A New Beginning...at Some Point

How was your Thanksgiving? Dinner-wise, I'm not sure that mine was widely different from everyone else's, but I'm pretty sure that a large portion of you weren't sitting in shorts in t-shirts (at least not without your beer-coat on).

So, those of you who have been reading this stupid blog for the last few months probably have realized that I've been struggling with its exactly what to do with it. Granted, the 14-hour workdays I've been immersed in haven't exactly provided me with the proper inspiration needed to write, but my time away has essentially forced me to get back to a place where I've become more of a listener and observer, than some kind of opinion former.

I'm sure there is some kind of wise proverb, or catch-phrase that illustrates this wisdom, such as: "You've been given two ears and one mouth, so you should do twice the amount of listening than talking." However, I'm not really buying that as someone who expresses himself through two mediums whose output requires the dexterity of his ten fingers. Astute observers would probably agree that I'm missing the effin' point, but if I am going to make a proper illustration, I should probably find something that fits a little better, but that's a non-sequitur for another time.

For the past six months I've been watching human interaction carefully, and scales have fallen from my eyes. Whether it has been watching the interaction of mating rituals in bars, observing six co-workers interact at work, or reading the multitude of blogs that have now hit the mainstream, and have found that with fascinating regularity, people generally telegraph their intentions, desires and needs with the subtlety of a wolverine stumbling upon a dead moose.

Partly, this is a result of a recently adopted virtue in our culture of "keeping it real." The process flow goes something like this:

Interaction with the real world --> you think (biologically) --> you emote --> you react

Emotions and reactions tend to vary depending on the nature of the person involved. But, against what I think conventional thinking manifests itself as, strong emotional reactions are not necessarily indicative of self-control. The lack of predictability is. By nature, one may be very mild-mannered, and still be read like a book before they utter a single syllable (or type a word). Indeed, self-control may play itself out in a very well placed, emotional pop that acheives the desired effect of the one delivering it.

Now, there is a gray area here that is very, very difficult to explain. I hate generalities, and people in particular are very complex in their individuality, but if you can find the basis of their thinking and hone in on it, you can alter various elements withing social situations, and watch as people tend to follow a much more predictable pattern than if the scenario was freely open. Maybe, as Borat found, social pressures are just so strong, that people tend to react in certain ways if they are forced down a certain path, maybe even down paths they necessarily don't want to go down.

So what does this have to with this stupid blog?

It is pretty clear from anyone whose read this blog, that my politics tend to fall center-right. Mostly, my interest in politics comes from a passion for history, but recently, has been a passion for winning the war. I am completely unapologetic in my support for it, and continue to hope within a dwindling minority that we finally get this damn thing right.

Despite this, often-times, from my friends who share my political bent, I get a look of complete confusion when I tell them how much I love living in San Francisco, and that, gulp, I actually have some friends who have a very leftist ideology whom I find to be some of the greatest people in the world. At the same time, my friends in SF tend to make the same generalizations in the same direction. Often times they are shocked when they hear me talk about politics (which is hardly ever), as their preconceptions of what "those people" are like are totally destroyed.

But, rather annoyingly, I've found that since I share a kindred tendancy of some things politically with some people, those that find my politics in common falsely assume that I share the same vigor about beating al-Qaeda as I do about abortion or gay marriage, or various other domestic issues. I think this is a peril of being a pundit though; you just have to argue points with the same passion in order to "be taken seriously" now-a-days, where-as I find that to be, well, predictable.

And for me, domestic politics completely bore me. It is not that I don't have an opinion about them, it is just that my energy-level depletes rapidly in this two-dimensional world of passion and opinion. But, I find that there is a lot of room for compromise here, regardless of what I think might work best. I love efficiency, but if there is anything that history has taught me, is that people don't tend to get along very well, and life can be a very long slog if you can't live with some things that eventually won't break your way.

This effectively renders political blogging useless for me. There is no audience for what I don't have to say.

So, as far as politics are concerned, I am shutting this place down for the most part. But, since I do have a passion for writing, I am thinking of turning this place into writing about things I really care about: adventure, exploration, life, observations of human nature. There is a whole life that I live that you haven't seen in these pixles that I intentionally live everyday, and I am finding that this site is, for the most part, anathema to that. My lot in life is not to be a pundit.

Maybe a site redesign is in good order now. The whole "Ten Fingers 6 Strings" is kind of meaningless considering that in a 2 years I have yet to put up a single note of music. That makes me feel like a charlatan.

I'm not going anywhere. Unfortunately for you, this is just an opportunity to open the door to something more, something I'm much better and more passionate about. But whatever it ends up being, I guarantee it will be ignored by Instapundit.

Cheers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm spending my first Thanksgiving in 15 years in Arizona. It is 80 degrees here, and seeing the rain and gloom back east, I put my official stamp on parents decision to move here.

For those of you who are still back east:

HA-HA!

Are any of you cooking today? I offered to give my mom a break on Thanksgiving and came up with what I like to call "the Bachelor's Thanksgiving." Here is the menu:

• Frosted Flakes
• Cheeze-its
• Mashed-Potatoes
• Oreo Cookies
• Beer
• Dirty Laundry

My mom said she's not really ready for my radical meal, but that she appreciated my good intentions. I'm fine with that, as long as she can placate me with some mashed-potatoes.

Submit your stories here. I'm just wondering if Rick made it back from Africa.

Cheers to all!

I Welcome Our New Majority Overlord

This is good news. Steny Hoyer will be House Majority Leader instead of the batshit, crazy-ass John Murtha.

Score one for the moderates.

Maybe Murtha can send Nancy Pelosi a Christmas Holiday Card from Okinawa?

UPDATE: Actually, this also shows that the middle ground within the Democratic Majority has the ability to, um, listen compared to their counterparts, the Republican Party, which inexcusably, put Trent Lott back in as Senate Minority Leader. I guess they'll continue to be the Minority Party if they keep making tone-deaf moves like this one.

The Reality of Constructing the Future

I got a new job. I'm now the foreman for a company that builds skyscrapers. Aren't you rather dazzled that a finance major who hasn't even hit thirty yet is able to achieve such an impressive feat? It is amazing what you can learn on the Internet from the comforts of your own home.

So, we are in the midst of building this 15-story building South of Market in San Francisco (I know it isn't exactly a skyscraper, but it is my first building, so my higher authorities wanted to keep it short and sweet the first time around). Naturally, we've planned the construction of this masterpiece to nth degree. Labor, materials, legal paperwork, city permits--you name it. If I really wanted to knock your socks off, I show you the advanced spreadsheets I've created to manage what will be my first masterpiece.

However, this week something drastic happened. The company I work for went through a major management turnover. The board of directors were overwhelmingly voted to oust the old regime who, while they weren't too bad at laying out stategies for constructing huge buildings, had a penchant for creating a boys club that was a bit corrupt and out of touch with the investors of the company. The investors own the company, and they let them have it.

Unfortunately, the new board of directors have a bit of a strategic blindspot. Immediately, rumors were flying around the yard that they might make us halt construction and stop construction altogether, while others said they would triple our workforce to increase the speed at which we'd finish.

Stopping construction halfway through would be a disaster, as millions of dollars would be left hanging as a three story frame which would attract squatters and all sorts of other misanthropes. But, the well intentioned, but curiously stupid suggestion that we speed up construction by tripling our force is also misguided. I sat in front of the board the other day, and was flanked by a group on my left that wanted to pull the plug immediately, but on my right was criticised for not getting the job done fast enough. The timetable which we built would not be tolerated by the investors, they said.

Responding to the increase the labor crowd, I hypothetically asked them what I would do with these extra men. Being that our objectives and resource procurement was fixed at a certain level, I wondered what I would do with an additional amount of men who would be standing around in a very, very dangerous place playing grab ass while they waited to cycle in. Not only that, how would this improve our already razor-thin margins. I explained to them that although their intention to give me more resources was greatly appreciated, i doesn't actually translate into anything that would help me to overcome the physical impossibility of finishing construction to a pushed up timeline determined by the false assumptions of misguided investors.

Sadly, one of the board members, who was also rumored to be running for chairman said to me, "I'm of course disappointed that basically you're advocating the status quo here today, which I think the investors in the last vote said is not an acceptable condition."

Doesn't he know that what he is advocating will cause our stock to drop like a rock when we report earnings well below those we are reporting now, only this time with the added expectations?

Ok, so you've probably figured out by now that although I've been on a work related hiatus, it is highly likely it wasn't really due to building skyscrapers. However, in the illustration that created, I wanted to emphasize the two main arguments that have been set-up as a strawman for finding a solution to our war in Iraq. Right now, the argument is being forced into, "Pull 'em out now," or "More troops."

Dammit, the American people have spoken that they won't accept what we're doing now!

Pull 'em out now would be a total disaster. If we leave, we'll see a vaccum in Iraq that won't just suck in Iran. Iran would indeed push their borders inward like the Soviets did with their satellite states, but we'd see Saudi Arabia move into the central/western areas of the country to counteract their Shia foes. Syria's loyalty would be available to the highest bidder. In the north, Turkey would battle the Kurdish radicals. In addition to that, we would effectively abandon our regional allies for the second time. We let them get slaughtered when we asked them to rise-up against Saddam at the end of Desert Storm, and we'd let them get slaughtered on an even more massive level yet again. Screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me. Mark my words, if we abandon them now, we'll NEVER earn their trust EVER again.

All hell would break loose, and we'd be hard pressed to find a horse that we could support in this race.

But, what if we sent more troops? Generals on the ground are repeatedly saying that long-term success in Iraq is completely dependent on Iraqis providing their own security. How are more American troops going to help further that along? The cause of the current instability has been directed towards the Shia militias and the Sunni insurgents who are trying to position themselves in places of power in a future Islamic state. One-tenth of our current troop deployment could easily handle these ragtags in an all-out fight, so why do we need more?

I heard Mark Steyn on the radio say that America is the first superpower with ADHD. This is painfully accurate. There are way too many who advocated for a war against Iraq in the beginning who have now jumped ship because Iraq hasn't turned into the heart-warming success story within a few short years. Because, they claim, we haven't seen success, it must mean that those executing the war did something wrong.

What we are battling in Mesopotamia now is focal point in the struggle of this new millenium: the fight against the disease of Islamic fundamentalism, which uses fasicsm, totalitarianism and western technology to secure and expand their power in the region and, hopefully, in their minds, most of the world.

What we realized in Iraq, wasn't that the United States had a bumbling leadership that screwed up scoring a lay-up, but that we were confronting a foe that was much more determined and hardened in their ideology than we'd initially anticipated. I have my criticsms where I think there could have pursued specific policies that would have been more beneficial, but ultimately, this engagement was not going to be solved with a quick invasion and the implementation of representative government. A liberal representative government is the still the end-game, but killing the disease that is infecting it is going require a lot more than a magic freedom pill prescribed by some omniscient doctor.

We simply have to fight this one out to completion, and that may take a lot longer than we initially had hoped for. More troops does not equate force multiplication and our experts on the ground whose necks are on the line keep repeating this over and over.

But if we can't solve this with more men, is the cause lost? Should we just come home and let the Iraqis deal with this without our help? Well, their problem also our problem now. We are already committed to it. This isn't a marriage where we can let the Iraqis have custody of the kids and half of our shared resources as we move back home.

I understand that fighting it out slowly isn't a very palletable option, but we have to follow through regardless of its difficulty. Unfortunately, the American public is looking for solutions that don't exist, and they are demonstrating that they'll bite off their nose to spite their face.

My hope is that the new Democratic Congress will also realize this and jump aboard after listening to those who are fighting over there. We need Democrats and Republicans to win this fight. Now that the Democrats control Congress, they have the cover and the opportunity to join it. Their more radical elements will make this very difficult for them, but they can still managed it.

If we pull-out of Iraq, we'll be in the deepest shit this country has ever seen. If Congress makes us take more troops, that's fine. Not ideal, but at least it keeps us committed there.

Anyway, here's to hoping for the impossible.

Quote of the Day

“The quickest way to end a war is to lose it.”

~ George Orwell

Durn Idjuts in Irak

I'd like to take a brief pause from my hiatus to post this picture, that my good friend Anthony Perez-Miller sent me, of our troops in Iraq retorting to John Kerry's latest rhetorical furry:

Sanctimony found a way to burn the 2006 election, too.

UPDATE: @&^$ - Glenn Reynolds linked to it as well. Why do I even bother anymore?