Do you think we are on the verge of a serious financial crisis?

• ‎Our Debt is higher than the total output of the entire nation. 
• Our deficit (Spending over and above income) continues to grow. 
• The President just requested that the debt ceiling be raised to over 1 trillion dollars MORE than the total output of the entire nation. (up to 16.something trillion $) 
• Politicians talk about "reducing the deficit" but not making actual cuts in spending, just reducing the amount of spending that is over the amount of income (never coming within the amount of income, always spending more than they make). 
• Our money is paper backed by "faith" and nothing else. 
• The Federal Reserve prints more money whenever they want, which devalues the money in your wallet and bank account (inflation, which causes prices and interest rates to soar). 
• China holds the most US debt than any other country, enabling the US to build a house of cards that can then be blown down causing catastrophe for us. 
• China is buying gold in record amounts. They will have something of value if/when their investment in US Debt turns to muck. They could even be the ones to collapse our monetary system. Don't think so? Read this. 

To borrow from Private Pyle, We are in a world of shit. Sorry to be vulgar. We all need to be learning and reading as much as possible from sources not connected to cronyism or benefiting from the current conditions. We need to turn off American Idol and The Biggest Loser and read Rothbard and Mises and the founding fathers and the Constitution. We all need to take that education with us to the polls and govern OURSELVES by voting for people who understand the gravity of our situation and who are not influenced or funded by the people that got bailouts. 


 We are in an unprecedented moment in US History. We have over-extended ourselves, and we must make real change. We must not allow the status quo to continue.  We must NOT let the media or winds of popularity make our decisions for us. We must not allow spending to go on unhindered. We must not isolate ourselves with military action based on questionable or outright wrong information. We must not meddle in the affairs of other countries. We must defend ourselves and restore fiscal sanity to our nation. 

And Now for Something Completely Different

On my birthday I decided I wanted to go to Aladdin's Eatery for dinner. We usually stick to a rut when it comes to eating out. Pizza, Subway, and the occasional steakhouse trip are our staples, but since I've been eating healthier and closer to a vegetarian diet, I wanted to try something new.

It was a nice little sit-down restaurant in a strip-mall setting. I had studied the menu online, so I had a great idea of what I wanted before we got there. Unfortunately I hadn't thought to share the link with the rest of my family, so 9 other people were staring at the 23 page, picture-less menu with glazed-over eyes.

Our server was helpful and everyone eventually came to a decision. I loved my meal. I got a sampler appetizer and another sampler dinner. The appetizer was all vegetarian; Hummus(white creamy stuff at top), Falafel(brown balls), Tabouli(green and red stuff), Baba(white creamy stuff at the bottom), and Dawali(rolled grape leaves in center).



My dinner was a combo of some of their popular items: Chicken Tawook (left), Beef Kafta(right), and shish-kabob(center).



Since it was my birthday, we had desert waiting at home, so we didn't try Baklava or any of the amazing cakes! I can't wait to go back. It was great stuff, and fun to go somewhere totally new!

Struggles

Right now I am of the opinion that life is one continuous series of struggle, disappointment and pain, punctuated by only brief moments of happiness.

I want to be more positive. I want to have a better outlook, but I can't seem to get it together. Why is that? Why is it that some folks are positive, upbeat, motivated and successful and I can't seem to manage that?

My circumstances right now are pretty bad. The worst ever. I'm 40 years old! Shouldn't things be improving? Instead they seem to just get worse. I'm filled with regret and I'm miserable about my failings as a husband and father and I can't shake them. I've been to confession, I've apologized, and yet every turn rubs a little salt in my wounds.

Things are dark. Bankrupt, losing the house, all on a salary that might generate envy in some, but it's not half of a two-income family. It's everything for a large, traditional single income family, and its not enough.

Nobody taught me about finances, I had to find out myself, and now I'm in a pickle such that I can't apply what I have learned. Everything costs, and costs more and more. Surprise, you need dental work. Suffer immeasurable pain, of cough up the cash. Surprise, your vehicle broke a vital part and is not safe to drive. Cough up the cash or risk serious injury or death. What cash? The budget is 100% spent with no room for savings.

Then there's the hand I've been dealt. If you feel this is "victim mentality," oh well, I guess it is. I'm a victim of timing, of dysfunctional families, governments run amok.

And my own sinfulness. That adds tremendously to my burden. I have been and continue to be a fool, a wretch, a worm, an evil gossip, a lusting covetous, idol worshipping dog.

Why did I waste my school years? Why do I mistreat my family? Why did I not get to grow up on the family farm? why am I sick? Why didn't we communicate better before we made a deal to move here? Why why why...

To quote Private Pyle from Full Metal Jacket, "I am in a world of SHIT!"

I know that Jesus loves me. I know that my emotions play no part in my salvation, but life is so HARD, and it's HARDer when you don't feel like there's hope. Hope for now, hope for tomorrow. I know of the hope of eternity, but I am getting tired of slogging it out through this mire.

(I'm not contemplating hurting myself.)

So I'm in pain and sad, feeling like a cheated failure. I thought I'd write about it. Hopefully it makes you feel good about your current circumstances.

Are you there?

Does anyone read blogs anymore?

That's a real question. Are there any readers left here? I'm sure the more successful blogs with more "important" writers still have readers, but for mere mortals like me, is anyone left?

I'm wondering.

I remember in the early days of the internet we used to use Newsgroups to discuss things of interest to a group. Then email distribution lists took off like gangbusters and lasted quite a while. They were efficient and convenient. No need to check your email AND a news reader. It was all in your mailbox. Good group conversations took place. It was, IMO, the heyday of Internet communication. There was enough context and continuity that it still seemed personal.

Then the rise of the blog came about and participation in email discussion lists died down (at least in my experience). It was a shame. We went from a virtual collection of people having a discussion to a bunch of people pontificating. I likened it to shouting into a pillow. How would you know anyone was reading? Yeah, readers could leave comments, but we were no longer in a public, communal space. We were now in your house, and to argue with you in your house is kind of rude. What did we do? We all got our own blogs. That made it feel like a bunch of people who used to face inward as a group and "talk" together were suddenly a group of people facing outward and all talking out into the ether, the sound dying as it left their lips. How did you know if one of your friends had a blog? You didn't, unless someone told you about it or you stumbled upon it in someone else's compilation of links. Also, we were back to checking multiple locations for conversation or news. No longer could I go to my email and catch up with everyone or a topic. But instead of progress, we regressed. Now you had to do email, and go to each of your blogs individually! Wow. What a headache.

Along comes "social media" to save us from the hassle of checking multiple blogs. Now all your "friends" can be found in one place. The downside is that now, instead of plenty of room to thoroughly express your ideas, you only have 140 characters or so. I guess this is the logical result of Sesame Street style "sound-byte" media consuming generations. At first blush it was a terrific thing. Here was a place you could go and search for people by name. It was great to find old friends and schoolmates. Great stuff. Then, once the first exchange is complete, the one where you catch up via message with these old friends, you are back to essentially being estranged again. Sure, you will know that Joe is at the lake. Joe is eating pie. but the geniuine exchange of communication ends. OH! Don't forget the Mafiaville and Farm Wars requests and updates. Yeah, there's heartfelt communication for ya.

And that doesn't even begin to consider the privacy concerns associated with social media.

So lately I have seriously considered deleting my social media accounts and returning to my blog. My social media friends and I don't use it to plan get-togethers (with the occaisional poker game invite being the exception). We don't send anything that's too deep or thought provoking to each other.

Is that rude? I wish it were different. I wish I could personally visit all my friends, that we really and truly were good friends instead of "people who know each other...or at least know who the other is." Some of us are, but the majority of my list is just people who know who I am, or worse, they know someone I am "friends" with, and so they are my "friend" solely based on that (how nuts is that?).

So...I was just wondering. Anybody still here reading? Getting notified that I wrote something new? Something rotten and whiny and self centered and...

lol.

Wacky Survivalist: Cheap Bastard Laundry Detergent

What you need:
2 gallons of warm water, 10 cups in a pot, the rest in a bucket.
Fels Naptha Laundry Bar Soap
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)
20 Mule Team Borax



Take a large stockpot and bring 10 cups of water to a gentle boil.
While that's working up a boil, finely grate half a bar of Fels-Naptha.




Into your gently boiling water mix in the Fels-naptha and melt it into the water while stirring.







After the fels-naptha has melted into the water stir in 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of arm and hammer washing soda stirring until all has dissolved.



Let water cool down for a few minutes and then pour into 2 gallon bucket and dilute with warm water.




It should gel up a bit. If it doesn't, you can still use it. It may also end up looking more like egg drop soup. If this happens you can still use it or if it gels up too much in clumps place bucket in to hot water (make sure not to let the water get into the bucket) and let warm back up and stir thoroughly.

To use: put 1/4 cup into washer and wash clothes as normal. You can add essential oils to perfume laundry soap.

The Fels-Naptha is $1.30/bar. 20 Mule Team Borax is two bucks and change at the local discount drug store. The washing soda I had to order on the internet. It was a little less than $5 for the box. I don't know how many cups of the powdered material are in each box, but it seems to me you get a LOT of soap for your money doing it yourself.

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