by

Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 140

On Politics
Because of the failure of the Congressional Super Committee to reach an agreement, some in Congress are squawking about the approaching automatic, across-the-board budget cuts. I say, “Tough nuggies, you had your chance, so let it roll.”

Regarding a campaign ad regarding President Obama and Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Gov. Romney said, “I repudiate what they’re thinking about.” Mr. Romney, well done!

Follow the sequence. President Obama announces support for gay marriage. Since then, there is no change in his approval/disapproval rating and no change in the head-to-head matchup with Gov. Romney. So why did he make the announcement? As I said last week, campaign dollars!

Given the recent JP Morgan/Chase $2 billion loss, it is interesting to hear pundits use it as an example of why Dodd-Frank regulations isn’t working – interesting because Dodd-Frank is not in full effect. I may not be the biggest supporter of that law, but I hate politicians and their talking heads lying!

Because I believe the financial sector is the foundation of our economic system, I yearn for the days of regulation and commercial-institutional bank separation. Here’s an interesting column about regulation.

It’s only fitting that the Government Accounting Office (GAO) would publish a study about the study they did regarding Federal studies. You may have heard that on the news, but here’s the actual GAO report of the study about the studies regarding Federal studies.

On Headlines from The Onion
Same Homeless Man Always Begging for Change on United Flight
Authorities Place Alabama Resident in Foster State
In Bipartisan Spirit, President Obama Makes Deal to get Kicked in the Balls
Metric System Thriving in Nation’s Inner Cities (a U.S. Joke)
Guitar Music Fad Runs Course

Interesting Reads
Sexuality Issue and a Church Softball League
Interesting story about a physicist turned pastor and his interest in the interchange between science and religion
Citizens United and the Court
Columnist David Ignatius about an Economic Boom
Although the link is a book review, I chuckled at the 1957 picture of Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield

On Potpourri
This season’s (13) Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) has been very entertaining. With next week’s finals, a winner is difficult for me to predict. I tend to favor Katherine Jenkins, but who knows. Any thoughts?

Meanwhile, DWTS season 14 is going to be an All-Star edition featuring past contestants. Given it will air during the race for US President, the thought of ABC seeking Blood of Nincompoop is appalling.

Starla (Montana’s representative here) and Eleanor, (aka E-Tom, the crazy woman with the bling) asked for it, so here it is – a private video of our handbell group playing the crazy piece with percussion. I don’t think we played it as well as this the Atlanta group I featured here, but for a volunteer church group, we did ok. Yep – I am the guy separated by two people from my wife. Oh, if that’s not good enough, you’ll have to return to this post for a better hint.

Barring an emergency, I will have a classic cartoon post tomorrow. Hint: It’s a Looney Tunes character.

To send you into the weekend, here’s a video El Guapo introduced to me months ago. Gotta love the parody lyrics. Enjoy. Have a good weekend everyone. In the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch. 

35 thoughts on “Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 140”

  2. The book review was great! I think I’d enjoy the book, and you’re right, the picture was hilarious…the author’s school boy fantasy? As always, you give more than I can read in one sitting, but I come back and reference again. Great articles! So sorry to hear that guitar music has run its course, aren’t you? Debra

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  3. A bit roiled over the JP Morgan fiasco and the bickering political response there’s been to it.
    The Obama kicked in the balls headline made me raise my eyebrows, and the handbell video was fantastic, Frank. You guys are really good!

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    • Guapo,
      Unfortunately, political bickering gives us many opportunities to fire us up! For a volunteer group, our choir does fine. By comparison, I imagine the Atlanta choir is an auditioned group. So I hope you saw the right video (we had the drummer). Thanks for commenting.

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  4. Great vocals!! My mom is a huge fan of DWTS show. Im not sure who she is voting for. LOL–oh geez. I just heard a “bleep” during the song. Lol. Great post, made me laugh!

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  6. Frank! The bell thing–a bar of seven, then a bar of eight? Fifteen is a pretty complex rhythm for a bell choir. I’m impressed. Also, the article on regulation was good and depressing–it reminds me of about a million other situations where Americans act like alcoholics–they hit the bottom, promise to change, and then when things get a little better, they go back to their old ways.
    That’s why we have bell choirs–to give us something to smile about!

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    • Les,
      Good musical ear!!! – Correct – a bar of 7 followed by a bar of eight, and then repeat. Because counting it would drive me nutso, I was able to learn my part and limited actual counting to a handful of measures. Hooray for the mental metronome. Thanks for commenting.

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  7. I always enjoy your political updates. I feel so out of touch here in London. And I’m going to start using Tough nuggies–that really sums up how you feel.

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  8. Thanks for the link to George Murphy @ BioLogos. Somehow I missed it. He’s got some articles on the site I’ll read and I just reserved one of his books via inter-library loan. Not being Lutheran, I don’t know as much about Luther’s theology of the cross as I should.

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    • Nancy,
      I have read a handful of Murphy’s articles @ BioLogos. Good stuff. I’m not sure, but a possible source for you may be “Evolution from Creation to New Creation: Conflict, Conversation, and Convergence” by Ted Peters and Martinez Hewlett. (Peters is a Lutheran theologian). Another one may be “God After Darwin: A Theology of Evolution” by John Haught, a Roman Catholic theologian at Georgetown. Thanks for stopping by.

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  10. It was so great to see and hear your group playing, well done. I was looking for you but I could not find a guy with just one blue eye. :+) I may need another hint.
    It was fun seeing my name in lights as the( Montana representative.) :+)
    “Metric System Thriving in Nation’s Inner Cities (a U.S. Joke)”
    “Guitar Music Fad Runs Course”
    I’ve enjoyed watching DWTS I would say Katherine Jenkins is a good guess for the trophy. I was surprised at how good everyone was at the first couple of shows.
    El Guapo video find was very cleaver.

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    • Starla,
      DWTS has been a fun season with good dancing and enjoyable people! Meanwhile, the best hint about me is on the post where I introduced this song done by the Atlanta choir. OK … the hint is in the text of that post. BTW – being coy is one of my standard traits. Glad you enjoyed your name in lights 🙂 now back to your detective work. Thanks for visiting.

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      • Funny I’ll grab another cup of coffee and give it a whirl. :+) I’m glad you posted the video that was fun to see all of you playing. It brings back such fun memories for me.

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  11. Thank You for the hint! That was just what I needed to figure out. Nice to SEE You.:+) That was a tough piece that you guys tackled, great job. Who ever took the video did a nice job as well nice and steady.

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  12. Yeah! I love it! You guys are really, really good. I listened to it twice and shall do so again because it really took me to a good place spiritually. (I’ve hit a massive writer’s block–well, let’s just say I wrote a blog post for this week but WW, the editor I sleep with, gave it two thumbs down!), so I needed a pick me up to get me over my slump.

    I must be an idiot because I still can’t figure out which one is you. Are you between the lady with the grey hair and the one with the brown hair? Or are you in the corner? Accordingly, which lady is Mrs. A?

    Thanks for snagging my attention. If I come out of my funk (I’m supposed to be “working from home” today) to write a piece in between conference calls and have it proof-ready by the time WW gets home, I’ll owe it all to you.

    Cheers!

    ET

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    • E-Tom,
      Bummer about not getting the story past your demanding editor. The gall of it all. 😉 … but it’s good to have someone to examine your creativity ideas. Meanwhile, between my teacher tendency of wanting others to figure it out (of course with my guidance) and my other tendency to be aggravatingly difficult, I will say this much … the best hint is “to return to this post for a better hint” – and then, its in the text .. At that time it will be obvious. Thanks for stopping by.

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  13. It’s not about whether Dodd Frank is in full effect or not – what concerns me is that the moron in charge of J P Morgan, who just lost ANOTHER $2billion (not just $2Bn) has been described by President Obama as “one of the smartest we got”. And he’s one of the same smart people who the government has been bailing out with OUR money for the last five years and stimulating very little apart from banker’s bonus checks.
    I’ve said a few times on my blog that my dog is really dumb, but he’s never lost $2Bn (not to my knowledge anyhow). So why is the leader of the country heaping praise on people stupider than my dog? Admittedly the poor pooch doesn’t contribute to election funds, which may have something to do with it.
    In the interests of full disclosure I should point out that I do not have an account with between $500,000 to a million $$$ in the J P Morgan Bank, but Obama does.

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  14. I wanted to Thank You for telling me several times to be strong. There have been many times in the last couple of weeks that I thought about those words. I think that it helped me several times to be helpful to Navar’s family as I was able to be in the present moment with them and to do my best to Be Strong. Thank You for that Frank.

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  15. My only problem with the automatic cuts, is that the military suffers, not so much in their bells-and-whistles projects, but in basic issues like VA care. And I still think that some of the automatic cuts should be a 90% cut in Congressional salaries.
    Then again, compared to Greece or Spain, our economic situation is all sunshine and roses! 😉

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    • John,
      I’m right with you, but these so-called decision makers must go through a set of lesson-learning situations, so it’s time for school to begin. Thanks for commenting.

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  16. Well…WOW!!!!!!!!!! First off, EXCELLENT performance by tour group!!
    Really awesome and DIFFICULT!
    And you were right about my sense of humor and the guitar players!! HILARIOUS!!!!!!!

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  17. Love the u-tube clip. Wish the camera-man was sitting in the front row though! Amazing how a homeless person can afford to catch a plane. And I wish it was true that the USA was FINALLY going metric – what is the hold-up???

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    • Spiced,
      One of the spouses of a choir member took the video from their seat … but still well done. Gotta love that headlines of the homeless on the plane!

      I can recall being told in elementary school that we would see the US going metric. Whew … the teacher sure missed that one. Personally, I find it pathetic that we haven’t. Thanks for commenting.

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