Fidei

SOPA/PIPA defeated!

2012-01-20T12:27:00.001-05:00

SOPA/PIPA has been defeated! But we must not rest on our laurels. The greedy, amoral media companies will not stop until the law itself stops them for good. Sadly there is no short supply of corrupt politicians in Congress who put their own selfish interests ahead of the rights of We the People!

If SOPA/PIPA has passed it would have meant the end of the open and free Internet a we know it. The media companies and any copyright holder would not have even needed any proof to shut down a site, to have a person charged and facing 5 years in prison. All they would have to do is file a complaint and claim a rights infringement and your website/blog could be shut down.

The dirty little secret is that the media companies themselves are behind many file sharing networks. Further these companies like Sony, Viacom, Time-Warner engage in illegal activity. They use malware, aggressive port scanning, denial of service attacks, viruses and packet inspection to gain access to users computers and see what files they have.

By treating consumers as hardened criminals these media companies have alienated several generations against them. Not the best business model. The RIAA, MPAA will be stopped, they will finally be forced, by the law and by the market dynamics, that they cannot conduct business like this and will find a profitable and fair business model for digital consumption.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson

Here's a good article by Dr. Michael Ham on how SOPA/PIPA could have been used to arbitrarily take down websites, stifle business competition and silence scientific debate.

Ipod Touch

2012-01-15T21:54:00.001-05:00

Using the Blogger app!

formspring.me

2012-01-13T11:17:00.001-05:00

Ask me questions about Movies http://www.formspring.me/netrek

Cancer center bans Christian symbols!

2011-11-21T21:56:00.001-05:00

These types of stories really make my blood boil. The Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center has banned all religious symbols on its premises for this Christmas season. They did it so as not to "offend anyone"! Spokeswoman for the Hollings Cancer Center, Vicky Agnew said that decorations will be, "more secular and respectful to all beliefs." Agnew said, "We don't want to offend a volunteer with good intentions, but we need to think of the bigger picture. People who are Muslim or Jewish or have no religious beliefs come here for treatment." This action is, "not meant to be cold," she said.

This is, sadly, yet another instance of arrogance, fundamental misunderstanding of our Constitution and an outright cowardice! Keep in mind this cancer center is where sick people are recuperating from serious illnesses and it has been proven in peer reviewed research that prayer and ones Christian faith does have a positive impact on patient recovery! If anyplace this is where such vital symbols of faith, encouragement and hope are needed. Our Constitution does not establish an absolute divorce of religious content from the public arena. The so-called separation of church and state clause was instituted to protect people of faith from the abuses of government - something which many of our forefathers had experienced in Europe.

The rights of the many are abrogated and sacrificed on the expedient altar of political correctness! So the fear of a hardhearted atheist or member of some other faith was so compelling that they were forced to take such a Draconian action? I think not. There has been a concerted effort by liberals, spearheaded by groups like the ACLU, for decades to systematically remove all evidence of our Judeo-Christian heritage from *any* public space. This attack has been concentrated mainly on court houses, public primary schools, hospitals, universities, state parks, and businesses. They've even gone after private property owners having a large cross on display. We must fight back against this tyranny. For too long people of faith and freedom lovers have sat back and allowed this evil to foster. Now is the time for action! Please take time to contact the Hollings Cancer Center and let them know that you are angered by their decision and want them to reverse it. Remember: Jesus is the Reason for the Christmas season!

Here is some helpful contact information I collected. Make your voice heard today!

Vicky Agnew, Public Relations
Hollings Cancer Center
E-mail: agnew@musc.edu
Phone: 843-792-0376

Andrew S. Kraft, M.D., Director
Hollings Cancer Center
E-mail: kraft@musc.edu
Phone: 843-792-8284

Hollings Cancer Center
Main Phone: 843-792-0700

Medical University of South Carolina
Main Phone: 843-792-2300

Medical University of South Carolina
Attn: Raymond S. Greenberg, President
Colcock Hall
179 Ashley Ave.
MSC 001
Charleston, SC 29425

Medical University of South Carolina
Hollings Cancer Center
Attn: Andrew S. Kraft, M.D., Director
86 Jonathan Lucas Street
P.O. Box 250955
Charleston, SC 29425

a poem

2011-11-21T21:34:00.001-05:00

"Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali

"evening repose"

you labored all day
now it's time to play

sit back and relax
don't hack

after eating a fine meal
happy you shall feel

turn your ear
to Bach's Well Tempered Clavier

now read a good book
on Facebook do not look

no email for tonight
go and dim the light

now drift off and snooze
without aid of booze

have happy dreams
reality isn't what it seems!

-- Zachary Uram (c) 2011

Decline of the West; Europe is lost

2011-11-02T08:01:00.000-04:00

In Japan you still have a fairly intact family unit, schools are much stricter than in the West, children are taught to follow the law and be good citizens. Hedonistic parents in the West raise their spoiled brats to be narcissistic self-absorbed twats who just look to satiate their base carnal desires; if anyone gets in their way they just step over them. The feminist movement and so-called sexual revolution has destroyed the family unit. In the black community 90% of kids are born bastards and grow up with no father present. Things aren't much better in the white or hispanic communities. I regularly read in the British broadsheets of the rise of hooliganism and thuggery, school kids slashing each other with knives, and the law is lax and lets them off the hook. Sexual morality is at an abysmal level in the West too. Half the population is either stoned on drugs or in a drunken stupor. Also a fundamental, a very non-PC, factor is people turning away from God. For those bashing America: yes we have our faults, as does any country, but at least we still have a majority Christian nation and haven't bowed down to the tyranny of the Islamists and welcomed the Trojan Horse into our own shores as misguided liberal Britain and much of Europe has done. It's too late for you now, but we still have a chance. The European Union has failed and many member nations now have stagnant economies deep in debt, with high unemployment, crushing social obligations (especially as tens of millions of illiterate immigrants, mainly Muslims, received social benefits), failing central banks, currency decline, inflation and over-taxation. Enjoy the Sharia law which will be coming in the next decades!

Utter idiocy in the UAE and Saudi Arabia

2011-10-27T05:38:00.000-04:00

The blasphemer of Islam!

According to a recent story in the Emirates 24|7 news blog, a 'social activist' in the United Arab Emirates, Mariam Al Ahmadi, was outraged to discover a Chinese made toy at some local shops which, she claims, makes a noise that somehow mocks Islam. Specifically, it somehow gives offense to Mohammed's child bride wife Aisha. One would think she'd be outraged that Mohammed married Aisha at age 6 and consummated the marriage at age 9, but that doesn't seem to rattle her fragile sensibilities. Ms. Al Ahmadi he is now leading an effort to get all of the offending toys removed. Seriously UAE this is your source of moral indignation? This story reminds of primitive animistic beliefs, where ignorant tribes believe that lightning is an angry god shouting at them or something.

Not surprisingly Saudi Arabia got wind of this and confiscated a bunch of them. Well done! Note that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are Islamist countries where there is no freedom of religion, no freedoms of speech or press, and women do not have the full rights they enjoy in the West. This activist didn't raise so much as an eyebrow over the Christians in UAE who are raped, falsely imprisoned, beaten, tortured and even murdered (all in the name of Islam) for their beliefs. Yet a toy gun making a sound akin to RATATAT stirs up feelings of outrage. This is ridiculous, but sadly not very surprising. In case the offending story is deleted, which seems to happen quite often in such cases, here is an archived copy.

It's natural instinct for those of us not brainwashed to laugh at such an absurd assertion, but there is a very serious, and disturbing, cultural dynamic at work here. We see the archetypal Righteous Defender of Islam at work. Even the most innocuous and innocent things may set them off into a rampage. It's happened numerous times and we must fight it at every turn. Hopefully Islam will finally go through a much needed reformation and purge itself of the Jihadist and Islamist factions, but the calls for moderation and sober introspection from within Islam seem far too few and weak. I would love to hear from Muslims and hear what they think about this story.

And on an economic digression: the Chinese have mastered Western capitalism (including its amoral defects and excesses) and know their customers. Can you imagine some poor factory engineer in Shenzhen, plodding through his 6 day, 100 hour work week, recording an anti-Islam message in Arabic onto the memory chip of the control board of a plastic toy gun! It would be harder to come up with a more implausible scenario.

Islam actually enjoys greater protection in China than Christianity. The Quran is sold in a wide variety of bookstores and mosques are not regulated. Whereas Bibles are only sold in a limited number of state run religious bookstores and the only recognized Christian churches are ones which belong to the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). Of course the pastors of the TSPM churches are all trained by the Chinese Communist Party! Oppression of Christians in the Muslim world and China is a very serious issue, but the Church is growing mightily. Praise the Lord!

Melancholia (2011) - film review

2011-10-08T00:12:00.000-04:00

A very earnest gaze! LOL

WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

"Melancholia" proves that a big budget means nothing in terms of the final artistic creation. It was the worst sort of disaster film I've ever seen. Even hammy B movie type films are at least enjoyable for their contrived drama, overwrought affectations and downright silly action sequences, but this film tries so hard to be taken seriously and fails.

Some reviewers have been critical of the slow pace of the film, and defenders retort that this is somehow evidence of its sophistication. I disagree with both camps. Having a slower pace is not a problem if the character's are engaging, the plot is interesting and we're made to care on some level. Also, as evidenced in "Melancholia" a slow pace is an exercise in futility if all the components don't work.

Kirsten Dunst's performance was overdone and tiresome. She is a good actress, but not a great one. Kiefer Sutherland was great in 24, but I don't think his acting style is suited to slower paced dramatic films. Or rather I should say melodramatic films which this one was. I'm not a parent, but one other aspect of this film really irked me. Charlotte Gainsbourg's character's resignation to her fate was semi-believable, but the way she behaved in light of her young son's impending doom was ridiculous! Dunst spends about half of her screen time making various depressive, vacant or angst ridden facial expressions. The master of this sort of facial acting was Toshiro Mifune. With a subtle expression he could brilliantly convey an emotional state, or even several, but it was never overdone. I wish Dunst would study his films and take some lessons!

The tone of the film as a whole was pretentious. Melancholia was a Victorian term for people with depression and that's how I felt after watching this film. I'm not a parent, but one other aspect of this film really irked me. Sadly this sort of film is not an anomaly for director Lars von Trier. I've never been a fan of his work, but I went into this film with an open mind and was once again disappointed. His ethics are also highly questionable, and yes I maintain this is relevant since as a director one's moral makeup has a definite impact and imprint on what you put into a film. At the last Cannes Film Festival Trier made pro-Nazi comments, saying he sympathized with Hitler. Also, he left his pregnant wife to shack up with the family babysitter who was young enough to be his daughter!

The Wages of Fear (1953) - film review

2011-09-26T02:15:00.002-04:00

"Le salaire de la peur"

This is a great film, yet it has a fatal flaw in my view. Mario, played by Yves Montand, and his close friend Jo (Charles Vanel), and others are tasked with transporting nitroglycerin (which is very unstable) to a far off site where it's needed. The plot is simple and straightforward. The richness of the film comes from the poignant drama, the three dimensional characterizations provided by the script and principal actors, the use of cut shots to convey emotional content and the use of symbolic imagery,. I strongly disagree with the Sartresque ending however. Japanese films, which are known for having the protagonist(s) die, have a rich history of self-sacrifice. Bound by a strict social code of honor, their death is given context and a meaning, even if we disagree with it. In this film however, the ending feels heavy handed and reeks of the philosophical influence of atheistic existentialism. In pushing against what they saw as the problems in Idealism they established a system of thought just as arbitrary with its own problems, which I'd contend are far worse. In this nihilistic view life and even our existence is a tragic joke, a pointless exercise where we are certain only of despair and nothingness.

There is no spiritual existence, nor even a sure epistemological foundation to rely on. In this broken ontological state man is destined for destruction without meaning. Mario is finally liberated from his materialist concerns, yet his joy was short lived and he's soon destroyed. Existentialist philosophy girds the script. A much better ending would have been for Mario to get back home and live his life, to have some measure of happiness and love, yet tempered with sorrow at the loss of his friend. But such a hopeful and life affirming conclusion is an affront to the nihilist. Some say Mario was driven to such irresponsible behavior by suicidal impulses, but I think it's clear he was compelled to demonstrate man's ultimate folly. When the truck was stuck in the oil pond Mario disregarded Jo's well being. When asked why he didn't stop Mario says that he had no choice. Also when Jo was near death in the truck and reminiscing about a fence on the street he used to live on, just moments before he dies he asks, "What was beyond the fence?" Mario answers, "Nothing." Then as Jo is literally exhaling his last few breaths his eyes grow wide and full of fear as he exclaims,"Nothing!", then dies immediately. This is akin to waving a giant red flag at us! The nihilistic message implicit in that sad exchange is so obvious. This and other little cues are peppered throughout the film and speak to the running nihilistic narrative.

Mario's exuberant, 4000 francs richer and on the way home to be reunited with Linda, yet I knew exactly what was to come. If one has read mid 20th century nihilist literature, particularly French, this ending was expected. Arnaud and Clouzot wanted this and it lessens the value of their film to a degree. A magnificent film, yet tainted by a dangerous and fatuous philosophy. The entire tortuous journey, the death of his friends, it was all for nothing. They were all destroyed and nothing was gained by it.

China's Heart

2011-09-14T22:31:00.001-04:00

steaming hotpot
perfumes the air
gleaming summer's sun

countryside life
earthy and noble
unchanged by time

daily rhythms
a people linked
a proud culture

kids play
innocence of youth
their parents dream

new society
globalized and homogenized
what is lost?

generations leap
the Cultural Revolution
Facebook and Twitter

fish swim
the Yangtze river
strong and dynamic

return youth
to the fields
of amber wheat

find joy
in simple pleasures
laughter and song

a path
walked for millennia
follow it well

God's creation
the beauty unfolds
let minds behold

before Communism
journeyed Apostle Paul
across China's soil

preaching life
eternal in Christ
Han people followed

a struggle
modernism and materialism
twin evils abound

fear not
in China's history
a seed planted

bearing fruit
sweeter than lychee
a liberating Gospel

dusk now
my ears delighted
by the erhu

drifting asleep
i will dream
of Jesus's China

-- by Zachary Uram (c) 2011

formspring.me

2011-08-20T07:09:00.001-04:00

Ask me anything which is not profane, heretical, sexual, crude, lewd or rude. http://formspring.me/netrek

"2012: Ice Age" (2011) - film review

2011-06-30T20:37:00.000-04:00

This movie is a disaster! The acting is so bad I often laughed out loud at the delivery. I could write better dialogue when I was in 9th grade! The plot is very implausible and the premise is ridiculous. One would have to be wholly ignorant of science to not be incredulous.

First of all the glacier would not be speeding across the ocean no matter how big it was. If such a gigantic glacier shelf broke off (1,000 miles wide) it would have triggered a massive tsunami. The shortest over-water distance between Europe and America is 1,630 miles so if glacier will reach the eastern US coast in 19 hours it is traveling at 86mph! This is just not possible.

The Indian scientist is a complete moron, he sees explosions less than a mile away and waits until the last possible minute to take off in the helicopter. Then the fool travels along the fault line! All he has to do was fly at a 90 degree angle to the fault line and he would have been safe. Or he could have just flown higher, the helicopter was way too close to the ground. And that was an extremely powerful huge helicopter he was in so it had the power.

Julie McCullough is not aging well. I was shocked to read that she's only 45. She looks closer to 60! I remember when she was on "Growing Pains". This is what happens when you get too much sun exposure. I bet she's also a smoker. Her skin looks at least 10 years older than her age, she has dark pockets under her eyes, liver spots, tons of wrinkles, skin looks extremely dry and unhealthy! Girls if you want nice skin when you get older STAY OUT OF THE SUN and moisturize.

Their slut daughter is totally annoying. She meets her ostensible boyfriend in Manhattan and after less than 1 minute says, "Let's go back to the dorm and fool around!" Right there I have lost any sympathy for her and hope the glacier gets her! haha

When the jets fired missiles at the face of the glacier the chunks that broke off went straight up into the air! That violated several laws of physics lol.

As they drive away everything is destroyed by the glacier, yet it somehow stopped just before reaching the road?!

The son has a panicked expression for most of the movie and seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The exchange between in the car between the mother and him is hilarious. Keep in mind that he's apparently 17-18:

Nelson: Everything is gone isn't it?
Teri: Just don't even think about it alright Nelson.
Nelson: Everything. God! Friends. I need to get online!
Teri: No no. You need to focus on what's important ok.
Nelson: THIS IS IMPORTANT!
Teri: No it's not important!

I guess Nelson wanted to check Facebook before the entire east coast is destroyed!

Their car crashing was so dumb. He knows the weather is bad so he speeds and takes his eyes off the road to talk to his wife?! They then commandeer a group home van.

Instead of being logical and telling their daughter to head south now they decide to drive 6 hours to go and pick her up. The glacier would have reached NY way before they'd even get there since it just hit Maine and is traveling at around 86mph. Idiotic!

The people in Boston are walking around and are instantly frozen in place by super cold air! lol.

We are treated to this brilliant exchange:

Julia: But what about the glacier isn't it headed straight for us?
Natl. Guardsman: Not for long. There's a combined task force on its way to meet it.
Julia: So you've declared war on a glacier?
Natl. Guardsman: That's right. It's the last chunk of the glacier and they're putting everything they have on it. Now get your asses inside before I have you arrested!

Later when they are in the Cessna flying to NJ Nelson logs into the NOAA website (user: julia, password: nelson - haha how dumb!) and informs his parents that the glacier is now moving at 200mph! HOW ABSURD!

When the cop told Teri the George Washington Bridge is out she looks at it, sees the damage and says, "Wooow." haha! Perhaps the worst acting I've ever seen on film!

No matter how congested traffic is they always find a convenient alternate route.

The snow is obviously fake.

Twice Bill expertly maneuvers the car to dodge gigantic chunks of falling glacier ice!

They take refuge in the Statue of Liberty and the massive glacier stops moving as soon as it hits the statue, but not hard enough to knock it down!

Boycott NBC - removed "under God" from Pledge of Allegiance

2011-06-20T16:27:00.006-04:00

During the recent U.S. Open broadcast this past Sunday, in the beginning of coverage NBC Sports division blatantly removed the words "under God" twice from the pledge of allegiance! As a Christian I am outraged by this slight. How dare they do this. And the lukewarm apology which was issued was very weak. Who is responsible for this? We demand to know who made the decision to have this deliberate omission, it was no accident. No doubt some hateful bitter atheist employee of NBC Sports who can't stand the fact that most people in this country are people of faith. This person deserves to be fired! ALL CHRISTIANS, JEWS AND MUSLIMS MUST BOYCOTT NBC! We must let NBC know that they will not get away with this evil action. God is not to be mocked. This is even a stupid move pragmatically since the vast majority of their audience and most people who buy products and services from their advertisers are people of faith who believe in God. So this was a very dumb move strategically.

This just shows how debased atheists are. If someone wants to believe in nothing I think they are wrong, but I won't try to harass them. However the New Atheists are not content to enjoy their disbelief, they feel compelled in a very infantile passive aggressive way to remove symbols and expressions of faith from all institutions both public and private. This just shows how intellectually bankrupt the New Atheism is (all of their arguments have been made before, by better men, and refuted) and how unethical they are! If they can't defeat you in an argument or in the court of public opinion they will seek to censor you. And another one of their tactics is to personally attack, mock and ridicule those who disagree with them. Richard Dawkins is infamous for doing this. If you don't subscribe to his brand of atheism you are derided as one who is self-deluded, anti-intellectual, uneducated, unintelligent, a fool or even insane. The same thing happens in academia all the time to conservative professors who disagree with the liberal establishment. Whoever at NBC Sports authorized this action is full of hatred and misery to be compelled to do such a thing.

CONTACT NBC NOW AND LET THEM KNOW HOW YOU FEEL!

NBC Headquarters
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Phone: 1 (818) 840-4444 (switchboard)
Phone: (212) 664-2333 (comment line)
Phone: (212) 664-4444
Fax: (212) 664-4426

NBC Sports
National Broadcasting Company, Inc.
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY
Phone: (201) 804-0300

Bob Wright
Vice Chairman and Executive Officer, GE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer NBC Universal
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Phone: (212) 664-4444
Fax: (201) 583-5453

Jeff Zucker
President, NBC Universal Television Group
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Phone: (212) 664-4444
Fax: (201) 583-5453

Here is a list of email contacts:

nbcsportshelp@nbcuni.com, JOHN.ECK@nbc.com, JEFF.ZUCKER@nbc.com, jeff.zucker@nbcuni.com, STEVE.CAPUS@nbc.com, ALLISON.GOLLUST@nbc.com, PAULA.MADISON@nbc.com, CORY.SHIELDS@nbc.com, JOHN.WALLACE@nbc.com, David.Verdi@nbc.com, LYNN.CALPETER@nbc.com, DICK.EBERSOL@nbc.com, dick.ebersol@nbcuni.com, MARK.HOFFMAN@nbc.com, MARC.CHINI@nbcuni.com, Alyssa.Corcoran@nbcuni.com, MICHAEL.BASS@nbcuni.com, MICHAEL.PILOT@nbcuni.com, Ron.Lamprecht@nbcuni.com, Kathy.kelly-brown@nbcuni.com, amy.zelvin@nbcuni.com, Nate.kirtman@nbcuni.com, Rebecca.Marks@nbcuni.com, NIKKI.LICHTERMAN@NBCUNI.COM, JAMIE.FRENCH@NBCUNI.COM, david.verdi@nbc.com, Marianne.Gambelli@nbcuni.com, Mark.Lazarus@nbcuni.com, Jeremy.Gaines@nbcuni.com, Lauren.Kapp@nbcuni.com, Curt.King@nbcuni.com, Cindy.Gardner@nbcuni.com, John.Kelley@nbcuni.com, John.Miller@nbcuni.com, Mike.McCarley@nbcuni.com, Gary.Zenkel@nbcuni.com, Peter.Diamond@nbcuni.com, Sam.Flood@nbcuni.com, Christopher.Mccloskey@nbcuni.com, Kevin.Monaghan@nbcuni.com

UPDATE! My voice was heard. I've just received feedback from Christopher McCloskey. Praise God!

Zachary,

Thank you for writing regarding your concern over the beginning of our
U.S. Open coverage on Sunday.

We are aware of the distress this has caused many of our viewers and are
taking the issue very seriously.

Unfortunately, when producing the piece - which was intended to
capitalize on the patriotism of having our national championship played
in our nation's capital - a decision was made by a small group of people
to edit portions of the Pledge of Allegiance.

This was a bad decision.

As soon as management became aware of this decision and the controversy
it justifiably created, it immediately took steps to correct it
resulting in an on-air apology provided by NBC Sports' lead golf
commentator Dan Hicks.

It was not the intent of NBC to upset anyone and we sincerely apologize
to anyone who was offended.

Thank you again for taking the time to voice your concerns.

Sincerely,

Chris McCloskey
Vice President, Communications
NBCUniversal Sports & Olympics

A case against Obama

2011-06-19T15:21:00.004-04:00

By every single metric people are worse off and suffering more now under Obama than they did under Bush. The only one's who are actually doing better are the hyper rich. Obama took trillions in stimulus and bailout money and gave it to his Wall Street banker buddies who turned around and either invested it in foreign banks, gave themselves huge bonuses, invested it in risky hedge funds (which they promised they wouldn't do) or loaned money to their fellow banks at near 0% interest rates here in the US, they were supposed to lend that money to the middle class, the working poor and small business owners and that is precisely what they didn't do! Credit is still very tight and there is no sign that liquidity will open up anytime soon.

Obama's Federal Reserve has pursued one of the most reckless policies in history with quantitative easing (buying up $600 billion - $1 trillion USD), QE1 was proven to have failed, so they stupidly went away with QE2 and now we see that has also failed. Moron Ben Bernanke denies QE3 is happening all the way the Fed keeps buying bonds! We already have a fiat currency, but when you monetize the debt on top of record deficits and debt you compound bad fiscal policy with bad monetary policy. The reckless policies of the Fed are killing us, their inflation game must be stopped. The real point of QE was to drive down interest rates to nothing so his hyper rich buddies could benefit (including one of Obama's main financier's George Soros). In fact since regulators knew about the housing and credit bubbles and did nothing and major banks knew it was an intentional program to make trillions of dollars and then when the bubbles burst to devalue assets so the hyper rich could buy them up at a bargain.

"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists." – J. Edgar Hoover

ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) and QE (quantitative easing) do not work! The only thing it has done successfully is to transfer wealth to Wall Street and the international banking cabal while recklessly monetizing our debt, increasing inflation and devaluing the US dollar. Bernanke is utterly clueless, he is an educated idiot, his untested academic models are not to be tested on a weakened US economy. Their lauded fiscal stimulus did nothing except make things worse!

As a result we are now in danger of falling into hyper inflation, the value of the US dollar has been so far reduced it will likely never recover and since cost of oil is index on USD this has played a part in rising oil costs - along with immoral behavior of oil speculators which Obama won't do anything about: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/speculators-fed-share-blame-for-higher-gas-prices-2011-05-06?link=home_carousel

We are now heading into a Double Dip recession.
Since Obama has been elected inflation has been skyrocketing and things are about to get much worse as we enter hyperinflation! Note that the inflation formula the Fed uses does not include food or energy costs - both of which have been surging like crazy in the past 2 years so we're in for a tougher time on the middle class and more misery for the poor. Honestly how can anyone say they are better off now than they were 2 years ago or that the country is better off as a whole?

We already have two costly wars so Obama gets us involved in a third war in Libya. Bush got Congressional approval for Iraq and Afghanistan wars, yet Obama's Libya war is illegal - he never got approval and thus should be impeached. Perhaps the former Constitutional professor and then serving U.S. Senator Obama forgot his own expert opinion on December 20, 2007:

Q: In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress?

A: (Obama) "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

Further he said, "In the end, no amount of American forces can solve the political differences that lie at the heart of somebody else's civil war."

-- NBC's Today Show on January 11, 2007"

Then Senator Joe Biden answered the same question:

"I asked them to put together [for] me a draft, which I'm now literally riding between towns editing, that I want to make clear and submit to the Untied States Senate pointing out the president has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran. And I want to make it clear, I want it on the record, and I want to make it clear, if he does, as chairman of the foreign relations committee and former chair of the judiciary committee, I will move to impeach him."

Now Obama has us fighting a three front war. US needs to bring all troops home. Obama and mainstream media and Democrats viciously assailed Bush on going to war in Iraq and that was after he waited 9 months, got numerous UN sanctions and two authorizations for war from Congress, Obama has done none of this. The hypocrites in main stream media will once again look the other way! Notice hoe once Obama was elected the near 24x7 critical news cycle regarding Iraq and Afghanistan suddenly disappeared?!

The wealth gap is now larger than it's ever been, the US has the largest wealth gap of all industrialized nations, and it is accelerating! In the past 10 years the only ones who have seen real income go up are the rich.

“Our cause is noble. It is the cause of mankind, and the danger to it is to be apprehended from ourselves. Shall we slumber and sleep, then, while we should be punishing those miscreants who have brought these troubles upon us, and who are aiming to continue us in them; while we should be striving to fill our battalions, and devising ...ways and means to raise the value of the currency, on the credit of which everything depends?” – George Washington , George Washington, letter to James Warren, Speaker of the Assembly of Massachusetts, March 31, 1779.

On foreign policy Obama has been a disaster, the killing of Osama Bin Laden was based largely on intelligence from actions of the Bush administration and even though Obama know where Osama was for over 6 months he refused to act and the CIA and DoD had to take the initiative. Bush was right! Enhanced interrogation works and is a valuable tool. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/19/wikileaks-bolsters-argument-for-enhanced-interroga/

And Obama's attack dog Eric Holder at the Justice Dept., the same racist guy who refused to prosecute Black Panthers who intimidated white and black voters, is going forward with prosecuting CIA interrogators with torture allegation. These patriots deserve medals not prison! Without them we would never have caught Bin Laden. Even liberal Leon Panetta who Obama appointed head of the CIA has publicly admitted that water boarding of KSM and other Jihadists and other forms of enhanced interrogation led to the highest value intelligence. For the sake of appeasing Muslims Obama has alienated our closest ally in the Middle East, Israel; the only real functioning Western style democracy in the region! The temerity of this main to dictate to Israel what borders they should have. Even Obama's own advisers told him otherwise, yet he makes a fool of himself by telling Israel they must agree to pre-1967 borders, such borders are indefensible. The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority now has over 50,000 rockets (courtesy of Iran) which they are preparing to use against Israel. Note that Hamas is dedicated to the total destruction of the state of Israeli, they want a one state solution - them! Yet Obama does not dictate policy to them they way he does with Israel. His bias is clearly showing. Speaking of Iran, they are getting dangerously close to producing a nuclear weapon, yet Obama's administration has not done a single them to oppose them. Bush did more to advance the peace process with his Roadmap to Peace than Obama. Obama is only making things worse with his unrealistic unfair pro-Palestine demands. Regarding his naive and clueless speech where he outlined his foolish foreign policy on Israel Rep. Joe Walsh said it well, "Today's speech was just another example of Obama throwing our allies to the wolves in a vain attempt to appease our enemies." Obama's administration has been one blunder after another. He is a horrible leader. If Obama is reelected in 2012 I shudder to think what it will mean for America. We can't afford 4 more years of the most liberal president in US history.

Obama's legacy: socialized medicine, hyperinflation, multiple recessions, devaluation of US Dollar, fascist TSA which violates our Constitutional rights, trillions of dollars given to Wall Street bankers, high unemployment, price of oil sky high, record national debt, weak foreign policy, hyper-partisanship, dishonest corrupt government and general incompetence in everything he touched!

Geithner, Bernanke, Greenspan, Paulson, Rubin and Summers belong in federal prison for their crimes!!! As the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report (PDF) showed the crisis was man made and preventable.

“There is a war going on in this country...waged by the wealthiest people in America on the disappearing and shrinking middle class of our country. The nation’s billionaires are on the warpath. They want more, more, more. Their greed has no end and they are apparently unconcerned for the future of this country if it gets in the way of their accumulation of power & wealth.” -- Sen. Bernie Sanders

How does a student with failing grades at a lower tier school, Occidental College, suddenly get into Columbia University? Obama failed to attain even minimum honors while at Columbia and never once made the Dean's List, he refuses to release full academic records, yet suddenly Obama is given one of the extremely coveted and limited seats at Harvard Law who has an acceptance rate of around 1%! It is the most difficult graduate program to enter in the entire world. Students with perfect grades are routinely turned down, yet mediocre student Obama miraculously was accepted! And he did this without a scholarship allegedly.

We have a national debt over $14 trillion USD, soon the interest payments on that debt will be $1 trillion a year alone! S&P has cut the U.S. Sovereign Debt rating to negative for the first time since the Great Depression. And we're in danger of losing our AAA bond rating and becoming a a failed economy brought down by massive debt like Greece.

Knowing all of this what does Obama do? Does he do ANYTHING to offer relief to hurting Americans? No. Instead he goes ahead and stubbornly tries to push through cap & trade regulations at the EPA which would double or even triple electricity prices in the next few years! He refuses to allow us to build any new clean coal electricity plants or nuclear power plants. The man is clueless.

Obama's girl Napolitano of Homeland Security is so inept it would be comical were the issues involved not so important. She won't profile Muslim men who fit the terrorist profile, yet has no problem with her TSA goons molesting 5 year old kids, groping non-Muslim women in their breasts and doing extensive search on 80 year old white grandmas. Really effective! WE NEED RACIAL PROFILING YOU MORONS! 99.9999% of all Jihadists plots against the US (both failed and successful) were conducted by people of Arab or African features - not Caucasians, not Asians, not Hispanics! Giving full body search to a white baby, while letting 25 year old Saudi student stroll right through is utter madness and the height of idiocy. But they must bow down to altar of political correctness and pretend EVERY race is an equal threat when reality screams otherwise!

Every area Obama and his minions touch they utterly ruin. People attacked Bush but at least he wasn't utterly clueless. You can't run the presidency like a college classroom. Obama is intelligent yet lacks the proper wisdom and leaderships skills to be an effective president. He has analysis paralysis. Obama is an unyielding ideologue trying to push his far left agenda on America which is not a majority leftist country. Obama knows the vast majority of the country is conservative-moderate, yet he refuses to stop implementing his socialist agenda. What he's done to the economy and our fiscal and monetary policy will take generations to correct. Such ineptitude with monetary policy in particular hasn't been seen since the 1920s. Attack Bush all you want, but when Bush left office the recession Bush inherited from 9/11 and the housing and credit bubbles was ending (thanks to his leadership), the unemployment rate was around 4%, our debt was big, but that was due to two costly wars mainly, but still manageable around $8.5 trillion, inflation was significantly lower, the value of the US dollar was significantly higher, Egypt was not lost to the Islamists, our support for Israel was still unwavering, and economic growth was higher than it is now. By any metric you choose things are worse now than they were 2.5 years ago. Under Obama our unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 9.1%, economic growth is an anemic 1.5% of GDP. The real GDP growth is now only 0.2% off what it was during height of Great Depression - 1.5% currently (1.3% then), GDP growth under Obama: 2008: 0%, 2009: , -2.6% (that's negative 2.6%), 2010: 2.8% The mainstream media with its liberal bias has a lot of complicity in our problems. Obama was THE MOST RADICAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN US HISTORY, which scandal after scandal, friends with terrorists, the most liberal ideologue in the history of the Congress, yet the mainstream media gave him a free pass, refused to exercise due diligence and investigate his past, refused to ask Obama hard questions.

The housing market is in ruins. Half of all mortgage holders owe more than their home is worth. Mortgage prices have fallen 33% which is more than they did during Great Depression (31%). The percentage of Americans who want work and can't find it is now worse than during Great Depression. And thanks to the asinine Federal Reserve the US dollar is very devalued and we are close to seeing hyperinflation. Our national debt is over $14 trillion, and our unfunded liabilities are $50 - $100 trillion! OBAMA'S AMERICA! The income gap between the rich and poor is bigger than enough and it's accelerating! Consumers buying power is a fraction of what it was only 50 years ago! But the Wall Street banks got bailed out and used the stimulus money lending to foreign banks and US banks at near 0% interest, giving themselves huge bonuses, further investing in risky hedge funds, and they aren't lending to middle class Americans and small businesses! IT'S MADNESS! We should stop all foreign aid now until we fix the economy, monetary policy and labor market. Obama just gave $1 billion to Egypt. And the unemployment rate is now up to 9.1% - for the 28th consecutive month above 8% (and the real rate is over 20%). Energy costs domestically are due to skyrocket thanks to stupid liberals refusing to let us build 'clean coil' fired plants, won't let us build nuke plants and Obama's EPA is about to impose cap&trade madness that may see our electricity prices double or even triple in the next few years! In my state of Pennsylvania we have the LARGEST proven coal reserves in the world (enough to last for 500 years), we also have one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world (enough to last for at least 100 years), so there is no excuse for having such high energy costs. Obama has analysis paralysis, he just cannot make tough decisions well, and his extreme liberal bias will cause him to keep messing up the economy As if that wasn't bad enough now he goes and alienates Israel our closest ally in the Middle Eats and the ONLY true functioning Western style democracy in the region! Expect Obama to start pushing for legalizing illegal immigrants soon so that he can count on those votes to save his failed presidency!!!!! WE CANNOT AFFORD 4 MORE YEARS OF OBAMA! HECK, WE CAN'T AFFORD 2 MORE YEARS, IMPEACH HIS ASS NOW!!!!!!!!!!

After 2 years of Obama's Stimulus, Bailout and economic, fiscal and monetary policies there is still no economic recovery!

It took 8 years and 2 unpopular wars for Bush to get approval rating in the 40s, it took Obama only 2 years to get worse approval rating than Bush ever had! Obama is just clueless on nearly every issue.

Obama's horribly dumb and naive idea of imposing pre-1967 borders would leave Israel indefensible.

Also note Obama's extreme lack of transparency (both in his personal life and administration) despite claims his would be the most transparent administration ever! Obama ignored the will of the majority of Americans to shove his flawed Obamacare through which will raise costs for many Americans and penalize people who can't afford it. That is no solution. Any national health care plan which does not lower costs across the board is an abject failure. But he doesn't care about the suffering lower middle class, the working poor, or the poorest of the poor who are unable to work due to disability.

For all the leftists hollow charges of anti-Constitutional behavior against Bush it has been Obama who has overseen an assault on the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 10th Amendments which is unparalleled in modern times! So much for the Constitutional professor Obama.

Obama is a prideful and arrogant man.

"According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil
became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." - C.S. Lewis

Rude NYU grad student - Hermon Raju

2011-06-18T17:24:00.012-04:00

Hermon Raju - obnoxious train passenger!

In this video, here's an archived copy, we see an Indian woman, Hermon Raju, get into an angry altercation with a train conductor. Ms. Raju boarded a Metro North train in Westport, Connecticut heading to New York. She was talking very loud on her cellphone and using profanity, passengers complained, so one of the train conductors politely requested she cease her rude behavior. This sends the unstable woman over the edge who then launches into an infantile tirade making a complete fool of herself as she brags about her education! Apparently she thought the conductor would be in awe of her academic credentials and beg her pardon. What an arrogant and deluded woman! She talks to the conductor in such a condescending elitist tone. Hermon Raju was a graduate intern at BNP Paribas recently for a few months, she has an undergraduate degree in politics and a graduate degree in finance and marketing all from NYU. Her condescending and pretentious tirade is truly hilarious. Let this video serve as an example of how one should not behave.

Talk to the hand!

She interned for a Democrat legislator, no surprise there! She has not had a real job, just a few months here and there interning so you'd think since she is now looking for a real full-time job she'd be more careful in public. With such a noxious attitude I don't think she'll be very successful in her career.

"I was not cursing. Excuse me, do you know what schools I've been to and how well-educated I am?"

"I am not a crazy person. I'm a very well-educated person."

A few more choice quotes:

"I was not cursing, excuse me, do you know what schools I've been to?"

"I'm sorry, do you think I'm a little hoodlum?"

"Stop the train, stop the train."

Reportedly after this incident an announcement was made on the train's speaker asking passengers to refrain from using profanity, "especially those people who went to Harvard or Yale or are from Westport." Haha gotta love New York wit.

Her full name is Hermon Kaur Raju. After this incident she immediately deleted her twitter (@hermesr211), myspace, facebook and linkedin! LOL. Someone is going into hiding it seems. Here's an archived copy (PDF).

Interesting that she lists, "Excellent management and communication skills", she was certainly a very effective communicator on the commuter train!

Her hi5 page is down, but here's an archived copy (PDF).

It says, "Im not very nice to strangers." At least she was honest!

Her photobucket:
http://s50.photobucket.com/home/hraju84

Someone even made a Facebook fan page for her :)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hermon-Raju/164359446965263?sk=wall

Note: some images courtesy of Adam.


This one's a keeper!

Review - Body of Lies

2011-06-04T08:41:00.001-04:00

Review of the film Body of Lies (2008) - directed by Ridley Scott

This film didn't surprise me since I already saw Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven" which was the "Pearl Harbor" (Michael Bay) of Crusader history. The reviewer who says Scott gives fair treatment of both sides must not be familiar with his work. "Kingdom of Heaven" was straight up historical revisionism and anti-Christian polemic. He is a liberal film maker (of course you can be politically liberal and make great films which are not very biased) in the worst sense. This isn't the 60s or even 70s and scholarship in this area has finally swung over to a more accurate narrative which recognizes that while the Crusades had many problems they were a result of 300+ years of unchecked, brutal Islamic expansion by the sword. His view of the enlightened peace-loving Muslim versus the aggressive, hateful, barbaric, blood lusting imperialistic Christian Crusaders is something I'd expect in an Al Qaeda comic book for children! I was hoping he'd changed, but "Body of Lies" was sadly aptly named and portrays the US military and government as a bunch of amoral Machiavellian schemers who let politics and internal posturing compromise our deadly war against global Jihad. Yes there are small degrees of this in any huge organization, but to assert that events would unfold as they do in this film is an affront to clear thinking people. This film would dovetail nicely into a collection of delusional 9/11 Truther films and other lunacy!

Racial stupidity

2011-05-08T07:54:00.002-04:00

This drives me crazy. I've noticed this a popular trend in Hollywood, sports and politics where a mixed-race individual chooses to identify solely with the black aspect of their racial makeup. All parts of one's racial makeup should be equally important. Race is not a matter of personal preference it is genetics! If your biological mother is white and your biological father is black you are NOT white, you are NOT black, you are bi-racial or mixed. It is actually a type of reverse racism at work. As if the black part of their race trumps the white part and is somehow more important. Obama clearly wanted to pander to the black vote so he stressed, "I am a black man." That is not correct, he is a mixed-race man. Why can't he be equally proud of his white heritage? The actress Halle Berry said in an interview, relating to a custody dispute, something like, "My child is black!" This is absurd, to begin with Halle is of mixed race so her child cannot be pure black, but further the biological father of her child is white! So her child is at best 25% black. So she ignores the 75% which is white? Why? This is totally racist. Also there is a huge double standard when it comes to terminology. Blacks are encouraged to identify themselves as African Americans, but you never see whites identifying themselves as European Americans. We should just refer to ourselves as Americans and note what our particular ancestral history is. There are lots of organizations, such as the NAACP, that explicitly promote being black, there are many awards and events which being black as central, yet if a white analog existed it would be denounced as racist. This is a huge double standard. If it's acceptable to promote and celebrate being black why can't we celebrate being white? I agree with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that to truly move beyond race, we need to stop focusing on it and using it as a political tool. Another unfair practice I've noticed is in comedy. Black comics, on popular venues such as BET, Def Comedy Jam, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, routinely refer to whites in their comedy routines using racial pejoratives such as "cracker", "whitey", "honkey". Yet, if a white comic did the same thing to blacks they would be universally excoriated and denounced as racist. The media also reinforces this double standard and has allowed it to permeate popular culture. I think one can do racial comedy that is non-offensive, but it most certainly should not include such disgusting hateful terms.

My new poem

2011-04-28T09:13:00.002-04:00

"Dissociative Event"

Phase transition
Consciousness shifting

Higher dimensional
Fog lifting

Pure energy
Synaptic liberation

Perception expands
Higher excitation

Ontological freedom
Omnipresent thought

Time redefined
Connections sought

Awareness expands
Darkness flee

A moment
For me

- by Zachary Uram (c) 2011

America's Next Top Model, Season 16, Episode 9 - Franca Sozzani - review

2011-04-28T02:48:00.011-04:00


Fierceandria being silly ^_^

So the final 5 girls are in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Felt bad for Kasia when hardly anything from that North African designer Amir fit her :( She was smart to bring her heels!

Sick of Molly complaining, she has a toxic attitude.


Molly

Molly

Brittani once again acted very immature with her,"Bitch yer goin down!", thought towards Alexandria. No surprise there.

Molly *once again* complained about the choice of beds, even though she was the first one in and had first selection. SHUT UP ALREADY MOLLY I AM SICK OF YOUR INCESSANT WHINING!

That British photographer Michael Woolley on Kasia, "Frankly it was painful shooting her." -OUCH-!


Kasia


Kasia

Eww, Woolley was so critical of Fierceandria! Everything she said he would counter with something negative, "Well modeling is more than that." Sheesh. He's probably upset she didn't fawn all over him.


Hannah

Hannah

Then Molly attacks Fierceandria saying, "I don't think she's as modelly as the rest of us." Oh shut up with your square shoulders and tired modeling. If you noticed Fierceandria went through a much broader range of poses and faces in her shoot than Molly, yet Mr. Jay and Woolley criticized Fierceandria constantly and raved about Molly. I agree with Brittani in her critique of Molly. She has a lot to learn about high fashion! SNAP!

I was proud of Hannah this shoot, she really worked it! WERK!

So far I think Kasia and Fierceandria will be in the bottom two even though it should be Kasia and Brittani.

BTW, the preview for this episode was so weak and lame. It implied Fierceandria directed and she didn't direct at all.

Brittani

I agree with Sozzani that Brittani's photo seemed too forced! Did you see childish Brittani laugh several times when Andre said Fierceandria's expression seemed a bit constipated. She just makes herself look SO unprofessional, hey Brittani this isn't high school, GROW UP! I was so glad that Franca Sozzani (who has the most expertise being editor in chief of Vogue Italia) said she really liked Fierceandria's expression. Woolley is a total liar! He said that Fierceandria was "talking back" and "directing a bit." Huh? They were having a pre-shoot conversation. Fierceandria used an American euphemism from baseball saying she wanted to, "Hit one out of the park." and his whole tone became combative and dismissive! That idiot was probably thinking, "Oh how dare this American model speak to me using an American euphemism. How dare she!" GET OVER YOURSELF! He didn't make an assertion that she disagreed with. Quite the opposite he was being difficult and objecting to every polite rejoinder that Fierceandria gave. Woolley, this small, petty man with his huge inflated ego is pathetic! What a disgrace. I was livid when I saw that :( Now a false narrative of "Alexandria is difficult, she is directing" will be further reinforced in Tyra's mind! SO UNFAIR!!!

Fierceandria working it!

Fierce and sublime!

Wow Hannah needs to get tougher and handle critcism better. Did you see how her eyes were welled up with tears after Sozzani said her face wasn't strong enough?

Ugh in the judging deliberation did you see how Nigel turned on Fierceandria?! And Andre threw her under the bus too, then Tyra jumped on board. Ugh doesn't bode well :( HEY MORONS GO REVIEW THE FOOTAGE, SHE DID NOT DIRECT THE SHOOT IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER! So pissed Grrrrrrrrrrr! And she did not look "angry" or "constipated". First Andre said something before like "the top is very strong" but he criticized her legs for being straight, but then in deliberation he reversed himself and totally trashed her. Way to be inconsistent Andre! I just lost some respect for you. You too Nigel. He says he thought Kasia's flat boring blank expression looked "great"!? They must have all smoked some Moroccan hashish!!! Sheesh. LOL

Even though Molly has been so nasty to Fierceandria did you notice how when Molly's picture was chosen as the best Fierceandria looked toward her and smiled! The reverse would never happen.

Whew I am so glad Fierceandria wasn't sent home. She has such a warm heart, did you see how she cried and immediately embraced distraught Kasia telling her, "I'm so sorry." and tightly embracing her? FIERCEANDRIA HAS MORE CLASS AND CHRISTIAN VIRTUE THAN ALL THE OTHER CONTESTANTS COMBINED! TRUTH!

Awww so sweet!

I hope Fierceandria totaly WERKS it next week and is chosen for photo of the week. Since there is an unfair perception of her being difficult and wanting to direct my advice is for her to smile, and BE QUIET when interacting with the photographers. If they try to bait her into making a controversial statement just ignore them and say something like, "I'm really looking forward to this shoot!" Because if she dares to act like a normal working model and interacts with the photographers as a thinking adult it seems Tyra and everyone else will freak out and accuse her of being difficult! Prove them all wrong Fierceandria. Trust in the Lord Jesus and keep your focus on Him!

Epic explosion and improbable survival

2011-04-20T06:48:00.003-04:00

Here are a number of frames from an explosion sequence in the Steven Seagal movie "On Deadly Ground" (1994). Steven's character has on only a fire retardant suit, yet he miraculously survives! LOL

This is a good mindless action movie and the dialogue is often unintentionally hilarious.

He's nursed back to health by a tribe of Innuit and then goes to kick the asses of some oil company scum!

Here is a sample of the hilarious dialogue:

"My guy in DC tells me we're not dealing with a student here, we're dealing with the professor. Anytime the military has an operation that can't fail they call this guy in to train the troops ok. He's the kind of guy that would drink a gallon of gasoline so he could piss in your campfire. You could drop this guy off at the Arctic Circle wearing a pair of bikini underwear without his toothbrush and tomorrow afternoon he's gonna show up at your pool side with a million dollar smile and a fistful of pesos. This guy's a professional ya got me. If he reaches this rig we're all gonna be nothing but a big goddamn hole in the middle of Alaska. So lets go find him and kill him and get rid of the son of a bitch."

Forrest Taft, Seagal's character, is touched on the forehead by the Innuit elder and thus enters a vision quest, his spirit guide is the bear. He fights the bear and is thrown into the water, he then goes into a cave and meets an old woman who seems to speak for Grandmother Earth. She tells him all life is in pain and suffering due to the damage man has inflicted upon the earth and that he has been chosen as a spiritual warrior to fight for the Earth. He then emerges from the water, reborn and ready to do battle!

Michael Caine plays the villain in this film and Billy Bob Thornton makes a cameo. Also of note is Joan Chen. This really is a fun action movie and the film does have a good environmental message.

Stop Killing Elephants

2011-03-30T22:38:00.004-04:00

Bob Parsons - elephant murderer

PETA has discovered that recently on a trip to Zimbabwe GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parsons killed an elephant. This was done for pure sport! What an arrogant and despicable man. Elephants are a threatened species. His excuse that this was done to protect the villagers is absurd. Hey Bob instead of stroking your pathetic ego and murdering a majestic, intelligent, gorgeous African bull elephant in cold blood with your high powered rifle you could have taken some of your vast personal fortune, estimated at $200 million USD by celebritynetworth.com, and built a fence around the village or found another solution to the alleged problem the elephants were causing. Not to mention the fact that this is the elephants natural habitat - their home. The truth is that Bob Parsons wanted to satisfy his blood lust by killing a defenseless creature that was unable to fight back against his lethal weapon. He is a very insecure man with an utterly cold heart. You are in spiritual darkness Bob Parsons! Repent of your great evil, turn to Christ and renounce your Satanic ways. Instead of using his wealth to do good he is hunting down innocent elephants!

This sicko Parsons has even posted a boastful video on Video.me (GoDaddy.com's own video sharing site) entitled, "Hunting Problem Elephant - My 2011 Vacation" and this was posted in the "Adventure" video category! Murdering an innocent animal is your idea of adventure Bob? He posted this description of the video:

"Each year I go to Zimbabwe and hunt problem elephant. It's one of the most beneficial and rewarding things I do. This video shows a typical day of this year's trip. I just returned home today March 14, 2011."

Wow so he feels compelled to do this every year?! Parsons is a very disturbed man. According to the video this is the second consecutive year he's done this.

Here is the video, but be warned this is very brutal and graphic:

Some stills from the disgusting video:


Parsons is so eager to kill!


He wants to make sure the elephant is dead!

Tries to minimize his crime by saying only one was hurt.

Revolting! Look at his smug expression!!!

Note that in the photo of Parsons standing over the dead elephant he actually has a smile on his face! How sadistic. If you look closely you can see a stream of tears coming from the right eye of the elephant. :( If Parsons prime motive was helping these poor villagers he could have done so without murdering this elephant. Instead of making water wells, providing permanent shelter, donating seed for crops, making a seed barn, giving the kids OLPC computers, giving out loans to help the people start their own businesses, building and staffing a hospital or any other of numerous ways of helping he chose to instead kill a defenseless animal! So his flimsy justification for this barbaric act is pure rubbish.

"A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel."
- Proverbs 12:10

"For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all [is] vanity." - Ecclesiastes 3:19

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." - St. Francis of Assisi

Elephants have an extremely close family unit. Numerous elephants will deeply mourn the murder of this beloved family member. Elephants would never abuse their children as human parents have done so many times. An elephant mother would not hesitate to sacrifice her own life to save her children. I recall watching a news report about a case in India where a baby elephant was killed by a train. So profound was her loss that the next day at the same exact time when the train was due to pass by the mother of the slain child rushed forward and derailed the train, she sacrificed her own life to get justice for her dear baby!

If you want to support a great organization and find the most up to date research on elephants and their conservation go visit the Save The Elephants site here: http://www.savetheelephants.org/

Big Brother Barack

2011-03-29T03:47:00.000-04:00

Remember during the 2010 campaign how Obama promised his administration would have a level of transparency unseen before?

Obama's pledge of transparency was a joke! Is there anything Obama *doesn't* lie about? He's lied about unemployment figures, lied about the stimulus (and where all the money went), lied about health care, lied about Libya, lied about Afghanistan, lied about Iraq, broken numerous campaign promises, etc.

Look at this:

"The Homeland Security Department official in charge of submitting sensitive government files to political advisers for secretive reviews before they could be released to citizens, journalists and watchdog groups complained in emails that the unusual scrutiny was "crazy" and hoped someone outside the Obama administration would discover the practice, The Associated Press has learned."

"But at the Homeland Security Department, since July 2009, career employees were ordered to provide political staffers with information about the people who asked for records — such as where they lived and whether they were private citizens or reporters — and about the organizations where they worked. If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110328/ap_on_re_us/us_freedom_of_information

What the hell is this? This is taking partisan politics to a new, disturbing, and unconstitutional/illegal, level! What is this Stalin's Russia where officials draw up enemies lists and monitors who requests information? Disgusting! Anyone else outraged by this? I guess in Obama's deluded Marxist mind it is perfectly acceptable to treat the American people with such utter contempt. As usual we can expect the mainstream media to be largely silent in their coverage. If a Republican president did anything remotely of this nature they would be lambasted and excoriated by the media 24x7! What a hypocritical and biased media we have.

Noriko's Dinner Table (2005) - review

2011-03-23T03:23:00.002-04:00

This film is supposed to complement the previous controversial film "Suicide Club" (2001).

It revolves around a middle class Japanese family living in a pastoral coastal village. The father, Tetsuzô (Tetsu), is an editor-in-chief workaholic at a local newspaper. Mother, Taeko, is a dutiful housewife who enjoys painting. Elder daughter Noriko is in her senior year of high school. Her sister Yuka is a few years younger. Noriko runs away one night during a power outage and meets Kumiko, a mysterious girl around her own age who runs an internet BBS which has been connected to the previous suicides in the first movie. Kumiko runs the Suicide Club (Circle) and has a business where her employees and her pose as family members for clients. Eventually Yuka also runs away and joins them.

Kumiko has serious psychological problems, she lives in a fantasy world, you can fool others emotionally but sooner or later the fake memories and contrived emotional world will come crashing down.

Noriko and Yuka display enormous selfishness and total lack of regard for their parents' feelings. Perhaps this is an indictment of Japanese culture where parents don't show as much overt emotion and affection to their children, but they clearly didn't know how good they had it. Maybe their father was distant, but we saw several times how he genuinely cared for his children and worked hard to provide them with opportunities in life. These kids were not abused nor living in some sort of hellish reality they needed to desperately escape. The callousness and ease with which they abandoned their parents is very troubling.

Noriko is so deluded she tells herself that a fake father figure, a paying client, is her real father. And the motif running is that she can create her own reality. Yet her existential crisis and the resolution to it seems so contrived and unnatural that it's hard to feel any real sympathy for her. I found my sympathies resting with her parents (and I don't have any kids myself). She cries for a fake father, yet not a single tear or thought for her real father who is frantic trying to find Yuka and her. She has accepted an illusion for reality and the false for truth. This will damage her.

"Are you connected to yourself?" - this runs throughout the film and the prior one, "Suicide Club". This existential question is something I think any mature adult with any sort of spiritual development and thought life has considered. One doesn't need to run away from home, sever all families ties, or take on a multiple personality disorder to be in harmony with themselves. This film could have dealt with this issue in a much more profound way so ultimately it is a disappointment with the director.

Kumiko and the Suicide Club bringing on the "collapse of civilization" is absurd. As usual with cults they grossly inflate their own self-importance and look for extreme solutions to human problems.

The rationale given is that since people fail in their social roles the answer is to "lie openly and pursue emptiness". This is really simplistic sort of thinking and nihilistic. It ignores the reality of the human condition and our emotional complexity and purpose in life.

These girls drove their mother to suicide, but they are so deluded and caught up in their fantasy world they probably don't care.

Yoko says when finally meeting Mitsuko again, "I knew she wasn't my real sister anymore." YES SHE IS YOUR REAL SISTER! Your very confused sister. Ugh lines that like just really irritated me.

I see what the film maker is trying to do in this narrative but it goes against the way people really are and is more a caricature than a genuine human portrayal.

Mitsuko is a heartless bitch. The way she treated her real mother who wanted to reconcile was infantile and deplorable. She needs serious psychiatric help.

The way this film deals with existential pain is to run away, to escape into an imaginary role. Not very insightful or healing.

The way Mitsuko casually watched with utter indifference as Broken Dam is murdered by a client shows she is sociopathic. She has disconnected herself from humanity. Her words about helping people are shallow and false. She has no interest in people beyond how they can assist her in playing out roles and spreading her diseased nihilistic philosophy.

The scene of the 54 high school girls committing suicide by jumping together in front of a train is done in a mocking way. It trivializes the pain and suffering of people who are depressed and take their own life. They don't cheerfully smile and yell happy slogans as they end their life. There is nothing profound in this narrative. It is an affront in fact to genuine human pain and psychological trauma.

After Tetsu's emotional plea during his reunion with Yoko and Norito they bitterly reject him and keep up their delusional roles. He then kills the four men from Mitsuko's organization and Mitsuko returns calling for them to make dinner and stupid Yuka and Norito happily oblige, oblivious to their father's extreme anguish and the blood now all over the room. Yoko and Norito are not liberated, they are extremely mentally ill and need help.

At the end Yuka runs away (again), ostensibly forever this time, and we're expected to believe she has had some sort of cathartic moment of cleansing. Really dumb. She is not dealing with her problems in a mature way, this is how I'd expect an 8 year old to deal with an issue not a 16 year old.

Overall this was a good film, solid acting, a definite narrative (though not a terribly interesting or redemptive one), good cinematography, but it trivializes some serious issues and deals with them in a childish way. This film offers a nihilistic picture of family dynamics and an escapist resolution. Nihilism is an empty philosophy for fools. Perhaps Japan does have such a high suicide rate because of films like this. It certainly does not help anyone who is feeling lonely, depressed and suffering. In fact this film is even dangerous in that it glorifies the abandonment of all family and social ties, ignores spiritual development completely, and extols a fractured, unhealthy, self-deceptive emotional state.

Decline of the West

2011-03-19T02:12:00.003-04:00

In Japan you still have a fairly intact family unit, schools are much stricter than in the West, children are taught to follow the law and be good citizens. Hedonistic parents in the West raise their spoiled brats to be narcissistic self-absorbed twats who just look to satiate their base carnal desires; if anyone gets in their way they just step over them. The feminist movement and so-called sexual revolution has destroyed the family unit. In the black community 90% of kids are born bastards and grow up with no father present. Things aren't much better in the white or hispanic communities. I regularly read in the British broadsheets of the rise of hooliganism and thuggery, school kids slashing each other with knives, and the law is lax and lets them off the hook. Sexual morality is at an abysmal level in the West too. Half the population is either stoned on drugs or in a drunken stupor. Also a fundamental, a very non-PC, factor is people turning away from God. For those bashing America: yes we have our faults, as does any country, but at least we still have a majority Christian nation and haven't bowed down to the tyranny of the Islamists and welcomed the Trojan Horse into our own shores as misguided liberal Britain and much of Europe has done. It's too late for you now, but we still have a chance. Enjoy the Sharia law which will be coming in the next decades!
in reference to: Why is there no looting in Japan? – Telegraph Blogs (view on Google Sidewiki)

Rap

2011-03-19T00:11:00.003-04:00

I loathe rap music. It is extremely misogynistic, promotes criminality and crass consumerism. Further it degrades the beauty of the English language. The bass, or beats, is based on pagan tribal drum beats which were used in calls to war and in various pagan ceremonies. Musically it is extremely simplistic and lyrically devoid of merit most of the time. It is utterly superficial and promotes the shallow philosophy of materialism and glorification of the ego. We have such a rich heritage of great music in America (jazz, gospel, blues, r&b) and there is the vast genius of classical music. Teach kids that glorious music! Listening to rap music one notices a few motifs repeated over and over again:

do anything you can to earn money, the end justifies the means
to be successful in life you must amass great wealth
use women for your sexual gratification
criminality is OK if you are in a lower socio-economic state
if you have a problem with someone violence is the solution
listing all of the material goods they have, how much money they spend, etc.
talking about going to clubs and partying

Seriously this is nothing to embrace as a cultural achievement, quite the contrary!