Category: Meta

Hey guys –

So I understand that some of you are kind of worried about the GBCW that I posted on Dkos yesterday (well, early this morning), and I’ve had a few requests from DD folks to just delete that diary, take a break from The Kos, and then come back when I’m ready.

Yeah. I’m not going to do that. Here’s why:

When I deleted last night’s rant, it was really just the final straw for me. I cried a lot but, today, I don’t regret my decision at all. It was a good, solid decision for me to make, actually, and it frees me up to explore other ways that I can write without all the name-calling bullshit attached to it. I mean, I’d like to start posting here regularly, and maybe a few other places, too. And I’ll probably start up my own website at some point.

I’m 40, ya know? I’m too old for that kind of drama. I don’t want it anymore.

Perhaps it will grow on me, but at the moment I’m underimpressed with the new Prisoner.

That link is to the Wikipedia entry for the original and what you don’t get from it, or it’s pale, tepid remake, is the urgency and energy of the paranoia.

This is a Prisoner on Quaaludes and Thorazine, vaguely aware of all the rampant wrongness around him, but unsure of what it is.

The real Prisoner is black and white, Patrick knows precisely where he is- an exact replica of his London flat, but not the same place at all.

Where am I?

In the village.

What do you want?

Information.

Whose side are you on?

That would be telling.

We want information…Information…INFORMATION!

You won’t get it!

By hook or by crook, we will.

Who are you?

The new Number Two.

Who is Number One?

You are Number Six.

I am not a number.

I am a free man!

The Prisoner is born in rebellion- “Why did you resign?”  This Prisoner is born in confusion- “Why are you torturing me?”

The Prisoner has hope and confidence, panache.  He looks at the world and knows what it is.

This Prisoner?

He has no principles, just confusion and unease.

Perhaps that is a truer statement of the human condition, but I can’t relate to it.  I’ve never had any doubt.  I may die, but I’ll never surrender.

Ho now diarist on the Daily Kos rec list, asking that the boycott either be explained or abandoned.

Really? You have reasonable questions, and I’ll give you a reasonable response: We want better. And no more politically expedient decision-making. Clear. And simple.

There’s another rec listed diary there in which progressives are chastised for … undermining Obama. I’m thinking the ones undermined wholesale would be we lowly citizens, the LBGT community, our dead and injured soldiers, orphaned Iraqis, drowning polar bears et al. There’s a whole list of the “undermined” and Obama and Dems aren’t on it.

The writer fields this question: just HOW childish and spoiled and selfish can so-called progressive be?

A double REALLY?

^{cross-posted at Daily Kos and at firedoglake}

“Don’t Let the Perfect become the Enemy of the Good” — it’s common knowledge, right?

Important words of wisdom with Great Historical Significance, right?

OK, if you say so …

François-Marie Arouet, better known by his pen name Voltaire, was a French writer, deist and philosopher.

Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.

* The better is the enemy of the good.   — La Bégueule (1772)

 Variant translations:

   The perfect is the enemy of the good.

   The best is the enemy of the good.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V…

Voltaire

Author and Philosopher, 1694 – 1778

Francois Marie Arouet (pen name Voltaire) was born on November 21, 1694 in Paris. Voltaire’s intelligence, wit and style made him one of France’s greatest writers and philosophers.

[…]

In 1726, Voltaire insulted the powerful young nobleman, “Chevalier De Rohan,” and was given two options: imprisonment or exile. He chose exile …

Woooo, some drama … could be a notable lesson here?  

Whether you are deliriously happy, incredibly sad, or still uncertain about how you feel about what has emerged from the House this weekend, it’s probably safe to say that one thing everyone is…is sick of the whole thing.

Of course, we’re far from done-but just to give us all a break, I’m going to abruptly change the subject.

I have a Flip Video camera-which I am still getting used to-and last night we ran up the hill to Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, ostensibly to test the camera’s low-light capabilities…but really so we could drive around in all the fresh new snow.

There’s plenty of time to get back to the political wars in a bit; but for right now let’s head up the mountain, see some cool stuff, talk about what the camera can-and can’t-do, and, just for fun, we’ll answer the age-old Seattle question: “how long does it take to find three places that sell espresso at the top of a mountain pass in the middle of nowhere?”

Not only is it Saturday night, but it’s Halloween!!!! and oh that time change thing*, don’t forget.

I’m disappointed in you people.

Where are the pranks, the tricks? and the Dharma TREATS????

You gonna make me do ALL the heavy lifting around here? huh?!! sheesh.

Update:  I have re-written this essay almost in its entirety in light of events since I published here yesterday.  It’s full-on mockery now.    

There has been a lot written lately a bout the acceptability of criticizing President Obama.  What way is best, what kind of criticism is effective, whether it should be done at all.  These are important questions, and I am proud of how this community has tackled this with such maturity.  

What I’ve found is, some think criticism is fine, as long as it doesn’t attack the president personally.  I wasn’t sure how to do that without using his name or without referring to his behavior.  So I was starting to get a bit puzzled and headachy.   And some people were angry with me.  

Some think, as I did until today, that the best way to hold a politician accountable, is to, like, call, write letters, and post diaries asserting what the actual beef is, in the hopes that the politician will respond to mass pressure.  What I found out is, if that politician is THIS president, this is a no-no.  Of course, criticism of the LAST president for the same behavior is A-OK.  That got me even more headachy.  I HATE headaches.  

Then I came to an epiphany.  

Geez, I can’t leave you kids alone for even a minute, can I?

White House political guru David Axelrod, […] told ABC that

Fox News is “really not news”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

LATimes

October 19, 2009

Well that may have been the Understatement of the Decade!

We had an interesting speaker on Tuesday.

Professor Gita Sen flew in from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India and talked about sustainability and community development.  Writing about what she spoke about and an organization she is a main player with, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) seemed like a worthwhile thing to do.

Of course there was always the possibility that a new diary topic could come to the fore.  Or that one which has been brewing for a couple of weeks could demand to be written finally.  The piece I had been ruminating about had actually earned a title:   Yes, I want a pony.  In fact, I want your pony.

That last deserves to stand by itself until it is ripe.  If you want to fight over it, please wait until I post the essay that goes with it.  Maybe if you continue reading, you might get a glimpse as to how it connects with the rest.

But of course, all hell had broken loose at the beginning of the week at Docudharma.

And that got me thinking about Professor Sen’s discussion of sustainable development…and whether or not there will ever be any application of it…or even possibility of it…in online communities.