Well, not immediately… on Monday… I’m first stopping in Westchester County on family business (checking in on mom). Then on to DC for the Pajamas event on Tuesday night at the National Press Club (note to self: don’t forget suit). So far the evening is shaping up pretty well, but you’re always worried these things will turn into a disaster. What if nobody came? [That's why you have an open bar, idiot.-ed. Right, right.] In any case, I don’thave much to say at the moment (Is bin Laden alive? Who knows? And does it matter?) but I was inspired to write this post by an email that came through the editorial topic area in the Pajamas Media contact bin. It discussed me and this blog, regretting how after Pajamas Media started, comments began to dwindle here. That made me (and the corresondent) kind of sad. She liked the comments and commenters But there was good news. The writer, a woman in China, after going about other business, had rediscovered Pajamas Media lately and made it her homepage. She lovesit. So there’s good and bad. Onwards.
Roger, I too am a little sad that this blog isn’t as active as it used to be, but I am THRILLED that PJM is taking off the way it is….You and others like you put into words what I was feeling as I began my journey from life-long Democrat to registered Independent. I didn’t feel so alone. So thank you!
That’s all well and good Roger. And good on ya. Just don’t forget your roots, and the root’s of all of this.
Unrestrained voices. It is Babylon only if we let it be.
Well, you made a bit of a sacrifice there Roger, and if pajamas is getting the traffic, then the sacrifice was a selfless and noble one. I greatly appreciate all the good work you’ve put into making the blogworld run better; i’m sure there are many of us that do.
Hey, I’m still here!
More than once I have thought of posting that sentiment here. The old commenting group was one
of the best around. I guess it was another era in the rapid growth of the blogosphere.
Recently a few of Roger’s posts here have brought
some of the old timers back and the comments have gone up into the 30s and 40s. Maybe there is
still life in the old guy.
UBL’s silence about the pope speech says he’s dead, but the silence of his would be mourners say he’s alive.
Any deal Musharraf made with pro-Taliban militias must have included the fate of UBL. In order to give himself some cover, Musharraf puts out the story that Pakistan was going to be bomb to the stone age, signaling the possibility that they still are.
I think that the timing of this “leak”, Musharraf’s book and visit to Washington are somehow linked. UBL’s death will not be leaked, it will be a Niagara.
I had an epiphony! About the suicide bomber thing: note the white garments, the whole ritual that is building up around it (white garment = shroud), the promise of heaven through blood, etc.
Well, consider Christian baptism. In the early centuries, new Christians were baptized once, after which, cleansed, the person could sin no more. Which is why Constantine, for example, was not baptized until he was on his deathbed. Baptism is a passage, into a state of Grace. Today, of course, one is not expected to be perfect thereafter, but one IS a part of the Christian church.
And here we have – yet again – an example of the Jihadi evil: the “Baptism” in their world involves murder of other people, and through that murder, the catechuman rises to Heaven (where one can have sex with virgins…)
Perhaps this is a function of their rejection of the unity of the spirit with the body: everything is material in their religion: blood and heaven mix.
I think this is something of what Benedict is talking about. With Allah being so separate from humanity, then there is no thought of any of us humans having the possibility of individual spiritual improvement in our lives or after death.
Don’t know if I qualify as an old-timer. I do know I don’t spend as much time at Roger’s Place as I once did. Nothing to do with any downturn in quality here, it’s just the way things went. The quantity is down. I haven’t noticed a marked drop off in quality. I still come here to read well done posts and commentary.
Roger, you were among the pioneers. Don’t be saddened that some of us who followed your lead parked our conestogas and started tending crops. That was the whole point, wasn’t it?