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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Thursday, January 12. 2012I Can See the Democrats Chuckling: Warren BuffetYesterday, Warren Buffett did something that was, in my opinion, outlandish and childish. He says he felt guilty for his comment about needing to pay more in taxes, so he took it upon himself to offer a dollar for dollar match for every extra payment a GOP member of Congress makes. Except for Mitch McConnell, who he will match 3 to 1. Buffett is mistaken on several levels. First, as the linked article points out, why weren't Democrats and Obama included in this dare? Clearly this is Buffett's partisan nature and bias showing through. He is seeking to demonize one party over the other, without justification. I haven't seen Democrats lining up to make extra payments, nor have I seen Obama going 'over and above'. Secondly, and more importantly, I shouldn't have to see anybody making extra payments. Not Buffett, not Democrats, not Republicans, not Obama. Making these payments is a personal decision, not a public one. Buffett went public with his statement last year that the wealthy should pay more taxes. Maybe they should, but I don't think that's a real issue. If Buffett wants to pay more, and T. Boone Pickens doesn't, let one send in the extra check as he sees fit, while the other chooses not to. Buffett went public, so he is turning this into a game. It's a game I'm not interested in, unless it is done fairly. Buffett rigged this game from the start. He is more interested in making certain politicians look bad. I think it makes him look bad.
Posted by Bulldog
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10:30
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A few Thursday morning linksDid your Mom ever make you kids coffee jello for dessert? Mine did. It's good. Bird Man: A portfolio of John Isaac's close encounters of the avian kind Travel advice from my Pupette: When you go to third world countries, bring some Cipro with you Every hear of "childism"? That nutty lady never had a child Men and Women Have Major Personality Differences: New Report Suggests Previous Measurements Have Underestimated Variation Between the Sexes Well, I'll be darned University Guildsmen and Anticapitalism Here's the scare info on fracking. Ever read the package insert on your medicines? It's sort of like that. Haiti: Where did the money go? A great place for NGOs “Italy will astound the world,” he replied, “with its ingratitude.” Mead:
Herbert London: The Failure of the Century's Grand Experiments:
Wednesday, January 11. 2012Why is Mitt Romney so cautious?Here's one possible answer: His Dad's political ambitions were crushed by the Dem media after a casual comment. A quote from Charen:
Anti-Fracking
The anti-energy crowd has NYS pols cowed. It's a shame that people listen to them at all, since it just sounds like empty fear-mongering. to me.
Posted by The News Junkie
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11:55
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Weds. morning linksPhoto via Ace Cajun Crayfish Invading Africa, Eating Native Species Sowell: Kodak and the Post Office Bankrupt Greece Expands the Gravy Train ONE MARKET, ONE CURRENCY, ONE PEOPLE? THE FAULTY LOGIC OF EUROPE Obsessive Koch disorder at the Times As you might imagine, government is Krugman’s answer for all perceived wrongs.. A Radical Solution For America’s Worsening College Tuition Bubble ...there appears to be a disconnect between Obama’s 1970s-vintage ideas and the real world of the early 21st century Ideas Have Sex, and We’re Better for It - If government will just stay out of the bar, ideas will meet and mate and produce wonderful things.
Tuesday, January 10. 2012My job sucks right nowIt's usually pretty good, satisfying, and adequately-compensated, but right now it's a bit of a bummer. The biz is slow and quite stressful, and it (corporate communications, PR, investor relations, marketing, etc.) is a good measure of the condition of the US economy. Perhaps this is my winter depression, DSM 4 "Life sucks." I have not been skiing often enough. My bonus this year is half of last year's. I need a new hot girlfriend who can appreciate my annoying quirks and bad habits. Why can't the government give me some money and some cute sweet girls just be be my wonderful self, so I can go protest something, or go back up to Sugarloaf for a few days? I blame Obama. Everybody always told me that I was very special, wonderful and talented, but maybe they lied. Obama Has Made Youth More Miserable. If my next big deal goes through this week, we can delete this post. Plenty of difficult work is all I want. If I am not working 7 days/week at my age, I feel like I am wasting my time. Thankfully, I am no Euro-weenie, and don't have a union job like my Dad did where they prevented you from working too hard or too long.
Posted by The News Junkie
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10:50
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Tuesday morning linksA good movie I just heard about: Molokai: The Story Of Father Damien (2008) Reader likes this camera: First Look: Canon PowerShot G1 New Orleans competes with Vegas as the sleazy underbelly of America. Still, No Signs Providing Visual Access to Carnal Language, Including Phonetic Spellings Restless Brain Syndrome and the Quest for the Perfect Word Non-citizen Voting in Connecticut He simply has to come clean on Romneycare. 'Worried well' are warned against taking daily aspirin: Pills can cut heart attacks by 10% but raise risk of internal bleeding by nearly a third My Doc makes me take a baby aspirin daily. He does it too. For Crippling Debt, Why Not Try Grad School? If you love debt, nothing beats it - including Christmas shopping How the US bullied poor little Castro The Death of Hopey-Change… By 2-1 Margin, Americans Not Only Reject But Fear Obama’s Reelection Michelle: The incredible incompetence of the non-Romneys The New Cold War With The Same Old Russia New paper: AGW may save us from the next ice age We have been praying for globalistical warmening for years. Too bad that the warmening stopped 13 years ago. Mother Nature is a trickster. Re-linked: Fred Siegel and Joel Kotkin - The New Authoritarianism:
If you want to know what a Tea Party America might look like, there is no place like Kansas. Valuing Freedom over Free Services? Shockingly American. Who is Mia Love? Governor Awesome a few weeks ago:
and this week, handling heckers in NH. Guy knows how to talk to people, and makes Mitt seem like a milquetoast:
Monday, January 9. 2012Winter Scientific Poll #3: Recycling and GarbageHave you ever bothered to see what happens to your town's recycling? Those bins and things you put out there - where do they go? And are you charged for this extra effort of yours? In my home town, we have to lug cardboard to the For all of this self-applauding virtuously annoying pleasure, my most recent research reveals that ours all goes to a landfill in upstate New York, some is trucked to West Virginia to be dumped in a swamp or something, and some is burned by a subsidized power plant. There is no market for this "garbage" other than the marketplace for meaningless virtue. Glass, plastic, and newspaper, for starters, are far cheaper to make new than to recycle. Who is making money from this scam which makes naive soccer moms feel better about themselves? Do me a favor and find out the facts about your local recycling - where does it all finally end up, and whether you pay extra for the privilege. Let us know. I think there's a news story in it.
Posted by The Barrister
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15:20
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Iron LadyIf you are fascinated with Alzheimer's or are in love with Meryl Streep's phenomenal talents playing an Alzheimer's patient, see Iron Lady. If you have any interest in Margaret Thatcher as a person or leader of Great Britain, don't expect any of that in this movie. The non-Alzheimer's flashbacks probable amount to less than 20% of this disjointed movie, and are designed to conceal any utility of her policies or actions, such as when she is portrayed as viciously attacking the poor Argentinians despite the advice of her admirals. In short, it is clear that Mrs. T and her politics were repugnant to the writers and producers, who are using Streep's fabulous talents in one of the more effective hatchet jobs (fortunately, the hatchet was so blunt the agenda is obvious to all). Monday morning linksThe Earbug Epidemic Treating Cosmo like porn New Regulations Crush New England Fisheries - Even local Democrats are crying foul. ‘The Largest Convention Center in the Nation, Period’ – In Queens? Lee Smith asks us to imagine a Middle East without Christians Why the EU Will Never Again Ask an Actual Innovator to Speak at an Innovation Convention Gingrich Supporters Release Anti-Romney Flick On His Tenure With Bain Capital (Trailer) Nasty ad which reflects poorly on Newt, but the Dems will do the same Gallup: Obama in trouble E-Verify as a wedge issue Can Romney's commitment to expediency be a substitute for reliable conservative instincts? ,,,for generating continuous main power, solar is a green toy Sunday, January 8. 2012Sunday morning linksThe moronic world of Occupy Copenhagen Will Harvard Stop Trying to Impose Orthodoxies? DC lawmakers propose law to require all students to apply to college More Conservative Than You Think -The new Mitt Romney Why getting a good education and a good job doesn’t necessarily mean going to a four-year college "You don't see Korean or Vietnamese immigrants risking their lives to make it to America, only to complain after they get here that all the slack is gone. Why? Because they appreciate slack and know how to use it. Indeed, if not for state sponsored racial discrimination, most of the students in the UC system would be Asian." Rant du Jour: The World’s Most Dishonest Newspaper Saturday, January 7. 2012The global warmening thing is overAt Watts: Green Movement Dead In The Water. It's been said many times before, but it certainly seems moribund. Problem is that too many people, and governments, make big bucks from the scam. I remain in favor of more warmening for the benefit of the human species, but am preparing for the coming Ice Age apocalypse by buying a 1-BR condo in West Palm. (Just kidding. Florida is not my kind of place.) Like this tune, though:
Posted by The News Junkie
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10:31
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Saturday morning linksVanderleun: The 9 Minute Lecture on How to Have a Longer Life Exercise Via Insty, Revenge of the Point-and-Shoot - Samsung wants you to know the camera isn't dead yet. Kodak invented the digital camera, but... How Art History Majors Power the U.S. Economy: Virginia Postrel Lefties Wet Their Pants Thinking about Post-Obama America Will: Government: The redistributionist behemoth The Mt. Rainier Shooting and PTSD: How the Media Got It Wrong Charles Blow: Repubs already going racist Good grief Senator Marco Rubio to Obama: You’re Turning America Into a “Deadbeat Nation” Fred Siegel and Joel Kotkin - The New Authoritarianism: A firm hand for a “nation of dodos” Friday, January 6. 2012"Death to Pennies"
Personal thoughts: — IMHO, the greatest invention of the 1990's was the 'penny tray' at convenience stores. — I've referred to them as 'pocket pollution' for decades. — When I get home from shopping, I empty my pockets, file any important receipts, dump any coins in the change jar and drop any pennies in the waste basket, where they rightfully belong. Friday morning linksOrthorexia - When eating healthy turns obsessive Like babies, dogs pick up on human intent Migration of whooping cranes halted in Alabama because of FAA regulation Does hot sex prevent breast cancer? Doubtful, but it's never a bad idea anyway Sign of Discontent: NYT’s Largest Union Sends Letter to Sulzberger With Over 500 Signatures How $1 in health insurance gets spent Nine of the Top Ten Religious Persecutors Are Islamic in Advocacy Group’s Annual Rankings Wind farm requires diesel engines Like the Greeks, Romans don't pay their taxes The desire for government policies to address the "obesity crisis" Good grief Will Republicans Hand the Left a VAT Victory? - Mitt Romney won't rule out the possibility of imposing a tax that's the fast track to a European welfare state. Mitt Romney Is Stuck Because He's Not A Pro-Growth Republican He isn't? Kudlow claims he is. Wilkinson: Why I am not a bleeding-heart Libertarian Half of World’s Richest 1% Live in America – Obama Wants to Change That David Brooks: Obama is ‘certainly more liberal than I thought he was’ It always takes David years to see the blindingly obvious. He should write his op-eds, then past-date them a few years. He is a naif, and a pussy-man too - but that's why he has his job. Commentary: Upcoming Election Will Determine America’s Standing as a Superpower Rhode Island Miracle Explained - How a liberal state reformed its pensions. Thursday, January 5. 2012Thursday morning linksSeriously, If You Pick The Wrong Major Then Prepare To Be Unemployed Walmart’s Ancestor - A new book chronicles the rise and fall of A&P. Walter Williams: I love greed:
The Great Golden State Business Exodus Whitewashing History for California's Kids In the UK, the dole pays out close to the UK median working wage Their politics sanctions - or encourages - dependency and lack of dignity Advisory group recommends withholding billions for high-speed rail Capitalism Is A System Of Wealth Redistribution Always seemed to me that a mortgage is just renting from a bank, while you assume all the risk and all of the costs Obama defies lawmakers with recess appointments to NLRB But if Bush did this... White House: When Congress Won’t Cooperate, Obama Will Take ‘Small, Medium and Large’ Executive Actions But if Bush tried that... Children of the Corn: The Renewable Fuels Disaster The Beginning of the Negative Campaign Probe reveals feds pressuring agents to rush immigrant visas – even if fraud is feared How to Confront the Anti-Israel Fixation of the Left New forms of Terrorism in Turkey A Call for Sanity in the Anti-Romney Rhetoric Wednesday, January 4. 2012Hope and Change happening in NHNew Hampshire Ends Affirmative-Action Preferences at Colleges:
I am strongly in favor of preferential treatment for skills, talents, achievement, and potential. Commuting, Taxes and Spending in 2012I was informed, as 2011 waned, that my tax credit for commuting would fall from $230 a month to $125. This bothered me. Not because I feel I deserve a credit to commute, but because I can't figure out what the government is trying to do.
The fact is, if public transport is a 'good' we should all take advantage of no matter what, then the government should pay for it by taxing everyone and making it available for 'free' - as they do in Portland. Of course, I oppose this idea entirely. However, if the theory is that we can get people to do something that is 'good for everybody', then isn't this the way to do it? Half-measures, like credits, subsidies, and other methods of this ilk only mask what is possibly (though probably not) a problem - that public transportation isn't really viable. There are ways to determine whether this is true, but not for the average commuter. What is the premise behind having a tax credit for public commutation? I like it, I'll use it if it's offered, but I didn't demand it, nor did I write Congress to keep it at $230/month. The cost, to me, of increased taxation due to the lower credit will be about $270 over the course of the year, so it's not a big deal. Why not just get rid of it altogether? If public transport is truly efficient, then it would make much more sense for me to take it, rather than driving into the city myself (or carpooling). My commute is about $330/month. The cost of driving (assuming the Federal allowance of .55/mile and $150 a month parking) is about $780/month. Even if I made a more realistic assumption of about .25/mile, public transport is still an advantage. But public transport is heavily subsidized. So I really don't know which is more efficient, and determining this is very hard. Here is the issue: Subsidies and tax breaks are supposed to promote the 'public good'. But how do I know which is more efficient, let alone even better, for me personally? If it is a 'public good', then its value will be transparent without subsidies and credits. I'll take whatever credits get offered. It would be crazy for me not to. But I'd much rather have a clear means of determining which makes more sense by comparing simple features like cost, time and effort (hey - in the end, I like reading on the train, so if it did cost more I'd probably still take it). It is precisely this lack of transparency that makes other government initiatives, like Obamacare, a pure misallocation of resources. Unable to determine where our real efficiencies lie, we opt for what we assume is 'best' or costs us least. But we cannot know for sure if these things really make sense at all.
Posted by Bulldog
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12:34
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Weds. morning links
Monopoly - Official Trailer Man eats pizza slice from EVERY joint in Manhattan What Vietnam Taught Us About Breaking Bad Habits Ohio unemployment falls, but so does support for Obama WaPo: Gloomy numbers for Obama The latest briliant intellectual offering from one of our nation’s Ivy League universities. It’s January 2012 and so far we’ve avoided the Climate Apocalypse Progress: Canadian Senate Listens to Global Warming Skeptics Why Best Buy is Going out of Business...Gradually US Closes 2011 With Record $15.22 Trillion In Debt, Officially At 100.3% Debt/GDP, $14 Billion From Breaching Debt Ceiling The Stratfor Scandal "They [Catholics and others] will either have to change their views..." Tuesday, January 3. 2012The Romney boysA reader sent us this info about the Romney lads whose pics we posted this morning:
Tuesday morning linksNeo-neo thinks the Romney boys are hunks. I think Mrs. R rates a perfect Mrs. Late-Middle-Aged Barbie. Is she 60 years old? Well, here's Raquel Welch at 71, lookin' hot. "Progress." What is it? The Greatest Paper Map of the United States You’ll Ever See An atheist with some tough and strange messages to atheists:
Everybody "believes in something," even if it is only Self. Self is a false idol. Question is whether the "something" is worthy of devotion. Ahead of Iowa Obama campaign readies to fight Romney Father Christmas Stabbed to Death by Muslim Fanatics inTajikistan Religion of peace and tolerance kills Santa. Better not inform the kids or they might develop some intolerance too. This was evil. How journalists create the news Are we finally seeing an end to the ridiculous ethanol subsidies? A good thing. Ethanol is for drinking, not burning. CURL: Is Romney the next Kerry?
Still, everybody seems greedy for OPM. I want my MTV. Columbia jumps the shark: Columbia offers ‘Occupy 101’ I'll offer to teach Tea Party 101 for free. After all, it was a much bigger deal, with clean, non-sociopathic and polite people, involved tons more people with no arrests, and had real impact. Guess the Academic Left doesn't care for those sots of things. 40,000 new laws as of January 1. How can we be expected to know them all? We're all crims these days. Americans bought record numbers of guns last month amid an apparent surge in popularity for weapons as Christmas presents. That's a good thing. The good folks should all be armed, and guns are fun tools. Furthermore, an armed Santa is a safe Santa. The AP’s 2012 Playbook For Romney Accusations of antisemitism are building against the Center for American Progress (CAP), the left-wing umbrella organization that serves as a “brain trust” for Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the Obama administration. Bumpersticker below stolen from Legal Ins: Monday, January 2. 2012Why are all the good Jews Democrats, but you an evil Republican?
The MSM continues to boggle my mind.
Posted by The News Junkie
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13:48
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Monday morning linksIn Pictures: Hang Son Doong Cavern – The Worlds Biggest Cave Gore-mobile recalled as a fire hazard Half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money for twenty-five $89,000 cars? Adam Bellow hopes to give voice to the tea party with new conservative imprint at HarperCollins Ninety floors... and counting: The breathtaking views from One World Trade Center (and there's still 14 storeys to go) Update on that CT cop applicant who scored too high to be a cop I can’t help but think that if we had a Republican in the White House we’d be hearing wall-to-wall sob stories on that topic. George Will's Obama needn’t lose for GOP to win:
Gun Permit Holders Substantially More Law Abiding Somehow, the NYT manages to find a danger in this Related: NYT Squeezes Bad News From Good More from the NYT:
When home invaders arrive, do you phone the Brady Campaign? Sunday, January 1. 2012OWS mocks itselfThe Bigger They areThe Harder They Fall. It has been a long standing theory of mine, starting back in the late '90s, that the more complex systems become, the easier they are to break. The complexity creates conditions in which a minor glitch in one system can create havoc in other associated systems all without human interaction. This theory also applies to society as a whole as far as I'm concerned meaning that the more rules, regulations, laws and policies are enacted, the ability to circumvent them becomes easier and easier. Some other much smarter folks than I am agree.
Posted by Capt. Tom Francis
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12:23
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