A lot of conspiracy theories over the last 100 years in this country. Lock Ness monster, proven false. Big Foot, false. Roswell, false. JFK, it was a lone gunman go watch the history channel and not Oliver Stone movie. That is called FICTION ladies and gentleman. The drug legalization conspiracy theory.. nope.

Conspiracy theories are for guys who were awake at 3:20 in the morning, lets be honest about conspiracy theorist can we do that? Conspiracy theorist is a guy who is not as successful as he thinks he should be in life. So his life becomes a series of beliefs based on his personal failures. This manifests externally. My failures had to come from someone else like the government. It couldn’t be that he is just a loser or not as smart as he thinks he is. The truth is the Government is too big, corporations are too big for the truth not to get out.

Because I feel like possibly coming out of retirement and possibly starting to post again.. and really the only thing that pisses me off badly enough to break my long unposting streak is the BCS… here I am.

The first surprise for most people is the large proportion of Americans who actually get money back – not a refund, but a net payment-through the income tax system is huge. In 2005 (the most recent year available for the data), the bottom 40% of Americans by income had, in the aggregate, an effective tax rate that is negative: Their households receive more money through the income tax system, largely from the earned income tax credit, than they paid.

That means that the number of people who actually pay America’s income taxes-totally almost $1 trillion in 2005-is surprisingly small. Of those who filed returns(themselves a subset of the population), just half accounted for 97% of the Treasury’s total income tax revenue. The top half’s share of total payments has been growing steadily for the past 20 years. The top 10% of taxpayers kicked in 70% of the total income tax. And the famous top %1 paid almost 40% of all income tax, a proportion that has jumped dramatically since 1986.

Wait a minute. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama rail against President Bush’s “tax cuts for the rich.” How does that square with the growing share of total tax paid by the wealthy? Are the richest Americans paying so much because they’re actually getting clobbered with a higher tax rates? No. Their effective tax rate – the total tax they pay as a percentage of their income – has declined substantially. The top 1% paid an effective tax rate of 23% in 2005, down from 27.5% in 2001.

So if the rich are paying more income tax, yet are being taxed at a lower rate, there can be only one explanation. Their incomes must be growing fast, much faster than the rest of the population’s. That is what is happening. Backing in 1985, an income of $119.000 got you into the top %1 club. By 2005 it took $365,000 to get you into the club. Those numbers are not adjusted for inflation; if corrected it turns out the price of admission still rose by 72%. By contrast the inflation adjusted definition of a median taxpayer-that is someone in the 50th percentile did not budge.

Now lets consider some of the recent heated tax controversies of recent years. Did Bush cut taxes for the rich? Yes. But he cut taxes for the poor even more. If we look at the measure that really matters, the change in effective tax rates, the bottom 50% got a much bigger tax cut than the top 1%. Did the dollar value of Bush’s tax cuts go mostly to the wealthy? Absolutely. It could hardly be otherwise. Since the well-off pay the overwhelming majority of taxes, any tax cut with a prayer of influencing the economy would have to go mostly to them. You could completely eliminate income taxes for the bottom half of the population and the Treasury would hardly notice.

The real issues here are clear. One is having a shrinking minority of citizens pay most of Washington’s bills. Social cohesion falls apart. The majority who pay nothing resent those with higher incomes; the minority who pay heavily resent those who don’t pay.

More fundamental is why some people’s incomes are growing so much faster than other people’s incomes. That, and not taxes is what the supposed tax debate is really about. Which candidate will make a substantive proposal for dealing with the issue, including how low-income citizens can get some of the earning power now going heavily to better educated. It’s a lot more complicated than changing the income tax rates.

This is mostly targeted toward the workplace and how when there isn’t a man available for the job to get a woman to work at maximum efficiency.

1. Pick young married women. They usually have more sense of responsibility than their unmarried friends, they’re less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn’t be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.
2. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination – one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally of physically unfit for the job.
3. Stress at the outset the importance of time the fact that a minute or two lost here and there make serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.
4. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they’ll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous studies have shown that women make excellent works when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they do lack the initiative in finding work for themselves.
5. Whenever possible, let the employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.
6. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair neat, apply fresh lipstick and file her nails several times a day.
7. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can’t shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman – it breaks her spirt and cuts off her efficiency.

The percent of Americans who reject evolution is close to 50 percent. About 35 percent believe the Bible should be taken literally, and if you are a Biblical literalist, evolution is not compatible with that view. For the rest-mainstream, nonliteralist Christians-it is mostly a matter of human exceptionalism: the idea that humans are different and unique from all other organisms. Par of that is the “ick factor” – “I’m not monkey!” If people understood more about animals, they’d appreciate that it’s hard to find lines that demarcate us from them.

At a Democratic presidential debate this year, three candidates raise their hands when asked who didn’t believe in evolution. These are not even the dumbest people in America; they’re just trying to court the “dumb” vote. Some churches believe that God put animal fossils on the earth to test our faith. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED GOD! What would these people need to see to believe in evolution?

2. The hot dog on the inside is usually shriveled and malformed suggesting it is inferior to the more visually aesthetic hot dogs that are destined to be served in buns.

3. The stick is only convenient for the first few bites. After that, you have to start eating from the sides, ensuring that eventually you will have to balance the last couple of bites on the deceptively narrow stick which is almost impossible to do, and more often than not, the last bite, no longer anchored, falls off the stick and onto the ground.

4. If you dip your corn dog into ketchup, the hot dog on a stick design inhibits you from really controlling how much ketchup gets on any one bite.

5. It’s impossible to put relish on a corn dog, eliminating one of the three most popular hot dog condiments.

6. The part of the breading closest to the stick’s handle often gets too dark and chewy.

7. They are the cheapest thing you can buy at CostCo implying that they may not be made of the freshest, most desirable ingredients.

8. They can roll around on one of those mechanical heaters all day and unlike any other consumable substance, remain virtually unchanged eight hours later.

9. They don’t taste good and leave you wishing you’d had a real hot dog because that’s what you were hungry for anyway.

10. If you try to grill a corn dog, it will catch fire and fall through the grates.

But that’s not the only reason we’ve been MIA. Since our big fight last week, Christopher and I aren’t really sure where things stand with “us,” and we may not be the “Chris and Chris” team much longer. We have a lot to think about on our own, and some things to talk about I suppose. I don’t really know.

What I do know is that I don’t think I’ll be checking in on the site for a little while. It’s just really hard for me and stuff.

I didn’t want anyone to think I’ve abandoned them– just taking some time for myself.

Carry on without me.

“Sigh” Mumbling to myself I think… “Who in the world is knocking at my door at 6pm… Christine? Nah… she doesn’t just show up… must be the neighbor.”

I’m not really one for checking the peep hole so I throw open the door and instantly realize my mistake as a man dressed in a shirt and tie and a woman dressed in a dress are standing there. Ughh.. Mormons.

Don’t get me wrong.. I really don’t any have anything against Mormons.. at least not anything I don’t have against every other group of religions people who think it is ok to show up at my house to convert me.

Anyway as I they start their spiel about whatever they are spieling about it occurs to me that I might be able to have some fun with this…. so despite the fact that a hardcore game of Call of Duty 4 is blaring in the background.. (and calling for my return) I invite them in.

C: “Hold on.. let me turn this down so I can hear you guys better…, wait.. actually you guys don’t mind if I finish out this game do you?”

MC (Morman Converter): “Ughh… no.. well how long will it take”

C: “Just a minute, I can’t let me team down… I’m playing online and without me.. my team will surely die to these bitches”

MC: “ok”

A few minutes of me swearing and laughing as I get murder countless bad guys pass and eventually the the MC’s start to squirm so I offer the dude a go at the game.

C: “Try it, it’s relaxing”

MC: (getting a glare from the girl)… “No… it’s ok, I’ll pass”

C: “OK, your loss… want a drink.. Beer (ok I have no beer in the house but I knew they would say “No”), Wine, Rum.. Wisky?” as I walk to the kitchen and break out the a few glasses…

MC’s: “Water.. if you have any”

I grab a couple of bottled waters, and the only good bottle of hard liquor I have (some Rum Christine bought for me) I walk back to my living room turn off the video game and start flipping through the channels. The whole time I’m thinking damn if I can manage to find a good porn channel that will be crazy funny.

C: “So.. want to give me your spiel?”

MC’s “We wanted to talk to you about the Mormon religion…”

C: “Fantastic.. I have always wanted to talk to you guys.. I have tons of questions!”

MC’s: “That’s great… go ahead and ask.. we’ll be happy to answer them.”

C: “I’ve always been curious how your religion justifies knowledge of technologies and that never existed in Mesoamerica during the time period described in the Book of Mormon (BOM). For example chariots when there were no wheeled vehicles of any kind, steel swords when there was neither steel nor swords, bellows for blacksmithing, and silk. The BoM describes a vast civilization of millions who inhabited cities for hundreds of years, yet no ruins from even a single BoM city have ever been identified. No BoM place-names were in use when Europeans arrived in the New World. Seeing how Mormonism…. is you know really just a Mesoamerica religion… what are you guy’s thoughts on that?”

MC’s:..”Ugm… well you see..” “That is a really fantastic question, if your willing to come and worship for awhile we have many people who can give you all the detailed answers your looking for”

C: “Ahhhhh I see. They didn’t get that far with the koolaid yet….. anyway I have a few other questions many you guys could answer..?”

MC’s: (slighly less enthused now)… “Ya.. we’ll do our best”

C: “I would really love to sign on to a religion….. really all I need is one that doesn’t fall apart right away ok…? So if you can help me through these.. issues.. I think I might have found a winner… after all I dig that you guys encourage threesomes”

C: “So I think the Book of Mormon has some biological fallacies like animals that did not exist in the pre-Columbian Americas or had been extinct in that region for thousands of years preceding the period described in the book. These include the ass, bull, calf, cattle, cow, domestic goat, horse, ox, domestic sheep, sow, swine and elephants. Several common animals that actually existed in Mesoamerica (deer, jaguars, tapir, monkeys, sloths, turkeys, llamas, alpacas, guinea pigs) are never mentioned. Also described are crops that didn’t exist, such as wheat and barley. Actually ya know, the agricultural techniques required to produce those crops didn’t exist either. Once again, crops that were commonly known to Mesoamerica (chocolate, lima beans, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, manioc) are not referenced…. I’m actually pretty these are fairly significant conflicts”

MC’s: “Chris, we’ve actually got a few more people we need to visit tonight but here is a pamplet. Good Night”

C: “Damn guys. I just found Playboy TV. Alright alright g’night and good luck and take some time and think about the stuff I asked you… and if you ever want to come back and explain it all to me that would be great, I would cherish the opportunity to enlighten you”

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So this story started out as a funny listen how my night worked out it also sparked some deep thoughts.
I’m not sure that the label “fallacies” was appropriate — a fallacy is an error in the reasoning of an argument, not simply any error, lie, deception, etc. If I say “2 + 2 = 5,” that’s not a fallacy. That’s just a mistake. The above issues I pointed out in retrospect seem to be more accurately labeled as lies, not fallacies.

There is simply no getting around the fact that demonstrably untrue things are claimed — and claimed in a work that supposedly came from God, even if written down by someone else. What, didn’t God proof read the Gold Plates?

An additional point of interest occurs to me: if so many people could follow a religion that is so recent but with so many factual holes in it, how much easier would it be to follow a religion that would be much harder to fact-check, assuming that anyone was even inclined to do so in the first place? One of the claims made on behalf of Christianity is that the events upon which it was founded were so recent for so many people that they wouldn’t have followed if the claims weren’t true. After all, it would have been too easy to check. Here, however, we have an example of a religion making claims that can be checked, have been checked, and have been shown to be false — and it doesn’t change a thing. Why, then, expect Jews and Gentiles in the 1st century Roman Empire to be any more skeptical and doubtful?