Presidential properties?

US Presidential candidate Ben Carson has been getting into more trouble with the media lately; in a recent WSJ article he is exposed in an autobiography lying about his time as a student at Yale University. In the book he claims that a psychology professor there had awarded him $10 for being the "the most honest student in the class" and put his photograph in the college newspaper. The problem for Carson is that there was no such photo in that paper and no such psychology class at Yale during any of his years there, the irony here is exquisitely acute.

Carson is becoming well known around the world for his delusional opinions about reality; recently he was recorded giving a lecture in which he states that Charles Darwin was influenced by the Devil whilst formulating the theory of Evolution and that all of the quaint Bible myths of Noah and the garden of Eden are literally true and that the Earth was created in 6 actual days. In a revelation that hit the wires last week he is on record as stating that the Egyptian pyramids weren't in fact tombs for Pharaohs but grain stores built by the Bible character Joseph of old testament (Genesis) fame. Egyptian archaeologists were quick to point out that this question was in fact settled by the ancient Egyptians themselves who actually wrote down what the pyramids were for at the time.

For those of us who aren't fundamentalist Christians or indeed even religious, Carson represents the more frightening end of the political spectrum in the USA, the fact that he is one of the leading GOP nomination contenders scares the living bejeezus out of even the most rational of atheists and agnostics. The ego of this man seems to know no bounds, with God on his side he clearly feels qualified to make up his own versions of reality, versions that simply confirm his personal superstitious and literalistic narratives, independent of actual evidence. The fact that he is also highly intelligent makes things worse, it means he's amply equipped and funded to convince the many millions of voters in the USA who also prefer their reality distorted and parochially self-serving that he's a realistic candidate. In a recent photo-shoot at his house in Maryland the photographer diligently snapped the many rooms laden with certificates, awards, medals and clippings glorifying himself, and also a rather spooky portrait of Carson alongside Jesus? It's clear to many what this man thinks he is, and in an ironic Pharaohic twist he seems to have already built himself a mausoleum.