Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Korash's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
7:00 pm	Mr. Obama, you dissapoint me This past presidential (2008) election I saw a shimmer of hope before that very word, it's meaning and the powerful emotions it evokes was capitalized for the sake of victory. That flicker of light was named Barack Hussein Obama. So before the year 2008 even rolled around I decided decided he was who I was going to vote for. I put away my political cynicism, my utter lack of trust for any person of well reasoned rational principle and value in our political system and changed my party affiliation from "independent" (I now remorse) to "democrat" for the sole purpose of being allowed to vote in the primary elections, the democratic primaries so I could cast my one vote for this man. Of course as the election proceeded I kept my eyes, ears and most importantly my mind open to what the other candidates had to say, for it is unwise to fall subject to some sort of confirmational bias. I still wanted to hear the other candidates out, but once the primaries ended, the only other reasonable candidate, Ron Paul (R) lost or conceeded to John McCain. I was left with two overly polarized options; John McCain vs. Barack Obama. My choice was clear, I voted and to no suprise, Obama was elected by a fair sized margin. And so I waited, with the rest of the nation, as the financial crisis began to unfold, waiting for that colossal 8 year shit stain on American History, American principle and reputation to leave office (why he was not impeached confounds the notions of common sense and constitutional law so strongly I mentally cringe just thinking of it). And then the long awaited savior!?...no not really. I didn't have that high of expectations. I knew he wasn't the perfect fit. He wasn't really going to change how things worked in Washington. He wasn't really going to get every citizen universal health care (forget all this, insurance for everyone bullshit, insurance and the health care system in this country just fucking sucks). He wasn't going to legalize and regulate drugs and take a definite, resolute and resounding stand for separation of church and state. No he probably wasn't going to cut military spending and maybe divert that money to oh, I don't know, education, health care, energy, transportation or other public services (like police, fire response, libraries, etc...). I doubted he would do anything to publicly fund college education or do much to make this country an exporter of goods instead of frivolously wasting our money and jobs for imported cheap goods. But, it seemed he would set the country on the right track. Maybe he would back down on the DEA raids of medical marijuana users? Maybe, like he promised the Iraq war would come to an end? End of torture, sounds like a yes. At least some sort of health insurance for all Americans. Heavy investments in energy infrastructure. No he isn't prefect, but then who is? We can't all get what we always want, but hopefully this "intellectual liberal" as so many called him (used as both insult and praise) was really going to affect real change. The people will be heard! But alas, I was deluded once again. This country was hit with such a whopper of a problem that it makes 9/11 pale in comparison, and the fact that so many people have not quite grasped this yet scares me. And Obama fell to the same pernicious, dubious power seize that his predecessor George Bush used. To utilize a national crisis and calamity to basically just do whatever the hell he wants. No, instead of Obama being a shining beacon of hope, he has been nothing but a depressing, despairing disappointment. As it stands, three main critical failures have beset our first black president. 1. The Bailout. I'm not talking about the economic stimulus. It's not perfect, but stimulus is needed. I'm referring to the $700+ trillion bailout paid to FAILING COMPANIES. Companies that are supposed to fail in a capitalistic society when their managers make catastrophic decisions or the market can no longer support them. Bad business paid for using tax payer money. What a fucking scam. Yes that's right. This isn't just bad policy or misguided idealogical decision making. This $700,000,000,000,000 (that I know most about, it's actually more) was nothing more than pure black mail. It was coercion. A scam. A rip-off. Theft. Robbery. Larceny on the grandest scale. Call it what you want. You have been stolen from in plain fucking sight. You watched and protested as your hired representative politicians ignored and handed over the money to people who already have grotesque amounts of swindled money by exploiting loopholes and deregulation. And in doing so grew so massive and entwined in everybody's business that their failure due to compulsive gambling of investor money would lead to a world wide economic crisis, the likes of which no one has ever seen before. And what did Obama do? Instead of listening to the American people, instead of taking a stand and telling these criminals, I will not give you money. Your company will fail, you will be investigated for fraud, and I will instead spend the money on real stimulus to pull this country out of this mess, he did the exact opposite. Like a gamer who has just realized he can dupe his gold in Diablo and then buy whatever he wants, he decided he would print off a bunch of money we don't have and stuff that into these failing giants while at the same time hiring a treasury secretary without the credentials needed for this mess (like an economics professor or something) and instead took the Bush route and hired another Wall Street goon. This course of action was, in and of itself enough to destroy any trust I had in this Barack Obama. 2. ALL HAIL THE WAR MACHINE! Anyone remember how Obama was the candidate who was against the Iraq war, from the beginning? Like, not only did he currently disagree and condemn the war, but he thought it was a mistake in the first place and he pledged to end it? Oh yeah...now that someone mentions it I think I might remember something along those lines. I don't hear a lot about the Iraq war anymore. Maybe it's because the asshole who got us there is hiding and praying he won't get prosecuted for war crimes? Or maybe because it's really not that bad there anymore? (HA HA! Oh...) Or is it also that this new president who was against one bad war decided it wasn't enough and wants to escalate the second foolish military engagement, the Afghan war? So as public focus shifts from the still impossible quagmire known as the Iraq War, we think we can redeem ourselves by pursuing the initial object of our desire; terrorists, Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and Afghanistan. Now I want just as much as every American to see the head man who masterminded and perpetrated the attacks of 9/11 (among other egregious attacks on innocents) brought to justice, but the fact of the matter is, we fucked up...big time. Yep, we blew it. That dumbshit Bush could be to blame, but we are really all at fault here. Instead of going into Afghanistan right after and finishing the job as quickly as possible, on the brink of victory we diverted our attention to Iraq. Had we got him then and there we could of been done with this whole fucking mess. No billions spent on the war. Millions of lives wouldn't have been lost and maybe America's world standing wouldn't have been shamed by the ominous "torture". But no, we fucked up and it's too late to correct that mistake. Pumping more and more soldiers into Afghanistan is not going to do a damn thing in the long run. Violence & peace, stability & chaos may fluctuate from week to week, month to month and year to year, but it is simply a losing battle. Afghanistan was the Soviet death blow and we should learn from the mistakes of history. That every empire that tries to stick their nose in everybody's business and engage in endless guerrilla warfare WILL COLLAPSE. It happened to the Romans, the Soviets and now US (I'm sure there's plenty more examples). For some reason, Americans are foolish enough to think they are special. It doesn't matter how much technology we have or how big our military is - we will lose. In fact, that is the point. That is the whole tactic of our enemy. They clearly and obviously can not match us in military superiority, so the age old tactic to defeat any empire is force that country to spend itself into oblivion by engaging in endless petty skirmishes that slowly bleed the empire dry. And hey, if you can cause a massive political schism and social unrest within that country at the same time, all the better. By engaging in this behavior we are cementing our fate. If we continue, the terrorists will win, we just haven't realized it yet. Besides it's pretty obvious we've already lost it. How do you fund a war when we are already in horrendous debt and massive economic collapse while also facing an energy crisis (which is also being conveniently ignored by the majority)? It's so fucking blatantly absurd, it's mass insanity. This whole country is deluded. Pure balls-to-the-walls madness. Over the rainbow, toys in the attic. This seriously cannot sustain itself. I'm watching my country crumble before my eyes, and it sickens and saddens me to my core, but there's not a damn thing I can do about it. 3. Constitutional Rape. It has been bad enough that our constitution and other such protections like the bill of rights and habeas corpus have been trampled, ignored, twisted or abolished by past presidents and politicians, but this last 8 years have been the worst. One would of hoped that a former professor of Constitutional Law (that's you Mr. Obama!) would make amends for these past transgressions, at least those committed during the past 8 years (hey, can't hope for a miracle) but I guess that was too much to ask. Yeah he put an "end" to torture, or so he claimed (do we even really have a way of knowing that? I have a hard time trusting this person now). But was this not a crime? Did we not prosecute nazi-germany war criminals for this very crime, post world war II? YES! And now what? The past administration showed an overt and flagrant disrespect for national and international law and, without a doubt, TORTURED PEOPLE. Yes, we as Americans have tortured other human beings. I don't mean someone died in torturous agony because one of our bombs blew off their legs and they lied there and bled to death. No, we kidnapped innocent people, took them to secret prisons, did not allow them any rights or legal defense and tortured them. We deliberately inflicted pain on other human beings. We turned our backs on centuries of humanitarian progress and committed the most disgusting, despicable act of mankind. Torture. It's never acceptable. I don't care if they are guilty enemies with real, valuable intelligence that we could accurately get with torture methods, we should NOT TORTURE. Never, under any circumstance. I don't care if my family is about to be bombed. No torture, under any circumstance, for any reason. But we did torture people. As a country and a nation and to even more disappoint, as a society we accepted a system of torture. And we must come to terms with this and accept the fact. This not only means "looking forward" and never committing those crimes again, but prosecuting the criminals. If we don't enforce the law, if we don't prosecute those who committed, authorized and institutionalized those acts then what's to stop someone from doing it in the future? Nothing. I don't care, Mr. Obama, if you are a better man and you will not allow such things during your stay. I don't care if you say, "America does not torture." Because someone can come along after you and just as easily repeat what we just witnessed, and it could be much worse. I'm not even going to get into the arguments of why torture does not work or why it puts our own soldiers and citizens (and journalists traveling to North Korea) at risk in enemy territory, not to mention the countless innocent people tortured for every guilty person or how something like that could lead to the torture of our own citizens (see 1984 by George Orwell). Your failure on this subject is the greatest insult to American principle and ethics since George W. Bush, former president, coward and criminal. And now you say the Bush era warrantless illegal wire tapping and electronic monitoring is not only O.K., but you seek to expand this power and effectively immunize not only the companies who gladly sell our privacy but the government as well. Fuck you. You disgust me Obama. I'm ashamed I voted for you. I'm ashamed that I changed my party affiliation from none to democrat just so I could vote for you. I'm ashamed I told my brother I hoped that you would win the election before the primaries had even begun. I don't care if every other option fucking sucked big donkey dick. You said yourself that our standards have slipped so much, that we have set the bar of success so low that we've lost sight of what's truly good. Way to prove your point hypocrite. I'm nothing but a powerless, poor American who has no voice. Who cannot affect anything worth a damn in this dying country and so I'm reduced to ranting and raving, childish insults and stoking the flames so I don't give up from despair. When you watch your country collapse, at the very moment you realize we are all doomed and that your daughters won't have the future of opportunity that you had, I hope all the crimes of your's and past administrations haunts your conscience like they haven't for past presidents since perhaps Abraham Lincoln. I hope you cry real tears of regret and sadness realizing you had the world in your hands. That this country gave you it's trust, hope, power and authority at the most crucial and critical time since it's conception in 1776, and you squandered it all. I don't care if you were the lesser of many evils, it's still just trading evils. The only way this could not suck as much as I think it's sucking is if all this is just a show, an act, some part of your master plan to truly turn the country around. Better act quick because we don't have much time. Current Music: Everclear - Now That It's Over (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 26th, 2009
9:32 am	Have you ever wondered why your government never seems to work for you? Have you wondered your entire life why almost every policy, law and the lawmakers themselves were systematically working against you? Have you wondered why this supposed democracy doesn't really speak for the people? Why your environment, your neighborhood, your city and your community perpetually degrade into something that's only second rate at best? Have you wondered why every single damn politician makes smiling promises then turn around and do the exact opposite in the most round about and convoluted way possible? Have you wondered why all your marches and protests and petitions for peace and reform have availed to nothing for the past four decades? Have you ever questioned the people who say they don't vote because it doesn't seem to make a difference? And you want to say they are wrong and its why they don't vote that this country seems to be failing, but deep in your heart you know they are right. Does it seem like all your opportunities are slipping? Do you feel like all your higher education will amount to nothing because the only jobs left are demeaning service jobs? Do you feel like an indentured servant? Do you feel like a slave? Do you ever wonder why everyone you have ever met seems to be miserable, delusional or neurotic in some way? Do you wonder why everything our society seems to work for contradicts the logic of the common man? Have you asked yourself, why does everything seem to get worse year after year after year? Why is the American dream vanishing faster than you can realize what it ever used to mean? Here is your answer: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/print It's a long read, but well worth your time. (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
9:37 pm	Stare Into the Tube and Lose Your Mind It seems everytime I turn on the television, there is absolutely nothing interesting on. My roommate pays $300+ a month for a plethora of cable channels and yet when I browse every known channel to man I can find absolutely nothing to watch. Nothing looks interesting, ever. Well that's not entirely true, I'd say about 97% of the time and 99.9% of the channels play nothing interesting. Maybe my interests have strayed so far from the norm that I no longer find anything interesting, entertaining or amusing about society's games anymore. Not only that, but previously interesting channels such as history channel, discovery and even comedy central have sunken so low, that brain cells melt out my eyes whenever I stare at the burning glow. Previously educational shows have been replaced with low-grade reality shows. Modern marvels and Wild now give way to shows like Eukanuba dog championships, ice road truckers, gangland, UFO hunters, monster quest, axemen and other un-educational shows. As I flip through the channels, every other option appears even worse. I get to choose between corny, redundant, over scripted soap operas and sitcoms involving situations that never happen in real life and mind-numbing reality shows following the exploits of various superficial, vacuous, materialistic, selfish and childish people of all walks of life. And then we have our talk shows in which some host being paid way too much money gets to ask some celebrity or other equally un-important pop-culture, counter-culter, sub-culture idol about nothing relevant to anything important happening in the world today. And as I continue through the channels I stumble across the news stations. Thank god for news, maybe something important, like NEWS will be on, but no. Instead I find these programs covering everything but news, from some teachers sex scandal, to some celebrities foolish exploits, how politics as usual is getting this country no where, how I should be afraid of the meth epidemic or how some poor bastard got ripped off, beaten, or killed or better yet, they find it necessary to remind that such and such pedophile was just released from prison and may be settling down in MY neighborhood next to MY school or how some porno store or strip club has been opened, and what do you know, some angry mothers are protesting a legitimate business. Or they think it necessary to tell me that some poor couple was busted for growing marijuana. Or they decide to nit pick, reanalyze, predict and ponder about some breaking news story for hours on end when they could of told me everything I need to know in under 1 minute. And I could go on and on about the stupid, worthless shit the news reports to me. I could watch 10 different news channels over the course of 24 hours and get less than 30 minutes of real, valuable information. Hell, most days I probably wont even hear one sentence of pertinent information. And then of course there's the higher cable channels playing all sorts of overly specialized shows with self-absorbed, ignorant, incompetent and annoying hosts like the dog whisperer and future weapons or dumbed down, narrations such as how its made. But lets not forget all the "idol" shows in which we get to watch "special" people, be they rich, pretty, famous or in some way, envied by the rest of the society waste their days and money in asinine and stupid ways. Because yes, I do want to see some rappers multi-million dollar mansion that will have to be reposed in 3 years because said music artist will no longer be popular, and what do you know, just like every other pop-culture idol, they've spent their hundreds of millions of dollars in less than 5 years. And for the icing on the cake, we have and endless choice of shitty movies. Movies with no plot, bad acting, bad special effects, poor filming and impossible scenarios supported by bogus science and ridiculous technology all to make us believe that these impossible scenarios are somehow entertaining. I know it seems like I'm ranting, and I am, but it's only because everything I see on TV these days is like watching a pit bull shit into a platypus's mouth. Damn, why don't they make that a show? "Strange animals shit on each other while stupid teen chases them with old person diaper reality show." First person to trip in the piles of shit gets voted off and has to walk the gauntlet of shame while wearing the old person diaper filled with crazy animal feces. And then after they make a fool of themselves, we get to listen to them talk about making a fool of themselves and how that made them feel. Yeah, it made you feel like a tool because you are and so is everyone who pays for this crap. Fuck TV, fuck society and fuck all the greedy incompetent and completely un-imaginative idiots who come up with this crap and most of all, fuck all the retards who make it possible by paying for this colossal shit stain on our collective species. While people in India are starving in their mud huts, dying of dysentary because they have no sewage and the only thing they can eat is salty clay patties, I'm stuck at home with my fat ass on a couch watching "The Girls Next Door", the crazy exploits of idiotic ex-playboy model girlfriends who have nothing better to do than run around with absurd amounts of money and waste it on the most inane and brain rotting activities possible. I DONT FUCKING CARE IF THEY ARE HOT - THEY'RE STUPID. All they do is spend money, all day long. And stupid hot girls are OK, because they are always going to exist, but please, don't put them on T.V. and tell them they are important and interesting when all you want to do is fuck them. Why? Because this tells the rest of society and especially young women that all you are good for is being hot and the only thing you can do with your time is shop. All hail your boxy master, for you are nothing but a puny slave to the television and it's insidious message of consumerism. May you waste your days and money on all thing not important. I'm not even going to reread this rant for grammar/spelling. I'm tired and frustrated by society. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
12:07 am	P.S. Meredith Thanks for having me down there for the third time. I really enjoy that night and I look forward to it every year. I had a good time, even though I didn't do so well at the party. Nothing too serious or permanent. I was able to recover but only because you listened to and heeded my plea, even though I may have crashed your party. This is why you are the only one I would trust in that situation and I am forever grateful. Thank you. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
9:42 am	1.Where did you begin 2008? At home, waiting for my vaporizer to show up. It didn't until a few days later. 2. What was your status by Valentines Day? Single 3. Were you in school anytime this year? I took one chem. lab during the summer. 4. Did you have to go to the hospital? No. 5. Did you have any encounters with the police? No. 6. Where did you go on vacation? I traveled to the edge of the void. Didn't quite make it over though. 7. What did you purchase that was over $100? Vaporizer. 8. Did you know anybody who got married? No. 9. Did you know anybody who passed away? No. 10. Did you move anywhere? Yeah, I moved out of my parent's up the street to my first apartment. 11. What sporting events did you attend? None. 12. What concerts/shows did you go to? The Lorax in January, some punk show with meredith and then some various other random ones I don't really remember. Not too many though. 13. Describe your birthday ...I didn't do anything. 14. What is the ONE thing you thought you would not do, but did, in 2008? I can't say. 15. what has been your most favorite moment? The Lorax or the Void. 16.Any additions to your family? No. 17. What was your best month? I don't know. 18. Who has been your best drinking buddy? No one. I don't drink too much. 19. Made new friends? Sure, if you can call them that. 20. Favorite Night out? The Lorax or the Void. 21. Other than home, where did you spend most of your time? Work. 22. Have you lost any friends this year? Not technically, at least in 2008. 23. Change your hairstyle? No. 24. Have any car accidents? No. 25. How old did you turn this year? Twenty two. 26. Do you have a New Years resolution? No, I don't make new years resolutions. 27. Do anything embarrassing? Probably. 28. Buy anything new from eBay? Yes. 29. Fall in love? Not yet. 30. Get hit on? No. 31. Been snowboarding? No. 32. Sick of this year? They're all the same. 33. Are you happy to see 2008 go? I doesen't matter. 34. Been naughty or nice? Probably some of both. I lean towards the nice side though. 35. What are you looking forward to most in 2009? The Lorax...maybe something else. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, December 19th, 2008
10:07 am	Benzin If you want to part with something Then you must burn it If you want to never see it again Let it swim in gasoline Current Music: Rammstein - Benzin (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
2:57 pm	Finally I moved out a little over a week ago and now just got my internet set up. In time I might read some of your posts on the friends page to catch up. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 6th, 2008
12:40 pm	The Real Deal Some people may wonder, what's really going on here. The economy is rarely the strong point for most people, so long as it works to ensure their standard of living. So when something so catastrophic as this comes along, it leaves many of us wondering; "what the fuck is going on?". From what I've gathered, I'll try and lay it out as best as possible. To start, we need to understand the banking practice and subsequent web of savings & loans. Lets say you, Citizen X or just X for short, just got paid $1,000. So what do you do? X takes the $1,000 check to Bank A and deposits that amount into X's savings/checking. Now bank A has $1,000 of capital and is allowed to lend a certain percentage (~90%) of that money at a given time. So bank A lends 90% or $900 to citizen Y expecting that debt to be paid in full with interest in time. Therefore, bank A owes $1,000 to X, but is only holding $100 of X's money. The other $900 is being held by Y. Y should eventually pay back the $900 plus interest. In this way, the bank makes money while still guaranteeing X's money in savings, on the expectation that X will never draw all of the money out of X's savings all at once. Now bank A has $900 of debt and Y has $900 of borrowed money. Y's plan is to invest this $900, earn back a profit, pay off his debt + interest with enough money to spare. To invest Y's money, Y gives it to an investor who may deposit it in bank B. Bank B now has $900 it owes, in effect, to Y through this investor. Bank B lends out 90% of $900 which is $810. Now Bank B only has $90 of borrowed money from Bank A, while the other $810 is loaned out to someone else (Z), who in turn will deposit or spend it as they see. Now there is a total of $2710 floating around, but only $1,000 of it is real money (X's money), and all of this is with only two banks (A,B) involved between three citizens (X,Y,Z). This same savings/loans network can continue all the way down the line, until the last one deposits the final $98. The original $1,000 has ballooned into a whopping $9105. This is, in effect, inflation by a factor of 9.1x, or 910%. Now with that thought on your mind, lets turn to the whole financial crisis on hand. There are these companies called investment banks. They take investor's money and invest that money. It is implied that investments carry risks, but with risk comes potential for high returns. So, many people have taken some or all of their money and invested it in investment banks. Now this investment bank has a lot of money it needs to invest to produce a return for their investor. Scanning the market, what is one valuable asset that everyone aspires to attain, has material value and intrinsic worth and has been steadily increasing in value over the past decades...? That's right, houses! Everyone wants a house right? You can live in them, and their value has been rapidly increasing for years. If you buy a house now at $100,000 and in 5 years it has increased to $175,000 you just made $75,000 in 5 years without actually doing anything. Even if you have a mortgage or a housing loan which you haven't paid off, the sell out of the house/property will yield enough to pay off your debt and still make off with $75,000. Ah ha! The investment bank has just stumbled on a sure fire investment that is guaranteed to return enough money to pay off all debt, satisfy their investor and make off with huge sums of profit in the process. It seemed to be a win win situation. Oh but the plot thickens. Now that they have this wonderful investment that produces absurd profit, they need to find the best way to maximize the capitalization of this asset. They push "sub-prime loans" as you may have heard them called. Basically what that means is they lend money to people aspiring to own a house under the guise that it will always increase in value to people who have insufficient income or assets. In effect, the investment bank is loaning money to people who have no real way of paying this money back, except through the value of their own home. Now this may seem all fine and dandy so long as one condition holds true, that the value of a home will always increase. Once home values decrease, then the whole system collapse under the weight of massive debt. It is a system that is destined to collapse on itself. But before it finally does collapse, the investment bank comes up with a nifty little trick to do away with this debt that no one can pay off. They bundle all these sub-prime loans into securities and sell them to investors, ranging from the wall-street investor to banks. Now a lot of people are holding a lot of debt that can only be paid off when the house is sold for more than it was purchased. As house prices fall, everything goes under. All of the investors money is lost, the investment bank goes bankrupt, and now the only institutions left standing are those wealthy enough to hold this debt without collapsing, which is surprisingly few. Yes that's right, most business are running on borrowed money, on debt, on money that doesn't really exist. Those few who happen to have enough capital to stave off collapse are the really big banks holding onto your savings. Now your savings are supposedly owed to your by a massive bank holding massive debt. If all or even some of it's customers pull out their money, the bank will go under. But why would anyone buy any of this toxic debt in the first place? Shouldn't their be some evaluation system for investments to at least warn investors of potential risks? Don't investors pay attention to what they are putting their money into before they consider this? They do! It's called a rating company. Basically, the person who wants to be rated pays the rating company to judge them. You hear that? That's like a singer who pays people to rate their singing talent. Or a judge who gets payed by the accused criminal to review a criminal case. See the potential for bribery and abuse? Well that's exactly what happened. This useless debt was sold to investors under the guise of it being top notch stuff. The most secure and profitable investment out there. Now all the financial systems inflated by 910% of debt caves-in, and with it the stock markets teeter on the edge of a free fall. This is when Uncle Sam, our government steps in. In order to save everyone, the government's plan is to take tax dollars, your money, and buy all this debt. You often hear the number, 700 billion ($700,000,000,000) thrown around, but the actual number is probably a lot higher. In effect, they are bailing out these institutions so this over inflated debt based economy can continue running in a downward spiral, and they are doing it with your money. Well actually that's not true. Our government is already several trillion dollars in debt, so we are going to borrow more money to buy debt. Yup, you heard that right. We are going into more debt, to buy debt created by risky investments, concealed with fraud, to pay off the people who profited from squandering your money in the first place, and we are going to pay for all of this inflated debt with your tax dollars. And the man in charge of all this money to be paid to failing institutions, Secretary of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson used to be the CEO of one such investment bank, Goldman Sachs. So now the next time you look at your pay check that is, oh lets say, $700, but then you see that you actually made closer to $950, you know that that 250 dollar difference is going to the federal government to pay off trillions of dollars of debt. A lot of which was created by con-men and sold to us by your own government. They very people you pay to represent you. To summarize. A lot of companies took borrowed money from investors, made extremely risky investments and walked off with huge, obscene sums of money and then got the federal government to bail out their failing company with your money and the help of your paid employees (politicians). It's like they stole from us on the climb up this treacherous slope, and now that everyone is falling off the cliff, they are looting our pockets again. Everyone in the industrialized modern world is or will be affected. That is the scope of this crisis. (Comment on this)
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
7:23 pm	Collapse You get to watch it crumble like a sand-castle in the tides What happens when a juggernaut society supporting 300+ million people consuming unimaginable sums of energy and resources runs out of money at the same time it runs out of energy while simultaneously holding a multi-trillion dollar debt, suffering from major social and political schisms, the worst leader in all its history, multiple military conflicts and the ultimate failure of government: betrayal of that society's people and their liberties? And for the icing on the cake; that society also faces an impending global crisis with only a depleted, reduced and sick environment to support it while it's very life blood is the root cause of this crisis. To make an analogy... What happens to a jet cruising at super-sonic speeds when it suddenly runs out of fuel, control systems and hydraulics are shot, the pilot has never successfully flown a plane before, all staff know nothing about jets or airplanes, the passengers are fighting and all life support and safety systems fail... Crash...and...burn Don't forget all those terror jets shooting at us. I wish you all good luck (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 5th, 2008
11:45 am	Time vs Necessity Hurry! Only 6 seconds to go Repeat as necessary Current Music: AgNb - Time vs. Necessity (Comment on this)
Friday, July 18th, 2008
10:16 pm	1 Back & 2 Forward We'll I went 71 days (a new record) before giving in. I almost relapsed, but I think I'm fine now. I'm kind of disappointed but I think that was a stepping stone I had to take. Also finished the first term of general chem labs. Only two more to go. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
8:55 pm	Harley - Condo - Europe - Cruise - Porsche On my way home from lab today, I noticed a disturbing (at least to me) add on the ceiling of the max. It had a purple background, with a giant smiling young child's face (~2-3yr range; female) taking up nearly 1/3 to 1/2 of the ad. At the top there were five pictures of childhood objects/toys with a word associated to them. They were Harley (toy tricycle), condo (toy playhouse), Europe (small backpack), cruise (plastic playboat), Porsche (toy car). The general message of the add (because I forgot the exact wording). Making your childhood dreams come true by consolidating your student loan debt. This was shockingly disturbing to me and sent me into social pondering. Ignoring the predatory student loan system that takes advantage of our society's requirements and rules that force anyone who has the slightest desire to have more than an sub-standard living as a retail clerk to go into massive debt, was the overlying tone of blatant superficiality and material obsession. How is it that our only dreams are material obsessions? Are they trying to say the only thing we should be striving for in life, our only hopes and dreams ought to be material wealth; an expensive and iconic vehicle (Harley and Porsche), stylized and fashionable housing (Condo) and affluent "breaks" in the drudgery our lives (trip to Europe or a Cruise line)? Is our life to be defined, and our measure of success determined by the accumulation of trophies in the form of expensive, desired and envied objects that can only be bought with sufficient monetary value. Those which most poor and lower middle-class individuals or families can't even hope to afford? Or perhaps, were all just greedy, self-centered children who dreamt of driving a Porsche to work in-between long and luxurious sabbaticals to Europe and abroad on Cruise Liners. That we only grew up, that we live and learned for 16+ years only so we could show off our success by coddling ourselves with un-necessary luxuries and inducing envy in others. But then again what should we expect? We live in a society that tells us, that drowns us in the ideology that to please your child, you must buy them something. And we come up with as many occasions and reasons to do so (i.e. birthday, christmas, graduation gifts, etc...). It is like we are programming our children to desire the material, the tangible world of money and it's fruits. Think of all the times that were supposed to be important land marks in your life. Events of success and congratulations. Each one will bear the taint of materialistic rewards. You turned one year older. Here is some cake and some toys. Be sure to invite lot's of friends so you get more presents. It's Christmas time. We are celebrating togetherness, family values and giving but it ain't Christmas until you get what you want. It's Easter, time for some candy and things. Valentines day and now it's time for special restaurants, romantic cards and expensive flowers. Oh look, you graduated from high school. Congratulations. How bout we encourage, motivate and reward you with an expensive gadget, a "grown-up" toy like a computer, a new car or a trip abroad. Make sure you send out your announcement to every possible relative so you can glean as much money as possible out of them. You can put it towards college, cause everyone knows thats expensive and you'll probably go into debt anyway. But hey, you don't want to be a ditch digger all your life do you? You think you can say "You want fries with that?" for the next 50yrs? Oh, and if you don't make enough money, how are you going to afford health insurance, or children for that matter. How in the world will you send your children to college so they don't have to eat shit like you? Yes there is no doubt or denying a luxurious and affluent life is to be desired. Living in financial security and freedom with commodities to make our lives comfortable and supposedly rewarding, would to most people, considered a benefit. A + or pro if you will. But to imply that our childhood dreams are nothing but material wealth and that we live to accomplish those dreams of wealth is very shallow and superficial at best. At this point, I think I should end the rant and refrain from further writing as I would never finish this entry. I'm not even going to bother editing it as I know I will won't be able to stop myself from adding more. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 30th, 2008
8:06 am	A big bowl of healthy "oatmeal" Now the last time I made a post like this, I received some criticism on the nutritional value of my oatmeal recipes. Although the type of oatmeal I had been making was not entirely unhealthy, like a burger, scrambled eggs, pancakes, top ramen or any other numerous meals we routinely eat here in America, it was still significantly void of many nutritional factors and was a long way off from what it could be. So over the past few years of experimenting and tasting (some delicious, some quite un-edible) I have settled on a method (and a specific recipe I will present here) which I believe to be quite healthy. What is presented here is basically a recipe following a set method. Although this recipe will use a wide variety of grains, many of the flours here-in can be substituted for more common, cheaper and readily available flours as long as they are not unbleached/bleached flour (i.e. whole flours preferably). I also realize this mixture has quite a number of common allergens. These allergens (such as wheat or soy) could be substituted out for something else, but I don't want to even contemplate that right now as it would take too much time. Through this method you can alter the recipe to availability and likes using this "method". First thing I do is to make a stock mixture of 200g composed of the following "dry" ingredients. -50g whole oats; ground into a flour -20g soy protein isolate -5g wheat gluten -20g wheat germ -25g wheat bran -10g oat bran -30g teff; ground into a flour -10g whole spelt flour (or 10g whole wheat flour; spelt is a different form of wheat) -20g whole dark rye flour -10g amaranth flour Dry ingredients are then mixed in a bowl. Typical serving weighs out to 20-40g. I usually have ~30-35g. To the dry ingredients mix in dried fruit which can be any of the following. -blueberries -raisins or zante currants -cranberries "craisins" -chopped dates -goji berries I tend to add ~1/4 cup or around 0.5 (50%) of the total dry mass in dried fruit. I like to use some goji berries plus another like raisins. Then I take two, whole, pitted dates and chew them thoroughly in my mouth (without swallowing any juice) then spit this back into the mixture. Now this may seem gross but it has two primary benefits. The chewing breaks up the dates into a pulp so it evenly disperses throughout the mixture while cooking, which distributes it's sugars and sweetens the mix. Additionally, the saliva begins to break down the carbohydrates of the grains during cooking into simple sugars, thus making the gruel sweeter. And if you happen to be squeamish about germs or whatever, the microwave or stove destroys any possible pathogens, so rest assured, your own saliva is not going to get you sick. Add a preferred amount and combination of liquids. I like to use ~200-250mL of liquid at about 50-100mL soy milk + 200-150mL H20 respectively (this is roughly 3/4-1+ cup total liquid.) Stir vigorously until well blended so there are no clumps of dry material floating around or attached to the bowl. Cook the following soup until preferred consistency, stirring every 1-3 minutes. (For me this is roughly 4-9min. in the microwave and about 15-25min. on the stove top.) Once it has been cooked, you may add any number additional ingredients to your liking. At this point I never add any additional sweeteners or sugars because the mixture is sufficiently sweet from the fruit and partially digested carbohydrates. These are some common additives I like to add: -flax seed; ground (or flax seed meal if you have some already prepared) -unsalted sunflower seeds; ground or whole -lightly salted & roasted pumpkin seeds; ground or whole -lightly salted or unsalted roasted peanuts; whole -peanut butter -sunbutter -hulled hemp seed and/or hemp seed protein powder (and/or with fiber) -plain non-fat yogurt After this has been mixed I cool down the mix with some non-fat milk or soy milk. Eat -Please comment, critique, ask questions or add suggestions as you wish. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
9:35 pm	If you're not too lazy Go ahead and fill this out as a comment. Be honest now. ( Read more... ) P.S. - How do you change the title of the link to the "livejournal cut", so it doesn't say "Read more..." (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 5th, 2008
11:36 pm	I think.... I think America has lost sight I think we have stagnated in our fleeting prosperity We have been lulled into complacency by frivolous trivialeties I think we've all forgotten what it once meant to be an American I think we've lost the spirit of true freedom We've been bought and paid for by subtle subjugation We've been caged and herded by power, fear, and ignorance I think we've lost sight of what truly matters And we're all to blame Each and every one of us Victims of our ancestor's successes and their lack of foresight Victims of our own stupendous ability to ignore hindsight I think America was a shining beacon The brilliant light on a new world's horizon I think America is nothing but a dimming dirty glow But I think there is a cliff on our horizon And it wont be long before we fall And then.... Then we experience a pain like none other I know America doesn't care what I think But I think America ought to know what I think Just sometimes (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
9:10 am	pt. 5 It’s true, nothing lasts or really matters But you are still here in mind and body So do with it what you will But choose wisely Because there is no other or after For one day, everything you know And everything that was or could be All that is will be nothing in time (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 14th, 2008
10:24 pm	4 Your despair feels limitless and great Agony seems to be an endless road And misery your only companion Lamentation and anguish is your voice But wounds heal and suffering subsides All pain will ease with time (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
8:17 pm	III Though your love may be absolute Lasting many happy years While spawning children who prosper One day they will all be gone Even life itself has an ultimate end All bloodlines will die in time (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 12th, 2008
9:32 pm	II Few shall build kingdoms and empires Others erect monuments and legacies Some may acquire wealth or knowledge Many more will toil in the hot sun And slave for overlords unkind All these works will fade with time (Comment on this)
Friday, April 11th, 2008
9:20 am	Dark Energy pt. 1 You know it doesn’t really matter Because nothing lasts forever What you strive to accomplish today Will only be a memory tomorrow Though you may collect or create All you do will vanish in time (Comment on this)