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You are here: Home / Open Threads / RIP, Andrew Olmsted

RIP, Andrew Olmsted

by John Cole|  January 4, 20115:33 pm| 31 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I can’t believe it has been three years.

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Next Post: You Must Be an Amateur »

Reader Interactions

31Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    January 4, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    One should never have to eulogize themselves. And the fact that he had the foresight to do so shows just what an amazing man he was. Pacem a tei good soldier. I bet you made at least one puppeh happy by meeting them at the Rainbow Bridge.

  2. 2.

    Tom Levenson

    January 4, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    Me either.

    Thinking of the good ones lost makes me rage yet more at chickenhawkery…but that’s for a different thread.

  3. 3.

    Doctor Science

    January 4, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    I’ll just link to the yahrzeit post, for those who don’t know what you mean.

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    January 4, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    @Tom Levenson: Oh did I want to go off on the Iraq war here. But I read the eulogy, and I shall honor the good man’s name by respecting his wish and not engaging in politics. Instead, I shall remember a man I never knew who three years after his departure from this existence touched my life.

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 4, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    This guy is gone.

    George W. Bush and Dick Cheney still live.

    TINMFJ.

  6. 6.

    aimai

    January 4, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    Time passes so fast in one world, and so slowly in others. When I saw the headline it was like a sharp pain, undulled by those three years. But for his family those three years must have dragged wearily, an eternity of time. Thanks for putting up this post and this link, John. He was a remarkable man.

    aimai

  7. 7.

    JGabriel

    January 4, 2011 at 5:59 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    TINMFJ.

    ?

    There is no motherfucking Jaweh?

    .

  8. 8.

    Yutsano

    January 4, 2011 at 6:00 pm

    @JGabriel: Justice. Although consider this: Cheney is essentially a zombie kept alive only by a machine plugged into his back. And he is guaranteed to be in a lot of pain no matter how many drugs they shoot him up with.

  9. 9.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 4, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    @JGabriel:

    Justice.

  10. 10.

    JGabriel

    January 4, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    Yutsano: Ah. Danke.

  11. 11.

    General Stuck

    January 4, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    Goddamn George Bush and motherfucking Iraq. Goddamn him to hell in a wool coat.

  12. 12.

    Libby

    January 4, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    It feels like a million years ago and it feels like yesterday but I’m just as sad at this moment as I was the first time I read that post. And as angry, but I’ll also honor his last wish and just say, RIP Andy. You’re still missed.

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    January 4, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    @JGabriel: Bitte. The acronym is rarely used so I figured clarification would be necessary.

  14. 14.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    January 4, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    RIP:

    “So died these men as becomes Athenians. You, their survivors, must determine to have as unaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier outcome.”

  15. 15.

    JPL

    January 4, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    @Yutsano: I also want to add my thanks for your statement and I can only hope that’s true. Death is to easy for Cheney.

  16. 16.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    January 4, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    I never read him and I can tell the loss is all mine:

    More likely I was caught by a marksman or an IED. But if there is an afterlife, I’m telling anyone who asks that I went down surrounded by hundreds of insurgents defending a village composed solely of innocent women and children. It’ll be our little secret, ok?

  17. 17.

    Soprano2

    January 4, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    He sounds like a great guy – what a terrible loss. Anyone who blogs as G’Kar is great in my book.

  18. 18.

    stuckinred

    January 4, 2011 at 6:45 pm

    My friend Andy died 42 years ago last November. State champion gymnast, blues fanatic, Marine. Talk about seeming like yesterday.

  19. 19.

    Batocchio

    January 4, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    Three years, wow. There’s a good, sad memorial post by Gary over at ObWi that Doctor Science linked upthread.

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    January 4, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    Cheney is essentially a zombie kept alive only by a machine plugged into his back. And he is guaranteed to be in a lot of pain no matter how many drugs they shoot him up with.

    It was reported tonight that Cheney needs a heart transplant — provided they can find a large enough rat to donate one.

  21. 21.

    PurpleGirl

    January 4, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    I don’t read ObWi much but I remember reading it that day three years ago. Yesterday Gary Farber did a long post at ObWi about Andrew Olmsted with many links to Olmsted’s writings. Olmsted’s loss is a tragedy for his family and the country; his was a voice and perspective we could have used to heal the wounds. I hope his family is comforted by the support of the blogging world.

  22. 22.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 4, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    G’Kar. No, shit.

    It hurts to remember. That’s the difference.

  23. 23.

    sturunner

    January 4, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    Mike in NC:

    Would a weasel (apologies to the species . . .) work?

  24. 24.

    Yutsano

    January 4, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    @sturunner: I think the weasel-American community would have strong objections to that.

  25. 25.

    JasonK

    January 4, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    Yeah I remember reading that post too 3 years ago. I also really miss Hilzoy’s writing on ObWi. Fantastic blogger that one.

  26. 26.

    Gary Farber

    January 4, 2011 at 11:54 pm

    John? See also this fresh post, please?

    Thanks, if so.

  27. 27.

    Gary Farber

    January 5, 2011 at 12:03 am

    Okay, hasty of me; I see other people linked in comments.

    Thanks, everyone.

    I’d appreciate it if everyone would keep in mind, as you’ll know if you read the comments on my post, that that Andrew’s father, Wes, mother, Nancy, brother, Eric, and so on, keeping up with the thread, as much as they can bear to, and Wes has told me that they’ll be printing out the whole thing, with all the comments, to add to their “Honor Corner” for Andy, which they keep.

    What I’m trying to say here is that even a single word of comment on that thread, by people, will be seen by the Olmsted family, and greatly appreciated by them.

    I hope everyone will keep that in mind, and perhaps drop a word, even one word, on that thread, to show they care, given that the Olmsteds aren’t going to be googling or reading other blogs, or looking anywhere else.

    Thanks immensely to anyone who will make such a comment on this thread, and link to the thread in posts.

    Please don’t, however, refer to this comment; I think security by obscurity will be sufficient, and no harm if any of the Olmsteds do see this, but I think the reason I ask is obvious.

    Thanks again to all.

    And, again, all Balloon Juicers are invited to try open threads at Obsidian Wings, and check out the site as a whole.

    We’ve been understandably dropping readership like crazy ever since Hilzoy left, and lots of former ObWiers are over here now, which is wonderful, but we’d love to see some folks come back, and we’d equally love to see more folks giving Obsidian Wings a look, seeing if you find anything worthwhile about the blog, and if anyone would like to start commenting, that would be most cromulent.

  28. 28.

    Gary Farber

    January 5, 2011 at 12:04 am

    Right, awaiting moderation. Oops, he explained.

  29. 29.

    Catsy

    January 5, 2011 at 2:50 am

    @Gary Farber: It’s the number of links. Too many links and WordPress throws you in moderation. FYWP.

  30. 30.

    Gary Farber

    January 5, 2011 at 8:09 am

    @Catsy:

    Thanks. Yeah, I know. Thus “right….”

    I’m a bit too busy to always remember, each time I comment somewhere, the idiosyncracies of all the hundreds of blogs I ever comment on, and all the hundreds of bloggers I know and vice versa, I’m afraid.

    My fault and problem, no one else’s. Not a complaint. Thanks muchly for response.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. RIP, Andrew Olmstead | The Grand Panjandrum says:
    January 4, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    […] (Via) […]

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