First things first - look, we blew up a comet!
In the 1770's, a bunch of immigrants and locals up in Boston made a daily habit of going to the pub after a hard day's work. At the Green Dragon Inn, they'd get completely fucked up and bitch about their day, and how fucked up the world was they lived in. The local economy sucked, good jobs were hard to find, they couldn't get ahead, and then on top of that the fucking taxes were out of control. Thousands of pints of Green Dragon Brew (the house beer) later, they essentially came to the conclusion of "fuck this shit" and they started to do something about it. Tagging the local area with anti-governmental messages. Vandalizing the property of the British government as well as British-owned big business.
As what basically started off as a drunken rant continued to grow, they had to take things from the pub. They met in secret at places like Faneuil Hall and other locations that are now historic Boston landmarks. They planned bolder moves, and they connected with people in other cities who felt the same way. And 230 years ago, they reached a point where they felt organized enough and ready enough to essentially declare war on their country.
Outmanned and outgunned, they opted for guerilla tactics. Seeing that a fair fight meant getting their asses kicked, they didn't see much of an incentive to do so. So they fought dirty, and were essentially acting as terrorists. Despite the romantic notions of a quick and clean war, it took well over a decade for the war to finally be won. And it's worth noting that victory would never have been possible without support from fellow drinking the French. They provided financial backing, supplies, and they helped train the farmers and turn them into soldiers. If that weren't enough, they even gave us a cool statue for our 100th birthday.
It's ironic that today we pay a higher percentage of our income in taxes than the founding fathers did, and that our government is far more oppressive than the British were. While the British Empire may have been the world police of its day, they were far more careful about the places they deployed their troops and the countries they invaded than the current administration. Our government ignores the world courts, leads the pack in human rights violations, imprisons a larger percentage of its population than any other nation, and comes in dead last when it comes to donating to humanitarian efforts (every other developed nation on Earth gives a larger dollar amount as well as percentage of its annual budget to help the poorest countries).
It may seem like a pretty bleak situation, but it's not. The most urgent thing to do is to check out and support the Live 8 initiative. Encourage our government along with the governments of the other most powerful nations to forgive the debts of the poorest nations, as well as provide aid and to make trade fair. Not only does it help those poor bastards, but it'd lead to economic growth on a global scale.
After that, who's up for a trip to the pub?
~Trilo~
In the 1770's, a bunch of immigrants and locals up in Boston made a daily habit of going to the pub after a hard day's work. At the Green Dragon Inn, they'd get completely fucked up and bitch about their day, and how fucked up the world was they lived in. The local economy sucked, good jobs were hard to find, they couldn't get ahead, and then on top of that the fucking taxes were out of control. Thousands of pints of Green Dragon Brew (the house beer) later, they essentially came to the conclusion of "fuck this shit" and they started to do something about it. Tagging the local area with anti-governmental messages. Vandalizing the property of the British government as well as British-owned big business.
As what basically started off as a drunken rant continued to grow, they had to take things from the pub. They met in secret at places like Faneuil Hall and other locations that are now historic Boston landmarks. They planned bolder moves, and they connected with people in other cities who felt the same way. And 230 years ago, they reached a point where they felt organized enough and ready enough to essentially declare war on their country.
Outmanned and outgunned, they opted for guerilla tactics. Seeing that a fair fight meant getting their asses kicked, they didn't see much of an incentive to do so. So they fought dirty, and were essentially acting as terrorists. Despite the romantic notions of a quick and clean war, it took well over a decade for the war to finally be won. And it's worth noting that victory would never have been possible without support from fellow drinking the French. They provided financial backing, supplies, and they helped train the farmers and turn them into soldiers. If that weren't enough, they even gave us a cool statue for our 100th birthday.
It's ironic that today we pay a higher percentage of our income in taxes than the founding fathers did, and that our government is far more oppressive than the British were. While the British Empire may have been the world police of its day, they were far more careful about the places they deployed their troops and the countries they invaded than the current administration. Our government ignores the world courts, leads the pack in human rights violations, imprisons a larger percentage of its population than any other nation, and comes in dead last when it comes to donating to humanitarian efforts (every other developed nation on Earth gives a larger dollar amount as well as percentage of its annual budget to help the poorest countries).
It may seem like a pretty bleak situation, but it's not. The most urgent thing to do is to check out and support the Live 8 initiative. Encourage our government along with the governments of the other most powerful nations to forgive the debts of the poorest nations, as well as provide aid and to make trade fair. Not only does it help those poor bastards, but it'd lead to economic growth on a global scale.
After that, who's up for a trip to the pub?
~Trilo~
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
Dude I dig you, I really do. But I just can't let all those blatant falsities go unchallenged.
I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I'm a fierce Libertarian, and as such I was all for the first half of the entry. Less gov't = happier fraktalpaul.
But pretty much everything after "100th birthday" is woefully inaccurate:
"It's ironic that today we pay a higher percentage of our income in taxes than the founding fathers did."
It's not ironic at all. The only way it would be is if we were rebelling against the English because we were being overtaxed and now we've become the very thing that we were fighting against. In actuality, we were *not* fighting the amount of taxes paid at all, we were fighting the fact that we were being taxed without *representation*. All the money the King collected went straight to the British Isles. The second part of your statement claims that we pay a higher % of income tax now. That's true, and as a Libertarian I'm against it, but you have to admit that an increase in world-wide humanitarian aid on the grand scale that you propose would necessarily mean an increase in taxes. Where do you think the "aid" comes from? Trust me when I say that there's not a sane economist in the world who would tell you that this country of 200+ million people could run on the percentage of income tax that the founders did. There's too many people...too many hands out wanting free shit like health care, food, entitlements, etc.
"our government is far more oppressive than the British were"
No offense, but this quote makes me wonder if you ever took a World Lit or even an American Lit class. The British were not as oppressive as we are? Do you mean the British who *coined* the term Imperialism? The British who, if they weren't invading, occupying, and slaughtering millions in the name of Christianity (Crusades), were invading, occupying, taking over and slaughtering millions in the name of "civilization." Go ask the Faulklanders, the Irish, the Scottish, the Africans, the Indians (from India), and the Chinese how nice the Brits were. England actually called itself an Empire, which means it goes out and sucks everything into it...they don't ask nicely, they attack and take over. The only reason we're even a country is a direct result of English oppression (as the first half of your entry accurately points out).
"While the British Empire may have been the world police of its day,"
The Brits were the world police of its day? They were the freaking criminals, not the police! Unless you count invading lands occupied by indigenous peoples (Faulklands, India, Africa, Canada, America, etc) and declaring it as your own "policing," I'm pretty sure you're wrong.
"they were far more careful about the places they deployed their troops and the countries they invaded than the current administration."
Name me a country the Brits HAVE NOT invaded at some point. They were overextended all over the planet with troops occupying other countries. That's the main reason we even won! They couldn't deal with us and France and everyone else they'd pissed off at the same time!!!
"Our government ignores the world courts, "
Last I checked we are a sovereign nation. Fuck world courts. And fuck the hypocritical, socialist U.N.
"leads the pack in human rights violations"
OK, you might want to expand your news-gathering sources to beyond just Moveon.org. That is the goofiest, most ridiculous statement I've ever fucking heard. Really? We lead the pack? China, Cuba, North Korea? Africa...they are not as bad as us huh? The genocide in Africa. The Communistic suppression of free speech and liberty in China. The totalitarian dictatorship in Cuba. We are worse? BULL FUCKING SHIT. Get your facts straight, or at least get some facts, not propaganda.
"comes in dead last when it comes to donating to humanitarian efforts (every other developed nation on Earth gives a larger dollar amount as well as percentage of its annual budget to help the poorest countries)."
Again. total bullshit. The amount of money this country gives is staggering compared to every other country on this planet. Percentage-wise we are not at the top but NOWHERE near dead last. Come on man.
This entry exposes you as a Kool-aid drinking extreme liberal ready to regurgitate whatever nonsense the fringe groups feed you.
I find it amusing, if not terribly frightening, that you managed to not make one true statement in the last half of your entry. That takes talent. That or a brainwashed automaton.
-fP