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Title: Libertarians smarter?
Source: Conservative News and Views
URL Source: https://www.conservativenewsandview ... ial/talk/libertarians-smarter/
Published: Feb 5, 2012
Author: Terry A. Hurlbut
Post Date: 2019-08-10 14:33:23 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 17796
Comments: 138

Are liberals really smarter than conservatives? Or are libertarians smarter than anyone else? A recent column in The Daily Mail suggests so. True or not, it shows that “liberal” and “conservative” are not the only two extremes of opinion. In fact, they are special cases of a far more general political landscape.

Traditional political labels

By tradition, “conservative” and “liberal” (formerly “progressive”) stand for two different sets of freedoms on one hand, and entitlements on the other. This linear graph of left-of-center v. right-of-center dates from the National Assembly of Revolutionary France. The only thing that defined the “left” and the “right” then was change. The “left” wanted sweeping change, and the “right” wanted to keep things as they were.

But neither side necessarily stood for more freedom than did the other. Instead, those things that a liberal wants to entitle some people to, a conservative does not. But: many of the things that a liberal wants people to be free to do, a conservative does not, either. The reason: a conservative favors a different set of entitlements that are not economic. The conservative would entitle most wives to expect their husbands to stay married to them, and not seek enjoyment elsewhere or end the marriage whenever they saw fit. “Moderates” are more likely to grant more entitlements in some areas, and more freedoms in others, than either side.

But this line is a very special case. In fact, the possible mix of entitlements and freedoms should have at least two dimensions, not merely one. Michael Hanlon of The Daily Mail came close to recognizing this:

The problem here is how we define ‘left’ and ‘right’ thinking, what this means socially and politically. A moment’s thought shows that the fault lines are not only blurred but they are legion, criss-crossing across traditional political strata and have changed through time.

A square political grid. Intelligence moves you up the scale. So are libertarians smarter on that account?

The square political leanings grid, from OnTheIssues.org.

True, but incomplete. Many theorists, from Rand to Rothbard, have recognized two different “freedom scales” with which to chart one’s attitudes. One is the economic scale. Zero on this scale is a complete command economy, with input-output analysis dictating who produces what, and with Five-Year Plans, government stores, collective farms, the whole nine meters. At this end of the scale, everyone is entitled to a minimum economic standard but are free to do nothing to break out of that standard, or to take on any task unless the authorities approve.

One hundred on this scale is total capitalism, with no role for government in production, distribution, or exchange. At this end, people are free to do anything but entitled to nothing. Whatever they want, they must work for.

The other scale is the social scale. Zero on that scale means: throw homosexuals in prison, punish criminals severely, forbid immigration (that is, membership is by invitation only), etc. One hundred means to let everybody in, take all comers, let roommates (same-sex or opposite-, whether they share bed or not) form whatever contractual unions they care to form—but also recognize freedom of association (including the freedom not to associate), and the right of self-defense.

Hanlon loses sight of one thing: many “social liberals” are damnably hypocritical along this line. They will not recognize freedom of association. They do not recognize a right of self-defense. They do not recognize any of the flip sides of increased tolerance of homosexuality, adultery, or criminality. As an example, they want to leave two men (or two women) free to be intimate, but then want to entitle this roommate pair to rooms, or an apartment, in any dwelling, whether the would-be host wants to offer them those rooms, or that apartment, or not. Once again: one person’s entitlement is another person’s loss of freedom.

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A libertarian, by contrast, would respect that host’s freedom. A libertarian would ask that the government leave those roommates free to be as intimate as they please, but not entitle them to rooms or apartment wherever they wish. For those, they must still make a voluntary arrangement with a host or landlord.

If one plots his attitudes on the economic and social freedom scales on a square grid, instead of on a line segment, and orient this grid like a baseball diamond, then that grid will yield five different positions, not three. Home plate (zero, zero) is populism, or the Communism of the old Warsaw Pact, or Nazism in Germany. Conservatism lies at first base (100, 0). Liberalism or left-wing-ism lies at third base (0, 100). “Moderate-ism” is at the pitcher’s mound (50, 50). And Libertarianism is at second base (100, 100). So the old left-to-right line passes from third base to first, across the infield, allowing more freedom in economic areas, but insisting on more entitlement on the social, as it goes.

Here is what Hanlon noticed: intelligence tracks with moving straight up on the political grid, and then tending toward perfect libertarianism. Lower intelligence tracks with falling straight down on the political grid, toward total populism. With the horizontal movement along the traditional left-right line, intelligence does not change.

The implied result: Libertarians are smarter than everyone else.

Are libertarians smarter than everyone else?

Purely abstract intelligence might track higher with libertarianism. That makes libertarians smarter than liberals or conservatives on that scale. A smart person (unless he hungers for power) wants to be free, either to make a living or to associate (or not) with anyone he pleases.

But does common sense make libertarians smarter? Not necessarily. Abstract libertarianism works fine—for a voluntary association of voluntarily consenting adults. It does not work well for children. A child is an inherently dependent, even helpless person. Common sense demands that a society entitle a child to food, water, shelter, and education, that the parents, not the government, should give it. The parents are more likely to have the child’s best interests at heart than faceless bureaucrats would. But in addition, that same society also entitles the parents to a minimum level of “good examples” from other adults.

That is why a sound society does not authorize two same-sex roommates sharing bed to adopt children. It is also why a business that caters to “the prurient interest” is not free to locate near enough to where a child might stray within sight. It is why a sound society classifies certain kinds of pastimes as “for adults only,” and recognizes a class of citizen or resident called the minor. As in:

Sales of cigarettes to MINORS are FORBIDDEN by law. We support this law. Parents are urged to help prevent violations.

The pure libertarian recognizes no such thing as a minor. That’s the equivalent of expecting a cub in the wild to fend for himself before he is ready. As any wildlife biologist knows, that’s not very smart.

But in matters of pure economic policy, libertarians might be smarter than most. A sound society does let its children imitate the adults in one key area: business. Whether this business is selling lemonade from a front-yard stand, or offering lawn-and-garden services to his neighbors for a fee, a libertarian would have no problem with this. Nor would a conservative, so long as the child is doing something that he or she has already safely done at home. But a liberal won’t allow this. A liberal wants to entitle a perfect stranger to sell lawn-and-garden services, usually for a higher fee, without having the neighbor’s boy (or girl) compete with that service. The same seems to hold for selling lemonade, though that is even harder to justify. This makes both conservatives and libertarians smarter than liberals. They are smart enough to know that some entitlements have no justification, but only excuses.

Summing up

Are libertarians smarter? In some areas, yes. In others, no. But conservatives are smart to engage libertarians in a debate on how a society ought to run. Liberals haven’t done very well. Libertarians and conservatives might each be able to teach the other something. (1 image)

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#99. To: A Pole (#95)

This is the trick. Naturally ripe tasty cheese has its own nice ecosystem that does not leave space for the bad bugs. Artificial nuked food, when invaded gets dangerous.

Yes. In some situations, like yogurt, I have to kill off the existing cultures (even the good ones) so that the yogurt cultures can grow without competition. Makes for a thicker yogurt.

I have seen raw milk from other dairies that had stuff floating in that you would think would kill a buzzard, but folks were drinking it and doing just fine!

watchman  posted on  2019-08-12   17:39:01 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#100. To: watchman (#99)
(Edited)

Yes. In some situations, like yogurt, I have to kill off the existing cultures (even the good ones) so that the yogurt cultures can grow without competition.

Real live cheeses ripe in special conditions, they are pure and healthy naturally. Many different kinds and tastes, developed and tested over years by talented people.

It is as good as mother's milk for her baby. Much better for the child than artificial formula.

A Pole  posted on  2019-08-12   17:47:08 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#101. To: randge (#98)

milk from well tended female camel

Drinking the milk is one thing...but milking that camel...no sir!...I'll not do it!

watchman  posted on  2019-08-12   18:05:07 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#102. To: Deckard (#26)

Trump even naming Rand as a special envoy to Iran in diplomatic talks …
You need to check on this …

Gatlin  posted on  2019-08-12   18:43:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#103. To: Deckard (#102)

Trump even naming Rand as a special envoy to Iran in diplomatic talks …

You need to check on this …

Come on, Deckard, at some time in your life start getting your act together and getting things straight.

Since you NEVER fact check or validate anything, I checked for you.

I found that Trump said he didn't tap Rand Paul to serve as envoy in talks with Iran.

“I don’t know anything about that other than I have spoken to Sen. Paul, and Sen. Paul is somebody I have a very good relationship with,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“And I would listen to him, but I didn’t appoint him, no,” he continued. “No he’s somebody I listen to, and I respect Sen. Paul and if he had some ideas I would listen.”

Source: Trump says he didn't tap Rand Paul to serve as envoy in talks with Iran

Declard. you are one pathetic lost soul when it comes to presenting facts …

Gatlin  posted on  2019-08-12   18:53:58 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#104. To: Deckard (#22) (Edited)

Fewer laws, fewer regulations.

Sure sounds libertarian to me

It sounds that way to you because libertarians tend to speak in catchphrases – “fewer laws and fewer regulations”, "we want freedom", "we are against bureaucracy".

They never speak in political related measures or activities with defined long- term goals. Most libertarian narrative therefore is inconsequential – because it is just simple propaganda tricks, and misleading appeals to emotions of the uninformed.

Some misguided souls refer to themselves as libertarians, specifically because they have some obsessive vendetta directed towards the federal government, and they try to make libertarian to be a buzz-word term they prefer use to describe anything they have in mind.

George Carlin once said in describing libertarian -

One of the more pretentious political self-descriptions is “Libertarian.” People think it puts them above the fray. It sounds fashionable, and to the uninitiated, faintly dangerous. Actually, it’s just one more bullshit political philosophy.
"Libertarian" sounds fashionable – Yea, that’s all it does …

Gatlin  posted on  2019-08-12   20:35:33 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#105. To: Gatlin (#103)

From politico. President Donald Trump confirmed Friday that Sen. Rand Paul is involved in diplomatic talks with Iran, referring to the country as “nothing but trouble.”

A K A Stone  posted on  2019-08-12   21:04:15 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#106. To: Tooconservative (#88)

I'm shortish 5 ft 9. I had a strong build. My ideal weight was about 175 lbs. With age, I've become quite fat, really. It annoys me. I know what to do about it, but I only take half measures because, well, because I don't like to do much except swim. I do like to be in the water. I should put in a pool

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-12   22:15:12 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#107. To: watchman (#96)

Raw milk is legal in Connecticut too. They sell it at the store right down the street.

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-12   22:17:25 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#108. To: Tooconservative (#89)

When it comes to dairy, my very favorite thing is a Caprice de Dieux - a French cheese that has only a touch less milkfat than butter. It looks like brie, with the white rind, but it is SOOOO rich and buttery, you just slice it and (nearly) spread it on a baguette. It doesn't QUITE spreqd, it does hold its shape, somewhat, but oh is it rich. Caprice des Dieux - Dieu que c'est bon.

My second favorite dairy is thick sheep yogurt with a touch of fresh honey. After that, probably Greek yogurt.

Then other cheeses. of the brie/Camembert variety. Then I think yellow cheese, like cheddar and gouda.

Then goat milk.

Regular milk is down around the bottom of my list, because it makes me fart, a lot. That doesn't really bother me, but it is stinky and horrible for the people trapped around me.

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-12   22:24:21 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#109. To: Tooconservative (#89)

I don't worry about food hygeine. If it's not gross to me, I won't get sick. And I really never do.

I have a set of routine foods that I circulate through every week. I live by the Sound here, so every week I have a dosen fresh local oysters. Most days I have a plank of Salmon - I know the Alaska wild caught stuff is supposed to be "better" but the quality Atlantic farmed stuff from Scotland and Norway, is so much richer, that's what I eat - raw with soy, olive oil and dill.

And scallops. Two nights a week I'll pan fry sea scallops in coconut oil - no breading.

Spinach and collard greens, salad and broccoli, Grapefruit and black berries. Eggs and rye toast for breakfast. I've pretty much singled out all of my favorite foods and eat them over and over. With all that good food, I'm still too fat, but this is a fuction of calorie intake exceeding output.

I think the best weight loss program - something I'd set up somewhere if I had millions, was a place where the food was simple, and served to everybody, and the physical activity was sex, all day, at will. Obviously avoiding disease and all that would be a major undertaking, and the place would end up being a fat farm version of Epstein's little island. Still, that would be a very enjoyable way to lose weight and get exercise.

I'll call it "Lucifer's Far Farm" The only dairy will be unpasteurised live-served human milk. Mmmmm mmmmm good.

_Objection, your honor!' - Lucifer

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-12   22:32:54 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#110. To: randge (#94)

Pretty certain it was the lunch. I only had toast and coffee for breakfast, and I was whole again right after I lost the lunch. You can't rightly tell about those microscopic bugs.

I had it happen once. A burger from a restaurant was bad when I was a kid. We didn't even make it home before I got violently sick. But once I expelled the food, there was no real illness. The only time I ever thought I had food poisoning.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-13   1:31:25 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#111. To: watchman, Vicomte13 (#96)

I have a raw milk dairy. Raw milk is legal in Maine and I'm very happy about that. I make all kinds of cheeses (not for sale) and I only trade milk with Christian families (Amish/Mennonite) who would never sue me for any reason!

Interesting. I thought they had forced most of those out of business 4-5 years back. But those cases prosecuted by the feds were for raw milk co-ops, apparently a different matter legally. I've never heard of raw milk dairies before, certainly not in the states I've lived in. You'd hear of people who bought extra milk from someone who still milked cows, usually for their own use and to feed bucket calves with.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-13   1:35:33 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#112. To: Vicomte13 (#108)

When it comes to dairy, my very favorite thing is a Caprice de Dieux - a French cheese that has only a touch less milkfat than butter. It looks like brie, with the white rind, but it is SOOOO rich and buttery, you just slice it and (nearly) spread it on a baguette. It doesn't QUITE spreqd, it does hold its shape, somewhat, but oh is it rich. Caprice des Dieux - Dieu que c'est bon.

I just resent the fact that I've never even had an unpasteurized cheese, just to try it. The feds decided it's too dangerous for us.

Because, you know, the feds just love and care about us all so much.

Of course, it's another power and control thing, tied up with federal giveaway programs for school lunches and dairy subsidies and a bunch of unelected bureaucrats, many of whom may have enacted this stuff on the basis of very incomplete information at the time, or perhaps bribed by the industries they regulated. Or it might be another instance of industry rotating its managers in and out of political leadership of federal agencies, like we see in the DoD. None of it is actually beneficial to national security or health but it does protect the bottom line at a lot of companies.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-13   2:01:50 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#113. To: A K A Stone (#105)

Your source information is dated 07/19/19 04:36 PM EDT.
Policito: "President Donald Trump confirmed Friday [07/16/19] that Sen. Rand Paul is involved in diplomatic talks with Iran, referring to the country as “nothing but trouble.”

My source information is dated 07/18/19 01:37 PM EDT.
The Hill: "President Trump on Thursday [07/15/190 disputed that he asked Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to serve as an emissary to Iran following a report that he signed off on the senator's request to help smooth tensions."

Then my source published another article dated 07/19/19 04:24 PM EDT.
The Hill: "President Trump on Friday confirmed he has authorized Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to negotiate with Iran over reducing tensions, reversing himself a day after he denied reports he permitted Paul to serve as an emissary to Tehran."

You are correct - Thank you for the update.

Remember this exchange, Stone.

So, Trump didn’t know on Thursday “whose on first?” and then he remember on Friday that “Rand Paul was not out in left field” like he usually is and that “Rand Paul was now on first.”

Gatlin  posted on  2019-08-13   2:14:54 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#114. To: Vicomte13 (#109)

I have a set of routine foods that I circulate through every week. I live by the Sound here, so every week I have a dosen fresh local oysters. Most days I have a plank of Salmon - I know the Alaska wild caught stuff is supposed to be "better" but the quality Atlantic farmed stuff from Scotland and Norway, is so much richer, that's what I eat - raw with soy, olive oil and dill.

I've never lived anywhere near the fresh fish markets on the coasts. I'm not wild about fish but I do wish I had had more opportunity to buy quality seafood. I'm sure you know the stories about how much fake fish gets sold in America. I think the feds know all about it and just don't enforce their own laws. The full brunt of those laws must be brought to bear on Amish guys selling a little raw milk though. But you can reprocess tilapia and sell it as shrimp or lobster or salmon and no one ever goes to jail. But those Amish don't vote generally and they don't make political contributions like seafood company execs do.

Spinach and collard greens, salad and broccoli, Grapefruit and black berries. Eggs and rye toast for breakfast. I've pretty much singled out all of my favorite foods and eat them over and over. With all that good food, I'm still too fat, but this is a function of calorie intake exceeding output.

I was upset today, wasn't careful, lost my appetite and ate nothing. And got a sinus headache. Sometimes I wonder if I have more of these days than I realize or recall. It's a real problem if you find yourself forcing yourself to eat.

Grapefruit and other citrus tends to give me painful acid stomach. I like broccoli most any way except cooked to death and turned to mush (the only way it was served to us as kids). I like spinach leaves in salads but don't recall eating spinach cooked ever other than some kind of rancid vinegary mess that looked like cat vomit that my mother cooked a few times when I was a kid. Tasted just awful. As with her cooking of sauerkraut a few times, I took my plate and went outside so I wouldn't have to smell it. The whole house just stunk IMO. I can't imagine you are eating anything as gross as that. You mentioned boiling spinach and collard greens. I can't even picture that as anything other than a soggy mess with too strong a taste. But maybe I've misjudged it simply based on bad food prep. Yet I know my mother's family, German and Norwegian types, did their own kraut and horseradish and pickled stuff when she was growing up. So she certainly knew what was considered standard fare for kraut or spinach dishes. And it was all so overcooked, like so much food back in the day. It was only after I grew up that I started liking some of these foods because I never knew when I was a kid that they could be prepared as anything but overcooked and distasteful dishes.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-13   2:29:55 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#115. To: Gatlin (#113)

The Hill: "President Trump on Friday confirmed he has authorized Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to negotiate with Iran over reducing tensions, reversing himself a day after he denied reports he permitted Paul to serve as an emissary to Tehran."

Rand was not seeking the diplomatic status of an official emissary, something comparable to an ambassador. But Trump did agree to let Rand meet with Iran's foreign minister to try to seek a better outcome. Or at least so Trump could look like he went all out to try to prevent any war later, even allowing the most dovish member of the Senate to meet with the enemy.

No doubt, Pompeo saw to it that Rand was briefed on how to avoid the usual hateful tricks that countries like Iran and the Norks will play on unprepared pols to score propaganda victories.

I doubt very much that Trump believes that Rand can move the needle at all. But he does like Rand, a fellow-outsider in the swamp. And Trump doesn't want to look like a warmonger. It's best to talk peace sincerely while making sure you are ready to unleash hell on an enemy if certain lines are crossed.

So Rand was not an official envoy with diplomatic status. And that is why Trump said he wasn't an envoy. Yet he did have Trump's approval to meet once (or a few times) with the Iranian foreign minister during his visit to the States.

And if Trump does ever have to go after Iran with the military, Rand will find it harder to oppose after he was allowed to extend the olive branch to them. I kind of expect the Iranians to live down to Pompeo's expectations of them. It's so typical of them. Even now, with the regime on the verge of economic collapse, they still keep charging ahead with their project across the Mideast: the Shi'a Crescent.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-13   2:42:22 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#116. To: Tooconservative (#112)

I just resent the fact that I've never even had an unpasteurized cheese, just to try it. The feds decided it's too dangerous for us.

If they could, they would ban breastfeeding. I guess it is a Puritan thing. Next would be the instant turkey.

Now, there is a key point, one can look at a good real live cheese as an excellent bacterial culture supplement. The bad bugs simple have no chance to compete in this wonderful mini ecosystem.

A Pole  posted on  2019-08-13   4:49:36 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#117. To: Tooconservative (#115)

Good map. This "Shi'a Crescent" remind me of Dien Bien Phu, but on a huge scale.

A Pole  posted on  2019-08-13   4:57:08 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#118. To: A Pole (#116)

Now, there is a key point, one can look at a good real live cheese as an excellent bacterial culture supplement. The bad bugs simple have no chance to compete in this wonderful mini ecosystem.

Well, maybe. Despite the probiotics craze, scientists have done a fair amount of research now and say that trying to deliberately induce better gut bacteria via supplements is generally doomed to fail, mostly because people would have to take 100 times more of them to have any real effect. Apparently, the gut has considerable resistance to new flora being introduced. There was a recent success with a probiotic treatment tested in India, mentioned in The Atlantic:

. . .

Since 2008, Panigrahi’s team has been running a large clinical trial in rural India, where they gave a probiotic of their own devising to thousands of randomly selected newborn babies. Their product contained a strain of Lactobacillus plantarum, chosen for its ability to attach to gut cells. The team also added a sugar, chosen to nourish the microbe and give it a foothold when it enters a baby’s gut. Together, this combination is called a synbiotic. And it was strikingly effective.

The team found that babies who took this concoction had a significantly lower risk of developing sepsis—a life-threatening condition where infections trigger body-wide inflammation, restricted blood flow, and organ failure. Sepsis is one of the biggest killers of newborn babies, ending around 600,000 lives every year when they’ve barely begun. Some proportion of these cases begin in the gut, and probiotics might be able to prevent them by ousting harmful microbes, or by stopping benign ones from crossing into the bloodstream and causing infections.

Sure enough, in Panigrahi’s trial, just 5.4 percent of the infants who took the synbiotic developed sepsis in their first two months of life, compared to 9 percent of those who received a placebo. That’s a reduction of 40 percent. Such estimates always come with a margin of error, but the team calculate that the reduction in risk should still be somewhere between 25 and 50 percent.

The effect was twice as large as what the team expected, especially since the infants took daily doses of the synbiotic for just one week. And given the clear evidence of benefits, independent experts who were monitoring the study decided to stop the trial early: It would have been unethical to continue depriving half the newborns of the treatment. Panigrahi originally planned to enroll 8,000 babies into the study. He stopped at 4,557.

. . .

Of course, the probiotic effect may be greater in newborns who haven't really established an immune system and their own gut bacteria. No one seems to have anything comparable for adult subjects. Nevertheless, it was a large study that cut rates of infant sepsis in half with only some daily supplement given for a week.

Perhaps adult probiotics merely need better strains of bacteria to have better penetration into the gut. But so far, it seems that current adult probiotics are a waste of time and can compromise your gut health.

Good map. This "Shi'a Crescent" remind me of Dien Bien Phu, but on a huge scale.

I and others have posted that map before. This Crescent has been Iran's foreign policy objective across the Mideast for at least 15 years. Sometimes a map or picture say more than pages of words.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-13   8:49:36 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#119. To: Tooconservative (#115)

even allowing the most dovish member of the Senate to meet with the enemy.

I disagree that Rand is the most dovish.

A K A Stone  posted on  2019-08-13   8:54:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#120. To: A K A Stone (#119)

I disagree that Rand is the most dovish.

He'd be close but you're right. There are some Dems that are as antiwar as Rand is. But Rand will actually use filibusters and bill amendments and risk the wrath of the warmongers. The Dem peaceniks tend to fold up quickly when the neocons at the Slimes and WaPo tell them to, just like they did to vote for the invasion of Iraq. Rand won't fold, he's like his dad and will take a lone stand, even if he knows he'll lose.

I should have said Rand is the most dovish member of the Senate who is willing (and happy) to speak with Trump. You know, Trump does place a certain marker on his own opposition to the Iraq invasion back in the day, when Hitlery and Lurch were busy voting for war before they decided they should vote against it and follow Harry Reid in trying to create a crisis over it for partisan advantage (Dem capture of the House/Senate in 2006).

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-13   9:19:08 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#121. To: Tooconservative (#114)

It's a real problem if you find yourself forcing yourself to eat.

When I want Pacific Salmon, I order it from my favorite supplier in Alaska (Vital Choice). When I want salmon caviar, I go to our Russian Market ("Made in USSR") and I buy a big tub of Siberian salmon caviar, a kilogram of it for about $120. Then I'll just scoop a few tablespoons out of that tub everyday. It's malossol (lightly salted) so it keeps in the fridge for as long as it takes me to eat it (about a week and a half). No way to fake that stuff - there's nothing like it.

As far as the Atlantic Salmon goes, because it's all farmed, and I like to eat it raw - and you can only eat fish as sushi if it has been frozen (sushi is NOT an "ancient Japanese food" - the Japanese did not start eating sushi until the invention of freezers) - I get the absolute healthiest Atlantic Salmon around. Whole Foods has a whole set of fish standards that are much higher than the USDA norms, and they have their own Blue Ocean mark whose salmon comes from just two farms - one in Iceland and one in Norway - where the standards are impeccable. No dye. No land-animals in the feed. No antibiotics. The feed is pellets made from the same stuff wild salmon eat. The pens are constructed in state of the art ways to avoid various things. They have other species of fish in the pens do, that do things like eat parasites.

It comes frozen, about $22 for pack of 6 four ounce salmon steaks. Nothing looks like that fish. It's pristine. It's buttery with good fat. You can cut it with a fork. Tilapia could never be reworked to look and smell like that in a million years.

I toss a steak in the fridge so it will thaw and be cold. Then at night I come home, take my ceramic filet knife and strip the skin off the back (you just have to get it started, it pulls right off). I'll peel away any thin layer of blood line on the fish, and then do one of two things with it:

Slice it into sashimi strips, sprinkle organic tamari soy sauce on it, followed by a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and I shake dried dill on it. Then I eat it raw.

OR I take the frying pan, melt some French butter in it, heat it to smoking hot, and just flip-flop sear-fry the outside of the salmon in the pan, so the outside is cooked, while the inside is still cool and pink. Then I'll put that on the plate and pour the melted butter on it and eat it just like that.

Either way, I want another piece. But I have to watch that, because the dozen blue-point oysters I eat every Wednesday night - right out of the Sound from beds right here in town - SO very fresh! plus the sea scallops pan fried in coconut oil are not mercury free. Salmon isn't either. 12 oysters, 10 sea scallops, and 20 oz of salmon come in just under my weekly mercury limit. And so, alas, I must limit myself to four ounces of salmon. I could eat 20 ounces a sitting. Love the stuff.

Where you live, there is Whole Foods, and you can get the good frozen Atlantic Salmon, frozen sea scallops. I'd pass on frozen oysters, but canned smoked oysters (King Oscars) are cheap, and they'll do.

Forcing myself to eat? No, that never happens. I love food, of all kinds. Food and drink, women and song. As with all things, one must moderate one's appetites if one does not wish to become massively obese...or have one's brains clubbed out by the wife.

Spinach. It's tender. You have to be kind to it. You need to boil it for at least one minute (to get the oxalates out) but no more than two (to keep the potassium and Vitamin C content). Then you pour off the water and either steam it for a little while longer, or just serve it with melted butter.

Collards are tougher, so you have to boil them longer, and there's no oxalate issue. Frozen chopped collards are kind of bitter, but if you get the whole leaves an boil them for five minutes, they're essentially cabbage. Eat them with butter and salt.

Butter and salt are the key to all stiff vegetables (boiled carrots, boiled rutabaga). Don't want to salt spinach, though, there's already quite a bit of sodium in it.

If you use salted butter you don't have to use the salt.

Uncooked spinach is too bitter for me.

Broccoli - same as collards or carrots: boiled or steamed, with butter and salt.

Good!

Sorry that citrus upsets you. That's definitely a bummer. Citrus fruits are my second favorites, right after blackberries. Plums and apricots and pears are pretty acceptable. Does pineapple disagree with you?

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-14   14:21:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#122. To: Vicomte13 (#121)

As far as the Atlantic Salmon goes, because it's all farmed, and I like to eat it raw - and you can only eat fish as sushi if it has been frozen (sushi is NOT an "ancient Japanese food" - the Japanese did not start eating sushi until the invention of freezers) - I get the absolute healthiest Atlantic Salmon around.

I just noticed that some of the Atlantic salmon stocked in Walmart is farm-raised in Peru.

I've been considering one of those yuppie seafood supply sites that offer to ship various seafood flash-frozen, total tracing of all fish to the ship that caught them, standards for the ships used and nets and so on, and a minimum requirement for how much the fishing crew will make from its catch. The idea being food safety and making sure that the people who risk life and limb catching those fish get paid decently. I can't decide if they're worth it. About $8-$9 for a small salmon filet from Alaska, your choice at that price of which kind of salmon to buy.

It comes frozen, about $22 for pack of 6 four ounce salmon steaks.

That's not a bad price in the salmon market. I like the description you give of simple quick preparation too. I tend to neglect cooking if it gets complicated or gets every pot and pan in the house dirty just to prepare it. You make it sound easy and quick but satisfying.

Invite me over for a sample. LOL [Don't worry, I'm never close to CT.]

Where you live, there is Whole Foods, and you can get the good frozen Atlantic Salmon, frozen sea scallops. I'd pass on frozen oysters, but canned smoked oysters (King Oscars) are cheap, and they'll do.

Where I live, the nearest Whole Foods is about 250 miles away. I thought they opened one only about 130 miles away but now I recall that was a Hyvee. Hyvee is the next best thing to a Whole Foods store when you're out in the sticks.

It would take some planning to buy and transport frozen foods that far. I'd do better just to get it shipped freight in dry ice, I think.

Spinach. It's tender. You have to be kind to it. You need to boil it for at least one minute (to get the oxalates out) but no more than two (to keep the potassium and Vitamin C content). Then you pour off the water and either steam it for a little while longer, or just serve it with melted butter.

You think it is better boiled briefly than just to eat the spinach leaves as a salad? I've adopted an approach of eating vegetables as raw as I can and avoid cooking or even heating them. Well, I sometimes microwave some cheese on to broccoli or cauliflower just for variety and because I like cheese, even crappy American cheeses. I like the spinach leaf salads pretty well but then I tried Wallyworld's newish blend of Kaleslaw recently and was shocked how much I liked it. It had broccoli and red cabbage and kale and carrot strips and some Italian-sounding lettuce. Wow, was that good. Best kale salad I ever tasted. The other kale dishes I've had just taste crappy to me. But the dieticians do tell us that kale is the best source for insoluable fiber so I'm trying to get with the program. I recall cooked spinach that looked and tasted like some cat coughed up a green hairball. It looked bad. It tasted even worse. But then, kids don't like a lot of strong-flavored stuff. And I've never eaten cooked spinach again. For one thing, no one I know of even serves cooked spinach any more. You're the first one I've heard talking about cooked spinach in some years.

Collards are tougher, so you have to boil them longer, and there's no oxalate issue. Frozen chopped collards are kind of bitter, but if you get the whole leaves an boil them for five minutes, they're essentially cabbage. Eat them with butter and salt.

My experience with collards is very limited. I'll have to look but I don't think they grow it anywhere in my region. It's all shipped in but I think I've seen it for sale here. I know it is popular with the healthfoods set. I'll have to look around and see if they have a small bag of it for me to sample at the local grocery. Maybe it'll be like the kale and I'll find I really like it. Damn, that kaleslaw mix is good for the price. One of the cheaper salad mixes but good flavor, easy chewing, works well with a wide variety of dressings. It sounds dumb but, if you get a chance, pick up a bag of it sometime for a change in your salad routine. If it can get past my taste buds, it will probably please most anyone.

Sorry that citrus upsets you. That's definitely a bummer.

Citrus always makes my stomach acidy if I have it on an empty stomach. It can make me acidy even if I just drink orange juice after eating a full breakfast and I'll have heartburn all morning. Needless to say, I'm not fond of citrus even if I do like the taste. I just hate having a sour growling stomach over a crappy little glass of OJ. Pulped or not, it just doesn't agree with me much even with the sugar they put in it. And a really sour citrus like grapefruit, well, I don't think I ever ate more than a bite or two of it in my life. My dad called it rabbit food and thought it was only for women. I didn't understand why the women would eat it because I thought it tasted blandly bad and sour. I do like pineapple and it doesn't usually sour me but there aren't a lot of pineapple dishes I like. I did really enjoy a yuppie restaurant my brother took me to where they were roasting whole pineapples on a portable grill and then would cut big slices and serve them directly on your plate. That was the best pineapple dish I ever had but I can't imagine grilling pineapple at home. I also can get acidy from tomato. I love Heinz ketchup and rich marinara spaghetti sauces so I like tomato flavor, just not the raw product. But if cooked, I love tomato soup or chile or most any cooked tomato sauce dish. And I don't get sour stomach from a cooked tomato product. It's almost embarrassing to see how much spaghetti I can down with a rich marinara sauce with spicy Italian sausage. People stare if I eat it in public. Then I have to walk out looking like an anaconda just swallowed a small goat. But I love the pasta dishes and treat myself now and then.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-14   23:00:20 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#123. To: Vicomte13 (#107)

Raw milk is legal in Connecticut too. They sell it at the store right down the street.

Can you tell me the price on a gallon of raw milk there at your local market?

If you like collards you might try simmering them in home made chicken broth...they seem to be made for each other.

watchman  posted on  2019-08-15   8:21:51 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#124. To: watchman (#123)

Can you tell me the price on a gallon of raw milk there at your local market?

You should smuggle some raw milk into CT. LOL

Vic can be your local henchman.

I'd guess the price at $10-$12 for organic raw milk. CT is a high-dollar state. Last I read about it, that seemed like what they got for raw milk on the west coast. Generally more than double the price of pasteurized milk but less than triple the price. In upscale communities, maybe triple the price of regular milk or a little more.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-15   11:56:10 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#125. To: Tooconservative (#124)

$10-$12 for organic raw milk

New business plan...

24 foot trailer, load a round bale up front, cow in the middle, drive to Ct.

Organic milk out the side door, organic cow manure out the back

watchman  posted on  2019-08-15   12:57:27 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#126. To: Tooconservative (#122)

With fruit, I just eat the raw fruit. Not juices - there's more in the fruit, and it's m and it' and it's m and it's much more filling. Fruit's perfect.

As far as spinach goes, calorie for calorie, it's the single most nutritious vegetabl vegeta vegetabl vegetable.

Calorie for calorie, Sockeye salmon is the single most nutritious meat.

Calorie for calorie, salmon roe is the single most nutritious egg.

And in truth, except for two micronutrients, one could meet all of one's daily re requi re requirements eating just salmon and spinach.

But sockeye doesn't taste as good as Atlantic salmon.

And raw spinach has a lot of oxalates in it, which can cause kidney stones in pe people who get them, which is why you boil it for a couple of minutes (no lo longer, and pour off the water: the oxalates come right out of it.

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-15   14:09:47 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#127. To: watchman (#123)

I don't know if it's organic or not. I'll get a price on the raw milk from the corner store and let you know.

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-15   14:10:39 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#128. To: watchman (#125)

Bring your cow to my yard. She can graze to her heart's content, saving me lawn mowing charges.

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-15   14:11:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#129. To: watchman, Vicomte13 (#125)

Organic milk out the side door, organic cow manure out the back

Make sure Vic gets a high price from the local Gentiles for your top-notch farm-fresh organic cow manure!

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-15   16:15:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#130. To: Vicomte13 (#126)

With fruit, I just eat the raw fruit. Not juices - there's more in the fruit, and it's m and it' and it's m and it's much more filling. Fruit's perfect.

Took me a long time to figure that out. I did already switch to fresh fruit. I just got home with some fresh black grapes from Mexico. They look deeeee-lish.

As far as spinach goes, calorie for calorie, it's the single most nutritious vegetabl vegeta vegetabl vegetable.

I've heard that before. Offhand, do you know if cooked spinach is better than just eating spinach leaves as a salad?

Not that I'll go buy any right away. I just bought some kaleslaw and it's my current fave. I did notice various collard greens there at WallyCommieWorld, several grades of produce. Prices weren't too bad but I already had grabbed my kaleslaw. Maybe next time. The collard greens remind me of those dandelion salads. That stuff always reminds me of the hundreds of millions of similar weedish-looking plants that I used to spray and kill. I'm kind of a serial killer of certain species.

Calorie for calorie, Sockeye salmon is the single most nutritious meat.

Never had the Sockeye, going to try the Alaskan in my first online order I think. And I've read that salmon aficionados do prefer the stronger flavor of the Sockeye.

I have read that before. From actual dietitians, not salmon/spinach industry promotional ads.

Calorie for calorie, salmon roe is the single most nutritious egg.

Never seen it, never heard of it. I guess this is the caviar of mama salmons?

But sockeye doesn't taste as good as Atlantic salmon.

Surprising you don't prefer the Sockeye. Everyone talks about the stronger fish flavor and given your predilection for mackerel-snapping and sardine-gobbling, I thought that would be your fave.

And raw spinach has a lot of oxalates in it, which can cause kidney stones in pe people who get them, which is why you boil it for a couple of minutes (no lo longer, and pour off the water: the oxalates come right out of it.

I hope it doesn't happen with the spinach leaves for salads. I think those are pre-washed and ready to eat. I buy the boxed stuff usually and they say it is ready to eat and pre-washed. I know people who think those pre-washed greens are a little acidic or the flavor is just a little off from the wash they use.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-15   16:25:50 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#131. To: Tooconservative (#130)

The oxalates are a natural part of the structure of the plant. When you cook the spinach, even for a short time (2 minutes), the tissues break and the oxalates are released into the water. so you can pour them away.

Of course, if you don't get kidney stones, I suppose you don't have to worry about them.

I've always liked spinach, right back to popeye as a little kid, so I'm partial to it, cooked. I don't know if I would get kidney stones or not, but I just like it cooked with butter in any case.

I really don't like kale. The hard crinkly aspect of it reminds me of thistles. Of course kale and collards are just two different kinds of cabbage, as is bok choy. My favorite cabbage is, well, just plain cabbage, boiled all to hell, with butter and salt and a little mustard.

Truth is, my daily vegetables are about a half pound of cooked spinach at breakfast, and a pound of romaine and arugula with blue cheese at lunch.

I prefer Atlantic Salmon to all of the Pacific Salmons because the Atlantic Salmon is the fattiest, and the meat is just silky smooth on account of that. It's...unctuous. I like that.

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-15   16:33:22 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#132. To: Vicomte13, watchman (#128)

Bring your cow to my yard. She can graze to her heart's content, saving me lawn mowing charges.

Watch out, watchman. Vic has a known proclivity for wanting to start a reindeer farm so he can milk reindeer.

Don't laugh, he actually can make a good argument for it. But it isn't as efficient a use of pasture as dairy cows. And I always doubted that you could domesticate reindeer that much.

Now if Vic could come up with a plan for a federal subsidy for reindeer milk like they have for dairy milk, he'd really have something.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-15   16:35:47 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#133. To: Deckard (#0)

A smart person (unless he hungers for power) wants to be free, either to make a living or to associate (or not) with anyone he pleases.

Nailed it!

goldilucky  posted on  2019-08-15   21:56:57 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#134. To: Tooconservative (#132)

a federal subsidy for reindeer milk like they have for dairy milk

Wait...there's a federal subsidy for dairy milk?

watchman  posted on  2019-08-15   22:42:19 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#135. To: watchman (#134) (Edited)

An American dairy industry news site and a few links.

DairyHerd.com: Canada: 73% of U.S. Milk Price Is Subsidized, 2/9/18

DairyHerd.com: Should You Take An MFP Payment?, 8/7/2019

You may have heard of the wrangling over the last year or so between virtuous patriotic hardworking American dairymen fighting back against the schemes of the corrupt, godless, lazy Canucki cow-exploiters.

It's a common enough claim. American industries (like anywhere else) bitch to their government about unfair competition driving them out of business. They use this to get higher subsidy rates from the government. And often, just when the government gives in and does subsidize them, they then realize they can use the subsidy to expand their herds so they can get even more subsidy payments. And why wouldn't they? It's legal and they know they'll get the checks from the feds.

In a lot of farm states, the votes of their senators are primarily sold for federal subsidy of agriculture. Corn and ethanol in Iowa is the prime example but there are others. Timber harvest on federal lands in the Pacific northwest states with the government paying to construct extensive road systems in federal forests so logging companies can use them for a few years to haul timber out. Just a few that come to mind.

Tooconservative  posted on  2019-08-16   3:29:12 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#136. To: Vicomte13 (#131)

I really don't like kale. The hard crinkly aspect of it reminds me of thistles.

You and me both! And yet I still grow it for my wife (she's a health nut). I grow a variety of Tuscan kale, also known as dinosaur kale, that gets it's name from "the hard crinkly aspect" you describe.

Too bad you aren't closer. I'd send a steady supply of collards your way. The leaves are the size of elephant ears. First year to try them and I'm hooked.

My main crop is carrots. I grow hundreds of pounds of Bolero storage carrots that are kept in the ground until the last possible moment (ground freeze or snow). What my family doesn't eat will be traded for hay for my cows.

watchman  posted on  2019-08-16   13:00:25 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#137. To: watchman (#136)

Grow blackberries. You need at least two bushes so they cross pollinate. The champagne of berries. So healthy, so good.

Vicomte13  posted on  2019-08-16   13:22:49 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#138. To: Vicomte13 (#137)

Grow blackberries.

I do!

They aren't exactly native to Maine.

I grow Prime-Ark Freedoms in a greenhouse and this year is looking good for berries.

watchman  posted on  2019-08-16   14:39:19 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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