The Best Episodes Written By Penn Jillette

America is waging a massive war on its home soil, a war it is losing. Our country spends $20 billion a year in drug enforcement, but the illegal drug industry is thriving. Should we even be waging this war, when alcohol is legal and pushed every night on network TV? By criminalizing drugs, we just turn non-violent citizens into criminals. And medicinal uses of marijuana are being blocked by crusading moralists yelling "family values."

Penn and Teller skewer our pursuit of "the best" in everything, from neighborhoods to electronics to automobiles to spouses, and demonstrate how such rampant consumerism is a race designed so that the runners never win.

According to a recent poll, 8 out of 10 people in the US think Americans are ruder today than any time in history. Is that even possible? Are we really ruder and less well mannered? On this episode of BULLSHIT, we'll find out that our contemporary ideas about manners date back about 120 years to the Victorian period, a time when there wasn't indoor plumbing an people used to urinate in the street, we'll meet an etiquette expert who knows which fork to use when eating salad and visit with a stripper who puts the entire issue of manners into perspective. Saying "please" and "thank you" are good social lubricants and help you avoid getting beat up... the rest of manners, are pretty much BULLSHIT.

They say numbers don't lie, but in the hands of the media, politicians, pollsters and salesmen, numbers can be downright subversive. BULLSHIT meets the author of Damned Lies and Statistics - he tells us how numbers are craftily manipulated based on political affiliation and agenda. The numerically ambiguous world of Vacation Time Shares leaves our undercover operative dazed and confused. We also take street cons to Las Vegas - a town built on Numbers - and reveal how readily most of us can be cheated. And we look into the bullshit behind political polls, gambling odds and state lotteries. Source: http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/prevepisodes.do?episodeid=s4/numbers

A look into the practices of popular psychics of today reveals how those who claim to be in contact with the dead are actually performing an age-old trick called "cold reading."

Penn & Teller put three Feng Shui home consultants to the test and feature a visit to a Feng Shui hairstylist. Also, the craze of bottled water is a national obsession but tap water is usually safer for you, and often better tasting too. Using a hidden camera, we'll take a look at the obsession.

Motivational speakers, books, videos, relationship seminars, do they really help? We'll take a look. Also, the popular motivational activity of firewalking - which is no more dangerous than walking across hot sand at the beach - is debunked.

There's a physiological explanation that debunks it all. We'll switch the letters around on the board and see how the "spirits" like that! Also, the "tunnel of light" and what it really is when coupled with a look at the Oklahoma centrifuge study that created NDE-like results.

Here Penn & Teller explore the truth behind fears about global warming, air quality, water quality, acid rain, species extinction, and take a look at Greenpeace's activities.

Here's the truth: recycling is garbage. The recycling industry creates pollution, has to be subsidized by the government because it's cost ineffective, and is completely unnecessary. Contrary to popular belief, our landfills are not running out of space - we have enough room to last for thousands of years! So how did the bullshit of recycling get started?

The good news: we're living longer. The bad news: the older we get, the more we're made to feel that there's something wrong with that, and so we make futile efforts to turn back the clock. Wacky diets, worthless creams, Botox, Collagen, lipo, plastic surgery... none of it will stop the advancing years, except in your own mind! Aging is inevitable. Get used to it.

A whole show on words and the power we give them, focusing on the latest actions of the FCC and other anti-profanity groups. The First Amendment is under attack. Hey, what country do we live in?

Exercise Schmexerise. Here's the shocker: the power of genetics determines your body type. Throw away all those fitness machines, gym memberships and exercise manuals, the size and shape of your body was decided the moment you were conceived. A look at the huge amount of bullshit behind the exercise industry. Gym memberships, fat-burning, muscle-building supplements, exercise tapes and equipment - we're fair game... and so are they!

There are some topics that are complete nonsense, and there are others, like Hypnosis, that combine an element of truth with a generous helping of bullshit. We'll go under the "spell" and show you just where the bullshit lies. The bottom line: you never give up control when under an hypnotic spell. But you will give up your money to smooth-talking hypnotists who claim they can enlarge your penis or achieve the ultimate orgasm. When they count to ten, hold onto your wallet and run for the door!

Today, it's hip to have a therapist. In fact, you're really "in" if you skip doc's diagnosis and head straight to a "Life Coach" for motivation. The training of psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health "professionals" does little or nothing to make them better equipped as counselors or therapists. We'll reveal the bullshit that Freud made famous, and we'll find out what the experts think about the degree to which drug therapy is being used. Is it really helping? Or, are we over-medicating our way to an unknown future. We'll expose the truth behind the lucrative mind games industry, tracing its history to the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. We'll weave our way through all the trends in psychobabble, including the latest scam, life coaching. We'll catch coaches in action as they celebrate International Coaching Week with an array of events and activities. To top it all off, we'll create our own psychotherapist and thread him throughout the show. Skip the therapy & coaching, talk to a good friend and take some notes during this episode of Bullshit!

It's scary to know in today's Age of Enlightenment, the world's fascination with the "paranormal" is at an all-time high. And where there are gullible believers, you can bet there are hordes of "experts" lurking, ready to sell something to them. We will delve into the realm of the "spirits" and take a look at the revived interest ghost hunting. We'll spend time with so-called parapsychologists as they track ghosts with their new-fangled, pseudoscientific equipment. Will they find something? Yeah, right! We'll show you how some of them bullshit themselves as much as their clients as they try to get to the bottom of nonexistent mysteries.

The Boy Scouts of America restricts scout membership and leadership opportunities to homosexuals and straight males who DON'T believe in God. According to the BSA, atheists and gays don't make good scouts or good role models. If the Boy Scouts of America were a privately funded group, it could discriminate against and hate anyone it damn well wanted to. But the Boy Scouts of America is dependent upon Federal, State and local government handouts. So, the BSA and their intolerance… are BULLSHIT!

We understand the feelings of rage felt by crime victims and their families. But - studies show there is no deterrent effect to State executions. And, DNA evidence has exonerated 122 men formerly on death row! If we're killing inmates to satisfy a primitive emotion, if we can't be sure the criminal is guilty as charged, and we have ways to keep someone locked up and out of circulation for life and for less cost, why does our government still support the archaic, primitive, cruel and costly BULLSHIT known as the Death Penalty?

It has been over four years since the worst terrorist attack on American soil and the only reminder is a big gaping hole in the middle of New York's financial district. Disgruntled family members of the victims want to memorialize the fallen, big corporations want to get back to business, local residents remain concerned over the health risks of living and working nearby, and politicians blather on, afraid of making politically incorrect moves. Everyone it seems is angling for a piece of the multi-billion dollar federal government pie to rebuild the site. BULLSHIT! takes on the fight for Ground Zero from street level to New York's towers of power.

We take on the most sacred of sacred cows: The Bible! We'll reveal the many discrepancies and contradictions in THE GOOD BOOK. Why all the confusion? Shouldn't anything that is "divinely inspired" be crystal clear? Did Noah build an ark big enough to hold all those animals? Did Moses part the Red Sea? Did Jesus even exist? Tune in to find out!

Romantic love - it's a fantasy akin to believing in Santa Claus. Here's the truth - the first blush of love is a chemical reaction. And, like all drugs, it wears off after a while! We'll look into the myth of monogamy, and the industry mining for people looking for love and relationships. That comprises just about all of us, folks!

College degrees will lead us to future happiness, enlightenment, fun, preparation for life, a fulfilling job, as well as national prosperity. At least, that's what we've been told and sold. That's brochure bullshit! Been to a college lately? Rather than beacons of enlightenment, colleges have become bloated 400 billion dollar a year corporations, islands isolated from the real world, treacherous minefields where free speech and individual liberty often get trampled. And not only that, but going to college offers no sure path to an enriching life…or even a blue-collar job!

Many Americans will fight to the death to defend their right to bear arms. They say guns don't kill people - people kill people. A well-armed citizenry prevents crime. If the weak carried weapons, crime would go down. For gun control advocates, it's all heresy - guns don't belong in the hands of everyday citizens. Guns kill people. Period. Guns in homes get into the hands of people who shouldn't have them - children and criminals primarily. Fasten your seatbelts and put on your ear protectors. It's going to be a bumpy and noisy ride as we take on the facts, the stats and the truth to find out who's dishing up the bullshit on our episode about Gun Control!

In over 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, but it has saved next to no endangered species! Its major accomplishment? Lining the pockets of environmental lawyers who know how to manipulate it for huge fees. And it's an excuse for a governmental land grab. We'll meet activists on all sides - from passionate believers who'll do anything to enforce the ESA, to a strong-willed, good-natured lady in a wheelchair who's homeless. The ESA won't let her build on her suburban lot in a neighborhood surrounded by houses and within rock throwing distance of a WalMart Supercenter! ESA our ass! Here's the simple fact: human beings and industrialization are not the sole impetus for extinction and if you hear anything different… it's bullshit!

The Virgin Mary...or a grilled cheese sandwich? Just a recent example of the public's willingness to believe ordinary statues, icons, relics pictures, stains on tortillas, and burn marks on a piece of greasy white bread are signs from Heaven. Bullshit! We'll examine the way preachers, faith healers, psychic researchers, and everyday folk continue to prey on those who pray. And we'll talk to scientists, historians, philosophers, and literary figures that will explain why humans are wired to attribute meaning to random patterns and events. We'll also show you how easy it is to find people who will find God wherever they look...even if it's in a photograph of...headcheese.