The Monroe Doctrine and the Truman Doctrine are the two worst things ever proclaimed by former American presidents. They both have ultimately wasted trillions of dollars and killed hundreds of thousands (probably millions, actually) of innocent human beings. In fact, terrorism and national security would not be such a big deal if it weren't for them.
What's that? You don't know what the Monroe Doctrine and Truman Doctrines said? How about the Marshall Plan? Anyone? Of course not.
I'm a teacher, musician, and filmmaker from Lawrence, Kansas https://twitter.com/beatmastermatt
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The War On What?
Right now, there is a major concern for me regarding the mindset of many of my fellow Americans. If you ask your typical American, what do you think about the "War on _____?" they will mostly likely believe that it is a good idea. The War on Drugs. The War on Poverty. The War on Terrorism. Theses are all good ideas, right?
Now here's the reality. These so-called "wars" are the biggest pile of crap I have ever witnessed. They are purely propaganda tools, and the ignorant baboons of this country have fallen for them. It saddens me that most people don't even question these "wars." Many do not question them because they are afraid to be ridiculed- it's not the social norm to say the war on drugs, for example, is a very, very bad idea.
But rational free thinkers see through the bull crap. They question the motivations behind these so-called wars. They ask why these wars need to be declared in the first place. They point out that in every case these wars have actually caused more harm than good.
How can one declare war on something abstract? If you can declare war on terrorism, does that mean you can declare war on fear? Or on love? Or on sadness? How about the war on evil? Or how about declaring war on things that are real, like drugs or poverty, for example. Does that mean I can declare war on pickles? I hate pickles.
It has become absurd to think that we can declare war on bad things. Even declaring war on other countries seems a bit primitive nowadays. For example, let's say we declare war on country A, and country C will be our ally, that way we can both, in a dignified manner of course, destroy and kill country B because they did something that we did not approve of. After all, we can always rebuild country B after we destroy them and model them after us because we're the best of course.
Back to declaring war on drugs or anything specific thing- it's purely a public relations stunt that most of us have clearly fallen for. People forget that since the War on Drugs began, things have not gotten any better- they've in fact gotten worse. We have wasted billions of dollars fighting something that many are actually making billions of dollars on. That's right, it's supply and demand- it's a business.
Declaring war on terrorism has done us a whole lot of good. I'm so glad Bush declared war on terrorism. Before he did, there were terrorists everywhere- the local Wal-mart, my grade school, even the laundry mat I used to go to. Thank God Bush has gotten rid of those nasty terrorists. Actually, it's strange that no one declared a war on terrorism before- after all, terrorists have been around for, oh, since the dawn of man.
Don't forget poverty. Ever since President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his "War on Poverty" in 1964, poverty has stagnated since then.
Drugs are bad, though, and so are terrorists. So I guess it's just foolish to even think about questioning the validity of the expensive and ineffective wars on them.
Now here's the reality. These so-called "wars" are the biggest pile of crap I have ever witnessed. They are purely propaganda tools, and the ignorant baboons of this country have fallen for them. It saddens me that most people don't even question these "wars." Many do not question them because they are afraid to be ridiculed- it's not the social norm to say the war on drugs, for example, is a very, very bad idea.
But rational free thinkers see through the bull crap. They question the motivations behind these so-called wars. They ask why these wars need to be declared in the first place. They point out that in every case these wars have actually caused more harm than good.
How can one declare war on something abstract? If you can declare war on terrorism, does that mean you can declare war on fear? Or on love? Or on sadness? How about the war on evil? Or how about declaring war on things that are real, like drugs or poverty, for example. Does that mean I can declare war on pickles? I hate pickles.
It has become absurd to think that we can declare war on bad things. Even declaring war on other countries seems a bit primitive nowadays. For example, let's say we declare war on country A, and country C will be our ally, that way we can both, in a dignified manner of course, destroy and kill country B because they did something that we did not approve of. After all, we can always rebuild country B after we destroy them and model them after us because we're the best of course.
Back to declaring war on drugs or anything specific thing- it's purely a public relations stunt that most of us have clearly fallen for. People forget that since the War on Drugs began, things have not gotten any better- they've in fact gotten worse. We have wasted billions of dollars fighting something that many are actually making billions of dollars on. That's right, it's supply and demand- it's a business.
Declaring war on terrorism has done us a whole lot of good. I'm so glad Bush declared war on terrorism. Before he did, there were terrorists everywhere- the local Wal-mart, my grade school, even the laundry mat I used to go to. Thank God Bush has gotten rid of those nasty terrorists. Actually, it's strange that no one declared a war on terrorism before- after all, terrorists have been around for, oh, since the dawn of man.
Don't forget poverty. Ever since President Lyndon B. Johnson announced his "War on Poverty" in 1964, poverty has stagnated since then.
Drugs are bad, though, and so are terrorists. So I guess it's just foolish to even think about questioning the validity of the expensive and ineffective wars on them.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
I AM HOT
Well, I have some bad news and good news.
First, the bad news...
It all started one promising Friday afternoon.
After washing the dishes, I sat down at the computer to carefully organize my Itunes songs, making sure each album had the correct artwork. I had been waiting to do this all week long, in fact. Soon after, however, a 30-second hurricane hit with 115 mph winds and soon we were out of power. Shannon and I spent much of Friday evening picking up giant branches and organizing them into cute little piles.
That was four days ago. Up until yesterday afternoon, we still had no power. Finally everything turned on...well, sort of. As it turns out, after our power turned back on, there were constant power surges. Our always caring landlord suggested that we turn off our air conditioning so that the surges would stop. Shoot, the AC was blowing hot air out anyway, so we did so, but then half the house had no power. A couple hours later, we turned the AC back on and it was doing the same thing. We decided to bite the bullet and keep it running all night so we weren't miserable trying to go to sleep.
This morning we woke up and it was doing the same thing. Not only that, both the refigerator and the air conditioner seemed to be broken. I promptly went to work (where AC was free, baby!), but lovely Shannon called me throughout the day saying quote "the cats and I are going to die if we don't get out of this house." It was 93 degrees outside and not much cooler inside our house. I called the Omaha Public Power Dept. whatever and they would be out "as soon as possible." We also called our landlord (the caring one) a couple four times, who said an electrician would be out "as soon as possible." Apparently we are not the only ones affected by the hurricane last week.
It's currently 11pm on Day 4, and 87 degrees inside the house, 75 degrees outside the house. I'm not lying. I bought a new cheap box fan at K-mart, so perhaps we can survive tonight.
The good news? I just saved a bunch on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
Oh, and we have the internet! :)
Thank God for the internet.
First, the bad news...
It all started one promising Friday afternoon.
After washing the dishes, I sat down at the computer to carefully organize my Itunes songs, making sure each album had the correct artwork. I had been waiting to do this all week long, in fact. Soon after, however, a 30-second hurricane hit with 115 mph winds and soon we were out of power. Shannon and I spent much of Friday evening picking up giant branches and organizing them into cute little piles.
That was four days ago. Up until yesterday afternoon, we still had no power. Finally everything turned on...well, sort of. As it turns out, after our power turned back on, there were constant power surges. Our always caring landlord suggested that we turn off our air conditioning so that the surges would stop. Shoot, the AC was blowing hot air out anyway, so we did so, but then half the house had no power. A couple hours later, we turned the AC back on and it was doing the same thing. We decided to bite the bullet and keep it running all night so we weren't miserable trying to go to sleep.
This morning we woke up and it was doing the same thing. Not only that, both the refigerator and the air conditioner seemed to be broken. I promptly went to work (where AC was free, baby!), but lovely Shannon called me throughout the day saying quote "the cats and I are going to die if we don't get out of this house." It was 93 degrees outside and not much cooler inside our house. I called the Omaha Public Power Dept. whatever and they would be out "as soon as possible." We also called our landlord (the caring one) a couple four times, who said an electrician would be out "as soon as possible." Apparently we are not the only ones affected by the hurricane last week.
It's currently 11pm on Day 4, and 87 degrees inside the house, 75 degrees outside the house. I'm not lying. I bought a new cheap box fan at K-mart, so perhaps we can survive tonight.
The good news? I just saved a bunch on my car insurance by switching to Geico.
Oh, and we have the internet! :)
Thank God for the internet.
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