Death and Taxes

What Have You Done For Me Uncle Sam?

Taxes. Argument over unfair taxation is basically how this country was founded. How do we so soon forget what unfair taxation looks like. I believe taxes like income and land taxes are unfair to Americans. I worked for that money. The government did nothing to earn it. Most people would come back with the argument, well what about your social security and Medicare? Well by the time I’m old enough to use that it’ll all be gone. There will be nothing left. No aid for the devout tax payer who relied on the government to take good care of when he was unable to work.  And land tax? Sure we live in the united states, but did they buy the land? Well technically yes some of it, but they make more in a year of land tax than it ever cost them to buy it in the first place. Why should they be able to tax the land that I bought, where I will build or grow things that will require supplies, which are taxed and to top it offI will buy it all with my already taxed income?  Doesn’t it make perfect sense?  Now I’m not one hundred percent against taxes. I believe taxes to build infrastructure (things we actually use, roads, bridges, side, walk, etc, etc, etc) is necessary. In this day and age we need roads to keep the system running like a well-oiled machine. Every American is affected by roads no matter where they live.  I believe a flat tax would be a better less complicated way to run the tax system. Everybody pays the same percent of their income to the government If your poor, middle or upper class. Let them sort out what percent goes where and who gets what amount of taxpayer dollars for that year.  There’s only two sure things in life, death and taxes. There’s no way around it. I can sit here all day and complain, but in the end I’m going to have to pay my taxes.

 

 The articles we have recently read in history are very shocking and show the true grizzly potential of the human mind in certain situations. Events such as the holocaust and Nanking raise the question how can people hate at such a severe degree.  I believe this assignment was good because it has educated students on a subject that usually isn’t brought up in detail in history classes. It needs to be remembered.

Japan’s atrocities are some of the most fierce I have read about. Their use of humans as basically lab rats is disgusting.  The Japanese seemed to have a more brutal or savage approach to how they treated their enemies. You can see this in examples such as what happened in Nanking and other atrocities such as the baton death march.  What really struck me was the use of civilian and prisoners of war as live bayonet practice. That’s just upsetting. There was no value for human life.

I believe the atrocities carried out by the Japanese parallel the atrocities of Nazi Germany, but I believe Nazi Germany’s holocaust is still more of tragedy. The sheer numbers   of people killed by the Nazis is on a scale rarely seen before.  The Nazis indiscriminately tortured, executed, gassed, tested and burned women, children and the elderly just as the Japanese did but the Nazis did it in much greater numbers.   They tried to exterminate all inferiors for god’s sake that’s just evil.

I also condemn America for making such a shady deal with the Japanese government to forget 731 in exchange for their knowledge of biological weapons. It’s as if the lives that were lost in 731 didn’t even matter. It doesn’t make sense why we didn’t punish the Japanese. And it really makes you think why did America get into world war two in the first place? Was it all a just to gain the technological advancements of two rising super powers?  We gained so much from WW2 and others lost so much. It was

I believe the articles we read don’t shed nearly enough light on the atrocities of Nazi Germany and paint a picture of a more brutal Japan. I’m not saying what japan did was less awful than what the Nazis did I’m just saying the amount killed by the Japanese does not even compare to the amount killed in the holocaust. So my vote goes to Nazi Germany.

The Nixon Presidency

            Richard Nixon has a reputation, a reputation of a liar a cheater and even a criminal. Are all these harsh allegations fair to Richard Nixon? Should a man be measured by his failures or by his accomplishment? As Americans are we to quick to judge people of power for their wrong doings? Do we remember that they are human to? I believe there is a lot to learn from the Nixon presidencies. Richard Nixon could be used as the poster child for what can be great in a presidency and what can be disastrous in a presidency. I believe Nixon’s presidency should be used as a learning experience instead of looked at as a dark corrupt stain on our countries past.

            Let’s start off with that dark corrupt stain. Obviously the stain on the presidency we are talking about is none other than the infamous Watergate scandal. This scandal was a huge part of our countries history. The Watergate scandal changed how America’s people will look at government. To most government is looked at as a corrupt system where scandals and under the table dirty deeds are done every day. Sure this is mostly true but, Watergate opened the eyes of the masses. This is good because we are now aware of this disease we call corruption that controls our government, but even after Watergate we did nothing to stop it. Corruption still happens today. I sometimes think maybe if we never heard of Watergate maybe the American people would still trust our system of government. Maybe the people would care and take pride in electing officials and strive to be part of government instead of just turning a blind eye to all of it. I think the worst thing Nixon did was losing the trust of the American people.

            Nixon I do believe was a good negotiator. He was a man with patients and nerves of steel. Nixon and his staff did what was thought to be impossible by easing tensions with the communists. I think Nixon was crucial in deescalating the tensions of the cold war. He made things fair with our adversaries. He could see how one situation could benefit or hurt another and that’s why I think he was such a valuable negotiator. He was a man out for the betterment of the planet not just our nation.   

            Nixon’s troop withdrawals from Vietnam were a logical choice. It wasn’t his war. He tried to finish it by trying to cripple VC supply lines in Cambodia, but that did little to stop the communist rebels. Nixon saw further troop deployment into Vietnam was futile and would only result in more loss of human life. I can understand why people were angry about the troop withdrawals. It was an American defeat. People felt as if their sons and husbands had died for nothing. I would feel the same way if I was a soldier or family member. But it wasn’t Nixon’s war. We had no reason to be there in the first place and Nixon got blamed for it.

            Richard Nixon was not the luckiest man alive. He got caught abusing his power and he paid for it by his name forever being linked to lies and corruption. I think he shouldn’t be looked down upon for his failures but I believe he should be equally praised for his accomplishments.

1. 13
2. 52,382
3. 122061, 495 , 48
4. I think it’s awful what happened to tammy. It also happened 40 years ago. I believe they would be better at keeping and infected patient contained. 
5. Religion/allergies
6. Yes
7.  Its ok to wait, foreigners are bringing them in, More people die from the vaccine than from measles, Existence of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program proves vaccines are harmful, People who have been vaccinated can spread measles, Vaccination is a political debate, Vaccines cause autism.
    
    
   So I believe that immunizations were created to help us not hurt us. Yes I believe people should be allowed to choose, but I believe they should be properly educated by a physician. Most doctors would say that it’s good for your child to be vaccinated. I think South Dakota’s guide lines are fair. If you allergic u shouldn’t be forced. I think the whole religion thing is kind of crap though. I believe you should have to have proof, because anybody can just say that their religion says they can’t get vaccinated. I also think they should just make vaccinations free.

Govment Trip

              I think yesterday was a good experience. I’ve toured the capitol before but couldn’t really remember it. I think now that I’m older I could really appreciate it. I thought the architecture was pretty sweet. I thought it was interesting when the lady in the governor’s office was talking about the mural they had to cover up. The committee meeting had to be my favorite part. Everybody should have to listen to one of those to vote. It really makes me second guess the way I voted this fall. It was very informative to see both sides of the argument. It was pretty cool how we could just talk to the guys from district one to.  It’s nice to get to know the guys who are representing our area at the capitol. I may not have agreed with their views on land, but they seem fit to represent our district. Pizza Ranch was good. The house was a little more boring but at least we got to see how the system works. But all in all it was a good day. Got some good pictures and had some fun. Thanks for taking us it was a good experience.

Pick Your Poison

1984 or Hasbro’s Monopoly  

Capitalism, this is how I see capitalism. So capitalism makes its money from the people, because the people are consumers. And the more people consume the bigger the capitalists gets and the poorer the consumer gets.  And the way our society works it works out perfect for the capitalist. Society tells us we need more and the consumer listens and the capitalist gets richer. I would be more ok with people getting filthy rich if they would just share their wealth. If they used that money to start charities and organizations to help the poor we wouldn’t need government controlled health care, food stamps or college, because it all be paid for by filthy rich corporations.  Republicans would be happy because the governments not using their tax money to help the poor and the democrats would be happy because the poor are getting the help they need.   So capitalism without greed would be great. It would still give people a chance to build a flourishing business without government involvement.  Another thing I don’t like is the government bailing out big business. If the business fails that has nothing to do with the government.

                Socialism is kind of in between capitalism and communism. The government has a hand in almost every aspect of business. Production of goods is based solely on the needs of the people.  It’s a moderate form of communism. Socialism benefits the lower and middle classes, because of things like free health care and free school. But trying to be an entrupuneur  really sucks. The government makes it really hard for you to get rich, because your business is technically the peoples. Socialism gets in the way of the capitalistic freedom of building up your own business. With socialism there would be no Bill Gates, Carnegie, Rockefeller, or Sanford. It crushes the dream of every making it big in business. One plus is that socialism does not allow private monopoly, because the government is the monopoly. So that way one corporation cannot hold all the money and power.

                Just like were told we are democratic we are told we are capitalists but I don’t believe that either. Business are taxed, bailed out, and regulated by the government so it is not true capitalism.  If anything it’s more socialist. So I don’t agree with either form. I’d agree to a hybrid, But not Americas form. And a socialist economy would not work in America unless there was total democratic control and the taxed the rich. But if one party was in control then it wouldn’t be fair. So yeah, confusing stuff, really messes with your head.

I have never heard this quote before but I think it has too much truth to it. I also find it kind of funny that one of our founding fathers said such a dark thing about or new countries form of government. But he’s not wrong. It’d be stupid and close minded not to agree with him. Democracy is kind of a fairy tale anyway. Maybe back when we were first founded it could have worked. But with today’s high population and large corporations it’s nearly impossible to uphold democracy. Sure we elect officials to vote “for the people”, but if that was the case we wouldn’t have as much poverty and corporations wouldn’t be making billions and billions of dollars all while hurting the people.

Calling America today a democracy is the biggest joke I ever heard. John Adams was right when he said democracy does not last. Throughout our whole lives we are told that America is this great almighty democracy where the people run the country. Most believe it. But all you have to do is dig a little deeper. Number one, we don’t vote anyone into the higher levels of government. I know you’re not going to like this but voting is just an illusion. We get the idea that we think were in control of who gets elected but were not.  Popular vote just shows what the people want it’s not like they care. They already know who’s going to be president before they get “elected”. They want the one who’s going to carry out their agenda not the peoples.  The Electoral College is proof of this.  It’s where a hand full of elites has more power than the entire civilian population. It’s a joke. The definition of democracy is where the people elect those who lead.

John Adams was right democracy doesn’t last. It’s been gone for decades. Greed took away our true democracy.  I don’t even know how to describe our form of government. It’s some sort of republic totalitarian democratic hybrid built on lies I guess. It is sad that democracy in its purest form cannot survive this world.  But it’s hard with big government and greed. It’s not hard it’s impossible.  America’s not what it was when John Adams Wrote this. I wonder what he’d say now. He’d probably call for