OUT OF MANY ONE 4:39 pm May 20, 2011

Alvin Greene Delivers Ultimate Daoist Lesson On Letting Go

This afternoon your editor, who first interviewed South Carolina’s only ever black U.S. Senate candidate last summer, called up Alvin Greene and asked for the Daoist monk’s perspective on saying goodbye when it’s difficult to let go. Greene’s response?

He hung up.

Singular enlightenment! This is the only answer to the question. In truth, there is no hello in life. There is only goodbye. The defining characteristic of all things in life is that they end. This is its constant state. Only The Way flows eternal. To find it, we must accept that all other things are impermanent.

It is this lesson I leave you, dear friends, on this, my final day at Wonkette.

88 comments

Hola wonkerados.

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{ 88 comments }

rubbercat May 20, 2011 at 4:48 pm

later gator

Sue4466 May 20, 2011 at 4:49 pm

You do know the whole "end of the world" thing scheduled for tomorrow is bullshit, right?

V572..whatever May 20, 2011 at 4:49 pm

A Diós, Jack. You provided much fun here. Good luck in the future!

Ken, the recession's declared to be over. You're supposed to be hiring people, not laying them off. Plus we're all terrified of living on a steady diet of Gloom Bombs.

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:02 pm: Seriously. I expect the kool-aid to be handed out on monday.
Mumbletypeg May 20, 2011 at 6:12 pm: When life hands you gloom bombs, make ground blooms.

cheaphits May 20, 2011 at 4:50 pm

Say it isn't so, ~~Joe~~, Jack?

welfare_robot May 20, 2011 at 4:51 pm

Happy Trails, kiddo.

Naked_Bunny May 20, 2011 at 4:55 pm

Wow, this really is retro week!

Barb May 20, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Ugh! Jack's leaving? I feel like a kid who just found out my dad's been banging the maid and now I have to split my inheritance with some bastard.

emmelemm May 20, 2011 at 5:45 pm: Oy, that's so perfect a description.

KeepFnThatChicken May 20, 2011 at 4:58 pm

To his credit, Jack, he did let it go.

deit: Dude, didn't even read the last line. May the snark be with you.

nounverb911 May 20, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Oh NO! Don't go! Who are we going to make fun of now?

Ciao and viaggia bene, Jack!

Mumbletypeg May 20, 2011 at 4:59 pm

See you on the other side, Jack. Rap-ture, be pure. Debbie Harry demands it.

nounverb911 May 20, 2011 at 4:59 pm

Jack, what are you going to do Monday after the world doesn't end tomorrow?

GuyClinch May 20, 2011 at 5:00 pm

To paraphrase Martin Amis, I've reached the point in life where I've stopped saying hello and started saying goodbye.

So Jack, are you renouncing your US citizenship and joining Waggaman in Rileystan or whatever the fuck mental country he's gone to live in?

jqheywood May 20, 2011 at 5:00 pm

Is our Wonkette in trouble? Riley, Jack, Arielle…all flying out the door. I don't know what I would do without this place….

SorosBot May 20, 2011 at 5:04 pm

Is everyone leaving now? It's feeling like it did two (I think) years ago, when Sara K. Smith, Jim and Juli all left one after the other.

Bonzos_Bed_Time May 20, 2011 at 6:19 pm: Mommy, where's Daddy?

Sophist[Kochblocker] May 20, 2011 at 5:05 pm

The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things, like editors. I guess that makes me a masochist, because I don't want to see you go.

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:06 pm

Well, Jack, I hated the hell out of Retro Day, but if this has anything to do with the blowback from the r-word, I am truly sorry. We'll be looking for you to surface somewhere…..

Extemporanus May 20, 2011 at 5:53 pm: Agreed.

1600+ posts represents a ton of political poop joke blog content to have pushed out over a relatively short span of time. Jack may have began a bit rough, and inexplicably ended even rougher, but there was some pretty solid shit there in between.

SmutBoffin May 20, 2011 at 5:06 pm

wait wat

BornInATrailer May 20, 2011 at 5:07 pm

Fan-freaking-tastic.

What is the sound of one fist upping?

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:07 pm

Ken, if you fire Sara, I may just swallow a bullet. Just saying.

Mumbletypeg May 20, 2011 at 5:17 pm: Yeah, isn't Friday "Can You Hear Me Barry"-day? Help us Sarah Benincasa, you're our only hope!*

*(cool, SB's name even has the same syllable count as Obi-wan ka-whats'its…)

Chillwaver May 20, 2011 at 5:08 pm

Jack, I hope you are leaving because you found another great gig and not because you actually believe the world is ending tomorrow. Best of luck, man!

GOPCrusher May 20, 2011 at 5:08 pm

To not answer the question, is to answer the question.

Mumbletypeg May 20, 2011 at 6:08 pm: I see what you didn't / did do there.
Bonzos_Bed_Time May 20, 2011 at 6:22 pm: There. Are. Four. Lights!

gullywompr May 20, 2011 at 5:12 pm

Yep, first the silver run out, then the people run out, then the whiskey run out, then the beer run out. Don't matter, it's good to see a high roller come through.

If I had an advertising dollar to spend, I would.

jqheywood May 20, 2011 at 5:14 pm

You know who else left suddenly….

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:18 pm

"Macho Man" Randy Savage?

nounverb911 May 20, 2011 at 5:21 pm

Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn?

GuyClinch May 20, 2011 at 5:25 pm

Me, cuz of the IBS?

Chillwaver May 20, 2011 at 5:28 pm

The Tundra Twat?

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:36 pm

She'll never leave. Not even for the Rapture.

Chillwaver May 20, 2011 at 5:59 pm: You're right…she a quitter, not a "leaver"…
Negropolis May 22, 2011 at 2:57 am: I can see her, nails dug into the ground, fighting The Accusor all the way to hell. Trust me, Sarah's gone have her head frozen when she's finally forced to release her mortal coil.

GOPCrusher May 20, 2011 at 5:40 pm

D.B. Cooper?

johnnymeatworth May 24, 2011 at 2:30 pm

Riley Waggaman?

Lucidamente1 May 20, 2011 at 5:15 pm

First Riley, now Stuef. Jesus Christ, do you guys know something about May 21 that the rest of us don't?

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:18 pm: I guarantee no one associated with wonkette will be among the raptured.

mdotsota May 20, 2011 at 5:16 pm

So is the future of Wonkette going to be nothing but Ken's occasional ramblings and Benincasa's once a month sextings? Or is there some super kewl swerve being planned like bringing Pareene back on a fuckin horse?

GhostBuggy May 20, 2011 at 5:21 pm

A fucking horse? Do go on.

Negropolis May 22, 2011 at 2:58 am: Or, as the call "fucking-horses" in the South: horses.

HistoriCat May 20, 2011 at 7:33 pm

Probably more like Ken's selling Wonkette to Breitbart. Oh the humanity …

metamarcisf May 20, 2011 at 5:17 pm

Is this the final solution to the Trig backlash?

KeepFnThatChicken May 20, 2011 at 5:31 pm

I fear Wonkette going 404. NEED REASSURANCE NOW.

V572..whatever May 20, 2011 at 5:40 pm

You still have DailyKos.

Oh fuck, we're doomed.

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:46 pm

Or gawker……SPEWW!

HistoriCat May 20, 2011 at 7:34 pm

TPM commenters can put in some good shots but … yeah, not the same.

easynewz May 21, 2011 at 5:41 am: Yup. I'm sure that it's been said here before but TPM and the like are thick with (paid) trolls. I think that the troll to post ratio is so low here because the morans are so repulsed by all the buttsechs and merciless skewering of rightwing so-called politics and all that is holy to the fundiXtians that their eyes begin to bleed and they scamper off with their tail betwixt their scrawny legs. That is the source of the magic here, I believe.

pinkocommi May 20, 2011 at 5:32 pm

I would hate for it to be the end of the world tomorrow and miss the opportunity to quit my job too.

Extemporanus May 20, 2011 at 5:33 pm

Write on, Jack. Write on…

Hey Ken, did I happen to mention that my laptop is working again? *wink wink*

(Too soon?)

Extemporanus May 20, 2011 at 5:34 pm

D'aoh!

SexySmurf May 20, 2011 at 5:40 pm

Jack's leaving? That is so retarded!

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:49 pm: I see what you did there.

qwerty42 May 20, 2011 at 5:44 pm

Geeze Jack.
…It is this lesson I leave you, dear friends, on this, my final day at Wonkette.
What is going on with Our Wonkette?

Wishing you well Jack.

Beanball May 20, 2011 at 5:46 pm

“[Sri Alvin] was barked at by numerous dogs who are earning their food guarding ignorance and superstition for the benefit of those who profit from it. Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is of the same kind as the intolerance of the religious fanatics and comes from the same source. They are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who – in their grudge against the traditional “opium for the people” – cannot bear the music of the spheres. The Wonder of nature does not become smaller because one cannot measure it by the standards of human moral and human aims.”
~ With apologies to A. Einstein

JustPixelz May 20, 2011 at 5:52 pm

Jack is so smart. Smarter than Michele Bachmann. Smarter than Newt Gingrich. Smarter than all the Palins combined.

HistoriCat May 20, 2011 at 7:35 pm

Stop damning him with faint praise.

JustPixelz May 20, 2011 at 8:39 pm

True enough. Jack is very smart, except ironically about R-word related matters. Too often I've found my first thoughts about some article already embedded in his actual article. I learned to read through carefully, possibly sacrificing First Write privileges in the process.

Mumbletypeg May 20, 2011 at 9:41 pm: possibly sacrificing First Write privileges in the process

Honestly: Reflexive, canned stand-up comic humor is one thing. But here, it's the comments built from the post content itself, clearly thought-out to some degree, that I appreciate the most, or more often than not. That, and those voices which come across as a bona fide original, of which there are plenty here.

Nothingisamiss May 21, 2011 at 12:45 am

My dogs fit this description, and one of them can't figure out how the stairs work.

SayItWithWookies May 20, 2011 at 5:52 pm

What the hell. I guess I'll start drinking early. Earlier. Hell, I'm already late.

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:55 pm: It would be nice if Ken would post something, but I think he beat you to the bottle.

MinAgain May 20, 2011 at 5:52 pm

But, but, but…we're still engaged, right?

undeterredbyreality May 20, 2011 at 5:54 pm

Last one out the door turn out the lights.

What's up with the mass exodus?

Good luck, Jack, wherever you go and whatever you do. Your wordiness will be missed.

*Click* Dialtone…………………………..

(Heck, does anybody even know what a dialtone is anymore?)

Gopherit May 20, 2011 at 5:56 pm: I'd hope Ken would fill us in, but I suspect the screed he is preparing will have us all trying to die from alcohol poisoning.

vulpes82 May 20, 2011 at 5:58 pm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Don't leave us, Jack! We just lost Riley; we can't lose you, too! We'll be left alone with just Crazy Uncle Ken haranguing us about anus burgers and foreclosures and financial Armageddon. (Actually, I'm starting to be afraid that our Wonketts might be closing up shop. I mean, Ken's off hiking in the desert, communing with his spirit animal, and everyone is jumping ship. Someone hold me? Please?)

But, anyway, good luck, Jack! We'll miss you!

undeterredbyreality May 20, 2011 at 5:58 pm

Ohhh…. I get it. Everybody at Wonkette is like a student or a grad student or something and it's the end of the year. They're all graduatin' and such and joining the realworld in realjobs & such, like, also.

Mumbletypeg May 20, 2011 at 6:03 pm

I *just* got the humor in this Tao of Poo post, upon re-reading it. Transitioned from an 'aha' to a 'haha' moment, brilliant. And, newsflash: tears of laughter mix equally well with bourbon-&-ginger as tears of woe!

OneYieldRegular May 20, 2011 at 6:09 pm

Alvin Greene – he's like two friends of mine who paid to put themselves through one of those Landmark Forum/EST weekends. When I saw them on the Sunday night after they emerged, they were all excited. Breathlessly, they asked me, "Hey, hey listen – what is the sound of one hand clapping?" – waiting eagerly for my response. I rolled my eyes and shrugged, to which they responded in unison, looking at one another smugly: "It is the sound. Of one hand. Clapping." They then looked back at me like I was an idiot. I took a cab home.

Anyway Jack, this is just SO Washington, to drop this news into the Friday afternoon black-hole-of-news-hour. You've learned well, Grasshopper. I hope you're off to something exciting and fulfilling.

BlueStateLibel May 20, 2011 at 6:20 pm

Excuse me, the rapture isn't until tomorrow night, and goddamn it, Ken Layne will dock your pay if you don't live blog the damn thing for us.

donner_froh May 20, 2011 at 6:36 pm

Oh, fuck.

SarahsBush May 20, 2011 at 7:24 pm

Oh for fuck's sake. First Macho Man, now this.

Dear American Jesus: armageddon does not require a pre-game teaser.

the_problem_child May 20, 2011 at 7:32 pm

You're alright, Jack. Have fun on your retreat to South Carolina to learn at the feet of the Master.

GodShammgod May 20, 2011 at 10:04 pm

So, did Alvin Green tell you how to say NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO as well as how to let GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?

AJW@[redacted] May 20, 2011 at 10:53 pm

God. Damnit.

I'm getting tired of typing that.

BZ1 May 20, 2011 at 11:28 pm

presumably Alvin has moar sense than your run-of-the-mill Wonkette editor….

ttommyunger May 21, 2011 at 5:33 am

"Alvin Greene Delivers Ultimate Daoist Lesson On Letting Go" No wonder he hung up on you, Jack, he had to let go of his Cheetos or his dick to answer the phone. I wonder which it was?

KenLayIsAlive May 22, 2011 at 3:50 pm