Cutting the ‘2 Big 2 Fail’ down 2 size
In the discussion about banks that are “too big to fail,” I think you start with two observations:
1.) In general, competition and the discipline of failure are better, smarter regulators than government bureaucrats. That doesn’t mean government regulation is unnecessary; it does mean that regulators should be empowered to do only what the market cannot or will not do.
2.) Banks that are “too big to fail” are largely immune to the discipline of failure and to the rigors of competition.
That in turn leaves you with two basic solutions: You can greatly expand the gov’t regulation applied to the “2 Big 2 Fail,” or you can reduce and limit the size of those institutions and by doing so reintroduce the spectre of failure to the system.
There’s a move afoot in Congress to take the second approach, and I hope they have the guts to carry it out.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Angered by bailouts that have kept corporate titans such as American International Group Inc. afloat, members of a key House committee last week voted to give the government vast new power to downsize private companies, something that happens now only in the most egregious antitrust cases.
Instead of helping cushion the fall of Wall Street powerhouses through government aid or variations on traditional bankruptcy, there is growing momentum in Congress to cut those firms down to size before they start teetering to limit the damage if they do collapse.
“The era of the big bank is over,” said Simon Johnson, an MIT professor and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.
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714 comments Add your comment
Normal
November 25th, 2009
9:46 am
Bosch, Bruno…I don’t suffer BS gladly either…
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
9:48 am
dang … would someone give Dave a piece of pie, already … the boy seems to be itching for a fight …
Dave … have a slice of pumpkin or apple and calm the eff down … it’s Thanksgiving, fercryingoutloud …
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
9:48 am
“I have a phoenix that is mostly celtic knots (she taught me that it is always possible to rise from the things that would destroy you), and on my ankle, I have a way-cool sun design that I really liked …”
Oops, had forgotten. A beautiful tribute to your mom. Like my mom, she sounds like a great lady. Hopefully you had a better dad than I did.
“I don’t like to think of myself as judgemental … just an elitist ”
No prob–You’ve got the creds to back it up.
Bosch
November 25th, 2009
9:49 am
USinUK,
And I even left the door open for him to say, “Well, Bosch, I guess you are prejudiced against yourself” and everything!
Rightwing Troll
November 25th, 2009
9:50 am
Forgive me, I’m not too good at this, but:
WASHINGTON — In a hopeful sign, the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, dropping below 500,000 for the first time since January.
Whiter Teeth Today!
Enlarge photo
FILE – In this Oct. 27, 2009 photo, job seekers line up in front of a Dollar General booth at a Little Rock, Ark., job fair. The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week to the lowest level in over a year. (AP Photo/DannyJohnston, file)
FILE – In this Oct. 27, 2009 photo, job seekers line up in front of a Dollar General booth at a Little Rock, Ark., job fair. The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week to the lowest level in over a year. (AP Photo/DannyJohnston, file)
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And consumers started spending again in October as their incomes grew modestly — another encouraging signal for the budding economic recovery.
The number of people filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell by 35,000 to 466,000, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That was the fewest since the week of Sept. 13, 2008. And it was far better than the 500,000 economists had expected.
Ha! In your face nut bags! Obama’s recovery in your face!
I rule thee you flat earth nut sacks! HA!!!!
That wasn’t too hard, I’ll await a grade for my effort from the local cut-n-paste, snapshot-of-a-news-article-prove-my-entire-point-crowd.
Thank you.
PS: Oh feel free to make fun of a job I had 10 years ago, I find that amusing…
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
9:50 am
Hey, y’all and a happy turkey day to one and all on both sides of the pond, and, well, I guess in the spirit of the season, even those of y’all from north of the Mason-Dixon-Ohio River-36 30! Be forewarned, just got back from the medico with a sterling report and I’ve got five days off; so bring it on!
ABM
Today in history– Prague massacre–that was a particularly vicious one…
“So, just exactly what is a Jewish holiday?”
“They tried to kill us all. We survived. Let’s eat!”
If…of course an independent South would have freed the slaves…it was after all very much a country in the mainstream of Western Civilization. My school kids just finished their own research into when slavery was abolished in the New World–Cuba, Puerto Rico and Brazil were the last, Brazil in the 1880s. It was a planned and gradualist process there, with age limitations in order to prevent the slave owners from not taking the responsibility for providing for the aged. There were also compensation provisions for the owners and provisions of land for the emancipated. The South would have been in this line of thought. The “sticking point” on abolition for the slave owners had always been the dollar value involved, the pocketbook, as always, trumping morality,
Funny thing about the plot to burn NYC being on this date in history–meanwhile Sherman was marching through Georgia and which town did he burn on this date?
Scooter
November 25th, 2009
9:52 am
Thanks Normal,I do have an invite from a friend that lives only 27 miles from where I plan to camp and will probably go there to visit during the day. Life is good!
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
9:52 am
Bruno –
“Hopefully you had a better dad than I did.”
I’m blessed to still have him – and he ROCKS!!! (he’s the reason I love Irving Berlin, in fact) … sorry to hear yours was less than stellar …
Bosch –
dangitall … where did you put your screen cleaner???
Rightwing Troll
November 25th, 2009
9:53 am
I guess the same way we’re going to pay the 10 trillion debt he was handed.
Got anything harder than that?
Now, how about an example of how anything he’s done has adversely affected your day to day life?
Kamchak
November 25th, 2009
9:53 am
why-oh-why did he take SRV and leave us David Lee Roth??? whyyyyyyy???!!!
Because he can–and then there’s the whole thirty years of trickle-down thing…
Bosch
November 25th, 2009
9:54 am
USinUK,
It’s on the second shelf in the closet, behind the air pump.
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
9:54 am
Morning, josef, and a Happy Happy to you.
“Nothing special for Thanksgiving Normal.I have invites from several friends to eat with thier families but opted to go to the woods and spend some time with Mother Nature.”
For the past 15 or so years, I have spent most Thanksgivings and most Christmases with my best friend and his mom. Last year she passed away a few days after New Years Day. He’s going to put one more holiday celebration on in her memory.
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
9:57 am
Bosch–Did you ever get your house put back together? Last I heard, your roof was leaking.
Normal
November 25th, 2009
9:58 am
USinUK @ 9:48
You have to admire their passion. Whiner, @@, Dave, all seem genuine
in what they say. I wish that they could call a truce and join us “Libs” on events like this and join in more on Friday music day. We will never learn to get along, if we don’t try. I will never change their beliefs and they will never change mine, but the exchange of beliefs makes this blog fun, most of the time. But every once in a while we just need to have a “get together” and have a little fun.
Maybe the “Cons” and “Libs” could join forces and pick on the “Greens”
that’d be fun.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:01 am
Kam-a-lama!! good to see you and happy thanksgiving!!
meanwhile …
“Ha! In your face nut bags! Obama’s recovery in your face!”
am I the only one who would LOVE to hear Ben Bernanke say that during his regular Senate testimony???
Bosch
November 25th, 2009
10:01 am
Bruno,
It’s mostly fixed. The roofers are here right now banging away. We had to go a round with the insurance company after they claimed everything was fixed, and we were like “Oh, no it’s not.” We have a weird roof, so one round with the insurance company — I consider a victory.
TnGelding
November 25th, 2009
10:02 am
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 25th, 2009
8:33 am
I see now you were just passing on some Fox propaganda and the numbers were adjusted for some type of inflation. But you know that the first year budget is actually the last year of the previous president with some minor (or in Obama’s case necessary major) adjustments.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:02 am
Normal –
“You have to admire their passion”
passion, I admire … the inability to just have a conversation without trying to pick a fight, I do not.
AmVet
November 25th, 2009
10:02 am
Yes, it is good to laugh at yourself!
It makes those laughing at you either wonder WTF? Or make them feel better they have some company!
Pompous a$$es and elitists, huh?
According to some of the Old Faithfuls here, I’m more of a sanctimonious blowhard!
But as Ace Ventura noted, “Man, am I tired of always being right!”
No Bruno, no tats. And likely never will. I’m checking out the same way I checked it – perfect!
(Which remands me of a great bumper sticker for our Team Jesus friends I saw recently – Born OK the first time.)
http://www.stampandshout.com/shop/bumper-stickers/born-ok-first-time.php
You’ve disproved my stereotype, friend. That tats are for gentiles…
Normal
November 25th, 2009
10:03 am
Josef, So, just exactly what is a Jewish holiday?”
“They tried to kill us all. We survived. Let’s eat!”
Ah, sweet simplicity!
Normal
November 25th, 2009
10:04 am
USinUK, passion, I admire … the inability to just have a conversation without trying to pick a fight, I do not.
Duly noted…
Normal
November 25th, 2009
10:06 am
AmVet: My Granny used to tell me (honest
) to keep smiling…it makes people wonder what you are up to… 
Dave R.
November 25th, 2009
10:06 am
I’ll gladly get along with any lib who will stop trying to take what I have through the force of government and give it to someone else.
The problem is, there aren’t any lbs out there who will let me live my life the way I want to live it.
And you gotta love Troll’s “stick-your-head-in-the-sand” approach to life. With Troll’s “logic”, as long as the upcoming tax increases aren’t here yet to pay down our $13 trillion debt, we don’t need to worry. It hasn’t affected us today.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Kamchak
November 25th, 2009
10:07 am
USinUK
Best wishes to you also on the eve of this U.S. holiday. I would be thankful for a win at the Estadio do Dragao today.
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
10:08 am
Bruno–
The eternal, eh? And what is your perspective?
AmVet
November 25th, 2009
10:11 am
Welcome back, josef!
And congrats on the clean bill of health you old reprobate!
Normal! You damn Green basher! (DO NOT get me started on my overplayed(?) duopoly diatribe!)
Yeah, like some giant dysfunctional family, we bicker and fight like hell, but nobody can convince me we’re not all on the same side – America’s.
Nor will anybody ever convince me that we don’t have the greatest, grooviest and most wonderful system ever created in the history of mankind.
Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing…
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 25th, 2009
10:13 am
Lettuce all hope for change this Thanksgiving…that being Obobo chokes on a Turkey Neck.
Common Sense
November 25th, 2009
10:14 am
I couldn’t care less about PETA wanting to discard “UGA the Bulldog” mascot. I’m more concerned that “UGA” isn’t black, female, gay or Muslim. What happened to diversity?
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
10:14 am
“You’ve disproved my stereotype, friend. That tats are for gentiles…”
I’m a gent, Am, though have done enough Bible research to recognize that the Sabbath has always been on the seventh day, which is Saturday.
For some reason, however, many of my best friends through the years have been Jewish. I count you and josef among my best blog “friends”.
“According to some of the Old Faithfuls here, I’m more of a sanctimonious blowhard!”
But your message is one we need to hear, Am.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:14 am
“I’ll gladly get along with any lib who will stop trying to take what I have through the force of government and give it to someone else. The problem is, there aren’t any lbs out there who will let me live my life the way I want to live it.”
oh, blah-blah-frikkin-blah …
first of all, you act like the GOP never tells people how to live (I know quite a few gay friends who would disagree with that, not to mention quite a few wimmen who like access to birth control and, if needed, abortion) …
secondly, you seem to think that the GOP never reapportions money … dude, if I may … I suggest you look at who benefitted most from the last administration (here’s a hint: it wasn’t the middle class and it sure as hell wasn’t the poor) …
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:15 am
Kam –
“I would be thankful for a win at the Estadio do Dragao today”
I’ll do what I can to help (since I’m closer)
RW-(the original)
November 25th, 2009
10:18 am
After going a few rounds with Team Jesus the other night
Another day, another bald faced lie from bruno….oh, and I thought arguing politics WAS eternal. It sure seems it.
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
10:19 am
Hey back at ‘cha AmVet–doc had a new nurse. She’s reading over my chart and being ever so kind and gentle…busted out laughing, “not to worry, Sweetheart, I know from the looks of it I’m supposed to be dead, but keep reading…still quite alive and mean as h*ll…attitude is everything!” We’re having a corporate excutive for dinner!
Dave R.
November 25th, 2009
10:20 am
blah, blah, blah, back at ya, USinUK.
The GOP is bad enough, but the libs who want to change “the greatest, grooviest and most wonderful system ever created in the history of mankind” are the ones who need to be stopped in their tracks.
This country is full of fiscal conservatives and social liberals, and the party that embraces them will be the one that gets my vote. The GOP and the Dems do not get my vote.
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 25th, 2009
10:20 am
Im hoping that Mr Finnius will be driving his 1978 Ford Econoline Van down to Woodruff park and shuttling the bums to and from the “Hosea Feed The Lazy” boondoggle.
Angry Black Man
November 25th, 2009
10:23 am
Common Sense
PETA may be on to a good idea. Let UGA develop a robotic dog powered by a nuclear reactor. UGA would be the first to have a true “atomic dog”.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:23 am
Dave –
“the libs who want to change “the greatest, grooviest and most wonderful system ever created in the history of mankind” are the ones who need to be stopped in their tracks”
criminey. drama queen much??
GET THIS BOY SOME PIE … STAT!!!
“The GOP and the Dems do not get my vote.”
good luck with that …
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
10:24 am
Hey RW–see you got top billing last p.m.!
Bruno–would have sworn you were MOT! Well, as we say, you’ve got a Jewish soul. A reporter asked out rabbi when I was a kid how many Jews there were in our town (there were about 1500 enrolled tribals) and he said, “well, there may be 4000 Jewish ’souls’ in…”
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
10:26 am
Dave R
“This country is full of fiscal conservatives and social liberals, and the party that embraces them will be the one that gets my vote. The GOP and the Dems do not get my vote.”
Pretty much my point of view, too…
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
10:27 am
“The eternal, eh? And what is your perspective?”
It’s obvious to me that the corporal body goes to sheol, the grave, as the Bible instructs, josef. And what about the “spirit”? If we speak of “eternal life”, it can only be in the spiritual sense, of course, which is what most “mainstream” Christians believe.
Where I part company with the the mainstream is in the understanding of the word “spirit”. By definition, a spirit, like God, is non-corporal. As such, any “personification” of said spirits is inaccurate, and silly. I think the Jews have the right idea by forbidding the attachment of ANY human word to God.
Dave R.
November 25th, 2009
10:28 am
Good luck with what, USinUK? Do you think that anyone with a firm set of principles would vote for anyone without those same principles?
Maybe in your world, but not mine. Politicians have to earn my vote, not a party. Those that do, get a vote. Those that don’t get “None of the above” written in. Been doing it that way for about 30 years.
RW-(the original)
November 25th, 2009
10:28 am
josef,
You sent me on a mission to claim the spot but I didn’t know you were going to leave me hanging up there.
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
10:32 am
“Another day, another bald faced lie from bruno”
Just wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine the other night, RW.
AmVet
November 25th, 2009
10:32 am
josef, guys like us are very young at heart. (Or as my older brother asserts, just immature!)
But I know guys considerably younger than me, who are already old. They think old, they act old and they talk old.
While preparing to scale Mt. Ranier, I met Jim Whittaker, who was on that first American team to summit Chomolungma – Goddess Mother of the World. Aka Mt. Everest.
He was probably 70 years old at the time and was still a strapping specimen of a man! He encouraged me greatly and will forever remain one of my most admired heroes.
Oops, color me mortified, B.
I misread your Saturday as the Sabbath comment as being an MOT.
Good! Now my stereotype remains intact!
Yep, to Joe Biden a line from my friend Keith B from Memphis used to joke about his wife – a couple of the guys here (and everyone knows who they are!) are the most even tempered people I know.
They’re always p!ssed off!
Dave R.
November 25th, 2009
10:33 am
Mornin’ to ya, josef! Glad to hear about the clean bill of health.
If everyone voted principle instead of party (and if politicians did, too), this country would look very different than it does today.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:33 am
Dave –
“Politicians have to earn my vote, not a party. Those that do, get a vote.”
and if that works for you and makes you happy, that’s great and more power to you.
however, since that’s not how Congress works, I say good luck with that.
we don’t have 435 “individuals” in the house + 100 “individuals” in the senate – they are organized by a party … the party with the most people in it head up the committees and decide what bills will/won’t make it to the floor.
you may not vote by party, but the hill operates by it.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:35 am
““Another day, another bald faced lie from bruno”
“Just wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine the other night, RW.”
c’mon, people … have some pie and everyone try to focus on the things we are most thankful for rather than the things that divide us …
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
10:37 am
Bruno–
As for the eternal, I am kinda drawn to the traditional Choctaw belief…we have two souls, the “shilup” and the “shilombish.” The shilup is that part of you that goes on forever, released from the body and earthly concerns. The shilombish is that part of you that hangs around to take care of unfinished business.
Normal
November 25th, 2009
10:37 am
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
10:27 am
Bruno, I don’t know nuttin’ about “Spirit” but, If there IS a G-d in Heaven, We all come back as cats to a good home…
RW-(the original)
November 25th, 2009
10:38 am
Just wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine the other night, RW.
Care to explain what that even means, Bruno? You started telling the blog my supposed positions before I ever even posted the other night.
You can’t scroll either direction and find anything that backs your claim, but just keep on lying. It’s who you are.
Normal
November 25th, 2009
10:40 am
Angry Black Man
November 25th, 2009
10:23 am
ABM, but Georgia Tech would have to design it…
@@
November 25th, 2009
10:40 am
Awwhhhh, Bruno…no shout out for little ol’ me? I’m hurt, “rally” I YAM, tater. You guys are always into revisiting the past. This is probably one you’d like to ignore:
By @@
December 6, 2006 05:03 PM
Huge a/k/a AmVet:
I post one comment, an occasional two at Wooten’s daily. Ain’t hangin’ around there either. Sorry to disappoint you once again.
Here’s one for somebody, but I don’t know who. When the name game was played, I wasn’t shocked by how quickly some liberal went looking for an address. Came back and reported the vicinity.
Had I witnessed that type of mistake made by a liberal, I would have simply let it go. I have no doubt that any conservative on this board would have.
But liberals? They are an obsessive bunch.
The address mentioned? Andy’s! Very much like Kamchak mentioning how I had inadvertently exposed critical data about myself online (not true, but it didn’t stop him from trying to capitalize on a lie). Then, of course, there was the individual who let her obsession overwhelm her when she decided to place a subscription I had at risk. Could have been very costly for me…not her…online defeat was her goal.
Oldies but goodies?
http://www.accessatlanta.com/opinion/content/shared-blogs/ajc/luckovich/entries/2006/07/06/company_secrets.htm
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/shared-blogs/ajc/luckovich/entries/2006/12/05/spotting_obama.html?cxntfid=blogs_mike_luckovich
Look for comments by Huge a/k/a AmVet. Do I think people can change? Sometimes….but only if they focus inward, not outward. He continues to do the latter. The former would require too much work on his part.
One more oldie but goodie to follow, then I’m out.
RW-(the original)
November 25th, 2009
10:41 am
USinUK,
Make it rhubarb pie and you’ve got a deal.
/Actually you’ve got a deal anyway. I’ve got a forest to attend to. Later y’all
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
10:41 am
“criminey. drama queen much??”
“c’mon, people … have some pie and everyone try to focus on the things we are most thankful for rather than the things that divide us …”
Make up your mind, USinUK!!
@@
November 25th, 2009
10:41 am
Here ‘ya go.
http://origin.www.ajc.cimedia.com/opinion/content/shared-blogs/ajc/luckovich/entries/2006/12/04/making_a_list.htm
Making a list? You’ve got yours, Bruno…
I’ve got mine!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dave R.
November 25th, 2009
10:43 am
Actually, USinUK, they are organized by caucus, not party. Those who choose to caucus with a party can do so, as in Lieberman and Sanders. What we need are more independents and less people beholden to party affiliation.
Hope & Change just might be the catalyst to make that happen to where both major parties today become irrelevant in the future. In that, he will have least have done something right.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:43 am
RW –
rhubarb is soooo much better in a crumble! yummmmm …
B-dawg –
calling someone out for being a drama queen isn’t focusing on the things that divide us, it’s just a call to calmify the rhetoric
AmVet
November 25th, 2009
10:45 am
ABM,
Bow wow wow wow, yippee yo yippee yeah!
That song still rocks the hell outta me.
But I’m not sure the Young Republicans in Athens would approve!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5DrKBNS8so&feature=PlayList&p=D25E24E1897F25FF&index=0&playnext=1
Normal, that post about cats was perfect!
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
10:45 am
“Awwhhhh, Bruno…no shout out for little ol’ me? I’m hurt, “rally” I YAM,”
I’m sorry, @@.
To make up for my rudeness, I’ve come up with a blog theme song for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRXQEA0yj0
Just funnin’ with you
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
10:46 am
NORMAL–
Cats…Steinbeck said that the cats once ruled the world and it got into such a bad shape that they made a deal with the humans. They’d turn it over to them with the condition that the cats would have a place to stay and food to eat. He said that was why cats have such an arrogant attitude toward us, they got the best end of the deal! Mustafa the al-Qaada Terrorist Cat has hit the high road today trying to escape the infidel horde of tourists who have invaded his domaine!
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:47 am
Dave –
“What we need are more independents and less people beholden to party affiliation”
and I’ll I’m saying is that, in the all-too-brief 233 years that the country has been in existence, that situation has been an aberration, not the norm …
(and those caucuses are organized by … what??? what??? … that’s right … party, not “socially liberal philosophy in this corner … fiscally conservative in that corner”)
Dave R.
November 25th, 2009
10:47 am
Normal, your 10:40 re: Georgia Tech? Priceless!
AmVet
November 25th, 2009
10:48 am
“calmify”.
A girl after my own heart.
I know I take great liberties with the English language, but at least I know when I’m making up words!
“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” Malcolm S. Forbes
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
10:48 am
Somebody say pie? Make mine Granny’s coconut cream pie…if there IS pie in the sky, by and by, that’s mine…
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
10:49 am
“calling someone out for being a drama queen isn’t focusing on the things that divide us, it’s just a call to calmify the rhetoric”
Since your firewall won’t let you see @@’s new theme song, I’ll print some of the lyrics:
“And she got up, and she was a BIG woman. Her name was Bertha, Bertha Butt. She was one of the Butt sisters.”
Just doing what I can to keep things civil.
Angry Black Man
November 25th, 2009
10:51 am
Normal/AmV
Maybe they could get George Clinton to come out for the welcoming ceremony. I heard UGA is a party school. Maybe that’s what the Young Republicans need, a little funk before breakfast.
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
10:52 am
AmVet– the beauty of the Engrish language to me is that it welcomes taking liberties…had a linguistics professor who said that the English language was the most democratic thing homo sapiens had yet come up with (He was a Serb)
Rightwing Troll
November 25th, 2009
10:52 am
“Stupid is as stupid does.”
Yes, and ignoring one’s complicity in the problem, is pretty darned stupid.
Why worry about the inevitable? Taxes will rise, and not just because of what Obozo has done in the last 8 months.
Now, where’s that example I have asked for dozens of times here? Please somebody shut me up, give me an example that isn’t derived, and doesn’t come to you second hand, and is in the now….
Normal
November 25th, 2009
10:52 am
Josef, I have always wondered about cats. You never have seen a tabby cat drawing on a cave wall and yet, all of a sudden, they show up in Egypt and are revered as God’s and Goddess’s. I think they are the original “V’s”. From out there. Way out there
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
10:53 am
B-dawg – “Just doing what I can to keep things civil.” … (snort)
J-Nix – “Granny’s coconut cream pie” … now, that’s what I’m talking about! or good southern banamanama cream pie … (heavy, heavy sigh)
AmVet – “I know I take great liberties with the English language, but at least I know when I’m making up words!” sometimes, the conversation just calls for a good made-up word … I’m glad we’re both there to answer the call!!
AmVet
November 25th, 2009
10:54 am
josef, have you ever seen the “Hemingway cats” in Key West?
Very cool.
BTW, here’s yet another goofball but true tale of mine.
I’m down there for the first time and browsing one of the endless shops. You know the ones, replete with sexy postcards, etc.
Looking at all the bikini clad babes, I see these cards with all sorts of hunks in thongs, etc.
So I said to a friend, “Hey look they have postcards for girls too!”
He looked at me and said, “Those aren’t for the girls”.
!!!!!!!???????
Hey, I’m just a dumb hick from Kansas and freely admit it!
RW-(the original)
November 25th, 2009
10:56 am
How do ya know my pie isn’t crumbly?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Census Bureau worker in Kentucky who was found dead in September with “FED” written on his chest killed himself and staged his death to look like a homicide, state and federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
When do you suppose those of us that were accused of murdering this guy with our “hateful ideology” will get our apology from the calm and open minded neolib that indicted us?
Now I really must go……..
Rightwing Troll
November 25th, 2009
10:58 am
I apologize… I’m sorry.
Dave R.
November 25th, 2009
10:58 am
USinUK, as long as you and others keep willing to settle for something less than perfect, we get less than perfect.
Me? I never settle for less. Except less government.
Normal
November 25th, 2009
11:01 am
Key West Cats, sounds like a band name that does Jimmy Buffet.
Actually those six toed critters are some of the cutest cats I have ever seen.
AnVet, what if cats were really angels? Angels from where you would ask. G-d only knows, says I. I have one I am sure is an angel from Hades, but the others keep me guessing…
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
11:01 am
Back to church….
“As for the eternal, I am kinda drawn to the traditional Choctaw belief…we have two souls, the “shilup” and the “shilombish.” The shilup is that part of you that goes on forever, released from the body and earthly concerns. The shilombish is that part of you that hangs around to take care of unfinished business.”
Again, josef, my quandary from a “scientific” standpoint is that spirits are by definition, non-corporal. And since spirits contain no “matter”, it is impossible for us to even think about them. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist, just that we have to be extremely cautious when we make the attempt to discuss them.
And how can we speak of something that technically speaking doesn’t “exist” in the normal sense, yet stay within acceptable scientific boundaries?? To that, I say, God is all around us. God is the “spirit” which organizes bosons and fermions into atomic particles, atomic particles into atoms, atoms into molecules, molecules into organic compounds, organic compounds into living cells, living cells into living tissues, living tissues into living organs, living organs into living creatures.
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
11:01 am
AmVET…as we said in our youth, the Hemmingway cats are “a trip!” Key West…no place quite like it! How about the Key West chickens?
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
11:07 am
Bruno–
I was raised on the Maimonidean–the spiritual and the earthly are two different spheres–the former belonging to G-d and the theological, the latter belonging to man and the scientific…
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
11:07 am
Dave –
“Me? I never settle for less. Except less government.”
I’m happy to settle for less green bean casserole. eeeeyuk. (just keeping with the turkey-day theme, here)
but, seriously … as long as congresscritters are human beings, less-than-perfect is what we’ll get, regardless of my expectations (or yours)
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
11:12 am
USinUK–with all due respect, I must disagree with you, so I’ll have your share of the greenbean casserole. Yum…
AmVet
November 25th, 2009
11:13 am
Normal, my job sometimes requires me to go into client homes. I’ve had cats jump right in my lap and the owner look on disbelief and say’ “He/she never does that!”
They can tell.
A good friend of mine calls me Dr. Jewlittle!
josef, I’m did not know about the KW chickens. I just looked it up – very strange!
Last year I vacayed on Kauai for a week.
Even though they were free rangers before, after Hurricane Iniki ravaged the place about ten year ago the feral fowl are ALL over the island!
http://www.wraezor.com/gdawn/Kauai%20chickens%20Leahs.jpg
Bud Wiser
November 25th, 2009
11:13 am
…but, seriously … as long as congresscritters are human beings, less-than-perfect is what we’ll get, regardless of my expectations (or yours).
Considering what we are seeing exhibited by our elected officials these days, I’d say your comment zooms to the top of the list of “Understatements of the 21st Century”.
Normal
November 25th, 2009
11:14 am
Bruno, in Dan Brown’s latest book he talks of a science, started with an “N” but he claims it’s a real science. If that’s true and what he says in the book is true, then the soul is a measurable unit. when it leaves the body, the body weighs less. Interesting to consider…
Me? Don’t care. The only thing we are ever sure of in this life is the instant we call “now”. All before now is future and all behind now is past.
But is the soul is a living thing separate from the body? I believe so. Does it go to “Heaven”? I’ll find out soon enough…and if there is, then my only hope is that if I have been good enough, my slice of Heaven will be a certain little valley in Kentucky.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
11:14 am
Jo Nix –
“USinUK–with all due respect, I must disagree with you, so I’ll have your share of the greenbean casserole. Yum…”
being the liberal that I am, I am happy to redistribute my green bean casserole to you …
jconservative
November 25th, 2009
11:16 am
Dave R.
“This country is full of fiscal conservatives and social liberals, and the party that embraces them will be the one that gets my vote. The GOP and the Dems do not get my vote.”
I realize I am in the discussion late but just wanted to second your thoughts along with a few others folks.
USinUK – The way you change the party dominance in the caucus is elect more “principled” members of Congress. That means you must stop voting for Democrats or Republicans. But please do not give up.
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
11:17 am
And a special side sermon for @@:
Accepting that the story of Adam and Eve is allegorical in nature, I’ve often wondered about the true meaning of Eve eating the Forbidden Fruit. Why is this an integral part of the Bible story?
In most churches, this is presented as being the Original Sin, for which mankind will eternally be punished for. Billions of people now saying, “damn that woman, she messed it up for all of us”.
I take a different view, however. The tree she ate from was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Knowledge of good and evil, in secular terms, might be termed “moral discrimination”, which we humans believe we are uniquely capable of, which distinguishes us from other animals. So rather than viewing the awakening of Adam and Eve as a mistake or an evil, disobedient choice, I view it as an “evolutionary” step forward, one pre-ordained by the Creator.
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
11:22 am
AmVET–
Cats know! We’re both cat people here and all the neighborhood cats know there’s a full bowl and a warm spot on the couch with a cat window for easy access…some Mustafa lets pass, others he doesn’t…
Feral Fowl…several years ago a chicken truck had a wreck “up on the highway” from Granny’s and Graddaddy’s place and a lot of them were set free…now the woods there about are full of them. Back to nature, they’ve “devolved” into a leaner, faster, healthier animal and the feral brown eggs are nothing like the ones they were bred to lay…
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
11:23 am
“I was raised on the Maimonidean–the spiritual and the earthly are two different spheres–the former belonging to G-d and the theological, the latter belonging to man and the scientific…”
It may be a fool’s quest, but my goal since an early age is to find a way to bring the two together into a unified science/religion theory which simultaneously explains both while contradicting neither.
“being the liberal that I am, I am happy to redistribute my green bean casserole to you …
”
That would make you a conservative then, USinUK. We’re the ones who believe in private charity. Or have the Dems passed a new “Green Bean Sharing” law that I am unaware of?
Normal
November 25th, 2009
11:24 am
Bruno, you bring up Adam and Eve and I’ve always wondered about a certain thing. Why do you suppose that the Christian churches thought of woman as inferior to man? I mean, if you believe G-d made Eve from Adams rib, wouldn’t that be symbolic to mean that Eve was to stand beside Adam, ie. woman was to stand beside man? Equal partners? If G-d had meant for woman to stand behind man, why didn’t He use Adam’s tail bone?
Anyway if Eve had said “No thank you” to the snake, where would we be now?
Normal
November 25th, 2009
11:25 am
have the Dems passed a new “Green Bean Sharing” law that I am unaware of?
Now, that’s a damned good idea!
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
11:26 am
“Anyway if Eve had said “No thank you” to the snake, where would we be now?”
Blue-balled.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
11:27 am
Bruno –
“That would make you a conservative then, USinUK. We’re the ones who believe in private charity. Or have the Dems passed a new “Green Bean Sharing” law that I am unaware of?”
hahaha… I was just thinking of the redistribution of greenbean casserole from those of us with too much (for me, even a little is too much) to those who need more …
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
11:30 am
Bruno–I agree with your interpretation of the Adam and Eve story and that was what I was taught. I forget now who it was that Granddaddy quoted or exactly how the quote went, but it was something like, “the human being is the only animal to distinguish between good and evil and is the only one that needs to.”
UsUK–now if we can just reach an understanding on that lime jell-o thingie—
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
11:30 am
“I was just thinking of the redistribution of greenbean casserole from those of us with too much (for me, even a little is too much) to those who need more …”
You can have all of my fruit cake. I do plan to exercise my full rights as a greedy capitalist when it comes to the jello/fruit dish.
Nothing Is Free
November 25th, 2009
11:31 am
Normal
**Why do you suppose that the Christian churches thought of woman as inferior to man?*
WTF? Where in the world do you guys get this stuff? I just drove through Decatur where I saw some tall white dude and his female wife,/mate/whatever, completely covered from head to toe in a flat black Burkka? I see that and then I come in here and read what you wrote. Wake up and smell the coffee.
AmVet
November 25th, 2009
11:34 am
The essence of Christianity is told to us in the Garden of Eden history. The fruit that was forbidden was on the Tree of Knowledge. The subtext is, all the suffering you have is because you wanted to find out what was going on. You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just kept your f*ĉking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions. ~ Frank Zappa, 1993
Bruno
November 25th, 2009
11:35 am
“Why do you suppose that the Christian churches thought of woman as inferior to man? I mean, if you believe G-d made Eve from Adams rib, wouldn’t that be symbolic to mean that Eve was to stand beside Adam, ie. woman was to stand beside man? Equal partners? If G-d had meant for woman to stand behind man, why didn’t He use Adam’s tail bone?”
Probably because they are all crazy. (ducking the flying food)
Maybe josef or even a fundy can weigh in on this, but the way it’s been presented to me is that men and women simply have different roles in life. Men traditionally are assigned to leadership roles. This is not supposed to make a man superior in God’s eyes, just more a matter of apportioning responsibility. Kind of like the Jews supposedly being God’s Chosen People.
josef nix
November 25th, 2009
11:36 am
Bruno–
Fool’s errand? Not unless mankind is a fool–the corrollary in the Maimonidean is that the purpose of human existence and study IS the drive to bring the two into harmony. That we will ulitimately be unsuccessful does not mean that we should not strive toward that end, each of us in his/her own way. Have you looked into the cabbala?
Nothing Is Free
November 25th, 2009
11:36 am
josef
**the human being is the only animal to distinguish between good and evil and is the only one that needs to.”**
That was Mark Twain. it’s also a great line in a fantastic movie called Finding Forrester. it stars Sean Connery and was directed by Lawrence Mark, the same guy that directed Goodwill hunting.
USinUK
November 25th, 2009
11:40 am
NIF –
“WTF? Where in the world do you guys get this stuff?”
may I suggest you check out the Southern Baptist Convention platform sometime (and what they have to say about wimmen) … I’ll give you a hint: they don’t see wimmen-folk as equal …
… and the catholic church sure as HELL doesn’t see women as equal