Visions of Sugar Plums

Thursday, August 31, 2006
Sugar makes food taste good. When our ancestors were roaming the bush looking for non-poisonous foods, sweet tasting items were usually guaranteed not to be poisonous. Sweet foods also provided them with much needed nourishment because of the carbohydrates.

However, since mankind has developed technology for growing and concentrating refined sugars in unimaginable levels, our sweet tooth has become our enemy within. Like a moth drawn to a flame, that sweet tooth leads us to greater and greater heights of sugar intake. More sugar does not make us healthier, so our taste buds are leading us down the slippery slope of diabetes, heart disease and a host of other ailments.

This is evident in our children, in which we are raising the most obese and sedentary generation in the history of mankind. We reward out kids for sitting around all day playing video games with candy. We encourage them to eat more, do less. At meal time when they might accidentally eat something healthy, we allow them to smother it with ketchup or some other sugar enhanced condiment so the kids’ taste buds are forever tainted. This is very evident when I read an article like this.

In an effort to curb the epidemic of obesity, the federal government mandated healthier lunches in schools but our children’s taste buds are so corrupted they cannot handle eating foods devoid of heavy doses of sugar. These kids will not eat salads, vegetables or fruit because they are “gross”. They even put less sugar in the lunchroom cookies but the kids will not eat them unless they contain dangerous levels of sugar.

This has happened because instead of parents requiring their children to eat healthy, they have allowed children to choose their own food. Now we have a generation of sugar addicts and lazy malcontents, whose only legacy will be to contribute to ever exploding levels of diabetes and other ailments in the future. In today’s household menus, it is evident that vegetables, fibers and fruit are absent from the plate and replaced with a mixture high fat and high sugar. But why?

Are the parents conveniently avoiding arguments early in a child’s development risking long term damage to the child’s health for peace in the home?

“:Eat your veggies, Johnny!”
“No! WWWWAAAAAAA!!”
“Okay……… here………… eat this candy …………just stop crying!”

Are the parents not capable of controlling their own diet so the child takes on the behavior of the parent?

Parent opens the fridge. “What should I make for dinner today? Hot dogs and Ding Dongs sound good to me. What do you think, Johnny?”
Little Johnny nods with a smile on his face.

Not only are the foods we eat very bad for our health but the size of the portions we consume are irregular. After eating the healthier meals which included portions sizes conducive to the child’s age, 149 out of 175 complained they did not get enough food. So not only are the hot dogs and Ding Dongs being consumed but they are being consumed from an elephant’s plate. Again, what is going on with these parents?

After dinner, instead of the parent sending the child outside for some much needed exercise or maybe even a brisk walk, its back to the ass.

“Fire up the video game! Warm up the TV! The ass is getting a vigorous work out tonight!”

I applaud the federal government in their attempt to bring some health to America (and I don’t applaud them for very much these days). But this effort will fail unless the parents are accountable and enforce some basic fundamental rules. You can’t live on hot dogs and Ding Dongs. Doesn’t anybody remember the four food groups anymore?

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Stealing vs Copying

Monday, August 21, 2006
“Stealing: the wrongful taking of someone else's property without that person's willful consent”

Notice the above definition of the word “stealing” and remember it for the following post. Upon further clarification, stealing is when you take something from somebody without their consent so they no longer have it anymore. Again, the two conditions that must be present for stealing are:

1) to take without consent
2) to take, leaving the owner without the object

In 2002, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) launched a campaign against law abiding citizens to change the definition of the word “stealing” and, in the process, transform innocent citizens into outlaws. Fourteen year old kids were sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars, people were threatened with the possibility of losing their homes and everything else they had worked their entire life for. And for what? Copying music.

The RIAA and MPAA have launched a media blitz, brainwashing the public into thinking copying is stealing. Copying music is the new crime of the century. You can walk into a department store and steal a CD but not get as much jail time as copying this same CD from your friend. Why have Americans sold out on this issue? Why have we allowed a gang of multi-millionaires to dictate to us what we are allowed to do with something we legally purchase? If you ever need proof the government is crooked just bring up this issue and you can prove the government sells laws to the highest bidder.

If our country is a democracy then let the majority rule on this issue too. But no, the legislatures have allowed the small minority of record companies to insert their agenda as the priority over the millions and millions of file traders. These file traders were not breaking any laws, they were not hurting anybody, nor were they any risk to national security but still our government allows them to be hunted down as if they were Al Qaeda terrorists. The government allows the RIAA and the MPAA to trample on the rights of these individuals as if they were pedophiles or rapists. And for what? Copying music.

In the above definition of stealing, I cannot find anyplace which allows copying to be associated with it. The definition of copying is:

“the duplication of information, or an artifact, based only on an instance of that information or artifact, and not using the process that originally generated it.”

The two definitions are not even closely related!!

If small minorities of rich people are allowed to easily change laws and get innocent people put in jail for victimless crimes then we have truly lost our country. People’s needs and wants should always come before the needs and wants of corporations. That should be a basic value instilled in us because we are human beings. Yet our legislatures compromise our principles, our values, our integrity and even our freedom and allow these to be sold to the highest bidder like we are slaves at an auction.

If company A is not rich enough and they need to get richer. No problem for our legislatures, they will create a law requiring everybody to buy their product even though it is not wanted. You could use the oil companies as anther example of how the government has stifled technology and allowed the oil companies to out live their usefulness.

The recording industry is one of the most corrupt industries on the planet. They have already been found guilty of price fixing and collusion but yet the government still allows them free reign in determining the laws of our country. Everyday the recording industry cajoles artists into signing contracts which makes the executives richer while enslaving the artists. They legally prey upon these artists because they can create laws in their favor, change the definitions of words in their favor, and buy any legislature to tilt the balance of law in their favor.

How many times do we have to pay for the same material? If you are a plumber and you install plumbing in an office building, you do not get paid every time somebody flushes the toilet, so why should the recording industry expect to be paid every time a song is played? They have created new rules like these for their industry and they have brainwashed us into believing they are good rules.

This is the article that got me all riled up.

By downloading a CD from a friend you are not stealing their CD because they will still have it when you are finished. It is also important to point out that the person being sued by the RIAA is the person sharing and not the person copying; what justification do they create in their twisted minds for that? There is nothing logical about prosecuting people for copying files.

Now that I am finished ranting about this corrupt gang of blood sucking idiots, can somebody explain to me how copying is stealing? Both definitions are in this post. I cannot see it and I never will be able to see it because I will not allow by judgment to be purchased or influenced by these corporate fuckholes!!!

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The New Survivor

Friday, August 18, 2006
I voted last week in the Primaries with the other three people but I instituted a new strategy. I only voted for politicians whose name I did not recognize. The only way we are ever going to change anything is to end the Imperialism within our government and get new politicians elected. We can’t do this by voting for the same retreads every election. It seems like every four years the same names appear on the ballot but we are forced to choose one anyway even though we already said “no” last time.

If candidate X gets voted out he will return in another election maybe at a different position and there is nothing we can do about it because we have to vote for one or the other. Usually the other candidate opposing candidate X was also voted out of something else too. We are left with choosing one dumb ass over another dumb ass.

I watched Treehouse of Horror VII on the new Simpsons season eight DVD. In that episode, two aliens impersonated Clinton and Dole (in the 1996 election) in a plot to enslave Earth, and summed up the problem with American politics in one eight minute episode. Just before the election, the aliens were exposed but the people had to vote for one or the other. So Earth was enslaved because there was no other politician to vote for. The funniest part was at the end when one of the aliens whips Marge and Homer says “I didn’t vote for him.” Yea, like it really would have mattered. Homer, I’ve got news for you, even if you would have voted for the other alien, you would still be enslaved.

So I started thinking (this is dangerous) about ways we can get better politicians. I came up with a solution which institutes a draft giving every American citizen an opportunity to be a Senator and even the President. Just like you get selected for jury duty, you could get called to serve as a Senator, Governor, Alderman, Representative or any other elected official. You would be required under law to participate.

Once selected, you would answer a personality profile because we don’t need any more dumb asses to serve; we have plenty of those now. So this profile would screen out undesirables and also put people on the ballot in an appropriate office. So instead of voting for the same trash every election you would get fresh candidates every time.

To make sure all American citizens are informed, we have access to the completed personality profiles and the detailed job histories of each candidate on the ballot. We could even televise the event and promote it as the “Survivor” of government. On Election Day people would be very informed about the candidates and could then vote for the individual they thought would do the best job.

We would finally have candidates from all income levels, all social ladders, all races, and both genders; it promotes fairness. There are no political parties, no need for campaigning, and no lobbyists to buy elections or issues from elected officials.

Once elected, they would serve one term and then go back to civilian life. This process would repeat every two to four years depending on the need for candidates for that year. Just like jury duty the employer would be required to save their position in the company so they can easily return to civilian life.

The President is selected from the outgoing pool of Senators and Representatives by the current Senators and Representatives. The few selected would be voted by the current Senators and Representatives and the top two vote getters would face off in a Presidential election. The people would vote and the winner is the President of the United States for the next four years. After that term expires they go back to civilian life and the process repeats.

As our system stands today, we only get the richest morons who can’t hack it in the business world running for public office. Let’s face it, working any other job the entire current administration would have already been fired but these losers get away with one failure after another because there is no accountability.

I got this idea a long time ago while reading about the famous Roman general named Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. Around 458 B.C. the Romans were at war with the Aequians and on the verge of defeat. They summoned Cincinnatus, who was a farmer, to lead their armies in victory and save the empire.

He was appointed dictator but quickly gave up the appointment once the enemy was defeated. Cincinnatus did not crave wealth or power; he just wanted to be a farmer. Those are the types of people we need in government today. People who realize political office is a public servant job and NOT an entitlement to get even richer and help all of your friends get richer too.

What do you think?

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How Bacon Can Defeat An Army

Thursday, August 17, 2006
Declaring war on ideas or inanimate objects is stupid in my opinion. Terrorism is an idea and we all know that ideas are bullet proof. Terrorism is not killing American soldiers in Iraq, Iraqis are killing our soldiers. Terrorism did not kill American civilians on 9/11, Al Qaeda killed them. So instead of declaring a war on terrorism we need to declare a war on Al Qaeda and Iraq.

It is impossible to win a war over an enemy that is unseen and unknown, which is why the war on drugs and the war on terrorism will never succeed. Every General or military mind knows to defeat an enemy you must first know the enemy; where they live, where they eat, what they value. Winning the war is paramount to knowing these things. This is why ultimately the war will fail unless we change our mindset to attack the enemy and NOT the ideology of terrorism.

Terrorism is subjective anyway. In a war, each side could argue the other is a terrorist. We have killed more Iraqi civilians than Al Qaeda has killed American civilians but we believe the other people are terrorists and not us.

So how do you defeat this enemy if you cannot defeat their idea? Simple, you hit them where it hurts, their fundamentalist religious beliefs. They care little for life or freedom; they only care about these religious beliefs. They will even train and send their children off to die as suicide bombers so I don’t think slaughtering them is going to scare them from becoming a terrorist.

Bush believes they hate us for our freedom. What bullshit!!! They hate us because, in their minds, we are immoral capitalists. They value religion over everything else including life itself. In contrast, we value money over everything else. If you asked an Iraqi man if he would rather have Sadam Hussein back in power or his daughter walking down main street in a mini skirt. I guarantee he would choose Hussein faster than you could say Muhammad Hideim.

If anyone has ever read the Koran they would know the worst thing for a Muslim is to eat pigs, touch pigs or even come in contact with pig’s blood. Even after death the body must be pure so contact with pigs blood would prevent them from seeing Allah and getting their 72 virgins in paradise. So here is what I propose would win the war with Al Qaeda and Iraq.

Instead of the media showing the devastation from the suicide bombers, show the Marines carrying off pieces of the terrorists and burying them with pigs. Have a news story showing American factories lacing all bullets with pig’s blood. Instead of dropping bombs, drop dead pigs. When you execute Iraqi or Al Qaeda dissidents shoot them with bullets dipped in pig’s blood and then bury them in graves with dead pig parts.

If a POW will not talk then stuff bacon bits into their mouth. Give the soldiers slabs of pork chops, slices of bacon and mounds of pork steaks to hurl at suspected suicide bombers who charge check points. Require all potential passengers on airlines to eat bacon and eggs before boarding the jet. You may be laughing but if they were to die on that flight they would not see paradise, get their virgins or see Allah.

I’ll bet you see a big turn around in Iraq. I’ll bet the suicide plots will grind to a screeching halt. I’ll bet the lives of many American soldiers will be saved if the enemy knows you will do the unthinkable. The unthinkable is NOT killing them or killing their children. The unthinkable is preventing them from seeing their precious Allah.

I brought this idea up in a conversation with friends but they thought it was too cruel. I think this would save the lives of many innocent Iraqi civilians and American soldiers. What do you think?

Until you define the enemy, you cannot defeat the enemy. Our enemy is NOT terrorism it is Al Qaeda.

On a more personal note: my brother has finally started writing his blog. I have a link under “Other Great Blogs” or just click here.

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New Post Coming Soon

Monday, August 14, 2006
I apologize for my lack of posts over the past couple of weeks. The main reason for my absence is work has me so busy I have not had much time to read the news or write anything. My big project is wrapping up this week so I should return later this week with more intense observations of the world we live in.

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Tax Cuts

Tuesday, August 08, 2006
I support tax breaks but I do not believe in trickle down economics. Trickle down economics is a theory of economics whereby you give a tax break to the rich with the belief that they will spend more and the money spent will come back and help the lower classes. If the lower classes need the money, why not just give the lower classes a tax break?

The ruling class like to give their colleagues incentives to continue to contribute to their campaign funds, so they created trickle down economics as a bullshit formula to support this.

I think this the following information should come to no surprise to anybody. The following information is about the latest bill to extend the tax cuts and comes from CNN's Lou Dobb's program:

EARNINGS ---------------MONEY RETURNED FROM TAX BREAK
$20k-30k ---------------$9.00
$50k-$75k ---------------$110.00
$100k-200k -------------$1,388.00
More than $1 million ---$41,977.00

With mounting deficits, the government decides to grant a tax cut to wealthy people. Priceless!!

The minimum wage increase failed last week because it contained pork legislature giving the upper class an even bigger tax break than this. When a bill fails, always look at the extra pork within before you get angry. If you want to get angry at anybody, then get angry at the politicians that put this extra baggage into legislation.

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Winds of Change

Thursday, August 03, 2006
Life is a series of peaks and valleys. All you can hope is that the peaks last longer than the valleys and you can rebound quickly from the valleys. For the past several months I have been riding a peak but I sense a change. Forces are at work and I can feel the valley just around the corner.

I often think I should just dive right into my hell and confront the demons. What type of change? The type of change that can take your family, your house and everything. The type of change that forces a man to start over.

I received some horrible news on Monday which is why I have not posted much this week. This horrible news has caused a ripple effect throughout my life and so the descent has begun. As usual, this news was created by the greed of corporate America but only negatively impacts innocent, hard-working people just trying to earn a living. When things around you are already fragile, this ripple effect acts like a devastating tsunami destroying everything in its path.

The last tsunami struck in 2002 when I was fired from my job for no good reasons. My projects were successful and I never failed to deliver a quality service. This time someone close to me is in danger of losing their job or at least losing much compensation even though they have been successful and worked hard. The tsunami from this situation could destroy everything around me.

I still remember 2002 when my confidence was shattered. My paradigms were permanently altered. Depression consumed me and ate away at my attitude. From a little boy I was raised to believe hard work transcended into success. So I worked hard but I was rewarded with a lay off during the worst recession in years. And it particularly hit the IT industry the hardest.

Just when I thought I would drown in a pool of depression, I was lifted to safety by a ray of sunshine called education. As I finished my degree I discovered I was right and they were wrong. But I learned their religion anyway; the religion of the depraved.

The religion of the upper class is capitalism. Money is more important than family, profit margins are more important than people. This religion has no conscience, patience or justice. It is unforgiving and can be wielded as a justification for atrocities, such as, destroying towns, families and lives. Capitalism really is not evil but they have taken it to an extreme level where it is evil. Just like the communists took socialism to an extreme and evil level.

This religion has a different set of rules for us and them. Although the corporate monster is allowed unlimited profits, our wages are capped and limited. So a company can demand 25% growth in profits and demand all personnel double their hours but only give 3% (or no) raises to compensate. This religion is revered by the upper classes because it sucks the life from the lower class and delivers the blood directly into their pockets. It also allows the “old boys club” to justifiably and legally behave like little Hitlers.

These Hitlers do not use guns to kill and destroy, they use ink pens, keyboards and memos. Instead of Nazism they use economics but they both have the some result. Globalization is a term which realistically means middle class genocide but we are told this is “good for the economy” even though small towns are destroyed, homes are lost and families are separated.

Lower class religion is socialism. We help each other when we need it. We provide food when people are hungry. When the power goes out we check up on our elderly neighbors to make sure they are alright. We donate time and energy to help homeless people and abused animals. We have a hard time understanding how oil companies can earn tens of billions of dollars in profit each quarter but the government finds no wrong doing. Meanwhile people have to choose between gas in the car and medicine for sick children. Yet we are taught in business and in the media that socialism is wrong. In the fifties it was considered treason even though most of Americans were socialists. How did it get to this?

I have found refuge from the slime that is corporate America but it could be ending soon. I could be forced to again support a system of destruction while wearing a mask of smiles and a costume consisting of a suit and tie. This blog is my also mask and I often hide behind it to speak candidly. Otherwise, I feel like I would be persecuted for my opinions.

As I brace for the impact of this tsunami, I feel helpless. It is times like these you realize how insignificant your life is to the powers that be. I have no idea upon which shore I will wash up but I hope and pray we will somehow endure.

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Summer of Filmth

Now that the summer is winding down and all of the supposed blockbuster movies have been released, this should go down as the most disappointing movie season ever. As a movie goer I look forward to the summer for the movies but this year I was disgustingly disappointed.

Before the reviews of the bad, let’s look talk about one of the best films ever that was just released to DVD...........................

“Remember, remember, the fifth of November, the gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”

V for Vendetta is in my personal top three films of all time. The writing is incredible; at times this film is pure poetry. The acting is also just as strong; all the characters were played perfectly.

The real strength of this film is the message it conveys that people should not be afraid of government, government should be afraid of people. I try to convey similar messages and ideas with this blog. The events of the film are very realistic as many of them are happening today (some of which I have written about).

Maybe I just like the film because I can really identify with the character V. I felt this strange connection with him. I could almost speak his words before he spoke them and I definitely could give you a detailed list of his thoughts and why he thought the way he did. Scary!!

The best line of all (and there were many best lines) was at the end when the big bad guy was shooting him while screaming “Why Won’t you die!!” and V says, “Under this mask is more than just flesh and bone. It’s an idea................ and ideas are bulletproof!” It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.

Save your money and wait to rent all of the summer films from this year’s pathetic crop. Below are a few of the films I was looking forward to seeing this summer but all were either retreads or just not that good:

Lady In The Water: M. Night Shyamalan has made some of my favorite films so I was eagerly awaiting this new film. It started off very promising but then it spiraled into a convoluted piece or crap. It felt like I was watching an Adam Sandler movie which always makes me feel like things are being made up as they go. Paul Giamatti was excellent but even his strong performance could not save this sinking ship.

Superman: With the Batman Begins one of last year’s best films, I was hoping the super hero genre would return again to its proper place as number one. Especially with Superman, the king of all super heroes and a Christopher Reeves look alike at the helm. Wrong!! The writers of this film attached Superman with the odious label of a babies daddy. The child support enforcement agencies were probably glad to see Superman return from his journey to Krypton but I wish he would have stayed.

Pirates of The Caribbean (POTC): The first film is still one of my all time favorites and based upon the previews, part 2 looked just as good. However I forgot to factor in the third movie. All this film did was leave you hanging for part 3. I don’t like cliffhangers that span different movies. I paid my $8 so rap it up. I didn’t pay you $3 this year with the promise of $5 next year but that is what you do to me when you span plots over multiple films.

Mission Impossible 3: Probably the best of the summer but I cannot remember much about the film other than I liked it.

DaVinci Code: I liked the film but Tom Hanks finally blew one. His performance was weak and the chemistry between him and the female lead was horrible. I also think this move should have been about twenty minutes shorter.

Everything else was complete tripe. Maybe there were a few cartoons worthy of mention but a man wants to eat meat. Cartoons are a good dinner salad but I need action, suspense, plot, and believable characters. I am not spending $8 to watch a bunch of cars or animals running around, talking and goofing off; that does not hold my attention for too long. I’ll wait for the DVD and rent those for two bucks.

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