Gene's Footnotes

I have never been impressed by the messenger and always inspect the message, which I now understand is not the norm. People prefer to filter out discordant information. As such, I am frequently confronted with, "Where did you hear that...." Well, here you go. If you want an email version, send me an email.

August 29, 2013

Politicans Correct: Economy Improving!




Realtors are required to say happy things about the market. I think it is in our ethics (yes, I am new broker.  Call me).  I hear about how sales are up (never about from when). Happy talk is annyoing and works at tricking people.

Prior happy talk actually was so lame most people ignored it. There were press releases about great jumps in the real estate business - like from hell, level 7, to hell, level 3. Still, it is happy talk.

In addition, gains have the product of artificially low interest rates. The rates have been kept low by the FED making new money. Inflation is to follow. Values are unknowable, really.  Value depends upon the dollar's value in the world, the cost of fuel, the increase in interest rates, the continuation of the over 20 percent, real unemployment rate. Also, investors, including banks, are sitting on huge inventory hoping for an increase in prices - seems a gamble to me; then again, if the currency devalues, house prices go up, but that makes little investment sense, so I am moving on.

This juggling will come to an end.  The result of this massive shift away from happy talk is something I cannot fathom.  I would expect a jump in sales when people realize the free money is over, but, then, the home prices will fall inversely with the increase in interest rates.  There will be few "regular" buyers, a term I just made up and don't feel like explaining. 

We will be in a new territory.  If you can figure it out and bet on you projection, you will see large gains.  In spite of many good reasons, I still like silver, as we don't have enough.  

When you read the Goss article, you will blur over with happy talk comparisons.  Here is an familiar example: Democrats (& GOP subversives) will say they passed a spending was cut when they mean the rate of increase slowed - actually spending went up. More like  Goofy Talk.  Always recall, there is danger is assuming the past is the track of the future. And, never assume any statistic provides a truthful analysis, which, sadly, is true 73.2% of the time.

As for durable goods, oh crap.


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August 26, 2013

State and Local Taxes: Confiscation for "The Children"

You may have seen this diagram before. I thought it appropriate to repeat because of the recent trend to show pictures and I won't make as many typos. The reason pictures are better than words is because you get exhausted typing up words.


So, all the gnashing of teeth about government and high taxes are, in a sense, misdirected. Of course, rarely those who run for office are worthy people and one should unroot the self-dealing politicians with personality defects.


(There is something to micro-expression theory, it seems)

62% of tax revenue is spent in the public schools.  Think about that as you drive by your massive local campus, at least outside the cities. Think about that as you compare your car to those found in the teacher's lot.

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Teachers come from teacher colleges where they learn teaching methods, not their subject, and are absorbed into the leftist, union paradigm. They like to hang inane banners in the halls.

The first year the statewide Massachusetts' teacher's test, for new graduates I believe, was given more than half FAILED. They were tested on competence in their area! You can see why teacher unions object to standardized tests. The recent terrible marks of students in New York State brought a union response that the teachers didn't have the ability to "prepare." You know what that means.

The teacher school graduates eventually become members of the school board in your town, they hire principals (statistically, a former gym teacher), they present political correctness, intellectual intolerance, amorality, and, worst of all, a lack of enthusiasm for learning.  They do protect children from the evils of religious notions of morality. They tell you cannot discuss morality as the Constitution bars discussion of religion in public schools, except, of course, Islam. I still haven't found that in the Constitution.

Part of the high cost of the schools is the copy machine and supplies. As the general rule is each class sits and does matching columns and fill in the blanks every day, at least, in the lower grades. This is astounding.

A friend who was a the operational manager of a school district mentioned the largest cost is busing. In the old days, an educated person taught substantive matters to small classes in the neighborhood; now, we have institutions run on the prison model where a massive bus system exists to twice a day carry the inmates.
To put public school spending in perspective, we compare it to estimated total expenditures in local private schools. We find that, in the areas studied, public schools are spending 93 percent more than the estimated median private school.   Cato Institute  (and note the "median" private school number reduces the actual cost by eliminating very high tuition schools.)
Steven Jobs, back in the 1990s, told Wired Magazine that he sent his child to a private school and paid three thousand dollars, as I recall, more than the cost generated by a local public school. He asked, comparing public and private schools: would you spend an extra $3,000 to send your child to one of the best schools in the world?

Of further interest, he also stated that he was responsible for the worldwide use of the computer in school, more than anyone, and it was an educational mistake. To my experience, computers are an expensive form of baby sitting, just like matching columns.

Compare all this with the chatter you hear from teachers you know.  In the teacher's room they talk about their coming vacation, their tier, and target date of retirement.

You can see why the "teachers" in Wisconsin trespassed in the state's legislature, setup picket lines, and whined about the importance of education for the all-purpose totem: the children. Leftist unions of all sorts, from many states, actually brought on a recall election because the state decided not to require workers to be in the union.  They lost the election.

Al Schanker, who most people don't remember, was the father of the teachers' union movement in the 1960s. He was a communist from the University of Chicago who twice failed to obtain his PhD, even there; it was, as I recall from long ago, on Marx.

Teachers' unions are engaged in a leftist conspiracy to transfer property from productive home owners to fund socialists and their efforts. The average teacher, generally trying their best to be a professional, is, sadly, a useful idiot. The unions get them extremely good salaries and benefits. The union, generally forced on the teacher, gets its "taste."

There is likely no fixing this problem save the encroaching collapse of the economy. In the meantime, if you still care, home school and run for the local school board. The battle for the future begins in thousands of school board elections. The elite will have their Obama and Bush in the phony election game, but change will come from the bottom up.

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August 25, 2013

Game Over


We are controlled by the normalcy bias or reflex and the lies that we are told that maintain the consensus opinion about our environment.  It is easy to pierce the governmental veil with simple facts, those hobgoblins of European, white male reason.



Below are simple statistics that demonstrate to all but the mindless true believer that the end is neigh. Uncharacteristically, I am being serious. Obviously, something new will come along, but for now, praise the lord and pass the ammunition.

Below is a recent release from the Bureau of Labor Standards:


EMPLOYER COSTS FOR EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION – MARCH 2013 

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $31.09 per hour worked in March 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $21.50 per hour worked and accounted for 69.1 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.59 and accounted for the remaining 30.9 percent. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $29.13 per hour worked in March 2013. Total employer compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $42.12 per hour worked in March 2013.      From:  BLS - The questionable statistics from the Executive branch of the kingdom. 

Notice the compensation costs for productive workers in the private sector is 

Private Workers:   $29.13/hrPublic Workers:    $42.12/hr

Thus, rounding out a penny, the public sector makes $13 MORE than the private worker who has to pay the salary of the public worker, using the term loosely.  Do not be put off; this is not tricky math. If you make $30 an hour, do you want an employee who you pay $42?

Of course, we are are putting aside any consideration of the trillions of dollars owed by both groups because of government's subversive spending. So, keep in mind that, as of now, there is no way we can pay our debts, present and future. That is merely the end of the nation. Now consider the argument that you may have already thought of: there must be far more private workers around to pay the public workers and pay down the debt. This is impossible. Not to forget, all the income of the top 1% of income earners will not be able to pay one years' debt payments.

Below is a graph I have had for a little while. I cannot find an updated one. As I said, the data comes from the government which is very good at altering reality by what it does and does not report:


Only a zombie is not immediately terrified; he is living off the blood of those still living, so does not care.  If you understand, take measures, now.  At the outset of 2010, there were 21,000,000 more government workers than the private workers who pay them. The private workers made $13 per hour less than their commissars. 



Now, consider that the Marxist, subversive tyrants of the government government are screaming they needs to spend more money, which we do not have. They screams about the evil sequester. Their point has nothing to do with social justice, a ruse, it is the destruction of out nation. The Quisling GOP retort: well, hum, maybe, me too, sort  of, but we are the party of conservative values.

More to consider, the "public workers" do not produce anything. They should be an asset to the commonwealth, but they are a daily liability. They take property from the people and do not produce any. Thus, there is a limited future on the growth side.  These days, growth comes from productivity gains, which include lower pay and few hours....  Next,  Obamacare, the nuclear option is already on its downward trajectory.

Keep in mind, the leftists want power and do not care about a collapsing economy.  Hitler didn't.  Obama, the candidate said he didn't care about stock and bonds. They like the collapse of all structure built and maintained by individuals. They work in concert with the fascists, being essentially fascists focused upon political subjugation. Once the state is in control, there is no redemption.

The oligarchy behind all this mess for a hundred years have created a serfdom where debt controls the serfs. The kings are happy to pretend to work with the lords who keep borrowing on our behalf. Indeed, we borrow money to make wars where the other side borrows money to fight us. This has been the history of the world for centuries. (Good film:  The International). The oligarchs will have to dismiss the Marxists once the serfs are well seconded. The Marxists think they have the upper hand, not even close. This battle is a problem for the next generation.

The wealth of the nation now belongs to Goldman Sachs, other owners of the various Federal Reserve Bank, the members of the Bank for International Settlements, and private families. They let the people think they are free and in control, which is interesting because if the average person is out of work for three months, they are out of their home. They permit the facade of the United States to be moved around the stage.

That's it.  There is nothing more to explain.  Old epigrams: those who do not study history are condemned to repeat; however, a word to the wise is sufficient. 

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As the game for reaching the zombie soul is propaganda, I recommend adopting a correct nomenclature for the subversives, such as Obama et al, would be:  International Socialists or

INAZI

There is no substantive difference from the NAZIs other than the Germans based their fascist power upon the appeal to the national pride and culture. If that were done in the U.S., Ron Paul would be president. The minority of America has stripped away the balancing defenses of the Constitution, over a century, so that now that they have their people in control, they are subjugating the majority. It is theoretically possible that we evict the lords, but I see no Calvin Coolidge anywhere.  (If anyone wants to fight, the battle is at the primary elections. There your vote counts and you may be able to remove rubbish. The general elections are well controlled by both parties.)

Of course, the subversion would not happen if we had professional journalism. However, we are INAZI and the media defends das fuehrer. Our public schools differ from the mind control of NAZI Germany; our schools are designed to promote ignorance. 

1984 was only a bit premature.

Game Over.  Restart?  Think about it a long time.
What is it you are going to restart?



In the meantime, I suggest sending this around to friends, even the zombies




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August 24, 2013

Update: Amerika



HUD can’t prove jobs welfare plan is working

A program that helps pay poor Americans’ housing bills so they can look for work has doled out more than $100 million each year, but it has no way of telling whether the aid helped improve the recipients’ employment opportunities.
Officials at the Department of Housing and Urban Development have kept such poor records that they don’t know how many people they are actually assisting or whether the program’s premise of housing aid as a pathway to employment really works, investigators for the Government Accountability Office warn....

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/15/hud-cant-prove-jobs-welfare-plan-is-working/#ixzz2ctt8RfKJ 

DHS employee’s website: ‘We are going to have to kill a lot of whites’


...Ayo Kimathi, a small business specialist at the agency, is also a “gay-bashing, revenge-seeking black nationalist,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit group that tracks groups and individuals it says are bigoted and hateful.

SEE ALSO: Final tally: DHS released 622 criminals as part of sequester

Mr. Kimathi in his private time runs the website “War on the Horizon” under the user name “Irritated Genie,” SPLC said. The site advocates “properly educating Black people to prepare for Racial Warfare.”
“Warfare is [imminent], and in order for Black people to survive the 21st century, we are going to have to kill a lot of whites – more than our christian hearts can possibly count,” one statement on the site reads.
The site also describes whites as a “sadistic race of devils,” President Barack Obama as a “treasonous mulatto scum dweller,” and says former Secretary of State “Colon” Powell (sic) and Supreme CourtJustice Clarence Thomas are “Uncle Toms.”....

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/23/dhs-employees-website-we-are-going-have-kill-lot-w/#ixzz2cttb5pjy 

Final tally: DHS released 622 criminals as part of sequester


Two key senators said Thursday that Homeland Security officials should face discipline for their role earlier this year in releasing 622 criminal immigrants, including 32 with multiple felony convictions, in a move the Obama administration initially blamed on the budget sequester cuts....

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/16/final-tally-dhs-released-622-criminals-sequester/#ixzz2cttyn6zI 


#1 Worst Fattening Food Ever - NEVER Eat THISNatural Health Sherpa


Obama urged to use executive order to recognize Native Hawaiians



HONOLULU — Democrats are urging President Obama to bypass Capitol Hill once again and accomplish by executive order what Congress refused to do for 13 years: grant formal federal tribal recognition to Native Hawaiians. 
The effort lost its most visible champion in January when Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, Hawaii Democrat, retired without having won passage for his namesake legislation, the so-called Akaka bill. The measure has not been introduced in the current Congress 
Even so, the timing may never be better for action: Mr. Obama, who grew up in Hawaii, has indicated his support for the Akaka bill. He also has shown a willingness to use his executive authority to bypass Congress on a host of issues including health care, welfare reform, immigration and climate change....
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/22/obama-urged-to-use-executive-order-to-recognize-na/#ixzz2ctvXEJkX

That's enough for now. Wait until the DMV runs healthcare.





What Constitution?

BTW, Obama did not grow up in Hawaii. He grew up in Indonesia where he was a citizen, having been adopted by his Indonesian father  (he says so) and was trained as a Sunni muslim. His Indonesian passport indicates he was muslim. While there, his mother worked for Timothy Geithner's father at the Ford Foundation, touted as a CIA front.  There is a small world controlling us and it is festering.

Perhaps, you may recall the Koran grants muslims the right to lie to non muslims in defense of the Koran. Very convenient.






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August 21, 2013

Bin Lyin

Greg sent along photos of a national protest effort. People on overpasses. Of course, you won't see this on TV.

 I like this one from Belton, Texas.



I have come to think sanity requires either living somewhere in the old America with others who have left the Wiener World or find a mountain top.  At least, there are people awake; of course, they are relegated to overpasses, which is, apparently, one word. If you make Tee shirts out of this, I get 5% of the gross.

You may as well join in the protest. Terence wrote (in Latin): Silence is Consent.

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August 20, 2013

End Times: North Pole In Freakish Cold Spell. Did Gene cause it by not driving enough?

EcoPress: NY. Cunningham avoiding the press. Promises to drive to the mountains, soon, to spew out more poison gas. He reports he is worried because the sun comes up when the cock crows and the freakin' bird died. More on the end times, soon.  Maybe.

Clearly, man made CO2 is not sufficient to keep the earth at what scientists voted was its proper climate. A law has to be introduced into Congress to set up an End Times Fund.  The issue is whether weather is coming to an end. Can we run solar panels after  Armageddon? Would it help if we induced more volcanic eruptions?


Unprecedented July Cold – Arctic Sees Shortest Summer On Record
“Normally the high Arctic has about 90 days above freezing. This year there was less than half that,”  says Steven Goddard website.


Graph courtesy of COI | Centre for Ocean and Ice | Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut       Thanks to F. Guimaraes for this link
“The Arctic ice extent is showing a remarkable recovery from the great oscillations of 2012,” says Guimaraes. “Compare with the previous years listed there, you’ll see that 2004 is the year that is closest to 2013 in terms of average temps during the summer.”
(You can compare by looking at the Archives (Arkiv) on the left side of the page.)
Related Links: 
I told you the Canadian scientists said it was the wind.  It is black and white on the net.  You can also find how polar bears love swimming, the poor stupid creatures. They should be drowning in hot water like that frog we keep hearing about.

CO2 Nears 400 ppm – Relax! It’s Not Global Warming ‘End Times’ —Climate Depot Special Report: Renowned Climatologist: ‘You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide’

PS: What the hell does that graph mean.  I am not going to read the article. 

Read the Full Article 

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August 19, 2013

Bye, Bye American Pie



Usurper Obama is intending to subjugate the Bill of Rights to the UN.  Of course, he lied and said he would not. Here is your world government at work. 
The UN is a band of 1%ers, mostly Muslim in name, intent on destroying the power of the U.S. This is understandable as extant records demonstrate Obama is an Indonesian Muslim. This he admits while there is a battle over Kenya and other lies. You may think, "So, what, the baseball season is still on." I have no response.
In the meantime, between the Obama golf rounds, the secularist revolution in Egypt, one that the army agreed to back, against the Muslim Brotherhood's destruction of the Egyptian Constitution continues. Forty Seven christian churches have been looted and many destroyed in the last few days.  Imagine if one white person hit a muslim in the U.S. 24/7 News. 
The sane Egyptians seem to have a clearer understanding of the subversion of liberty. Perhaps, they have not gotten weak by taking it for granted.
It is time, again, to  act. Tell elected officials this UN treaty to be approved by the Senate is a single issue. If a Senator votes for it, you vote against him or her, regardless of the alleged party.
Talk this up. Continue to withdraw from your home. It is time for a V-Revolution. That is, a virtual revolution. Just withdraw from supporting this monster of a government. 
It is time to take a long shower, clean yourself of Weiner, Spitzer, Clinton, Filner filth, then, start to plan your future with your family. 

Posted Friday, August 16th 2013 @ 12pm
President Obama will move forward with adding his signature to the UN Arms Treaty before the end of this month according to Press Secretary Jay Carney. 
It is feared and predicted by many gun rights groups and advocates that the treaty, if ratified, could open up the US gun market to international regulation.
According to a letter written by CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gotlieb, 
The uncertainty begins in the discussion of small arms. Where will the regulations on our small arms start, and where will they stop? They are even trying to include ammunition regulations in the Arms Trade Treaty! Will the United Nations try to impose international licensing requirements, an international registry, or international ?
The last negotiations for an Arms Trade Treaty took place in July 2012, just four months before the Presidential election. Obama did not want to take a big stance for global gun control just months before his re-election but now he has made it clear he is for total gun control. He also told voters he would not be re-visiting negotiations for an Arms Trade treaty but here we are.

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August 15, 2013

Graphs: debt and unemploymenet

I was listening to the WSJ radio show this morning and the twenty-somethings, who are reporters, were giving updates to their work as found in the Journal.  I was reminded of the BS people in college who gave reports as though they knew what they were talking about. They had affected speech and a flair for obvious dramatics.  Little did I know they would run things.  The normal people didn't pay attention to the affected ones; we went about our lives not worrying about organizing others.

The tone of the reporting was: why worry about this 90 billion dollar in contention, the debt ceiling, etc. when it looks like debt is going down. Things look up.  There are a few "yuks," at this point.

First, there appears no understanding that an exploding debt is an exploding debt, that a minute reduction in the  growth of exploding debt is not proof that we are recovering,

Then, there is no connection, apparently, between imperceptibly better numbers and the war in Congress over spending.  I could be precise and say some Republicans were being niggardly, but some child would think that I was quoting a rodeo clown.

The profundity of the ignorance of common economics is so deep there is no reason to discuss it. You get down in the road with twits, you stand up with fleas, or some such thing. Normal people know how the world works; normal being people who have had real jobs outside the government and education.   Unfortunately, they are presented with useful news, they get opinions from twits; some watch stand-up comics sitting down to discuss current events and think that must be getting the hip opinion.

The aura of "Wall Street Journal" makes one think the reporters are grownups. Facade is a dangerous thing.  So, let me just add this plain graph, the only reason I wrote this blog. No buzz, no spin, just "official" projections. You make of it what you can.


Note, this is a government produced chart.  For serious numbers go to Shadow Stats

Then, I heard three minutes of NPR, that is about my limit of listening to people talking there, and hear how great the housing market it.  As I pretend to be a broker, these days, that struck me as odd.
Seems the valley girl reporter (you can tell when sentences end with an uptick, especially when  the person is attempting to show he or she is stating a fACT!) knew someone who sold a condo in Chelsea that they couldn't sell last year. Now, that is reporting. Yuk, yuk.

Oh, there is no inflation, too.  Yes sir, there is a domino effect in place and the housing market is fine.

This reportage is nothing more than a reprinting of PR from the government, large groups, or from the stock exchange press offices. I have seen this brain dead parroting, personally. In fact, I have issued PR releases. No one called me to verify anything. This is modern journalism in America.

You can see why every so often some NYT reporter is caught having fabricated a big story. No one manages and no one cares. Reporters are frustrated fiction writers, anyway.

The problem with all this white noise is that is creates an unexamined tapestry.  I hear perfectly nice and bright people say the darndest things. Things so insensible that you just stare at them, which they probably take as tacit agreement.

For the hell of it, here is a Shadow Stat for you:



Consider passimg this graph around.  The absurd unemployment rate for black is much higher.  It is terrifying. One would think it is purposely kept high to create racial turmoil. Actually, one should think that,.

You can read up on shadow stats background and you will be more comfortable with their numbers, if you are aware of the open alteration of government numbers to fit an agenda.

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August 13, 2013

Illusion 2 and Rosencrantz

No, I haven't released the coil of sanity. I like illusions, being a trickster, I suppose. I enjoy reminding myself that, as one hears in Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead,  

Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in.



I find it curious how I get the quote reversed, all the time. This is because "is" remains, as long I live, a "copulative verb."

Yes, the dots are always white. The blinking is an illusion.  In the last illusion, the pink dots turned green, then vanished save one that seems to rotate around the center.

While this is all amusing, a form of humor which is often merely the surprise of defeated expectation. carry forward the notion of how we see reality.

I have long abandoned hope of using reason when talking to those driven by emotion; it took a long time to realize there are different sorts of minds. Its a "Mars" vs. "Venus" thing. They have emotional filters that define reality; this is the governing mode of most modern leftists, though it is not a definition thereof, of course. One could call them statists, as well, though it seems curious serfs fancy themselves as masters.  Must be some variant upon the Stockholm Syndrome.  Perhaps, it is more like being adopted by the Bloods, so you hate Crips and know how to organize the neighborhood, all you need is to collect protection money.

You can't tell these metaphorical people there are many pink dots, as they see the one green one zipping around. (The last blog entry) They ignore you. When something alters their view, like closing one eye, they quickly return to look at the curious dots properly, then the green one returns.  All is well when the green dot appears. This is the essence of man's primitive religious instinct.

There is no logic that will convince the viewers otherwise: global cooling-warming-change is not about causation; it is about use of dogma and, what the hell, you can always say the earth revolves around the sun, if you work at it. It is the rule of dogma and preservation of primitive security. The "scientists" adjust history and hide their assumptions so that the green dot keeps moving. Why, they even vote on it. Recently, a recent NSA document described how to spin the invasion of privacy; there was not even a hint that, perhaps, the invasion was wrong; there was only an assumption that the NSA is a religion that must be defended.

A Danish newspaper just conjectured, as I have been mumbling for years, we are entering a mini-ice age.  If this becomes demonstrably true, green dot will still reappear: Gene owns a car and it rained; therefor, Gene should be taxed because rain makes us wet. We live in the world that sees correlation as proof of causation. There is no arguing with that; you see "Bush did it." All one can do is gently touch upon the curiosity of assumptions; never upon the invalidity of conclusions.

People's perception can change. if reality really is uncooperative and it permits some people to stay alive. Unfortunately, "reality" is well under control, these days, until it snaps like, say, with WWII.

Reality's news comes from stand-up comics and all the news that fits. Indeed, many people actively participate in maintaining an irrational bias. They get to have a good job, work up some megalomania, and make nowhere plans for everyone.  They remind me of the local staff of the Roman or English empires. The wogs who strut about doing their masters' bidding. There are no self-proclaimed serfs on this farm. In a republic, one can be a citizen; on the farm the only choices are: farmer or pig.

Reason, you see, is a trap of European, white males who, from their pig pens in the ninth century, realized that through formal education they could be racists, though they had never seen another race. Recently, we hear that ever word in the English language is racist. (The denunciation was in English.)

As I say, I have given up trying to use reason and am trying to figure out where I am going to go when the European, white males realize a concentration camp has been build around them by the ruthless, but mentally challenged. There is nothing more vicious than violence born of reason. Why do you think the governments permit the use of flouride in our water?

One way to keep control is to maintain a stupid populace. From  Canada Free Press

Brainwashed, dumbed downed, Led astray, Education, Common Core, Main Stream Media

The Confused and Misguided Youth
Author
By Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh (Bio and Archives)  Monday, August 12, 2013 
Comments | Print friendly | Subscribe | Email Us

Dr. Thomas Sowell, Economics professor, economist, writer, and sage, encapsulated brilliantly what ails our youth. “The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”
And the culprits are the American public education, an ever growing lack of religious education, and the indifferent parenting that does not question what children learn or do not learn in school.
Young people in any generation tend to be naïve, idealistic, and gullible; it is easy to sell them anything because they confuse feelings with rational thought. They are told so often and so early in life that they are special that they form a distorted view of themselves.
Undeserved praise is layered at every opportunity, even when Johnny walks across the stage without tripping. We can’t possibly hurt his self-esteem. Competition is evil, it is bourgeois, everybody knows we are “equal,” nobody is special in any way; we are all born with the same IQ, same abilities, mental capacity, intelligence, talent, no genetic irregularities whatsoever. Why even try to learn, compete, be the best that you can be and achieve excellence? Those are capitalist values....
I accept the theme of Dr. Sowell and the article, a curious reaction for me, because it is what I believe to be true.  Or, is it the other way 'round. Unlike the Marxist view, however, I do not see a central power as any solution. More centrally collected money dedicated to dumbing down students does not quite seem right.

There is a primitive instinct to follow the leader that has defined history but for a blip of republican thought highlighted by origin of the U.S.  Ben Franklin commented the founders had established a "republic, if you can keep it." These were not idle words.

A republic requires an educated and responsible populace because rational individuals are the republic. It requires an understanding and deference to the RULES of the game, not a blind obedience to apparently good ENDS of the majority.  The Animals had freed the farm, but as Orwell pointed out, we have permitted the great leaders to weasel their way back. As long as the "leaders" generate fear and other emotions, they can maintain control over simple, primitive serfs.  They need only increase the voter rolls of the poorly educated.

Ayn Rand saw it all before and saw the tyranny built upon the collective coming to the U.S. It was not great prognostication; she was merely aware of human nature.  The Road To Serfdom was written about England, but was a huge seller in the U.S.; today, people would not understand its message. if they could read after a public education. People believe what they accept and, you know.

The instinct toward tyranny has merely evolved away from the use of large armies; generals are replaced by bankers who are long practiced in using money and debt to control the farm.  They are so good at this that the Animals do not even see they, now, work for others. Their stand-up comics ridicule the individual. The tyrants do fine, from a primitive point of view.

Better to rule in Detroit than serve the farm.


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