As a Kentucky fan, I find #1009 to be outstanding.

#1100: gold is to some extend hedging bets in case the dollar / Euro blows up, in which case the RMB would be in a pretty strong position to establish itself as a new major currency player in the aftermath... assuming they survive the whole catastrophy first.

Joe (you must be Kehoskie's sock puppet--they're can't be two of you), did this other poster make you cry and take your lunch money? Couldn't have been hard to do.

What the hell are you talking about?

"My name's Joe Ray, and in order to be a contentious assh*le and because I have no ideas to propose, I'm going to pretend that in a fight there's no difference between having a gun, and having a knife."

???

Is the lunatic formerly known as "something other," who's now posting as "Jack Carter," seriously pretending he doesn't know who Ray is, or claiming that Ray is someone's "sock puppet"?

Not that I can afford anything but driving my 1999 Civic till I die. That car will long outlive me.

The car I grew tired of and shed earlier this year was a 1996 Civic. Good car, but eventually little things going wrong eventually build up. And I could afford to replace it.

With luck the gun vs. knives - you decide! argument is over now that I am back and up to speed. Kids, in life, timing is everything.

Anyway I have no idea why on earth China is hoarding gold. It could be as simple as some random dude in charge of Chinese currency policy is a gold bug. But "new to capitalism" is a pretty good guess I think.

Like anything else with the Chinese economy they have money and they need to spend it or else they get inflation and upheaval. That's why China is going through their massive building phase, building up their navy, buying gold, and buying our debt. The buy gold because they view it as a decent investment. They keep their own gold because if they sold it to foreign markets they'd have more money they'd need to spend.

The Chinese may be "new to capitalism" but that doesn't mean they don't understand it and are acting stupidly against their interests.

That TCM lineup of Stanwyck films short-shrifts her tremendous range and versatility. The Pre-Code Baby Face and The Miracle Woman are definitely to watch. Meet John Doe is almost as good as It's A Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. No Double Indemnity, though. I would have liked her in her comedic mode to be showcased more. The Mad Miss Manton is a nice minor-league gem warmup for The Lady Eve and shows the chemistry between her and Fonda. Breakfast For Two, with the forgotten Herbert Marshall, would have been another good comedy And Ball of Fire is a Hawks comedy that's just below Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday (which are the very best screwball comedies). Remember the Night is the last movie Preston Sturges only scripted--shows her chemistry with Fred MacMurray pre-Double Indemnity. She (well, they both do) shows particular sensitivity in a combination drama and romantic comedy. Too bad, too, a late western couldn't have been included--like The Furies. She's much better at the woman with a pair of 'em than Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar. That is all. Carry on.

Belcher himself probably would be alive today. I doubt he would have successfully knifed himself to death with all those men around to stop and/or treat him.

I've heard that suicidal people - those who are serious, anyway, and not just looking for sympathy or attention or to hurt others - jump off bridges or in front of trains or out windows. Quite easy, actually.

And knifing oneself to death is quite easy.

I've heard that suicidal people jump off bridges or in front of trains or out windows. Quite easy, actually.

I'm pretty sure the Chiefs' practice facility isn't located on a bridge or in a trainyard or at the top of a high-rise building.

Only one person to blame for everything going wrong...

And knifing oneself to death is quite easy.

(a) Queen Elizabeth

(b) Joe Pesci

(c) Apu

YOU decide!

MORTY!!!

TCM DECEMBER SCHEDULE

The Miracle Woman plays at 5:00 this morning.

Double Indemnity and Sorry, Wrong Number both are scheduled for the 19th. First screening in many years for those two.

Breakfast For Two and The Mad Miss Manton play back-to-back in the late morning of the 13th.

Remember The Night is in prime time on the 12th, with Ball of Fire showing later that night.

And while The Furies isn't scheduled, there are six of her Westerns playing back-to-back on the 26th beginning at 8:00 PM, including Forty Guns, The Maverick Queen, The Violent Men, Trooper Hook, The Moonlighter, and Annie Oakley. There are 55 feature films in all, running for 24 hours straight from 8:00 PM to 8:00 PM every Wednesday / Thursday of the month. And next month the SOTM is Loretta Young, featuring mostly her pre-codes.

I've heard that suicidal people - those who are serious, anyway, and not just looking for sympathy or attention or to hurt others - jump off bridges or in front of trains or out windows. Quite easy, actually.

And knifing oneself to death is quite easy.

"Serious" suicidal people might knife themselves to death. It's a very hard thing to do. You probably expect to die slowly. With a gun you can easily kill yourself in an impulsive moment.

Just like killing other people.

Excellent!

And knifing oneself to death is quite easy.

I'll take "Subjects Ray Has Decided To Comment On While Having Given The Details No Thought At All" for $300, Alex.

And knifing oneself to death is quite easy.

One more bit of hilarity.


I've heard that suicidal people - those who are serious, anyway, and not just looking for sympathy or attention or to hurt others - jump off bridges or in front of trains or out windows. Quite easy, actually.

Understanding suicide requires a grasp of humanity.

Re: Barbara Stanwyck, TCM, and classic films threads:

Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

Am I the only person that assumed that Ray meant "slitting one's wrists" when he said "knifing oneself"?

Am I the only person that assumed that Ray meant "slitting one's wrists" when he said "knifing oneself"?

Yes; it's a common method, so I don't know what the peanut gallery is so confused about.

There are other methods with a knife as well.

Am I the only person that assumed that Ray meant "slitting one's wrists" when he said "knifing oneself"?

He SAID WHAT HE MEANT. And MEANT WHAT HE SAID. I think.

Yes; it's a common method, so I don't know what the peanut gallery is so confused about.

It's a common method *that most people #### up.*

Let me repeat that for you Ray.

Most suicide attempts who slit their wrists *do it wrong and survive.*

Let me repeat that for you Ray.

Forget it, he's on a roll.

Elliot Smith killed himself with a knife. Or was murdered. We can't be sure.

Looking into the Elliot Smith thing, I am sad to find the "spring loaded refrigerator door" story to be apocryphal. That makes me so sad.

Then again, most Elliot Smith songs make me sad.

I'll take "Subjects Ray Has Decided To Comment On While Having Given The Details No Thought At All" for $300, Alex.

Never saw him knife himself.

"Not that I can afford anything but driving my 1999 Civic till I die."

Huh, just nuked my 1999 Civic this summer after 230K miles. Good times.

Most suicide attempts who slit their wrists *do it wrong and survive.*

That's partly because wrist-slitting isn't instant death. First, you've got to slit both wrists. That hurts, especially since you've got to slit that second wrist using an arm with a slit wrist. Then, you've got at least three minutes of consciousness, plenty of time for you to watch the life slowly drain out of you, feel yourself get weaker. There's a lot of time between that first cut and unconsciousness to think about what's happening, reach some realization, and then change one's mind. Suicide via knife takes a level of commitment that's completely absent with a gun.

Murder via knife also takes a level of commitment that's absent with a gun. The worst part of a gun is that it takes so little commitment to end someone's life. You can give yourself physical distance, and thus emotional distance as well. Physically, it's extremely easy to squeeze a trigger. You don't have to stab or punch or kick or squeeze -- the gun does all the killing for you -- and nothing is being asked of you other than being just angry enough for a fraction of a second.

One particular terrible incident doesn't make a compelling argument either way for gun control. However, there's a reason why when people are stabbed to death nobody argues for knife control. Guns are special.

1113--

"Serious" suicidal people might knife themselves to death. It's a very hard thing to do. You probably expect to die slowly. With a gun you can easily kill yourself in an impulsive moment.

Just like killing other people.

1114-Excellent!

Imagine 1114 in the voice of Montgomery Burns.

why stop at guns? (just like why the GOP should stop sanctity of marriage at homosexuals and not you know.. divorces which almost certainly hurt the old sanctity of marriage a lot more in terms of numbers) I mean if you have a gun they might have one too! you should be able to bury land mines in your yard if you feel like it and bring along a RPG just in case some baddy's chasing you in a car and grenades in case your seriously out numbered right?

Let me repeat that for you Ray.

Forget it, he's on a roll

You left out a letter.

And knifing oneself to death is quite easy.

Prove it.

Am I the only person that assumed that Ray meant "slitting one's wrists" when he said "knifing oneself"?

Of course you were. No one else imagines slitting one's wrists with an actual knife. Don't encourage him.

next month the SOTM is Loretta Young

For whatever reason, not that long ago I stumbled into watching The Doctor Takes a Wife, with Young and Ray Milland. One of these Christmas-in-Connecticut premises (pretend to be domestically inclined to get ahead in career) and it promised to be awful, but both stars were really strong and the picture surprisingly funny, warm, and smart. Not that I'm fixing to get cable just to watch a month of Loretta Young movies, but one could do a lot worse.

I just watched Chasing Madoff last night, which of course enraged me, but the reason I'm bringing it up was because it detailed the suicide of Thierry de la Villehuchet. After losing his entire fortune and $1.4 billion of his clients, family and friends money to Madoff's fraud, he took a bunch of sleeping pills and slit his wrists (both, according to the film) and bled out into a trash can.

If anyone wants some insight as to why I hate bankers and politicians so intensely, watch Chasing Madoff.

So serious question - will Boehner be speaker in two monthes? In other words will he survive the new congress and fiscal cliff?

Much of his party does not seem to like him, but he seems to fill a useful role. When do the TP take over the house?

I suspect he survives, but it is uninformed speculation and nothing more.

@1134--I'm hearing vague rumors that the saner wing of the party is seeing the issue of who's the speaker as a watershed issue, and a way to keep the worst of the fringe at bay. Obviously that works in Boehner's favor.

Most suicide attempts who slit their wrists *do it wrong and survive.*


Particularly when there are a bunch of people around, including trained cops, to ... you know ... run over there and stanch the wounds.

US gun policy is such an absurd outlier among civilized nations (*) that the only way it can be defended is "Nah, nah, nah, I don't hear you," or teh stupid. Both have been on spectacular display in this discussion. The one where the primary concern of the guy who dressed up like the Joker and shot up a movie theatre on Batman's opening night was that a movie theatre would have fewer armed people is a veritable classic of the genre.

(*) And such an affront to civilization itself.

Re: Barbara Stanwyck, TCM, and classic films threads:

Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

If we can send a few thousand drones into the constant blatherings about video games, it's a deal.

If anyone wants some insight as to why I hate bankers and politicians so intensely, watch Chasing Madoff.

So what's the alternative to bankers and politicians?

So what's the alternative to bankers and politicians?

An affinity group of interested citizens, of course!

So what's the alternative to bankers and politicians?

Gold!

Last month I half joked that I am going to run for one of the many unopposed local government positions, such as County Commissioner. It appears I have been beaten to the punch:

County Commission Chairman John Eaves thought he had the four votes necessary to finally fix the lock problem — one of the last major hurdles the county must clear to get out from under a federal consent decree that has cost county taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. But his plan unraveled Wednesday when Northside Commissioner Tom Lowe arrived at the regularly scheduled meeting 3 1/2 hours after it began.

.....

Lowe, who is frequently late and leaves meetings early, said he was tied up with an important business matter Wednesday morning and declined to elaborate. Through much of the remaining meeting, he appeared to be napping.

Earlier this year, his late arrival at a meeting almost caused Atlanta to lose animal control services, as Lowe was the fourth vote to keep the service going amid a dispute with the city and county over whether to ban elephant bullhooks. Eaves took criticism for reconvening that meeting later in the day and holding a second vote.

Lowe, who said he would have voted for replacing the locks, acknowledged Wednesday evening that he has an obligation to be present for votes. “I understand that; it’s my job,” he said.

But he said he doesn’t like listening to some commissioners’ protracted grandstanding on many issues, and he makes no apologies for dozing off. Especially, he said, while Vice Chairwoman Emma Darnell is talking.

Disability treaty downed by Republicans

So can someone explain to me why this treaty was a bad idea?

If anyone wants some insight as to why I hate bankers and politicians so intensely, watch Chasing Madoff.

There's plenty of light between "hating bankers and politicians" and "being a gold bug."

Particularly when there are a bunch of people around, including trained cops, to ... you know ... run over there and stanch the wounds.

The fact that the attemptee survived long enough for first responders to get there means *they did it wrong.*

(Also, double-secret-high-five to the point that no one ever cuts their wrists with a *knife.*)

WOW!

Jim DeMint is resigning in January to join (or head, it appears) Heritage Foundation... That's pretty darn politico shattering...

So can someone explain to me why this treaty was a bad idea?

Because we would give up some of our sovereignty by ceding power to the UN, even though it does none of that. Agenda 21!

But he said he doesn’t like listening to some commissioners’ protracted grandstanding on many issues, and he makes no apologies for dozing off. Especially, he said, while Vice Chairwoman Emma Darnell is talking

I'm pretty sure Emma Darnell has left messages on my home answering machine during election seasons past.

(Darnell) believes that the essential purpose of government is to serve people– and that if you serve people, “the songs will come by themselves and of themselves.”

If this is in fact the same woman who drones on relentlessly until the auto-timer of the machine cuts her off, I fully support John Eaves' in his attempts to avoid listening to this woman speak at length about anything.

Take a knife, rest the blade on the side of the neck below your ear, and imagine making one violent thrust with the knife through and across your throat. It's not that hard.

There's also hara-kiri.

More past campaign stuff. Contrast the Obama camp's approach to polling with the Romney wishcasting:

( from Slate )

Obama's main pollster Joel Benenson would put together one round of data from the battleground states. The campaign also hired pollsters with expertise in specific battleground states to do a second poll. Then, each night, the campaign itself polled 9,000 people in battleground states. Simas also had his own little private poll of undecided voters he checked in with and rotated regularly during the campaign.

According to Simas, in order to test their polling methods, they then called in polling experts to deconstruct the three different sets of polls and recommend how they could do it better. Each time a new public poll came out, members of the Obama polling unit looked at its assumptions in order to determine if the public poll had a better understanding of the public than the campaign. That gave them confidence to stick with their numbers and ignore a lot of the public noise