From: joe_f@verizon.net   
      
   "5295 Dead, 428 since 1/20/09"  writes:   
      
   > It's such an idiotic story.  Even among American right-wingers, two   
   > plus two equals four is a well-known scientific principle, and the   
   > most illiterate farmer in all of Kampuchea had to be able to count   
   > to at least ten.   
      
   In order to answer the question "What is 2 + 2?" it is not sufficient   
   to be able to count; one must also understand "plus", an abstract   
   operation that is taught in school.  I might therefore believe the   
   story if it were told of fanatics entering homes and questioning the   
   children to see if they had been to school.  As told, however, it is   
   implausible; in a classroom, either all the children will have been   
   taught about arithmetic, or none of them.   
   --   
   ---  Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net   
      
   ||:  The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of  :||   
   ||:  the currency; the second is war.                           :||   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)