RECESSION? WHAT RECESSION? ---- This little page may be renamed soon. I'm thinking that the name "UnemploymentBlog" has a nice ring to it. Tuesday at 2:30 pm eastern, I was called into a meeting by my boss. Walking into the conference room, I noticed a bunch of people I didn't know. I thought maybe I was being assigned to a new project, with a new team of people. But as I spoke with some of the others in the room, who had also brought along a pad and pen to take notes, it became clear that nobody knew why they were here. A couple of people made little jokes about how we were probably all going to be fired.

And as they say, there's always a little truth in any joke. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that these jokes contained more truth than not. And sure enough, we were told of "positions being eliminated" which, of course, were ours. They used the kind of language crafted to keep people from loosing control, jumping across the table and twisting their head. I had only been there for eight months, but there were a couple of people in there with over ten years at the company. No notice, no warning. Unless, of course, you count the fact that all of the top-levels had been in "budget meetings" for the past three days.

So now I'm hitting the job sites hard. There aren't many jobs out there now. That's for sure. But I'll find something. However, since I lost my job less than a week before my college graduation, two weeks before Christmas and three before the new year, I think I'll take a little vacation. I'm heading down to the unemployment office tomorrow to see just how long I can coast. If everything works out, I may take my long-planned cross-country road trip. Perhaps I'll line-up some interviews in different cities and just drive there to check-out the different places I may want to live.

The plan to enlist in six months now takes-on a whole new element. Now that I'm forced to explore my other options, the military takes a more prominent place in that array. I'm still pretty far from being ready to join, but I've also got more time to focus on working-out and getting in shape. Who knows? I may be ready to join sooner than I had planned.

This is the first time I have ever been fired. This was my tenth job in five years, but I had left each of the previous on my own terms. So, this is a new experience for me and I intend to document it here. This is certainly another unexpected turn in what is turning-out to be a weird, weird time to be alive.

Posted 2:01 PM by Jackson Cooper |

MORE CORRESPONDENCE WITH BETTER BLOGGERS ---- This time, it's a response to InstaPundit Glenn Reynolds' post about overuse of the racism charge. In the future, if people start to read this page, I may just post things as a response, but for now, I'm sending my responses straight to the author and posting it on here for the hell of it.

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Prof. Reynolds,

I agree completely with your post titled "The End Of Racism". I've lived most of my life (19 of 22 years) in what some refer to as "The South". My town, Louisville, Kentucky, is probably one of the northern-most points that can hold that distinction. I've met my share of racists and have been disgusted each time.

I have also encountered a fair number of liberal activists who use that term with an unsettling frequency. Here's a good example: my friend and I were doing some writing for a local "youth magazine". He got into a debate on some political points, revealing his conservative leanings. Predictably, one of their initial responses was to label him a racist.

Not only did he give them no reason to believe he was a racist, he had given them ample reason NOT to think that. But sure enough, in one of their first responses to his arguments, someone stated "I bet if we scratched your skin, we'd find a racist". So, they assumed that any opposing viewpoint must have been motivated by hatred based on race. Ridiculous.

Racism is obviously an ugly thing, bred of ignorance. I guess it's just too easy for people to explain an opposing view with ignorance, and by doing so, discredit anything that opposition says. It's a cheap and dishonest rhetorical trick, and it does, as you say, diminish the real claims of racism.

I wrote Matt welch yesterday to respond to his column about George Harrison and ended-up making some sort of point about intellectual dishonesty. (You can read the aforementioned response on my fledgling blog http://jccblog.blogspot.com. Any feedback from a MasterBlogger like you would be much appreciated.)

I think that's an important point to be made here too. A simple evaluation of the facts, and an agreement on a definition of the term "racism" would render these arguments moot. But that requires the willingness for one side to admit they are wrong. That may be asking too much.


Sincerely,
Jackson Cooper
Louisville, KY

Posted 1:40 PM by Jackson Cooper |

ENLISTMENT UPDATE ---- In the early stages of making my decision to enlist, I began an extensive search on the internet for good information about the various armed services. And although the official sites (Army, Navy, Marine Corps) can give you a good overview, they are obviously a little biased in favor of joining. The Army recruitment site is fairly informative and well-designed, but it is essentially a sales-pitch. So they can be expected to paint things in a positive light.

I did a little more digging and found a very informative section of About.com dedicated to the military. Because one of my primary concerns was what to expect from Basic Training, I found the "Surviving Army Basic Training" section particularly helpful.

Also helpful was the listing of job descriptions. From this I found that I could essentially do the same thing I'm doing now, but for the Army. I may not choose to do that, but it's there.

I have heard varying reports since September 11. Initially, I heard that the number of inquiries to recruiters had skyrocketed. Then, a little later, I heard that although the inquiries did increase, the number of actual enlistments did not jump. I'm neither surprised nor disappointed by this. It heartens me to know that so many people thought immediately of finding out about the military. For all the talk about my generation's failings, I have no reason to believe that we'd be any less willing to fight for our country.

But through my research, I found that the military isn't looking to take anybody they can get. The standards are high, as they should be for an all-volunteer, professional service. So, the average man (or woman), looking into the Army as a result of 9/11 might find that he isn't a good fit. He may also find, like me, that he will have to take some time to prepare himself before getting-in.

So, while enlistment may not jump immediately, I think that stories like this one will have a profound impact on young people who may have never even considered it before. And in general, the idea of serving the country, in whatever way suits each person best, has regained the respect that it deserves. If the number of persons volunteering in a multitude of ways immediately after 9/11 are any indication, we can add the nation's attitude about serving the country to the long list of things that have changed in the last three months.

Posted 12:48 PM by Jackson Cooper |

CORRESPONDENCE WITH BETTER BLOGGERS ---- I wrote a response to a Matt Welch column this morning, but proceeded to send it without saving a copy for myself. He was nice enough to send it back to me so as to allow me to put it up here. Anyhow, go read his article, Ken Layne's response and Matt's response to Ken's response. My response will make much more sense if you do.

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Mr. Welch,

I would like to thank you for your recent column on George Harrison. I have been a Beatle fan for years, but only recently built an appreciation for Harrison's solo material. I'm 22 years old. My dad was (and is) a huge Harrison fan and I have borrowed his well-worn copy of "All Things Must Pass" many times. The songs on that album are my favorite of any of the post-Beatles solo releases.

However, it is your bigger point to which I wish to speak. Harrison's mysticism has always rubbed me the wrong way. VH1 recently aired an interview with him and Ravi in which George spent most of his time attempting to explain the misty, ethereal concepts of "consciousness", etc. I understand that loads of money and a highly reclusive lifestyle can foster this kind of thinking, but I got an overwhelming feeling that this state was unnatural for George.

With his dry wit and deadpan humor, George had always struck me as the most down-to earth Beatle. Or at least the one to which I could relate most. He was the one from real working class beginnings. Unlike John, for whom the activism seemed to fit perfectly, George's detour into Indian religion and culture never fit for me.

So, now I'll try to relate this to an even bigger point. I consider myself a fairly independent mind. I've got something of a socially liberal/libertarian slant to my political views. (-1.13 Left, -4.62 Libertarian on that Political compass thing) But I find myself drawn much more to people who exist outside of any political dogma.

My friends tend to be more conservative and almost always considerably older than myself. (Most of my friends are in the 30-35 year old range.) But more important, I think, is the fact that none of them stick exclusively to one vein of popular political ideology. And possibly related to this, I have found myself bookmarking and frequenting the sites of writers like yourself, Ken Layne, Glenn "HyperBlogger" Reynolds and Steven Den Beste. The common thread being that you are all intelligent folks who don't hesitate to support a good idea, regardless of where it might fall in the political spectrum.

To bring this back to where I started, I think that was one of Harrison's problems, and the problem that WAY too many people face: They are so tied up in one particular pre-defined ideology that they are unable to make that little intellectual hop that would allow them to reconcile the Idea, the Real World, and the realities of their life. Harrison, would he have been able to reconcile the ideas of "gaining the world and loosing your soul" and not wanting to pay so much in taxes, would have been one of the most formidable thinkers of our time. (Although, I think those particular examples might be pure hypocrisy, incapable of reconciliation.)

Damn. This didn't tie together as well as I had hoped. There was a common thread in there somewhere, along with an important point. I'm just not sure I got them out correctly. I guess that's why you're the one getting paid to write in English and I'm the one getting paid to write in Visual Basic.

Anyhow, thanks for the Harrison column. I loved the man's music, but I have been a little disturbed by the glowing light in which he's been portrayed. To me, he was just another normal guy swept-up in a cloud of Big Money and Important Ideas. Thank goodness there are people like you out there fighting the good fight, keeping people honest.

And I guess that's the big point. It's important to be intellectually honest. And when you're in a position where nobody is challenging your beliefs, that is next to impossible. We've got some shining examples of people like this these days: George Harrison, John (Tali-backer) Walker, BinLaden, and Ashcroft. These guys could have all used varying degrees of ideological ass-kicking along the way.

Thanks again,
Jackson Cooper


Posted 2:29 PM by Jackson Cooper |

RANDOM DAYDREAMING ---- An idea that I have been kicking around for about a week is the possibility of going to law school. That would fit into the plan right after finishing my proposed three-year service in the Army. I hadn't really thought much about law school as an option before, but I'm considering a lot of new things these days. Being a lawyer was never even on my radar screen of potential careers, but as I thought more about it this week, the idea began to grow on me.

My education is in business and computer information systems. I have spent two years as a programer and web developer and found it vaguely unsatisfying. While I enjoy the act of solving problems using logic and creativity, programming in the business context is quite dull. In my time as a programmer, I have created reporting tools, managed outbound file extractions, redesigned my company's website and maintained a number of other systems.

Although this can be interesting at times, it has yet to be challenging on the level that I expected. Business is mundane. There is no escaping that fact. There is a dearth of human interaction in my job. When I do interact with another person, it is for the purpose of making design decisions for programs. Now that's dull. I long for the type of challenge that I think the legal profession could provide. I want to run my mind all the way to the red line and see how it holds up.

I suppose more research is in order. I like to make informed decisions, and I will have plenty of time ahead of me to make this one. In the mean time, it's back to the esoteric switches, knobs, buttons and dials of the computer world.

Posted 2:13 PM by Jackson Cooper |

ENLISTMENT UPDATE ---- About a month into my mission, I'm happy to report that I've established an exercise routine and changed my diet considerably. I haven't lost much weight, but I have noticed a change in my stamina while working-out. So, I'm not ready to enlist just yet, but I'm closer than I was a month ago. And what I think might be a more important fact is that I am still as sure of my choice as I was a month ago. In fact, I may be even more sure. I've thought about it constantly for four straight weeks, and my conviction is no less strong.

My current plan is to enlist sometime around June or July for a 3 year commitment. I've got about two years experience as a programmer and as of December 16, I will have graduated from college with my Bachelor's degree. The job market certainly is tight, with the recent unemployment numbers being the worst in years, but that's only a very small part of my decision. My desire to improve myself coupled with my desire to serve my country are now the two defining reasons for my decision.

So, with a month down, I'm beginning to see progress, just not enough. I'm going to have to start pushing myself harder on my workout routine and clamping down harder on my diet. It's going to take some serious discipline, but I've got a clear goal. The only person I have to answer to on this is myself, so I'm going to have to focus as much of my attention as possible on this task.

Posted 1:44 PM by Jackson Cooper |