What's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday July 07, 2008 · 6:27 PM PDT

2008/07/07 · 18:27

Sometimes it's funny as hell, and sometimes it's not. Life, I mean. Life with serious illnesses and big families, and old friends who are every bit as flawed as they are cherished.

I've been lurking at DKosw without cease since my earlier cancer diaries, though I have not often had the stamina to write. But I wrote an email letter to some good friends, lately, and when I got the impusle to share the letter with you, I found myself explaining its context, which grew into a diary. Besides, I think it's worth letting people like nyceve know that her healthcare and insurance diaries hit me right where I live, and they mean much to me; it's worth letting you know that your Top Comments keep me sane, that the Billary/'Bama pie fights were not always tedious, and that the recent MeteorBlades retrospective was just awesome. How'my doin? Jump.

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday May 14, 2008 · 5:39 PM PDT

2008/05/14 · 17:39

**Sigh** Yesterday, Larry Kissell, a candidate we all admire (running as a Dem. in NC-8), posted a diary asking Kossacks to follow a link to the Progressive Patriot's Fund, headed by Russ Feingold. Kissell asked us to vote for him in a competition among progressive candidates there; the Prog. Pats Fund would give the candidate with the most votes $5,000.

I had the temerity -- the nerve --to compliment the diary, and make a suggestion. Now, I'm an Asshat. And all because I said...

Poll

36 votes Show Results

I'm just sayin'...

36 votes Vote Now!

I'm just sayin'...

I'm Spartacus!

7 votes

How dare you make a polite suggestion in a fundraising diary?

14 votes

Anybody who doesn't rec pootie pics is an asshat

5 votes

I'll be damned if I vote for "pie" again.

10 votes

Myanmar: Deus In Adjutorium Meum Intende

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday May 06, 2008 · 2:10 PM PDT

2008/05/06 · 14:10

Matins. Lauds. Prime. Terce. Sext. Nones. Vespers. Compline. Eight times a day, people all over the world stop to chant or pray the Liturgy of the Hours. "Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise," begins Matins, sung in the wee, still-dark hours of the morning. But the other Offices -- the Offices that punctuate the working day, all begin with a different prayer, precisely because in the day hours there is work to be done, there are needs to be met, there are burdens to be overcome: Deus in adjutorium meum intende," begins each one -- "God, come to my assistance." And then, "Domine, adjuvantum me festina! -- Lord, make haste to help me!" In Myanmar, there is work to be done; there are needs to be met; and there are burdens to be overcome. If you listen, you can hear a version of that prayer rising up out of Myanmar right this very minute. That prayer is being directed to God. That prayer is being directed to us.

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 17, 2007 · 6:01 PM PDT

2007/10/17 · 18:01

It's World Series season, and lately, I've been thinking a lot about Jackie Robinson. I'll tell you right off the bat, pun intended, that I've cribbed a lot of Jackie Robinson's biographical material from Wikipedia. And I'll tell you something else: This post isn't really about Jackie Robinson. Or, at least, it's not just about Jackie. It's about many of my other heroes, too, -- it's about Frederick and Harriet. It's about SoJo and Martin. And if you think about it, it's about Barack. But I'm starting with Jackie because I think most of us at DKos will see the point if I do. Round the bases with me...

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday June 23, 2007 · 12:24 PM PDT

2007/06/23 · 12:24

I promised to drop by from time to time, and let my DailyKos family know what's been happening since I first wrote a diary on the discovery that I have small cell lung cancer. I am far from being a helpless victim of this disease. In fact, I've developed a wonderful plan, and I'm here to tell you the good news: my plan is working. Let me explain:

A couple of weeks ago, I send this missive around to family and friends who are faithfully keeping vigil with me on my cancer watch: "I'm planning to stay at La Quinta at least until Friday," I tell them, knowing the powerful nausea that awaits me, "so I can have someplace cool and solitary to crawl back to after my chemo on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. I'm planning on holing up with a leakproof wastebasket, a huge bottle of mouthwash, and a thesaurus of really foul swearwords." But I refuse to let anything get me down, so I conceive a plan. "On the bright side, though," I tell them ... (Make the jump)

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 05, 2007 · 8:50 PM PDT

2007/06/05 · 20:50

Left Turns, Cars, and God: Sixteen-odd years ago, as I'm driving to a grocery store, I make a left turn out of my driveway, and just as I am about to accelerate out of the turn, I hear a voice from the back seat of my car -- a voice unequivocally not mine -- say something so clear and startling that I have to turn over my shoulder to see who is talking. The voice says, "Prayer works." No one is in the car except me. And, apparently, God. It seems that God does not mind being chauffeured around by a woman who has a history of getting into car accidents. The voice of God changes my life.

Two weeks ago Friday, I am making another left turn, this time from a side road onto a rural two-lane state highway. I hear a voice -- this time unmistakeably mine -- and although I am not talking aloud, I hear myself say: "I've got lung cancer." Like that other left-turn voice from 16 years ago, this voice changes my life. I've smoked two packs a day for just under 40 years. All you second-hand smoke exposed johnny-come-lately carpetbaggers can go cheney yourselves; I came by my metastatic small cell lung cancer the honest way. I earned it.

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday December 27, 2006 · 8:49 AM PST

2006/12/27 · 08:49

Unh, uhn. Don't GO THERE, girlfriend. You won't like it. Stay away from Internet Explorer 7 like it was the plague. Because it is. Tabbed browsing? Hah. You'll be the one pickin' up the tab, I can promise you that. Easy-to-access-RSS feeds? Yeah, right. As in Reboot, Sweat, Swear. Easily read fonts? Sweetheart, how clearly can you see when you're crying?

Look, I know this is a political blog, and some of you will question my writing this diary. But hey ...DailyKos is a computer blog. We're computer people. Some computer news affects us. And I wouldn't be a friend of this site and the fine people I've met here, unless I warned you: IE 7 is a frikkin nightmare.

Poll

217 votes Show Results

Best Browser (explain why in comments)

217 votes Vote Now!

Best Browser (explain why in comments)

Mozilla Firefox

156 votes

Opera

14 votes

Internet Explorer 6

17 votes

Internet Explorer 7

17 votes

A guy in a pith helmet wearing shorts

10 votes

I want a Chocolate Cream Pie to throw at my browser, which is a ... (in comments).

1 vote

My pootie just loooves my browser, which is a... (in comments)

2 votes

CNN to First Muslim Rep: Prove You're Not The Enemy!

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 16, 2006 · 10:05 AM PST

2006/11/16 · 10:05

First Fox, now CNN decides to abandon any semblance of journalistic integrity. They've descended into outright bigotry. I saw this first at Huffington Post, and followed it over to its origin, at Media Matters: Glenn Beck interviewed Keith Ellison (D-MN-elect), whom we all know is the first Muslim ever elected to Congress. And Glenn Beck, straightfaced, had this to say right off the bat -- just to get things straight, mind you:

[Y]you are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let's cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."

It's just as outrageous after the jump. Read More

FILTH. That's Right. I Said It.

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday November 05, 2006 · 10:08 PM PST

2006/11/05 · 22:08

They're filth. There. I said it. They're filthy people. They cheat, they lie, they are ruthless, and they have zero integrity. Worse ...when they lie and cheat, they hide behind little old ladies while they do it. "They" are Republicans, and they are destroying our country. They are destroying something truly beautiful.

Today, up now on the frontpage, is a story about the Republicans using robocalls to make six, seven, eight calls in a row to voters. The robocalls are designed to sound -- at least, in the beginning -- as though Democrats are generating them. If the listener bothers to listen long enough, the robocall bashes Democrats. But if the listener hangs up too soon, the robocall just redials. It's harassing. It's maddening. It's infuriating to listeners who, naturally, blame the Democrats for the harassment. The NRCC, which is behind the robocalls, won't pull them. It's a dirty trick being played by filthy people. We've got to stop them. And we have to do it while not becoming them. Read More

KISS the Republicans Goodbye: A GOTV Diary

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday November 04, 2006 · 2:46 PM PST

2006/11/04 · 14:46

When I go into my get-out-the-vote spiel to undecided voters, people don't hear a word I say about Iraq. Not because they're not listening; they are. For the most part they're polite, they're listening, and they're paying close attention. No, the reason people don't hear a word I say about Iraq is because I don't say a word about Iraq. Not. One. Word.

In these final days of GOTV, undecided voters have to be persuaded to vote Democratic. We're the ones who have to persuade them. That means we've got to understand what it is that they're undecided about. And believe me, people ...it ain't Iraq.
Read More

Violence, Truth, and the Perfection of Allah -- Pope Benedict's Dilemma

4thepeople

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 18, 2006 · 5:52 AM PDT

2006/09/18 · 05:52

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. -- 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.