I personally found this explanation of metabolism and weight class quite interesting, as well as true. It combines together a lot of what people may say is common sense with weight loss but it also includes some other details and learning tips.
I recommend it as an easy to understand and easily accessible explanation on what advertisers and scientists have made complex.
People often wonder about freedom fighters and revolutionaries, if only because in America the Founding Fathers are praised and revered as both freedom fighters and revolutionaries. Obviously this is not all that correct, and not just because of human fallibility. The Colonies had been running themselves for awhile now, so folks didn’t need a revolution, they just needed a guerrila war to get rid of the British and reform the system. Reforming the system is not a revolution, in which everything comes down. That is why American Revolution succeded but the French one went down in tears and red blood ruin.
Anyways, I was making a comment over at Villainous Company and while researching some evidence for my positions, I found two great links on how the Left often accuses people that are not ideologically pure enough for their tastes, of being Trotskyites. Then there is Stalin’s purge of Trotsky as you will see here.
This is the comment I made at Villainous Company.
After Lenin died, Stalin purged Trotsky and that is why people on the Left calls folks “Trotsyites” because to them, Trotsky was a traitor of the Revolution and therefore justifiably purged by Stalin. The Left almost never talks about Stalinites, assuming they even know what Stalin was to begin with.
Here’s proof I’m not just making this stuff up, btw.
As a scholar researching for several decades the migration of United States intellectuals from Left to Right, I have been startled by the large number of journalistic articles making exaggerated claims about ex-Trotskyist influence on the Bush administration that have been circulating on the internet and appearing in a range of publications. I first noticed these in March 2003, around the time that the collapse of Partsian Review magazine was announced, although some may have appeared earlier.
One of the most dismaying examples can be found in the caricatures presented in Michael Lind’s “The Weird Men Behind George W. Bush’s War” that appeared in the April 7, 2003 issue of the New Statesman. Lind states that U.S. foreign policy is now being formulated by a circle of “neoconservative defence intellectuals,” and that “most ” are “products of the largely Jewish-American Trotskyist movement of the 1930s and 1940s….” Moreover, Lind claims that their current ideology of “Wilsonianism” is really Trotsky’s theory of the permanent revolution mingled with the far-right Likud strain of Zionism.”
However, I am not aware that anyone in the group of “neoconservative defence intellectuals” cited by Mr. Lind has ever had an organizational or ideological association with Trotskyism, or with any other wing of the Far Left. Nor do I understand the implications of emphasizing the “Jewish” side of the formula, although many of these individuals may have diverse relations to the Jewish tradition–as do many leading U.S. critics of the recent war in Iraq.
It is pretty simple. The Left are very aggressive in purging the non-ideologically pure and extreme from their ranks. Just like what Kos is doing right now with the Kidz and such.
That very aggression, based upon insecurity, bullying interests, and desires of dominance and patriarchal or matriarchal control is what often leads them to accuse the military of being sadistic killers. The Left sees in the US military what the Left could never hope to accomplish for themselves, because Leftists are too weak and lazy for the mental discipline required for true killing. But sometimes one of them overcomes their inherent limitations, as Stalin did when he purged Trotsky.
Leftists don’t play.
Eliminating the Threat of Trotsky
With his position inside the party secure, Stalin began to solidify his power. His greatest adversary was Trotsky, who he battled on the direction that the revolution should now go. Trotsky wanted to spread the revolution around the world as Marx had predicted. Stalin argued that the Party must protect and rebuild Russia first.
By using his supporters, and creating deals with other powerful members of the party, Stalin was able to push Trotsky out of the Party 1925. Trotsky was exiled to Siberia as punishment, and ultimately exiled out of the country. Fifteen years later, Stalin had his secret police assassinate Trotsky in Mexico. Although he was under heavy guard, an assassin was able to sneak in and drive an ice pick into Trotsky’s skull. He died one day later. Stalin was was ruthless in his attempt to gain power, and with the elimination of Trotsky, his grip on the Soviet Union became tighter.
UPDATE: Btw, when the Left talks about civilian control, what they mean is this.
B using the power of the secret police, Stalin purged or cleaned his political party, the army and Russian citizens of those he thought were a threat. By 1940, he eliminated the best and the brightest from the government and army. This left him in absolute control of the Party and the country. Unfortunatly, as a nation, she would be weakened in a future conflict with Germany.
Numbers of Military Officers Purged in the Red Army in one year (1937-38)*
| Original Number | Executed | |
| Marshals (generals) | 5 | 3 |
| Army Commanders | 16 | 14 |
| Corps Commanders | 67 | 60 |
| Division Commanders | 199 | 136 |
| Brigade Commanders | 397 | 221 |
* Of the total of 35,000 officers in the army, about half were shot and the rest were imprisoned.
[UPDATE: Btw for those interested in why I call ETC spank, anon, neo-conned, etc. Here is the reason. I posted a blog post more than a year ago about an anonymous stalker on my blogspot site, that kept coming around and talking smack. Now that "etc" has taken a name, he sounds much more reasonable, no? Human behavior is so easy to manipulate and corrupt. More so when the person under the knives has already bisected himself. Spank loved to talk about how everything I knew of military history was based upon Warcraft games and novel writers like David Weber and John Ringo. You really got to watch out for the personality traces you leave, given that it is just as bad as a paper trail. Hell, maybe I have a fan club at George Washington Universty in DC. The entire Leftist faculty and student body might be reading this blog for critique papers. Certainly I keep getting readers with an IP matching that, what else am I supposed to think?]
A little later the CIA [Directorate of Intelligence] asked if I was interested in starting the clearance process to join them. But the bureaucratic tribalism in that organization scared me. I consider CIA employees to be patriotic as individuals but when it comes to their Group Think and turf wars they are near-treasonous in their actions. Most of them are cowards who don’t want to rock the boat. That might cost them their job. They’ll just wait until they retire to write a critical book. The guy who was trying to recruit me gave up after three telephone conversations. I told him I was enlisting in the Army.
Bad news on the civilian DoD area. It is not that surprising. Neither for the CIA or for DoD.
Q: Enlisting? In intel?
A: Yes. As a 96b [intelligence analyst]. I had failed the medical before college and was rejected for enlistment. They lowered the enlistment standards so I was technically qualified after college. I tried a second time and was failed by MEPS [Military Entrance Processing Station] for the same reason despite the rules having been changed. It was obvious that they made a mistake so they sent my file to some Army doctor in Kentucky who rejected the waiver request for a condition that was not even disqualifying anymore. So I sent letters to three different Senators and 6 months later my waiver mysteriously appeared in a manner which my recruiter could not explain. So I went back into MEPS with a waiver and a maximum score on [the aptitude test]. I was qualified for every single MOS in every branch of the military. I signed a contract for 96b and was given a guaranteed date at Ft. Leonard Wood and at intel school in Ft. Huachuca.
Q: So what happened?
A: Well, you have to get by the civilian who does the security clearances. I need a top secret clearance. I was totally clean but I was not born in the United States and I technically have dual citizenship with [a friendly NATO country]. So the security clearance person rejected me on the spot. I offered to renounce my citizenship in exchange for the clearance. But it was like “You failed. Go home.” The funny part is my brother is in the same situation as me and he has a top secret clearance. I even met a fellow dual-citizen from the same country recently who was in Army intel until last year. So much for consistency.
Q: Can you do any other jobs for the US government?
A: No. I’m disqualified security clearance-wise from working for the military, CIA, NSA, FBI, State Department and Department of Defense contractors.
Top secret clearances take time. I don’t see how any civilian bureacrat from DoD or whatever outfit they have doing the checks, can say no right on the spot without actually traveling to the various people, places, and references to discover that this guy is who he says he is or not. It is not as if Sandy Berger got a Top Secret clearance because everybody knew he was a hack and saboteur, but that didn’t stop his security clearances from eventually being returned to him, you know. So it all comes down, in the case of secrets and competency, to political power and corrupt bureacrats. Which is I keep saying that you can’t go easy on the bureacrats and the folks.
More bad news.
Despite past high-profile security breaches, the FBI is providing top-secret clearances to 50 District of Columbia students this summer. The move is part of a recruiting effort to identify future agents and analysts for the fast-growing bureau.
The program, in its second year, is the only one of its kind in the federal government that grants such access to students, some as young as 16, for paid research and clerical positions…
[Assistant Director Joseph Persichini said] “This is our chance to provide opportunity to the youth of our city …
I don’t know how to better explain this. If you want to crack the intel field and be competitive with our enemies, then you need people that were once of the enemy or around the enemy or somehow or in someway MOTIVATED to fight against the enemy. Motivation first, competency comes afterwards. And I ain’t talking about financial motivations. In the case of Soviet defectors like this one, competency comes first, then motivation. But regardless you have to have one or two to start with. 50 District of “I ban all guns here except for the bodyguards of politicians” stuff is strictly…. DC. As in, insular and political.
I started off on this branch courtesy of Soob.
Truth has been an interesting concept to me, since it is at times challenged, manipulated, and just plain ambiguous as seen from human arts. Yet one thing I’ve dug up is that people who truly fight for the good don’t need deception and the covering up of truth to maintain their power and growth of strength and wisdom.
However, the Islamic Jihad needs deception simply in order to survive. That’s… not a very good recommendation for the goodness of their side.
Courtesy of http://www.instapundit.com (I think)
[This is like my continually being edited post, because I am constantly adding stuff to the end]
It is sad in a sense that you have to have such ugliness amongst such beauty. It taints the human experience and the progress of humanity. Towards something better than just our base animalistic instincts and desires. Sad, but justice is not an easy concept. Not for us, and not for anyone else. Not even with the sacrifices of Americans in the past for such concepts.
Michelle Malkin provides greater detail on what the ugliness was and still is.
You can see Miss USA’s answer to the final question here.
Now that’s professionalism people. Her evening dress was very very attractive. Glossy and very slick, it lent her a gliding sort of grace. As if water flew over her.
You can see some other things concerning Malkin’s post as well. Miss USA generally looked sad when I saw her. No big smiles, no radiant face. She mouthed “thank you” it seemed when she got the top 15 nomination. Did she expect her unpopularity with the Mexicans to take away even a nomination at the bottom ranks? I respect her ability and her strength. I admire that. The ability to stand up to a crowd and to be expected to perform, under limitations, never truly expressing your feelings unless those feelings are of joy. While the audience gets to do whatever animals do in the sight of grace.
I don’t like people that treat kind hearted folks unjustly. It really really incites the rage, because I don’t even need the meta-Golden Rule to punish them. Simple manners would be appropriate.
This is Malkin’s latest post on the event in question. A sort of summary.
US leaves Vietnam. This is the state of the region right now, for Thailand at least.
Given the media’s focus on the 25 something million in Iraq, don’t you have to wonder what else is going on concerning the other 5+ billion folks on this planet?
It might even be said of the media that they were parochial folks that have too much tunnel vision, unable to see anything except their small village like conceptions of the world. The world is their village, their village is their world, that is parochialism all right. But naw, it can’t be, the media travels all over the place, right? Except of course, cosmopolitanism and parochialism is in the mind, not in the body. The body may travel a thousand miles, but the mind may still be in the same place it was at the beginning of the journey. And the same may be said for the progress of the mind in a body that has never moved from that single spot.
THAILAND: Executive decree will not solve conflict in Thailand’s south
I write to voice my deep concern about your decision to issue the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation, B.E. 2548 in three provinces in the south of Thailand. This decree goes beyond the powers of the Prime Minister. Discussion and cross-checks by a government’s cabinet help ensure democratic process are met in a democracy. Your decision to bypass your cabinet and take full control of the rising conflict in the south is a direct violation of these processes.
Particular elements of the decree also raise many concerns. Specifically, Section 17, which guarantees complete impunity to all state officials, is a dangerous measure and one that may see many state officials exploit their power and control. Section 12, which allows for increased powers to security forces, such as the ability to detain persons without arrest for prolonged periods, also leaves room for abuse.
I am aware that the UN Human Rights Committee has also expressed their concern regarding this decree, particularly in regards to article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 4 stipulates that “in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and do not involve discrimination solely on the ground of race, colour, sex, language, religion or social origin? In its recent concluding observations on Thailand at its eighty-fourth session, the Committee wrote that the decree “does not explicitly specify, or place sufficient limits, on the derogations from the rights protected by the Covenant that may be made in emergencies and does not guarantee full implementation of article 4 of the Covenant. [The Committee] is especially concerned that the Decree provides for officials enforcing the state of emergency to be relieved of legal and disciplinary actions, thus exacerbating the problem of impunity. Any detention without external safeguards beyond 48 hours should be prohibited.?[CCPR/CO/84/THA] The Committee has recommended that the “State party should ensure that all the requirements of article 4 of the Covenant are complied with in its law and practice, including the prohibition of derogation from the rights listed in its paragraph 2.?The report also stated that State party should provide information, within one year, on its response to the Committee’s recommendations regarding this.
It is sad that people are still quoting the UN as if it matters to them. Because it seemingly does matter to them, the UN after all does have international sanction given the membership of powerful nations such as Israel, the US, Australia, Britain, and Japan. China as well. I mean, just think about what the above passage might mean. If the author is correct, meaning if his side truly does know what is the best course for Thailand, then they are quoting the UN and acceding to UN authority… which is a bad thing, you know. Which will lead them to anti-Americanism just because of the make up of the Un and all the anti-American programs andi nfluences in the UN. America has nobody but itself to blame for that one. You feed a poisonous coral snake in your house and let it go free, don’t be surprised that you end up with dead animals, pets, and children around, people.
The other scenario for the author of this post is that the leader of Thailand is doing what is necessary and this is just another apparatchik of the UN. Which means… the UN spreads its corruption farther now a days than just New York and Iraq.
Oh, as another look at other places, here’s the Pheonix Program on Vietnam. Very effective and ruthless. It completely destroyed and annihilated, forget decimated, the VietCong in the South. They had no cadres at the end of the decade there.
Here’s two entries. CIA factbook entry on Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Thailand.
Okay, time for some number crunching. You know, objective standards. So let’s see what Vietnam and Thailand won over say Japan and Korea after being occupied by the US. (Still being occupied)
Vietnam
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$258.6 billion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$48.26 billion (2006 est.)
Labor force:
44.58 million (2006 est.)
Thailand
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$585.9 billion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$196.6 billion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate:
4.8% (2006 est.)
GDP – per capita (PPP):
$9,100 (2006 est.)
GDP – composition by sector:
agriculture: 10%
industry: 44.9%
services: 45.2% (2006 est.)
Labor force:
36.41 million (2006 est.)
South Korea
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$1.18 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$897.4 billion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate:
4.8% (2006 est.)
GDP – per capita (PPP):
$24,200 (2006 est.)
GDP – composition by sector:
agriculture: 3%
industry: 45%
services: 52% (2006 est.)
Labor force:
23.77 million (31 December 2006 est.)
Labor force – by occupation:
agriculture: 6.4%
industry: 26.4%
services: 67.2% (2006 est.)
585 plus 258 I do not know what it equals to but I do know it is not equal to 1.18 trillion.
Notice the Labor Force values. Even more accurate for models than total population. Because as you know, Korea and Japan with high GDP tend to have more older folks. That are not contributing to the work force as much, so you want the labor force values directly.
This is Japan’s file.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$4.22 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$4.911 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate:
2.8% (2006 est.)
GDP – per capita (PPP):
$33,100 (2006 est.)
GDP – composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.6%
industry: 25.3%
services: 73.1% (2006 est.)
Labor force:
66.44 million (2006 est.)
So. How much did Vietnam win when they were the proxies of the Soviet Union? As compared to US proxies, Japan and South Korea? How much?
These are not feelings or thoughts, these are hard numbers. Currency. Money. Power.
Here is China’s sheet.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$10 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$2.512 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate:
10.5% (official data) (2006 est.)
GDP – per capita (PPP):
$7,600 (2006 est.)
GDP – composition by sector:
agriculture: 11.9%
industry: 48.1%
services: 40%
Labor force:
798 million (2006 est.)
Labor force – by occupation:
agriculture: 45%
industry: 24%
services: 31% (2005 est.)
Yes they are cheating. You know there is some jiggering of the books when you produce 2 trillion, but you are able to purchase 10 trillion.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$12.98 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$13.22 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate:
3.4% (2006 est.)
GDP – per capita (PPP):
$43,500 (2006 est.)
GDP – composition by sector:
agriculture: 0.9%
industry: 20.4%
services: 78.6% (2006 est.)
Labor force:
151.4 million (includes unemployed) (2006 est.)
Labor force – by occupation:
farming, forestry, and fishing 0.7%, manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts 22.9%, managerial, professional, and technical 34.9%, sales and office 25%, other services 16.5%
note: figures exclude the unemployed (2006)
So if China has about the same PPP as we do here in the US, how come they can’t get the high tech stuff if they have the money to purchase it? Cause they don’t make it. You see… They make other things, which is why they have 2 trillion GDP and the US has 13 trillion.
The question of “which country would you want to live in” almost directly translates as “which country has been occupied by the United States and is still being occupied by the United States”.
What does this have to do with Thailand? Oh just that instability isn’t caused by the US. It is caused by those reacting to the rule of law and order.
Astroners seemed to have found a hot planet.
Just read it all
Hattip Instapundit.
I provide to you two links of benefit to anyone searching for more knowledge and understanding.
Here we have Orson Scott Card’s December 2006 article on the fall of the Roman Empire, courtesy of Thomas Chronicles.
And then we have Grim Beorn’s piece on War Profits by America.
All are excellent. All connect a lot of various pieces together. I recommend you read Grim’s piece first, because it is both shorter and more contemporary. It will put you into the right frame of mind.
[UPDATE:Jimbo’s Friday Freely has something of modern relevance to say connected with Orwell’s piece. My comment there tried to piece it together
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August 25th, 2007 at 11:54 am How to do links:
the silly name you give your link
Note the quotation marks and the . Don’t leave anything out. Html is unforgiving.
Very good post, but you left out “political correctness” and “liberal white guilt” in the list of diseases that need to be mitigated.
August 25th, 2007 at 11:59 am Rebecca darling, don’t get me started on the PC mob
August 25th, 2007 at 11:59 am Oops. The stupid thing thought it was a real link. See what I mean about html? I’ll try putting in question marks to fool it, and hope that works.
the silly name you give your link
Remove the question marks, but nothing else, and you have your link.
August 25th, 2007 at 12:02 pm Nope, sorry. I give up. Evidently Jules’ site can’t reproduce the symbols.