Change In Direction

I decided to change my research topic several days ago, so I thought I should post what my new topic is.  I am going to argue for a flat tax rate.  Because this year has been the first that I have ever had to think about paying taxes, I do not have a lot of experience in this.  However, in the little time I have had to enjoy taxes, I have come to realize that they are a horrible mess of complicated and unnecessary codes and breaks and loopholes.  I believe that our current tax code is designed to punish the general public for doing better economically, yet it is full of loopholes that lobbyists and special interest groups take advantage of to avoid paying their share.
A flat tax rate could make it so you could do all of your taxes in a matter of minutes on a postcard size forum.  It would not punish people for making more money by taxing them more, businesses and such couldn't worm out of paying what they should, and it would abolish those ridiculous double taxes like the death tax which used to be 65% of all your assets!
There would still be breaks for the poorest groups though (like a family of four below the poverty line would not pay any taxes on their first $45k of income).  Honkong and dozens of other countries in Asia and Central/Eastern Europe have implemented versions of this idea, and they have all seen growths in their private sectors, and in their government revenues in many cases.  Hong Kong is a great example, it has something for Republicans---a low tax rate for the wealty (17%)---for Democrats, the poorest 40--60% of the population pays 0% of the taxes, and the wealthiest 20% or so pays over 50%.  For both parties, private economic growth has doubled in the past 4 years, and government revenues have increased dramatically.
The only question I have is why we are not doing this now.

This view probably stems from my general view of politics.  I won't bore you with the details, but the short version is that I hate government.  I wouldn't say I am an anarchist, but government always seems to overstep its boundaries and takes away too much of the people's liberties.  I believe the ONLY things the federal government should be in charge of is military to defend the nation from external threats, enforcing contracts (making sure the grocery store isn't selling spoiled meat, or that the honda dealer isn't making unsafe vehicles etc...), a court system and law enforcement for crimes that are on the federal level or across state lines, and a simple flat tax system to fund it.  State government should provide a fire and police force, make sure all the roads connect between cities, have local courts etc...
This is getting too long, there are some more details, but I'll spare you =-D

Drill Locally? Research Paper Topic

I read an article a couple days ago that somewhere in North Dakota there is a whole lot of shell oil, official guestimators say that there is enough to sustain the US for about 250 years.  We have the technology today to go and get it, but we are not right now.  I will not hide that I have a bias on this, but I will look for all the information I can as to why we are not/should not get it.  What do you think guys? To drill or not to drill?

I Jinxed Myself

Ok, so remember a couple hours ago when I said I was 85% sure that I was getting my call on Wednesday?  Well I just went and Jinxed myself for saying that, because literally minutes after I posted it, I was made aware my stake president forgot to resend my papers (there were a couple issues with them the first time... long story), so I won't know where I am going until... later.  I don't want to say next week now because then I'll have to wait half a month to get my call.

To those of you who don't believe in Jinxes or good luck/bad luck I say Phooey!  I am a firm believer in jinxes and such, not really the "step on a crack and your mom will break your back" kind, but ... how do I say this?  Read the first couple chapters of The Answer by John Assaraf.  As we get into quantum physics, mechanics, etc, we are starting to realize that Newton's laws of motion and physics and all that don't apply on a molecular level for whatever reason.  As we go deeper into what constitutes an atom, we start to see that everything is energy, and that ideas and thoughts are energy too.

Mr. Assaraf also thinks he is seeing with his studies that just our thoughts on things and how we perceive things can actually change them.  I'm not saying that we can bend spoons with our minds... yet, but our thoughts and attitudes do affect our surroundings.  For example, because my papers were delayed so long (it wasn't because of spiritual unworthiness by the way... just don't want to start any rumors) I got to wondering if I ever would get my call.  I admit that even as I was writing that last post about getting my papers this week, I was thinking that it would be just my luck if something happened and I would have to wait longer.  And something did happen!  Just read the book, it will blow your mind.

I'm Glad They Called Me on a Misson

Hello everybody, how are you doing today?  You look good; have you been working out?  So guess what? There is an ... 85% chance that I will get my mission call on Wednesday!  I am really excited.  I know that it is the right thing to do.  I know it is bad luck to say where you don't want to go, because then you will go there, but since it has already been decided, I hope that it is at least somewhere on the West coast, or East of the Mississippi River.  That is the closest I am willing to go.  Ideally I would like to go to another country.  I put down that I have had a few years of French, parce que le francais est une langue magnifique, et il impressionne toutes les femmes.  I would love nothing more then to go to France or Belgium, though I think that is all one mission now.  Nonetheless, I know that I will go wherever the Lord wants me.  You have to say that whenever you express a desire to go to a particular place.

Vive la France!

Pride?

It was recently brought to my attention that a regular reader of my blog (no one in my writing class) thought that a lot of my posts are prideful.  I can see where they are coming from, but if someone thinks that my posts are legitimately filled with pride they misunderstand my motivation.  What I write here is almost never meant to be taken seriously.  If there is anyone who has developed a taste for humble pie it is me.  I am usually so humble people see it as a lack of self confidence.  I am the most humble person on earth.  In all seriousness, I only write like a pompous person because it is almost the opposite of what I really am, and anyone who thinks they know everything must not know very much.  I try to be funny in my posts or at least entertaining and for the most part I think I am

By the way, humility seems to be one of the most misunderstood words in the English language.  As Kevin Hall, author of the book Aspire, would say, "Humility is not thinking that you know nothing, but that you know your strengths and weaknesses, and realize that you can always learn more about something no matter how proficient you might feel you are."  I know my strengths and weaknesses.  I know that I am pretty good at not letting my intelligence or prowess in something get to my head.  Although that is probably because I don't have that much intelligence or prowess in anything really.

I hope if you learn anything from reading this it is that you should take whatever I say lightly.  I don't really mean it when I say I have no intelligence.  As Eddie Aikau, professional surfer, would say, "lighten up brah!"  Life is hard to enjoy when you take it too seriously.

BING! BANG! BOOM!

Ha Ha YES, it's that time of year again <clasp hands and rub them together>.  I am referring to the ritual we Americans have of setting fire to everything and anything that explodes in order to celebrate our freedom to blow stuff up.  Needless to say this is definitely my favorite holiday.  One, because I am a little too comfortable with fire, and two because it means that my birthday is right around the corner.  My birthday happens to be my second favorite holiday (I suffer from a terrible disease known as self-absorption).

Everything about July is so much fun.  Fireworks, birthday presents, more fireworks, parades, fireworks as birthday presents, and the heat.  I love hot weather... well hot dry weather.  Skateboarding down my street when it's 101F outside is one of my favorite things to do.  Just the idea of being able to go outside in nothing more than a pair of shorts and be completely comfortable, even in the middle of the night, fills me with joy.  As a random side note, I of course have never done this myself, but I hear that if you combine a couple of screamer fireworks, an empty two liter bottle, and some saran wrap, you've got yourself a good time.

I realize that the fourth of July isn't only about creating home-made RPGs, and I do consider myself a patriot.  It saddens me to see that being proud of your country is out of style now days.  I know that America has done some ugly things in the past, and that we are and will continue to do ugly things, but I still firmly believe that America was founded by inspired men and that she is the greatest country on the earth today.  I am not ashamed to admit my love for my country.  I am a gun-toting, root beer swilling, God fearing American and I'm proud of it dang it!  Pardon my language there, I got a little carried away.

I think that everybody should spend at least a few months in a third-world country so they can appreciate how good we have got it.  When my brother, father, and I went to Peru and Bolivia, I saw what being poor actually meant.  I saw how a country and people look when their government couldn't care less about them.  While you may not agree with everything going on in the USA, I hope you are at least thankful to live in a place that has brave men and women willing to risk their lives to maintain our freedom, and that we don't live in a place where the government (intentionally) screws us over.  Again I apologize for the language, my inner hick is showing.

I love our country and the blessings we have for living in it.  I love that every year we can all gather with family and show our appreciation for our country by setting it ablaze.  As my favorite person ever, Robert Kirby, says, "What better way to show your love for your country then paying to replace a large chunk of it?"

P.S. I believe that the book 1776 should be required reading to everyone living here.

Thanks YouTube for Scarring Me for Life

For those of you who don't know (the majority of you I'm guessing), I love You Tube.  Not just the quick thirty-second videos of someone getting hit in the balls or a cat hanging by a ceiling fan either, I watch the YT partners who are paid to make regular content.  I watch much more content on YT then television now.  It is just so much more ... personal?  I don't know, but if you are interested in finding some of these people that make regular content, go look up ShayCarl, Shaytards, Olan Rogers, balloon shop, and SXEphil.  They are a few of my favorites.

I do love YT, but there are some problems with it.  For instance, you don't know when you are going to watch something incredibly disturbing like a Brown Recluse Spider bite video.  I have no problems with spiders or other bugs (except for the one I mention in Insect Attack), but the Brown Recluse is bad news.  There is no possible reason that a creature that small should have a bite with that amount of punch behind it.  I won't go into all the gross details of what it will do to you, you can watch it on You Tube if you dare, but just know that if you don't get antibiotics soon after you are bitten, you will probably die.

The worst part is they live in North America (granted I don't know specifically where) and they likely hide in the folds of clothing left on the floor.  Thank you YT for making me treat my room as a minefield.  I have recently got in the habit of thoroughly shaking out all my clothes before handling them, and I always have at least one loaded gun on me.

As far as the videos went, they had good ethos by crediting legitimate sources, having actual video of a bite, and for the absence of superimposed text reading, "Hi guyz jst wantd to c a gross spiter bit!!!!!!!!!!!".  All You Tube videos lose their credibility when they have more then seven or eight explanation points in one sentence.  Obviously it affected me... somewhere deep *pause* deep down in my soul.  That little black spot inside you that is the thing of nocturnal torment.  A little black spot that fills you with dread at the thought that the Recluse may be in the folds of your bed sheets... waiting, and maybe you will not wake up the next morning.

Here is a picture to spread the awareness of these wicked beasts that are only trumped by wasps.  Nonetheless these things need to be stopped!

INSECT ATTACK!!!

Let me start out this little story by explaining a little something about myself.  I hate violence.  I do enjoy a round of Call of Duty, Gears of War, or Halo every now and then, but as far as real life goes, I hate it.  I have only punched a person once (that's all it took and we were both done), I prefer to solve my problems with words or better yet just don't get into tense situations in the first place.  Not only that, I hate killing anything, I am the type of person who instead of squishing a spider in my house I'll get a cup and move it outside because I feel guilty if I kill it.  There are only two times I have made exceptions to my non-killing rule (I'll get into that later).  I would not classify me as a pacifist seeing as I own an R 700, a M14,  a M911 Beretta, and a Mosin Nagant, and I know how to use them (burglars beware), but none the less I would never use them for hunting... probably.  Now that you know I hate to kill most things, I will tell you about the two things I have no problem killing.

The first is mice, and I actually do hate killing mice, but there was this one time I was cleaning some really old house that had not been taken care of.  It had mice everywhere; too many to use traps, unless I wanted to clean and set new ones for the next month or so.  I found out that they were living in two places, behind the refrigerator and in the pantry.  It was easy enough to get them out from behind the fridge so they were all in the pantry.  After that I just had to clear each shelf of the pantry while wearing my big combat boots waiting for them to jump out.  It wasn't pretty, and I have suffered from acute PTSD ever since.

The second is wasps.  Not White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, the little black and yellow brood spawned from the deepest depths of Hell.  I still take no pleasure in killing them, but I will not hesitate to rid the world of just a little bit of evil.  This leads me into that story I mentioned before.  I was getting ready for bed tonight when I saw it, one of the largest wasps I had ever beheld was buzzing around the top of my bathroom mirror.  My immediate thought was KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!  Luckily I had enough wits to realize I could very possibly burn my house down, so then I did the next best thing by grabbing the largest object I could find that wouldn't damage my walls and hurl it at Satan's minion.  I only half hit it, but it was still enough to knock it into my sink.  Working now through pure instinct, I threw on the water and proceeded to bludgeon it with the butt of my shaving cream can screaming like a little girl the whole time.  It took the rest of my nerve to scoop up the soggy pile of puss with some bath tissue and flush it down the toilet.

You are looking in the face of pure evil ladies and gentlemen

After my glorious victory against the powers of the devil, I collapsed on a couch for several long minutes before thinking that I should blog about this.  Just think of all the pathos that this little ... thing was able to inspire in me simply from being in its presence.  Yeah that's a little bit of a stretch, but I tried.

Oh Boy...

Well, it finally happened.  I guess it is a sign of getting older.  I saw this happen to my older brother, but I though that I had at least a couple more years until it happened to me.  I am talking about that Facebook (one word?) message from someone you knew back in high school saying something to the effect of, "Hey Luke! How's it going man?  Hey text me some time, lets catch up." 

How do I respond?  Should I respond?  This is kinda making me look like a jerk, but let me explain my history with this guy.  There is no history.  We had one class together, I knew his name and would say hello if we happened to make eye contact, but other than that, nothing.  I have no idea why he would think I have his number in the first place, which I don't.

Does that sound understandable or still jerkish?  If you don't know me, know that I am pretty much socially inept, well that's not true... actually yeah it is... a little bit.  Not only that, but this whole social networking thing is still a new media to me.  Is this message a legitimate outreach to reconnect with an old classmate, or is it one of those "gotta" statements?  You know the "gotta" statements, those things that you say you gotta do with someone you haven't seen in a while, but you both know full well that you are never going to do it, "We gotta go have lunch sometime"; "Sky-diving looks so much fun, we gotta do that!"; "Dude, we gotta get together and start a band.".  However, for all I know, people really mean gotta statements and somehow down the road I learned that people just say that to be nice.

Luke, that's a quandary to ponder with your therapist later, not the faceless masses of the internet.  Anyway, I apologize for not even mentioning ethos, pathos, or logos.  Before this blog was made into an assignment I did a lot of useless stuff like this, but then I realized I have a journal for that, so from now on I'll try to put some of that analytical /critical thinking/non-lazy-writing stuff in here.

P.S. in your word processor,  or maybe it's just on the blogger typing program, type "l /" and "o /" only without the "" and no space between them.  Just something I thought was entertaining.  Simple mind... you know the rest.

P.P.S.  I like to post pictures simply because a large block of text looks rather tiring without pictures.  This is a waterfall literally just down the road from where I live (in a shack in some state park) it is so much bigger this year with all the water we've been getting.