Moderation is good. Extremism is bad.

This speaks for itself. If its too small to rad simply click on it.

Two Movie Recommendations / Reviews

Slum Dog Millionaire - great movie that was much deeper than I anticipated. Very good and I was disappointed that it was only in one theater here in Asheville.



Valkyrie - very good telling of a true story. I'm no fan of Tom Cruise off the screen but on it he is excellent in this one. Its the true story of a group of German soldiers a they attempt to no only kill Hitler but to take over the Government from the Nazis.

Final Day in the Life for 2008...maybe

(Picture does not reflect my beliefs, just thought it was interesting.)

My posts are random and usually based on whatever I have on my mind. As of now I have nothing on my mind other than people amaze me. So much happiness this time of year but yet there is tremendous suffering.

To see the people getting killed in Palestine and the economic world falling apart brings so much nervousness during a period where for centuries people have celebrated. Sad times.

Good times come and go; usually you never see the changes as they occur. It often takes hindsight to see where thing change, that blindness compounds the issues. Even today most all of the problems could have been stopped / mitigated if the appropriate people could have seen the big picture.

Empires come and go; to think that that idea doesn't apply to the USA is ignorant. I'm not saying that to be unpatriotic, merely to say that everything comes to an end eventually. The recent troubles with capitalism just bring to mind that there are other ways to handle the economy. With all the government spending going on, there is no Free Market and that sounds great to me.

I read a great article in The Economist this week and they had a phrase that I think is brilliant, a "Democracy Tax" is used to describe how in India their government is always slow to act because of the bickering amongst the politicians. This I thought was great because as the saying goes "Time is Money" and if the politicians cannot act then in fact they are taxing the people with their times of indecision. However, its not just about money as in our country if its not deemed urgent (Bank Bailout) then it has to be deliberated and then it goes to committee and then to a vote in one house and then to a vote in the other house and then to be signed by the President. That process is extremely time consuming. The article in The Economist is comparing India to China and how in China they do not have this tax as their leaders are able to act much faster. However they have their own issues but speed is not one.

To use that approach in the USA, the incoming President has already made some good moves. To avoid the delays usually associated with bureaucracy the executive must act and with the stimulus package I see him getting that done. This is good but outside of this in my opinion its back to the normal slow approach to government. That slow government leads to more and more opportunity for corruption, both inside government and outside. For instance - inside government would be Sen. Ted Stevens who had served for decades and used his post to take bribes and there's no telling how much he made over his terms but he is far from alone. Outside of government you can look at any instance where companies take advantage of old rules & regulations. This happens frequently with Banks / Insurance where it can take the government years to fix loopholes while the companies take advantage of the people. Lobbyists are usually the tool of this corruption.

Ok so I guess I could have just summed it up in one sentence - slow government is bad.

P.S. but Fast government comes with a cost - usually someone called King, Dictator or more recently Premier.

Photo courtesy of: donttreadonmike.com

Weed more acceptable than cigarettes to high schoolers?

"A new survey reveals 13% of 10th-graders reported smoking marijuana in the past 30 days, while just 12.3% smoked cigarettes.

In the just-released survey, 13.8 percent of 10th-graders reported smoking marijuana in the past 30 days (considered "current use" by researchers), while just 12.3 percent smoked cigarettes. For eighth and 12th grades, cigarette use still exceeded marijuana, but the gap narrowed to insignificance.

This year, current and past-year marijuana use increased for eighth- and 12th-graders and declined for 10th-graders, but none of the changes were large or statistically significant. In contrast, current cigarette smoking did drop significantly for 10th-graders. Changes for most other drugs were marginal, except for a significant increase in methamphetamine use among 10th-graders."

The Story: http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/114001/more_10th-graders_are_smoking_marijuana_than_cigarettes/

So for the last few years cigarettes have been declining in the "cool" factor among kids. Seems that Weed during that time has been garnering the opposite image. So as a result kids are beginning to turn to occasional weed rather than smoking cigarettes more often. The study shows that 10th graders and younger are showing this trend. 11th and 12th graders are still smoking more cigarettes.
All this makes me wonder about the true health affects of smoking weed, if weed is gaining acceptance someone has to do an official study on the health affects. I know there are studies out that are backed by pro-legalizing groups but an impartial study would perhaps be needed.

The Great Jeremy Piven

He has aparently come down with mercury poisoning and had to leave his Broadway play while recovering. He is one of my favorite actors and to see him jam on stage with Darrell from the office is awesome. Big Fan Ari Gold.

National Debt as it Relates to GDP

Really no surprises here, since Carter left office every "conservative has hurt the country economically". Usually using defense and tax cuts to justify their records. The so called Liberal / Big Govt. President Clinton seemed to get things under control.

The Hajj

In the life of any Muslim they are required to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and complete the

Hajj. In my life I hope that the Muslim vs. Christian battle is resolved as I would love to visit Mecca to observe the tradition and the people involved. I view this in the same way as going to

St. Peter's to see the Pope's Easter Message, the experience of seeing the devout people is inspiring in many ways.

Pictures are from UPI article about the Hajj

Stupid Body piercing / mods

Ultimately stupid / crazy people do stupid / crazy things to their bodies. This article that came from cracked.com
shows examples of these unique individuals.

Some pictures form the article:

Well to each their own but most of these seem repulsive to me. The last one should be horrifying to most men as I cannot imagine the pain involved.

Slumdog Millionaire Trailer

definitely one i want to see.

Paula Deen goes for a heart attack breakfast.

Found this online and thought it looked good but then thought about it for a minute. no thanks.