Immigration stories

While I have been away the immigration issue has come front and center. Our local newspaper has been closely covering immigration stories. Just today the Arizona Republic had a front page story of an Army reservist that held seven illegal immigrants at gun-point at an AZ rest stop. This is clearly a big deal but they do not have on their web site the story of the illegal immigrant who car-jacked and shot a person in October of last year and then escaped from the county jail yesterday. You can find this story in the print edition on page B4 in a small article. It seems as if our local paper thinks it is more important to talk about injustices of American citizens against illegal aliens than it is to talk about the criminal elements associated with illegal immigration.

In Arizona there is an effort to allow the police to arrest illegal aliens. This will not be popular with police departments but I think it is an important step. Would the police not arrest any other person who commits a federal crime?

Defective equipment guarding the border may be contributing to the large number of border crossers. Not only do we need more agents to patrol the border but these agents need tools that actually work.

Illegal immigration is not a race issue; it is an issue of life or death. People are dying and something has to be done.

Illegal immigration is also a security issue. What is to stop a terrorist from entering the country across the Mexican border and doing what thousands of illegal aliens do every day - take jobs in high security risk areas?

UPDATE: After careful checking of the azcentral site I did find this article http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0413jailescape13.html about the jail break. It make no mention of the immigration status of the escapee. I still find it strange that a story about a dangerous felon escaping is less important than a story about a person who was trying to help protect his community.

Things that make you go Hmmm…

This is a great article about the Wal-Mart effect. I really hate all the Wal-Mart bashing that goes on these days. I, for one, would have a very tough time raising 3 kids without Wal-Mart.

I hate SPAM email as much as the next guy but I am not sure about this case. I guess I need to know more about the Virginia law.

Wow! Al Sharpton is a corrupt politician! Who would have thought?

What I did on My Medical Leave

As I have mentioned, and as some of you already know, I had Hernia surgery a couple of weeks ago and have been cooped-up at home recovering. During my long, boring recovery I have had ample time to catch up on so many things, so I though I would share with you what I have been up to.

The first 24hrs after my surgery was taken up mostly by sleep. In fact, I couldn’t get out of bed for about three days! Good thing the hospital sent home one of those handy urinals. Over the course of the next 2 weeks I watched some TV, a few movies, listened to some new CDs, and read a few books.

Books:
The Connection: How al Qaeda’s Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America by Stephen F. Hayes. This is a book that I actually started before the surgery but it still counts. The gist of this book is that al Qaeda and Saddam have had a relationship for many years and that this relationship was geared towards attacking the U.S. and the West. It is a very quick read and covers some very interesting information. I just wish they had done better at referencing their sources.

Bloody Aachen by Charles Whiting. This book covers the battle for the German city of Aachen in September 1944. This was the first German city captured by the allies and the story of the battle is compelling.

War in the Desert: The Eighth Army at El Alamein by James Lucas. As the title clear states this book is about the British Eighth army in one of the most famous battle of World War II. The book spends a lot of time, not only with the battle, but also on what it was like for the troops in the field. An excellent book if you are interested in the desert war.

Idoru by William Gibson. I love William Gibson’s novels! I am not much of a fiction reader but his stories have always struck a cord with me. He seems to have a way of seeing the world as it is today and then dreaming of how it will be; he does this in a chilling and compelling way. This is a really good book but I can’t describe it. Just read it!

Flames of War. A set of WWII miniature wargaming rules. Very nicely produced rulebook and a fun game.

Music:
The Smiths “Singles” This is a Best of compilation and really the only CD the casual fan needs. Very cool.

The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology This is a massive double CD set…it is not infinite, however. Great stuff if you like over-the-top guitar rock instrumental stuff – which I do.

Iron Maiden Killers This is a great CD by the second most important band in Heavy Metal.

The Cure Greatest Hits Not much to add, a good collection of songs for the casual fan of The Cure.

Modest Mouse Good News for People Who Love Bad News Wow! This CD is so much better than the two radio hits. This is the type of CD I love, one that is better than the popular songs. This band is very tough to pin down – kinda like rock meets ragtime meets ‘80s new wave.

Incubus A Crow Left of the Murder I love this band but I hate their politics. A good CD that I need to spend some more time with.

Movies:
I didn’t get to see anything new but I did get to watch some old favorites. The highlight was finally being able to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy back-to-back! These were the Special Editions and it took me two days but I did it, Woo Hoo!

TV:
OK, let me just say that I hated TV before my surgery – now I hate it even more! I think I have seen every home decorating, landscaping, cooking, chopper building, truck building, hot-rod building, historical documentary ever made. In addition I know everything about Terri Schiavo and the Pope. I discovered that most cable TV channels show a 4 hour block of programming and just repeat during the day. This can be very disappointing when you find yourself unable to sleep and discover the same shows that you watched all day. Boo for TV!

Well, I must say that I am looking forward to getting back to work – for as long as I have a job anyway. I need to start putting some serious energy into the school planning and the wife and I need to check over the finances to see if the school plans will work. Anyway, I am feeling better and really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

The Times They are a Changin'

Sorry it has been so long without any updates (wow! almost a month!). I have had a lot on my mind lately - my job is going away at the end of May and I had Hernia surgery on 3/25. For the last week or so I have been recuperating at home and hope to be back to my old self in another week.

The job situation is very weird. Ordinarily you would expect that I would be very concerned about no longer having a job - but I'm not. You see, my wife just got her LPN license and has started her career as a nurse. She makes more money than she has ever made. This means that I do not need to work (full time) in order to keep the same standard of living. This has opened many new doors for me. The first is the ability to return to school and finish my degree. I started my degree program in 1992 and in 1996 I had a nervous and financial breakdown. Since then I have only been able to finish one class. I only need 26 more hours for a B.A. in History.

The other positive is I no longer have to work in the IT field to make a living. After nearly 10 years of help desk work and several more as a Tech I am ready for a change. Now I just need to decide what to do with my degree (once I get it)...

More later, I promise!

...More On Schools

When I was an elementary school student in the 1970s, if I had thrown a temper tantrum at school and hit teachers, would have had my ass whipped at school. When I got home it probably would have happened again. Eight year old kids should not be arrested and hauled off to jail when they cause a diruption at school, they should he taken to the principle's office and beat. If this happened a little more offen then there wouldn't be so many behavior problems in school. Administrators are too lazy or too scared to take control of students. Parents also need to step up and ensure their kids behave.

German Censorship and Anti-Nazi laws

Lately I have been seeing a lot of stories about Germany’s anti-Nazi laws. The more I read the stories the more I think the Germans have gone over the deep end on this one. I will agree that what the Nazis did to Germany and the world is horrible in the extreme. I also agree that after WWII Germany was in need of deprogramming but 60 years on the time has come for the Germans to serious look at these laws. It seems to me the issue now is free expression and free speech. If the Germans must oppress political speech in order to have a stable society then they have not come very far from the days of the Nazis.

In Germany, an arm gesture will get you in the news, especially if you are a prince. Even a dog is not allowed to give the Nazi salute, but Hitler’s moustache does not seem to be illegal. You can be arrested and put in jail for song lyrics and, naturally, anything with the Nazi flag or a swastika is outlawed. Furniture named after Nazis is not illegal so I guess there is still some hope for a free Germany. The Germans are so committed to state censorship it is illegal to be home-schooled. Parents can be put in jail if their children are not in public schools being indoctrinated. Many of these tactics are the same ones the Nazis used when they were in power.

One of the true ironies of Germany’s laws is that it is illegal to be a Holocaust denier. But, you cannot display Nazi symbols or teachings. Hitler’s Mein Kampf is illegal to possess or read. How, exactly, can you study the history of Germany, the Holocaust or the Nazis and not be able to read the main source materials? How are the German people to truly understand how evil the Nazis are if no one can properly learn about them? The Nazi flag was the national flag of Germany after the Bremen Incident in 1935. How can you study the period without seeing the national flag?

Sadly, anti-Nazi hysteria is not limited to Germany. Prince Harry has the EU in an uproar over his Nazi costume. Seems they want to enact anti-Nazi laws across the entire EU in response the prince’s lack of taste. France and Austria have laws very similar to those of Germany and they seemed to be used mostly to control politicians who espouse unpopular views, not just to control actual Nazis. As an American, I find it impossible to understand how a ‘free’ society can outlaw a political part, no matter how offensive their views.

The Nazi legacy is seen in different lights at different times. It is also viewed differently depending on were you are. In the former East Germany Nazism was seen as an underground opposition party to the Communists. In the West it was equated with the greatest evils of mankind. Ironically, in the West, many former Nazis were rehabilitated and put to work for the West German government or for the West German army. In both the Soviet Union and the United States Nazis with special skills were forgiven and pressed into service for the victors.

This Nazi legacy has had a profound impact on German society and by extention Europe as a whole. I believe this is the main cause of German and European cowardice in the face of modern aggression. Their inability to respond to modern genocide and dictators insults the memory all who suffered and died fighting the Nazi horror. The greatest crime America has ever committed is turning the Germans into the French.

...On Schools

Schools today are run by some real idiots. Read the stories below to see what I mean.

Just remember zero tolerance is the same as intolerant and aren’t supposed to be a tolerant society? School administrators must be the stupidest people on the planet…

More evidence… Unfortunately, this makes the police, prosecutors and judges look stupider than the school administrators. Oh, and thanks Grandma.

Schools are communist training grounds that trample on parent’s rights.

Keep an eye on your kid's school or you might find them or yourself hauled into court.

Great Democrat Presidents of the Twentieth Century - Franklin D. Roosevelt

The second installment of my critically acclaimed (or heavily criticized) series glossing over and misrepresenting the records of great Democrat presidents of the twentieth century focuses on Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR, as he is commonly known, is practically a saint in American history. There is probably more information about him and his presidency that any other US president. Distorting his record in a convincing way will be a challenge.

FDR is the only US president to be elected to 4 terms and he will be the only president elected to more that two terms due to the restrictions of the twenty-second amendment. He was president during some of the most trying times in American history. Major events of his presidency include the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and the Second World War. Just one of these evens is more that almost any president has ever had to deal with and FDR got them all. For the most part, his record is exemplary but there are things that are possible to critic if not our-right criticize.

It is indisputable that during the Great Depression strong leadership from the president was required. The government could not sit idly by and wait for the economy to recover on its own. The question is were the actions taken by FDR the correct actions for the speediest recovery? Economists are still arguing the value of the New Deal. Most actions did need to be taken, particularly taking the US currency off the gold standard. One fact that is undeniable is that FDR created the largest governmental bureaucracies in American history. He added twelve new major government agencies:

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Civilian Conservation Corps. (CCC)
Public Works Administration (WPA)
Social Security Administration
Federal Housing Authority (FHA)
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Glass-Steagall Act (FDIC)
Wagner Act (NLRB)

I am sure that there many more small organization founded as part of the New Deal government expansion. Many of these major agencies have become critical to American society and I could hardly imagine life without them. Without a doubt, these agencies did many projects for the greater good of the nation and they provided hope for millions of people across the nation - the question remains - was this the best way to approach economic recovery? In the end, this is a purely academic exercise - it truly is “all’s well that end well.”

By the early 1940s, even before US entry into the Second World War, the US economy was back at almost full swing. Military orders for lend-lease and the revamping of the US military put millions of factory workers to work. This recovery would have continued and possible been even stronger without the U.S. entering the war. This leads us to FDR’s record in World War II. If there is depute about Roosevelt’s domestic policies during he Great Depression, his record during the war has plenty of things to criticize.

Revisionist historians have long speculated whether or not Roosevelt had advance warning of the Pearl Harbor attack. The idea is that Roosevelt needed an excuse to enter the war and when it was learned that the Japanese had plans to attack the U.S. Roosevelt, somehow, allowed this to happen. These theories are, of course, complete crap. There is no credible evidence to suggest that anyone in a position of power was privy to Japanese attack plans concerning Pearl Harbor. There is plenty of evidence that the president and the military leaders in Washington did not take the threat of war with Japan seriously enough in 1941. There is also ample evidence of ineptitude on the part of U.S. military commanders in the Pacific. It was this lax attitude that allowed the attack on Pearl Harbor to be such a massive Japanese victory.

The day after the Pearl Harbor attack Germany declared war on the U.S. in support of their Japanese allies. At this point the president was faced with a choice - join Great Britain and commit the United States to a war against Germany or immediately enter into negotiations with the Germans. Did Roosevelt have good enough reason to fight the Germans? Germany’s declaration on war against the US was largely symbolic - the Germans posed little or no threat to the US in 1941 and were not likely to ever pose a serious threat. In fact, Hitler would have been open to a negotiated settlement without ever fighting the Americans. As we have learned from the Iraq war, liberating oppressed peoples and stopping mass murder are not sufficient justification for going to war or invading countries. You must be directly attacked, or in imminent threat of being attacked, in order to justify going to war. Roosevelt did not have these justifications - clearly war with Germany was wrong. Certainly, Roosevelt’s policies cost America needless lives.

Once the president decided to got to war he must pick the best course of action in prosecuting the war. Roosevelt quickly gave in to British pressure to make the war in Europe the primary focus of US military action. The US would commit 80% of its military might against the Germans - in an attempt to correct British and French failures - and only committed 20% against the Japanese - a nation that attacked the United States. Roosevelt was also very naive in dealing with Stalin; failing to get real concessions from the Russians about the status of Eastern European countries after the war. Without a forceful stand from the United States the Soviets had a free hand in the east. In the end, the US only succeeded in replacing one genocidal maniac for another genocidal maniac.

The reality of the Second World War that U.S. and British peoples do not want to face is the fact that their contribution to the war in Europe was negligible. Japan should have had our full attention and Germany and the Soviet Union should have been allowed to destroy each other without interference from the United States. The US committed 80% of it military might to fight Germany and the British committed nearly 100% and at no time did the Western Allies face more than 25% of the German war machine. If it had not been for the Soviet Union’s mind-numbing sacrifice Germans would not have been defeated. The policies adopted by the Western Allies do not meet today’s standards of war-time behavior. Britain and the U.S. directly targeted civilians and Roosevelt fully backed these policies. U.S and British bombing policies caused massive death and destruction among civilians - clearly a war crime.

On the home front the president didn’t run things much better during the war years. Everyone is familiar with the internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese citizens but how many are aware of the treatment of Germans and Italians during this time. The fact is thousands of Germans and Italians were interned during the war. In addition, FDR was a staunch supporter of segregation in society and in the military - clearly he was a racist.

To sum up, FDR was a man faced with amazing challenges during his extremely long presidency. He made the hard choices in an effort to lead the country through difficult times but history has been far too kind to these choices. Had George W. Bush faced the same challenges and made the same decision his public crucifixion would be assured.

Jems of the Day

I guess people 10 years ago were smart enough to avoid skiing in places like this.

Peggy Noonan is the first person to really understand what blogging is all about.

I guess the Kyoto exemption for China was a HUGE mistake after all.

Stupid Tax Ideas

Today there have been a couple of really dumb tax proposals in the news. The first is from Montana. It seems that Montana is angry that big box stores about low wage jobs. They seem to think that people who WORK for Wal-mart are more likely to use welfare that people who HAVE NO JOB. Therefore, the government needs to tax these stores to cover the welfare costs. Insane!

The next piece of taxation genius comes from, were else, California. It seems that they are concerned that people are conserving too much gas by switching to Hybrids and more fuel efficient vehicles. This has lowered the tax revenue for gas taxes. The solution is to tax drivers by the mile! Brilliant!

These politicians never seem to have a problem finding a way to get our money! Too bad they can't kind a way to fix problems without it...

...On Gun Control

My buddy the Mad Tech recently posted on the topic of Gun Control. I was going to post this as a comment to his post but it just got a little too long for that. Enjoy!

The question of the intent of the second amendment is a common area that gun control advocates look at. Their contention is that the second amendment ONLY allows the state to arm the members of the militia. This generally seen as the right of the state to form National Guard units. Let’s read the text:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

A quick reading of the amendment can lead to assumptions of what is actually meant. What is meant by ‘A well regulated Militia?’ Let’s look at the Militia Act of 1792 – written by many of the people who brought you the constitution. In it the Militia is defined as follows:

“…That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia…”

This seems to make it clear that the Militia referred to in the second amendment is all white males between the age of 18 and 45. Easy… The Militia Act of 1792 REQUIRES members of the militia to purchase and maintain their own guns. The State organizes the militia but the citizens provided their own guns and equipment.

Let’s look at the next part of the text – ‘being necessary to the security of a free State.’ This seems to mean that the militia is involved ONLY insecurity. This is reinforced by the Militia Act of 1792 that states when the militia can be used:

“…That whenever the United States shall be invaded, or be in imminent danger of invasion from any foreign nation or Indian tribe, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, to call forth such number of the militia of the state or states most convenient to the place of danger or scene of action as he may judge necessary to repel such invasion, … and in case of an insurrection in any state, against the government thereof, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, … to call forth such number of the militia of any other state or states, as may be applied for, or as he may judge sufficient to suppress such insurrection.”

OK, what does this mean? It seems like the militia can only be used to repel invaders, kill Indians and make war on another state (in the Union). There is no mention of deploying them in foreign wars as the National Guard does. This doesn’t seem to support the idea that the second amendment is only for the National Guard.

Let’s look at the next piece of text – ‘the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.’ Who in the hell are the people they speak of? It is funny that they don’t say ‘the right of the State to keep and assign arms, shall not be infringed.’ This would be a much better wording IF the authors had NO intention of allowing private citizens to own fire-arms. But they didn’t say that did they? They said the PEOPLE which only means private citizens, it NEVER means the STATE.

The founders felt only white males were citizens worthy of owning fire-arms so they were the ones who are specified in the Militia Act. These people would have never allowed women, Indians or Blacks to be armed. Times have changed and you don’t see people arguing that the second amendment only applies to white males. We do not believe in racial segregation any more and citizenship is no longer viewed as a male only benefit. Over time, the concept of the militia began to die out and was replaced by the National Guard system. In fact the Militia Act of 1792 is eventually repealed, but not the Second Amendment.

I hear you asking ‘what is your point?’ The point is that the authors of the Constitution meant both the people and the militia when they wrote the amendment. I know it seems weird that they would actually say what they meant but they did. In the view of the founders the militia was the general population. It is clear that they intended for each person to own a weapon and know how to use it. They never dreamed of a day in which each state of the union would have a standing army equipped at tax-payer expense so why would they have written the second amendment as a guarantee of the right of a state only? The Second Amendment guarantees the right of the state to organize a militia AND the right of the people to own fire-arms – in the eyes of the founders the two were actually one-in-the same. Why is this so hard to understand? What the founding father meant and what modern Americans want out of the Second Amendment are two different things...

Great Democrat Presidents of the Twentieth Century – Woodrow Wilson

It has been nearly two years since the beginning of the Iraq war and during that time the President and his administration have been viciously attacked by Democrats in the House and the Senate. During this time the Iraq war has repeatedly been compared to the Vietnam War and the families of the fallen have been told that their sacrifice has been for nothing - the war is a horrible mistake and the President is responsible for essentially murdering innocent Iraqis as well as US soldiers. The same people who have criticized the President so vocally are, most assuredly, fans of the great Democrat Presidents of the Twentieth Century, but how do these Democrat Presidents compare to George W. Bush? Lets take a look at the most important of the these presidents and their biggest historical contributions.

The first president that we should examine is Woodrow Wilson. Wilson is undoubtedly an important American president and accomplished many great things in office: notably child labor restriction and worker compensation. Wilson. However, had a dark side, he was a racist who wrote in support of the Klan and believed in the inferiority of African-Americans. He was an opponent of the US constitution and for a time believed it should be replaced with a European style parliamentary system. Wilson implemented the graduated income tax (which we all know and love) and began farm subsidies.

He ran for re-election in 1916 on a peace platform all the while knowing that the US would not be able to stay out of WWI. In fact, he used very weak provocations to declare war on Germany in 1917. Wilson’s 14 points would become the inspiration for Russian revolutionaries as well as German peace advocates. In fact, the main reason for the tragedy known as the Treaty of Versailles was Wilson’s 14 points and US involvement in the war. Without US involvement and Wilson’s speech the Germans would have been in a stronger position to resist draconian allied demands of the Treaty of Versailles. This, in turn, would have removed one of the major causes of WWII.

Wilson intervened repeatedly in Latin America - sending tropps to Mexico, Haiti, Cuba and others. He, also, sent troops to Siberia to fight the Bolsheviks. In all, Wilson is responsible for the deaths of nearly 200,000 Americans and untold numbers of innocent people in Europe and Latin America. He never liberated a single country and most of his military interventions were to support the status quo not to bring freedom and democracy to oppressed peoples. At home he imprisoned political rivals and destroyed unions. He presided over one of the largest expansions of government in American history. In the end this evaluation is an attempt to judge Wilson by the same standards that the media uses today to judge the performance of George W. Bush. Wilson sure doesn’t hold up well in this light.

Note: This article is full of exaggerations and over-simplifications. This is intentional. Today we tend to view very complicated domestic and international issues in the simplest possible way to allow people to understand them. Unfortunately it just leads to confusion and further misunderstanding. None of this matters because no one knows the truth about Wilson anyway. Go read a book, or two, about him.

How Not to Run a Help Desk Part 2

In my continuing rant on how not to run a help desk I will start by looking at how a help desk technicians are evaluated for job performance. The point of a help desk technician’s job is to provide customer service and correct computer problems - seems pretty straight forward. With this goal in mind it seems logical that the best way to determine how well an agent is doing their job is to look at items like; Customer Satisfaction, Number of Calls, First Call Resolution. These statistics are directly related to how well an agent does their job and are the natural measuring stick for job performance. If I talk to 30 people in a shift and fix 29 problems myself, and the customers are all happy, then I have done my job properly.

Let’s look at what these items actually mean in the help desk world. Customer Satisfaction is exactly the same as any other customer service business, if a customer is happy you will get a good rating and if they are mad you will get shredded. Number of Calls is a no brainer, this is how many calls an agent takes - the more the better. First Call Resolution is the most important stat; this is how many calls are resolved without requiring the customer or the agent to call back. Unfortunately, most help desk only track these number for an entire team not for individual agents.

The reality of the situation is much different, since help desk managers, as previously mentioned, do not know how to do the job they must use performance matrices they can understand. In a help desk environment the agent must log into a phone queue. The queue is run by a computer that tracks everything that an agent does on their phone while logged in. It has the ability to track how long each call was and how many calls an agent has taken. It tracks how many out bound calls and they can track every keystroke on the phone. Some of the key stats that are tracked are: Ready or Available, Release or Unavailable, Wrap-up or After Call Work. In addition the agent’s time is stamped, like a time clock, for start time, lunch and breaks.

Before I go any further I need to explain what the stats really mean for those of you who are unfamiliar with the help desk world. Ready (Available) is time the agent spends logged into the phone waiting for a call. It is seen as productive time for most call centers. Release (Unavailable) is time the agent spends not in Ready or Wrap-up, most call centers count this as unproductive time and it counts against the agent (I am not sure why this is something that an agent can do). Wrap-up (After Call Work) is time the agent spends after hanging up with a user but is still working the case; it is productive time to a point. In addition to these stats there is also the Talk Time stat. Talk Time is always productive time but if an agent’s Average Talk Time is significantly higher than the team average then there may be a problem with the agent.

All of these stats are important for determining how well a help desk is operating but they do not give a clear picture of what level of service an agent is providing. I have work with many people who were expert at managing their phones but had no clue how to fix a computer problem. Since help desk managers put such high value one these numbers they will frequently recognize the wrong employees for awards such as employee of the month (more on this jewel later). As previously mentioned, help desk managers will use the phone system as a form of time clock; an agent is considered on time if they login within 2 minutes of their scheduled time. In addition, agents log out for breaks and lunch and at the end of the day. If an agent is to go to a meeting or work on non-call related projects they will log off as well. Each time an agent logs off he/she must enter a Reason Code. If the agent enters the wrong code it will be counted against there job performance. Like most jobs, if you are tardy too many times in a period/quarter that will also count against the agent. It is, however, interesting that positive contributions are frequently less important to a manger that these petty mistakes. At times, the most productive people will be penalized because of substandard phone management and the most useless people are getting awards because they always login on time and use the correct codes. Needless to say, this is murder on morale.

Silent Monitoring is a popular quality control tool used by many help desks in an effort to track and address job performance issues. The idea is that an agent’s calls will be taped, unknown to the agent, and then reviewed by the manager or a technical lead. After the call has been reviewed the agent will be informed and the evaluation will be covered with the agent. Ideally this should be done very soon after the call so the issue is still fresh in their mind. Often, however, they are reviewed with the agent days or even weeks after the fact. Sometime these silent monitoring evaluations are never reviewed with the agent, making the entire program a huge waste of time. Staffing concerns can contribute to a manger’s ability to perform this process; a manager who is running an understaffed desk will not want to pull an agent from the phones to review calls. Technical ability also impacts this program, a manager with poor technical skills will not want to review calls because they have little understanding of what is happening.

Continuing with the topic of quality review help desk will also review the call tickets for each agent. This is done for two reasons: 1. the customer can frequently see these cases and you don’t want your agents looking like illiterate fools, 2. the ticketing system is used to create customer reports on the common issues and may be used to create documentation of solutions. These are two very important reasons to review each and every case to ensure that they have been properly categorized and that there are no spelling errors. This is clearly a function for the best people on the team and ideally for a lead. Ticket review is never something that should be a peer review item, but it often is. This tedious task will be assigned to the person with the lowest call volume, which is frequently the least qualified person to be reviewing someone’s work. Quality control should NEVER be a peer review process. My co-workers don’t know any more about the job that I do so what makes them qualified to determine if I am doing the job correctly? Nothing; the manager of a help desk or a dedicated, trained, QR person should be doing these functions to ensure that the review process is not a collection of opinions but actual fact.

Another common issue that plagues many help desks, particularly at companies that have cash problems, is staffing. Help desk managers, in an attempt to control costs, will short staff, which greatly increases the impact of poor quality agents; this in turn contributes to agent burnout. A help desk that has been short staffed will, obviously, have a higher work load than a properly staffed desk. In the short run this seems like a good idea but over the long haul there begins to be real problems particularly with scheduling vacations. On a short staffed help desk every time an agent goes on vacation the already high workload increases, sometimes to the point that agents begin to get burned out. This burnout contributes to unscheduled absences (sick time). When an agent is on vacation and another is out sick the problem of short staffing is at its worst. Poor customer service is inevitable in this environment.

In the end, help desks are run pretty much the same as any other operation. They are filled with competent people who are under appreciated and ignorant people who are glorified. They are run by managers that don’t know the difference between a technical help desk and a telemarketing operation. Sometimes it amazes me that anything gets done.

Why are Arizonans So Mad about Illegal Immigration?

With the passage of Prop 200 Arizona has been put center stage on the issue of illegal immigration. The passage of the prop into law the state has become the target of legal action from special interest groups as well as the Mexican government. This is bad enough, but then add articles from the Arizona Republic, and other publications, and passions could start to get out of hand.

Salvador Reza wrote an article entitled “What is it about Mexicans” in yesterdays AZ Republic. The thesis of his essay is that Mexicans are the most abused and discriminated against people in the world. He likens their plight to Native Americans who battled European settlers and Africans who were brought here as slaves. This is, of course, patently absurd. The plight of Mexicans in the US is much better than the plight of Mexicans in Mexico; this is why they come here. Life is improved for these people when they come to the US. Why do “Human Rights” advocates refuse to condemn the abuses people in Mexico are subjected to that cause them to risk everything to leave the country? Mexico is a mind numbingly corrupt society and no one, not even Mr. Reza cares.

In his eyes illegal Mexican immigrants have a RIGHT to come to the US and get hand-outs of tax payer money. I have news for Mr. Reza; no one has a RIGHT to come to the US. They do not have a RIGHT to enter illegally. They do not have RIGHT to a job. They do not have a RIGHT public assistance. This is true no matter what nation the person comes from. The only people who have a RIGHT to public services are CITIZENS and LEGAL immigrants.

Salavador Reza wants desperately to make the issue of illegal immigration into an issue of race. It is not. Most Americans do not have any problem with legal Mexican immigrants. Legal immigrants are vital to the future of the country. There is need for immigration reform but reform cannot take place until our boarders are secured. Without boarder security immigration reform is meaningless and more states will need to follow Arizona’s lead in attempting to deal with the problem. What Mr. Reza and the Mexican government should be doing is trying to stop illegal immigration and then work with the US government to allow more people to come here to work legally.

The dark side of illegal immigration that no human rights advocate will talk about is its relationship with organized crime. Human traffickers, or Coyotes, are the worst type of criminal scum. They charge people huge amounts of money to smuggle them into the US. Many times they force the immigrants to carry drugs across the boarder. Often the Coyotes will abandon the immigrants in the Arizona desert with no water and miles from any town or road. Once the immigrants make it to a city like Phoenix they are blackmailed, and sometimes murdered by Coyotes who are extorting money from the illegal immigrants. Coyotes steal cars from major metro areas to use in the smuggle operations which increase auto insurance rates. Illegal immigrants face death in a multitude of different ways when coming to the US; they can dies in the desert from exposure; they can be murdered by smugglers; they can be killed in frequent, horrific car accidents in over loaded vehicles. All of these things lead to huge problems of crime and health care for the aliens.

In addition to the criminal aspect associated with illegal immigration there is a larger economic issue. Illegal immigrants come to the US for work. US employers love to hire these people because they can pay them under the table at lower wages than Americans are willing to make. This costs tax revenue and causes American workers to be pushed out of jobs. The excuse that people like Mr. Reza might use against this argument is that Americans will not do the jobs that illegal aliens will do. This is totally false; Americans will not work for less than fair market value for their labor. They will not work a job that pays cash under the table for less than minimum wage. In fact, illegal immigration completely undermines the purpose of a minimum wage because employers can always hire an illegal under the table.

All of these issues cause a huge burden on the US economy. The job loss and crime associated with illegal immigration cost money - huge money - measured in the billions of dollars per year. This is money that should be in the pockets of US workers; user for services that benefit US workers. It is time that Americans stand up and DEMAND that our boarders be secured and immigration properly controlled and people like Salvador Reza should shut the hell up!

How Not to Run a Help Desk, Part 1

I have been doing computer help desk work for nearly 10 years. During that time I have worked for several different companies and supported half-dozen different corporate clients. I have also provided consumer support for new computers. I have worked as 1st level support, 2nd level support and supervisor throughout my career. This experience has taught me a few lessons and I will share them with you.

A common theme in any business is the desire to control expenses to maximize profit and in the help desk world the largest expense is people. To control expenses in this environment a help desk manager or director aspires to hire the best possible person for the lowest wage - much like other industries. Of course, truly talented people command a high wage and every help desk needs a few people who are very experienced. The rest of the staff can be filled with cheaper - lower skill employees. Again this is not too much different than other industries. Naturally the lower skill people are not going to be able to solve as many issues as the more experienced employees and will have a lower productivity.

Since help desk managers typically have no technical skills themselves they will frequently fail to appreciate how their less skilled employees impact over-all productivity. This lower than expected productivity will cause managers to attempt to find ways to rectify the problem - just like any good manager in any field. Some of the ideas that they come up with to increase productivity can be mind-numbingly stupid. Ideas that would actually positively impact productivity are ignored - especially if those ideas are presented from members of their team.

One popular idea that every help desk uses is the quarterly bonus. In this system a technician’s job performance is run through complicated mathematical formulas to determine how much bonus money they are entitled too. These programs will be advertised to the employees as paying very respectable rates and will inspire a short-term increase in productivity. Over time the department head will see that this program cuts into the profitability of the department and changes will be made. Usually it will be a small reduction in the total bonus amount or a rework of the program. In extreme case the bonus will be “suspended.” These kinds of changes in a bonus program will quickly become a negative influence on productivity as employees begin to feel that they are being cheated.

Another common program is the ‘company bucks’ program. In this scheme employees are given co bucks for meeting or exceeding performance goals. Usually these bucks can be redeemed for promotional items given to the company by various venders. You know, the stuff that major companies GIVE AWAY as part of their advertising budgets. We can buy them with our hard earned bucks! Sometimes you might be able to buy an extended lunch or maybe a ½ day-off, but these generally cost so much that no one will ever afford it. Two common down sides these programs are; 1. Nothing but crap that no one wants offered in the ‘store,’ and 2. Awarding of the bucks falls through the cracks and no one has any to spend. The second problem is the most common. I personally have seen years go by with no meaningful awarding of bucks due to lack of management attention. After a while the program dies due to lack of interest.

My personal favorite kooky idea is the team building outing. In this idea the entire team goes somewhere not work-related and attempts to have fun build trust. There will be fun games like blind goofy golf or falling backwards while someone catches you. If the company has money you might get to go to a conference were you can learn about personality types and how to work with ass-holes. If your company doesn’t have money you might get to go bowling, but it will be paid for by an office fundraiser. Needless to say most of these team building exercises are a complete waste of time and money. The fact that in a help desk operation this type of activity has to happen on the weekend or after business hours does not help. Who wants to spend even more time with people from work?

Many of these programs cost the company money (unless your company is broke then it is paid for by the employees) and that impacts the other important aspect of the help desk - profitability. The more money that is spent on useless programs to increase productivity the more this cuts into the profits. How much does all of this cost? Who knows, the boss is not likely to tell the employees how much money is being wasted trying to make them more productive. If they did the employees might say something dumb like “why don’t you just pay people what they are worth rather than waste money on silly games?” The employees might also say something like; “why don’t you ask us how we can do our jobs better?” Of course, if a manager actually asked this question it would be expected that they listen and act on the ideas presented, but this is highly unlikely.

Eventually, all of these productivity ideas are just band-aids. Most of them will not accomplish the desired effect of increasing productivity. The real issue that I have seen is that the managers treat the employees like fools and do not show any respect for what they do. Managers forget that they DO NOT DO THE WORK. The product that is sold to the customer is the help desk not the management. The job of the manager is to ensure that the product is able to get the job done that the customer is paying for. This cannot be done by treating the help desk technicians like furniture or robots.

Vacation Time Again

I am off on vacation for a few days. My company has a use-it-or-loose-it policy for vacation time in excess of 40 hr rolled over from the previous year. So, in order to keep accruing time I have to take a couple of days. This will give me a chance to catch-up on some reading and just relax. I am going to be going on a day trip to Tucson on Saturday. It should be a nice change of pace. Perhaps I will be more inspired to write.

The Mac Mini

Apple introduces what may be the coolest thing I have ever seen - the Mac Mini. I have been working with computers for many, many years and I am a long time Mac nut. Ever since the introduction of Mac OSX I have been dying to get a new machine. My PM 8600 just cannot hang with the new OS, but I don’t have $2500 for a new Mac. Enter the Mini, only $499 and it will blow the doors off of most computers out there. The only problem I see in the Mac world today is that OSX is too much OS for the typical Mac user. Anywho, check it out!

Blog Clicker

There is a new traffic exchange in town - Blog Clicker. It is brand new and now is the time to sign-up.

If you are familiar with Blog Explosion it is very similar. If you had gotten in on the ground floor of BE you would be getting a ton of traffic with little or no effort.

This is Truly F*cked-up

If it is wrong for a man to harm a fetus why is OK for a woman to do it? I have a real hard time understanding the laws about harming a fetus.

This article is about people who think that the tsunami disaster has a positive side effect - the restoration of Thailand’s beaches to their “natural” state. It has washed away all of the unsightly development and evidence of human habitation. What these callous bastards fail to realize is it also washed away the people who lived, worked, and raised families in this eye-sore. It shocks me to think that the death of 150,000 people had any positive side-effects. The people who think this is, in anyway, a good thing just hate human beings.

Today’s Lunacy

I just knew that the tsunami tragedy would, somehow, be tied to larger environmental issues but I refused to write about it because it seemed like such a no-brainer that this has nothing to do with pollution, or global warming. I felt confident that I was just being cynical. Junkscience.com has found evidence of just such an attempt to connect this disaster to larger environmental issues by several groups. Just incredible!

This is a nice piece on the minimum wage from Where’s Your Brain. I personally believe there should be no minimum wage at the federal level and maybe none at all.

Next we have an excellent article on how environmental groups contribute the deaths of millions of people every year by opposing economic development projects in the world’s poorest countries.

Good Stories of the Day

Stanley Crouch of the New York Daily News has a great article about women finally speaking out about the abuses of Hip Hop culture on black women. It is about time that the public reject this type of behavior towards women. It is time for Hip Hop to clean up it’s act.

On the subject of illegal immigration I have been quiet but this article from AZCentral has really struck a nerve. I am not against immigration, in fact I believe it is very important to the future of the country. This story indicates that the problem is completely out of control. It is time to clamp down on illegals, the companies that hire them and the Mexican government. Enough is enough!

Baby or Fetus?

In the last couple of days we have been horrified to hear the story of Bobbi Jo Stinnett, the Missouri woman who was murdered and had her unborn child cut from her body. The story is truly chilling and I will not go into the details here.

In the news coverage of the story we find a very disturbing trend - referring to this baby as a stolen fetus, rather than a kidnapped child. I would have thought that after the grizzly murder of Lacy and Conner Peterson we would have learned that a woman who has been pregnant 8 months has a baby and not a fetus. When was the last time you asked a pregnant woman “when will your fetus be recognized as human?” No one would ask such a question! You would probably ask the mother-to-be “when is your baby due?”

This story from Fox News illustrates what I am talking about. The headline reads “Woman Charged in Stolen Fetus Case.” Lisa M. Montgomery, the alleged kidnapper/murder/scumbag, is not charged with stealing a fetus, she is charge with KIDNAPPING RESULTING IN DEATH. You kidnap people. The state of Missouri has enough sense to realize that we are not dealing with the theft of property but the abduction of a human being, why can’t the press see this? It is time that the media show some respect for unborn children.

The answer is because of the abortion issue - as a society we are terrified of this issue. If the press refers to unborn children, at any stage of pregnancy, as children, it will be seen as support for the anti-abortion lobby. To me, referring to an unborn child, who has been “stolen” from her mother’s womb, as a “fetus” is offensive in the extreme.

I don’t mean for this to be an abortion post, I just want to point out what I see as a problem with the way the press thinks of unborn children. Government certification, as in the form of a birth certificate, is not what makes a fetus into a child. Life does not begin at birth, if it did then Lisa M. Montgomery would be responsible, not only for the death of Bobbi Jo Stinnett (allegedly), but also for the initiation of the life of Victoria Jo Stinnett.

Junk Science Awards

My favorite site has released their top 10 Most Embarrassing Moments of the year. These are some great stories! It is amazing to me that there are people who actually think that scientists should run the country. Take some time and read these amazing and frightening stories.

Crime in the UK

Sometimes our British cousins can’t understand why Americans are so infatuated with guns. They cannot believe that in a civilized society why anyone other than the police would ever need one. Americans, of course, can’t understand the British position (at least Red state Americans, Blue staters think like the Brits). This story from the Belmont Club really put a spotlight on the issue. Everyone should be armed and then the criminals would think twice before breaking into a house. I would hate to live in the UK.

Reading, Listening, Watching

Time again to take a break from the news and talk about me, my favorite subject! No seriously, the news is getting me down so I must change gears for a while. With the election over I have been trying to get back on track with other interests such as books, music and the occasional movie. So here is what I have been doing:

READING: A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis by David Rieff This book outlines the problems in the current humanitarian system – its relationship to the UN and its origins in European Colonialism. I am having a bit of trouble getting through this book. The subject is interesting and the writing is good, I just don’t understand much of what he is referring too. I need to do some research on some of the key relief groups that he talks about. It is a good book so far but very academic.

LISTENING: From One by Ra. This is my new favorite CD! I first heard Ra on the radio with the song Do You Call My Name, which was really popular in Phoenix for a while. I really liked the song but I could never seem to hear the name of the band. Then a couple weeks later I started to hear a different song – Rectifier. This song was even better! I finally broke down and bought the CD a couple of weeks ago and I can’t stop listening to it. It is one of those rare CD that the songs you don’t hear are better than the ones on the radio. If you like hard rock or progressive rock you will love the band.

WATCHING: Aside from The Incredibles, which I have already blogged about, the only movie I have seen lately is Spiderman 2. I was kind of disappointed with this movie. I had great expectations all summer and could not wait for the DVD. I never found the time to see it in the theater. I felt the movie was a little slow to develop. I though Peter Parker was more whiney that the first movie (not sure how that is even possible). I hated the fact that he reveals his identity to EVERYONE of importance, except Jamison. Maybe I just need to watch it again.

I have been spending some time on my hobby lately. I have been painting figures for my friends at Tactical Miniatures for their new releases. I have sent the first batch back to them and I hope he gets some pictures up soon. I have also been working on my friend Tom’s web site. Just a basic set of galleries for his figure collections. I have done a few updates to my main web site as well.

Dan Rather News

This is a great evaluation of Dan Rather by Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal. It is one of the best articles I have ever read about Mr. Rather. I must say, I am glad he is retiring.

On another note, Foxnews.com has this little blurb about Mr. Rather that is both frightening and funny at the same time:

Outgoing CBS News Anchor Dan Rather says he considers CBS a "magical, mystical kingdom — our version of Camelot."

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter conducted last year and reprinted today, Rather also reports an unusual relationship with deceased CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow.

Rather says, "Ed Murrow's ghost is here. I've seen him and talked to him on the third floor of this building many times late at night. And I can tell you that he's watching over us."

Did I mention that I am glad he is retiring?

America Haters and Spineless Weenies

Now, I have read some pretty amazing America hating stuff lately but this might be the most insulting of the bunch. This guy has the nerve to say that the reason Alexander the Great is doing so poorly in US theaters is because dumb Americans are homophobes. It is interesting that Americans are homophobes but where is the condemnation of the Greeks who won’t even admit Alexander was gay? Please…the movie just plain sucks. We will see how quickly our tolerant and worldly European brothers flock to this turd.

Pat Sajak has made an interesting point about the lack of Hollywood outrage over the murder of Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh. I think he is on to something and it is very sad. Basically, condemning terrorists puts Hollywood types too close to President Bush.

NBA Riots and Other Interesting Items

Irreconcilable Musings has a good commentary on the NBA riot of last Friday. It is based on an excellent article form the Kansas City Star. I have tried to stay away from this story but let me say that I think the majority of the blame rests with the PLAYERS. I agree that disruptive fans must be dealt with, but this is the job of security not basketball players. Jason Whitlock has touched on a subject that most people would not touch with a ten foot pole, but I think he is onto something.

Amber Gnat has found this article by Victor Hanson, it is about the positive things that have happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. A very interesting read.

Marine sacrifices his life for others is the head line of a story at The Seattle Times. This is an incredible story of a GREAT AMERICAN. This story needs to be told by every news agency, but sadly most people will probably never hear about this hero. Thanks to the other bloggers out there who found this one.

The Incredibles

Yesterday was my birthday and I decided to see a free movie at the local Harkin's theater. I had been wanting to see this movie for weeks and then the day before it was released I heard a review on a local talk radio program. The reviewer was raving about the movie and then it was mentioned that the plot owns a lot to the ideas of Ayn Rand. Well, I was floored. I am a huge fan of her work and am very intrigued by her Objectivist philosophy. This philosophy is the entire basis of the movie.

Needless to say, I was blown away! This is a great movie (as I am sure most of you already know)! Of course the animation is beautiful but the characters are so perfect; it is like you know these people. When Mr. Incredible is sitting in his cube I could totally relate.

The underlining message - society holds back the exceptional people - is stark. When Mr Incredible tells his number one fan that everyone is special, he replies that that really means no one is special. Think about that for a monent. We really do try to limit people rather than encourage them to excell. If you do not believe me take a look at the public schools.

Lessons everyone should learn from this movie:
1. be the best you can be
2. never try to change the people you love, help them be their best

There are a lot more lessons in this one but I think these two are the most important. This is a must see movie.

UPDATE: Here is a good review of the movie that explains the Objectivist connection much better than I can.

More on Blogexplosion

OK, after careful evaluation I will continue with my BE membership. I am sure you are all relieved. I really don't get ANY traffic without it, so I have determined that my lack of comments is because I am not edgy enough. So, I will just need to be more offensive - you bastards! How was that? Just trying it on...

Back from Vacation

I am back at work this week, well for three days anyway. I really took it easy last week and tried not to read the news or watch it on TV. It was hard but I did OK. Now that I am back at work I have plenty of time to catch up. So many things to read! I will post more later.

I Should do this for a Living

Last week I wrote this article about Iran and US policy towards it. The basic premise was that Iran is playing a game but the US has a real opportunity to promote democratic reform. It didn’t get to much interest. Then I was sent this link yesterday and it reinforces nicely what I had to say. The difference being this guy knows what he is talking about.

As many of you know I am not a fan of the American Left. I believe that they are snobs, elitists and completely out of touch with most of America. I know that people on the American Left think that I am an idiot. I just consider the source. One other thing about the left is that they are cowards – afraid to put their name on their hate. Just as I was feeling smug and very confident that I have figured it all out someone has to go and write an intelligent piece about our friends on the left. If more Democrats could, not only understand this point of view, but actually believe it, they might just have a chance.

On a lighter note, a Texas school district cancels their “cross dressing day.” Bummer!

US Urged to Slow Artic Thaw

I have managed pretty well over the last few weeks to avoid writing about Global Warming and other environmental bull. Then I saw this incredible article on ABCNEWS.com and I just had to comment. The premise of the story is that Global warming is happing at such a huge rate that in less than 100 years the Artic ice cap will be gone and all the Polar Bears will be dead. This is all the result of a study by 250 scientists that are upset because the Bush administration will not listen to them and sign the magical Kyoto Protocol. The US is, of course, responsible for this environmental disaster, so we are the only ones who can fix it.

The really sad thing about this is that the data contained in this “damning” report debunks the very conclusions of the report. This is an excellent story pointing out the flaws. The interesting point is that Polar Bear populations seem to be INCREASING not decreasing and temperatures seem to be functioning within a normal cycle.

Now I know that there are people out there who feel very strongly about issues such as Global Warming but this one is really over played. The problem is many people want to believe everything that “scientists” say. Scientists are human and subject to the same biases, prejudices and mistakes as anyone else. Issues as big and important as Global Warming need to be approached cautiously - careful study by science and government is required. We cannot blindly follow one side or the other.

UPDATE: I found this nice site that covers the issue of CO2 and Global Warming rather nicely. Take a look at Greening Earth Society. They have a nice commentary on the McCain/Leiberman bill to reduce CO2 emissions. I like both of these guys but I really hate the idea that this is a futher politicization of this issue.

Political Parties as a Product

Back in the early eighties Pepsi ran a very successful ad campaign involving a blind taste-test between Pepsi and Coke. The commercials ran constantly and they were so successful even Coke began to believe them. This belief in the advertising of the opposition led Coke to abandon a nearly 100 year old product in favor of New Coke. This was a colossal mistake, sales of New Coke never took off and the company’s stock plummeted. After only a few short months Coke introduced Cocoa-Cola Classic which was close enough to the original to stop the slide.

There are several correlations between the market share battle between Coke and Pepsi and the constant battling between the Democrat and Republican parties. The most obvious is the color relationship – Pepsi is the blue product and Coke is the red. This fits nicely with Democrats being the blue party and Republicans the red. In colas and in politics blue is associated with a young, progressive base, red is more traditional and appeals to an older generation.

Ok, I know this seems a little weak but you get my point. If we look at the advertising for these products we can see that a common theme in the ads is a veiled attack against the competition and the implication that people who like the other guy are intellectually inferior, or at least, misguided. This approach, over time, has lead to an almost perfect market split between the two competing products. The taste-test ad campaign, and the resulting New Coke fiasco, demonstrated that the tradition associated with the product is MORE important than the product itself. Many people who chose Pepsi in a blind taste-test were loyal Coke drinkers and they had no intentions of changing products. There were, however, enough people to switch to make Coke take notice.

If we look at the ad campaigns for both political parties from the past election we will see the same marketing techniques in use, with one major exception – neither side attempted to veil their attacks. Both sides were very direct. Since these are political campaigns, and not actually products, we cannot look at sales as a matrix for the success of the advertising. Enter the polls – this is the major mechanism for determining the mood of the “market” in a political campaign. The problem with this is polls are not very accurate, especially when compared to actually market forces.

This accuracy issue has lead, particularly this election season, to some very strange poll results and to, what many people thought was, a surprise result to the election. I am not going to get into the problems with the polling in this year’s election, but suffice it to say that polls are less accurate than market indicators. This is because a poll measures what a person SAYS that they will due or has done – a market indicators measure what a person has ACTUALLY bought. In addition polls are more easily manipulated than are sales numbers. This is very important. If we use the same marketing strategies in campaigns as we do with products we should expect that the difference in data quality will affect the success or failure of the ad campaign.

One thing that both political parties need to be very careful with after this election is dealing with what the election results actually mean. Republicans are feeling as if the election has given them a mandate to pursue vigorously their agenda. The Democrats are torn between, on the one hand, becoming more radical (more to the left) in their approach or, on the other hand, becoming more centrist (more to the right). The danger is that one, or possibly both, parties are in danger of pulling a “New Coke” plan. Without strong market indicators it can be difficult for political parties to reinvent themselves, in favor of their perceived base, without destroying their actual base

This has led me to question the wisdom of treating political parties and candidates as merchandise. Modern mass marketing techniques are excellent for selling sugary beverages but it is lousy for selling politics. This treatment has helped to polarize the political climate while contributing to a lack of understanding of each party’s position on key policy issues. Sure, everyone knows that Democrats are for the poor and Republicans are for the rich. This is one area were advertising has succeeded – it reinforces stereotypes and promotes party talking points. It does not, however, promote real understanding of issues.

I believe that the next phase of political campaign reforms should address this imbalance between marketing and substance. I would love to see political campaigns move away from the slick marketing approach and begin to do ads that are simpler – ads that address the issues and not just point-out the flaws of the other guy.

There is one mass marketing technique that has worked well for colas and could work for politics – the blind taste-test. Line up each party’s ideas for solving each major problem and let the voters decide which answer they like the best. If the answers are not related to the party or the candidate then people will have to focus on the issues. Here is an example of this type of a “blind taste-test” for politics. In the end people may be surprised at their real political views.

Blogexpolsion

I joined BE sometime around the early-middle of October. It seemed like a fun way to increase visiblity for my blog and at the same time visit blogs I might otherwise never have seen. I really injoyed it and for several weeks it really lived up to my expectations. I began to get addicted to watching the hit counter constantly increase. After a while, however, I realised that I was getting more hits but not necissarily more READERS, just more hits. I rarely get comments and the visit lengths are always right around the minimum for BE to get credits. I have decided that I don't really care about the hits if no one reads what I have to say.

This lead me to the other problem with BE. As more and more people join my traffic has been decreasing anyway, even with surfing other blogs for several hours a day. It is the classic case of diminishing returns. When I surf I seem to hit the same pages over and over even though you are only supposed to see a page a max of once a day.

Then this past week we experienced the "Ratings Controversy." It seemed like every other blog I visited people were suddenly complaining about their ratings, and who rated them what. It was so childish and really detracted from what I like about reading other peoples blogs. I am begining to think that BE is burning me out on blogging...

With this in mind I have decided to stop surfing BE for a while and see how much traffic I get from BE as a baseline, with no action from me. In a few days I will make a decision as to wether or not I will leave BE. What do you BE users think about this? Have you seen any of the things I am talking about?

Left Wing Professors and Other Stuff

This is an amazing story about a college professor who had students vandalize SUV’s as an assignment. But of course this cannot be an example of left-wing nut-case professors on college campuses, all Americans believe in vandalism as a legitimate form of protest.

This is an amazing story about a nutty Lawyer. OK, I know that the description is really vague, just read the story.

Here is an interesting story about videos of beheadings being sold at a gas station in Tampa. Very strange…

I really should have something intelligent or clever to say about some of these stories but I don't. I'm speachless...

More Good Reads

CBS Complains About Bloggers from The Templar Pundit, he has come up with a good find. Check it out - CBS just seems to think the blogging public is a bunch of uneducated morons. I guess this shouldn’t surprise anyone, they think the same thing about the President.

Wow! Shooting at schools is unacceptable! What a concept. I am sure glad everyone has reaffirmed this because I was beginning to think we had lost our moral compass.

Stories about Fallujah

I have put off talking about the battle for Fallujah but it just does not seem right to forget that American soldiers are fighting and dying to capture this city. The first story I saw today was this one about 35 US soldiers being captured. The story is from China View and was linked from the Drudge Report. Sounds fishy to me…

Drudge also has a link to this satellite photo of the city. Maybe you should just go to the Drudge report and read what they have, before I link everything from here.

Here is the BBC’s take on the fighting in Fallujah. The Times Online has an excellent map of the battlefield with key points.

As a final note of the Fallujah battle, my buddy The Mad Tech, found this letter from a US Marine in Fallujah. It is such an important letter that I am linking it from here because everyone needs to read this.

On a different note, the French seem to be having some trouble in the Ivory Coast.

Now I'm a Nothing!

I really need to quit taking these quizes!

I am Nothing!



Which Enemy of the Christian Church Are You?

Take More of Robert & Tim's Quizzes
Watch Robert & Tim's Cartoons

This might be better than a Meathead...maybe.

News of the Day…or Yesterday

This article from the Times Online is really good. It breaks down what the US election was really about and why it happened. Not bad for a British paper.

The future is Republican according to another Times Online article. I really like The Times. They are much more balanced than the BBC it seems.

I am a firm believer in ideals such as freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. One of the things that our fellow Americans on the left are very afraid of is an erosion of the separation of church and state. This article from CNN must really have them quaking. For the record, I am totally against teaching “creationism” in public schools. This should be reserved for religious schools.

What to do about Iran

With the controversy swirling around the Iranian Nuclear program, the nation has, once again, become the focus of US attention. Unlike the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979, the current dispute with the Iranian government, over the potential development of nuclear weapons, has REAL security implications for the US and for other nations in the region. This is not a case of the pride of the US potentially being bruised, as was the case with the hostage crisis, there is real potential of armed conflict over this issue. The difference between the US in 1979 and 2004 is striking; we currently have an administration that is not adverse to taking military action to protect its security, we do not have Jimmy Carter as president, we currently have a strong military presence in the region.

These facts have not been lost on the Iranian government, which explains, I think, the Iranians “endorsement” of George Bush as President. Wait, you say, why does the fact that the current US administration’s willingness to possibly take military action against Iran actually causes them to prefer George Bush?

This one is a little complicated but try to follow me. I believe that the Iranian regime’s days are numbered, not from external force but from internal forces. They know this. In an effort to distract internal opposition and build patriotism, they have launched an expensive, dangerous nuclear program. In this endeavor it is important to have a US administration that will pay attention to Iran and serve as a rallying point for the population. George Bush is perfect for this situation because, with ongoing military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, he will be willing to negotiate a settlement that will not threaten the Iranian government. John Kerry would not have been a good US leader, in Iranian eyes, because he probably wouls have ended the Iraq mission early, leaving US forces free for an attack (not that they had much fear of that). More importantly, Kerry would have been much more willing to pursue economic sanctions through the UN, which could actually play against the Iranian government’s stability.

This logic would seem to indicate that the Iranian opposition should be more encouraged by a John Kerry presidency. Why, then, are they cheering George Bush’s re-election? The reality is neither the Iranian government nor the Iranian opposition believed that John Kerry would do anything, good or bad, in regards to Iran. The opposition believes that any conflict with the US, combined with Bush’s support for democracy in the region, is going to result in the collapse of the Iranian government. I think they are right.

So what does this all mean – what should we do about Iran? Iran is walking a very fine line – one slip and they are in big trouble. It will be very difficult to try and play the US while at the same time suppressing the opposition. The US must continue to support the democratic movement in Iran. We must continue to put pressure on the Iranian government to dismantle their nuclear programs. This pressure should be mostly military in nature but we should not be afraid to offer some economic incentives. We should do everything in our power to keep Israel from taking military action as this could actually strengthen the Iranian government. All of our actions with regard to Iran should server two purposed – eliminating the nuclear weapons threat and strengthening the democratic movement. In the end our success or failure in bringing democracy to Iraq may be the most important factor in dealing with Iran.

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Some People are Filled with Hate…

This article from the Slate is just incredible! To think that some people are paid to write this kind of crap. It just blows my mind. The Democrats are the ones who have, for years, been telling everyone about peace, love and understanding. When will they begin to practice what they preach? When will they call out people who write this type of hate? This scares me more that anything I have ever seen from the Religious Right.

Some of the people who are upset by the election results are just plain stupid. See the Republicans do not have a monopoly on stupidity.

In another example of how stereotyping the nation’s political views is really dumb, read this story from Yahoo about the Democrat Hispanic Lesbian that was elected Sheriff in Dallas County. This is a heavily Republican county that voted strongly for Bush. I wonder why these homophobic, racist, sexist Republicans would allow this to happen? Maybe Republicans can consider the entire person when making a political choice. The only thing that would have made this story better is if she had been a Republican, but then again, nobody’s perfect.

My Hope for the Next Four Years

Time for me to put my wish-list together for the next 4 years. With the President having a majority Republicans in the House and the Senate, he should be able accomplish a lot of good things. Here are the items I hope he pursues.

1. Finish the job in Iraq and Afghanistan - This is huge. Afghanistan is off to a good start but for the next few years we will need to keep a close eye to ensure the Taliban and Al-Qaida do not regain a foot-hold. Iraq is going to be a tougher job. I believe that once the last terrorist strongholds are destroyed the security issue will rapidly improve. I do not believe there will be problems with January elections in Iraq. Once the elections are out of the way the outlook for Iraq will greatly improve and it will be much easier to get more international support once the terrorists have been defeated. I believe both countries have a bright future but it will take some time.

2. Get bin Laden – I don’t believe that OBL really has much influence left to conduct terrorist operations but he is an important figurehead for the movement. Capturing him will help reinforce to the civilized world that the US is really focused on battling terrorism.

3. Overhaul the tax system – This could be the most important thing President Bush can accomplish in his second term. I would love to see the IRS dismantled and the income tax abolished. I think a VAT type system or a national sales tax is the way to go. The income tax system is open to abuse and influence peddling. It is an unfair system because the upper income people can afford to hire accountants to avoid paying their taxes. There are better ways to collect revenue that are fairer and involve less bureaucracy.

4. Cut the deficit by getting government spending under control – With the ongoing GWOT there will huge budget challenges for the next several years. This is the prime opportunity to get rid of some of the more wasteful and outdated government programs. We may need to rethink the Medicare drug program since it seems unpopular with seniors.

5. Fix Social Security – The time is now to correct this looming problem. I am not against the idea of allowing younger works alternatives to paying into the system but this must be carefully thought out. We cannot continue with a zero sum approach to SS. There must be some interest earning potential on the money that is collected. I don’t know the best way to fix this one but it must be a priority.

6. Immigration reform – We must find a way to allow people into the country who want to work or go to school but we have to secure our boarders. We can no longer stand by while hundreds of people die every year in the Arizona desert just to work. We need to make it easier for workers to enter the country so that only the criminals and terrorist will attempt to enter illegally. This will allow our security forces to concentrate on the “bad guys” and not on people who want to work. It will also reduce the cost associated with illegal immigration. We also need to punish companies that knowingly hire illegal aliens. If there is no market for illegal aliens AND it is easier to enter legally then there will be less illegal immigration. This means fewer people dieing to work and a savings to the taxpayers.

Here are a few things that I am concerned about and hope that the President DOES NOT put a huge amount of time into:

1. Gay marriage – This was a big issue during the election and many people feel very strongly about. I fear that this issue has the potential to be an unnecessarily divisive issue that can have very negative consequences for Republicans in the future. I do not support a constitutional amendment on this issue nor do I think there should be a federal law about this. I believe that states should be allowed to manage this issue as their constituents see fit. The real problem for me with this issue is not gay marriage but with the implications for other social issues such as polygamy. This has the potential to turn very ugly and now is not the time.

2. Abortion – This is a no-win issue for either party right now. I do support the ban on partial-birth abortions and this should be protected but the larger issue of abortions is a no-go.

3. The draft – There is NO indication that the President would ever consider this and that is the way it should stay. This issue would destroy the military and play into the hands of the President’s critics. Plan all military actions around an all volunteer force to ensure that the morale of the troops and the nation stays high.

These are some of my real dream issues that I have no hope of this administration, or any, of ever doing:

1. Abolish the Department of Education – Sorry all you teachers out there, but I do not see any compelling evidence that this is anything other than a huge waste of money. The only reason it is still around is because the teachers union is so powerful politically. I think that the Congress should set education standards and then award grants to states for the purpose of education. Each state should be able to determine the best way to achieve the education goals set by Congress.

2. Get the Department of Defense out of the nation building business – The DoD is totally unprepared for the job of peace-keeping or nation building and they should never be called on to do the job. The DoD should go back to being the Department of War and be concerned only with warfare. The job of nation building should belong to the State Department and they should be equipped to do this job. Forget the crazy idea of a Department of Peace that is the job of the State Department and it is time they have the tools to do the job.

3. Get out of the UN – This was an important tool of the Cold War but those days are gone. The UN is completely unwilling to take meaningful action when the need is obvious. They soak-up huge amounts of money and are filled with corruption. It is time for it to go and at the very least it is time for the US to get out. We can accomplish more good through direct negotiations and alliances than the UN could ever hope of doing.

There are so many more things that can be done or should be done; I cannot list them all and I doubt that anyone can. I addition each person will have a different list of priorities including completely different ideas. Certainly tort reform is a big deal that will get a lot of attention, as well as rebuilding relations with our allies. Judicial nominations will be huge over the next few years and I hope that the President can nominate judges that will protect the Constitution but are not so radical that they cannot be confirmed. We should consider lifting the ban on Canadian cattle. How should we deal with Iran and North Korean? The next 4 years will be very interesting and I hope that we can join together and deal with some of these and other important issues. Tell me what is important to you.

Post Election Thoughts

I have waited patiently to post my comments until it was clear that we had a winner. With John Kerry conceding the race this afternoon I figured it was time to say my peace. I must commend Sen. Kerry for deciding against long legal action in order to change the out come of the election. I will not, however, believe that he would have taken the high road had the results been closer. I am very glad the election is over and I am happy that Bush won. I am not happy at the division in the country right now. I think the President needs to reach-out to those people who are against him and try to heal the country, but those people who feel as if they have been wronged shouldn't bite his hand if offered. Partisanship is a two-way street, after all.

Cheer-up people, it is not the end of the world! See you all in 2008…

Just Back from the Polls

I just got back from voting. It took more than 2 1/2 hours but it was worth it! We had a great time and everyone was very patient and cheerful. Turnout was awsome! I guess our polling place had 2 hour lines all day! Wow! We left as the polls closed and there were still 200+ people waiting! I just want to thank the American people for doing such a great job and I want to thank the people of my precinct for coming out in force. This is what it is all about. I am now off to watch the returns. Good luck to your canidate and lets hope for a quick, clean election.

Democrats and Outsourcing

The Democrats have made outsourcing a main campaign issue this year and it seems to resonate with the voters. The vision of millions of jobs moving over seas scares hell of people.

Before I go too far with this I must state that I work for an outsourcer and have worked in the outsourced IT profession for about 10 years. I, for one, own my entire livelihood to outsourcing. I am not afraid of outsourcing but I am afraid of off-shoring. John Kerry has said that he will enact tax incentives to prevent American corporations from moving jobs over seas. I am not really against this idea in principle as long as it does not impact the over-all outsourcing industry. Millions of Americans work in outsourced jobs here at home. I make my living in this industry and I have vested interest in seeing it stay healthy and here.

The real question that I have on this issue is how do the Democrats reconcile this belief in protecting American jobs at home but then promote the importation of “cheaper” prescription drugs from over seas? It seems to me that importation of drugs would be diametrically opposed to the idea of preventing the outsourcing and off-shoring of American jobs. The US is one of the leading manufacturing centers for prescription medications. It is a large industry that employs thousands of people. These are the high paying jobs that John Kerry wants to keep here and yet he wants to put these people out of work by importing drugs from Canada.

It is hard to imagine a way in which importation of drugs would not inspire these companies to move their operations outside of the US. If they did not do this how could they continue to compete against the cheaper imports? We have seen this in other industries in the past so the idea that importation would damage American companies is not out of the question.

What is more important to the Democrats; cheap drugs or good jobs. They seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place on this issue. If they support drug importation they are supporting job outsourcing and off-shoring. If they go against drug importation they risk angering special interest groups who are strongly in favor of the idea. How can John Kerry have it both ways? A cynic might think that this is just another example of John Kerry wanting to be on both sides of an issue.