Windows to Russia

Grab a cup of coffee, because here in Moscow, Russia it is -15 C and going to be -25 C tonight. It has snowed for days and days and the worst is yet to come. Last night it was incredible as I walked Boza at 1:00 am. The wind was blowing and drifts everywhere as we tried to find a spot for him to do his doggy stuff. It was not easy and I have to admit that I am ready for spring. Winter is really long and with a taste of spring last week as the temperatures hit +2 C. We all got caught wishing too hard for spring and Old Man Winter slapped us in the face…

It has according to some sources, snowed around 120 cm in Moscow! That is about 4 feet of snow and in Moscow the snow never melts all winter. I counted 30 layers of compacted snow and ice today on a section of sidewalk, that they are cutting out as the temperature gets warmer. That means at least almost all the snow is still there from the first snow we had. If we ever got 12 feet of snow at a time like I have seen before in America, we would be in big trouble. For the damn snow never melts until April at the earliest. So from October to April we walk on elevated sidewalks on hard packed nasty, salty, sandy, dirty and slippery walks. I think it is pretty cool… 🙂

Boza spies another dog…

The photo above is interesting because you can not really tell how much snow is on the ground. I know by the cut off bushes on the right side of the path. They are definitely over waist high when the snow is gone. They are getting ready to disappear in the deep snow. The tallest metal fence pole on the left of the path is eye level at normal times. I have hung my coat and hat on it many times. The slide in the background is twice that height and it is hard to get a grasp on how tall the walkway we are on is above normal ground level…

I will tell you that picture is us walking on about a meter of packed sidewalk…

Then I found this wonderful natural made Snowman. The snow built it on a tree sucker that was growing out the base of the big tree…

Praying Snowman…

I loved it and it looks to me as he is praying with head bowed as he talks to god about all this snow that has fallen. I realized that the fork in that tree is normally around a meter off the ground and in this picture it is ground level. Now that is some hard packed snow, as you can walk all the way around the tree if you wanted to. The conditions had to be just right for the creation of this snowman by nature. I think it is just so wonderful and felt lucky to have gotten a snapshot of it before it was destroyed by people and dogs. You can see that dogs have already been checking it out…

I shook my head at the Russian bloggers and knew that we would get paid back for talking about spring. I learned a long time ago not to jinx yourself and keep the mouth shut when it comes to weather in Russia. I knew that with all the “It’s Spring! It’s Spring! It’s Spring!” stuff I was reading, that it was not a good thing. It is okay to be wishful, just don’t piss off “Old Man Winter!”

But hey! I got to take a picture of a really wonderful snowman and I am having a wonderful winter here in Russia, with my sweetie Sveta and my doggy Boza! What more could I ask for?

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

“Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye saw it, did not even repent yourselves afterward, that ye might believe him.”

If Jesus Christ showed up today he would be appalled at many things in this world none more so than the Catholic Church. The Rock upon which Catholicism is built is crumbling more each day, the foundations are becoming unhinged. It is not the anti-Christ or some demon raising havoc; it is the Catholic leadership in the Vatican and its senior leaders around the globe who have lost touch with the rapid changes in the 21^st Century world. Catholic Church membership is dwindling, its financial stability is at stake, it has lost its moral compass making a mockery of Christ’s teachings, and in the age of austerity that sees millions out of work and home, Church leaders lead lavish lifestyles.

And what the hell is the deal with the Pope Mobile and for that matter all the security that surrounds religious leaders who claim to have a channel to God? What has become of faith and belief? Would not God take care to protect the favored from a bullet?

As the Church implodes, national governments/societies are legitimizing gay marriage and stronger rights for women (who will be the first Joan of Arc in the US military?), the universe that is the brain is being explored with new evolutionary cognitive neuroscientific tools, and humanity is beginning to understand that the environment/planet should not be trifled with.

The Church’s malady of sexual predation by male priests upon children and each other is sickening not just for the act itself but also the notion—still accepted by many around the world–that the perpetrators are supposed to be the Vicars, the messengers, of the Son of Man and God his Father here on Earth.

The Catholic Church has strayed a long way from Christ’s teachings as set forth in the Gospel According to Matthew. What ever happened to the message of frugality and humility preached by Jesus? Why the massive cathedrals, ostentatious ceremonial garb and the development of fascist sects within the Catholic Church like Opus Dei? Where are the Jesuit Soldiers when you need them?

It is God Damn depressing for someone who wished to be an Archangel.

Mary Elizabeth Williams writing in Salon, says it best, “I am consistently outraged by the corruption and abuse of power that has gone on within the church, and heartbroken over the lives that have been callously shattered because of it. I am appalled when an institution that should be a force for peace and progress instead focuses on promoting intolerance. I’m furious when rigid dogma leads to senseless death.

That’s why I tackle these issues regularly in my writing. My religious upbringing trained me to speak out against injustice and exploitation, and hey, if that means making a stink about the way the church conducts itself, I guess I can thank Catholicism for showing me how to do it. Because if your whole enterprise was founded by a troublemaking, authority-questioning outsider, you shouldn’t be surprised if that’s what you get from his followers.”

Amen Ra to that.

Read This! Money Changers and a German Defense Contractor

The World Socialists pulled no punches in its analysis of the Catholic Church’s self-inflicted pain and it is a read not available from many news outlets. So here are the highlights.

“The 85-year-old German-born pope, who as a young seminarian passed through the Hitler youth movement, is stepping down today as head of the Catholic Church, having spent less than eight years in the post… Reports that appeared in Italy’s largest-circulation daily, La Repubblica, last week provided a window into the crisis gripping the Vatican. The first report, published on February 21, dealt with the growing proof of systemic corruption within the Vatican that had been produced by an investigation that the pope had ordered into the so-called Vatileaks scandal. The probe was headed by the Spanish cardinal Julián Herranz Casado, a member of Opus Dei, the secretive right-wing Catholic order that was closely linked to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. According to La Repubblica, last October, Herranz Casado informed the pope that the investigation had uncovered a secret faction within the Vatican hierarchy that was “united by sexual orientation. According to La Repubblica, it was on December 17, the date of delivery of the final 300-page secret report—two volumes, bound in red and bearing the seal “pontifical secret”—that the pope made his decision to abdicate.

The prospect of another sex scandal at the heart of the Vatican no doubt gave Ratzinger pause. As pope, as well as in his previous position of Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (in an earlier epoch known as the Grand Inquisitor), Ratzinger had overseen the Church’s handling of an escalating series of scandals involving the sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests that spread across North America and Europe. The scandals have had a direct financial impact on the Vatican, with donations from the US, the most important source of funding, reportedly dropping, even as the Church has been forced to pay out over $3 billion in settlements of sex abuse cases. Given these pressures, the financial operations of the Vatican have become all the more important to maintaining the Church hierarchy. This side of the Catholic Church has long been among its most opaque, but may well have been a major factor in the decision of the pope to abdicate.

Over the past two years, the Vatican bank, formerly known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), has been mired in a series of financial scandals, recalling nothing so much as the period in the early 1980s, when the IOR was at the center of a the spectacular collapse of Banco Ambrosiano. This scandal tied the Vatican to the Mafia and the clandestine and fascistic P-2 Lodge. Ambrosiano’s chairman, Roberto Calvi, who was dubbed ‘God’s banker,’ was found hanging from London’s Blackfriars Bridge on the eve of the bank’s collapse in 1982.

In September 2010, the Bank of Italy’s Financial Intelligence Unit informed the Vatican bank that it was under investigation for money laundering and subsequently seized nearly $30 million in funds that it was trying to transfer out of Italy’s Credito Artigiano bank. Investigators had demanded to know whose money was involved, but the Vatican refused to cooperate. Last year, J.P. Morgan closed one of the Vatican bank’s accounts when the Church hierarchy would not provide information on the large sums of money being moved in and out of it. And last month, the Bank of Italy closed down all credit card transactions at the Vatican, forcing its commercial operations to go cash-only. In his book ‘The Secret Papers of Pope Benedict XVI,’ based on the Vatileaks documents, journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi reported that the Vatican bank, with some $8.3 billion in assets, had laundered approximately $280 million on behalf of the Mafia.”

As his last substantive act as pope, Ratzinger appointed a fellow German, Ernst von Freyberg, an aristocrat and conservative Catholic, to head the Vatican bank. The appointment appeared to be a pre-emptive move, aimed at preventing his successor from picking his own bank chief. Von Freyberg’s appointment provoked new controversy; however, after it was revealed that the German shipbuilding company he chairs had manufactured battleships and U-boats for Hitler’s navy and is currently producing warships for the German government.

A Vatican spokesman responded to questions about the propriety of naming an arms manufacturer to head the Church’s bank by insisting that the von Freyberg’s main line of work was building luxury yachts and that ‘he also organizes pilgrimages to Lourdes, he is a member of the Order of Malta, he takes care of the sick, so certainly he is a person with a notable human and Christian sensibility.’”

What to Do?

Bring women into the leadership fold.  Patriarchal old men in expensive costumes need a lot of help.  In October 2010, a new study co-authored by Carnegie Mellon University, MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], and Union College researchers documented the existence of collective intelligence among groups of people who cooperate well, showing that such intelligence extends beyond the cognitive abilities of the groups’ individual members, and that the tendency to cooperate effectively is linked to the number of women in a group.

Let the men (brothers, priests, et al) marry women and have families. There is just something weird these days about a bunch of guys providing family advice when they know nothing about it.

Publically open the doors to the publicans, harlots and gay and lesbian. Seek transparency.

Get back to the Gospel According to Matthew. The ideals contained in that document are inspirational, sort of like Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.

Message to Catholic Church: Listen to The Music Must Change  and  Pure and Easy by The Who.

Written by John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in national security matters. Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Coffee this morning was with a thought like this: John Kerry the man who calls Americans stupid is the man of the hour and Bradley Manning who calls upon Americans to use their intelligence is the dunce of the hour…

This last Tuesday Secretary of State John Kerry offered in defense of freedom of speech, religion and thinking’s in the United States told German students within Germany that, “In America, you have a right to be stupid, if you want to be, and you have a right to be disconnected to somebody else if you want to be. And we tolerate that – we somehow make it through that.” (Do we now?)

Lets see how that statement holds up under this issue…

Bradley Manning having been held a 1000 days with no trial, pleaded guilty and then stated as a fact: “I believed if the public, particularly the American public, could see this it could spark a debate on the military and our foreign policy in general as it applied to Iraq and Afghanistan,” He also said, “It might cause society to reconsider the need to engage in counter terrorism while ignoring the human situation of the people we engaged with every day.” (Manning overestimates the society of miscreants!)

I see a huge difference between these two men and I know in my heart which one is a real man… (Biggest difference is that Manning is not stupid! Second difference is that we are scared of Bradley Manning!)

He stands before us and admits what he did and admits why he did it! That is good enough for me and after I look around and see who is trialing him for crimes committed, I realize that this is a case of, “The skunk calling the rose stinky!”

We should demand Bradley Manning to be released as the ones who should be in jail are the ones that are supporting a man who is one of the highest officials in America, to say a thousand times more damaging things in the worlds eyes. This is a carry on of what Hillary did on a daily bases and now Kerry seems to be sticking “foot in mouth” everywhere he goes…

In a single swoop and stutter of the tongue. John Kerry confirmed what the world knew as truth in the first place…

In America: “You have a right to be stupid if you want to be.” And we should be proud of that fact…

Now that is a right to be proud of and our government (USA) wants you to know it…

I said the other day a statement: “You can’t fix stupid!”

I am sorry Bradley Manning, but you look at the people of America and expect too much intelligence. This is a country that hardly reads above the 8th grade level, if they read at all! This is a country that unless you attach a treat (Like I do with my dog!) and a motivator (handouts) with what you want done, they will not get out of their chair to see what is real or not. You (Bradley Manning) have no ability to offer them enough enticing to search for the truth and hence will be forever buried as a traitor and a bad guy…

John Kerry the man who calls Americans stupid is the man of the hour and Bradley Manning who calls upon Americans to use their intelligence is the dunce of the hour…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

DG ISPR Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa made an excellent statement that the military supports free, fair and timely elections in the country. In the same vein, COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has categorically stated: “The army supports democracy.” Indeed, this is the need of the hour and it should lay to rest all speculations about the delay in elections or military coup.

It is a fact that despite bad governance by the federal and provincial governments about to complete their five-year terms, the army has supported the democratic process. Undoubtedly, reforms are needed for a better Pakistan and it will be the next government’s responsibility to plan for it.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif is right in his demand for timely elections. The people must decide their future. With the army, government and main opposition party on the same page, democracy should proceed ahead. But there is more than that. A secure and prosperous national environment also contributes to democracy. For this, all elements of national power need to be employed and there are some key issues that Pakistan has to deal with before this happens:

US-Nato exit from Afghanistan: The withdrawal of the occupation forces from Afghanistan will be a positive development for Pakistan. So, it is in our interest to facilitate their exit strategy that should be accompanied by a negotiated settlement.

The USA’s major concern is that Afghanistan may be used against it after the troops’ exit. Hence, Islamabad must ensure that anti-US and anti-Pakistan forces do not find solace there. Pakistan has suffered enough during the Afghan war; it must not suffer more, once it ends.

The US-Nato exit will be good for America, Pakistan and, of course, Afghanistan. Misgivings between Washington and Islamabad should be removed and friendly relations should prevail. President Barack Obama’s new team, especially with Secretary of State John Kerry, should help strengthen the Pak-US relationship.

Gwadar and China: The management of Gwadar Port has rightly been handed over to a Chinese firm. Indeed, it will change Pakistan’s destiny. Connectivity with China from Gwadar, in the form of road, rail, pipelines and later to Central Asia, will bring great wealth to the state. Also, it will bind Pakistan geoeconomically and geo-politically with China, Central Asia and West Asia. It is a multi-regional state and not merely a South Asian state.

Despite the fact that Gwadar is a force multiplier of economics and security for Pakistan, yet a word of caution is necessary. Balochistan needs to be stabilised and made peaceful, so that the Gwadar concept reaches full potential. China’s presence at Gwadar has deterred India. It is because it will bring Pakistan and China more closer.

Besides, China through the port will have access to the Indian Ocean. With this, India’s hegemonic dreams stand challenged.

Moreover, Gwadar will make Pakistan prosperous and secure that the Indians dislike. So, the terrorist attacks in Balochistan and Gwadar may have Indian linkage. The latest attack at Pasni is a case in point. Pakistan, therefore, should respond accordingly.

President Valdimir Putin, while denouncing terrorism in Quetta, had termed it an effort to destabilise Pakistan. Obviously, he was not referring to local extremists, but an international game plan. Gwadar has to be built, but it also needs to be guarded against foreign funded and backed terrorists.

Similarly, Iran’s gas flowing into Pakistan will somewhat reduce the latter’s energy woes. The IP gas pipeline, like Gwadar, will have to be protected from the country’s enemies.

The army is non-political and professional: By distancing itself from politics and supporting timely polls, the military is maintaining a non-political stance. The ISI under its dynamic leadership has contributed a lot to maintaining peace in Afghanistan and consequently in Pakistan.

Our military must plan for the future. That should include peacemaking with the Taliban and Baloch dissidents for peace in Pakistan in particular and South Asia in general.

Further, after US-Nato’s exit, the army should shift its focus to the eastern frontier and resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan’s clash with India may extend to Afghanistan (due to Indian ambitions) and Gwadar-Balochistan (due to Indian interference). All things considered, Pak-India relations will not improve; cold peace is the most optimistic view.

Needless to say, Pak Army by supporting democracy is also freeing itself to concentrate on its basic task, i.e. to defend the country’s borders. Not only is martial law as a concept obsolete, but it also diverts the military from its primary duty. Already with patience, vision and courage, the army’s Afghan policy is paying dividends. Pakistan is poised as the winner in Afghanistan; and a stable Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interest.

A peaceful and prosperous Pakistan is the wish of all Pakistanis. The entire nation must work to that end.

The writer is a retired brigadier and has authored a book titled Gwadar on the Global Chessboard. Email: nadirmir13@gmail.com Blog: wwwpakistangeopolitics.blogspot.com. The article has been posted with full consent of Nadir Mir and any issues with copyright should be sent to the author in person…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I spent a lot of years dealing with people and wages. Some of the biggest headaches is wages, raises, hiring, firing. taxes and governmental interference. One of the worst things that would happen was when the government would force a pay increase due to minimum wage increase…

It went like this…

The word went out that on so and so day, minimum wage wold go up. You found out that the new wage was almost exactly the same as you were paying 75% of your people anyway. Wow what a great deal, I was ready for that increase and all is cool…

Wrong… (Numbers are based on ease of understanding and not exact figures!)

People in a service industry many times base there worth on how much above the governmental set standard of minimum wage is. Other words I have been here so long and am so good that I make $1 more than any new person would just starting, but now that a new persons wages are the same as mine are now. I am not special anymore…

Other words: Suzy Q makes $7.25 an hour and she now makes minimum again, just like she did years ago. You would have to give her at least a $1 an hour raise and most likely more due to percentages. Suzy Q is not alone, you have most of your employees in this position, but we have a real serious issue…

But is Timmy worth another increase?

They are most likely worth paying the new minimum wage, because I already paid that wage to them, but they are most likely not worth another dollar+ and hour increase in pay. As they already are productive borderline as it is and in most service industries, employees are not working there because they are the sharpest tack in the box…

You have to also remember that a good 25% of my employees definitely are not worth the increase and they will definitely be replaced as you rejoice over a increase in wages…

So back to the Suzy Q situation, that $1 more than minimum is their status in life and the government just made that status obsolete and most likely made it so that person will lose their job, as I can now hire people at minimum and hope to get a more productive person. At the very least I get a new person at the same rate of pay as the old and no raise for at least a year. The old employee has now been priced out of business…

The sad job of letting Suzy Q go because she is not productive enough is going to happen, no matter what when pay increases become mandatory. A business is in the business to make money and not keep unproductive employees per dollar paid, around as a good will service. A corporation will not accept that as criteria…

A corporation accepts the fact that you need to hire a new employee to replace two or even three old employees…

Firing someone is simple in the work world and any penalties are nominal in the big picture down the road. Most states in America as no-fault working states and that means that you can jet someone go for any reason…

I watch Russia and see these same issues happening…

Another thing that happens when wages are forced to go up is that material items go up immediately, when wage increases are announced. I smiled as I watched increase in food prices coincide with times that Putin announced that retirement benefits would be increased. Every time something is mentioned, prices jump and never go back down, that my friend is capitalism at its worst…

So in America, we give you by force, more money and in return we allow everyone to raise the prices and negate your wage increase and to top it all off, your business that you work at may just decide that you are not productive enough to keep at the new wage and increase, that you feel you need. For you see they also had all the items that they purchase just go up in price and they have to cut corners somewhere…

One of the biggest areas to save money is: Replace Suzy Q with Timmy Doo and he will also do the job of Tammy Too! So I just hired one person to replace two in the long run. A good manager will always be looking for a better employee to replace the lowest productive employees, because your job as a manager depends on the bottom line of any business and employees are one of the easiest places to save a buck…

Two for one is always a good deal at the store when you buy light-bulbs, why not with employees?

This maybe right or wrong in your eyes, but it is a fact and it is the truth. There is always someone who will take your job and do it for less money and do it better for that money they are paid. I never in all my years had a problem finding workers. That next good worker has just walked in the door and wants a job…

I have always taught that a good employee is invaluable and worth the price of any wage, but really how many good employees are there in the world and in this day and age? I took care of my people and paid a fair wage, but I expected you to work and in a service industry, drugs and alcohol rule the roost…

How many really good workers do you get at a McDonald’s, Steak-n-Shake, Frisch’s and Hardy’s + more?

Not many and that is a sad state of affairs in the world…

My grandpa taught me, “It does not matter what you are paid, work as if you are paid the highest wage for what you do! Even if you get only a penny for that work! Always do the best you can at any job!”

I taught my people that and I added this to the end, “There is always someone looking for your job and never forget that!”

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

This week I decided to tackle an issue that has been growing into a problem. Again! It is dentist time in Russia! That is the thinking for today as I sip that cup of coffee and write a post…

I have no issues with my teeth, except one tooth. This tooth failed when I was young, around 30 years old and has had three root-canals done to it. It is still solid and has a good root system. It just is that tooth from hell and it never seems to be able to be taken care of more than a few years at a time. Well 5 years this time…

So in 2007 I had a root canal done in Russia…
http://windowstorussia.com/russian-dentist-root-canal-time_07.html

At that time I spent $400 total and had a root canal and a huge real gold cap installed. Everything was okay, but a few months ago. The gremlin appeared and my tooth acted up again. Total in all, I have had this tooth worked on over the years, around 12 times and no one seems to be able to fix it permanently…

Now I was curious if pricing has changed much and so far I have almost a redone root-canal and have spent 2500 rubles. I have to get at least one more root drilled out and that is after I have medicine to clear up some inflammation in that root. Then I will tomorrow have the rest of the root canal done and then talk to someone about a crown…

For those who want to know, 2500 rubles is around $80 off the top of my head and that is for two hours of work in a dentist office, consultation and almost all the work is done. I figured that they stopped to make sure they got another visit in and that sounded just correct, as par any dentist that I ever went to. But at these prices, that is okay…

The work was done Sunday and the pain is gone, my other teeth are in great shape (Except one small spot?) and my headaches are gone to boot…

This – I have decided is the last time I will have a root-canal done on this tooth and it looks like it will be pulled next time. Maybe an implant? Lets hope that this time works for a hundred years or so… 🙂

I have decided no gold cap this time (I did not like it!) and I am doing some studying about the best cap/crown to use on a molar tooth…

Oh here is a link to an article that I had more dental work done in the past in Russia…
http://windowstorussia.com/dental-work-in-russia-again-time-to-fix_01.html

Dental work in Russia is cheap and good! I do not have issues, or anymore issues then I would in America. Cost makes issues better and in America, cost is outrageous for dental work…

I just thought I would write about this trip I just made to the Russian dentist and I will write again when I am done with the whole issue. I am always amazed with the cost of dental and doctor procedures and I do not think that I will ever be use to the cheap prices (But I will smile as I pay them!). I was in America too long and paid extravagant prices for anything related to the medical field. Why I just read an article bout how prescriptions in America are 50 to 60 % higher than most of the world. That is the truth and I am glad to see that someone else is finally saying something about it in the media…

Oh crud! Tomorrow I get to be abused by the dentist again…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I was sipping that cup of coffee and doing some old time thinking’s! I like to do that once in awhile and Sveta listens to me as I talk at the dinner table. This time I was talking to Sveta and sipping that coffee and it dawned on me that I had read about increase in minimum wage in America. I do not know what it is now but in 2009 it was $7.25 per hour…

Then I remembered when…

I remembered that I was making $1.60 per hour and I also remember $2.10 per hour. Then I remember I was killing people for Uncle Sam in other countries and never cared again, until I had to pay those wages to employees…

The reason I remember this was that I could work two and a half hours and that paid for a Saturday night out on the town, with my girl at that time…

I remember a $5 dollar bill would put gas in my car, take two to a movie, buy popcorn and soda, eat at McDonald’s after words and still had enough to go to a local fair and win a stuffed bear for the girl…

Okay at $7.25 an hour, what can you do with that in 2 and a half hours of work?

Lets just take for sanity sakes and try to get around taxes and say you get in your hand what you make per hour!Lets use $2.10 per hour and $7.25 per hour. Lets use 1975 and 2012 as the times. In 1975, I could do what I stated above and did that very same thing as I dated more girls than I can even remember and got in way too much trouble for dating that many… (Taxes are definitely worse now!)

So lets try to see what we have to make now to achomplish the same thing in 2013, that I did in 1975…

In 1975 gas ran me around .45 to .50 per gallon and really much cheaper than that many times. Gas wars were a thing of my early driving years and I remember many times filling up at .30 + per gallon. I had a Volkswagen Beetle and it got the mileage…

In 2013 gas is running? $3.30 at the time of this writing! That is posted average over the whole country…

Then I realized that this won’t work… (?) The inflation and depreciation of the dollar; the dollar has been destroyed with the collapsing of the system. The numbers won’t happen for same hours worked and such…

In 1975 I had $5.25 to work with! In 2013 I had $18.25 to work with…

Two gallons of gas was a $1 in 1975 and in 2013 that is $6.60… (Strike 1)

A movie ticket in 1975 to a first run movie in my little town was .25 so .50 for two people. In 2013 and I checked on this by communication with a friend in the old home town. It is $6.50 per person for a first run movie and that is $13.00 right there alone… (Strike 2)

Okay we are at $19.60 and just bought fuel and saw a movie…

But lets continue like we are to dumb to see where this is going…

Buying popcorn and a drink for two. Now this really sucks! In 1975 (Actually 1977 by my only reference!) I am using 1977 as the reference, because I clearly remember Star Wars and I was so pissed that popcorn and a soda went up for such a huge movie and the prices climbed from there on. It cost me $1.00 to buy popcorn and a soda for two. That pissed me off…

Now lets wonder what it runs to eat popcorn and soda for two in 2013? Well all I have is Russia to verify this with and that sucks as from what I see in America it is much higher. $2.00 for a small pop corn and $2.00 for a small soda, per person! That $8.00 just for popcorn and a drink. That sucks and I know I paid more before I left America years ago… (I found this and almost had a heart attack – http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_price_of_popcorn_at_the_movies)

(Strike 3 and you are out of the ballpark!)

Now lets add up what we have spent so far…

In 1975 I have spent $2.50 and in 2013 I have spent $27.60 so far and I am not done…

Remember 1975 I had $5.25 to work with! In 2013 I had $18.25 to work with…

But wait we are not done…

I am still hungry and I want to eat at McDonald’s and my girl was hungry also…

In 1975 I remember that $1.50 bought food for two! Two burgers, two fries, two small drinks and two ice cream cones…

What does that run now? 2013 it costs for the above – at least $8.00 if not more… (Try $10 most likely!)

In 1975 I have spent $4.00 and in 2013 I have spent $35.60…

So lets ignore that fact that I still have money from my original two hours of working and I won a huge teddy bear for my girl and that took the rest of my money, because I was not going to give up until I won…

So the point of all this is that in 1975 I worked 2 and a half hours and had a fantastic Saturday night on a date and spent $5.00…

In 2013 at the minimum wage it would take working around 5+ hours to do the same thing (Try 7-8 hours to get that bear also!) and that excludes going to a fair and winning a stuffed bear. The cost of the fair would drive the cost to astronomical amounts and we will not go there, because my head hurts now at the thought of what we have done to ourselves in America…

I worked very hard for that $2 bucks and hour and it went a long ways as I enjoyed life, spending it. This isn’t an apple to apple comparison, it is an hour to hour comparison and what you have to work at a job to achomplish the same level of life as we did back in the old days…

This all goes to the wayside as I realize that non of this matters anymore as we have lost all our freedoms that made those old days seem to be much better. Even if the cost was the same, the expenditure of our humanness is a price too high to pay. We have lost all the way around and something as simple as having to work twice as many hours or even three times in many cases, to enjoy the basics of life. Has reached a serious breaking point in society and we don’t care…

Your mileage on these costs may be different and that is okay. The point is that your money does not go as far and one day the point of no return will be reached and it is looking like it is just around the next corner…

Have a good day…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Russia will restrict its meat imports from Europe if it does not receive additional guarantees that horse meat won’t be delivered to its market, Russia’s chief medical officer Gennady Onishchenko said Thursday. He said that he had received a letter from the EU in which it guaranteed full transparency of the investigation of the horse meat scandal. The scandal broke out three years ago when horse meat was found in “beef” ready-to-eat meals in Spain and Ireland. Later horse meat was found in beef products in Sweden, Norway and Switzerland. The cause of the substitution has not been determined yet. RIA

Okay! So according to a statement like this, I would assume that Russians do not want horse meat in their stores? Right?

So what the hell is all this canned and fresh cut meat available all over Russia. Our little store on the corner has a supply of canned horse meat and as I confirmed today, Heinz Baby Food made of Pony…

No! Russia does not want horse meat. Just look at the pictures below and imagine a thousand times more products than this. All horse or pony…

лошадь – horse
конь – horse
конина – horse meat
пони – pony

Take a trip to the local store and what do you find? That is correct – horse meat!

Now I don’t really care and I will not eat it. Well at least until I am starved, because I have eaten much much worse in my life and actually horse meat is really good, just psychologically damaging to my brain… 🙂

So Russia – don’t act out the fool on this subject. I support the hell out of Russia on many subjects, but this won’t fly with this blogger. I live here and know that you have much more horse meat available than beef and also many other anti-western types foods. I also know that when you have ground meat it is horse or at least partly. I do not care and will only tell it like it is…

I eat it all and smile…

For you Americans on a high-horse against Russia…

The real reason that you are playing games is that you are trying to get your own internal meat market developed, hogs, pigs, chickens, turkey, goat, lamb, horse and 20 other meats are being developed as we speak and I think that is fantastic. But you went into the World Trade Organization with open eyes and trying to skirt the issue with falsifications is just plain ignorant…

Russia is better than that and Russia should have never joined the WTO…

So, now you know something more about Russia…

I love Russia and her ways…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

I listen to the US attack verbally and threaten China and now Russia with physical and cyber attacks, over Cyber Warfare. These accusations come and go, but the one thing they have in common is that they are getting louder and coming from the same source: The Western Empire…

For someone like me who has had a very popular website almost totally destroyed by the US government, in an attempt to silence me and my big mouth. It is really interesting to see what is being said by a cry baby country (as America is), over cyber attacks…

I have article after article with evidence that the USA government attacked my sites days in and days out. They relentlessly crushed my sites with DDoS attacks and many other inconveniences. I had to use at one point, three servers in various parts of the world, just to keep the site online…

I realize that no one cares, but I do and it cost me a lot of money to keep Windows to Russia online…

So I have indubitably no issues with saying that, “The USA government has censored me and tried on 50+ occasions to destroy my site and keep me offline!” Just a few articles below from when I got mad…

http://windowstorussia.com/wdcsun19usdojgov.html

http://windowstorussia.com/battleing-denial-of-service-attack-dos-attack-against-windows-to-russia-from-my-own-homeland.html

http://windowstorussia.com/in-russia-two-cups-of-coffee-chicory-and-some-thinkings.html

Now America has the gall to sit around and bitch about other countries doing to them what they did to me and them for over a year. All this is is another way for America to play games with your freedoms and Internet usage…

If China has been slapping back at the USA and Russian has been slapping back at the USA and Iran is slapping back at the USA, over cyber issues, Then I would think that the USA needs to quit instigating the issues first and become a friend and not a bully in the school yard…

China and Russia and Iran can do some serious cyber pain inducing to a bully and especially when the bully deserves it…

Sveta and I know all about it as we have endured serious viruses, DDos attacks and many other issues and they all came straight from the horses mouth – The US of A…

You do not have to like me or what I say, but you better think and listen, because our country America is digging a huge hole and one day we (you and me) will all be thrown under the wheels of the truck as the government tries to get us to condone attacking all countries that are just trying to stand up for themselves, against the school yard bully and that my friend is not the kind of country that I appreciate being associated with. The school yard bully…

My grandma would have said, “What is good for the Goose is good for the Gander!”

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

On Thursday the U.S. blocked a Russian draft statement in the UN Security Council which condemned the terrorist attack in Damascus and offered condolences to the victims and victims’ families…

“Unfortunately, the U.S. delegation, has yet again, blocked the necessary response to a terrorist attack and linked it to other issues. We consider it unacceptable to search for excuses for terrorists!” said a press release issued by the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations…

The draft statement prepared by Russia includes the confirmation of the postulate that: “Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security and has no excuses.”

Russia set America up royally on this one and America took it hook line and sinker, because they had no choice. Due to their actions behind the scenes in Syria…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…