Taxes, Tea Party, and Totalitarianism

Midterms aren't over yet, but I have a week-long interlude between exams and I figured that I should be faithful to my only reader (you) and write something. I know that you've been dying to read what I have to think; sadly, so have I.

Firstly, you may or may not have heard that President Obama plans on letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire at the end of this year. You have probably also heard all the brouhaha on both sides, arguing whether or not to keep them. The gist of the whole thing is that taxes will be raised for those making over 250,000$ if the tax cuts expire. If they are allowed to continue, they will cost American taxpayers approximately 7 billion dollars. The rich can continue to whine about "class warfare" or "losing their money," but the fact of the matter is that at the end of the day, people making more than 250,000$ a year will still have enough money to send 4 kids to college and live well while doing so. Suck it up.

Secondly, the Tea Party. If you haven't noticed, they've presented some strange candidates in the last few months, the latest being Carl Paladino and Christine O'Donnell. In one sentence, Paladino hates gay people and Christine O'Donnell doesn't know anything about recent Supreme Court cases.

Finally, Kim Jong-il named his successor as his youngest son, further alienating his lazy, overweight middle son who enjoys rap. It almost sounds like a bad sitcom.



That's all for now,
Das Flüg

110 days of summer (or so)

Oh, summer. What a lazy, enjoyable time. I suppose that it's about time that I started paying attention to politics again since I don't want to let my mind languish and puppies.






In all seriousness, tensions between North and South Korea have never been this high since the end of the Korean War. The South has just cut off all trade with the North, which is approximately one-third of all of its trade. The North's largest trading partner is China, and the United States is looking to China to support trade sanctions against the North, effectively backing the North into a corner. These actions are being taken because a recent investigation showed that a North Korean torpedo sank a South Korean ship in late March. Some believe that a war is likely, though this is improbable; the United States has approximately 29,000 troops along the North-South border, and if the South is attacked by the North, the United States has long held the South's defense as an obligation. Essentially, a war would be suicide for the North.
So, what will happen? No one knows. Don't listen to any pundits, because they don't know any more than any other random person does. North Korea has always been a mystery since they sequestered themselves all those years ago, and their motives are not always clear. We will just have to wait and see, though what is likely to happen if China approves of sanctions is (if Kim Jong Il is rational) that North Korea will bargain and/or negotiate with the greater world. If not, well...it doesn't look good.

Aside from the serious matters, my movie pick of the week is Black Dynamite. It is a parody of the blaxploitation films of the 1970s and is a very well done parody. You should realize that the entire film is a satire and that none of it should be taken very seriously. Actually, don't take it seriously at all.


That's all for now,
Das Flüg

Das Püp!

Hello Earth/internet/extra-terrestrials/World of Warcraft players,
I am a man. To be precise, I am a human being amongst the other 6 billion human beings to inhabit this pale blue dot in the middle of nowhere. You may be asking yourself what is so special about me to warrant a blog; to that, I respond wholeheartedly, "I dunno."

I am not unlike every other human. 2 legs, 2 arms, a head, a circulatory system, neuro-synapses, etc. I am pretty cut and dry, except for the fact that I am, right now, doing what you see in front of you: continually typing words. Man, I am a boring person.

My life is no more interesting than yours. Sure, you may think that just because you're Brad Pitt, or own a Mustang, or have had sex with multiple people (genders unknown) at the same time that you are the greatest thing since, well, the last person to have sex with multiple people (genders unknown) at the same time. And if you do, well, kudos to you. Life handed you lemons, and you said "To hell with the lemonade" and bought a Ferrari. Yes, a very random sentiment, I agree. It's just a random tangent.

Speaking of tangents, y=f(a)+f!(a)(x-a).

To be a bit more personable, I am currently a single, straight, intellectually-bored college student studying Political Science (a.k.a., nothing really important) and Psychology (double unimportance). Essentially, my life's goal is, to, well... find a goal. I've been a stalwart dilettante for most of my academic career, and after a while, it just gets damned tiring. Sure, I could give you pretty good insights into politics, law, philosophy, economics, psychology, natural sciences, physics, astronomy, classical music, classic rock, history, kung-fu movies, good books, meditation, and exercise (among other things), but what would that get me in life? I would be no more than a wandering philistine. Today's world is about the simple-minded objective of screwing people over in favor of accruing wealth. For that, I could care less.

The funny thing about money is that if enough people devalue it and consider it worthless, well then...it's worthless. I think that I'll end my little diatribe here.

Vaya con dios,
Das Flüg