the united nations has too much diplomacy and not enought strait speaking.

maybe the united nations isn't useless...
maybe the u.n. can give the world a forum
to school the united states on the destructive
effects of our present american governance and
over-consumption.

perhaps if the media paid more attention to the
united nations, the united nations would become
more important. in an era of increasing
globalization, why are there hours upon hours
of local news coverage on broadcast television,
but only five minutes a week broadcast on the
united nations?

it doesn't seem like most americans understand
that when we talk about troop levels in iraq
we're talking about 140,000 us troops fighting a
war in a plot of land not unlike texas,

or that israel is the size of new jersey

or that americans are not lazy, but work more
than any industrialized people on earth

or that, adjusted for inflation and growth in
productivity, the federal minimum wage is worth a
quarter what it was just a few decades ago

maybe the only way americans will wake up
is if other nations put us in our place.

if other nations want americans to wake up
other nations must understand that our
ignorance is far too lucrative for our own
government to give up without a struggle...

america is in dire need of charity.

we need other nations to show us art,
to subsidize our learning...

representation and taxation

october 25th, 2005:
i'd like to thank the congress for their
22 seconds of silence on the occasion
of the 2000th american casualty in the
iraq war, and for the expressions of regret on
the part of those among our representatives
who voted to allow the war.

1817-1862 federal government income exclusively
derived from tariffs on imported goods.
1862 income tax established to fund civil war
1895 supreme court rules income tax unconstitutional
1913 16th amendment passed by congress to legalize
income tax
1918 $1billion collected on income
1920 $5.4 billion collected
1945 $43 billion collected
1985 $450 billion collected

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
-Thomas Jefferson

"America was born in the midst of a great revolution sparked by oppressive taxation. There was something about the American character—open, hard-working, and honest—that rebelled at the very thought of taxes that were not only heavy but unfair. Today the proud American character remains unchanged. But slowly and subtly, surrendering first to this political pressure and then to that, our system of taxation has turned into something completely foreign to our nature—something complicated, unfair, and, in a fundamental sense, un-American. Well, my friends, the time has come for a second American revolution."
-Ronald Reagan

after the iron curtain

if, during the cold war, the world had two powerful
idealogically-motivated governments each struggling
for the global dominance of its ideology, and each was
willing to destroy the entire planet with weapons of
mass destruction for the sake of that struggle, can
anyone really say that the victory of either side
could bode well for humanity?

i'd rather have an erection than an election

are you more afraid of terrorists or drunk drivers?

afraid of second-hand smoke? what kind of car do you drive? do you use an air-conditioner in summer? do you frequently consume disposable cups, plates, utensils?

google "failure"