The Questions

Posted on May 14, 2012 by marco

“It’s the question that drives us, Neo. It’s the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.” said Trinity to Neo in the cult classic The Matrix.   In this day and age, we don’t ask ourselves enough questions.  We don’t question why the federal deficit is at $15 trillion and mounting rapidly, we don’t ask ourselves why there needs to be so much packaging in everything we buy, we don’t ask ourselves why 90% of the sea creatures in the world’s oceans have disappeared, we don’t ask ourselves why so many of us despise other cultures, races and different ways of life.  We navigate blindly through the world without a moment’s notice.

One very important question we clearly stay away from is why we need to be in the Middle East trying to liberate the people of Iraq in the early 2000s and now Afghanistan, yet Bin Laden is dead.  Some might say we are there to rid ourselves of Al-Qaeda because they might/may/will attack us in the near future.  Watch Rachel Maddow talk about it on Youtube.  However, the armed forces needs to do a better job dealing with the drug cartels in Mexico, that are only getting closer to our borders.  Everyone complains that immigrants are taking away our jobs, yet I don’t think any American would do what immigrants do for a living; toiling away in measly paying jobs, picking plants for roughly $5 an day or much, much less.  Immigrants do quite a service for our country, if you get rid of illegal immigrants, like it or not the Economy will suffer drastically, food prices will only skyrocket when this happens.

Mitt Romney is making a big deal about same sex marriages when we have so many other problems like the huge plastic waste in the world’s oceans that have not disappeared, only become broken down into bit pieces that the fish mistake for food, get sick, get eaten by larger fish like Tuna or Salmon, and end up in our plates.  What many politicians do is take on issues that are really irrelevant, who really cares if people are getting married to same sex partners, just as long as they are not harming others, who gives a damn.  This only justifies hate, making homosexuals the enemy; People are going to be what they want to be, what right does the government have to involve themselves in their love/sexual lives?

Did you know that the US has tough policy on drugs, yet has the highest amount of drug users in the world?  Why?  Sure, Middle and South America, produce a lot of Cocaine and Marijuana, yet this argument completely misses the point, doesn’t it.  Why do Americans feel the need to numb themselves is a more relevant question.  Something tells me we are not “winning” the war on drugs.  The Feds think we need to increase border security and ensure these illicit drugs do not come into the country, yet drug use is at an all time high.  Worse yet, these drug cartels are now armed to the teeth, and these weapons originate in the United States.  Instead the feds ask themselves, how we are going to ‘stop’ the drugs from coming into the United States.  Important no doubt, but that’s the wrong question, but that’s how a police state works, oppress everyone.  Rather we need to ask ourselves, why do we continue to fight the drug cartels when we know this war is costing billions of dollars and drug use continues to skyrocket and clearly has not worked?

There are countless other issues out there that clearly deserve some inspection, yet most people are concerned with same sex marriage and other idiotic issues that are irrelevant.  What we as responsible Americans need to do is ask ourselves, why do these things happen?  It is said that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers, but we go on living the other way around, there are stupid questions, no stupid answers.  For example, I know a little kid, 6 years old, feels the need to pull his hair out.  His mother does not question why, she only tells him to stop doing it without another thought.  I ask myself, why does a little guy need to pull his hair in anger?  So I researched it on the World’s greatest World Wide Web and found that this is a stress mechanism that stems from not getting enough attention and not being accepted for who he is.  So I started thinking, this makes sense; at home, he is constantly being yelled at, being told what to do all the time, even by his sister who has learned to be bossy in school.  I hope this is not the beginning of a self destructive path for him because he does not know he is a sweet kid; yet he thinks he is bad because that’s what his parents make him think.

In order to attack complex problems we need to start with simple questions, and go back to the way we used to wonder as children; Why is the sky blue? How do fish breathe? Why do we have to eat our vegetables? and apply this to everything in life.  Yet many do not feel the need to have a questioning attitude.  Why do immigrants risk life and limb to come the States, why can’t young college graduates find decent paying jobs but have mounting college debt?  Why do I have ringing in the ears?  There are simple answers to these questions, but these questions do not get asked because we do not use our intellect and take everything as is.

I started eating more honey, learned to relax more, stood on my head and practice meditation daily, in addition to the yoga, lifting weights, and running everyday, guess what?  The ringing in the ears is gone.  Yet the medical profession would have you believe that your problems can only be solved through, you guessed it ‘medications.’  We have taught the youth not to care for their bodies instead we’ve taught them to take a pill and you’ll feel much better, or in the words of the Oracle addressing Neo in the Matrix ‘Here, take a cookie. I promise, by the time you‘re done eating it, you‘ll feel right as rain.’

As for the immigration problem, ask yourself, these people do not want to come to the States illegally, they just want to make money to feed their families, so instead of putting up a freaking fence at the border (WTF?), why don’t we fight to create jobs over there, instead of being half a world away, maybe Al-Qaeda has been attacking us because we are invading their turf, why are we over there again?  Further, the plastic ocean problem is only getting worse, corporations have fought to change the law so that they can continue making plastic bags that are ‘disposable’.  However, these will be with us for a long, long time because plastics do not decompose, their particles only get smaller and smaller.

So let’s make a radical change, let’s not vote for the Republicans nor the Democrats this year, let’s vote for Dr. Ron Paul who has thought about the issues and has come up with solutions that make sense.  Ask yourself why every president campaigns for change, yet history keeps repeating itself.  Ask yourself why the media refuses to pay attention to Ron Paul, yet he speaks to sold out crowds everywhere he goes, ask yourself why the brief or boxers question posed to Bill Clinton when he was campaigning created such a stir.   The media has taught us to ignore the truth and how to fix things, but instead to look the other way.  Sad, real sad.

 

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Why Buddhism is SO MUCH BETTER than ALL other religions

Posted on April 16, 2012 by marco

Turn on the television to the news.  When you hear news about the Catholic church what does one usually remember from these reports?  That’s right, we hear about all the bad priests molesting young children.  Of course, these are the 1% of the dirty priests.  I think most are good; for example, Mother Theresa who held Roman Catholic beliefs dedicated her life to important causes.  However, many Americans who claim to be Catholic or Christian most of the time ignore their religion and act in contradictory ways; many times, they belittle the poor (Jesus wasn’t wealthy was he?) or take their frustrations out on their dogs or cats, or other people as well, these people got this passive aggressive thing going on because they are in a great deal of pain.

Yet I hope it’s not the 1% of the priests that are good.  Some people that do find God go on to live productive lives.  My question, however is this: Why is there so much pain and anguish in our American society if Christianity or Catholicism saves?  George Bush once said Christianity was the best religion for America, but of course, we’re still trying to get out of the mess this idiot left for President Obama.  My take is that these so called religions are failing the youth and most everyone in America, (the land of the free??!!).

Enter Buddhism.  I know very little about the religion, yet this limited knowledge has helped me more than Christianity or Catholicism ever has.  Buddhism’s main purpose is this: Be the best you can be.  The goal of this extremely important religion is to try and save those from the pain of being human.  Not by scaring people into being good, which is the point of Catholicism and Christianity.  Rather by educating people about how to achieve an awakened state of being, one becomes a better person.

“Free your mind” Kuato said to Hauser in the movie “Total Recall.  This is what Buddhism tries to accomplish with its disciples.  This can be accomplished in a myriad of ways, through Yoga, meditation, but most importantly through every action that we make.  It stresses the point that “we do everything how we do anything.”  So for instance, if you do something half-assed, which is what many people always do, the results are also going to be half-assed.  One must make a conscious effort to strive to the best of our abilities.

If one knows the main goal of Buddhism, which is to always try to better one’s self, results will surely follow.  Neither Catholicism nor Christianity ever tells its followers that because they make a lot of money keeping people in fear and in pain.  If you ask George Carlin, these so called religions are a freaking joke.  Ten commandments??!!  Thou shall not kill??!!  Thou shall not be this, thou shall not do that?  Isn’t that freaking obvious?  No they feel the need to tell you what you cannot do in order to control you.  The funniest of them all is “thou shall not have sexual relations before marriage??!!  (or something like that).  It’s rare nowadays to find anyone who hasn’t had sex before marriage. However, Buddhism will only say, do not misbehave sexually.  This being, use sex as a good thing, not a thing to get your aggressions out by having anal sex or hurting others sexually.

It’s like my 5 year old nephew once said to his dad “dad, don’t do anything right?”  This was his way of telling his father, I don’t know what you want me to do because all I ever hear is “Stop it, don’t do this, don’t do that!”  Yet this is the way most parents communicate with their kids, only intervene when there is a problem.  That’s why most parents are not proud of their kids, children feel like they always have to listen to their parents, but don’t know when to take control of their own lives; just like the Ten commandments.

All Catholic/Christian priests nowadays do is have these telethons to raise money to pad their wallets, buy huge mansions and a huge church.  You ever hear the Dalai Lama asking anyone for money??  Nope, Buddhism isn’t a capitalist religion, it only cares about the well being of the people, which is a lot more than I can say for most religions out there.

“Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.” said Morpheus to Neo in the cult classic “The Matrix.”  I cannot fully explain how Buddhism has made me a better person who cares about the world a whole lot more.  Everyone has to find their own truth, there are indeed too many paths to travel and one gets so confused about where one needs to go.  However, with a strong mental foundation, anyone can achieve greatness.  If these other so called religions have helped you, you go kid, but if you really need peace of mind, look to the teachings of the Buddha, the one who has actually been there, the one who was a human and learned from experience, the one who could have become a king but gave it up, the one who started it all because of all of the pain and suffering he saw in the world.

Remember this though, no amount of praying will ever help you, but actually being thankful for what one has will.  However, no God is going to save you because guess what, there is no God.  If there was a freaking God, would he let the world he created go to shit?  Would he let these selfish, greedy, republican bastards hurt his/her people? No way, stop with the stupid lies you dumb people.

So go on say it with me:  I do hereby deny the existence of the holy spirit.

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“Obama care”

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Marco

I recently received this flyer from Linda McMahon urging me to make a donation to her campaign.  Mrs. McMahon is running for a senate seat being vacated by Senator Joe Lieberman in Connecticut.  You may know Linda for her work with the WWE; along with her husband Vince McMahon, they made what was once known as the World Wrestling Federation the huge franchise that it is today.  McMahon happens to be the frontrunner for the senate seat being vacated by Mr. Lieberman; she is well liked in the community and has worked numerous charitable causes in the past.  However, I was a bit irked by her letter stating that we must repeal Obama care.

Of course, Obama care, is referring to free healthcare to all Americans, but the actual act is called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  This bill was signed by president Obama in 2010, but the law won’t go into effect until 2014.  This act could be extremely beneficial for every single American, especially the masses that go through life WITHOUT health insurance like me in my 20s.

You see the problem is that Linda McMahon and many republicans feel health care for every American is a waste of money, and it’s only more regulation from the federal government.  Furthermore, many media critics love to point out that the Obama administration was way off on their calculations of the cost of the program by about $400 billion dollars.  Yet these same media puppets just stood by when we were invading Iraq on the premise of WMD’s, which of course were not found.  How much money did we waste on the Iraq occupation again??!!  I forgot, you can’t second guess a war decision, but you can second guess something that’s good for the country such as Obama care.

So what do you think, is Obama care good for the country?  Depends on who you ask.  Ask the people, they’ll tell you, “damn straight I need insurance.”  You ask the rich, they’ll tell you it’s bad for the economy because they don’t care about anyone else but themselves.  I remember struggling to find jobs in my 20s going from temp job to temp job without any health care, how could I afford it on my salary?  Since there are millions of jobs out there that do not provide health insurance to its workers, how could Obama care be bad for the people?  Personally speaking, I would have enjoyed health insurance in my earlier years.  Good thing that I took care of myself by running and working out, but I was lucky.  If I had been hit by a car or had an accident, I would have been in huge debt by the medical costs of putting me back together.

Insurance is extremely important, and like Pres. Obama said when he was campaigning, health care should be an American right.  The way we have the right to vote, a right to an attorney, we should most definitely have a right to free healthcare.  For all that I pay in taxes, I deserve to have free health care, the way British and Canadian citizens have access to free health care.  I want my taxes to work for me, I don’t want my tax dollars to fund a war against a group of people that have done nothing to me.  That war was just a pretense to get the oil everyone knows that.  We can’t be honest though, we’ll be vilified by the world!

You see the problem is not how expensive this is going to be, this is a great program from the federal government, it is not more regulation.  I can see the war on Marijuana being regulation, I don’t see how this act that’s good for the people can be seen as “regulation.”  Regulation has such negative connotations.  Pres. Obama is doing the right thing and watching out after the American people which is what a president is supposed to do.  Yet he is vilified for it!!!  No one vilified George Bush for going to war with Iraq when “intelligence” said there were WMDs there and we found nothing.  How many trillions of dollars did we waste going into Iraq?  No doubt Saddam Hussein was an evil man, but the United States was once friendly to this dictator, here watch the video. It’s all a mess.

What we need now is not a war of words on who to put the blame on, although that’s what most politicians especially the Republicans love to do.  They love to bicker because if it’s not their idea, then it’s a dumb idea.  At this crucial point, we gotta find a way out of our current situation.  We can’t afford any longer to keep acting the way we have the past 10 years or so wasting money on trying to fix problems in other parts of the world.  Stop meddling in other people’s affairs and everything will be all good.

Number one thing that needs to change is education needs to improve.  Not formal education, like school and college and the formal skills one learns and uses at work.  I’m talking about informal health education.  We’ve gotta educate the future of America that DUH! you need to stay active so you don’t have any health problems.  The media needs to do a better job of educating the public on the dangers of the processed garbage that most of us eat.  Did you know that it is now a proven fact that eating too much meat WILL cause cancer?  It’s all about moderation, but we don’t live in the most moderate country do we? But you know what?  physical education in high school is thrown by the way side because the education heads feel this is not a critical subject.  WHAT!!  Physical education is more important than Math, English, any subject.  How are you going to work with bad health, how are you going to be a productive worker when you keep missing work because of your excess skin condition??!!

The problem is, the media does not want to address obesity and what each of us can do about our own health problems.  They want to keep the blindfold on us because if we realize the processed shit we eat causes cancer, I wonder how many people would gorge themselves on that garbage.  We could be saving so much money on healthcare in this country, but fat lazy people love to gorge themselves and get a stomach reduction surgery paid for by the government.  Hey I love food as much as the fatty next door.  I eat whatever I like, I love food.  However, I work out and most importantly I cook, eat lot of veggies, eat plenty of fruit, and little meat.  The most important thing to remember is calorie in, calorie out.  If you don’t burn off the fat burger you ate this afternoon, it’s only going to rear its ugly head in your arteries in the form of cholesterol.

We’ve all got to do our part and not tax the healthcare system by taking care of ourselves.  We have got to start realizing that our health problems become the country’s health problem.  We have got to start facing up to the fact that hey if you’re fat and all you do is eat, you’re part of the problem.  We need to start putting solid knowledge and values in the minds of our children, such as work hard, don’t jump careers, follow what you love and most importantly, health is more important than any college degree.  Although having good health won’t pay you like a job will, at least you will enjoy the looks you get from the opposite sex.

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The Vanishing of the bees

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Marco

I recently saw the documentary called vanishing of the bees narrated by Ellen Page.  The title says it all, bees have been disappearing en mass since 2006.  This problem is not only happening in the United States, but also industrialized countries like Germany, France, Brazil, United Kingdom, and Italy to name a few.  This is nothing new.  Many have been talking about this phenomenon for years; Lisa Simpson, Bill Maher, Mark Wahlberg’s character in M. Night Shyamalan‘s The Happening.  However, what the movie also does is analyze the causes of the problem.

First off, it is important to note the importance of bees in the environment.  Bees make honey, everyone knows that.  However, bees do a great service not only to nature, but also to humans; they pollinate various crops that we eat, such as almond, papaya, avocado and many, many others.  According to Wikipedia, pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in the reproduction of plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and sexual reproduction.  Without bees, most of these crops would be missing from our tables.

The problem was first noted in 2006.  A Pennsylvania bee keeper, Mr. Dave Hackenberg noticed that he had lost around 65 to 70% of his bee hives in the 2006-2007 season.  At first, other bee keepers blamed the problem on his operation, saying he was a bad bee keeper.  However, once the problem also affected these bee keepers personally, they quickly changed their tune.  Rather than blame each other, bee keepers around the world united to try and identify the root cause of the problem.

One issue that was incredibly disturbing to these bee keepers was the fact that they found their hives empty, they found very few dead bees inside the hives and on the ground.  It seemed like these bees had just migrated away.  At the time, they couldn’t understand why this was happening, the problem got so bad that bees had to be flown in on jet airliners from Australia!  Imagine that, we’re running out of bees, so we need to fly some in from other parts of the world, that’s just plain stupid.  Let’s not identify the root cause, let’s just bring bees from other parts of the world.  Since American scientists could or would not find answers to these issues, the bee keepers had to find the answers themselves.

One problem in our home country (among many) is that since the United States subsidizes corn production, many farmers are growing only corn.  Bees are not used to this one crop agriculture.  Like humans, they need a balanced diet; they need to feed off (and thus pollinate) many crops.  Monoculture is harming not only the bees but the environment as well because of the need to use many pesticides, according to Wikipedia, “Monocultures used in agriculture are usually single strains that have been bred for high yield and resistant to certain common diseases.  Since all plants in a monoculture are genetically similar, if a disease strikes to which they have no resistance, it can destroy entire populations of crops.”  Accordingly, giant corporations like Monsanto and Bayer feel the need to inject their seeds with pesticides, creating a biochemically engineered seed that will still need chemicals in the field because of other new diseases out there.

In the movie, they showed a bee on an organically grown sunflower; it dances around the flower in a pattern trying to find the good stuff.  Then they showed a bee on a genetically modified sunflower; it began dancing around the flower but soon it became disoriented like it didn’t know where it was.  Just a sad site to see.

An unbelievable practice that big commercial corporations are doing is to create hives that humans can remove the honey with a hose and fill it with high fructose corn syrup!  So rather than having the bee go out and pollinate flowers and look for food, the bee never needs to go anywhere.  It can sit in its’ hive, eat the syrup and make honey.  Thing is, these dumbasses don’t understand that that’s not how nature works.

Further, these scientists are now artificially inseminating the queen bee, they actually take the queen bee, knock it out with CO2, open up its’ reproductive organ by the stinger and inject it with drone semen.  WTF??!!  I really don’t see the point of doing that, but I guess these corporations think they can create bees in the lab.  In many cases, they take the queen bee, kill her and replace her with a younger queen bee that has been artificially created in the lab.

The problem of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) has three main causes: monocultures, the use of pesticides in food production, and messing with nature.  Big corporations are trying to play god; they think that science can solve everything, so they taint our food with pesticides that supposedly are only venomous to insects.  They go so far as to feed bees high fructose corn syrup??!!  Is it any wonder why the bees have migrated away?  That’s nature’s way of saying “Go Fuck Yourself, you human scum.”  The best parts of the movie were when French bee keepers demonstrated outside Bayer’s offices, Indian farmers burning Monsanto crops and British people tearing out Monsanto crops off a farm while the police stood guard watching this unfold!

Nonetheless, at the rate things are going, pretty soon we won’t have any bees period.  Honey is going to become a commodity as will every other crop out there.  Maybe that’s what the major corporations want; to make food so expensive that no one except the filthy rich will be able to afford anything, that way they can get rid of the middle class and the poor.

So here’s my solution for this simple problem.  Buy organic food, support your local supermarkets.  Don’t buy processed garbage from big corporations, read the labels on the containers of the food you buy and ask yourself why our food is imported from China, Mexico, etc., when we can easily grow it in our backyards.  The most important step to take is to become informed.  Watch the documentaries on Netflix or go to your library and check some out.  Don’t think that we are little and cannot make a difference in this huge world economy.  True, one person cannot make a difference for sure, but together, we can make a stand against these huge corporations that think they can get away with whatever they want.

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New Years Resolution: Inner Peace

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Marco

I recently watched Kung Fu Panda 2 with my niece and nephew.  It was a very funny movie, and the major actors; Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Jakie Chan, Seth Rogen etc return to voice their respective characters.  The movie at the beginning is very similar to every other action movie out there, the good guys have to defend their turf against the bad guys.  The fat Panda however, has trouble defending against the bad guys because he loses concentration when he sees a patch on the sleeve of a bad guy that reminds him of when his real parents left him in a crate when he was a wee baby.

Someone tells him that the loss of concentration is due to the fact that he does not have inner peace.  Half of the movie deals with this important issue.  Inner peace is a fleeting emotion for the fat panda.  He does not know what that is; is it achieved through training? is it something you can get from someone else?  Fat Panda struggles to find it.  However, once he does find that inner peace, he becomes a force to be reckoned with.

Sure Kung Fu Panda 2 is a kid’s movie, but nonetheless, it has a very important message; everyone in this world needs to find that inner peace I feel.  Translating this inner peace to today’s society however, is increasingly more and more difficult everyday.   In this day and age, where money is the most important thing on the minds of many, trying to achieve inner peace is a really difficult thing.

A movie that I think deals with this issue is the pursuit of happyness.  This movie is the true story of Chris Gardner staring Will Smith, real life son Jayden Smith and Thandie Newton.  The movie is about the life struggles of Mr. Gardner.  From the beginning you can tell Mr. Gardner’s spirit is strong.  In addition, he is quite industrious as well; he tries his hand at many different businesses.  However, when his businesses fail time and time again, his wife, played by Ms. Thandie, leaves him, thereby having to tend to his young son by himself, creating even more pressure for Mr. Gardner and son.  All throughout, Mr. Gardner never gets down on himself.  He feels the many pressures life throws at him, but his inner strength allows him to be strong for his boy.  In time, Mr. Gardner creates a financial services firm that is still in business today.  This firm takes much of the pressures off Gardner’s shoulders and is able to provide for his son because of it.  Good story, but I’m thinking the moral of the story is not happyness, it is money.  The movie should have been titled, the pursuit of money.  All cynicism aside, Mr. Gardner’s story is quite inspirational.

Two contrasting schools of thought.  In Kung Fu Panda, inner peace is found by finding the truth about one’s self and coming to terms with it.  On the other hand, the pursuit of happyness shows that finding money is the most important thing.

I asked my niece (who is 7 years old) after watching Kung Fu Panda if she knew what inner peace meant.  She said no, in a rush I told her that inner peace is about being happy with one’s self.  However, I see now that my answer was not quite right because different people view happyness differently.  Is inner peace the same as happiness?  For me inner peace is being happy and true to myself.  I don’t have to be truthful to no one but myself.  Others like Chris Gardner see happyness as being able to provide for his young son. For others, being happy may be oppressing people to make themselves feel better.  I know full well that for major corporations, their only goal in life is to make money, oppress others and pay off the government to look the other way.  But you know what? making money is overrated.  Sure one needs money to live, to clothe and feed ourselves.  However, it’s gotten out of hand; many, many people subscribe to the idea that their material possessions define who they are.  It’s like the golfer who has the latest clubs, awesome shoes, is a very well dressed person, but his swing sucks, gets irate and throws the clubs whenever he makes a mistake.

My point being is that true happiness really does comes from inside, it doesn’t matter what others think of me because they don’t know me, only I know me.  Their words cannot touch me.  I read somewhere a long time ago that we all gotta be painfully truthful to ourselves.  Because like the saying goes “the truth shall set you free.” Didn’t make too much sense then, but now I see what they were talking about.

So that’s gonna be my new years’ resolution, not to lose weight, or to do this or that nonsense.  In order to accomplish anything in this world one must find that inner peace, that inner strength to stand tall and fight back, to have a strong spirit that will allow our being to keep on, keeping on.  Finding inner peace is not about being a good person all the time.  Sometimes the dragon’s gotta come out and fight the oppressors, because if we are too nice, the oppressors will steamroll over us the way Christopher Columbus and his gang did to the native Americans.  No, finding inner peace is about being a strong person who is aware of his or herself.  I am not a freaking robot, I got emotions.  I am a man, and i am at ease with my emotions.  I know now that it’s OK to cry, it’s OK to laugh, it’s OK to just be.  I’m going to be what my father (rest in peace) wanted me to be from the very beginning: A good person who loves to laugh.

Being a good person is going to be easy for me.  I’m just gonna keep humming “I’ll fly with you” or “let it be”, or some other favorite song.  Also, with this inner peace, I’m going to try and be like Michael Moore and expose the corporate scum of America who are dividing us.  Little by little we are witnessing the fall of America because there ain’t no more money and all the jobs are being shipped off to other countries because corporations can pay foreigners anything they want; they won’t complain.  Foreigners don’t know any better and will do what the big gringo tells them to do because that’s what they do in America.  They are just thankful to have jobs.

Being coldfully truthful to myself has allowed me to be strong and face the fact that society is going down the path of destruction.  I got Netflix to thank for that, those documentaries really talk volumes.  Nonetheless, I wish more people would find that inner peace, be strong and face the fact that big business is not good for anyone except those at the top.

Money is important no doubt.  But being paid slave wages is not cool.  So here and now, let’s organize and support organic farmers, small business owners, and turn your back on big business.  Let’s all STOP BUYING FROM BIG CORPORATIONS who have shipped our jobs to other countries.   It’s easy to make these small changes, if we all wake up to the way things are.  Cook more often (with organic ingredients of course), it’s quite therapeutic.  Laugh more, especially at the absurd way these corporations are ruining the world, go jogging, it’s so much fun.  Basically take care of yourself and don’t believe the lies these corporations sell.  I know one person alone cannot make a difference, but I think together we can stand up to these idiots.  Let’s hit them where it hurts, their wallets.  Let’s speak the only language they know, money.

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Weapons of Mass Deception

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Marco

Recently, I watched a movie called WMDs: Weapons of Mass Deception, by Danny Schechter.  Quite an eye opening movie regarding media coverage of the last two ‘wars’ we have fought.  Schechter is a longtime news reporter who has worked for the likes of CNN and CNBC.  He argues that the media is a tool used by the federal government to create propaganda in order to create support for the war.  Further, news programs really only care about their ratings and not showing the truth about the war and why we are over there.

Back in 1989, when Iraq was invading one of the richest oil producers in the world; Kuwait, all the major networks tried to ‘win’ the ratings war by embedding newscasters to go in the field to show firefights.  No doubt these firefights had very little to do with the big picture, they could have taken place anywhere.  These embeds created huge ratings for their parent networks, and they gained a high level of recognition.  However, this type of reporting is highly irresponsible, all we are seeing is how that one individual unit survives a real life “Call of Duty” mission.

In addition, American news outlets did not show the pain and suffering that went on; the killing of innocent civilians, the maiming of young children.  The movie also showed that only about 60% of the “smart bombs” that the military dropped actually hit their targets; the mainstream media chose not to report that one of those smart bombs actually hit an Iraqi hospital destroying children’s limbs.  There are websites like www.aztlan.net, which show the gruesome pictures and devastation that was not reported in the mainstream media.  The missiles that missed were not reported about because the American people would no doubt change their minds about the war, just like they did when we invaded North Vietnam back in the 70s.

What was amazing was that according to Schechter, the mainstream media told more lies  about the war and misled their viewers quite more than public channels like PBS.  Coverage of the war throughout the world was reported very differently.  Over here, they showed the ‘cool’ stuff that people like to see, the bombing of building, missiles lighting up the Iraqi sky.  Whereas networks like Al-Jazeera, reported the pain and suffering of mothers who lost their young children to these missiles.

What is also incredible is that all the major networks were pro war after 9/11.  Not one of these major news networks including Fox, NBC, CBS, CNN were against the war or for debating first where to go and find Bin Laden.  How incredible it was that even though so many civilians like me and many, many others were against the war, all the major news networks predominately favored the position of the military and to go attack Iraq at all costs. These ignorant networks always operate with the mindset of “if you’re not with us, you are against us.”  The think first act accordingly attitude no longer applies in this day and age.

We all know now that this war was a huge mistake.  Why go into Iraq to get Saddam when we are going after Bin Laden was really a huge mistake on the part of the federal government and the military.  It’s like Lupe Fiasco says in “Words I never said,” “I think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit, just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets.”  The mainstream media has become a big non entity and a big joke.  They do not report the truth.  The movie argues that the media always takes the side of the government in reporting anything and everything.  They do not want to ruffle any feathers because they are a bunch of cowards and pushovers who only care about their profits.  The days of responsible reporting are gone, when money is involved the truth goes out the window.  So I believe it is our duty as responsible citizens to be very weary of the federal government and especially their robot media that just reports lies after lies after lies.  So let’s all take a stand and stop watching cable television.  Let’s just watch Netflix, because they seem to care more about showing important documentaries such as WMDs: Weapons of Mass Deception.

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The Fight between good and evil

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Marco

In the comics, the struggle between good and evil is usually between a super villain and a super hero.  Batman vs. Joker, Superman vs. Doom, He-man vs. Skeletor.  The list goes on and on.  In the comics, some villains have unclear motives for their crimes, Doom wants to take over the universe and Skeletor wants to take over Eternia; the home planet.  Super villains usually do the things they do because they are villains, Joker on the other hand is more complex.  Due to his wife leaving him, he loses his mind and tries to share his pain with the rest of Gotham.

Comics are usually very simple and have some sort of morals; one learns the value of good vs. evil in an entertaining fashion.  However, in the real world, the fight between good and evil is not so clear cut, not everyone is truly evil and no one is truly good.  In the real world, the battle between good and evil is not between two superheroes.  The battle between good and evil is constantly being fought inside our minds.

In the real world, we have many forces that tug at us: our jobs, friends, family, finances, and many, many others.  Most people are able to handle the pressures of society in a constructive fashion.  However, some are not.  Some people crack under pressure and start to lose their minds.  Just like Peter Parker.  Peter Parker, AKA Spiderman is a superhero that fights for good.  He loves his grandma and his girlfriend, Mary Jane.  However, when a force from above comes down upon him, Peter Parker becomes possessed and he tries to fight crime as a new superhero called Venom.

Venom is a force that attaches itself to any living entity and totally engulfs them.  This venom comes in the form of a suit that makes the wearer become self-absorbed.  Peter Parker mistakes this for confidence.  However, we can see that venom has not given Peter confidence, it has given him arrogance.  This arrogance is dangerous because it makes Peter push away Mary Jane and his grandma, the people closest to him.  After wearing the venom suit for too long, Peter becomes very negative and can no longer fight crime as before when he was happier.  So Peter decides to do the right thing and shed the venom suit because it is ruining his life.

In the same vain, many of us start out like Peter Parker as Spiderman, but end up like venom because we all crack under pressure.  For example, in the real world, some policemen that are supposed to be fighting crime, steal funds from the government.  Moreover, Bernie Maddoff, who carried on his ‘ponzi’ scheme for 30+ years, started out his career as a superstar stockbroker was well respected for his work as a financial genius.  However, the pressures of society got to him, and he decided to steal funds from his clients.  I don’t know if Maddoff is truly evil, I think he just put on that venom suit for too long.  The list goes on and on.  Just watch American Greed on television to see all the evil scum that walks the face of the earth.

The real world is harsh.  The real world makes many, many people wear the venom suit in order to survive.  But why is that?  Why is it that in today’s ultra competitive environment, some feel that we have to fight to live?  I’ve seen so many people argue over nothing, fight over minute details.  Rather than help each other out, we are compelled to step on each other to feel better about ourselves.

Even in the United States, where we have so many resources and have enough for everyone, we are still compelled to create social classes for the good of capitalism.  Problem is capitalism is bringing out the worst in all of us.  No longer is it important to teach the children well and let them lead the way.  No longer is important to do the right thing.  On the contrary, it is now important to be quick to anger, share the pain and bring others down.  All we are doing is showing the next generation that wearing the venom suit all the time is ok.  It doesn’t matter how many people you hurt, all that matters is the money.

Money is the root of all evil, a wise man once said.  That is so true.  You can be a rich, rich man, and people will respect you.  You can be the worst human being, the ugliest soul ever, but if you have money, people automatically gravitate towards the rich.  It seems like the only thing that matters is money nowadays, values have taken a backseat in the name of some money.  It’s really a sad state of affairs in this day and age, where we are raising human beings that have no substance.

 

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Use Hemp For Paper instead of wood!

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Marco

Anyone who has ever worked in an office type environment knows, the amount of paper waste created everyday is not just astounding, it’s criminal.  We kill all these trees to get some wood pulp so we can make paper.  We have to get paper from somewhere, no doubt, but do we really need to chop down our best defense against pollution and most importantly ozone erosion?  Not only is this destroying the environment, we are also killing millions of animal species every second by displacing their habitats.  We create huge amounts of paper waste, and very little gets recycled.  Chemicals used in the creation of paper seep into the water supply, or the ground infecting the food supply.  Is there any wonder why we have so many new diseases infecting little ones that used to be very, very rare?

Check it out, according the webMD “since 1940, scientists have identified 335 emerging infectious diseases in people.”  Anything from SARS, MRSA, west nile virus, even lyme disease is a new one.  The list goes on and on, is this coincidence? do all these nasty diseases just show up because they also evolve like us??  I think these new diseases have been created by super bacteria that have eaten some chemicals in the ground and gotten into unknowing humans.  This to me is unacceptable.  I don’t understand how anyone can sit there and accept things as they are.  Why don’t we ever try to find the root causes of problems rather than turn a blind eye and show who Paris Hilton is banging on the boob tube?

After performing research on the wood based paper, I found that there are at least 45 chemicals used in the creation of paper.  With all the negative environmental impact of this type of paper, why do we continue to harm the environment and keep doing things as usual?  My theory is that construction of wood based paper is not given much attention.  It’s easier to look the other way and keep using paper being blissfully ignorant of the environmental impact.  I don’t blame the users as much as the producers of paper.  Rather than accept responsibility and change the material used to make paper, they continue making paper with wood pulp because change is so hard for some.

Maybe it’s the gutless politicians who rather than correct problems, they twiddle their thumbs the whole day, pushing paper making it look like they are busy doing absolutely nothing.  No one wants to be the unpopular guy that says “hey man, this wood based paper is killing the environment.”  Most Americans will say, who cares, whatever.  But I think that’s the wrong attitude to have, we have got to start caring more about our planet, because we’re surely going to kill ourselves off.  Watch Al Gore tell it like it is in An Inconvenient Truth.

Using wood pulp for paper making is extremely inefficient.  Due to its low amount of cellulose, various chemicals are needed to get that fiber out in order to create paper.  There are better ways, according to Calrecycle “Tree-free paper is far from an environmental fad.  In fact, up until the 1850s, cotton rags and nonwood plants were the dominant sources of fiber used for paper making.”  Then what happened?  We started taking advantage of the vast acreage of forests that we own.  I’m not a tree hugger, I’m just saying, we need to start making better decisions, because the current decisions that the federal government is making not only is getting us closer to bankruptcy, but it’s also polluting the world.

Making paper out of Hemp is  much simpler process than making paper out of wood.  According to Hemp Farm Australia, you can take Hemp paper making tours, which show you exactly what goes on in the creation of Hemp paper.  One can even make Hemp paper at home by boiling the plant.

We have got to change the way we do things in order to make a better future for our children, for our environment.  It’s a damn shame that Hemp was used extensively for paper products for thousands of years, and in the last 70+ years it was banned for our protection by the feds.  This type of blatant ignorance, to outlaw a plant that was used extensively in the past is lunacy.  Who the hell is running the country and why don’t we start taking care of the paper waste problem?

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The Fight For Power

Posted on November 16, 2011 by marco

This American society is very strange.  I mean on paper it makes sense.  I’m not talking about how the rules were set up, because the declaration of independence and the constitution are two of the most important documents in human history.  These documents are the only things keeping the United States from becoming a total police state.  No doubt these documents founded the greatest country on the face of the earth and we enjoy vast amounts of personal freedoms because of them.  Indeed the founding fathers were some of the most creative, ingenious and honorable people that have walked the face of the earth, some even farmed Hemp.  However, these personal freedoms do not translate into a capitalistic society.  Just witness the banning of Marijuana and Hemp in the 1930’s; The feds and filthy rich need to manipulate and control the economy through mischievous ways to stay in power.

The economy has always had its shares of ups and downs.  All throughout history, every economy will always fluctuate due to demand, supply and/or various other economic theories used to explain why the economy does what it does with data.  However, this economic system is too complex for its own good.  Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan once admitted to congress that he was wrong about the US economy when deciding whether to increase or decrease the interest rate.  That’s why economics to me as a study is useless; even the experts can be wrong.  This is not a knock on Mr. Greenspan’s storied work.  On the other hand I think Mr. Greenspan is quite intelligent.  He was wrong because no one could have known what the Economy was going to do even with his seasoned experience.  It’s a crap shoot.  To try to regulate it is like trying to tell a dog not to sniff his or other dogs’ butts.  Futile I think.  It’s only a matter of time before it collapses, too many rules, not enough power for the middle class.

I’m no economist for sure but I play one here.  It is my ‘professional’ opinion that the system is screwed up.  So screwed up that when Obama’s best buds from Goldman Sachs tell him that they need money, he really does, in the billions!!  Sure give the money to the rich corporations, way to go federal government, you’ve added a cool trillion dollars from the bailout and are we better off because of it?  You tell me.  I’m definitely not better off.

Leave it alone, laissez faire they used to say.  Let survival of the fittest apply to the corporate world, no more bailouts!  How about giving me bailout money so I can start a Hemp growing business to create jobs?  Nope, the law does not allow it.  No, instead give it to your wealthy golfing buddy instead, so he can always have the latest and greatest clothes and clubs.  Oh yeah, golf lessons too.  I think the government thinks it has got to be everyone’s champion, so they help out everyone.  Goldman Sachs needs money, here you go.  Here’s 700 billion.  I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

The government should be searching right now for ways and being open minded to change for the better.  Yet the legislation bills to deregulate marijuana and Hemp remain in limbo.  Does your plan include the legalization of Hemp to create jobs, Mr.Obama?  Nope.  If only Hemp were introduced as an industry into the economy and finally separated from Marijuana, the amount of jobs created would be remarkable.  Many people struggling to find jobs could find work in the Hemp industry.  This plan would work because we’d increase production.  Simple as that.  Rather than having idle, unemployed people, we could have them harvest Hemp that would in turn be used to create anything from hemp seed oil which contains essential fatty acids, Hemp clothing, Hemp plastics, Hemp paper, construction materials like Hemp insulation, Hemp Bio-diesel to finally replace our dependence on foreign oil, Hemp feed for cattle, uses abound, 50,000+.

I personally feel it’s a crime cutting down so many trees for paper, knowing full well that the same can be accomplished with fewer chemicals through the use of Hemp.  According to the LA Times, between 1630 through the 1800s, people could pay their taxes in Hemp.  If that were the case, I could buy a farm and start earning a living growing Hemp legally.

It’s ridiculous that in this day and age where 31 other industrialized countries are growing it and the US remains mum on the subject.  It cost me $70 to buy some Hemp oil, imported from Manitoba.  It costs $5 for vegetable oil.  I demand change.  I want to start producing for this country but the law prohibits me because of government bureaucracy.  Legalizing it would give the common man too much power it seems.

The feds will tell you that Hemp is banned because people use it to get high, but that’s just plain stupidity, if they only researched the plant, they’d understand.  But that’s the type of people we have right now in Washington.  Maybe since oil has been a source of plentiful energy, we haven’t had to use other resources.  But I still think Legal Hemp would have stopped the destruction of various forests and many still are being cut down for the lumber.  These politicians have to start doing their jobs and effect changes in the law.  We cannot keep blindly following rules that are outdated.  A new method of thinking is required.  Anyone willing to take a stance on legalizing Hemp is most definitely out of the ordinary.  Dr. Ron Paul does not need to showboat.  He’s just doing his job.  He wants to give power back to the farmers and to the people.  That’s the reason why every American looking for real change, for a radical new way of doing things, we have to vote Dr. Ron Paul.

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About Me

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Marco

I started this site as a result of my frustration of trying to find a job in the old economy. Now I’m trying the new economy, the Internet. There are signs that the current economy is crumbling, but nonetheless, I’m going to need to find a job fairly soon. The owners of wealthyaffiliates.com ensure profits in the hundreds of thousands if their techniques are applied in the first year alone. However, I just want my voice to be heard, I’m not expecting profits. I want this site to be about voicing the frustrations of the common man who is like many other Americans is about to become unemployed. There are too many issues that need to voiced. My frustration with the system has grown to the point where the American people need to vent their frustration at the way things are run and expect change.

I am angry. There are many issues out there that make me lose faith in the system. Capitalism has run amok and we need to change the way we run the country. Through this endeavor, I hope to find the truth. Countless times we’ve been lied to by our own government because they have their own agenda. Furthermore, I want to do more for those who can’t. The ones who have no voice, the trees and the hemp plant. I hope to use this forum to spread the word about the benefits of Hemp, its legalities, its history. But in addition, I will talk about other issues as well that concern me such as education, underrated movies, the police state, the Navy, business/job advice and job search frustration posting forum.

Mainly it’s important for me to know I am not alone in my frustrations with the current situation. I think if we unite and share a certain view, It’s important that we communicate that. True, one person cannot make a difference, but together, many people thinking the same idea, sharing the same principle is powerful. It’s the motivation factor behind any war, any defiant stance, a willingness to communicate and stand behind a common cause.

I guess it’s also the love of writing. Writing has helped me deal with stress in the past, and gets my thoughts on paper for the world to read, that’s a cool feeling. I hope that my frustrations, thoughts, advice, words, comments help anyone and everyone that reads, because the web needs to be a place where people help each other out. Together we can make a difference.

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