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, April 15. 2010Tea Party BarbieWe do not want to dwell on the Tea Party subject, but this is cute (h/t, NRO). Note the cheerful and friendly demeanor, the unabashed patriotism, the good grooming, and the absence of a Che t-shirt: she is the New Wholesome Cool - and the Vanguard of the Revolution! She needs a bio, though. I can easily come up with one, but I won't. Too Big To Fail: Tea Party SaviorLet’s get to the bottom line: Those claiming that their industry is too big to fail are those who are failures, failing in their basic responsibilities to plan, manage and innovate, most often accompanied by rewarding themselves with high pay and perks. In the 1980’s, many large corporations were acquired by vulture capitalists, broken up and otherwise disposed of. Yes, hundreds of billions of dollars were sometimes wasted on acquisitions that proved worthless, except to the wheelers-and-dealers’ fees, although in far more cases reorganized leaner and meaner competitors emerged. American industries, and those who wanted to keep their jobs, were forced to adapt if they wanted to remain viable. The American economy prospered anew. Many millions of employees were dislocated, struggled, but American unemployment was at new lows as new opportunities were created. Those lessons, like most, need to be relearned anew with each generation. Continue reading "Too Big To Fail: Tea Party Savior"
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12:30
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Tax Day linksImage of a Japanese breakfast (that is canned coffee, BTW) from Flares Truly the I'm Not Dead Yet post of the day. Iowahawk wants a pic of your worst wheels. Regarding your gross old toenails Why do colleges care about extracurricular activities? The Puritan Left and life's little pleasures. Related: Banning corn syrup in NY? Gotta laugh at Gordon Brown:
Sarah Palin kills John Stossel has a blog. More people have been killed by Oregon's windmills than died at Three Mile Island Two subsidies: Ethanol and unconventional natural gas
Europe's VAT Lessons: Rates start low and increase, while income tax rates stay high. Ed Koch begins:
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06:58
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Wednesday, April 14. 2010Today's Boston Tea PartyInfo about it via Jules in Beantown. I think it's just great for people to take the trouble to show up and express themselves. The folks are getting flak from the MSM, if not scurrilous and dishonest attacks and attempted sabotages, which must be a tell that these demonstrations/protests mean something real. As Palin always says, you know you're near the target when you start getting the heavy flak. There was a fair amount of hate expressed - by the haters of the Tea Party. The message of the Tea Partiers to the gummint, I think, is "You guys have done enough damage. Leave us alone to run our own lives." Hewitt is along the same lines. Some protests are good, it seems, and some are bad. Back in the day, anti-war protests were good places to pick up "revolutionary" granola gals with no morals. When I consider how six batty old Code Pink ladies used to show up and get non-stop front page coverage about their "moral authority," and compare it to the MSM coverage of the thousands of women that show up for these Tea events across the country, I just have to smile. It is so predictable. Weds. morning linksA shout-out to our Prez: Quit embarrassing me, you big pussy. And I even do like Burger King. But how come foreign leaders don't bow to Obama? And who is Chief of Protocol? Mrs. Earthworm? AVI is re-reading Screwtape. He feels convicted in every chapter. But I feel convicted on every page - so I win! The best teachers aren't trained to teach. All the fancy private schools know that. How TV-watching can alter your view of reality: Cultivation Theory Some violence is OK - if it's from the Religion of Peace... Angela Merkel - More American than the O The shift of unions towards big government MRC Special Report: How the Media Have Dismissed and Disparaged the Tea Party Movement How propaganda works today: Volokh. Kopel responds earnestly, as if truth mattered in that game. Speaking of propaganda, Krugman does it again How much money do Profs make these days? Tea Party founders were small government radicals Palin Derangement Syndrome in Boston. It's not about Palin: same thing would and will happen to any Conservative who rises to prominence. Why taxing the rich won't work in New Jersey anymore. Related video: Christie is Reagan with a Jersey edge. A few quotes from the big guy via the Hot Air link:
Fred Singer: Climategate Whitewash Robin of Berkeley's apology letter to America Neptunus on his taxes:
NYT says it now: It's about rationing care Money from wind: It's the subsidy that will make you rich. I believe that is termed rent-seeking. Cheerful graph from Willisms:
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04:33
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Tuesday, April 13. 2010Why VAT is a bad ideaAnd to make matters worse, try finding this federal tax on a receipt. I would be in favor of replacing the federal income tax with a VAT, however. Addendum: Excellent policy piece on VAT Tuesday morning linksMore bowing to dictators. I think it's more than a twitch and I think it's more than a submissive character trait. What do our readers think? Says Ledeen:
Insane: Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again More insanity: Unlearning whiteness. He includes this quote:
Then call me a neo-racist. Call me anything you want. I don't care. Sticks and stones... Wilkinson: Do Libertarians Have Anything Interesting to Say to Liberals? Phil Jones is unraveling Surber: "Here’s an idea: Let FedEx and UPS take over the post office." The cynical politics of immigration More cynical politics: Incentives Not to Work - Larry Summers v. Senate Democrats on jobless benefits. VDH: The Ongoing Melodrama of Victims and Oppressors. A quote:
Bad times in South Africa. Do they want to be Zimbabwe? The hatred never ends: Hateful East Coast Leftists Attack Sarah Palin Before Her Boston Rally… Media Silent WaPo: We Haven't Seen Any Evidence of Tea Party Racism Yet, But Hang Tight While We Investigate Cookbook medical care coming to the US?
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05:26
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Monday, April 12. 2010Monday evening tab dumpAnchoress: The Celibacy Lecture. I say, if you want perfection, look to God for it, not to clergy or any other mortal souls. So generous: Washington will spend $31,406 per household this year. Where's my check?
Bob Geldof: Buffoon. He thought Africans were so pathetic that they needed mediocre Western rock musicians to "help" them.
Via Carpe Diem: The sexism in Vet schools is approaching the crisis point. Or do girls just "love animals" more than guys? Why do you want to be a Vet? "I love animals." Sheesh. So be a farmer. Or get a rescue dog. What the world needs now is more hot babe dentists..."Why do you want to be a dentist?" "I love teeth." All Criticism of Obama Is Racist ... Again. I love that placard. PC Pinheads Want to Ban the Word 'Obese' So As Not to Offend Fat Kids. Did Michele O get the memo? Is Pinch a poofter? Love that word.
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18:43
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Monday morning linksSpittlegate. A MSM scandal What really drives climate changes? The Milankovitch Cycle For Mad Men fans, a post on their props, via a piece at Driscoll The people who do not want medical insurance Dalrymple: Very Few Innocents in Housing Market Collapse Parks on Leftist racism. A quote:
Comments on the Ferguson essay about behavioral economics, which we posted yesterday, at Volokh What entitlement crisis? The Islamist Ghost Haunting Europe Hennessey: Should taxpayers subsidize underwater homeowners? Amil Imani: Jews as scapegoats The KKK in Rhode Island. It's a crisis. Crash course: Your illustrated guide to the Tea Party saboteurs
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06:47
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Sunday, April 11. 2010Do Americans need "regulating"?Ferguson's excellent essay at Weekly Standard, titled Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink: Behavioral economics—the governing theory of Obama’s nanny state, quotes the Prez:
Gee whiz, it sounds very "scientific." My response to the notion that my supposed betters need to regulate and nudge me and my life is not printable on a family website such as Maggie's. I do not care whether it "works" or not. Mussolini made the trains run on time, too. I believe that our Maggie's team and our readers know far more about life than Barack Obama or Cass Sunstein will ever know.
Posted by Bird Dog
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15:09
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Sunday morning linksWaterbury, CT: Orthodox Jews Come to a Well-Worn City, Pleased to Find a Piece of Paradise Why do some suffer PTSD, others don’t? A Great Friend of the United States, Freedom, and the Jewish People Last Supper helpings have grown - An unusual study looks at the food portions in artistic depictions of the Last Supper throughout history. The Crisis by Thomas Paine "We expect you to resume losing money by this Friday." Americans this year will spend more on taxes than on clothing, food and shelter combined. Coming movie revises Bible and distorts history to malign Jews and Evangelical Christians
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07:18
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Saturday, April 10. 2010A Barristical commentAmong our link dump Friday morning was a piece on a Cyberspace Bill of Rights. We need no "rights." We are a free people. Our own Bill of Rights was an unfortunate (if politically necessary) error of the time. Why an error? An error because it made it appear that only the listed "rights" were the rights of citizens. In the USA, it is the government which has (or had) strictly circumscribed powers. The rest are ours alone - our individual powers - not our "rights." Americans do not have circumscribed "rights." We are not supposed to need them. Alas, PolandEd Morrissey and Professor William Jacobson inform us about the tragic death in an airline crash of the brave Polish president and a large number of Poland’s leadership, on their way to a joint commemoration with Russia of the 1940 slaughter of 22,000 Polish officers by the Soviet Union. For those of you who don’t recall Katyn, I wrote about it last August.
Wonder what hollow words President Obama will utter now?
As usual from Obama, contradicted by his undercutting of Poland volunteering to host anti-missile defense and his disdain for Polish President Lech Kaczynski when alive. Israel surely gets the point. The New York Times asks: "For Poland, the losses raise the question of how a country of 38 million can replace a whole political class." It had to before and will again, because Poles and their leaders have clearsighted historical memory and courage.
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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10:31
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Saturday morning linksShrinkwrapped: How the poor are different Video: Jimmy Doolittle talks about the raid on Tokyo Rates of casual sex swelling. We are just monkeys, aren't we? Or are we not? The Great Books are the answer. The Bible is one of them. Malanga: The bloat in NJ's schools (h/t, Tiger) Great news for Billings, MT - and for your grandkids who will pay for this crap. 40,000 Cuban advisors now in Venez All the proles need to know about government medical care:
That Pelosi sure is a deep one. Good fun with supply and demand curves re health care The Britain "bringing climate change to the heart of the national curriculum." Nothing else to learn, is there? Front Page: The power of the drones How did people ever survive for 20,000 years in Europe without massive EU regulation? HuffPo: The battle for the soul of the Dem Party A hungry Leviathan. The VAT, at Q&O:
Keynes vs. Hayek. Of course, we know the only reason that Keynesian stimuli remain popular is pure politics - a justification to reward those one wishes to reward with $. If the US Europeanizes, Europe is in trouble Lenin the politician:
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07:12
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Friday, April 9. 2010Friday morning links
Henninger: Youth joblessness in the US, and the Eurozone's jobs dystopia Why should we need a Bill of Rights for Cyberspace? We already have free speech In Bid To Reform Fannie and Freddie, Obama Can’t Shake Crony Clintonistas Who Caused the Mess Steyn: Strange that the more Canada congratulates itself on its ‘tolerance’ the less it’s prepared to tolerate. He quotes some uncloseted totalitarian:
That is, we don't need no steenkin freedom. Roseanne Barr: Parents Who Take Children to Catholic Church Should Lose Custody Dick Morris: DEM STRATEGISTS HAVE IT WRONG Big Journalism: The Mainstream Media: Fourth Estate Or Fifth Column? RedState: Democrats plot two-pronged attack on Internet freedom Our friend Skook with a Moose story - and nuclear weapons Give me niceness or give me death GM: More Troubles Coming Down the Road Driscoll: Twilight Of The Gods: CNN’s Current, Pitiful State Time for a fresh look at the Commerce Clause? Will the Individual Mandate Hold up in Court? Unemployed slackers:
I have heard this plenty of times: "With the extension, I have nine more months of unemployment, so I'll start looking seriously in a few months"? CT Post: That's Greece in the mirror Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd wants to impose some changes on the way that financing for new ventures works in America VAT attack. Beware: 'Value-added tax' is an economy-killer Powerline: 10 reasons not to walk away from your mortgage
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06:15
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Thursday, April 8. 2010Thursday morning linksThe Moonbat Left can never decide whether they are for free love, or whether all sex is rape. Multiple census forms to some neighborhoods? Moran: DON’T SLANDER STATES’ RIGHTS Harsanyi on Michelle Obama's misguided war on childhood obesity Michelle: True Confessions from America's Census Workers Dr. Clouthier's slick new site: Liberty Pundits Villianous asks how do you marginalize a majority? Black conservative tea party backers take heat The people who do not need to pay taxes. Related: Welcome To Vermont Where We Subsidize (Almost) Everyone. Related at No Pasaran: The Land of the
Plus it's an easy way to tax the middle class and the poor. Wiz: Massachusetts health care system killing insurance companies?
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05:45
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Wednesday, April 7. 2010From Birmingham: Stop me before I steal againAt Pajamas, excellent brief tragi-comic post on Jefferson Co, Alabama. One quote:
Too much sea ice, plus medical careExcessive Arctic sea ice endangers cute baby seals, Polar Bears, this year.
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12:55
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Weds. morning linksHow has the American diet changed over the past 100 years? Goldberg: How much taxation is enough? They sent Volcker out to say it first The guy who is going up against Barney Frank The world's tallest building opens Too late to short carbon stocks? Current Senate race rankings Gaming medical insurance in Massachusetts Catch 22: Higher CAFE standards and more ethanol - but ethanol lowers MPG. And why ethanol anyway? Electric cars: The Coal-Powered Car And Its Discontents A (Teddy) Rooseveltian concept: limit the size of banks. My question of the day, though, is this: Is KKR "too big to fail"?
The Case for Common Educational Standards. In 1950, 60% of the jobs required no particular skills. The world has changed. The Menace of Strategic Default: Homeowners who walk away from their mortgages undermine our financial system. From Insty:
From Surber:
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06:16
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Tuesday, April 6. 2010Dems applaud their obstructionismTuesday midday linksWhite & guilty: ‘Whiteness’ workshop helps expose your inner racist Will you still need her, will you still feed her, when she's 64? Next Bailout - Hospitals Hurt By Obamacare From Tiger: Thor Heyerdahl meets recycling: Follow the voyage of the Plastiki. Surber on academic idiocy:
Many grow happier with the years, experts say. And then you die. Chris Currey: How the GOP Purged Me Update: A Complete List Of Bad Things Attributed To Global Warming
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11:41
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Monday, April 5. 2010Monday late afternoon links: Lots of good readsCalifornia Voters Support ObamaCare. They eat Unicorn meat out there (image via Surber). An atheist: Secularism's Ongoing Debt to Christianity Outsourcing grading Dr. Helen: Is Control over Porn Really about Control over Men’s Sexuality? From Back to the 1970s: Let’s Get Small!
Can Christie save New Jersey? Wilkinson: Glen Whitman and the Rise of the New Paternalism Insurers not demons, just messengers Containing Mexico Switzerland as an example for the world From Mead's Liberal Internationalism: The Twilight of a Dream:
AVI: America is a Pacifist nation Is the O eloquent no more? Related: What do some Democrats say in private to each other? Powerline: Why can't they just forgive and forget? Rahe: Global warming, RIP Guy at the NYT thinks he understands me:
Plain cruel: The O's sissy pitch Classical liberals should support open borders. It is a debate. Tea PartayJuan Williams gets quite a few facts wrong but he is beginning to get it. AP’s Fournier: Relax, it’s just a Tea Party Whoa… 4 in 10 Tea Party Protesters Are Democrats or Independent Rep. Cleaver backs away from spitting claim Neoneo: It is difficult to demonize tea partiers. Indeed it is, neo. My pup's scarey violent Tea Partay (with potentially lethal croquet) a couple of years ago: Monday morning linksThe new boom in cocktails. Yum. Cocktails are good. Web 2.0: "Among the 300 million internet users in China, for example, there are reportedly 50 million bloggers and over 100 million blogs." 300 million Chinese on the intertubes, and only about 3 of them read Maggie's Farm. Why is that? Do we need to publish an edition in Mandarin? We could show them how to Question Authority. Did you notice that there is no census category for "mixed race"? Why not? Most "racial" people in the US are mixed, aren't they? Like our Prez. Furthermore, why do they care what race or mixed races we are anyway? Being for states rights means you want slavery back. OK, I know that "argument" has no logical consistency, and is just meant to be a smear. Krauthammer: Slapping our friends Ralph Peters on voting for illegals Why not wind down the post office? From Steyn yesterday:
The whole transcript of the O's Baffle Them With Bullshit response. Greenpeace posts threats Why can't we find a Climategate summary like this in US Media? Al Gore goes into defensive mode Why we cannot believe the NY Times: They print stories like this, while data like this comes out. The usually calm Steve Forbes loses his temper More praise for Rep. Paul Ryan MSM still in the tank for the O, bigtime
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06:29
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Sunday, April 4. 2010CBO: ObamaCare Within 5% Of Nationalizing Insurance CompaniesObamaCare’s regulation of medical loss ratios is crafted to come within a hair-width of the CBO considering the health insurance industry as formally nationalized. Actually, it is nationalized, at huge costs, hidden by the false cuts to providers, to the states' bearing mandated budget costs, and by those covered paying significantly higher premiums, all while the government dictates who and what is covered, how, and by whom. One of the ways in which the insurance industry is nationalized is via an imposed medical loss ratio, at the expense of choice and quality of care. In December, the Congressional Budget Office, tasked with costing the federal budget impact of ObamaCare, said that imposing a medical loss ratio of 90% on insurance companies would,
The medical loss ratio is the percentage of premiums paid out for medical care benefits. The 90% was the suggestion of Senator Rockefeller (D-WV). So, the final version of ObamaCare imposed a 5% lower medical loss ratio on each plan offered by insurers, and the Democrats slimly avoided including the nationalization of the health insurance industry in the CBO costing of ObamaCare. The federal budget cost of nationalization is not revealed by the CBO, which said it has estimates, but the costs to choice and benefits is more apparent. ObamaCare supporters simplistically assert that the portion of premiums not spent directly on benefits, administrative costs, is either wasteful or undue profits. The profit margin of the health insurance industry, about 3%, is well below that of other industries. Let’s, then, look at whether they are wasteful. The CBO looked at medical loss ratios in its Key Issues in Analyzing Major Health Insurance Proposals in December 2008.
According to that CBO report, the portion of administrative costs devoted to benefit enhancement and more effective delivery of services is about a third, for customer service, care management, creating and monitoring performance of provider networks, claims processing, regulatory compliance, and information technology. In addition, one should add a portion of management overhead. The
ObamaCare supporters are accusing insurers of gaming ObamaCare by their reclassifying some of these costs to increase their medical loss ratio. In fact, insurers are more properly classifying expenses of better delivering and managing medical benefits. The CBO report says that increased economies of scale, as may be seen in ObamaCare’s exchanges, may reduce administrative costs by up to 3%. On the other hand, the increased regulatory compliance may eat up some or much of that. Other elements of administrative costs that improve care may be reduced by insurers required to post an artificial statistic imposed by ObamaCare. Another portion of administrative costs is probable to impact choice, lowered commissions to and increased duties by insurance agents. The CBO reports (page 65):
Large groups also depend upon extensively trained, knowledgeable agents and brokers. As someone with extensive earned credentials and experience as an independent broker, I wrote about the value of such agents and brokers, including beyond that directly related to the medical plan.
Some assert that the increased number of formerly uninsured will offset lower commissions. But most of those now to be covered will be in state Medicaid programs or other government programs. And, lowered commissions, already low, and higher operating costs will not be offset by higher volume for most of the several hundred thousand independent agents and brokers. I’m near retirement, but many thousands of others will be forced out of their livelihood. As the CBO said in December 2009, it’s a very slim margin in it considering health insurance nationalized. At minimum, experts now consider the health insurance industry transformed into a public, government-run utility. In reality, together with all the other intrusions and controls in ObamaCare, the health insurance industry is nationalized. Some may be net beneficiaries due to, most prominently, taxpayer subsidies, those responsible having to pay for others who wait to obtain coverage until they are ill or injured, or increased government bureaucracy jobs. Everyone else suffers at the hands of ObamaCare.
Posted by Bruce Kesler
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12:52
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