got paid the other night & saw on my paystub that over 800 dollars was sliced away for taxes & what-not.
I honestly don't mind paying taxes--it's what keeps society going & what-have-you--but it sort of pisses me off that when I sit down to go thru a newspaper I'm innundated with stories about increased expenditures for Homeland Security & new toys for the Pentagon on one hand (not to mention the whole Iraq debacle)--& funding being cut for education, healthcare, & assorted social services.
we're smart enough to build satellites that can read a licence plate from orbit but can't seem to figure out how to run a car on anything but gas (well, I'm sure we can...but where's the profit in it?)
we can do all sorts of wonderful hormones & efficient slaughtering techniques but can't figure out how to make a decent steak while bypassing the cow entirely.
we can send a kid to kill for his country but we can't give him a living wage or send him to college.
we can bomb a country "back into the stone age" (& you don't know how much I fucking HATE that phrase & the smug bastards that employ it) but we can't be bothered to do something like provide clean drinking water.
anyway, I could go on in this vein for a while, but there's not much point. mostly, I'm pissed at myself, because I was planning this year to give every bit of my bank account that I could spare as New Year's rolled around to whatever nonprofit I could find, but with one thing or another..I didn't.
when the ball dropped I'd given maybe $150 to a few charities (not counting friends that needed bail-outs) & over $5000 to Bush & Co.
---------
anyway--unrelated--a sexy ladyfriend from out of town is coming today to stay for a few days. which makes me happy.
she's bringing a boy with her, tho, & I'm not entirely sure if he's a boyfriend, or a boy friend, or a gay friend.
whatever, it'll be good to see her again--she's just one of those people with whom you can't not have a good time with when you're in the same room, or just knowing that she's nearby.
anyway, happy new year, y'all.
I honestly don't mind paying taxes--it's what keeps society going & what-have-you--but it sort of pisses me off that when I sit down to go thru a newspaper I'm innundated with stories about increased expenditures for Homeland Security & new toys for the Pentagon on one hand (not to mention the whole Iraq debacle)--& funding being cut for education, healthcare, & assorted social services.
we're smart enough to build satellites that can read a licence plate from orbit but can't seem to figure out how to run a car on anything but gas (well, I'm sure we can...but where's the profit in it?)
we can do all sorts of wonderful hormones & efficient slaughtering techniques but can't figure out how to make a decent steak while bypassing the cow entirely.
we can send a kid to kill for his country but we can't give him a living wage or send him to college.
we can bomb a country "back into the stone age" (& you don't know how much I fucking HATE that phrase & the smug bastards that employ it) but we can't be bothered to do something like provide clean drinking water.
anyway, I could go on in this vein for a while, but there's not much point. mostly, I'm pissed at myself, because I was planning this year to give every bit of my bank account that I could spare as New Year's rolled around to whatever nonprofit I could find, but with one thing or another..I didn't.
when the ball dropped I'd given maybe $150 to a few charities (not counting friends that needed bail-outs) & over $5000 to Bush & Co.
---------
anyway--unrelated--a sexy ladyfriend from out of town is coming today to stay for a few days. which makes me happy.
she's bringing a boy with her, tho, & I'm not entirely sure if he's a boyfriend, or a boy friend, or a gay friend.
whatever, it'll be good to see her again--she's just one of those people with whom you can't not have a good time with when you're in the same room, or just knowing that she's nearby.
anyway, happy new year, y'all.