I was going to call this "Topic Finding Edition", but it wasn't sufficiently provocative accurate. My plan was to start typing in the hopes that my fingers walking across the keyboard would blather their way into a topic that took them in a new direction, at which point, depending on the quality of the topic, the depth of my prose, and/or the time remaining to craft my words, the subject matter might warrant a new diary title, an extra tag or two, or a . As you can see here (and over the jump), nothing has warranted a new title, so I'll simply ask you to walk with my fingers to the jump, and leap with them to the body of this diary.
Now that we're safely on the other side, away from the character-limited intro, let's see what the expanses of the body allow.
Sometimes topics will meander in when the fingers are still, and then sit there sneering when you try to get the fingers moving again. Such was the case when thinking about end-of-year charitable donations. It's more important than ever to give if you can in this economy, and I can stretch a bit more this year than last. I even have a little bit of appreciated stock that I can throw into the mix, which lets me stretch a little further, since the stock won't turn into a taxable long-term capital gain for me; I can give the full value of the stock, not the post-tax amount. This does mean that the federal and state governments get less taxes from folks who donate appreciated assets, so it's a somewhat mixed blessing in the current climate of budget deficits, but this particular tax policy is in place to encourage charitable giving, so I'm going to take advantage of it.
I then hopped to the idea of giving to progressive 501(c)3 organizations, and thought about the Kos Fellowship Program, but when I went to check the donation link, the online donation page (through Network for Good) wasn't available, though it had been right after Netroots Nation. (That's what I get for doing donations at the end of the year.)
And next...we're out of time. I need to go off and run the top mojo, and then create and assemble the diary.
~~~~~
Fortunately, I made sure to download the bulk of the top comment nominations sent to our gmail account before letting the fingers wander, so they were safely retrieved and ready to be included below. These worthy comments arrived before the 9:30pm Eastern Time deadline—well, all but one, which was a couple of minutes past the time, but my fingers were still busy above, so I got it after top mojo was completed, though through the wonders of insertion, you'd never know it looking at the diary. Many thanks to you all! The actual address of our mailbox for top comments submissions is:
TopComments AT gmail DOT com
(change " AT " to "@" and " DOT " to ".")
Anyone can send great comments to our address. Be sure to include the direct link to a comment—the URL—which is available from that comment's date/time; we need that to find your choice. Please always include your Daily Kos user name in the body of your message, so we can credit you properly. As I say every time, both link and username are important. If you send a writeup with the link, we are able to include that, too, though we reserve the right to edit if necessary; should you only provide the link, then you have to take whatever writeup we create...and we can be extremely creative. Once again today I was unreasonably creative—yup, that's twice in a row. Three times and it might turn into a habit!
From ItsSimpleSimon:
In ericlewis0's diary Earth Epic Win: Copenhagen to Save FORESTS and More!, writerkirk has a nice play on the "if a tree falls in a forest" theme.
From JanF (a late submission, but well worth reading):
DBunn's comment reminds us that the revolution will not be televised.
From NYFM:
Nothing like a little refresher in history; a lot of folks will benefit by reading this comment by Darnell From LA.
From RiaD:
In rossl's diary on the Bernie Sanders single-payer amendment to the senate health care bill, which was strangled in its tracks by Tom Coburn, The Dead Man comes up with his own acronym for the current bill.
From JaxDem:
Politically Illiterate Man made this observation in the final sentence of his reply to the scritchie jar of today's humpday critter diary.
From Eddie C:
In my diary So what about Americans between 55 and 64?, TarheelDem came up with the short answer. Of all the tragic personal stories, Panda's reply to "but you have insurance", That was snark, right?, and later adding It's why I keep my gun loaded, summed up being left out in the cold.
From sardonyx (today's trudging diarist):
So many people thought this comment by Christy1947 was important—and said so in replies to it and to another comment that linked to it—that I'm going to bring it to you here even though none of them got off their lazy asses and submitted it to Top Comments.
After xyg2 introduces today's invention, argument by cliché, Dbug takes the ball and runs with it, spikes it in the end zone, and...but don't get me started. :D
57andFemale has a nice rant about Ed Schultz's crusade to kill the health care bill, after which there isn't a chance in hell he'd pay for her hip replacement.
Fiona West has a discussion of class barriers and racial privilege.
WarrenS highlights the dangers of a surplus.
~~~~~
Finally, we have today's top mojo using my revision of the cskendrick-devised mojo-to-Excel process.
First, Top Mojo excluding Cheers and Jeers, various pooties, search-identifiable tip jars, and first diary comments:
1) I'm with you slink and Dr Dean and he still is a by LakePipes — 212
2) More Dean. by TomP — 188
3) Any Brain The Size Of A Cockroach Can Figure Out by Ruff Limblog — 176
4) Needed: A Different Driver by JekyllnHyde — 141
5) Amen, Brother! by Nick Zouroudis — 134
6) Reconciliation and by slinkerwink — 133
7) Well, Arianna Huffington is such a font of wisdom by Mother of Zeus — 129
8) I'm sorry, but that doesn't match his campaign by concernedamerican — 127
9) Well said. by Giles Goat Boy — 127
10) In hindsight, the die was largely cast w/ Rahmbo by RFK Lives — 116
11) Dean knows that this is going by slinkerwink — 113
12) If it weren't for the mandate, by Jyrinx — 105
13) Because of other Democrats by Cenk Uygur — 105
14) When the White House lashed out at Dean by joanneleon — 100
15) Well said. by HPrefugee — 99
16) Lieberman is more powerful by o the umanity — 98
17) Shhh! According to some on the rec-list we by Yalin — 97
18) I'm with Howard Dean and DFA by slinkerwink — 96
19) I wonder who the "senior WH official" is? by RFK Lives — 96
20) I don't trust the Democratic Party any more by Reality Bites Back — 92
21) correct conclusion, wrong reason by h bridges — 92
22) Mostly Sick of This Guy by JekyllnHyde — 88
23) Kill the mandates, not the bill... by grannyhelen — 87
24) don't know that he would vote yes on this by clammyc — 86
25) Okay, I'm just as pissed off as you are sistah by WeBetterWinThisTime — 83
26) Too bad there are so many people by buhdydharma — 83
27) No president in the history of our country... by Eclectablog — 80
28) Thanks for writing this by Heidiho610 — 78
29) Until two days ago by beltane — 75
30) those who by slinkerwink — 73
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by slinkerwink — 516
2) Tip Jar by Keith Olbermann — 481
3) Tip Jar by Cenk Uygur — 448
4) Tip Jar by cheforacle — 435
5) Tip Jar by thereisnospoon — 375
6) Tip Jar by Nulwee — 366
7) Thank you for your support and well-wishes by smellybeast — 359
8) Tip Jar by indiemcemopants — 353
9) Tip Jar by icebergslim — 294
10) Tip Jar by Eclectablog — 272
11) since this is something that Senator Kennedy by clammyc — 250
12) Tip Jar by fladem — 232
13) Tip Jar by mka193 — 230
14) I'm with you slink and Dr Dean and he still is a by LakePipes — 212
15) Sorry for the short diary by rossl — 194
16) More Dean. by TomP — 188
17) Tip Jar by bobswern — 185
18) Tip Jar by Eddie C — 182
19) Any Brain The Size Of A Cockroach Can Figure Out by Ruff Limblog — 176
20) Tip Jar by math4barack — 171
21) Needed: A Different Driver by JekyllnHyde — 141
22) Amen, Brother! by Nick Zouroudis — 134
23) Reconciliation and by slinkerwink — 133
24) Well, Arianna Huffington is such a font of wisdom by Mother of Zeus — 129
25) I'm sorry, but that doesn't match his campaign by concernedamerican — 127
26) Well said. by Giles Goat Boy — 127
27) In hindsight, the die was largely cast w/ Rahmbo by RFK Lives — 116
28) Dean knows that this is going by slinkerwink — 113
29) If it weren't for the mandate, by Jyrinx — 105
30) Tip Jar by TomP — 105
31) Because of other Democrats by Cenk Uygur — 105
© sardonyx; all rights reserved
All quotes are the property of the original authors or the websites that held them