The Razor

Veteran Democrat bails out on party (link)

My family has voted Democrat since before the Great Depression. I grew up believing that FDR and JFK were American saints since both were spoken about in hushed tones and given the same reverence as those I learned about in Catholic school.

However, I now realize that I no longer subscribe to the ideals held by the party, as evidenced by Michael Moore and Jimmy Carter’s prominent place in the Kerry campaign, and Howard Dean’s takeover of the DNC. The party of FDR and JFK no longer exists. The Democratic Party has become a party afraid of change, afraid of fighting injustice in the world, and afraid of standing up to its corporate benefactors that profit from its stances on illegal immigration and tort reform.

While I do not agree with 100% of the Republican platform, I do see it as a progressive party that is willing to consider my opinions and is not beholden to reactionary ideologues like Carter, Moore and Dean. The party has a fetishistic devotion to the United Nations – an organization where the majority of members are non-democratic. It reveres people like Moore – who compared the murderers in Iraq, the ones who behead civilians and force retarded children to be suicide bombers, to America’s Minutemen, and Jeanine Garofalo – who compared the “thumbs-up” sign of the Iraqi voters to Nazi “Heil Hitlers.” Now it is about to elevate Dean to head its National Committee – a man who once said that Osama Bin Laden was innocent until proven guilty of the 9-11 attacks.

I hope to someday return to the party, but it will only be once it has come to its senses which it has obviously lost.

Update: Mumia is a household name, thanks to Hollywood. However, I realized after I reread this that I didn’t mention the man he shot in cold blood – Officer Daniel Faulkner. I am sorry I didn’t. Officer Daniel Faulkner should be even more a household name than his murderer. If you need to learn more about this case, visit this link.

As I write there are some Cop Killing Supporters protesting outside of the Mayor’s office in Philly. There must be better ways of protesting than pissing off people heading to lunch. One way they might consider is to dress in black and march down the center of I-95 after dark. Especially those sections that have blind curves.

I haven’t written anything about Mumia or the nutjobs that support him while the widow of the policeman he killed has valiantly fought his elevation to sainthood.

But I will say this, and I am sure some of you will be surprised given my Right Wing leanings:

Free Mumia – Feet First

Yes, I want to see Mumia freed. I want to see him leave prison – in a body bag.

Back in the 1980s I actually attended a couple of protests against this man. My Wife was smarter and voted for him twice.

Needless to say, I was wrong then and I sure miss him today. So I snapped up his stamp while at the post office during lunch.

Carly Fiorina has been ousted as CEO of HP.
The ITPAA’s official statement can be viewed here.
I’ve been avoiding HP products for 3 years now, and honestly do not miss them.

ITPAA members celebrate ousting of HP CEO Carly Fiorina

Could the Logic of Failure explain the controversy at Dean’s World?. Dean has become a convert to the HIV does NOT cause AIDS side. Since I have read Duesberg’s paper and am halfway through the book, I haven’t come out and said that, though I’m leaning that way.

The reasons I’m most likely going to come out against the HIV causes AIDS hypothesis are various. One thing that I’m fixated on today is the following thought experiment:

Imagine that we did not know today that smoking caused cancer (or more accurately, increased the likelihood of the occurence of diseases known collectively as “cancer”). Now, imagine that you are a virologist who decides to tackle the disease of emphysema.

You would be constrained in your search for a cause by your area of expertise (virology) and would have limited understanding of other areas. You would also be subjected to the human tendency to see patterns where none existed. As a result you would see those wasting from emphysema, throat cancer, COPD, heart disease and other conditions as similar to other diseases proven to be caused by virii.

Now imagine that you studied the tissues of those suffering from the above named diseases. You would find hundreds – if not thousands – of various virii in your samples, and most likely one would be common to most (but not all) samples.

You would then be tempted to conclude that this common virus caused emphysema and the related cancers.

And stepping out of our thought experiment, you would be wrong.

I am a computer programmer by training who has moved into the area of analysis. One of the things I do is analyze how businesses do what they do and study their successes and their mistakes. In my work I have relied alot on Dietrich Dorner’s book, The Logic of Failure. In his book Dorner explains why smart people often are led to erroneous conclusions.

The people who support the HIV causes AIDS hypothesis are not stupid. And the fact remains, that those that don’t believe HIV causes AIDS are not stupid either. One of these two groups is right, and as I continue studying the controversy from my perspective as an analyst, the evidence is pointing me towards the latter group as being the one with the correct hypothesis.

Dorner’s book is a must read for anyone who thinks, since it will help you avoid the pitfalls that lead to erroneous conclusion and in some cases, disasters.

My family has voted Democrat since before the Great Depression. I grew up believing that FDR and JFK were American saints since both were spoken about in hushed tones and given the same reverence as those I learned about in Catholic school. However I now realize that I no longer subscribe to the ideals held by the party, as evidenced by Michael Moore and Jimmy Carter’s prominent place in the Kerry campaign, and Howard Dean’s takeover of the DNC.

The party of FDR and JFK no longer exists. The Democratic Party has become a party afraid of change, afraid of fighting injustice in the world, and afraid of standing up to its corporate benefactors that profit from its stances on illegal immigration and tort reform. While I do not agree with 100% of the Republican platform, I do see it as a progressive party that is willing to consider my opinions and is not beholden to reactionary ideologues like Carter, Moore and Dean.

The party has a fetishistic devotion to the United Nations – an organization where the majority of members are non-democratic. It reveres people like Moore – who compared the murderers in Iraq, the ones who behead civilians and force retarded children to be suicide bombers, to America’s Minutemen, and Jeanine Garofalo – who compared the “thumbs-up” sign of the Iraqi voters to Nazi “Heil Hitlers”. Now it is about to elevate Howard Dean to head it’s National Committee – a man who once said that Osama Bin Laden was innocent until proven guilty of the 9-11 attacks.

I hope to someday return to the party, but it will only be once it has come to its senses which it has obviously lost.

I just got back from a trip to central PA over the weekend. The family and I stopped in cities, all of which ended in the suffix “-burg” or “-ville”. These are the places where I used to break out in a cold sweat when I passed through them in my early years, and the places I used to scoff at when I fell into the trap of elitism during college.

Now I visit these places and feel nothing but relief. In these red counties in a blue state – since these are the counties that Bush won in a state that went into Kerry’s column – businesses in towns like Lewisburg were all closed on Sunday. The hours sign in one business read “Sunday – Closed – See you in church”, and the streets were literally alive with people going to the local churches. One intersection had three churches on four of the corners, and everyone was wearing their Sunday finest as they strolled into or out of these houses of worship.

Nearby Bucknell University stands, it’s gleaming towers of liberal arts knowledge overshadowing the parked cars with Kerry-Edwards bumperstickers, and others that read “Hatred is not a family value”. But such a bastion of liberalism was merely a speck, a tiny island in a sea of Bush-Cheney stickers that remained slapped on bumpers, and in store windows everywhere.

The crowds of Christians smiled as I waved at them to cross in front of our car, and it was hard to look at these people and feel anything but good neighborliness. These people lived beneath a star filled sky. In fact, one luxury home we passed on a hill in Danville sported a large refracting telescope behind a window. At the local KFC I spotted a gay couple eating their chicken as they nodded greetings to the locals who crowded in after serv ices.

Everyone we met was, dare I say, friendly. It’s almost like they were all drugged or something. After having spent 8 years in the Washington-Baltimore Corridor (MegaCity One to you Judge Dredd fans), I realized that they weren’t on drugs – I was. Living in the Corridor had poisoned my spirit to a degree that surprised me. Whereas people in the Corridor are strung to the point where “going postal” jokes have become cliches, these people seemed to be genuinely content. They have land – whereas I have suburbia. They have space, whereas I have to fight for mine.

I remember reading Gail Sheehy’s Passages, and that core of that book is true: there are life stages and we do change within each one.

While I used to denigrate suburbia, I have come to terms with it. Still, I realize that another change is coming, one in which I want to be with my family but away from my neighbors.

I want to hear silence. In fact, I crave silence. But not in a Buddhist temple – in my daily living. It may or may not be in Danville, Lewisburg or New Columbia – but it will be in a place where the stores are closed on Sundays and the people aren’t afraid to smile.

From time to time I’m going to bring over one of my favorite stories from the original Razor. The original Razor was all hard-coded HTML, with the stories written in Dreamweaver. The experience taught me HTML and that I needed Content Management Software.

Since tornados will soon be popping up on the Doppler radar east of the Rockies to the Appalachians, I thought I would repost this:

Tornado-Time (link)

I grew up in the Midwest – that’s the part of the country that most famous people fly-over as they travel between east and west coast – or so they would have you believe. Most of America’s movers and shakers actually hail from this part of the country – Brad Pitt (Missouri) and Madonna (Michegan) leap to mind. I have spent quite a lot of time in basements, waiting for storms to pass, and listening to the National Weather Service on the radio.

The American Midwest has more tornados than any other part of the world. This fact is due to the Gulf of Mexico, which sends streams of warm moist air northward that then collides with cold air coming down from Canada. Twisters are the result, and most Midwesterners have seen them up close and personal. Tornados are frightfully awesome things as is the weather that spawns them. I have ridden out storms in Africa, survived typhoons in Japan and earthquakes in California – but there is nothing like a Spring or Summer storm that brews up in the late afternoon on the American plains.

Imagine looking out a window at the sky, then taking black spraypaint and covering the sky with it. It may seem an exaggeration, but ask any Midwesterner and she’ll tell you that it looks kind of like that – just the clouds are darker. The rain comes down sideways as it is whipped by strong winds. Looking up at the clouds one sees layers of black, the lower layers moving faster than the upper ones as lightening streaks binds them together and the resulting thunder rumbles up through the ground and groans its way up your bones. Then amongst the rain you begin to see what appears to be larger rain drops that fall vertically through the windswept rain, then bounce off the ground. That’s the hail that usually precedes a tornado.

At this point a true Midwesterner decides it’s time to shoot some pool in the basement rec room. Before a funnel cloud appears, Nature’s drama quiets down. The rain and hail usually lessen, as does the sky which takes a pale green color. It’s a rare color to see in the sky, and everytime I’ve seen it a tornado is usually nearby.

The funnel itself often starts off as nothing more than some low clouds spinning in a circle. The tail slowly forms and is often whipped sideways by the prevailing winds. If one is close enough – one begins to hear a low barely perceptible sound that yes, does indeed sound like a freight train.

I’ll have to stop there with my description because after that point I’ve always been in the basement – whether placed there by the calloused hands of my father or by the good sense that my mother gave me.

I still dream about tornados. For me they are an archetype for change. I’ve seen them in my dreams whenever something big is happening in my life: a trip abroad, the birth of a kid, etc. I’m seeing them now.*

Unfortunately, there are quite a few Midwesterners who are seeing them up close and personal and not just in their dreams. As of the time I write this, 42 have died – and we’re not even halfway through tornado season. The America media, mostly based on the East Coast, is reporting about these storms – showing the devastation, interviewing survivors. What many of you may not know, especially the large portion of you (about 40% according to my site statistics) who live outside the USA, is that Midwesterners are the tough of the tough. We come from tough stock – Swedes and Norwegians in the northern states, Germans and Irish in the middle, and French (the pre-1789 variety) and Irish in the south. We tend not to whine. So far all of the survivors I have seen interviewed are smiling – not crying. Why? One said it all: She was happy to be alive. She had ridden out a tornado in Oklahoma with her three grandchildren in the basement. Her house wiped out completely. She joked, “Well, I’ve always wanted a sunroof.” Her home had no walls – let alone a roof.

I am a firm believer that adversity is the true test of a man. One learns what kind of person one is when times are tough. One also learns who one’s friends are, or how strong one’s organizations are. The people of the American Midwest are facing some serious adversity, and I think that their fortitude and strength is not being appreciated by those of you who do not live in the region. You are also not aware of how well institutions like the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Red Cross are functioning. If you want to see how good your insurance company is, see how fast their reps show up in Kansas and note how fast claims are paid.

The Midwestern Americans are going through some very tough times right now. Many have loved ones serving their nation abroad; others have lost their jobs and now their homes. The worst have lost their lives or their loved ones. A Fox News reporter standing in the middle of a wiped out subdivision cannot accurately portray how devastated the people who once lived in those homes really are. But they are the toughest of the tough. I am reminded of Tom Wolfe’s quote about Americans:

Americans are childish in many ways and about as subtle as a Wimpy burger; but in the long run it doesn’t make any difference. They just turn on the power.

Keep that in mind but don’t forget that Midwesterners deserve a place in your prayers though they are too proud to ask.
——* Feb 2005 Update: I don’t believe that dreams can fortell the future, but I do believe that they can show what the subconscious is picking up. Soon after I posted this, I lost my job to a foreign replacement, founded the ITPAA and began a fight that continues to this day.

I want one too (link) (hat-tip Dean):

Just a note that a boxing legend, Max Schmeling, has died at the age of 99 (link).

While some of you may recognize him as Joe Louis’s opponent at the 1936 Munich games, you might think that Joe was a tool of the Nazis. Well, if you do think that, you’d be wrong. I was.
Check this out:

Despite the portrayal of him in the United States as a tool of the Nazis, Schmeling had run-ins with the regime even before the first fight with Louis.

Although he had lunched with Hitler and had long discussions with propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Schmeling angered the Nazi bosses in 1935 by refusing to join the Nazi party, fire his Jewish American manager, Joe Jacobs, and divorce his Czech-born wife, Anny Ondra, a film star.

During the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Schmeling extracted a promise from Hitler that all U.S. athletes would be protected.

He hid two Jewish boys in his Berlin apartment during the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom, when the Nazis burned books in a central square and rampaged through the city, setting synagogues on fire.

Reportedly, Schmeling also used his influence to save Jewish friends from concentration camps.

After the war, Schmeling was nearly destitute and fought five more times for the money. He retired after a 10-round loss to Walter Neusel in 1948 at age 43 with a record of 56-10-4 with 39 knockouts.

Schmeling used the money from the bouts to buy the license to the Coca-Cola franchise in Germany and grew wealthy in the postwar era. He also marketed his name, retaining his huge popularity with his countrymen despite his problems with the Nazis.

Schmeling remained married to Anny Ondra for 54 years until she died in 1987. The two, who met on the set of a film Schmeling appeared in, married in 1932.

“I had a happy marriage and a nice wife. I accomplished everything you can. What more can you want?” Schmeling said in 1985.

Schmeling also support Joe Lewis when he was down and out, and paid for his funeral in 1981.

So we have here a man villified by the press in the 1930’s as a Nazi superman who in fact stood up to the Nazis, saved Jews, supported his one time opponent, and remained married to the same woman for 54 years.

Here’s to Max Schmeling – a true mensch.

Tim Blair takes issue with Andrew Sullivan for taking $200k from the blogosphere and still needing a vacation:

Planning his vacation, Sullivan thanks readers for “the financial support that has kept this blog alive and well.” (Two hundred grand and he still couldn’t afford a blogroll? Way to share the bloggy wealth, Andrew.) Other sites—many other sites—have done more with less.

Sullivan’s massive blog earnings have ended up funding a Euro-Middle Eastern stroll with time off to write a book. His next pledge drive might deliver a substantially lower return.

Sullivan was one of the first bloggers I read, and in the aftermath of 9-11 I read him, Den Beste and Instapundit more than newspapers or magazines.

However, Sullivan was always flakey. His sexuality overshadowed much of what he wrote, and I often wished he would keep the subject away from his penis. It wasn’t his best writing.

Beginning awhile back I noticed that Sullivan was becoming more unstable, and I found more consistent writing elsewhere. I haven’t read him in almost two years.

Still, I’m disappointed that the first professional blogger didn’t set a better example for the rest of us who pay for the privilege of spouting off, and get the same traffic in a year as what he gets on a good day.

Just when you think you’ve seen everything… (Hat Tip: The Pirate King)
Source: The Daily Telegraph (link)

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing “sexual services’’ at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year….

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.

I wrote about why I dislike this band in this post. Just in case you think I’m some old fuddy-duddy, here’s what’s been rocking my gas guzzling SUV:

1. Christopher Lawrence – a master of trance techno
2. Joshua Ryan – a discovery after using Music Map , one of the most original music search sites I’ve ever found.
3. Minor Threat – I’ve got straight edge…
4. Jethro Tull – Okay, sometimes the gnomes and the elves of the forest take over my CD player. It’s not something that I’m proud of but it happens, no matter how many “no-elf” strips and gnome traps I leave in the car.

Green Day has made yet another song that irritates me like the musical equivalent of poison ivy: “Walk Alone”. If ever there was a song that was ripe for a Weird Al parody, this has gotta be it. It’s the song that every 18-21 male whose girlfriend has ditched him listens to right now. It’s got the heavy lyrics that can only be appreciated by kids whose hearts have been mildly plucked…

Not ripped out of your chest, stomped on, and thrown into a vat of acid suffered. No, that only comes after decades of dealing with the “fairer” sex.

My response to Walk Alone is gestating, but until then I can only say:

Get over it.

Sometimes I’m simply left speechless by events – and this was one of those times.
As a Conservative, I’m supposed to look at the cloud instead of the silver lining, but do so now and you miss one of the most extraordinary facts of human history:

Freedom trumps tyranny when given the chance.

The Iraqi people have taken the chance.

Nuff said.