Wow. I can't believe I still remember my password. But it came back as if by muscle memory. This place sure looks different from how it did back when I was a regular--if generally ignored--participant. I am really happy to see that it thrives even without me. (Because it's all about me). A few thoughts below the fold. I don't expect you to click the link. I'm mostly playing around. Some might classify what I'm doing as "wasting your time." And I'd not dispute that.
User 3111. Active back when Billmon had a website and a lot of people, including me, thought Digby was a dude. I think I was the first person at Daily Kos who had a diary that was picked up and published by someone who was writing a print book (Athenae published my diary called... from memory, "Feith and Company: Some Dots.") Not to brag, but I was proud of that shit. I even put it on my CV. I wrote it back when I had time to do deep research and make timelines and shit. Good times.
Then grad school ended with a degree, postdoc ended with a budget cut, and I found myself working for The Man every night and day. Glad they didn't read my CV. I don't think my current coworkers would be too pleased to know about my political sympathies. Assholes.
So as you can tell if you've read this far... I don't have much to say. I'm mostly just a cranky old guy dropping in on his old stomping ground--curious about what happens these days when a diary posts. The last time I did this, it pretty much scrolled off the main page unnoticed within a few reloads. Meh. I expect nothing more this time. The Soviets called it "writing for the drawer." Maybe an angry dickwad will slag me with a "donut" comment. Ideally, Kid Oakland or Wendell Gee comment. Or in a perfect world, Meteor Blades. But we're all either busy, or not paying attention, or otherwise absent.
I'm sad about this debt ceiling thing. A lot of people are going to suffer. It's bad policy enacted for bad reasons, and it's really going to hurt our country in the long run. I thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists. And I guess we technically didn't negotiate with them--we just accepted/welcomed their demands and that was that. Pathetic and sad.
But the capitulators have me figured out. I'll stick with shitty Democrats if the only alternative is cruel people like Bachman an Romney. My dad stopped voting many years ago. I always thought that was nuts. I think he resumed voting one last time just to cast one for President Obama. Then he died before I could confirm that he regretted it. But it's impossible that he didn't regret it. He was too smart to fall for this scam.
It's a great catch, that Catch 22. The best there is.