A continuation of an incredibly self-indulgent diary series that began yesterday, which had been conceived as a single diary but had to be broken into three parts so it would load. I repeat most of the introduction below.
When posters have complained about a lack of reader response, about never making the Rec List, and so on, I've sometimes suggested that they take the word "diary" literally. A traditional diary may one day be published, or may serve as grist for a memoir, but it is foremost written for ourselves, to memorialize our own thoughts. (We just happen to do so out here in the open.) If we're lucky and so disposed, a diary may also change others' thinking and perhaps the world. Regardless, it has value in its being written and being ours.
And so: here is part 2 of an easy-to-read annotated list, from latest to earliest (in proper blog form), of every diary I have written here at Daily Kos as Major Danby. Thanks to Markos, the CEs, and my friends and readers for helping me generate, publish, refine, defend, and now compile the work described below. Without you, there would have been nothing.
Like all of the others listed below, except where indicated with a "CA-42" designation, this diary is not affiliated with any candidate or campaign.
Diaries marked with a "+" after the number of comments are ones that I feel represent my best writing or are otherwise notable.
This was originally intended to be one huge diary, and indeed it turned out so huge that it would barely load. I've decided to break it up into three more manageable chunks. They're of unequal size; this one includes the second batch of 78 (of 222 total), from the big fights following Election Day 2006 to my mid-year conversion to support for impeachment of Bush (though on narrow grounds.) Here is part 1 and here is part 3.
(156) Implementing a minimalist impeachment agenda – my first and only diary promoted to front page. I argued that we should impeach Bush solely for obstruction of justice, if he continued to stonewall, and defer the question of whether to impeach on substantive grounds (486 comments) +
(155) I am the 800-pound gorilla of the YearlyKos auction – more public service auction promotion, when the auction was reinstated after being aborted (50 comments)
(154) CA-37: Today I'll root for my old friend Jenny Oropeza – explaining why I’d have voted for Oropeza over Linda Richardson in the CA-37 special election. I don’t think that this diary is why Oropeza lost (14 comments)
(153) OK, please don't bid on my last YearlyKos Auction photo – and yet another. Yes, I know I overdid it, but it was for a good cause (20 comments)
(152) Neither Cheney nor McNulty nor even Levin will do it – another diary promoting the YKos auction, but this time with a provocative title (27 comments)
(151) Sylvia Mendez and the shame of Huntington Beach, CA – chastising my home town of Huntington Beach, CA for refusing a float honoring the women whose schooling was at stake in a major civil rights case. They later relented (14 comments)
(150) This is complete insanity – promoting (I hate to use the word "pimping" in a positive context) the YearlyKos auction (48 comments)
(149) A better idea than impeachment: polling impeachment – arguing that if we wanted to see impeachment happen, we should do what the media wouldn’t and do a poll showing it was politically viable. Controversial, but I stand by it (414 comments) +
(148) Help choose photos to offer at YearlyKos auction! (pt 2) – second half of the 30 photos being considered for auction (49 comments)
(147) Help choose photos to offer at YearlyKos auction! (pt 1) – like it says. Round 2. Some pretty pictures here (12 comments)
(146) Guess what Dem responded to Bush's radio address? – celebrating my Nevada friend DemMarineVet’s giving the Saturday response; stepping into the hornet’s nest of people angry about the Iraq funding vote that took place while I was gone (223 comments)
(145) 17 days and 3500 miles later, what has changed? – the other diary bookending my pre-marriage "can we do this so quickly" cross-country drive. Of limited interest except as autobiography (43 comments)
(144) What will the world look like in ... late May? – I had planned on changing my handle when posting this diary, but postponed for the sake of the campaign. Pretty much just self-indulgence (39 comments)
(143) Impeach Rove, so that he can never be pardoned – a clause in the Constitution may be interpreted to mean that someone who has been impeached cannot be pardoned for those offenses, which would make it tempting to apply to Rove. Or it can be interpreted otherwise. Debate ensued (223 comments)
(142) USAGate framing: a perversion of Justice (capitalize "J") – offering a frame for the DOJ scandal based on Leviticus 19:15 "Do not pervert justice...." (46 comments)
(141) A bad vegetarian worries about his Zone bars – Am I being poisoned by imported Chinese soy protein in my protein bars? Apparently not, but it took some digging to find out. (62 comments)
(140) If Al Gore were President, I'd stay in Iraq. But he isn't. – even if one were to grant the argument that the U.S. theoretically has a moral obligation to stay in Iraq, we should leave now because Bush is too incompetent, dishonest, and untrustworthy to do any good (65 comments) +
(139) A hit-and-run repost of yesterday's 'USA Today' diary – I liked the idea so much I posted the diary twice. Markos later said that doing this after deleting the first one was a bannable offense. I claim lack of proper notice (19 comments)
(138) To reach people, we need a liberal online "USA Today" – I still think this is worth doing, and plans are once again afoot. The idea is that for the news aspects of DKos to have an impact, they must be repackaged for a non-blogosphere readership (111 comments) +
(137) [Small "sample issue" of blog news summary publication http://www.dailykos.com/... – I managed to get a diary with (almost) no responses by asking a question on zoning in rural Navada, then used it to create a sample issue of the publication that I still hope will happen -- (16 comments) +
(136) Blank test diary - please do not comment – yes, I did suspect that asking people not to comment in this diary (which fed into #138) wouldn’t work, but I thought it would fail funny if it did, and I was right. I got a great suggestion for diary #137, though (35 comments)
(135) I've been OUTCLASSED and I'm PISSED OFF (auction) – auction item promoting, done not all that well (29 comments)
(134) Read this NYT article; it explains what we're doing here – reporting on a social psychology study – showing the social influence effects of early arrivers to rating scenes – that I thought described some of our power here (60 comments) +
(133) "Lessons Learned" from 2004/06 Netroots Campaigns? – sneakily seeking to benefit from others’ experience, having recently decided to take on Ron’s campaign (14 comments)
(132) The First Fibonacci Poetry Diary of Spring – somehow I developed the idea that we needed another Fib poem diary. Anyone wanna take over? (84 comments)
(131) "Freep" my floral beauty pageant YKos fundraising poll! – ok, you want the photos offered, so let’s choose which ones! (12 comments)
(130) Some beauty in the world (and - fundraising for YKos?) – first of several photo diaries, this one asking people if they should be offered at auction. I snuck in a picture of my now-wife, whom I had just met there (42 comments)
(129) ACT: Make a "recess appointment" with your GOP Rep! – every once in a while I come up with odd though well-meaning action items for people to ignore; this was one of them (16 comments)
(128) Palm Sunday, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jesus' Joke – if you do nothing else as a result of this diary, clink on the link and read this Vonnegut essay. You can skip my comments without missing much (20 comments)
(127) The Thinkable, and why 218 was the perfect number – celebrating the bare passage of the Iraq funding bill with serious strings as the perfect result for the political theater to come (322 comments) +
(126) The greater strength of a weaker supplemental $ bill – arguing that if Bush is going to veto anyway, we make him look worse in public and elite debate by making the bill he will veto a more modest one (83 comments) +
(125) How "pox on both" anti-Iraq-war activists help the GOP – arguing that by slamming Democrats for failing to stop the war, we give incentives to Republicans to block progress because they are helped when Dems are harmed. Led to strong reactions from anti-war activists denying that they’re prolonging the war (320 comments) +
(124) An open letter to voters, dated March 7, 2010 – foretelling a future in which Republican claim that perpetrators of crimes uncovered in Plame investigations have "suffered enough" and arguing that deterrence requires they continue (27 comments)
(123) Restoring Our Constitution: Habeas - Corpse? Part 4 -- It Could Happen To You – reviewing the social psychology of denial of collective threats, then asking whether the legal term "unlawful enemy combatant" could apply to U.S. citizens. I think so (49 comments) +
(122) Restoring Our Constitution: Habeas - Corpse? Part 3 -- Changing the Law – analyzing the Military Commissions Act with an eye towards what should be changed (66 comments) +
(121) Restoring Our Constitution: Habeas - Corpse? Part 2 – Executive War Powers – describing the Administration’s mangling of the law regard war powers (32 comments) +
(120) Restoring Our Constitution: Habeas - Corpse? Part 1 – Jurisdiction Stripping – first of four diaries in Jay Elias’s "Restoring Our Constitution" series, this one explaining the dangers of "jurisdiction stripping" (118 comments) +
(119) ACTION: Where do House Dems stand on defunding? – in which I respond to Armando’s "nightly diatribes against the Dem Congress on defunding" by suggesting that we count votes to facilitate lobbying (41 comments)
(118) Starting a serious blog - a "how to?" diary – asking for advice on how best to start blogging (87 comments)
(117) Huckabeeyond belief: "losing WW2 would've been OK" – the Huckster says that unlike any other world war we've ever fought, World War III (in which we are presently engaged) is one we cannot afford to lose. I make fun of him. Bookmark it if he gets nominated (327 comments) +
(116) "We can fight one of two wars in Iraq" – still arguing that the best approach in Iraq is to tell Americans that we will redirect our forces to fight against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia only (37 comments) +
(115) No, you will not get to say that you were right – a challenging and controversial diary, arguing that we all have different roles in fostering activist and that identifying a problem without offering a viable solution shouldn’t get one much credit. Also criticized "impeachment underwear gnomes" (674 comments) +
(114) A nasty diary about repealing the "martial law" provision – we can agitate for repealing the NDAA 2007 Martial Law provisions of, but let’s not even try unless we plan to follow through (59 comments)
(113) My GOD how I love the new "recs" page tab!
– silly meta-diary celebrating others’ diaries that I had once recommended and were now collected in one place (119 comments)
(112) Can Bush stay in Iraq based on the 2001 AUMF? – arguing that if we repealed the Iraq War Resolution, Bush would argue that he could stay in Iraq anyway on the pretense of fighting Al Qaeda (58 comments) +
(111) I think that we are now ready to impeach Dick Cheney – while continuing to oppose impeaching Cheney for substantive crimes, favoring impeaching him for his rejecting all oversight. Popular largely for the title, I’d bet (641 comments) +
(110) Feingold & Iraq: do we use a hammer or dynamite? – standing with Feingold against the "defundamentalists"; first truly explicit diary in a long, sad series (205 comments) +
(109) Is Malkin in bounds? I say "yes." Now for revenge. – disagreeing that Malkin’s attacks on Amanda Marcotte were somehow out of bounds, but resolving to make her regret them (88 comments)
(108) Why the Dems are caving on a non-binding Iraq resolution – favoring using symbolic resolutions like Reid-Feingold I as wedges to turn up the heat on Republicans. Not a popular position, but an interesting discussion (49 comments) +
(107) The War Power Debate Redux (evening edition) – turning a response to Armando into a diary arguing that Congress need not choose between a blank check and defunding a war but can choose middle approach (104 comments) +
(106) Success in Iraq hinges on my dating Parminder Nagra – the joke was that Bush was using the threat of "failure in Iraq" to push for the surge despite its not likely improving our situation, and two can play at that game. Funny comments (104 comments) +
(105) So what do you do for a living? (Jan. '07 edition) – thinking about health insurance, wondering how people earn a living. It was interesting (198 comments)
(104) Sheehan, Waters, Pelosi, Feinstein, and Tauscher – using these women as examples, discussed how people across the political spectrum ought to interact productively (201 comments) +
(103) (squirm baby squirm) BushCo inferno! – Every once in a while, after a series of good diaries, I like to post something truly pointless like this celebration of the SOTU Address. Readers responded appropriately (19 comments)
(102) "OK, ‘pro-lifers’: will you pay to raise this baby?" – brainstorming a novel approach to family planning clinic protests; I still think it’s worth considering (128 comments) +
(101) They might like us more if we'd stop raping them – a rant against Bill Kristol and our Iraq policy that rests above all on asserting our right to take what it not ours. The words "rape" is mostly metaphorical, which got discussed (215 comments) +
(100) DKos is worth killing – I hadn’t realized before now that this was my 100th diary. Highly controversial defense of Markos’s decision to crack down on copyright violations with photos, which led to a variety of good, bad, and odd consequences (433 comments) +
(99) Registered lobbyists on DKos – asking that people come clean about their affiliations and preferences. I eventually implemented this on DKosopedia, to almost universal indifference (133 comments)
(98) Drinking Liberally tonight in Santa Ana (plus fire ants) – just recruiting people to come meet the new kid in town; met some nice people (22 comments)
(97) Sen. Gordon Smith, your bill has come due – challenging Sen. Smith to live up to the good press he got when he switched to oppose the Iraqi occupation (21 comments)
(96) If we leave Iraq, do we bomb future Iraqi Al Qaeda sites? – prefiguring Sen. Feingold’s position that even post withdrawal we could still target Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia’s sites and satisfy the public’s security concerns (64 comments)
(95) My vigil last night, your vigil today – photo essay describing my private New Year’s Eve vigil at the Huntington Beach Civic Center (85 comments)
(94) Midnight tonight, with candles and a list of names – when the 3000th U.S. soldier died on New Year’s Eve, many vigils got postponed one day. I decided to stick to the original plan of how I’d mark that day and hold my own (24 comments)
(93) Dick Cheney has a point – one of my favorites among my diaries. Don’t judge it by it’s title: the "point" is something that Dick Cheney wants to prove: that "our country [cannot] survive in the 21st century as a liberal democracy." This is the Three Days of the Condor diary (524 comments) +
(92) Herman Melville on political motivation – this is a trifling diary citing a passage from Moby Dick ("I am game for his crooked jaw....") that I still think says a lot about disputes within the netroots; take a look (26 comments)
(91) Volley 4 in ‘The Impeachment of George W. Bush’ – my second interchange with Vyan about impeachment, on Christmas Day (64 comments) +
(90) Place your bets: what will the Iraq escalation bring? – had I bee a columnist, this would have been a reader-generated effort (71 comments)
(89) Put your Presidency where your mouth is, Mr. Bush – challenging Bush to wager his Presidency on whether the surge would lead to meeting benchmarks (and no, I never thought he’d do it) (44 comments)
(88) The Defense in the Impeachment of George W. Bush – part of an extremely worthwhile exchange of diaries with Vyan discussing actual viable grounds for impeachment (541 comments) +
(87) Is Bush waiting for another 9/11 to save his bacon? – discussion of whether the surge was a stall tactic, waiting for an attack (87 comments)
(86) Vigilant advice: How will you honor 3000 dead troops? – discussion of how to do vigils (34 comments)
(85) Bush Admin squeezes ACLU to turn back time on leak – a breaking news diary from the NYT on BushCo anti-ACLU courtroom shenanigans (36 comments)
(84) A naked subject to the weeping clouds – it’s easy to say that we should leave Iraq, and hard to grapple with the shape in which we leave it. This diary sought inspiration on the subject from Shakespeare and Juan Cole (28 comments) +
(83) A website of Indians, governed by Swedes – another meta-based skirmish in the OPOL wars that looked to rip the site apart after the election; similarly unpopular, but I think similarly worth a read today (281 comments) +
(82) The function of attitudes towards impeachment – the analysis in this one stands up, though it was not popular at the apex of the impeachment drumming (64 comments) +
(81) Barack Obama, Lincoln Chafee, and Sister Souljah – actually sort of a nice think piece admonishing Obama not to triangulate against the secular Left (133 comments) +
(80) In Praise of Those Not Chosen – remember in 2006 when you could cut the tension over FP selections with a knife? That’s what prompted this appreciation (52 comments)
(79) On a big argument I had in someone’s diary – this was riffing on my then continual fighting with my now-friend OPOL, to get people to read an article from Slate that vindicated occams hatchet’s earlier writing on Godwin’s Divide (61 comments)
This period was the height of my participation here: from the post-election fights over the direction of the site, shortly after the election, to my front-page call to impeach Bush for obstruction of justice, coming just before unveiling my role in Ron's campaign. Maintaining this intense participation here for even such a short time gives me great respect for people who maintain do so for the long haul.