I’m Back, Suckers!
Hi, folks. I’m back, after more than two weeks without an Internet connection. Glancing over this blog, it appears that the guest posters have not only kept things running well, but may well run a better blog than I do when I’m here. DRJ in particular has published consistently and kept on top of important developments with her usual good writing, excellent insights, and admirably even tone.
I’m ready to retire and turn over the reins. Hearing no objections, the motion carries.
P.S. During my Andrew Sullivanesque vacation, I haven’t been paying attention to the news, though flipping through channels one or two nights, we somehow learned that Larry Craig resigned and Owen Wilson tried to kill himself.
We also saw that the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death occurred — a date more important to me as the 10th anniversary of my engagement to my wife. I am quite sure that the 10th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death on Wednesday will not occasion the same blanket coverage, just as her death couldn’t compete with that of Diana 10 years ago, in terms of media coverage.
Now that I’m back, I see that Alberto Gonzales and Tony Snow also resigned. I’m pleased to see that these and other interesting issues have been covered well here. Thanks very much to the guest posters.
P.P.S. I’ll post some photos when I get a chance.
Patterico:
Of Alberto Gonzales, or Mother Teresa?
Dafydd
Dafydd ab Hugh (445647) — 9/4/2007 @ 1:31 amNah. Victoria Beckham again.
Paul (09c70a) — 9/4/2007 @ 1:54 amTwo weeks have gone by already? I didn’t even notice you were gone.
DRJ was great. She does have a wonderful style. Even though I don’t agree with everything she says, I always love the way she says it.
lc (a21bb2) — 9/4/2007 @ 4:31 amCrap… He’s back guys… Stop talking about him!
Scott Jacobs (c0db90) — 9/4/2007 @ 4:57 amYour back?
Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 9/4/2007 @ 5:17 amThen feed the beast.
Two weeks have gone by already? I didn’t even notice you were gone.
DRJ was great. She does have a wonderful style. Even though I don’t agree with everything she says, I always love the way she says it.
Yeah, in browsing through comments from the last two weeks, I saw a few to that effect. It’s few bloggers who have such a great guest blogger who can step in so seamlessly. I am going to try to work on having her make submissions more regularly; it would make things easier on me and improve the quality of the blog. I don’t know how she would feel about that, though. DRJ? Want to keep it up?
Patterico (2a8eaa) — 9/4/2007 @ 5:22 amWelcome back!
Does this mean the LA Times, (and other local criminals) will go back into hiding?
Rovin (7f64b8) — 9/4/2007 @ 5:23 amDRJ does rock.
She’s like you, conscientious, but with charm.
Christoph (92b8f7) — 9/4/2007 @ 6:29 amAnd she’s a chick, which is always a plus.
😉
*cowers* Please don’t hit me any more, DRJ… I’ll be good…
Scott Jacobs (c0db90) — 9/4/2007 @ 7:26 amWelcome back!
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 9/4/2007 @ 8:36 amTwo weeks without an internet connection?! I can’t remember the last time I did that.
Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 9/4/2007 @ 9:59 amboth princess diana and mother theresa were triumphs of branding and pr over substance.
assistant devil's advocate (3747e3) — 9/4/2007 @ 10:22 amYeah, because really, what did that old bat ever do?
Seriously, do you read what you type before you post it, or are you just trying to get a rise outta people?
Scott Jacobs (425810) — 9/4/2007 @ 11:23 amI must declare, that Patterico skunked the whole blog readership with no posts while away. Nobody thought that would happen.
In addition, I never knew that DRJ is a she. Not that it makes any difference, but I’ll have to quit the mental image of balding middle aged men smoking their pipes.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:43 pmI hope DRJ agrees to future posting. I think that’s the first time anyone ever thanked me for a comment. Which might say something about my commenting, so I’ll slink off now into lurkhood.
allan (bc8f76) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:45 pmscott jacobs asks “what did that old bat ever do?”
for one thing, she accepted 1.25 million dollars in donations from charles keating (money he had fleeced from oldsters by selling them junk bonds described as bank cd’s) in return for her providing “saintly” cover for him. when keating’s prosecutor wrote her asking her to return this money to its rightful owners, she ignored him and kept the money. she was willing to prostitute her brand, but she didn’t come cheap.
assistant devil's advocate (1da909) — 9/4/2007 @ 4:14 pmada,
I thought assistant devil’s advocate was only a nom de internet. Are you seriously opposing Mother Teresa’s canonization? Trust me, you don’t want to get Albanians, Christian or otherwise, mad at you.
nk (a6ecc6) — 9/4/2007 @ 5:19 pmPatterico, you chose wisely in having DRJ and WLS guest blogging. Very insightful, concise and sharply written posts. And humor, too! I hope they continue to make guest appearances.
Seriously ada, stop. When you (or me) have held without fear as many people diseased and in the throes of death just to make sure they know someone cared that they were leaving this world an they weren’t alone, then start your picking her apart. After you’ve freely chosen to live in poverty with those condemned to existing outside the city gates, then have at her.
Until then, a little respect for a small woman who did mighty things. In all her imperfect failings as a human, she did love and love well.
Dana (82cd00) — 9/4/2007 @ 6:23 pmAnd I realize my grammar was dreadful in #18 but it was just stunning to read someone flippantly condemn one who made a Heruclean effort to live her life with someone other than herself at its center. Not many of us do.
Dana (82cd00) — 9/4/2007 @ 6:30 pmYou guys are a riot. I may have to post now and then just to keep an eye on everyone.
DRJ (bfe07e) — 9/4/2007 @ 6:31 pmWe all hope you’ll stick around, DRJ.
nk (a6ecc6) — 9/4/2007 @ 6:57 pmconcur in the applause for drj and wls.
here’s a link to the wikipedia entry for christopher hitchens’ book on mother theresa, the missionary position.
in return for 1.25 million dollars in stolen money, she wrote a letter to judge lance ito on behalf of charles keating, who was being tried in his court. if that isn’t prostituting your brand, i don’t know what is. i’m more than a disinterested observer of the keating thing: my great aunt (legally blind and hard of hearing) cashed in her junk bond before the portcullis slammed down, but then the estate in bankruptcy of keating’s corporation, american continental corporation, sued her to get the money back. anybody who’s on the wrong side of this is on the wrong side of me, that’s why i dislike john mccain more than 99 other senators, even more than joe lieberman.
the link also notes her cozy relationship with haiti’s “papa doc” duvalier. i personally recollect her visit to san quentin to schmooze with some convicted murderer facing execution, i forget which one. she embraced evil only incidentally to embracing the media.
nk, your question “are you seriously opposing mother theresa’s canonization” made me laugh. as a pagan, i take no position for or against the causes of prospective catholic saints, last time i looked, the guy in the funny hat was still the boss of that there basilica and he can canonize an-ee-body he wants to.
assistant devil's advocate (2cdcca) — 9/4/2007 @ 10:21 pmada,
I was making a joke about your name. In the canonization process there is a Devil’s Advocate whose job is to bring out evidence against the saintliness of the candidate.
But, again, Mother Teresa is the first Albanian in history to be internationally known for something other than stealing chickens and slitting throats. You’re going to make a lot of dangerous enemies if you keep this up. 😉
nk (a6ecc6) — 9/5/2007 @ 3:32 amSounds like if the ‘assistant’ devil’s advocate had been brought in on the Mother Teresa sainthood case, she’d have been busted back down to Sister for influence peddling and maybe some RICO violations, and we wouldn’t be discussing any of this.
allan (da4b9b) — 9/5/2007 @ 10:35 am