Today is the 16th anniversary of the death of Farrokh Bulsara, better known to us as Freddie Mercury. In an article that was not entirely complimentary of the politics of Freddie Mercury and Queen, British columnist, John Harris wrote:
Those who compile lists of Great Rock Frontmen and award the top spots to Mick Jagger, Robert Plant et al are guilty of a terrible oversight. Freddie, as evidenced by his Dionysian Live Aid performance, was easily the most godlike of them all.
I was thinking of Freddie Mercury recently in the context of an argument in Hermann Hesse's book, Steppenwolf.
Hesse's main character was an eccentric academic named Harry Haller who became involved in a remarkable community of spirited human beings.
Perhaps one of Elvis Presley’s most progressive songs was “In the Ghetto," recorded in 1969. The song, by Mac Davis, speaks of a child born in the ghetto with comparatively bleak prospects. It’s one of my favorite Elvis songs, and one over which I have shed some tears.
“Well the world turns … “
This is a diary for Ja'Veion Tyshun Mayes, a Person, aged 4.
I know we have a lot of cycling fans on this site (including kos), so here is a story which dismayed me the moment I saw it.
Tour de France Yellow Jersey holder and prohibitive favorite for the victory on Sunday after today's climb to the Col d’Aubisque has been pulled from the race by his Rabobank team for as yet unspecified reasons.
Those of you who know me are familiar with my beloved cat, KittenLittle, and the great importance I attach to the relationship with her. She had been with me for twenty years - over half of my adult life - when she died in my lap early this afternoon.
This diary is my way of paying small tribute to the joy and brilliance she brought to my life over those fine years. I can't begin to describe the ways in which she touched me, in which she helped me grow, but I still have to write this.
We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries.
Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations at made at topcomments at gmail dot com by your fellow Kossacks.
These nominations are subjective, and certainly not complete (as no one can read the complete site on a daily basis!). But hopefully they will serve to shine a light where deserved, and to give the reader a good starting point in finding conversation on the site.
Please come in and make yourself at home! Join us beneath the fold...
In 1935 a small book was published, titled The Elements of Style, written by William Strunk Jr. and Edward Tenney. In its current manifestation, with revisions and updates by E.B. White, a former student of Professor Strunk’s, the book is perhaps the handbook for writers (and students!) in this country. I had occasion to get out my copy when thinking about the '50 state strategy,' adopted by Democrats for regaining electoral control of this country and its policies.
I am a fan of the strategy, not just because I live in such a miserably red state (South Carolina). A single front war is the easiest possible defense for a political party in power. In several past elections that meant having to defend only in a handful of decisive states. All the while they consolidated their gains in states like mine where they could expand their power base and preclude the likelihood of a successful counter-attack by Democrats in hopeless areas. Of course they intended to intimidate Democrats out of trying! Thank goodness for Howard Dean and his feisty spirit!
I recently received an email that launched me on a stream of consciousness exercise. It was from a friend who finds himself in a "bad place." I know no details of what happened, just that it has been and is being a difficult time. In the email, he apologized for some behavior of which he is not proud. (I was not impacted by the behavior.) Most of us can relate to hard times. It is just one of the ways in which we are confronted with life’s challenges and opportunities for growth.
Richard Bach wrote:
There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands.
You seek problems because you need their gifts.
(From p. 71, Illusions.)
My friend was feeling isolated and alone. I think we can all relate to that, too.
With those words, Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi (played by Ben Kingsley in the movie, Gandhi) stunned his fellow Indians.
His statement was carefully crafted. As it happened in the movie, his countrymen were nearly at that stage of exhaustion, relative to a provocation, at which principles and moral standards fall away and people lash out in violence.
So those in attendance perked up, thinking, oh my God! Has even Gandhi finally snapped??
All the little children of the world,
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world!
Sometimes I feel like I grew up listening to that tune. I haven’t thought of it for quite some time, but some political thinking I was doing suggested to me that I revisit the simple little song.
When I was young my parents gave me a complete Sherlock Holmes anthology. All stories in a single enormous volume. Oh the delighted hours I spent in the pages of that book! I don’t often think of it anymore since it seems to have so little to do with most of my modern day “issues.” But there is a story I wanted to mention. (This comes from “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box,” though there is an almost identical incident in another Holmes story.)
Finding that Holmes was too absorbed for conversation I had tossed aside the barren paper, and leaning back in my chair I fell into a brown study.
Suddenly my companion's voice broke in upon my thoughts:
"You are right, Watson," said he. "It does seem a most preposterous way of settling a dispute."
"Most preposterous!" I exclaimed, and then suddenly realizing how he had echoed the inmost thought of my soul, I sat up in my chair and stared at him in blank amazement.
The most important non-presidential campaign season of my life wraps up Tuesday, so I have been thinking about "winning." Our "administration" has failed us - and the world - in every important way. Government has never been less responsive than it is today. Government has never been less responsible than it is today, under Republicans.
Conservatives claim to govern on solid corporate models, but no CEO, conservative or otherwise, could honestly give passing grades to this bunch. Heckuva job, wingnuts! Yet, do they do what any professional CEO would do and throw them out? No. Hypocrisy.
va dare wrote last night that tonight's TC diary would have to be an open thread. With all that is happening, we just didn't have anyone who could do the comment mining, today, and though I agreed to post the diary, I did not have time to do the mining, either. I have been working on a small project, however, that I planned for a later diary. To try to give this diary at least some substance, I have included it, and I hope you appreciate it in the spirit in which it was assembled. As always, please submit your own finds below in the comments section, and we'll go read them as quickly as we can!
Strangeness of the times. Media capitulations. Surgery for one diarist's brother, save the horses and being under the weather for another, telling the truth for another. Life evolves, never stops. Curveballs. Knuckleballs. Knuckleheads. Clemenses, commandants, commas, lions, tigers and bears, oh my! (Mostly tigers, though.) Rec list Carnacki. Top Comments, meta mojo. Cake, soups, condiments. Patterns, programs, campaigns. Scheduling anomaly resulting in emergency diary posting from totally stale diarist. Ultra-busy and dynamic dKos: exmearden, possum, diaries, topics, comments ... and brilliant vibes from loving friends.
All of the 'mined' comments in tonight's diary were submitted by members of the Top Comments community, and are deeply appreciated! As always, please send superlative comments to: topcomments at gmail dot com.
We wish you peace, we wish you happiness, we wish you love. And, before I forget, Little Dude sends his love, and a sweet little gimme five with the left front paw.
Welcome to Top Comments this Friday evening! The comments selected are completely subjective, but I hope you like them or find them stimulating! I haven't posted a TC diary in a few days so please excuse the rust!
We invite you to submit your own favorites in the comments, below!
Welcome to tonight's totally and absolutely subjective Top Comments diary!
I had limited time tonight, so I adopted a different mining strategy. This was suggested by Carnacki, though I picked the hawkers. Carnacki said that a number of people on this site have a particularly keen eye for fine comments. I have asked for Kossacks to email recommended comments on several occasions, this is a low maintenance approach to that. Basically, I mined comments rated by some of our most frequent visitors!
Thanks tonight to teacherken, PatsBard, SusanG, Ellicatt, Friend of the Court, rserven, pontificator and Meteor Blades for "4's" that led to some of these finds.
Starkist may not want tuna with good taste, but Top Comments certainly does! Thanks for the fine leads, fellow Kossacks, and thanks to va dare, gloriana and jlove1982 for their assistance and comment referrals.
Welcome to Sunday's Top Comments! It seems we're apologizing most every evening about the quality of the diary and the comments selected. I am not going to do that, even though I did not collect a fraction of the comments a superior comment miner like va dare or gloriana might. There have been nearly 300 diaries posted in the last 24 hours. I could only read in a small number of them. I know without any doubt that every Kossack could find comments as good as if not better than these. For me, finding some good comments is intended to be collaboration with my fellow Kossacks, just hoping to give a little attention to some of the writing on this blog. You do the same, please! If you see super writing in the comments, please share that writing! Even if it is YOUR writing! We need your eyes and your insight in this comments endeavor! Submit any comments you have found in the last 24 hours below, and in future, email them and we'll see they are included in the body of the diary! Ask any comment miner if this is not so!
Man! What a day! Work challenges, tons to do, little time for comments, va dare away, thunderstorms with power and cable outages, dKos imploding, troll suicides and now kos site problems! Nearly perfect circumstantial weather for comment mining!
That said, I am dedicating this diary to va dare. We're very sorry for your loss, va, and we're holding you in our hearts.
Please keep in mind that we select comments on a purely subjective basis. Your selections could easily be superior to mine, and nothing would please me more than to read them in the comments section to this diary.
We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
