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.
Our dear friend Nathan, a Jewish more-or-less atheist, decided to attend midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem this year. Good on him. His snaps and comments below:
His description of the experience begins:
I spent Midnight Mass with Mahmoud Abbas and a few thousand close -- that is tightly packed -- worshippers in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The trip to the Church of the Nativity -- up and back from Christ's birthplace -- was too adventurous.
Someone apparently not at risk of ever touching a human female boob has constructed a replica of the 4077 M*A*S*H unit in their backyard, and submitted it to Home and Garden's Rate My Space. I thought all the comic convention types were dressing up as Klingons, not Klinger nowadays, but what do I know? Go Mudhens!
Psychological "study shows" hypersensitive nuts are affected by Christmas trees. I accept that the themes of peace, joy, love, and giving to others may be tough for the diversity crowd which is drowning in angst and preoccupied with what they can get, but in an 80-90% Christian country, you ought to get used to a tannenbaum here and there. And after all, that tree is pagan anyway. German earth goddess or something.
What is it about Psychologists that they are always agonizing about the hypersensitive? Isn't their job to help people feel stronger, not more pathetic, victimized, and aggrieved?
And hey - where's all the Kwanzaa stuff this year? Perhaps the Kwanzaa cult quit their "ancient and beloved tradition" for diversity reasons, so others might not be "offended." I miss those 12 days of Socialism.
I can handle 12 days of it, but not years of it. If you give me years of it, I will quit working and let the Socialist suckers pay my bills. If they have jobs, that is.
Not sure what "whinning" is, but it's probably an extended version of whining about some perceived deprivation or injustice or whatever. Wives do that and, if I can reach back far enuf into my memory bank, I think I recall dimly that girlfriends do that too. Once they have you on the hook, that is. That's life. It's genetic. We guys, however we are, are never the right White Knight of their 13 year-old dreams. Just dopey guys is what we are, and utterly powerless without this remote control.
The only button missing is the "Be Charming, Cheerful, Optimistic about Life, Deeply Appreciative of Me Despite My Flaws, and Wittily and Flirtatiously Amusing" button. Guess all those words won't fit on a tiny button, so there it is.
It's not really about a flag. It's about "the Republic for which it stands." It's a way of testifying that you agree to the American social contract. In other words, "I agree to this deal."
Kids cannot know what that deal is. It's quite a serious deal, really, because it can cost you your life, plenty of your property, and some of your freedom. It's freely given, too, if you're old enough to give it. You can always move somewhere else. Tom Friedman can move to China.
I don't care whether Rousseau's social contract theory is valid or not; it's an essential concept anyway because it makes it clear that a conscious choice of citizenship is meaningful and important - even if secular and not sacred.
Three Italian poets: Petrarch, Boccaccio (both of whom Chaucer may have met on a trip to Italy in 1373) and Dante. Boccaccio’s “Decameron” lent the inspiration and narrative template for “The Canterbury Tales”. More technically, Geoffrey de Vinsauf’s “Poetria Nova”, a passage from which Chaucer lifted for “Troilus and Criseyde”, armed him with rhetorical devices.
We are Chaucer fans here at Maggie's. I prefer to hear it read, rather than to read it. Audio of a modern translation here. When I was in school, we did it in the original and had good fun with it.
It's exempt from Obamacare rules, too: Medi-Share.
Readers know we hate government compulsion, and believe that government one-size-fits-all stuff fits about as well as a Mao jacket. My examples are, for a few, what if you're a Christian Scientist? What if you're wealthy and want to self-insure? What if you only want Major Medical (which I believe is the only thing that makes sense anyway)?
When they talk about medical insurance, they sneakily speak as if it were equivalent to medical care. It is not.
A reminder to readers on Medicare:
Give your doc a nice Christmas gift. He or she is losing money each time you see him in the office. A little - or a lot - of appreciation is in order, because you are the recipient of their charity and good will. They don't have to do it. Something special like this often goes over well:
Heck, I always give my docs a Christmas something even though I am not on Medicare yet.
I am informed by someone who knows about these things that this is what I want for Christmas: the Lumix LX -5. I guess it's a clone of the Leica D-Lux 5. This guys says to chose the Leica.
I'm not sure I need one, but it seems like a nice thing. I think I could take lousy snaps with any camera, though.
On second thought, maybe I'd rather have the Leica. Heck, I don't know. I'll take the Lumix, Santa.
"two-thirds of Americans believe that success is not outside their control. In Germany, 68% answered the exact opposite way.... By more than six to one, Americans believe failure is the result of the individual, not society… 71% of Americans believe people can escape from poverty. Only 40% of Europeans believe the same....Asked why people are wealthy, 64 percent of Americans say [it is] because of personal drive, willingness to take risks, and hard work and initiative." And why do others fail? When asked that question, 64 percent of Americans cited a lack of thrift, 53 percent ascribed the failure (at least in part) to a lack of effort, and a like percentage said that failure was due to lack of ability. ..... but “in Europe, a majority in every country – with the exception of the U.K., Czech Republic, and Slovakia – ‘believe that forces outside of an individual’s personal control determine success.'"
These really are different views of the world and of the human being.
Readers know that we are fans of SureFire military and tactical flashlights. They are useful for blinding and illuminating a bad guy, or for illuminating a distant detail - or for finding a fox, beaver or owl at night.
The problem with them has been that the battery drain has been so fast that they were not useful for any regular flashlight use (for which they were not designed anyway - they were first designed to incapacitate and illuminate a human target).
They have now come out with a line of LED flashlights, some of which may not meet the same tactical specs but which have a longer battery life, and still should not be used in anybody's face unless you wish to disable them. A MagLite on steroids.
Also, Insty informs us that Amazon has deals on knives. Practical knives, not the fancy ones. Except when boarding a plane, a guy needs a knife in the pocket.
My brunch at Petrossian yesterday was blini with Beluga, smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict, and Pear Tart, with a Bloody Mary first, and then some champagne. A fine day on the town with my in-laws who love my kids more than words can tell. Some pics - don't know who those guys are at the door in the rain, but they did not enter and were not properly dressed anyway.
Carnegie Hall has some exterior renovations going on.
Everybody's talking about Bedbug infestations these days. Somebody recently told me that they had their house checked for bedbugs, but the exterminator only found Carpet Bugs.
At Pajamas, "A perfect reflection of America's character, Manhattan will be displaying many new skyscrapers in the coming years." The piece quotes The Fountainhead:
I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York’s skyline. Particularly when one can’t see the details. Just the shapes. The shapes and the thought that made them. The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? And then people tell me about pilgrimages to some dank pesthole in a jungle where they go to do homage to a crumbling temple, to a leering stone monster with a pot belly, created by some leprous savage. Is it beauty and genius they want to see? Do they seek a sense of the sublime? Let them come to New York, stand on the shore of the Hudson, look and kneel. When I see the city from my window — no, I don’t feel how small I am — but I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body.
Excellent summary of the topic at The American by Arthur Brooks and Peter Wehner.
Perhaps I like it because it confirms my line of thinking, but says it better than I can. They begin:
The model of human nature one embraces will guide and shape everything else, from the economic system one prefers to the political system one supports.
At the core of every social, political, and economic system is a picture of human nature (to paraphrase 20th-century columnist Walter Lippmann). The suppositions we begin with—the ways in which that picture is developed—determine the lives we lead, the institutions we build, and the civilizations we create. They are the foundation stone.
It's one of the biggest topics on earth. Good job, guys.
The 1920s Christmas pics on this site are great fun. Some can be embiggened, with wonderful detail. (I don't know how to enable embiggening on our site.)
I notice that Santa did not seem to use wrapping paper back then.
A good pal and his charming and lovely missus recently moved to Austin, but stopped by up here this week for a hello and for a sentimental taste of our Yankee chill.
I advised a gun rack for his Porsche, and alligator boots (When in Rome, etc.).
The Lucchese customized gator boot pictured here is nice for formal wear. Better, of course, to get a pair made for your own feet like the stars do.
Put something like this on your list, old buddy. Might need something to put on that gun rack, too. We can offer advice on that.
My sons and I were at the pancake breakfast last Saturday morning at Camp Pendleton paid for by Congressman Darrell Issa’s Family Foundation to gather toys and contributions for Homefront San Diego. Issa’s Family Foundation is matching all contributions. Homefront San Diego has no overhead and no payroll. Every cent of tax-deductible contributions directly benefits the lower enlisted active duty military families in the San Diego area. Just go to the Homefront site and make your contribution to those who serve.
As a former Marine Sergeant, of course I enjoyed who worked the line serving us Saturday morning, though they serve us every day.
Everyone has vices. Most people manage to overcome the worst of their viciousness. It therefore requires a mighty labor not to see the so-called explanations of vice as mere excuses – indeed, as lame excuses – for irredentism and indulgence. The claim of personal helplessness is the creed of people who like their vices and who will on no account reform themselves. These non-explanations nevertheless have wide currency, but so also do the indifferent notion that the self is a “logocentric” illusion and the relativistic opinion that to flout a stricture is morally equal to observing it. The political religions of the Twentieth Century all relied on – and indeed mandated – these views as part of the ‘correct” view of existence. Socialism generically predicates its own inevitability and it then necessarily also predicates the emptiness of individual determination or action. Radical restructuring of society comes upon us inevitably, the vanguard always argues; and restructuring is justified because there are whole classes of victims whose misery is supposedly not of their own making, but has impinged on them from an outside beyond the control of the afflicted. In its less acute form of the multicultural welfare state, socialism insists that victim-groups not only cannot help themselves but that they cannot actually be reformed and that it is the duty of everyone else, first, to refrain from any condemnation of counterproductive behaviors and, then, to subsidize the pathological consequences of those behaviors.
Read the whole thing. It's a good reminder about those three classic texts, too, which we all read before we had the age on us to really appreciate what the authors were talking about.
Non-technical education is wasted on the young, because they are too interested in questions about themselves than in the big questions. These books were not written for adolescents.
Remember when you carried around one of these, every where you went? Remember what liberation it was not to be tied to an electric cord and you could tuck it in your shirt pocket? It even had small earphones. The transistor radio only played AM, but AM was all music then. I still have mine (I take care of my treasures), and Jason and I use it to listen to ball games while were out and about.
Remember the music, also liberating, at the 50s start of RnR and pre-Beatles. Remember when you'd stay up late harmonizing with your friends or the song or all night listening. Remember when love was romantic and not another four-letter word.
My friend Charlotte sent me this one. Maybe you'll still like it, and you don't have to stay up late to listen. Or, you can find many of the greats on Youtube, and rock and remember all night long. Got something better to do?
Psychological "study shows" 
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The first time I was exposed to the Pledge was in kindergarten. I had no idea what the words meant. 
Chaucer claimed to be no more than a "lewd compilator" of other voices. All creators steal. From 
Readers know that we are fans of 
Everybody's talking about Bedbug infestations these days. Somebody recently told me that they had their house checked for bedbugs, but the exterminator only found 
A good pal and his charming and lovely missus recently moved to Austin, but stopped by up here this week for a hello and for a sentimental taste of our Yankee chill. 
Bird Dog Bay.
Remember what liberation it was not to be tied to an electric cord and you could tuck it in your shirt pocket? It even had small earphones. The transistor radio only played AM, but AM was all music then. I still have mine (I take care of my treasures), and Jason and I use it to listen to ball games while were out and about.