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This week's Hope 103 class (here's a link to the last Hope class) was fairly overshadowed by Glenn Beck banging the drums for his 8/28 rally. Beck did a little preamble where he talked about how excited he was for 8/28 and how everybody needs to come. He said if you attend the rally, “you will see things you have never seen before. You will feel things you have never felt before.” And then he introduced David Buckner's class as the thing "they [presumably haters of rational thought] love to hate."

David Buckner begins his class by telling a story about a conversation he had with an accountant friend about the national debt. (At this point, if I were one of Buckner's friends, I'd start wondering why he always tells stories about his friends that make them sound like morons and assholes and make him sound like a genius.) The accountant says, somewhat cheerfully, that "We will never be able to repay it." When Buckner expresses dismay that we have a debt we can't repay—what if China defaults on that loan, after all?—the accountant replies "It will never happen. It’s just because we’re the United States of America. Nobody could afford to let us default.” This led to the big hilarious misspelled title card of the day:

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And a lot of Buckner's reasoning this time has to do with the national debt. I kind of agree with him in principle: I think it's horrible that the national debt is so high. But Buckner again ignores Reagan and the Bushes in his talk about debt, placing all the blame directly on Obama. (I'm willing to bet that at least 60% of the class believes Reagan did nothing to increase the debt, and that a solid 30% believes that Obama created our debt in the first place.)

Buckner then warns that the Fed will increase inflation in order to make the debt smaller. He repeatedly uses the term "Inflation Party," which, to me, sounds kind of like a weird Japanese porn film. He completely goes off the rails when he talks about immigration. "Why would we build a wall" to keep illegal immigrants out, Buckner says, "When we could cut the minimum wage" entirely? Immigrants, he says, will never come to America if they'll get paid as little as they do in Mexico. “It might not be politically correct," he says, but "Simply remove the minimum wage,” and our illegal immigrant problem disappears.

Buckner chimes in on stem cell research. "I looked at it from an economic perspective," he says. "If indeed we are close to a cure," and if stem cells can bring us a cure, "I think we all ought to sign up. But what I was confused by was these so-called greedy pharmaceutical companies: Why weren’t they investing [in stem cell research]? Why were we having to ask the government to fund it?" If the government has to fund it, it must be a giant suckhole of money and brain-power, right?

He prepares for a big climax: “Reasonable, rationable [sic] thinking works,” he says as he reads a bullet point that says "Reasonable, rational thinking works." And then he offers a couple of slogans: "THINK," and, most notably, "The markets work!" But the best slogan is at the bottom of Summary Principle #4:

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"If it doesn't make sense, it probably doesn't make sense." That's the final bit of wisdom he leaves us with. Fuck you, Professor Buckner. Next week is Charity 103 and then I will finally be done with Beck University. Comments from the post-class chatroom are after the jump.

This week, Professor Buckner is in China, and so he was unable to participate in the post-class chat. Most of the comments were about 8/28 anyway.

[Comment From donna: ]
HOPE is definately the KEY

[Comment From Dan: ]
my mom worked for IBM in 1940's. I still have the desk sign they gave her with the word THINK on it.

[Comment From Matt-OH: ]
Yay lets Party! Glenn Beck style!

[Comment From TerriLPN: ]
Thank you for All You Do God Bless

[Comment From Jodi-O-town: ]
We are honored by your presence Professor Buckner. Thank you so very much...for making me THINK.

[Comment From Teresa: ]
I hope it's a HUGE crowd that gathers on 8/28!

[Comment From Barb: ]
I will be there and know it will be great!

[Comment From cyra42: ]
ill keep praying it works for those who cant join us

[Comment From FED UP, Gulfport MS: ]
Great Job ,I Would expect no less from the Great people that help Glenn

[Comment From Guest: ]
God Bless Glenn, David Buckner, David Barton and everyone on Glenn's staff...you are all hard working and dedicated people...Thanks so much for all that you do. The education you provide on radio, tv, and this site...is amazing. Keep up the amazing work. Love and Peace!

[Comment From Jodi-O-town: ]
Thank you to who ever it is on the Beck U team.