dagblog - Comments for "A Happy Christmas Story"

Heh. no relation. None at

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 03:39:46 +0000

Heh. no relation. None at all.

The Catholics just liked you to think so.

Oh Blessed Snoozer, those

LarryH — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:58:07 +0000

In reply to Gallup poll question:Choose

Oh Blessed Snoozer, those really are the choices aren’t they? Anyone who has been in the Army or worked as a laborer knows that it’s better to forget predispositions against races or religions or politics and “work together” to make things as tolerable as possible. Share the load, watch overhead, holler “Look out,” take turns with the heavy stuff – that’s all sustainable sanity really amounts to. The “Hell” that threatens at every turn is just the disease inside the head of the Colonel, the boss, the owner. His madness is beyond his control and it threatens everything else like a plague or a hurricane. His life is what we call History. The rest of us are statistics.

And this “Triangulation” thing – what is that? Early on in life I was struck by how emotionally insecure people with wealth or privilege seemed to be, compared to my ilk. I concluded that they know, if only intuitively, that their wellbeing comes from Chance, from Fate. If they just don’t mess up everything will be fine. “Triangulation” is nothing more than wanting to be comfortable and being afraid to do anything to disturb the way things are for fear of losing that comfort. All their talk is just rationalization, or what I was taught was once called “casuistry.”

Gallup poll question:Choose

SleepinJeezus — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:20:12 +0000

In reply to Exactly SJ. This was the

Gallup poll question:

Choose one -

A.) Sustainable sanity

B.) Descent into hell

C.) Triangulation

If you look at Obama's DLC-style triangulation, you begin to see why it always fails so miserably. After all, selection "A" isn't even in the mix as an alternative to be offered. Instead, the asshat cowards in Washington buy into the meme that the country is "center-right," and so the proper (and quite cynical) DLC political calculation is to attempt to smooth out some of the bumps in the road as we go along for the ride into hell. Quick descent? Or slow? Take your pick!

Bernie gave us a glimpse what it would look like if they were to instead say "Wait! What if we offered an actual alternative?"

Ah, but the polls show sanity can't prevail because people continue to show their preference for one of the two "alternatives" presently being offered. Far better to continue pitching them an opportunity to ride along with us to the gates of hell instead of the other guys. After all, we've got Barbara Streisand playing on the stereo and a rainbow sticker on our bumper! We can win this!

Exactly SJ. This was the

LarryH — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:37:09 +0000

In reply to Very well done, sir! This was

Exactly SJ. This was the thought I had that led to my little fantasy - right down to the part with the Republicans screaming that Berrnie Sanders has lied us into an equitable and egalitarian "New New Deal." Oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth on FOX. I can hear John Boehner's interminable sobs. Music to my ears. If there really was a Left-Right divide in this country then Bush would be the Right and my fantasy Sanders would be the Left. Would anyone in their right mind want to be a Moderate?

Yeah, I love to dream of

Richard Day — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:26:49 +0000

In reply to A Happy Christmas Story

Yeah, I love to dream of things that never were.

And I love Bernie!

You know how you wake up from

Ramona — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:23:34 +0000

In reply to A Happy Christmas Story

You know how you wake up from a really great dream and when you realize it was all a dream you shut your eyes and try to bring it back? I did that and nothing happened. Now I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach. Thanks a lot.

(Good job. Loved being transported for that little while.)

Very well done, sir! This was

SleepinJeezus — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:52:05 +0000

In reply to A Happy Christmas Story

Very well done, sir! This was a treat to read, perchance to dream.

What is perhaps most remarkable is the fact that what you have presented here isn't any less plausible than the reality of this period since 2000. On the eve of GWB's Presidency, could we have really anticipated we would ever accommodate all the changes in our foreign policy, the permanent wars/wars of choice, and the debasement of civil liberties to the degree we have? Could we really have understood what a Bush/Cheney Presidency would really look like? Or how complacent the Dems would be in response? Or just how much a subsequent Dem President would legitimize the Bush/Cheney abuses of power and incorporate them into his own Presidency?

The Sanders Presidency you paint as a fantasy here is every bit as plausible. What a shame we didn't somehow take that course instead of the pursuing the nightmare we now live.

LOL! This is fantastic

we are stardust — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:32:19 +0000

In reply to A Happy Christmas Story

LOL! This is fantastic story, but almost so gleefully sublime a vision that we'll crash later today. Bugger. ;o)

My favorite part was this: The debate among Constitutional experts and political leaders was deadlocked when the religious Right announced that a new translation of the Apocrypha revealed that the Rapture was actually a time of material security – and that it had arrived.

On my car I used to have the bumper sticker: Come the Rapture, Can I have Your Car?

Home run, Larry H. And here I was listening since 4:00 a.m. to this Tracy Chapman song from 1989 as the basis for a diary. Some are destined to write fairy tales; others are doomed to write Bummers.... ;o)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0-DBWBs6zo

Merry Christmas, Larry. (a more appropriate gift for you might be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoNtYC_XDC8&feature=related

Lovely dream, Larry -- please

wws — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:23:26 +0000

In reply to A Happy Christmas Story

Lovely dream, Larry -- please don't wake me ....

Hmm, what's the liberal

Donal — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:57:12 +0000

In reply to A Happy Christmas Story

Hmm, what's the liberal version of the Hallmark Channel?