El Cuento de los Dos Cerebros

Mark Gungor and Chris in Texas presenting Laugh Your Way in Spanish

Mark Gungor - The Tale of To Brains

This is my Boss. A great teacher and the funniest man that I know.

The Game Is Rigged - Stock Market Rise Is Artificial

International stock markets fell up to 6 percent on Monday the 21st on fears of American inflation and an American recession. When the US market opened on Tuesday the market plummeted and then recovered, finally losing 130 points on the day. On Monday the Fed announced a giant bailout by lowering the interest rates 3/4 of a percent. On Tuesday the President announced a tax rebate give away to further help stave off the looming recession. Yesterday the market came back very strong gaining three hundred and odd points. So these signs of the inherent strength of the US economy seem to show that the recession may not be either deep or long and that the measures taken in Washington were effective and timely. It seems that way, but I think that something else has happened.

The truth is that the capital that is still located in the United States does not have good options right now. The fact that there is still a rush away from Real Estate is a clear signal that it has not hit bottom. The median average home price is down for the first time since records on these prices have been kept. But the market is showing that it foresees much deeper erosion in prices to come. So capital will not go to Real Estate to weather the storm.

Since the interest rates have been lowered again and the inflation is rising sharply, CDs or any other traditional banking instruments are out of the question. The interest that they yield will definitely be below the level of inflation. The fourth quarter inflation figures that came out last week were at 6% accrued annually on wholesale orders. Those figures will enter into the general economy this quarter and presage high inflation throughout 2008. The lowered interest rates and increased deficits in Washington will accelerate the rate of inflation. Therefore capital won’t be heading for the banks.

Other investments that are solid, such as foreign currencies and precious metals are already so expensive that only the truly pessimistic investor will unload the shaky greenback and take a severe beating to buy up gold or Euros.

Now thanks to the falling dollar and our inflation, the stock market still looks like a deal to the foreign investor. We talk about the strong market because it has increased in value from January 2000 until today almost 10% from 11,200 to 12,294 as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial average. In the year 2000, the American Stock market was still losing value after the dot com crash, so its performance is even better than the ten percent. Lets say 15% then, it won’t matter much. During the same time the value of the Euro as measured in dollars has gone from 95 cents to a dollar, forty-seven. That is a rise in value of over 50%. In other words the values of US stocks have not risen in the last seven years for the European investor; they have declined sharply. At this time the US stock market looks like a terrific bargain to the foreign investor and they are investing heavily. That investment (the selling of America) is one of the two things that keep the Dow from taking a serious dive.

Since US capital can’t go abroad without a big hit in the currency exchange, it will probably stay here. As we have seen, Real Estate is out, metals are out for most investors and banks are out. That leaves the stock market. A lot of money is in the stock market from both American and foreign investors and that capital will keep the Dow from crashing. In fact the rich will get richer through this recession. Inflation will be high: over ten percent by year’s end and unemployment will increase to six percent by that time.

The idiot, inflationary giveaway of 150Billion will be way too late to stop the recession. The IRS announced that they would need at least until June to cut the checks. By then the recession will be set and unyielding. It is a waste of money. It is a waste of money that the government does not have. It is being called a tax rebate, but it is just a give away, and as such there is no good reason not to give it to the people that need it most. But instead it will go to everyone that has a net tax payment. Debt and inflation is all this will achieve.


It seems that all of the economic strategies that come from Washington are designed to protect the capital of the rich at the same time that they produce un-payable debt for our children and high inflation that keeps the poor in poverty. The game is rigged.

The Sane Are “Kooks” and The Nuts Run The Asylum

Let’s look back at the last seven years for a moment. We have gone through a period of incredible changes in America that has seen the abandonment of important values and traditions that have been held for centuries. Very few politicians or media pundits seem to notice, and those that have spoken out against the violent change of course have been marginalized as odd, “kooks” and other derogatory terms labeling them as unprepared to comment on policy. We have jettisoned our traditional understanding of justifiable war, our absolute rejection of torture, our dedication to personal freedoms as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights has been repeatedly attacked and eroded, the government has spent trillions that it does not have leaving us under an unserviceable debt, and in which we have been taught that protecting America’s economy and jobs is counter productive and naïve.

Maybe it would be better to look at these items as a list and see what the net result of our change of course has been.

1. Just War – America has traditionally understood the moral principle of just war to be applicable only in cases of defense from actual aggression, either to our country and citizens, or to our allies and their citizens. We have now waged preventive war and the danger that we were to prevent has been proven to be nonexistent.
2. Torture – America was one of the authors of the Geneva Convention that unequivocally outlawed torture as an acceptable practice. We are now internationally famous as a State that practices torture.
3. Personal liberties – America is the original defender of personal liberties in the modern world that. Those liberties were held to be so vital to our national essence that they were understood to be natural rights: rights given to us by our Creator and the Bill of Rights is our guarantee that the government may not take those rights away. In the pursuit of The War on Terror™ our government has violated our Constitutionally guaranteed rights with impunity.
4. Deficit Spending – The American tradition has been for the government to spend only that revenue that it has except in the case of war when special mechanisms have been used to take on debt and then to rapidly pay the debt off after the war. The funding for the Mess in Mesopotamia is dragging us underwater financially and much of that cost has been hidden using unlawful accounting. We don't really know how deep the hole is. Under this administration we have been shouldered with a burden of governmental debt that cannot be paid off without making truly drastic changes in policy. Those changes do not seem to be forthcoming.
5. Our economy and national protection – American trade practices and the purpose of our government have always been to protect our national sovereignty and to guarantee that American workers and products are given at least a level playing field on which to compete. But we have been sold the notion the free trade is good for everyone. The idea has been hammered into our heads so many times by large corporate media, that almost no-one seems to doubt it anymore. We have eliminated tariffs across the board; we have allowed corporations wholly owned by foreign governments to purchase critical American industries. We have given up on the American worker.

The net results of these violent changes in policy have sent the nation spinning down a vortex that ends in disaster. What are the disasters that we face point by point from the list above?

1. Just War – By unilaterally engaging in preventive war we have lost the respect of other free nations. Our leadership is now rejected. We cannot appeal to justice; we cannot offer wise counsel and use our example to stop unjust wars around the globe. No-one is listening to us anymore because we are seen to be hypocrites and dangerous liars.
2. Torture – The result of our use of torture is similar to the first case of unjust war. We have lost the moral high ground. We can no longer use diplomacy to show our example of respect for human rights. Our country is not an attractive model any longer. Our neighbor and closest ally has classified us a State that actively practices torture. We are now in the same boat as Syria, Iran, Israel and Myanmar.
3. Personal Liberties – Americans are rapidly becoming afraid of our own government. Studies show that behavior has changed drastically in areas where there is overt security. People believe that they are being tracked, that their email can be read. It turns out that these worries are true and that the telecoms have been working illegally with the NSA since before 911. The quantity of planned violations of our rights is terrifying and more are on the way. The House Bill HR1955 would make speech by any group that the government decides may be a danger to be illegal. This will be twisted into an Orwellian knot that will bully any dissidence into submission. American citizens have been held for years without having charges filed against them. These are terrible precedents.
4. Deficit Spending – The government through the General Accounting Office recognizes a National debt of 9.5 Trillion dollars. At 5%, the interest on that debt is 475 Billion per year, or roughly equivalent to the Defense Budget. That number is more than double what was inhereted to George Dubya Bush. Of course the real number is much higher, since the government uses fraudulent accounting systems that would put private citizens in jail. The real debt is closer to 15 Trillion and rising. The money is being borrowed from the Social Security Fund (which is now broke) and overseas from countries that are NOT our friends. But Deficit Spending isn’t the only way that we pay for government that we can’t afford. The other way we put money in the hands of the big spenders in Washington is just to print more. Every time the Fed lowers interest rates they are increasing liquidity in the market, translated to English they are printing money – expanding the money supply. We are broke, worse than broke: our credit is maxed out and we keep spending. All this increase in the money supply has brought back inflation and it will be big. It has just started to rise, the cycle will take at least 18 months to slow down and turn around. Inflation will get to double digits.
5. Our economy and national protection – By signing Free Trade agreements with everybody and their brother and by unilaterally eliminating tariffs across the board we have choked off a critical source of government revenue at the same time that we have sent jobs overseas. We are not protecting our border and our sovereignty from immigrants that enter the country illegally and negatively effect the job market for Americans. This problem and its brother above have caused the dollar to plunge in value relative to the Euro by almost 50% and much more relative to gold or oil. That is fine for big American International businesses. They are free to navigate the world, investing here, producing there, and receiving their profits somewhere else. Their P&L statements look pretty good, but the average American is in trouble, burdened with debt that is forced down his throat by a constant barrage of psychologically designed advertising, his wages are stagnant and he is in trouble.

The biggest problem that 4 and 5 are giving us now is recession and inflation. They are here and they are going to be bad. America is in trouble. Our morality has been cashiered, our national defense is in jeopardy and we are broke.

There are some politicians that have spoken honestly about these terribly important problems. They have predicted how these problems would develop into the meltdown that we face today. Incredibly the men and women who have predicted the result of our Iraq policy, our monetary policy and our spending policies have been and continue to be marginalized as Kooks, fringe, eccentrics, and unrealistic.

In particular one man has spoken out about each one of these existential problems from the beginning and has been on target every time. He is, according to Mona Charen and Linda Chavez and Amy Schatz and the Wall Street Journal and the White House and the RNC and Fox News and the New York Times etc etc. a nutcase.
That man is Doctor Ron Paul and he has been right on every issue, predicting exactly the dilemma that would be produced: dilemmas that we now must solve or perish.

Can we stop calling him a kook and listen to this man?
Can we see through the hidden agenda of the Zionists and International corporations?
Are we ready to listen to a man who has a perfect track record or are we going to keep running for the cliff like lemmings?

New Inert Element Discovered - Governmentium

The recent hurricanes and gasoline issues are proof of
the existence of a new chemical element. A major
research institution has recently announced the
discovery in 2007 of the heaviest element yet known
to science. The new element has been named
Governmentium. Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25
assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198
assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of
312. These 312 particles are held together by forces
called morons, which are surrounded by vast
quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert.
However, it can be detected, because it impedes every
reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute
amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that
would normally take less than a second to take over
four days to complete. Governmentium has a normal
half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead
undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the
assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange
places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually
increase over time, since each reorganization will
cause more morons to become neutrons, forming
isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some
scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed
whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This
hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical
morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes
Administratium -- an element which radiates just as
much energy as Governmentium since it has half as
many peons but twice as many morons.

Georg Washington Meets George Bush

Have you ever read the chapter of Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" titled the Grand Inquisitor?

Jesus Christ comes back to earth at the time of the Spanish Inquisition and He is sentenced to death and jailed in a dungeon for impersonating the living God and fomenting radical ideas. The night before He is to be burned at the stake, the Gran Inquisitor visits Him in His cell.

The Inquisitor recognizes that He is in fact Christ, and apologizes, but says that things have changed, that the people cannot hear such ideas of freedom, that is dangerous to the church and so for the good of the world, Christ will have to be put to death again.

If Washington or Jefferson were to visit us today, I am afraid that the same thing would happen. I am afraid that after getting over the shock of modernity that Washington would look at the size of government, the 1000 page tomes of Federal law, the endless list of taxes, the military bases all over the world, the thousands of bureaucrats and lobbyists, the information that the government collects about every one of us and he would begin to preach freedom. He would exort us to throw off our blinders and our shackles and walk free once more as free men and women do. I think that he would be seen to be a novelty at first, but people might begin to listen to his message. Some would begin to question every bit of indoctrination fed to them. And then Washington would have to be eliminated, just like the Gran Inquisitor sentenced Christ to die en el auto de fé, Washington would have to be sent to Guantánamo to be silenced.

So General Washington is being held in handcuffs chained to leg restraints in some featureless CIA basement in Virginia, where he recieves a visit from the President and the vice President.

Dubya looks at the great founder of our nation, bent double and dressed in an orange jump suit suit with his hands chained to his feet. Dubya looks surprised and a bit guilty, he looks around, but only finds Dick Cheney there. Dubya smiles a little to Cheney, the old man doesn't look very intimidating now. He doesn't look so big and dignified doubled over like that in the garish orange suit. Now with a hint of scorn in his voice, Dubya directs himself to General Washington:

“Well – see uh - thangs are a lil difernt now, an uh, Ah mean they're difernt from whan you was here before, you know, uh we uh now we gotta pertect the worl from dangerous people. Terrorishts. An uh we're shtrengthening democrashy now, an uh that means that the people gotta uh they gotta reshpect authority, an uh thats me. So uh Ah know you’re a great man, but for the good of our country and our freedoms we’re gonna have to make the hard deshishion”

George Washington stares silently into Dubya's face and Dubya looks up at Dick Cheney with doubt in his eye. Dick gives a little nod of the head and directs his cold glare at President Washington. "He's a very dangerous man Mr. President and he knows too much to ever be released. I'm afraid Guantánamo is too risky, we'd better render him over to the Syrians, they'll know what to do". Cheney's snear reassures Dubya and they leave the room without another word.

George Washington looks at his feet and asks God quietly: "why did You send me back here? I have failed and our great dream is become hell on earth"



I wake up sweating in my bed, heart throbbing and a tear sliding down my cheek. What happened? Thank God its but a dream, or is it? Have I been given a responsibility from beyond?


The morning finds me knocking on an unknown door in my town - "Good morning ma'am, my name is Chris and I would like to talk to you for a minute about recovering our freedom by voting for Dr. Ron Paul....."

Letter to Linda Chávez in Response To Her Smear Of Ron Paul

Mrs. Linda Chávez wrote an article named "The Stakes in Iowa and New Hampshire" on Decmber 28th. It was published in Yahoo News as well as other places. The article was the normal prattle about polls and frontrunners without any new insights. However she did make a point by calling Ron Paul a "bona fide crank".

Click here to read her article



Mrs. Chávez,

I'm writing you this letter in response to your article of Dec. 28th.

I have read your columns over the last two and a half years since I returned to the US after 18 years in South America. I can't say that I have always been in agreement with you, in particular because you have the unfortunate modern Republican concept of America Uber Alles, that we must push and dominate the entire world, but I have liked your points about immigrants. And I know your husband from work with the marriage movement. At any rate, I always try to read your column on Yahoo News, but with your latest column you lost me forever.

You have bought into the Fear Regime, Mrs. Chávez. You are afraid and think that we should turn our back on our Constitution and our liberty because you think that we all ought to be as afraid of the world as you are. Well Mrs. Chávez the world has always been a dangerous place, but that has not bothered Americans because the "home of the brave" is more than a line in a song. We have shown our bravery by granting everyone their rights, by assuring fellow citizens that we can keep the government out of our homes and our lives. We have gladly run any risks that might imply. Americans have traditionally not been afraid.

I am an American. I am not afraid of terrorists. The danger from second hand smoke is more likely to kill me than some pathetic, frustrated Saudi in search of a glorious martyrdom. There was one preventable moment on 911 2007. We do not need to run scared for the next century because our policies for dealing with hijackers were completely wrong.

I am not afraid of terrorists, but I am afraid of something. I am afraid of living in a country where people have to be careful with what they say, where the police are to be feared, where people disappear. The quantum growth of the intelligence services under increasingly lax supervision is taking us down that path. I will not accept it lying down, and I am afraid for my family if this continues because I WILL rebel. I will not be cowed by ubiquitous surveillance cameras. I will not be a good little boy who does what he is told. Sorry, I am an American and I am not accustomed to being pushed around. I will rebel even though I know that this government and those that follow its course towards totalitarianism will step on rebels if this careen towards state power is not stopped NOW. We do not need more security Mrs. Chávez; we need to recover our liberty.

So what did you do in your article? You ridiculed the one candidate that is a brave American. One man who realizes that our rights are much more important than any unlikely danger that we may run here in America. Give us our second Amendment rights and let the terrorists try to kill us here in the home of the brave. It won't look like a very inviting proposition to your average Arab terrorist. The idea of it is absurd and if it happens once (and it already did on 911) it won't happen again. I can assure you that no plane that I am on is going to be flown into the World Trade Center. 100% guarantee. There are millions of American men like me Mrs. Chavez.

Since you infer that Ron Paul is a crank because he opposed the Iraq war, then you must believe that the Iraq war was a good idea. Was it a good idea to invade Iraq, even though there were no WMDs and Iraq had nothing to do with 911? You think that Dr. Paul is a crank because he believes that killing 4000 Americans and wasting a trillion dollars is a bad idea. Do you think that it was a GOOD idea?

And then you scoff at the notion that the Civil War was unnecessary. You scorn the concept that America could have ended slavery peacefully, the way that every other civilized country did. You scoff that we could have paid the plantation owners to free the slaves. No, that’s ridiculous, instead lets finance five years of total war. It’s so much cheaper. Do you know that buying all the slaves at almost any price would have cost less than 1% of the Civil War? 650,000 men died in the Civil War, Mrs. Chávez. Almost all the young men in America were forced into a situation where they had to kill other American men or die trying. More than a half million Americans were killed by other Americans. They died in excruciating pain with their arms and legs blown off, trying to hold their guts in, they bled to death. By saying that Dr, Paul is a crank, you opine that the idea that there was a way to avoid all that death is the thinking of a crank. No trying to avoid all that death for Mrs. Chávez, no. Kill them, kill a half of a million Americans and if you think that there might be an alternative to all that government sponsored death, then you are a crank.

I suggest that you think a little harder about Dr. Paul and his policies. They are much better conceived than your hateful little article.



Christopher Ferrell
January 1st, 2008