Jimmy Carter

Well played. · _{1 hour ago}

tabula rasa: One more. My Dad landed on Omaha Beach on the fourth day of the invasion (D-Day + 3), which meant that he had to drive his tank three or four miles inland before they started shooting at him. He was badly wounded in October.

When Saving Private Ryan came out, he surprised me by saying he'd like to see it. After the horrific first 20 minutes, there's a scene in which Tom Hanks stands atop a bluff with the invasion beaches stretching out behind him (as I understand it, this was filmed on the Irish coast). My Dad leaned over and said, "That's exactly what it looked like." I liked the movie, but my Dad's comment made it special to me. · _{4 hours ago}

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Duane Oyen: We keep slipping into Bachmann Syndrome on this.  1) Of course, Rob is right about the proper fate of the idiots responsible. 2) Of course, we hate the idea of bailouts.

But-TARP was not instituted or voted in because we wanted to rescue careless bankers or preserve their bonuses.  It was reluctantly implemented because we were afraid that the alternative was a collapse of the banking system under a domino effect caused by inadequate capital reserves, due to reduced value of shaky assets (collapse in housing prices after an extended run-up). The problem wasn't the derivatives, it was the underlying assets.  TARP wasreluctantly accepted by a large number of pristine free-market, conservative economists (including Ricochet's Prof. King Banaian). 

The solution is, of course two-fold, and hated by every big banker out there (and who cares what they think?): 1) break up the banks into "OK to fail" size, and 2) increase capital requirements. · _{33 minutes ago}

John Grier: Rob & Others-

I came across Ricochet kind of through the back door looking for other conservative insight.  after reading for a few weeks, I joined when I came across one of Dave Carters posts -- and had to thank him for just the regular day-to-day reality viewpoints he expresses in such a clear way.

Even the comments are civil here.  I love it.

I sent both my oldest kids off to private colleges  (instead of BYU) thinking they were strong enough to withstand the liberal "firestorm".  The "world" got to them, and now I have to walk a tightrope with them on anything political/conservative.  Any counsel on how to get them back? · _{2 hours ago}

Drusus: I I spent some time in the banking industry afterwards trying to decide if the meat grinder of the performance world was for me.  Deciding it wasn't (and being informed that our bank was going under due to toxic loan debt), I went to school for my Master's in English Education. A year into that and the bottom fell out of education too. (The moral of this story is that if there is an industry you'd like to see destroyed from the inside out, let me know and I'll look into it.) So, supposedly an English teacher, but disgusted by my up-close-and-personal look at public education, I'm strongly considering leaving education and taking the officer route in the Air Force while I'm still young enough. (We'll see.) 

I enjoy a variety of outdoor activities, reading, singing, piano, writing, linguistics, and (obviously) politics. I respect the Oxford comma. (You should too.)  · _{3 hours ago}

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CuriousJohn: Hey New Members jump on in to an AudioMeetup, Its great fun. · _{10 hours ago}

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BrandoS: Hello all, I am a Grad Student in Computer Engineering here in Indianapolis, IN.  I've been a conservative for as long as I can remember (one of those no-heart people according to Churchill).  I grew up listening to Rush, but I didn't really get into politics until I got out of high school.  I'm a voracious reader of political news.  I've been reading National Review for several years now, and I'm trying to get into the foundational works of conservatism.  I know some of the editors here also are close with National Review, and I would love to see a Conservatism 101 reading list.  

I am really looking forward to some good conversation.  Its rare to find others who talk politics, civilly.  Its rarer still to find conservatives who talk politics (most just live there lives).    · _{19 minutes ago}