state of the onion(rotted or not?)

I ended up finally catching the presidents state of the union address. I had forgotten all about it and had to find it online. While I don’t agree with much of what I heard, i do remember thinking somewhere in the middle “man, i’m glad he isn’t george bush”.
The last election has served as a reality check for the nation. It has proven to me that our country can no longer achieve anything under the current two party format, it has made the idealogical flaws at both ends of the political spectrum painfully obvious, and it has also enlightened us on where the power lies ($$$ not people).
Obama like Bush,Clinton,Bush, and Reagen before him is typically just a cheerleader for his party. The president of the current United States does little more than talk in actuality. They basically just play the mouthpiece of their party and tell the nation what direction that particular party wants to take us. Whether we get there or even anywhere close is always another story.
Even though the tone of the speech was extremely optimistic its hard to be very positive when you observe the buffoons we call leaders in action. Its alarming to me that these elitist politicians from the left and right cannot just sit down & shut up for one hour while the president gives a speech. They as always were whispering, laughing, and shaking their heads after just about every single remark like schoolchildren. Do they not know that cameras are on them at all times? Or has it come to the point that they just don’t care?

   I ended up supporting Obama in the election, not because I thought the world would miraculously become nicer, but  mostly because another four years of conservative evangelical politics would have sent permanent shivers up my spine. I’m not going to defend Barack Obama (he’s a lawyer, he’s pretty good at doing that himself). For all i know he might be a complete fake. I think to get to that level in politics you have to be somewhat corrupted, you’d have to step on some toes & lie your ass off to get anywhere in the American political world, but whether you think he’s an evil genious, a muslim, a communist, terrorist, or alien you cannot deny that his message is right on. The american people are sick of partisan politics, they’re sick of what the government has become.. I didn’t vote for him because of who he is as a person. I voted for him because I agreed with the message, because like I said all the president does is cheerlead, you might as well vote for the one thats gonna speak about things you agree with. Most people that oppose him don’t oppose most of what he speaks about, its just that they don’t believe he can do it, or that he’s really working in their best interest. So basically its not that people disagree with the president on every issue, its just that they don’t trust him, which is understandable.

   No matter your stance on the issues. No matter how you felt about bank bailouts, which seemed like histories largest heist, no matter how you feel about the healthcare debate, or anything else. Its hard for even the staunchest critics to deny that the country is more stable now than it was when the president took office. Whether its just bandaids in the form of stimulous dollars or people simply complaining less because they’re getting unemployment and welfare, you cannot deny things are going better than they were a year ago.

   After having said all that I admit that I’m largely skeptical of the democrats fiscal policies. I am one who tends to believe Ron Paul at least in economics. I think the federal reserve is wrong, unfair, and dominating our lives, and both political parties encourage this type of  fiat currency economics.  Still though, the nations debt was already over a trillion when the presidency changed hands, as Obama said is was projected to get much higher if the same policies stayed in place. Contrary to what many people believe, federal spending is a relatively tiny portion of the budget & funding the policies that Obama is pushing would considerably help our deficits in years to come. Point being all this debated spending is really nothing compared to our nations GDP annually & all this spending is aimed at curbing our nations long term problems like energy & healthcare.

   All in all I just wish we could all show some empathy and if we can’t get on the same page we should at least be in the same book. If you disagree with whats happening thats fine, people should openly discuss things they don’t support, but we should not disagree simply because we represent one side or another, we shouldn’t allow the political demonization that occurs to interrupt us from solving our problems. I urge people to try and learn from those who are different from yourself. Try exchanging views and ideas with people of  different race , ideaology, or heritage. I believe that sharing and understanding each others views instead of simply fearing  the unknown is the only way we could ever possibly come together, form understandings, and hopefully sort out our differences.

speciesism & the current holocaust

Vegetarianism and Climate Change

The report from Worldwatch Institute shows that livestock raising is responsible for at least 51 percent of global warming.*
A Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency report showed that global shift to vegan diet could cut climate change mitigation costs by 80% *
According to the UN report “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” livestock production is the greatest contributor to global warming.*

Meat-based diets require 10-20 times as much land as plant-based diets – nearly half of the world’s grains & soybeans are fed to animals.

Proportion of GHG emissions from different parts of livestock production Livestock production emissions: 18%
Global Transportation emissions: 13.5%
18% of all greenhouse-gas emissions from human activities, including:
9% of CO2
37% of CH4(methane) – 23 times the Global Warming Potential of CO2 over 100 years, 72 times over 20 years
65% of N2O (nitrous oxide) -296 times the Global Warming Potential of CO2 over 100 years, 275 over 20 years
Source: FAO, 2006 (1)

Producing 1kg beef:
Leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kg of CO2 .

Releases fertilising compounds equivalent to 340 g. of sulphur dioxide and 59 g. of phosphate.

Consumes 169 megajoules of energy .

1 kg of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 km, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 20 days.

Over two-thirds of the energy goes towards producing and transporting the animals’ feed.
SOME DISEASES RELATED TO MEAT CONSUMPTION / PRODUCTION:

Swine flu
Blue tongue disease
E. coli
Salmonella
Bird flu
Mad cow disease
Pig’s disease (PMWS)
Listeriosis
Shellfish poisoning
Pre-eclampsia
SOME OF THE COSTS OF MEAT EATING:
HEART DISEASE

Over 17 million lives lost globally each year
Cost of cardiovascular disease is at least US$1 trillion a year
CANCER

Over 1 million new colon cancer patients diagnosed each year
More than 600,000 colon cancer-related mortalities annually
In the United States alone, colon cancer treatment costs about US$6.5 billion.
Millions of people are newly diagnosed with other meat-related cancers every year.
DIABETES

246 million people are affected worldwide
An estimated US$174 billion spent each year on treatment.
OBESITY

Worldwide 1.6 billion adults are overweight with 400 million more who are obese
Costs US$93 billion each year for medical expenses in the United States alone.
At least 2.6 million people die annually from problems related to being overweight or obese
ENVIRONMENTAL

Use up to 70% of clean water
Pollute most of the water bodies
Deforest the lungs of the Earth
Uses up to 43% of the world’s cereal
Uses up to 85% of the world’s soy
Cause world hunger & wars
80% cause of global warming
PLUS MORE…

SOME OF THE COSTS OF MILK CONSUMPTION:
Breast, prostate and testicular cancer from hormones present in milk
Listeria and Crohn’s disease
Hormones and saturated fat leads to osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes and heart disease
Linked to higher incidences of multiple sclerosis
Classified as a major allergen
Lactose intolerance
PLUS MORE…

SOME BENEFITS OF A VEGETARIAN DIET:

Lower blood pressure
Lower cholesterol levels
Reduce Type 2 diabetes
Prevent stroke conditions
Reverse atherosclerosis
Reduce heart disease risk by 50%
Reduce heart surgery risk by 80%
Prevent many forms of cancer
Stronger immune system
Increase life expectancy up to 15 years
Higher IQ
Conserves up to 70% clean water
Saves 80% of the cleared Amazonian rainforest from animal grazing
A solution for world hunger:
Free up 3,433 billion hectares of land
Free up 760 million tons of grain every year (half the world’s grain supply)
Consumes 1/3 less fossil fuels of those used for meat production.
Reduces pollution from untreated animal waste
Maintains cleaner air
Saves 4.5 tons of emissions per US household per year
Stop 80% of global warming
PLUS MORE…

So theres your science.. I always get funny looks from people when I try to explain that I’m not just a vegan because I feel badly for the animals I do it for the environment as well.
Our species is going to drown itself in bad karma. Speciesism is the favoring of any species over another. Most humans are speciesists & almost none of them are aware of it. Human beings that eat meat are no better to the animals than the nazi’s were to the jews. People may not want to know what happens inside slaughterhouses but anyone who participates in this holocaust doesn’t deserve to be shielded from this information.
All creatures on this planet are just trying to survive. Creatures that cannot speak for themselves if anything should be protected by inalienable rights even more than us. The way we as a species treat all other earthlings is disgusting, disturbing, and almost unnaddressed in mainstream humanity.
Due to increased costs at animal shelters many strays are being put in gas chambers instead of standard pain free shots. In slaughterhouses over 6 billion animals a year are killed very brutally in America alone. All animals that are eaten are branded and dehorned with plyers(with no painkillers) , Pigs tails, ears & teeth are all cut off with no painkillers. Pigs are even drowned in boiling water to remove bristle.
Humans consume as much chicken in one day now as we did in a whole year in 1930. Millions of chickens are killed everyday. Cannabalism occurs in every slaughterhouse. Farmers have even been seen jumping on chickens to kill them. Statistics like this may seem staggering but they are catastrophic and truly sad when you actually give your time and conscience thought to them. Animals suffer & i mean suffer worse than any human can imagine, all just to please selfish people who never have to witness the pain. So many people like to think they are morally superior to others & that humans do this business in a humane way. Well I’m not even sure what the word humane means anymore & if you’ve never seen for yourself what happens inside a slaughterhouse then I don’t think its appropriate to talk about morality & thats especially true for  the so-called prolife christian folks who traditionally eat meat, i dare you to watch a documentary about the meat industry and not question your faith. There is just no way anyone with emotions and feelings could be in the know about this and proudly say “yea i support the meat industry”. For me its much less wrong if you know the way business is done and are evil enough to continue supporting it than it is to just not pay attention like most people.

talent???

One of the best examples of how materialistic humanity has become is the music we listen to. When did music stop being about talent & sound, and become more about looks & money. It amazes me that people would rather listen to Britney Spears than burning spear. kanye instead of jimi, or taylor swift instead of bluegrass. How is it that our culture now lifts people to the top of societal ranks simply because their sexy & excessive. If we’re going to reward people with millions of dollars shouldn’t they at least have some real talent to show for it… Anytime something new & amazing comes about in this world it immediately becomes corporate & sold out. Just a half a century ago as a country we were into the likes of The Grateful Dead, bob dylan, the beatles, ect. , and now we’ve somehow gone from that to practically worshipping fake lifesize barbie and ken dolls. I thought the 90′s were getting bad with the marilyn manson & korn era, but I must say its gotten worse, at least that stuff was original & creative. Not only is most of today’s popular music horrible but its also way overplayed. If you listen to most modern hip-hop stations, they basically rotate the same 10 songs or so all day long, the same thing (although slightly more songs) with the country and rock stations. Even the classic rock stations, you know something is wrong when radio stations that supposedly play music from “THE ERA” don’t even play the good stuff anymore & instead just overplay 80′s hairbands and Led Zepplin. Maybe its the end of an era, the end of music, or maybe its like humanity itself and peoples tastes for music has over-evolved and have nowhere else to go.

prime example

This is a prime example of how one sided the debate for legalizing marijuana is.. I cannot imagine being as sheltered and closeminded as the sheep that tried to make the original arguments here, but I must say the guy at the end is pretty smart…

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Marijuana legalization
September 4, 2009

In the past I would be absolutely have been for legalization. I really loved to be high and I hated the law which forbids the weed. I and my friends were enjoying that plant and I remember myself saying that it’s better than alcohol, that you can’t be addicted to marihuana and opinions like that. After some time I know that I was completely wrong.

Marihuana destroys your brain, you lose your hobbies and you live the cannabis life because it’s the main thing you care about. Since I know this, I’m absolutely against legalization. Even when I smoked I was against it and I was happy that the law is like it is. How would the world look like if everybody smoked?
However it would be good if a small amount of marijuana could be legal because catching people for having two grams in their pocket is ridiculous and it’s just police pestering.

Entry Filed under: English B. .

6 Comments Add your own
1. none | September 4, 2009 at 8:50 AM
that’s true

Reply
2. Mr.Marks | September 7, 2009 at 6:35 AM
Good realization Jan! Not only does marijuana destroy short term memory cells but it restricts your chances of success in life. What do think can be done to educate the youth of the Czech Republic about the dangers?

Reply
3. Brsky | September 7, 2009 at 8:07 AM
I don’t think the youth of the Czech Republic, and not only this country, would listen to you if you tell them about this problem. I think the best and the most effective way of educating the youth would be some TV spots like Ministry of Transport have. Something what would shock them. Another way of educating is simply teaching it in school at about fifteen years of age by professionals and people who have experience with marijuana. But I don’t believe that the youth would care about it if somebody tells them. They have to get to it by themselves. If they don’t, nobody can help them, they must find the a way of life where marijuana is not problem.

Reply
4. Jon | September 27, 2009 at 8:51 AM
Marijuana “restricts your chances of success in life”? Are you fucking high, Mr. Marks? You’re a teacher, for god’s sake, how can you be so ignorant? Some of the world’s most successful people are or were users of marijuana. Michael Phelps (cited as the greatest swimmer and one of the greatest Olympians of all time), Brad Pitt, and even Barack Obama.

Reply
5. psychonauticalmindbloom | November 28, 2009 at 12:16 PM
hahaha destroys your brain (show me the real evidence on that) In my eyes the war on drugs (cannabis in particular) is about as oppressive as the United States can be at this point. Its a debate between those who have experienced something and those who have not. Everyone that has used cannabis knows what it is like to not use cannabis, but people who’ve never tried it certainly don’t know what the experience is like. Who is anyone to pass judgment on people and even worse control them, when they themselves have never tried what it is they want to keep off limits. There is no need to go into the vast scientific and economical factual data that supports legalization. The only arguments against it are “you should be scared, what if this, what about that, and other opinionated mostly moral issues that shouldn’t even really have a place in the national debate(let alone a lobby in washington). I find it hilarious when the same people who argue against legalization talk about how great a country this is, you know with all our personal liberties and what not.. Yet at the same time they are trying to limit peoples personal liberties. I just don’t understand trying to resrtict people from something that is not going to do anyone any harm & that includes the user in my opinion. As for restricting your chances of being successful all I have for you is a few names (Michael Phelps, Ricky Williams, countless musicians and actors) the only reason it restricts you from doing anything is because we live in a system thats designed that way. If you didn’t have to take a urine test to get a good job employers would find that marijuana users can be completely dependable (much more so than alcoholics and other drug users). Urine tests are an atrocity, because you can be a crack smoking doper and get a job because all you have to do is quit for a few days. Urinalysis completely and unfairly singles out marijuana smokers while other drug users get around it. I was looking at blogs for this subject & nearly all of them were pro legalization so when I saw this I just had to tear into it. I’m sorry ya’ll but its not the 1950’s anymore your officially on the wrong side of the debate now.

Reply
6. psychonauticalmindbloom | November 28, 2009 at 12:21 PM
in fact I think if it were legalized we’d find the exact opposite. Marijuana doesn’t restrict you from having a successful life, I define success as happiness(not money like so many in this country), so many would come out of the pot closet & we’d see first hand the illegitimacy of the anti marijuana argument

hybridz

I’m a pretty eco freindly type, or at least about as much as possible for being an American human being, but I must say that the new Ford ad I saw on television last night was pathetic.. It shows a guy talking about how he is a real man & likes to feel real power under the hood or some shit like that. The ad concludes with him explaining that he test drove a ford focus hybrid & was suprised to find out “wow its a car”.. I’m sry but your going to have to do better than that. Do you really expect people to be excited to go out and buy a hybrid just because you compare it to any old jalopy car. Its like “wow Ford created a car”.. We wonder why the auto industry almost took a nosedive, maybe because they spend boatloads of money on ads like this…

Do pro athletes get paid too much?

Well the answer is obviously yes. I don’t know too many people that would argue against that. The question is what if anything can we do to limit this excessive compensation? Don’t get me wrong I enjoy watching sports as much as anyone. I am a big fan of the NBA & I can easily get sucked into other sports as well. There are many problems with the way athletes are paid, one of which being that there is much less incentive to win, or I guess lack of incentive not to lose. If you know you’ve got a mansion and millions of dollars to fall back on, losing a game doesn’t seem like such a big deal. I’m sure there is plenty of pride to be lost, but there is no doubt that the athletes would care more about winning and losing if they weren’t so rich. These guys are making monstrous amounts of money, especially when you think about the money the superstars make from endorsements. Basically I think its  all gotten out of hand & I think something should be done about it. Really though, I think it’d be kinda funny to see these star athletes acting like CEO’s trying to protect their gigantic nest eggs. If it were up to me I’d propose a system that would not allow any athletes to make more than the league minimum during their first three years (if they are young phenoms who would normally be in college at that point in life). Also I’d say that no player should recieve million dollar deals or more unless they meet a statistical quota(pay them as they produce). I understand that we couldn’t have superior athletes & the amount of competition if they were paid measly salaries, i mean who’d practice a sport their entire life if they were gonna get minimum wage for it.  I think there could be a balance though, It would still be a pretty good deal making hundreds of thousands of dollars or even still millions playing a sport, but there is a big difference between 1 or 2 million & 100 million. I think that needs to be recognized and rationally changed.

COLD IN FLA

Its like 41 degrees in Florida as of 3:14 a.m.. Just when we thought we were going to get a warm winter. Its alright the cold is good, but I must say that the weather patterns here are completely unpredictable. I don’t know whether its global warming or not but we are most certainly experiencing climate change. we’ll see what its like around New Years. Last year it was warm, like in the 70′s and 80′s all throughout December and it didn’t actually get cold until Feb..

Obama’s war

Even though Afghanistan was something president Obama spoke about often during his campaign with all that “lets go after the people that orchestrated 9/11 rhetoric” & I supported him during the campaign, I’m just not so sure I agree with his recent troop increase. I know he is always hearing the military point of view from his generals & constant worries about how republicans will react to his descisions, but this is the guy that said he doesn’t support dumb wars at an antiwar rally before he was pres. He used the failed Iraq war as his main arguing point during the campaign. Based on everything I’ve heard about Afghanistan this is in fact a dumb war. We could put all possible resources there and still not achieve victory based on a generals definition of victory. So I guess my question is if we’re not going to win why increase troops at all. Seems to me like they just want to keep our troops wherever they can in the middle east to buy time until we think of a reason to invade pakistan or Iran. Luckily I think Obama knows he cannot politically survive a long continued conflict in Afghanistan, so I think he’ll come up with a lesser definition of victory & get us out of there before he catches bushitis..

really real?

I know its something that many people claim but I truly don’t care what others think. My expressions of what I feel along with my controversial thoughts have caused many of my peers to turn their backs on me. Its okay, if there is one thing I’m certain about its that not too much else matters as long as your real and true to yourself. At some point not too far back I decided to stop playing the “why don’t we all just get along” game. I felt that it was more important to be who I am than try to please everyone. Too bad our leaders don’t think like that. At least now everyone knows me. I mean really knows who I am and what I stand for. If you don’t like it you flake out, like some already have. Not only do I have some of the most controversial ideas, but I defend them thoroughly like a dirty lawyer. I defend my positions with rationale, evidence, and facts. As the most dominant and conscious species on this planet, I think we should make it our duty to protect it and to protect every living thing that we share it with. Now I’m all about having fun, I’m not suggesting everyone adopt a smug, cruel demeanor like myself and act serious all the time (although it’d be quite a nice change of pace). I’m simply suggesting that everyone do their part. The smallest changes in human behaviour could drastically improve this world if we could somehow take action on a global level. Its mostly peoples mentality that bothers me. Life on this planet has always been a struggle. It has never been about comfort, safety, and fun until modern humans. Life is supposed to be hard not easy. Think about what some animals have to go through just to eat.  We’ve become so disconnected. We used to grow our food or hunt for it, now we just buy it. We used to make our own clothing, now we buy. The same is true for almost every aspect of humanity. The only work ancient humans had was survival. Now we live in a corporate game, where we work for men in suits(mostly white) spending all our valuable time trying to keep their machine well oiled, all so they can give us a few pieces of paper(paper that is overly inflated to the point where we can’t afford to make our pennies out of copper or even zinc anymore, but economic debate is for a different blog at a different time). So in just a few hundred years we’ve gone from being farmers and hunters who loved the land and worked for our own families well being to becoming slaves and pawns on a giant monopoly board. Some would argue that this is human evolution at work. Sounds more like human manipulation to me. Fuck capitalism, socialism, and communism. Lets get off the damn ism’s and get real again.

Mcdonalds fries

I couldn’t help but bring it to everyones attention that McDonalds fries contain beef flavoring and some anti-foaming agent.. whats so hard about frying slices of potato.