Given my long absence it would be natural to conclude that I've disappeared for good, possibly from the very face of the earth, but IT WOULD BE WRONG; I am, in fact, back in the previously-flown coop and will probably start posting again soon. There's just such a smorgasbord of stupidity out there that it's hard to know where to start.
If you're hankering for something of substance, read John Halle's response to Robert Parry's hauntingly familiar argument about why you should vote for Democrats, and how if you don't, every bad thing that's ever happened is your personal responsibility. Thrill at the fanciful flights of logic as Parry opines that you may have literally "doomed the future" through your desire to "feel morally pure." And when you've finished reading, repent your heresy and hand your vote back to the party that rightfully owns it. Robert Parry commands you!
The Distant Ocean 
Third Party, John Caruso.
LikeLike
Glad to see you back; I checked every day.
LikeLike
Second party, Mike Meyer. We need a second party.
I’ve seen this accusation before — for example, in a comment by I. F. Stone’s granddaughter (a Dem loyalist and vehement Thanksralpher) at alicublog — and it might have a tiny point. Granted, one’s vote should not be used to punish the Democrats (though I believe it was okay to use one’s vote to punish the Republicans). But Obama and his administration, and the rest of the Democratic Party leadership and its apologists, deserve punishment, so I want to know: how should I (we) punish them? I won’t take seriously any Democrat who doesn’t agree that the Obama gang are vicious, murderous, criminal scum, just like the Republicans.
LikeLike
In fairness, though, here’s a leftblogger who does endorse punishing the Democrats by refusing to vote for them, and argues persuasively that doing so will be better for Americans. I agree. The most repulsive thing about Parry’s screed is that he ignores so much of the evil that Democrats have actively done in the past 2 years, to say nothing of the Clinton administration. (NAFTA, for example, was passed before the 94 midterms, and was probably a factor in the Republicans’ success in those elections.)
LikeLike
Thanks, Rosemary, and sorry to keep you waiting.
Duncan: In fairness, though, here’s a leftblogger who does endorse punishing the Democrats by refusing to vote for them…
I don’t see him endorsing punishing the Democrats, actually…he says:
Which is, as he says later in the thread, a very pragmatic reason for not voting for (bad) Democrats. So Parry’s postulated petulant pouting progressive focused solely on punishment remains a hypothetical…not that a demonstration of its existence would make his argument any more persuasive or less pathetic.*
* (This sentence brought to you by the letter P.)
LikeLike
I was thinking more of passages like this:
That can reasonably be read as punitive, I think; maybe it’s just because I’m feeling punitive. But as you say, the existence of that tendency wouldn’t help Parry’s case. And as I wrote in my own post, “many (most?) Democrats would rather lose to a Republican than vote against the corporate agenda. Why should I deny them their druthers?” I just want the Dems to have what they clearly want. And since they don’t really care about the rest of us, if they lose Congress in November they can happily blame the Republicans and the DFHs for whatever happens, just as they’ve been doing all along.
You’re probably right, though — the Dems and their shills (love that word) think it’s all about them, not the people the government allegedly exists to serve, so of course if we don’t vote for them, we’re punishing them in their eyes.
LikeLike
Good to see you back again. 🙂
This is all making me flash back to the time on Indymedia in ’04, in which I was sternly lectured by some yob who claimed to be part of “Anarchists For Kerry” or some such drivel. They insisted that it was wrong to consider a “punishment” vote ethical, because it reinforced hierarchical values or whatever. Laughs were pretty thin on the ground in ’04, but I still fondly recall that one.
(There was also the schmuck who informed me that I was “just like Pol Pot” for failing to get all worshipful when Eminem decided to “assist” the Kerry campaign with some crappy-ass video.)
LikeLike
It’s good to see you back.
LikeLike
Ms Xeno — your anecdotes are grimly hilarious.
LikeLike
Welcome back. I can’t say that I checked in every day while you were gone, but once we had crossed the October threshold, I checked in at least once a week.
LikeLike
Cloud, it would be selfish of me to keep such glittering gems hidden under the proverbial bushel basket. [bows]
LikeLike
Just found out about this blog by Googling “Common Dreams…banned”…
In regard to your article back in 2007 about being banned and erased. The same thing has just happened to me. I was able to get back on using different names, but now they have actually banned me FROM ACCESSING THE SITE. I had been banned quite frequently previously, but banning me from accessing the site is a first.
If anyone is interested, they can check todays CD and see if they left any posts on for “markpower”. Would appreciate any feedback. No doubt, they cannot handle the truth on CD.
LikeLike
So… still pining for the fjords, huh?
I found this link via Stop Me Before I Vote Again. Nice to see so many of my fellow Bad Citizens here. I checked out the link to the Robert Parry screed via Stop Me, and god damn, what a load of tired-assed wankery. He even drags out the beat old Nader Hate schtick. If this is the best he can come up with, I suggest that Parry just hang it the hell up right now.
About eight or ten years ago, reading blather such as Parry’s would’ve made me livid, but now I’m amused — actually, scratch that; I’m not just amused, I’m thrilled — absolutely ecstatic at the sight of chickenshit crackpot realists crapping their drawers at the prospect of Lefties and real Progressives deciding they’ve had enough of being exploited, guilt-tripped and pissed on, and refusing to give positive reinforcement to the behavior of amoral, cowardly sociopaths by voting.
I, too, plan on not voting on Nov. 2, and also plan on not voting in ’12. Yeah, I know the Eeeeevil Rethuglicans will take over, but, hey, what have the goddamn’ Donkeycrats done but cut and run, or, when not cutting and running, actively enabling the Eeeeeevil Rethuglicans? Six of one, half a dozen of the other; no skin off my ass. It’ll teach ’em a goddamn’ lesson, and the sight of the Donkeycrats going down in flames will make my nipples explode with delight.
I won’t speak for other non-voters here, but I like to think of what I’m doing as political suicide bombing.
LikeLike
Mark: Nope, you’re gone from Common Dreams. I still see at least one case of someone responding to a comment of yours that’s been nuked; in my case the CD censors also deleted the comments of anyone who’d even mentioned my name. Look at it this way: at least now you can fully appreciate the intense irony of a “progressive” site run by a bunch of censoring control freaks.
Mike: Good to see you here–I always appreciate your stuff. Brilliant.
But I’m not a non-voter, and I hope you’ll reconsider it. First, because local elections and ballot initiatives matter much more than congressional or presidential races–I spend far more time considering how I’m going to vote on propositions than on people. Second, because I don’t see how not voting amounts to political anything, much less suicide bombing; if you don’t vote you just disappear into the mass of yobs who spend election night eating candy bars and watching Survivor. Nobody will (or really even can) read your refusal to participate as anything but apathy.
If you really want to piss off Democrats, why not vote for a third party candidate? Assuming you’ve got the chance. If not there are many deserving candidates you could write in, like, say, El Kabong.
LikeLike