One Tragic Moment Can Change Your Perspective on Life

Most people live days of predictable basic routines, perhaps out of habit, perhaps because of their job, school, or family obligations, but however it is structured; for the most part there is a consistent rhythm to most people's way of managing their life, for better or for worst.  The thing is on any given day, something can happen in a blink of an eye that will change all of that, such as a car accident, a shooting, a bad mugging, a catastrophic weather event, or similar.  While it is true, that these above things are in aggregate at a low percentage chance of happening, the fact of the matter is that these events do happen each and every day to someone, unexpectedly. 

Tragic events can either happen to us or they can happen to someone very close to us, in either event, that event will have material effects on your life.  For instance, when you wake up after a good night's rest, only to discover that there are a bunch of messages on your phone, to which, in the checking of them, you learn that your mother or your father, or someone very close to you, has died unexpectedly during the night, the impact of the immensity of this news, of this incredible lost, will absolutely stagger you.  The thoughts and emotions that will run through your mind will be almost overwhelming to you.

Consider too, a situation in which through, for instance, a significant car accident, that you are badly injured in such a manner that whatever routine you once had, is changed, in the flash of the moment, so that now you are no longer able to walk or eat without aid, whether forever, or for a period of time.  This means, that the freedom of movement and actions that you once took for granted, no longer exists for you, as you are dependent upon others to help and to aid you in your day-to-day activities.

No matter what the event was, whether it happened directly to you, or to someone else, the tragic nature of it, especially in the sense, that there is no going back to putting things back to how they once were, is unsettling to say the least.  In these types of situations, you will not ever say to yourself, that you wish you had been meaner in your dealings with individuals, that you wished you had been greedier, more selfish, more condescending or rude, more angry or more drunk, or that you wished you had spent more time wreaking havoc instead of bringing more peace and serenity to yourself and those that you loved.

In any given day, there are choices upon choices for us, even on the most routine of days, and those choices that we make, good or bad, coherent or not, are the choices that build the blocks of who and what we are.  There is a mirror, and when you face that mirror, there will be only one person facing you back, and the answer that you want to give to the question of the meaning of it all is that when presented the choice of doing right or doing wrong, that far more often than not, you did the right thing; and if you have done so, when those tragic or unexpected events hit you, which they will, the essence of what you really are will absorb them so much better.

Mega Corporate Mergers are Often Wrong

This is the era of huge multinational corporations to which it seems to be whatever that they want from those that ostensibly regulate and handle antitrust issues that these well connected mega corporations almost always end up getting their way.  The fact of the matter is that the larger an organization gets, the more concentrated its power is, so that over a period of time, its footprint is large enough that regulators, are typically well outmaneuvered, out-financed, resource challenged, and outplayed, with the message from the mainstream media usually lacking in substance but high in applauding false merger benefits, while much of the credulous public is apathetic or confused.

When massive mega-mergers are first proposed, they are carefully orchestrated events, speaking typically of the need for a particular merger to happen because of synergy, competitive reasons, market forces, innovation, growth, and so forth, of which basically none of these are the real reasons for the merger.  The fact of the matter is the real reason for most mergers comes down to money and corporate greed, to which those at the top of the corporate pie benefit, and those that aren't, most definitely come up short and often are dismissed.

For instance, while every big merger is different in its own way, a typical merger, will provide massive fees for those financial firms that broker and finance the deal as well as the legal team that makes sure that all the paperwork and deal making with regulatory authorities is constructed in such a way as to bring a good assurance that the deal will be approved.  Further, the top executives of the firms make sure to take care of their own, so that even if some high executives are put out to pasture, as they most certainly will be, that the compensation package that they do received will more than make up for any small damage to their ego. 

It can also be said that often real synergies will be created, which in fact, often results in the need for less physical space as well as a reduction in employees because of redundancy, so that a merger of two large organizations, is often the perfect time to jettison employees that simply don't make the grade, without losing much in productivity, which, of course, is quite beneficial to the corporate bottom line.

In some mergers, those that are merging were once competitors, with these former competitors now uniting this creates an entity which is now larger in size and power, which often means that their pricing power and/or their ability to exert pressure on their remaining competitors increases substantially.  It can also mean, paradoxically, since there is one less competitor, that pricing can become softer, since the consolidation of the industry, makes it easier to effect a "gentleman's agreement" that prices need to rise, so that the industry can stay comfortably profitable for all.

So too there are mergers that are vertical in nature, such as buying the supplier of your feed for your chickens, so that now you can provide "most favored nation" pricing and throughput for your chickens, while conversely charging a little bit more to rival buyers of such and thereby squeezing your competitors who previously had been receiving their feed from that supplier at free market pricing, but now must struggle with this new paradigm.

The basic fact is that most mega-mergers are done so as to concentrate power and wealth into far fewer hands to which over time, if not almost immediately, that power and synergy will be used to unjustly extract more money and profit from consumers, by small incremental increases.  For instance, if you enjoy soda, you might not notice that there really are only two basic choices, in which one will be a Coca-Cola product and the other will be a Pepsi Cola product, with the illusion that all these other different brands, containers, and such, are different companies, whereas they pretty much are a product of either one or the other.

Love Conquers All

In this cynical age, perhaps a phrase such as "love conquers all" seems trite or even a bit misplaced, yet, this is as true to the path as any wisdom that could be given from one person to the next or from one generation to the next generation.  In life, there is a hierarchy of lesser truth to the Highest of the highest truth, and this Truth is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  At the top of this pyramid is Love, because God is love, because "love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (I Corinthians 13:7).

This can be a violent, corrupt, and brutal world, to which those in power or seeking such, will stop at absolutely nothing to have what they must have, but for every dog that has its day, for every dictator that gets his way, their way does not and will not ever last.  Every great military power will be defeated whether from within or from without; so too will every bully be vanquished, as the kingdom that so many aim and seek for, is the type of kingdom to which the crown of such has at best, a hint of gold, but is tarnished thoroughly throughout.

Those that believe that a bullet stops love, or a sword, or rape, or fire and destruction, wrongly believe that all power rests in this worldly domain.  Yet, the way of the Cross proves that beyond a doubt, that this could not possibly be true, that there indeed is a power far beyond man's power to kill, and that power is love, and love is God. 

The path of so many is lived in darkness and the ignorance that they know everything, when in point of fact, they know so little, and what they do know, is often fundamentally flawed and wrong.  Those that live in this darkness of seeing life as nothing more than a glorified animal kingdom, to which life is a zero sum society, and therefore they must kill or oppress or con others in order to live, are so far from the Flame of truth, that the chill of their faithlessness haunts them, and thereby they must deaden their conscience through drink or bad company or some such in order to cope with the twisted reality that they perceive.

The principle behind love is the exact same principle which is behind Light, and that principle is as straightforward as understanding that darkness does not and has not ever conquered Light, but darkness is the absence of Light, and nothing more.  This means that when the darkness of man's ignorance and hubris faces that great chasm and braces itself for the fight of all fights, that the fight is over in the blink of an eye, because the intensity of light overcomes all darkness instantly, as if darkness never existed.

The goodness that you see expressed in the best of mankind through their generosity, their caring, their concern, their listening, their sacrifice, all these and more are the attributes which make up love.  It is this love that is the fundamental key to re-uniting ourselves with the One who is love, and to thereby to find ourselves back in the very place where it all began.

It's Easy to Kill a Clown

In some Muslim countries and parts of Muslim countries controlled by certain religious fanatics in conjunction with paramilitary forces, there are strict dress codes, honor codes, and moral codes impressed upon women as well as to a lesser extent, on men.   Some of these codes are interpreted very specifically in regards to what is appropriate dress for Muslim women so that outside of their home, Muslim women must wear either a burqa which covers the woman from the top of the head to the ground, or must wear a hijab, which covers the body and depending upon the prevailing religious viewpoint is combined with a niqab which veils the face.  The upshot of all these rules, is that it is quite common to see women walking around wearing clothing that does not hint of their bodily shape, while also giving out very little facial recognition characteristics except perhaps a slit for their eyes, if even that.

This means that for Muslim women wearing a burqa or equivalent, that not only will it be somewhat difficult to determine whether indeed that the person behind the outfit is even female, it also takes away common human clues of the humanity of the person, herself.   It could be though for those that deal with Muslim women wearing burqas on an everyday basis, that perhaps they are able to discern this or that about a particular woman, although one could argue quite strongly, that being that perceptive so as to have knowledge on the outside of who that person really is, defeats the whole purpose of the intended modesty of the person involved to begin with.

Most everyone has dealt with a clown or has seen a clown in person at one time or another, at a circus, or at a party or on TV.  The thing about a clown is that a clown is by definition wearing a costume in such a way as to disguise the person so cleverly that it can be difficult to discern whether that clown is female or male. To the point, the hair is a ridiculous wig, the face is painted in different colors, the costume does not conform closely to the bodily shape, the clothes colors are bright and mixed, and the shoes are oversized and silly.  All of this is done for show, and to make it typically easier for those watching to laugh at the silliness of the clown's antics which appeals to young children, most of the time, but not all of the time.  The thing about clowns is, for instance using the Joker of Batman fame as a prime example, aka"The Clown Prince of Crime", is that because of the clown's makeup, exaggeration, and disguise it's difficult to see a clown as being human, in the same way that we see everyday humans, so that when a clown goes off the rails, it can get downright scary, tragic, and if necessary, it becomes easy enough to kill a clown.

It would be wise therefore, to remember that anytime you take a fellow human being and disguise them in such a way so as to place some significant doubt as to their humanity, their sex, and their identity, it then becomes much easier to take care of any dirty business, because in the killer's mind, the object being targeted isn't seen as a child of God.

I love My Job Restaurant T-Shirts

While there isn't any doubt that there are some people that truly love their jobs, it's difficult to believe that restaurant employees would typically fall under that category, especially since many restaurant employees at chain restaurants are really there to do their tour of duty, as opposed to making being a server or a busboy their call of duty.  Yet, somehow or another, there are certain restaurants that have employees wearing t-shirts that state that they love their job.  While, from a customer perspective one can kind of chuckle at the silliness of it all, it does seem to be a bit more sinister than that.  It just seems to be one of those situations to which the employer is trying to guilt their employees into wearing a t-shirt which somehow displays a mood or a loyalty that probably doesn't really exist.

It would be one thing entirely, if those wearing t-shirts displaying how happy they are to have their job were true in one form or another, but this seems to be wishful thinking of behalf of those running the establishment.  Of course, one might then ask, why anyone would wear a t-shirt indicating an emotion that they aren't really feeling, but that answer depends upon the person, to which possibly sarcasm, guilt, conformity or pressure may all play their part in this demonstration.

Now all things being equal, my main complaint about such t-shirts is the belief from a customer perspective that the sentiment that a server loves their job seems rather insincere.  Further, that a server who wears this sentiment on their shirt is doing so in the hopes of creating a perception to management that they are a team player or perhaps it's because they believe that by wearing such a shirt this therefore could lead to better shifts, more money, or career advancement.

Having said that, it doesn't seem fair or particularly dignified that besides being a good server and employee that as a pre-condition for advancement or continual employment, that an employee should have to implicitly comply with wearing shirts that signify their contentment with their job.  Instead, that speaks of the type of pressure that employers should not be able to exert against their employees.  It is a reasonable thing that a certain neatness, politeness, and cleanliness are part of the dining experience, and further it's probably fine to have employees wear shirts that indicate the name of the property, but false emotions, even if done tongue-in-cheek, or for camaraderie, or good spirit, seems a false fit.

The bottom line is that you don't have to love your job in order to do a good job, and employers should more frequently recognize that good work involves having a two-way dialog, in which displayed false sentiments do not provide an open line of communication, but rather have a strong tendency to foster a working relationship to which one party must be obedient to the other, with the other party displaying the illusion of contentment, just to have that job.

Why are Banks so Rich?

You wouldn't think that banks would be all that rich and powerful because their ostensible business model appears to be a rather simple one as all they seem to do is loan out money, make capital investments, create bonds, and add fees, but they don't actually have an actual tangible product that they manufacture and sell.  Herein lies the rub, their product is money, to which they have unnatural advantages over their customers on virtually every level which they can leverage in all sorts of manners to their betterment and to the consumer's chagrin.

One of the massive advantages that banks have, that consumers do not have, is the fact that banks have access to money and assets through the fractional-reserve system. Essentially, the fractional-reserve system, allows banks to create money out of thin air and to thereby leverage deposits many-fold.  That is to say, a deposit of $1,000 may only require that the bank actually have 10% or 12% in ready cash to back that money up  and the balance can be invested, used as collateral, or swapped with other banks, so that this deposit with another bank, of 90% of $1000 or $900 will be treated as a new deposit and therefore that bank can loan out or invest 90% of $900 or $810 to another bank or subsidiary or virtual bank and so on and so forth.  The long and short of it is, is that a deposit of $1000, gives the bank or banks the same leverage of having $9000, and it is this multiplier effect that enables banks to make bucketfuls of actual money, because their cost of money is so low and so cheap, in consideration of the 9x multiplier effect that they are literally making money off of other people's money and other people's labor, by for instance, charging an interest rate that is high enough to benefit  the bank, but low enough that the customer can handle it while at the same time maintaining a margin which is quite comfortable for the bank.

In addition, banks get very rich, because the biggest debtor in America, the U.S. Government, borrows its funds from the Federal Reserve, which despite its name, is a consortium of private banking interests that acts as the U.S. Government's central bank.  In any business, and especially in the money business, the entity that creates and controls the product is the entity that is going to be in the driver's seat of making money from that product.  There is no better customer than the U.S. Government, because that is very citadel of power, which must itself feed thirstily from the central bank.

Further to the profitability of banks, we are all well aware of the new adage in regards to the biggest banks that they are "too big to fail" which means, no matter what fiscal mistakes that these banks make, that the game is fixed and that they will be bailed out by the U.S. Government, which makes these banks therefore theoretically unbreakable and consequently perpetual profit machines for the owners and stockholders of such. 

It is said that money is power, and the banks hold and have the money, meaning quite clearly that they too have the power.  These massive banks are truly in the catbird seat as to whether any of our Constitutional rights even matter, because with the capability to bring economic depression, recession, or hyper-inflation within their grasp, private wealth is at their mercy.

Voting Rights Have Changed the Outcome of Elections and Viewpoints

Back in 1790 only white male adult property-owners had the right to vote, but over a very long process of time the easing of voting qualifications were relaxed throughout the United States. For instance, it took a civil war to provide voting rights to males of all colors although the actual full implementation of such involved a long and tortuous path of which some of these remnants are still with us today, but for the most part we have successfully seen removed unfair barriers for the disenfranchise to vote.  Later, the woman's suffrage movement was victorious in bringing the vote to all citizens of the United States, irrespective of the sex of the voter, so that today, all citizens that have reached the age of eighteen are eligible to vote, subject to a few restrictions.

The expansion of voting to all citizens has clearly changed the outcome of elections, because different races, different creeds, and different sexes do not register to vote at the same percentages, nor do they affiliate with the major political parties at the same percentages.  That is to say, more minorities as well as more women register to vote with the Democratic Party as compared to white males.  This means for a certainty, that election results have changed because the makeup of the voters has changed over the last few decades.  Further to the point, women in general, vote at a higher percentage than men do, signifying that women have a greater influence upon elections than men do, simply because they vote at that higher percentage than men.

The foregoing makes for a very interesting dynamic, which is to say, that living in a country to which each person regardless of income or status receives the exact same voting power as the poorest of the poor, indicates fairly clearly that the people in whole have the final say at the election booth as compared to a small subset of the population at large.  Whether this is mainly a good thing or a bad thing, depends upon your point of view, but it is consistent to the Constitutional principles of America, and upholds the American principle that all are equally entitled to be treated fairly and all are entitled to vote in the manner that satisfies them and their point of view.

In taking a look at the whole, this means for politicians and political parties, that they cannot simply have things their own way, that in fact, there is an inherent recognition that the makeup of those that are voting will influence party policies, party choices, and party decisions.  This means that politicians, in general, cannot run roughshod over voters, but must instead, come up with coalitions that voters will get behind and support, making for a country that is more pluralistic rather than didactic.

Because voting rights have changed, this country has embraced the vision of a country that is for the people, by the people, and of the people, more than at any other time in its history.  That is how it should be, for that is what so many nobly sacrificed and dedicated their lives for.

The Hypocrisy of Gun Control

Every time that there are shootings of defenseless movie goers, or students, or church goers, or a health care clinic and so forth there is almost an endless hue and cry from certain media outlets and politicians decrying the easy availability and the inappropriate use of firearms throughout America.  While on a certain level, these critics have extremely valuable points; their reasoned answer always seems to revolve around de-arming everyone except authorized governmental servants.  This might make sense, if you believe that the defense of your family, of yourself, and of your community, should be outsourced to governmental authorities which in theory, have your best and the communities' best interest in mind, and somehow, no matter the circumstances of such, will always be there to defend such, in a blink of an eye.  Unfortunately, in reality, the cavalry is often too late to the scene, except to collect the carnage from these sorts of regrettable events.

The biggest flaw in all of this cry for gun control isn't so much that governmental authorities don't have the ability or wherewithal to collect all the current weapons on the streets and in citizen's homes, nor has it much to do with Constitutional concerns about upstaging the Second Amendment, as the Supreme Court has demonstrated time and time again, that the Constitution isn't a document to pay any homage to, but instead has everything to do as to why America is the biggest and baddest nation in the world, bar none. The fact of the matter is, that the world marches to America's beat, because America is the most awesome military power that the world has ever had to contend with, and the reason that this is so, is not just because of our technology, our personnel, our training, our experience, our logistics, and so forth, but most importantly because any country with any sensibility whatsoever fears our massive and destructive firepower.  Additionally to that, and in particular in regards to domestic affairs, there is no police force in the world, that is more militarized then the United States police agencies throughout all the major cities of this country as well as many that are far smaller. 

This means, that both our military as well as our domestic police force, recognized that an agency that is well trained, well armed, and knows how to use those arms is an agency that is virtually impossible for anyone or any group of people to contend with or overcome, if even for a brief period of time.  It then follows, if all that firepower as well as the logistics and equipment that are behind that firepower are so good for the security of our nation overseas as well as domestically, than why would any citizen of any sensibility, willingly concede his right to arms, since the military and police are prime examples of departments that recognize that with the power and usage of firearms, comes control and protection.

The question that should be in any good American citizen's mind is why is it that your normal, everyday policeman carries an incredibly lethal firearm, as well as other instruments of violence, routinely upon his body, unless that officer believes that peace, security, protection, and service, comes from the very barrel of a gun.  Since none of us have our own personal policeman on our premises, unless we are actually a law officer, than it would seem reasonable to assume, that at a minimum, we should emulate those that are here to protect and serve us, by having and using the same.

The Greatness of Islam

There are three Abrahamic faiths which are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to which they have many things in common, of which the most important is their belief in monotheism, or one God.  While each of these religions historically have suffered persecution, today the religion that suffers the most persecution from western nations is Islam, to which, for some people, politicians, or even governmental agencies there is a belief that to be Islamic in your faith, somehow means that you are guilty of something or an undesirable as a person.

Although there are some significant sayings that can be identified in the Quran to which they can be interpreted as advocating violence against certain other people, such as infidels, so too there are sayings within the Torah and within the New Testament which are guilty of similar criticisms.  As it has been said, by Shakespeare no less, the devil himself can cite scripture for his own purpose, so too can those of certain faiths take passages out of context, or misinterpret, or construct in such a manner, so as to advocate violence or other evil acts against other faiths and peoples.  This should not mean that all should be guilty for the crimes of a few, but it does mean that those that advocate or perpetrate violence against the innocent should be held accountable for their actions, and never be allowed to hide under the color of their religion for having done so.

The faith of Islam has its own points and emphasis which while often in sync with the other great Abrahamic faiths, differs in its own way.  For instance, Islam does not permit usury, or the charging of monetary interest on loans, probably because it benefits the few, as in those that have the capital to begin with, at the expense and exploitation of the many, to which the lender essentially makes money from money without having to put forth any labor for it.  The ill effect of charging interest for loans can be demonstratively seen by virtue of the fact that amongst the biggest and most powerful institutions in the world are banks and financial institutions, while often have power and wealth that influences strongly the policy of nation-states, while the mass of population struggles in their day-to-day existence.

Then too there is the Islamic prohibition of the consuming of alcohol, to which, it can be said that there is no drug that is more prevalent and more destructive in its nefarious effects upon family structures, upon the physical body, upon the mind and right decision making, than alcohol in all of its many forms.  The Islamic faith is likewise against gambling and games of chance, which is an activity that encourages people to believe that the road to riches is paved through the throw of the die, rather than by honest hard work and labor.

Additionally, the Islamic faith believes strongly that pre-marital sex is a grievous sin because the parties that have joined together in carnal knowledge have not done so as sanctioned by a marital bond, but instead has decided that their physical pleasure should supersede their devotion to God and that thereby the physical should be superior to the spiritual.

To be Islamic means that there is a call to prayer five times a day, and so too that there is an obligation to fast during the time of Ramadan, to which all of these are demonstrative proof that "there is no God but God" and that thereby the subjects recognize His sovereignty and his governance over their affairs, by humbling themselves to He who gave them life.

It can be said that true practitioners of the Islamic faith bring honor to their country, to themselves, and to their family, by submission of their free will to God.

Should Quarterbacks have Won/Lost Records?

While obviously winning the game is the most basic objective of any sport, one must keep in mind that when the sport is a team sport, with uneven schedules, with injuries and therefore personnel that changes from game-to-game, inconsistent coaching decisions, poor refereeing, the skill of the field goal kicker, the hands of receivers and so forth, the end result of any given NFL game isn't necessarily in the hands of the quarterback, yet he is the onestuck with the win or the loss in a particular game.  The difference between a win/loss record for a quarterback in football as compared to a pitcher in baseball, is that starting pitchers are in rotations, so that it isn't that difficult to compare a starting pitcher's record with or without him in the lineup on the same team and therefore come up with a statistic indicating his overall worth, which while still being somewhat suspect, at least tries to measure his material worth with some meaningful success; whereas in football, quarterbacks are not rotated in and out, unless they are deliberately benched or injured, so it's difficult to fathom what a given team's record would be with or without a particular quarterback, so that a good quarterback on a bad team, will probably have a poor record, and a fair quarterback on a really good team, may have a very good record, to which it is unknowable as to how each would have fared had they been on each other's team.

The problem with quarterback win/loss records is that quite obviously they pretty much reflect the exact win/loss record of the team that they are playing for and since quarterbacks are only one factor in the winning or losing of a given game, there will always be some quarterbacks that will have records that far exceed their true ability and other quarterbacks that will be shorted in their real ability, if one were to look exclusively at only the winning percentage of that quarterback.  This doesn't mean that a win/loss record for a quarterback doesn't have purpose, but it does indicate that it doesn’t really have a lot of purpose or that it is particularly meaningful.

On the other hand, the head coach is responsible for pretty much the whole gamut on the football field, so that his record on the field of action is meaningful.  In actuality, with the exception of the fact that the head coach is not a player, his decisions more than anyone else playing the game, influence whether the team wins or losses on a given day.  It certainly seems much more equitable and more logical to stick head coaches exclusively with win/loss records, but far less so to pin it additionally on a quarterback.

The fact of the matter is that there are so many other meaningful statistics that will validate whether a given quarterback is any good or not, that the winning percentage of a given quarterback will almost never shed any additional light on his skills on the field, so that there really isn't any good reason to attach wins to a quarterback, especially considering all the other factors and players involved in a given game.

Malware -- A Real Menace

If you have been around computers long enough you have almost for a certainty come across computers, whether your own or a friends, that have strange and persistently annoying pop-ups, pledging that they will fix your computer problems, which might range from speeding up your computer, to cleaning bad files from your computer, or to removing viruses from your computer.   Not only are these pop-ups extremely annoying, there are in addition to these pop-ups, malware or viruses that will change your home page and even change extensions on your documents so as to render them useless. 

When it gets to the point where you think that you really do need to resolve the problem, you will often find that the so-called solution to the problem is some anti-virus software that you have never heard ofand which will cost you $39.95 or thereabouts to take care of the issue.  Not too surprisingly, that software is often the back part of the malware or virus to begin with, that is to say, the company offering to fix the problem is the part and parcel of the company that created the problem on your PC to begin with.

For those that think that the entity behind these malware programs are bored and inquisitive kids that just want to have a little fun and to make a little money through the internet, that theory, unfortunately, is way off base.  In fact, these are institutions, some of which are either State-sponsored or State-sanctioned, that are sophisticated in what they do, how they accomplish what they do, and know how to monetize the very nasty things that they do to computers.  This is, for all practical purposes, a real business, which is highly profitable, because of the sheer number of personal computers that can be attacked, exploited, and then forced to submit to paying "protection money" in order to get control back of one's own computer.

The problem of malware is so insidious that a very strong argument can be made that at a minimum, the sellers of the most popular operating system, Microsoft windows and all of its many versions, should provide as a matter of course, anti-virus and anti-malware protection as part of the purchase of the machine to begin with.  While Microsoft does offer something, it does not seem really robust enough, subsequently leaving consumers and other users to avail themselves of anti-virus software to purchase on their own.  The unfortunate aspect of this all, is that there is a significant percentage of consumers that don't take the precautions that are mandated in the first place to protect their computer from malware and also there are a significant amount of people that are fooled into actually loading the malware software onto their computer through an attachment to an email or similar.

The fact of the matter is malware is enormously profitable and enormously prevalent.  This means, that it isn't going away anytime soon, in fact, it is a growth industry.  The onus for the protection of our computers should primarily be on the provider of the operating system, so companies such as Microsoft which consistently shows yearly profits to the tune of $20 billion dollars or more, needs to do far more to protect the purchaser of its products from the dangers and real menace of malware.

eBay, Thievery, and Shrinkage

While there are plenty of sites to sell your goods online through your own virtual storefront, the biggest players are Amazon and eBay, with eBay pretty much being the industry standard.  You can find just about anything that you might imagine for sale on eBay that typically one would normally buy within a store. Some of the advantages of an eBay are the fact that if the seller is out of your State, there is no sales tax, and in general, they have pricing that crushes the price of the same product that you would normally purchase in a store.  How?

While on the legitimate side of eBay there are reasons why a seller might be able to get a product at an extra cheap cost such as through liquidation, or through an auction, or through access to a real wholesaler, and so forth, it just seems unlikely that these types of options are the most prevalent options available.  That is to say, when you see so many products that are for sale on eBay, that are significantly below retail pricing, and are in theory priced in such a manner so as to produce a profit for a seller of such, it does make one wonder, especially if there appears to be a good supply of such, is this really too good to be true?

The first thing that comes to mind in this business model at eBay, is that eBay is the perfect outlet to sell counterfeit goods, mainly because there are so many people, that for whatever reason, absolutely believe that if you want to buy a Michael Kors handbag, for instance, that eBay is a legitimate place to go to find a legitimate Michael Kors handbag even though everything about the pricing of such, screams out that it has to be a fake or counterfeit, yet people will get sucked into making these purchases time and time again.

The other main thing about eBay and some of the goods being sold, is that eBay is the perfect place to "fence" goods as it used to be if you stole a rack of clothes off of a truck, or took a box of goods out of the back of a store during a delivery, that well, you wouldn't get a lot of money for those goods because they are all different sizes and styles and the street worth of such is relatively minimal.  Now, if you get your hands on those items, you don't have to fence them to anybody, although you still might, because you can now set up your own storefront and sell absolutely legitimate product, for very reasonable prices, relatively quickly, without it having cost you a dime out of pocket.

Does this mean for a certainty that counterfeit and stolen goods are being sold on eBay and other sites like eBay every day?  Absolutely, and the fact of the matter is, the doing so, benefits always the seller and eBay (since eBay receives a commission and other fees), and most of the time the buyer as well if they are either getting legitimate product or receiving goods that despite being inauthentic provide needed psychological and status satisfaction for that buyer for whatever dubious reason.

The losers, of course, are the manufacturers and the physical stores, themselves, to which the empowering of virtual storefronts throughout America, has given an incredible impetus to those that want to make that easy money to do so, because often the risk to them comes down to the actual theft alone, whereas the distribution of the product itself, is treated typically in a laissez faire manner.

Checkpoints and the 9/11 Aftermath

The 9/11/01 terrorist attacks upon American soil were a seminal point in American history, to which, to a certain degree, time is now, measured pre-9/11 and post-9/11.  There have been numerous government agencies created specifically because of 9/11, such as Homeland Security, metadata mining implemented on a national scale, border fence improvements as well as new immigration identification processing and reform, significant changes to airport security rules and so forth since the advent of 9/11.  Still, despite all of these changes, of which some are definitely noteworthy material changes, there hasn't been any additional checkpoints setup within America or added to America, since 9/11.  This means that residents of America can pretty much walk and drive to whatever destination that they are going to without having to go through annoying security checkpoints.

The fact that security checkpoints have not been added into strategic areas within America is, to a certain degree, somewhat surprising, as there isn't much of anything that is more conducive to population and crowd control than the setup of checkpoints.  The thing about checkpoints is that it places all residents going through a checkpoint on public roadways and property, on the defensive, as they recognize that having contraband or not having the correct appearance or proper respect to these authorities could result in harassment or much worst. Then too there is something to be said for having the ability to setup random checkpoints or to stop and frisk any citizen that is out in public, with or without justification, in the sense that by having such an ability, it allows the State to better control its population while adding in the all important fear factor for those that are desiring to mess with America.

However, there are two basic problems with adding additional feet on the ground for security and checkpoints within America, to which the first is obviously, that those that are innocent, good citizens, and so forth, will find it a real hassle, a time waster, and almost an affront to them personally, each and every time that they are stopped by homeland security personnel or at a checkpoint.  The second problem is even greater, which relates to the fact that in America, this is not supposed to be a police state, in fact, there is a presumption that unless upon probable cause that police and other agencies do not have the Constitutional right to stop and harass citizens.

The thing about checkpoints is that they are a security measure, which may or may not be effective in what they are set up to actually do; what cannot be denied though, is that security checkpoints in the absence of a real and present danger, are in direct conflict with the God-given right for citizens of the United States to enjoy their life, have liberty, and be able to pursue their own version of happiness.

The 9/11 terrorist attack has made material changes to America, it has not added, however, additional checkpoints within America, which is a blessing, because the thing about Governmental authority, is that they are forever coming up with hobgoblins to keep the population clamoring for more protection and more security, with far too many not recognizing that by their panic in attitude and mindset, they are forging the very chains of their own new serfdom or slavery.

Audit the Gold Held at Fort Knox

Fort Knox is thought to hold over 4,000 metric tons of gold, worth approximately $300 billion or more, depending upon the price of gold, yet the gold contained and protected at Fort Knox has not been audited since 1953 and since that time many conspiracy theories, controversies, and doubt has entered into the picture as to whether or not all of the gold that is supposed to be at Fort Knox is actually held within its very secure vaults.  The American public has a right to know the truth, good or bad, and not having an audit for over sixty years, seems very suspicious as well as being not acceptable within any prudent business activity.  The necessity of having set procedures of periodic physical inventory counts is always of value to any company, to which there are few good exceptions to this rule.

The thing about not having an audit for such a long, extended period of time, especially of a commodity as intrinsically valuable as gold, to which the American government, back in 1933, forced private citizens to surrender their gold and their private ownership of such by government fiat, seems to be the height of hypocrisy or even worst.  The government should not be in the position to which they are a law onto themselves, rather than being seen for what government is supposed to be seen as, which is the servant to the people.  The people have a right to know whether all the gold that is in theory at Fort Knox is there, and subsequent questions from that audit, depend upon the answer to that vital first question.

As they say in the movies, "show me the money", and it really doesn't get any simpler than that, either the gold is there in all of its untarnished glory or it is something less than meets the eye.  Historically, precious metals have backed money, in fact, precious metals for long periods of time, were the actual real form of money, so that if most definitely makes a material difference whether Fort Knox does or does not have all the gold it is supposed to have as per its last audit of 1953.

The American government has an absolute obligation to its citizenry to conduct full and proper audits of its physical inventory periodically yet, for some unknown reason, which raises reasonable person's suspicions; they have failed to have done so in regards for the gold bullion at Fort Knox.  The American government has a duty to set the proper example for public as well as private companies in America, to which, if the American government does not believe that it needs to follow generally accepted accounting principles, particularly in regards to physical inventory and audits, than why should any other company do so or be held accountable for failing to do so.

The best way to stop a rumor is through transparency, a thorough vetting, and from full disclosure, of which none of these things have been done to timely satisfaction in regards to the gold bullion held on the behalf of the citizens of the United States of America.  It is indeed high time that our government corrects these mistakes of judgment and becomes again the appropriate watchdog that good governance is meant to be.

All Other Nations Pay Tribute to America

America is an empire, our government may not like to admit this in public, perhaps considering it to be hubris on their part, but in actuality it is true.  There are many ways to judge the richness and power of nations to which two of the most significance are wealth and military power, of which America is second to none.  While the wealth of any nation can be measured against many different matrixes so that from a Gross Domestic Product standpoint, China has edged passed America, the fact of the matter is, that China is a country with four times the amount of people in population, and therefore not only is it a country that on a per capita basis is a pale comparison to America, it is also a country, that to a large extent, relies extensively on exporting far more goods than it imports.  This means, for instance, that China exports in abundance to America real products and in return, receives paper or virtual dollars, to which , one may ask, who, at the end of day, will be laughing last?

Then too, there is the military might of America, which is known and felt throughout all countries and the entire world.  America, alone, is the only nation that has the audacity to throw its weight around in all seven seas, to which it has countless foreign rights to bases on land and ports in strategically placed nations throughout the world and pretty much writes the ticket on what it wants to do, no matter the Constitutional or religious stipulations of a given nation.  So too, can America, alone, at any time, for any reason that it so desires, wage war or what would be considered to be war, against any nation, to which there is not one nation, that could withstand its assault, should America desire to lay its full force upon them. 

The fact that the world's reserve currency is the American dollar, and the fact that America is the preeminent military power in the world, means that virtually all other nations, whether they wish to admit knowingly to this or not, must pay tribute to America on a daily basis.  America, alone or in conjunction with its allies, is not a nation or an institution that any country in this world can cross in any manner without suffering retribution for having done so.  This means that whatever rules that America demands, or whatever tribute that must be paid, by for instance, providing access to America military personnel, or for favorable trade agreements, or for the luxury of having liquid currency exchanges, or for food and water, or medical supplies, or fuel of all sorts, or education or for infrastructure, that all of this must flow through the hands of America or its designated subsidiaries. 

The upshot of World War II was that it placed an emphatic stamp on the power of America, to which, those that understood well, that a new paradigm must be recognized, such as Japan and Germany, have done remarkably well since each of their respective nations were brought to their knees by the power of the allied forces and in particular, America.   Each nation of the world recognizes implicitly that to be a friend of America, is to have life, and to be its enemy, is to be prey for the American eagle's talons. 

No matter what table that America sits at, or the ostensible power structure of such a meeting, America is the only country that really matters and what America wants it gets and those that fail to recognize this, will suffer or  be changed, or be ostracized, or compromised, or be controlled by its true master.

Volcanic Eruptions: Real Climate Change

There is plenty of media play on climate change and global warming, which has little to do with actual climate change, and a lot to do with the distribution on monies spent on energy resources throughout the world, to which those in power want to change that dynamic.  However, real climate change, the type of climate change that could kill you, set forth tsunami waves that will inundate low-lying land situated near the sea, block or distort sunlight from properly reaching the planet and thereby significantly reducing crop yields, as well as reducing visibility on land, sea, and air, in addition to lowering the overall ambient temperature for years, is not only very real, but has occurred on this planet on numerous occasions.

It is a volcanic eruption that sunk the legendary city of Atlantis, and utterly destroyed and annihilated the city of Pompeii, Italy in 79 AD.  We read that according to volcanodiscovery.com: "there are about 1500 volcanoes on land that are known to have been active, while the even larger number of submarine volcanoes is unknown."  Additionally, the world population is not only at an all-time peak but never have so many lived so close to so many volcanoes' currently classified as active. 

Planet earth is always in a state of change, most of us may not see that change, or recognize that change, but change is always happening, to which some of those changes are so imperceptible over extended periods of time, that it lulls us into a false sense of security. Yet, because volcano eruptions can occur and have occurred with very little foreknowledge, we must respect the fact that this violent release of magna, molten lava, and ash can easily bring a devastating and a long-lasting negative impact upon mankind.

You would think, therefore, from having seen the aftermath of the destruction and the devastating effect of volcanoes such as Mount Tambora in 1815, and Krakatoa in 1883, which had truly frightful consequences that those that clamor so much about their concern for climate change would want to actually put forth their efforts into more productive and meaningful areas such as "volcano control".  The fact of the matter is that it is volcanoes, more than anything else other than actual nuclear weapons that are deployed, that will have the most meaningful and devastating impact in regards to climate, land mass, population, and starvation.

The thing about volcanoes is that it is only a matter of time before an especially large and destructive volcano erupts in such a manner that it would bring forth such worldwide destruction, cataclysm and chaos, that the world as we know it, would indescribably change, and that thereby it would not be any stretch of the imagination that even the great nation of the United States, would in far future years, be looked upon as a mythical land that once may or may not have even existed.

Most of us look upon the land mass that we stand upon and believe that this pretty much represents what planet earth is, and we are suitably impressed when we learn that mankind has drilled up to 7 long miles into the earth.  The problem is, to drill to the center of the earth, if it could be done, would encompass a total of approximately 4,000 miles.  This means that most of the earth's mass is beneath the earth's crust, to which extremetech.com states: "… the core of our Earth is actually hotter than the surface of the Sun." 

The fact that there is so much heat and power beneath the earth's surface signifies that volcanic eruptions are exactly the type of thing that creates, changes, and destroys land masses as well as wrecking real global climate change.

The United States Postal Service and Amazon

Amazon is the world's biggest online retailer to which it successfully competes against traditional retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, and others.  One fundamental difference between traditional brick and mortar retailers and Amazon is that typically if you want goods from brick and mortar retailers you are going to have to drive to their store and pick up the goods that you desire, whereas with Amazon, they will bring the goods that you want directly to your door.

Amazon wants to be all things to all people and recognizes that the one black mark against ordering items online is that people, in general, once they order the goods--want their goods in their hands almost immediately.  Because Amazon is in the customer satisfaction and retention business they do truly go out of their way to try to provide the degree of service that places a smile on their customer's faces.  Amazon uses the big boys such as Federal Express and United Parcel Service (UPS) to provide packages to customers, but also will utilize smaller outfits such as LaserShip, DHL, OnTrac, amongst others, including their own Amazon trucks.

Not too surprisingly, given the massive footprint that Amazon represents, Amazon appears to be a perfect match for the government-owned United States Parcel Service (USPS), as they already have a requirement to deliver mail to residents Monday through Saturday.  Amazon is well aware of this requirement and has increased their business with the USPS substantially over the last few years, including utilizing USPS to make Sunday deliveries.  While a Sunday delivery from a USPS truck is definitely a benefit for both Amazon as well as the customer, there is the fundamental problem that Sunday is the only day of the week that the USPS is not required to actually deliver mail and goods.

In order for the USPS to demonstrate their flexibility and to compete against other entities, they created a new type of employee, designated the City Carrier Assistant that makes a substantially lower wage than normal postal employees, which definitely makes it easier to compete against outfits such as Fed Express and UPS.  Further, to their goals of being competitive, the USPS set up a contract specifically between USPS and Amazon, that is to say, that the pricing that Amazon gets from USPS for its delivery services is not going to be the pricing that is available for the general public or any other company, instead it's a whole new deal.

The one thing that can be stated with a certainty, is that if the USPS is taking away business from companies such as Fed Express and UPS, that specifically are run in a manner in which their shareholders demand profitability and instead this business has been sacrificed over and to the USPS, it begs the question, as to how good the negotiated deal is for Amazon or the USPS.  It doesn't take a genius to understand that Amazon is very, very good at just about everything it does, whereas the USPS runs massive yearly billion dollar deficits.  This means, that there should be, a carefully done audit specifically of this contract with Amazon, to determine as to whether or not the terms of such are profitable for the USPS, and if not, to make changes accordingly.  While the USPS might be frightened that Amazon will leave them if they ask for or demand "more" or require changes in substance, the bottom line is that Amazon needs the USPS, or they wouldn’t have come a knocking in the first place.

The Conquering of America

Prior to the advent of Columbus to the Americans in 1492, the Americas were populated by people to whom we commonly refer to them as Native Americans or American Indians.  This means, of course, that when the colonization of the America mainland began, that these same people were already occupying it.  The fact that the lands in America were occupied by native peoples, was certainly no impediment to the over arching plan of the European nations that saw America as truly a new land of opportunity and riches, rife with the possibilities of vital trade, colonization, and exploitation.

Not too surprisingly, there was from the inception of the Europeans landing upon America, a general unease between these two different cultures, to which each culture, no doubt, felt it was more entitled to these lands than the other.  Additionally, the American Indians were impressed by the great ships that crossed the ocean in order to arrive in America, having absolutely no conception whatsoever, of how many more peoples and ships the Europeans had in their possession, which ultimately seemed to be unlimited.

Then too there was the important concept of dividing and conquering to which the Europeans were expert at this tactic, in which they remained united in principle, for the most part, even if there were deep divisions between European settlements, whereas American Indians were historically grouped into family-based tribes to which the friendship from one tribe to another was often fraught with some peril or bad blood between one and another.  This division between different American Indian tribes was something that Europeans were able to exploit time after time as certain tribes believed in the concept that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, a decision that contributed to the American Indian's ultimate insignificance.

Additionally, the Europeans possessed firepower and arms that were completely foreign to the American Indian, in which these arms were far more effective in killing, giving the Europeans a massive edge in battles between the two rival groups.  Also, the experience that the Europeans had in warfare was the type of experience that they were able to utilize in order to more effectively plan out and strategize their battle plans against the American Indians.

So too, it cannot be underestimated, that common diseases, that American Indians had no immunity against, such as smallpox and the measles, ended up killing and sickening an incredible number of American Indians, destroying and decimating many tribes and their peoples.

In addition, there were the endless treaties and agreements of understanding between European powers and the American Indians, to which these treaties were broken by the Europeans and their descendants time and time again, so that the Europeans pretty much got whatever they wanted, anytime that they wanted, without having to make any sort of real accommodation for the American Indians and their interests.

What the American Indian was completely unaware of was that their way of life, was under assault from virtually the first time that Europeans set foot upon their continent, to which the Europeans never honestly considered sharing this great land with these native peoples.  The choices for the American Indiana were to assimilate themselves into the conquering nation, or to be annihilated, or for perpetual banishment.

Rent to Own your Own House Scam

Housing prices plummeted in 2007 through 2009, however since that time housing has stabilized, and in many communities they are now at or above their previous highs.  Additionally, while housing prices have been on an unaccustomed roller coaster, the one thing that has consistently risen over time, and has risen far exceeding household income is the rent in which the Wall Street Journal recently demonstrated in a graphic that rental prices have increased 35.5% since 2005, whereas household income has only increased in that same period 18.1%.  The economy has been in an economic malaise over the last decade, and home ownership has plummeted from 68.9% of the population in 2005 to 63.4% in the second quarter of 2015 as reported by CNBC.

Still, the American dream of owning a home, is a dream that dies hard, so that those with questionable credit and those with questionable earning power, are certainly desiring the attainment of that dream, no matter how realistic that dream is or not.  This means, that there is a market for hucksters to take advantage of those that want to believe that somehow they can still buy their dream home, and hence that is why you will see signs and advertisements for "rent to own" properties.

Like many things that sound too good to be true, rent to own is definitely a perfect example of something that sounds like a dream come true, but is in reality, it is just a hustle, to which you the consumer, will end up in most circumstances, not only on the losing end, but having spent even more of your own money that you couldn't afford to sacrifice having been suckered.

The most basic problem that the prospective future home buyer has is that any lease or rental agreement is a written document, to which, the writer or controller of such, is the actual landlord and/or owner.  This means that the document is written in such a way that it has numerous provisions, terms and conditions, to which all of these favor the landlord and none of them favor the tenant or prospective buyer.  In a rent to own contract, there may be many odious provisions, of which all should be carefully paid attention to, but none more important than the conditions of the option to buy, as well as the actual price of the home, itself.

In most rent to own contracts, the future purchase price of the home is set ahead of time, to which, undoubtedly, the seller of such, is confident that the price of the home being sold at that particular time and that particular price, is beneficial to the owner, and not so much to the proposed buyer.  That is to say, the landlord sets the home selling price and if you as the buyer do not do your due diligence to determine whether this price is fair within that market, you are probably paying a premium to the real value of the home.  Additionally, each month, you as the rent to own buyer, have to come up with additional money beyond the actual rent, as a payment of your fee for the option of buying the home upon the conditions of the contract.  Undoubtedly, if you are late, fail to make full payments, or fail to adhere to certain under conditions, you will forfeit all of that option money paid to the landlord, and have ownership of nothing.   Additionally, if for some reason, despite making all those option payments on time you are unable to come up with the necessary means to secure a mortgage under your own name you will also forfeit your option fee, because you have failed to adhere to your contractual obligations to purchase the home by a certain fixed date.

In summary, the rent to own gig is a scam, because the chances of you, the proposed buyer, coming out ahead, are exceedingly slim, to which in reality it is heads the landlord wins, and tails the proposed buyer loses.

NCAA -- Pay the Players

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has specific rules and regulations for the treating of the compensation for student athletes which basically comes down to the fact that while scholarships are allowed, and therefore athletes can receive free tuition, room, and board, they can't actually get paid to play sports.  However, recently the NCAA has decided to permit monetary stipends to student athletes to cover the cost of typical auxiliary expenses a student would incur while living on campus.  While these stipends are a step in the right direction, the lack of direct compensation for student athletes is inherently unfair in the big ticket sports of NCAA football and basketball because the labor the students provide by virtue of their playing these sports is essentially exploited by these colleges so that they can mint the lion's share of the revenues from these sports to the colleges itself and their staffing agents.

Currently, in the NCAA, there are eighty head coaches that make a minimum of $1,000,000 a year in the sport of collegiate football and that is just the head coach, himself, which includes none of his staff, none of his overall budget, none of auxiliary expenses or benefits that are covered by the college, and so forth. Apparently, these colleges believe that these coaches and their respective staffs are worth paying well in excess of millions of dollars a year, but the players of the sport, itself, the warriors of these games, are worthy of no direct compensation, whatsoever, except for basically the granting of scholarships which are subject to revocation at any time.

It is high time that the players of the game itself, which is both immensely popular with the viewing public as well as providing a consistently high revenue stream for these colleges, that these students are able to directly share in this wealth so generated.  The compensation for the students does not necessarily have to come from the colleges, alone, and it doesn't necessarily have to be cash, itself, it can be a combination of both cash and benefits, or anything that makes sense for all parties involved. For instance, within most colleges there are certain alumnithat have demonstrated time and time again, that they are willing to step up to the plate and provide benefits for student athletes if only they are given the chance to do so.  Let them have that chance.

In actual fact, it should be mandated that there be revenue sharing between the owners -- that is the colleges and the athletes of the sport, to which the athletes should be entitled to a minimum percentage of the revenues so generated, with also a cap that is implemented on the upside.  This will therefore allow these colleges to properly budget their expenses to match their anticipated revenues and so forth, so as to give them a good idea as to how to allocate monies in regards to athletic compensation packages.

For those that believe that this will change the very nature of major collegiate sports, that somehow you are taking amateur athletes that are just playing for the love of the sport, or for the appreciation of getting a scholarship, and so forth, get over it.  NCAA football and basketball are big business sports which should not be allowed to exploit student athletes without providing these same athletes the opportunity to monetize their skills.