I meant to publish this on my 10th Anniversary which was October 15, 2013. Life got in the way. My apologies, but better late than never. Right?
So I decided to go back and take a look at what my very first
dairy diary here at Daily Kos looked like.
What subject did I pick. What stance (if any) did I take. How far Left was I, whence first I set foote upon these Orange shores?
Title of Diary Numero Uno: POLLS vs VOTERS
So, I began my diary cavalcade with a living-room analysis of how Polling was not valid anymore. Very, very "living room analysis". But it was my first go at the merry-go-round. Not so terrible, all things considered. Including it's publication date of Jan 27, 2004. About ten days before the WA Caucuses on Feb 7, 2004.
Gov Dean received 30% of the Vote here in WA vs now SecState John Kerry, who garnered 48%.
My guy lost terribly, and I was seriously and truly brokenhearted over it. It was irrational, and made me unable to feel as supportive of candidate John Kerry. I still voted for him, but I didn't have any heart left in me to GOTV anymore. My only real regret about anything to do with my volunteer or paid work for political candidates since 2004, that bit there.
And so the nation settled in to suffer ♫♪♫♪ four more years ♫♪♫♪ of W. & Cheney. Ugh enough said about that.
I've gone on, in the intervening ten years, to write another 208 published diaries and countless drafts. Some good. Some shamefully loquacious. Some (I thought) quite amusing. A few stick with me to this day.
Diary #2. Funny, coming so close upon the heels of dairy Diary #1, as it does (and which I had quite forgotten. I thought my first diary was about how tossing Jobs overseas would eventually winnow the Buying Consumer Base back home so much that the Economy might start to implode...).
But I remember it, because it is STILL how I feel about that GOTTERDAMMERUNG last few days before the aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh that killed The One (ok, put paid to the dreams of the Dean Democrats that Howard would be sitting behind the Resolute Desk).
Title: How the Republicans will crush Kerry in November
It's clearly one of the most heartfelt things I've ever written here at Daily Kos, or anywhere really. In the throes of my first ever crush on a public figure of any sort (never was the 'fan' type), and my fucking hero was metaphorically slain by the "slings and arrows of Iniquity" in a manner in which William Shakespeare himself would have been hard-put to write as fiction. It's also exceeding short.
It ends with this:
Howard Dean is bent, but he is not broken. He is an honest, forthright man with a vision for this nation that has not been seen since before most of us were born - that We the People should have the loudest voice in Congress. I agree with him, and I'll cast a vote for him on February 7th.
So go have a read if you care. I'll wait here for ya.
Welcome back!
Next up, the one that I thought was #1 and is actually #6. Offshore Jobs=Offshore consumers. The title says it all. It closes with this:
Demand that the Supreme Court revisit it's 1886 decision that gave corporations 'personhood' and all the rights entailed. This single issue has allowed our nation to become a defacto oligarchy and 'the people' are paying the price. Let's go back to keeping corporations on a tighter leash, one which denies them the right to lobby or influence Congress - after all, those companies have individuals who own them, let them put themselves into the public limelight when they want something from the government, instead of hiding behind hired guns.
Here's the deal. Either we want this nation to continue or we are ready to follow the Roman Empire into the history books. One route takes initiative by the populous, or at the very least, a portion of the populous. The other only requires that we, as a people, do nothing.
I'll end with a quote.
"Evil flourishes where good men do nothing"
I wrote this gem back on Feb 11, 2004. I was so full of vim & vinegar, I could barely contain myself back then. But consider what I wrote there.
Now, picture a hat with a fucking Tea Bag hanging off the brim.
Enough said about that.
Now, mind you, I'm not claiming a place in Guiness Book of Records for this one, because it's more likely another Kossack did this and I thought it was such a good idea I stole it and wrote one of my own. But here it is, diary #9 : Taglines: Which one belongs to you? Standard fare for a time-honored way to garner some mojo and get a lot of comments from all the folks you did not put in the damned diary. But there are some very interesting taglines in these old diaries. Plus I didn't have the brains of a pea, because as you'll see, I didn't bother to note which Tagline belonged to which Kossack. aaarrrrgggghhhh They include:
Don't send them a message, send them a President.
Veterans benefits wouldn't be a problem if the GOP didn't keep making so many veterans.
In the voting booth, no one can hear you scream.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. - Groucho Marx
The chips are down. Find your outrage.
The penalty good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves. -- Plato
Did you catch that last one?
2000+ years old that bit of wisdom. Obviously, Plato could see the future, he's talking about the "I don't Vote" Americans and the cray-cray
TBagRs right there.
Take a peek. I'll wait here for you.
Hola again, mi amigos!
Now, the first time a Front Page person talks back to me. Oh my, was I thrilled to read this comment. Even though he is basically telling me (quite kindly, I might add) that I'm full of shit and don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Sorta. He's much nicer these days, but now I'm pimping his KITM radio show on the Twitter.
So, you know. Times, they are a changin'.
There are just a few more diaries I'll bring to your attention. Listed here, sans comment. View at your own risk:
You can't trust the Republicans
My mother's day and its updated memorial edition.
and this one Anti-GBCW.
All three of them were written in response to moments of dire distress in my life. They are a view into my
true heart as a person, as a daughter, as a mother, as a Kossack, as an American. I think they represent some of my very best writing efforts, because after all of this time, they all
still move me.
Here's hoping my next ten years are even better.
#StrongerTogether for a better future for our posterity.