tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post3543850795583716997..comments2023-09-15T08:07:28.542-06:00Comments on Western Hero: Happy Thanksgiving?Silverfiddlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-28662855871954111762012-11-25T05:45:06.447-07:002012-11-25T05:45:06.447-07:00I'm much happier living in Maryland. We have ...I'm much happier living in Maryland. We have a 29% African American population and we CHOSE to bring them here. No one ASKED Massachusetts if they wanted the Irish...Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-20464983016376861472012-11-25T03:43:09.389-07:002012-11-25T03:43:09.389-07:00@Propaganda
I honestly can't think of a more...@Propaganda<br /><br /> I honestly can't think of a more horrid fate than being indoctrinated into a political world view that precludes the possibility of taking anything at face value. I can't imagine the time wasted searching for hidden meanings, ulterior motives, and nefarious schemes. <br /><br /> Even Freud is reported to have admitted that; "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"viburnumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15381796879179539552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-28115418341222464272012-11-24T23:23:19.849-07:002012-11-24T23:23:19.849-07:00Were you aware, Canardo, -- or have you just conve...Were you aware, Canardo, -- or have you just conveniently forgotten -- that original settlers who stepped on the legendary rock at "Plimouth" did, indeed, <i>start out</i> with a system of communal ownership of land and all that was built or produced on it, but that system soon proved to be an abysmal failure. The settlers nearly starved to death, and, apparently, were at each other's throats much of the time. <br /><br /><b>After a season or two of this failed attempt at communal living William Bradford decided to encourage PRIVATE OWNERSHIP of LAND and COMPETITION. <br /><br />Once this rudimentary form of Free Market Capitalism was established, the colony took of like a rocket, grew. prospered, and proved an enduring success -- for a time.</b><br /><br />Roger Williams did, indeed, found what-became Rhode Island after leaving the Massachusetts Bay Colony in a something of a huff.<br /><br />Roger may have been far more liberal in the sense of being open-minded and eager to try new ideas than the Puritan elders in Massachusetts, but for all we know he may also have been a neurotic malcontent with a big ego who just didn't like taking orders from his immediate superiors.<br /><br />I honestly don't know, but I'm sure there's a lot more to it than the simple story most of us were given in high school American history classes.<br /><br />Does anyone know a good book on the subject -- one preferably written before 1965 when the taint of political correctness started to poison academia?<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeFreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-44332065656888050552012-11-24T23:03:03.667-07:002012-11-24T23:03:03.667-07:00Sorry, Ms. Shaw. It's only a quip not meant to...Sorry, Ms. Shaw. It's only a quip not meant to be taken too seriously, but a place that persisted in keeeping the likes of Teddy Kennedy in permanent incumbency, and continues to support a pompous, pouter pigeon with a decidedly mediocre intellect like John Kerry, and who enthusiastically endorsed an aggressive, loud-mouthed creep like BONNIE FWANK till he chose to retire shows a high degree of collective poor judgment.<br /><br />The Pilgrim Fathers must be spinning in their graves like so many whirling dervishes at what these rascals, scallawags and dunderheads have made of the Puritan Legacy.<br /><br />OY GEVALT! ;-)<br /><br />Be of good cheer, Ms Shaw. I loved your post on Eric Whitacre's virtual chorus, and wrote unreservedly about it at your blog, which I always enjoy when it departs from the [very] sore subject of politics.<br /><br />~ FreeThinkeFreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-470328059365576912012-11-24T21:09:37.559-07:002012-11-24T21:09:37.559-07:00Good catch, Thersites. Massachusetts is embarrass...Good catch, Thersites. Massachusetts is embarrassingly white and bourgeois and affluent.<br /><br />How can we correct this, Ducky and Shaw?<br /><br />Are you both ashamed? If not, you should be. Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-21595260668346802472012-11-24T20:28:45.836-07:002012-11-24T20:28:45.836-07:00What are the "demographics" of Massachus...What are the "demographics" of Massachusetts?<br /><br />It's lily white...Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-76070625047390477552012-11-24T19:36:07.691-07:002012-11-24T19:36:07.691-07:00"I shudder to think what what these brave sou..."I shudder to think what what these brave souls -- and John and Abigail Adams -- would think of Assachusetts as it is today!"<br /><br />I imagine they'd be very proud. <br /><br />Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the country, among the lowest out-of-wedlock pregnancy rates, is number one in science and math scores in the nation, has one of the lowest unemployment rates, according to CNBC, is in the top 5 states for business, and has the highest number of post graduates as a percentage of its population in the country. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Massachusetts has the nation’s highest level of first-trimester prenatal care, and the third-lowest infant mortality rate. It also has the second-highest rate of child access to both medical and dental care, the nation’s lowest child mortality rate, and the lowest teen death rate. <br /><br />We're not perfect, that's for sure, but there's much to make one happy to live in Massachusetts.<br /><br />To refer to the state as "Assachusetts" shows a deep and appalling ignorance of the achievements this state has realized and the quality of life we enjoy here in the Bay State.<br /><br />Holding onto out-of-date and uninformed prejudices about Massachusetts can be forgive if one is interested in researching the facts. <br /><br /> Shaw Kenawehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08637273000409613497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-42038593868338110012012-11-24T19:35:51.913-07:002012-11-24T19:35:51.913-07:00You're probably nearer the truth with 'sen...You're probably nearer the truth with 'sentimental' as several of Ms. Brownscome's ancestors were sitting at the table. <br /><br />-----<br />So are mine. I'm related to William Bradford on my mother's side.<br /><br />Propaganda.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-7270016294811848782012-11-24T19:33:29.392-07:002012-11-24T19:33:29.392-07:00"It established a government for the COMMON G..."It established a government for the COMMON GOOD."<br /><br />No, it established a government similar to that found in Iran today!<br /><br />The Mayflower compact led to a bloody theocracy... "unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."<br /><br />The reign of Puritan terror in Massachusetts led directly to the founding and settlement of colonies elsewhere, such as the settlement of Rhode Island by Roger Williams.<br /><br />I hate to disappoint you but Commonwealth is not Communist. The Commonwealth of England under the Cromwells was a Republic and in colonial times meant pretty much the same thing to the colonists. Since the Puritans were on the losing side of the English Civil War, it strikes you as significant that they used the term 'commonwealth'?<br /><br />I suppose anything short of the minister rubbing smallpox infected blankets on the natives would strike you as 'propaganda'.<br /><br /><br /><br />Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-67300528697553780732012-11-24T18:32:23.765-07:002012-11-24T18:32:23.765-07:00Here we have a bunch of Randian actors all doing t...<i>Here we have a bunch of Randian actors all doing there own thing and trashing the place. As Randians have a habit of doing.</i><br /><br />Randian actors... back when no one had even heard of Ayn... Or were you talking about the forces of nature?<br /><br />Ooooh! Someone's tapping the aquifer! They'll feel the wrath of Gaia for that!<br /><br />Your discredited marxist bullshit is getting stale, Quackster...<br /><br />Meanwhile, in the southwest, the French and Spanish had already set up schools when the pilgrims had their dinner with the Indians...<br />Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-34576053598654013722012-11-24T17:58:24.385-07:002012-11-24T17:58:24.385-07:00Propaganda?
You're probably nearer the tru... Propaganda? <br /><br /> You're probably nearer the truth with 'sentimental' as several of Ms. Brownscome's ancestors were sitting at the table. viburnumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15381796879179539552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-77274999655135902702012-11-24T17:35:49.489-07:002012-11-24T17:35:49.489-07:00Ducky, there are natives at the head of the table ...Ducky, there are natives at the head of the table also... Bloody Peasant!<br /><br />----------<br />Nothing draws your attention to them.<br />The focus is clearly the infant in the cradle and mother and the supplicant.<br />The painting is pure propaganda.<br /><br />As for her handling of light. It would have been something in the early 17th century but even then she's sure no LaTour.<br /><br /> Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-5634558526782870092012-11-24T17:30:56.329-07:002012-11-24T17:30:56.329-07:00Puritanism is hardly our founding principle.
-----...Puritanism is hardly our founding principle.<br />------------<br />Then why did the two earliest settlements develop into Commonwealths.<br />My guess is you aren't aware of the purpose of the Compact. It established a government for the COMMON GOOD.<br /><br />Probably why the colony was able to prosper.<br /><br />Now since Silverfiddle doesn't get the point of government for the common good let's fast forward to the Dust Bowl.<br />Here we have a bunch of Randian actors all doing there own thing and trashing the place. As Randians have a habit of doing.<br />The federal government acting for the common good in the form of the Farm Security Agency gets the farmers in several states to adopt preventative agricultural methods.<br />Everything improves.<br /><br />Then about twenty years later the little Randian rascals start doing there own thing again and the dust storms return. They learn their lesson.<br /><br />Now we have the problem of the aquifer being tapped, not knowing how long it will last and facing even more severe depletion with the drought.<br />Should we allow the individual actors to risk trashing the place? The states are not going to buck the pressure from corporations extracting big profits and utilizing the resource inefficiently (but profitable like good Randoids).<br /><br />Serious problem and one that cannot be solve by a bunch of actors in it for profit.<br /><br />Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-38675203366290775652012-11-24T17:10:12.241-07:002012-11-24T17:10:12.241-07:00Notice how the natives are marginalized in the com...Notice how the natives are marginalized in the composition?<br /><br />Help, Help... I'm being repressed!<br /><br />Ducky, there are natives at the head of the table also... Bloody Peasant!<br />Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-3243892723518459962012-11-24T16:38:44.956-07:002012-11-24T16:38:44.956-07:00Mayflower Compact?
Try the age of enlightenment?
...Mayflower Compact?<br /><br />Try the age of enlightenment?<br /><br />Puritanism is hardly our founding principle.Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-51222899886678505542012-11-24T16:36:59.241-07:002012-11-24T16:36:59.241-07:00@FT -- And again, I say, "It's a good pa...@FT -- And again, I say, "It's a good painting." <br /><br />------<br />It's mawkishly sentimental. Notice how the natives are marginalized in the composition?<br />But you probably enjoy that.<br /><br />She was much much more important as the founder of the Art Students League.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-19587067231715415052012-11-24T16:36:16.388-07:002012-11-24T16:36:16.388-07:00@Who among us today could equal their feat in plan...@Who among us today could equal their feat in planting a colony in the wilderness and persevering<br /><br />Yes, that is a good question F.T.<br /><br />Or, who would even try if the opportunity were present?<br /><br />As for the painting, I liked the interplay of light and shadow, and atmosphere... and they do seem 'huddled', don't they? Her style is standard Americana, colonial and revolutionary war paintings, but she does have a way with light.<br /><br />Cheers!Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-80063613852902726982012-11-24T16:34:02.242-07:002012-11-24T16:34:02.242-07:00the core of the argument is one of centralized pow...the core of the argument is one of centralized power<br /><br />-----<br />Mayflower Compact.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-54987525988954240322012-11-24T15:55:11.654-07:002012-11-24T15:55:11.654-07:00And again, I say, "It's a good painting.&...And again, I say, "It's a good painting." I like the austerity in the color palate and the sense of isolation on a barren shore the figures -- almost huddled together -- must have felt upon their arrival at an unplanned, unexpected, unwelcoming destination, in the "New World."<br /><br />What motivated them really?<br /><br />Genuine idealism?<br /><br />A lust for adventure?<br /><br />Desperation?<br /><br />Greed?<br /><br />Fulfillment of religious principles and scruples denied them at home?<br /><br />Mere curiosity?<br /><br />Sheer idiocy?<br /><br />Or a combination of any and all of the above?<br /><br />At any rate, their courage has rarely been equalled, and my never have been excelled. <br /><br />We owe them a great deal no matter what their true motives in boarding The Mayflower might have been.<br /><br />Who among us today could equal their feat in planting a colony in the wilderness and persevering, despite incredible hardship and a <b><i>fifty-percent mortality rate</i></b> their first winter, and ultimately making a durable success of their venture?<br /><br />I shudder to think what what these brave souls -- and John and Abigail Adams -- would think of Assachusetts as it is today! <br /><br />~ FreeThinke<br /><br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-17728170289537159012012-11-24T15:19:15.282-07:002012-11-24T15:19:15.282-07:00Philosophy, Who Needs It?
A great book by Ayn Ra...Philosophy, Who Needs It? <br /><br />A great book by Ayn Rand. Ranks just ahead of The Virtue of Selfishness by the same author.<br /><br />Philosophy, Who Needs it? For that matter who needs a proper and ethical moral code based on reason?<br /><br />Soon those who cannot answer these questions rationally will discover the answer. The hard way.Les Carpenterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01120280762698472496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-65671721388810858462012-11-24T14:25:50.755-07:002012-11-24T14:25:50.755-07:00Ah, don't be so hard on the Duck SF... the cor...Ah, don't be so hard on the Duck SF... the core of the argument is one of centralized power and control vs the diffuse dissemination of power to the lowest possible level. Jefferson was indeed a 'states rights' advocate and issuing proclamations as governor but not as president illustrates that point quite well.<br /><br />The failure of Marxism has always been the central collective and the attempts at the forced cooperative. Humans are individuals, not hive or even pack animals. <br /><br />"the people seem to be happy with the current state of affairs". That is because they perceive themselves to be at liberty and relatively free, believe me... as the yoke tightens they shall resist.<br /><br />Cheers!Finntannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09234170229108668040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-39507276536169143082012-11-24T14:19:29.147-07:002012-11-24T14:19:29.147-07:00Smiling a wry and bemused smile. :-)
The future...Smiling a wry and bemused smile. :-)<br /><br />The future is waiting, as it always has. Fleeting as it were.Les Carpenterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01120280762698472496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-57011717507307582412012-11-24T14:13:14.414-07:002012-11-24T14:13:14.414-07:00Methinkes that the duck would as soon trade the ma...Methinkes that the duck would as soon trade the many small person vanities of consumerist individuals for the much larger scale excesses and vanities of more enlightened "socialized" societies... ala Pyramids at Giza or Towers of Babel.Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-36521360741685346232012-11-24T14:10:25.069-07:002012-11-24T14:10:25.069-07:00Lord, pray let the duck explain to us all the &quo...Lord, pray let the duck explain to us all the "meaning" of <i>moderated thought</i>...<br /><br />Personally, I think he means the kind given by Poi Pot to the city dwellers.Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7674333464171899932.post-81613965542497566442012-11-24T14:07:38.409-07:002012-11-24T14:07:38.409-07:00Ducky NOW feigns a disdain for Internationalism......Ducky NOW feigns a disdain for Internationalism.... so much for all that talk of " expanding the tribe", eh? Are we to NOW believe that "One America" is his call?? And so then what of the economic migrants from the South, East, and West? Shall we be so cold hearted as to turn them away at the border?? Please, oh wise and benevolent web foot, tell us, what is the proper path to our future enlightenment? Do we embrace these immigrants or turn them away?? And if we embrace them, must we insist that THEY, too, embrace the ONE true American way of living??Thersiteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15751286903359745316noreply@blogger.com