Things that Irritate Me

By looking through the list of 501 (a) class "charitable organizations" with the word church in their titles, there are 491 tax-exempt churches in Philadelphia alone. [editor's note: I used my discretion to include the churches that were listed in "Philiadelphia," "Philedelphia," and "Philladelphia."] I think it's absolutely reasonable to continue extending this exemption to churches that actively provide services to the community. Still, it's also reasonable to start a nominal tax rate for those organizations simply spreading the word of gods.
[Side note: churches are not explicitly defined by the IRS, but refer to religious establishments of any creed. It does not include schools or separate business run by churches.]

I dislike the practice of those who can only fall asleep while the TV is on.

Photoshopped images of models in magazines should come with a health warning.

All Congressmen, after five years of service (at a base rate of at least $174,000 a year), receive lifetime fringe benefits, including a pension and healthcare.

Public Transportation in America is widely unailable and inefficient, though increased usage would annually decrease environmental emissions 11,450 pounds of carbon dioxide for just one standard sedan off the road. This availability would also decrease incidents of fatal alcohol-related traffic deaths, in which drunk drivers are responsible for 12.8% of all fatal crashes in the US.

It's really hard to judge how many chips constitute one serving, because the serving size is usually measured in ounces.

Allowing unlimited campaign spending for corporations is one of the scariest things that has happened in modern politics. Corporations are not people, are not allowed the same rights to free speech as citizens, and generally are not the best interest of public welfare. In the words of the great social commentator, Stephen T. Colbert, "A corporation is just like a person. They do everything people do, except breathe, die, and go to jail for dumping 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the Hudson River.”

Equality of Opportunity is a key component to defining the American ideal; I understand this and support the concept infinitely. However, in the aftermath of slavery and the lingering hostilities, blacks migrated into cities as the white flight was moving white business out and taking their affluence with them. This led to the decline of "inner city" [see: black] schools, which have failed to provide the same standard of education as wealthy suburban schools. While black students would still be the primary beneficiaries of a revised plan, Affirmative Action should be basd on economic disadvantage, rather than race.

GM should've been allowed to fail, and AIG shouldn't have gotten a $170 billion dollar bail out.

People who want to deny terrorists the basic American right to a fair trial. Applying those basic liberties to everyone is the foundation of the Constitution, to give every group, including those from the majority, the extemes, the dissenters, and the undesirables, equality under the law to prevent a tyrannical state.

A government body should not be allowed to determine if someone lives or dies. Capital punishment is not only wasteful in its expense, but in its gross ability for an intangible entity to determine whether someone gets to keep their life.

On that, jueveniles should never be tried as adults, the American prison system is deplorable, and the American legal system is overburdened.

Part of that burden is that the system is clogged with nonviolent drug offenders possessing "soft drugs." Marijuana should be legalized and regulated along the lines of tobacco. I realize that it would be a difficult industry to manage, because nearly anyone can grow it, but the "War on Drugs" is estimated to have cost tax payers over $19 billion dollars in 2009, not including the production cost of wasting the time of the courts that could be better spent otherwise.

Medical Marijuana also makes sense and should be legalized.

The College Board is a non-profit organization that has a $55 million dollar surplus, and their top 41 officers make over $250,000 each.

Cable companies only offer bulk packages. More appealing for consumers, and less profitable to the company, would be to allow the consumer to customize packages to include only the channels they wanted. Besides the convenience, this would create competition among the channels, prompting them to create better shows to capture more viewers to capture more advertising funding.

Professional sports and the money poured into them is absolutely astounding to me.

If a gay citizen wants to serve in the army of the country that won't allow them to marry, they should be able to do so without fear of hiding and demonizing their sexuality.

Gays should be allowed receive the full legal and economic benefits of marriage.

Zero Tolerance laws are demeaning overreactions that prevent a student from getting a quality education and haunt their behavioral transcripts forever.

If people stopped signing up for the army, there wouldn't be anymore war.

"The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech."
-George Bernard Shaw

With each encounter of literary witticism, whether Shaw, Twain, Shakespeare, or Wilde, I jealously shamed by my own inabilities. Authors must have spectacular friendships and even better rivalries.

He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.
-William Faulkner

Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?
-Earnest Hemingway

Dreaming of Warmer Climes

"Because of you, the heady perfumes of summer pain me; because of you, I again seek out the signs that precipitate desires: shooting stars, falling objects."
-Pablo Neruda

I asked my dad if he ever remembered his dreams. He said he doesn't dream so much anymore. Back when he was married to my mom, she complained that he laughed in his sleep. The source of his laughter is one of those eternal mysteries.

I’ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.
— Jonathan Safran Foer

Summertime, laughter, dreaming, naps, the Brandywine, shooting stars, stencils, bonfires, grass, smiles, balloons, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Viv's away messages, pancakes, fireworks, clementines, acoustic guitar, candlelight, satin sheets, dried flowers, local history museums, bare feet, blonde hair and a sundress, warm breezes, the Gristmill, stained glass, dappled sunlight, idea book, Sharpies, singing, screaming, sneaking out, lemonade, cloud watching, God rays, monkey balls, Bright Eyes, free stuff, my necklace, songwriting, hammocks, little birds, cats, homegrown, gardening, farmer's markets, smokey whispers, apples, hayrides, barns, running through a cornfield, windchimes in harmony, holding hands, crazy socks, M&Ms

"things are so easily lost. things just can't be kept forever."
-Bukowski

At one point, JT K. lived down the road from me. He was out skateboarding in the funeral home parking lot, and I invited him to have lemonade with me. We talked for a bit, sitting on the top of my picnic table. I'm sure he doesn't remember it.

"The charm of the past is that it is the past."
-Oscar Wilde

Just for Sharing

• Lawyer: "Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?"
• Witness: "No."
• Lawyer: "Did you check for blood pressure?"
• Witness: "No."
• Lawyer: "Did you check for breathing?"
• Witness: "No."
• Lawyer: "So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?"
• Witness: "No."
• Lawyer: "How can you be so sure, Doctor?"
• Witness: "Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar."
• Lawyer: "But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?"
• Witness: "Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere."

P.S. I have never seen a baby squirrel.

"Respect must be there in order for love to grow. One cannot love someone or something one disrespects or hates, or is unable to communicate with."
-Simple English Wikipedia on Love

I'm a failed communicator. Though I write, though I speak eloquently when required, I am crass and offensive. I do not make efforts to extend myself to others, partly for ignorance, partly for contentment with myself. How do I initiate conversation? How do I maintain it, or better yet, discover it in new people? There are only a few people who have ever been worth deep conversation with. Some, I speak to occasionally, forgiven my lack of correspondence due to external circumstance. Others, I am at fault, and striving to recreate those connections.


"Once freedom has exploded in the soul of man, the gods no longer have any power over him"

Hotcakes, Griddlecakes, Pancakes, and Flap Jacks

"How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"

After enhancement, on my way to lunch, I stopped by Cartwright's room to put my binder in his class for fourth period. Unfortunately, Dave was already there, sitting in my seat, so I elected to delegate this action to Wasiq. Cartwright is the third teacher to compare me to my former heartache, though I'm the version for dummies without any of the "cool." It's a shame I freeze up when I see him, but I don't believe we could manage an aquaintanceship, much less on friendly terms. If not first love, can second love be explained in terms of science? At what point will cynicism guide me to accept that love is a bunch of hormones and social conditioning. It's not yet, and please, not in my youth. Jimmy is certainly intelligent beyond any standard of norm, kind, a comedic genius, and talented in his aspirations. I feel evil looking back on my treatment of him, which I don't think he would want me to do, but regardless. To defend myself, I was scared and hesistant and utterly unexcuseable. There was no way I would let myself fall in love with him, despite the laughter and romance. Now, I'm all a waste of blue M&Ms, but still grateful.

"There are four words to describe flat discs of cooked batter, but only one word for love."