The new priesthood.

I had a recent conversation with a friend. We were talking about the Ben Stein movie "Expelled" and in one part of the conversation, I was asked, 'Do you really believe that the Bible is really true? I mean come on, most of those stories are made up. It's all fiction and there is no evidence that we were made by a creator.' I was also told that 'any educated person can see the stories in religon are just not true and have no basis in anything in the world.' Well, this got me thinking. I guess I don't really believe in all the mystical hocus pocus type stuff such as raising the dead(don't we do this with a defibrillator?) or making a river run red with blood. The one thing I do believe is that some far greater than ourselves created us. Whether that be God or some alien humanoid race or whatever, we are just too well engineered to just have happened.

That said, we are told today, that religious leaders have pulled the wool over peoples eyes and that we were kept ignorant because they didn't have the answers to why things are the way they are. People were told to believe in the religious teachings as fact and they were inspired by the Infallible One(s) (again, God, Allah, Yahweh, Ra or whatever statue you might burn incense to). Then comes the age of enlightenment, where science has rescued us from these superstitions. Only science can explain with certainty all of life's mysteries. They love to point out that the Bible claims that God just one day created the heavens and the earths from nothingness. It doesn't say how, just that he/she/holy union, etc. We are just supposed to make that leap of faith and accept it. Well science puts forth the theory of evolution and the big bang theory. I can see certain parts of it, but something still had to light that firecracker off. Who? I don't think that one was ever explained by science except to say 'no one knows'. Sounds a lot like 'Well, it's a mystery.' Science has a role, but is it exact? In many cases, yes. But the way science is getting used today, it is replacing the role of the old religons. Much of the global warming and social science studies just are not based in fact. I personally think most of the studies that claim to be based on science fall into the same category as this little math problem. Now math is supposed to be an exact science. So let us begin the lesson:

Let X = 1
From that we can say X² = 1
From that we can say X - 1 = X² -1
Factor it and we get X - 1 = (X + 1)(X - 1)

We can then simplify by following:
X - 1 (X + 1)(X - 1)
----- = ------------
X - 1 (X - 1)

The above equation then becomes
1 = X + 1

Therefore based on the fact that X = 1 we can now say that

1 = 2

It's math, an exact science. Do not doubt this because it is so.

There is a problem, but as with the science of Global Warming, I conveniently ignored certain facts. Bonus points if you can let me know what these are. I'll just shout you down and say you are a naysayer and you just don't understand modern science. Go drive your SUV and pollute the world more. Then I'd somehow manage to make sure people knew you were a bigot too and a total non-believer and that you could care less if the world were destroyed.

The overall lesson here is to be wary of things that people tell you are 'Fact' and always question their methods and motives for advancing what they are preaching. Much of what we are seeing is a rehash of the past few thousand years, just with a new face on it.

Jeeezzus, Where do I begin?

Well, it's the 7th day. I gave the man a chance. I hate being right sometimes and I do think I am seeing the results of the first 6 days of the new administration. I could go on for several pages but will stick to just a few things here. The flubbed oath and then the blackout of the redone oath. Why didn't they want anyone there? In my mind, he still has not taken the oath of office which should be done publicly and NEVER behind closed doors. It is an insult to the American people. I'll bet the 'so help me God' part was taken out. So was the 'faithfully' part too. The appointees to the cabinet and their troubles, particularly the Treasury department head, Geithner, are completely flabbergasting. His tax situation would negate his employment at any level in the IRS. How and why is he even being considered. If you look at his case, he is either being truthful on it being an honest mistake, which makes him incompetent or he is just flat out lying. Would you want a person like that making the decisions on how this country is going to be run financially? I also heard Robert Reich's wonderful comments on the hundreds of thousands of new government jobs(read dependents) that they are looking to create. I believe this amounts to nothing more than a bunch of patronage jobs where if you get one, your continued employment at one of these bogus jobs depends on making sure you support the people who gave it to you. These will do nothing but create even more of a strain on the economy and suck more from the people who are actually producing something. What happens when these people say enough? We're finished. I really do fear that this country is now running headlong into what can only be looked at a total takeover by the government and that we are able to do what we do, not by out ability but by their permission. Sorry, for me, it's the other way around. And for the people who think that I should support others who don't have my ability (I created my job and have been self employed for over 20 years now), and believe that I should be able to pay for others who aren't able to do so but should still enjoy the same benefits of this that I do without the blood, sweat and tears that go along with it, I will respond with a quote I read once. 'GET OUT OF MY WAY!'
Bonus points if you know the source!

OOOOOO, Today is the day!

Well, it's the big day today. In a short time, there will be an end to war, everyone in the world will love us again, no poverty after the economy rises up when we're all given jobs building roads, the cars will run on clean energy instead of dirty gas, the world will stop warming up and not go into another ice age off as well, all forms of racism will disappear, disease will end, and no one will every have to worry about their house being repossessed again. The carp we all received in the last few years is a bad memory. Who knows, maybe Obama will do the right things necessary to right the ship, but with the lead up to today, I am doubtful. With the people he is hiring, many Clinton castoffs after the Republicans took control of the Senate and then the house a couple years later, how can we expect anything else. At least he won't be doing the interns like Clinton was. We are going into a rehash of the 90s which while those years weren't bad economically, they were fueled by the fact that we borrowed out our ass from the chinese, sold them off quite a lot of our military secrets, and gave them un-escorted access to the most secure areas of our country. It all came tumbling down when the orgy went from our housing market right over to the energy speculation market. This country uses 23 million barrels of oil a day. For the long term contracts on oil that were bought at almost $150 a barrel, that would represent about a $110 per barrel loss. Hmmm, 23 million barrels times 110 times even 180 days and that represents almost half a trillion dollars lost. The rest is fees and such. Maybe this is why the banks don't want to publicly show where the money went. It would show that we were just witness to the largest heist of money ever. EVER!!!! They didn't even have to drive a getaway car. They just flipped us the bird and took the money. I have believed for years that Ayn Rand was indeed a prophet. Today it is being proven she most certainly was.

Bigger carbon footprints?

I read a couple weeks back that cows supposedly have a huge hand in global warming since they give off so much methane. They are vegetarians too(at least I don't think they feed cows wings, burgers or hotdogs). I also just saw another report that non-vegetarians tend to have more flatulence than vegetarians do. I'm not sure I buy that one. Most of the vegetarians I know can really rip one out and quite often they are able to take down a buffalo with it. I know I get gas every now and then, but never that bad. Eat a burger, you selfish people. You're ruining our environment. I wonder if I can get a grant to study this. They're wasting our tax dollars on everything else, why not this important piece of the global warming puzzle. I guess I'll put in for the grant after the 20th. Who knows, maybe I won't have to do real work anymore then. Just study farts. The downside would be that I don't think there'd be a good pickup line for the women at the bars in there. 'What do you do for a living?' ummmm.... nah, I really just better stop and go to bed now.

Finally! Someone says 'MMMM, Let's talk a look at this...'

Well, the GOP finally grew a set and said to hold up a bit on voting for the release of the next $350B in funding for the bailouts. I do like the line used in the letter sent to Barney Frank (lead asshole on the finance committee) - "Karl Marx famously observed that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce,". Ol' Barney has been bitching, along with everyone else, that the banks don't want to show what they've spent the money on so far (probably bonuses, parties and hookers). Well, when you give them a whole bunch of money with no preconditions or oversight, what do you think they're going to do? You've now got a bunch of sailors with a wad of cash in their pockets, nothing in particular to do and they're in Singapore! What results do you think you'll get, anything good? Hell, no! Anyone who rammed this bailout through via the scare tactics that were used should be jailed, or at least sat down in the corner with a dunce hat on. I still say, if a company (or bank) isn't making it, it's time to sell them off to someone who can make it work. LET THEM FAIL. The bailout is the most expensive example of attempting to polish a turd! In the end, the same screwups will still be in their corner offices and doing the same stupid crap which in the end is going to require another bailout. I actually heard an economist on the news the other day explaining that the overall debt ratio to GDP is less than what it was during World War II and that it is sustainable. Just because something is sustainable, doesn't make it ok. Just because I can sustain my credit card payments at the minimum payment, doesn't make it a good idea. What if I don't get that bonus I was hoping for or I suddenly need money for something else. Whooops, I'm screwed. This country is in the same boat and the principles are exactly the same. At some point, you'll finally have to admit that it's not going to work when everything falls apart. I think it's time we did start holding politicians feet to the fire and not just at election day. This bailout is exposing total incompetance at all levels. I say, just let me have a whack at fixing things. I won't be nearly as expensive and I can piss money away with the best of them. I'm getting another cup of coffee and walking around the office now, I'm so miffed.