-By Dan Scott
Have you ever listened to an argument made plausible by the clever rhetoric of a person skilled in public speaking? How about attending one of those time share sales meetings where you know something is not quite right but you just can’t put your finger on it? In the end, you reject the sales pitch not because of their failure to be persuasive or factual but because deep down inside you know intuitively that somehow what they are pitching can’t possibly be correct and more importantly will separate you from your money. Intuition, which many call the sniff test is an important part of a healthy self- defense mechanism that protects many of us from being conned by fast-talking hucksters even though we can’t articulate exactly what our objection is. We don’t know where the faulty logic begins but we sure know what a faulty conclusion looks like by life experience or effect.
Most confidence men (women) base their persuasive arguments on a plausible false assumption that they get their mark to buy into by condoning the concept. When I speak of condoning, I speak of the failure to assert an objection whereby we demand proof of the assumption being presented to us. The failure to object in essence implies your acceptance of the assertion as fact without proof or truth. A clever lawyer can insert many an unsubstantiated fact via an unchallenged assertion without the need of proof. Much like the false proof in geometry, the failure to question the assumptions whether spoken or unspoken is the basis of many a false conclusion. Using the logic of geometry or even math we can using flawless logic reach the false conclusion by using a false assumption as a starting point. I call this the process of condoning the assumption.
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Cause and Effect”
In yet another see-I-told-you-so moment, Obama’s cash for clunkers program is now hurting lower income folks who wish to buy used cars by driving costs up an average of $1,800 above what used car prices were at this time last year.
The news is everywhere of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 
Despite that President Obama made Cap and Trade and other green policy plans a focal point of his early days in office — not to mention his campaign for president — the White House has quietly scrubbed from its official website many of Obama’s promises and green initiatives. I guess the era of Obama really is “change you can believe in”?
Long ago the British stopped being a capitalist country and adopted instead a quasi-socialist system. But even they are beginning to realize that people cannot retire at 65 (or even younger) and live in luxury for another 20 or so years afterward all on the public dime. This month the Cameron government took another small and politically difficult step toward addressing the mounting pension crisis in England.
The so-called “
What was it that Democrat President Barack Obama told us about the stimulus? Oh, yeah that it would “save or create” American jobs. Seems like a good idea, right? So what happened in Ohio when Democrat Governor Ted Strickland got his mitts on some of Obama’s stimulus cash? Why he gave it to a company to fund a call center that is operating out of El Salvador, Central America, of course.
In a harbinger of profit statements to come, Clorox Co. — maker of numerous household cleaning products — reports that it’s 
In a sign of these dismal times, the oldest family farm in America is up for sale because its owners just cannot survive this down economy. After 378 years of contiguous family ownership and operation, the Tuttle family of Dover, New Hampshire is selling its 134-acre farm.
I just returned from a nice little luncheon given by the Heartland Institute (
Where ever Herman Cain goes he meets enthusiastic crowds. There is a reason for that: He is an incredibly dynamic man. He has a compelling life story and boy can he whip up a crowd! Every time I’ve seen him he has the folks on their feet in wild applause.