Fighting Words at Daily Kos
I posted this a couple of days ago under the title A History of Violence and My Tender Sensibilities. I'm posting it today to support the position taken by buhdydharma and his co-signatories in the...
View ArticleTake the high road and dare them to follow
That's slightly different phrasing than I used in a comment in another diary. I'm not much of a writer at all. I've published one diary here of no consequence (and another that I've been working on...
View ArticleWhite Noise and the Politics of Fear
Just look around. Listen to the ever increasing volume of messages received by all of us each day contributing to "white noise." Hear the the cavalier changes of meaning prevalent in much advertising,...
View Article"What Do YOU Think?"
Decades in university classrooms and research laboratories impressed me profoundly with the value of the Socratic method. I always made it a point to ask each student, "What do you think?" But then I...
View Articleif deflation is bad, bailouts are worse
I've been a pretty ardent defender of Paul Krugman as I've explored online political advocacy and discourse over the past couple years. I really like his fundamental proposition that political economy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Morning Feature (TWLTW): Discussing the [name of your choice] with friends...
Lightning never strikes the same place twice. After it strikes (the first time), the place is no longer the same. I've found this to be the case with my trip home to Ohio this week. You can go back,...
View ArticleWhat Was Restored Sanely and Kept Alive Fearfully
(crossposted on MyFDL) Like most people, I had no real concrete idea of what The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was to entail when we packed ourselves onto the D.C. metro cars early Saturday...
View ArticleFire Robert Gibbs, Hire Alan Grayson
The Democrats lost this year not because Republicans were so popular, but because there's a clear lack of effective messaging. Even worse, we lost one of our most Progressive heroes in the House. And...
View ArticleA Life's Work Speaks Louder than a Million Words
As we often lament, every minority or marginalized group can be easily stigmatized, slandered, or reduced by what is not factually correct. How one personally deals with it is a matter of individual...
View ArticleLove .... We Can't Get Enough Of It
Cross posted at The American Way Today is the first day of me trying to strip my own ideology from my input into this project. I am not this project. I am merely an observer. So let's be blunt about...
View ArticleBoth Parties Are Asleep At The Wheel
Cross-posted at The American Way. Why is it so difficult to have political conversations? I feel stuck in a box here. I am trying to be non-partisan, trying to create dialogue, trying to create a...
View ArticleWhy not come and Meet me in the Middle on how we Talk to Each Other
So, I can't be the only one who is getting tired of the back and forth on the rec list between Democrats about President Obama and what he has and has not done. So why not meet me in the middle. And...
View ArticleLearning when to Stop
I admit it -- sometimes I honestly can't help myself. There's an opponent here who slams something I write -- I slam back and wait, with bated breath for the next reply so I can slam again. I've now...
View ArticleCranky: DK4 Sucktitude and Semi-Sucktitude
In recent days I've seen a recurrent problem on this site: HR's or outrage about a comment only because a month or so ago, DK4 changed the ability of TUs to see hidden comments unless they knew that...
View ArticleI Blame Crossfire
This was the interview that got Crossfire cancelled. But the damage was done. It's as if Rove and Ailes planned it.
View ArticleThe United States of Abuse
In July 2010, troubled by the apparent failure of the progressive left to connect with a large part of the American electorate, I published an article in Huffington Post, "The United States of Abuse."...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Ever Sinking Dread
Ever hear of the Shepherd scale? It's a seemingly endlessly sinking (or rising) tone. Take a listen while you read the rest of this post. This one gives an endlessly sinking sense of dread: It is, of...
View ArticleSociological Systems, Insults, and Tribalism
Generally speaking, I tend to agree with Bill Maher’s policy views. I agree that there needs to be a wall between religion and government. I agree that policy should be dictated by evidence, studies,...
View ArticleUncouth and indecorous: unwashed bloggers weirdly insist on the truth
"I'm not a racist, but..." Whoever has heard this stock preamble knows what's coming next. Pure, Grade A, triple distilled racism. You can of course also replace racist with sexist, anti semite,...
View ArticleGeorge Tierney of Greenville South Carolina: Internet Bully, Right Wing...
Internet bully and misogynist, George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina, has been getting a lot of attention on the Internet. George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina is getting all this...
View ArticleFinding worthwhile discussion partners in new media: an actual possibility or...
Most people would probably agree that it is possible to have discussions that are respectful and perhaps even productive and mutually edifying with people who have different perspectives. In fact,...
View ArticleDenial Is Our Worst Enemy
There is one, overriding error among progressives throughout modern history that has continually eroded our hopes, undermined morale, turned pragmatists into sycophants of the status quo, and warped...
View ArticleThoughts on discourse
It seems that normally the Republican party wins the word game. Too often we allow them to define the terms of discourse - 'pro life', or 'death panels' or 'fiscal conservative' - words that don't...
View ArticleBe Kind. It Matters.
I used the title as my sig line for quite a while. I can be as angry and mean-spirited as the next person, fortunately only in small bits and pieces. It's hard for me to stay angry at most people for...
View ArticleComplaining about Nonexistant "Violations" of Free Speech to Try to Shut Down...
Criticism is not censorship.Though that seems obvious, it sadly needs to be reiterated in the face of whining by many on the right that their, or some fellow traveler's, free speech rights have been...
View ArticleWhat We Say & What We Do: How We Communicate on Immigration Greatly...
Americans of all stripes take pride in our country’s reputation as a place of opportunity, and time and again migrants to the US prove crucial to our country’s economy, social fabric, and future...
View ArticleLet's Not Use This as an Opportunity to Have a Real Conversation
Oftentimes in America, someone says or does something terribly ugly, something most of us agree has no place in a civilized society. Following the initial shock and condemnation, inevitably, it is...
View ArticleThe artificial compartmentalization of political reality
As a systems theory person I like to look for what is lost when complex systems are reduced to their parts to supposedly help us to understand them. Politics is replete with examples of this. The...
View ArticleWe too have a lesson to learn from the Pope
Hi all...Long-time lurker, first-time diarist...I've been a devoted, albeit quiet, reader of DK for almost a decade now and have always valued this site as being a place I can come to for insightful...
View ArticleNudging Someone Outside Their Political Comfort Zone
Not long ago Senator Sanders encouraged supporters to move out beyond their comfort zone and talk about the difficult issues with people who hold different world-views. How can we do this considering...
View ArticleWhere to begin?
Don't say "at the beginning," because I am grumpy far beyond my years.Hello DailyKos, pleased to meet you. Call me Quellist. I've been reading DailyKos for... years now. A decade or more, it seems....
View ArticleWe Need Diplomats, Not Soldiers.
I've been at Daily Kos for almost exactly 11 years. I joined this herd of cats on Sep 21, 2004, and have been a more or less steady participant in that time. 172 diaries (including this one) and over...
View ArticleThe Fundamental Genre Mistake of DK5's Design (Updated X3)
I think the overwhelming problem — and it seems that there is an absolute consensus on the DK5 that this site is not loved, with only 8% of people voting in Kos’ recent poll that they loved the current...
View ArticleHorror Show
“I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our health care is a horror show. Obamacare, we’re going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being...
View ArticleGMO labeling and a dearth of principled discourse
Does a two-week interregnum between the Wisconsin and New York primaries leave a window to post about something other than elections? I'd like to try. Personally, I find the cacophony around the...
View ArticleCrosspost: Policy of Disengagement
(this is an old post from my personal blog. It seems to apply now more than ever in this political season)As I sit in a bar in Los Angeles right now, listening to some douchebag in a poorly cut, but...
View ArticleWhy America Needs A Functional Multi-Party System
Some of the most important benefits of having a functional multi-party system (we have a dysfunctional multi-party system in America, because we technically allow for more than two parties and yet...
View ArticleWe need a new tactic to deal With Trump's daily resetting of the agenda
Since he announced his candidacy, Trump has made his outrageous conduct un-newsworthy by new outrageous conduct the next day. Mexicans are rapists and criminals faded when Muslims would be banned from...
View ArticleYou Must Be (Demographic)!
I started to write this as a comment in response to a comment in this diary, but realized that it was getting far too long and I didn’t want to muck up the flow of Chitown Kev’s excellent diary.Here we...
View ArticleAn open letter to our Government
Dear Representatives and Government officials of the United States of America:We need to talk.If we wanted a Congress or Senate that just voted along party lines, we would only need one of each party,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What colleges and universities DON’T owe would-be speakers ... and owe us
(cross-posted from Blog on the Run: Reloaded)I’m one of those weirdoes who thinks that, once invited by a Berkeley student group in good standing, Ann Coulter should have been allowed to speak at...
View ArticleChats with a Nazi Kitten Killer
I work driving rail crews at night. Usually I only spend a few minutes with each crew- taking them from the yard or dorm to their trains, but sometimes the trains are delayed, or there are paperwork...
View ArticleHATE as a four-letter word
That seems a bit obvious, but there are some implications that need some thought. In this case I am referring to the use of four-letter words as process stoppers. During a conversation the use of such...
View ArticleNew Year. New Frame.
Happy New Year to all. :) I've been thinking about this for a while, so thought I'd take a few minutes to share. I'm by no means a good writer, I think I've posted like 3 diaries in 15 years here......
View ArticleDemand the Abolishment of the Second Amendment
Speaking at a “West India Emancipation” event in Canandaigua New York, Frederick Douglass gave a speech against slavery and the returning of slaves to their masters once they escaped from the...
View ArticleAnti-Capitalist MeetUp: Environmental Communication must transcend RWNJs'...
If the limits of one’s language are the limits of one’s world, we can see the divisions that are signified by the current nonsense in US politics against the Green New Deal (GND). Recalling the media...
View ArticleDear Local Republican Committee...
...not to mention the national committee…I’m noticing your party’s discussion of “legitimate political discourse. Just in the interest of making sure the limits are clear:It would be perfectly...
View Article
