really this stupid?

The DC Madam's employees: It's hard to say that these hos had no choices in life. They were moonlighting.

Tony Blair plans last-minute surrender to the EU. These are not our grandparents' Brits.

Devil in a red dress. Big Lizards. Condi scares the Imams away. Is there a military tactic to be learned from this? Maybe get the Dallas Cowboy cheerleading squad to stroll around Sadr City for a few hours a day in skimpy cowgirl outfits. Where is Annie Oakley when you need her?

A bad joke? No. It's our new Dem leaders.

How the Nanny State kills. Bainbridge. On a similar subject, Brit NHS docs finally admit rationing of care. Dem. Project.

Vilmar Tavares shares his Antarctica adventures.

Children are the problem! Quoted in Worstall from a Brit enviro-family planning offical:

“The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child.”

Hmmm. Does that mean one less than I have now? How do I do that - is that an Abraham and Isaac-type command from Gaia? Or does he mean one less than I wanted? What if I only wanted one? What if I have one more by mistake? I need more detailed instructions, please, from our wise government officials, or I won't know how to live. Also, I wonder whether this just applies to the English, or does it apply to their immigrants too? Have they informed them, yet?

Photo: A nectarine bloom in southern New England this weekend, sent in by a reader.