recursion

As of today, I've worked at Ancept for over one year. I believe I actually started on November 5th, 2001.

Today was a strange anniversary for me because my boss and one of my co-workers were both fired. I don't know why the management picked today. It's neither the end of our pay period nor the end of the week. We were all pretty shocked about the announcement. I don't think anyone knew what was going on. My boss was pretty well liked among the developers and now we are unsure what is going to happen. His replacement starts Monday.

Morale, of course, went through the roof.

Well, as you can imagine I'm pretty upset with the outcome of the election nation-wide and here in Minnesota. My only consolation is that if the Republicans screw up, they'll have no one to blame but themselves, and maybe being in the minority will cause Democrats to grow a spine.

Here's some links of interest.

Sadly prophetic: Green Party - Dem nightmare.

Two pieces which discuss "fusion voting":

AlterNet: Politcal Dreaming: If Only the Democrats Were Better.

Brett Bursey: Is South Carolina ready for a progressive third-party?

TomPaine.com: 2002 Results Underscore Need For Major Election Reforms.

If Democrats want to stop losing elections, I think they need to enact fusion, approval, or instant runoff voting in as many places as possible. Major parties have traditionally opposed these much-needed reforms, but in Minnesota the DFL is being hurt, bad, by centrist and progressive third parties. Maybe they will consider reforms. More info about alternative voting systems at the Center for Voting and Democracy.

And as for growing a spine, Joseph Duemer proposes a lexicon for Democrats: "...Policy of endless war, Where is Bin Ladin? How come the good guys in Afghanistan don't control much more than Kabul? Warlords. A woman's right to choose. The discredited War on Drugs."