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Waiting and Playing and Thinking

While Im waiting for data to load and servers to become avaiable for more testing, I found this to play with:

Terrafly: allows you to map any coordinate and fly over the satellite photo in real time. How useful is this? Who cares! its just cool if you ask me.

I'm also thinking about something that happened yesterday. Al Zawahiri made another tape. 24 hours later, no one cares, its not even on the home page of any news organziation. When I read the transcript, he's clearly talking to us and not his Jihadi brothers. Why? I'll post my findings later this evening.

Oh, and President Bush is in Canada today. So what is on the CBC homepage? I guess its not news when there are no protests to cover.

Why do I like the President? He's going to Halifax to say thank you to the people there who helped our folks on September 11th. More on that later too...

UPDATE I: Quote from GWB:
"I'd like to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave, with all five fingers, for their hospitality," he said.

Heh...

UPDATE II:
Theres a weblog following Canadian Protests to the Bush Visit. Apparently, "Bush is Hitler, Eh!".

I havent found any links to protests of Castro,Aritside,Mugabe,Milosovich or Putin. I'll keep looking...

UPDATE III: Absolute.Freakin'.Brilliant.

UPDATE IV: From the great Tim Blair, Maple Powered Protest Photos!

You know what I like most about the left is how consistent they are. I also like how they are finally ready to fight Hitler, now that he's been dead for 60 years. I am a little disappointed that they seem to think everyone is Hitler, except Hitler.

After all, one mans genocidal maniac is another man's democratically elected socialist leader.

Posted @ November 30, 2004 10:22 AM | Current Events | Comments (3)

Meanwhile In Romania

While Ukraine slips into open civil war, another member of the soviet bloc is falling into th same nightmare. Romania is starting down the road of bad election results.

This is not good.

Posted @ November 30, 2004 10:05 AM | Current Events | Comments (1)

Gunga Dan Quits: Generating Best Ratings in Career.

Theres a line in shakespeares Macbeth:

"Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it".

Dan Rather and his career will not be measured by the day in and day out accomplishments of 30 years of work but the one day of blind rage that caused him to make an error. An error that was aided and abetted by an industry that he helped define. Dan Rather marks the end of an era in popular news media and broadcast journalism, and to that, I say good riddance.

I hope we never again get to a point where one man and one network can control so much of public debate that it might have the hubris to act the way that Dan Rather and CBS did. It doesnt bother me that he did it as much as they all helped him do it without fear of reprisal from the public.

That being said, I just want to run through a few things on Mr. Rathers departure into the big nowhere...

1. This is a Suprise? He's 73 years old fergodsake! How long did everyone think this gig was going to go on? Sure, Paul Harvey, Mike Wallace and Andy Rooney are older and represent the the "walking dead" demographic, but they exist largely because no one can bring themselves to be "The Guy who fired an Industry Icon".

2. He's just one guy. The former head of CBS is now at CNN. Theres a joke about moving the deck chairs on the Titanic that would work really well here. Dan calls himself a reporter, but hes really just a flesh covered pez dispenser for whatever his producer wants him to say. I honestly dont think Dan has a clue why he says what he says or why he says it.

3. It's funny to me how we are getting this official word prior to revelation of the CBS internal investigation. "The Smart Move" would be for CBS the corporation to paddle a few bottoms in full view of the public. On the other hand, CBS has not been very smart for a very long time.

4. Cronkite is still alive. Rooney wont die, Wallace wont die. I've never been a big fan of immortality as I consider it to be a the worst of gypsy curses and my best case for that position can be found wandering in the hallways of CBS. It must be like visting the set from yet another remake of George Romeros ' Day of the Dead' over there.

5. My advice to network news. Get out of the office! Look kids, it's not rocket science anymore to have reporters somewhere else other than New York. The internet is everywhere, video feed technology is pretty straight forward. Move your HQ to cities in the middle of the country or rotate locations now and then. Get some diversity in the news room by putting your reporters and your writers out in the great unwashed.

Perhaps consider making reporting less of a full time job and more of a temporary thing. Journalism is not a job code, its a methodology. Properly trained, anyone can practice journalism. I'd rather read economics reports from a woman raising two kids in Omaha, Nebraska than a 30-ish party girl in Long Island. Yes, Campbell Brown looks good, but frankly I cant remember a thing shes ever said about anything.

Where is todays Ernie Pyle in the field with our boys overseas? I cant believe the hubris of todays journalists who say that they shouldnt take sides when they report on our troops. Thats right, jackass media types, the guys who ensure that there is a free press are actually on your side, the guys who want to chop off your head, those are your enemies. That should be simple enough even for the ivy league to understand. The fact that its even a question makes me wonder about the future of the species.

There is no automatic valor derived from just being against the United States, so stop building up these monsters who belong to a human sacrificing death cult as people of equal virtue with American boys and girls who have volunteered to serve their country and work to help bring freedom to the world?

Women in Afghainstan voting or hooded civilian victims getting their head cut off. Yeah, I can see why they might be confused.

Look, I too heard all that socialist claptrap in college about how "America was an empire bent on world domination..blah.blah..blah..". The difference the media types and myself is that I got over it. Experience in the real world will do that to you. Get out of starbucks and get off your cellphone, grab a shovel and help out your neighbor now and then and you might see that.

Buh-Bye Dan. Dont let the doorknob hit ya where the good lord split ya...

Posted @ November 23, 2004 11:50 AM | Current Affairs | Comments (3)

Thanks...

In my business the end of the year represents one of two things, either ultimate boredom because theres such a lack of staff that no decisions can be made, or you're super busy.

Last year, I read technical manuals and got caught up on my certifications. This year, I'm "super busy".

That effort, and the development of the 'Clifford Clinton Project' has dropped my posting effort somewhat. I've completed the character development process for the major characters of the story and I've got atleast two endings outlined, so in between coding and fixing problems, the other project is moving along nicely.

That being said, catch this if you can and remember to say your own "thanks grandad"

And speaking of giving thanks...

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I dont think I'm alone in that, as in the corporate world we get both Thursday and Friday off from work, while Christmas just rates one day. Christmas gets all the publicity, but Thanksgiving is the one we wall want. It's a simple holiday, it involves no mandatory orgy of mindless gift buying, just a feast, with family and friends, a few football games and rememberance of the year since the last Thanksgiving. It is a holiday made for people who's culture is aimed at the frontier and the future. It's the one day we stop and go against our nature by looking back at where weve been. We look back to give thanks to the providence that has let us go on for another year. Another year against the odds. Another year living in the embrace of freedom in defiance of the base nature of men and their natural drive for power.

Americans and Canadians take this one holiday to return to the places they call home as most of us have gone somewhere else to seek our fortune( and perhaps - escape our families!). Our collective homecoming is like the migration of Salmon, only without the dire ending of the great fish. If you want to watch something amazing, go to LAX and just watch the crowds on Wednesday afternoon. It is truly amazing.

We go home, We meet our neglected relatives, we eat great food in great quantities, we get reaquainted with those closest to us and we simply and humbly, give thanks. Some to God, Some just to each other, but we take the time to recognize the simple beauty of just being here. Its the civilized version of saying how much we appreciate those who serve in the trenches of life with us. Its a recognition of how we all know how lucky we are.

I'm grateful to be alive in one of the most exciting times in the history of mankind. Freedom and human liberty are on the march, and I may live long enough to see the remaining tyrannies leave the world and the human race at last. Since the ice age ended 10,000 years ago mankind has struggled with itself in how to live together. We are getting closer every day to the tipping point where the worlds human population will no longer be property of the state but will live as free men and women as citizens and not subjects.

Castro gets older every day, and when he goes the "strong man" theory of government goes with him. Kim Il Jong finds the walls of civilization closing in on him and when he goes, the last of the Asian warlord organization will die out with him. Iran is finding the imbalance of trade go from export of terror to the export of Caspian caviar as the market for Islamic terror is suddenly without suitors and caviar is always in demand. Syria is finding that it pays to return our amassadors calls and Saudi Arabia is beginning to look like the anachronism that it truly is.

60 days from now, Palestine and Iraq will vote. Two of the great cities of Islamic civilization( Bagdhad and Jerusalem ) will be voting. This is significant. Who can say it wont someday come to Mecca? If Islam wants to survive, it had better. Sooner, rather than later...

Its not perfect, its not heaven, but its not hell either. Its just life, and I'm happy to be here to watch it happen. In my life, I've been able to watch men land on the moon, the Berlin wall fall and communism march into the dustbin of history and I've watched Women stand in line and vote in Afghanistan.

Not.Freakin.Bad.

Sometime during Thanksgiving, we stop and say that we should be thankful this year over others because of something that happened this year. I say be thankful every year, especially in the bad years. You never know how good you have it. We have it very good, and by my estimate, Its about to get a a whole lot better.

Be thankful for your wives, your husbands and especially your children. Be thankful for your parents, even if you never knew them. Be thankful for yourself. Be thankful for all the happy accidents in your life that lead you to where you are today.

Frankly, I'm just thankful that I'm still here. There was a time in my life when I could never have believed that I would someday be 43 years old and living a comfortable exurban life with a wife and two kids, but here I am. I cannot begin to understand how I could be so lucky while so many that I've known in my life are no longer with us, but I am.

Don't overlook the simple beauty of your lives, and be thankful you got to see the sunrise, the stars, the leaves fall or orchestras play or babies laugh. Be thankful you got to live with more freedom and liberty and more wealth and health than any time in the history of mankind.

Eat up. Say thanks. Do the Dishes. Watch Football.

Now, thats a holiday.

UPDATE: Just in case you need to understand how special this time and this year is, take a look at this one.

Posted @ November 22, 2004 07:14 PM | Current Events | Comments (4)

Wednesdays WTF Moment

India Times August 18th 2004 - North Korean Leader Kim Jong il decides not to make the same mistake as Saddam – Democracy in North Korea?

I know, I know, "consider the source". I keep getting back to the Berlin Wall falling and at the time no one made the prediction that it would go down that way. Is it at all possible that Kim would just walk away one day?

But then theres this:
S.Korea set to ship fertiliser to North. Ok, now let me get this straight, they are short of what? I've been poor and Ive been hungry but I can honestly say that fertilizer is one thing I've never been short of. You have to be mighty bad off to be short of that. You can say your up to you rear end in it, you can say so and so if full of it, but I cant think of anyone who ever said " Boy, we could really use some more fertilizer".

Unless they are using the nitrates for the development of explosives, but that doesnt seem likely given that second hand Russian munitions are about as common as grains of sand on the world market these days why make your own brand of explosives when so much of it is available for next to nothing.

It would be the very coolest thing to be able to watch yet another tyrannical government go the way of the mastodon. Im not holding my breath, but I am wishing ever so strongly that Kim just goes away.

UPDATE I: This Just In..."Cult of personality" over the top ,says great leader.

This is like Hitler saying "Guys, maybe we aught to cool it on the whole swastika thing, we did a little focus group testing and its really hurting our image in the 18 -34 demographic".

Posted @ November 17, 2004 04:23 PM | Current Events | Comments (4)

Enlightened Blue State Explorer "Discovers" America

A cool story about driving (riding?) a Seqway cost to coast across the United States can be found here.

An interesting quote found within:

So what have you discovered about America?
We discovered a lot of interesting things. People naturally build up a lot of stereotypes about certain areas--that some parts of the country are going to be really boring or backward--and that's not true. We discovered that there's a lot of humanity everywhere in the country.

People are very kind and open. We heard a lot of great stories, and we learned a lot about opportunity. I think there's a lot of truth to the idea that America is the land of opportunity, but you've got to work hard and be willing to take risks.

Hmmm. Imagine that! People in the backcountry are very kind and open. Who would have thought such a thing could be true?

Du Doch Nicht!

Posted @ November 17, 2004 12:31 PM | Current Events | Comments (0)

Backstory - Project 2

At the end of the last century, I was working at Hughes Electronics in El Segundo California. El Segundo is a post war LA suburb that you can see out of your aircraft as you sit on the south side of LAX. It’s marked by a few high-rise office buildings an oil refinery and a sewage treatment plant. That being said, it’s actually not a bad place, it has a nice beach, it’s near many things that are interesting to see and its kind of quiet and down homey for an LA suburb. For me, working in El Segundo was a way to get in touch with part of my past, as I was born in Torrance, my father in San Pedro. My uncle worked at North American in both El Segundo and the Downey plant during the 60’s and for most of the first 20 years of my mother’s life, she was never more than a mile from Rosecrans Ave.

I felt very much at home while I was there.

Since I was traveling on company money, I had a choice between staying at a hotel nearby or returning home each day. Returning home to Northern California wasn’t as odd as it seems, It actually was faster than my driving commute to the bay area. I would leave my house at 5:30 and arrive at the Hughes office at 7:45, having slept for the hour and 10 minute flight. Obviously, this was pre-9/11 as today it would take you that long just to clear security today. At the end of the day, I would reverse the process. Leave the office at 5:15 and be home at 7:30. Round trip flights for each were actually cheaper for the customer by about 100 dollars than staying over night. I didn’t mind the added luxury of having the little bit of time enough to have dinner at home, visit with the kids and sleep in my own bed everyday. Most of my consulting gigs have been in far off places like Pigsnuckle Arkansas or Boogerglop Yugoslavia, so being able to work as a consultant in the same time zone and be home every day was pretty cool.

Now, this is fine, but if you do it long enough it starts to take a toll, so I switched off and on with the traditional stay at a hotel and the ultra cool “fly home every day” plan. When I stayed in El Segundo, I found myself with lots of extra time on my hands. I’m also a bit of an insomniac, so I had a lot of time to fill. I also had a rental car, so what did I do? I drove around.

In my travels, I found the furniture factory on Figueroa that my dad worked at when I was a kid. I found an apartment in Compton that my family lived in after an abortive attempt to move to Nevada. I visited downtown LA to see some of the scenes of movies like “The Omega Man” and “Heat”. In one of my after work trips, I saw a building in downtown called “Clifton’s Cafeteria”. It looked like it had been there since the beginning of time. A week later while reading a book about weird things in LA, I came across the story of Clifford Clinton. Clifford Clinton was the owner of Clifton’s Cafeteria, a chain restaurant that started in the 1930’s. What I found most interesting is that this man created a restaurant chain in the midst of the depression that was based on the simple statement of “Dine Free Unless Delighted”. Soup lines, 20% unemployed and this guy decides to open a restaurant that actually dares you to not pay. What was amazing to me was that it apparently worked, because here I was 60 years later looking at the same company, with the same concept still in place.

At the time I thought to myself “ What balls this guy must’ve had”.

It turned out I didn’t know the half of it. At a time when LA politics was unbelievably dirty and the police force was in fact an armed gang, Clifford Clinton decides that he’s had enough with the corrupt mayor and starts a campaign to have him recalled. He starts and organization of fellow businessmen, engages the support of some in the media, even though the Mayor and the D.A. call him “public enemy #1”. The LAPD went so far as to bomb his house to stop him.

How did he do? He won! He took on LA City Hall, the LAPD and the LA Times and he won. Mayor Frank Shaw was the first big city mayor to be recalled by special election in a very long time and the entire LAPD was revamped after several of its leading officers were indicted and imprisoned because the corruption that Clifford “Dine Free Unless Delighted” Clinton uncovered and helped put a stop to.

I thought it made a pretty good story. There’s a lot to it. An honest family man risks his life to do his civic duty against a corrupt political machine and comes up a winner. He doesn’t become a celebrity or try to cash in on the fame; he just goes about his life. The story of Clifford Clinton is the story of “duty over self “and I think it’s a good story to tell.

When I was 12, I asked my dad a question about “doing the right thing”, I asked him, “ Should you always do the right thing “?
He looked straight at me with a laser like glare in his eyes and answered, “Yes”.
I pushed back and said, “Even if its hard"?
He grabbed me by the shoulders and held me about 6 inches from his face and said,"Especially if it’s hard, Frank. That’s when it counts the most."

When I was 12, my scale of “what hard was” was very different from what it is now that I’m 43. At the time he said what he said, I thought it was just parental gobbledy-gook, but now the older I get, the more I realize how right the old man was.

So it’s around the story of Clifford Clinton and the downfall of LA Mayor Frank Shaw that I’ve decided to try my hand at writing. Im not a historian and I want the flexibility to tell the story from my own perspective, so I will be telling a fictionalized version of the story. Since I’m also a part of the open source journalism world and I’m a blogger, I’ve decided to document what its like for me to do this. So, periodically I will post in this category what I’ve learned in writing this story, not just about the story itself, but the process of writing and what I’ve learned from the process.

Right now, I’m boning up on my knowledge of the Depression era with the book “The Great Depression”. I’ve also got an order in for Kevin Starrs The Dream Endures: California enters the 1940s.” I typically read 3 to 4 books a week, so I should be through with both of these this week. I’ve also decided that the story will be easier to write once I’ve got the characters themselves, So I’ve begun the process of creating backstory for each of the main characters in the story. The real life example gives me a pretty good template to start with as far as the main players, but I’m surprised at how much I have to fill in to make the story work. I’ve also created the story arc outline and I’ve created the first few chapters. My best estimate is that it should be in first draft status by the end of the year.

What’s the coolest thing I’ve dug up in my research this week? Telephone exchange names.

More to follow…

Posted @ November 16, 2004 11:10 PM | Project 2 | Comments (8)

Quickie

Shooting in Iraq Mosque Angers Muslims

The article makes no mention of Muslim anger over people shooting from Mosques, using them as weapons depots or using the minarets as sniper nests.

I've been searching all day for any word of Muslim anger over this

dang if I cant find any...

Posted @ November 16, 2004 07:51 PM | Current Events | Comments (2)

Future Flash

Powell resigns as Secretary of State.
6 months from now, Cheney steps down due to "health" reasons.
Bush then nominates Powell for VP. Senate agrees.

Rumsfeld resigns as Secretary of State in 2005. McCain nominated since his term expires in 2006. Senate agrees.

2007 - Vice President Powell runs for President, he picks McCain as his Vice President. 49 State sweep.

That's "Strategery" for ya baby!

( Yes, you could reverse this ticket and it would still do well)

Posted @ November 15, 2004 03:55 PM | Current Events | Comments (5)

Door Closed - Door Open

At lunch the other day, my wife asked me:

" Now that the election is over, what are you going to write about"?

It caught me off guard for a second, but then I realized that the narcotic effect of the election had worn off and it was time to get back to work.

Before I get to talk about "What’s next", I want to address the three remaining open questions on the election.

1) Will Kerry run again in 2008?

Morton Kondracke says yes. Chris Matthews says yes. Frank Martin says no. In 2000, everyone said Gore would run again. In 2004, Gore is nowhere to be found. My guess is the same will be true of Kerry in 2008. Why? Because by 2008, Kerry will be too far to the right for what is left of the Democrat party. The Democrats will also take a beating in 2006 in the Senate and the House, leaving what remains of their party more isolated and increasingly a regional party even more beholding to George Soros and Hollywood. For Bush, far from being a ‘lame duck’ president, he will prove once and for all that “misunderestimating” the Presidents “strategery” is a huge mistake and much like Charley Brown reacting to Lucy’s football, the Dems keep falling for it every time. Bush also enjoys a luxury that few second term presidents get, and that is control of both houses of congress by his party. This will keep the uncomfortable questions at a minimum in the second term.

I see few signs that the Democrats will be able to put up a winning coalition and I see every sign that they are more interested in ideological purity rather than winning elections. I’m very disappointed in them as a party and I hope they get it together but I have my doubts.

1) Will Bush take the country to war again?

I have to say that the crystal ball is not so clear in this case. What I can say is that the world is changing very quickly since the election.

Arafat is dead, and with him the concept of state sponsored terror as a bargaining chip on the worlds stage. I do not think the Palestinians will suddenly toss down their weapons and become advocates of nonviolence, but the effectiveness of the Palestinian “freedom fighter’ is at an end. I think we will see a wide-open civil war as various parties jostle for control, but their ability to fight Israel and thus the western world is at an end. Instead they will fight each other.

The EU and the US seem to be developing a somewhat effective “good cop – bad cop” process in dealing with the other nascent islamofascist states. Today Iran announced that it would stop processing nuclear materials in preparation for weapons. It remains to be seen that they will do what they say, but it is a move in the right direction.

North Korea is isolated and an unannounced Naval blockade is underway where we are intercepting shipping and inspecting what comes in and out of North Korea with great regularity. The three main routes in and out of North Korea are currently being re-enforced with a favored Chinese method, a wall.

North Korea gains nothing by building a bomb or selling the technology to make one, but it gains everything by giving it up. Left in the current state, North Korea will expire within 10 years. We can afford to wait, North Korea cannot. My guess is that the son of the great leader will fall at the hands of his staff within the next 24 months. Chaos will reign. Out of it, China, and South Korea will agree to jointly administer the former North Korean territory. North Korea as an entity will cease to be, by my estimates prior to the 2005 election season.

Does Syria have the Iraqi weapons of Mass Destruction? My guess is yes. Will they use them against Israel? No. More likely, they will trade them for safety. Using them or brandishing makes them a target, trading them brings revenue and safety.

So back the original question, “will President Bush take the country to war again”? My guess is no. That is not to say that we will not be engaged in a great deal of covert actions all over the world at a rate unparalleled even in the cold war, but I think the full-scale invasion business is over for now.

I think the world has changed very quickly, much more quickly than I would have guessed in the days after September 11th. I don’t think the job is over by any means, but I think we have a clearer picture of what the world is going to look like. Islamofascism is losing and Democracy is winning even in places that are hostile to the West. My guess is that this trend will continue.

3) Will Iraq emerge as a stable country?

I think so. There are no Kurdish suicide bombers; there are no Shiite suicide bombers, just Sunnis. Their strategy is simple, don’t participate and make it impossible for the Shiite/Kurd coalition to maintain order. Many argue that we need more American troops to maintain order. I don’t think this is the case, as long as we keep the troop levels as they are and we concentrate on building up indigenous forces, any conflict becomes a “them versus them” battle rather than a “them versus us”. We can succeed by remembering that our job is not to colonize Iraq, but to return Iraq to its rightful owners. They are well underway to accomplishing that. The former owners of Iraq, the Tikriti tribe of the Sunnis and the Syrian Baathists are playing the losing game in this hand. Allawi has the control power of statehood and all the revenue it can produce and the alliances that will naturally result. For every smarmy New York pundit poo-pooing the idea of a free Iraq, there are 10 Iraqis working to make it so. I'm betting on the Iraqis.

My guess is that Allawi will put in place the oil revenue sharing plan similar to the ones that Alaska and Norway use. Once this is done, the whole Middle East will change very rapidly.

I find it interesting that before Bush leaves office in 2008, free elections will have been held in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. Who would have thought such a thing was possible back when we watched Al Gore prance around the debate stage with George W. Bush in 2000?

And that officially brings the 2004 Election season to a close.

So, what will I talk about next?

First, the Democrat party will provide a huge amount of fun in the coming years as they scramble to come to grips with where they are in relation to their base constituency, the average folk of America. Watching the Democrats stumble around desperately in search of the bathroom in the dark like a drunk in an unfamiliar house will provide hours of cheap entertainment. I will exploit it for all its worth.

Second, I am writing two books.

I may end up publishing them myself, but what the hell. It’s time. From time to time I will write posts that parallel what I am writing about in each of the two works. I will also write about the process of writing either of the two pieces.

The first is a book about “remote work” and the subsequent rise of “exurbia”. I’ve spent a good portion of the past 4 years working remotely and I’ve watched a whole revolution quietly getting underway. "remote work" as tremendous consequences to the world and its almost never talked about. I think this has good commercial opportunities. I’ve had pieces of this work in place for a while, and now it's time to put it all together. Blogging has shown me how to make time for writing and how to have the discipline to write what I want to say.

The second book is about Clifford Clinton and Frank Shaw. Frank Shaw was the Mayor of LA in the late 1930’s and was the leader of a corrupt gang that took over the reigns of city government to use for his own purposes. Clifford Clinton was the man who stopped him. His house was bombed, his car was bombed, his restaurants were torched and his family endangered. One man stood up against a large political machine and won. One man can make a difference. Cliff Clinton is one of those men.

One door closes, another opens.

UPDATE: Well if this doesnt rate a "Danny Thomas spit take", I dont know what does. This could be verrrry innnteresting.....

Posted @ November 14, 2004 05:19 PM | Current Events | Comments (5)

Once I Built A Railroad...

Once I built a railroad, and made it run

made it run against time

Once I built a railroad,

now it's done...

Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower, up to the sun

Bricks and mortar and lime

Once I built a tower,

now it's done

Brother, can you spare a dime?

Say, don't you remember, you called me "Jefe"

It was "Jefe" all the time

Say don't you remember, I was your pal

Brother...

can you...

spare...

a dime!

Sic Semper Tyrannus...

Posted @ November 12, 2004 05:10 PM | Current Events | Comments (2)

I'm Questioning Their Patriotism.

I have a couple of friends who are serious fans of Star Trek. I mean they are serious. Dead Serious. To me it’s just a TV Show, to these guys, its life itself. To them, all things can be seen through a lens created by Gene Roddenberry.

I’m usually amused by the way they go about their life. Every once in awhile I’ll catch them saying to no one in particular that they wish the world was more like the Star Trek universe.

I don’t mind this kind of semi day dreamy wishful thinking; everyone has an occasional moment of “wishing it were otherwise”.

It’s when I start seeing the desire for the alternate universe take over their lives that I start to worry. You probably know folks like this, one day they are talking to you about an episode of Star Trek, the next they have a ‘Star Fleet Academy Alumni” window sticker. One day they come to the Company Halloween party in a full Star Trek Federation uniform. Not a cheap off the rack costume, but an actual tailored uniform.

Then one day, they come to work in “The Uniform”. You stare; you wonder where your once rational friend went.

That’s when you grab them by the nape of the neck and go quickly into the lunchroom and ask “ What they hell is wrong with you?” Rather than respond with recognition that they’ve stepped over the line of normal behavior and admit to being somewhat embarrassed, they look at you like you’re the freak.

They tell you how they want the real world to be like the Star Trek Universe, and they can’t understand why you are so against it. “Don’t you want to live in a world like that, it’s so much better than the world we live in”. No matter how you try to bring this person back to “rational world” they insist in living in “Star Trek world”, and rather than try to compromise, they insist that there is something wrong with “rational world”, rather than the other way around.

This is the dilemma that the leftists find themselves in today. There is the way the world is and the way they want it to be and they don't line up anymore.

I spent a lot of time this weekend watching the reaction of the left and I can’t get over what I’m seeing, it's an unprecedented sprial of despair. There are lots of people seriously talking about leaving the country, going to Canada, New Zealand and parts abroad. There are people who are no longer going to visit their families in “Red States” because they can’t take the idea that there are people who would not vote the same way they do! I hate to remind these people doing the complaining that they all loved the “Red States” when those states voted for Bill Clinton back in the 1990's. I dont remember the other President Bush complaining about the Clinton States...

There is something seriously afoot in this election result. It reminds me of the days after the fall of the Berlin wall. When that happened, I was working in San Francisco, and I watched the left deal with the fact that the great Soviet Union was going away. They simply could not accept it, and I think there are many who still haven’t accepted it. I remember when the elections were underway in Nicaragua and the same people insisted that the Sandinistas would win a big victory. It didn’t happen, in fact, the Sandinistas were soundly trounced. Twice. It didn't matter, there are still people in San Francisco who believe that the Sandanistas have support in Nicaragua. There are probably more Sandanistas in San Francisco today than were ever in Nicaragua in the 1980's.

There was this need to look the other way or to find blame (U.S. Imperialism – CIA intervention!), but there was never a time when any of them ever said, “ Well I guess we were just wrong”. The left simply cannot accept that the ideas that they believe can be questioned, or can ever be wrong, even when the evidence says quite the opposite. Facts just don't matter to the Zealot and there are a lot of Zealots on the left.

I remember when Clinton signed Welfare Reform into law, and there was a huge outcry by the left that said it would automatically result in a huge increase in poverty, especially for women and children. When quite the opposite happened, they could not accept it to be true. They rationalized that there had to be “hidden poverty” that was somehow not being found by normal sources. Many states went to extreme means to ensure that people knew of the systems to help them and found themselves at a loss to explain why they weren’t being used. It never occurred to the State Government Agencies that people didn’t need the big government to run their lives. They simply could not see that angle.

Once again, no one could bring themselves to say “ Whoops, I guess we were wrong!”

I see the left today in a serious problem thats very similar to my Star Trek friends. It's fine to want to see the world in a different way, but there comes a point where you are not just wistful for another reality but actually wearing your Star Trek uniform out in public and to work, you’ve started down the road where even if you might have a good point or an idea, people are going to ignore you. We’ve seen political movements in America go the way of the Dodo before, The Free Land and Free Silver movements, the Mugwumps, and the Whig party. Go back not so long ago and you can even see when the Republicans became an utter irrelevancy. I am now beginning to think the Democrats have also jumped into the ashcan of history, with both feet.

I said in an earlier post that I wasn’t so sure that the Democrats are interested in winning elections anymore, but instead they have decided that “ideological purity” as being much more important to their own self identity. When I see and hear people say they no longer want to deal with the “Red States” people and would rather move to another country, I just shake my head. When I hear that so many are ready to run away and give up their citizenship over the results of one election, I just have to say that I am now, in fact, questioning their patriotism, and so should you.

Let no one who is now saying “ I’m leaving” compete on an equal basis with the rest of us. Let’s make sure that in 2006 our 527’s have lots and lots of advertising that shows the other side is in actual fact, not patriotic. I didn’t wet my pants and cry in 1996 when against all logic Bill Clinton was re-elected. I don’t give up on my country because an election doesn’t go my way. Maybe that’s what is different between people like me and the leftists. I believe in the rightness of the country, even when the elections don’t go my way. I believe in Democracy, even when it makes a fool out of me.

I tend to think of this as just one more election, but I get the feeling that many on the left that this was for them “the last election”. What I’m hearing isn’t the sound of partisans saying “let’s keep fighting” what I hear is capitulation. I think for many in the left, they are now finished with the long American experiment. They have wanted a left of center or socialist political movement here for a very long time and they are no closer today than they were back in the grand old days of Emma Goldman and Jack Reed.

I think the left is taking this defeat very hard, and I’m afraid that its not just something they are going to get over quickly. There is a whole host of things that this election has brought to an end, but I think the one thing that has come to an end is the leftist movement in America. It has been steadily becoming more and more irrelevant since the rise of Reagan. Although many will point to Clinton as resurgence, one need only look at the composition of the Congress and his legislative record to make a case that Clinton was the best thing to every come along for Republicans.

Now with Bush getting a second term, and with his maintaining a solid hold over Congress, he can afford to be bold. Most Presidents have a bad second term, but most Presidents don’t have their party in control of Congress. It’s very unlikely that Nixon would have been hounded out of office if Republicans had held the Congress.

That’s the purpose of an opposition party. To keep the Majority party honest. My greatest fear with the collapse of the Democrats isn’t that something worse will replaces them, but that their replacement is already here and they are called Republicans.

Take off your “Federation Uniforms” Democrats and drop the Vulcan salutes. I don’t want you to leave the country, I need you to stay and help keep my party honest. But before you can do that you need to be honest with yourselves about why you lost this election and why you have been steadily losing for 30 years.

It’s not Karl Rove, its not “Selected, not Elected” Its not Halliburton, its not Big Tobacco or Big Oil.

It’s you.

UPDATE: I was reminded by someone today that the last time there was talk about secession, it was Democrats reacting to another Republican Presidential election. In 1860, the southern Democrats left the Union in reaction to the election of President Lincoln.

1860 - Republican gets elected - Democrats want to leave.
2004 - Republican gets elected - Democrats want to leave.

It's nice to see that some things never change.

Posted @ November 08, 2004 11:20 PM | Current Events | Comments (10)

Nasdaq UHAL - Put in your "Buy" orders now!

Suddenly, it seems eveyone is interested in moving!

Posted @ November 06, 2004 12:29 PM | Current Events | Comments (1)

Get The Tranquilizer Gun...

Crikey! There's a serious nest of deranged lefty Moonbats out there! We all know how degranged the free range Moonbat can be when it doesnt get its way but there is some seriously disenfranchised behavior going on right now thats just too good to pass up observing.

So keep the tranquilizer gun ready with plenty of darts while I plow through the suddenly rich trove of the moonbat effluent to bring you the very best in the effects of 'Bush Derangement Syndrome'. Check back often as I go through web sites of the 'disloyal opposition' as I will add them to this post throughout the day.

First up, The ironically named Jane Smiley.

Next, the always dependable, UK Guardian.

Ooops, The Thorozine wore off, Michael Moore is awake again. Dems, If you want a scapegoat for your losses, look no further than this guy. First, he cost Gore the election, and now he cost Kerry his shot. You should pay this man to support your enemies.

I can't miss a chance to take a swat at Mark "Panty" Shields. Mark, Call Your Office!

Kids, Don't you know by now that "love means never having to say your sorry"?

E.J. Dionne - It's called 'acid reflux', and you are it's latest victim.

Hunter Thompson - El Jefe Es Muy Loco.

Paul Routledge - I think we need a double barreled Tranq gun and a tazer for this one.

Margaret Carlson - What Kind Of Mandate Is 51%. Gee Margaret, why dont you ask Bill Clinton, because he never got one. Oh! and Margaret, I dont think your evil, I think you're kinda hot. But that's just between you and me,ok?

Quick Question!: Are people in Europe more sad over the idea Bush being Re-elected than they were over 3,000 people being killed on 9/11? I mean on a scale of 1 to 10, Is Bush a 9 on the grief meter, but 9/11 was a 5? Ever notice how Bush can cause people to generate all sort of bile, but when Islamic madmen kill in the streets of Manhattan, no one can quite find the words?

UPDATE: Today, Opinionjournal.com Channels my question and gets results!:

The Angry Left may finally be coming to understand how normal Americans felt after the Sept. 11 attacks. A poll on DemocraticUnderground.com asks "Which is more depressing, 9/11/01 or 11/3/04?" The results at this writing: 9/11, 29%; 11/3, 71%. In the comments thread, "Big Blue Marble" writes: "I have lived 61 years, lost my parents and my sister plus many many pets and this is the darkest day of my life."

UPDATE II: Yasser Arafat wants to be buried in Jerusalem. Israel asks "Do we need to wait for him to die to bury him"?

UPDATE III: More Street Reaction.

Posted @ November 05, 2004 08:05 AM | Current Events | Comments (6)

The Line Forms to the Left...

Go Ahead Lefties, Leave! I'm ok with that. Just "Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya".

I'm sorry Canada, you might want to give them brochures for New Zealand and Australia to sort of spread out the pain.

UPDATE: Um, Heres a place you might want to skip if youre interested in leaving.

Posted @ November 04, 2004 11:03 PM | Current Affairs | Comments (6)

New York Times Asks: Why Do They Hate Us?

"Remember, more people voted against George Bush than any President in history!"
Gov. Howard Dean
November 3rd 2004.
( Howlin' Howard - The man who could not even win the Iowa Caucuses...)

I’ve been watching the reaction from the Democrats to the election. The best part of living in a blue state when you are a Republican is you get to watch the recriminations up close and personal. I sat at lunch yesterday next to a couple that could not get used to the idea that 59 million people voted for President Bush. They were not aware that Kerry had conceded the election and were still talking about the provisional votes as if they were going to bring victory. They honestly could not accept that there were so many people who would vote for Bush.

You see this throughout the Democrat party. The “Blue States” folks are in utter shock. There is no other word for it. The cycle of recriminations and the assignment of blame has already begun. First that this was an example of "Red State Homophobia", that the “gay marriage” issue was manufactured by Karl Rove to turn out the church going populace. Second, that people in the “Red States” are just backcountry rubes who can be sold anything, and Bush just scared them to death.

I was tempted to write a piece that would help illustrate to Democrats what the need to do to win. After reviewing site after site of Democrat reactions and their own analysis of their failures, I decided it was a wasted effort. They dont yet accept that they have lost, or how deep the loss is.

What the losses of the Democrats to the Republicans comes down to is this:

You cannot make fun of people and then expect that they will vote for you.

I'm not sure the Democrats understand that everytime they said "Bush is Stupid" a small part of a "Red State" slipped further out of their grasp. I'm not sure they yet understand that many,many people identify with and even empathize with President Bush and when Democrats say he is stupid that the Democrats are also saying that they the simple minded "Red State" folk are also stupid.

In my opinion, what cost the Democrats the election was the way they treated the President with a complete lack of respect. Out here in "goober country", we don't think highly of that kind of thing. People in "Red States" believe in common decency, even between adversaries. For every bit of vitriol that was ginned up for the Democrat base, it probably cost them an equal amount of undecided voters in "Red States" who on election day, swung to the President.

Democrats cannot win unless they can take some of the Red States back into their fold. Fundamentally, the “Red States” are growing in population; the “Blue States” are losing population. Unless Democrats are willing to expand their membership they are doomed to a minority party status for a good long time.

I’m not entirely sure at this point that Democrats want to win elections. I think that for some Democrats, its much more important to remain ideologically pure. “Ideologically purity” is the necrosis of party politics. Once upon a time, Republicans had a solid litmus test for people in the party, you could not support gay rights, you could not support government funding of any sort, and you could not support abortion rights under any circumstances.

When they ran the party under that sort of ideological standard, Republicans held a minority position in politics within this country. Today’s Republican party has a wide variety of positions, from Rudolph Giuliani to Dick Cheney, and yes, George W. Bush. Even George W. and George H.W. express opinions that differ from each other greatly and Giuliani from the other two to Andrew Sullivan, who I think is still a Republican, although he takes a very different view of things.

The Democrats on the other hand have become the closed minded, “Ideological purity test” party. There are no “Pro-life” Democrats; there are no “Hawkish” Democrats. Sure there’s Joe Lieberman, and there was Richard Gephardt, but Dick Gephardt is gone now, and Joe is an exile. Frankly, Southern Democrats are going so fast I wonder if there will be any at all in 10 years. Where's Sam Nunn? Wheres Scoop Jackson or Carl Vinson of Todays Democrat Party? These men used to be commonplace in that Party, today you will be hard pressed to find anyone of their like, unless you look in the Republican party.

For so many people in the Democrat party, their party’s ideology defines who they are, and to suggest changing it is a thought akin to heresy.

Shhh Heretic! There will be no talk of "defensive war" because we in the true church of liberal-ity know that all war is caused by greedy capitalists against the poor and is never good under any circumstances.

Silence heathen! We in the true church know that marriage is a form of property over other human beings and the only valid marriage is the type that destroys the institution!

Be still underlings! We in the high church of socialism know that all religion is a form of brain damage and anyone belonging to any church is suspect and possibly a lobotomy victim.

For so many people in the Democrat party, where they live defines who they are. I’ve seen this phenomenon before, people who give anything to live in a particular zip code for no other reason than they feel that by having that zip code, it makes them a better person. I know people who judge people by where they live rather than who they are.

You simply cannot be a good and smart person if you choose to live in Idaho. You must desire to live in San Francisco or Seattle or Manhattan, and if you don’t, you must pine to do so someday.

Suburbs? Ugh! Only breeders live in the ‘burbs!

Many feel that to be a Democrat is to be given a “pass”, you cannot be a bigot, you cannot be a homophobe, you cannot be a dumb hick if you are a Democrat. To live in San Francisco or Manhattan is to say “ I’m not like those little oh so common people, I’m a better person than those people…” It's sad to watch their faces when I tell them, as I often do, that no matter where you go, there you are.... Places don't make you, you make places. If you need to live in Manhattan to be excited and joyous in your life, it's because you are probably too boring to make your own fun somewhere else. I've seen beautiful things in Manhattan, I've seen stunning things on the Paluxy river in Texas. I've learned to appreciate them each for what they are. I guess thats what makes me a small minded knuckle dragging breeder. it's ok,I'm comfortable in my own skin.

I don’t think the Democrat party of today can change. To do so would cause too many currently in the party to reject it. They cannot belong to a party that would welcome openly the silly and ignorant people who follow NASCAR. They cannot stand side by side with people who work in factories and go deer hunting on their weekends. To do so would be to lower their sense of self worth to admit that there were in fact just like that which they openly hate and despise. The common every day folk...

Even though I am a Republican, I really want a strong and solid Democrat party. Our political system is an adversarial system like that found in courts of law. Having one party rule is like having a court system where only the prosecutor gets access to lawyers. There is no more certain way to corrupt a system than to leave it unchecked. Democrats, by allowing their party to be taken over by coastal cultural elites have doomed their party to regional, almost cult like status.

To win, Democrats must drop their anti-religious bigotry.

To win, Democrats must find another candidate from “a town called hope”.

To win, Democrats must decide that America is worth defending.

To win, Democrats must again sing " Happy days are here again".

To win, Democrats must cast aside Al Sharpton, Michael Moore and Al Franken, they must learn to embrace Zell Miller.

They must learn that to win, they must reach out to the very people they despise.

People like me.

According to this map, they are going to need some mighty big arms.

UPDATE I: New York Times Local Reaction

San Francisco Local Reaction

Seattle Local Reaction

Portland Oregon Local Reaction

Posted @ November 04, 2004 06:05 PM | Current Events | Comments (6)

It's Over.

The Senate is Republican.
The House is Republican.
The President got a majority of the popular vote.
The President has a clear electoral victory.

At least I think so, but it appears at this late hour a hideous infectious virus that manifests itself by parasitically taking over the bodies of their human hosts to turn them into "Lawyers" has broken into the Democrat party.

Instead of acting like men, the Democrats have decided to act like lawyers. Let's just be clear here, there is no win out there for Kerry to get. At best, Kerry could get a tie, the tie puts it into the House, the House which is a Republican institution will vote Bush to be President. Golly wouldnt that be fun.

Ohio is not Florida. It's not even close enough to get a recount. In 2000 5 states were close enough to require a recount,Florida was just one of them. No state met that requirement this year. Those 'provisional ballots'? Those are not absentee ballots. Provsional ballots are for people who screw up and go to the wrong polling location. You vote, its not counted until they resolve your legitimacy. In a word, all but a small set are crap con jobs.

Lawyers. Dontcha just hate em?

You are correct when you say that my prediction of 381 EV's to Bush didn't pan out. What do I know about elections?, I make databases for a living, I'm not an expert on electoral behavior. It was a guess, and now that weve seen how it all comes out, the smart set didnt do a whole lot better than I did.

It was a great election until the very end. big turnout, no whining about 'voter apathy'. Both sides threw everything they had into it. Very well played, no riots, shenanigans kept to a minimum. A good time was had by all.

The people spoke. They voted for Bush.

I would gladly give the Dems 1000 dollars in cash if Kerry would concede. He wont. The Dems will spend the next 4 years running around spinning lies about this election. Disenfranchisement, illegal votes, anything and everything to take away the legitimacy of this election.

Democracy is not about getting your way, it's about being asked. Everyone who voted yesterday won in this election. I don't think I met anyone yesterday who could vote who didnt go to the polls. That's probably the first time in my life that has ever happened.

It's Over. Let's "Move On" now, shall we?

A NOTE TO MY DEMOCRAT FRIENDS:

It's not that Bush couldn't be beat, its that he couldnt be beat by this guy. Senators make bad candidates. Howard Dean would have done a better job, He atleast believed the stuff that he said.

Here's how you win elections in America.

1. Shop at Wal-Mart. Get to know the people who shop there.
2. Follow Nascar racing. Learn to like it.
3. Buy and drive a pickup.
4. Visit Home Depot on Saturday morning. Buy Lumber. Make something.
5. Have Children.
6. Raise them yourself.
7. Find a Church that you like, visit frequently.
8. Buy an American Flag, Attach it to your house.
9. Learn to operate a gun. Consider buying one.
10. Start your own Business. Hire someone. Make a Profit.

And most important, in a time of war, never ever go against the family.

UPDATE II: As of 8:15 - Kerry has called the President to concede.

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. Abraham Lincoln Second Inagural Address.

No gloating. Shake the hands of your countrymen, no matter how they voted. It was a good fight fairly won.

UPDATE III: Apparently, there were riots. (Not Safe For Kids).Boy, do I miss working in San Francisco. No really, I do! Douglas Adams once said that San Francisco is the only city on Earth where space aliens can live openly in public and no one would notice. Spend any amount of time there and you know what he means. There are just some ideas so silly that only an intellectual can accept them, and in San Francisco, everthing that is forbidden is required and nothing is too far out or too forbidden or out ofconsideration.

I once heard an open discussion on the validity of cannibalism while I worked in San Francisco. Really.

Posted @ November 03, 2004 12:00 AM | Election 2004 | Comments (8)

Earn This

There’s nothing more to be said, I have nothing else to give you. This is one of those ‘day of days’ that we read about in the history books only we are actually living it. None of you will forget where you were tonight and what you are going to do tomorrow. Some say the world is watching for what happens here tomorrow, but I say they’ve been watching us for 228 years.

There were those in the days after 9/11 that New York should cancel its Mayoral election.

It did not.

There were those who doubted that we could ever again have public events in safety.

We did.

There were those who said we would always be looking over our shoulder that our minority Arab populations would be in camps.

They are not.

There were those who wondered in 2001 that the election in 2004 could ever take place.

And here we are.

It’s not like we’ve been underestimated before. It happens all the time. For 228 years, the world has always bet against the American people.

In 1777, what was then the worlds greatest army was stopped in its tracks by our back country irregulars in Saratoga New York. For the first time, the world took notice.

In 1789 the King of England said that "If George Washington would refuse to be king and accept the crown he would be the greatest man alive".

He did, and he was.

In 1860, the nation began a civil war that would the country deeply and the world said it could never be put back together again
In 1864, then unpopular president Lincoln after 3 years of the most bloody war in the nations entire history was reelected. The president said “ charity towards all and malice towards none” and allowed the rebels to go home with their weapons and honor intact.
The pundits were wrong. The south was defeated the union was saved and Lincoln was re-elected.

In 1944,Free men of the worlds democracies boarded small flat bottom boats and drove into the surf towards the maw of Nazi occupied Europe. The pundits said we would lose, that free men in democracies could not stand against the supermen of fascism.

They were wrong.

In 1945, the world said Germany and Japan could never be democratized and should be de-industrialized.

They were wrong.

In 1952, both countries held free elections.

In 1950, The Soviets and the Koreans did not believe that Americans would come to the aid of a small backwater country in Asia.

They were wrong.

In 2004 we are still supporting that country and through our support and their hard work have become a great economic power while their enemies to the north are a hellish concentration camp incapable of feeding their own people.

In 1980, The world said that Reagan was a madman for facing down the Soviets.

They were wrong.

In 1990, the Soviet Union ceased to be.

In 2001 we were attacked by religious psychotics and many around the world said that we would never be the same; that we would have to learn to live under threat of terror and that we would have to remove or limit our freedoms. Many said that we would have to learn to accommodate the Terrorists as they had done in their counties.

They were wrong.

In 2004, we are actively dismantling the structures of world terror.
In 2004, we are holding baseball games, football games, political rallies and conventions in major cities.
In 2004, we are voting for President.

Look how far we’ve all come.

My friends, fellow citizens. We are still here.
Despite all that has been thrown at us, We are still free men and women living in a Republic based in a democratic tradition. We have beaten the odds just by getting out of bed in the morning.

People toss about the phrase “Greatest Generation’ to describe the people who survived the great depression, then went on to fight the fascists and finally put on fight against the communists. I agree that they are certainly great, but I am here to tell you that I’m proud to be in this time, in this generation, in this struggle against tyranny.

Somewhere on the border of Iraq, sits an American, Brit, Pole, Italian or Aussie with a pair of binoculars looking across to Iran.

Somewhere on the border of Iraq, sits an American, Brit, Pole, Italian or Aussie with a pair of binoculars looking across to Syria.

Somewhere in Afghanistan an American, Brit, Pole, Aussie, German, Frenchman are looking across the hills of Warziristan.

Somewhere in Korea sits an American and South Korean watching across the border at the North Koreans.

On the other side of those borders sit worried packs of people who are living in fear.
Not just fear of American tanks, wire-guided munitions and warships the size of city blocks.

They live in fear of common every day Americans who are exercising their right to vote and the consequences that it will surely bring to their tyrannical masters.

Freedom is on the march. It is this generation that will see Gods gift to mankind, the enfranchisement of the entire human populace with the rights of citizenship, the right to vote, made into a reality. This will be the first generation without the existence of state-sponsored slavery.

The world thinks we cannot accomplish this goal.

They are wrong.

Tomorrow when we stand at the polls, we stand with the men and women of Afghanistan, we stand with the people of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and yes, Palestine.

Freedom is on the march.

Once the world said that Afghanistan could never have elections and that the population would reject western ways.

They were wrong.

The people in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and yes, Palestine are waiting for us to cast their vote tomorrow.

You are citizens of a democracy. Most of you came about it by birth, but now its time you earned your place in it. Show the world what free people do when put to the test. Show them what your grandfather showed the fascists; show them what your father showed the Soviets. Show them that free people are the most powerful force on earth.

The world thinks you will turn your backs on the poor and disenfranchised.

They are wrong. This is the “greatest generation”.

We’ve overcome a great deal just to get here. We’ve lost some of us along the way, but we are not going to stop now. We will win this fight because we don’t want our grandchildren to be living under the thumb of terror. We will live in freedom. The world will live in freedom.

I’ve got nothing else to say. Go do your duty, to yourself and mankind.

In the words of Captain Miller:

“I’ll see you on the beach...”.

Posted @ November 01, 2004 09:21 PM | Election 2004 | Comments (10)

A Quickie

Ain't it nice to hear no one blubbering about 'Voter Apathy' and low turnout?

I'm working on my final piece for the election, but first I gotta go running.

Posted @ November 01, 2004 02:47 PM | Current Events | Comments (0)