George Clooney is eye candy appropriate for any occasion but communing with President Obama... sigh!
This is NOT the underbelly of anything - 'cept maybe lust.
I've been gone from these parts for a good long while so I figured I needed to bring some serious eye candy to lure in the newbies AND the veteran DKossers who might (not) have wondered what the heck happened to me.
So, where have I been for the last 15 months? Nowhere special. Really. I went through a series of discouraging knocks - a blizzard or two, prolonged period without utilities, then price-hikes to get it all restored. Then my main computer hissed, spit and died. I tried to coax it back to life but I gave up when spring finally came. I tilled, hoed, planted, seeded, and poured compost 'juice' over most of a3+ acres of lawn and gardens. Everything was a-bloomin' nicely by late April so I took off to Maryland to visit my son and his family, thinking I'd get some time on their computers and, at the least, drop by here for occasional visits.
Didn't happen that way - at first I was having too much fun playing. Early TC-lovers may remember my new-ish granddaughter, born in '08? That beautiful baby, my red-haired girl-child Lauren is now 2 years old. Here are a few photos from her birthday party:
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WTF? Seriously? Below she is using part of granny Dare's gift to scratch her eardrum. I think. Better that than picking her nose with it, I guess. She's really smart, though, seriously - this photo proves NOTHING. ;-)
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I'll save the rest of the story re: my months in Maryland for another diary - among the details there's a near-death experience, lying eight days delirious at this huge U of MD hospital, a mad two-state dash to get to my other kid's college graduation, and FINALLY a successful disability determination hearing! YEA! I now have Medicare and I love my socialized medicine, thank you very much.
Democracy can get ugly and messy, n'est-ce pas? Like many of you, I am still stunned by the crass and threatening display of Know-Nothingness that dominated the 2010 election. Not just in my state or precinct, either. Nastiness gone viral. The incident portrayed below? Happened just next door:
My undergraduate mentor used to emphasize the undercurrents of vulgarity, nativism, and racist influences that emerged during times of economic uncertainty. He called it the underbelly of populism and traced examples from the earliest days of the Republic. And the deadly excesses of France's various Revolutions can be directly linked to a French variant of the underbelly, exposed by the extended upheavals among the bourgeois and working classes.
Mark Morford captured my gist of my mood and feelings in his post-election Wednesday column:
... This is not just any Republican party you allowed back into power; these mealy folks are not anything like the war-hungry, Bush-tainted army of flying monkeys and Dick Cheney moose knuckles you so wonderfully helped bury in the history books last election.
No, the GOP of 2010-2011 is even weirder, dumber, less interested in anything you even remotely care about; this GOP is infused like a sour cocktail with a bitter splash of the most cartoonish, climate change-denying Tea Party dingbats imaginable -- most of whom think you're an elitist, terrorist-loving, gay-supporting threat to "real" American values, btw -- all led by a guy named Boehner who wears a bizarre, shellacked tan so fake and creepy it makes Nancy Pelosi looks like a supermodel.
Even as I was and am repelled by it, I've been long-fascinated by the interplay of populism and fascism. I'm going to work up some notes and do ANOTHER diary, if you all will allow this prodigal to return on a more regular basis. I promise not to say away so long.
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ON TO TOP COMMENTS! Send your nominations each day (before 9:30 pm Eastern) by e-mail to "TopComments AT gmail.com"; be sure to include your UID-name and a brief description of why the comment is tip-top appropriate for this daily diary.
From 4Freedom:
HoundDog tells us how to support KO, and a great suggestionit is.
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From sardonyx:
After joy sinha notes that the latest fake news story about the alleged (high) cost of Obama's Southeast Asia being reported by Republican outlets like Fox comes from a newspaper in India, thiroy makes aa very funny comment.
TexasMango comments that we aren't in a culture war, but in a tribal war, and has a great explanation for why the opposing conservative tribe is fighting us with everything they have.
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I had some nominations of my own written up but damned if I can find them now. I've got a new laptop and I keep saving things to strange, distant folders that play hide-and-seek with me. I'll keep looking, In the meantime, thank you carolita for tonight's Top Mojo.
Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, Cheers and Jeers, and Mojo Friday:
1) I could not write this yesterday by FishOutofWater — 206
2) Memo to John Kasich by JekyllnHyde — 170
3) you have just outdone yourself.... by Julie Gulden — 157
4) Now I Just Have To Reroder All The Stuff by webranding — 127
5) I'm glad that Chris Hayes turned down the chance by Diogenes2008 — 120
6) That she's decided to run means by andgarden — 119
7) How awful. by Grumpy Young Man — 113
8) Of course not. by Colorado is the Shiznit — 113
9) Go pee somehwere by TomP — 113
10) And now I head to school by teacherken — 105
11) IOKIYAR by MD patriot — 104
12) GOP Plan... high unemployment = Presidency by Flint — 101
13) Puhleeze...the republiCONs lie! by Shaking the Tree — 99
14) Geeze, when it rains it pours by BentLiberal — 93
15) A very cramped reading indeed. by mofembot — 83
16) Apparently not the right companies. by ahumbleopinion — 82
17) This diary was bookmarked... by icebergslim — 79
18) The facts... by Dem 724 — 79
19) all Harry Truman, no Clinton DLC wimpiness by MD patriot — 78
20) Thanks for this. by Musket Man — 78
21) It's gorgeous! by 4Freedom — 78
22) This kind of sewage makes me feel conflicted. by Keninoakland — 76
23) Yes. They're trying to end DADT. by Adam B — 75
24) Little Nancy D'Alessandro learned her political by DaNang65 — 74
25) Good for her. by GrandmaMJ — 73
26) Bernie Sanders Statement on Olbermann Suspension by cali — 70
27) The best way we can help the President by jan4insight — 68
28) They are wrong! No one matches Obama's courage by shopkeeper — 68
29) Funny how you don't hear the goons by Jeff Y — 67
30) The hoped-for correlary: by tomjones — 66
31) Force the Republicans to compromise by Dallasdoc — 66
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by FishOutofWater — 691
2) Tip Jar by webranding — 428
3) Tip Jar by LaurenMonica — 361
4) Tip Jar by teacherken — 340
5) Tip Jar by Magnifico — 331
6) Tip Jar by mizzum — 331
7) Tip Jar by slinkerwink — 314
8) Tip/jar wrecks/flames by LaFeminista — 297
9) Tip Jar by TomP — 292
10) Tip Jar by lgcap — 260
11) Tip Jar by sara seattle — 243
12) Tip Jar by juls — 241
13) If Soros is really... by KingOneEye — 239
14) I could not write this yesterday by FishOutofWater — 206
15) Tip Jar by pollwatcher — 203
16) Tip Jar by taylormattd — 193
17) Memo to John Kasich by JekyllnHyde — 170
18) you have just outdone yourself.... by Julie Gulden — 157
19) Tip Jar by Betty Pinson — 156
20) Now I Just Have To Reroder All The Stuff by webranding — 128
21) I'm glad that Chris Hayes turned down the chance by Diogenes2008 — 121
22) That she's decided to run means by andgarden — 119
23) How awful. by Grumpy Young Man — 113
24) Of course not. by Colorado is the Shiznit — 113
25) Go pee somehwere by TomP — 113
26) Tip Jar by Clarknt67 — 106
27) And now I head to school by teacherken — 105
28) IOKIYAR by MD patriot — 104
29) GOP Plan... high unemployment = Presidency by Flint — 101
30) Puhleeze...the republiCONs lie! by Shaking the Tree — 99
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Always the mountains,
va dare