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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Saturday, July 31. 2010A Pali garbage truckThose holes are rocket launchers, also found on custom cabs and ambulances. Saturday morning linksBrilliant ad for Linda McMahon in CT. We think she has a real chance against Blumenthal. Tim Pawlenty talks. He seems like Mr. Rogers. A Dagestan wedding. Good grief. Bruce told me about the 1949 movie, The Third Man. Sounds wonderful. A reader sent this link which explains Gramsci's cultural hegemony More about the sleazy Sherrods Powerline: Whatever happened to the Constitution? Apparently it is too radically right wing for modern times, with all its focus on individual freedom and restrictions on state power. I like to remind myself that King George lll had nothing close to the power that our modern federal government wields today. Reason: Growing Pains - ObamaCare won't stop rising health care costs. A basic component of air remains illegal Justice Department Encourages Voting by Felons as It Suppresses Military Vote VDH: The Truths We Dare Not Speak About Illegal Immigration Forbes: Why Keynes Was Wrong Did The Government Cause The Gulf Oil Spill? Indirectly, yes. But the government directly caused the housing bubble and housing bust. Maybe it’s Time For Jews to Fess Up. Evil Jews run the world. Everybody knows that. More about the evil Jews at Legal Ins. Friday, July 30. 2010Government Motors builds a car! Or is it a go-cart?The Volt: G.M.’s Electric Lemon. Can somebody tell me how this piece of expensive and useless crap is supposed to save the world? Where do people think electricity comes from? Thor? Photo is a Yugo, not a Volt. But you knew that.
Posted by The Barrister
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13:58
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Generic, All-Purpose Maggie's Daily LinksSince News Junkie is taking off for August, and only the names and the dates change, here’s a guide to the daily news for our readers. Fill in the blanks. CONGRESS: Congressional Democrats Deny Scheme To _________________. PRESIDENT: President Obama declares urgency of ____________________. JOURNALISM AND COMMENTARY: Major media journalists ignore above news about ____________________. MAGGIE’S FARM: Old server crashes again and excused as ________________________.
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11:53
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Friday morning links: I leaseI am taking a mental health break from Maggie's for August. I love Maggie's, but I am sick of having to see all of the outrages du jour. As that guy Drinking with Bob says on the radio, "What next? What next!" We lease one of these babies: Good site, discovered by Vanderleun: I Want a New Left NEA Removes Post Encouraging Teachers To Celebrate Chinese Communist Revolution Poll shows opposition to health care overhaul declining. Of course. It hasn't gone into effect yet. Dalmia: The Death Of The Global Warming Movement Galston: How Americans’ Shifting Political Ideologies Threaten the Democrats
Once again: Schwarzenegger Declares Fiscal Emergency in California. They needed a real man like Chris Christie. Lopez: Ohio Wants Something Different
Sissy reminded us of this excellent Am Thinker post: Cultural Marxism How science led the Third Reich. Totally related via Q&O: Why "science" has a problem:
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06:15
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Thursday, July 29. 2010Sorry again -For the second day in a row, our home-made mini-nuke plant in the basement, which provides the power to the Maggie's servers as well as to our milking machines and our a/c, went down due to mice. Today, I picked up a cat at the shelter to live in the basement. Nuclear power problem solved. In apology, and since I am headed to Vienna soon, I offer something from the King of the Waltz, Johann Strauss Jr: Not to be confused with his dad, Johann Strauss Sr., composer of the Radetzky March among much other music. Dad, famously, never forgave his son for going into music instead of banking.
Neither are related to the great German composer Richard Strauss:
Thursday morning linksAnatomy of a Microburst. Often mistaken for tornados. Pre-Cambrian life forms The Boy Scout parade SEC Says New Financial Regulation Law Exempts it From Public Disclosure. Huh? New Calculator Shows How Much More Taxes Will You Pay Next Year NYT Reporter Surprised at Lack of Gratitude in Texas for Obama-Care Handout Heather MacDonald: What Judge Bolton’s Injunction Doesn’t Say Stanley Kurtz: What's So Strange About Socialism? The President Wears Prada We have had quite a few posts about Woodrow Wilson lately. This from Scott at Powerline:
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06:15
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Wednesday, July 28. 2010Preach it, Gov Christie!A quote from his interview:
It's the right time to take on the greed of government unions. Somebody's got to do it before every Dem state goes bankrupt. As I always say, the marriage between government unions and the Dem party is an intrinsically corrupt conspiracy against the people.
Posted by The Barrister
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18:28
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Weds. morning linksCity and County Government Associations: Obama Economy Will Create or Save, Eh, I Mean Destroy or Eliminate 500,000 Public Sector Jobs. Toon borrowed from that piece at Ross. The “does it make me look fat?” question Caddell: Our Divisive President - "Barack Obama promised a new era of post-partisanship. In office, he's played racial politics and further split the country along class and party lines." Hawkins: Seven Deceptive Mainstream Media Techniques Reason.tv: Arthur C. Brooks on the Battle Between Free Enterprise and Big Government "Temporary marriage" in Iran: "We call on all our sisters who are virgins" to put out for the lonely pilgrims - for cash. At Thompson:
Reynolds: Taking Photos In Public Places Is Not A Crime: Analysis. "Too many officials think taking photos is a crime. Here’s why they’re wrong." h/t Ace "Set up a motion-activated camera at a stock water tank in South Texas and you'll catch all manner of critters." Good advice: Surviving the Low-Level Job. People will need to get used to this.
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06:51
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Tuesday, July 27. 2010Tuesday morning linksOliver Stone Rails Against Jews Krugman blames McCain for cooking the planet. Cut it out, John. It's July, and it's too hot. NYT: Armageddon Wars: Overpopulation Vs. Global Warming Boot: Wikileaks, Insignificant AVI on a kids' mission to paint houses of the poor. These kids should just buy the paint for the poor, and spend the summer painting their own barns and sheds and houses for their parents. Power wash, power sander, coat of primer, coat of lead-based paint. Somin on that James Webb op-ed Giving Lousy Teachers the Boot - Michelle Rhee does the once unthinkable in Washington. Fred Thompson: 'Catastrophic' If Bush Tax Cuts Not Renewed Good stuff: Paul Ryan Schools Chris Matthews on Tax Hikes, Budgets and Economics 101 Boston Latin goes moonbat Women Dominate Men in 7 of 10 Graduate Fields, and Women Are Gaining on Men in All 10 Fields
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05:49
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Monday, July 26. 2010Curiouser and curiouser
This Sherrod story. I thought I was sick of the story even before it started, but I guess this is a slice of America too. Every country has moonbats but, as Palin would say, these are "sick puppies," determined to live in anger and hatred.
Monday morning linksGlassman: Notes on Europe’s Economic Decadence. "Prosperity creates sloth." Examiner: The calamitous effects of Obama's tax hikes. Related at Powerline: Coming Soon: The Biggest Tax Increase Ever. There's nothing like a big tax increase to work wonders on a struggling economy. Vernon Smith says "no more government spending,...avoid new taxes." Ariz. law comes after years of mounting anger Malanga: The Muni-Bond Debt Bomb Am Thinker: We The Serfs...: Your tax dollars at work in Rhode Island. How long before those sidewalks are cracked with weeds growing through the cracks? VIDEO GOLD: Howard Dean Gets A$$ Handed to Him On FOX After Misplaying His Race Cards From Cato's Investors: Fear the Process That Gave Us ObamaCare, Not Efforts to Repeal It (my bolds):
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06:03
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Sunday, July 25. 2010Sunday morning links
Edge: Getting at the Neuroanthropology of Morality Los Zetas drug cartel seizes 2 U.S. ranches in Texas. Is this story true? Possibly not. Coming Soon: Tax Tsunami Reid to Netroots: "We're Going To Have a Public Option" Britain Plans to Decentralize National Health Care More government intrusion into private sector pay Race realist Jared Taylor declares the "civil rights struggle was won long ago" A guy who doesn't want you to have a/c: The Big Chill: Giving AC the Cold Shoulder Dino: What happened a year ago to permanently change public opinion? Powerline: The case against Elena Kagan Obama’s Solar Energy Fantasy The Lottery Makes a Strong Statement About Charter Schools From Insty: "THE YOUNG AND THE JOBLESS: New Evidence That The Minimum Wage Has Hurt Teenagers." Climate and budgets from Coyote:
Saturday, July 24. 2010Sen. Webb joins the conversation on raceAmerica owes no special debt to its black citizens - or to any of its citizens. If any American does not feel fortunate as hell to be here, they should depart - while bearing in mind that half the world would move here if they could. Maybe Webb, an accidental Senator (due to macaca) felt he had to say that for political purposes. But although Webb, a Dem, does not vote in ways with which I agree, I give him credit for his thought crimes in his op-ed: He seems to believe that all Americans ought to be regarded equally in law and government regardless of the vagaries of skin tone or ethnic background. I agree with that radical postition. The Other McCain has a more cynical, and probably more savvy, view.
Posted by The Barrister
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08:53
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Saturday morning linksRacial group differences GM sold GMAC. Now they're buying another credit co. Why? To make subprime loans Linda McMahon: John Galt in Skirts in Connecticut The K-man: Beware the lame duck How John Kerry dodges MA taxes. Hypocrite. Vanderleun: The Voice of the Neuter is Heard Throughout the Land SHOCKING VIDEO- What the MSM Won’t Show You From Shirley Sherrod’s Hate Speech
Interesting Data on Increasing Pubic Employment
Surber: Obama’s damage to Democrats Friday, July 23. 2010On DC firing teachersRhee fires 226 teachers. This is only a big deal because public school teachers are so often unionized. Pre-teachers unions, they were professionals - meaning that their work was subject to their own conscience, honor, best reasonable effort, etc., - and the judgement of those paying the salary. Today, only private school teachers can be regarded as true professionals, even though I acknowledge the vast numbers of utterly dedicated public school teachers (including many who bemoan the industrialization of their chosen field). Why should teachers get tenure anyway? Nobody else does, not even pastors. As in the post below about medical insurance, teaching should be opened up. Throw out those worthless teaching degrees and let the marketplace decide. I'd bet there are plenty of retired guys who would love to teach math or literature or history, and could do a better job than kids just out of their education degrees. The best English teacher two of my kids had (in private school) was a retired Sports Illustrated writer and editor. He knew his way around choice of words and the construction of sentences, but the "idea" and the "image" were keys. Essay structure had to be perfect, Francis Bacon-style. And with grammar, he would have ripped my posts to shreds (but I "fly casual" at Maggie's, conversational English - and it is a relief for me to do so).
Posted by The Barrister
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15:09
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Innovation: Internet Vs ObamaCareAn expert’s review of “The Internet And The Organization Of Innovation” from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) casts light on the Rasmussen poll that “75% Say Free Markets Better Than Government Management of Economy, Political Class Disagrees.” The Rasmussen survey, by contrast to the 75% of Likely Voters who say “more competition and less regulation is better for the economy“ finds “America’s Political Class is far less enamored with the virtues of a free market. In fact, Political Class voters [“the clique that revolves around Washington, DC, and Wall Street”] narrowly prefer a government managed economy over free markets by a 44% to 37% margin.” Professor Shane Greenstein, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management examines the origins and development of the Internet. From a synopsis provided by NBER, he “uses the example of the creation of the internet to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of two distinct ways of organizing a long-term program for accumulating innovation.”
In other words, government funding or direction of basic research or new programs may be useful and in some cases critical but further development of useful applications, adaptation, and wider spread acceptance and utility are best the province of free enterprise, or as Greenstein calls it "market-oriented and widely distributed investment and adoption." Instead, in most government programs, the initial laws enacted that seek to foster or enlarge reform or innovation are too often crafted with further government controls in mind or as ignored unintended consequences due to hidden agendas. Not unintended but usually hidden is the self-serving enrichment and enlarged sway of the political class. If initiatives have any validity, they are still often more dangerous than presented just by not being geared to a hand-off to the private sector to adjust and improve but to enlarge the power of the political class while – by the nature of government programs – hindering transparent review and adaptive innovation. Even in the case of the Internet, as complex and involved in most aspects of business and individual lives as healthcare, if left in the hands of the centralized “skunk works” we wouldn’t have seen the developments we enjoy today. In the case of other government programs, like ObamaCare as one of the worst instances, the clear objectives and consequences are nationalization of close to 20% of the economy and 100% of our lives, and even more stultifying – indeed deadly - to free market development of improved access, delivery and economics.
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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13:37
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Useful idiot: A role to play
But what's notable about the clip doesn't have anything to do with Beck, but with one brief clause Olby spits out during his tirade. Scenario: You're an ardent liberal. Keith Olbermann is a god amongst men, perhaps the only man alive with the courage to tell it like it really is. You believe every word he says. Shall we run over that check list one more time?
Wait — WTF?? What did he say? But this is Keith Olbermann speaking, a god amongst men. You said so yourself. Ergo it must be true. The next time you hear some righty screaming for Olby's head, bear in mind the old expression useful idiots. Ol' Keith is doing a superb job.
Posted by Dr. Mercury
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12:14
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Friday morning linksVia Surber:
Breitbart on Breitbart Examiner: Failure is success for Obama fans Onward Toward an Entitlement Society Quinnipiac Poll: Obama Would Lose to 'Unnamed Republican' Powerline: Get your hand out of my shower Liberal Tax Revolt - Some Democrats decide they prefer lower rates. Obama isn't one of them. Jerrold Nadler?!?!? How Diversity Punishes Asians, Poor Whites and Lots of Others Am Thinker: Of Course Obama's a Socialist Democrats pull plug on climate bill
Larry Elder: NAACP fights old fights, embraces liberal policies Forty-Seven States Have Lost Jobs Since Stimulus Farce
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05:45
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Thursday, July 22. 2010Thursday morning linksEver hear of Bikini Ideology? Sounds like envy to me. What's next in space? Chesterton on the Three Stages of Conversion (h/t Anchoress) Oakland allows industrial-scale marijuana farms. Groovy, dude. As if CA didn't have enough stoners. Poll: Faith in Social Security system tanking Jobless Giving Up on Obama Economy Rasmussen: Paul up 8 in Kentucky Limbaugh responds to JournoList death wish report AL GORE SEX SCANDAL SHOCKER, POLICE INVESTIGATE TWO MORE! Me so horney. It’s come to this: Some California civil servants making close to $1 million per year. Also, Oakland’s well-paid police. It's simple plunder of the hapless taxpayers. Harsanyi: Obama's Faith in Government Force:
Cuba release 'could lead to US lifting embargo' Jules: Arizona On The Charles Rick Moran has no friends, wants no friends. One blogger's personal profile:
And Washington Reb talks about his view of the world:
Inconvenient satellite data disappears Am Thinker: America's Fast Track to the Third World Ace: More Leaked JournoList Emails. Related: Also related: It Begins: Journolistas Start Preemptive Confessions Also, I like this one via Powerline:
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06:00
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Wednesday, July 21. 2010Un-freakin'-believable: The JournoList ConspiracyMaybe Leftism really is a mental illness. I have always regarded that claim as hyperbole, while acknowledging the totalitarian impulses implicit in "Progressivism." "Who are these people?", as a snobby pal often says in his obnoxious way. But really, who do these people think they are? And why do they think they are better or smarter than me? I do not want to control them, so why do they want to control what I do or read or think? It is strange. He says:
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13:01
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Why the JournoList scandal has no legsInsty's link says it has some, but I very much doubt it. Internet legs maybe, but does anybody expect the MSM itself to take on an expose of itself? This is like Climategate - just some silly emails. Isn't it? Add: What a fine "conversation about race" the country is having. I want people to shut up about race. It's a dumb topic. I see no improvement in the level of political discourse.
Posted by The Barrister
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11:34
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Shirley should get her job back
I'm with Jonah on this - unless I learn more. Riehl disagrees.
Tuesday, July 20. 2010Free Speech Limits?: Libel Tourism And Stolen ValorCongressional intent and judicial interpretation of the first amendment may conflict. Two recent examples: The US Senate just passed by unanimous consent the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act, HR 2765 (SPEECH Act). It is expected to pass the House. There’s little reason that the president shouldn’t sign off. My good friend Rachel Ehrenfeld, doughty immigrant that she is, took our Constitution to heart and waged an at first solitary campaign to restrict “libel tourism” when she was its victim for a book she’d written exposing the enemy-funding financial dealings of a wealthy Arab. She acquired powerful allies, across the political spectrum, until New York State passed a law that required judgments in foreign courts where our level of free speech protections do not rule to meet US standards in order to be enforced in the US. Below the fold is Rachel’s press release. Here are the AP and here the AFP news reports. In past conversations with Rachel I’ve had some concerns about how US standards of free speech may be interpreted by the courts. Those in positions to know, she says, feel US standards of libel are well-enough defined so there’s confidence in prevailing without undue blockage of the Congressional intent. So be it to see. Continue reading "Free Speech Limits?: Libel Tourism And Stolen Valor"
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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14:08
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The JournoList ScandalThe story is being posted all over. This bit at Surber's post:
Wish I had time to discuss today, but I don't.
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