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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Friday, January 27. 2012Friday morning linksImage on right via House of Eratosthenes A Patti Smith update A site that is new to me: C J Chiver's The Gun A Q&A on benefits and risks of taking aspirin Can Ontario Really Deliver North America's Best Smart Growth Plan? Good news: Fried foods no health risk Reaffirming: Los Angeles Students Roundly Reject ‘Healthier’ School Lunch Menu Why the cafeteria crusade is a crock Should the ‘Morning After’ Pill Be Available to All Ages? Elites hate the poor. It's PJ O'Rourke, of course:
After Obama's Empty Words, Daniels Said It All Alarming Thoughts On The SOTU from Clark Judge SOTU: Of the Ignorant, By the Ignorant, For the Ignorant Why, Precisely, is America so Great? Ace is funny:
Also via Ace's Science: Low IQs Linked To Conservative Beliefs, Such As Racism And Fascism:
That's me for sure - always confused MSM attempts pre-emptive strike on Rubio Four ways Republicans can win Hispanics back It’s time for journalists, human rights activists and church leaders in the U.S. to confront the prospect of Christianity’s destruction in the region of its birth. President Obama leaves event promoting clean energy in a motorcade of 22 fossil-fueled vehicles.
Thursday, January 26. 2012Thursday morning linksSurviving Girl Land: Sex, Lies, & Proms 4 billion YouTube views/day Golden Missed Opportunity - School choice is on the move everywhere—except California. Alternative certification is coming Mead: The Once and Future Liberalism - We need to get beyond the dysfunctional and outdated ideas of 20th-century liberalism:
and
Marine's career threatened by controversial rules of engagement Happy Birthday to Egypt’s Doomed Revolution 15 Questions The Mainstream Media Would Ask Barack Obama If He Were A Republican Wednesday, January 25. 2012In favor of a Keystone Beer pipeline from CanadaThe US has 55,000 miles of oil pipelines already. Who would object to a beer pipeline from Canada? Cheap beer, for America! That's what we need to help the country grow.
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Weds. morning linksVia Insty, Having An Opinion Is Now "Bullying" The Tragic Truth About India's Caste System - Untouchables cling to it because they have few other choices Here's an idea: A call for a Cuban Spring Energy: On Black Holes and Other Democratic Party Voids President Obama’s Very Dishonest Campaign Ad Regarding Energy Romney Gave 15% to Charity – Obama Gave 1% to Charity Tax rates of presidential candidates, in one chart As in Europe, Big Government Coming After Pensions Rising wealth of Asians straining world fish stock The coming disaster in Egypt Black Women Lead Shift To A Post-Blue World State Dependency on the Federal Government:
Taking the money surrenders autonomy Nile Gardiner on the SOTU: Barack Obama is still driving America towards decline
Haditha Was Exploited To Increase Danger To The US, US Troops, And To NoncombatantsThe killings at Haditha in November 2005 were blown up by opponents of the US in Iraq into an indictment of the US and its troops. This onslaught sapped the will of many Americans. The following rules of engagement and the drawn out prosecution of the Marines involved have undermined the morale and endangered the lives of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Take the premise that at Haditha both the Marines and those who were killed in houses 1 and 2 were correct in their own view. The long term losers are both US troops and noncombatants. Both Marines and US troops generally are at increased risk due to perhaps understandable rules of engagement that in practice are often excessive and dangerous. Noncombatants are at increased risk of oppression, or more impersonal death from US technology, in countries where thuggish foes seek domination and can serve as refuges for further attacks on the West. Haditha was a decidedly treacherous town overrun with Al Quaeda led foes who blew up Marines in the convoy and fired on the survivors from the nearby houses. What else could the Marines do but attack and eliminate the threat from the houses? Walking in, exposing themself to harm, would have been suicidal. Those inside lived in fear of the insurgents, who had already executed the local police force, and were aware that an IED was to be exploded. What else could they do but huddle inside? Warning the Marines beforehand would have exposed themselves to extermination. Walking outside, hands up, after the attack on the Marines, may have been a good move, but they knew gunmen were nearby and they didn’t want to be in the middle of a shootout. Continue reading "Haditha Was Exploited To Increase Danger To The US, US Troops, And To Noncombatants"
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Tuesday, January 24. 2012State of the Union
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Tuesday morning linksBirds of a feather... The virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel Blackfive reviews War Horse Prelutsky: The Divided States of America The Last Patrician: Romney Falls From Favor as America Loses Faith in Old Money President Obama approved fiddling with budget numbers, New Yorker reports Tobin: Lying About the Stimulus Tracking the ‘Voyage of the Damned’ Graft, greed, mayhem turn Honduras into murder capital of world Hinderaker: What is "a private family matter"? With New Super-Fracking Advances, the Shale Revolution Might Be Just Getting Started Hewitt on the previous debate:
Monday, January 23. 2012Monday afternoon linksLife in the country: His furnace broke,
Mankiw: A better tax system What climatologists really think of global warming One Day Ahead Of State Of The Union Address, American Dissatisfaction With Economic, Political Issues At Record It’s Working in Walker’s Wisconsin - The governor’s controversial labor reforms are already saving taxpayers millions. Why the Clean Tech Boom Went Bust The Ruinous Reign of Race-and-Gender Historians This Article Explains Why Apple Makes iPhones In China And Why The US Is Screwed Why Obama's Re-Election Hinges On the Hispanic Vote Why the Federal Reserve slept before the housing crisis:
Monday morning linksMead: How to read a book Why isn’t the iPhone made in America? Extinct? Cougar sightings on the rise in eastern United States Destroying America by Denying Access to Energy Steyn on how Romney gave us Newt The Hill: Romney Exposed As Very Weak Candidate That He Is Snapshot of a Creative Destruction - Kodak, Rochester, and the decline of the industrial Northeast Merkel and Sarkozy propose higher taxes to "strengthen growth now" Why Contemporary Western Elites Don’t Understand the World and Why Their Foreign Policies Fail Hannibal and Me, and other books of conquerors WaPo: Time to scrutinize Obama's record Charles Murray: Do we Need the Federal Department of Education?
Sunday, January 22. 2012Sunday morning linksMurray: The New American Divide - The ideal of an 'American way of life' is fading as the working class falls further away from institutions like marriage and religion and the upper class becomes more isolated. Charles Murray on what's cleaving America, and why. Environmentalism and the Leisure Class:
Where Does ‘Women and Children First’ Originate? - It's British, stemming from the "Birkenhead Drill" of 1852. The NPR style (h/y Vanderleun) Chavez: The college racket - This bubble needs to burst:
Allergies: Shouldn’t we be cracking down on nuts? The dawn of lower pay on Wall St. Related, Wall Street Woes: Poor Hardest Hit In NY, Cracks in the Socialist Reality Bubble Begin How Can Obama and the Democrats Deflect Blame? Let Me Count the Ways. Census Bureau Plays the Race Card What race is Obama? Black or Caucasion or Middle-Eastern? What race am I? If the one-drop rule applies, I am Native American. And since when is "Hispanic" a race? Are people from Spain "Hispanic"? Are European Cubans Hispanic? Are Central American Indians Hispanic? Or Indians? Are black Cubans Hispanic? So confusing. And I haven't even gotten to the Irish: definitely a race - and a race with a history of cruel discrimination in the US for which generous compensation is due (my kids are 1/4 Irish and would welcome a check). Welfare tourism in the UK Middle America loves conservatives who stand up to liberal bullies What’s the Conservative Case for Upholding ObamaCare? Jay Carney: Obama Doesn’t Really Spend a Lot of Time Campaigning Strange How the Media Didn’t Care About Infidelity in 1992 and 2008\ Nietzsche on Eggshells - A new book on the philosopher’s American reception soft-pedals his dark influence. Canadian Pundit Destoys ‘Post American President’ Obama’s Reasoning for Passing On Keystone XL Saturday, January 21. 2012Saturday morning linksInsty on your sex life. "Never say 'No.' " The Growing Science of Sex Difference Why Newt Gingrich is surging in South Carolina A GOP Candidate's Bitter Ex-Wife Receives More Coverage Than a Video of Obama Dining with Terrorist-Supporters Fatah's Top Religious Authority Calls for Genocide of Jews
Goldberg on the pipeline: A Question of Priorities The Obama re-election campaign is already shaping up as the most deceitful in American electoral history Obama Forces Religious Institutions to Cover Free Contraception for Employees Le Monde Suggests that the Fault for the Concordia's Shipwreck Belongs Not to Captain Schettino, But to… American Capitalism Illinois gets downgraded by Moody’s If Obama said what Newt said, he’d get a standing ‘O’ Obama has figured out why Americans perceive him as aloof: It's the media's fault Obama Administration Approves Rule That Guarantees Near-Universal Contraceptive Coverage Obama’s Favorite SuperPAC, The Activist Old Media Solyndra Destroying Millions of Dollars in Parts, TV Station Reports Will: A Supreme Obamacare test:
Graph below from The Effect of Throwing Money at Education Friday, January 20. 2012How the 1% get a heart attackThe Associated Press reports the most extensive study yet of whether engaging in sex causes heart attacks.
However,
Still, “sexual activity is the cause of less than 1 percent of all heart attacks," says the lead author of the report. Another good reason to be part of the 1%?
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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Foie Gras WarsI happen to be fond of foie gras, whether sauteed to crispy outside and rare and buttery inside, or in a stuffing for game birds, or any other way. Some bossyboots people don't want me to eat it. The animal rescue guy says "I don't want that on my plate." Fine. Don't eat it. I'll eat yours.
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Your annual diversity report, pleaseReactionary DemsThere was a brief period when Clinton actually sounded like a growth and prosperity Dem, but, since then, the party snapped back to its 1930s approach. Tyrrell:
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Friday morning linksMap of Tokyo's train system Poe fans call an end to 'Toaster' tradition Dear Student: I Don't Lie Awake At Night Thinking of Ways to Ruin Your Life New light on choice of investment strategy The last of the Navajo code-talkers died Where the coke comes from Bain Capital Saved America - In the 1980s, the resilient U.S. economy saved itself from becoming Europe. Bain was part of the rescue. Kristoff: Is banking bad? Surprise: Dems Received Nearly Three Times as Much Bain Money as GOP Last Three Election Cycles Obama picks vulture capitalist as budget chief Selling EU serfdom to the masses App That Would Guide Users Away From High-Crime Areas Proves Controversial Att. Eric Holder: Dems In Upstate NY Say Voter Fraud is ‘A Normal Political Tactic’ – Your Voting Rights Division Might Want To Look Into That Mitt's 15% tax rate higher than most Americans Key Risks in the New Defense Guidance: What Kind of War and Where? Students rebel against Gorepaganda Better Late Than Never: The Afghan War Handbook This Is CNN: Piers Morgan Praises Jimmy Carter for ‘Malaise’ Speech Anti-Fracking Greens and Their War on the Poor - Hydraulic fracking makes natural gas less expensive and lowers heating costs benefiting the poor. The White House’s Israel-bashing pals WaPo: Pipeline decision "insanity." image below via Ross' post -
Thursday, January 19. 2012The bad news for the public education industry
Confirmed: Charter Schools Beat the Daylights Out of Public Schools:
"President Obama Stands Up to Big Oil"So says Robert Redford. (But, I ask, who will stand up against Big Hollywood?) I think our readers understand that this is not about "Big Oil." "Big Oil" is a straw man. This is about a supply of cheap energy for Americans, and a supply that does not come from the Middle East or from Venezuela. The moonbats, who depend on energy as much as I do for daily life, appear to believe that it grows on trees. How does Redford heat all of his houses? And does he care what it costs him? Would he care if his estate in Aspen lost heat this winter? During his campaign, Obama promised to raise the cost of energy. He and his EPA have been doing their best to do that. Makes no sense to me. Now Canada's fuel will be used in China instead of here. What sort of accomplishment is that?
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Ameritopia: Mark Levin Discusses the Utopian Unmaking of America
Thursday morning links
Messy links today due to linking problem. Suggest you right-click to read the links today to open them in new windows Image below via Moonbattery (http://moonbattery.com/) A strange creature that’s neither animal nor plant is causing researchers to rethink traditional ways of classifying living organisms: http://sciencenordic.com/weird-plant-animal-baffles-scientists Dumb Campus Moments 2011 - http://www.academia.org/dumb-campus-moments-2011/?utm_source=AIM+-+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=5ad3f04261-email011812&utm_medium=email Steyn: We are not yet a totalitarian society, but the touchiness of America’s wretched academy is certainly providing a fine pilot program. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/288508/last-laugh-mark-steyn Obama Rejecting Pipeline, blames GOP: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/obama-to-start-advertising-as-early-as-thursday/ McKibben is delighted about it: http://www.350.org/en/about/blogs/bill-mckibben-keystone-xl-announcement Up Next… Obama’s New Energy Regulations Will Put 32 Coal Plants Out of Business http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/01/up-next-obamas-new-energy-regulations-will-put-32-coal-plants-out-of-business/ What Would New York Look Like With a Smaller Financial Sector? http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/what-would-new-york-look-like-with-a-smaller-financial-sector/251523/ Vanderleun on going back to school: http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/american_studies/schools_out.php Here We Go: Romney Has Millions of Dollars Parked Offshore: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/01/18/here-we-go-romney-has-millions-of-dollars-parked-offshore/?singlepage=true Tough Choices in the Rust Belt: http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/12/16/tough-choices-in-the-rust-belt/ Driscoll: Smoke Occupies Your Eyes DEBT LIMIT - A GUIDE TO AMERICAN FEDERAL DEBT MADE EASY. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li0no7O9zmE SIMPSON: Bureaucracy killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan - Political correctness keeps Army medevac helicopters grounded - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/16/bureaucracy-killing-us-troops-in-afghanistan/?page=all#pagebreak Wednesday, January 18. 2012Weds. morning linksSchools warn that a PhD in humanities won't lead to a job Duh. Might be fun, though, if somebody else pays for it. NYC Business Bled to Death Over Toy Guns Soon, a black market in toy guns Barbie dolls are 'un-Islamic' - Who knew? Barbie is Jewish. Everybody knows that. Dalrymple: The European crack-up How About We Try Redistributing the Ability to Create Wealth Instead? Graduation rates in Chicago's city colleges
Perhaps they should worry about their high schools first... Cohen-Head: Defending Big Money in Politics Low Natural Gas Prices Help Families, Businesses Rolling the Housing Dice, Again! Gardiner: Why are Barack Obama’s critics so smart?
Tuesday, January 17. 2012Tuesday morning linksSkyscrapers As Spaceships - The “rampant individualism” and surprising environmentalism of really tall buildings Dalrymple on hiring criminals: Forgiveness Is a Kind of Wild Justice Revival Of Iconic California Condor Threatens State's Wind Farm Boom Tata Motors Mini CAT Air Car to debut in 2012 Group protests MLK Day opening of TD Bank Supposed to honor the memory of MLK by not working? I worked Monday - all day. That's how I fight inequality. Inequality: Redistribute Krugman's NYT column It's not fair that he has a NYT column and I don't. Why not redistribute his Nobel too? American Political Science Assoc. recommends lowering standards for black grad students Via Powerline:
"The revelations follow claims that Schettino, from Meta di Sorrento near Naples, had been drinking 'with a beautiful woman' at the ship's bar before he sailed into disaster. As a frequent ship passenger, I can say that that means nothing. On large ships, it's not like the Captain is at a steering wheel. Departing the ship before all customers are off is another matter. Still, it seems odd to me that they cut so close to shore. As they say in the Navy, "We don't want Captains with bad luck." Columbia Prez Bollinger preens, argues for racial preferences Uh-oh… if we don’t watch out, the Taliban won’t like us anymore! Is the notion of teamwork foolish? The Rise of the New Groupthink (link repaired) Good news: EPA creates bureaucratic nightmare to prevent farmers from using pesticides! Scientists want climate change in young minds - Teachings to point to human causes
How Stimulus Spending Ruined Buffalo - Four decades of subsidies and high taxes haven't arrested the city's decline, but here comes New York's governor with another billion dollars. All the signs of a government-triggered death spiral Andrew Sullivan: How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics Private sector experience? Oh, no! The Three Rules of Western Discourse and Why The Media Must Always Blame Israel Ralph Peters: Dumb Marines, Delighted Media - The Left's nostalgia for My Lai is forever Monday, January 16. 2012Monday morning linksA journey into the world of parking, where meter maids are under siege, everybody’s on the take, and the tickets keep on coming Video of the Star-Nosed Mole. H/t Thompson. They live around here. Cats sometimes catch them. Are We Holding a New Ice Age at Bay? Legal Job Market in Terrible Shape Rent Control in NYC: A man’s home is the government’s castle Like so many "temporary" government programs, NYC's rent control perpetuates its existence by distorting the housing market. It is theft. Hollywood's Snotty Day in Court The English, the polls seem to be saying, want the Scots out of the United Kingdom, while the Scots want to stay in "Conservatives Remain the Largest Ideological Group in U.S." (And, of Late, the Dumbest) Newsweek Cover Story: 'Why Are Obama's Critics So Dumb?' As Obama Dithers… Canadian PM Harper to Travel to China to Sell Oil A QUESTION FOR PAUL KRUGMAN, Who Keeps Saying Our Huge Debt Mountain Is Of No Concern CBS News: 12 Clean Energy Firms Received $6.5B in Taxpayer Money, And Are All in Financial Trouble
Sunday, January 15. 2012Stark Assessment Of AfghanistanCaptain Pete Hegseth, US Army, has served at Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and was Executive Director of Vets For Freedom to support our troops and missions. No weak sister. During his current deployment in Afghanistan, Hegseth has sent email letters home to those on his mailing list. His most recent arrived today, "Endgame in Afghanistan." It is near 4-thousand words long, so I have put it below the fold. Hegseth is not optimistic, stripping away what he refers to as "wishful thinking."
He believes this battleground is "central to defending the United States."
According to defense analyst Anthony Cordesman the US will need to spend about $10-billion a year for the next 14-years to stand a chance of stabilizing Afghanistan.
There's so much detail and stark facts in Hegseth's email that you would be remiss to not read on. Continue reading "Stark Assessment Of Afghanistan"
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Sunday morning linksWhy God sends rain to Mexico but not to the Middle East Ice Nine? The cool particle 10 Things Our Kids Will Never Worry About Thanks to the Information Revolution Brooklyn’s fabled history, as told through its many great writers No special favors for California bullet train - Bill would exempt high-speed rail boondoggle from the mire of environmental review that other projects face. Walter Olson: Those Pesky Conservatives Just Aren't Bright Enough to be law school profs More Motor City Blues VA AG Fears DC Law May Relocate Rehabilitated Rat Families To Virginia Iranian Pastor asked to acknowledge Muhammed as "God's messenger" in exchange for release Afghan boy suicide bombers tell how they are brainwashed into believing they will survive The new American Way: Bailouts and Dependency Justice and the Enemy: Nuremberg, 9/11, and the Trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Hell on Wheels, a Heaven of a Show Book Review: The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History AMERICAN SNIPER: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE MOST LETHAL SNIPER IN U.S. MILITARY HISTORY
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