Journal Community

2/2

"Just listen to the President. His divisiveness is bizarre and reminds me of a mathematical treatment in a book back in 2006 about how dictators attain and maintain control, also by (MIT) and Robinson (Harvard)." --- Your partisanship is showing. :-P Is it anymore bizarre than Republicans restricting voter access in what I believe is now 18 states? Or Reagan's Trickle Down Economics? Or McCain choosing Palin as his VP candidate? Or SCOTUS's Citizens United ruling? Or continually electing folks that admit they don't believe in government, who routinely sabotage government & then shout "See! I told you it don't work!", in a divisive self fulfilling prophesy cycle if there ever was one. Given term limits, not much chance of Obama becoming a dictator.

http://tiny.cc/18klgw

"So instead we now need more and more regulation but because we never get it right on the first try the system becomes ever more unstable." --- Unfortunately, most of our politicians & regulators are currently owned by the entities they are supposed t/b regulating.

http://www.fishink.us/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/cartoon-romneys-USA.jpg

"That is why my solution, which is perfectly feasible even politically although tough to get, is to breakup anything that's too-big-to-fail and when we learn enough from that then consider going even further." --- Agreed, plus increased transparency.

""Well, we've been allowing the big monied special interests to dictate the rules for sometime now." --- Whoa, now you are inching towards the loser principles, fewer moral values that I believe have damaged society so much and has made it more unstable." --- You did a double take & lost me here.

http://tiny.cc/ebllgw

"What makes you think that for some, some of our secular leaders, I won't mention names, are not seen as mystical? Even in this blog :)." --- You mean Keith & Ronald Reagan? :-P Nah, Reagan wasn't a Democrat like Keith! >:-}

http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/e/x/1/republicans_reagan_reverenc.jpg

"I recalled how when we were married, she is Irish Catholic, I went way out of my way to get permission from the Church to go to communion. I could have just accepted it but I had too much respect for the institution and its believers, and it was all because of my Jewish father." --- Ah, you married into the faith so to speak? The partnering of a believer w/a non believer/agnostic? I have a couple of friends in similar "mixed" marriages. ;-) I can see how it could get tricky from a respect POV. Or, for the devout, which scriptures are "respected" & which ones are discounted? Such as 2 Corinthians 6:15 What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? - which I was just contrasting w/the Great Commandment w/Leon. Ultimately, if my friends are any indication, there are sacrifices & trade offs t/b made & it's all relative I suppose, w/even the most devout religious practitioners ultimately conforming their "personal" gods/faith to the will & perspectives of their own minds. Past traditional insistence that one must marry within their faith/religion & the allowance for marital conversions is an interesting contradiction/conundrum, that one can/will sacrifice their faith/religion in return for romantic love & companionship. In my friends' cases, failure to convert to their spouses' faith can be construed as a lack of respect in & of itself, & a source of tension for them. When you say you respect the institution of Catholicism, do you also routinely attend church services & Mass w/your wife? One of my friends routinely winds up in hot water on this point of contention w/his wife.

http://www.funnytimes.com/playground/img/121776906393639.png ;-)

Cheers!