Odracirys

Just this week, both New Mexico and Utah legalized same-sex marriage (via the courts).  I'm glad that the courts are starting to get in on the action.  It's really just a matter of time.  Our period today is like the late 1950s for blacks.  From 1954 to 1968, blacks basically became equal citizens in all states.  For example, there was Brown VS the Board of Education - school desegregation (1954), the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Voting Rights Act (1965), and the Fair Housing Act (1968).  In a period of 15 years, things dramatically changed.  We're in that period for same-sex marriage now. There are a few differences, though.  For one, a lot of people forget that blacks and other minorities did have full rights for quite a while (in some cases perhaps even since America's founding) in many northern states.  Here, same-sex marriage was not legal in any state until quite recently.  It was only ten years ago, in 2003, when Massachusetts became the first state to legaliz

Prepare yourself to laugh. These videos brightened my day.  It all started with a music video called "Chinese Food".  It is NOT the video shown.  I recommend clicking on the link below to start with that, as it is the original. "[I Love] Chinese Food" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWLhrHVySgA This song has been lambasted by some people for being "racist".  I think that's absurd.  People are too easily offended these days.  It's obviously a fun video made in jest.  Yes, geisha are not Chinese...and men in panda suits don't fly to heaven in rainbows. Of course, it's also funny to see the parodies of the original video, and that is the video shown in this post.  It shows an obsession with fast food, and has guest appearances of Pedobear and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  A link to it is below: "I Love American Food" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncaRHUdoH9Q One more funny parody is below: "I Love White M

The U.S. and associated client states are close to getting involved in yet another war.  And yet again, those with power (the corporate-owned media, etc) are not about to stop them...or even question them. This imperial juggernaut and its cronies have irreversibly jumped the shark.  Unleashed will be a scale of violence which dwarfs anything seen yet in the Syrian Civil War.  And the taxpayers will again be footing the bill for these unfolding atrocities.  I guess that instead of the U.S. support of the Afghan mujahideen against Russia in the 1980s serving as a warning about how you should never give military aid to a group of terrorists, it has instead become a how-to guide. One question remains.  Did the war mongers in the U.S. come up with this idea, or is has U.S. policy just become completely dictated by our "partners" in the Middle East.  After all, whenever Israel and Saudi Arabia agree on something, the U.S. is never far from implementing it. Things in the world are

This blogpost was written after reading this article: "Sentenced to death for a sip of water " http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/sentenced_to_death_for_sip_of_water_7zwT2vBrUGqhDzasfQxkKK I learned about that from Fakher Haddoui. https://plus.google.com/u/0/102978975077667101095/posts/M57vbW8xEzz Below are my thoughts: In school, I was basically taught that all cultures are equal (except for Western cultures which are the only selfish ones in the world). What I've come to realize is that while there have been evil and great people scattered around the world for ages, not all cultures are equal, and on top of that - cue the racism claims - Western culture in general is (and has been at least since the year 1700) much closer to the top of the rankings than the bottom.  (For the record, the major cultures - albeit minorities in their own countries -  that I respect the most are various "Eastern" philosophies which don't dispute sci

About two weeks ago (July 30th), I posted the blog post which can be seen at the link below: http://odracirys.blogspot.com/2013/07/its-probably-time-to-buy-silver.html I said that it was probably the perfect time to buy silver.  It seems to be coming off its lows, and there's a lot of upside potential.  Also, I believe that the stock market will crash soon (probably this year, maybe next year). On July 30th, the price of silver was $19.75 . Today (August 15th, 2013), the price stands at $22.06 . That's more than an 11% gain in two weeks. In other words, if you'd invested $1,000 in silver then, you'd have gained more than $100 by now. Here's the good news.  I foresee silver going up into the 30s by late this year or early next year.  And I think that in a few years, silver will be up past $40, $50, you name it.  The thing is, when there is inflation (as there will be), then the prices of most commodities make higher highs, including silver.  But I believ

One could be in a cell for life.  The other is free for the moment in Russia.  Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are two American heroes who have shown how desperate the American government has become. The government tells us that we don't need to keep secrets from them unless we are up to no good.  But when the citizens turn that line back on the government, they completely ignore it. Bradley Manning leaked information such as the murders by the United States Armed Forces of Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen (Reuters reporters), among others.  They were shot by people in gunships.  A misidentification is one thing.  But a coverup followed. "For more than two years after the shooting, Reuters and other organizations sought probes into the deaths of Noor-Eldeen and other journalists killed in Iraq, but the U.S. military withheld key information on the grounds that it was classified. The military also refused to release a video taken from one of the gunships that captured the

I believe that now is a good time to start buying silver (or to buy more if you already have some). From around 2000 to 2008, silver had a huge run up in price.  Then, in mid-2008, the price fell until the end of the year, when it started to rebound.  From late 2008 until 2011, it had a huge run up, going from around $10 to nearly $50.  But from May 2011 until the present, the price has fallen again to about $20. It seems like a silver bubble has burst.  However, there are reasons why silver should outperform other investments in the future. Right now, the price of silver is at a "support level".  This is a price which was hard to break through on the way up, and is also hard to break through on the way down.  I don't believe that it will go down (substantially) from here.  Instead, I think that it will be pretty much all up.  (This price increase may start next month or later, but it will occur.)  Why do I think so? Mining prices have been increasing, and silver

This is how Civil Wars are Born At least 50 supporters of deposed President Morsi have been gunned down by the military.  This doesn't bode well for stability.  They could very well be the first shots of a civil war. It's hard to see how anything can go right in Egypt.  Mubarak did not allow Egyptians many freedoms. Morsi, an Islamist, was even worse for the country, although his election (which got him in the position to become dictator) was supposedly fair. Now, I hear that Ziad Bahaa el-Din, a former member of the Central Bank, is close to being chosen as interim prime minister.  I'm not generally a conspiracy theorist, but the fact that a central banker might become the most powerful man in Egypt sets off some alarm bells and piques my tinfoil hat side. Egypt had better get its act together (and this includes somehow trying to appeal to Morsi's supporters to at least participate in another election).  If not, the country could easily fall apart. Here i

I don't think that anything happening in America on this July 4th comes at all close to the huge party happening in Tahrir Square and other parts of Egypt last night.  Boy...what a party.  When I was young, my mental image of Egypt was pyramids.  Now, it's green lasers.  Anyway, who knows how that will turn out. As for the United States, I'm more negative about it than at any point since the Bush administration.  In fact, it might be a new low, because the lesser of the two evils is showing himself to be a pretty pathetic lesser evil. To me, it seems that American rights are under attack.  On top of that, I am absolutely convinced that the whole American and world economy is a Ponzi scheme.  I don't think that we'll even have one more year of this tepid growth.  Ten years from now, we'll look back at  the days of   this poor economy and remember them as the good old days. Some Romans lived through the fall.  If you know about Rome, you'll know that the

I was wrong. I admit it.  I was wrong...at least with the timing.  I thought that the stock market would peak by at least the end of March (if not the end of last year), and it still blasted higher in April and May. So until I'm right, you don't have to believe me when it comes to this.  But do you think that perhaps the stock market might take a dive soon?  It looks set up to do so...if not now then sometime before the end of the year. What do you think? Below is a Dow Jones Industrial Average chart from 1973 to the present, showing clearly the three bubbles we've had - the tech  bubble, the housing bubble, and the QE bubble (which hasn't burst yet). https://www.google.com/finance/getchart?q=.DJI&p=40Y&i=86400

One Bomber Killed...But Let's Not Rush To Judge One of the Boston Bombing suspects has been killed after a shootout. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324493704578432030609754740.html I'd just like to say now that any death is a tragedy, and I'm sorry that the bomber had to die....ppppffff....Hahaha!...Oh, man...I just couldn't contain that laugh.  No, in all seriousness, I'm glad he's dead! Now, like I said before*, let's not rush to judge.  We have no idea that these bombers are Muslims.  Remember that well-worn quote, "Terrorism has no religion." (*See:   https://plus.google.com/u/0/100881434227795038077/posts/TKqwnKEitTW ) I mean, yeah, the now dead member of the Chechen bomber duo was named "Tamerlan"...in honor of what may perhaps have been the single most prolific Muslim murderer in the history of the world (AKA "Timur the Lame"). But wait just a second before you judge!  L et's take a look at

Morality Morality is somehow a difficult topic for people.  That's too bad.  It's quite easy for me.  I remember taking a college class on philosophy and thinking that I was way smarter than some of the most respected philosophers.  The study of philosophy and morality seems to be the study of the history of how people got things wrong.  Every subsequent philosopher seemed to disagree with the former one which we'd studied.  However, the correct answer was never revealed.  My reason for writing this post is to reveal it. But first, let me give some more background.  In my college philosophy class years ago, I was struck by how respected Immanuel Kant was in the realm of morality, even though he had very little to show for it.  For example, he thought that "lying" was wrong no matter what.  One of the more interesting applications of this is with the "inquiring murderer".  Kant said that if you are hiding an innocent would-be victim and a murdere

Don't judge a place by its media portrayal. I have always been someone who has had a fascination with the world.  I've studied the world in great detail...its history, cultures, and geography. I have also traveled around...not as much as I'd like, but enough to realize one important thing.  Books, TV shows, and other media lie.  Well, it's dishonesty through omission.  When we see images of the world, it's the vision that other people want to push on us.  Many cities are ugly, and to hide this fact, they will pick the needle out of a haystack and skillfully take a picture of that needle while making sure to hide any trace of the hay. A good many cities have been destroyed through the onslaught of Modernism.  However, others have survived relatively unscathed.  This is a visual tale of two cities. The first is Kyoto.  Hailed as the most beautiful city in Japan, it was a former capital of Japan and a center of Japanese high culture.  It has generally avoided major

AKB48 is the most popular group in Japan.  It's made up of 90 girls who are all in their teens and 20s, with the most popular girls making up a sub-set which is able to be the face of the whole group. Minami Minegishi is one of the original members (since 2005), and one of the main ones as well.  She is 20 years old - thus she was 13 years old (or even 12) when she was selected to be eye candy for rabid fans who like to imagine themselves being the first ones to break her hymen. The rules that every AKB48 member must follow is "no boyfriends"..."no love"...as long as you're with the group.  Thus, from age 13 to 20, she has been an innocent fruit ripe for the picking. No longer.  Recently, she was caught coming out of a boy's house.  Because of that, she risked being fired from the group.  Otaku don't like it if they have to imagine getting sloppy seconds.  Minami promptly shaved her head and sorrowfully apologized on YouTube.  Her video was