Soon to Be Viral

A little background.... An acquaintance of mine... Tim... had a conflict with a teacher over his grade. Apparently the woman was so poor at math she couldn't consistently apply her own grading system. Tim repeatedly demonstrated this to her... and eventually had to go to the

school principle to get satisfaction.

The teacher the sent him this letter.

For the record... Tim still has the letter. This is 100% true.

Nothing to Show for It

TARP I and TARP II combined add up to 700 billion dollars in government expense. Now... 700 billion is a big number. Its so big in fact that its hard for the average human to grasp. They hear 700 billion but their brain just classifies that as a really big number. If you'd said 600 million their brain would've done the same thing. There's no difference without scale.

With that in mind... I want to show you some scale.

Here are some construction projects... and examples of what we could've done with that 700 billion.

* Taipei 101 is the worlds tallest completed building. It cost 1.8 billion to build. We could've built 388 of them.

* Wembley Stadium is the most expensive stadium ever built. It cost 1.5 billion. We could've built 466 of them.

* The new Cowboys Stadium in Texas costs 1 billion. We could've put 14 of them in each and every state of the union.

* Burg Al Arab is the third tallest hotel building in the world and worlds only 7-Star hotel. We could've built 1,076 of them and spread them all over the interstate system of America. There would be 21 of them in Iowa alone.

* Boston's Big Dig cost 14 billion. We reproduced it in the 50 largest cities in America.

* CERN... the scientific marvel... cost 6 billion. We could've built 116 of them.

* NASA requested 3.6 billion to send men to the Moon and then on to Mars. That is one half of one percent of the cost of the TARP program. Sorry... no picture of this program. We couldn't afford to do it.

Suggestion, Cognitive Dissonance, and a Trip to Lourdes

Professor Hale offered this comment in the ghost thread:

"I think you have to be suggestible in nature to see such things. Kind of like why only Catholics see Mary, only UFO nuts see them, and only Pentacostals see and cast out demons everywhere."

I'm not one to let an opportunity like this pass. So I have a question for you. Have you ever heard the name Emile Zola? Its no shame that you probably haven't. Indeed its a credit to mankind that his name has largely been forgotten.

Now... why bring him up here?

See... Emile was a famous novelist in the 1890s... and he was a world class prick. He was a thorough prick though. He had a reputation for meticulous research and he was revered among the elites of the day... but again... he was a prick. He was the kind of prick that would ask a christian how someone could believe in God in an age of telegraphs and steam engines.

Emile had a lot in common with Richard Dawkins. But come... let's hear more of his story.

Now ol' Emile had a particular hatred for Lourdes and the claims of miracles that happened there. So much so that he famously announced that he was going to write a scathing novel debunking them... and in 1896... he traveled there to research his project.

I'm not at all certain if you know about what happened at Lourdes but to make a long story short... its a place of Christian Pilgrimage where folks came to pray and repent. There also were frequent healings in the baths there.

So on his way to Lourdes Emile met a girl with a trifecta of afflictions. She had tuberculosis in both lungs... Lupus... and leg ulcerations. Her name was Marie Lemarchande. Zola became quite close to her and also befriended some local medical doctors when they arrived at Lourdes. In fact... when Marie went into the baths one of the doctors, Dr Bossiarree, who was president of the medical bureau, was standing next to him.

Imagine their surprise when Marie came out of the baths completely healed. Bossiarree was amazed. He said, "Behold Monsieur Zola! The case of your dreams!" But Zola turned away. He refused to look at her... and claimed she was still ugly to him.

As if it was not enough... God forced Zola to witness at least one more healing in Lourdes...

And yet when his novel came out... he claimed neither healing actually happened. In his novel "Lourdes" he claimed that the healings were just the result of suggestion and an atmosphere of hysteria... and that neither had lasting effects. He wrote that, in spite of the fact that he remained in close contact with Marie for 16 years after the trip and knew she was permanently healed.

Bossiarree confronted Emile Zola about the false claims... and his reply was... "Its my art. I can say what I want to say."

He had come to Lourdes claiming to only want to see a cut finger dipped in the water and healed. While there he'd seen at least two bona fide miracles that were documented by medical professionals. Yet still... he refused to see... and knowingly lied in his novel.

And that Professor Hale... is all I have to say about Suggestion.

The Audacity of Stupid

I feel the need to remind you that I don't like people. Nor do I particularly care for going into public... because they are so commonly found there. Occasionally... though.. I am forced to.

Like today... in an effort of good will I took my mother-in-law's trash to the local dump.

Now I have to think that for most folks this is a routine errand... and should be utterly uneventful. Of course... its just these type of things that invariably gets me into trouble.

But I knew that's just what would happen as soon as I saw the so-called dump. See... dumps don't exist anymore... now you have Recycling Temples.. were the worthy come to give their offerings to the Goddess.

Anyway... so... clearly I'm to approachable. I say that with confidence... because in spite of wearing tactical boots and pants, complete with a steyr in a shoulder rig and a backup on my hip... I still find myself addressed by inferiors.

I got out of the escalade... carried the trash bags through the maze of depositories and the hippies milling about... and threw the bags down into the compactor... when I heard...

"Young man were there any recyclables in those bags?"

I turned to see a damned dirty hippie... a wretched old man with a long white beard and ridiculous ponytale... He wore a ratty t-shirt... skin tight... short shorts... black socks and tennis shoes.

I wanted to shoot him. I against my better judgement... I did not. I paused... thought.. and said..

"Well... old man... if I say no will that keep you from diving into that compactor after them in a wild last ditch effort to save the planet?"

He blinked several times at me... and finally I said, "Yes. Yes I believe there were." And walked off.

Piss on NYC

The Big Apple my ass. I've called 10 different resturaunts today... and out of the 9 people that answered the phone... only one of them spoke english. Well, that may not be entirely accurate... I mean they may be speaking some kind of english... I just know I could understand a word they were saying. Apparently in New York you're only allowed 1 syllable... so all your words have to be condensed into one constant sound with no breaks at all. Combine that with a revolting yankee accent spliced over some random middle eastern accent.

Seriously... appart from the guests at the hotel... I have no seen a single white person.

Not one.

I'm certain that there are in fact white people in New York... I know two of them quite well... But I am begining to wonder if they are the only ones. And ya know... now that I think about it... its not that I haven't seen any white people.. I mean.. I haven't seen any black people either! I mean ok... our cabbie was a black dude... that's it. That's the only black or white person I've laid eyes on.

Ok... enough bitching... the place is miserable and discusting and there is nothing here to justify its existence.... other than the fact that it thins out the asshole population east of the mississippi by attracting so many to one spot.

You know...

Like California does out west.

Someone nuke this place.

Please?

Fire Every Teacher. Hang Every Bureacrat.

So... remember when you were at school... and someone would do something against the rules... do you remember how it was handled? Ya know.. the teacher comes over and gives someone a talking to... and if they press the matter.. they are sent to the principle's office right? Usually the offenders were made to write lines... or swatted with a paddle in severe cases... and in the worst cases.... they were suspended.

But no... that's not now they handle it now. No now... if you're caught texting in class... and lie about it.. the cops come and arrest you for disorderly conduct.

I say this in all seriuosness... If you have a young child.. and you are considering surrendering him or her to these people... then you are either evil... or ignorant.

What's Broken?

There is a line of reasoning that claims that the economy is all in our heads. According to the subscribers bad news breeds fear which negatively affects investment patterns, which leads to more bad news. Good news works in precisely the opposite manner...

The people would have you believe that you can walk into a burning building and ask, "Fire? What fire? Everything is excellent!" and suddenly... poof... the buildign would cease to burn.

I can hardly imagine a more childish or... simplistic... view of the world around us.

But... since it is simplisity that is desired... I have desided to provide it. Tonight... I should very much like to take the opertunity to explain what's broken in terms everyone can grasp.

Imagine if, you will, an island. On this island are several cast aways. There is japanese man, a chinese man, a french man, a german, an indian, and an american.

Each morning the Japanese man goes fishing. He fishes all day. The chinaman gathers fruits and nuts. The german crafts utensils. The indian hunts wild game for meat. The frenchman cooks all day.

At the end of each day... all of them present their well crafted products to the American who has done nothing all day. The American eats virtually all of it... leaving only the barest scraps for the others.

The next day it starts over.

Now... Keynesian economic theory... or... as you may prefer to think of it... American economic theory... the economic theory that our government has used to make all of its decisions for the last hundred years or so... would have you believe that the American is vital to that island's economic stability.

I mean... Look at all the jobs the American is creating by providing all that consumption.

Only a harvard educated politician would actually believe such insanity... but believe it they do. With such faith that they risk the very survival of their nation upon it.

Any idiot can see the American is a drag on the economy of the island... The other castaways would be far better off without the american at all. There would be more for them. They would have more wealth... and more free time.

And you wonder why the world loathes Americans?

The problem is not perception. The problem is not in our heads. We are not facing tough economic times because we're not happy enough.

We are facing tough economic times because we've stopped producing. No. The problem is not in our heads.

Its in our hands.

Diversity Training

One of the more amusing experiences I've had whilst perusing the blogosphere came when I stumbled onto a local lefty blob... I mean... blog. The girl was fretting over her siblings chirens.. because you see... they apparently we're making fun of some Mexicans.

The girl was ringing her hands... and fretting... "its starting" she worried. "Is there anything that can be done?"

She was worried of course because the diversity curriculum just hadn't taken. I thought about linking so you could see for yourself... but do you really want to? Nah.. I didn't think so.

But let's examine this shall we? I mean what is a good priestess of diversification supposed to do? Well... let's see... How about we start by examining what's already being done.

It starts in daycare. Kids are punished for describing other kids in anyway that may refer to race. When a teacher see's a crying child she may ask, "What happened?" the blubbering child will then say something like... "that boy hit me!"

"Which boy?"

"That black boy over there."

The teacher... then confronted with a whole new problem deals with it swiftly. The boy who was hit is punished for "seeing colors", and the other boy isn't punished at all. Think I'm making it up? Think again. This scenario came straight from the day care next to the mortgage company I used to help run. This is brainwashing... and its very powerful. Unfortunately the results are exactly the opposite of those intended.

Fresh from daycare these kids now move on to school where their education in the theology of diversity is stepped up even further. Any mention of race is dealt with severely when the authorities are made aware. Blacks are treated different than whites... but no one dares speak of it. PC propaganda is rammed down their throats 7 hours a day.

And what does it teach them?

It teaches them that adults are stupid.

They know their school is 80% white and 20% black... and they know that their basketball team is somehow 90% black... and the football team is pretty close to that too. They also know that their Calculus class has 30 kids... but only 2 of them are black... and one of them is getting a D. They know that their AP physics and AP chemistry classes have no blacks at all.

Kids aren't stupid. Kids simply observe. Their brains haven't been deluded by ideology yet. But they have by now learned to regurgitate the required party line.

But back to our liberal friend... What is she to do? The question she's really asking of course is, what is left to do?

The answer?

Nothing. There is nothing left to do. Political Correctness is forced upon these kids hours upon hours each day. It just does work for the vast majority of them. Why? Because kids aren't stupid. Kids observe.

All it does is convince kids that authority figures are idiots and cannot be trusted. It actually fosters authority complexes and emboldens the racism that already exists in everyone.

Every once in a while the liberals are confronted with a small dose of reality... invariably it scares the shit out of them.