A look at the changing season, after the jump …..
But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.
For years, I listened on Vermont Public Radio to weekly commentaries by Olin Robison. As young man, he worked in the LBJ administration before beginning a life in academe, culminating in his becoming the president of Middlebury College in Vermont. He often called himself a “Texan by upbringing, and a Vermonter by choice” — noting that both had been independent republics and both inspire intense loyalty from its residents. He later went on to serve as head of the Salzburg Seminar (headquartered in Austria) and he was a learned man whose words I looked forward to Friday mornings until he left the airwaves in 2010. One theme that he often expounded upon was in advance of Labor Day each year, that he considered it to be America’s true New Year’s Day. Resort areas can tell you that things change after that date, American football begins plus several other changes. And being an educator, he reminded us of this in August, 2007: I have long thought that Labor Day is the real New Year in American culture. It is the time when, psychologically at least, everything changes. Summer and vacations are over. It is time to get back to work. And, of course, it is also time for the young to go back to school. The time was when most schools began the new school year right after Labor Day. Then, of course, things changed in society … and now schools are often well underway before Labor Day. Olin Robison (born 1936)I like this time for other reasons: besides the obvious ode to our predecessors who obtained benefits for all of us workers, the end of summer means the end of bug season (and when hiking trails thus become more pleasant to traverse), the end of peak hot weather, and a chance to take stock of one’s life.
One thing I seldom pay attention to is a date that falls in-or-around Labor Day each year, which usually causes others to not pay attention (which is just fine with me). But this year, my sister Margaret spearheaded a campaign to hold a surprise party for my 60th birthday this past weekend (although the actual date was September 6th, this past Tuesday) and several family members and friends came.
In being asked to say a few words on my behalf: all I could come-up with is what the late actor Dennis Hopper said on one of his TV commercials (for Ameriprise Financial planning for Baby Boomers) a few years back:"I just don't see you playing shuffleboard .... you know what I mean?!?!?"
Shuffleboard? Moi?What the future holds for me, I can not say — but the load is considerably lightened by the friendship of many of you here at Top Comments and Cheers & Jeers. Here’s hoping to meet some of you in Atlanta.
Let’s close with two different musical numbers. One inspired the title of this essay, a 1978 hit for Al Stewart entitled Time Passages…...
x YouTube Video… and the other hearkens back ten years earlier to 1968 .. with Steve Winwood and Traffic echoing the concluding query of tonight’s Top Comments: x YouTube Video Now, on to Top Comments:From brillig:
In the diary by navajo — North Dakota activates National Guard to protect the pipeline instead of our tribes — Kerry Eleveld asks an important question— navajo's response nails it perfectly.From JG in MD:
This post by Karl Rover in the front-page story on the Miffed Intelligence Officials starts with a new "body language" and then goes off onto a comedy thread that had me in stitches!!From TrueBlueMajority:
In the diary by criggs that extolled the notion of supporting Bill Weld for president — we've seen a lot of these lately: low-numbertrolls who claim to be participating for more than a decade and have no idea of the most basic ways DK operates. This answer from RichinPA made me ROFLMAO.
And in the front-page story about the NY Times having to massively edit political stories after publication — these comments from IB John as well as happymisanthropy explain the state of network news with respect to the Trump campaign.
From Avilyn:
In today's Hillary News and Views diary— MichaelHolmans has a great comment regarding the CiC Forum last night.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening:
In the front-page story about the GOP members of Congress who are irked by having to answer questions on whether they do/do not support their presidential nominee— Crashing Vor likens them to St. Peter ... (and not in a flattering way).
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
1) This needs to grow legs and chase tRump for the … by CwV +151 2) Here’s one: by oldhippiedude +145 3) “What have you experienced in your personal life … by Mnemosyne +144 4) The double standard was on full display tonight. … by Risen Tree +143 5) I don’t watch, so can’t boycott, but sent MSNBC … by PsychoSavannah +130 5) I have only one comment about the moderator... by MTdem95 +130 5) Article 53, Geneva Convention, provides that nat … by NM Ray +130 8) I want to see it take all of them down. by CwV +122 9) Lauer was out of his league. The informed one in … by Denver11 +121 10) Andy Barr's tweet on the front page summed it up … by voracious +106 11) Ouch. Looks like no one outside the Trump bubble … by gf120581 +101 12) Not just Bondi. … by CwV +100 13) Yeah, that whole woman-in-the-room thing. So obv … by Skibird +97 13) My take: our country is in a sad, sad state. by davidkc +97 15) Let me see if I have this right. Hillary Clinton … by IndyScott +93 16) When you look at the weighting of this poll, wit … by nanorich +92 17) I thought Lauer came across as a pathetic sexist … by Murchadha +87 17) Well! Even a blind pig finds an acorn now and th … by lismalo +87 17) And she regularly drinks dihydrogen monoxide. In … by science +87 20) I thought I smelled a rat in that poll. Beware t … by Murchadha +86 20) He did not answer a single question—no surprise … by CGJ +86 22) I want to see ad ad with Trump denying he was in … by ZedMont +85 23) Just look at that smile — they caught her in the … by bear83 +84 23) Orlando Sentinal just asked for an investigation … by merrywidow +84 23) Actual journalism being practiced by the MSM? I … by elesares +84 26) Trumps an idiot and our news media fits right in … by Out There +83 27) He has been skewered and served up as a side dis … by ExpatGirl +82 27) There is less slime on the beaches and a whole l … by murrayewv +82 29) NBC...total by barronthedem +81 29) My wife and my obsessive theme this election. … by Wildthumb +81