Maggie's FarmWe 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. |
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Thursday, August 28. 2008QQQTo take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father's has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association--the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. Thomas Jefferson: Note in Tracy's "Political Economy," 1816. Wednesday, August 27. 2008QQQThe idea that political freedom can be preserved in the absence of economic freedom, and vice versa, is an illusion. Political freedom is the corollary of economic freedom. Tuesday, August 26. 2008QQQAs a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions. James Madison, National Gazette, 1792 Sunday, August 24. 2008QQQThe power to tax involves the power to destroy. Chief Justice John Marshall, 1819 Tuesday, August 19. 2008QQQWe visited the Sandwich Heritage Museum on Sunday. It's a great place to do nothing. There's no fun there. We had fun, but that's a different matter. We were not subjected to the trials of fun. We brought some along with us and had it. From Sipp who, I strongly suspect, is like me in not being a Disney World sort of processed-fun person. Or a processed cheese person - except maybe on burgers. We should do a post on processed and packaged fun sometime. Saturday, August 16. 2008QQQI try to avoid Maggie's Farm because I find too many things to get interested in, and I just don't have the time. A friend and occasional MF reader Thursday, August 14. 2008QQQAs long as I assume that the world is something I discover by turning on the radio...I am deceived from the start. - Thomas Merton, via Anchoress
Wednesday, August 6. 2008QQQEthics are for people who have no morals - no humility in the face of the good, the true, and the beautiful. David Warren, in a piece on journalism and truth-telling Tuesday, August 5. 2008QQQAs you may know, not long ago a couple hundred thousand Berliners made a lot of noise for my opponent. I'll take the roar of 50,000 Harleys any day. Friday, August 1. 2008Happiness for Sale, or "No Brain - No Pain," or "Don't Worry - Be Happy!"This is a re-post from 2006 - What? Me worry? - Alfred E. Newman The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it. - C.P. Snow You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. - Albert Camus Happiness is a warm gun. - Lennon/McCartney Happiness is finding a 5-dollar bill in the pocket of a pair of old jeans in the back of the closet. - Jimmy Buffet Happiness is watching turtles lay eggs on a sunny, sandy riverbank, with Yellowthroat warblers chattering in the alders. - Bird dog Happiness is curling up in bed with a good book and a glass of good wine and a good hubbie on Sunday night at 9 pm. - Dr. Bliss Happiness is a perfect dove-tailed joint - yeah. - Roger de Hauteville Happiness is finding a rabbit to chase in the yard, when you least expect it. - Gwynnie the Yorkie I don't pursue happiness - happiness pursues me. - The Barrister Last week, Yahoo News reported this from Britain:
Gee - d'ya think 21st Century living is tougher than 20th Century living, or 19th, or 18th, or 8th? Please! Life has never been "easier" or "better" in human history, which is why we can waste time and money on such frivolous and immature subjects. We have posted on the subject of happiness in the past, in Happiness Traps, and The Economists Take on Happiness. It's a subject I dislike writing about, because it is an undefinable word except as a passing emotion: it is much easier to talk about kinds of unhappiness. However defined, though, there is one thing I know for certain and that is that Happiness cannot be taught in school. It is interesting, however, that Britain has become so secular, and so relatively materially comfortable, that they would even consider that happiness might be something that a government could provide along with all of its other wonderful and efficient "services". It sounds like Kim Sung Il. Which reminds me, we ought to do a summertime re-post of our Valentine's Day Manifesto for the amusement of new readers. In my opinion, self-respect is more valuable than self-esteem; accomplishment and satisfaction are more important than pleasurable ease; the pursuit of happiness is a scam; giving and receiving love, affection and friendship are the finest and only enduring things in life, and Government cannot replace God or defeat human nature. Even shrinks will deny that they offer happiness as a product. Freud spoke for all of us that psychiatry can, at the best, offer the hope of replacing neurotic (eg abnormal) unhappiness with normal unhappiness. "Life is difficult," as Scott Peck pointedly begins his wonderful and inspiring The Road Less Traveled. There is no way out of that, other than temporary escapist joys like vacations, a tennis game, a book, or a couple of nice glasses of wine. Well, a tennis game can put you through some heavy stuff, I guess: I am halfway through Ian McEwan's Saturday, which is a sort-of Day in the Life, and the squash game chapter is a minor masterpiece in itself. Pleasure is easy to pursue - it's like falling off a log. Heroin, I am told, provides excellent self-esteem, well-being, serenity, and happiness, and it is far cheaper, effortless, and far more effective than shrinks, or any other path. Anyway, some clever Music Man salesman sold the Brits on this thing. My guess is that the kids will take it about as seriously as they take Sex Ed, so they will not be harmed by involuntary government intrusions into their psyches. Hey, teacher - leave us kids alone. I realize that this is classic blog rambling...I will try to come back to it when I have a little time.
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
in Our Essays, Psychology, and Dr. Bliss, Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ)
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12:15
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Thursday, July 31. 2008QQQGovernment bailouts are like potato chips: You can't stop with just one. Tom Sowell, in his Random Thoughts this week Wednesday, July 30. 2008QQQ: In the name of God, go!Come come! We have had enough of this. I will put an end to your prating. It is not fit that you should sit here any longer! You have sat here too long here for any good you have been doing lately. You shall give this place to better men! Call them in! Call them in! (the musketeers). You call yourselves a Parliament. You are no Parliament; I say you are no Parliament! You are whoremasters and drunkards, corrupt and unjust men, how can you be a Parliament for God’s People? Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! Cromwell dismissing the Rump Parliament, April 1653. h/t, Mr. Free Market Sunday, July 27. 2008QQQ"Weren't the eighties grand? Cash grew on trees or, anyway, coca bushes. The rich roamed the land in vast herds hunted by proud, free tribes of investment brokers who lived a simple life in tune with money. Every wristwatch was a Rolex. Every car was a Mercedes-Benz. A fellow could romance a gal without shrink-wrapping his privates and negotiating the Treaty of Ghent. Communist dictators were losing their jobs, not presidents of America and General Motors. Women wore Adolfo gowns instead of dumpy federal circuit court judge robes. The Malcolm who mattered was Forbes. Bill Clinton was only a microscopic polyp in the colon of national politics, and Hillary was still in flight school, hadn't even soloed on her broom. What a blast we were having. The suburbs had just discovered Martha Stewart, the cities had just discovered crack. So many parties and none of them Democratic...Back then health care was a tummy tuck, not an inalienable right. If you wanted a better environment, you went to Laura Ashley." P.J. O'Rourke, via Samizdata Thursday, July 24. 2008QQQ"Forgiveness is to set a captive free, only to realize that you were the captive." Anonymous Tuesday, July 22. 2008QQQWhen people tell you, "You can’t get up, you’re a victim," that’s when you know it is the devil you’re hearing. Bill Cosby, quoted here.
Photo: School, Henderson, KY. 1916 Sunday, July 20. 2008QQQEveryone is a libertarian when it comes to his or her own choices. Coyote, in a piece titled Statists in Libertarian Clothing Don't Lose HeartLet me use disappointment as material for patience; - from a prayer by John Baillie
Posted by Bird Dog
in Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ), Religion
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Tuesday, July 8. 2008QQQ“Religion is more needed in democratic republics than in any others. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?" Alexis de Tocqueville Monday, July 7. 2008QQQ"There is scarcely a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh, get first all the people's money, then all their lands and then make them and their children servants forever." Benjamin Franklin Thursday, July 3. 2008QQQ"I don't want to remake America. I'm an immigrant, and one reason I came here is because most of the rest of the Western world remade itself along the lines Sen. Obama has in mind. This is pretty much the end of the line for me. If he remakes America, there's nowhere for me to go – although presumably once he's lowered sea levels around the planet there should be a few new atolls popping up here and there." Mark Steyn, stolen from a quote at Samizdata Tuesday, July 1. 2008QQQIt reminds me of the Simpson's episode in which people believe the end of the world is coming, so all the patrons of the bar run over to the church, while all the congregants of the church run over to the bar. Friday, June 27. 2008QQQThursday, June 26. 2008QQQFor the birds that cannot soar, God has provided low branches. Turkish proverb Wednesday, June 18. 2008QQQThe cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month. Fyodor Doskoevsky
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