From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
The Morning Featurer
She was a criminal appellate attorney for eight years before answering the call to become a published author. Before law she did "a whole lot of stuff in the process of squeezing a four-year college degree into just twelve years, what with the Marine Corps, marriage, kids, and a few changes of major (physics, then psychology, then physical education, then got bored with the Ps and switched to journalism, then a double-major of journalism and theatre, finally finishing with a degree in theatre) along the way." You know her better as the creative force behind the popular Morning Feature diaries. In the latest installment of our interview series, Yes, We're All Staring at YOU!---(recently nominated for a C&J Award for Excellence in C&J)---NCrissieB takes a grilling in the beanbag chair:
Cheers and Jeers: How long have you been blogging and what originally brought you to Daily Kos?
NCrissieB: If you mean spewing semi-coherent thoughts online, that goes back to the days of usenet when we carved messages on rocks and threw them into each others’ caves. If you mean participating in something now recognized as a political blog, that began after Katrina when I posted at Wes Clark’s site up through the 2006 elections. I was already reading DailyKos by then, but I didn’t sign up until late 2007 and the primary wars.
So I start seeing this regular diary on the Rec List called "Morning Feature." It's like the anti-C&J: thoughtful, smart, factual. What's its mission and background?
Morning Feature began as a set of features---the Kossaku, Kossascopes, and "Ask Ms. Crissie" column---for Kula2316’s Morning Reaction "newspaper." When she and Mr. Kula left Korea to return to the U.S. , I began writing Morning Feature so the Kula Krew would have a place to meet while she was in transit. Either Kula and Mr. Kula are paddling across the Pacific in a canoe or she decided to get a job and finish her master’s degree and hasn’t time to post a daily diary, but I still give her virtual smoochies in every day’s tip jar.
Morning Feature’s mission is to invite civil, informed dialogue on political issues, where we can learn from each other and disagree without being disagreeable. Blogistan Polytechnic Institute began as a self-referential joke about how everyone in the blogosphere is an "expert," and grew to be part of the Morning Feature patois. BPI’s motto---Magis vinum, magis verum ("More wine, more truth")---gave birth to our faculty wine cellar library. The rest of the BPI legend grew organically in asides and reader comments.
How do you decide what to write every day for Morning Feature?
I offer the week’s topic ideas on Meta Monday and invite readers to vote and comment. BPI’s faculty is growing---we now have a Professor of Mathematical Geekology (plf515), a Professor of Psycholegalese (kktlaw), a Professor of Neuroholdemodality (elropsych), and a Professor of Analytical Linguistics (BlueStateRedhead)---all of whom have keys to the wine cellar library and whose underwear we sort after the weekend drinking planning session in the hot tub faculty lounge. They and guest lecturers post on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which gives me time to research the topics for Thursday through Saturday. Friday’s Morning Feature includes Kossascopes to help the readers prepare for weekend disappointments. On Sundays the mail room clerk monitors the staff poker game while answering our mail in the "Ask Ms. Crissie" column, a satirical Week in Review.
What kind of music makes you feel invincible to the GOP horde?
That varies from classical to classic rock, Celtic to blues, Japanese folk music to Ladysmith Black Mambazo. If I had to pick one artist whose work inspires me most, it’s Denis DeYoung, formerly of Styx. His battle with a crippling anxiety disorder---triggered by crowds and lights, a musician’s worst nightmare---exemplifies the untold stories of heroism in the face of adversity that I most admire in humankind.
What do you like most, and least, about the job President Obama is doing so far?
What I like most is his willingness to engage issues thoughtfully. He not only speaks in complete sentences, but thinks in them. What I like least is that he’s had to spend most of his time on damage control. But given that his predecessor steered into almost every iceberg in the ocean, I suppose he hasn’t had much choice.
You're a published novelist. What is the essence of good writing for you, and what is your biggest pet peeve when you read other people's writing?
The essence of good writing is a sentence written on the wall of a newsroom where I once worked: "Write to express, not to impress." Great writing is impressive not for its syntax or style, but for the ideas it expresses clearly and concisely. As for pet peeves, in fiction I loathe books that feature ‘privileged heroes’ with superlative backgrounds and abilities. I think they subtly discourage ordinary people from engaging problems in our real world. In non-fiction, my pet peeve is asserting false premises as if they were true and building an argument on them. The goal isn’t really to sell you the argument; it’s to sell you the false premises.
What's the one book every Kossack must read?
I’d suggest Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August. It is as timely today as when it was written, and both the lessons and legacy of that first month of World War I still shape our world. The lies we use to deceive ourselves and each other haven’t changed much, and war is as inescapably chaotic and unreliable now as it was then.
Finish this sentence: In the kitchen I make a mean...
The mean would probably be roast lemon chicken. The median would be penne with sliced Roma tomatoes, green peppers, onion, and Italian sausage in pesto sauce. The mode would be a’la and involves ice cream over something else I shouldn’t eat. Oh wait, you didn’t mean "mean" that way. Meanie.
You practiced law for several years. As an attorney, what went through your mind when you read the Bybee torture memos? Just a guess, but I imagine you weren't laughing.
What went through my mind was a bad joke from law school: "99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name." Law embodies one of the highest ideals in the human spirit: resolving disputes through principled reason rather than brute force. To use the law to "justify" how much brute force our government can employ to extract lies from helpless prisoners, in order to make a case for using more brute force in Iraq , betrays everything about that ideal.
No waffling here: dogs or cats?
Woofie the Younger says it’s okay if I reply "cats," but Pootie the Precious insists I not insult her brother and reply "dogs." As a mere human, I defer to their greater wisdom.
I have one question left, but it's time for me to go to my second job as a jowl plumper. Ugh---I've got Gingrich at 11. Please ask and answer the final question yourself...
Yikes. There went breakfast. But okay. Do you think what we write in the blogosphere really changes anything?
It can. Every thoughtful dialogue is an act of rebellion against ignorance and cynicism, just as every act of kindness is an act of rebellion against cruelty and selfishness. Every time we listen to each other, every time we laugh and hug, we stand against those who want to tell us what we must think and who we must hate. Even if we’re like the little Dutch boy with a finger in the dike, we need that ... or we all drown.
Good morning! ::hugggggggggggggs::
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Note: The aliens have moved their landing from 10:30 to noon on account of Mrs. McGillicuty couldn't reschedule her 10:30 podiatrist appointment in time.
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By the Numbers:
Days `til the Tupelo Elvis Festival: 10
Days 'til the next New Moon on Monday: 27
(Source: Duran Duran)
Decline in rent prices for 1-bedroom Manhattan apartments in the first quarter: -6.7% (Average price: $2,432---holy frack!)
(Source: New York Times via The Week)
Average number of homeless people the city of Portland, Maine cares for per day: 600
(Source: Portland Daily Sun)
Increase in baby production in the U.S. between July 2006 and July 2007: 2.7%
Increase in baby production in the U.S. between July 2007 and July 2008: 0.9%
(Source: National Center for Health Statistics)
Percent chance that this drop is a direct result of gay marriage: 100%
(Source: Oh, choose a fundy nosepicker from the Family Research Council...any will do)
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
C’mon...the GIVE Act passed, so Dear Leader won’t be satisfied until every American is fulfilling their "United Social Service Requirement" (USSR) to the Rodina by canvassing for the U.S. Census Bureau/ACORN and providing waste disposal services for abortion factories.
---Commenter "Roman Con" at the Michelle Malkin blog
All together now: One...two...three... Classy!!!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Synchronized slurping
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CHEERS to President Obama. In his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as the next associate justice on the Supreme Court, there can no longer be any doubt: #44's got brass balls. And now it's our turn to hammer away at the Republicans the way they hammered away at us over Alito and Roberts. Say it with me loud and proud: "The American people deserve an up or down vote! The American people deserve an up or down vote! The American people deserve an up or down vote!" Heh.
JEERS to North Koraaaazy! Here's the latest: Kim Jon Il detonated an underground nuclear device that Russian monitoirs say was roughly the strength of the A-bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United Nations took bold, decisive action by hemming, then hawing, then threatening to hold their breath until they turned blue. So what will President Obama do in the face of this crisis? I don’t know, but as the neocons scream for us to invade, let's remember how their buddies Bush and Cheney reacted back in 2006:
The Bush administration may have called last week's North Korean missile launch "provocative," but six days later all those launches have provoked are administration calls for patience and diplomacy. We've had very extensive and intensive diplomacy over this weekend," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, expressing optimism today in a Chinese mission to North Korea.
"I'm a patient person," said U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, while explaining today why he didn't have a problem with the U.N. Security Council delaying a vote to sanction North Korea.
To put that in perspective: John Bolton urging patience is like the Pope opening a condom factory. To be continued... (Oh joy)
CHEERS to proud moments in Mormonism. Did you know this?
[Marie Osmond] told "Entertainment Tonight" she is completely supportive of her eldest child, Jessica, who is a lesbian. "I love my daughter! She's my baby girl, come on," she said. "So what if she's gay? She's my daughter and she's an amazing woman and a good kid. I raised her, she better be good." ...
Earlier this month Osmond confirmed to a Los Angeles radio station that her daughter is a lesbian and spoke then about her views on same-sex marriage. "You know, on those types of things I'm very supportive. When it comes to marriage, I think that civil rights need to be for all," Osmond said to the radio interviewer.
Osmond's daughter lives with her girlfriend in Los Angeles, and they'll find out in about an hour whether or not the state Supreme Court is going to overturn the results of Proposition 8 (supporters of which were massively funded by Osmond's church) and, if the answer is no, how they intend to deal with the 18,000 same-sex couples who are already legally married in the state. And in other news: California drugstores sold out of Maalox over the weekend. Film at 11.
JEERS to weekend wankery. Mort Zuckerman, sitting on the supposedly "liberal" side of The McLaughlin Group Sunday, gave Dick Cheney cover by playing the Jack Bauer card on torture:
"That does not diminish the power of what Cheney was saying. The fact is that there is a serious issue here. And there will be many occasions, for example, when you have what is called the 'Ticking Time Bomb,' where you have to make a choice, and Cheney highlights that choice. That's why this debate, as Pat [Buchanan] said, was really welcome. What do you do when you have somebody who has information about where this bomb's gonna go off in four or five hours, and a lot of Americans might get killed? Do you use---quote unquote---'enhanced interrogation techniques' or do you not? Everybody [i.e. every terrorist] now knows that we're not going to use them and they'll just hold on."
Start with the fact that the "ticking time bomb scenario" is pure fiction. What Zuckerman---one of elitiest of the elite media cocktail-party set---is suggesting is that it's necessary to "debate" whether or not to re-break the law by re-authorizing torture because of a situation that only exists in the minds of Hollywood screenwriters. So let that be a lesson to you, kids: intelligence is no barrier to becoming a billionaire.
CHEERS to sweet libation. Seventy nine years ago, in 1930, the Supreme Court ruled that buying liquor does not violate the Constitution. Afterward they reached for the flasks strapped to their shins and toasted their fine work.
CHEERS to hot wheels. At the Indy 500, jockey Calvin Borel rode atop a souped-up Dallara/Honda and cruised down the inside rail in a stunning upset over the field, earning the owner of Car #3 (whoever he is, I forget) a little over 3 million bucks. Funny how the winners never go for option B, which is 3 million bottles of milk. Calciumphobes.
JEERS to too-fond farewells. Ed Liddy is stepping down as CEO of AIG. He is a hard-core businessman who did hardcore business stuff, meaning he weaseled and waffled and PR-spun his way through his brief tenure at the company in pursuit of profit, profit, profit. So why is he leaving? Because we rabble were mean to him by having the audacity to ask---as 80 percent shareholders in the company---for transparency and accountability. It was a demand so unreasonable that it even makes Time magazine cry. Boo frickin' hoo. Meanwhile, the company says it will announce its new CEO just as soon as they're assured he failed his polygraph test without cheating.
CHEERS to terra firma. The Space Shuttle Man From Atlantis returned safely from space Sunday when they touched down after a few rain delays at Edwards Air Force Base. As usual, they were missing a sock.
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Five years ago in C&J: May 26, 2004
CHEERS to Chris Bowers. He's callin' the election and you'll like it---KERRY IN A LANDSLIDE. Too early to declare victory? You bet. But my gut is telling me the same thing. Time to start peeling the potatoes for the inaugural clam chowder? [5/26/09 Update: Hey, don't looka me...I was only three years old when I wrote that. I don’t know what Chris's excuse is.]
JEERS to Lynne Cheney. At Wisconsin Republican Convention, she pulls this zinger from the depths of her black soul: "These 3 years have provided a textbook case of outstanding leadership at the head of our government." Sure, a textbook called `One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.'
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And just one more...
CHEERS to the Great Orange Satan. Happy blogiversary to Markos and his merry band of muckrakers and misfits for seven years of blogging goodness. On May 26, 2002 post #1 arrived with barely a whisper:
I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies. I believe government has an obligation to create an even playing field for all of this country's citizens and immigrants alike. I am not a socialist. I do not seek enforced equality. However, there has to be equality of opportunity, and the private sector, left to its own devices, will never achieve this goal.
Today the site has nearly 211,000 registered users and gets over half a million visitors a day. Democratic politicians belittle us at their peril. The traditional media monitor us, quote us, and book some of us on their shows (where we tend to kick ass). And the right-wing knuckledraggers---led by Bill O'Reilly, who calls us Nazis and klansmen---eat our dust. But above all, this site is a pretty good progressive compass, pointing "truth north" toward the lefty ideals that we and a huge majority of Americans agree with. So Happy Birthday, Daily Kos, from User ID #2574. And many blessings on all our camels today.
Oh, and Kos is on vacation this week so feel free to put your feet up on the furniture. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"Always wanted to interview a Bill in Portland Maine. Any Bill in Portland Maine."
---Larry King
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