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On Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:24:28 -0400, the infamous Joseph Gwinn
scrawled the following:

In article
,
wrote:


Pragmatism vs. ideology:
A guy carries a briefcase into a bar, walks up to the prettiest girl,
opens the briefcase to reveal one million dollars, and asks the girl
if she will sleep with him for the million dollars. She thnks,
"Hmmm...For a million dollars? O.k.!". He then closes the briefcase
and pulls out a one dollar bill and says, "Will you sleep with me for
one dollar?" The girl immediately slaps him in the face and asks,
"What kind of girl do you think I am?" and he says, "We've figured out
what you are, now we're just negotiating the price!"

The basic storyline was originally from or at least attributed to George
Bernard Shaw, reportedly from a real encounter with a woman sitting next
to him at a dinner party:

"Madame, would you sleep with me for a million dollars?"

"A million dollars, yeah, I guess I would."

"Well then, would you sleep with me for ten dollars?"

"Sir, what kind of woman do you take me for?"

"Madame, what kind of woman you are has already been established; what
remains is just to agree on a price."


This story is too good to check.

Here's another take on a similar story:



Family Life in the '90s



A son approached his father one evening at home and asked about the
difference between theory and reality. The father, wanting to help
his son understand the subtleties of the issue, decided to
demonstrate the difference by an example.

"Well, son," said the father, "here's what you do. Go into the
kitchen and ask your mother if she would sleep with any man for $1
million."

"OK," said the son, and left for the kitchen, where he posed the
question to his mother. "Oh no," said the mother, "I have always
been faithful to your father; I could never do such a thing, not
for any amount of money." Then she looked pensive for a moment and
added, "but then on the other hand, I could do a lot with that much
money. I could put you kids through college, fix up the house, help
the poor ... well, I guess on second thought, I'd have to say
'yes.'"

"Thanks," said the son, and returned to his father. He told his
father that his mother had agreed she would sleep with any man for
$1 million. "OK," said the father, then here's what you do next. Go
into her bedroom and ask your sister the same question. But she's a
lot fussier, and she's younger and better looking, so make it $2
million for her." "OK," replied the son, and left for his sister's
bedroom.

He found his sister in her bedroom and posed the question to her.
"My goodness, no," replied his sister. "I could never do such a
thing. I've been saving myself for the man of my dreams. It
wouldn't be right." But then she stopped for a moment as in
mid-thought. Finally she added, "on the other had, if I had $2
million I would never have to worry about money, I could give the
money to the church and help a lot of people ... I guess I'd have
to go ahead and say 'yes.'" "Thanks," said her brother and left the
bedroom.

He returned to his father and told him that his sister had agreed
that she would sleep with any man for $2 million. "OK, son," said
the father, "now here's the difference between theory and reality.
In theory, we're sitting on $3 million here. In reality we're broke
and living with a couple of sluts.

---
So far Mr. Obama has used his personally exciting presidency for initiatives
that are spending public money on a scale not seen since ancient Egypt.
-- Daniel Henninger
WSJ Online, 4 June 2009
"Obama's America: Too Fat to Fail
The age of the induced industrial coma."