We 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.
Saturday was New Haven, Sunday was NYC. Ah, Les Tres Riches Heures du Bird Dog. We went with dear friends to see DanceBrazil at the Joyce, then for early supper to the enjoyable and authentic Sicilian specialty restaurant Bar Eolo on 7th Ave. (Ask me for menu tips.)
We hadn't realized it was the day of the Gay Pride march on the West Side. By the time we sat down for supper outside, swarms - thousands - of gays were moving back uptown from their destination which I think had been the West Village. "Hi, Happy Pride!" Anyway, it made for some entertaining and curious people-watching. I told Mrs. BD that my Mom would have loved that scene which seems exotic to me. My question was why and how do so many gays (male or female) look gay. No Gaydar required, believe me. It's, like, obvious.
I suspect my buddy expected me as a wacko Christian conservative (ie Evil Right Wing Nazi) to be hostile or uncomfortable. Naw. Christians get a kick (mostly) out of all of God's creation. It was just strange, and a colorful spectacle. I can say that we four felt like aliens from a straight bourgeois planet - which was fine. Overall, fun. Do male gays add more to life than those grim-looking lesbians with their fat girlfriends? I tend to think so. However, I saw a handful of those lesbian marchers whose feminine charms, IMO, were going to waste and I said so.
DanceBrazil was something else. Mrs. BD gave me some words: Muscular, acrobatic, quick, primitive, full-body dancing. She said they were all ballet-trained, but probably lifted weights too. These men and women are seriously strong. Exhausting to watch because of the intense physicality. Very good, high-energy high-intensity stuff. Here's a clip from them a couple of years ago.
Also, a few random pics below the fold - but none of the gay parade people really.
We live in a world where Bobby Jindal is a fake Indian, but it’s racist to say an older white woman isn’t a real one (the correct term being “Native American,” of course). Nikki Haley is a villain for “suppressing” her Indian roots, but Sen. Ted Cruz is a fraud for touting his Cuban roots. (Cruz was recently grilled by Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin about how authentically Cuban he really is. At least Halperin later apologized).
Many white people in Oregon have no idea that our schools and state are
immersed in white culture and are uncomfortable and harmful to our
students of colour
You have to credit the Left: Its strategy is deft. If you can make enough noise that sounds approximately like a moral crisis, then you can in effect create a moral crisis. Never mind that the underlying argument — “Something bad has happened to somebody else, and so you must give us something we want!” — is entirely specious; it is effective.
“Normative
sociology, the study of what the causes of problems ought to be,
greatly fascinates us all” - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/06/normative-sociology.html#sthash.I4faI8Ij.dpuf
"He headed back to Woodstock when the tour wrapped and continued to work on the piece. "The first two lines, which rhymed 'kiddin' you' and 'didn't you,' just about knocked me out," he told Rolling Stone in 1988, "and when I got to the jugglers and the chrome horse and the princess on the steeple, it all just about got to be too much."
CHARLIE HEBDO WAS UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT: Obama on Charleston shooting: “Let’s be clear —this kind of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”
Why do jerks like Obama jump on a tragedy to try to score political points? It is disgusting. My prayers for the families and for the congregation of the church.
According to psychologist David Lisak, “the vast majority of sexual assaults on campuses, in fact over 90 percent, are being perpetrated by serial offenders.” These people, Lisak suggests, are not only “prolific” but calculating, too: “They’ve perfected ways of identifying who on campus, for example, are most vulnerable.”
Jindal went right to the top, taking aim at President Barack Obama."Find me an enemy he can name," Jindal said. "He won't say radical Islamic terrorist. He goes to the Coast Guard, at this military graduation, warns them about climate change. Now he can agree he's going to protect us from microwave popcorn and french fries.
"I've got a deal for the president," Jindal said. "I'll protect my kids from the Oreo cookies if he will do his job as commander in chief and protect us from the terrorists."
Most people, of course, don’t really care if partially hydrogenated oils fall out of the food supply. What they do care about is the unremitting efforts of politicians to micromanage their lives.
"Even if you never plan to consume a smidgen of trans fat ever again, note well: many public health advocates are itching for the FDA to limit allowable amounts of salt, sugar, caffeine, and so forth in food products."
A few suggestions from a reader on what things to promote to reduce material poverty around the world:
work ethic showing up on time frugality saving investing for profit enforceable contracts freely entered independent arbitration of disputes rule of law in which all persons are equal secure private property rights good education to high standards
All the same, I believe the Pope' s job is to worry about spiritual poverty, not material. St. Francis took a vow of poverty and rejection of secular matters to assist his spiritual development and preaching mission.
Unpaid Internships Are Worth it: 
My college sex education: In her first year, a student finds a campus obsessed with hooking up —
Following Fistfights with Uber Drivers, Paris's Taxi Motorists Strike on Thursday 
Pic from 
NYC: Hooray for the High Bridge -
Photo: 
Photo from Sipp's