Ramblings of a Jackhole

Did anyone run the numbers on Cash For Clunkers?

An average Cash for Clunkers vehicle received 15 mpg. At 12,000 miles per year that’s 800 gallons a year of gasoline.

An average replacement vehicle receives 25 mpg. At12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.

Therefore, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year per clunker.

The President and Congress tells us that 700,000 “clunkers” were taken off of the road under this program. So that’s a TOTAL savings of 224 million gallons / year.  Wow.  224 million.  BIG NUMBER.

Now, on average, a barrel of oil can be refined down to 19.5 gallons of gasoline. That equates to a bit over 11.5 million barrels of oil. Wow, yet another BIG number?

Well, the annual oil consumption in the US is about 7.5 BILLION barrels of oil. So “Cash for Clunkers” will decrease our annual oil usage by 0.16%, our about half a day of the total US oil consumption every year.

Still, we all must care about foreign dependency and even this savings should be desirable right?

Sure, but at what cost? Let us see.

From the buyers perspective, the current nationwide average price for a gallon of gas is just under $2.50. That means the average clunker owners will save $800 a year in gas costs.  The National Automobile Dealers Association tells us the average cost of a new car is $28,400.  J.D. Power tells us that the average auto loan is for 64 months (five years, four months).  Bankrate.com shows the average interest rate to be over 8%.  That means the average clunker buyer will be spending over $6500 in interest for their loan (over $1300 a year).  The AAA estimates the average depreciation of a vehicle around $3400 a year, or $17,000 in five years.  That means that after five years the average “cash for clunkers” buyer spent over $23,500 to save $4000, for a loss of $18,500. Even if gas goes to $5.00 a gallon they will have lost over $15,000 in five years. And we’re encouraging our citizens to do this?  Why would we even think about it?  Won’t this just make them MORE dependent on government hand outs?  Would the President and Congress ever really WANT that?  Hmmmm….

Well, the President and Congress thought it was a good idea to spend $3 billion to decrease the annual need of 11.5 million barrels of oil, which costs $775 million at today’s rates.  One might argue at we’ll “break even” after five years, but that is ignoring the fact that even without cash for clunkers US consumers will eventually trade in their cars for more efficient ones.  All the “Cash for Clunkers” program did was to speed this process up by a year or two at the most.  Even if this sped up the trade-in rates by TWO years, the $3 BILLION would prevent the buying of less than $1.5 BILLION over the two years.  And that isn’t money that the government would have spent, but oil companies.

How is investing in a program that encourages citizens to go into debt and come out behind a good idea?  How is spending $3 billion on reducing consumption by less the 1/700th of our use a good idea?

And they wonder why we don’t trust them with our health care spending…

Wow NASACR!  Sunday night brought some surprises.  Drivers that should have been able to lock themselves in failed to so do and those that one would have thought would be out of it, still have a shot.

Here are the current top twenty:

One driver, Denny Hamlin, was able to lock himself into the chase and join Tony Steward, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordan as the four locked into the Chase.  And on the downside, Bowyer and Ambrose are “locked out” following their finishes at Atlanta.  Probably the biggest surprise was David Reutimann who kept himself into the chase by earning 28 more points than Matt Kenseth, currently 12th in the standings.

That leaves a surprisingly large number of driver still able to “mathematically” get into the chase.  There are now still eleven drivers who are still vying for the eight remaining spots.  As a winner, who lead the most laps, will receive only 195 points , it is possible to calculate the points a driver must earn to guarantee him a spot in the Chase EVEN IF thirteenth place driver Brian Vickers accomplishes just that.

Those currently “in” the Chase would need to earn the following points (as well as the associated finishes, both without and with the five bonus points for leading a lap) to guarantee a spot in the Chase, regardless of the points Brian Vickers receives on Saturday.

Conversely, the bottom three stand like this:

Only Brian Vickers can guarantee himself a spot in the Chase by winning the race AND leading the most laps.  If he does this and EVEN IF Kenseth finishes second AND receives the five bonus points for leading a lap, they would tie and BOTH Kenseth and Vickers would get into the Chase.  However, for Kyle Busch, and even more so for Reutimann, earning a place in the Chase will take not only a good finish, but a poor finish from one or more of the drivers currently “in” the Chase.

Unfortunately for Reutimann, even if he receives the maximum 195 points this Saturday, he would need each of the three drivers in front of him to finish the following, or worse.  Kenseth – 34th,  Vickers – 27th and Kyle Busch – 21st.  So, it looks like Reutimann’s chances are slim to none.  That mean in reality, there are likely only ten drivers looking at the remaining eight spots.

Clearly 12th place driver Matt Kenseth is as much on the “bubble” as is Vickers and Kyle Busch.  However, none of the 5th-11th place drivers are “safe” and all will likely be having trouble sleeping this week.

Now, the Jackhole is a huge Ryan Newman fan, and while he isn’t locked in, the Jackhole is thinking that Ryan has a darn good chance.  Even IF Ryan has an AWFUL race and finishes 35th, he’d STILL be in the race if ANY TWO of the following drivers have the following finishes:

Now even if Ryan finishes mid-pack at 22nd, he would be guaranteed to tie with Kyle Busch (even if Kyle wins and leads the most laps) and only ONE of the following drivers would need to have the following finish (or worse):

So go Rocketman RYAN!  I hope you have a good race or, at least, at least two of the above “bubble” drivers have a bad race as well!  It’s hard to cheer against a driver but us Newman fans REALLY don’t want Vickers to get those 195 points as that’ll force Ryan to have to finish 16th or better to “lock” in to the Chase (and not need other teams to do poorly).

In short, if Vickers doesn’t win on Saturday, Ryan can finish 22nd without needing others to not win or have a certain finish.  If the winner isn’t Kyle Busch or Vickers, then Ryan needs to finish either 23rd or 24th+5 bonus points or better to “lock in”.

Again, WOW NASCAR!  The Chase format sure is keeping things exciting these last few weeks.  Hopefully the ten weeks after that will living up to this excitement!

Yep, we’re down to two races left for the start of the “Chase” for the 2009 NASCAR season.  To remind you, the top twelve NASCAR racers have their points “reset” and then are given 10 extra points for each win and then race for the championship for the last 10 races.

Currently Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are first through third respectively and all are mathematically locked in to the Chase.  You should now see them be willing to “win or wreck” and the end of the next two races.  No points racing for these guys.

Now, if a racer wins the race and leads the most laps he will receive 195 points.  However, even the guy that comes in 43 without leading any laps, receives 34 points.  Therefore the race winner can gain 161 points on the 43 place guy.  Of course, it is highly unlikely that even if a racer who is currently “out of the Chase” (13th or worse in the points) wins the race after leading the most laps, the racer currently in 12th place finishes 43rd, especially in light of all of the “start and park” racers.  For example, if the 12th place guy finishes in 30th position in the race, a winner that lead the most laps will gain 122 points on the 30th place finisher, 73 points on the 25th place finisher, and 58 points on the 20th place finisher (assuming none of these received the 5 bonus points for leading a lap).  Therefore it is hard to imagine gaining much more than 80-100 points or so in a race on another driver fighting to get into the Chase.

Currently the top 24 looks like this:

The mathematically “locked in” drivers are in green and the mathematically “locked out” drivers are in red.  Yes, Junior fans, he will NOT be in the Chase this year.

In the worst case scenario for those currently in the Chase is for Kyle Busch (the current 13th place driver) to win the next two races after leading the most laps.  Even if this happens, the 4th-8th place drivers can still guarantee themselves a spot by having an average finish of the following positions (without leading laps in either race) in the next two races: Hamlin 27th, Edwards 22nd, Kurt Busch 21st, Newman 5th, Biffle 4th.  Montoya, Martin, Kahne, and Kenseth cannot “guarantee” themselves a spot by their finish if this happens. In fact, those 4th-6th can mathematically “lock” into the Chase with the following finishes at Atlanta (without/with leading a lap):  Hamlin (23rd/25th), Edwards (13th/15th), Kurt Busch (11th/12th).

So, it’s high likely that Hamlin, Edwards and Kurt Busch are in the Chase.  The “Currently In Bubble Drivers” who are at risk of falling out are Newman, Biffle, Montoya, Martin, Kahne and Kenseth.

The “On the Out and Looking Drivers” are Kyle Busch, Vickers, Bowyers, Ruetimann and Ambrose.  In the best case scenario for each of these drivers is to win the next two races after leading the most laps. If this happens for either Kyle Busch and Vickers, they will be guaranteed a spot in the Chase. For the 15th-17th place drivers, even if they do win both of the next races after leading the most laps they would need Kenseth to have an average finish of the following (or worse) to get into the chase (and Kenseth not leading any laps):  Bowyer (Kenseth 9th), Ruetimann (Kenseth 17th), Ambrose (Kenseth 41st).

With the “start and park” drivers taking the 40th-43rd positions, coupled with the fact that he must win BOTH of the next races on top of that, Ambrose is essentially out of the chase, leaving Kyle Busch, Vickers, Bowyer and Ruetimann as the rest of the “Bubble” drivers.

That means ten drivers are true “Bubble” drivers are vying for the six remaining spots.  Again, here they are:

It is unlikely that any of these drivers will be able to lock themselves into the Chase without a top five finish coupled with a few of the others on the bubble doing poorly.  It will take a 161 point lead over the 13th placed driver after Atlanta to mathematically guarantee you a spot in the Chase.

That is extremely difficult.  For example, of these ten, the guy with the best chance of “locking in” after Atlanta is Ryan Newman.  However, even if Ryan Newman gets 160 points (e.g. a fourth place finish) at Atlanta, to get that 161 point lead over 13th two of the following must happen:

Even if Ryan takes all 195 points in the Atlanta race (winning after leading the most laps) he’d need two of the following seven things to happen:

Conversely, top five finishes or top ten with one of those “Currently In” drivers having a 30th or worst finish, are near requirements for Ruetimann and Bowyer to have even a chance at the race.

In other words, it it unlikely that anyone else will “lock in” to the Chase following Atlanta, but Ruetimann and Bowyer could certainly be locked out after Atlanta.

Odds are we’ll see after Atlanta that at least eight drivers have a shot at the last six Chase spots.

Kudos to NASCAR in getting this new format.  It’s certainly exciting now!

I miss Ronald Reagan.

Democrats, realizing the big success of the President’s “Cash For Clunkers” rebate program, have revamped a major portion of the Obama Nationalization of the Health Care Plan.

President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Sen. Reid are expected to make this major announcement at a joint news conference next week. I, the Jackhole, with my wide resources have obtained an advanced copy of the proposal which is named….

“CASH FOR CODGERS” and it works like this… Couples wishing to access health care funds in order to pay for the delivery of a child will be required to turn in one old person on the day of delivery. The amount the government grants them will be fixed according to a sliding scale. Older and more prescription dependent codgers will garner the highest amounts.

Special “Bonuses” will be paid for those submitting codgers in targeted groups, such as smokers, alcohol drinkers, persons 10 pounds over their government prescribed weight, – and any member of the Republican Party.

Smaller bonuses will be given for codgers who consume beef, soda, fried foods, potato chips, lattes, whole milk, dairy products, bacon, Brussel sprouts, cheese, or Girl Scout Cookies.

All codgers will be rendered totally useless via a toxic injection, – similar to that given to the engines of the ‘clunker’ trade ins. This will insure that they like the vehicle ‘clunkers’ are not secretly resold (traded in) or their body parts harvested to keep other codgers in repair and among society.

Judging by this I should be gone soon. I’ll miss you guys…

The Dept Of Defense briefed the president this morning, they told President Obama that 2 Brazilian soldiers were lost in Iraq. To everyone’s surprise, all the color drained from Obama’s face.
Then he collapsed onto his desk, head in his hands,  visibly shaken, almost in tears. Finally, he composed himself and asked, ‘Just how much is a brazilian?’

This shouldn’t surprise us as he clearly has no understanding of how much a trillion is either.

I’m not sure if I buy what they are saying, but it is interesting.

I guess the “Bilderberg Group” = “The Illuminate” = “Trilateral Commission” according to the video.  I have to admit that I think they hate Obama as much as they hated Bush.

It’s a very long video (nearly TWO hours) by Alex Jones, a talk show host, on how this Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission is setting up a “One World Order.” Reminds me a bit of what Mel Gibson’s character Jerry Fletcher would make in the movie “Conspiracy Theory”.

Of course Jerry turned out to be right about at least ONE thing…

1. Lincoln placed his hand on the Bible for his inauguration.
Obama used the same Bible.

2. Lincoln came from Illinois.
Obama comes from Illinois.

3. Lincoln served in the Illinois Legislature.
Obama served in the Illinois Legislature.

4. Lincoln had very little experience before becoming President.
Obama had very little experience before becoming President.

5. Lincoln rode the train from Philadelphia to Washington for his Inauguration.
Obama rode the train from Philadelphia to Washington for his Inauguration.

6. Lincoln was a skinny lawyer.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

7. Lincoln was a Republican.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

8. Lincoln was highly respected.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

9. Lincoln was born in the United States .
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

10. Lincoln was called Honest Abe.
Obama is a skinny lawyer.

You know one when you see one!
January 21, 2009
Outgoing President George W. Bush quietly boarded his helicopter and left for Texas , commenting only: “Today is not about me.  Today is a historical day for our nation and people.”

January 21, 2001:
Outgoing President Bill Clinton scheduled two separate radio addresses to the nation, and organized a public farewell speech/rally in downtown Washington D.C. scheduled to directly conflict with incoming President Bush’s inauguration ceremony.

January 21, 2009
President Bush left office without issuing a single Presidential pardon, only granting a commutation of sentence to two former border patrol agents convicted of shooting a convicted drug smuggler.  He did not grant any type of clemency to Scooter Libby or any other former political aide, ally, or business partner.

January 21, 2001:
President Clinton issued 140 pardons and several commutations of  sentence on his final day in office.  Included in these were: billionaire financier, convicted tax evader, and leading Democratic campaign contributor Marc Rich; Whitewater scandal figure Susan McDougal; Congressional Post Office Scandal figure and former Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski; convicted bank fraud, sexual assault and child porn perpetrator and former Democratic Congressman Melvin Reynolds; and convicted drug felon Roger Clinton, the President’s half-brother.

January 21, 2009
The Bush daughters left gift baskets in the White House bedrooms for the Obama daughters, containing flowers, candy, stuffed animals, DVD’s and CD’s, and heartfelt notes of encouragement and advice for the young girls on how to prepare for their new lives in the White House.

January 21, 2001:
Clinton and Gore staffers ripped computer wires and electrical outlets from the White House walls, stuffed piles of notebook papers into the White House toilets, systematically removed the letter “W” from every computer key pad in the entire White House, and damaged several thousand dollars worth of furniture in the White House master bedroom.

Headlines in 2001:
“Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops die in unarmored Humvees”
“Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times”
“Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft”

Headlines in 2009:
“Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $170 million”
“Obama Spends $170 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party”
“Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate”
“Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration”

Dear Mr. Obama,

In a speech you said the following:

We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.

Mr. Obama, what exactly does a civilian national security force that receives $1 trillion in tax payer dollars a year do?  Is it true that you’re planning on naming it the Security Squadron force?  Mr. Obama, would your SS force be armed, so they’d be called the Armed SS Force? Mr. Obama, maybe calling the “Waffen” SS would make it easier for it to be accepted by those in certain countries overseas? Mr. Obama, what would one have to do to become part of your SS force, would you require strong personal commitments to certain ideologies and would ones racial heritage be a factor in membership? Mr. Obama, will your SS force monitor what’s going on inside our nation and in our military? Mr. Obama, have you picked out any cool logos for your SS force? If not, maybe some lightening strike will help with that.

Dear Mr. Obama,

How can you support Raila Odinga who is promoting violence in Kenya after losing a legal election.    You know Mr. Odinga as your cousin. He is promoting nationwide violence after losing a legal election.  Kenya was a stable nation until after Odinga lost.  Now Christians are being hunted down and killed, their churches burnt to the ground.  Odinga became popular following promising to distribute the country’s wealth “more equally.”  Odinga was endorsed by Kenya’s Muslim minority after signing an agreement with the National Muslim Leaders Forum, a radical Islamic group, in 2007 where Odinga agreed to institute Islamic law in Kenya and to end cooperation with US’s war on terrorism. 

Mr. Obama, why did you campaig for Odinga in 2006 while a member of the US Senate and as recently as Dec. 2007. Mr. Obama, would you try to do the same thing if you lose the election?

The following is a condensation of a series from the Investor’s Business Daily explaining “What Caused the Loan Crisis”:

1977:  Pres. Jimmy Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act into Law.  The law pressured financial institutions to extend home loans to those who would otherwise not qualify.
The Premise:  Home ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden communities and neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment, jobs, etc.

Results: Statistics bear out that it did not help.

How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market?

Answer: Bill Clinton wanted it that way.

1992:  Republican representative Jim Leach (IA) warned of the danger that Fannie and Freddie were changing from being agencies of the public at large to money machines for the principals and the stock-holding few.

1993:  Clinton extensively rewrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s rules turning the quasi-private mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized monopolies dispensing cash and loans to large Democratic voting blocks and handing favors, jobs and contributions to political allies.  This potent mix led inevitably to corruption and now the collapse of Freddie and Fannie.

1994:  Despite warnings, Clinton unveiled his National Home-Ownership Strategy which broadened  the CRA in ways congress never intended.

1995:  Congress, about to change from a Democrat majority to Republican, Clinton orders Robert Rubin’s Treasury Dept to rewrite the rules.  Robt. Rubin’s Treasury reworked rules, forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime and minority loans to get a satisfactory CRA rating.  The rating was key to expansion or mergers for banks.  Loans began to be made on the basis of race and little else.

1997 – 1999:  Clinton , bypassing Republicans, enlisted Andrew Cuomo, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, allowing Freddie and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in a BIG way.  Led by Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, congress doubled down on the risk by easing capital limits and allowing them to hold just 2.5% of capital to back their investments vs. 10% for banks.  Since they could borrow at lower rates than banks their enterprises boomed.

With incentives in place, banks poured billions in loans into poor communities, often “no doc”, “no income”, requiring no money down and no verification of income.   Worse still was the cronyism:  Fannie and Freddie became home to out-of work-politicians, mostly Clinton Democrats.  384 politicians got big campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie.  Over $200 million had been spent on lobbying and political activities.  During the 1990’s Fannie and Freddie enjoyed a subsidy of as musch as $182 Billion, most of it going to principals and shareholders, not poor borrowers as claimed.

Did it work?  Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new homeowners but many of those loans have gone bad and the minority home-ownership rates are shrinking fast.

1999: New Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at Fannie and Freddie’s excesses.  Congress held hearings the ensuing year but nothing was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated millions to key congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no meaningful changes would take place.  ”We manage our political risk with the same intensity that we manage our credit and interest rate risks,” Fannie CEO Franklin Raines, a former Clinton official and current Barack Obama adviser, bragged to investors in 1999.

2000:   Secretary Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to Congress seeking an end to the “special status”.  Democrats raised a ruckus as did Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically connected CEO’s who knew how to reward and punish.  ”We think that the statements evidence a contempt for the nation’s housing and mortgage markets” Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said.  It was the last chance during the Clinton era for reform.

2001:   Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal sanity to Fannie and Freddie but Democrats blocked any attempt at reform; especially Rep. Barney Frank and Sen.Chris Dodd who now run key banking committees and were huge beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the mortgage giants.

2003:  Bush proposes what the NY Times called “the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago”.  Even after discovering a scheme by Fannie and Freddie to overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost their bonuses, the Democrats killed reform.

2005:  Then Fed chairman Alan Greenspan warns Congress:  ”We are placing the total financial system at substantial risk”.  Sen. McCain, with two others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill and said, “If congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole”.  Sen. Harry Reid accused the GOP ;of trying to “cripple the ability of Fannie and Freddie to carry out their mission of expanding home-ownership”  The bill went nowhere.

2007:  By now Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12 trillion US mortgage market.  The mortgage giants, whose executive suites were top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had been working with Wall St. to repackage the bad loans and sell them to investors.  As the housing market fell in ‘07, sub-prime mortgage portfolios suffered major losses.  The crisis was on,  though it was 15 years in the making.

2008:  McCain has repeatedly called for reforming the behemoths, Bush urged reform 17 times.  Still the media have repeated Democrats’ talking points about this being a “Republican” disaster.  A few Republicans are complicit but Fannie and Freddie were created by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely run by Democrats and protected by Democrats.  That’s why taxpayers are now being asked for $700 billion!!

If you doubt any of this, just click the links below and listen to your lawmakers own words.  They are condeming!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68D9XrqyrWo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgqfM5C8lY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9juJr8CSY4&feature=related

And you’ll find a bunch of others devoted to the same topic – just look.

Postscript:  ACORN is one of the principle beneficiaries of Fannie/ Freddie’s slush funds.  They are currently under indictment or investigation in many states.  Barack Obama served as their legal counsel, defending their activities for several years.

The Jackhole is a Ryan Newman fan.  Ryan, after all has an engineering degree from Purdue and found something unique to do with his engineering degree. Being a Racer!

The Jackhole too has an engineering degree (also from a Big 10 school) and found something unique to do with his engineering degree.  Being a Jackhole!

Anywho, with all the news that Ryan has “verbally” agreed to drive for the new Stewart-Haas team (or is that the Haas-Stewart team?) the Jackhole did a bit of Internet searching on if this might be true or not.

Ryan’s Fan club domain name is currently Ryan12Newman.com.    As he won’t be driving the #12 next year, the Jackhole was wondering if he (or more likely someone that works for his fan club) has registered a new domain name.  Now ryan39newman.com was registered on June 27, 2008.   However Ryan drove the #39 for Penske in the Busch/Nationwide series.  This is registered to a Ken O’Lone at 1615 Ashley Downs Dr in Apex, NC and lists a Tara Anderson at the same address as the administrative contact. The #39 car hasn’t been driven in Cup series since 2005 when Stremme drove it in four races.  If memory serves me correctly I think Ryan may have also driven a #39 car in open wheel races.  So the #39 is not unreasonable as Ryan’s possible new car number.

But even more interesting is that Ryan4Newman.com was also registered on July 26th, 2008 by this duo.  This is about the same time Ryan reportedly made an “oral agreement” with Tony Stewart.

Is Ken and or Tara working for Ryan’s Fan Club as Apex, NC is not that far from Mooresville, NC (Ryan’s fan club home)?  Or are they possibly planning on trying to sell this domain name to Ryan?

If they work for Ryan’s Fan Club, does this mean that Ryan will be driving the #4 next year with Tony driving the #14?  The #4 car is not running this year and was last run by Ward Burton in 2007.  And the #4 and #14 is a nice pair of car number to run (like the #2 and #12 Penske has (ignoring the #77 of course)).

Or are Ken and Tara working on a hunch (or inside information?) and betting on getting some cash for the Ryan4Newman.com domain?  Of course, they COULD be offering to donate this domain to Ryan’s fan club and simply trying to prevent someone else from “cybersquatting” this domain.  So the Jackhole isn’t ready to jump to any conclusions, nor should his readers.

Let’s keep an eye out for the announcement and see how this all plays out!

Today I was searching “Down Syndrome” on youtube.com.  I sorted by “view count” like this .  I found that nine of the top ten viewed videos (four with over a million views) are a series by a guy billing himself as MediocreFilms.

There’s a series of nine shorts in a series call “Retarded Policeman”.  The star is a young man with down syndrome.

MediocreFilms writes:

See this video in HIGH QUALITY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yioJQF…

Before you leave mean comments, just know that our friend Ponce (the Cop) is an awesome and talented young dude who loves performing and making light of his Down syndrome. He’s a smart and funny guy, and has complete awareness of his actions and decisions. And we all had an awesome time shooting a few episodes of “Retarded Policeman!”

Thanks for Subscribing! And check out Ponce’s Video Response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYnnT7…

Also, we’re now gladly accepting Donations if you wish to contribute toward equipment and future productions. A minimum $5 donation gets your name and URL link at MediocreFilms.com. Visit here if interested, thanks! http://www.mediocrefilms.com/donate.html

directed & edited by Greg Benson
written by Greg Benson & Kim Evey
based on an idea by Kim Evey
starring Josh “The Ponceman” Perry
with Scott Perry and Stacey Perry
theme song by Greg Benson
house & chimney picture by Ponce
special thanks to Stacey Perry & Brian Spillane

Josh Perry’s video response is of him and his sister Stacey (who is in the first video as well).  In this video Josh (”The Ponceman“) Perry responds to comments made to the “Retarded Policeman” series.  His sister explains that Josh is an actor, to which Josh chimes; “… and I’m HILARIOUS” with pretty good timing.   He and his sister say that he loves acting and wants to do it for a living and asks the view to “sit back and enjoy” the shorts.  Josh ends with a response to those offended by the series saying;  “I may have Down syndrome, but you people are f&*%ing retarded.”

I viewed a few of the shorts.  They are sophomoric in nature at best.  The question I keep asking myself is if I should be glad for Josh for having an outlet and a chance for him to act, or should I be concerned about the content of the video potential belittling those with Down syndrome, or both?

Josh has his own Youtube channel, and seemingly enjoys making light of having Down syndrome.  His parents even acted in his latest video .

Is asking if Josh has the capacity to understand the implications simply belittling those with Down syndrome by assuming that they don’t have the capacity?  While I’m a parent of a new child with Down syndrome, I certainly don’t have the answers.  I’d love for my child to reach for their goals as Josh is doing, but I don’t want people to watch those videos and be more apt to make fun of my child.

What are your thoughts?