The Credit Card Crunch

For the sake of satire: The Bat Credit Card / From deviantart.com

I came across this post from Huffington Post where Arianna Huffington discusses about the impending crunch in the credit cards – interest rates can be jacked up by these credit card companies. And why they do that for? Simple: To earn profit in your account.

Here is a snippet from her post:

It’s a particularly vicious economic circle: every day, Americans, faced with layoffs and tough economic times, are forced to use their credit cards to pay for essentials like food, housing, and medical care — the costs of which continue to escalate. But as their debt rises, they find it harder to keep up with their payments. When they don’t, banks, trying to offset losses in other areas, then turn around and hike interest rates and impose all manner of fees and penalties… all of which makes it even less likely consumers will be able to pay off their mounting debts.

Alarming? Yes. And pretty downright scary too. This can be an economic nightmare for America – the nation that is swimming in the pool of credits and debts. And not only that – it could fall out to the other parts of the world – especially to economies that are credit-dependent. WTF.

In relation to this, here are the stuff worth reading:

The Credit Card Debt Crisis: The Next Economic Domino

Credit Card Companies Gouge Huffposters

Consumerism Will Come to An End…Eventually

I found this clip over Yahoo Finance and Howard Davidowitz is saying it right.

Click on this link for the video.

From the article itself:

• An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values.
• A $10 trillion negative wealth effect from weakened capital markets.
• A $14 trillion consumer debt load amid “exploding unemployment”, leading to “exploding bankruptcies.”

Yes, America, you will be starting to save and living in survival mode. You only need food, a roof above your head, a school to send your children and grandchildren to and your mom or pop’s old car.

So what is wrong with living a simple life? There is nothing wrong with it. What’s wrong is to live in the pool of lies and credit card debts – our heads filled with the “American Dream” that we have before.

Wake up folks. Its time to live simply and get our assess to work. To be resourceful and creative during these times. It not the end of the world yet. It is a start of a new way of living. Dont fall in to the predatory credit cards and pre-need bitches.

Wake up and smell the coffee. Start saving money for the rainy days.

Source article: http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/176478/%22Worst-Is-Yet-to-Come%22-Americans%27-Standard-of-Living-Permanently-Changed?tickers=WMT,WFMI,FDO,^GSPC,^DJI,RTH

The Obama Stimulus Plan

President Obama’s stimulus plan has been the talk of the town for a while and has been debated endlessly by Republicans and Democrats alike, weighing on the pros and cons of the plan. The economy has been in a rollercoaster spin and President Obama, has been pitching his efforts to pass the stimulus plan.

The Obama stimulus plan is no doubt bigger than the stimulus plan Bush and Paulson initiated last year. It may have the bigger risk and the bigger pros and cons but I am still hoping that President Obama can pull it off better than that Bush and Paulson did. What we need here is the transparency in spending – the American people should know where every cent of their tax money went – to provide good and transparent accountability. As well as preventing those large and greedy corporations take a their own lion’s share in the stimulus money.

From a CNN article:

“My bottom line is to make sure that we are saving or creating 4 million jobs, we are making sure that the financial system is working again, that homeowners are getting some relief,” he said in his first prime time news conference.

Well, President Obama, you have a tough job to do – and a lot of expectations to meet and doubts to break. People are getting a lot of headaches with the tough economic times. But I do hope that the stimulus package that you are proposing will not benefit only those who sit in their fat assess in those magnificent buildings in wall street. Your stimulus package should benefit the American people – and get started to get out of this dark times of recession.

No More Golden Parachutes

In a bold move today, US president Barack Obama announced that he will limit executive pay to $500,000 if the companies will seek bailout using the taxpayer’s money.

In a CNN article ;

Pledging to take “the air out of golden parachutes,” President Obama announced Wednesday that executives of companies receiving federal bailout money will have their pay capped at $500,000 under a revised financial compensation plan.

Last year’s “shameful” handout of $18 billion in Wall Street bonuses “is exactly the kind of disregard for the costs and consequences of their actions that brought about this crisis: a culture of narrow self-interest and short-term gain at the expense of everything else,” Obama said to reporters at the White House.

I consider this move to be very bold and I know that it points to the proper direction. Executive pay should be limited and instead the money being used to benefit only the few, why not use it to improve the company as well as additional benefits for the other employees. And if the companies seek bailout, then they should be able to make beneficial improvements to the way they run their corporations.

Enough of the greed among the corporate elite. Anyways, they were not hired just to lay there corporate assess and do nothing while their company falls down. They are hired for that executive position because they have the higher capacity on how to run the company – PROPERLY AND IN A NON-GREEDY WAY.

I hope this thing keeps up. And I hope President Obama will fully implement this. Keep it up President Obama!

The Ax of Recession is Already Slashing…

I came across Huffington Post and saw this banner headline:

Banner headline from Huffington Post

We recently celebrated the Chinese New Year for the year of the Ox and just after 24 hours, we are now celebrating the year of the Ax, as numerous news from the internet and mainstream media propagated the doom and gloom of lay-offs – the effect of the recession ax slashing every job it meets on the way.

We are talking about thousands of jobs to be axed within the course of a few months and it will last throughout the year. The gloomy news is just telling us one truth: no matter if you are having a six-digit job or working as a janitor – no job is recession proof. Even dogs and cats are not spared from the recession, as many homeowners chose to abandon their pets – left out either dying or dead.

And the axing is taking a toll among the workers…

So can you think of any job that proved to be recession proof? I dont know if there is any but feel free to leave a comment or opinion after this post.

But then again, I believed this recession is aiming to teach us something: GO BACK TO THE BASICS OF LIVING. Of which I believed to be a helpful solution that can help us survive in this tough economic times, coupled with wise money spending.

For more of the news from Huffington post, here is the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/26/job-killing-recession-rac_n_161040.html

Ok, Back to Reality…

The last couple of days have been electrifying for the whole world as President Barack Obama took oath as the 44th President of the United States. It seemed that the economic problems have been magically whisked away, even for a day, as the United States of America celebrated the inauguration of President Obama. And now, after a few days of celebration, President Obama – and the rest of the world too – is now, coming back to reality.

Shortly after his inauguration day, President Obama went on working changes in his government. He made fundamental steps that would help in erasing the annoying and dark legacy of the Bush administration. The finest example of this is the closure of Guantanamo. I personally applauded President Obama on this part, as I have believed that having a detention for your terrorists, or perhaps, accused terrorists without sufficient evidence is an act against the basic human rights. Good thing that President Obama decided to close this shit and hopefully, he would provide a much better intervention to terrorism.

The days passed by quickly and now I am seeing President Obama making tough calls on foreign-family planning policies (which the Vatican officials criticized him, according to this report from GMAnews.tv ), making proposals for another and bigger economic stimulus plan (I hope this time, the bailout money should be allocated appropriately and there should be a solid plan for that, unlike Henry Paulson’s previous bailout strategy), trying to balance power among the Democrats (and this can be a potential headache to the president) and so on and so forth.

With the news of the US economy spiralling downward to the depths of the recession, I now wonder, that President Barack Obama, may be the unluckiest guy in the planet, holding a very difficult job of relieving the unwanted legacy of the previous Bush administration. Well, a president’s job is not that tame. It is so full of pressure that some people might be expecting President Obama to get more white hairs and wrinkles as his term chugs along.

Honestly, I dont put too much of high hopes for President Obama. He can be a symbol for hope and change but he is no superman. He is still human, prone to mistakes but still make his darndest best to provide the best strategies and solutions for the situation right now. President Obama needs support, not whining and pointless rants.

Anyways, I will continue to watch him over the next couple of days and months into his term. And I bet, he has the capacity to make significant changes, or lay down significant foundations for the next administration to follow. I dont want to put another dose of pressure to the guy, as I know, he bears the brunt of the world on his shoulders, just like the mythological hero, Atlas.

UPDATE: Marilyn Mock and the Foreclosure Angel Foundation

Remember Marilyn Mock? She is one of the headliners for 2008 because of her unconditional generosity to a nearly-homeless woman named Tracy Orr. (By the way, she has a Facebook page so go check it out too.)

Check on this video:

In this tough global economic situation, many people have been affected, including the family of Tracy Orr. Her home went foreclosed and was lined up in an Austin real estate auction. Tracy, however, just wanted to find closure from her devastating ordeal of  losing her home. Marilyn Mock, a total stranger that time to Tracy Orr, suddenly stepped up, asked the woman why she is crying and found out her sad situation. And to her surprise, Marilyn went on to bid her house and eventually ended in a happy ending – Marilyn unconditionally gave back the house to Tracy and Tracy got her beloved home back. An act of random kindness, so inspiring, that is worth sharing with anyone, which is why I am doing a blog about this right now.

From that simple and random act of kindness, I learned one thing – that kindness, never knows boundaries or socioeconomic status and everyone can do it, even in little ways that can make a big difference to someone else’s life. Personally, Marilyn has become one of my heroes that inspires me to do good to others – not only through money – but in every damn way I can. Marilyn and Tracy’s story, I admit, left a significant impact to my personal view of the world. That in this world, money does not matter, your riches does not matter, your political alliances does not matter but what matters most is how we value others and ourselves as well as  how we make a difference into the life of the other person, whether we personally know them or not. We should help others as we help ourselves because in that way, not only us or our families will prosper but others as well.

Ok, here is the update after the Foreclosure Angel story.

A few months after the story has become well known, I have learned that Marilyn established a foundation named “Foreclosure Angel Foundation”. You can find them in this website: www.foreclosureangelfoundation.com.

At their about page, I found this wonderful personal message from the foreclosure angel herself, Marilyn Mock:

I’ve established the Foreclosure Angel Foundation in November 2008 in an effort to provide assistance and resources to families who are on the brink of foreclosure, and about to lose the one thing keeping them together: home. This last month has been exciting for me and has opened a new chapter in my life. I never would’ve guessed over a month ago that today I would be chartering a non-profit organization that hopes to help out thousands on their last wits. I’ve learned so much from this experience, including how devastating it is to endure a foreclosure. Families should never go through the thought of giving up their place of shelter and safety – despite everything that could go wrong. I hope that through this organization, we can bring people who want to help with people who need help, together.

Marilyn Mock – November 26, 2008

Inspiring words from the woman herself. Inspiring words that also inspire us to follow her lead – making a big difference into the lives of the families that are on the brink of foreclosure. Sure is, it is a tough economic situation right now, with all the global financial problems that are affecting every citizen of this planet. But that will not stop people from helping people, you and me, helping out others who are needing help, irregardless from who they are and where they’d come from.

In my own part, I want this story be known to the rest of the world. You can do whatever you can too -  you can make a blog about this, forward the story to other people, inform people to visit the Foreclosure Angel Foundation etc. Every action counts here. Inform someone you might know that can help these people pull through one of their toughest and emotional experience in life. Losing a home is as devastating as a death of a friend or a family member. We are not talking about houses here. We are talking about HOMES – the one thing that keeps the families together.

Let us not forget the story of Marilyn Mock and Tracy Orr. Let us not forget that each one of us can make a random act of kindness. Let us not forget to help others, in many ways that we can. Take the chance to help these families today. Please visit the Foreclosure Angel Foundation website. You’ll never know how much difference you can make to these families today.

To Marilyn, more power to you and your Foreclosure Angel Foundation!

A Fake Digg Site and The Stupid Al-Qaeda

I browsed over Digg.com and found this Digg submission, “Watch Out!!! “Digg-Like” Chinese Phishing Site”.

In the related article which was submitted by a user named bennyshoham, it tells that there is a duplication of Digg coming from a server in China.  It states:

In the morning when I was wandering over the internet, My friend shared a link with me saying “Check out this Digg Fake site”. Firstly, I though he must be kidding or it would be some kind of comic but when I opened that link, I was like startled that site was looking similar like digg, same stories, same dig counting, same design it was like complete clone of digg.

Click here for the full article.

The URL of the fake Digg website is www.567gu.com. I tried to accessed the site but my Firefox blocked me from accessing the site. Citing its a web forgery site.

The Fake Chinese Digg Site

I suggest that you should not access this site since it is intentionally made as a phishing site – to get the vital information from your computer, steal them then use those information by those hackers and identity thieves. The IP address of www.567gu.com is 64.191.203.30 which gives a vital clue to where this hackers have been based. I also happened to check the IP address to a domain / IP address checking site, http://domainbyip.com/

Here are the results that I have obtained:

Information about the fake digg sites IP address

Diggers who commented in the submission also gathered an information about who the heck is behind this fake site:

Registrant:
Organization : su yue bian
Name : suyuebian
Address : shanghaipudongtangqiao19B
City : shanghaishi
Province/State : Shanghai
Country : CN
Postal Code : 361009

Crazy. WTF. I hate this hackers and phishers who loved to do nasty things and harm other people. They should be condemned and incarcerated. They make the things in internet look bad. To Kevin Rose and the rest of the digg staff, you should be aware of this and make measures that will help protect digg users (such as me).

Moving on with my post, I spot this article from CNN about Al-Qaeda’s message about the Gaza conflict:

An audio message reportedly from al Qaeda’s deputy chief vows revenge for Israel’s air and ground assault on Gaza and calls the Jewish state’s actions against Hamas militants “a gift” from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

The speaker, identified as Ayman al-Zawahiri, addresses Muslims in Gaza. He said the violence “is one part of a series of a crusade war against Islam and these air strikes are a gift from Obama before he takes office, and (Egyptian President) Hosni Mubarak, that traitor, is the main partner in your siege and killing.”

Well, if the governments are considering blocking porn sites, well, consider blocking these extremists Islamic sites so that they will not poison and brainwash anybody else. They have been using the internet as their tool for voicing their senseless grunts for violence and their mindless, sick and stupid ideologies that their fucking Allah is the ultimate god.

I know that the violence in Gaza is senseless. Israel, whatever motive that they had is just repeating the cycle over and over again. And so is Hamas and the Al-Qaeda who continued to irritate the face of this earth. The unfortunate civilians who got caught in the conflict are the sore losers here. I dont know if Israel is doing the right thing in trying to exterminate Hamas but what I see is that the cycle of violence will still continue, hatred will be sown and harvested.

Israel should take caution on what will happen in that region for the years to come. The children who have been hurt and injured in the conflict, seen their parents and relatives got killed in the conflict will swear on their blood to avenge their loved ones – thus falling to the trap of Hamas and worst, Al-Qaeda.

Extremist Islamic sites that incite terroristic hate should be banned in the internet so that they will never take advantage of the internet to spread the philosophy of hate and terrorism.

And to Al-Zawahiri, who blames Obama and Egypt for the attacks in Gaza:

This only proves that you are nothing but pathetic and idiot, brainwashed goat-herders who loved to see the destruction of the nations that you hate. Is that what you call progress, sir? Its chaos! If you want progress, then make a decent living for yourselves. You and your Al-Qaeda cohorts are living in the way of the backwards, Middle Age philosophies of “Hate Islam”. You are nothing to be pitied of. You should rot in hell.I dont know if you and your cohorts still have the conscience of considering human life, but I think you are monsters in human skin. You and your cohorts are a total disgrace to the rest of the human race.

Why I Hate YouTube…

UPDATE:

I just want to leave a note for Operation Baghdad Pups:

I am sorry that I have to take down the video. The dedication video that I have made for you guys, have encountered a music rights issue with its copyright owner. It feels too bad for me to take down the video (before the owner would sue me for copyright infringement) but anyways, me and my blogs (both the Liberal Chronicles and the Furry Paws Chronicles) will still continue to support your causes.

I guess I now have plenty of time to blog more and more about the plight of our four legged buddies out there. Kudos to you guys. You are really making a difference, not only in the lives of the animals but also for other people as well.

More power to OBP and SPCA,

Ansatsu

——————————————————————-

I just received this email from YouTube in regards of the first video that I have made for Ratchet and the Baghdad Pups.

—————————————————————

Dear ansatsu29,

Video Disabled

A copyright owner has claimed it owns some or all of the audio content in your video Ratchet and Baghdad Pups. The audio content identified in your video is Home by Michael Bublé. We regret to inform you that your video has been blocked from playback due to a music rights issue.

Replace Your Audio with AudioSwap

Don’t worry, we have plenty of music available for your use. Please visit our AudioSwap library to learn how you can easily replace the audio in your video with any track from our growing library of fully licensed songs.

Other Options

If you think there’s been a mistake, or you have other questions, please visit the Copyright Notice page in your account.

Sincerely,
The YouTube Content Identification Team

———————————————————

Which freaking sucks by the way. I credited the song to who’s who and even mentioned no copyright infringement intended. Anyways, that’s policy for them. Nothing comes free from them. I tried the Audio Swap option but unfortunately, I did not find any song that fits the video.

Many people have already viewed the video. Too bad for the Baghdad Pups, I have to take down the video and cancel my YouTube account. Now, I hate Youtube.

Before I cancel my YouTube account, here is the last pic of the first video that I have made:

A last glimpse of my first YouTube video (Blocked by YouTube due to copyrights issue)

Gee, that really sucks. Anyways, Ansatsu, now signing off from YouTube.

Do Pedophiles Have A Right To Have Sex with Children?

For some people, that is a two way question. But for me, its a big and honest – NO. I got this article submission over Digg which discusses pedophiles who see themselves as activists – fighting the right to have sex with children. Over New York Times (the source of the Digg submission), it discusses that pedophiles are to such extent, would like to rally their rights to have sex with children.

Crazy. WTF. This is absolutely disgusting. You can watch all the porn you want – but hell no in having sex with children. I kinda notice that there the internet has been used as an avenue to have programs for pedophiles – from online chats, child porn sites and webcams. I dont think that pedophiles have a right to have sex with children. It is insane. It is an abomination. Dont call me a bible fundy because I am not. But I am a person that still regards the safety of children and their proper development.

The submitter of the Digg (username: davidmesaaz) article said this comment:

The reason why I submitted this is because of the prop 8 debate. I have constantly heard that gay marriage is the next civil rights battle and that we should not police what goes on in other peoples bedrooms. But lets not take this ideology too far..

Okay, the guy has a point. But I commented further on:

I agree with that too but pedophilia is a different one. It is an adult misbehavior. I mean, seriously, they cant think right for themselves and they always seek ways to justify their ill behavior.

Gay marriage, on the other hand, is a different talk. And so is polygamy. You need to have different set of rules for each case. Its a case to case basis.

Honestly, in my own point, pedophiles should have the right to be REHABILITATED. Not to have sex with children. I understand that some of these pedophiles have broken childhoods, some of them may have been abused during their childhood. They need help. They do not need to have sex with children. I agree with one part of the NY Times article stating that pedophiles are looking for ways to justify their behaviors. I agree with them for a fact that these guys are not in the right state of minds.

Seriously, pedophiles should be rehabilitated. Governments are planning to censor the internet – well, they can censor child pornography sites to stop the cycle of pedophile and their vicious behaviors. Children are not sex objects. They are the young ones who looked up to adults for their role models. They should be given the right education, the proper upbringing so that their generation will be able to make a progress to this world. If we will tolerate the pedophiles and their misbehaviors – what will happen to our children? If pedophiles will have a right to have sex with our children – consider this society to be corrupted and barbaric.

For full New York Times article, click here.