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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Tuesday, March 27. 2012Paul Clement, Supreme-in-Waiting
An interesting young fellow. In New York Magazine, The Paul Clement Court - Seven cases. One lawyer. The GOP’s great hope for this Supreme Court season is an unassuming attorney who just happens to be lead counsel on the most polarizing arguments in America.
Robert Reich is correct (politically, anyway)Instead of 2000-page Obamacare, with its vast new omnipotent and costly bureaucracies, they should have simply gone for Medicare for all. Eliminate Medicaid, Chip, etc. and put everybody on Medicare. While I detest any expansions of government power, I think that, politically, it would have been more popular. Wrong, but more popular. My preference would be to have the federal government out of medical care, and education, entirely. And out of a few other industries and enterprises too.
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Tuesday morning linksTOUR: Here's What It's Like Inside Obama's Massive Chicago Campaign Headquarters Remedial Sex Ed at Harvard Harvard students need sex ed? Sheesh. That's pathetic. I thought kids were taught all of this stuff in 3rd Grade nowadays. France: Here comes the whitewash Why Socialist Cuba Prohibits Internet Access and Social Media: The Regime Couldn't Survive It If You Think Healthcare is Expensive Now, Just Wait Until it's Free Does anyone — on either side — really think that the Patient Deflection and Unaffordable Care Act is about health care? Obama Promises Medvedev He Will Sell Out USA After Election An EPA Power Grab - The bureaucracy and the fuel-economy standards "It’s almost as if whenever Time’s editors are stuck for a cover, someone says, “Hey—let’s do global warming again! It’s such an easy story to write, and we can leave early from the office!"” Is Norway the most anti-Semitic nation in Europe? Why my brother quit coaching Little League Has college become too easy? Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman and the digital lynch mob Former NAACP leader C.L. Bryant is accusing Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of “exploiting” the Trayvon Martin tragedy to “racially divide this country.” Monday, March 26. 2012Monday afternoon linksThe Follies and Illusions of Peter Beinart Minneapolandia: A $100 million, taxpayer-supported development of "affordable housing" for artists A Union's War on University Quality When political correctness kills Dan Walters: California's volatile tax revenue still a problem The New VAWA--A Threat to College Students What a Difference a Year Makes at CNN British News is Covering Robocall Scandal…Where Is the U.S. Media? No, Hasan and Bales Are Not Equivalent North Korea’s dehumanizing treatment of its citizens is hiding in plain sight What's up with this White Hispanic thing? Note to Pols: Looking Green Wins Elections, Governing Green, Not So Much A few Monday morning linksLanguage, Culture, and Equaliity Cause of Death: No Father Dude, Where’s My Hate Crime? The Democrat Who Took on the Unions - Rhode Island's treasurer Gina Raimondo talks about how she persuaded the voting public, labor rank-and-file and a liberal legislature to pass the most far-reaching pension reform in decades. How America's Wealthiest Get Rich From Satire to Horror Reality Show: Radical Chic Conquers America As Dems rack up debt, youth should flock to GOP The 4 Best Legal Arguments Against ObamaCare- Why the president's sweeping health care overhaul should be struck down by the Supreme Court. Mark Steyn: The Mohammed Merah Story Can Now Proceed According to Time-Honored Tradition Coyote's First Solar Update The End of Canterbury - Will the sun set on the Anglican communion? Sunday, March 25. 2012Monckton is fun to listen toSunday linksHow the Left Can Shut Down Rush Limbaugh I don't think he would mind one bit if that happened, but he loves his job too much Pity the Progressive. Progressive pundits are befuddled, time and again, by the resilience of Americans’ faith in free enterprise. Consider Thomas Frank. Libertarianism Does Not Equal Selfishness - Setting the record straight about the philosophical foundations of libertarian thought The Ineffective Greenhouse - A liberal legal legend's ludicrous ObamaCare defense. Americans just don’t like ‘ObamaCare’ The Perils of Wishful Thinking: On Europe and the Middle East Secret files reveal 9000 Nazi war criminals fled to South America after WWII How Are Obama’s Regulations Taking Billions Out of the Pockets of Americans? The Great Rumor Mill of China -Something strange is going on in Beijing. Here are the five most virulent conspiracy theories making the rounds -- and a stab at the likelihood of them panning out. Obama is Fooling Lots of People on Israel Hey, remember when high gas prices were all Bush’s fault? 'Here Piggy!' Occupiers Taunt NYC Cops With Doughnut On String Pitiful Pope Benedict: Communism No Longer Working in Cuba Dem Operative Links Fla. Shooting to Koch Brothers I blame Rush 'They said they found the bullets... that's what could f*** me up': What teen accused of gunning down two British tourists in Florida told brother in prison phone call New Black Panthers offer $10k bounty for Trayvon Martin's shooter
The 'Inequality' Movement--A Campus Product Kudlow: The Reagan in Romney - Mitt’s tough conservative positions. Fourth Largest Gun Maker In US Is Out Of Guns Libs attempting to understand Conservatives
Saturday, March 24. 2012A few Saturday morning linksImage stolen from Theo Where's the color? Did you know that there is now a Real Clear Religion? Whit Stillman's "Damsels in Distress" Analysis: Why U.S. high court may uphold healthcare law I predict that they will The case for why they will: Individual mandate is constitutional - Supreme Court should find that key aspect of Obama's signature law is a legitimate exercise of Commerce Clause power Krauthammer: Obamacare: The Reckoning/ The stakes could not be higher. Star Parker: Obamacare undermines America’s founding principles Yep. Federal gummint has done lots of things like that over the past 100 years Obamacare Foes Pick Experienced Lawyer For Their Case Los Angeles Moves to Restrict Radio Speech Medieval Warm Period In the News Again Monckton’s Presentation to the California Assembly Democrats in the Legislature Chicken Out of Climate Debate With Lord Monckton Zimbabwe 'sperm hunters' picking up male travellers - Gangs of women in Zimbabwe have been picking up male travellers to have sexual intercourse and harvest their sperm, according to reports. Babes are constantly trying to do that to me. That's why it's important to be armed - to keep the female sexual predators at bay. Liar in the White House: When You Have to Say "Per Se," It Means You're Lying. From a commenter there:
Goldberg: The Federalist Solution - Making political decisions at the lowest democratic level is the best Left-Right compromise. I completely agree. People can pee in their own lemonade if they want, just not in mine. The Geography of Government Benefits - The share of Americans’ income that comes from government benefit programs, like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, more than doubled over the last four decades, rising from 8 percent in 1969 to 18 percent in 2009. Friday, March 23. 2012Friday morning links"I want to work in an office full of unicorns.” Whit Stillman is back Federal Student Aid: The Worst of Both Worlds I Got Asked Again The Other Day, Rather Bluntly, Why We Don't Send The Kids To School Good riddance to Rowan Williams:
But where does it stand on God and all that? Obama Lies About Oil AGAIN! Higher Ed Bubble Hits Housing Market Don't blame Islam for the Toulouse killings (h/t Am Digest) Of course not Nearly 1,000 Pakistani women ‘killed for honor’ I don't blame Islam for that, either Stockton Woes Send A Message On Pension Reform "I Don't Get It:" Obama Baffled As His "Green" Investments Produce No Jobs Pond scum update: Obama’s algae racket Solyndra Times Seven - Why California’s high-speed rail project is an even greater waste of federal tax dollars. The Left's plans for income equality Why Liberals Like Taxing the Wealthy
The Air Force's 'March Madness' Six Big Lies About How Jerusalem Runs Washington - From the Jewish cabal to the Capitol Hill Knesset, the worst leaps of logic when it comes to Israel, U.S. politics, and the Middle East. Saudi Wahhabism Expands into Libya Thursday, March 22. 2012No GuaranteesApparently, the record high temperatures and wonderful weather we're having in most of the United States is just a 'good to have' moment. That is, if you're tired of winter and enjoy spring, a state of mind I'm currently in. The issue isn't 'Global Warming', though I'm sure this is something we'll hear about (because the Huffington Post and Daily Kos won't let us forget). The issue is simply the Jet Stream, which is following an odd path at the moment. The freak October snowstorm, which caused many problems in the Northeast, didn't mean a long, difficult winter was approaching, so there is no reason to believe we are in for a hot summer. Apparently, even though Al Gore and many others have assured us there is a guarantee of warming, there are none on offer:
Thursday morning linksDa Vinci’s Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image Da Vinci was not his last name. He was plain Leonardo - the one from Vinci Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" Illustrates the Horrors of Big Government:
Affirmative Action and Radical Politics - Affirmative action radicalizes minority students whose achievements become suspect. Va. middle-schoolers assigned opposition research on GOP candidates U.K. schools to kids: No best friends for you! Chicago Democrats Vote Overwhelmingly for Lawmaker Charged with Bribery That's life in the big city Rubin: The True Perpetrators of The Antisemitic Attacks in Toulouse and Throughout the World ObamaCare's Costs Are Soaring - We already know the rosy budget estimates used to sell the law were wrong. Is My Union's Pension Fund Hypocritical? It's not uncommon for a pension plan's sponsoring organization to give the trustees general guidance on unacceptable investments Turkish Reporters Struggle Against Repression 'Global March on Jerusalem: If It's Not About Israel, It's Not About Us Seriously, can we all agree Ryan deserves our respect? But reality and politics don't seem to mix well Obama Doesn't Care About Debt - Democrats are willing to move heaven and earth for the things they do care about. Axelrod Can't Explain Why Democrats Haven't Passed a Budget in 1,040 Days Can't or won't? VDH: "We are in a period of quiet acknowledgment that Obama’s 2009 dreams of a world tamed by hope-and-change rhetoric from a postnational American critic remain largely fantasies..."
Wednesday, March 21. 2012It's not about medical care or medical insuranceIt's about freedom from the power of the state:
The American population, as a whole, is a bit adolescent, isn't it? Welcomes freebies, but doesn't want to be controlled. "Dad, can I borrow your car tonight?" "OK honey, just be back by 11:30." "Dad, stop trying to control me." That darn commerce clause has already been abused to death. It's time somebody finally closed the door. Will the left side of the Supremes decide that the Feds are all-powerful over every aspect of our lives, including the most personal? The voters are overwhelmingly opposed to such power.
Posted by The Barrister
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19:12
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Weds. morning linksImage stolen from Don Surber. I couldn't resist. Traffic stop or donut stop? I do not enjoy "praise songs." How about you? Jesus Returns (in a Tour Bus) Often insipid, contentless, embarassing tripe. Even with wonderful musicians. Euroland is Upbeat about death Maybe death is more appealing than overbearing taxes and control Jeff Immelt, Obama's pet businessman, rooting for Romney Obama Loses Big Bundler Over Israel - Picks pro-Israel candidate Mitt Romney. Everybody knows Obama hates the existence of Israel Scott Walker on recall: This is ‘Waterloo’ The Toxic Transition in Venezuela Chavez is de facto dead. Already fighting over the inheritance. Krauthammer: Obamacare like bad ‘dog food’ Ponnuru: Romney Will Bore, and Win, as Mr. Establishment Boring sounds good to me. I do not need Washington for entertainment. CRU’s new HadCRUT4, hiding the decline yet again Good news: California Kills Redevelopment VDH: A Gasoline Nightmare “Flashback: Obama lamented falling gas prices in December 2008″ Major scams at the EPA: MSM not interested Such things would be front page scandals in an ordinary administration Top accomplishments show why Obama will lose The Fiction of a Republican War on Women Sultan: Why Alinsky tactics ultimately fail:
At two-year mark, health law’s legacy is confusion - States and employers wait for guidance Incoherent: ‘Civil Rights’ and Modern Liberalism - The Century Foundation's Richard Kahlenberg finds the term increasingly malleable. What Are Our Military Options in Syria? More disasters America will face if we retreat from Afghanistan Defending Israel Creates a Hostile Environment on Campus? " there is a poisonous level of cynicism towards artists who depict war as anything other than meaningless." Will Bush be vindicated? A case for the Iraq War ObamaCare's Flawed Economic Foundations - The insurance mandate has almost nothing to do with remedying costs imposed on the system by those without coverage. Romney: In November, ‘Economic Freedom Will be on the Ballot’
Tuesday, March 20. 2012How much reform did medical insurance really need?How many of us were good Liberals in youth, only to have our naive illusions shattered by the way the big world really works? For example, we have all learned to see through government's ginning up crises, with the collusion of media, which "only federal government can solve." We have also learned that these are power grabs, and that our federal government is no font of wisdom. It's just a font of unprincipled political calculation. Case in point: Health care wasn't broken Here's Megan McArdle: Liberals Are Wrong: Free Market Health Care Is Possible
Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss
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15:10
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Tuesday morning linksToon above via Powerline Catching up on St. Patrick: Happy Naomh Padraig's Day
Along Came a Spider: The Wonders of Spider Silk Markets in Everything: Cave Homes in China Are You Overprotecting Your Child? Update on Hot Teacher Somebody needs to inform hot teacher than every straight young fellow in her classes is mentally undressing her during class. She's the one who needs sensitivity training. The myth of the student-athlete Golly gee, this is no big deal How Democrats have transformed women into sex objects Sultan on nice wars The Democrats’ Bill Maher Problem U.N. to Investigate U.S. Voter I.D. Laws Planned Parenthood’s 10 Most Feared Enemies in 2012 - Clinging to the cash as new opponents threaten to disrupt the steady flow of taxpayer dollars. Where Things Stand: If the Presidential Election Were Held Today Report: US government spent at least $945M on advertising in 2010 Israelis agree Iran hasn't decided on atom bomb Without Precedent - The Supreme Court weighs Obamacare. An Inconvenient Truth for the Obama Campaign Video How Race Will Shape the Election: A Black Conservative’s View Hateless Hate Crime at Rutgers? Firm sells solar panels - to itself, taxpayers pay Toulouse school shooting: same gun was used in killing of soldiers As Health Care Law’s Trial Approaches, Two-Thirds Say Ditch Individual Mandate California: Top administrators shamelessly try to cook the pension books What the Mailman Knows about Ayers and Obama Follow the “M” word: More on the “National Defense Resources Preparedness” Executive Order Monday, March 19. 2012Effects of higher ed costs and loans on our youthChart via Zero Hedge's Infographic: Reevaluating The Costs And Benefits Of (Debt Bubble-Funded) Higher Education: Another $27+-Billion Cost To Employers Of ObamaCareThe guarantee-issue provision of ObamaCare is expected to result in many enrolling in individual plans who are ill, or waiting to enroll until ill. The Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will require group health plans to subsidize individual health plans with about $27-billion between 2014-2016. That is expected to keep individual premiums about 10-15% lower but raise group premiums by 1%. The estimate is supposedly based upon the experience of New York's guarantee-issue requirement since 1993, where premiums have actually skyrocketed compared to the rest of the US. According to Kaiser Health Facts, in 2010 the average individual premium in New York was $357 versus the US average of $215, while the employer-provided family coverage premium is 6% higher in New York. It'll take much more than $27-billion taken from employers to subsidize the added individuals covered by insurance under ObamaCare.
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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19:44
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A round-up of that Alexandra Pelosi videoVideo is at Althouse's Alexandra Pelosi "is declining to understand the critique." Redstate: There Will Be A Reckoning Against These People. David French: The Problem with Mocking the Poor Via Insty:
Monday morning linksAre we asking enough of our kids? Anthropologists don’t think so Is Our College Students Learning Yet? Finally somebody comes right out and says it: climate + world governance is a match made in green heaven The Vetting - Holder 1995: We Must 'Brainwash' People on Guns The essential dishonesty of Obama on energy policy Will: Union business, on the taxpayers’ dime WI Dems Punish Private Unions To Hurt Gov. Walker How did the jury find Dharun Ravi guilty of "bias intimidation"? In the NYT, several people consider hate crime and justice
Green Fail: Massachusetts Solar Company Abandons Plant, Moves Operations to China, Taxpayers on the Hook for $50M The Italian Tragedy Learning from Massachusetts’ Health Care Experiment For California's disgraced politicians, the fall hurts -- but just look where they landed The Mainstream Media Finally Notices the Muslim Population Implosion But Still Doesn’t Get It To create jobs, voters want to cut while Washington wants to spend Catholic Bishops Cry Foul: Amish Are Exempt From Obamacare But Catholics Are Not What if the Left is just one Potemkin Village after another? Astroturf. Conservatives are too busy working to do this sort of thing David Frum: Post-zionism is just another name for Israel hatred
Sunday, March 18. 2012Sunday morning linksPhoto is the East Haddam, CT, Congo church “Bless Their Honest Irish Hearts” Calvin Coolidge, unsung hero of Irish-Americans Fifty Years Ago, Woody Allen Plotted Midnight in Paris in This Stand-up Routine Via Dino, The Anniversary You Can't Refuse: 40 Things You Didn't Know About The Godfather "Three in 10 young adults live with parents, highest level since 1950s":
"settled for a job"? How they view me: Why Conservatives Are Still Crazy After All These Years Obama building largest campaign in history Stop the demagoguery on oil and gas, Mr. President Union Thugs Threaten Citizen Election Watchdogs Santorini: This Is All That Greece Needs EDITORIAL: Destroy all churches - Obama silent while Saudi grand mufti targets Christianity California’s Endangered Charter Schools - The state’s powerful teachers’ unions want to regulate charters into submission In Search of Vienna's Vanished Jewish Elite
Saturday, March 17. 2012Saving Lives, and Journalism, is the Moral High GroundToday’s lead editorial in the San Diego Union-Tribune, “Saving lives is the moral high ground”, validates the post I wrote February 24, "Pig Politics Vs Marine Lives". San Diego area congressman Bob Filner, one of the most liberal in Congress, along with PETA, seek to halt the training of Corpsmen using anesthetized pigs, claiming falsely that using simulators is better. The editorial may be traced not only to my piece but also to the correspondence I had with the reporter who admitted his articles in the newspaper were poorly researched. Kudos to the reporter for taking responsibility. The newspaper’s editor is an excellent, moderate and professional journalist. The editorial is evidence that there are such and they are to be prized and congratulated for upholding journalistic standards. The newspaper editorial follows:
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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14:51
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Saturday morning linksJesse James probably regarded himself as an idealist at heart Anne Tyler: A writer's modesty Alan Bean: An astronaut at 80 Siri vs. Evi voice commands Everyone Out of the Pool Pap smears? Mammograms? Prostate exams? Not under Obamacare Modern Environmentalism, 1970 – 2012, RIP White House moves into full reelection mode Interesting Example of How the Possibility of Surveillance Interferes With Free Expression Rotting from the Head Down - A member of Britain’s intellectual elite celebrates his nation’s social collapse. 58% Favor Taxing All At The Same Percentage Rate So do I. Dues are dues. Obama Team Mining Personal Info to Woo Donors
Opposition to Obamacare Grows as Anniversary Approaches Nicky Larkin: Israel is a refuge, but a refuge under siege - Through making a film about the Israeli-Arab conflict, artist Nicky Larkin found his allegiances swaying Major RED FLAG: Military Cover-up in Afghanistan McCain sees another Solyndra in Navy biofuels spending Iran’s stealth financial partners in Latin America New Pro-Palestinian Chutzpah Tactic To Silence Pro-Israel Professors More ObamaCare Robbing Peter To Pay Paula, Er Sandra FlukesIn a Friday night news dump, the Obama administration’s proposed solution to paying for free contraception provided to health plan members got ratcheted up to a new level of feeble three-card monte, only not transparent to utter fools, which the Obama administration relies upon. The Obama administration already mandated that religious employers with insured plans can opt out, but their insurers will have to pay for the contraception. The transparent ruse there is that such costs will actually be passed back to employers in higher premiums, aside from violating their religious doctrine. The Washington Post reports, Friday night the Obama administration mandated that colleges with self-insured plans, covering about 200,000 students, those in which the college directly self-funds claims via an administrator it pays to process them, will have the tab picked up by the administrator. Several schemes are proposed to accomplish this. Ultimately the cost reverbs back to the sponsor of the self-funded plan. (800,000 more students are covered in insured plans, already mandated by ObamaCare -- or should I call it FlukeCare -- to include contraceptives.) Over a third of covered workers, over 50-million, receive their medical coverage through their employers’ self-funded plan. Employers have lately been flocking to self-insured plans, to avoid aspects of the ObamaCare onslaught. The Obama administration just brought the siege tower to breach the plans sheltering tens of millions, with more ObamaCare salvos to follow through to devastate another sector of free enterprise health care and freedoms.
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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01:16
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Friday, March 16. 2012Friday morning linksNerf: The gateway gun? There is a joke here, alright, but it’s not on Marilyn Hagerty Sex-Deprived Male Fruit Flies Turn to Alcohol, Research Shows Via Insty, Are You Easily Seduced? Sultan Knish is a hate group Menopause ‘brain fog’ is real, study confirms How Amazon Got the Urban Campus Right Will doctors be on your side, or working for the government? CBO: Health reform could cause people to lose workplace coverage Washington Distracts Us As Fiscal Disaster Looms Department of Labor: All your little farm children are belong to us! Wind farms in Pacific Northwest paid to not produce World’s mecca for sex drugs? Saudi Arabia Sanctions... are more likely to prompt Iran to stake everything on the nuclear card. Obama running out of money? Thursday, March 15. 2012Maher Addresses Limbaugh ComparisonThe best you could say is that he at least defends Limbaugh's right to speak. Beyond that, this is a very pale attempt to sidestep outrage at his otherwise outlandish and clearly misogynist use of language. He claims because he gets a laugh, it's fine to use words that demean a woman. What he's really saying is it's fine to use those words regarding Sarah Palin or any woman on the Right who he dislikes, especially if it gets a laugh.
The outrage regarding Fluke was about the use of the word, and had little to do with context. That, somehow, just using it was wrong. Limbaugh didn't use it to label all women, it wasn't a misogynistic commentary. He did not show hatred or distrust toward women in general. Maher was not misogynistic, either (to be fair, my original statement above was meant to be sarcastic). But he cannot distance himself from Limbaugh on this. Both of them utilized language and imagery that is inappropriate. Getting a laugh, I have been told by my Human Relations Department, does not make something okay to say. Now, Maher lacks an HR Department, but common sense is clearly lacking if he thinks that just because people laughed, his jokes were acceptable. And being a "pottymouth" doesn't make it okay, either. We all use words, from time to time, we wish we hadn't. Limbaugh apologized for using his. Maher tries to rationalize his.
Posted by Bulldog
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17:00
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