Saturday, December 30, 2006

A tribute to Billmon, the prince of bloggers


David Seaton's News Links
Billmon appears to really mean it this time... he is truly hanging up his spikes. He has a way of announcing his retirement from blogging from time to time and than returning like an opera tenor or a bullfighter for yet another farewell performance, but I get the feeling that this time he may be serious. So, with a little trepidation, I will pay him tribute. Billmon (whoever he is) has always been, by far, my favorite blogger: informed, fluent, witty, creative... I shall miss his blog terribly. To have Billmon quit and James Brown die in the same week is a hardly digestable, one-two punch. I'm a married man and I can understand the pressure he may have faced. In my case blogging helps me to do my research and keeps my hands warm and my ideas flowing for my "daytime job", which is writing about international affairs for a Spanish newspaper. My wife understands that my blogging is part of the process of putting groceries on our table. Billmon works in the financial sector and blogging for him has been a quixotic, labor of love/hate and political commitment. I imagine his old lady put a gun to his head. I truly respect that. I shall miss him terribly. My wish is that he would "come out" and write a book about the times we live in, where his blog was one of the few things that kept the bastards from grinding me down: "Illegitimati non carborundum." I will never give up hope that like the "lost Mahdi", Billmon will someday return. DS

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