The Seventeen Year Itch

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Friday September 04, 2009 · 12:49 PM PDT

2009/09/04 · 12:49

Please understand when I say "we" and "us" I mean people who think like me, not necessarily every person who read this

Dear Democratic party "leaders,"

In 1992 you asked us to turn out and work for a man who promised a new direction for America after 12 years of Reagan/Bush hell....and we did. What we got was "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" and an epic failure at health care reform that makes the current debacle look positively competent.

In 1996 you asked us to get past those and other failings and help stop a dangerous crazy old man from becoming President...and we did. What we got was DOMA, laws permitting the calamitous consolidation of telecommunications and media companies and the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

In 1998 you asked us to turn out and throw out a motley crew of panty-sniffing witch-hunting religious fanatics out of Congress....and we did. You got that one gratis; it was a labor of love.

Raybin

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Friday April 04, 2008 · 2:45 AM PDT

2008/04/04 · 02:45

Pride (In The Name Of Love)

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go.
One man come he to justify
One man to overthrow.

In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed up on an empty beach
One man betrayed with a kiss.

In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.

Early morning, April four
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky.
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride.

In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.

In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
In the name of love
What more in the name of love.
all words and music of this song copyright by U2

Raybin

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Thursday March 27, 2008 · 6:45 AM PDT

2008/03/27 · 06:45

Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

In today's world, that could refer to a vast multitude of things. In this case, however, I have reference to one particular subject....namely, me.

I'd wanted to talk about this on Monday, which is the day I did a deed I'd swore I'd never do. But life got in the way as it often does and I had to wait until today.

I'd made frequent, loud, and public oaths. I swore down to the marrow in my bones I'd never, ever, ever do it. I'd been snide, mean, cynical, rude, and frankly downright cruel and hurtful in treatment of people--real friends, even--who disagreed with me.

After the utter debacle that was the Samuel Alito confirmation, I re-registered from Democrat to Independent and have since withheld my vote from all Democrats, which I saw as my only means to protest that fiasco. (And many others)

But on Monday...*deep breath*...

I re-registered as a Democrat so I could vote for Barack Obama in Pennsylvania's primary.

Raybin

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Saturday February 02, 2008 · 7:31 AM PST

2008/02/02 · 07:31

crossposted at My Left Wing, ,Blue House Diaries, Wild Wild Left, Street Prophets

Well, fuck, I guess he got bored dancing exclusively on the graves of New Yorkers. Time to deface New Orleans once more before he goes!
--Yours truly, reacting to Bush's SOTU announcement to hold this year's North American Summit in New Orleans

Normally, I'm not the kind to start a diary of any sort out this way, especially with an lead quote from myself. But when Meteor Blades tells you to start a diary with it you don't ask questions. You just do it. So I did.

This State of the Union is perhaps the most valuable of Bush's reign. Why? Well, they've all been so entirely worthless, that the fact that this one has had a single lone happy side effect makes it by default the best.

Raybin

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Sunday October 07, 2007 · 9:26 PM PDT

2007/10/07 · 21:26

As nyceve so ably documented,the conflict in the Congo is unbelievably stomach churning and tragic.

Well, in a certain type of way, it just got even more so:

KINSHASA, Congo - Rebels have seized an area in eastern Congo that serves as a wildlife habitat for endangered mountain gorillas, threatening one of the last known populations of the animals, conservationists said Sunday.

Shelling and heavy gunfire could be heard from the headquarters of the Virunga National Park, and rangers were forced to flee over the weekend, said the international conservation group WildlifeDirect.

Only 700 mountain gorillas exist in the world, of which more than half live in the Virunga conservation area, a huge swath of territory at the intersection of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

Link

Raybin

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Sunday August 05, 2007 · 7:22 PM PDT

2007/08/05 · 19:22

adapted and somewhat recast to make it site specific from a diary originally written for My Left Wing

With the possible exception of Iraq, I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I've desperately wanted to be proven wrong in my predictions of disaster yet was utterly convinced I would be right as I have been with this Democratic Congress.

Casting a brief glance around the liberal blogosphere, it seems that this may be the final bill of divorce for many people and the Democratic party. For me, it was Alito. There have been many other candidates for "last straws" since then. It seems the Dems are determined to montly provide one to the disaffected. Many even on such a hardcore Democratic site as this seem fed up. (Whether they'll follow through on their disaffection is quite another matter. We'll see; forgive me for having my doubts regarding your sincerety in your fedupittude.) Even Glenn Greenwald, who always seems to know what to do, seems set rather adrift by this latest surrender.

Allow me now to take a moment to pin most of this blame for this fiasco squarely where it belongs: at the feet of the netroots.

Raybin

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Wednesday April 11, 2007 · 2:57 PM PDT

2007/04/11 · 14:57

crossposted at Blue House Diaries and My Left Wing

Before we begin, this isn't about any Sean Penn movies.

No, it's about this:

"I came home a hero, and now I’m a bum."
--Sam Ross, Jr.

It's Sam. But it could have been me. Or you. The reality is that it is thousands of others.

Raybin

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Monday February 05, 2007 · 10:56 AM PST

2007/02/05 · 10:56

There was formerly a diary here which people seemed to like. Circumstances have dictated it disapper. C'est la vie. This sentence is strictly filler only so as to meet the length requirement. Still not there yet, so I'll add this one. And another. And still another. And yet another.

The Bully Punch

Raybin

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Monday January 15, 2007 · 5:48 PM PST

2007/01/15 · 17:48

cross-posted at My Left Wing and Blue House Diaries

Let me tell you a story. It's a story of course. Purely hypothetical. Nothing like this could ever really happen. Everyone likes a good story, though, right?

Suppose there was a young child at recess building something (a castle, a ship, whatever) out of Legos. This kid is totally minding his own business when suddenly the big, dumb, mean, ugly, cruel class bully comes storming up out of nowhere. He then proceeds to do what it is that bullies do--he pushes the kid over, kicks the Lego structure into a million pieces, which sends blocks flying everywhere. Then, just for good measure, he jumps on the helpless child and punches him repeatedly in the face.

Look, I didn't say this was a heartwarming story, did I? Stick with me.

Raybin

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Monday September 11, 2006 · 5:01 PM PDT

2006/09/11 · 17:01

crossposted at My Left Wing

I was never any good at titles. And, anyway, is a title really necessary? Probably not. But then again, I'm not sure. How sure of anything have any of us been in the past five years, except that the Bush Administration are a bunch of sick, evil fucks?

I stayed up late that night, finishing my first big assignment of that college year. I'd procrastinated as usual. I finished about 2:30 in the a.m. I brushed my teeth, put on my bedtime playlist (Celtic music and Bela Fleck), rolled myself in my blankets and fell asleep.

I was 19 years old. Read More

An Open Letter To The American People

Raybin

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Friday August 11, 2006 · 7:04 AM PDT

2006/08/11 · 07:04

crossposted at My Left Wing

Dear folks,

Can we talk? Because we really need to. It's important.

I have shit to do. I'm in the process of moving out of my apartment, which is running me ragged. I'm looking for jobs. I have to get ready to go to my current godawful one.

So I hope I'm communicating some measure of the importance of what I have to say... Read More

Joe Lieberman Might Be On To Something...

Raybin

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Monday March 27, 2006 · 1:02 PM PST

2006/03/27 · 13:02

crossposted at My Left Wing

Holy Joe has been taking a lot of flack in recent weeks for this comment:

"It's time for Democrats who distrust President Bush to acknowledge that he will be the commander in chief for three more critical years, and that in matters of war, we undermine presidential credibility at our nation's peril.

Now, I believe Joe Lieberman's picture appears on the OED next to the word "douchebag." But in his charmingly awkward "Joementum" sort of way, he actually kinda-sorta-almost hit on something worthwhile there, without intending to.

As usual, Joe was trying to suck up to the President and the GOP, which I'm convinced he's a closet member of. I'm going to take the small kernel of an idea he dropped and try to nuture it into a beautiful flowering plant of electoral victory. Read More

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The Seventeen Year Itch

One Man to Overthrow

A Tale Told By An Idiot

Rise, America

Congo Rebels Seize Mountain Gorilla Habitat(Updated)

You've sown it, now you must reap it

I Am Sam

The Graveyard of Their Dreams, Part 1

The Bully Punch

Untitled (1,826)

An Open Letter To The American People

Joe Lieberman Might Be On To Something...