The End of the Rant?

As the Last Angry Man has apparently borne solitary witness to, I've allowed this little corner of the blogosphere to lie dormant since before the new year.

My original intent when I logged on this morning was to write a final farewell to this blog and to blogging in general. But now after reading those comments, like a ship's bell tolling in the empty night, I'm conflicted.

I created this blog back in the fall of 2004 as a way to vent all of my many frustrations at the time. I had just left Ann Arbor not to begin my career as I had thought, but to move back to my parents' house without any hope of employment for that school year. It was also the election season in the race between then President Bush and John Kerry, and the fact that anyone was planning to vote for Kerry incensed me to the point of ranting. And thus the title was found.

The genesis of this blog has always been anger, frustration, depression, and general dumbfoundedness with the current state of the world around me from a macro level (US and World politics) down to the petty minutiae of my daily struggles (substitute teaching and working at the Gap in 2004). And yet as the years have gone by, I found myself more and more with nothing to say about the larger world and wondering if anyone really cared about the goings on in my little world.

And yet I am a horrible pack rat and a sucker for nostalgia, and so I can't quite bring myself to pull the plug. I figured that with all the wall posts and status updates on Facebook I would be able to share whatever thoughts or rantings came to me just as easily in that fashion. But, I can also publish blog posts as notes on Facebook, so it's not like I really stand to lose anything by writing it here first since it will automatically get copied to Facebook.

And so the rant continues.....

My Personality Type

What do you think - does this sound like me?

Portrait of an INTJ - Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging
(Introverted Intuition with Extraverted Thinking)

The Scientist

As an INTJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via your intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things rationally and logically.

INTJs live in the world of ideas and strategic planning. They value intelligence, knowledge, and competence, and typically have high standards in these regards, which they continuously strive to fulfill. To a somewhat lesser extent, they have similar expectations of others.

With Introverted Intuition dominating their personality, INTJs focus their energy on observing the world, and generating ideas and possibilities. Their mind constantly gathers information and makes associations about it. They are tremendously insightful and usually are very quick to understand new ideas. However, their primary interest is not understanding a concept, but rather applying that concept in a useful way. Unlike the INTP, they do not follow an idea as far as they possibly can, seeking only to understand it fully. INTJs are driven to come to conclusions about ideas. Their need for closure and organization usually requires that they take some action.

INTJ's tremendous value and need for systems and organization, combined with their natural insightfulness, makes them excellent scientists. An INTJ scientist gives a gift to society by putting their ideas into a useful form for others to follow. It is not easy for the INTJ to express their internal images, insights, and abstractions. The internal form of the INTJ's thoughts and concepts is highly individualized, and is not readily translatable into a form that others will understand. However, the INTJ is driven to translate their ideas into a plan or system that is usually readily explainable, rather than to do a direct translation of their thoughts. They usually don't see the value of a direct transaction, and will also have difficulty expressing their ideas, which are non-linear. However, their extreme respect of knowledge and intelligence will motivate them to explain themselves to another person who they feel is deserving of the effort.

INTJs are natural leaders, although they usually choose to remain in the background until they see a real need to take over the lead. When they are in leadership roles, they are quite effective, because they are able to objectively see the reality of a situation, and are adaptable enough to change things which aren't working well. They are the supreme strategists - always scanning available ideas and concepts and weighing them against their current strategy, to plan for every conceivable contingency.

INTJs spend a lot of time inside their own minds, and may have little interest in the other people's thoughts or feelings. Unless their Feeling side is developed, they may have problems giving other people the level of intimacy that is needed. Unless their Sensing side is developed, they may have a tendency to ignore details which are necessary for implementing their ideas.

The INTJ's interest in dealing with the world is to make decisions, express judgments, and put everything that they encounter into an understandable and rational system. Consequently, they are quick to express judgments. Often they have very evolved intuitions, and are convinced that they are right about things. Unless they complement their intuitive understanding with a well-developed ability to express their insights, they may find themselves frequently misunderstood. In these cases, INTJs tend to blame misunderstandings on the limitations of the other party, rather than on their own difficulty in expressing themselves. This tendency may cause the INTJ to dismiss others input too quickly, and to become generally arrogant and elitist.

INTJs are ambitious, self-confident, deliberate, long-range thinkers. Many INTJs end up in engineering or scientific pursuits, although some find enough challenge within the business world in areas which involve organizing and strategic planning. They dislike messiness and inefficiency, and anything that is muddled or unclear. They value clarity and efficiency, and will put enormous amounts of energy and time into consolidating their insights into structured patterns.

Other people may have a difficult time understanding an INTJ. They may see them as aloof and reserved. Indeed, the INTJ is not overly demonstrative of their affections, and is likely to not give as much praise or positive support as others may need or desire. That doesn't mean that he or she doesn't truly have affection or regard for others, they simply do not typically feel the need to express it. Others may falsely perceive the INTJ as being rigid and set in their ways. Nothing could be further from the truth, because the INTJ is committed to always finding the objective best strategy to implement their ideas. The INTJ is usually quite open to hearing an alternative way of doing something.

When under a great deal of stress, the INTJ may become obsessed with mindless repetitive, Sensate activities, such as over-drinking. They may also tend to become absorbed with minutia and details that they would not normally consider important to their overall goal.

INTJs need to remember to express themselves sufficiently, so as to avoid difficulties with people misunderstandings. In the absence of properly developing their communication abilities, they may become abrupt and short with people, and isolationists.

INTJs have a tremendous amount of ability to accomplish great things. They have insight into the Big Picture, and are driven to synthesize their concepts into solid plans of action. Their reasoning skills gives them the means to accomplish that. INTJs are most always highly competent people, and will not have a problem meeting their career or education goals. They have the capability to make great strides in these arenas. On a personal level, the INTJ who practices tolerances and puts effort into effectively communicating their insights to others has everything in his or her power to lead a rich and rewarding life.

Jungian functional preference ordering:
Dominant: Introverted Intuition
Auxilliary: Extraverted Thinking
Tertiary: Introverted Feeling
Inferior: Extraverted Sensing

Pre and Post Thanksgiving Update

So looking at my posts, I realized I haven't blogged since Veteran's Day. November was a crazy month. I was in Cincinnati (Sidebar - Ohio sucks) for a conference the week before Thanksgiving, and so the days leading up to that were crazy trying to get a bunch of stuff done and lined up so that when I got back I would be able to close the building down the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

So the conference came and went, and then I had to close down the building, and then by the time all that was done all I wanted to do was take a nap. But, I went to visit the Captain in Fort Wayne instead. We played a lot of Call of Duty: World at War which is, by the way, awesome. Then I came back to my apartment to "work" for two days before heading back to Michigan.

Going back to Michigan, I was telling people that I couldn't remember the last time my brothers and I were all in the same place at the same time. I think it might have been Memorial Day, but I wasn't sure. I got home Tuesday night, and only one of my brothers came home on Wednesday. My other brother stayed at school and we were going to pick him up on the way to our Grandparents' for Thanksgiving, except that he had food poisoning from the night before and couldn't get off the couch in his apartment. So, my other brother and I volunteered to stay with him for a few hours until he was sure he could make it to our grandparents' house.

And really, that's the family time that I cared about with going home for Thanksgiving. I have no problem with my extended family, but all the major holidays where we see them involve us driving two hours to see them and never vice versa, and a lot of cooking related drama. It's not that I don't want to see them, I just wish the circumstances were different.

It may be un-American, but Thanksgiving doesn't really do much for me. I don't get all excited about the food. None of the standard Thanksgiving fair is food that I typically eat at any other time of year. And like I said, while I don't have any problems with my extended family it's just always more drama than it's worth to see them on Thanksgiving. Our annual trip to Chicago is much more fun, and far less dramatic. I know Thanksgiving is a holiday during which we are to give thanks (duh) for family and the blessings we have received over the year, but that all seems to get lost in arguments over how long to cook the turkey and who is supposed to bring which pie.

Really what I enjoyed was the times that I was with my parents and my brothers. I remember as a kid only seeing certain aunts and uncles every few years, and I remember wondering if that was going to happen with my brothers and I. Now that we're all "grown up" we always seem to be busy at different times, and even though we're all no more than 3 hours from home in different directions, it still seems to be a rare occasion that we're all home. I'll see one of my brothers, or they'll see each other, but the three of us all at once doesn't happen that often anymore.

What's funny is that my immediate family seems to have a Griswold-like (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) feeling to it around the holidays. We steel ourselves against the onslaught of crazy relatives and have our own antics when we're at home, and now that we're all grown up we're able to interact on a more even level and it's a lot more fun than it was when we were kids.
Now that it's December I put up my little Christmas tree in my apartment and added the Christmas playlist to my iPod. We've finally got snow with about two inches of accumulation and counting, so the season is off to a good start.

Honoring Those Who Serve

Freedom isn't free. Whatever your politics and beliefs may be, take time this day to honor those whose service allows us to enjoy the blessings of liberty and freedom.

For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

For the Fallen
by Laurenc Binyon

Ninety years ago today, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the guns fell silent in Europe. The armistice ending the Great War (World War I) was signed between Germany and the allied powers including England, France and the United States.

For much of Europe, November 11 is still Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, or Poppy Day. Regardless of which title one uses to commemorate the day, it remains a day to remember the Great War and those lost during the conflict. For the United States World War II was the defining conflict but for much of Europe the horrors of the Great War left a deeper and longer lasting psychological scar. Those soldiers who served were the "Lost Generation" - entire cities and towns losing all of their young men sometimes in a single battle. Those who did return were many of them never the same - either from physical injury or from the trauma of having lived through the war. The legacy of the Great War had an impact on every facet of European culture, and so one begins to see why the day that commemorates its ending still has such resonance for the nations of Europe.

And yet I would wager that most Americans today know nothing about World War I. I doubt I could find 2 people out of 10 that could place the war in the correct decade, let alone understand any of its causes or its larger impact on the course of history. And though this does no absolve us of our ignorance or our forgetfulness, the simple fact is that for most Americans World War I had little impact, especially compared to the scale of involvement in World War II. It happened "Over There", so why worry about it?

I admit that for myself, I only know what I know of World War I because of my background as a history teacher. And even what I know is woefully inadequate in comparison to what is owed the lost generation.

What the Next 8 Years Will Look Like

Welcome to the New America under President Obama. For the next two years, expect nothing to change except higher taxes. Oh sure, a lot of "ideas" will be thrown around, and a lot of money will be spent pursuing these false starts. And though none of them will work, and nothing will change in a positive direction, not for one second will the media criticize President Obama. No, instead we will get in depth analysis and commentary on how he is waging a valiant struggle against the legacy left by the previous administration. In short, Obama's entire first term will be a free pass.

Of course, behind the scenes the Democrats will feverishly be working between now and 2010 to ensure that they do control the House and Senate with a Supermajority following the 2010 midterm elections. They'll consolidate their power base, slowly and subtly rewriting the election policies to guarantee a stranglehold on power for the foreseeable future. This will all lead in to Obama's second term in 2012, when with the support of a Liberal Supermajority in Congress, the real rubber stamping of his agenda will occur. Without having to worry about reelection, and with a 100% Democratic government from at least 2012 - 2014, expect a flurry of activity the likes of which we've not seen since 1933. Massive government entitlement programs, the complete dismantling of our armed forces, exponential tax increases, and enough red tape to go from the Earth to the Moon a dozen times over... and all just to ease your guilty, self-righteous Liberal conscience.

As a fun little exercise, take all of your paychecks from the month of November and cash them at the bank. Take that cash and just drive down the street dropping hand fulls of bills out the window. Then take your paychecks in December, cash them, and just light the cash on fire. After doing these two things, your monthly budgets should be ready for Obama's inauguration in January. Whatever doesn't fly out the window or burn up in the fire is what you can expect to actually take home from your paycheck. But don't worry, I'm sure you're glad to be "chipping in" and "doing your part".

Mark my words - Things will change. But none of it will be the change you wanted.

A Preview of Things to Come?

The text below comes from the October 17 issue of the Wall Street Journal. I'm not quite sure which is scarier - the actual content of the article, or the fact that most of you will probably read through it and think "Hey, that sounds great!"

A Liberal Supermajority

Get ready for 'change' we haven't seen since 1965, or 1933.

If the current polls hold, Barack Obama will win the White House on November 4 and Democrats will consolidate their Congressional majorities, probably with a filibuster-proof Senate or very close to it. Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants.

Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s. If the U.S. really is entering a period of unchecked left-wing ascendancy, Americans at least ought to understand what they will be getting, especially with the media cheering it all on.

The nearby table shows the major bills that passed the House this year or last before being stopped by the Senate minority. Keep in mind that the most important power of the filibuster is to shape legislation, not merely to block it. The threat of 41 committed Senators can cause the House to modify its desires even before legislation comes to a vote. Without that restraining power, all of the following have very good chances of becoming law in 2009 or 2010.

- Medicare for all. When HillaryCare cratered in 1994, the Democrats concluded they had overreached, so they carved up the old agenda into smaller incremental steps, such as Schip for children. A strongly Democratic Congress is now likely to lay the final flagstones on the path to government-run health insurance from cradle to grave.

Mr. Obama wants to build a public insurance program, modeled after Medicare and open to everyone of any income. According to the Lewin Group, the gold standard of health policy analysis, the Obama plan would shift between 32 million and 52 million from private coverage to the huge new entitlement. Like Medicare or the Canadian system, this would never be repealed.

The commitments would start slow, so as not to cause immediate alarm. But as U.S. health-care spending flowed into the default government options, taxes would have to rise or services would be rationed, or both. Single payer is the inevitable next step, as Mr. Obama has already said is his ultimate ideal.

- The business climate. "We have some harsh decisions to make," Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned recently, speaking about retribution for the financial panic. Look for a replay of the Pecora hearings of the 1930s, with Henry Waxman, John Conyers and Ed Markey sponsoring ritual hangings to further their agenda to control more of the private economy. The financial industry will get an overhaul in any case, but telecom, biotech and drug makers, among many others, can expect to be investigated and face new, more onerous rules. See the "Issues and Legislation" tab on Mr. Waxman's Web site for a not-so-brief target list.

The danger is that Democrats could cause the economic downturn to last longer than it otherwise will by enacting regulatory overkill like Sarbanes-Oxley. Something more punitive is likely as well, for instance a windfall profits tax on oil, and maybe other industries.

- Union supremacy. One program certain to be given right of way is "card check." Unions have been in decline for decades, now claiming only 7.4% of the private-sector work force, so Big Labor wants to trash the secret-ballot elections that have been in place since the 1930s. The "Employee Free Choice Act" would convert workplaces into union shops merely by gathering signatures from a majority of employees, which means organizers could strongarm those who opposed such a petition.

The bill also imposes a compulsory arbitration regime that results in an automatic two-year union "contract" after 130 days of failed negotiation. The point is to force businesses to recognize a union whether the workers support it or not. This would be the biggest pro-union shift in the balance of labor-management power since the Wagner Act of 1935.

- Taxes. Taxes will rise substantially, the only question being how high. Mr. Obama would raise the top income, dividend and capital-gains rates for "the rich," substantially increasing the cost of new investment in the U.S. More radically, he wants to lift or eliminate the cap on income subject to payroll taxes that fund Medicare and Social Security. This would convert what was meant to be a pension insurance program into an overt income redistribution program. It would also impose a probably unrepealable increase in marginal tax rates, and a permanent shift upward in the federal tax share of GDP.

- The green revolution. A tax-and-regulation scheme in the name of climate change is a top left-wing priority. Cap and trade would hand Congress trillions of dollars in new spending from the auction of carbon credits, which it would use to pick winners and losers in the energy business and across the economy. Huge chunks of GDP and millions of jobs would be at the mercy of Congress and a vast new global-warming bureaucracy. Without the GOP votes to help stage a filibuster, Senators from carbon-intensive states would have less ability to temper coastal liberals who answer to the green elites.

- Free speech and voting rights. A liberal supermajority would move quickly to impose procedural advantages that could cement Democratic rule for years to come. One early effort would be national, election-day voter registration. This is a long-time goal of Acorn and others on the "community organizer" left and would make it far easier to stack the voter rolls. The District of Columbia would also get votes in Congress -- Democratic, naturally.

Felons may also get the right to vote nationwide, while the Fairness Doctrine is likely to be reimposed either by Congress or the Obama FCC. A major goal of the supermajority left would be to shut down talk radio and other voices of political opposition.

- Special-interest potpourri. Look for the watering down of No Child Left Behind testing standards, as a favor to the National Education Association. The tort bar's ship would also come in, including limits on arbitration to settle disputes and watering down the 1995 law limiting strike suits. New causes of legal action would be sprinkled throughout most legislation. The anti-antiterror lobby would be rewarded with the end of Guantanamo and military commissions, which probably means trying terrorists in civilian courts. Google and MoveOn.org would get "net neutrality" rules, subjecting the Internet to intrusive regulation for the first time.

It's always possible that events -- such as a recession -- would temper some of these ambitions. Republicans also feared the worst in 1993 when Democrats ran the entire government, but it didn't turn out that way. On the other hand, Bob Dole then had 43 GOP Senators to support a filibuster, and the entire Democratic Party has since moved sharply to the left. Mr. Obama's agenda is far more liberal than Bill Clinton's was in 1992, and the Southern Democrats who killed Al Gore's BTU tax and modified liberal ambitions are long gone.

In both 1933 and 1965, liberal majorities imposed vast expansions of government that have never been repealed, and the current financial panic may give today's left another pretext to return to those heydays of welfare-state liberalism. Americans voting for "change" should know they may get far more than they ever imagined.

Weekly Update

So as you can see, I had some other things to talk about in the posts below this. So in addition to those rants, this has been a long week.

I've had extra meetings or events every night this week in addition to my regular schedule. Monday night I had to get presidents of the fraternities and sororities together to come up with a list of questions they wanted to ask the University Police Department at a meeting later in the week. Tuesday night I had to get my House Council together to make sure we had everything set for our Halloween Party on Friday.

Wednesday was when things got really busy, though. I had to go shopping for decorations and such for the party at 3:00, and then had a faculty and staff reception from 4:30 - 5:30, followed by a Residence Life Program that I was co-presenting from 6:00 - 7:00, and then the aforementioned program between Greek Life and the University Police from 7:30 - 9:00 with a Greek Chapter President's Meeting topping things off at 9:15. I got through all of them, and they all went well, but it was more than a little stressful.

Thursday was another busy day with my regular staff meeting at 4:30 followed by the children of University faculty and staff Trick-or-Treating through my building from 6:00 - 8:00 and then my judicial board hearings from 9:00 - 11:00. And of course, after all that, I got a phone call from my RAs at 1:45 in the morning for what ended up being a marijuana bust in my building.

Friday ended up being a long day just because I had to go out and do all the rest of the shopping for our Halloween Party before 5:00 when we started getting things set up. And of course I had to run all over town because one single place didn't have everything I needed. It ended up being worth it, though, because we had more kids come through my building on Thursday for Trick-or-Treating and we had like 100 residents show up to the party on Friday compared to 25-40 in other buildings.

I got an e-mail from one of the Assistant Deans telling me my programs went really well, and that "My work is being noticed". So all in all, for a really busy week, apparently it's been worth it.

Wake Up People, Before It's Too Late

In the past my blog has been chock-a-block full of political commentary and rantings on various goings-on within the political sphere. I kept quiet this year, knowing that I was one of very few around me who could tell the emperor was naked in Obama's campaign. As the election draws near, I'm getting more and more nervous. As Obama has gotten more and more support over the last few months, his rhetoric has gotten more and more radical. And yet the more radically left and socialist he has openly become, the more people love it.

I then began to realize, Obama has long since stopped being a candidate and turned into a demagogue. It's not about the party, or the platform, or the issues, it's purely about the man. Obama has become a cult of personality, a messianic figure. Nowhere is this more clear than in the campaign posters and imagery. This is what scares me the most.

The idea of one man as a symbol of hope, progress and change for a nation is nothing new to history. By combining the image of that individual with a single word or idea, you make it easier for the people to remember and believe.


Soon, instead of having to explain yourself or give evidence to support your claims, all you have to do is chant a word like "Change" or "Hope" and the people will do whatever you want.



Mark my words, if Obama is elected you will start hearing plans for "Great Leaps Forward" and "Five Year Plans". Just like FDR before him, he will create a new system of government sponsored programs that will soon be entitlements that no government after him will ever dare question just like Social Security and Medicare.

Take a minute right now to look at your paycheck stub. Now take that number, and subtract 60-70% of it. That's your "redistribution of wealth" to the new Obama Nation. You're doing your part for the motherland.

Wait, what's that? You don't like paying 60-70% of your income to government sponsored programs and handouts that you'll most likely never benefit from? Too bad, that's progress. You hoped for change, and this is it.

Just remember, I warned you. This day, November 2, 2008. Think long and hard now before you head out to vote, otherwise in 2012 the political posters are likely to look something like this:

Obamunism

This coming Tuesday when you're out voting, remember that a vote for Obama is a vote for socialism.