Its sad to see him gone, although I don't think it will be forever. Smart, funny and dangerous, my kind of people. His site was down for nearly a month, I feared somebody hack it (some rightwing loony with too much time and hate on his hands and heart) but I guess will never know.

My guess would be a site upgrade. But maybe he is taking the holiday break as an opportunity to tie one on, as all sane and reasonably healthy human beings should aspire to do.

The right reason to fight for good things is because it's fun. Not because "ya otta." Not because it makes you a superior being in the sight of God. But because sticking it in the eye of people who by rights shouldn't even be human in form is fun.

Too many people get caught up in masochism. Too many people want to be heroes. Movements succeed when a lot of people take a little bit of the weight, not when one person takes more weight than he can bear.

well, charles. i would respectfully disagree. i really doubt that a site upgrade would inspire someone to dig up their past predictions about iraq post them all on the front page with a final statement and then put up a "that's all folks."

and on reasons, well. we all have our own, right? no one person can pronounce The Right Reason for others doing anything. even pronouncing that for myself is often a risk, because these things seem to always be in flux. i personally feel it is especially dangerous to begin pronouncing who is acting out of true heart vs. "masochism" as such judgments really speak of a not-understanding, or an imposing of one's own value system on another's actions more than they do any kind of wisdom or empathy. just my view, i mean no derision on you.

and i agree: We get much further when We are invested.

hey rafael: i am guessing that his site was down for that time because he was deciding what to do. that's when he was digging around through his archives, i believe. right before he posted this stuff and the last notice.

Whiskey Bar was my favorite blog.

James Brown, Gerald Ford, Billmon and Fafnir: you are remembered.

I've been getting "Site temporarily unavailable," Nezua. That's why I thought a site upgrade might be in the works.

I certainly don't want to pass judgment on people. But I have seen people burn out on activism and I think it's a shame. The most exciting thing to me about what is going on in Mexico is that this seems to be a very broad-based movement, so that it almost seems that there are no leaders. No leaders means that the government can't crush the movement by jailing or killing a few people.

That's in strong contrast with this country, where the murders of the Kennedy brothers and Dr. King basically stopped reform for forty years and counting.

well, of course you could be right, still, about billmon! but when i saw him digging up old posts last week and posting a statement that felt, even then, like an obit...i saw it coming.

i just think that nobody knows what anybody's job is but their own. i do understand your point. and i agree with it in general. but i always think of those people who have done extraordinary things that help many others, too. and i know they never could have done it if they listened to people comparing by their own frameworks and trying to lay it on them. we all have to simply check ourselves and suss out what our own jobs are. and we'll be fine, i dare to hope!

but thanks for clearing that up. you do make a good point. i don't mean to gloss over that.

I find it sad and yes some what alarming when a voice goes away, gets lost or simply stops expressing his (or her) opinion. I certainly hope it is not the last of him.