I wanna see how they (GOP) handle this...

(emphasis mine)

BAGHDAD, June 14 -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (who Bush visited and said was doing a great job this week) on Wednesday proposed a limited amnesty to help end the Sunni Arab insurgency as part of a national reconciliation plan that Maliki said would be released within days. The plan is likely to include pardons for those who had attacked only U.S. troops, a top adviser said.

Maliki's declaration of openness to talks with some members of Sunni armed factions, and the prospect of pardons, are concessions that previous, interim governments had avoided. The statements marked the first time a leader from Iraq's governing Shiite religious parties has publicly embraced national reconciliation, welcomed dialogue with armed groups and proposed a limited amnesty.

Reconciliation could include an amnesty for those "who weren't involved in the shedding of Iraqi blood," Maliki told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. "Also, it includes talks with the armed men who opposed the political process and now want to turn back to political activity."

1) If Bush is telling you you are doing a great job (a la former FEMA director Brown), odds are you are getting ready to do something stupid.

2) Okay, so let's get this straight...the Iraqi gov't that the adminstration supports, will basically be saying it is okay if you killed only American soldiers. Isn't that saying that it is an acceptable response to our presence there? So we are occupiers?

If the GOP goes along with this then we won't offer amnesty to illegal immigrants but we would support amnesty for those that kill our soldiers. Talking about your land of confusion! Where's the puppet of Ronald Reagan to press the launch button when you need him?!

Blonde Geometry

Okay...I have never been a big fan of blonde jokes...the whole making fun of someone based on a genetic variation never made sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying I am a saint or anything...I enjoy people watching and making fun of people...but only for things that are within their control (actions, words, etc...)

Anyway...

After careful scrutiny, it is our understanding that the blonde
student was given credit for the answer, but the board of education
has warned math teachers to be more explicit in the future.

The times they are a changin'

Okay, I know that polls don't mean whole heckuva lot...but this is so heartening...


This graphic represents county-by-county results of the 2004 presidential election, red counties voted for Bush, blue for Kerry.



And this graphic shows the results of a May 15, 2006 presidential approval poll. Red counties have net favorable poll results, blue net negative.



"As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'."
--Bob Dylan

I want off this rock!

In my daily read of the left-leaning blogs I frequent, I came across an article that simply blows my mind. Here is a snippet:

Certainly since Vietnam, America has increasingly practiced a policy of minimalism and restraint in war. And now this unacknowledged policy, which always makes a space for the enemy, has us in another long and rather passionless war against a weak enemy.

Why this new minimalism in war?
It began, I believe, in a late-20th-century event that transformed the world more profoundly than the collapse of communism: the world-wide collapse of white supremacy as a source of moral authority, political legitimacy and even sovereignty.

I guess I was just brainwashed by the lib'rul edukashun system and even lib'ruler media that those things are(were) a product of our constitution, the wonderful 3 branches of government with their checks and balances and what-not. I never thought the American moral authority, political legitimacy and sovereignty was a product of the KKK and neo-nazi skinheads. If you want, you can read the rest of the article here. But I think the excerpt above says it all.

It's nice to be employed

Well, here it is May 1st. I was almost out in the street marching with the illegal immigrants today. Not becuase I am an illegal, but becuase I almost didn't have a job. Long story, here it comes....

September 2005, I left a job after 7 months for one that paid better and has actually in my field. The selling point for the job was that there was a 1- year "Feasibility Study" period and then a 3-year "Test and Evaluation" period. Well, come this past February, we found out that the 3-year period (which had originally been slated to be conducted in the local area) was moving to a location 2+ hours from home.

In March, the conversation went something like this--

Company: Your position is moving.

Jim: Well, I ain't moving.

Company: Well, we need you to move.

Jim: I'm sorry, but I ain't moving.

Company: Well, what about moving there temporarily for 6 months.

Jim: Are you freakin' crazy?

Company: Okay how about doing a geo-bachelor arrangement where you live up there during the week and go back home on weekends, starting April 1st?

Jim: For how long? I get custody of my kids the first of June.

Company: Six months.

Jim: (dumbfounded stare)

Company: Okay how about 2 months.

Jim: And what about after the 2 months?

Company: Well, we don't really have anything open for you on the horizon, but we can work something out.

Jim: And how much am I going to be compensated for this living away from my family during the week?

Company: Well, we will pay your actual living expenses (food and hotel).

Jim: That's it?

Company: Well, find the average cost per hotel in the area and we will pay you that amount.

Jim: (Thinking...well it is a military area and the average will be the local per diem rate...I can get a hotel for a lot cheaper than that.) Okay.

So...April 1 rolls around. They aren't ready for us to move becuase there are contract negotiation issues. It is not until April 15th that we hear anything about the contract. Okay...new start date is May 1. I remind them that my kids are coming June 1 so they will only get 1 month from me...And still no word on any other position for me. I make the arrangements for a hotel May 1 - May 4th (I plan on working 10-hour days and leaving there Thursday night). Friday April 28th I get an email that I am not to go to this other location on May 1st. But that is all the e-mail said. An hour later I get another e-mail saying that they "found" a position for me here, but the details are not arranged yet so on or about the first week of May, the position might be available. So basically on or about May 1st, I may or may not get paid? I got a call that afternoon telling me to show up Monday, and hopefully all will be worked out ove the weekend. I got no word of anything this weekend, so not knowing if I had a job or not, I got dressed and went in. I waited until about 8:30 before I got any official word...I am employed! And this time it is for 3 years and the position isn't moving anywhere!

And I was looking forward to the "No Gringo" Day.

Advertising Slogans

Okay...I't not going off on a rant against Madison Avenue. If you want that, see Beav's post.

Every wonder what the slogan would be if you were a product? Well, here's mine:

Grab Life by the Jim.

I guess just make sure you wash your hands afterwards?

What's your slogan?

Poor little monkey

It looks like he lost his cymbals. Just wind him up and watch him go!

Decision making

In my current job (as in life) there are lots of decisions that need to be made. Many of these decisions must be made rather quickly and without the supporting information one would desire in order to feel comfortable said decisions. We have used all kinds of tools - flowcharts, analytical hierarchy process, stop-light charts, etc. The problem is that as a vestige of the "quality" movement in the military during the early 1990s, the process seems more important than the decision. If you make a decision withou using a "process" then the decision is considered suspect and you have to go through the motions of an accepted process anyway. Okay, enough of my rant. In the course of researching a process modeling tool called UML (Unified Modeling Language), I came across this flowchart. If only all decisions could be this simple...

Following in Beav's Blog-steps...

I had to post one of my perosnality test results.

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgable, you are the perfect sidekick. You're always willing to lend a helping hand. In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going. "15 seconds to showtime!"

The Muppet Personality Test

Childhood personalities and future political leanings

Found this interesting article about a 20-year study...very interesting...

How to spot a baby conservative
Whiny children, claims a new study, tend to grow up rigid and traditional. Future liberals, on the other hand ...

Mar. 19, 2006. 10:45 AM
KURT KLEINER
SPECIAL TO THE TORONTO STAR

Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.

At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.

The study from the Journal of Research Into Personality isn't going to make the UC Berkeley professor who published it any friends on the right. Similar conclusions a few years ago from another academic saw him excoriated on right-wing blogs, and even led to a Congressional investigation into his research funding.

But the new results are worth a look. In the 1960s Jack Block and his wife and fellow professor Jeanne Block (now deceased) began tracking more than 100 nursery school kids as part of a general study of personality. The kids' personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known them for months. There's no reason to think political bias skewed the ratings — the investigators were not looking at political orientation back then. Even if they had been, it's unlikely that 3- and 4-year-olds would have had much idea about their political leanings.

A few decades later, Block followed up with more surveys, looking again at personality, and this time at politics, too. The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.

The confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests. The girls were still outgoing, but the young men tended to turn a little introspective.

Block admits in his paper that liberal Berkeley is not representative of the whole country. But within his sample, he says, the results hold. He reasons that insecure kids look for the reassurance provided by tradition and authority, and find it in conservative politics. The more confident kids are eager to explore alternatives to the way things are, and find liberal politics more congenial.

In a society that values self-confidence and out-goingness, it's a mostly flattering picture for liberals. It also runs contrary to the American stereotype of wimpy liberals and strong conservatives.

And yes, I was a self-confident, independent child.

I'm back...

Okay...I've been gone the past 3 weeks. One week of crazy work, one week was my annual spring-break/anniversary vacation (to get away from crazy work...This year it was Punta Cana, Dominican Republic...Not as great as Aruba, but a close runner-up to heaven on Earth) and then another week at work, doing the work that didn't get done the week I was gone.

Here's your daily dose of stripping...

Why is it so hot? And what is America doing in a handbasket?

I just love the direction this country has taken. First, the President's "public" speeches are by invitation only. Then, private citizens are having their phones tapped without court order. Okay, the President says he has that power in time of war.

First, when did Congress issue a declaration of war? Since they didn't, and as I understand the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 - "The Congress shall have the power...to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water" - we are not "at war". Also, this Article would also seem to imply the thte President doesn't have the power to determine what happens to those prisoners of war/enemy combatants/terrorist/brown-skinned-guys-we-don't-know-if-they-are-a-threat-but-we-will-detain-them-anyway.

Second, following the administration's resoning, what isn't within the President's power during a time of war? Reading your 1st class domestic mail? What if you are suspected of being a terrorist/terrorist supporter/terrorist sympathizer/anti-Bush administration. (They are the same, right?) How about the assasination/targeted killing/murder of a suspected terrorist/et al.? Anything to keep us safe, right? All it takes is being suspected...no longer innocent until proven guilty? We can't take the chance that they might not be guilty, right? The ends justify the means?

How about he rise of the secret police?

"And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I think I'm free..."

One of the the joys of not being a single parent

What a Dog!

New hobby/pastime/activity

Okay...I know. How many "hobbies" have I gotten all excited about, rushed out and bought the requisite equipment, only to use it once and move on to something else? Rock Climbing, Astronomy, etc. But this is different, I promise.

My new thing is Geocaching. Basically, its modern-day treasure hunting with a GPS device. Somoene hides a container (maybe big, maybe small) in a public place. Inside is at least a log, usually there are items inside as well. Then the "hider" posts general coordinates on the above website and hints as to the cache's location/how it is hidden/etc. Your job is to find the cache, sign the log, take an item and leave an item. Then you post back to the website when you found the cache-what your experience was like (did you like the hunt, was it hidden well, etc.), what item you took, what item you left, etc.

It is a great family activity...kids love it. You get outdoors, get to walk/hike, enjoy the thrill of the hunt. Then later you hide your own and enjoy that side of it as well...how well can you hide something/how good are your hints?

Okay, so I haven't yet actively hunted a cache. I know where there are a few located very near my house and I did obtain the requiste equipment. My lovely wife got me a GPS device for Valentine's Day. Nothing says I love you like a nifty electronic toy! Either that or she has forever negated the wonderful excuse of "I got lost."

Down boy!

The result of abstinence?

Good Boy!

For you pet lovers out there...

It is amazing how far man has come!

Go Granny Go!

Ya just gotta love Grannies that are still going strong. And you wonder why the batteries are missing from your PSP when you leave it at her house!

Daily Dose of Stripping

Here's today's...