The Progressive Blogosphere Coalesces

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday July 11, 2010 · 5:46 PM PDT

2010/07/11 · 17:46

Oh, wouldn't that be a headline! It would defy history, and just in the nick of time.

In the same way that parks and schools can define a neighborhood, so does the blogosphere need social infrastructure to help us organize properly.

The recent community dust-ups here on Daily Kos suggest that we are still finding our way toward effective online communities. I write because I think that Daily Kos has a key role to play in all this, its own date with Destiny -- a date we need it to keep.

Poll

54 votes Show Results

Where Else Do You Spend Time?

54 votes Vote Now!

Where Else Do You Spend Time?

I write and/or comment at 2 or more progressive blogs

10 votes

I write and/or comment at Daily Kos, but not elsewhere

7 votes

I comment at numerous blogs, but I do not write anywhere

13 votes

Hard-Core Lurker: I do not write or comment anywhere

17 votes

Read-Only: I don't even vote in polls!

7 votes

Let's Leave Obama Out of This

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday June 20, 2010 · 11:59 PM PDT

2010/06/20 · 23:59

Lots of recent gnashing over whether Obama is good or evil or just lame, and how we should react.

I think it's the wrong question, and the right answer is to leave Obama out of this entirely. Here's why:

Poll

71 votes Show Results

Dang I'm Mad at Obama!

71 votes Vote Now!

Dang I'm Mad at Obama!

Have at it -- it feels good!

9 votes

Have at it -- someone has to be to blame!

3 votes

Have at it -- I can't think of anything better to do!

2 votes

Let it go -- there's work to be done.

57 votes

Seriously, Capitalism Is Evil

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 01, 2010 · 6:59 PM PST

2010/02/01 · 18:59

Earlier I suggested that Michael Moore was right when he declared Capitalism "evil," and I said it wasn’t a controversial conclusion. I discussed four book-length authorities devoted to the subject.

My concern was that if we were unable to identify, or unwilling to denounce, Capitalism’s intrinsic evils, we would have a difficult time setting things right. If we don’t understand the problem, we can’t find a solution.

Nearly half of the polled Kossacks thought Capitalism might not be evil.

I promised in the comments to take on the opposing arguments in conscientious detail. With this diary I fulfill that promise.

 If you think Capitalism might be OK, " follow me below the fold.

Poll

37 votes Show Results

Utopia is...

37 votes Vote Now!

Utopia is...

Possible

11 votes

By definition the best possible state of affairs, whatever that be

15 votes

Thought-crime

11 votes

Lessons: SCOTUS Prop 8 Anti-Camera Ruling

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday January 15, 2010 · 8:34 AM PST

2010/01/15 · 08:34

[Originally posted at Right of Assembly.]

Hollingsworth v. Perry is a bad ruling. It's certainly a shame that the Prop 8 trial will not be fully documented and available to the public. But there are two much deeper stories here. The dead giveaway is a 5-4 split SCOTUS decision over...almost nothing.

On its face, the decision is not about cameras at all -- or so the Court specifically claims. Instead, it's just this tiny issue: how much public comment time a court must allow before it changes its own rules to give itself discretion over how to manage its own proceedings.

And this miniscule issue is raised in the mundane context of whether a particular case is captured on video, even though cases are video taped routinely across the country. The majority opinion doesn't even make much law.

Smell something fishy? Here are the two real stories lurking beneath the surface, and how we can set things right.

Poll

147 votes Show Results

Keep an Eye on the federal Judiciary?

147 votes Vote Now!

Keep an Eye on the federal Judiciary?

Yes, it's full of Bush appointees

48 votes

Yes, it's a public institution

54 votes

Yes, it's a co-equal branch of government

39 votes

No, whatever they do will probably be just fine

6 votes

Banking Industry: Resistance Is Futile

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday January 05, 2010 · 6:01 PM PST

2010/01/05 · 18:01

You probably know about Huffington Post's Move Your Money campaign. It's been diaried by daveUSA, Below the Beltway, johnmav, and Inspired by Nature.

I watched the Move Your Money movie, then found a local credit union, and am in the process of moving everything over. I don't know what else you could do, after watching such a great little movie.

But that's just me. Freelancer Martha C. White, writing in The Big Money, explains that all of us together don't add up to anything. Resistance is futile. In fact, if we try to resist the big banks, it will only make things worse for us.

Poll

30 votes Show Results

Does Your Vote Count?

30 votes Vote Now!

Does Your Vote Count?

No, there are too many other voters

2 votes

No, we can't change the system

3 votes

No, I am not allowed to vote here

1 vote

Yes, of course, just like everyone else's

24 votes

Why Capitalism Is Evil

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday January 02, 2010 · 2:12 PM PST

2010/01/02 · 14:12

Since Jerome a Paris has reminded us that We're All Plutocrats Now (*irony*), it might be a good time to get some clarity on Capitalism itself.

I was surprised by people's reaction to the conclusion Michael Moore drew in, Capitalism: A Love Story, that Capitalism Is Evil. I thought people mostly knew that, or at least strongly suspected it, so the idea wouldn't be startling.

Of course capitalists don't think Capitalism is evil. But many progressives, too, were taken aback by Moore's blunt conclusion -- either disturbed by the potential implications, or, more often, apparently not having thought about it deeply enough to have a clear opinion.

But many more people than just Michael Moore have thought deeply about whether Capitalism is Evil, and the arguments and evidence, when laid out (as I will shortly do), demonstrate that Capitalism is indeed evil, by any reasonable definition "evil." In other words, Capitalism is not just evil, it is VERY evil -- or, we might say, Capitalism can be proved Evil beyond a reasonable doubt.

Poll

759 votes Show Results

Is Capitalism Evil?

759 votes Vote Now!

Is Capitalism Evil?

Yes

537 votes

Not sure what Capitalism is...

12 votes

Not sure what Evil is...

15 votes

I'll put my definition of Evil in the comments

4 votes

190 votes

False Meme Spreading on TORTURE

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday December 28, 2009 · 11:51 AM PST

2009/12/28 · 11:51

I have seen this at a couple blogs now, and if you go in and read the original sources, the underlying reality is not the same as what is being reported.

The claim is that the Obama administration successfully lobbied the Supreme Court to expand the US's legal ability to torture and to create "unpersons." Below the fold, what really happened.

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday December 21, 2009 · 12:01 PM PST

2009/12/21 · 12:01

[Cross-Posted at Wild Wild Left]

Huffington Post is running with the Laredo story, in which the last book store closes.

With a population of nearly a quarter-million people, this city could soon be the largest in the nation without a single bookseller.

The situation is so grim that schoolchildren have pleaded for a reprieve from next month's planned shutdown of the B. Dalton bookstore. After that, the nearest store will be 150 miles away in San Antonio.

I think Huffington Post has missed the story.

Poll

22 votes Show Results

Where do you shop for books, mostly?

22 votes Vote Now!

Where do you shop for books, mostly?

Online (e.g., amazon)

9 votes

Book Superstore (e.g., Barnes & Noble)

5 votes

Independent Bookstore

4 votes

Actually, there's plenty to read online

4 votes

The Politics of Business Books

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday December 20, 2009 · 1:22 PM PST

2009/12/20 · 13:22

[Cross-Posted at Wild Wild Left]
There could be no surer sign of the sorry state of American business than the overflowing cesspool of self-help business books on which the business culture floats.

I don't mean the generic "how-to" books that explain the fundamentals of the business (Marketing, Product Development, or Distribution); how-to books coalesce around every common endeavor. I am talking about the business best-sellers that preach leadership, vision, and innovation, and which typically rely on historical case studies (parables) of actual businesses.

What a bunch of rot. Or, I should say, what a bunch of obfuscation cleverly designed to divert our attention from where they are playing the real game.

Poll

71 votes Show Results

I have read business books...

71 votes Vote Now!

I have read business books...

Often

9 votes

Sometimes

28 votes

Never

33 votes

Obama Sends 30,000 Educators to California

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday December 13, 2009 · 3:38 PM PST

2009/12/13 · 15:38

Take a moment to understand California's troubles.
It is much worse, and more interesting, than merely a budget shortfall.

Below are three interrelated, true stories.

Poll

49 votes Show Results

Where should we apply pressure right now?

49 votes Vote Now!

Where should we apply pressure right now?

President

5 votes

Congress

7 votes

State Government

21 votes

Local Government

2 votes

Reform the Mass Media

3 votes

Civil Disobedience / Take to the Streets

5 votes

General Strike

6 votes

The Health Care Debate in 85 Words

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday July 25, 2009 · 7:30 AM PDT

2009/07/25 · 07:30

Obama struggled to provide concise answers the other day, but I think the whole thing can be expressed briefly enough. I have summarized the debate in just 85 words.

Can you beat that? Use the comments to write an even better summary in 85 words or less (hyphenated words count as one, but contractions are disallowed).

Poll

55 votes Show Results

Who will come out of this most injured?

55 votes Vote Now!

Who will come out of this most injured?

Obama

14 votes

Democrats

9 votes

Republicans

14 votes

Blue Dogs

18 votes

Confronting the Mass Media

Just Call Me Jay

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday July 23, 2009 · 7:29 AM PDT

2009/07/23 · 07:29

(Cross-posted from Jay's Right of Assembly)

Let's talk about the world's largest unregulated toxic emission source.

I am referring, of course, to our mass media and the tainted information that it spews. The mass media isn’t the only source of mind pollution, but its emissions represent by far the strongest and most dangerous propaganda in our culture.

Before I propose the unthinkable, though, let us briefly review the basic mechanism of propaganda...

Poll

32 votes Show Results

How often do you watch TV at home?

32 votes Vote Now!

How often do you watch TV at home?

Every day

15 votes

Most days

3 votes

Just a few shows

2 votes

Not much

3 votes

Less than once per week

4 votes

Never - I don't even HAVE a TV

5 votes

Newer
Older

RSS