Yes, I'm unabashedly sitting here doing nothing but pissing and moaning.

[Pacifist Patriot]

Since I've been accused of this on more than three occasions in the last week or so, I figured I'd set the record straight. My accusers are absolutely correct. At the moment I am parking my lazy ass in front of DU and doing not much more than picking my jaw up off the floor and whining louder as I read more and more outrageous doings on the part of the men and handful of women running our government. But don't be too hard on me for the whining and the moaning. It hurts being screwed by an elephant when you'd much rather have a piece of ass.

Now that I've got that off my chest--the vent, not the elephant--I'd like to remind these folks of something else.

Your lazy ass is sitting in front of DU too and you're wasting your precious time chastizing me when you could be out marching in the streets or whatever it is you think I should be doing at this moment instead of reading and writing on DU.

I figured I might as well point this out here and save it in my journal for future reference so here goes.

Democrats are remarkably adept at multi-tasking. We can do something about the environment AND advocate for election reform, sometimes in the same hour. We can have one window open composing a letter to the editor while printing an email from the ACLU and listening to Air America. I can't chew gum while I'm doing all that, but I'm more than willing to admit to my weaknesses.

This year I have:

Marched in a MLK, Jr. Day parade
Spoken at a City Council meeting in favor of renaming a street MLK, Jr. Blvd.
Collected candidate signature cards for a County Commission candidate and a U.S. Rep candidate
Participated in two anti-war marches and three peace vigils
Written my senators and congressmen at least three snail mail letters and God/dess only knows how many emails and phone calls. I've got them on voice recognition dial.
Had three letters to the editor published
Organized a Separation of Church and State full-day seminar panel
Participated in a First Amendment Rally in which volunteers read the U.S. Constitution in full (I got to read the part about impeachment. Woohoo!)
Donated miniscule amounts of money to a handful of political campaigns
Renewed my membership to Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.
Spoken from the pulpit against war, the blurring of separation of church and state, global warming, big oil/corporate corruption, etc.

This isn't a throw out your shoulder patting yourself on the back kind of thing. I probably could be doing more if I tried harder. And you know what, I bet I don't even scratch the surface of what most folks at DU are doing.

So before you succumb to the urge to tell someone to get off their lazy ass and stop bitching and moaning here at DU and do something....give it a minute of thought. It may occur to you that the person is bone-tired from working their ass off and needs a few moments of bitching and moaning to recharge. Kicking elephant butt is exhausting!

"Well stop whining and do something about it." is probably the last thing most of us want to hear. We are man, we are. We just need a break---and let's face it. This is the best place to get information we need for fighting the good fight.

CHEERS! :toast:

[Gunny]

1. Since you've got the time...

...could you or someone else tell me how many posts you need before you can start a thread?

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. Not a clue. Sorry!

My brain doesn't hold information that long. Seriously, I can't remember. Ack!

[shadowknows69]

6. me either.

I think it was only 50 or so. Or was it membership time?

[Bjornsdotter]

7. It's a mystery

How many posts do I need to start a new thread, etc?

New members are restricted from starting new discussion topics. We require you to first post responses to a few existing discussion threads before you are given the privilege to do so. We wish we did not have to enforce this rule, but we have found it very helpful to keep disruptors off of our message board. Please do not ask what the minimum number is; we won't tell you, and it's not very high. New members are similarly restricted from using the private messaging function or recommending topics for the Greatest Page.

...taken from the FAQ page.

Cheers

[annabanana]

8. I don't think it's too high....

(I was too nervous to start a thread right out of the box, so it didn't come up)
Welcome to DU and just keep posting!

[newyawker99]

16. Hi Gunny!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[shadowknows69]

2. Many of us are doing the same PP

but at least we're doing that. You don't need to give us your resume. You're a member of DU and that makes you aware at least, and that's more than about 40% of the country so If I may. :yourock:

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. See that's what I figure.

I don't have anything against folks who simply use DU to remain aware and can't or don't do anything else. I'd be willing to bet someone who follows DU at least votes. That puts them ahead of most Americans over the age of 17.

And I have no doubt my resume pales in comparison to most others. The folks who were able to go to Camp Casey and march on Washington blow me away. That is so cool!

[Solly Mack]

4. I have to admit that always amused me

for people to tell others on DU to get off their ass and out the door...and they say this while they themselves are sitting on their asses, behind the keyboard

Thank you for all you do!!!

[EFerrari]

9. I think that's funny too. And the notion of anyone berating

Pacifist Patriot just makes me go :wow:

edit(sorry -- typing faster than I think again)

[Solly Mack]

10. So true about P.P.

folks sure can be funny sometimes

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. LOL! I don't know. I can be quite prickly sometimes.

And I can certainly moan and whine with the best of them. ;-)

[EFerrari]

15. It's good to be well rounded. lol!

:yourock:

[catmandu57]

11. If I could I would

I'm hampered you see, financially, physically, and sometimes even emotionally. I live on a mostly electronic world, the best I can do is mail and letters, one of these days I'll get a good chair and roll my ass to DC.

[Bluerthanblue]

12. there is nothing wrong with sitting and talking, hell,

if this fucked up bush administration understood that (I know they do, but they pretend they don't) we wouldn't be in the mess we are in.

Funny thing- the other day I looked up the definition of secretary of state- and then diplomacy

this is what I found-

from : Houghton Mifflin

Secretary of State

The head of the United States Department of State and, as leading member of the cabinet, fourth in line of succession to the presidency. The secretary of state is charged with formulating American foreign policy and conducting relations with other nations.
________________________________________________________________________________

diplomacy

noun

The ability to say and do the right thing at the right time: address, savoir-faire, tact, tactfulness. See ability/inability, courtesy/discourtesy.

In other words, we ARE supposed to sit around and talk and ..oh that dreaded word ... NEGOTIATE with each other, to maintain a relationship, and to foster peace an good will between nations.

Don't apologize for doing the best thing Pacifist Patriot - you aren't pissin and moaning, and even if you were- sitting and pissing and moaning is far better than grabbing a gun and going out and talking with bullets-

I'm a world class piss n'moaner- and I'm not ashamed to admit it- means I'm neither in denial, nor busy doing the WRONG thing.

blu

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. Excellent point.

I'm neither in denial, nor busy doing the WRONG thing.

That makes you head and shoulders above the majority of our elected officials.