Today is the 130th anniversary of Winston Churchill's birth

I have long been an admirer of Winston Churchill. I have read and reread Volume I of his book The World Crisis. The first time I had seen the book was when I was about 12 years old, in a Carnegie Library in Ironwood, Michigan. When I had the opportunity, I bought a copy (which is in sad shape, as I have carried the volume around in briefcase and read the sections about warships, again and again). Churchill was capable of making mistakes. He had real experience in the army, and commanded a brigade in France in WWI, after he was sacked from the Admiralty over the Dardanelles debacle. In WWII, he almost was a bad as Hitler in his meddlings with military and naval matters. All too often, though, he had a better sense about what to do than some of his subordinates. That only encouraged him to meddle.

I have confirmed that Firefox goes into "find" when I type an apostrophe

When I am touch typing my posts for Blogger, I keep having to remember to turn off the page search, as Firefox opens it and gives it focus, everytime I type an apostrophe. I have not looked, yet, to see if there is a way to disable that feature. I really would like to disable it, as I like to use contractions like "can't" and "won't". Conceivably, I'm hitting the CTRL key when I'm typing, but I don't see how it would happen. I just disproved my theory about a straight apostrophe, as the ones I just typed didn't turn on the search. However, a few minutes ago, while trying to enter text into Gmail, it happened. I guess that perhaps I'm mistaken, and it is a (nasty) feature of Gmail.

Mozilla Firefox quirks

I have been using Mozilla Firefox as my browser for 6 days, both at home and at work. I am starting to be annoyed by a few quirks. The main issue is with copying URL's and text and then trying to paste that into another tab. Mostly, it is difficult or impossible to copy with either the copy from the right-click menu or by CTRL-c. I find that I have better success if I copy and past to Notepad, and the copy and paste from there. I do so much copying and pasting, I am really getting irritated with Firefox. Another issue is with what happens when I am typing along and suddenly, the "Find" field opens up and takes focus. It primarily seems to happen when I attempt to type an apostrophe. The "taking focus" part is what really is aggravating. I initially was also aggravated with the entry of an id and password into the Sitemeter page, but I am getting used to how to take advantage of what Firefox is doing for and to me. I had not trusted when Firefox filled in a password when I selected an id from the menu that popped, but I find that it is giving me a userid and password that works. That is fine with me.

Bill at INDC Journal

Bill, proprietor of the INDC Journal discusses the kind of hate which someone who states their opinions in a public forum is subjected. I mainly see the sort of vitriol from those on the left, but I have been assured that such activity is bipartisan. Michael J. Totten has received unwanted attention from both the right and left, as he is a liberal who is in favor of President Bush and the war on terror. Perhaps he is a former liberal, although I have trouble telling where he stands, except on the core issues, I agree with him.

IT Economics

I spoke with an aircraft structural engineer in early 1994, and he told me that his peak year for income was 1986. That same phenomenon has hit the "IT" world. My peak year was 2000, although the first four months of 2001 were even better. By the summer of 2001, I had to leave town to find work. I ended up in Minneapolis, were the market had not declined so percipitously as Dallas. Minneapolis turned out to be just lagging Dallas, not bucking the trend.

The IT field has changed, in that companies no longer place the value they did on skilled services. The prime consideration, now, is cost. I started to see that as far back as late 1996, when FedEx started the process of shrinking their vendor list and reducing billing rates. The people to whom I was contracted kept paying me the same rate despite their rate being cut. Towards the end, they were still getting about 19% while I received 81% of the billing. By January 1997, FedEx had frozen the work week at 40 hours. If we absolutely, positively had to work longer on some day, we had to have permission, and had to take off corresponding time. We were not allowed to bill over 40 hours under any circumstances. And that was before the NASDAQ collapse in March 2000 and before September 11, 2001. That was my early warning sign of "things to come". As I said, my income kept rising from there, so that my peak rate was in the latter part of 2000 and the first four months of 2001. From there, rates have steadily declined, so that I am back to where I was in 1993.

Needless to say, it has been a painful process. The only reason that I am even employed at all is that I kept learning new skills. And employers are now testing people on their skill level. That was unheard of in the 1990's. If anyone was doing testing, they overlooked me. I was always only subjected to the usual interview and questions about resume entries.

When people talk about higher paying jobs being replaced by lower paying jobs, there is some truth to the assertion, at least in some areas. That seems to not be true generally, but IT and manufacturing seem to have seen the greatest hit. We have people near us who had worked for decades at the Western Electric plant who were eventually laid off, as the plant transitioned from AT&T to Lucent, and then to Tyco. I'm sure that this is not an isolated situation.

So we are all sitting around, "waiting for the next shoe to drop" (are there any clichés that I have missed?). My answer is to contemplate a career shift (to doing historical research and writing, full time). The main question is how to successfully make the transition.

I got in trouble with Carrie Newcomer for a pretty tame comment

Apparently, Carrie Newcomer is very sensitive to criticism for her political position. I made the mistake of leaving a comment that was critical of her political speech, and suggested that she separate that from her music. I wrote: "I continue to enjoy Carrie's music. We have been fortunate enough to see her perform live, in Dallas, at Uncle Calvin's. I wish she would keep politics separate from her music, as while her position shouldn't be surprising, it seems pretty misguided an naive, and ignores what need to do to be doing to keep people from harm." I didn't write anything more than that, but she was offended, so I am cut off from any further communication. I'm sorry that she is so sensitive about her stance. I should have realized that this would be off-base, but it didn't occur to me that she would respond so negatively. I suppose the whole election business was a nasty shock, and a repudiation of what she is trying to do. This is how she responded:

Please refrain from using the comment cards as a forum to insult me and everyone who is wise enough to believe that there is a better way to live and approach problems then violence and aggression. It’s rude but even more to the point. . .it isn’t productive.

Good art is honest and has a core of truth to it. If I censor my most deeply held beliefs, then the art becomes an ineffective shadow of what it could be. I am true to who I am and true to my art. . .it’s called artistic and personal integrity. Art of integrity has a habit of ruffling feathers because it asks us to think.

Obviously what I have to say about compassion and justice doesn’t resonate with you. It’s really very easy Jim. If it offends you or you can’t be open enough to consider the spirit of what is being presented . . . . don’t listen. But, I do hope you can consider the growing edge of what I am saying and that what you choose to insult is intellectually sound, spiritually correct and has deeply compelling thought and history behind it. For now, we will have to agree to disagree.

The country is deeply divided and I think it’s more important than ever to encourage an honest and productive exchange of ideas. I will continue to do so in the most loving and positive way I can.

Tim Marshall, reeling from an Indymedia attack

Tim Marshall is a wargamer. He has had an interesting website ("Tim's Toys") with a lot of wargame-related graphics. He apparently also had a place for people to leave messages. As I noted, Niall Meehan, who writes for Indymedia in Ireland, left an offensive comment. As someone who has left a comment that was not meant to be very critical, but which offended, I am more sensitive to the issue about what is appropriate in a comment. As I have previously linked to Niall's piece, you might have already seen what he wrote. We are in more than just a "Red State"/"Blue State" conflict. The conflict transcends international boundaries. Some on the left, are simply misguided (and I don't mean that in a mean way), as Carrie Newcomer seems to be. Others are actively fighting the forces of civilization (anyone one from the Center-Left to the Right). I don't believe that Carrie and the "Friends Services" people are doing anything actively to aid the enemies of civilization, but they are also doing nothing that will keep us safe from them, either. Anyone is welcome to take whatever position they want. I would hope that they would at least not be actively opposing the forces of civilization in this conflict, and would certainly doing nothing that was illegal or immoral. I'm sure that some would even balk at those concepts (as being judgmental).

The ability to leave messages on a web site cuts both ways

A wargamer in New Foundland shut down his website, for now, because of a nasty comment by an ally of the more radical Irish Republican Army. The nasty thing is that these people are the natural ally of Carrie Newcomer and her friends on the left. They differ on the use of violence, but are both opposed to our government and our allies. I'm sorry to say that we seem to be at war, and I am not liking the fact that we are. I would rather that we could carry on a civil dialog, but that seems to be not possible. The Indymedia folk seem particularly radical. Charles Johnson ("The Dark Lord"), at Little Green Footballs, has poked fun at them, and I'm sure that they hate it. They call Little Green Footballs a "racist website", which is not what Charles' site is about. Instead, he is the best source in the blogosphere for news about the war on terror and the threat from radical Islamists.

Carrie Newcomer should stay away from politics

We like Carrie Newcomer's music, but could do without her political commentary. He email newsletter has more politics than I care for, given that she is so politically misguided. Her latest theme is "Betty's Diner", and that sets the look for her website, CarrieNewcomer.com. Be warned that it is all Flash, although it adds a good bit, and you can see and hear her perform songs. I suppose that you must expect that folk singers are pretty far to the left, and probably anti-war, even when it is a nonsensical position.

Demographics are a huge, almost unrecognized issue

If you don't think that demographics are important, ask the Lebanese Christians about how they lost their country. What is going to be the big story of the next 25 years is that the children per couple in Blue States is less than in Red States. The Democrats are doing a whole range of things that is driving their birth rate down. They promote homosexuality and abortion. They promote women working instead of having children. Isn't that enough? The bluest states have a number of children per couple/mother of as low as 1.5. That is a long way below the replacement rate. The Blue State populations will plateau and shrink, while Red State populations will grow, and at a good clip.

Windows Icon Editors

I had finally decided to do something about making favorites icons for the blogs and websites that I personally maintain. I have one website maintained by Violet, in Russia, and I let her do all the work, and accept her decisions with respect to web design issues, while I maintain editorial control over new content, once I had time to digest her original work (which I left as it was). I had found two articles about favorites icons, and had done some work with that. When got to the point of converting to .ico files, I tried a freeware product (@icon sushi). What that doesn't do is to correctly size icons. The product provides some editing capabilities, but is really an icon conversion tool (takes graphics files and produces icons). That leaves commercial products. The more full-featured products cost on the order of $40. The question is how badly I want to make icons, or can I wait two weeks. The leading contender, among icon editor products that I am considering is Icon Forge.

If I open a new tab on Firefox, I can access Gmail, after blogging

I just did an experiment by opening a new tab in Firefox, and then checking Gmail. That works correctly. The problem seems to happen when I try to use the same tab for posting to Blogger and then reading Gmail. Gmail is what actually "breaks", while trying to open to the mail UI.

I'm sorry to say that Firefox also doesn't work with Gmail after posting to Blogger

So much for Firefox. I still need to keep IE6 around so that I can read from Gmail after posting to Blogger. The problem is jointly with Blogger and Gmail. The sad thing is that they both belong to Google. Why wouldn't they be able to "interoperate"?

The Mozilla Firefox browswer

I'm experimenting with the Firefox browser and work. I have to say that it is much superior to the older Mozilla browser I am using at home. That browser is particularly unsatisfactory, partly due to its poor ability to work with Blogger and Gmail. I haven't tried Firefox with Gmail, yet, but intend to do so very shortly. I've had to retain IE6 due to the failure of Mozilla with some websites and the inability to post to Blogger and to read Gmail. Update: I seem to be able to read my Gmail. The older Mozilla browser failed after posting to Blogger. Before that, it worked. It was a combination of problems with Mozilla, Blogger, and Gmail.

The Ukraine: a new powderkeg

The situation in the Ukraine was created by the combination of an outgoing dictator and the desire by Russia to keep the Ukraine as a satellite. Just as people thought they were going to be allowed to elect a pro-Western government, they found that the establishment was going to keep hold of the "reins of power". Now, the streets of Kiev, the capital, are filled with hundreds of thousands of protestors. I don't know what to make of the "opposition candidate" declaring himself the winner. Shouldn't we at least try to get a fair count to see what actually happened? Both sides are showing their totalitarian history. If the Ukraine were a real democracy, we might actually try to count votes and everyone would respect the winner.

A Foundation for 17th Century Naval History Research and Marine Archaeology

My vision for what I would like to see is a foundation for 17th Century naval history research and to fund marine archaeology, especially in the Baltic, where there are said to be large numbers of wrecks from the 17th Century. Frank Fox says that there is a large amount of uncatalogued manuscripts in Britain from the 17th Century. He was also my source for the wrecks in the Baltic. I had conceived of such a foundation 2-1/2 years ago, but an advisor told me that the only way to be able to launch such a foundation is to already have a source of funding. Since then, I have been searching for funding sources, but have not found anything promising. I have been mentally planning for the day when something would become available. I have also been making connections with people with similar interests.

More software stuff: Eclipse and Java class files

I oversimplified the explanation about why there were no "+" signs in front of classes in the "Package Explorer" in Eclipse 3.0.1. In 2.x, it usually meant that the project "did not build". In 3.0.1, it usually means that Eclipse couldn't find the class files to go with the Java files. That is subtly different. In my case, Friday afternoon, the problem was caused by an ill-formed project in CVS. There were two versions of the code in the same project, sort of "sub-projects". If you do as was suggested, and check out the top level in the project, there was no .project file, and things did not work well. What I needed to do was to delete the project from my workspace and check out the folder tree for the version of the software product that I wanted to browse. That worked, and I got the "+" signs in front of the class names.

My "Love-Hate Relationship" with NPR

I have this problem, in that I prefer to listen to knowledgable people talking about politics and current events more than anything else. I can't handle "call-in" type show, though. In the timeframes in which I am traveling to-and-from work (6:30am to 8:00am and 5:30pm to 7:15pm), there really aren't any viable choices available other than NPR in the Dallas area. If the local Salem Radio Network show had Hugh Hewitt on, I would listen to that, but they chose to go with Michael Savage. In the time that I am traveling, he is almost exclusively taking phone calls and responding to them. In any case, I only have a moderate tolerance for him, although at this best, he can be entertaining (that is why he has the listenership that he does--not so much his message, although that is also a factor). The problem with NPR is the radical leftist bias. That bias is pervasive, although sometimes it is mild enough that I can stand to listen without swearing at the radio. What really grates is that our tax dollars are subsidizing these people in their extreme leftist ranting. "All Things Considered" is perhaps the worst, although PRI's "Market Place" is close. "Morning Edition" has their own peculiar way of being offensive, as they seem to think that art and music that ordinary people would find offensive is suitable for "drive time" in the morning (i.e., "The Boy With the Arab Strap" by Belle and Sebastian).

Software stuff: The Eclipse IDE

I ran into something odd on Friday, at my new job. I had installed the Eclipse IDE 3.0.1 on Thursday and checked out the code that I wanted to browse. Something about the Package Explorer didn't look right. I realized that there was no "plus" to the left of the classes. From previous experience, that meant that the code didn't build. With 3.0.1, the code is kept in a built state, incrementally. I called my friend at Qwest, in Minneapolis, and talked about the issue. He wasn't sure what the cause was. So, I did and experiment. I created a new project, package, and class. The new class had the "plus". Then I looked in the project with Windows Explorer. I saw that the class file was there for the class. Then, I looked at the project I had checked out. There were no class files, so that was the answer. For some reason, the class files weren't in that directory. Next, I looked at the properties for both projects. My new project had a JavaBuilder assigned. The project that I had checked out, didn't have one. I believe that the project is setup in a non-standard way that the Build.xml file for ANT is also non-standard. I need to talk to my mentor in this new job and ask some more questions. I'm pretty sure that he was instrumental in configuring this project, so he should know the answer. I believe that part of the answer is that this was old code, already setup, and relatively recently pulled into CVS. They had to make what they had work. They also were not familiar, in all likelihood, with Eclipse and CVS. Anyway, if anyone ever wanted to know why they don't see the "plus" (+) in the Package Explorer, the reason is that the class file is absent.

More complaints about NPR

On the way home, last night, I listened to a report on "All Things Considered" about the abuse of detainees in the Hudson county, New Jersey, jail. I thought that this being a "Blue State" county was ironic. The tone of the narrator was particularly offensive. He was almost sneering and seemed gleeful about the situation. The full-court press against the President and his administration hasn't subsided. This is just another instance of what is happening on NPR and the Mainstream Media, in general. About a half-hour later, I was reminded of another sore point on "Marketplace", where they are giving an update about the "next four years". They have a clip of the president, and then they play a mocking themesong. Occasionally, they will talk with a conservative (such as Grover Norquist), but usually the person is a leftist commentator complaining about their condition and how stupid the American people are for voting for the President. A variant of that spiel is that the President had succeeded in fooling the people. That sort of thing is close to causing me to stop listening to NPR (again). I had thought that the rhetoric might have subsided, but that seems to have been wishful thinking.

The local NPR affiliate is having financial trouble

Funny thing. The local NPR affiliate in Dallas, KERA, is having financial trouble. I have theorized that it is because of the rampant bias in both the national and local commentary. They also have the issue that they changed formats from folk music for much of the day to almost strictly the "national feed". That knocked my son off their listenership. It also greatly reduced my listening. In fact, for last two years, I have not been able to listen to NPR, at least up until the election, as I would find myself swearing at the radio. Life's too short to spend it listening to my money being spent on leftist propaganda. Worse yet, I am subsidizing the television arm of this operation, and have been for many years. My wife assures me that my money is helping to fund the excellent children's broadcasting, which she uses in her work.

The political wars have resumed

We had very little respite from the political wars. The Democrats were knocked back, flat-footed, but they are back punching as hard as ever. They have a new opening, by scape-goating the Marine in Fallujah who shot the prisoner. If you check with Sean Hannity, you will see that there are extenuating circumstances that at least explain the video. The video, in isolation, though, is what is being used to attack the Marines and the administration.

More SiteMeter woes

For the second day in a row, this blog and two others of mine are affected by a SiteMeter database outage. That is at least how SiteMeter presents the problem. Late yesterday, the sm1 database was accessible, and then by this morning, it was "gone" again. I am considering adding another metering service as a backup. Giving up SiteMeter isn't an option, as The Truth Laid Bear's EcoSystem depends on having open SiteMeter accounts. Some prominent bloggers are using eXTReMe Tracking, from the Netherlands. I may use that as a backup system.

Sitemeter isn't perfect: my database was down much of the day, so there were no statistics

Well, this was "one of those days". My sitemeter database for three blogs, including this one, was down for most of the day. I tried early this morning and then between noon and 1pm, and it was still down. This will be a big negative spike, as Anglo-Dutch Wars often gets 30 or more visits. Today, so far, there were 9. I don't know that I would add another of the meters, but it could provide some redundancy.

William Kristol continues to cause scepticism about his supposed conservatism

William Kristol continues to profit by his conservative label, but also continues to do and say things that cause us to be sceptical of his conservatism. The latest is his assessment of Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld. What originally got my attention was when he praised how balanced Elizabeth Arnold's (NPR) reporting was, I believe during the 1996 election campaign. I looked to see if I could find a quote online, but was unsuccessful.

Mitch Berg's story about Blue State secession is hilarious (to a Red Stater)

I just got done reading the first four parts of Mitch Berg's story about the secession of the Blue states. If you have a sense of humor, it is worth reading. If you are a "Blue Stater" who is easily offended, perhaps you should avoid reading this. So far, there are four parts to the story. I've linked to the first part, although I read the fourth part first.

I just turned off NPR

Since the election, I have been listening to NPR, mostly because it is the only thing on that is discussing politics and current events. Today, I turned on a Sunday afternoon show, and they were gloating about Hungary pulling out of Iraq, and at the other countries who are either planning on withdrawing or already have. NPR is largely the home to the ultra-leftists. The most reasonable people on the network (National Pinko Radio) are Mara Liasson and Juan Williams, and they are very liberal. The ultra-leftists don't like to be labelled as anti-American, despite having those tendencies. While they influence the impressionable, they largely turn off normal people, even those who might otherwise be Democrats. John Kerry, a leftist, looks almost moderate next to the NPR crowd. They are more closely aligned with the Nation and their ilk. I find them hard to take, but they helped re-elect President Bush and a more Republican House and Senate.

The Left's biggest potential problem is "demographics"

Demographics are perhaps the biggest issue in determining political outcomes. That is how the Lebanese Christians lost their country to the Muslims. In the US, many fundamentalist Christians have been having large families. Prominent people who bridged the gap between business and religion were promoting to the successful people to stretch and have more children.

The Left is taking positions that could doom them, demographically. They promote abortion, homosexuality, and women having careers over children. If their followers took their advice, their birthrates would be lower (they almost certainly are, already). Right now, they count on MTV and the colleges and universities to promote the leftist ideals to students, hoping to convert many of them to their viewpoint. However, once young men and women leave school, they are exposed to people leading normal lifestyles with normal values, and they are largely converted. Outside of the most extreme "blue" areas, the left is in trouble. Right now, they are in denial over this election, and I say that is a good thing, as they are doomed.

The Clintonites come out of this election seeming almost reasonable, compared to the Nation types

The Clintonites come out of this election as seeming like normal political combatants that we can engage and work through issues. The Nation crowd, however, come out of this election looking like they have more in common with the suicide bombers. That's a pretty nasty thing to say, but all you have to do is read Kristina van den Heuvel's little screed, and ponder what she wrote, and you can see that they are not "normal politicians". They are more like the Weather Underground or the Unibomber. I hope they don't go that far, but they are radical.

We live in a goofy world

When a phrase like "Human Rights" has been coopted by mean "Homosexual Rights", we live in a "goofy world". Another, similar case is "Choice" meaning abortion rights. I just finished reading Katrina van den Heuvel's rant about politics in the Nation, and we are in for more of the same, except worse. I also am always amused to see how Dutch names are written in print. I have written it the way that Dutch names have been traditionally written. In the Nation, they run "van" and "den" together, as if it were a single word. In reality, they mean "of" "the". Oddly enough, in Modern Dutch, "den" means "tree" or "fir", but that is an artifact of one of the periodic rewrites of the Dutch language. The modernist way would be to say "van de Heuvel". By the way, "Heuvel" means "Hill", so Katrina's name means "Katherine of the hill".

For the Democrats to win, they need to do something about the "Radical Left"

If the "Radical Left" will continue to be part of the Democratic Party, or even dominate it, the Democrats risk being in a permanent minority. The more Fundamentalist Christian wing of the Republican Party has been just a little bit quieter than in the latter 1990's and has benefitted from that by seeing a quite conservative Republican Party dominate the political landscape. The purists in the Democratic Party won't like President Clinton's advice to move to the center, but that is the only way to win elections. Instead, the Democratic Party collectively thinks (outside the Clintonite wing) that they need to have a purer, more extreme leftist message to win. Their take this time was that they didn't go far enough, just as in 2002.

The boy who threatened my wife's life was not in school today

I spoke to my wife in the late afternoon, before they headed to Hot Springs, and she told me that the boy who had threatened to kill her was not in school today. A vice-principal at least was in the loop, and the boy was out today. If he were to be back on Monday, she wouldn't stay in school. This seems like a situation for the police and juvenile justice, rather than the school. This apparently is another of these deals where a severely abused child was adopted, after having possibly been ruined for life. The adopted mother is very protective of the child and in denial about the child's behavior. If the mother is going to "save" the child (and his older brother), she will need to get them into a program that might have a chance to reprogram. They may be too far gone, but it might be worth a try. This could be the wakeup call. In any case, my wife needs to be protected from harm.

I'm sorry to be so angry

I'm in a pretty angry mood today. This morning, as she was leaving, my wife told me that one of her students told her: "I can kill anyone I want. You'll be the first one I kill." My wife is a special education teacher at a charter school in Dallas, and the boy is someone who has caused her trouble in the past. She recorded this threat, but I can't understand why at the minimum he wouldn't be expelled, much less being turned over to Dallas juvenile justice authorities. He comes across as an Emotionally Disturbed type. She has had experience with them in the past. At her last job before she had originally retired, she taught one class for ED students. Then, the first time she returned to teaching, that is all she had. That was a tough struggle, and she didn't last through the school year. As a souvenir, her car picked up some key scratches. Now, this boy who threatened her life had told her last year that he was going to take her turtle. She came in one day, and found that her room had been vandalized and the turtle taken. They had busted in through a window. You couldn't prove anything, but this kid had made the threat and apparently had carried it out. Now, he threatened her life. His homelife is such that he could plausibly have access to a handgun. The only good thing is that my wife and her friend will leave work early today to go to Hot Springs (Arkansas).

Our leftist buddies-continued

Our leftist "buddies" are our enemies. When you see things like this picture of the banner, you know where they stand, and why they need to be hammered. We are at war with an enemy within the borders of our country. I suspect is only a matter of time before they start engaging in terrorist acts, if they haven't already started. If they do start, they are liable to be startled when they are treated to what the bad guys in Fallujah are receiving. Our other "enemies within" with NPR and CNN of course are playing the game that we are somehow not winning big. The truth is that our enemies underestimated the ferocity of what they would face.

John McCarthy on "Progress and its Sustainability"

I was pleasantly surprised when I read John McCarthy's take on progress, economics, and the environment in his paper "Progress and its Sustainability". I was pleased that he was still alive and only 77 years old. That means that his work on Lisp and AI in the 1960's and 1970's was at a fairly young age. He was born in 1927.

There are many people from academia, of his age, who are leftist and pessimistic, but John McCarthy is sceptical of "global warming", thinks that growth and technological advancement will overcome any challenges. I was really impressed by what he has to say.

Why President Bush was re-elected

At this point, 8 days after the election, it is pretty clear that the President was re-elected due to people's concern about the war on terror. Most people wanted someone as president who they had confidence would be tough on fighting the war on terror. Things like "values" and "judges" were secondary issues that mattered in certain regions. The President was re-elected as part of the "total package", but you could be assured that he would continue to fight to keep the country safe.

Our leftist buddies

The shrillness of our leftist buddies' rhetoric since last Tuesday has increased. That was a predictable result, given the general looniness that we have come to expect from the left. There seems to be a high correlation between family and ethnic background, locality, and political orientation. The family, and our reaction to that upbringing, is probably the most inportant factor. Any change that occurs is likely to be gradual. For example, I was raised as a liberal Republican from Southwestern Michigan. Being in the Navy and experiencing the Carter and Reagan presidencies caused my move to the right. Even in the latter 1980's, I was pretty liberal. After having run around with my friends from Georgia for a decade and hearing many people talk about politics and life in a way with which I could relate, I have moved more to the right (I would call myself "center-right").

Democrats don't want to compromise

At least the mainstream Democratic party leaders and their media allies are not ready to compromise. James Carville is still promoting the value of triangulation, Clinton-style, but Howard Dean, Michael Kinsley, and Andrew Sullivan (only a former liberal) aren't in a place to compromise the core beliefs. For Andrew Sullivan, it is driven by "his special issue". He's not changing his lifestyle, so he is at odds with the anti-Gay marriage movement (and "values").

I had actually expected John Kerry to lead the succession from the United States if he lost, but he is not that radical. His buddies are, though. I was shocked that Lawrence O'Donnel is at the point of leading the succession movement. I knew he was "goofy" but I didn't realize how desperate he was.

Morale and competence in the Democratic Party

I recently wrote about "Morale and Compentence in the Restoration Navy" and noted the propensity for these sudden and devastating morale collapses that occurred on several occasions. I speculated that the reasons might involve the morale climate established by Charles II and the Duke of York. They had been radicalized by their father's death at the hand of Cromwell, and had few behavioral limits. The only thing that you could be assured was that they would do anything to advance the cause of the English navy. Otherwise, they carried on outrageously, and everyone knew it.

When I write the words, they remind me of the Clinton years. John Kerry seems to have had a somewhat different slant than President Clinton. The only thing you could count on with President Clinton was that he would govern from the right, as that was the only way to get elected. He would talk to the left, just a bit, to keep the lefties happy. He would wink and nod, and they were fooled. John Kerry was afraid to admit what his true tendencies were, but he could be relied upon to be true to them, when the time came to be counted. That is why he refused President Clinton's advice to find a way to be in favor of banning Gay marriage. President Clinton was very consistent with the loose morals of the Restoration. John Kerry was not so loose, but was still the wealthy elitist. I should say, he was the extreme-leftist, wealthy elitist. The Democrat crew talked a good fight, but they collapsed when confronted in a good fight. They lacked the moral basis for living. They liked how they lived, but might just have been a bit ashamed about it.

Pim Fortuyn knew what he was talking about

When Pim Fortuyn was campaigning, right before he was assasinated, he warned of the dangers of the large, unassimilated Muslim population in the Netherlands. Then he was shot and killed by an animal rights extremist. Now, the Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gogh was killed by Islamic terrorists for making a movie about the abusive treatment of women in Islamic countries.

Nicholas Kristof on the Democrat defeat

I have enjoyed seeing the Democrats agonize over losing the election. Perhaps, a better way describe what I mean is that I find the process entertaining. I like politics, and they are talking the about that subject. Nicholas Kristof has an analysis where he says that if the Democrats don't move to the center (Clinton style) they will become even more irrelevant. Nicholas Kristof admires what Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did in Britain and would like to see the Democrats do the same thing here. The stakes are high, because if the Democrats keep letting Bill Moyers, Garrison Keillor, and The Nation speak for them, they are toast. I actually rather like David Corn, but he is to say the least, "misguided." He was the guy blocking for President Clinton 1996 and 1998, even though he disagreed with him and probably despised him. He was their guy, so the facts didn't matter.

You can't dismiss the "values" issue

Andrew Sullivan seems relieved at David Brooks' debunking of the "values" issue (i.e., anti-Gay marriage sentiment) as a factor in the election. That issue was a factor in my wife's vote, I was surprised to find. I shouldn't have been surprised, given her conservative religious background, but I was.

Anothe datapoint came from Tavis Smiley's NPR show last night. The show was better than usual, as there was a guest host for Tavis Smiley. He hosted the "Reporter's Roundtable" segment, and he spoke with Laura Washington, a Chicago Sun Times columnist, and Hollis Towns, who is managing editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer. Hollis Towns made the point that black people from Ohio voted for President Bush at a rate 47% above the rate in the rest of the country. Mr. Towns attributed that to opposition "to special rights for Gays" among the Ohio community of black believers. In this case, there was an effect of the "values issue" that mattered.

Clinton advised Kerry to move to the right on "Gay Marriage", but Kerry wouldn't compromise his core principles. He lost because of it. Clinton is unprincipled, so he had no problems doing this sort of thing while campaigning and as president. The problem is that the core, leftist Democrat principles are at odds with those of most Americans, especially Americans in "flyover country". All you have to do is look at the county-by-county map that shows red or blue, and the country is mostly red.

Would that we are free of the 1960's mindset

Wretchard, at the Belmont Club thinks that the 1960's mindset is finally dead, killed off with John Kerry's loss in the election. I'm less sure, as we still have the leftist institutions that were formed for this election cycle. Whether they continue or are shut down, post election, remains to be seen.

If the Democrats run Howard Dean, next time, they will show that they have been caught in the same timewarp as my aunt, uncle, and cousins from Eastern Michigan and Ohio. I have a cousin who was an Assistant Professor at Ohio State whose charter was to be a community activist. He described he and his wife as being so progressive that no one was to their left.

John Kerry still has his senate seat

John Kerry has done pretty well. He proved himself a player on the national scene, and got a big vote. He showed that he was not a Walter Mondale, Jimmy Carter, or George McGovern. He still has his senate seat, and will undoubtedly keep it as long as he wants.

Someone needs to break the news to Tavis Smiley that his candidate has conceded

I was listening to Tavis Smiley on NPR, from Los Angeles, and he was still talking as if John Kerry could win Ohio because of uncounted provisional ballots. He doesn't seem to realize that John Kerry already conceded the election to President Bush. I'm afraid that Tavis Smiley is delusional. I hope he doesn't take it too hard when it finally sinks in that his guy has lost.

Senator Kerry was a statesman and conceded

Senator Kerry had the choice of being a "political suicide bomber" (along the lines of our good buddy, Albert Gore, Jr.) or of being a statesman. We are fortunate that he chose the latter. Senator Kerry and his running mate came very close to replicating Al Gore's performance in 2000, thought better of it, after "sleeping on it". The alternative conspiracy theory may be that the dreaded Karl Rove's goons stopped by and showed Senator Kerry "what they had on him" and he backed down. I'll leave that for the tinfoil hat types. I would much prefer to believe that Senator Kerry did the "right thing". Besides, I don't believe in an "all powerful Karl Rove" the way our leftist buddies do.

I don't see anywhere for the teams of Democratic lawyers to go

The way the Presidential race is turning out, with the majority of the country "turning red", there isn't anywhere close enough to be worth sending the suicide squads of Democrat lawyers.

The Democrats are said to be "giddy"

The Democrats have seen exit polling that causes them to think that they are winning. If you look at RealClearPolitics.com (highly recommended), President Bush still looks to be doing well.

The IT Job Market

I'm not sure that you can generalize about the IT job market from my situation, but I am now working in the Dallas area for the first time since May 2001. I had spent the last three years working in Minneapolis, on three contracts, two of them at the same place (with another in between). It did take me 5 months, however, to get a job.

I still have faith in the system

There were times during the 1990's when my faith in the system waivered, but in the end, we ended up with a Republican House, Senate, and the majority of governorships. For whatever reason, we had to go through eight years of President Clinton. That was just something that the country needed and wanted. The result was that Tip O'Neil's Democratic Party was dumped from its perch on power.

The part of me that wants to control what happens desperately wants to see Senator Kerry defeated (by a big margin). For the system to work correctly, we need to embrace the result, whether we like it or not. My concern is that the Kerry Democrats won't accept the outcome if they don't get their way.