Take some time off

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Thursday September 03, 2009 · 6:26 PM PDT

2009/09/03 · 18:26

The back and forth over the public option is getting pretty exhausting. Anonymously sourced story after anonymously sourced story ends up in reclisted diaries with loads of speculation in them. Blood pressures are rising, people are genuinely upset. And they should be. I will be angry and disappointed if there is no public option in the final health care reform bill passed. And if I am forced to purchase an overpriced private insurance plan, then I will be quite angry.

But, may I make a simple suggestion? Take some time off from this blog, or any political blog, or Facebook, or MSNBC, or CNN, and especially Politico. Relax, and enjoy Labor Day weekend if you can. Spend it with family and friends, reflect back on the sacrifices made by the American labor movement over the past hundred or so years. We have so much to be thankful for.

Poll

10 votes Show Results

Good idea?

10 votes Vote Now!

Good idea?

Heh

4 votes

Meh

0 votes

Feh

3 votes

Pieh

3 votes

Deep Thoughts

jtb583

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Monday August 10, 2009 · 12:27 AM PDT

2009/08/10 · 00:27

And now, more Deep Thoughts by jtb583...
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Have you ever heard of the Greek philosopher Hypotheticles? Probably not, considering he spent all day thinking about what he could write instead of writing anything at all. That's where we get the word hypothetical from.
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Have you ever wondered what it would be like to experience your own birth with the ability to remember it? Just think about it...
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If I could travel to any point in history, I would go back to when Jesus first started teaching, then I would go right up to the crowd who was listening intently to the gospel and say to them with a smirk on my face "Heh, I taught this guy everything he knows".
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Meta Deep Thought: If we see an obvious troll diary, instead of posting recipes, fail pics and cute cat pics, we decided to just ignore the diary altogether, don't you think it would inflame the troll who posted the diary any more than posting those items as comments ever could? Meditate on that...
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Would you like to see a diary like this ever again?

14 votes Vote Now!

Would you like to see a diary like this ever again?

Yes

9 votes

5 votes

Deep Thoughts

jtb583

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

Saturday June 27, 2009 · 10:10 PM PDT

2009/06/27 · 22:10

And now, Deep Thoughts, by jtb583...

I wonder what the world would be like if instead of giving some generic response to the question of "How are you doing?" people actually said how they really felt.
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Whenever I stop and get gas late at night, I always check the back seat to see if anyone is hiding, waiting to kill me when my guard is down.
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My human mind cannot comprehend things like what existed before the big bang or what will happen when I die. My brain literally hurts to think about these things. Is time continuous? We are conditioned to understand time as linear, but maybe this isn't true. Maybe time is circular...or triangular.
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The movie Labyrinth with David Bowie should not be seen by children. It really is too disturbing.
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When my family moved from Ottumwa, Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska in 1991 every single member of my family became a fan of the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team except me. Granted, Nebraska had a better team, but it always seemed to me like they were all just fair weather fans.

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37 votes Show Results

Would you like to see a diary like this ever again?

37 votes Vote Now!

Would you like to see a diary like this ever again?

Yes

25 votes

12 votes

US Men's Soccer Team Just Shocked the World

jtb583

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Wednesday June 24, 2009 · 1:44 PM PDT

2009/06/24 · 13:44

Wow. The United States men's soccer team has advanced to the finals of the FIFA Confederation's Cup by beating Spain 2-0. Spain is currently the number one soccer team in the world, this is just amazing and may be one of soccer's biggest upsets of all time.

Going in to the game, Spain was riding high on several different streaks, the most impressive being their 35 match unbeaten streak. Yes, I said thirty five games without a loss. Their last loss was in November of 2006, two and a half years ago. They are 32-0-3 since then...Well now they are 32-1-3! Also, in twenty five of those games they had not allowed a goal to their opponent and they came into this match with a 451 minute streak of not allowing a goal.

jtb583

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Monday June 15, 2009 · 12:44 AM PDT

2009/06/15 · 00:44

I just caught this on CNN's website.

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran has rejected a request by opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi to hold a nationwide march Monday to protest the results of the country's presidential election, Iranian media reported.

However:

Moussavi's supporters, in messages on social networking sites, indicated the rallies would continue with or without the blessing of the administration.

CNN

We'll soon find out, as it is already midday there and the march was scheduled for 4PM local. Depending on what happens later today I see this, as well as the general strike planned for Tuesday, as a turning point. Either the protests die down slowly over the next few days and the general strike goes unsupported, or the protesters will become emboldened even more by the government's stifling of dissent. A successful general strike would only add to the momentum and further weaken the legitimacy of the Iranian government.

jtb583

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Thursday June 11, 2009 · 6:25 PM PDT

2009/06/11 · 18:25

After studying African geography this spring, I became particularly outraged at something I really hadn't known about until learning about modern Africa. Specifically, I am talking about how Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) that were forced upon many African nations by the World Bank and the IMF during the 1980s and 1990s effectively retarded any positive economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa in the post-colonial period [1]. These programs were instituted by the individual African national governments as conditions for receiving foreign loans from the aforementioned donor organizations. As to why this all involves conservatives, I will get to that part later.

jtb583

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Sunday June 07, 2009 · 7:04 PM PDT

2009/06/07 · 19:04

I just finished up reading the Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert article from the June 8th edition of Newsweek Magazine. It is a critique of the pseudoscience that routinely makes it onto broadcasts of the Oprah Winfrey Show.

The authors go down the list of questionable medical advice that is given out on the show by activists like Suzanne Somers and Jenny McCarthy and proceeds on to criticize "experts" like Dr. Christiane Northrup and dermatologists Karyn Grossman and Brandith Irwin.

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714 votes Show Results

Automatic poll

714 votes Vote Now!

Automatic poll

Automatic choice number one

60 votes

Automatic choice number two

105 votes

Automatic choice number three (PIE)

549 votes

I'm concerned...

jtb583

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Tuesday May 26, 2009 · 6:08 PM PDT

2009/05/26 · 18:08

Concern troll diaries. We've all seen them, read them, and commented on them. I am writing this diary today to urge all other Kossacks to stop reading and recommending concern troll diaries. I like this place and when I see concern trolls trying to break us down and have us question our values it really bothers me.

I don't want the Republicans to take back the Congress in 2010, let alone the White House in 2012, do you?

So please, read this diary and let me know if you are troubled by these concern trolls too.

jtb583

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

Saturday May 23, 2009 · 3:47 PM PDT

2009/05/23 · 15:47

I know this topic might be covered a lot this weekend, but I thought I would throw this onto the pile and add my perspective. Memorial Day is a day in which we take an opportunity to remember and commemorate the sacrifices made by those who have fallen in the wars fought during the 233 year history of the United States.

jtb583

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Monday May 18, 2009 · 12:36 PM PDT

2009/05/18 · 12:36

I left Iraq over five years ago. When my unit was called up in January of 2003 I was only nineteen. I celebrated my twentieth birthday in Iraq. I served as a supply specialist in an Army Reserve military police unit that oversaw a couple of prison camps in the first year of the war. My first six months were spent at a prison camp in the southern part of Iraq, then I went to Mosul for about a month and a half and the last four months of my tour at a camp north of Baqubah.

My jobs were always pretty mundane, small tasks like distributing supplies to prisoners or driving from camp to camp picking up spare parts or food rations. Aside from a few mortar attacks on the base I was at in Mosul, I really never faced much danger let alone fired my weapon.

Ever since I came back home I have had a certain feeling deep inside of me. It was especially strong in the first few months after I came back, but it is still with me today.

jtb583

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Wednesday May 13, 2009 · 10:36 AM PDT

2009/05/13 · 10:36

Let's get one thing straight. Health care reform should be enacted before we think about doing anything about Social Security, but as we have learned today, health care reform looks to be a priority of Congress and will hopefully be finished by the end of July.

With that being said I think its time that we began the discussion of how to provide Social Security benefits without decreasing payouts to any of the millions of Americans who depend on Social Security as a means of staying out of poverty.

For the last four years we've had to put up with fear mongering from the right about Social Security's supposed "demise" as it's trust fund eventually begins to run out of money in the future.

Poll

73 votes Show Results

What option do you favor?

73 votes Vote Now!

What option do you favor?

A) Raising or eliminating the cap on income eligible for the payroll tax

43 votes

B) Raise the payroll tax rate by anywhere from 1/2-1%

7 votes

C) Capping COLA increases at 3% every year

0 votes

D) A combination of all of the above

18 votes

E) Pie

5 votes

Start Acting Locally: The Difference You Can Make by Riding Your Bike.

jtb583

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Tuesday May 05, 2009 · 11:07 AM PDT

2009/05/05 · 11:07

Its May everyone, which means its National Bike to Work Month. Do you already have a bike? Good, then we can begin. This diary is intended to outline just exactly what environmental and economic impact riding your bike to work, school, or for running errands will have. As progressives, liberals, DFHs, or whatever we want to call ourselves, we all know the adage about activism that states "think globally, act locally". Well, through statistical analysis I will show just how you can contribute to the effort to combat global warming by "acting locally".

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Take some time off

Deep Thoughts

Deep Thoughts

US Men's Soccer Team Just Shocked the World

CNN: permit denied for Mousavi rally on Monday

How conservative economics f***ed up Africa

Newsweek's stinging critique of Oprah's pseudoscience and poor medical advice

I'm concerned...

Why Monday is a holiday

Something I need to get off my chest

Some Sensible Solutions for Social Security

Start Acting Locally: The Difference You Can Make by Riding Your Bike.