MisterWriter's Extelligence

THE MAY ISSUE OF THE CONCORDIAN IS NOW AVAILABLE – FREE! READ IT HERE.

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:12:00 +0000

Enjoy this Mother’s Day expanded edition of The Concordian. Click the cover to read it.

ARE YOU, OR HAVE YOU, LEFT CALIFORNIA?

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:23:00 +0000

Read an excellent WSJ article on the exodus from California. Not a surprise to me; it is more surprising how many people believe they are still better off in California despite it all. Click HERE to read the article.

"Basically, if you don't own a piece of Facebook or Google and you haven't robbed a bank and don't have rich parents, then your chances of being able to buy a house or raise a family in the Bay Area or in most of coastal California is pretty weak," says Mr. Kotkin.

MisterWriter

STAR TESTING LEAVING YOU BLIND-SIDED? FEAR NOT! READ ON!

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:40:00 +0000

It is THAT time of the year again when all things STAR come to light. I am not a fan of this test for many, many reasons. If you would like to perform a simple “test” about this test, read on.

Raising your child's test scores is actually not difficult, however it is NOT an indicator of your child's content knowledge. The test is a multiple choice test with four possible answers. Of these two of the choices are ridiculously and obviously wrong.

By having your child learn to identify these two answers, you skew their success from a 25% chance of a correct answer to 50%. Now left with two choices, a variety of strategies can be used. First, of the two remaining choices, one answer will appear more likely than the other. With a basic common sense approach your child should be able to guess well even without content knowledge.

So how to practice? Visit the Department of Education Star Test website and download the grade level practice tests. You will see the patterns I am referring to.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/css05rtq.asp

Make two copies and on one copy erase the multiple choice answers requiring your child to answer fully. Leave the other as is. Give your child both tests to do one day apart. Start with the FILL IN THE BLANK copy. If there is more than a 10% difference in scores it will likely favor the multiple choice version in which case you know your child has a better ability to guess than content knowledge. Chances are the difference will be larger than 10%!

As stated at the start of this article, increasing your Star Test score does not mean your child truly understands the concepts they represent. It merely shows your child's ability to make educated guesses under pressure. You can, however, use the results of a variety of assessments to gain a better understanding of your child's academic strengths and weaknesses.

If you wish to genuinely increase your child's academic level, I suggest downloading a copy of the grade level Standards and Benchmarks and Google each item and work with your child. This will take some time, however you and your child will fully understand what is taught in class and you will gain a better understanding how to help your child. Your child will learn the difference between classroom lessons - especially in our present day mixed-up classes with many behavior issues, and how to challenge himself/herself to problem solve learning.

Here are the state Standards and Benchmarks.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/

I am not a fan of the current system of testing, or teaching. While it serves a purpose as ONE measure of understanding, it is used as the ONLY standard at a state level. As a flawed assessment, easily skewed by trained guesswork, you can see why it should not be the be all and end all it has become since No Child Left Behind. Race to the Top is no better.

I hope this is of use and wish you and your little STARS well.

MisterWriter

Bacteriophage VIDEO Shows Tiny, Iron-Tipped 'Needle' Virus Uses To Attack Germs

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:22:00 +0000

The wonders of the universe in one little Bacteriophages - absolutely amazing
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

THE APRIL DIGITAL CONCORDIAN, NEW WEBSITE, AND POST A VIDEO

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:33:00 +0000

The new issue of The Concordian and Digital Concordian is now available, along with a new website and new features – we are updating ALL MONTH LONG!

Also you can send a friend or loved one a video message – see the site for details. Click the picture to get to the site and read the latest issue! Enjoy.

Enjoy Something Truly Beautiful For A Change

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:34:00 +0000

Whenever I am working on a newspaper layout I like to listen to a wide range of music. This week I came across this truly wonderful composition by none other than Sir Anthony Hopkins. You have to watch this and listen – it is a wonderful piece of music and why schools need to not cut music programs. Enjoy and (speakers on...). – MisterWriter

ARE YOU A SOCIAL JUNKIE?

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:36:00 +0000

Have you watched my weekly Video on Claycord.com yet? It is called “Bits ‘N Pieces and airs every Sunday at 2pm. Click HERE to go there. They are fun to make and not designed to change the world!

This week I posted Social Junkies – watch and see if you agree.

MisterWriter

DROOLING WITH THE STARS

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 01:16:00 +0000

Did you catch the Academy Awards? Or was it the People's Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, The Emmy's, SAG Awards or one of the other thousand self-indulgent, celebrity-fest events we so adore for reasons only we understand. Or as Billy Crystal said, it was about a room full of millionaires all wanting the little gold statue.

But they are just...actors, I say. These are people who represent the one percent of actors who make a career, who surely started out as that snooty kid at the sandwich place, or at the fast food drive-thru window, or a busboy at the famous for old people specials - restaurant, and through an excessive ability to pretend to be someone else, got paid for that talent.

There is no Academy Awards for dentists, you know. Of course dentists deal with real skill and tangible work. There is nothing imaginary about that filling. No one says "Did you see what Mrs. Dentist was wearing to the award show?"

And Mrs. Dentist also is not wearing the famous designer wear that frankly, aside from such a pretentious event, no one would dare wear in public.

But that is Hollywood for you. Sex, drugs, fashion, money galore, and shallow former busboys who now get to be something to droolers who love them. And that is why everyone cares about drug-washed up celebs like Playboy's latest sagger, Lindsay Lohan who has had even more chances at redemption than your average religious convert. Why?

We like drooling with the stars, so much so that we can use that as a crutch to forget our staggering national debt (can you fathom trillions?) and our military involvement across the globe that has helped escalate that debt we cannot afford. Look at that facelift so and so got, far more entertaining than the fact we put little media attention on body bags arriving home.

We have Occupy scattered throughout the land, but after the initial flurry of "oh look, some new news coverage" has faded into a pack of filthy hippies in tents reminding this generation why they were glad not to have experienced Woodstock, while maxing their sub-woofers to an earth thumping pulse to the genuinely deep lyrics of any rap song.

Television is the landscape of white trash America dressed in tuxedos, while the corporate world, behind the scenes, quietly owns most of what you have and do, whether it be that pack of seeds for your home "let's be self-sufficient" garden, or the pills your doctor wanted you to take that will remove the inner angst and make you limp in other ways as well. Are you "Lovin it?"

Small town America has been dissolved into the soup of entertainment from visual fodder, audio fodder, video games where you can enjoy hours of killing people while cursing them out on your headsets, just because it is so darn fun. It is the escape from reality, especially one where you are increasingly numbed with bureaucracy, legalese, shoddy politicians working hard to keep their cholesterol numbers high with nothing tangible to show the country, and all the rest of the crooked thievery we pass off as a national character trait.

Across the vastness of television land we have acres of TV cop shows, usually variations of the theme cop chasing bad guy. You have the toothlessly illiterate druggies who always run from the police. You have the poachers living in shanty style tents in the middle of nowhere, killing wildlife and evading the law. You have drugs from maker to user, all mini celebrities for their time on TV, and in the end you realize that national pride has gone and as a culture we worship the bottom feeders, those who live lives that touch us only because in all likelihood we know one of the featured felons.

And in contrast the glitzy celebrities stand as demi-gods, removed from our dirt, commanding salaries we take a lifetime to earn, if even, living in a place where the air is filtered like the water and where hired help stands ready to catch our drool.

Praise Oscar!

MisterWriter

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THE PIANO GUYS RULE – EXCELLENT FRIDAY MUSIC

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:08:00 +0000

The Piano Guys are the same ones who did Cello Wars from an earlier post of mine. They are from Utah and have a bunch of You Tube hits that are quickly turning them into well known artists. Below is one of my favorites – after you play it once you will keep hearing the melody in your head all day! Check out the rest on their website http://www.thepianoguys.com Enjoy – MisterWriter

I LOST 14 POUNDS WITHOUT MUCH WORK – HOW? YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED!

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:12:00 +0000

Read the letter below from Dr. William Davis. He has a few blogs that deal with the issue of genetically modified wheat. I have been following his writing and doing my own research for awhile before deciding to try it out. Read below the letter and I will tell you what I did.

http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog/

My letter to the Wall Street Journal: It’s NOT just about gluten

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Dr. William Davis

The Wall Street Journal carried this report of a new proposed classification of the various forms of gluten sensitivity:New Guide to Who Really Shouldn’t Eat Gluten

This represents progress. Progress in understanding of wheat-related illnesses, as well as progress in spreading the word that there is a lot more to wheat-intolerance than celiac disease. But, as I mention in the letter, it falls desperately short on several crucial issues.

Ms. Beck–

Thank you for writing the wonderful article on gluten sensitivity.

I’d like to bring several issues to your attention, as they are often neglected
in discussions of “gluten sensitivity”:

1) The gliadin protein of wheat has been modified by geneticists through their
work to increase yield. This work, performed mostly in the 1970s, yielded a form
of gliadin that is several amino acids different, but increased the
appetite-stimulating properties of wheat. Modern wheat, a high-yield, semi-dwarf
strain (not the 4 1/2-foot tall “amber waves of grain” everyone thinks of) is
now, in effect, an appetite-stimulant that increases calorie intake 400 calories
per day. This form of gliadin is also the likely explanation for the surge in
behavioral struggles in children with autism and ADHD.

2) The amylopectin A of wheat is the underlying explanation for why two slices
of whole wheat bread raise blood sugar higher than 6 teaspoons of table sugar or
many candy bars. It is unique and highly digestible by the enzyme amylase.
Incredibly, the high glycemic index of whole wheat is simply ignored, despite
being listed at the top of all tables of glycemic index.

3) The lectins of wheat may underlie the increase in multiple autoimmune and
inflammatory diseases in Americans, especially rheumatoid arthritis and
inflammatory bowel diseases (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s).

In other words, if someone is not gluten-sensitive, they may still remain
sensitive to the many non-gluten aspects of modern high-yield semi-dwarf wheat,
such as appetite-stimulation and mental “fog,” joint pains in the hands, leg
edema, or the many rashes and skin disorders. This represents one of the most
important examples of the widespread unintended effects of modern agricultural
genetics and agribusiness.

William Davis, MD
Author: Wheat Belly: Lose the wheat, lose the weight and find your path back to health

SO WHAT DID I DO?

It was really simple to say but harder to do until you can wrap your brain around a few things. The first is that if you have to diet in a way that makes you know you are dieting, you stand a good chance your diet will fail. My premise was simple: as you read about genetically modified wheat is bad. It is not the wheat that your grandparents ate that was bad for you – so the notion of whole grain = health is rooted in good science were it not for the dwarf wheat mutations we are being fed now.

To say this stuff is not good is an understatement. It does however represent the livelihood for many farmers and currently is the center for debate in our exports as many countries are refusing it and being threatened with trade sanctions if they do not buy the stuff.

So I understood the two ingredients that needed to go were wheat and sugar. The wheat winds up becoming sugar in me which equate to liver stored fat in all theplaces I hate to see it. And sugar by itself…

But I love sugar – chocolate, and there is no way to give it up.

Cutting out wheat meant no bread, pasta, grains. Simple. I enjoyed homemade spaghetti sauce with my vegetables and left the spaghetti behind. It was easy. Not eating toast was harder – but after a day it became easier. Later on I did find a bakery – in the supermarket – that uses organic non-modified wheat. Okay! Small quantities.

You can eat meat (just not processed meat) and obviously not a 20 oz steak slathered with sour cream and no baked potato of fries…

For sugar I use STEVIA which is the only natural sweetener that has been around for thousands of years. You can buy it in liquid form but not Truvia which has glucose added and none of that other stuff that uses the Stevia name like Stevia in the Raw. Use the straight stuff. The little bottle is pricey but lasts forever. 1 drop is about 1 tsp of sugar. You have to play with it to find the strength suited to you otherwise you get a bitter taste, but that is short lived and I cannot tell the difference.

Stevia in hot drinks, and I make my own chocolate using 100% bakers chocolate, coconut oil (which is as good or better than olive oil), raisins for taste, nuts, flax seeds, orange extract, melt mix and let it solidify – an excellent no sugar snack that satisfies.

My weight loss happened at a decent speed, and with no cravings. There was, however, a side effect of stopping wheat – withdrawal symptoms kick in and for a few days you feel sluggish. After that your energy level rises and you sleep better and function better.

I still have a way to go. To reach my target weight of 189lobs will take me a few more weeks. Meantime I continue to enjoy all kinds of food and will not be changing my pattern after my target is reached. I am interested in researching more about the deplorable state of food we sell in this country and why self-sustaining is a good thing.

I cannot explain this better than Dr. Davis’ blog, so if you are interested in health you might check it out. He talks about everything including self-directed medical care which I will discuss in a future blog posting.

Click http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/ & http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog/ to learn more. See below for the bio of Dr. Davis.

MisterWriter

PS: I enjoyed having to buy new clothes with a smaller waist size, as well.

Dr. William Davis: A renowned cardiologist explains how eliminating wheat from our diets can prevent fat storage, shrink unsightly bulges, and reverse myriad health problems. Every day, over 200 million Americans consume food products made of wheat. As a result, over 100
million of them experience some form of adverse health effect, ranging from minor rashes and high blood sugar to the unattractive stomach bulges that preventive cardiologist William Davis calls “wheat bellies.” According to Davis, that excess fat has nothing to do with gluttony, sloth, or too much butter: It’s due to the whole grain wraps we eat for lunch.

After witnessing over 2,000 patients regain their health after giving up wheat, Davis reached the disturbing conclusion that wheat is the single largest contributor to the nationwide obesity epidemic— and its elimination is key to dramatic weight loss and optimal health. In Wheat Belly, Davis exposes the harmful effects of what is actually a product of genetic tinkering and agribusiness being sold to the American public as “wheat”—and provides readers with a user-friendly, step-by-step plan to navigate a new, wheat-free lifestyle.

Informed by cutting-edge science and nutrition, along with case studies from men and women who have experienced life-changing transformations in their health after waving goodbye to wheat, Wheat Belly is an illuminating look at what is truly making Americans sick and an action plan to clear our plates of this seemingly benign ingredient.

THE CELLO BE WITH YOU

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:41:00 +0000

Love this…

MisterWriter

THE FEBRUARY 2012 DIGITAL CONCORDIAN IS ONLINE - ENJOY

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:28:00 +0000

Click the cover to read the issue!

And did you catch last week’s Bits ‘N Bytes video on Claycord.com? Click the picture below to watch it.

-MisterWriter

I'M REALLY SCARED

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:10:00 +0000

I just can't help it; this nagging fear that we are becoming one giant nation of brain-damaged single celled organisms that feed off the televised crud and somehow believe in some divine aspirations for our species.

I felt this way long before Lindsay (Rehab) Lohan decided to bare her likely crinkly physical personality for that Viagra supported publisher Hugh, who himself reportedly cannot match his own hype's publication that should be renamed Prayboy, just in case.

And the fear began long before Sarah Pale-In-Comparison first opened her "I want to be president" mouth and uttered those early stupifications that later made Michelle Bachman look near genius despite her own special brand of "special."

When I see the quality of candidate we propose that the world take seriously, I am at a loss as to which genius decided to gather the bottom of the barrel for an all out attempt.

I do expect that members of the same party might put their best foot forward, preferring to go after their opposition rather than treating each other as opposition. Instead we have been graced with one back stabbing talkfest after another, each trying to build a lead at the expense of their own party, the party of big blundering fools.

This is contrast to the prevailing leadership that itself has managed to cast the American public in a suspicious light with legislation that allows Americans to be detained for any reason suspected to terror, for any period, without due process. In other words, no Constitutional protections. The whole purpose of that Revolutionary War has been lost.

And so I am scared of what we will get out of this process. Whichever side prevails,all should be concerned. After all, who is the greater fool; the fool or the fool who follows him?

It is a little like watching the movie star awards where these really overpaid people who pretend to be someone else are treated as if they had made a giant contribution to the planet. They are actors but could well be politicians. The reality of it all has escaped us collectively as we watch the performance of the day wrapped in glitzy news graphics, trying very hard to stir our national pride between commercials for the "I'm Lovin It" diet.

There used to be a time when you could state that if so and so got elected you would move to a different country; alas that option is no longer available between their own madness and disdain of the puffy American heritage we thrust forward along with mandates like "buy our genetically modified wheat or we will impose trade sanctions on you."

After we revise those gay, lesbian and transgender history books, perhaps we can require students to study the famous political buffoons, and foolish celebrities that we are forced to watch on TV.

We're just not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy!

MisterWriter

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DID YOU WATCH MY VIDEO ON CLAYCORD?

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:22:00 +0000

I have a weekly video-blog on Claycord every Sunday at 2pm called “Bits ‘N Bytes.” Yesterday's video was “The Proof of the Existence of God.”

Click the picture to check it out! - MisterWriter

Florida Primary 2012 Likely To Shift GOP Candidates' Focus To Environment

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:05:00 +0000

With Newt, an Amphibian Presidency will replace the Bald Eagle with the Red Eyed Tree Frog as the national symbol. Swimming lessons will be mandatory in all schools across the nation. Sushi will be banned. Popular baby names will include Salamander for girls and Cray for boys. It will add new meaning when we describe our economy as "underwater." Open marriages will be legal for spawning purposes only. Gay aquatic life will not be recognized. And Congress will run on a drip irrigation policy - wait, it already does!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Space Debris: When Will We Clean Up Our Act? (VIDEO)

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:40:00 +0000

Proof why ET does not come here - any advanced civilization does not swim in its own filth. Even if ET wanted to eat us, one look at the filth we wallow in both in orbit and on Terra Firma should convince them of our unsanitary nutritious value. I have no doubt somewhere we are on an ET blacklist!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Robert Redford Hits Mitt Romney, Conservatives In Sundance Speech

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:43:00 +0000

How was this just targeted at Romney? "...debates going on, this mushroom cloud of ego hovering over everybody," Redford said" He is right about it all being ego. I say all candidates (all sides) should have to go to school for this, televised weekly like a reality show. The audience votes. Simulations of war, economy, diplomacy, general knowledge. Weed 'em out! Most audience vote = President. 2nd place = VP! At least we get spared months of BS! Survivor meets Politics. Networks would love it!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

BACK IN BLACK, SOMETHING JUST 1% OF AMERICANS CAN SAY.

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:43:00 +0000

I just love getting PRE-APPROVED, I AM SPECIAL notices from idiotic financial institutions. Today it is the BLACKCARD from VISA, made of carbon composite and the mailing a thick, slick, velvety teaser that drips opulence and flavor for the feeble minded.

Just 1% of US residents are offered this ultra credit card.

That means, only 1% of Americans are stupid enough to think this is a great deal. 14.99% APR and a whopper of an annual fee.

Yes, you can enjoy airport lounges everywhere for this $495 annual fee credit card that will melt a hole in my cheap faux wallet.

Thank you VISA BLACKCARD for my laugh of the evening. We now return to our regular delusional programming.
MisterWriter

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Class Conflict Awareness Rose Significantly From 2009 To 2011: Report

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:02:00 +0000

While it may appear that cultural class differences are more predominant, in my opinion the major differences which will pervade this country will be the economic ones that transcend skin color.

We will have a few elite rich and the rest of us will be the labor pool. When you look at the landscape of the country, all-the-same malls and strip centers across the land, you quickly realize that there is no need to leave your turf as it looks just the same as the next, which is good because you cannot afford to leave it anyway. The uniformity of the "experience" is quite well rooted.

Anyone wanting a glimpse at the future need only watch any science fiction movie out there. They all resonate with the urban grit of the mass of humanity oppressed by corporate domination while a puppet government tries to convince you that all is still within the American Dream. Blue pill or red pill - you can choose but they are both the same.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

SOMETHING OBVIOUS, SOMETHING TRUE

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:09:00 +0000

It ought to be obvious, but is not. It ought to be true, but is not so easily decided. These are two statements that seem that've no place in our society, in this age of indecision, confusion, mixed sentiment and bias. What is right and wrong? There is no answer because opponents and proponents each push an agenda that leaves no directly tangible answer, at least not on a societal level. Take abortion as an example. Pro-life is absolute, Pro-choice is absolute. Even cases where a pregnancy arose from rape garners much debate on the subject of aborting the resulting fetus. Is it alive? When does life begin? Should a victim of rape have to carry the resulting baby to term? What is fair? What is right? Without the perspective of objectivity one cannot make a rational decision because subjectively everyone is right and wrong at the same time. What is the baby born grows up to be a beloved actress on par with say Meryl Streep? What if the genes of the rapist contaminate the nature of the baby? How would you know? And what of faith? Would God forgive an abortion or expect the faithful to at least carry it to term and give it up for adoption? I remember in the movie "Ghandi" when during the civil conflict between Muslims and Hindus, a Hindu man approaches the now starving, anti-war fasting Ghandi to confess his sin of killing the parents of a small Muslim boy and how God will condemn him to Hell. Ghandi tells him "I know a ways out of Hell," and says he must raise the boy as his own, however he must raise him as a Muslim, not as a Hindu. We like to say that things are, or should be, obvious, but to whom? Like truth, we look for universal truths in a world where only subjective truths hold as valid. The problem is that we cannot run society on subjective truths and as a result we find disappointment when such obvious truths like the guilt or innocence of a prisoner is at stake. We often are in dismay as a contrary verdict is pronounced, shaking our faith in a legal system which seems arbitrary at times despite its complexity. And even the Declaration of Independence states " We hold these truths to be self-evident..." when in fact there are so many Concstitutional Ammendments to imply that those truths may not have been so evident after all. And finally, at the end of the day, when we face our maker, or nothing at all, depending upon what you believe, we may learn that there were no truths, only pieces of enlightenment, and only faith to interpret and determine a subjective fate, a way to govern our own lives rather than wishing a standardized set of rules to be imposed in society as a whole. We live in the "...land of the free and the home of the brave," only to find that last week the President signed into law an act that allows for unlimited detention of Americans merely on suspicion of terrorism, and without cause or due process of law. That is hardly based on Democracy, although is now obviously true. Sadly. MisterWriter

READ THE JANUARY 2012 DIGITAL CONCORDIAN HERE

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:36:00 +0000

The January 2012 issue is available HERE.

BIG BROTHER IS FEEDING YOU

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:32:00 +0000

I was reading the back of the dog food bag, all fine print save for a few bold headlines promising the best of canine nutrition and backed by all kinds of scientific data, when I realized that dog food or people food, we are all subject to the same commercial brainwashing.

Our food promises health, low fat, low sugar, low salt, while really offering low value filled with artifical nutrition. How sad is it that we have to fortify everything? Milk fortified with Vitamin D. Sounds good but for the fact that the quantity of Vitamin D is negligible, not unlike the false promises of low fat and low sugar, usually resulting in the "other" being added; low fat means it is high in sugar while low sugar means it is high in fat. You cannot win.

So when will our government start sending us home with large bags of Soylent Green-like pellets that will satisfy our basic needs ensuring that no American goes hungry? How long before the information that is disclosed on labels proves to be so much a fairy tale, unregulated by an overburdened and under funded FDA that is more a pawn for the pharmaceutical company than it is a true regulatory body? After all, how many drugs, after a trial of a few hundred people, are sold to the millions as beneficial only to be yanked after a few hundred deaths occur? Too frequently, I am afraid to say. The general public have become the guinea-pigs for the drug industry. Well, I guess we all wanted them to stop using animals!

I watched the latest Apes movie - Rise of the Planet of the Apes and frankly I was rooting for the apes. We have empowered ourselves with the God cloak that we frequently entertain delusions of grandeur wrapped up in science, with too few safeguards and a willingness to deal with consequences after the fact. And this is where the notion of food pellets returns.

We always hear how lucky we are to live in America, and to a large degree that is true. America has always been the light of promise, even though these days, like the Internet, it offers the best and the worst all wrapped up in the same box. We have the weirdest of the weird, the most depraved of the depraved, yet fight an idealistic fight, such as the drug war where we struggle to catch violent multi-nationals (including Americans), only to see them continue to operate from within the jails, and, after getting a "fair shake" in the American judicial system, released, deported, or more simply, back in business despite the body count of innocents left behind to pick up the pieces.

With the vast number of people inhabiting this planet it is foolish to think that the liberties we had, and long for; the personal freedoms and the unbridled dreams of a sound financial future for our children, can continue without an ever increasing cost.

Just the other day President Obama signed a controversial piece of legislation which, while intended for aiding in the capture of terrorists, allows for American citizens to be arrested and detained for an unlimited period of time without charge. Visit http://alturl.com/jznpr for more on that.

Like the dog food, it is all DESIGNED to be good for us. Eaten properly, it will supply an adequate amount of nutrition to sustain our bodies while the vast media conglomerate develops new brain numbing shows like "The Kardashians" to keep us entertained and away from literate investigations into what is really happening.

Like the fish in the pan of water slowly heated, we swim around, noting the odd weather patterns, noting the headline news of global tensions that could, at any minute, snap into a nuclear exchange between two nations wishing to obliterate each other, and there are many such nations, many loose nukes, and our foreign policy has shown that diplomacy now means turning a blind eye, advice we would never give a parent on raising their children. Then again, we are seeing legislation about how we are to raise our children as well.

George Orwell was so off the mark.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free," Thomas Jefferson wrote, "in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

And that was not written on the bag of dog food. Eat well, my friends.

-Misterwriter

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TALK ABOUT GETTING FRACKED!

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:06:00 +0000

Yes, the idea of sucking out the gas and replacing it with brine is akin to swapping land for beads with the native Americans; somewhere it comes back to bite you, or in this case, to shake you up. I smell lawsuit here! Anyone else smell lawsuit? Don’t worry – trust them – they know what they are doing!

MisterWriter

MERRY CHRISTMAS WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:18:00 +0000

Wishing the readers of this blog a very Merry Christmas, free of political correctness or flacid intent.

Yes I know that our government has limitations on staffers using the term "Merry Christmas" instructing the PC Happy Holiday-ism so as not to offend anyone else, even though we put "In God We Trust" on the coins and printed currency which surely offends some cultures out there; however, since I do not work for the government, let me wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS.

MisterWriter

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POOR, DUMB AND DOWNTRODDEN; WHAT WOULD THOMAS JEFFERSON SAY? I’LL TELL YOU!

noreply@blogger.com (Andre' Gensburger) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:53:00 +0000

Just a glance at the headlines of the day makes you wonder why we allow the people in charge (congress) to be in charge when they are apparently lacking in skills required. Click the pictures to read the stories behind them.

It is a sad reflection on our country when you throw in the insanity of the Republican primaries where potential presidential candidates show how little they really know, how much less we really know and how the system is dysfunctional.

“When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.” - Thomas Jefferson. A shame that our politicians make far more money than the average “poor” American, and for what end? What have they achieved? Iraq: 9 years, nearly 4,500 soldiers died and untold billions of dollars (I believe the figure is around $800 billion). You decide if it was worth it! Of course we still have Afghanistan and Iran looks promising for the future.

Jefferson was no fool to corrupt politics and the dangers that lay ahead for this country. “I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country,” he also said. And: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

Reading the headlines it appears we have fallen into the very clutches Jefferson warned about. Big corporations run this country explaining why the pharmaceutical industry can use people as guinea pigs for drugs that later get pulled. Sure they are entitled to profits but when those profits are in the billions of dollars and the American people are not improving from their ailments, something is wrong. It explains why our air and water and soil is getting more toxic by the day and why the industry likes to offer platitudes about “naturally occurring levels” of toxins to offset their damage. Do we hear about the Gulf oil spill? Nope old news.

We hear about testing in schools and yet, according to the headline above, our schools are failing and how No Child Left Behind left every child behind. If you know me you know that I have been harping on this subject for about a decade. The testing is stupid because that is all they do. It was designed to be one of many measures but because lazy bureaucrats and politicians (politats) like quick fix numbers it became the ONLY measure.

Soon we may find ourselves tranquilized as a nation. Forget Orwell’s “1984” because reality proved that novel tame at the best. I keep thinking of Charlton Heston in the movie “Soylent Green” yelling out the discovered truth about the future food of humanity; “Soylent Green is people…”

The presidential debates appear to be about incompetencies and lies, something that smiling make-up faced politats like to pretend does not exists until some zealous media person digs up old tapes and pictures, hookers and arrest records, lawsuits and more. It seems like the bottom of the barrel has been scraped and what we have on the spatula is a mound of rancid fatty oil that offers no value, no sustenance and can be itself labeled toxic. That is not how a presidential campaign should be run. It is not a Kardashian’s night out. It is not a cousin of Lindsay Lohan. But it sure is close.

Jefferson was no fool. Neither was he perfect. “Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” We rely on talk-everything. Talking political heads. Talk-therapy. “Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows us that as a government grows, liberty decreases.” Sound familiar?

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” Another Jefferson quote.

And for the current Republican candidates, another Jeffersonian tidbit: “I never told my own religion nor scrutinized that of another. I never attempted to make a convert, nor wished to change another's creed. I am satisfied that yours must be an excellent religion to have produced a life of such exemplary virtue and correctness. For it is in our lives, and not from our words, that our religion must be judged.”

And as for our current $15.12 Trillion in National Debt, Jefferson said: “To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.” By the way each taxpayer owes $134,176.

Offhand I would imagine the founding fathers if this country would be pissed off right about now! Click the below image for an eye-opener. It might explain why we are poor!

-MisterWriter