Cogs can think.

Just an ordinary Tuesday, it would seem. That’s how it felt when I got out of bed in any case.

But oh no.

I finally received word from the municipal government here, concerning my request for a tax break concerning the sewage and pollution tax (colloquially: “crap tax”) - which is 300 EUR each year. For people with a low income - like me - there’s a system in place where you send in data on your income, proving that you are, effectively, not rich enough, and then you don’t have to pay the 300 EUR. Last year, I got this tax break, seeing I’m just a student, and don’t make an awful lot of money.

This year, nothing changed concerning my financial status - in fact, it got a little worse. My salary didn’t go up, but just about every expenditure went up - rent, property and health insurance, petrol, they all got more expensive. My student loan, which I receive every month, went down - this is a loan from the government, so technically, it’s not even income. I have to pay that back in the coming 25 years.

So, confident this year I’d de eligible for the same tax break, I filled in all the forms, sent them my data, and waited. For a long time. And a few months ago, they replied - and denied my request, saying my income was too high. I was baffled. Nothing had changed - in fact, my financial situation had deteriorated! I don’t believe in free rides, but this just wasn’t fair.

So I filed an official complaint. I sent a polite but firm letter back to the municipal government, asking for a clarification. How was it possible that despite my financial situation getting slightly worse, I was now not eligible for the tax break? On what basis had this decision been made?

The answer came today. They acknowledged that my situation had gotten slightly worse, but they still denied my request. You see, my income may have gotten worse - but they changed the way they calculate the total income of students. Basically, what they do differently now is that they add the student loan to the total income. Obviously, nobody announced this change, so I couldn’t have known.

What a total piece of horse shit. So, everyone who has a loan in this country should add that loan to his or her total income? What kind of bullcrap is that?

Back at the store where I work, we call this creative bookkeeping. We have two registers, and every now and then, at the end of the day, the numbers don’t add up. One of the registers may have a surplus or a loss, which is not really desirable. However, sometimes, one of the registers has too much money, and the other too little. Technically, we should locate the source of both discrepancies and fix them - but hey, sometimes it’s Friday evening, 21:00, and we just want to go home. So we do some creative bookkeeping, and fix the issues by taking money from one register, and putting it in the other. Technically not a solution to the problem, but nobody is none the wiser. Problem “fixed”.

This kind of feels like the same thing. I’m fairly sure the municipal government had a shortage in one part of the balance sheet, and is now trying to fix it by taking money from somewhere else. Whether or not this is a nationwide issue remains to be seen - municipalities have a lot of freedom when it comes to local taxes.

I truly feel fucked in the ass, and I’m going to fight this to the bitter end. It shouldn’t be possible that a fcuking loan is considered as income. That’s really fcuking unfair.

And to make matters worse, it’s the third Tuesday of September, Prinsjesdag, so the government has offered the proposed budget plans for next year to the Lower House. And you know what?

Starting next year, sleep medication will not be paid out of insurance any more. That’s another 240 EUR right down the drain. Sleep medication that has been prescribed by two different doctors, and two different specialists. In other words, I think I might actually need that stuff. I’d rather do without the stuff, but hey, I kind of value a good night’s sleep (technically, it’s not sleep medication at all, but a relaxant - I have trouble falling asleep ever since I was a kid).

Fcuk this shit.

We’re seven years and one day later, but the memories haven’t faded.

This, right here, is the start of a new era. I just hope that we’ll put the right people in the right place to make sure it’s not the beginning of an end, but the start of a new beginning.

Please, do tell.

Why do Republicans have so much issues with helping their fellow Americans? Why is it that they are not willing to share their wealth with their fellow countrymen, their fellow countrymen who probably need it more than they do? Why is it so difficult for Republicans - who are probably devout Christians - to actually practice what Jesus preached, namely to help your fellow man?

I live in a country where 45-50% of your income goes to the state. This sucks balls. Seriously. Paying taxes sucks ass. However, it makes me happy, and somewhat proud, that most of that money will go to making my country a better place to live for everyone. To make it prettier, healthier, cleaner.

But most of all, I’m happy that part of the money that I earn will go to my fellow Dutchmen and women who need it most, because they don’t have the means to take care of themselves and their families. It makes me happy that my money goes to that single mother down the street (I really have a single mom living down the street) who can use it to give her kids a decent education, or to buy a car so she can increase her opportunities for a job.

It makes me proud that my money goes to the sick and the ill, like my aunt, who was struck down by cancer ages ago, and who can now only work a few hours a week - I know that it is my money that makes her financial situation much, much better. I am thrilled that with my money, the mentally handicapped have the opportunity to contribute to society, so that they can feel dignified and a part of it. I am proud that with my money, we can build and fund schools so we can educate children with special needs who might otherwise end up in crime, poverty, or welfare.

It fills me with joy that my money is used to make sure that everyone has proper healthcare, that everyone, no matter how poor, rich, unemployed, or sick you are, you will always be treated, taken care of, and looked after. It makes me proud that because of my money, lives are saved. It makes me proud that with my money, the elderly, who have built this country, can live a relatively worry-free life.

Sure, this country isn’t perfect. Tax money is sometimes wasted, and it sucks that the people actually have little insight of where their tax Euros end up. But overall, I know that in a few years, when I’m done with university, and when I have a decent paying job, I won’t be working just for myself, or to make my own life better - but that I’ll be working for everyone, to make this country better for everyone.

What these Republicans don’t seem to understand is that if you spread the wealth, you end up with happier people. And happy people are more productive people. And more productive people are wealthier people. And wealthier people spend more money. And people who spend more money are good for the economy.

Everyone wins!

I really don’t get it. They say they’re Christian, but judging by their actions and beliefs, they’re about as far removed from Christianity as you can get.

It’s all just so confusing.

Something about deceiving and appearances… Palin delivered her speech last night to the Republican National Convention - and she totally freaked me out. Especially this one bit nearly made me throw up.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and [Obama] is worried that someone won’t read them their rights.

How such barbaric, uncivilised, and un-American words can come out of such a beautiful woman is beyond me. I imagine that the founding fathers are turning over in their graves, wondering where it all went wrong. Their ideals of freedom, individuality, human rights - they’ve all gone down the drain.

This will be the final nail in the coffin. If McCain wins this election, America will alienate itself more and more not only from the rest of the world, but also from the very ideals upon which it was built. Empires come, empires go. Do you want America to just go away? Vote McCain/Palin.

Palin’s still a total MILF, though.

Perhaps there is justice in this world after all.

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

Radovan Karadžić will finally be brought to justice. One of the biggest criminals in history will finally have to answer to the Yugoslavia Tribunal in The Hague - 15 years too late, but hey, better late than never. His victims, and the people left behind, deserve his head on a platter.

As you all know, I vehemently oppose the death penalty - but gosh I wish my principles were for bending in this case. This is a great day for justice.

I’m in.

Princess Maxima, Prince Heir Willem-Alexander, Queen Beatrix

How unnervingly moving is this.

It was Koninginnedag today in The Netherlands. An Afghan refugee, who fled to our country in 2001, walked 50km from Heerenveen to Franeker last night. Franeker is one of the cities the Royal Family visited today. It was his goal to extend a personal letter to the Queen in which he thanked her for the support The Netherlands has given, and is giving, to the Afghan people.

Noble.

He got to shake the Queen’s hands, but she didn’t take the letter. He got to shake the Prince Heir’s hand, but he didn’t take the letter (these people have to shake 4395398589307593 hands, no surprise there).

He was sad.

And then, at the last minute, Princess Laurentien passed by. She shook his hand, he explained his intentions, and Princess Laurentien took his letter, and assured him she’d give it to the Queen.

God I love this place.

One key feature for most users was a sense of community. Even though blogging is an inherently one-to-many activity, most readers felt a personal connection to the author. This could foster the feeling that the reader belonged to the community even in the absence of participation, and led those who did participate via comments to agonize over their content.

Hi, I’m Thom Arvid Holwerda, born on 1 December 1984. I have two brothers I never talk about, because their (in)actions severely damaged the connection I had with them - most likely beyond repair. And I don’t even care. My mother suffered from breast cancer a few years ago, which taught me a serious lesson about mortality. I have a lot of friends whom I appreciate and love dearly. I vehemently oppose the death penalty, legalised guns, and intolerance. The principle of unconditional equality is one of the two most important values - together with unconditional loyalty to the people I care about.

I am superawesome, incredibly smart, incomprehensibly funny, and NOT AT ALL ARROGANT.

Now, CONNECT GODDAMNIT.

Speaking of Wilders, here’s another gem.

Ultimately many fundamental problems in the Netherlands are directly related to migrants, like infrastructure, traffic jams, housing problems, the welfare state.

Traffic jams are caused by immigrants? And there I was, thinking they were caused by badly laid-out highways with too little capacity.

This weekend, Geert Wilders was publicly exposed for the xenophobic idiot that he is.

As the world knows by now, the guy has made an anti-Islam film - well, he says he has, but no one has ever seen it, for the simple reason that he has no venue for publication. Dutch broadcasting companies are not willing to broadcast the film, YouTube doesn’t want it either, and the announcement website has been taken down by Network Solutions.

Wilders always said that if a broadcasting company knocked on his door, they could broadcast the film the same day.

And that’s where the Dutch Muslim Broadcaster comes into play. This extremely small organisation, who gets a few moments of airtime on Sunday mornings, officially offered to broadcast the film. This organisation is not extremist at all - they have a history of allowing criticasters of Islam to have their say on their shows. Theo van Gogh, Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, they’ve all been there.

There were two conditions. One, they get to see the film prior to broadcasting, just to prevent any legal issues if it contains content against the law (racism, for instance). A perfectly acceptable condition, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find any broadcaster or network in the world who will broadcast anything without screening it first. The second condition is the more important one. They said, ok, we’ll air the film, but we do want you, Geert Wilders, to go into a televised discussion afterwards, with other people.

And this is the reason Wilders declined. Wilders has never gone into discussion with anyone; he never comes on debate shows on TV, he never accepts any invitations to public debates, he even always refuses to go into discussion with any other politician. This is the big point of criticism on Wilders, and it’s a very, very valid one.

The job of an elected representative of the people is to go into discussion with them. Not doing so just proves your arguments are weak.

And of course, they are weak. He claims that the Islam culture is inferior to ‘Western culture’, and that it is lightyears behind in development. According to him, it’s a retarded culture. This is the funny thing. If our culture really is so much better, so much more divine, so much more developed - then why is he so afraid all the time? If our culture is so strong, shouldn’t we consequently be able to withstand any influences quite easily?

Islam poses no real threat to our way of life. Sure, there are difficulties, but we’ll work them out. Our way of life survived two world wars, social change during the ’60s, and the cold war - I think we’ll survive a few religious nutjobs. I mean, let’s face it, we can handle the religious nutjobs in the Christian and Jewish worlds too.

What poses the real threat are those people willing to give up unconditional equality simply because they are insecure about their own culture. Unconditional equality is undebatable, and cannot be forfeit. It is the very building block of our society. Without it, we are no better than those Muslim extremists.

The last few times we decided to take away the rights of people based on race or religion (what people like Wilders want), we ended up in worlds of shit. Never forget that.