Maggie's Farm

My current favorite smoke: Macanudo 1993 Vintage No. 2. Spicy. Definitely needs no aging in ye olde humidificatorium. By the way, do not expect me to ever discuss Cubans here.

Evariste spills his guts.

New Sisyphus responds.

Big Lizards has a good take on the Supremes' decision. 

Everywhere I have lived - except in NYC - an ID was required to vote.

We posted a painting by James Buttersworth last week. This one, Welcome Home, is by his father, Thomas (1768-1842).

"Teaching for "social justice" is a cruel hoax on disadvantaged kids." Sol Stern on Bill Ayers and his ilk, at City Journal. This Ed School stuff is straight from Gramsci's handbook, and it represents a conspiracy to keep the "masses" poor and stupid - and angry, hopeless, and helpless.

In other words, ripe for "rescue" by The State.

Speaking of Gramsci and Ayers, we did a piece a while ago about Hillary and Obama and their Alinsky connection.

From Roger K on "post-colonial studies" at Harvard:

In the ambivalent world of the “not quite/not white,” on the margins of metropolitan desire, the founding objects of the Western world become the erratic, eccentric, accidental objets trouvés of the colonial discourse—the part-objects of presence. It is then that the body and the book loose [sic] their representational authority. Black skin splits under the racist gaze, displaced into signs of bestiality, genitalia, grotesquerie, which reveal the phobic myth of the undifferentiated whole white body.

I first read those words back in the 1980s and knew instantly that its author was destined for academic stardom.

Indeed. I think the Prof must be talking about me, because I often feel like a "part-object of presence," don't you? I blame Brit imperialism for that, and my little bestiality issue would seem to confirm it.

Several of us Maggie's Farmers enjoy visiting Scotland and Turkey (the fact that we love visiting Italy goes without saying, and our Italian- and Latin-speaking Dylanologist will be there soon, working this summer).

Turkey has the exotic feel, the food, the people, the scenery - and the history. This is how I plan to do my next visit to Turkey.

Meanwhile, I hear from Bird Dog that he is planning to join a church trip to Israel. He has been to Turkey, too, and loves the country.

From Kudlow, in Why Not Blame Obama?:

In fact, in America’s largest cities, a firefighter married to a schoolteacher can earn close to $200,000 filing jointly. So not only will each spouse separately pay more for Social Security and health care under Mr. Obama’s plan, together they’ll also be slammed by Mr. Obama’s cap-gains tax increase.

This is more than just a failure to understand the Laffer curve. It’s another cultural misstep by Mr. Obama. I can’t help but wonder if the senator knows any cops or firemen. His appeal is to well-educated latte liberals. That remark about middle-income folks having turned to God, faith, and guns because of economic setbacks? Not only was it ill-advised, it illustrates the wide cultural chasm that exists between the candidate and the rest of America.

Kudlow makes the point that we have made many times here: the American socio-cultural Middle Class - if any such thing exists - spans family annual incomes between $40,000 - 200,000. Plumbers in my village make $200,000 if they work hard and will show up on weekends. My gunsmith charges $175/hr (but he gives me a break if a job takes too long), and his wife works for the town.

From the Wiki entry:

"Anchoring or focalism is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily, or "anchor," on one trait or piece of information when making decisions."

The notion of Anchoring Bias comes from Cognitive Psychology, not from Logic.

I suppose it could be a fancy way of saying that sometimes we cannot see the forest for a single tree, and are thus "prevented" from considering all of the relevant facts or options.

This sort of cognitive bias typically operates, as do most biases, unconsciously or reflexively, as a gravitational pull towards some decision or reaction.

A true example (but not an unconscious one, from the Mrs., on considering what new car to buy): "It just has to be the right shade of maroon."

Another example, reported to me by a pediatrician friend: "I ordered a brain MRI ($800) for a 10 year-old kid with tension headaches.  Totally unnecessary, and I realized afterwards that I did it because I had read a journal article over the weekend about an undiagnosed brain tumor in a 10 year-old."

Thus, like most fallacies and biases, it's part of the brain's effort to be efficient or persuasive in its heuristics by tossing out an anchor on one detail (ouch - that's bad writing), and often might, but doesn't always, lead to the most realistic choices.

As we learn more about how our brains make decisions outside of our awareness, being aware of, and being able to monitor, the shortcuts our brains take should serve us well.

I could not resist this free association, having recently learned that "Anchors Aweigh" was written in 1906 to be a swinging football song (which it is):

Protectionism is a policy built on the premise that consumers exist to satisfy producers.

Cafe Hayek

I am always years behind the curve when it comes to techy stuff. I have no desire for XM or Sirius radio, but I do like to be able to listen to some of the classical music stations across the country on iTunes radio.

I am listening to WQXR today as I stumble through a mountain of annoying paperwork. Now I need one of those Squeezeboxes so I can run the cable radio through some decent speakers.

Quoted from a piece on tax hypocrisy at Lonely Centrist:

FDR repeatedly claimed that he was exempt from the high tax rates on personal income that Congress had enacted -- and Roosevelt had approved -- in the revenue acts of 1934 and 1935.

In a series of letters to internal revenue officials, Roosevelt insisted that he could not be taxed at the heavy rates imposed on rich taxpayers during the mid-1930s. Article II, section 1 of the Constitution forbids any reduction in the president's compensation during his term in office, Roosevelt pointed out. Since the new rates enacted in 1934 and 1935 effectively reduced that compensation, they could not be applied to the president's salary.

As Leona Helmsley famously said (before she was indicted), "Paying taxes is for the little people."

Phillips Academy's Addison Gallery of American Art is hosting a show in London.

Image is Winslow Homer's Kissing the Moon, from the Addison.

It has been in the back of my mind for some time to do some research about the history of the elevator, without which we would have no buildings much over 6 stories.

There's a good, entertaining piece on The Lives of Elevators by Nick Paumgarten in The New Yorker: you will learn something. (h/t, Norm)

No more cheap pork for the Canadians

Ethanol is a food tax on the poor

Never let your dog eat raisins or grapes

Never ever eat Polar Bear liver.

Whenever Teddy Roosevelt experienced a loss or deep disappointment, he would head off on an adventure - sometimes reckless ones. A paragraph from Candice Millard's fascinating The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey:

"Roosevelt had also concluded that his old friend Father Zahm was not suited to the treacherous passage down the uncharted river. Zahm, like Miller, would continue with the expedition until it reached the River of Doubt, but at that point he would be shunted off to another, less challenging journey. "Father Zahm has now been definitely relegated from the Rio da Duvida trip and goes down the Guy Parana," Kermit wrote to his mother. Even though the trip had been Zahm's idea in the first place and, at his age and with his failing health, he was unlikely to return to the Amazon, few members of the expedition shed any tears for him. "All for each, and each for all, is a good motto," Roosevelt had once written, "but only on condition that each works with might and main to so maintain himself as not to be a burden to others." "

Photo: Roosevelt with Col. Rondon in South America. Roosevelt lost 57 lbs. during the 1500-mile exploration, and nearly died of malaria and dysentery. He never fully recovered from the ravages of the dangerous and grueling trip down the River of Doubt.

This columnist David Bullard made a good point, and one we have made here in the past: compared to the stone age - or to anything else, Western civilization is a gift. (Which is not to say that anybody wants a gift imposed upon them: change is tough for people.)

Too bad he got fired for truth-telling.

From Megan McA:

Q: How do hedge fund managers work 27 hours a day?

Staying in the dating game.

Parents often disagree with kids' choices of spouse (oh, really?)

Do people really like having kids?

The breakdown of marriage costs the taxpayers $112 billion/year. Jules. Makes the cost of Iraq seem insignificant.

Well, I guess there's always gay marriage as an alternative, but Michael Coren says it's a big mistake. Plus many find it distasteful, as a concept.

OK, now for the good news: me. Contentedly married with one wife, four kids, four horses, and three dogs - love 'em all, most of the time.