Rumblings on the horizon

This past week a new video was released from North Korea. It depicted a "Glorious assault on South Korea" where the North's victory was certainly assured. This is just the latest fantasy videos from North Korea since the first of the year. These videos are basically propaganda pieces for the North Korean audiences to bolster their own self esteem. Outside of North Korea they are not taken very seriously at all. First off, in the latest video depiction the barrage the north unleashes would probably deplete their ammunition supply rather quickly. Granted they have been stocking up on ammunition instead of buying food to feed their people but that is the least of their worries. The video fails to show the resistance they would encounter. In the North Korean version they run across the border unimpeded and capture 150,000 American P.O.W.s and easily capture the cities of the south. The video doesn't depict the ashes the North Korean capital Pyongyang will be left in if they try this assault. I am sure Little Kim - Kim Jong Un isn't a total fool, at least I would hope not because if it hasn't occurred to him before he better realize we will come gunning for him personally. Where the North Koreans see a glorious leader, leading their army and country, most of the rest of the world looks at him like a young man who is seriously in over his head and is in danger of leading his country into the worst mistake of his short life. The worst thing Kim Jong Un could do right now is believe his own propaganda. Can North Korea unleash it's army and kill a few million people to the south of him? Probably so but it will cost him his own life and most of his soldiers as well. He may feel like a bad ass because they have developed a nuclear weapon but if he seriously pisses off the people who invented nuclear warfare in the first place he could possibly see the end of North Korea as the world knows it. I am by no means urging for the total destruction of North Korea, nobody in the U.S.A wants to see or do that. Believe it or not, deep down we are a peace loving people. I know it doesn't seem that way, especially if your outside the U.S.A. looking in after the past ten years. Quite frankly we would love to see the North Korean leadership pull it's head out of its ass and learn to live peacefully in the world. The masses in North Korea have no idea how good their neighbors in South Korea live. Surely they must have some understanding of how poverty stricken their country is. When people are starving while Little Kim lives fat and happy doesn't that tell them anything? Probably not as they are fed the state sponsored propaganda pieces. The main problem as I see it is that there is very legitimate desperation in North Korea. This desperation can be harnessed for great evil and unleashed to do great harm. If North Korea is foolish enough to attack South Korea and the Americans who help hold the lines at the demilitarized zone there is no real winner in that scenario. Millions of innocent civilians on both sides of the border will suffer and take the brunt of an attack. If Kim and the Generals that pull his strings while they let him think he is charge seriously think they can pull this off they are only kidding themselves! They could make things better in their country just by dropping the highly militarized stance and joining the world community in peaceful trade. If they think they can take it by force they will be scraped off the pavement and concrete of shattered bunkers by the flesh eating creatures of the world. North Korea has been a thorn in the side of the U.S.A for a long time and frankly we are a little tired of it. We are tired of penny antae dictators that prefer to starve their own people and rattle sabers at us. The U.S.A. has no great desire to go back to war with North Korea. We have been trying to have a peaceful coexistence with them since the ceasefire. If the North attacks we are likely to put an end to this issue once and for all. Hopefully Kim and his generals will realize this and show some restraint. Just because the giant shows restraint as the little guy hurls his threats and puffs up his chest doesn't mean the giant is afraid or incapable of swatting the smaller guy to the ground and taking him out! Kim and the Koreans might think China and Russia will back him up but honestly he is a pain in their asses as well. If China really wanted to help Korea don't you think they would have aided them into an economic recovery by now? It doesn't really benefit China for a war to be unleashed in that area. I suppose they could try and use it as a proxy war to weaken the U.S.A but that would be a massive mistake in the long run. China and the U.S.A. actually do have many common interests and mutually benefit from each other. The simple fact is that the only reason North Korea hasn't been already wiped out is because of China. We respect that but if China can't keep North Korea on its short leash the U.S.A. will do what it has to regardless. War should always be a last resort! Nobody truly wins from war. War is bloody and cruel, its senseless killing and destruction! To wish for war is to wish for death! The apparent reason from this show of propaganda from North Korea is to gain more leniency in the United Nations sanctions. I mean god forbid they actually give up their nuclear weapons program to get the same result! Nationalism in all it's forms is dangerous. We are a small world with a lot of people on it. We are the human race but yet we don't always work together as a family. It's an old story from the dawn of time unfortunately. Ultimately it generally boils down to a few people at the tops of governments acting in greedy interests waging the wars at the expense of the masses. It's sad but true that the shepherds of the world often lead their flocks to slaughter for their own gain. Let's hope that North Korea isn't foolish enough to go down this path. Their are some in the world that want a WW3 scenario to reshape the geopolitics of the world. Those people are greedy fools who have no regard for life and worship money and power. Those people sit behind the scenes and prod people like Kim and North Korea to do stupid things. They wag proxy wars in various countries across the globe and profit from both sides of a conflict. The live in countries all over the globe and are represented in all races and creeds. They are the petty power brokers of the world who guide the paths of the many for their own greedy gains and they really don't care who or how many they kill in the process. They are mostly invisible to the masses as they prefer to work behind the scenes and let others get their hands dirty. We shouldn't allow ourselves to be played by people like this though they are masters of the game and know how to pull the strings to make the puppets jump threw the hoops. It's important we try not to play the games that lead to world war. We live in volatile times as the middle east simmers and now North Korea threatens war. Economic turmoil's are boiling as well across the globe which add to the mix. When you combine the economic woes of the world with religious conflict and toss in a healthy dose of nationalism in various parts of the world as well as the quest for energy to power the daily life and development it makes for a very volatile mixture. Lets all just hope nobody is foolish enough to strike a match. Until Next time Lasco X

Same old same old politics as usual

The sequester deadline came and went with no action to stop it so here comes the cuts. Did it have to come to this? The simple answer is that no it didn't. We shouldn't be to surprised that our politicians would just keep driving towards the cliff in the name of partisin politics like they have been for years. I watched an interview with Romney this morning where he said that he felt Obama had missed a golden oppertunity to fix this nations problems over the past few months since the election. I actually have to agree with him. I also agree with the assessment that Obama seem's more like he is still campaining and trying to shove his agenda down the throats of the American public rather than to work for solutions. Don't get me wrong, I feel that the republicains are also to blame in this mess that we are in. They have dug in thier heels about no new taxes. I personally agree that we do need to close some loop holes in the tax system to collect more revenue but I also feel we should rework the tax system to promote business and make it more attractive for business to be done state side instead of pushing industry and manufacturing off shore. One of the main reasons the Republicains are digging in thier heels though is that time after time they have been promised spending cuts for small tax increases to only get more taxes and no spending cuts. America has more of a spending problem then a revenue problem. Doubling down on the national debt is not the answer. Stopping the rampant spending that leads to borrowing money from foriegn entities to prop up the system is the real answer. When I read that Obama waited until Thursday to have a short photo op and then a minor meeting the day the sequester was to go into effect with the Republicains that accomplished nothing at all, it pissed me off! That is not leadership, that is partisan politics at it's best. It's speculated that Obama wants to have the hardships placed on this country just so he can blame the Republicains. It's not that far of a streach concidering we have heard for the last four years it was all Bushes fault! I am not saying that Bush didn't play his part in the economic problems facing this country, but so did the Democrates as they pushed Fannie and Freddy to do loans that were unwise and unrecoverable that led to the housing bubble. Both parties played a hand in where we are now when they deregulated the banking industry and set us up for the fall. Whats heartbreaking is they just keep doing the same old same old point the finger agross the isle and say its thier fault. Well, frankly I have two middle fingers , one for each party so I say a big FU to both of them! I mean seriously, If the leaders in Washington can't extract thier heads from thier rear ends to work out these issues for the good of the country what good are they! If Obama wants America to go threw hardships just to make the Repulicains look bad then we elected the wrong man to office! If Romney had won, I bet we wouldn't have hit the sequester deadline with nothing being done to fix the problem. Romney had a track record for working with the opposition and fixing the problem. He took a state that was in the red and reached across the isle to a house that had a democrat majority and when he left office the state was back in the black! He had promised that on day one he would start on working on the economic issues plaugeing our country and I belive he would have. What have we seen from Obama? Well we have seen the NRA's predictions of him pushing for gun controll come about within the first 90 days, We have seen him alienate the Republicains as he trys too villianise them as he positions for the 2014 elections so they can get a congressional majority to rubber stamp his wishes. It didn't work in the first two years of his first term when they were in controll of both houses, why does he think it will work this time? Can we afford the BS of stalemating the issues for another 2 years just to let the Democrates have a second try at it. I don't think so. Obamacare that consumed most of the resorces of the first term of Obama is now turning out to cost more than projected. Insurance rates are going up and are not slowing down. Many employers are holding off hiring and limiting hours on others to try and circumvent the insurance requirements. Granted that the ever increasing cost of medical services are a major spending issue this country faces it certainly doesn't help when a hospital charges you 18$ for a 30 cent tab of tylanol. Had more time and energy been spent during the first term of Obama fixing the economy and lowering the debt we could have been in better shape now and many of societys problems might have worked themselves out with a healthy privite sector. I don't blame Obama for pushing his agenda but if he gets to bogged down in it like he did pushing Obama care threw the economy can't handle it. He has been a great boost to the fire arms industry as people stock up thier supplies. I will give him that one. The liberals seem hell bent on restricting guns and have been on a full court press on the issue. Like New York ramrodding restrictions limiting magazines to 7 shells knowing full well nobody makes 7 shell magazines. That harkens back to when Pot was legal if you had a licence , but they just would not issue licenses. Its an old trick , say you can but you relly can't. It's just another form of Orwellian double speak at it's finest. Personally I support the NRA because when guns are outlawed , only outlaws will have guns. Also, if the police budgets are going to be slashed due to political fear mongering then I damn sure want my gun handy to protect my house. There has been plenty of fear mongering lately , like why let 2000 illegal immigrants slated for deportation go and not just put them on a plane back to where ever they came from. Wouldn't that have made more sence then letting them go? Hey Janet Reno .. If they were awaiting deportation WTF are you doing letting them go back into the American population? Sure it makes a good fear laced headline but nobody is blaming the Republicans for your stupidity of letting them go and not sending them out of the country. Thats on this administration for not leading and getting our finacial issues fixed! I just don't get it. But then again I am not a politician either,I belive in meaning what you say and saying what you mean instead of telling people what they want to hear or what they fear just to get a few more years dipping into the public dole and then retire with a nice pension. This country doesn't need same old same old politics! We don't need finger pointing and fear mongering! We need people who actually work across the isle's and come up with solutions! Personally I think the finger pointing and fear mongering will come back to bite the democrates in the ass. We really don't need to be waiting on the parties to self destruct or destroy each other though. The old saying .. united we stand , divided we fall is as true today as it was back then. It's time to check the ego's at the door and get to work in Washington. Let's all just hope the politicians there extract thier heads from thier asses and wake up and smell the coffee before they break the system beyond repair with all the in fighting and partisan politics! Until next time Lasco X

The Sky is falling (or WTF with the scare tactics)

Back in 2011 the republicans agreed with a plan put forth by the White house and gave Obama a free pass to raise the debt limit 3 times without congressional approval. This allowed him to get a free pass threw the 2012 election season. It almost ensured his re-election as the fact that not having to address the exploding deficet was a hidden issue. The sequester demanded across the board budget cuts if nothing was done to fix the problem. Now as we near the deadline that has already been pushed back once already, nothing has been done. The responce from the Whitehouse was to try and shift blame on to the Republicains for forcing this sequester on the American people. This past week we have had a number of people coming forward saying basically the sky is falling! If we belive what is being said ,is that Immigrants will flood into the country and we won't be able to controll it. (Like that hasn't been happening already and the recent policys have been inviting them in anyway with all the talks of a posible amnisty deal on the table). Our military won't be able to protect us properly (even though the cuts to the military would only take us down to the levels spent in 2007 when we were actively fighting two wars in Iraq and Afganistan). Also we might have terrorist attacks due to security screanings being slowed down due to lack of screeners on duty (Never mind the fact that the Chinese are already waging an economic and cyber war directed at us and companies with deep ties to the chinese government already have the contracts that handle shipping into some of the countries busiest ports.) I guess we are suppose to be scared into just giving the politicians an open checkbook and another credit card or ten with no spending limit imposed on them. This is truely getting insane as we keep spending more then we can afford. The Democrates keep spouting thier mantra of we will fix the issue raising the taxes on the rich. The Republicains keep digging in thier heels on no new taxes. It's obvious to anyone with common sence that to fix this issue there has to be moderate tax increases and major spending cuts. Most of the spending cuts could come from wasteful pork programs that we really don't need and purging millions of illegal aliens from the social wealfare programs that they are not entitled to in the first place. We already spend more on the military budget than most counties combined so is a modest cut in the budget to trim the fat really going to jepordize us that badly. Isn't the raising debt to China a bigger threat then modest budget cuts. Currently the Chinese are buying up valuble infrastructure and land with the money we are paying them in intrest. You can't really blame them since our government is paying them off with increasingly devalued dollars that are printed from thin air. What most people don't realize is that the second attack stratagem by Sun Tzu states... Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme, excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. The six stratagem states... Therefore the skilful leader subdues the enemys troops without any fighting : he captures thier cities without laying siege to them: he overthrows thier kingdom without lenghty operations in the field. The seventh states.... With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the empire and thus without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem. The point of this being our growing debt is far more grave then a modest cut in military spending since we are slowly being undermined economically anyway. Besides, I think the military industrial complex has profited plenty over the past couple of decades so they can afford to man up and make a little less to ensure the longevity of this great nation! I am by no means advocating gutting our military by any means. I am big on national defence but we don't need out of controlled spending and the military has plenty of fat to be trimmed as does our entitlment programs. Why should immigrants get benefits to move here and start businesses that our own citizens can't get? I realize we are a nation of immigrants but we should not be enabling cultures to be moving here and not assimilate into society. We also need to reform the tax codes to promote manufacturing back here on american soil instead of rewarding companies that take the work off shore. The assault on the american economy has been going on since the 70's and we have become numb to it. The unions in the mean time have hurt us as much as they have helped. As much good as they have done with things like 40 hour work weeks and overtime pay , work place safety and workers rights have been offset with things such as corruption in the union leadership , wage greed making us uncompetative in the world market and false security as retirement benefits are pilfered to bribe..(I guess they call it lobbying and political donations) to influance government. We need to work together to fix our nations problems but to easily we are subjected to divide and conqure tactics that stall any real progress towards fixing the issues this country suffers from. To be honest, most people are sheep and don't pay attention to such matters. They like to bitch and lay blame without looking in the mirror first. They don't look at the reasons that effect the world economy and worse than that thier attention span is severly limited when it comes to world politics. We have a good reason to be worried about the future but we don't need scare tactics pushed on us by an adminitstration that has repeatedly failed to present a budget to congress! Why should we keep letting the rampant spending to continue with more taxes without budget constraints and cutting the fat that in reality only feeds the few at the exspence of the many? Why should former congressman get massive salarys for life when they helped drive our economy into the toilet with inaction and sometimes down right corrupt actions? Thier pay and benefits arent effected by the sequester - Isn't that some shit! The middle class is slowly getting squeezed out of existance and it needs to stop concidering it is the backbone of our society. It's time for our so called leaders to stop the retoric and scare tactics and roll up thier sleaves , find common ground and fix the issues our country faces. But thats just my opinion. Until next time - be safe and stay awake to the world around you. Lasco X

Today was the public inageration of Barrack Obama for his second term. I will be honest and say that I didn't vote for him. Why? Well for several reasons. First let me say that as President I do honor and respect the office that he holds and recognise him as our President. I was not impressed by his first term , at all. Granted he did have a rough start and was handed a bad situation from the previous administration. We certainly heard enough blame casting from him and the rest of the Democrates over the past four years about how it was all Bushes fault. The problem was is that it wasn't all Bushes fault! The Democrates played thier fair share in leading us down the road to ruin with action like pork filled bills and pressing Fannie and Freddie to guarintee loans to people who simply couldn't afford the over priced houses that the realtors and bankers were pushing them into. Yes, thats right , they were pushing them into them. I know , you might be saying that nobody forced people into buying more house then they could really afford but they certainly weren't stopping them. They were gladly writing loans where people would be spending 40 - 50% of thier income on a house instead of the old standard of 25% that held a good standard and provided resaonable security for the nations finacial system for decades. They did it out of greed , plain and simple. They weren't worried because the banks were then flipping loans over to fannie and freddie and selling them as unsecured holdings. Basially , the banks weren't worried they were going to have people defaulting because they weren't going to be holding the bag. Both Democrates and Republican law makers set up this with deregulations in the banking industry. Then look what happened when the house of cards came crashing down , it was the bankers that caused the issue that got to be bailed out. But I degress. Let me just say , at this point in time , Barrack Obama owns the economy and its high time he stops blaming Bush. Another reason I wasn't impressed by his first term , The National Budget! I should say the lack of a budget! Its no wonder they just want to keep raising the debt ceiling because obviously they have no clue how to put out a budget and to stick within it. Sure we have to pay our bills we have already incured but hey , how about at least making a workable budget that actually cuts spending and stop borrowing money! The national debt is our biggest security threat but nobody in Washington , exspecially on the Democratic side seems to see it that way! Borrow and spend , raise the debt limit and borrow and spend some more! Get fucking real! This is insanity to keep going down this path! Reason Three, The continuing deterioration of civil rights and the dismanteling of the Bill of Rights. You would think that a president that specialized in Constitutional law would know better but under his last term the President not only continued the march down the path to a police state he accelerated it. Don't get me wrong, I am not soft on National security and belive in a good and just Judicial system but yesterday I watched a video of a pregnant lady that was pulled over for talking on a cell phone. She was thrown to the ground and then hog tied laying on her belly. There was six cops involved! Six cops to deal with a pregnant woman who wasn't resisting arrest! I'm surprised they didn't break out thier nightsticks and go Rodney King on her dangeous ass! I'm sorry but what the fuck is going on with our country! It's time for Andy (the american people) to take Barneys bullit away! I am glad the woman got a 250,000$ settelment out of the cops but personally I would have asked for 10X's that and only settled for that amount if all the cops involved in the incident were fired! (no cops in the incident were fired by the way) Throw in the unconstitutional Orwellin spying on the american populus and you have to wonder what the hell is going on in the USA today. I wonder if the cops and security forces even realize they are being used as tools of the 1% of elites to controll the masses for thier own greedy aims? It's a sad day in America when the people have to worry more about being terrorized by thier own government then actual terrorists! Reason four that I was disapointed in the first term was all the time spent on Obama care. I am not saying that our heath care system doesnt need overhauling but prior to Obama coming into office I had health insurance! Now I don't and despite the Affordable health care act I simply can't afford it! Hell, I am struggling to find steady work and pay my bills! To quote Carvill in the Clinton years... "It the economy stupid!" It still is the economy! The ABC pole done today prior to the inageration had the economy at the top of peoples list and the national debt as second. How much effort will be spent on that this time. In his speech today there was talk about global warming (not enough room today to even go into that BS today) , civil rights and immigration reform. To me that translated to .. We are going to tax you for hot air , pander to the gay community and open our borders for illegls. I hope I am wrong about that but what I want to see is the economy fixed and the budget balanced! Before I am labled as a racist homophobe I will say I am a libertarian who belives that the government should stay out of the bedroom, I belive that all men (and women) are created equal and that our planet has warmed and cooled many times in history. Yes we need some imigration reform but we don't need to just open the doors for anyone and create an enviorment that actually encorages more people flooding across our boarders as "Undocumented aliens". As far as civil rights goes we made some of our greatest strides under the Clinton years when the economy was doing well and people weren't blaming each other for thier problems because there was economic oppertunitys for all. The last thing we need is more wasted time on micro mannaging issues that would be corrected just by fixing the economy. If Obama wants to impress me (which I know he doesn't), I want to see him fix the economy , adjust the tax system to promote manufacturing here in the USA and to create more domestic job oppertunities , Put the teeth back into the Bill of Rights and to Ballance the Budget starting by actually putting out a budget to work from. I am not overly optamistic that he will do any of those things but we will see. As Romney said in his speech at the convention, "I wanted him to do well so the country would do well in the process." My best advise going into the next four years would be to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Don't expect for government aid to be there in a disaster , it might not be available and in all reality it won't be there in time. Stock up on food , save your money and be prepared to protect your family and help your neighbors the best you can. Until next time, Lasco X.

It's been ages since I sat down to comment here and a lot has happened since the last time I posted. So much that it would be pointless to comment on all that has happened and just focas on where we seem to find ourselves now going into the end of the year. If you believe the hype from the media about the Mayan's end of the world predictions things are going to get deep really soon. In fact though the Mayan's really just predicedt the flipping over of the cosmic odometer more then the end of the world as we know it. Dec 21 , 2012 is the day the Mayan/ Mesoamerican long count calander will go to the next b'ak'tun. We are basically entering into another 5125 year long solar cycle. There is many wild ideas about what will happen but one thing I am sure is that life will go on as a whole. It's in the nature of energy to go on. Often the energy is simple transfered into another form and is dismissed as vanishing. Indeed it does seem to vanish though its the ripple effect that people forget about. Most people are to busy riding the wave of the here and now that they don't look ahead or behind. In a few weeks people will reflect on the past year and look ahead to the new future. Then they will go back to the usual day to day grind that is life most of the time. It's an understandable state of mind concidering how hard most of us have had to work to try and make ends meet these days. The economy has been limping along for some time now and with the debt level the country is packing we are in for some tight times ahead. On one side we look at the school of spend your way out by printing more paper money. It works fine until the rest of the world pulls the plug and demands a more tangible means of trade. On the other side we have austerity mesures that are needed but can have a crippling effect on the economy. We have got to walk a economic tight rope and its a very fine line we walk. The bible teaches that the borrower is the slave to the lender and we have been borrowing a shit load from foreign entities for a long time now. A globlal shift in economics is peering on the horizon as the current system seems to be trembling under its own weight like a morbibly obeses person struggling to get from his car to the electric cart at the entry of the store. Its an unhealthy system that cannot carry it's own weight in the economic store that is our world. Its going to take baby steps to get back to where we need to be. We have a lot of pork we need to cut from the diet that is our national budget. I guess the first step in that direction would be to have a budget and try and live within our means. To me thats common sence but to some of the collage brainiacs that help guide the spending practices of our nation we should not cap how much we can borrow or print. To them we should just stick our heads in the sand while the mountains of debt builds to an unsastainable height. The stars in the sky arent affecting the change thats quickly coming at us. Its the ripples of the past building to a sunami that is going to trigger that landslide. We also have religious matters thrown into the mix. The middle east still bubbles as the arab world is in the midst of change. In the West we have a rise of athiesm and decline in moral charictor. The family structure in the West has taken a beating over the past few decades as well with more unwed mothers struggling with inflation and basic survival. Add to that the splintering of the family in general as we isolate ourselves with the latest technologys and you have to wonder and fear that the wave we are riding isnt spiriling downward while we are just doing laps in the bowl. Don't worry though, everthing will be fine as your protected by the ever incresing controll grid that is being set up as the public sleeps. It is getting to the point that Orwells 1984 is just kid stuff we left behind long ago. The current system in place is already an Orwellingly wet dream and what is coming makes his vision tame by comparison. People won't try and stop this, they will rush out and buy the latest technology that will help let the beast hold them in its grasp. Don't belive me ? It happens everyday! I recently realized most people don't even know about Orwells vision and what its warning was. People don't care , the vast majority are actually sort of lazy and way to trusting that thier freedom will always be there. Lessons from civilizations like Rome get lost on them. They to easily forget that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. A change is in the winds , lets just hope we can ride out the coming storm. Until next time Lasco X

Back once again

So it has been a while since I posted last. Life has a way of keeping you busy at times. For me it has been working long distances from home that has kept me busy. It's a sad sign of the times when you consider yourself lucky to have work and your willing to drive 10 hours away from home just to get work. While out on the other side of the state I met several from around the country who had traveled even farther there just to find work. So is life in these times I guess, it could be worse , just look at Japan and the horrors going on currently in the aftermath of a major earthquake that ruptured several nuclear reactors.
This natural and man-made disaster is going to send shock waves around the globe. First is the obvious threat to the immediate population from radiation poisoning. At this time they are struggling to contain it the best they can but it has serious potential to spread massive radiation globally. We can only hope that they get things under control before the situation gets worse. Second is the economic impact this will have as the worlds third largest economy is ravaged by the road bumps of dealing with not only the ongoing radiation crisis, but the immediate after effects of the devastation left in the wake of the quake and resulting tsunami as well. My prayers go out for the people in that region. Seeing the photos coming out of there is a very sobering and humbling event.
I sometimes think our society has numbed us to situations such as this as many simply ignore events like this. They do nothing to secure their future safety in the event that an situation such as what we have seen in Japan happens closer to home.
I know the world is overwhelming and with a simple glance around its easy to see how people get overwhelmed and simple shut down, tuning out the world around them.
The middle east has gone from a simmer to a soft boil as demonstrations flair up across that region. We have seen the toppling of leaders in Egypt and Tanzania. We have watched as Gaddafi slowly regains his grip on the reigns of power that briefly slipped from his grasp. Baring international intervention it is almost certain he will succeed in extending out his dictatorship for a few more years. The African continent as a whole has seen so much hardships that for the most part we tune it out and only see little blips. Conflicts in Africa are simply so common place , just like conflict in the middle east that we have grown numb to the carnage.
The continuing economic turmoil certainly dominates most peoples attention as it directly effects us all. It to has its numbing effects as we tend to often look locally instead of realizing the vast extent of the problem at hand. The slowdown of the third largest economy will certainly have some impact on us all.
Though it is easy to grow numb and put on blinders to the rest of the world ,now is the time to be even more vigilant regarding our personal responsibility to provide for ourselves. When disasters , either natural or man made strike you simply can't depend on others meeting your immediate needs. Granted , if a tsunami takes out your whole neighborhood your probably screwed but if you have food stocks stored securely you can possibly provide some immediate relief in lesser situations. At the base of everything we need food, water, shelter and heat. It's basic common sense survival 101 but it is amazing how many are totally clueless on basic preparation. I am neither a big fan, nor a harsh critic of Darwin but in the near future I do believe we will see a survival of the fittest event. Unfortunately the fittest isn't always the smartest or most refined. Barbarians took down the roman empire and many advanced cultures have been succeeded by lesser , more adaptable peoples.
Personally I believe we are headed towards the great tribulation referred to in the christian scriptures. There is also the Mayan and Hopi predictions of the changing of the age around this time. Combine the ancient superstitions with modern science and world events you can read the writing on the wall for a period of serious upheaval.
Fortune favors the prepared in times like these. We are all at the mercy of our times but we can take steps to lessen the impact on ourselves and others. This is life, there are no guarantees but it is better to not go softly into that dark night.
Where there is life , there is hope , and the possibility of a better tomorrow.
Hang in there , Until next time
Lasco X

Signs of life in the land of "The Edge"

I poped over to the Edge webpage to get a link to a site and what did I see but signs of life! John Stokes is coming / has come.. to the Rences Radio network broadcasting on the Web from 12:00 to 2:00 pm Monday threw Friday. I have yet to be able to tune in yet as it was Sunday night but I was glad to see the announcement that John was taking to the airwaves again.
I'm sure some are not going to be happy at this news as John has his detractors (to put it mildly), but I know the edge family will be glad to see him back in action again.
Welcome back John , I look forward to listening in whenever I can.