Stop Eating Yogurt, IT IS TERRIBLE FOR YOU!!!

Look, I am going to be blunt with all of you. I know there is a lot of hype surrounding yogurt. How great it is for you, how it has all these health benefits and so-called "pro-biotics" (which havent been proven to work, look it up people, its true) but the truth is YOGURT IS AS BAD FOR YOU AS ICE CREAM IS!

There I said it. Everyone loves it, and thinks its part of a good diet, but it has sugar and lots of sugar. REMEMBER PEOPLE, FAT IS NOT THE ENEMY. SUGAR IS THE ENEMY. FAT IS OK, SUGAR IS WHAT MAKES YOU FAT. FAT JUST HAS A BAD RAP BECAUSE ITS CALLED FAT, BUT IT IS NOT WHAT MAKES YOU FAT, AT ALL!!

According to my friend a diet specialist at Weight Loss Center Inc. If you want yogurt, have greek yogurt. It has a lot of protein and not a lot of sugar. Sure it tastes gross, just add some equal and there ya go!

But enough with the frozen yogurt B.S.

People have been making millions off of this so-called healthy alternative to ice cream because they know most people are too ignorant to look at the label and see how much sugar is in there, or they just do not know. So remember this.

Fact: Sugar is the enemy. Yogurt is as bad for you as ice cream is, end of story.

The New Domino Theory in South East Asia

We all read about the Domino Theory, the principle cause of justifying the Vietnam war. It meant that if we allowed South Vietnam to fall, Cambodia, Laos and other nations would fall to communism as well

The truth is, it did happen and most of those south east Asian countries fell to communism. But what about now? China is capitalist, Vietnam is capitalist, so is Cambodia. So what does all of this mean?

What this means is that we are experiencing a new Domino Effect. This one however is where communist run, central economic systems are falling in favor of capitalist, free enterprise systems.

So the bottom line is, by the communists winning in the Vietnam war, all they really did was prevent the inevitable from happening. All they did was delay, what the United States and her allies tried so desperately to enforce during those treacherous years of conflict. That capitalism, not communism is the way to hope and prosperity.

No Pain No Gain is a Thing of the Past, Now its No Burn, No Earn

No Pain No Gain is a Thing of the Past

Now its No Burn, No Earn

Working out at the gym and hitting those reps until it burns like crazy seems to be the oldest way to get the most out of your muscles. Its an old adage that has been repeated time and again since that huge gym craze from the 80s, popularized by Olivia Newton John's famous anthem "Physical". NO PAIN, NO GAIN!!

The biggest problem with that saying is it is very right, but very wrong.

People have the misconception you need to do reps until you feel pain and that any pain is good. Many do not realize that you could be doing some heavy duty damage to your body. Its time to look at he pain you are feeling when you do your reps. If you feel a sharp pain, STOP WORKING OUT THAT BODY PART! If you feel burning, you are doing it right.

So in closing just remember, it is indeed correct, NO PAIN NO GAIN, but just replace it with NO BURN, NO EARN and youll be solid before you know it and seeing good results :)

The Myth About the Unemployment Rate being at 10 percent (its really close to 24 percent)

It is amazing that the government, the media and most of the people are buying into the supposed fact that the unemployment rate is at an "astonishing and tragic" 10.7 percent.

Actually everyone, its more like 24 percent. Yes, you read it correctly, 24 percent.

One must wonder how it is possible that I came to that conclusion. Well it is certainly not just me, but a steady stream of intellectuals, politicians and bloggers who are realizing that the governments' current guidelines for determining the unemployment rate is horrendously flawed.

'After a year, if you haven't found a job, they assume you gave up and dont count you anymore!'

According to Jason Termin a jobs analyst who works for the Department of Labor, the unemployment figures are skewed to give a much better picture and its been this way for decades. "Basically the unemployment rate is figured by guessing how many people have been looking for a job for a year or less" Termin says.

"If you have been looking for a job longer than a year, than the government assumes you gave up and doesn't count you in the tally of unemployed, even though in this recession, according to MOST job sites it can take almost 1 to 2 years in this climate to find the ideal job."

He went on to point at the latest jobless figures. "If you figure in the people who STILL havent found work after a year, its certainly close to, if not more than 20 percent unemployment, and most job statisticians would agree with that figure".

So what is the solution? Termin says we should really "press the media to stop buying into the goverments flawed way of calculating the unemployment rate and demand that the government give accurate figures"

The bottom line is, both sides of the government are at fault for promoting this lie. People deserve the truth. Unfortunatley the truth may be too sobering for both sides of the media and goverment to admit to, especially when the truth points to that grim fact that this recession has a jobless rate almost equal to that of the Great Depression.

Summer Movie Review... Bruno!!!!!!!!!!

Bruno was by far one of the funniest films I have ever seen. I cannot get over how ingenious Sacha Baron Cohen is.. The guy is unreal. He blurs the line between reality and fiction. For example, how do you know Paula Abdul and Ron Paul werent in on it.. Without going into too much detail, I will tell you that there are times when you might question whether or not the people involved actually know Bruno is a fake... For its originality I give it 3 and a half stars... I wouldve given it 4 stars, but it gets to be a little too much in terms of the EXTREME nature.

3 and a half stars... Original and ingenious, better and funnier than Borat.

Summer Movie Review...Harry Potter, Not just for Kids anymore...

Summer Movie Review...Harry Potter, Not just for Kids anymore...

Ive always felt that movies should be no longer than two hours. After about that time, a person gets ancy, no matter how good a movie is. However, in this sixth installment, which has some of the best special effects I have ever seen, the movie shouldve been a bit longer! I am not even kidding! Very well done. Truly one of the few movies to be just as good as all the others in their respective series. And I dont wanna hear about how Godfather 2 was better than The Godfather, because it wasnt and I know plenty of people who agree with me! Now back to Half Blood Prince..

Interestingly enough, this was to be J.K. Rowlings final installment, but the final book is so huge, over 700 pages, that they needed to make the final episode into over 2 movies long! So we still have a few more Harry Potters to go (and I still have to finish the book version of this movie!)..

The plot goes like this...

Lord Voldemort has returned to power, and his wrath has been felt in both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds. Severus Snape, long considered an enemy of Voldemort and a member of Dumbledore's anti-Voldemort coalition, the Order of the Phoenix, meets with Narcissa Malfoy, mother of Draco and wife of Lucius, an imprisoned Death Eater. Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa, promising to protect her son, Draco.

Dumbledore heads to 4 Privet Drive to collect Harry from his aunt and uncle. On their way to the Burrow, Harry and Dumbledore stop to recruit Horace Slughorn to return to teaching at Hogwarts. Harry is reunited with his best friends, Ron and Hermione. When shopping for schoolbooks, Harry runs into Draco and follows him to Borgin and Burkes, where he overhears Draco threatening Borgin and insisting that he fix an unknown object. Harry is instantly suspicious of Draco, whom he believes to be a Death Eater, just like his father. The students return to school, and Dumbledore announces that Snape will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, much to Harry's surprise.

Harry receives a used Potions textbook that once belonged to someone named “The Half-Blood Prince.” Spells and amendments are written in the margins of the book, and Harry uses the Prince's notes to excel at Potions. Dumbledore schedules regular meetings with Harry in which they use Dumbledore's pensieve to look at memories of those who have had direct contact with Voldemort. Dumbledore believes that if Harry can learn enough about Voldemort's history, it will help him when they finally fight face to face, as the prophecy concerning Harry foretells. Harry learns about Voldemort's family, including his grandfather Marvolo, his uncle Morfin, and his mother Merope, who cast a love spell on a Muggle and was abandoned by him when it wore off. Voldemort was left at an orphanage and grew to be an unpleasant and aggressive boy. Harry also learns that Voldemort has divided his soul into seven Horcruxes. Two of these, Tom Riddle's diary and Marvolo's ring, have already been destroyed. One resides in Voldemort, one resides in a snake, one is Merope's locket, and the other two are suspected to be hidden in objects belonging to Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor.

Ron acquires a new girlfriend, Lavender, of whom Hermione is extremely jealous. Harry feels stuck in the middle of his friends' bickering. Eventually, Harry falls in love with Ginny, Ron's sister, and Ron and Lavender break up, making Hermione quite happy. Harry spends much of his time keeping up with his duties as Quidditch captain and following Draco Malfoy. Harry uses his Marauder's Map to keep track of Draco, but often cannot find him on the map. Eventually, Harry realizes that when Draco is not on the map, he is using the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, which transforms into whatever its user needs. Harry tries his best to get in to see what Draco is up to, but until he knows exactly what Draco is using the room for, he cannot gain access. Eventually Harry and Dumbledore leave Hogwarts together to fetch and destroy Merope's locket, thus making Voldemort one step closer to mortal. They must overcome a variety of traps and challenges before reaching the basin where the locket is hidden under a poisonous potion. Dumbledore drinks the potion and Harry fights off Voldemort's Inferi. They take the locket and return to Hogwarts as quickly as possible. Dumbledore is quite weak, and when they reach Hogsmeade they can see that the Dark Mark is visible above the astronomy tower.

Harry and Dumbledore rush toward the tower. When they arrive, Dumbledore uses his magic to freeze Harry in place, while Harry remains hidden by his cloak of invisibility. Draco Malfoy sprints into the room, threatening Dumbledore's life. Weak and with his wand out of reach, Dumbledore stalls Draco, telling him that he is not a killer and that the Order of the Phoenix could protect him and his mother from Voldemort. Draco lowers his wand, and Snape pushes into the tower. Harry cannot move or speak, but he hears members of the Order fighting Death Eaters below. Snape raises his wand and kills Dumbledore, sending him flying over the edge of the tower. When Dumbledore dies, his spell on Harry is broken, and Harry rushes after Snape, determined to avenge the death of his friend and headmaster. Snape escapes, and Harry is devastated. He looks at the locket he and Dumbledore retrieved and realizes that it is not a Horcrux. Inside the locket is a note from someone named “R. A. B.” Harry tells his friends he will not be returning to Hogwarts next year and will instead search out and kill Voldemort by destroying all of the Horcruxes. Ron and Hermione vow to join him...

So in the end, it was great visually, I do not feel the series is fatigued yet and I still feel theres alot more Harry to come in the next few years... I give it two thumbs up, three and a half stars, if only because the ending couldve been a bit of a better cliff hanger. And by the way, my prediction? Dumbledore pulls an Obiwan and returns in some form to guide harry..

I give this movie an A or 3 and a half stars!

Great effects, great continuity, great story telling and great character development, with a dash a great comedy thrown in! Just be wary, the kids might get scared with the blood and death of dumbledore. It aint just for the kids anymore, Harry is all grown up...

Williamsburg, Brooklyn starting to resemble Miami...and I dont mean in a good way!

Well I said this 3 years ago.. Noone listened to me... Izzydomus predicted that Williamsburg would overbuild and noone listened.

Well lets see if I was right. According to the New York Times today, atleast 17 buildings in Williamsburg that overlook the amazing waterfront of Manhattan are now vacant!

NOT 17 APARTMENTS, BUT 17 BUILDINGS!!!!

The New York Times, stealing a quote from me, went on to say that Williamsburg is starting to resemble Miami in terms of the amount of buildings taking up the skyline that are literally empty!

And it is.

A few years ago everyone thought that Miami was the place to buy. For the life of me I dont understand why they didnt just ask their parents about the early 1980s when everyone thought the same thing as the drug dealers were being kicked out. By the early 1990s, Miami had gone bust along with the rest of the real estate market. Its a pattern that happens every 20 years in Miami, it happened in the 1960s before the drug dealers took over... and now I believe the same thing is happening in the outer boroughs of New York City.

In 1987 everyone raved that Long Island City was the place to buy. They put up a big ugly green Citi bank building and thats about all that changed for atleast 20 years until the recent real estate boom put so many yuppies in there it now resembles a small version of Hoboken, New Jersey with a really cool skyline. But it took 20 years...

Williamsburg was one of the most disgusting, dispicable places anyone could ever walk through. The crime was horrible and the projects were overwhelming. Then, over the past 10 years it developed into a really cool hipster spot for the art loving crowd. Heck, young people from all walks of life have been flocking there and now the Williamsburg Bridge is one of the coolest and safest places to walk to Manhattan from. Its like an artsy Hoboken. And the crazy part is, some of the prices in Williamsburg are more than Manhattan!!!! I USED TO LIVE IN BROOKLYN, ITS SHOCKING THAT THIS IS HAPPENING!!

However, greedy real estate tycoons like Waterson inc. thought it was smart to buy up 10 or 12 buildings with the wonderful philosophy, if you build it, they will come... well... they built it, but only half of them actually came and bought. Waterson, like many others, are feeling the pinch of the real estate bust and now, like theyre bretheren in Miami, they can either choose to wait until the storm passes within 5 years or go bankrupt, there really is no other alternative... We just have to hope that long gone are the days when landlords in Brooklyn and the Bronx would resort to burning down their shell of a building in hopes of getting atleast some of their money back... that would be...really bad...

Season opener of Entourage was great, Hung was..... surprisingly....

Season opener of Entourage was great, Hung was..... surprisingly....

Surprisingly good. I must say, the idea of a show about a male gigilo brings me back to the Schneider movies that had plenty of laughs.. for a movie... but to make it into a serious (sort of) series? well that was something that I thought would for sure bomb.

But in my opinion it didnt and it wont. The flashback sequences, the character development all worked perfectly. Thomas Jane, the guy who portrayed the Punisher, does an outstanding job as a teacher whos luck forced him to call for desperate measures in order to make money. The kids were funny and the way his wife is portrayed as an annoying mom who the kids want to get away from is genuinely, perfectly done.... I actually felt bad for her.

Two thumbs up for the newest surprise hit for HBO (apparently it was more watched than Entourage and everyone that I know of who watched it, said it was great and were as surprised as I was in how good it was!)

A+ two thumbs up...


As far as Entourage goes... last season it was really cool seeing Vince struggling as he fell from the mountain top, only to regain his momentum and land a movie role, just as it started to appear he was finished... showing that one must never give up in life no matter how many boulders are put into ones path....

so..... for the new season opener of Entourage, it appears that Eric has decided it’s time to spread his wings and is looking to move into his own place, but it doesn’t go that easy for him. Last night’s episode also saw Lloyd and Ari battle with each other, over Lloyd’s future.

And as for Vince, the premiere saw him keeping busy. Not only was he seen trying to get his driving license and prepare, but last night, we also saw him in a starring role of a new Martin Scorsese movie “The Great Gatsby,” which he was promoting on Jay Leno.

A+ for both premiers..

next week I will give my opinion on a show that all my friends are begging me to get into...

True Blood. ive watched a few episodes, its good and I am very surprised a show based on modern vampires made it this far, but I promise, next week I will give a fair and honest review.

Summer Movie Review...first up, Transformers 2

So far I have managed to see every movie this year by continuing a tradition of doing nothing else on Friday but going to the movies. So here is my first review, ill have Bruno and Hangover reviewed within the next week.

Transformers 2: A- or 3 stars

I know a lot of critics have a problem with this one, but let me tell you, as a fan of the old transformers cartoon, and as someone who saw the movie with others who had no clue what an optimus prime was, I have to tell you, despite what the critics said, in my book, it scored an A- or 3 stars.

Ok so they never exactly explain how they drive from Egypt to Jordan without going through Israel, or how exactly the Pyramids ended up on the Sinai Peninsula.. So the geography is a bit off and the movie should have been a half hour shorter, but otherwise, the character develoment went well... the collagen in Megan Fox's lips only seemed to have made her hotter and the battle scenes arent as close up as in the previous one. So you can actually tell who is fighting who.

I saw no reason for it to get anything less than 3 stars but the critics really pounded this one. At first I wanted to say its because they probably werent fans of the series, but I saw it with people who never saw the Transformers cartoon and they all loved it. Personally I think the critics just got upset at the fact that it was a half hour too long, a point I agree with, but I do not agree with the half a star alot of papers are giving it.

The fight scenes were done well, the character development was superior to the first one and the computer animation was perfect. This movie is one of those things you will have to see for yourself because the critics are way off when it comes to this one.

A-, 3 stars..

Gambling Reaches New York City.

Gambling Reaches New York City.
It worked in Pennsylvania, however there are those who are very concerned.

In 2006, the New York state legislature gave the NY Lotto the power to regulate and license slot machines and video poker in a racing track 5 miles away from Manhattan. People were immediately fearful that a "racino" with an 18 to gamble law (as opposed to 21 in other area casinos) would do nothing but cause crime and depress real estate prices in the surrounding area.
Many people believe there are benefits in having a racino that brings in millions of dollars. In New York, most of the money generated by the racino, like most New York Lotto games, is used for education. And in Pennsylvania, it helped lower property taxes. However there are others that believe there is indeed a cause for concern.
In the 1970s, when Atlantic city, a resort town that used to be the Disney World of the early 20th century, eventually decayed into a barren wasteland of filth and drugs, the New Jersey state legislature approved one of the most controversial plans ever by a state. The city was one of the worst in the nation and quickly needed money. So by 1976 New Jersey became the second state to allow casinos and gambling. Did it help? Well it certainly created thousands of jobs and with posh hotels like Hotel Chelsea and Borgata, incredible restaurants that rival New York and Vegas and 37,000,000 visitors a year compared to Vegas' 38,000,000 a year, so it can certainly look like a success on paper, especially when you consider the 150 percent increase in real estate prices Atlantic city went through in the past decade. However, crime still runs rampant outside the casino boardwalk area and Atlantic city's high school remains one of the worst in the state.
Then one might point out what gambling did to parts of Connecticut when they allowed the Native Americans to open Casinos. Over 200,000 jobs were created and the tribes who live in these reservations, people who were used to poverty and depression, now see hope and millions of dollars in profits (sometimes billions for certain Casinos).. instant economy for the reservations.
So in essence, it works. Especially when one considers that in its first week, the Empire City Casino, 5 minutes from Yankee Stadium in Yonkers profited 4 millions dollars a day that week and still profits numbers just as close, more any other race track in the tri state area! Consider the fact that most of the money raised in Empire City goes into education and one may feel they are giving to charity when they gamble! so that can be dangerous in its own right! Justified gambling!

It's the Maginot line all over again!

It's the Maginot line all over again!

I want you to really quickly click on this link.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260

Now the thing I want you to notice is that this article is from 10 years ago. It talks about how the Clinton Administration put all of this pressure on the republican congress to pass housing reform in order to make it easier for the banks to approve mortgages. The roots of the mess we are all in today.

I have always blamed both parties. I blamed President Bush and the democratic controlled congress for approving disasterous bail out packages that, for some reason, noone can figure out where the money went. And I blame the Clinton Administration and the republican controlled congress back then for giving banks the power to give mortgages to anyone and anything that happened to be capable of picking up a pen and signing their name. To make a long story short. It is 1990s Japan all over again.

Let's make some analogies. The Maginot line, a supposedly well thought of defensive barrier built by the French before World War 2 was supposed to stop the Germans from invading France. The Germans simply went around it and the Maginot line was useless. The Israelis repeated that same mistake all those years later in थे 1973 वर with the Bar Lev line when the Egyptians simply went around and over the line, consequently making it useless. The Israelis simply failed to learn from past mistakes.

So here we are in 2009, repeating the same economic mistakes Japan made in the 1990s. It is truly incredible. Japan was suffering from a huge contraction in their economy. So in order to fix it, the economists over there decided the government should pump billions into Japan, nationalize a whole bunch of institutions and well.... fast forward to 2009 and they are still suffering. WHY did we not learn from their example???

Why are we giving billions of dollars to companies that screwed up??? Why are we giving billions to CEOs who destroyed their company??
The obvious solution would be to buy up the mortgages, make them into 30 year FHA loans and, yes, MAYBEEEE, we should give money to companies in order to cover their losses, but they should fill some prerequisites first. They should fire the people who screwed up the company instead of giving them bonuses and they should change their business model before getting a dime.

Once upon a time in the late 70s, Lee Iococca, who was in charge of Chrysler, asked the government for a billion dollar loan. There was a great debate about it. They agreed to change their business model, fire some people, and eventually the company got its money and paid the American people back. This is how it shouldve been done all these years later. Instead we are giving pointless amounts of blind dollars to companies that will die eventually.
GM should just declare bankruptcy so that they can renegotiate the union contracts because if they dont, then no matter what happens, they will always be behind the 8ball and die as well because their profits just cannot cover the money they owe to people in the union, whether its to retirees or people who were laid off. The contracts are just too unrealistic and need to be renegotiated, and this can only happen if they declare bankruptcy.

It's time to get some economists who know what they are doing. Its too soon to tell if Obama will be great, but if he keeps repeating the same past mistakes, then I can guarantee we will still be in the same mess 4 years from now, with little chance of a swift recovery.

The Iraq War, similar to another war... NOT The Vietnam War (not even close)

The Iraq War, similar to another war in history... but not The Vietnam War (not even close)

For the past few years I noticed how people in the media, especially the New York Times have this fascination with comparing the Iraq War to the Vietnam War. People are so obsessed with comparing this war to the Vietnam war that they forget to look at the real facts.

There really is no basis for the New York Times' comparisons other than the Iraq War is unpopular to many people. The interesting thing, is that the Iraq war does parallel another war in history. The Philippine–American War.

Interesting right?

• Both wars were almost exactly a hundred years from each other 1902- 1913
• Both wars involved about 130,000 troops.
• Both wars had over four thousand US troops killed.
• Both wars were/are unpopular.
  
• Both wars were fought against a stubborn insurgency that ended when the population tired of the death and destruction and helped US forces put and end to it once and for all.
  
• Both wars involved Republican US Presidents.

Another interesting thing to note is that in 1902, the US declared victory over there, only to have to fight the Phillippine insurgents until 1913. All of this sounds familiar right?

Now we all know that the end goals in both wars were different. One goal was to colonize while the other is to stabilize the place and leave. However from a military point of view, they are incredibly similar.

The insurgency in Iraq had a similar strategy that terrorists used against the French in Algeria. A strategy that worked and the French left. A strategy the Philippine insurgency used. It seemed like a sound theory. De-stabilize the whole place and maybe the occupying forces will leave. Fortunately for us, the Iraq insurgents strategy completely backfired and it looks like we are finally on the road to achieving a democratic, stable Iraq and victory. Again, similar to how the US gained the upper hand in defeating the Philippine insurgency.

Interesting how the New York Times refuses to acknowledge these logical comparisions.