Top Comments - Thank you, Ron Paul!

I was having breakfast with Kathy at a local restaurant a month or so ago, and I saw a car pull up outside. It had a large political sign on the side, advertising the individual’s apparent candidate of choice, Ron Paul. I scowled, within, but then I read the sign and was struck by its message. Here is the sign I saw.

Perhaps you see what I saw from that sign. Its value was IMMEDIATELY clear to me! Ron Paul had succeeded in articulating a very deep truth I have always known.

(More beneath the fold.)

Here is a closeup, intended to provide a hint.

Do you see it? :)




The thing about Republicans is ...

They always get LOVE backwards!

THANK YOU, RON PAUL!  Thank you!

YOU get Love backwards, your entire conservative homogenous band gets love backwards!

Here are some examples of backwards love, conservative style.

It’s better to receive than to give. If you really believe in the power of giving, then hand it over right now! I’ll take it!

This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York island
(Words and Music by Woody Guthrie)

Only, this land is more MY land than it is yours, but not as much as it will be next year or the year after that ...

Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you. Private education - quality for those who can AFFORD it, for those who DESERVE it and have EARNED it. The rest don’t deserve an education. No more social security. No subsidized health care. If you can’t BUY health care, you don’t deserve it, and neither do your spawn ...

DO ask what the children of the underprivileged and the under-deserving can give to our country, particularly in times of WAR.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I do not see Love that way.

I don’t think most progressives do. Most of us see love as something to give, something to share. I could write hundreds of pages about it, but tonight I am simply going to share a video that I made as a part of a tribute to my Mom’s life, to provide contrast. Mom died in 2000.

There were actually several chapters in the video, this was the final chapter. Many of the pictures were shown in other segments, and I pulled them in again so I could talk about them in the voiceover. The music is by Jim Brickman, a fine song called 'If You Believe.' Because this video is deeply personal, I am going to remove it from the diary and from YouTube tomorrow, after everyone has had a chance to view it. (If at some point in the future you would like to see it again, please email me and I will see to it that you can do that.) It is only about three minutes long, and I hope you will find it worth your time.

The resolution is not great, and the rendition of my voice even worse. I recorded the words on my iPod the morning I composed them. I doubt you could hear it, but my voice was breaking as I spoke them. It was a very emotional experience, coming nearly six years after she died.

Update: Think link to the video has been removed for privacy reasons. If you would like to view it, please email the address I have listed in my profile and I will see to it you are able to view it. Thanks. :)

To make it easier to follow, here is a transcription of the words I spoke in the video:

Some pictures in this chapter have already been shown, but I included them in a different context, because I hoped you may see some of what this special woman shared with me in her last years. While putting this together i noticed something from Jo Ann’s wedding pictures that I had to call her about. I had an insight I had missed when Mom was alive - how incredibly hard for her it had to be not to be able to hug those she loved, to simply put her arms around them, due to the debilitating effects of the rheumatoid arthritis over the years.

This was clearest in the pictures of her with the beautiful bride (my younger sister). I don’t recall that she ever commented on not being able to put her arms around us - she wasn’t one to complain - but it seems to me I can see it at the wedding. To adapt, she learned a marvelous thing. She learned how to hug with her spirit, her manner, her presence. She put her loving arms around us with her smile.

This project has been an incredible exercise in reconnecting, in a way, with the deepest love of my life. I view the early pictures and am in awe of her physical beauty, her ready smile and her ladylike class. But that is transcended in the end by the never-ending pervasiveness of her love, by her gentle presence, and finally by the beauty of her inner wisdom, which simply glows through and beyond her. What blessing she gave!

We miss you, Patti F. And we love you.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It is better to give than to receive. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Be the change you wish to see. (I can cite the originators of those fine sentiments, but I think you all know them every bit as well as I. ;) That is just one thing which marks us as progressives, in this world we make better.)

Never let love get turned the wrong way around like our political adversaries do.

On to Comments! :)

From Greenchiledem:

This comment made me sad, but sometimes top comments that provoke an emotion, will deliver action so here goes.

Dvalkure reminds reader that while Karl Rove is writing for Newsweek, Don Siegelman sits in jail in Alabama. He gives us an address so we can send the former governor an encouraging letter.  I cant imagine that even in Alabama this injustice can happen in our nation.

From TexDem:

Please read Larry McAwful's comment

in a thread started by Tamar here.

From Mogolori:

by baudelairien, on brand identity and the demise of the DLC.  Très élégant..

.

From lineatus:

From Let's Parley Le Franglais, Mes Friends by Asisus Asinum Fricat (a diary full of top comment candidates), gooserock has a gem!

From Dump Terry McAuliffe:

Trix offers her prediction of what recently-engaged ex-DOJ hack Monica Goodling will do on her wedding day.

My humble selections:

Sports analogies sometimes work well in the political arena! J R Hand shows us an example, at McCain's expense!

Geenius at Wrok explains some of the factors in advanced citizenship. Fine comment!

WE don't hate comments, PerfectStormer! ;)

Where do you experience YOUR thrills? Not where bugscuffle does, let's hope! ;x

Top Mojo - excluding search-identifiable tip jars and first diary comments (top 30 of each plus ties):

1 Actually... by wiscmass - 157
2 They'll NEVER raise enough money... by Dood Abides - 152
3 Yesterday in Houston Groundgame Story by kubla000 - 130
4 Off topic - Dodd for Majority Leader by Ajax the Greater - 110
5 It has always been interesting to me by RubyGal - 110
6 God bless you for the division lines you set. by Melody Townsel - 98
7 in Huckabee years by DrSteveB - 95
8 It seems to me... by LtdEdishn - 94
9 That's another 11 months by wiscmass - 93
10 UK by donnamarie - 88
11 Good diary and endorsement by snout - 88
12 You just did ;) [nt] by back2basics - 85
13 So, have other trials that ended after had their by darthstar - 84
14 They couldn't block digital access by MarkInSanFran - 82
15 maybe by ca democrat - 80
16 Sounds like Alabama is rottener by Dvalkure - 77
17 What's with the Hebrew? by Larry McAwful - 74
18 Deserves reiteration... by Mogolori - 72
19 How about corruption charges? by Robobagpiper - 71
20 Help Chris Dodd retire his campaign debt. by Great Uncle Bulgaria - 69
21 Barack Obama isn't having a "hissy fit" by kate mckinnon - 68
22 That's the tragedy by Robobagpiper - 66
23 That is a nice ad by bhagamu - 65
24 Dick Cheney's in the euro by Dallasdoc - 65
25 How I really feel about Winter: by irate - 63
26 Breaking... by Jerome a Paris - 63
27 also from The Hartford Courant by homerun - 61
28 Well Said, Melody by JekyllnHyde - 60
29 I put in 201 calls for Obama yesterday... by Melody Townsel - 60
30 Maybe they can impeach Fuller by Dallasdoc - 59

Top Mojo - everything included:

1 Tip jar by Brandon Friedman - 728
2 Recommend, Tip & Comment by DrSteveB - 539
3 tips by homerun - 407
4 tips for Obama and Dodd by SamGrahamFelsen - 384
5 pickle jar by huntsu - 359
6 Tips for a first time-diarist.... by OReillysNightmare - 344
7 Tip Jar - 26 February by Jerome a Paris - 246
8 Thanks for reading. by RenaRF - 242
9 Hold up your cyber glass to the groundgame... by icebergslim - 219
10 when you fix facts around a policy by TAPayne - 187
11 Tips jar... by Goldie Taylor - 186
12 It is nice to live in DC by teacherken - 159
13 Actually... by wiscmass - 157
14 They'll NEVER raise enough money... by Dood Abides - 152
15 Yesterday in Houston Groundgame Story by kubla000 - 130
16 March 4th Together.... by icebergslim - 130
17 No, they didn't offer by LeeCamp - 121
18 Belated tip jar (thanks nupstateny!) [nt] by back2basics - 120
19 Tips for sending the neocons packing by CA Libertarian - 118
20 It has always been interesting to me by RubyGal - 110
21 Off topic - Dodd for Majority Leader by Ajax the Greater - 110
22 God bless you for the division lines you set. by Melody Townsel - 98
23 in Huckabee years by DrSteveB - 95
24 That's four superdelegates I count today. by Geekesque - 95
25 It seems to me... by LtdEdishn - 94
26 That's another 11 months by wiscmass - 93
27 Good diary and endorsement by snout - 88
28 UK by donnamarie - 88
29 tip jar by friday durdikova - 88
30 You just did ;) [nt] by back2basics - 85

Please submit your own comment finds below! And thank you for visiting tonight! :)