"The Declaration is a powerful and wonderfully concise summary of the best Whig thought over several generations.  Most of all, it has an electrifying beginning.  It is hard to think of any way in which the first two paragraphs can be improved:  the first, with its elegiac note of sadness at dissolving the union with Britain and its wish to show 'a decent respect to the opinions of mankind' by giving its reasons; the second, with its riveting first sentence, the kernel of the whole:  'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'  After that sentence, the reader, any reader - even George III - is compelled to read on.  The Committee found i necessary to make few changes to Jefferson's draft.  Franklin, the practical man, toned down Jefferson's grandiloquence - thus truths, from being 'sacred and undeniable' became 'self-evident.' a masterly improvement.  But in general the four others were delighted with Jefferson's work, as well they might be."

Paul Johnson
A History of the American People

"A downpour of rain until after noon.  Went to farm and hoed weeds in melon patch that is making good headway.  Wheat ready to cut.  Admired the rich green corn, now much of it hip high.  After getting a drink, went to my pickle patch intending to mow the weeds around the border.  Old Man River beat me to it for he was all over it and coming for the corn."

D.C. Richard's Journal
July 4, 1935

. . .of the Declaration of Independence here.

Thanks, NLT.

"If somebody in your industry is more successful than you, it's probably because he works harder at it than you do.  Sure, maybe he's more inherently talented, more adept at networking, but I don't consider that an excuse.  Over time, that advantage counts for less and less.  Which is why the world is full of highly talented, network-savvy, failed mediocrities."

High MacLeod
Ignore Everybody

"American Trilogy:"


Thanks, Tim.

"The past week has been dry and moderately hot, but this evening we have had a soaking shower of four hours duration and still raining.

Sold hay to Day Miller, Grover Garver, four loads each and one load to Shefler Miller who paid me.  The others haven't come across yet.  At a carrier picnic on Jack Herrington's summer cottage grounds.  We have picnicked for 30 miles along these wonderful valleys. 

Bull nettle or tread lightly is the new plant I have learned this year.  The cultivated land is full of them.  Stout, low plants with stiff prickles on mid-rib of leaf and on the stem.  They play havoc with bare feet.

Corn is hip high.

Ella went to Gene's yesterday noon."

July 3, 1935
D.C. Richard's Journal

From View From the Ledge, a lament:

"When I would get a call, it would start out as “I need to get something produced…” Now the phone call starts, “I need a price…”.  Specifications, rather than discussed, explored, and possibly modified based on need and manufacturing capabilities, are merely check boxes on a form. It’s all been reduced to multiple choice and a twitter.

The loss is global. The advertising agencies – and clients – that I work for are losing that “inside” craftsman that is crucial to getting the project completed and meet the problems presented – marketing’s need to communicate their message, creative’s need for effective and practical design, production’s need for consistent quality and cost. These are talents nurtured over many years and are formed in a crucible made of unforgiving machinery and demanding humans."

 

"Before the sports pub, before the theme pub, before the gastro pub, there was, well, just the pub.

It was a place one went for a quiet pint, with friends or strangers, richor poor. It was a place of drink, certainly, but also one of discussion and discourse, sometimes dispute. Today such places have mostlydisappeared."

More:

"Licensing hours in those days (pubs opened late morning, shut duringthe afternoon and opened again in the evening until 11 p.m.) meant youmight pop in midday for a glass of lunch, but the serious business wasan evening affair. That said, when I was at school I learned as muchfrom my political history teacher when he held court over lunch at thelocal as I did in his classroom. It was a different time."

Read the rest of "A Eulogy For The Pub" at Forbes.

 

 

"An anecdote that Benjamin Rush, the Philadelphia physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, liked to tell in his old age makes the point memorably.  On July 4, 1776, just after the Continental Congress had finished making its revisions of the Declaration and sent it off to the printer for publication, Rush overheard a conversation between Benjamin Harrison of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts:  'I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Gerry,' said Harrison, 'when we are all hung for what we are now doing.  From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead.'  Rush recalled that the comment  'procured a transient smile, but it was soon succeeded by the solemnity with which the whole business was conducted.'

Joseph Ellis
Founding Brothers

Thanks, Tim.

. . .in health care has such an allure if you ignore economic history.  As Greg Mankiw points out:

"Even if one accepts the president’s broader goals of wider access tohealth care and cost containment, his economic logic regarding thepublic option is hard to follow. Consumer choice and honest competitionare indeed the foundation of a successful market system, but they areusually achieved without a public provider. We don’t needgovernment-run grocery stores or government-run gas stations to ensurethat Americans can buy food and fuel at reasonable prices."

Read the editorial at The New York Times here.

Update:  George Newman has an excellent editorial in today's Wall Street Journal, parsing the health care arguments.  An example:

- "The cost of health care rises two to three times as fast as inflation."

That's like comparing the price of hamburger 30 years ago with the price of filet mignon today and calling the difference inflation. Or the price of a 19-inch, black-and-white TV 30 years ago with the price of a 50-inch HDTV today. The improvements in medical care are even more dramatic, leading to longer life, less pain, fewer exploratory surgeries and miracle drugs. Of course the research, the equipment and the training that produce these improvements don't come cheap."

More:

- "A universal plan will reduce the cost of health care."

Think a moment. Suppose you are in an apple market with 100 buyers and 100 sellers every day and apples sell for $1 a pound. Suddenly one day 120 buyers show up. Will the price of the apples go up or down?"

Guanciale on his Grand Jury experience here:

"The jury learned many different things during the course of the three months: you are always being filmed where ever you shop, jeweler’s bags are not made to hold jewelry, a “buck” is a $100 piece of crack cocaine, heroin is sold in small balloons (makes it easier to hide in places you do not want to know about), Domestic Violence includes women beating on men, a woman can be charged with a sex offense, people will steal anything that is not bolted down including spa tubs, you may think you have a good employee but you really do not, police dogs are very smart, . ."

Great song here.  One of the 100 Greatest Country Music Songs (according to me)

"We must face the fact that sloppy-thinking, muddleheaded people will speak and write sloppy, muddled language. It will fully satisfy their needs, and for their purposes it will accurately express their values."

Kenneth G. Wilson
Van Winkle's Return

Thanks, David.

I bought the book today on Nicholas Bate's recommendation.  Tonight, I enjoyed the web site.  A couple of wonderful samples of Hugh MacLeod's work:


Think about it for awhile.  What could we do to to be totally f*&!ing amazing for our clients?

      

More here.

Investor's Business Daily published Tom McClintock's speech in opposition to the cap and trade legislation:

"Gov. Schwarzenegger assured us that AB 32 would mean an explosion of new, green jobs — exactly the same promises we're hearing from cap and trade supporters. In California, exactly the opposite has happened. We have lost so many jobs the UC Santa Barbara economic forecast is now using the D-word — depression — to discuss California's job market.

Madam Speaker, the cap and trade bill proposes what amounts to endlessly increasing taxes on any enterprises that produce carbon dioxide or other so-called greenhouse gas emissions. We need to understand what that means.

It has profound implications for agriculture, construction, cargo and passenger transportation, energy production, baking and brewing — all of which produce enormous quantities of this innocuous and ubiquitous compound. In fact, every human being produces 2.2 pounds of carbon dioxide every day — just by breathing."

Meanwhile, in California, IOUs will be issued.