Whore, good; ape, bad. I get it now.

I'm beginning to get a bit clearer picture of the ethical ranking system in Congress.  So far I've learned it's better to be a "whore" than an "ape".

It seems that parts of the financial reforms enacted after the bankers nearly destroyed the world back in '08 are just now beginning to be implemented, and the banks are none too happy about it.  

Right now the bank lobby is working overtime to exempt a wide array of derivative trading from regulation, and also one that would delay heightened standards for firms that would offer investment advice to retirees.  

*Well, DUH!  How are they supposed to fleece retirees, and probably widows and orphans, too, with some regulator looking over their shoulder?*

Both lobbying efforts have received wide bipartisan support (mostly Republican, but some Democrats, too) in the House of Representatives.

Just curious....why would you want to conduct your business in the alleyways and shadows if you were proud of your exemplary behavior?  Wouldn't you want it to be regulated and made public?  

It's sorta like restaurants that fail health inspections....they want it all hushed up.  The ones that make an "A" want it in headlines on the front page for all the world to see.  Hmmmm....I think I've answered my own question.

The banking lobby has gone so far as to submit a list of suitable questions for "sympathetic" members of the House Banking Committee to ask bankers as they testify before cameras and under oath.  It's become so blatant that one House aide sent an email to a House Banking Committee staffer warning that members should be careful to not mimic the talking points from lobbyists.

"I know that some of our members are inclined to whore, but we must not be apes."

So it's whore, good;  ape, bad.  Got it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the absurd to the ridiculous

How could I have missed this?  Did you hear about the new "in thing" among metrosexual men?  Men-only nail bars....places men go to get manicures and pedicures.  This one ^ in LA is called "Hammer and Nails".  $25 for someone to cut your fingernails?  I think that's God's way of telling you you have too damn much money. 

For women, I understand.  They have to cut them, bondo and file them smooth, then mask everything off, prime them, and finally paint them.  That's pretty labor intensive.  

I honestly don't get this....unless it's a front for illegal gambling in the back.  But what do I know.  I don't get out much.

S

Hey buddy, can you spare a few bucks? Checks accepted, cash preferred.

So why is Rep. Andy Barr (R, KY) all smiles?  Because *cha ching* he was one of the lucky congressional Freshmen who was appointed to serve *cha ching* on the House Financial Services Committee *cha ching*.  Screw the lottery.  This is where the REAL gold mine is!

This is the committee, along with the Senate Banking Committee on the other side of the Capital, that oversees all of the banks, insurance companies, etc.  And these are the committee members who both party's look to to bring in the Big Buck donations.  And right now they're delivering like FedEx....$9.4M just this year so far.

This is such a desirable committee to serve on that it has been increased over the years from 44 to 61 members, which required a whole new tier of seats to be installed in their meeting room.

So how do they raise so much money, you ask?  They're "good listeners".  In exchange for patiently listening to the bankers tell them how badly they want certain new rules written, or NOT to be written, the banks shower them with campaign contributions.  

Example:  Rep. Barr heard them say how much they wanted to keep a certain federal tax break that saved them $500M a year, so he introduced a bill that would put it out of reach of reformers.  

And when the do-gooder's put into the Dodd-Frank Banking Reform Bill a requirement that banks do more thorough checks on applicants they made mortgage loans to to make sure they could make the payments, they "casually mentioned" how much it would cramp their style (read: hurt their profits), and Mr. Barr introduced legislation that kept that pesky 'ol rule from being enforced.  

Yep, not much gets by the Honorable Representative Andy Barr (R, KY).  He listens really well!

And if you think I'm just picking on Republicans and that Democrats are above all this, I have some beautiful oceanfront property in Kansas I'd like to sell you. 

After the recent election Democratic Party leaders gave a PowerPoint presentation to their newly elected members urging them "to spend as much as four hours a day making fund-raising calls while in Washington, and an additional hour of 'strategic outreach' holding breakfasts or 'meet and greets' with possible financial supporters.  That adds up to more time than these first-term lawmakers were advised to spend on Congressional business."  (NYT)

The sad thing is, nothing I've mentioned here gets even a raised eyebrow in Washington.  This is just business as usual.

It seems the financial interests are very well represented in Washington.  My question is, who is looking out for ME?  Everyone agrees Washington is a nasty cesspool and that everyone there is a crook....except for their representative, "and he's a really good guy!"  

And the mugging continues.

S

OMG....tell me it ain't so!

The lead-in to the short story at the bottom of the front page read:  "Short In Front, Long In Back:  Some Call It Indecision; Others, The Best Of Two Worlds"

  

I thought, *Gulp*  "Oh no....mullets are back."

Turns out they were talking about women's dress fashions.

Whew!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were THAT close!

Protesters Allow Trapped Bankers, Lawmakers Out 

of Bosnian Parliament

DOH!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Study: 83% Of Gamblers Quit Right Before They Would Have Hit The Big One *

Apparently Churchill was right:  "Never give up, never give up, never ever ever give up".

Happy Saturday everyone.  :)

S

*OK, that was actually from the spoof paper The Onion.

Back In The Saddle Again

I never knew Gene Autry was talking about bankers when he recorded this song.

Short recap:  The banking industry persuaded (bribed) lawmakers into relaxing rules and regulations that had kept them honest for the previous 50 years, allowing them to originate all kinds of highly profitable but also highly risky investments.  After massive profits were skimmed off the top the scheme collapsed, and taxpayers had to step in and take on massive debt to bail them out.

Lawmakers said "never again!" and drafted new rules that put curbs on big banks.  Of course the bankers fought back, wanting to keep their mega-profit machine up and running.  They won.  This was in the news this morning:

WASHINGTON-- Bank lobbyists are not leaving it to lawmakers to draft legislation that softens financial regulations.  Instead, the lobbyists are helping to write it themselves.

One bill that sailed through the House Financial Services Committee this month--over the objections of the Treasury Department--was essentially Citigroup's, according to e-mails reviewed by The New York Times.  The bill would exempt broad swaths of trades from new regulation.

In a sign of Wall Street's resurgent influence in Washington, Citigroup's recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee's 85-line bill.  Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word.  (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.)

Remember last November when candidates told us if we would just vote for them, they'd get the government out of our lives?  They double-crossed us.  What they really meant was, "Vote for me and I'll give the bankers whatever they want."  And we bought it.  Sure, they'll let us fight over the social issues of the day, but if there's money involved, the bankers call the shots. 

I think George Carlin was right:

Face it....the bankers own us, lock, stock, and barrel.  We're trapped.

S

Me from A to Z

Shades of JournalSpace!  These sorts of personal expose's were common back "in the day", but I haven't seen one since JS permanently crashed.   This exercise was at the suggestion of my friend Suldog, and at his request I'll play along.  Here's me, from A to Z:

Age:  62 chronologically, much less emotionally.  K sometimes says I'm a "stick in the mud", and I'm sure I am at times, but most of the time I'm having too much fun to act my age.  That may be because I pretty much toed the line as a kid and now I'm making up for lost time.

Bed Size:  Queen.  To me a King is just too big.  They're so big you can stretch out and never even know you're in bed with anyone else.  I like to think snuggling in a Queen bed is the perfect way to promote world peace.  *I can't imagine why that line hasn't worked better?*

Chore I Hate:  Yard work, hands down.  I hate mowing, edging, weed-eating, trimming shrubs, raking leaves, fertilizing, spraying for various bugs and lawn diseases....all of it.  All so it can look good for maybe 3 days until it starts looking shaggy again?  Talk about an exercise in futility!

Dogs?  I love dogs, pretty much all dogs.  But I only want a small to medium sized dog for myself.  Big dogs have too much going in one end and coming out the other.  My love of dogs is odd since my parents didn't have dogs and therefore I was never around one as a kid.  Right now we have a Yorkshire Terrier (Luke), and before him we had a Miniature Schnauzer (Emma), a West Highland White Terrier (Tara), and many years ago (pre K) I had an American Eskimo (Tahsha).  Dogs bring me much happiness.  :)

Essential start to my day:  A cold beverage.  Right now I'm partial to Trader Joe's Latte's and Mocha Cappuccino's.

Favorite color:  I'm easy.  I like green, blue, red....there's no color in particular I plan my wardrobe or room furnishings around.  If it looks good in context, I like it.

Gold or Silver?  Silver.  It's less flashy than gold.  I'm not a flashy person.

House or Apartment?  For 35+ years I owned my own home(s), but for the last 4 years I've had an apartment and I LOVE IT!  In fairness, at certain times in my life, such as when I had small children and they needed a safe place to play, a house was perfect.  But I'm long past that now.   A house again someday?  Never say never. *wink*

Instruments played:  AM radio, FM radio, Quadraphonic stereo, 8-track, cassettes, CD's and iPods.  I'm accomplished in them all.  ;)

Job title:  Until last fall, President of Park Place Custom Homes.  That sounds impressive until you read my job description:  "Responsible for every shitty detail if no one else can be found to dump it on."  Now I'm semi-retarded.

Kids:  Three daughters; Kristan, Andrea, and Erica.  Today all are grown, well educated, and gainfully employed.  *happy dance*  They've also blessed me with four grandkids (Austin, Colby, Parker, and Blakely), with one more (Reese) on the way.

Live:  If that's a long "i", yes I am.  Otherwise, in Frisco, TX, a far-northern Dallas suburb.

Married:  Happily, to the lovely and talented "K".  Six years so far and counting.  :)

Never Again....will I ever sign my name to a mega-million dollar bank note.  Been there, done that, (successfully) escaped by the skin of my teeth.  I don't trust #$%& bankers.  "He who has the gold makes the rules", and the rules are 100% tilted in their favor.  Always!

Other Fun Facts:  I love history (college minor), and in particular aviation history.   For a while I was a docent at a Smithsonian-affiliated aviation museum.  I was also very active for nearly two decades with the Confederate Air Force, today known as the Commemorative Air Force.  I traveled the country on their behalf and had a great time, but what I did was extremely dangerous and about 8 years ago I figured I'd pushed my luck long enough and hung up my chocks.  

Pet Peeves:  People who throw cigarette butts on the pavement, people who make messes and leave it for someone else to clean up, f__ked-up renditions of the Star Spangled Banner, people who pull in front of me on the road and then just poke along, cops who get all bent out of shape when I do 54 in a 40....

Quote:  "Character means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching."  (author unknown)  Also: "Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never - in nothing great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." (Winston Churchill)

Righty or Lefty?  Righty, although I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!

Siblings:  One, Todd.  Good guy, business partner, extremely competent, totally trustworthy.  He's 11 years younger than me (can you say "Oops"), so we were never close as kids.  Especially after the time I put him in the clothes dryer and gave him a couple of spins.  (Oh stop it!  You know you'd have loved to do the same thing to your kid bro/sis.  You just didn't think of it.)

Time you wake up:  Wake up around 5:30 (thanks to Luke the Wonder Dog), feet hit the floor about 6.

University attended:  Texas Tech University, class of '72.  Nine of the happiest years of my life!  (Kidding....I made it in 4.)

Veggies I dislike:  Pretty much all of them, especially those that have a color...yellow, green, red, orange...yuck! The blue ones aren't too bad.  And I do like jalapenos.  (When I was a kid to get my mother to quit bugging me I convinced her a jalapeno was a green vegetable.)  

What makes you run late?  Very few things.  I'm extremely punctual.

X-rays?  Sure.  For dental work, of course.  And on my head to see if I was "normal"....oh, and to check out my sinuses, and on my back, and on the typical assorted adolescent broken bones. 

Yum foods?  Steak!  Mexican!  Italian!  Banana pudding!  Pecan pie!  Ice cream!  (I'll stop there as this post is already waaaay too long.)

Zoo animal (favorite):   I'm not really into zoo's all that much, but I'd have to say it would probably be one of the birds of prey.  I find them fascinating.

OK, that's me.  Now as Jim (Suldog) challenged me, I'm challenging you to do one of these on yourself.  I think it's a pretty cool way to learn more about your blogging friends.  

Hope you enjoyed.  :)

S

!! BREAKING NEWS !!

Kidding....this must be the most boring news day ever.  Did Beyonce lip-sync the Star Spangled Banner at O'Bama's inauguration?  Why would anyone care?

Michelle O'Bama rolled her eyes at something John "Boner" Boehner said at lunch.  The big deal is they won't tell us what he said.  Shouldn't there be some Freedom of Information Act rule that applies here?

Apache helicopter pilot Prince Harry (Capt. Wales if you're curious) is in trouble with the Taliban....shouldn't that be a mark of honor?....for saying popping terrorists is like playing a video game.  Take note Xbox....I've found your next celebrity spokesman.

All the world's big-name bankers are assembled in Davos, Switzerland trying to tell us they're really good guys and asking us to pleeeeease not regulate them any more.  Now that's an uphill PR battle.  "Listen to what I say, just don't watch what I do."  

One of the Williams sisters lost her match and destroyed her tennis racket in frustration.  Like that's never happened before.  Next they're gonna tell us some golfer got pissed and threw his clubs in the lake.

Hold the presses:  The AP headline reads "Foes of NYC Soda Size Limit Doubt Racial Fairness".  Huh?  

Airlines still have all their Boeing 787's parked due to the plane's insistence on smoking in the lavatory, and in the cockpit, and in the cargo hold, and in the avionics bay....

To try and make a few bucks off of them while they're just sitting there smoldering, how about this:  Open them up as kid's playgrounds.  I mean, are those cool slides or what?  :)

And finally, it's been leaked that this year's Super Bowl XLVII will be heavy with beer, car, and cola commercials.  Unlike the other XLVI Super Bowls that came before it. 

Y'all behave.

S

The good, the bad, and the just plain odd...

The Perot Museum of Science and Nature opened this weekend in downtown Dallas.  We didn't go see it on opening weekend because of the expected crowd.  While most will go to see the exhibits inside, I'll be content to just sit outside and admire the structure...

We'll have to let the crowds thin out some before we trek down there.

I think this is so cool looking.  I wonder if the builder asked the architect half way through the project, "Where's the escalator?", and he replied, "Gee, I dunno.....just strap it there to the outside somewhere."  Haha!

Most of the couple hundred million dollar price tag was covered by Ross Perot's kids, the museum being a tribute to their dad.  (They probably brown-bagged it for a week and donated their lunch money.)  That's Daddy Ross third from the left.

He's never been photographed wearing anything besides a dark suit, white dress shirt and tie.  For once I'd love to see him wear something else, like maybe a Hawaiian print shirt or some sweats.

The museum will fit in well with some of Dallas' other "unusual" architectural features....

As someone who appreciates eclectic architecture there is one other building that has always intrigued me that I wish was here....

The "Twisted Torso" in Malmo, Sweden.  I wonder which came first, this or the Rubik's Cube?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I saw in the news this morning that more banks are agreeing to pay fines to the Gubment for their wrongdoing and more bankers are under investigation for various illegal acts, too.  But here's what gets me:  Instead of being banished to some far-off place in disgrace, these crooks just leave the firm where they were caught and move down the street to another bank and given an even better position and more money.  These banks just play musical chairs with their top felons.  Whoever said "crime doesn't pay" obviously wasn't a banker.

Another Monday.  Let the games begin.  ;)

S

It's the BANKS, stupid!

Dateline NY, Sept, 7, 2012

"...after four years of studies, hearings, and round tables, the Securities and Exchange Commission late last month abandoned efforts to impose new regulations on money market funds intended to prevent another panic like the one that occurred in 2008 and eliminate the need for a taxpayer bailout of the multi-trillion-dollar funds."

It seems three of the five SEC Commissioners, two Republicans and one Democrat, indicated they would NOT support any new reform proposals.  Make that BANKERS, 1; all the rest of us, 0.  Game, set, match.

Here we are in the heat of another election year, our economy is still in the toilet, and the Democrats and the Republicans are both pointing fingers at each other saying, "It's all THEIR fault.  If you elect us WE'LL FIX THIS!"

Truth of the matter is, it's BOTH their faults, and until someone stands up to the bankers, NOTHING is going to get fixed!  Oh sure, they'll let us squabble over things like abortion and gay marriage and whether there should be prayer in public places, but when it comes to anything with a dollar sign attached, they (the bankers / financiers) call the shots.  And the outcome is pre-ordained:  They will win, and the rest of us will....well, they don't give a flip.

From 1999 (essentially the end of any meaningful banking regulations) until 2008, the bankers had things going exactly as they wanted, and they made BILLIONS along the way.  Then when their unrestrained speculation imploded in 2008, they (mostly) kept their winnings, hit the reset button (raided the taxpayer's piggy bank) and started over again.  (It's nice to know own the right people, huh?)

So which political party is most likely to get us out of this vicious financial cycle of boom (for them) and bust (for us)?  Let's review:

Mitt Romney is firmly in the banker's camp (he's actually one of them!) and his veep is their head cheerleader.  Now don't get to feeling too smug, Democrats, because Obama had his chance to stand up to them in March (?), 2009 and wimped out.  And the people he listens to most closely, such as Sec Treasury Geithner, are so far up the banker's asses all you can see are their shoelaces.

So who then?  There are a few brave, knowledgeable people out there such as former Fed Chmn. Paul Volcker and former Citibank CEO Sandy Weill who say publicly that our mega-banks all need to be reigned in and broken up into not-too-big-to-fail pieces.  Problem is they're older, retired, and not in policy-making positions.  They're non-factors.  (The premise is if the bankers know they won't be bailed out again....that they're not "too big to fail".... and know they're being watched over by regulators with teeth, they'll act more responsibly.)

We're gonna have to start from scratch.  I'll volunteer to stand out front, but I'll need about fifty million other uncorrupted citizens to stand up with me.  (Do we even have fifty million uncorrupted citizens?)  And we can't become fractured by other social issues.....we must stay focused on this one issue only.  So who's with me?

*que the music*

As John Belushi so eloquently said in the classic 1978 movie Animal House, "Our forefathers didn't back down when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor, and we can't afford to back down now, either!"

Seriously, they're probably too rich / powerful to take on right now.  We'll have to catch them when they come calling again for a handout, and that day WILL happen.  Unfortunately I'm afraid the next crash could be even more devastating than it was in 2008.

S

Does anybody besides me even care?

Do you remember Ronald Reagan's famous quote from his presidential campaign back in 1980?...."Government isn't the solution to our problem.  Government IS the problem."


I have a new updated version for the presidential campaign of 2012...."Mitt Romney (and his peers) aren't the solution to our problem.  Mitt Romney (and his peers) ARE our problem."


IMO, it's the shenanigans of the hedge fund managers, the investment bankers, the financial engineers, the slick derivative / swap  traders, etc, who screwed us blind, raked off billions of dollars for themselves, and left us to deal with the world-wide disaster they created who are ALL our problem.  


Everyone seems to have that one single political "hot button" that determines who they'll vote for.  For some it's gay marriage, immigration reform, abortion, jobs, health care....whatever.  For me it's re-gaining control of the irresponsible, downright dangerous financial services industry.  Right now we're well on our way to another financial train wreck.  The guys who caused the last one are still in control of their respective institutions, high-risk deals are still being made, mega-bonuses are still being paid, champagne corks are still being popped, and white-collar jail cells are still empty.  


Barack Obama SHOULD have done something long before now.  I have no faith that Mitt Romney will turn on his peers now and start looking out for OUR best interest if he should be elected.  What to do?


What's your "hot button"?

"Down-sizing" finally makes it to "right-sizing"

I read an interesting story in the paper recently about empty nesters and their downsizing dilemma.  The jest of it was that people stay in their huge homes where they raised their family, loaded to the gills with a lifetime of accumulated "stuff", then they retire and find it difficult to simplify and downsize like they promised themselves they would.  They say you should gradually wean yourself from the thinking that "more" and "bigger" are better.  It's like an auto race:  the winner doesn't cross the finish line and then stomp on the brakes.  He gradually decelarates and eventually walks to the podium to collect his prize.

That's essentially what K and I have been doing for the past three years.  In 2009 we sold our large 2-story home with the big yard (that I promise you DIDN'T mow itself!), gave to my kids whatever stuff they wanted, then sold or gave to Goodwill all but the things that were important to us that we wanted to keep.  We moved into a comfortable apartment which was supposed to be temporary until I could build us another patio home-sized residence, but found we actually liked the maintanence-free lifestyle.  (Something needs fixing, just fire off an email.  I like!)

Now we're on to phase II of our "right-sizing" journey.  We're signing a new lease today on another apartment a couple of miles away, still in a great location, but which is new and immaculate.  It's actually a bit smaller, and a bit cheaper, too, but it's arranged to feel larger.  Granite countertops, porcelain tiled floors, stainless steel appliances....all very upscale.  And all that stuff we brought from our old home we really wanted to keep?  Much of it has been stuffed into the back of closets and in our storage room ever since, untouched. 

Tonight we start culling through it all....again.  It really feels liberating to pare yourself back to less "stuff".  I remember many years ago I had a friend who lived on a 35 ft. boat in Florida.  He could take everything he needed for a week's vacation in a carry-on duffle bag.  If he bought something new and took it onboard his boat, something else had to come off to make room for it.  I doubt I can ever match his efficiency, but I think I can get reasonably close.  K too.  This is one move I'm actually looking forward to.  :)

I'll leave you with my favorite sarcastic cartoon-of-the-day:

I feel so much better now that the banksters have said they're sorry and made amends for their past sleazy practices.  Bless 'em all.

S

And the winner is....

I see that TIME magazine has announced their "Person of the Year", the recipient(s) judged to be those "who have done the most to influence the events of the world....for better or worse."  And the winner is....protesters.  *applause*


I'd like to thank my parents, who taught me right from wrong and how to tie my shoes, and my high school government teacher who.....and.....


Like most everyone else I never read TIME magazine (their readership has been tanking for years), but for once I agree with their choice.  Protesters have overthrown corrupt despots in half a dozen slum-dog countries in the Muslim world and now are focusing their attention on western Europe, Russia, and in a weird and ineffective way, the USA, too.   I support them all.


Now comes the "for better or worse" part.  If you throw off one regime who's standing on its citizen's throats and replace it with another who does the same thing, is that progress?  The emphasis in the US is to throw the bums in Washington out at the next election, but then what?  Do we just get a new bunch of faces who do the same things the old faces did?  Is that progress?


IMHO we need a new Constitutional Convention to update the principles our Founding Fathers set us up with.  A constitution that removes the possibility of career politicians through term limits, removes lobbying and the corrupting "fundraising" that goes with it, prohibits special interest groups that seek to tilt the playing field in their favor to the detriment of "the little guy",  taxes everyone fairly and abolishes/prohibits loopholes that favor a select few, puts bankers in leg irons because of that karma thing, etc.


I'll see if we can meet at our community club house next Tuesday and get started.  Who's with me?  :)


S

Our double standard

Yesterday on the news they played a clip where Prez O'bama said that what the big bank chiefs did (referencing the financial crisis of '08) wasn't necessarily illegal, but just unethical, therefore there isn't anything to prosecute them for.  Then numerous legal scholars chimed in saying there could be a very strong case made that there was out-and-out fraud committed by many in the financial community, but their status and political connections are preventing charges being brought.  What a rip.  If you or I pulled something like that I guarantee we'd have our fingerprints on file and a new striped wardrobe. 

While the system of government our Founding Fathers gave us is a masterpiece, the career politicians we have today and the fat cats they run with have subverted it.  This is why there are marches in the streets.  Sure, some of those protesting are just bored and looking for something to do (other than work), but many are just upstanding hard working folks finally coming to grips with the double standard that exists in this country.  What's it gonna take to really change things?

S

I stay away for a few days and THIS is what I come back to...

Whew!  This has been a busy but productive week.  I've been at work early every day doing a time-sensitive remodel for a customer.  Fortunately all my guys have shown up on time and worked hard, and my customers say they have been awesomely impressed.  Today will actually be relaxed as all I have to do is sit and wait for the various inspectors to visit and give me their blessing.


I did manage to spend a long lunch hour on Wednesday with two of my daughters and three of my grandsons.  I left with a serious twitch and a grotesquely stretched-out shirt due to all the boys pulling on it wanting me to watch/play with them.  But I love 'em.  *blink...twitch...jerk*


I see the world's economies are imploding....AGAIN.  And of course we can trace it all back to the scheming bankers and their sleaze lawyers who have them just barely inside "legal", never mind "ethical".  This time it seems it's in Europe (whose bankers must be about 3 years better than ours at covering their feces).  When will we get smart and just round them all up, confiscate all their ill-gotten wealth, and banish them to some razor-wire-ringed desolate island?  


Hope you're all dodging the Wall Street bullet.  Enjoy your upcoming weekend.  :)


S