Feds interrogate 7th grader:
Fukushima nuclear meltdown actually occurred just 16 hours after earthquake, more meltdowns on the way
International Hearings on the Events of September 11, 2001 (should be promising... it'll be interesting to see if anything comes of it).
Feds crack down on Amish milk Thank you, HB 151
'Glorious Mission,' Chinese Video Game Targets U.S. Troops
And, finally, Say goodbye to the 4th amendment:
Supreme Court upholds warrantless search of apartment based on marijuana smell
What's shocking is not that it happened, but how little press this is receiving. I actually had to dig pretty hard (all things considered) just to find these articles.
Or maybe it's most shocking that this kinda thing still shocks me.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The dawn of WWIII?
As Gerald Celente commonly says:
"When the bailout bubble bursts, the only trick left will be to send them to war... We are in the beginning of the first great war of the 21st century."
Obviously, we've been at war for the last 10 years, but now it seems the wheels of the war machine are starting to pick up speed.
NATO Helicopters Fire on Pakistani Troops
"When the bailout bubble bursts, the only trick left will be to send them to war... We are in the beginning of the first great war of the 21st century."
Obviously, we've been at war for the last 10 years, but now it seems the wheels of the war machine are starting to pick up speed.
NATO Helicopters Fire on Pakistani Troops
Although NATO claimed it was responding to an unprovoked attack, Pakistan lodged a “strong protest,” stating that its soldiers were merely responding to an illegal incursion into Pakistani airspace.
Pakistan has, understandably, been not too happy about our countless unannounced invasions and bombings. They've told us several times to back off and leave them alone, and we only respond with more and more agitation. It's pretty obvious we -want- to provoke them, no doubt to justify even more military spending, more conquest, and more crackdowns on personal civil liberties. Unlike the rest of the area, Pakistan is a very crucial nation. In addition to having nuclear weapons, they're also close allies with China. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is very turbulent territory indeed.
The College Conspiracy
I graduated from high school in 2004 with a 4.0 GPA. I was my schools Salutatorian, a Sterling Scholar runner up, and had completed more than 40 semester hours of college with the various AP classes I’d taken. By 2007, I’d completed two bachelor’s degrees of the science and economics variety, and by 2009, I’d completed a Master’s of Science degree. Growing up, I, like everyone else in my generation, was told that in order to secure a stable and prosperous life for myself, all I needed to do was to go to college, and I’d get a good job and make good money. In fact, I was reassured that I’d make at least a million dollars more than those individuals who do not attend college, so I was encouraged to take out tens of thousands of dollars of debt to do it, and society told me that I shouldn’t worry, because it was the best investment in myself that I could make. True, I had scholarships to help cover the costs, but they didn’t cover everything, and even though I worked part time, I still had to rack up thousands of dollars worth of credit card debt just to survive. When all was said and done, by the time I’d completed my Master’s degree, I was almost 50 thousand dollars in debt.
I’d been actively looking and applying for work even before I graduated. I sent out about countless applications during late 2008 and early 2009, and was never contacted for a single interview. Faced with no other option, my partner and I had to move back in with my parents while we both struggled to find work, and for over a year I settled for a handful of demeaning temporary jobs making $8 an hour -- when I was lucky enough to get them.
After almost two years of searching, I finally found a permanent job. I work for the state of Utah now, and though it’s, by today's standard, a 'good job', I barely make enough money to cover the debt that I accrued to get the job in the first place (and I absolutely despise it, too). I still have to live in my parents basement, and the concept of ever being able to afford my own apartment, let alone buy a house one day, or a vehicle that isn’t almost 20 years old is a depressingly laughable notion. Even worse, with all the budget cuts that State Governments, and our division has recently been hit with, I feel anything but confident that I’ll be able to hold on to this job for very long.
What’s sad, though, is how much better off I am than most people in my generation, who have racked up even more debt than I have, and who have less education and even smaller prospects for landing a stable job that pays well enough to ever pay it off. As a nation, we’ve already endured a real estate crisis, a banking crisis, a credit card crisis, and the auto crisis, but the next great crisis on the horizon is the student loan crisis. When the future of America can’t get a job, afford to rent a place, buy a home, get a car, or pay their bills, and is burdened with tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt before they even get out of the gate, then where will be as a nation? We can ‘rebuild’ America all we want, but until we do something to address this massive problem overwhelming the foundation for our future, we will never be a prosperous nation again.
This little documentary has some pretty interesting tidbits in it. Unfortunately, they spent a lot of time speculating about non-related things, and didn't tell the whole story of depressing statistics surrounding the bleak future of college graduates, and thus, the future of our country, but it's still worth a watch.
To help give fill in those gaps, here's a few more facts and statistics for you to consider.
About 1.65 million college students graduated in 2010.
As of February 2010, over 8.4 million jobs had been lost in the "great recession". I haven't been able to find a comprehensive update of that, but I'm sure it's substantially higher now, especially as federal and state governments start to take the hits.
Employers added 244,000 jobs in April, the best month ever during the great recession. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find how many jobs were -lost- during this time to get -net- job creation). However, in order to fill the gap and get us back to pre-recession levels by 2015, we would have to add (I.E. NET) an average of about 350,000 jobs a month. And this is just to get us BACK to where we WERE. This does NOT account for keeping up with population growth and the demand for jobs... IE the roughly estimated 7.5 million college graduates that have (or will) enter the work force since 2007.
In fact, there has been ZERO net-job growth (jobs created - jobs eliminated) since December of 1999. Wow.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in March the national rate of unemployment in the United States was 9.7%, but for Americans younger than 25 it was 18.8%. In fact, according to a Pew Research Center study, approximately 37% of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have either been unemployed or underemployed at some point during the recession. Like all unemployment figures, this doesn't even account for college students that had never had a job.
One-third of all college graduates end up taking jobs that don't even require college degrees.
In the United States today, over 18,000 parking lot attendants have college degrees.
In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
In the United States today, approximately 365,000 cashiers have college degrees.
In the United States today, 24.5 percent of all retail salespersons have a college degree.
I could keep going on, but I think I've made my point.
Do yourself, or your child, a favor. Don't fall victim to the next great American ponzi scheme.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Debt Ceiling Reached
Debt ceiling to be reached -- today!
And, if you prefer a video format,
It's going to be an interesting 2 months, to say the least.
And, if you prefer a video format,
It's going to be an interesting 2 months, to say the least.
1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual
It's been awhile since my last post, but I wanted to pick up where I left off. I was going to post this thursday, but blogger was down.
And, if you're interested on seeing a day-by-day account of the G20 protests in Toronto, you should check out this little documentary. I've seen lots of individual, isolated videos from various G20's, but this is the first full-length documentary covering one particular event that I've seen. If you have the time and interest, I'd recommend it.
Like Sheep to the Slaughter
It starts out kinda slow, but when it actually gets into the protests it gets very fascinating.. particularly around the 1:10 mark or so. Like sheep to the slaughter...
And, if you're interested on seeing a day-by-day account of the G20 protests in Toronto, you should check out this little documentary. I've seen lots of individual, isolated videos from various G20's, but this is the first full-length documentary covering one particular event that I've seen. If you have the time and interest, I'd recommend it.
Like Sheep to the Slaughter
It starts out kinda slow, but when it actually gets into the protests it gets very fascinating.. particularly around the 1:10 mark or so. Like sheep to the slaughter...
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Not wasting any time
This is almost laughable.
National Emergency Alert System Set To Launch In NYC
Now, granted we all knew it was coming, but still... The implications of this are gargantuan.
1. Your phones will now be mandatorily equiped with FEMA endorsed microchips and software.
2. The messages will supersede all other phone traffic and have a unique signal and vibration...
Anyone see any problems with this???
3. This can already be done anyway! When I was in college, my university had an emergency system in place where they would send a text to everyone incase of an emergency... They certainly didn't need specialized chips and software to do this!!!
Apparently, now that the cats out of the bag that google and iphone were tracking users, the government just decided to put an end to the conspiracy and be up front with it! In the name of our 'safety', of course. And, i gotta hand it to them, it's a rather genius ploy. Now instead of being worried about a private company tracking us, the government can do it right out in the open, and better still, they can even install THEIR OWN CHIPS AND SOFTWARE to do it! And, like everything else, the majority of the sheeple out there who are still scared witless by the 'boogie men' terrorists are going to eat this up.
We are now just a few steps away from having literal telescreens installed in our homes that beam directly into our brains the latest government fables about who we’re bombing now, what level chocolate rations are this month, as well as Michelle Obama’s mandatory exercise program.
Oh wait....
Google's already working on that.
National Emergency Alert System Set To Launch In NYC
Now, granted we all knew it was coming, but still... The implications of this are gargantuan.
1. Your phones will now be mandatorily equiped with FEMA endorsed microchips and software.
2. The messages will supersede all other phone traffic and have a unique signal and vibration...
Anyone see any problems with this???
3. This can already be done anyway! When I was in college, my university had an emergency system in place where they would send a text to everyone incase of an emergency... They certainly didn't need specialized chips and software to do this!!!
Apparently, now that the cats out of the bag that google and iphone were tracking users, the government just decided to put an end to the conspiracy and be up front with it! In the name of our 'safety', of course. And, i gotta hand it to them, it's a rather genius ploy. Now instead of being worried about a private company tracking us, the government can do it right out in the open, and better still, they can even install THEIR OWN CHIPS AND SOFTWARE to do it! And, like everything else, the majority of the sheeple out there who are still scared witless by the 'boogie men' terrorists are going to eat this up.
We are now just a few steps away from having literal telescreens installed in our homes that beam directly into our brains the latest government fables about who we’re bombing now, what level chocolate rations are this month, as well as Michelle Obama’s mandatory exercise program.
Oh wait....
Google's already working on that.
Animal Farm
Now this might come as an interesting change of pace, seeing that it's not necessarily news related, but if you give the movie a chance, I think you might see why I posted it.
If one's familiar with the work, it should come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of George Orwell's 1984. His other cultural masterpiece is, of course, Animal Farm. Now, I've always heard a lot about Animal Farm, but I was never terribly acquainted with it, and more or less only knew that it was a commentary on Communism, and particularly Stalin, during the period just before WWII. Like many of you, I wasn't around at that time, and though I know a little bit about what the history books say about Stalin and that era, I can't really say much about it besides that (and, though I'm not defending communism, or Stalin, we're all familiar with the age old adage "The winners of the war write the history books").
So, being admittedly naive about the original premise of the story, I approached it from a more modern perspective... And, low and behold, it was still a fantastic commentary, even if the context was a little different. If you have the time and are interested in familiarizing yourself with Orwell's other work, and a literary classic in and of its own right, then I'd recommend you watch the animated interpretation.
If I ever find myself with the luxury of having more time to read, it'll definitely be on my agenda.
Here's a plot synopsise from the actual novel, to fill in some of the gaps that the movie leaves, and to point of some of the strinking similarities between the book and what is going on today.
Old Major, the old boar on the Manor Farm, calls the animals on the farm for a meeting, where he compares the humans to parasites and teaches the animals a revolutionary song, "Beasts of England".
When Major dies three days later, two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, assume command and turn his dream into a philosophy. The animals revolt and drive the drunken and irresponsible Mr. Jones from the farm, renaming it "Animal Farm".
The Seven Commandments of Animalism are written on the wall of a barn. The most important is the seventh, "All animals are equal." All the animals work, but the workhorse, Boxer, does more than others and adopts the maxim — "I will work harder."
Snowball attempts to teach the animals reading and writing; food is plentiful; and the farm runs smoothly. The pigs elevate themselves to positions of leadership and set aside special food items ostensibly for their personal health. Napoleon takes the pups from the farm dogs and trains them privately. When Mr. Jones tries retaking the farm, the animals defeat him at what they call the "Battle of the Cowshed." Napoleon and Snowball struggle for leadership. When Snowball announces his idea for a windmill, Napoleon opposes it. Snowball makes a speech in favour of the windmill, whereupon Napoleon has his dogs chase Snowball away. In Snowball's absence, Napoleon declares himself leader and makes changes. Meetings will no longer be held and instead a committee of pigs will run the farm.
Using a young pig named Squealer as a mouthpiece, Napoleon announces that Snowball stole the idea for the windmill from him. The animals work harder with the promise of easier lives with the windmill. After a violent storm, the animals find the windmill annihilated. Napoleon and Squealer convince the animals that Snowball destroyed the windmill, although the scorn of the neighbouring farmers suggests the windmill's walls were too thin. Once Snowball becomes a scapegoat, Napoleon begins purging the farm, killing animals he accuses of consorting with Snowball. Meanwhile, Boxer takes up a second maxim: "Napoleon is always right."
Napoleon abuses his powers, making life harder for the animals; the pigs impose more control while reserving privileges for themselves. The pigs rewrite history, villainizing Snowball and glorifying Napoleon. Squealer justifies every statement Napoleon makes, even the pigs' alteration of the Seven Commandments of Animalism. "No animal shall sleep in beds" is changed to "No animal shall sleep in beds with sheets" when the pigs are discovered to have been sleeping in the old farmhouse. "No animal shall drink alcohol" is changed to "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess" when the pigs discover the farmer's whisky. "Beasts of England" is banned as inappropriate, as according to Napoleon the dream of Animal Farm has been realized. It is replaced by an anthem glorifying Napoleon, who appears to be adopting the lifestyle of a man. The animals, though cold, starving, and overworked, remain convinced through psychological conditioning that they are better off than they were when ruled by Mr. Jones. Squealer abuses the animals' poor memories and invents numbers to show their improvement.
Mr. Frederick, one of the neighbouring farmers, swindles Napoleon by buying old wood with forged money, and then attacks the farm, using blasting powder to blow up the restored windmill. Though the animals win the battle, they do so at great cost, as many, including Boxer, are wounded. Boxer continues working harder and harder, until he collapses while working on the windmill. Napoleon sends for a van to take Boxer to the veterinarian, explaining that better care can be given there. Benjamin the donkey, who "could read as well as any pig",[5] notices that the van belongs to "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler", and attempts to mount a rescue; but the animals' attempts are futile. Squealer reports that the van was purchased by the hospital and the writing from the previous owner had not been repainted. He recounts a tale of Boxer's death in the hands of the best medical care. Shortly after Boxer's death, it is revealed that the pigs have purchased more whisky.
Years pass, and the pigs learn to walk upright, carry whips, and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are reduced to a single phrase: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Napoleon holds a dinner party for the pigs and the humans of the area, who congratulate Napoleon on having the hardest-working animals in the country on the least feed. Napoleon announces an alliance with the humans, against the labouring classes of both "worlds". He abolishes practices and traditions related to the Revolution, and reverts the name of the farm to "Manor Farm".
The animals, overhearing the conversation, notice that the faces of the pigs have begun changing. During a poker match, an argument breaks out between Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington when they both play the Ace of Spades, and the animals realize that the faces of the pigs look like the faces of humans and no one can tell the difference between them.
If one's familiar with the work, it should come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of George Orwell's 1984. His other cultural masterpiece is, of course, Animal Farm. Now, I've always heard a lot about Animal Farm, but I was never terribly acquainted with it, and more or less only knew that it was a commentary on Communism, and particularly Stalin, during the period just before WWII. Like many of you, I wasn't around at that time, and though I know a little bit about what the history books say about Stalin and that era, I can't really say much about it besides that (and, though I'm not defending communism, or Stalin, we're all familiar with the age old adage "The winners of the war write the history books").
So, being admittedly naive about the original premise of the story, I approached it from a more modern perspective... And, low and behold, it was still a fantastic commentary, even if the context was a little different. If you have the time and are interested in familiarizing yourself with Orwell's other work, and a literary classic in and of its own right, then I'd recommend you watch the animated interpretation.
If I ever find myself with the luxury of having more time to read, it'll definitely be on my agenda.
Here's a plot synopsise from the actual novel, to fill in some of the gaps that the movie leaves, and to point of some of the strinking similarities between the book and what is going on today.
Old Major, the old boar on the Manor Farm, calls the animals on the farm for a meeting, where he compares the humans to parasites and teaches the animals a revolutionary song, "Beasts of England".
When Major dies three days later, two young pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, assume command and turn his dream into a philosophy. The animals revolt and drive the drunken and irresponsible Mr. Jones from the farm, renaming it "Animal Farm".
The Seven Commandments of Animalism are written on the wall of a barn. The most important is the seventh, "All animals are equal." All the animals work, but the workhorse, Boxer, does more than others and adopts the maxim — "I will work harder."
Snowball attempts to teach the animals reading and writing; food is plentiful; and the farm runs smoothly. The pigs elevate themselves to positions of leadership and set aside special food items ostensibly for their personal health. Napoleon takes the pups from the farm dogs and trains them privately. When Mr. Jones tries retaking the farm, the animals defeat him at what they call the "Battle of the Cowshed." Napoleon and Snowball struggle for leadership. When Snowball announces his idea for a windmill, Napoleon opposes it. Snowball makes a speech in favour of the windmill, whereupon Napoleon has his dogs chase Snowball away. In Snowball's absence, Napoleon declares himself leader and makes changes. Meetings will no longer be held and instead a committee of pigs will run the farm.
Using a young pig named Squealer as a mouthpiece, Napoleon announces that Snowball stole the idea for the windmill from him. The animals work harder with the promise of easier lives with the windmill. After a violent storm, the animals find the windmill annihilated. Napoleon and Squealer convince the animals that Snowball destroyed the windmill, although the scorn of the neighbouring farmers suggests the windmill's walls were too thin. Once Snowball becomes a scapegoat, Napoleon begins purging the farm, killing animals he accuses of consorting with Snowball. Meanwhile, Boxer takes up a second maxim: "Napoleon is always right."
Napoleon abuses his powers, making life harder for the animals; the pigs impose more control while reserving privileges for themselves. The pigs rewrite history, villainizing Snowball and glorifying Napoleon. Squealer justifies every statement Napoleon makes, even the pigs' alteration of the Seven Commandments of Animalism. "No animal shall sleep in beds" is changed to "No animal shall sleep in beds with sheets" when the pigs are discovered to have been sleeping in the old farmhouse. "No animal shall drink alcohol" is changed to "No animal shall drink alcohol to excess" when the pigs discover the farmer's whisky. "Beasts of England" is banned as inappropriate, as according to Napoleon the dream of Animal Farm has been realized. It is replaced by an anthem glorifying Napoleon, who appears to be adopting the lifestyle of a man. The animals, though cold, starving, and overworked, remain convinced through psychological conditioning that they are better off than they were when ruled by Mr. Jones. Squealer abuses the animals' poor memories and invents numbers to show their improvement.
Mr. Frederick, one of the neighbouring farmers, swindles Napoleon by buying old wood with forged money, and then attacks the farm, using blasting powder to blow up the restored windmill. Though the animals win the battle, they do so at great cost, as many, including Boxer, are wounded. Boxer continues working harder and harder, until he collapses while working on the windmill. Napoleon sends for a van to take Boxer to the veterinarian, explaining that better care can be given there. Benjamin the donkey, who "could read as well as any pig",[5] notices that the van belongs to "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler", and attempts to mount a rescue; but the animals' attempts are futile. Squealer reports that the van was purchased by the hospital and the writing from the previous owner had not been repainted. He recounts a tale of Boxer's death in the hands of the best medical care. Shortly after Boxer's death, it is revealed that the pigs have purchased more whisky.
Years pass, and the pigs learn to walk upright, carry whips, and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are reduced to a single phrase: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Napoleon holds a dinner party for the pigs and the humans of the area, who congratulate Napoleon on having the hardest-working animals in the country on the least feed. Napoleon announces an alliance with the humans, against the labouring classes of both "worlds". He abolishes practices and traditions related to the Revolution, and reverts the name of the farm to "Manor Farm".
The animals, overhearing the conversation, notice that the faces of the pigs have begun changing. During a poker match, an argument breaks out between Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington when they both play the Ace of Spades, and the animals realize that the faces of the pigs look like the faces of humans and no one can tell the difference between them.
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