Unbiased Media Works Hard to Sway your Opinion

Binyam Mohamed is finally going home, or the last home he legally had, back in Britain. His stay in Guantanamo Bay is nearing its end, as British doctors have reviewed his condition and tagged him as fit to fly.
“A newspaper has reported that the Foreign Office solicited a letter from the US State Department that forced British judges to block publication of evidence of torture,” is how the article ended conveniently. Something to make the reader wonder, possibly ponder on for hours on end. Was there actually torture going on worlds away? Did they actually rub red paint on people’s faces to try and get them to talk?
Facts, much to the chagrin of the mainstream media, speak louder than rumors or gossip. But they know exactly when to throw in the bait, just when to add the possibility of something or where in the article to insert the maybe it actually happened to create a thinking tornado for the reader. The mainstream media has honed its skills over the course of the last century, and is as close to perfection as possible, possibly.
The hard facts are thrown in for this story, such as Mohamed being an Ethiopian Muslim convert who was granted asylum in Britain in 1994. He was also arrested in Pakistan in 2002 on “suspicion of involvement in terrorism.”
Once an Ethiopian slash British immigrant, he was in Pakistan during an American led campaign to rid that area of insurgency. He was in a region of the world that had severe travel warnings from Israel to Jamaica. He was caught up in a Taliban led area of Pakistan, in an area of the world that had been war torn for centuries. Government issued travel warnings, both U.S. and Britain, told him not to go, yet he did anyhow. He was caught up in a war, those are the facts.
Throw in what ever else you like to provide the “fat” of the article; I do it as well, but only to poke fun at something or to try and evoke a quick laugh. Rumors to try and make the reader wander in their thinking are something else; it’s what most would call propaganda, which is information being disseminated aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of the intended audience.
Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.
—Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion

Well, we here at Dumb Information believe that the reader has a brain of his or her own, and have the ability to decide for themselves what is in front of them. We will continue to provide you with real world problems, throw in our two cents to try and pull out a smile or two, and let you decide. It’s up to you, now go out there and make your mind up.
Some analysts claim that Mohamed will be one of the many that end up back in the war zone assisting either the Taliban or some other insurgency based organization, crap I just did it didn’t I. Sorry, it possibly won’t happen again.

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Stimulus and Bust

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/amxiaynvarlg

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20090213/bs_bw/0908b4120034085635

New research claims that even with a nearly trillion dollar stimulus package, if foreclosures in regards to the tanking sub prime market continue at their record pace, even the most thought out plan “wont spur an economic recovery.”
I am going to sit up on my high horse for just a minute and play devils advocate. If many out there don’t think that this massive infusion of government and taxpayer money isn’t the answer, then why are we continuing the path forward on spending it?
I, like many others that I know, was unfortunately intimately involved in the sub prime mortgage catastrophe. Through the several years that I spent in that industry, I found thousands of ways to cut corners and dodge bullets to get deals closed as quickly as possible. Thank god, if only for my own conscience (I have much more to worry about and really don’t need to add anything else to the pile), I never did anything to jeopardize my professional integrity, such as pushing a re-finance at 130% loan to value of the property or 55% debt to income ratio, almost guaranteeing a foreclosure when the inevitable happened. I do however know when something is askew, because I have learned through my many professions and employers what is right by being taught the wrong way, and something is very askew when it comes to the nearly $800 billion stimulus.
America, chew on this thought for as long as you wish.
It took on average longer to get an approval to re-finance a home during the peak of the sub prime boom then it did to pass the nearly trillion dollar stimulus plan, and look where our sub prime industry ended up. And in the middle of the sub prime frenzy, home owners re-financing their property received a three day window in what is know as a right of rescission to think about what they have done and if they made the right decision; do the taxpayers get this same luxury when it comes to the stimulus package?

Pimp Hand of Al Swearingin: Coke VS. Pepsi

How long have we as a human race had to endure ads on the Coke vs. Pepsi controversy? Every time I turn on the radio, or change the channel, or walk out of my bathroom after a nice reading of Money, Popular Science or Mental_Floss magazine, the duel to the death hits me in the face. Since the early ‘70’s (yeah I am that old but still can kick your ass), the media has forced us to swallow this fight without the refreshment of swallowing the product. Pepsi is the greatest, no Coke is the greatest, no wait, it just maybe RC Cola, just kidding, its either Pepsi or Coke, are we clear. I, the Honorable Al Swearingin, aim to end this battle once and for all.
There is no comparison, period, and I am sick of some freak boy with a microphone telling me that there is. For those of you who really take this seriously, I will set the record straight once and for all.
Pepsi’s advertising ploy through the years has been based solely off of preference instead of the facts, the true taste and feeling of slamming back a carbonated can in the middle of a hot summer day. As for myself, I will drink either product, but do however strongly prefer Coke over Pepsi, not because of the taste, but because of the feeling that a Coke gives that no other Cola can, no pun intended. I am sure that most of the nation agrees with me that neither product tastes that bad, but prefer one over the other. Like me, if you are a die hard Pepsi fanatic, if you opened the fridge on a Sunday afternoon looking for a quick swig of a carbonated drink and found only the dreaded Coke, you would pull it out and pop the top quicker than Obama nominations duck and run.
To give it a fighting chance, the PR writers at Pepsi Company have made the ads all about the taste, preference over facts. Hey, I can’t blame them; they learned that tactic from the mainstream media. But facts speak for themselves, facts that show that Coke has had the upper hand since the birth of Christ. Pepsi is all bark and no bite, and Coke has the bite, or sting, or kick in the ass that the rest of the class lacks. Its not about taste, it’s about the sting, as Mohammed Ali said it best, “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Nothing, except for maybe a viewing of your 401K statement, stings like Coke.
The purity of the feeling of a Coke rolling down the back of your throat on a hot summer day, the freakishly satisfying stinging sensation that it gives you, is truly amazing. No other carbonated product can give you that sensation, putting Coke head and shoulders above the competition. By the way, if any of you Coke advertisement gurus are reading this, and it winds up in some ad in Bakersfield, California, I am coming for my money; why you haven’t realized this as a selling tool is beyond me. Everyone knows it’s about the sting, Coke is gonna sting going down, and for some reason, its all good.
Take it from me, Al Swearingin, if you like the refreshing sting of a carbonated masterpiece, drink Coke. Now it’s settled, so stop advertising on my T.V.
Until next time the God fearin’ science lovin’ gun totin’ badass says believe in God, have a good time, and make sure you have plenty of ammo.

OH CRAP! That Causes Cancer?!

Masturbation causes prostate cancer, Mary Jane causes testicular cancer.

Two recently released studies have shown that both masturbation and marijuana can either speed up or directly cause different forms of cancer. Face it DI Pride, I wont be writing for much longer. Thanks for the memories.

Public Service Announcement: Gun Laws

Americans, you are staring down the barrel
of gun control.

DI has the solution, stick to your guns.

I received an e-mail the other day in regards to gun control measures over
the past century around the globe, and tossed it in my trash file.

I passed it up; because of course most chain e-mails are crap.

After a while, I felt for some reason compelled to dig it out the
cyberspace garbage can, thinking about my precious
Daewoo DP 51
9MM back at the house, and wondered what was in store for its uncertain future.

*Note from Porkchop*

I always have to cut in on anything having to do with weapons due to the fact
that the things I love most on this earth are weapons, women, tattoos, books,
Dumb Information and any site we are linked to,
and my camera.

I am personally a member of the church of Glock, but the
Corporal swears by this Daewoo.

I may have to fire it one day to see if it is really all that and a bag of Doritos.

*End Note*

My pistol is my form of home protection which (to go along with the riot
shotgun, an unmistakable sound racking a 12 gauge
when some innocent burglar stands between me and my family) have been
members of my home just as the dogs and fish have been.

I did a little research, only to find out that the numbers presented in the
e-mail were not far off if off at all, amazing.

Gun control has been a hot topic for the past several decades, and as the NRA
has increased in members, so have anti-gun activists, claiming that guns
are the reason for so much wrong in the world (I think the reason for
most of the wrong in the world is caused by the people like the anti-gun
activists, but that’s just my opinion).

Gun activists claim that guns don’t kill people, people kill people,
and so for the sake of argument, I will only present the numbers.

This will allow you, faithful DI Pride,
the ability to form your own opinion, completely unheard of in today’s
information superhighway.

 

Government	Dates	Targets	Civilians Killed	“Gun Control” Laws	Features of Over-all “Gun Control” scheme
Ottoman Turkey	1915-1917	Armenians (mostly Christians)	1-1.5 million	Art. 166, Pen. Code, 1866 & 1911 Proclamation, 1915	• Permits required •Government list of owners •Ban on possession
Soviet Union	1929-1945	Political opponents; farming communities	20 million	Resolutions, 1918 Decree, July 12, 1920 Art. 59 & 182, Pen. code, 1926	•Licensing of owners •Ban on possession •Severe penalties
Nazi Germany & Occupied Europe	1933-1945	Political opponents; Jews; Gypsies; critics; “examples”	20 million	Law on Firearms & Ammo., 1928 Weapon Law, March 18, 1938 Regulations against Jews, 1938	•Registration & Licensing •Stricter handgun laws •Ban on possession
China, Nationalist	1927-1949	Political opponents; army conscripts; others	10 million	Art. 205, Crim. Code, 1914 Art. 186-87, Crim. Code, 1935	•Government permit system •Ban on private ownership
China, Red	1949-1952 1957-1960 1966-1976	Political opponents; Rural populations Enemies of the state	20-35 million	Act of Feb. 20, 1951 Act of Oct. 22, 1957	•Prison or death to “counter-revolutionary criminals” and anyone resisting any government program •Death penalty for supply guns to such “criminals”
Guatemala	1960-1981	Mayans & other Indians; political enemies	100,000- 200,000	Decree 36, Nov 25 Act of 1932 Decree 386, 1947 Decree 283, 1964	•Register guns & owners •Licensing with high fees •Prohibit carrying guns •Bans on guns, sharp tools •Confiscation powers
Uganda	1971-1979	Christians Political enemies	300,000	Firearms Ordinance, 1955 Firearms Act, 1970	•Register all guns & owners •Licenses for transactions •Warrantless searches •Confiscation powers
Cambodia (Khmer Rouge)	1975-1979	Educated Persons; Political enemies	2 million	Art. 322-328, Penal Code Royal Ordinance 55, 1938	•Licenses for guns, owners, ammunition & transactions •Photo ID with fingerprints •License inspected quarterly
Rwanda	1994	Tutsi people	800,000	Decree-Law No. 12, 1979	•Register guns, owners, ammunition •Owners must justify need •Concealable guns illegal •Confiscating powers

 

This is information from the first site
that I visited, absolutely shocked me.

How could these numbers be correct, I pondered?

So, being the kind of person I am, I forged
ahead to find the truth, with site after site providing
me the same horrifying numbers.

The numbers only slightly changed, most of the time to a greater
number of deaths than the site before.

 

PERPETRATOR GOVERNMENT	DATE	TARGET	# MURDERED (ESTIMATED)	DATE OF GUN CONTROL LAW	SOURCE DOCUMENT
Ottoman Turkey	1915-1917	Armenians	1-1.5 million	1886 1911	Art. 166, Penal Code Art. 166 Penal Code
Soviet Union	1929-1953	Anti-Communists Anti-Stalinists	20 million	1929	Art. 182 Penal Code
Nazi Germany & Occupied Europe	1933-1945	Jews, Gypsies, Anti-Nazis	13 million	1928 1938	Law on Firearms & Ammunition, April 12 Weapons Law, March 18
China	1949-1952 1957-1960 1966-1976	Anti-Communists Rural Populations Pro-Reform Group	20 million	1935 1957	Arts. 186-7, Penal Code Art. 9, Security Law, Oct. 22
Guatemala	1960-1981	Maya Indians	100,000	1871 1964	Decree 36, Nov 25 Decree 283, Oct 27
Uganda	1971-1979	Christians Political Rivals	300,000	1955 1970	Firearms Ordinance Firearms Act
Cambodia	1975-1979	Educated Persons	1 million – 3 million	1956	Arts. 322-8, Penal Code

 

I would have never believed this, but the sad reality is the fact that
for one reason or another, death tolls ranging from 55-100 million took
place during and after nationally mandated gun control laws worldwide.

In Lehman’s
terms, if this happened in America, the entire population of the
metropolitan areas of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston,
Dallas, and Philadelphia
would be buried, and that is just using the low side when it comes to figures.

Gun control, is it worth your life or the life of someone around you?

Do the research, get out and figure this one out for yourself.

My two cents is this; I own more than three guns, and I have never used those
guns to kill another human.

Now, with that information, do guns kill people or do people kill people?

Make your own decisions in regards to this and everything else.

If knowledge is power, then power is all around you, it’s just up to you to find it.

*Note from Porkchop.*

Always remember these old sayings,

“Those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat it.”

“A land with an armed society has citizens, a land with an unarmed society has subjects.”

“When seconds count between living or dying, the police are only minutes away.”

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

“An armed society is a polite society.”

“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the outcome of the vote.”

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who comes near that precious jewel. Unfortunately, nothing
will preserve it but downright force. When you give up that force, you are ruined.”

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed- unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

“Dangerous laws created by well intentioned people today can be used by dangerous people with evil intentions tomorrow.”

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.”

“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that the people preserve the spirit of resistance?”

“Gun control has cleared the way for seven major genocides since 1915, in which governments gone bad murdered 56,000,000 persons, including millions of children.”

“I sympathize with people who want to ban guns, but I can’t agree with them. We have to be careful in our zeal to abolish guns that we don’t wind up with counter-productive legislation that will leave armed only the people most likely to do harm with them.”

“One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms.”

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself! They are the American people’s Liberty Teeth and keystone under Independence. From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere, restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good!”

“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”

“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.”

“The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”

“Assault is a type of behavior, not a type of hardware.”

“These Sarah Brady types must be educated to understand that because we have an armed citizenry, that a dictatorship has not happened in America. These anti-gun fools are more dangerous to Liberty than street criminals or foreign spies.”

“Guns are not always the answer, but obtaining a firearm has saved the lives of many… While I favor keeping guns out of the hands of felons, youths and the mentally impaired, I oppose adding more bureaucratic obstacles that attempt to fight crime by disarming its victims.”

“A woman who demands further gun control legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders.”

“Arms are the only true badge of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave.”

Pimp Hand of Al Swearingin: Global Warming

The question has been one of the most talked about of the last few decades or so. It has been the campaign driver for several failed presidential candidates, as well as an even hotter topic for the creator of the World Wide Web, Mr. Al Gore. For all of you rational people out there, are we really having a Global Warming crisis?
Out and about on a daily basis, I also have the luxury of being able to peruse Mr. Gore’s fantastic voyage that is the World Wide Web, with not much else to do but to fumble around Dumb Information’s brilliant web site. Occasionally though, I do search issues that are near and dear to my own heart, one being the global warming conspiracy. But before all of you tree hugging fruit balls get your pink panties in a wad, check out just a few samples of what is my life.
In a span of less than a year, my deliverance type neighbours have been afflicted with the likes of floods, ice storms, and several Bigfoot sightings. Power cut off because of bone chilling cold winds that make you want to slit your own throat as to not have to deal with the frostbite anymore; power cut off because of flood waters that would even make Noah cringe again. So I ask of you again, DI faithful, is this the ugly face of Global Warming?

I beat the streets for a little while, pondering my next move, perhaps to Tahiti, while gathering information from lifelong residents in hopes of figuring all of this out on my own (I know now that you must know I am a Republican, because the average or above average Dem cant figure out what their name is, much less try and do something themselves). My findings, although not supported by the Guinness Book of World Records, were frightening to say the least.
These kind of natural disasters have happened over the years, but not nearly this close together. What did the near future of my hometown and states have in store for it I contemplated?
I am, (sorry for sounding a little modest), one of the greatest quality control technicians the free world has ever come across. In my line of work, if there is a problem, then there is obviously a root cause. To fix, or repair, or stop, or terminate a problem, you must seek out the root cause.
Now, just for a brief moment, think of Global Warming as a symptom, just a spec of the actual issue at hand. If the problem is for arguments sake the bastard child disease that is AIDS, then Global Warming would be one of the many symptoms such as esophagitis, a nasty but by itself not deadly, inflammation of the lower lining around the esophagus.
Now, think for another moment, if for some god forsaken reason you were infected with AIDS, that the worldwide doctors union (they formed out of absolute necessity because of atrocious work conditions and sub-human pay scales due to socialized medical care) began selling you mounds and mounds of prescription drugs claiming to be the cure for AIDS, but was actually just keeping you from burping up some seriously foul mouth gas.
My point to all of this madness is this; why stick your head up a bull’s ass when you can just take the butchers word for it? The government and Media is continually shoving this down our throats, green this and green that, and scaring us into submission so that us “ditto heads,” us Rushites nation wide, run to the mailbox or corner store to buy the first photovoltaic powered vibrator we come across because batteries just “add to that there Global Warming stuff.”
I don’t mind the government dumping dough into projects that will help out, but what can we really do to prevent something that scientifically happens on a revolving basis? Why pull the wool over the populations eyes so that funding a “eco friendly green project for the democratic senators ex brother-in-laws, mothers, future wives, dogs seller pocketing a cool $14 million to put up three solar panels in his backyard” will go down a little easier?
My question to you (with all of my infinite wisdom I am still having trouble answering) is this. Can we as a human race do anything to stop the ever growing freight train that is Global Warming?
I, as a God fearing man and disciple of his word, can claim that it doesn’t matter, because you “better believe in him or feel his wrath.” On the other hand, as a brainiac science freak, I have to take into account that other planets in our humble solar system have gone through the same things we as humans are currently experiencing, without the ill effects of a vicious can of hair spray.
So, for all of you doomsday, tree hugging, pink panty wearing douchebag’s out there, put your money back in your wallets when it comes to all the crap that the good old government is trying to sell you in regards to the inevitable warming of the Earths crust (unless of course you want to send it to DI to assist in the spread of our own truth and wisdom).
What will happen will happen, that is the answer. There is nothing we can do about it; just sit back, try not to use so many damn CFC’s, drink some beer, and go to church on Sunday mornings. Take it from me, the God fearin’ science lovin’ gun totin’ badass, which by the way; I am freezin’ my ass off thanks to this Global Warming crap, good call Al.
Until next time, believe in God, have a good time, and make sure you have plenty of ammo.

This is Al Swearingin signing off.