QUESTIONS:
1. Why are number panels of telephones upside-down?
2. What is the real value of a penny?
3. Why is a dime half of a nickel but worth twice as much?
4. How many hurricanes does it take to feel global warming?
5. When are we going to export our democracy to Iran?
6. Why people of an “Axis of Evil” nation, are the only people in the Middle East favoring the US government?
7. Are we in a democracy?
8. Why no one asks Israel to comply with International Atomic Energy Protocols?
9. Why Taliban and Al-Qaida members were called Freedom Fighters when we supplied them with arms, and now they are Moslem Terrorists?
10. What happened to Arab Spring if the dictators before and after Arab Spring have been supported by us?
11. How come fanatic Moslems in Libya and Syria are liberators, but those in the streets of Bahrain, South Yemen, and Sudan are rebels and Moslem terrorists, and the target of our drones?
12. Why are churches constructed in the most prime locations, especially churches of Latter Day Saints?
13. Why do they tell us in schools that education is more important than money, but raising money in elections is such an important issue?
14. How come no one is shedding tears when racism has increased by 3% since 2008?
15. Why was Romney’s religion an issue last time he ran for presidency but no one talked about it this time?
16. Why do I use “we” instead of “they” speaking on behalf of the government?
17. Why was Ann Romney happy when she learned that her husband was not elected as the president of the US?
ANSWERS:
1. When calculators and adding machines were designed, they decided for the number panel to consist of three columns and three rows, reflecting nine digits. Numbers were located from 1 to 9, to increase successively from bottom to top, and from left to right. They added another row at the bottom of the table for zero and decimal point and any other function the manufacturer decided (such as double zero). The same number of columns and rows were designed for telephones after dials were replaced by number pads, except that numbers from 1 to 9 start from top-left, and increase as they goes down successively. As in adding machines, a row at the bottom is added for zero and other functions (such as #). Why the same design as in adding machines was not used for telephone number pads is curiously unknown!
2. In 2011, about five billion pennies were minted. According to Wikipedia: “As of 2012, it costs the U.S. Mint 2.41 cents to make a cent because of the cost of materials and production.” Although pennies have basically no value, the government still mints them to enable commerce to advertise prices for a penny less than the amount they would charge if the exact dollar amount was displayed (such as $9.99 instead of $10). Several studies show that such pricing creates the impression among consumers as if the price is one dollar less than what it actually is. Gas stations go even further than that and advertise their prices with the fraction of a penny (i.e. $4.55 9/10), the currency which used to be called a "mill" before it went out of circulations. Considering that 4,938,540,000 pennies were minted in 2011 for a price of $.0241each, over 119 million of our tax dollars was used in order for us to be fooled by business!
3. Both dimes and nickels are partially made of copper. A nickel is made of 75% copper and 25% nickel (shouldn't have it been named copper instead). However, a dime is consisted of 10% copper and 90% silver, which makes its intrinsic value twice as valuable as a nickel. The amount of silver was proportionately high, so they had to make dimes smaller. Why they did not add more copper and less silver in order to make the size of a dime larger, is not known. Another factor in deciding the size of a coin is its longevity. The bigger the coin, the longer it lasts, and the less frequency of losing it by the owner. This is another proof that a dime should be larger than a nickel. Considering that neither one worth much these days, minting them would benefit coin collectors more than anyone else. The story of these two coins will pretty soon assimilate the story of a penny!
4. Environmental pollution has always been a nuisance for people living around the polluted areas. As the world becomes more industrialized, the more pollution is emitted into the air by industries, and in particular factories, as number one polluters. When a business is established, the cost of pollution control or pollution cleanup is never considered. This creates a hazardous environment for the population at large. With mass production and globalization of industries, the problem has been expanded from certain neighborhoods to entire earth. Global warming and depletion of ozone layer was first theorized in 1952. During the last decades, not only this theory has been proven, but the outcome of global warming in endangering the earth is evident plainly. Rapid climate changes and advent of new forms of natural phenomena, in addition to more sever and more frequent natural disasters are further confirmation of environmental change. Recent floods are indicative of climate fluctuations which are caused by breaking of Arctic ice caps. According to digitaljournal.com: “New data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSDIC) reveal that Arctic ice is continuing to melt at an alarming rate. Summer ice in the Arctic may all but disappear over the next few decades, much earlier than scientists had previously predicted. At end September 2012, the extent of sea ice in the Arctic reached a record low according to NASA measurements. This surpassed the previous low recorded at end August this year as reported in the Digital Journal article, ‘Arctic sea ice melting, now at record low’.” Industrialized governments headed by the US have been in denial of the global warming. US government has single handedly been in the lead in sabotaging attempts, or not participating in any global efforts in establishing protocols and agreements to reduce the danger. For a long time, US government has been “turning the blind eye”, as the expression goes, which is explained in Wikipedia: “Turning a blind eye is an idiom describing the ignoring of undesirable information. The phrase to turn a blind eye is attributed to an incident in the life of Admiral Horatio Nelson … In 1801, during the Battle of Copenhagen cautious Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, in overall command of the British forces, sent a signal to Nelson's forces giving him discretion to withdraw… he [Nelson] lifted his telescope up to his blind eye, said ‘I really do not see the signal’, and his forces continued to press home the attack”. Of course Nelson was not lying. He was doing something worse; deceiving his commander. Are we also being deceived by the government, or do we know better? One of the recent and curious methods of treatments is "Oxygen Therapy". More and more diseases are treated this way, by giving the patient an oxygen tank to breath in when the symptoms are present. Does anyone know why?!
5. “Separation of powers” relates to three separate branches of the government; executive, legislative, and judicial. These three bodies are organized to act independent of each other. In the first election of this century, the court (judicial) decided about the fate of the election (executive), meaning that one branch influenced another. Not only this action was objected by some, but the whole election of that year went under question, as at least half of the people in this country considered that year’s election process rigged. However, there was not a massive protest or street demonstrations, as people (supposedly) came to terms with it, and accepted the verdict of the court. In contrast, when the election was rigged in Iran in 2009, people made such an uprising that it shook the government at its foundation, in a way that it could never recover. There were massive street protests, which of course the dictatorial government put the uprising down through excesive killing, torture, and imprisonment. There are in fact two questions responded here; which of these two countries (US or Iran) is more removed from democracy; and in which of these two countries majority of people are aware of, and therefore exercise, their democratic rights. Readers can judge for themselves!
6. United States government has been a staunch supporter of Israel in spite of Israelis’ forceful land expansion into Arab countries since its inception, and its outright plunder and raiding of Palestine, currently undergoing, and genocide of Palestinians. Having installed favorite dictators in almost every Arab country (and creating/ supporting armed oppositions against non-allied dictators) leaves the population of those countries profoundly disfavored towards the perpetrator. There is only one nation in the Middle East, Iran, who’s unpopular and hated dictators claim to oppose American hegemony. Considering that people of Iran do not trust their government, establishment’s foe becomes their friend, thus they have a tendency towards the US government. This is in spite of a large population of Iranians living in the US, creating one of the most successful and prosperous migrated nationality, and developing a strong link between Iranian and American people. All other nations in the area are either ruled by an American puppet (Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Jordan, to name a few), or they are directly attacked by the US military (Afghanistan and Iraq), or they are subject of drones by US military (Pakistan and South Yemen), or the government is challenged by rebels supported by the US (Libya and Syria). Is there a reason why people in such countries would like US government?!
7. In fact the question is; how many Patriot Acts, Citizens’ United, and Stand Your Grounds, should be passed before we realize that we have no democracy. Based on the old saying that if “you repeat a hearsay enough number of times and with conviction people are going to believe it”, the fraudulent idea of democracy has been repeated so many times that people believe they are living in a democracy. Our voting right has been a sham from beginning, as the only people could vote at the time of the statehood were white male land owners, accompanied with Electoral College rather than popular votes. Lack of democracy aside, we still had some rights such as; first amendment, habeas corpus, and voting rights. These rights have been taken away during Bush administration by the Congress or the Supreme Court, and they continue to be abolished. As Ron Paul put it in his recent speech; patriotism is not approving everything that the government does, but questioning it. We spend majority of our daily awaken hours at (or to and from) work. Majority of work environments are privately owned in this country. The person on the top of the organization, whether the entrepreneur or the owner or the director nominated by the board, decides about the fate of each employee. When we are recruited we are told that the work in the organization is “at will”, meaning that the employee can discontinue working for the organization at any time that employee wishes. This goes both ways, as the organization can end employee’s career any time it wishes without having to suggest any reason. However, this right is not equally shared between the employee and the employer. To find a new position, an employee has to spend time and effort applying to many organizations in order to be hired. The employer almost always (especially when unemployment rate is high) has several times more options in hiring than the employee. Therefore, the tipping point of the scale is heavily towards the employer. This determines whose fate is in whose hands. Examples of abuse, bias, preference, partiality, favoritism, and prejudice are rampant, and can be found in courts records. As a result, we spend most of our daily lives in a very undemocratic environment. One has to obey the boss for fear of retaliations in the form of demotion, salary cut, or position discharge. This is in addition to personal freedoms being taken away by the government in an annual basis. We can look at the clips of street demonstrations brutalized by the police in any media. This is happening in a country that is proud of its democracy!
8. Does American public even know that Israel has nuclear warheads? US and Israeli governments never discuss it, accept it, nor deny it. According to nti.org: “Israel is not a member of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and is widely understood to be the first and only country in the Middle East to possess nuclear weapons.” Recent Netanyahu’s insistence for Iranian government to abandon it’s claimed “for peaceful purposes” nuclear program, or to await consequences is nothing short of absurdity. A war is what he has been looking for in the past couple or years in order to establish himself to hardcore Zionists. When Obama did not move towards a war with Iran, he used his other option. He started bombing Gaza Strip, an always handy target!
9. Double standard has been a US foreign policy since mid-twentieth century. Political dissidents of other nations, who are servitude to US policies, when their governments are not favored by US Administration, are called "heroes" or "freedom fighters". However, when the same political groups fight a government whose dictator is already a US ally, they are called "rebels", "insurgents", "radicals" or "terrorists". Taliban was the brainchild of Al-Qaida, an organization created by Pakistani government, financed by Saudi Arabia (both countries are long time US allies), and armed by the US, to fight Soviet backed government of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida was coined a "freedom fighter organization" at the time. After they joined Taliban who governed Afghanistan not according to the wishes of the US government, they became a "terrorist group". It is interesting that those right wing politicians who use religious fervor to further their policies are themselves religious fanatics, of a different religion in contrast to the first one!
10. If we look at the events that led to demise of Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt, we will notice that as long as these two had a grip on the power and crushed uprisings, US government was supporting them. When demonstrations became countrywide and CIA was able to find some alternatives, these two “leaders” became “dictators” in US media, and the “riots” became “Arab Springs”. It is interesting that dictators who wish to sell their land and people in order to serve the US administrations, or at least oblige themselves to administrations’ demands, never realize that when they are no longer useful to the cause of the administration, they are simply thrown away and replaced with a new dictator. Examples are wide and varied, from Pinochet to Noriega to Shah of Iran to Marcus to Saddam Hussein. And the list goes on and on!
11. This goes back again to the US government’s double standards, that a dictator who keeps US Administration’s benefit in mind is a good dictator, and others who oppose it are bad dictators! Since Gaddafi was not (and Bashar Assad is not) our favorite dictators, those fighting against them are liberators, no matter if they are members of Al-Qaida or fanatic Muslims. Those who fight our favorite dictators in South Yemen or Sudan or Bahrain are thus rebels and insurgents. It is only a naming issue; otherwise the killing should continue and weapons should be manufactured by the largest booming industry in the US: armament factories!
12. There are about 15 different Christian denominations in the US, possibly each with their own churches, radio and TV channels, stores, and publications. Religious organizations are established under certain non-profit status (501c3) that exempts them from paying taxes. The amount of money churches receive each year is hardly revealed since a large part of it is in the form of cash; however it is so much that they can afford to build monuments in most lucrative and expensive parts of the country. We may not find a list of accumulated revenue of US religious establishments; however it can be reliably assumed that it is more than annual budget of most of the nations of the world!
13. US capitalism was built on opportunity for everyone to get rich. Whether this claim is true or false it can be debated. However, it is proven that anything can be purchased, from a government official to a crime peddler. Children are taught benefit of capitalism in schools, the goal of which is the bottom line of a financial statement, or profit and loss. There are many non-profit organizations whose goal is not the bottom line. However, they can only survive if they are financially supported by wealthy people and business community. Therefore, any organization with any means circles eventually back to profit seeking. In a democracy where money buys food, shelter, education, health, and even votes, one preaching for education is preaching to the coir. For comparison purposes, we can check ten richest countries in the world reported on aneki.com, in order of the highest to the lowest GDP ratings as; US, China, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil, UK, France, Italy. Whether education or wealth, happiness may be a better measure of a nation’s wellbeing. The happiest countries in the world according to May 22 issue of 24/7wallst.com are; Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Israel, Finland, Australia, Canada, and Sweden, in the order of ranking from 1 to 10. Is there something missing here?! May be wealth has a reverse correlation with happiness, as none of the ten richest countries are evident in the list of ten happiest countries!
14. In Obama’s first inauguration Jessie Jackson cried. His cry was rightfully for something he may not have ever imagined to witness in his life, which is for an African American to become the most powerful person in the country, or militarily speaking, on earth. However, after four years in power, it is obvious that not only Obama did not mend injuries caused to his race, but disappointed many of his supporters, and created a division among the progressives. Since Obama’s presidency of 2008, not only racism has not diminished, but it has increased by 3%. In any community in the US, one can easily witness a rapid rate of racism among all races. This old problem has not been solved in the US so long as we distinguish people by the color of their skins. Why are people called by the color of their skin, but not by color of their hair or their eyes? When did the color become a determining factor anyway? Why not distinguishing people by their height or their tone of voice or size of their nose or ear or lips? Even calling people by national origin, such African American or Asian American or Iranian American or Irish American, sounds like mixing apples and oranges in the same bag. Second generation African American or Asian American or Iranian American or Irish American, are simply American! There are so many different shades of color in Africa that calling them all black sound ridiculous. What do we call a US citizen who was born in Ireland and with Irish accent, but with very dark complexion? Why don’t we call people by their names only? Isn’t that the reason for naming each other?!
15. The most important factor for the Republicans in this election was to keep distance from Obama, as far as possible. This led them to Ultra-Right ideologies represented by Romney and Ryan. Ron Paul was kicked out of Iowa primary in January 2012, because of his (so called) liberal views. Therefore, Republican Party invested heavily on Romney. There may have been an agreement between Republican candidates not to consider personal beliefs, and therefore his religious tendencies ware not discussed. According to MSN news of Oct. 24: “In 2007, after four years as governor, Romney decided to seek the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential election. While he had some success — winning contests in 11 states — he ultimately lost out to rival John McCain. Romney’s positions as a governor of a liberal state came back to haunt him, and he was accused of changing his opinions to appeal to more traditional conservative voters.” It seems, according to this article, important what one candidate is branded by his own party, before he can show his true self. In the case of Mitt Romney however, he may not know what his true self is as he has been lying and fabricating more liberally than his challenger!
16. When US constitution was written in 1787, it was decided to start it with the phrase “We the people”. But what “we” means in this statement is a white/ male/ land-owner, a certain minority at the time. Those qualified people were such a small group, who could never represent all the people, the majority. That is how they embedded the word “we” in our culture, to make us believe that we are a part of the system, and therefore we have democracy. So, when the US government attacks Afghanistan we say “we attacked Afghanistan”. One good thing (if any) coming out of this form of inclusion is that people become one. A bad example in the eyes of the government though, and a dangerous one, for people to be united and think as one. To break the unity, use of “we” gets extended to sports, and the sport team in a geographic area becomes the team of the people living there, and when that team wins a game they proudly say “we won the game”. Since there was a team who lost in the same game, a division is simply created between these two groups of people (or those two territories)! As a result, “we” becomes our common slogan of inclusiveness in a community (family, school, city, competing sports, nation), and at the same time, our common slogan of exclusiveness when two groups are arranged face to face. That is why when our city’s opera house performs a successful number we say: “our opera house performed a great act this season”, instead of: “we had such a great act”!
17. After 2012 election results were announced to be in favor of Obama, Ann Romney was relieved that her husband would not be the next president of the US, and she did not have to move to a smaller house in January!
