(crossposted at http://www.EENRBlog.com)

Hi all,

I am writing this diary to tell a story, or the beginnings of one.

To make a banal start, let us imagine two characters:

Two brothers, in some ways as similar as they can be, but as ideologically opposite as they can possibly be, coming from the same roots in "white trash poverty".  Both elevated on their own gumption and moxy, to the high auspices of the lower and middle classes, both wanting to preserve their country in the ways they understand (which is sometimes little).

And an event, possibly representing a turning point in the dialog and discourse, representing a node in the future history of America.

but will vote for him in the general election.  Call this my "endorsement" .. as deliberately small as it is.

At this point, my agreement with Obama supporters revolve around these things:

1.  Hillary is not, at this point, a good Democratic candidate.

2.  She cannot win the primary without funny business.

3.  Hillary's lies, insane threats about nuclear annihilation of foreign countries, being sniped at in Tuzla, where she was not sniped at, and so forth.

Really, what other conclusion is there?

Every year, between 700 and 1200 men and women are removed from the military because of so-called adherence to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Which transcript can be found here.

Without further ado...and with emphasis added (where appropriate)

Thank you. Thank you, Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island. I am very grateful for the broad support you have given our campaign. And I am very pleased to note that tonight, my friends, we have won enough delegates to claim with confidence, humility and a sense of great responsibility that I will be the Republican nominee for president of the United States.

Where have I heard that "humility" thing before?

I've been reading through much Candidate-chaff today.

If you did not convince us before as to the bona-fides of your candidate, and why he or she deserves our vote, you will not now.

As someone who does not believe either Obama nor Clinton is a particularly good choice for President after 8 years of Republicanism at the top, what does matter is this: showing up.

"I support full equality for all Americans".

Either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States.

As a former John Edwards supporter, I can say these words, barely.  I can get them out of my mouth without choking, even today.  

But, I will submit that if they can't utter those 7 words, or back them up once they get into office, neither would actually deserve to be President of the United States.

I'll be fair, neither would John Edwards have.  He equivocated, just as your candidates equivocated.  But, he was the superior choice otherwise, in my view, and now he's gone, insofar as being a candidate for President.

We Americans need a Democrat as the next President of the United States.  Therefore, deserving or not, when the chips are down, after some soul searching over the last few days, despite making some noises to the effect that I might not even vote for the nominee, I will, with a heavy heart if necessary, cast my ballot for the Democrat in November.

More after the jump.

This is a short diary, but in all the intra-candidate infighting on Daily Kos, this is probably worth a diary:

The turnout numbers in all the states where actual contests have been held so far by both parties, say the Republicans are in big trouble.  

State D R R change
IA 239,000 114,000 +
NH 287,000 238,000 -
NV 116,000 44,315 +
SC 530,322 431,000 -

to talk about what I "know", and questions I want to "ask".

Here is what I know.

Depending on the degree of homophobe you are, you deserve to be:

a).  elected.
b). listened to.
c). (if you are a Ron Paul supporter) talked to.
or
d).  Killed like a rabid dog without a second thought (my preference).

On that topic, here is a clue:  

If you talk about, pander to, make positive reference to, a homophobe, or a gay hating homosexual, from any context I want nothing to do with you.

You see, yes, I am beginning to accept with reverence the appellation of gay militant.

So, in the past 24 hours, on Daily Kos, I have had to remind people of what I know.

Boy, the rude awakenings you get sometimes.

As a hermit (obligate telecommuter who does not socialize much in real life) who does not live in his mother's basement, I can tell people on Daily Kos some things -- things about weird obsessions and strange perceptions.

The other day, I had a nightmare -- not the kind where the Prince of the Damned or Mike Huckabee serves you breakfast.  No, it wasn't one of those where you wake up screaming.  It was more the type where your subconscious is desperately trying to get through to you, and it makes its point very very clear.

The last diary I wrote but didn't post was titled "you fools".  So you know (essentially) where I'm coming from.

Rather than post that post, I have decided, after taking a break, I will take a different tack.  You see, what I realize, is that my realizations are not the be-all and end-all of every realization in the whole world.

In reality, I have realized this sort of thing for a long time.  I just didn't know (and still do not) know how to respond to it.

I have in the last several months, damaged my credibility.  I did this by promising that which I did not, and in my heart of hearts, had some intention, at the time, of delivering but no readiness.  Not out of intention, necessarily, but out of fear, and out of caring, or lack thereof, for specific people or groups of people.

In particular, I wish to apologize to teacherken, and to Robyn, and to people within that particular sphere, and to people who may believe that religion is valid.

You see, people irritate me.  And, I telecommute, and while I do not lack a conceit of lacking bravery, I get a little crazy from time to time.  

Dispatches from a random future timeline (DRFT) #1

July 20, 2032 - Progressive News Service (PNS)

Today the Republican Party for the first time in 7 years successfully filibustered a bill, the ASPEN Enhancement Act.  The New Democratic Party reacted swiftly by enacting an historic first - the first domestic deployment of an ASPEN contingent, to Alabama, heart of the Old Confederacy.

Former Denver Post editor Al Knight loses his mind.

The ACLU, in a rational world, might well have been expected to champion the First Amendment rights of an organization like the Boy Scouts. After all, the First Amendment to the Constitution (so dear to the ACLU) protects both speech and the right to associate.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 upheld the right of the Boy Scouts to select members and leaders without regard to state laws that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.

That ruling hasn't stopped the ACLU. It has simply shifted tactics away from the courts and focused its energies on local and often mean-spirited campaigns to deny the Scouts places to meet and the ability to raise funds.

In 1997, I watched my lover and my mother die.  I've talked about it before, and don't want to rehash it in great detail.

The experience was a shattering and remaking one.  No, I don't believe they're in some cloud city looking down on me.  In the end, what it reminded me of, though, is that there is this life in which you do what you do, and after that, you're done.  Where you go after that, if you go anywhere, is irrelevant.

You learn to cope and repair yourself by realizing, you have one shot, to honor your ancestors, as their progeny, to do something, anything, no matter how tiny and small, to make the world a better place.  You have one shot in life, and after that, the booster rocket that is you has burned out, and the world has to either coast or change course on its own.

Wherein I discuss the prior and future implications of the Washington Post Obama incident.

Since practically the time I first came to Daily Kos and discovered it was essentially "ok" to post about gay issues, it has been a recurring theme of mine that the tactics used against the gay community and gay people in general would eventually come to be used against liberals.

So it is with what I like to call "he said/she said" slash and slander journalism.

This diary is a (hopefully polite) response to the recent diary entitled  "Mike Huckabee and the coming Republican realignment".

I disagree with the diarist's prognostications regarding the supposed coming Democratic realignment towards corporatists, but it got me thinking, what is it that I actually disagree with?

As a Westerner, I firmly believe that most major Democrats' poll driven beliefs about what they have to do to appeal to the Mountain West, if not completely incorrect, lack sufficient resolution and finesse.  

We hear a lot about how Democrats believe that potential Democratic voters in the Mountain West are less liberal and more "libertarian", they trust the marketplace to solve most problems.  

Mene Mene Tekel, Upharsin.

The country needs transformational change and stands at a crossroads.  After almost 8 years of Republican and Republican-enabling rule, I think it is no strong exaggeration to say that America stands at a three-tined fork in the road.

This split in the road, I have become convinced, is as much of a world view and outlook based fork as an overtly political one.

No, really.  In a sense.  This is, I understand, an expression of anger, above all else.

This is what annoys me so much about a Democratic web site.  For me, it's not about victory, nor defeat.  

I have argued with myself.  I don't care, I do care.

Part of what I really don't care about, is this internecine warfare between self described pragmatists and their carpers/detractors.

The Nader Blame Game is used far too much on Daily Kos.  Far too much.  The problem with it is, there is too much top down about it, and far too little bottom-up.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.