Obama? I thought we were pulling for Nader?!?!?!

love the site, thanks.

Hey man, burning the candle at both ends is what got us in this mess.

Keep churning out the content! I love it!

John, When this is all over, I'm going to Atlantic City. Hopefully if I win big, I'll move abroad if McCain wins.

C&L has been awesome....a good mix of fun/silly topics
and serious issues.

John, health comes first, even before a great site like C&L. We appreciate you and everyone who makes this site possible. Okay, I favor Nicole a little bit, but hey, us females have to stick together.

Take care of yourself and don't worry about the site. You have a great bunch of people who will keep stoking the flames while you take a break. As long as you don't put a lock on the gate and we can all come and go at will, things will be just fine.

Again, take care and don't worry about anything. Okay, worry about getting Obama elected but after that we'll all sit back and take a much needed breather.

good luck John

thanks for the site

You are addicted.

Admit it, you need blog rehab. You are a blogoholic.

Can you quit cold turkey?

respect.

best wishes to you and your health, and thanks for the work.

Take good care of yourself, John. Rest is important. Thank you for all the good you've done with this blog. Having access to it has made a huge difference in keeping myself informed so well. And thanks to the other bloggers. There is a lot of brainpower and clear thinking on this site, as well as plenty of snarkiness, all of which I dearly appreciate.

Take a rest and recharge the batteries - I noticed the C&L site has been kinda slow to post their "punch lines" to news breaking events. Keep the faith and thank you for C&L's insight.

You may feel a little pressure. . . sorry. I'm not an anti-dentite!

Get well, John, get well! I greatly appreciate all your work from day one, and I implore you to take care of yourself - the citizens of the world need you! You are one of the pioneers of truth-telling in the age of the internet. You're leaving C&L in good hands, so focus on your health.

Plus, my invitation still stands for you to sit in with my jazz trio. Straight ahead until then.

Sincerely,
Jim Fisk

Be healthy first, we appreciate all the timely posts, great quality and lively topics, but time to rest now. Best of health to you John and all the C&L community as well.

An object in motion tend to stay in motion. It will be hard to stop yourself, John, but once you do, an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Be well.

A well deserved rest, your services are most appreciated on this end, and if Obama wins, maybe you will stop grinding your teeth.

Thanks so much for all that you do.

However, I am glad that you are making a decision to take care of yourself.

Balance is key!

Cheers!

If it weren't for you and Steve Benen, I would be serving a life sentence for murder. Top that!

John: Sorry to hear you are so ill. Get better soon.

JohnnyBravo @ 28:

John, thank you for all of your hard work. How can I donate to C&L?

http://www.crooksandliars.com/donations-page-paypalamazon/

Thanks for providing this: this site is a public service!!

Here's hoping for a glorious win so you can truly get some R&R post Nov 4.

All the best to you and yours!!

Take care of yourself.

Mr. Amato,

Thank you for this blog, sorry on-line magazine, and letting people like me post here for a long time(7 years?). From the polotics to music to open threads and even the silliness, you have been a voice of sanity in a sea of craziness that is the web. From this blog I have met a lot of friends that I never would have before, heard from voices and opines that I would have ignored before, and have a new faith that we as a people will get better. Get well and have a nice time off like the Yankees are doing.

Thanks once more

jeff

Oh shit, it's only 2:40.
Twilight Zone time.

Kudos for all the great work you guys and ladies do every day...thank you.

i wonder, john, if you would share what your ailment is?
"nerve damage" sounds and IS very scary, i know...

in 04 my body was "attacked" and within 2 days i was rendered into a "wet noodle" basically...
originally diagnosed with MS, further tests ruled that out, but the neurologist gave the verdict of TM - Transverse Mylitis... the non-progressive type, fortunately...
but over-work and over-heating and too much physical activity, and i'm a wet noodle again...

take care and take it easy!

Will be good to relax after the election is WON.
I think everybody will be wanting to wind down a bit and get prepared for the holiday season, or winterize the hovel ;)
Heres hoping and everybody enjoy this evenings entertainment, should be a giggle.
Everybody got their Palin bingo cards ready LOL.

before there was a youtube...there was amato

man....you are a pioneer

not too many people in this world can say that

you deserve all of your success and a nice long rest

come back rested and ready for the battle ahead

i hope i can still afford dsl when you return

Glad you're still around and dedicated to sit out this rollercoaster ride called elections! I enjoy you read immensrly.

And I hope to see you back when your body has been reset.

Greetings from all the way over the big pond we call the Atlantic.

Willem
The Netherlands.

John,
Kudos to you and I applaud your choice to take some time off.
My family and I have developed a mantra: "Fun and relaxation are emergencies and all the other crap is what you have to do to get to the crisis"
Cheers John and enjoy!
wait... don't go now. Wait till the elec......oh ok good.
To the rest of the C&L crew: A thousand thanks to you all as well. Yeah! How about those troops? Are they getting any time off?! Where is their respite?! Fascist! ;o) i kid. I must just be in fighting mode.
Hopefully here in ever-blueing North Carolina, we can make a difference.

I don't have a TV--if it's important, it's on C & L. For example, I just got this from SPJ (Society of Professional Journalists):

STRANGE ECONOMIC BEDFELLOWS

Every properly trained journalist understands the importance of objective reporting. Recognizing and avoiding conflicts of interest are an essential pillar of journalism ethics. How, then, can someone like NBC's Andrea Mitchell report on the economy? Mitchell is married to Alan Greenspan, the retired long-time chairman of the Federal Reserve. Megan Garber poses the question in a Columbia Journalism Review article. And it's not so much the economy in general, but the economic "meltdown," that is the problem. As Garber states, Greenspan is somewhat culpable in the current credit market problems. But is that a true conflict of interest that should prevent Mitchell from doing her job?

Sex, dude. Lots of it. That's what keeps me sane.

Thanks for the site. Our appreciation cannot be measured. It is YOU our kids should be reading about in history books.

No matter what, always take time to rest. Nothing works when 'the machine' is broken! Time (well spent) is worth more than money. Our time is finite. Money comes and goes, and we survive.

Hey John

thanks for all you do. Like so many others, I love C&L and would feel a bit in the wilderness without it. You and your site are a great touchstone for so many.

Best wishes and rest up some... although I know it's hard - there's always something, some issue, some news, some rubbish that can't be ignored that draws us back to the 'puter.

Sex, dude. Lots of it. That’s what keeps me sane.

Me, too. Sometimes I even have it when I'm not alone!

Two teeth pulled, and you LOL ?? WTF?

John, John, you really do need to put the brakes on. After the first 3 days it'll be easier. And don't worry, C&L will motor on.

But yeah, I'm sensing that you need to step away to regain some perspective. Lots of us occasional commenters won't - and can't - keep blogging day in and day out. Time for you to regain some of our perspective.

Be well!

LongTooth @ 68:

It must (or anyway, should) give you and all the crew at C&L real satisfaction to know that your work will be studied by historians down the road. That's a tremendous accomplishment in and of itself. Way to go, and stay healthy. Unless McCain does manage to somehow win. Then you may as well get it over with and blow your brains out.

It's off to the Great White North if that happens!!!!

pissed off patricia @ 20:

In about an hour I will be having a cocktail and I'm gonna toast you John, all the folks who keep C&L going and all the commentators here...the good....the bad....and the ugly. ;)

A toast from me too John, to you and your great staff of site monitors and all the others who make this site one of the most relevant on the web. You have fair rules here and it's a very civil place to have open discourse with everyone. I especially appreciate having a place to discover great links from others and to post interesting finds myself.

Thank you and FOLLOW THE DOCTORS ORDERS!!! (I'm a nurse BTW!)

hey, were going on vacation too after the election. only if mccain wins we don't plan on ever coming back.

Professor Frink @ 69:

LongTooth @ 68:

It must (or anyway, should) give you and all the crew at C&L real satisfaction to know that your work will be studied by historians down the road. That's a tremendous accomplishment in and of itself. Way to go, and stay healthy. Unless McCain does manage to somehow win. Then you may as well get it over with and blow your brains out.

It's off to the Great White North if that happens!!!!

Try this eh

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6710657995584159187&ei=80blSILYJ...

Do what you gotta do, John. Take care of yourself and all else will fall into place. All the C&L folks are wonderful, but you're the rudder and you need to be relatively pain-free (like I said, relatively) to concentrate on your work.
Chill, re-group, re-coup, and most of all, get lots of rest.

John, you do need to take care of yourself, but I think you'll start feeling a lot healthier over the next few weeks as Obama widens and strenghtens his lead. The Caribbean should be nice this time of year!
Your site is the first one I check in the morning and the last one I check at night. It's the best I've seen.

Thanks, John, for what you do. I've learned a lot from this blog, and you deserve a break. I know the past 8 years have taken a toll on us all, mentally and physically. take care.

Good health to you, John. There is no font big enough to express my thanks for this site. THANK YOU.

Hey, good health to everybody, even the "trolls" that come hear to harass us! No really, we can fight and moan all we want, but I don't wish ill upon anybody, even if I would never invite you over for tea. I mean, lets' be real, right?
;)

Take good care, John. And a big thanks to you and all the others at C&L who make this my fav site! You all rock and your insightful articles keep me coming back for more. Peace and love!

You've done good work over the years, Mr. Amato. Enjoy the time off.
Many thanks from up here in Canuckistan.

Thank you for all you do. You and Nicole and the rest of the C&L gang are who I've turned to for great information, intelligence and reason during these nutty times. You will be missed but please take it easy and get lots of rest.

Hey, Amato, take a "fiver" out of petty cash and sip on a cold one. Best wishes with your convalescence.

Neo-classical secular humanist @ 88:

Edwin Hussein @ 84:

Professor Frink @ 69:

LongTooth @ 68:

It's off to the Great White North if that happens!!!!

Is Canada going to have to build a fence now to keep all the refugees out?????? I'll remember to tip our American chambermaids, dustmen and vegetable pickers well, if you come.

If you make your way north of the 49th parallel, bring you social democratic values and some genuine civility. Leave the other stuff behind. BTW, if you see the leader of the Conservative party, Stephen Harper, on the tube, you may think that you are seeing BushLite. You would be right. In that instance, you may chuck the "genuine civility" and go for his throat.

You mentioned Harper so before I fetch some wood here's this for everybody to look at. My duty to always share this speech.
http://www.thestar.com/federalelection/article/508758

You deserve the time off and you should take a break and keep yourself healthy! I enjoy your site every day. It's always nice to see that others feel the same as I do, and that I'm really not going crazy :-)

Best wishes,

Kathy

Hey John,
I'm a registered sleep technologist and I have to say your lack of sleep troubles me. Did you know that at a certain point in mid life, if you have continuously lost sleep you can no longer get it back no matter how long you sleep? That's right, we're all going to be a nation of senior citizen zombies when we get older. Anyway, I love the site and we need your brain in top shape so do yourself a favor and get your 8 hours.
-T

Follow your Doc's orders! I mean it!

Take all the time you need. You've earned and deserve it.

Thank you for all you've done to keep us all informed!

Do take care of yourself. Marathon, not a sprint and all that... An Obama victory will certainly help for sleeping easier.

John
What you need is a holiday in a warm relaxing environment. Early November in Sydney is warm without being hot yet with some nice sea breezes and the jacarandas in bloom everywhere. And we have dumped our right wing government so you ought to feel comfortable and I can pretty much guarantee the boys from The Chasers' War on Everything would buy you a few beers after you posted a few of their stunts here (the APEC one several times).
C

All I can say is take some time off and get a little R&R in. I don't get enough and I work almost the same hours it feels like. Enjoy the break because just like when the daily show goes on vacation, crazy stuff continues to happen that deserves to be reported (in a serious or humorous manner).

as one of the original first bloggers on here who was one of the fucktards with mirth, strawberry bitch, mr E, sphinx, nonny mouse , and all the old timers who fought the old trolls and the bush criminals get well, old times here are not forgotten, look away look away dixieland! bugler sound the charge!

Do what you've gotta do, John. We all love this site and want you and it to continue for a long time. It'll be in good hands with Nicole and the other posters until you get back.

It's like I tell my students when they get sick. Go home. Get well, and then come back to the lab. Trying to work when you're ill/stressed only makes it take longer to get better. So leave us for a while. You can do it with a clear conscience, and we'll all celebrate when you get back.

Take care of yourself, John. I appreciate all you do for us. But, your health is priority #1! We'll still be here when you get back :-)

John!

Thanks for everything! C&L is the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I check before I hit the sack! But speaking as one who had a quad-bypass a year ago, take it from me... you've gotta take care of #1 first.

Be good, take care, we'll all hold down the fort.

-Mark

RichStraightWhiteAmericanMale @ 16:

C&L is the most user-friendly, well-formatted, easy to navigate site around. I hope the "new" site will maintain this superior performance. I dread "upgrades", they usually mean just the opposite.
Enjoy your time off, you deserve it.

I second this !! Maintain "superior performance" and CLEAN-cut APPEARANCE !!

I don't know your circumstances, but here's a Question: Is it wise to go into "upgrade" BEFORE the Election Day ? Even at the best(est) there are always kinks. Wouldn't it be better to do it right AFTER the ELECTION DAY ? Everyday now IS a ZOO newswise - with inevitable eqpt/software kinks to be ironed out, might get too much of a ZOO ?? I thought you guys are working on smthg since am often getting "server unavailable'.

This site's presence is VERY IMPORTANT especially in pre-election and yes/no-bailout mess we are all in. By Election Day /next day all will kind of collapse from exhaustion, so that would probably be much better (less pressured) time to introduce an upgrade. No?

In the meantime how about taking 50% OFF right away (hard to think you'd be able 100%!!) until Election Day, complete the upgrade under less pressure, and few days after you might try to detox 95% from blogging (can't see you 100% off ;).

Two teeth pulled is not a joke:
a/ if they were bad enough to be pulled, they were bad enough to keep infecting your system for quite a while (and affecting heart/valves, kidneys, liver, etc).
b/anaesthesia which you've received for these two is not a joke either (on heart, and all the rest) - can you TAKE IT EASY TONIGHT ?! Early to bed, and, sleeping late tomorrow ? Real chicken soup to flush the chemicals OUT (or, plenty of LIGHTER foods/liquids). Let all roll off your back, debate or not.

WHY, John, you need to treat yourself better?

1. This site's presence is VERY IMPORTANT The troops will pull when needed, but YOU are da BOSS.

2. I called Obama-Biden campaign yesterday morning and spoke with a volunteer in Chicago (it was windy there and only 46F!) with my suggestions:

a. Biden to stay on the message, disregard the moose-maid's trailer-trash jinks, and, TAKE-off the gloves a little - possibly without blooding her caribou nose. She is stupid/ confused enough, but has to be helped to feel more on a shaky ground. She'll probably screeeetch more.

b. Both Biden and Obama never-ever to keep saying/repeating in the FIRST sentence "John (Palin) is absolutely right" - when in agreement say it in a round-round way in 3rd-4th sentence. NEVER clearly as an opener ==> sheepledom cannot remember anything, but, that Obama/Biden said John McCain is right..

3. When I said to O-B volunteer that blogosphere does a LOT of great work for the campaign, the question was : "which sites do you have in mind?"

I said : "Crooks and.." she finished " LIARS' !! We love that site !" Although it was not any big shot, even these people KNOW that your C&L is IMPORTANT !!! If you are OK, many more are better ! For every person that leaves posts, there are MANY MORE who just read, and learn - as we all do.

Sorry this got long - hopefully will convince you to take BETTER care of yourself. RIGHT AWAY!

Thanks for you and your teams hard work John, its a great blog. And good to hear youre following doctors orders. Stay healthy

Hi John,
Thanks for all your efforts as well as your staff. Hope you were joking about the medical condition but all the same I have no doubt your nerves are frayed with all this chaos. I can't say I 'm a huge blogger scanner but I check out a few including yours (Daily Kos, Common Dreams, etc) and by far C&L fits a nice niche of being easily accessible and substantive. I hope you get your rest and you certainly deserve it. Keep up the good work. Without people like you and your crew to cut through the incredible amounts of horse shit fed to the masses every day, truth would be a lost entity. Keep on blogging.

Jason
San Diego

Thanks to you John(and the entire gang at C&L). You deserve some time off.
The good news: Just think, you will be spending your time off after a resounding
Obama victory, so that in and of itself should make you much more relaxed, happy
and able to enjoy yourself.

OMG, John. Two teeth pulled AND having to listen to Sarah Palin try to debate, all in one day. God bless you.

John, you and the entire C & L team do such an outstanding job. That said, DO NOT let your health slide as it is simply not worth it. Keep up the good fight but take a break. We'll all muddle through!

Tad
Santa Monica, CA

Have a good break John, and best wishes and health to you.

what he/she/all-the-above said! me-n-morning joe to mr. night cap, this is where i go the MSM harshes my buzz with their un-reality - which is often these days!

from,
mostly lurker esme

Win or lose for Obama, my doctors have won and I’m going to take a few weeks off after the election.

It's only fair: after the election I plan on being drunk and/or hungover for about that long! I saw a story once that talked about the long lines at liquor stores the day Nixon resigned. Win or lose there's probably going to be a lot of alcohol consumed on account of it.

I really do have to take some time to heal the nerve damage that has plagued me for a long time.

Keeping yourself in one piece is almost always job number one; of course at the extreme it becomes cowardice, like Bush and his Texas ANG thing.

Understandable. Thank you for feeding my political hunger. My husband told me about a month ago he's worried about me and today's politics -- I can't even take a joke about things. Pathetic. So, after the election, I'm going to pick up a good book and try to learn to relax again. Uh, depending upon who wins. Best regards.

Dear John,
Thank you for all you do for us comfirmed C&L-ers. Please try to get more rest between now and the election, and take plenty of time off afterward. All the best to you.

Get well. Can't wait for the new site. The other contributors are doing great!!!!!!!

Hey dude take it easy man. Your blog has done a lot to make people more aware of the shit in this country and sort the lies and the truth out. TV doesn't make sense anymore to me.

May the man with the best leadership qualities win.

Take care of your health John - this site is my first stop for political news and insight. A good measure of a coherent site is when I have to scroll back to see who wrote an article. Your team can hold the fort! Also the music videos are legendary .... take a well deserved break, come back refreshed

Take a break, recharge your batteries-we'll miss you! The break will make you even BETTER!!!!

PS. I hope Palin _is_ the Republican standard bearer for the next 30 years. LOL!

We love you John, and we appreciate EVERYTHING you do.

Nicole is RIGHT. You need to slack off.

Once your health is broken it's very hard to get back to what you once were.

I know. My health broke and I am now disabled.

So get some rest and obey your doctor.

Do EXACTLY as he says and let Nicole do this thing if she has the time.

We won't leave. We will ALWAYS check back daily and look for one of our BEST FRIENDS AND ALLIES.

Take care John.

You provide a necessary, patriotic service to the country through your virtual online magazine . . . okay, your blog. Soldiers like me are paying attention and sharing your site. Be well and continue to fight the good fight after you reset. My thanks!