Monday, December 23. 2013
European Union’s fracking pronouncement: Full speed ahead, Britain.
But do they really need to ask permission?
The rules of multicultural tolerance are difficult to understand. Would it be better if Phil converted to Islam?
More on this amusing meme: This latest bloody clash in the national Kulturkampf pits dick-hunters versus duck-hunters.
One more: Gay activists get another case of the vapors. A pretend case of the vapors, in my opinion.
Also this:
For many years now, the drill has become familiar. Someone speaks out in favor of maintaining the traditions of marriage, and instantly the gay rights organizations are up in arms, making threats, filing lawsuits, and mobilizing protests. Then, instead of Christians putting up a serious resistance, there is apathy, apology, and defeat. The script was repeated over and again, time after time. This time was different.
We have nothing against gays here at Maggie's. We just hate thought police, thuggishness, and speech codes..
This via Bookworm:
 Well, we finally took the family Christmas card photo on Saturday afternoon, after brunch, so I doubt the card made from it will arrive by Christmas Eve. We forgot to take the photo at Thanksgiving and it's difficult to get everybody together in one place at one time. You do the best you can. Christmastime is hectic, too much packed into a short while.
Charlie Daniels: Piers Morgan you woudn’t last five minutes in the swamps Phil Robertson hangs out in. Want to try it?
A&E really wanted to tell you a story ’bout a man named Jed
Juan Williams: Forget the War on Christmas …
The People Who Don't Want to Have Sex With Anybody Ever
Stossel on the enemies of innovation
Witch-hunt du jour
Is It Safe Yet to Have an Honest Conversation About Secondhand Smoke and Lung Cancer?
The 'Labor-Electoral Complex' - Bloomberg coins a phrase that deserves national currency.
Krauthammer: Nation Finally Sees ObamaCare's True Colors
Lowry: ObamaCare ad reveals infantile assumptions
May I mention that there is no such thing as "health insurance"? There is "medical insurance."
Supreme Court strikes down Canada's prostitution laws
Man with gun robs passengers on a Seattle bus, until…
EPA on the Renewable Fuel Standard: Uhm, we’re totally just now realizing that this is unrealistic and inadvisable
We share the same climate as … the Romans?
No. It was much warmer then. Vineyards in the north of England. Farms in Greenland.
...why do we continue to put up with our tax dollars being funneled through
Washington? How about letting the states make -- and pay for -- their
own social policy decisions without the (ahem) assistance of those federal experts?
Moral Intelligence and Public School Bullying
What's more selective than Harvard? A WalMart job
Who occupies American jails?
Saturday, December 21. 2013
How come it's OK for Muslims to hang gays and to hate them, to endorse bestiality, child marriage/sex and rape, but not ok for some Christians to opine that homosexual behavior goes against Biblical teaching while still loving them as God's children?
Multiculturalism gets quite complex. Above my pay grade, as Obama would say. Or is everybody just scared of Muslims? Nobody is askeered of Christians, and rightly so. Christianity teaches that we are all fallen, all sinners, all in need of redemption through Christ. I believe that, and I do not dislike gays at all although I do find all of the LGBT stuff very weird and distasteful.
Your Tax Dollars at Work… Gay Christmas Videos Pushing Obamacare
I do not want these images in my head.
Friday, December 20. 2013
Sheesh. You just have to laugh: Obama Repeals Obamacare.
Does this mean we can keep our old medical insurance? What the heck are these geniuses doing to us? SNAFU.
 Taking the day off for Christmas errands. Time to begin thinking about Christmas. I'm buying a large can of Beluga caviar for Dad at Petrossian, and a fancy scarf for Mom at Bloomingdale's. I like to flirt with the sales-babes, and they seem to like to flirt with me. Call Me Maybe.
How is this?
Utter Chaos: White House Exempts Millions From Obamacare's Insurance Mandate, 'Unaffordable' Exchanges. They declared that Obamacare requires a "hardship exemption." What?
I'm not the only one who is confused. Are they flushing this mess? How are insurers supposed to revert to their old policies, canceled and erased due to Obamacare? Your tax dollars at work by our moral and intellectual superiors.
Maybe government is not Santa after all. Darn. I love freebies.
Camille Paglia: Duck Dynasty uproar ‘utterly fascist, utterly Stalinist’
Of course it is, Camille. Christianity and Judaism are not PC. Thought Crime requires Thought Police.
But hey, remember this: MSNBC Host "Rev." Sharpton Hurls Homophobic Slur – “You’re a Punk Fagg*t!”. The rules about who can say what are getting confusing these days. Our approach is to say whatever you think, but to show decent manners not out of fear, but out of civility.
Thursday, December 19. 2013
In an interview, Phil Robertson paraphrased St. Paul, and then recklessly opined that an anus, in his view, held little charm.
I guess these are shocking statements, but it all seems fairly ordinary to me. 4 Reasons Why the Duck Dynasty Brouhaha Matters.
In a way, you have to laugh at the grievance-mongers and the bed-wetters, but it does matter. It doesn't matter to the Duck guys, but it matters to the ordinary person with an ordinary job.
And there's this: "lefties, give Phil Robertson a break. It's not like he said Santa was white."
Legal polygamy is on its way: Polygamy - It's coming.
Legal prostitution and related arrangements are also on the way. These are all consensual arrangements between adults, and all have ancient histories. America's Puritan roots die hard.
We always joke that polygamy might be fun, but not if each wife had her own American Express Gold Card.
 Another friend has a new book out: JerusaLand: An Insignificant Death
Reddit bans climate debate
Caffeine + alcohol protect your DNA
Ultra-Right Philistine Glenn Reynolds Condemned
Duck Dynasty's' Phil Robertson ignores the PC rules
Affluenza? Ethan Couch and the media outrage machine
Robert Reich's envy: He covets. That is his nature:
Progressives imagine all the wonderful things they could do with other people’s money, and no doubt some of them are well-intentioned. But envy poisons whatever good intentions they have, which is how men such as Professor Reich come to write resentful indictments of people who are, remember, giving away billions of dollars of their own money. He’d prefer their money be given away by him, or by bureaucracies under the tutelage of men such as himself. As the moral philosopher Hannibal Lecter put it: “He covets. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet? Do we seek out things to covet? No. We begin by coveting what we see every day.”
The truth about parenthood
Polls: Most Want Higher Minimum Wage
The Gov. of Maine grew up on welfare
Scientific Groupthink and Gay Parenting
Are Boys Irrational? Not if you distinguish biology from economics.
Here's a job for ya:
Bloomberg Sounds Alarm Over ‘Labor-Electoral Complex’ in Final Speech as Mayor
Are newspapers losing ‘mass media’ mojo?
Pelosi: Being an Illegal Alien is Not a Reason to Deport Someone
‘Massive Seizure of Power´:Climate scientists, economists challenge EPA
Non-citizens caught voting in 2012 presidential election in key swing state
Erasing history: US Army War College considers removing prints depicting Robert E. Lee,
Confederate generals
Wednesday, December 18. 2013
Barbara Walters re Obama: “We thought that he was going to be — I shouldn’t say this at Christmastime — but the next Messiah."
As Driscoll asks, "Who is we?" The MSM, I'd guess. By the way, Barbara Walters, there is no "next Messiah" in Christianity.
 An NSA Coworker Remembers The Real Edward Snowden: 'A Genius Among Geniuses'
Juan Williams Says Jesus Was Likely ‘Oriental Asian’ or a ‘Moor’
NM teacher who said Santa is white on paid leave
Maine wilderness hermit captured after 30 years, 1,000 burglaries
It's time to reconsider polygamy
Youngest Obama Daughter's Real Name NOT 'Sasha', but Russian 'Natasha'
DID SOMEONE LEAVE A DOUCHE UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE?
Homophobic President Refuses to Kiss British Prime Minister
Mia Love gets another chance
Both Sides Agree Less Work Because of Obamacare
OFA Video Teaches Parents How to Inject Obamacare into Christmas Dinner
SSA: Disability Recipients Soar, Funding Nearly Depleted Under Obama
The great biofuels scandal - Biofuels are inefficient, cause hunger and air pollution, and cost taxpayers
billions
iWe Are All Children of the Corn Subsidies
Tech exec: A room full of developers with a pizza, $1 million and a deadline could have done it better than the administration
Study: Earth was warmer in Roman, Medieval times
Whither went the warmer weather? 17 years, 3 months with no global warming
Paglia: It’s a Man’s World, and It Always Will Be - The modern economy is a male epic, in which women have found a productive role — but women were not its author
Big Dem Cities, Big Dem Poverty
Forced Exodus: Christians in the Middle East
Spengler: It’s About the Settlements, Stupid
How
can these U.S. universities justify membership in American Studies Association
after Israel boycott?
Tuesday, December 17. 2013
America's Wealth Is Staggeringly Concentrated in the Northeast Corridor
That's income, not wealth. A dollar doesn't go very far in that zone. I'd like to see a map with asset value, by county, adjusted for cost of living.
Also, when you look at the last map, consider how much of the country has had an income decrease since 2007. It's not good.
See this: The typical American family has seen its real income (adjusted for inflation) fall for 5 consecutive years now, and it earns less in real terms than it did in 1989.
VDH attempts to find logic in the upcoming immigration debates. One quote:
Whereas the immigrant senses the fact that millions of people seek northward passage, while almost no American citizen seeks to immigrate southward — wealthy retirees excluded — the ethnic industry apparently does not. The advocates of illegal immigration almost never explain why there is illegal immigration in the first place. Instead, their politics assumes resentments and claims against the majority culture and politics of the United States. Given that incoherence, it is no wonder that the majority of Americans oppose illegal immigration and the assorted amnesties that are offered as its remedies.
The incoherent message of far too many open-borders advocates distills down to little more than this: “Millions have fled Mexico to America — historically an insensitive, racist and unfair place. Yet it nonetheless must extend amnesty to millions of Mexican nationals who prefer the morally suspect United States over their native Latino culture in Mexico.”
What the immigration debate is not about is ensuring that illegal immigration ends and that legal immigration becomes liberal, meritocratic, and ethnically blind.
Remember that, and all the absurd rhetoric of the upcoming 2014 debate will make sense.
Monday, December 16. 2013
Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional
How could it possibly be constitutional?
Our moral and intellectual superiors do not want us proles to have much choice in anything except abortion, right down to the food we eat. The Democrats' war on choice.
 The Gush of Subsidies and the College Wonderfall
4 Things You Need to Know About Repaying Your Student Loans
Map: Income Taxes in Your County
Many Women don’t Want to be CEO—And that’s OK
Christian Persecution Woldwide - A historic rise just in time for Christmas
Ambassador Kennedy: A star is born
A star? As in "famous for being famous"?
Goodwin: How the West was lost by the selfie president
Iowahawk: Julia's Circle of Life - The continuing adventures of Barack Obama's favorite eyeless, mouthless government dependent
Obama: Be sure to discuss Obamacare at Christmastime
Via AVI:
A "person of some authority" mentioned last week that he was not bothered by the insincerity of the central claims for the ACA being revealed as we went forward. "Everyone knew that. But they had to say those things to get it passed. It's one of the finest pieces of legislation in our lifetime. Not for what it is, but because of what it will lead to." Someone worried that it wouldn't work, and much of the system collapse. "So much the better," he said. "It will get us there quicker." He looked positively giddy saying this.
Poll: Americans Want to Go Back to Previous Health Care System, Disagree With Obama on Size and Power of Government
You betcha
Media Fail: NRA Twice as Popular as Mike Bloomberg
The Reasoning of the Utah Opinion Partially Striking Down and Rewriting the State’s Bigamy Law
Schadenfreude: New York's Cultural Elite Loses Their Health Insurance
Kudlow: Ryan's Budget Not Perfect, But It Saves GOP From Itself
Backdating ObamaCare - A last-minute HHS rule orders insurers to pay for the law's blunders.
Good grief, what a mess
America’s friends are left behind in Barack Obama’s new plans - The US president spoke of 'oneness' at Nelson Mandela's memorial service, but he has been reduced to little more than a global preacher with a shrinking flock
Graduate Students of the World, Unite!
Graduate Students of the World, Unite!
Sunday, December 15. 2013
 The government thinks they know how to practice medicine better than we docs in the trenches do. They have no clue.
I'll admit that some of what doctors do, many expensive things, are purely defensive medicine. Lawsuits are inconvenient and no fun, but we all get sued. Most of the time, we either win or our insurers pay them to go away, but it's a major interference with our work and our mental bandwidth.
Each and every medical decision can be questioned, because it's all an individualized art requiring individualized judgements.
Here's this: An attempt to alter Medicare may let Washington dictate how doctors treat patients.
Physicians take a solemn oath to do what they believe is best for their patient. It's always a complex dance, of course, with the doctor recommending and the patient thinking about what they want.
We accommodate patients' desires all the time, even when we believe that they are wrong. It's a free country, is it not? We work for, and with, the patient. Nobody else.
I am 100% out of government medical care.
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Bloomberg’s ultimate victory: NYC bans e-cigarettes in indoor public
Multivitamin researchers say "case is closed"