and I am pretty much a mess thinking about a lot of things. How do you get over negativity? May be I can say it here, but the passing of WisePiper gets at me, because I believe dying should be a matter of God's decision, not ours. And the moment I feel like that I hate myself, because it shows that I can't imagine the amount of pain people can live in and see that their step to end their lives is a courageous and heroic one. I am always soo conflicted in my feelings, it's going to kill me one day.

Thanks for the french songs. I just cry like crazy, because it reminds me of times I loved the French more than us Germans. I am also conflicted to see what is happening in Germany again. I was kind of happy to see that there was reconciliation between Germans and French people. Now all is going down the drain again. Germany is going to be a mess. Europe is falling apart. Disputes everywhere. I hate the stupidity, the racism, the egocentricity and then I love people. I am such a mess.

I am completely lost today. Just told someone, who posted imo the most disgusting theme into a diary, that I am done with dailykos, if something like this can be posted. I think I am done with a lot of stuff, but then there is so much emptiness and anger about wasted time and lost opportunities and human failure all around, I can't get myself together.

Ok, sorry, this site is supposed the cry-out misery stuff.

Phewww... Sometimes I don't know how to get over my life and myself. I need probably be prevented from reading online. My son said yesterday to me that the crux is that you know all the shit from around the world everywhere and it's hard to pretend and have hope or faith in something positive. With that you can't go on. So how do you keep up your hope and discipline?

The crash resumes

Monday’s plunge was all the more surprising because it followed a government rescue package that had helped drive a 16 percent rally since July 8. That support appeared to vanish without warning, leaving analysts guessing whether authorities shifted their policy stance or just got overwhelmed by a flood of sell orders. Whatever the answer, foreign money managers didn’t stick around to find out: they sold holdings of Shanghai shares for the 13th time in 16 days.

Investors “are concerned and lost,” said Alex Wong, a Hong Kong-based asset-management director at Ample Capital Ltd., which oversees about $155 million. “China’s market is distorted, so you can’t sell short very confidently and you can’t buy up very confidently either.”

The Chinese government has painted itself into a corner

China’s stocks tumbled, with the benchmark index falling the most since February 2007, amid concern a three-week rally sparked by unprecedented government intervention is unsustainable.
“Investors are afraid the Chinese government will withdraw supporting measures from the market,” said Sam Chi Yung, a strategist at Delta Asia Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. “Once those disappear, the market cannot support itself.”

The article uses the term "local councils", but that's just a euphemism for communes.
link

Self-government at local levels is taking root in Syria and forms the basis for what should come next.

One of the few uplifting experiences to be had in any Syrian context these days is to meet with young Syrian activists, as I recently did in Gaziantep, Turkey. A young lawyer said something striking: “This is not just a revolution against Bashar al-Assad. It is a revolution for self-government. Replacing Bashar with someone else issuing decrees from Damascus — even someone much better than Bashar — is not acceptable.”

From the beginning of the Syrian uprising, unarmed activists have formed, under the worst security conditions imaginable, local councils to provide governmental services to their neighbors. This is revolutionary. For 40 years the Assad family had concentrated in its own hands, in Damascus, the direct governing of all Syrians. Officials assigned to Syria’s outback were, at best, order-taking clerks. At worst they were active members of a clan-dominated police state and terror network. Unless Iran helps its client re-subjugate Syria, the days of Damascus-dominated governance are done.

I have been thinking about Wise Piper all day and how courageous he is to have taken this step. I think it takes a lot of courage and faith to do what he has done. I certainly will miss his wonderful and truly wise comments.

To be honest, I am not sure what i would do in his position. Years ago, I probably would not have even considered it. But I have watched my father deteriorate with Alzheimer's for the last 10-12 years and he continues on in a nursing home (for the last two plus years) where he is incapable of doing anything on his own. He still eats, but his food has to be pureed for him to swallow. He never even opens his eyes at all any more. He has been totally bedridden for about two years and he could go on a lot longer because all his vital signs are still good.

We are fortunate in that the home where my father is staying is locally owned and operated by a couple who live on the premises and she is an RN. He would never have the standard of care he gets there if he was in one of those big corporate owned facilities. We know because he was in one for about six months before we moved him to the locally owned nursing home. I am not sure I would want to put my family through years of debilitating disease. I do not think my father ever thought he would last this long either. It is a tough decision.

it was a nice day here with a cool morning so we walked the dogs over at the college. Then we had a quick rain this afternoon to cool things down again.

Smiley, thank you for this very nice Open Thread diary.