Friday, April 10. 2015
So they say, anyway: Princeton Votes For Freedom of Speech
I suppose private organizations are free to limit any speech or behavior they wish, so an affirmation of American ideals against the PC bullies seems like a good step.
Thursday, April 9. 2015
In dry climate areas, which much of California is, precious water must be provided from distant sources. As far as I know, in most of the US water is provided either from private wells of from for-profit water utilities or ordinary water companies. Water is market-priced or you pump your own.
California does not have market-pricing for water, yet they historically have had less of it than most parts of the US and, as agriculture boomed there just like the population, there was no market-induced water planning. The government (!) organized water. How does that work out?
Moving Toward Real Water Prices
Wednesday, April 8. 2015
 His speech on the topic: Let’s Render Some Federal Codes Unenforceable
I am on board. I'm the guy who had to litigate being required to rebuild the fence around my pool by the town after a flood knocked it down, but was forbidden to replace the fence around the pool by the state EPA because the area was technically wetlands. It cost me $12,000 in legal costs to finally get a waiver from the EPA. The new fence was installed in one day for $1500.
Next time, I will just quietly hire some Mexicans to put the fence back.
Mind you, just 60' from the end of my pool there is a highly-dangerous - and unfenced - small river with steep banks. A true attractive nuisance and a nice trout stream too.
Tuesday, April 7. 2015
Tribe considered “a traitor” for advocacy in climate change case.
It's not bien-pensant, Larry. You know that. Everybody we know hates coal, so leave the reservation at your peril.
Pizzas for a gay wedding? Highly controversial although nobody ever heard of pizza at a gay wedding. Anyway, call on Apple to Pull Out
of Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran Until They Stop Torturing Their Gay Citizens
I really love college basketball, even when teams I don't like, or root for, play. The entire 2015 NCAA Tournament has been a classic from start to finish. Kentucky entered prohibitive favorites, but left in a classless heap (I am not a fan of Calipari or his methods). There were plenty of upsets, and even a Cinderella of sorts in Michigan State, which was a 7th seed making the Final Four (Tom Izzo never really coaches Cinderella teams, he is always ready to make a run).
But the final game last night was a masterpiece, with lead changes galore and a personnel chess match which eventually led to Duke's fifth championship banner.
The real story, though, was who got them there. Their stars carried them all season, but got in foul trouble. So a forgotten freshman steps up with the team facing a considerable deficit, and single-handedly changes the tide of the game.
His story, one of great expectations which were never really fulfilled on a team loaded with talent, is one we can all learn from. I shared it with my sons, pointing out that you never know when your chance to make a difference will arrive. But if you're not prepared to make that difference, if you've let your skills diminish, if you've stopped caring, then your chance will arrive and pass.
I reminded them of the Prodigal Son. His celebrated return wasn't about how great he was, but how he returned to the fold. The personal recognition of his fall from grace and the need to redeem himself, returning to his father. Grayson Allen may not be the prototypical prodigal that leaps to mind. But all talented people, that is everyone, suffer down moments. What defines them isn't how they got down, but how they are able to pick themselves up and keep moving and make the most of what they have. Allen did that.
Life is easy when you're hot. But what happens when the ball bounces the other way? You just keep getting back up and climbing up.~Bill Walton
 The Maggie's Farm Woman of the Decade, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Yes, Your Time as a Parent Does Make a Difference
Grace Murray Hopper, the mother of COBOL
Dear Museums: Stop Making Nonsense - It's time for museums to desist with the silly spectacles and get back to the good work they could be doing in the civic sphere.
Reduce Out-of-Control College Costs by Ending Government Subsidies
Amtrak Bill Continues History of Wasted Subsidies
VDH: California Apocalypto
Will an apology be forthcoming from U. Va. president Teresa Sullivan?
Libel law and the Rolling Stone / UVA alleged gang rape story
The same circle of jerks outraged by Rolling Stone were perfectly fine pushing a story about a gay-hating pizza restaurant that was as true as the Rolling Stone story.
Where do you draw the line in favor or religious liberty? Do you ever protect it? If so, where?
This is what REAL tolerance looks like!
Facts matter: Left sticks to ‘narratives,’ evidence be damned
The Mask Slips on the Climate Scam
Hillary Drew Blood, Smacked Bill in Head with Book after Monica Affair
Nice people
Making Hillary ‘Likeable’ — It’s an Ugly Job, and Nobody Can Possibly Do It
UN Climate Change Official Says “We Should Make Every Effort” To Depopulate The Planet
Like how?
Thinking About Iran:
America needs out of the Muslim world. Whether or not it is a good idea to turn things over to the Persians remains to be seen, but history is on their side. They have been the dominant people in the region for 5,000 years, give or take.
Sunday, April 5. 2015
For once, I am with the warmists: Warmists Desperately Praying For A Jump In Global Temperatures
But for a different reason.
Saturday, April 4. 2015
 Airbnb Is Now Available in Cuba
But not in NYC
Louis Jordan, Sailor Missing for 66 Days, Recalls His Surreal Journey
A sea story
95% Rejection Rates at Some Ivy League Colleges This Year
"So… I was born; I blinked; and it was over...."
Another excellent obit
Is Sexual Variety the Spice of Marriage?
The Symptoms of Male Melancholy
Don’t be a bachelor: Why married men work harder, smarter and make more money
Marriage has a transformative effect on adult behavior, emotional health, and financial well-being—particularly for men.
Sustainability, the New Campus Fundamentalism
Megan McArdle’s Sensible Take on Student Loans and Bankruptcy
Rich Woman Sentenced to 20 Years for Cheap Abortion
Can a city suppress speech protesting eminent domain?
Why Minimum Wage Increases are a Terrible Anti-Poverty Program
New York Times Opposes Corporate Speech in Citizens United, Cheers Corporate Speech Against Indiana RFR - Corporate speech is problematic for the Times, except when it’s not.
Hoosiers Unite Against Connecticut!
“We have a different hate campaign each week.”
LGBT student activists force pro-sexual integrity student group's event off campus
Liberals Are the New McCarthyites—and They’re Proud of It
Stop Pretending to Be Offended by Everything
Welcome to the Tehran Pizza Hut
Finally! Muslim Bakers Asked to Bake Gay Wedding Cake
Should Mom-and-Pops That Forgo Gay Weddings Be Destroyed?
Green Europe Moves Against “Green” Biofuels
Dalrymple on the EU:
The European Union serves three main functions. It gives the French the illusion of power, the Germans a possibility of being something other than German and the political class of all European countries the hope of eternal life, or at least of power beyond the normal natural life of a democratic politician. It is a giant pension fund for European politicians.
Friday, April 3. 2015
 Where Starbucks And Dunkin' Donuts Dominate
Religious Liberty and the Left’s End Game
Forget gays, it is the religious freedom they hate
The Decline of Religion is a Delusion
Housing and Wealth Inequality
Greenfield: This Culture War We're In
The War on the Private Mind
There are three problems with rewarding those who use accusations of bigotry as a political cudgel. First, those who seek to protect religious liberties are not bigots, and going along with false accusations that they are makes one a party to a lie. Second, it is an excellent way to lose political contests, since there is almost nothing — up to and including requiring algebra classes — that the Left will not denounce as bigotry. Third, and related, it rewards and encourages those who cynically deploy accusations of bigotry for their own political ends.
Ferguson, New York, and Now Indiana: Media’s Lies Always Result In Violence
Why do progressives hate Walmart for low prices and its 3% profit margin but love high-priced Apple and its 24% profit margin?
Indiana's Hard Truth: Dissent Is No Longer Tolerated
Memories Pizza Story Was Literally Fabricated Out of Nothing by an
Axe-Grinding, Attention-Seeking Reporterette & Silly Shit Local TV
News Station
Menendez indicted, but why?
Former Top Cop Kerik Predicts a Criminal Justice 'Implosion'
Victimology and Multiculturalism in the United Kingdom
AIPAC STATEMENT ON FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT
The Tricks Obama Is Trying to Play with the Iran Announcement
Iran Accuses U.S. of Lying About New Nuke Agreement - Says White House misleading Congress, American people with fact sheet
Thursday, April 2. 2015
 Government shouldn’t worry about our happiness
No kidding. Most things government does are depressing.
Blackpoll warbler songbird, which weighs 4.2 ounces, can fly 1700 miles non-stop from New England to South America
Why Are We So Lonely?
Litigation Is Beginning to Free Up Speech on Campus
The Civil War Hero Who Started the Conservation Movement
And this guy too
Is there E Pluribus Unum anymore?
OECD Economic Review Chair Warns, Central Bankers "Are Doing More Harm Than Good, Policy Must Be Reversed"
I agree. Let rates rise to where they belong
The myth of universal Pre-K
Former Atlanta educators jailed in test cheating scandal
Overreaching by prosecutors. Fired and fined would suffice. Jail should be only for the violent.
Democrats Attack Wisconsin Republican for Telling the Truth About Student Loans
Big Government Looks For Nanny State Solution To Cyber-Bullying
Media Absolves Jew-Basher Trevor Noah… After All, It Was Only Jews He Attacked
America has the greatest health care system on earth. It is super cheap, with lots of options and a high degree of customer satisfaction. It is called veterinary medicine.
Harry Reid is proud he lied about Mitt Romney's taxes
Romneycare’s inability to make inroads may not bode well for Obamacare
Pence: Bill Clinton, Obama Also Supported Religious Freedom Bills
Try asking a Muslim bakery in Dearborn to bake you a gay cake. I double-dog dare ya.
Meet the Men Behind Hillary Clinton's Private 'Spy Network'
Why Americans should consider O’Malley for president
A Simple Question for Hillary!
VDH: Obama’s Chicago Presidency
The Obama Administration’s Slavery Disgrace
Evaluating the Pan-Arab "Joint Army"
Arabs Bomb an Arab Refugee Camp, and the World Shrugs
France Leaves Iran Nuclear Talks, Will Return When ‘Useful’
The Civil War Hero Who Started the Conservation Movement
- See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/17956#sthash.zB0fOM0l.dpuf
Wednesday, April 1. 2015
I would much prefer to say I oppose the RFRA which Indiana (and Arkansas) recently passed. I don't believe in discriminating against people for their race, creed, or lifestyle. I don't think others should, either. What I want others to do, however, is not something I'm willing to enshrine in law, like Progressives tend to do.
As a result, I have a very unnatural feeling about the RFRA. I oppose its existence, but accept that it's needed in today's world of crazies who will sue for any reason that crosses their mind. I pointed out to a friend of mine that, as a Phillies fan, I may not want to sell a hot dog to a Mets fan. I don't like Mets fans, I'd prefer not to associate with them (at least on game day). Based on the concept of freedom of association, I have that right, since an economic transaction is an associative act. It is protected by my right to decide who I wish to interact with. All great societies require freedom of association. The downside, of course, is that sometimes discrimination takes place. Generally that discrimination is price based. An unwillingness to pay the price I set will not yield a purchase. On the other hand, sometimes it could be simply that you're not the person I want to sell my house to - for any reason. Those reasons don't have to be 'good' and they can't necessarily be labeled 'bad', they just are. You don't have to agree with my reasons. They are mine.
Would it be better to not have the RFRA and the debate surrounding it? Absolutely. But we have it because of some basic stupidity in life today. Really? You want that cake so badly it must come from a guy who doesn't want to serve you? There's no other baker in town? Your goal is what? Oh, I get it, you just want to make a big point by shaming him. Well, that's OK. Shaming is perfectly acceptable. But forcing him to make your cake is aggression.
The best way to fight this law, the Progressives think, is to boycott Indiana and its businesses. Several have started to do this, including Angie's List (which, tangentially, actually saved the state millions of tax dollars). However, boycotting is the worst way to 'fight' the law. It will create backlash and will entrench the supporters. The best way to change the law is through business. That is start businesses which do not discriminate and will hire anyone. Engagement and activity undermines discrimination, because it will generate profits. Once a discriminatory business sees its profits leaving, they will change soon enough or go out of business.
Perhaps the best example of freedom of association occurred on The Ed Show on MSNBC, however. As Ed Schultz was losing his debate with his guest, Ed chose to shut the guest's microphone off. Coward that he is, Ed was incapable of making a valid point and decided to muzzle his lucid guest. Which is not censorship, but is Ed exercising his right to associate with people he wants to do business with. Which, interestingly, supports the nature and spirit of the RFRA. While the RFRA references religion, the reality is religion has very little to do with it. It is simply the right to choose who you want to associate with, whenever you please. There is nothing wrong with that. It's a shame Ed Schultz and others of his ilk have yet to recognize this salient point.
Do I agree with the RFRA? Only insofar as it makes sense to let people do business with whomever they'd like without the government forcing them to do its bidding. Do I agree with its existence? No, technically it's covered by the First Amendment. But practically speaking, in today's absurd upside-down Progressive "do as I tell you" world, it's needed.
Addendum by Editor-Dog:
"Everybody's Lost Their Goddamn Mind Over Religious Freedom" - Both conservatives and liberals aren’t being straight about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
It’s legal to kill babies, but let’s worry about a gay person’s right to cake
Why We Need RFRAs
Has the fight over Indiana’s RFRA set the GOP up for failure?
Indiana’s Law Is Not the Return of Jim Crow
My view? This has nothing to do with reason other than political tactics. Pence stepped into a political trap. Bad timing. Facts, such as the support of Dems for these laws, and their presence in many blue states and a total of 19 states, is ignored. Pence had a target painted on him.
Tuesday, March 31. 2015
I agree that ignorance of the law should be part of a defense except for the obvious crimes, because 300,000 laws is more than anybody could know or even understand. This is from Reynolds in USA Today:
"Regulatory crimes" ... are incredibly numerous and a category that is growing quickly. They are the ones likely to trap unwary individuals into being felons without knowing it. That is why Michael Cottone, in a just-published Tennessee Law Review article, suggests that maybe the old presumption that individuals know the law is outdated, unfair and maybe even unconstitutional. "Tellingly," he writes, "no exact count of the number of federal statutes that impose criminal sanctions has ever been given, but estimates from the last 15 years range from 3,600 to approximately 4,500." Meanwhile, according to recent congressional testimony, the number of federal regulations (enacted by administrative agencies under loose authority from Congress) carrying criminal penalties may be as many as 300,000.
No Girls Allowed: The Merits and Flaws of an All-Boys Public School
Fixing Flood Insurance - A Reform That Works
Oh sh*t, I’m the 1 percent: Secrets of the super-wealthy. I grew up poor. My kids now live in Fairfield County. We all think we're middle-class because we always feel behind
Can Robert Durst get a fair trial?
25 Years on the Affirmative Action Firing Line
More on the Clarkson Firing
Veritas' Barry University stunt
Apple Bashes Indiana – But Gladly Does Business With Countries That Execute Gays
These 19 States Have Religious Freedom Laws Similar to Indiana’s.
Freedom laws should never be necessary in the USA
Despite 19 states with similar laws, universities, NCAA outraged over Indiana’s ‘Religious Freedom’ bill
Drudge:
Prince Charles begged people to save energy by switching off their lights...
Then jumped in helicopter to travel just 80 miles!
Going "green" - Six Flags Great Adventure To Cut Down 18k Trees For Solar Panels
Tea Partiers Will Agree with This Leftist Rant - Something scary is happening to America. Whether viewed from the Left or the Right, it can be seen by all.
Hillary! She’s secretive, scandal-plagued, and seemingly inevitable.
Lawyers are not usually this bold when disclosing evidence that suggests potential breaches of criminal law.
Hillary Agonistes:
There have been times that I’ve felt serious pity for Hillary. All of her efforts -- all the bullshit, all the lies, all the public posturing -- have been so plainly carried out to make up for an empty life. A life spent with a man who simply could not control himself and valued her not at all. Consider how many times she picked up the phone only to hear a hangup, how many strange perfumes she smelled, how many stains she found on Bill’s clothing. Consider what such knowledge -- particularly knowing that it would never end -- would do to a normal woman.
Is there anything Chuck Shumer doesn't want to ban?
Freedom to vote vs freedom in markets
Bruce Thornton: The E.U. Experiment Has Failed
Sorry, Obama: An Iran Deal Won't Save the Middle East
Iran's Nuclear Breakout Time: A Fact Sheet
What else is Iran hiding?
Toon below via Lucianne:
Monday, March 30. 2015
Philip Glass: Is his music any good?
TED talk: "Will agriculture be allowed to feed 9 billion people?"
Americans Love Big Hot Suburbs
Here’s how Hollywood legend Dale Dye earned the Bronze Star for heroism in Vietnam
Fred rants against marriage
What happens when you find out a year of college costs $71,000
Earth Hour celebrates ignorance, poverty, and backwardness
Will Global Warming Cause Prostitution?
Fundamental Concepts - Why the Left Hates Families
The 18 month-old racist
Claiming race-victimization — everyone wants to get in on the act
Google 'Second Biggest Donor' to Obama, Has Too Much Power
Big Brother Is Here: Facebook Reveals Its Master Plan - Control All News Flow
The Math of Amnesty
Diversity of thought, Princeton style
The Iowa Caucuses Have a Winner: Ethanol
Bill Maher Rails Against "Crazy Political Correctness" From Liberals; Tells Media Matters to "Shut The F*ck Up"
In our society, “Diversity” is a goal pursued above all others, including competency; it
is the magic word that makes the lowering of standards okay
Dems: “F__ the Jews, they’ll vote for us anyway.”
George Will: Remembrance of Clintons past
Hillary Supporter Threatens O’Malley: ‘He Better Watch It’
Rewarding failure: Democrats’ eagerness to back Hillary
Close Media Aide To President Rouhani Defects During Iran Nuclear Talks, Says U.S. Negotiators Acting On Behalf Of Iran
Sweden: Rape Capital of the West
In Syria and Iraq the only reliable, pro-Western and militarily effective element on the ground are the Kurds.
What I Saw in Iran - A Free Beacon journey to the birthplace of Valerie Jarrett
Saturday, March 28. 2015
Massive Underground City Found in Cappadocia Region of Turkey
An ancient bomb shelter
Dear Daughter, Here's Why I Don't Work
New York's Newest Subway Expansion Is Delayed, But at Least the Photos Are Gorgeous
Meet Dartmouth’s new radical professors
Prince Charles To Americans: Capitalism Has “Enormous Shortcomings”
I think his family is more into benevolent Feudalism (the modern term for that is pretty much Socialism with the royals replaced by a new, less benevolent, royalty)
The Closing of the Campus Mind - Schools of social work are silencing conservatives.
The economics of political correctness
Sustainability, the New Campus Fundamentalism
Finally: An Anonymous, Online, Geo-Tagged System to Report Microaggressions at College!
The Misallocation of Water
Climate skeptic scientists push back against ‘witch hunt’
National Association of Scholars says ‘The fossil fuel divestment movement, is an exercise in futility.’
Socialist Thomas Piketty’s Theory on Income Equality Wrecked by 26-Year-Old MIT Grad Student
Bill Whittle Video: Fantastic Idea! Why Not Let 16 Year-Olds Vote?
If You Think the Pacific Ocean is Next to New York, Should You Be Allowed to Vote?
DHS Secretary: 'Thousands' of Unaccompanied Children Still Crossing Into U.S.
Economist: The junior senator from Texas is dangerous
To whom?
Prohibited Hillary! Descriptors
Hillary! had her server wiped
Where is Rosemary Wood hiding? I believe this would be a serious crime if a Repub did it. Still, she is in trouble. Spoliation.
Obama’s Middle Eastern Flameout Has Dems, Media Starting to Panic
The bipartisan consensus against Obama’s Middle East policy is getting wider and deeper all the time.
Am I the only person who has little interest in US involvement in the middle east? They are all tribal lunatics and barbarians (except Israel which is basically a European transplant), like most of Africa too. Nobody gave me the job of running them.
Egypt's president backs joint Arab military force
They are all going to kill each other. Nothing new in that. That's the way they roll.
U.S. Senate votes unanimously for amendment to send message on Iran
Rethinking Operation Protective Edge - The 2014 Gaza War
China Is the New Power Broker in the Persian Gulf - Oil is transforming
the country’s foreign policy. Can the
United States handle
the consequences?
Friday, March 27. 2015
Boring topics, I know. Boring only in part because those who write about them tend to be pure Materialists, assuming that money and bourgeois comforts are all that matter in life. I always find that strange from Lefties, but Lefties do love and envy money more than I do. As I have observed before, Maine Guides, NYC would-be actors, adjunct faculty, organic farmers, grad students, carpentry apprentices, etc. all are below the poverty level. They neither need nor want any sympathy.
I see no virtue in economic equalizing. It never worked anywhere, and efforts to impose it by force generally end up with plutocratic, privileged bureaucrats and a nation of serfs serving the State. Why ‘inequality’ can be ‘beautiful’. Furthermore, many people do not base their life choices on money but instead on things more important to them.
Related, Socialist Thomas Piketty’s Theory on Income Equality Wrecked by 26-Year-Old MIT Grad Student
Poverty in the US? Let's define it first. The US has an extensive safety net able to contain the unfortunate, the feckless, the mentally-ill, the temporarily out of work, etc., etc. We even go overboard with disability, providing for people who could easily do something useful in the world but are working the system. Nobody in the US goes without food, shelter, and a big screen TV if they want those things. Notable also is that US poverty stats do not include any government charity or private charity contributions. Of course, family always helps out first, and that is ignored too.
Still, poverty will never go away as long as it is defined as the lowest x% of US income. I am still awaiting the official study which can tell me exactly who "the poor" are in America, and whether they care. NYT: How poor are the poor?
Ten Ways Men Oppress Women with Their Everyday Behavior
Parents Must Sign Permission Slip Before Kids Can Eat Oreos
Nutrients Are Pesticides: The Dose Makes The Poison
Will Amanda Knox Be Dragged Back to Italy in Murder Case?
Law in Italy is not like Anglo-American law
"I played rugby for several years (for Harvard Business School, of all
places) and never encountered a rugby club that did not have a
repertoire of raunchy pub songs."
We don’t expect a biologist to love bacteria in the way we expect an English professor to love Jane Austen.
This person is against space colonialism
On Displaying the Confederate Battle Flag
To me it signifies a rebellious attitude. If it signifies something else to you, that's not really my problem.
Why Is the Angry Left So Angry? h/t Hot Air
If the whole focus of your life is on getting everybody else to agree with you on every detail of your politics and adopt your plans for a perfect society, then you’re setting yourself up to be at war with most of the human race most of the time.
Four (Black) Cops Killed in Seven Days -- Where´s the Outrage?
Blacks Get Pilloried for Speaking Truth about Ferguson
An Ugly Double Standard for Israel
Cartoonists convicted for insulting Turkey's Erdogan
Law in the middle east is not like Anglo-American law
Thursday, March 26. 2015
Insty found this before I did at the esteemable Standpoint: Political Correctness Is Devouring Itself:
The American legal philosopher Joel Feinberg attacked Mill by saying that we feel offence like a wound. You only have to think about the hurt from slights that have stayed with you longer than the pain from a broken bone to see the truth in his argument. Societies and individuals feel disgust, revulsion, shock, shame and embarrassment when they hear views that don’t physically harm them, Feinberg said in the 1980s. They can and should replace Mill’s “harm principle” with his “offence principle”—that the law can stop speech that causes serious offense.
Feinberg’s mild authoritarianism buttressed the illiberal version of liberalism that flourishes to this day. It supports the laws against “hate speech” which may not be so hateful it provokes its audience to violence, but is still grossly offensive. It provides the philosophical justification for the incessant Twitter storms and media fits about “gaffes”, “misspeaks”, or to use a modern phrase that reeks of the Victorian drawing-room, “inappropriate language”.
Go into the modern university and you won’t hear much about Mill or Milton or the millions around the world who have had to learn the hard way why freedom of speech matters. Instead, you will be fed philosophers far less rigorous than Feinberg.
The totalitarian impulse is omnipresent, and must be resisted at all times. The "offence principle," however, is nothing but a self-ridiculing bullying tactic which deserves mockery rather that resistance. If you equate offense with a wound, you live on the wrong planet. I am offended by people and things continuously, and that's normal life. But this is not really about emotional wounds - it's a bullying tactic and rarely if ever genuine. Not that that matters anyway.
"Offence" becomes offense.
Yes we are, in Newsmax's Top 50 Conservative Blogs of 2015
We are not really Conservative though, more Centrist/ordinary American with a Libertarian bias. Nevertheless, we appreciate any form of attention.
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Photo: perfect for home or farm maintenance. 
You don’t know how to live your own life, 