As many comedians pointed out, alcohol is a very dangerous drug, and so are cigarettes. These actually kill a lot of people. Consuming marijuana never killed anyone.
If the universe is surrounded by emptiness, then the universe would have pressure and the surroundings would have no pressure. There is no need for dark energy for the universe to expand. It would expand due to pressure difference.
Add this to the pressure exerted by radiation/photons shooting out of the universe.
Korea's National Assembly used to receive "special operational" funds to the tune of 5-6 million dollars a year, which they did not need to account for. Citizens groups sued to have details of how these funds were used made public. The Supreme Court ruled that the details be made public, but the National Assembly has only released some of the details. In many cases, the funds were used for personal purposes, such as children's tuition and vacations.
The National Assembly promised in the past to get rid of these special operational funds, but they again tried to break their promise. However, due to strong public opinion and potential backlash, they now promise to get rid of most of the special operational funds, except for the absolute minimum needed for operation. In addition, they promised that details of use and receipts would be made public.
Drop in employment has been a global phenomenon for several years and is due to automation and other technological advances. Yet, most Korean media continue to blame labor unions and wage increases. They do not mention that the conglomerates have decreased recruitment of employees despite increased turnover and profit.
When they reduced corporate tax about a decade ago, they argued that businesses would reinvest their profits and increase employment. The conglomerates did not neither. In fact, they reduced employment and investment. They promised many times to increase employment and investment, but did not. They are promising again to invest hundreds of billions of dollars and increase employment, but I seriously doubt they will keep their promises.
Another critical article typical of Korean media blaming increased minimum wage and critical of the Moon administration. Most Korean media do not seem to want a progressive government to win in the next National Assembly and Presidential elections. The conservative party's popularity is at an all time low, yet they have yet to mention this in the news. Most media spend all their time criticizing the Moon administration and anyone progressive or liberal. At the same time, they give a lot of air time and attention to conservative views.
Korea is still run by the conglomerates and the wealthy, at the expense of the people.
They say that this could be due to reduction in consumption of alcohol, opiates and other substances.
In Korea, someone gets stoned and it is big news, definitely a crime worth jail time. At the same time, being drunk and beating up people is so common that it does not make even it into the news. In fact, judges give reduced sentences in cases where the person was drunk, stating that their mental capacities were diminished. WTF?
The media is definitely against marijuana and very pro-alcohol. Most young people are not. Old ones are too far brainwashed. Drinking and smoking cigarettes still appear to be national pastimes.
A small group of small business owners protested the increase in minimum wage to a little under $8 per hour. They say restaurants and other small business cannot afford the increase and will let employees go.
Conglomerates, the conglomerate owners' family, relations, and franchises all have restaurants, retail outlets, and other businesses that compete with "small business owners". This is the main reason for the plight of "small businesses", not wage increases. Also the number of employees employed by the conglomerate, wealthy and franchise related companies probably greatly outnumber the number of employees of actual "small business owners". Reducing minimum wage will benefit the conglomerate and franchise affiliated companies much more than actual "small business owners". Why increase wealth disparity?
I also know many small business owners that are very wealthy, multimillionaires. In some districts, main shopping areas, and rich neighborhoods, almost all of the small business owners are millionaires. There is an old lady in my neighborhood who runs a small very run down beauty salon on her own with no employees. Outwardly, she seems to be poor, but actually she owns the most real estate in my neighborhood. She owns several buildings.
The media portrays most small business owners as poor mom and pop stores, just barely eking out a living. That is definitely not the case. For many, business is not great, but they have already accumulated so much wealth that it doesn't matter that much.
No mention of this in Korean media. They only concentrate on giving negative associations to progressive or liberal policies trying to prevent conglomerates and the wealthy from rapidly increasing their power and wealth, at the expense of small businesses and normal Korean citizens.
Musical enjoyment seems to be God given. There is justice in the world!
Korean conglomerates announced that they "plan" to invest $400 billion and create jobs.
I heard these promises many times before for over a decade, but they were mostly not kept. Most Korean media report on the promises, but not when the promises are broken. Why?
Former President Myungbak Lee made a campaign promise to donate all his money to charity. He set up a foundation where his close associates were and are employed. Many went to jail. This foundation does not have to publish where and if they used any money for charity. The foundation has not offered any proof, so far, that any money was spent on charity. Yet, there is no mention in the media about this. If it were a progressive or liberal president that made the promise and set up a foundation instead, then all hell would break loose.
The best way to increase jobs is to legalize pot and keep the conglomerates out. Korea should break away from relying on business conglomerates which only care about profit.
A lot of Koreans complain the economy is in shambles because they believe what they hear and read in the media. Actually, the wealthy are doing great. The divide between the rich and poor is growing, and the rich control an ever increasing share of the wealth in Korea.
Regular Koreans do not earn $29,000 per year, which was the per capita income for Korea in 2017. Yet, a large number of them support the conservative party which is pro-big business and pro-rich.
This is because regular Koreans are not doing so well, so it seems the economy is bad for them. the conservatives, businesses and most media pick up on this and state that progressive policies are ruining the Korean economy. Most regular Koreans used believed this, but fewer and fewer are believing.
Due to the corruption of former presidents Keun-hye Park and Myung-bak Lee (spying on and blacklisting citizens, framing innocent people as North Korean spies, making deals with Korean courts for rulings against labor unions, etc.), support for the conservative party has decreased, in spite of the fact that most Korean media has mounted a vehement campaign against progressive and liberal ideals, calling it socialism and pro-communist. Pulling out all the dirty tricks and name calling. It used to work in the past, but not so much nowadays. They make it a really big deal, if President Moon's popularity falls a little and state it is because of his bad handling of affairs. As if that was BIG NEWS! What travesty!
I hope that common Koreans continue to not listen to the rich and most Korean media. Most media try to taint anything and anyone that is progressive or liberal with negativity.
I hope regular Koreans come to realize that they are suffering due to conservative policies and the wealthy hoarding all the money while treating common Koreans as second class citizens and acting like dictators.
Regular Koreans should boycott greedy enterprises and VOTE for people who will stand up for them. But alas, it seems most don't care.
Why is most of the Korean media complaining that raising the minimum wage to a little under $8 an hours going to wreck small businesses and the economy?
Why are they not complaining about unfair labor laws and the growing divide between the rich and poor?
I supposedly live in a half million dollar apartment (condominium). It is very small and run down. I pay about $400 a year in property tax. The extremely wealthy with multi-million dollar homes and buildings pay about the same rate as I do.
As I stated before, I would gladly pay much more in property taxes, if the rich pay their fair share. Supposedly, raising property taxes will cause property values to plummet and ruin the economy according to most Korean media.
Property taxes are between 0.15% to 0.50%, but are levied on the official property value which is about half of the real value. So, in effect it is about 0.08% to 0.30%.
Corporate tax is 10% on income under about $180,000, and 20-22% for amounts over $180,000.
Businesses get preferential electricity rates with regular consumers getting shafted with up to triple rates for peak periods. Consumer rates are much higher than business rates.
Drug users are not criminals. Many rich conservatives abuse prescription drugs, but they don't go to jail. I knew some corporate CEOs that did this. None ever got arrested for abusing prescriptions. Unlike some of my pot using friends.
In Korea, conservatives regard pot users as liberals and will do anything to stop pot use, including jailing people. Seems like the US. Using drug laws to suppress freedom.
For the past seven months, Korea's monthly trade surplus has been about $50 billion.
GDP has grown about 3% this year. Seoul is one of the most expensive cities to live in.
Yet, according to most Korean media, the economy is in shambles due to the increase in minimum wage to about $7 an hour.
The economy for small mom and pop restaurants and stores is bad, with many closing. However, this was the trend before increasing the minimum wage. The problem lies with high rents, high credit card transaction fees and very unfavorable franchise contracts (many would be illegal in the US). Also money does not flow downward into the local economy from the major corporations that export. They are not hiring, not investing and not paying their fair share of taxes. They are not even paying full price for electricity. Just hording money and buying real estate.
Property taxes are appraised according to the official value of the property which is a about 60% or less of the actual value and the rate is probably under 1%. So, in effect, rich property owners pay less than 0.6 percent. Rent is not even properly taxed. There is a tax brake if you report rental income. That's why the rich all have property, and why they hate property tax increases.
Something is not right in Korea.
At least, some are now seeing justice. During the past conservative administrations, Korean courts ruled against labor unions and laborers. Under the present progressive administration, a few are finally seeing justice.
There is legislation pending to extend the protection period for renters, so that landlords cannot raise rents exorbitantly, to ten years. There were cases where landlords would raise rents by 1000% or more, after the present protection period of 5 years was over.
I know many landlords who run businesses directly in their buildings, because there are no renters. Since they own the building, it is profitable for them to run businesses. For renters, the rent is so high, they cannot make any profit.
Theorists say there are areas of the universe with no time. Centers of black holes. Time before the supposed "Big Bang". Time stands still at the speed of light.
There could be a lot more things that transcend, or are independent of time.
Maybe we should get used to not having time. Pun intended. Just to exercise your thoughts.
According to how you try to measure the expansion of the universe, there are two different rates of expansion.
As you know, I doubt the Big Bang. I wonder about cosmic expansion.
Maybe cosmic expansion can be explained, in part, by all those photons, gamma rays and other stuff trying to shoot their way out of the universe. They have no mass, but do exert pressure. Like black holes, they have an element of timelessness about them. Time theoretically stops or becomes non-existent at the center of black holes. Anything traveling at the speed of light does something similar, I think. They say before the big bang, there was no time.
I told rich Korean acquaintances that I sometimes donate small amounts to charity in the hope that they would also. Most called me crazy. They tell me it's their fault that they are poor. I ask if it doesn't bother them that people are starving and in need. Most reply, "Not at all".
But Korea does have a couple of good leaders in government. Seoul Mayor Won-soon Park and President Moon.
Seoul has a program where they pay young unemployed several hundred dollars for a few months while they seek work. The Korean government just announced a program to pay about 500 dollars a month for six months for people with low income jobs.
Korean has a serious unemployment problem. In France and other countries, the young unemployed held huge demonstrations. I guess young Korean unemployed are more depressed than angry. The unemployment rate among young people must be 20-30%, maybe even more.
The amount of money that the Korean government, like many other governments, spends much more on business in the form of tax cuts, grants for research and development, and other subsidies than spending on the poor. Even business that are strong like Samsung, Korean Airlines and LG receive assistance from the government in many ways. Traditional Korean media almost never informs the public about this. They usually only concentrate on criticizing pro-labor, pro-low class policies as socialist that make it hard for businesses to survive.
The Korean government is trying to make it possible to import CBD oil for medicinal purposes, in response to demands from desperate mothers.
Even though the majority of the Korean population is for increasing minimum wage and reducing the work week, I have yet to hear or read any favorable comments in the media.
And most people consider Korea to be a democracy. It is a democracy in that Korea elected President Moon, but with regards to media, it seems more like a dictatorship.
The media is getting really vehement and trying to make increasing minimum wage and reducing the work week an issue. Saying that it is ruining the economy. I respectfully am of the opinion the economy is in shambles (the big corporations are doing well, as everyone knows) because of the policies of former Presidents Kun-hye Park and Myung-bak Lee. The conservatives ran the country for almost a decade, before President Moon. President Moon has been in office one year and they blame everything on him and the liberals.
The conservative calls progressives and liberals communists. Being a commie is illegal in Korea! You can get put in jail for being a commie sympathizer. So calling someone a commie should not be taken lightly. It is criminal!
It seems they are against anything liberal. They seem to be really afraid of pot smoking liberals. Talk about reefer madness.
Decades ago, companies agitated for relaxation of labor laws. They managed to change the laws so that they could hire contract workers. Under the old laws, these contract workers would be regarded as regular employees. Contract workers can be fired after their one year contract is over. People who teach part time at universities are treated even much worse.
There are now over 21 million contact workers. The entire Korean population is 50 million.
Workers are being shafted. Yet the media is stating the labor unions are too strong and wrecking Korean companies. Here is an editorial from Joongang News (affiliated with Samsung) and reprinted by Yonhap News. What propaganda!
Do the powerful want equality?
Do the weak want equality?
Forget words and promises, look at actions and the situation today.
If the rich and powerful are elected to public office and run companies, then there will be less equality. I kid you not. Look past all the outward appearances of equality, take a close look at what is happening in the world. Cognitive dissonance kicks in when too much power and money are involved.
Maybe one day, a cooperative will be established where the members buy only from within the cooperative, but also sell to outsiders in order to absorb more wealth into the cooperative. All members will be paid a comfortable wage with quality jobs, but none will be paid more than double or triple the lowest wage earner. Or something along those lines. It is really doubtful that the free market economy as it is will resolve problems of inequality.
In Korea, rent is expensive, so are franchise fees. They are trying to raise the minimum wage and convenience store owners are saying that they will have to close their businesses. They pay much more in rent and franchise fees. Wages pale in comparison. Restaurants and retail stores are also complaining about minimum wage. Corporations are complaining about the 52 hour work week as too short.
The rich backed media is really trying to stir up emotions against labor reform and fair taxation. I think they are really scared nowadays. Doesn't make sense. Do they really need all that money? Can they use it all in their lifetime? Crazy world we live in.
Documents recently surfaced that reveal Korean military intelligence made plans to agitate demonstrators and then call in the military to quell the demonstrations around the time of former President Park's impeachment proceedings.
In these documents, the military calls the demonstrators and progressive leaning people pro-North Korean which is illegal in Korea according to some outdated law forbidding any praise of North Korea. Regarded as treason!
After quelling the demonstrations, the military's scenario was for imposition of martial law. Detailing what to do if the Joint Chief of Staff refused to go along. They would then censor all the leading media services. And so on.
The ruling party had enough votes to reject impeachment, so the military made up this scenario.
Other documents showed that the military intelligence agency spied on Korean citizens, including demonstrators, and opposition members.
These people had no sense of right and wrong., Really messed up power trip.
Some Korean mothers who have children with epilepsy want CBD oil to be legalized in Korea. Hemp seed has CDB, but hemp seeds are legal.
Anyways, a bill was introduced to make it legal a few years ago, but a committee said it was anti-social and killed the bill. They are trying to introduce another one, but are short of signatures.
A singer was indicted for marijuana, a couple of days ago, prosecutors are asking for 5 years imprisonment. Many end up getting suspended sentences, but some do get a year or two in prison.
The government is trying to raise property taxes. I am a property owner and would gladly pay much much more in property tax, just as long as the rich pay theirs. The very rich have tons of real estate and they pay really low property tax. Just a few years ago, they didn't even have to report rental income.
Luckily many more Koreans, nowadays, do not trust media which are controlled by the rich. Still have a long ways to go, but things seem to be moving along much faster now.
More and more Koreans trust newspapers like Hanykoreh, which was started by journalists, many fired for their pursuit of freedom and democracy.
While most of Korean media is blaming the recent increase in minimum wage for all of Korea's economic woes, and arguing that a reduced work week with create tremendous hardships for employers and reduced wages for employees, there was a very welcome and refreshing article in CNN about Korea and the reduced work week.
I remember when Koreans used to have to work on Saturdays. Samsung Electronics used to make employees work in Sundays also if export targets were not achieved in the 70s and 80s.
Several months ago, in a building owned by a foundation controlled by the former president, Myung-bak Lee, prosecutors carrying out search warrants found documents from the police to the former president reporting on citizens and politicians critical of the Lee administration, among other incriminating documents.
The chairman of Korea Airlines, Yangho Cho, didn't use any of the numerous tax loopholes available to him. Instead, he just didn't report $44 million that he inherited, because it was held abroad. Now, if convicted, he faces at least 5 years in prison. But rich people always seems to get a suspended sentence of 2 years and probation. He is also being investigated for many more crimes. About time, he and his family have been doing crooked things for decades.
Job growth has drastically fallen from around 300,000 per month early in the year to 110,000 for the past three months and 70,000 for May.
Could it be businesses are cutting back on jobs and investment, in retaliation for increasing the minimum wage to around $7 and other liberal policies?
The economy is strong. Third month of record trade surpluses. Financial companies doing great due to increased interest rates. Something seem wrong?
On the news today, most of the media are reporting on the low job rate and ever increasing gap between the rich and poor. They are implying that President Moon's administration is to blame.
The ones to blame are the conservative administrations of the imprisoned former presidents Lee and Park, along with the conservative party. Disrupting unions. Decreasing tax on the rich. Stopping regulation of unfair business practices, such as raising rent by 1000% after 5 years. Ending loopholes that the rich use to pay no taxes in transferring wealth to their offspring. Almost all of the major Korean companies passed on control to the founder's children without paying any inheritance taxes.
If the world stopped buying Korean products, it wouldn't hurt me. Might hurt the rich much more than the poor.
Today, I read an article that I am in complete agreement with.
Especially this part - “The misconception is that people are using that [medical marijuana] as an excuse to get high. The reality is our average patient is 55-years-old,” Spirtos said. “These people aren’t out drug seeking. These are real people with real problems that are looking for an alternative that may be more effective.”
I go to doctors in Korea about pain and they just say to live with it. Even doctors are afraid to prescribe painkillers, because of the narcotics laws in Korea.
I have had cancer surgery three times, so I am lucky to be alive. It helped me to have a positive attitude on life. Hey! I am still alive! Almost 20 years since the last surgery. Thought I was a goner for sure, so I traveled the world and all around the Korea for a few years. Didn't die, so I had to get a job.
But I still have pain unrelated to cancer, but very serious. That's the reason for my interest in the legalization of cannabis. In addition to relieving pain somewhat, it helps me feel better.
Yesterday was election day for mayors and district officials. I noticed a large percent of people had no idea about the candidates or their qualifications. They asked each other questions that revealed their lack of knowledge. I guess 20-30%, are voting purely by guesswork with complete disregard of the facts and issues. Most don't even know the names of the candidates and are just voting for the party they like, or according to what the media feeds them.
The media is still strongly conservative. To describe the landslide victory by the liberal Democratic party they used the word "장악". They say that the Democratic party "conquered" all the districts. Media usually uses "장악" with force, dictators, and such, Sounds very negative. If the conservatives won, they would have used the word "landslide victory". Some media did, but some didn't. They keep shading the truth with negativity. Guess that's why the younger generation doesn't watch or read the news. They seem to mostly depend on SNS and peers for information.
Democracy in Korea seems about par with the US in the fifties. Watch the following videos to see what I mean.
According to theory, atoms will decay into "nothing" (radiation). Takes billions of times longer than the age of the universe though. I thought stable atoms lasted forever.
If all mass is turned into radiation, and that radiation is traveling at the speed of light, then the radiation senses no time and space. Isn't that the condition of the big bang? Intense radiation with inflation. But in this case, there is no need for inflation. That is what Sir Roger Penrose postulated in the video embedded in the previous post.
Just a few years ago, I was too scared to write anything criticizing past conservative Korean governments or the conservative party. They could put conservatively minded police, intelligence service and prosecutors on you. Possibly frame you as a North Korean spy or sympathizer.
I also often wondered about some Supreme Court's rulings. Some seemed very unjust. Now, we are beginning to find rare evidence revealing the crooked inner workings of the Korean justice system.
It appears that the courts spied on liberal judges in order to get incriminating evidence against them, and influenced rulings to favor the rich and powerful.
Below is a an article about a former Head Justice of the Supreme Court trying to influence a former Korean President through rulings favorable to conservatives (against labor unions, etc.), and favoring conservative judges over liberal ones. The majority of abuses will never become public, so few will know how terrible the situation was and still is, since some of the people involved are still in office.
On the bright side, it's much better now than before.
Before 1980, only Koreans granted permission by the government were allowed to go abroad. Articles critical of Korea in Time and Newsweek were censored. There was a curfew from 12 to 4 in the morning. Police randomly stopped people on the street and searched bags, hassled long haired people, and those wearing short skirts. Bribery was common. Alcohol and cigarettes were encouraged on TV, and in real life.
If you want to move a pencil, you first have to think and will yourself to do it. Somewhere along the line, that will is transformed to electrical, chemical or other physical force. From metaphysical, it seems, to physical. From a non-local dimension to the physical dimension. So, there is a connection, somewhere.
Smash photons together and you get matter and anti-matter.
He wrote, “I do not make any clear distinction between mind and God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension. God may be considered to be either a world-soul or a collection of world souls. We are the chief inlets of God on this planet at the present stage in his development. We may later grow with him as he grows, or we may be left behind.”.
Slight difference of opinion in the details, but uncannily similar.
"Spooky action at a distance" seems to be proof that there is a dimension or thing that is non-local. Dimensions that are not influenced by distance, space, and maybe also time.
Before civilization, humans had the freedom to feed themselves. Now, that is impossible. All of the land is owned by someone else, no hunting allowed, not enough fish, and so on.
If society took away the freedom to feed one's self, then society needs to make amends. Society should guarantee the freedom of the right to feed oneself, or the equivalent. Right to a job that affords basic food and shelter.
However, jobs are becoming scarcer. Right to basic food and shelter for all.
North Korea didn't want talks to denuclearize during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Kun-hye administrations. They were hostile and didn't want peace with North Korea. If Kim Jong-un held peace talks with these administrations, then the credit would go to conservative administration of Lee Myung-bak or Park Kun-hye. The same Korean conservative party that always calls the opposition leftists, communist sympathizers and other bigotry. If you were Kim Jong-un, would you want that?
However, the administrations of Kim Dae-jung and Noh Moo-hyun wanted talks and peace with North Korea. They understood that North Korea probably would not keep its promises, but tried anyways.
The present administration of Moon Jae-in can be seen as a continuation of the administrations of Kim Dae-jung and Noh Moo-hyun.
North Korea has said in the past they would give up nuclear weapons, if the US guaranteed that they would not overthrow or oppose the present North Korean regime. Now, they said it's too late and they will not give up nuclear weapons. I think they will not give up what they have, but they should agree not to go further. Give up reprocessing, developing further technology needed to become fully nuclear.
All sides are serious, but can they work out an agreement?
Without God, humans would be stuck in a self-centered consciousness. Those who know, believe, or live in a God-centered world, understand what a non self-centered consciousness is.
A bill to shorten the work week from 68 to 52 hours was introduced today in spite of fierce opposition from many companies with two notable exceptions, Shilla Hotels reduced the work week for salaried employees to 35 hours, and LG Electronics to 40 hours.
A bill to raise the minimum wage to a little over $7 per hour was passed earlier this year despite threats that this would force companies to reduce employment.
It seems they are implicating former Korean President Lee in the scandal surrounding the misuse of secret funds from the intelligence agency amounting to approximately $400,000.
The arrest warrants were issued early this morning.
Let's see, Presidents Lee Sung-man, Park Chung-hee, Chun Do-hwan, Noh Tae-woo, and Park Keun-hye all committed crimes. Two received life sentences (Chun Do-hwan and Noh Tae-woo), but were given Presidential pardons. Park Keun-hye will probably be sentenced to many years in jail. Now, it looks like Myung-bak Lee may be indicted. Only three former Korean Presidents were "clean"?
With these kinds of people leading Korea, it's a miracle that Korea has developed so much economically, and a tragedy that Korea has such an "unjust" society at the moment. Seems like a country half run by crooks.
It looks like he abused power during his presidency for personal gain, blacklisted liberal figures, used government agency to spread pro-conservative propaganda, spied on liberal figures, received funds illegally from the intelligence agency, obstruction of justice, and more. Even though almost a decade has passed, there should still be enough information out there to convict him.
In Korea, the birth rate is really low and dropping. People want a bright future for their child. If they feel their children would not be able to get a job and have a good life, they probably would put off having children. Then there are those who choose not to have children for other reasons.
Korean TV broadcasting companies, MBC and YTN, recently changed CEOs. Another broadcasting company, KBS, just fired their CEO yesterday and should appoint a new one soon. Suddenly, I am able to watch some TV without getting ticked off now.
1987, a movie about the 1987 protests for democracy ignited by the deaths of two students was released last week. One died while being waterboarded by the authorities. They claimed he just gasped and died. Another was killed by an exploding tear gas canister aimed at his head.
The prosecutors found evidence that ex-President Keun-hye Park asked for money from the intelligence agency (over $3 million) and used it to pay for personal expenses and staff. On TV, they keep showing footage of her swearing on TV that she never thought of her personal interests, but acted only for the good of the country.
