I'm Your Lover. I'm Your Zero
I have finally ended the creative block/lack of inspiration that has plagued me for the past two months. I'm going to, hopefully, start painting again tomorrow, and it shall be glorious. Glorious I say!
I have yet to go on a fishing adventure this summer, and this problem must be remedied quickly. However, in place of fishing adventures, my friends and myself have gone cave exploring. We only made it so far into the cave before, in order to progress, we would have had to crawl in water, which we were unprepared for. But that cave will be conquered, mark my words. This summer is shaping up to be one of the better summers of my existence.
And on that note:
Two current happenings have rather angered me. They have reached boner-ruining levels, and it's making me even more angry. The two events are the re-proposal of changing the first amendment to exclude flag burning from the protection of freedom of speech/expression, and the American people voting Ronald Reagan as the "Greatest American Ever."
First I'll touch on flag burning. In short, I'm not against it. If someone wants to burn an American flag, they're not going to hurt my feelings. Call me un-American, call me what you want, I still will not advocate a change to the Constitution so that burning a flag is outlawed. I'm tired of people saying that our soldiers go to war to defend that flag. Actually, they go to war in order to protect the freedoms that we have been granted, burning the flag being one of those freedoms; a minuscule freedom, yes, but still a freedom. Mainly what I'm angry about is that this is the issue that the government has chosen to put some of its focus on. With all of the issues they could focus on, from stem cell research to social security reform, they chose to bring this up? What the hell?
Now, let us move on to Ronald Reagan, the so-called "Greatest American." Wow, what a joke that is. Normally, I wouldn't let television countdown shows get to me, but I think the fact that this is who the people voted as the Greatest American deserves some attention. I did not watch the show, because I have better things to do with my time, but I've been told that, of the 100 Greatest Americans, Dr. Phil and Ellen DeGeneres made the list. That's the first warning flag about the intellect of the American people. However, I'm still more angered over Reagan being number one. The top five to be voted upon were: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ronald Reagan. Now, if it's not going to be Washington, who is basically the father of our country, or Lincoln who helped to end slavery in America, I would at least think it would be King for his work in the Civil Rights Movement. But, NO! Ronald Reagan was voted over them. And I cannot understand why. My only guess is that either it is because he recently died or the American people are just stupid (a theory that I like better than the former). I mean, Reagan wasn't the genius that people make him out to have been. The entire Strategic Defense Initiative should be enough evidence to prove that. I'm not a fan of the Iran-Contra affair, but maybe other Americans are? Should I continue? How about "Reaganomics?" Because obviously the best way to stimulate an economy is to cut taxes and increase government military spending. I can't understand why people praise Reaganomics, which are some weird interpretation of supply-side economics and the trickle down effect. Basically, Reagan was assuming that people knew that an decrease in taxes now would have to be countered by an increase in taxes later, therefore the people would save their money to prepare. Yeah, you should definitely trust the American people to manage their own money. If people knew how to save money, then social security would no longer be needed. But that's not the point. Basically, Reagan worked with the trickle-down theory to reduce unemployment. By giving large tax cuts to the rich and the corporations, and other tax cuts to middle-class/lower-class citizens, his hopes were that people would invest in the corporations, allowing them to expand their business, thus creating more jobs for the people, therefore reducing the unemployment rate. Look, I don't totally disagree with the trickle-down effect, and, in theory, it could work. But I don't trust the citizens to know what needs to happen in order for it to have a positive effect on society. They didn't, and it didn't work. Basically it became a favoritism of corporations, and what resulted was an overwhelming deficit. Tell me why this man is so great again? Were his film roles that good?
It is now officially Thursday, the 30th of June, thus ending one of the longer weeks of my summer. I'm excited to hopefully talk to/see a certain girl later tonight. And hopefully the phrase "I need to tell you something" will not be contained in the conversation.
I have yet to go on a fishing adventure this summer, and this problem must be remedied quickly. However, in place of fishing adventures, my friends and myself have gone cave exploring. We only made it so far into the cave before, in order to progress, we would have had to crawl in water, which we were unprepared for. But that cave will be conquered, mark my words. This summer is shaping up to be one of the better summers of my existence.
And on that note:
Two current happenings have rather angered me. They have reached boner-ruining levels, and it's making me even more angry. The two events are the re-proposal of changing the first amendment to exclude flag burning from the protection of freedom of speech/expression, and the American people voting Ronald Reagan as the "Greatest American Ever."
First I'll touch on flag burning. In short, I'm not against it. If someone wants to burn an American flag, they're not going to hurt my feelings. Call me un-American, call me what you want, I still will not advocate a change to the Constitution so that burning a flag is outlawed. I'm tired of people saying that our soldiers go to war to defend that flag. Actually, they go to war in order to protect the freedoms that we have been granted, burning the flag being one of those freedoms; a minuscule freedom, yes, but still a freedom. Mainly what I'm angry about is that this is the issue that the government has chosen to put some of its focus on. With all of the issues they could focus on, from stem cell research to social security reform, they chose to bring this up? What the hell?
Now, let us move on to Ronald Reagan, the so-called "Greatest American." Wow, what a joke that is. Normally, I wouldn't let television countdown shows get to me, but I think the fact that this is who the people voted as the Greatest American deserves some attention. I did not watch the show, because I have better things to do with my time, but I've been told that, of the 100 Greatest Americans, Dr. Phil and Ellen DeGeneres made the list. That's the first warning flag about the intellect of the American people. However, I'm still more angered over Reagan being number one. The top five to be voted upon were: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ronald Reagan. Now, if it's not going to be Washington, who is basically the father of our country, or Lincoln who helped to end slavery in America, I would at least think it would be King for his work in the Civil Rights Movement. But, NO! Ronald Reagan was voted over them. And I cannot understand why. My only guess is that either it is because he recently died or the American people are just stupid (a theory that I like better than the former). I mean, Reagan wasn't the genius that people make him out to have been. The entire Strategic Defense Initiative should be enough evidence to prove that. I'm not a fan of the Iran-Contra affair, but maybe other Americans are? Should I continue? How about "Reaganomics?" Because obviously the best way to stimulate an economy is to cut taxes and increase government military spending. I can't understand why people praise Reaganomics, which are some weird interpretation of supply-side economics and the trickle down effect. Basically, Reagan was assuming that people knew that an decrease in taxes now would have to be countered by an increase in taxes later, therefore the people would save their money to prepare. Yeah, you should definitely trust the American people to manage their own money. If people knew how to save money, then social security would no longer be needed. But that's not the point. Basically, Reagan worked with the trickle-down theory to reduce unemployment. By giving large tax cuts to the rich and the corporations, and other tax cuts to middle-class/lower-class citizens, his hopes were that people would invest in the corporations, allowing them to expand their business, thus creating more jobs for the people, therefore reducing the unemployment rate. Look, I don't totally disagree with the trickle-down effect, and, in theory, it could work. But I don't trust the citizens to know what needs to happen in order for it to have a positive effect on society. They didn't, and it didn't work. Basically it became a favoritism of corporations, and what resulted was an overwhelming deficit. Tell me why this man is so great again? Were his film roles that good?
It is now officially Thursday, the 30th of June, thus ending one of the longer weeks of my summer. I'm excited to hopefully talk to/see a certain girl later tonight. And hopefully the phrase "I need to tell you something" will not be contained in the conversation.