November 5, 2003

Carnevale and the Democratic Party Suicide Watch


"The beauty parlor's filled with sailors.
The circus is in town."

-- Dylan, "Desolation Row"

Mike at Cold Fury has taken a victory lap around the concept of why the Democratic Party is currently being held in Jonestown with an open bar serving Jim Jones Kool-Aid to all comers. And, surprise, he's not mourning the destruction of The People's Temple:

We certainly do need a solid, patriotic opposition in this country, but the Dems as currently constituted simply ain’t it. They sold their party down the anti-American/Eurocentric/collectivist river a long time ago, and it’s soon coming dues-paying time. They’re responsible for their own fate, they richly deserve it, and I for one am content to sit back and enjoy the spectacle as they slowly and inexorably reach up out of the bowl for the flushing lever - and slide themselves down the wastepipe of history. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch if you ask me.
Along the way, Mike performs a great service for bringing into tight focus a few, and only a few, of the last week's exhibits of Hemlock Binge Drinking on the part of the Democrats.

Chief among these is the vile note from the Democratic Underground (Now mysteriously vanished from the Web) that says:

Soldiers usually did that directly—i.e., fight those invading and harming a country. This time they need to die in defense of a lie from a lying adminstration to show these ignorant, dumb Americans that Bush is incompetent. They need to die so that Americans get rid of this deadly scum. It is obscene, Barbie Bush, how other sons (of much nobler blood) have to die to save us from your Rosemary’s Baby spawn and his ungodly cohorts.
That, and the comments that answer it in aggregate give you a clear picture of the psychopathology that is building deep in the Party's soul.

Mike then routes us to that paragon of prognostication: Eric Raymond for a nod to the Now and a wink at Things to Come:

I expect the Democrats to lose heavily in today's elections. Like VodkaPundit, I expect the loss to change not a damn thing. The DLC will continue to wring its hands, and the New Lefties, comforted by convenient rationalizations in the major media, will continue to march the Democratic Party towards a cliff's edge.

Suppose they do succeed in self-destructing. What then?

No crystal ball is required to answer that question, just a look at the minor-party voting statistics. If the Democrats crumble, the big winners have to be the Greens and the Libertarians. The New Lefties who run most levels of the modern Democratic apparat would run to the Greens en masse; in fact, whatever organization emerges would probably view itself (with some justification) as the Democratic Party's successor. They'd probably take the public-employee unions with them.

The interesting question is whether the black establishment would follow.

To which the long and the short answer is, "Yes." It has been becoming clear in recent years that, absent the embedded career black rights advocates in the public and non-profit sectors, and the embedded underclass in our metropolitan wastelands, established African-Americans are becoming increasingly alienated from the Democratic Party.

Habitual voting patterns may persist and, like other lifelong habits, be especially hard to break, but it can be done. And if you have one party whose pathological elements are calling for the death of US Soldiers in order to purge the White House, and if a large part of the military is composed of African-Americans, and if they or their famlies perceive the hardening of this position in the Democratic Party, all bets are off. And they won't be running to the Greens or the Libertarians.

Once upon a time, there was talk in the Democratic Party of having a "Big Tent." But that tent, which could once contain "The Greatest Show on Earth," is getting smaller and shabbier by the day.

This morning the Democrats' Tent looked a lot like those rotting rags the cast of "Carnevale" drags from dustbowl to dustbowl; from one played out town inhabited by the dead to the next in search of the God That Failed.

During the primaries we'll be treated to the current contenders' version of the hootchy-cootch with a blowout at the end. After that, on the morning of November 12, 2004, we can all line up and, for one thin dime, walk through the tattered tent to look at the body with the word "Harlot" carved on its forehead.

Coming back out into the sunlight, it's my bet that a lot of recovering Democrats will say, with ee cummings, "Listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go."

Posted by Vanderleun at November 5, 2003 7:47 AM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Dock Animation. Sometimes animating icons in the dock can be useful in communicating the status of the system or application.

Posted by: Marian at January 12, 2004 10:07 PM

The simple fact is that, when all other factors are equal, where will consumers spend their money? I believe that in the long run, the best looking, easiest-to-use applications will also be the most successful. I think that's why Apple encourages developers to write programs that are 100 percent Aqua-compliant.

Posted by: Felix at January 12, 2004 10:07 PM

If an application is designed well, the reward for users is that they will learn it faster, accomplish their daily tasks more easily, and have fewer questions for the help desk. As a developer of a well-designed application, your returns on that investment are more upgrade revenue, reduced tech support, better reviews, less documentation, and higher customer satisfaction. The rewards of building a good-looking Aqua application are worth taking the extra time.

Posted by: Lambert at January 12, 2004 10:07 PM

Due to the positioning of the Dock, remember that when you build an application, you have to be sure that new document window sizes and positions do not violate the Dock's space. Dock is temperamental and Dock loves his space. If you default to a window size that expands behind the dock, users will have a difficult time reaching the navigation and resize areas at the bottom of the screen. I can personally say that more than once I have been rather peeved that I couldn't get to an area of the window to resize because the default window settings always pop up behind the Dock. In addition, the new Dock in 10.1 will allow users to position their Dock location on either side of the screen as well.

Posted by: Dionise at January 12, 2004 10:07 PM

By building an application that takes advantage of Aqua's many facets, you help ensure that your application will not only look good, but have a chance of becoming a raging success. After a new user clicks on the icon of your program, the first thing he or she sees is the application interface. I know that when I review a product, I am very critical of its visual design. I usually have a short time to learn the new software, so design and ease of use are very important. Aside from those who marvel at the beauty of the command line, most users tend to react the same way.

Posted by: Goughe at January 12, 2004 10:07 PM

Due to the positioning of the Dock, remember that when you build an application, you have to be sure that new document window sizes and positions do not violate the Dock's space. Dock is temperamental and Dock loves his space. If you default to a window size that expands behind the dock, users will have a difficult time reaching the navigation and resize areas at the bottom of the screen. I can personally say that more than once I have been rather peeved that I couldn't get to an area of the window to resize because the default window settings always pop up behind the Dock. In addition, the new Dock in 10.1 will allow users to position their Dock location on either side of the screen as well.

Posted by: Garnett at January 12, 2004 10:08 PM

But limit your animations to whatever is required to communicate the necessary information. Avoid annoying animations that discourage ease of use. Ask yourself, "What do I need to show the user, and what is the cleanest way possible to achieve that?" A good example is the Mail application for Mac OS X. Whenever a new message arrives, the Dock icon changes appearance to indicate a changed state.

Posted by: Agnes at January 12, 2004 10:08 PM

Adopt Sheets. I really like the use of Sheets in OS X. The use of Sheets lets me know which window my dialogue belongs to without hijacking my system.

Posted by: Barnard at January 12, 2004 10:08 PM

To put my money where my mouth is, in each new article I'll build a hypothetical application that illustrates the guidelines I'm covering. Today's application is called "Paint" and will be based on the photo-illustrative icon I created in my last article. Together we will complete each step, and by the end of the project we should have a well-designed, 95%-100% Aqua-compliant application. I'll leave some room for personal preferences and the fact that Apple changes the OS every few months.

Posted by: Annanias at January 12, 2004 10:08 PM

For example, if you see an AIM window peeking out from behind your browser and you click on it, that window will come to the front, but the main application window will not. The Mail.app/Activity Viewer is another example. The Aqua system of layers works well in many instances, but not in all. Thank goodness that the Dock is always there to come to the rescue. I know that clicking on an application icon in the Dock will always result in not only the application coming to the front, but also any non-minimized windows associated with it. And if the application is active but no windows are open, clicking on the Dock icon should create a new window in that application.

Posted by: Edward at January 12, 2004 10:08 PM