We all wondered what had happened to him, particularly since he did not come forward even for his own baby, Blogroll Amnesty Day.

Jon Swift passed away on February 27. His mom left this comment at the last post to his blog:

I don't know how else to tell you all who love this blog. I am Jon Swift's Mom and I guess I'm going to OUT him. He was Al Weisel, my beloved son. Al was on his way to his father's funeral in VA when he suffered 2 aortic aneurysms, a leaky aortic valve and an aortic artery dissection from his heart to his pelvis. He had 3 major surgeries within 24 hours and sometime during those surgeries also suffered a severe stroke. We, his 2 sisters, his brother, his partner and his best friend since he was 9 years old were with him as he took his last breath. We have all lost a shining start who warmed our hearts, tormented us and made us laugh as he giggled at our pulling something over on us. He passed away on February 27, 2010. My beloved child will live on in so many hearts. I miss him more than I can say. If you are on Facebook, go to organizations and join "Friends of Al Weisel, Unite!" It will give you just a taste of how special he was. Farewell, Jon (Al)

3/02/2010 8:14 AM
Jon Swift was already terribly missed because he stopped blogging abruptly last March. He was not only a very talented blogger, he was a true blog citizen. He linked to all of us, cared passionately about the community of small bloggers, and was one of the best at giving the ones and zeros in which we bloggers interact some heart and soul. And he was very funny.

Love to his family and may he rest in peace.

Obsidian Wings: Farewell, Hilzoy

skippy the bush kangaroo: The same Republicans who scoffed at the CBO during the Bush administration's crazed spending and tax cutting, now revere the office's prognostications

AverageBro: Mr. "I Been Had" is back

A Tiny Revolution: Interview with Wendell Potter, a former head of corporate communications for CIGNA who finally listened to his conscience, left behind the blood money, and started talking about the evil he was doing as a shill for the health care denial industry.

Bitch Ph.D.: PUMAS are all about the white ladies

Danger Room: Company denies its Robots feed on the dead

[Note: This is a piece I published this winter at SGI Quarterly, a Buddhist journal based in Japan. It in turn was derived from a couple of posts I wrote for Firedoglake. It seemed like an appropriate piece for Father's Day. Hope you enjoy. -- DN]

I knew from the time I was a teenager that if I ever got the opportunity, I wanted to try my hand at being a stay-at-home father. My youngest brother was born when I was 11 and I wound up learning a lot about child care – especially the knowledge that it was a special thing.

The opportunity didn’t come till I was in my forties, which was when my wife, Lisa, and I decided that it was finally time to have a child. I was looking for an opportunity to do something besides my longtime newsroom work, and she had just been hired by a major software company; we’d intended all along for one of us to remain at home when we did have a child, so I bid farewell to the regular paycheck, built up my freelance writing business from home, and when Fiona was born in May 2001, I launched into the serious work of being the primary caregiver for our baby girl.

That was more than seven years ago, and Fiona’s been in school full-time for over two years now; the intervening time has given me room to put the experience of being a stay-at-home dad in some perspective.

And I have to tell you: it's been without question the most satisfying and rewarding thing I've done in my life. When I shuffle off this mortal coil, it will be with the knowledge I really did accomplish something worthwhile, and nothing can take that away.

Perhaps more to the point, it's only confirmed my belief that it's an experience more men need. It's important not just for making men better fathers, but I think also for helping women be better mothers -- and most of all, for giving child-rearing the cherished and significant place it should have in broader society.

It was hard, often sleepless, often nerve-wracking, and sometimes unpleasant work, but it was also the best job I ever had. Yet as the months and years added up, and I spent days on end at playgrounds, gymnasiums, swimming pools, and in playdates, it became plain that there really is a certain amount of resistance among a lot of people to the concept of stay-at-home daddies.

And even though a lot of women thought it was neat that a man was being the primary caregiver, there was at times a certain resentment from some women over my invasion of what for them was their territory. Some of this was perfectly understandable; when Fiona was a toddler, the topics of conversation among the gathered mothers often veered into various complaints about female bodily functions, and became my habit to wander off at such moments.

Then there were moments -- whispered comments, offhand remarks, strange assumptions -- where I was reminded that a lot of people, both men and women, privately viewed stay-at-home daddies as wimps or out-of-work losers.

Well, all this faded to insignificance amid the daily reality of raising a child. It's impossible to put into words the immensity of the rewards that come with it: you watch them grow in body and spirit, become real little persons with real minds, dreams, and desires all their own, and you bond with them in a way that lasts for life and maybe beyond. I've done many good and rewarding things in my life, but none of them has meant quite as much as being Fiona's daddy. What other people thought, really, hardly mattered at all, because I knew the score.

Certainly, it never seemed to me that my masculinity might be at stake. Indeed, I've never encountered anything that came close to making me feel like a "real man" as being a daddy.

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A question from the UK press really caught Bush flat footed (cackles ensued) and made Tony Blair smile and say: "You had kind of forgotten what the British media were like, hadn't you?" (Laughter.)

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This isn't the first time Bush has been asked questions by the UK press, but he sure acted like it. Yes, the British press is a little more "direct," you might say...Makes a person wonder how our political system would operate if our press had that same level of frankness...

Q During the course of this visit it has been confirmed that Gordon Brown is going to be the next British Prime Minister, taking over in 40 days' time. I wonder if I could have both your reactions to that. And, in particular, Mr. Blair, what you say to those people who are saying now there is a new Prime Minister in place, you should go sooner? And to Mr. Bush, whether --

PRESIDENT BUSH: That's a lovely question. (Laughter.)

Q -- however inadvertently, you once said that you would like Tony Blair to stay for the duration of your presidency. He's not doing that. Do you think you're partly to blame for that?

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Bob Geiger: Young Marine dies of PTSD - and neglect

Nuestra Voice: Clinton campaign chair and ex-Dem leader, Terry McAuliffe calls for a border shut down and a mass deportation plan. Update: Hillary disavows McAuliffe's remarks.

The Orstrahyun: Darth Cheney Down Under...

Death Wore a Feathered Mullet: Now, let's look at the Republican presidential candidates (h/t Blue Gal)

Carnival of the Liberals: Biweekly best of liberal blogging

Sensen No Sen: Despite a severe housing shortage in NOLA, the federal government is moving forward with plans to build less than one-eleventh of the housing it aims to demolish. These guys don't really do so good with reconstruction...

The American Street: A sad farewell to an American great

Now you know why Bush requires a signed loyalty oath to attend one of his speeches. Can you imagine this happening here?

International Herald Tribune: Tony Blair received a tense farewell Tuesday in his last speech as prime minister to the annual gathering of Britain's labor unions.More than a dozen activists walked out as he began speaking to protest his pro-business stance and aggressive foreign policy. Many others booed and hissed as he mentioned controversial topics like Iraq.

[..] He was heckled repeatedly during his 30-minute speech on economic globalization and grilled on employment issues during a combative question-and-answer session afterward.

[..] About 20 demonstrators stood at the start of the speech holding placards that said "Go Now!" Others booed as Blair was introduced and more than a dozen walked out - followed by TV cameras - as he began.

The prime minister jokingly thanked the delegates "for that fine introduction - more or less."

Some of the roughly 1,000 who remained in the hall shouted and heckled when Blair mentioned Iraq, Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his overhaul of Britain's public services, all issues on which he has angered many Labour Party stalwarts. Read on...

I always get a big kick out of watching Blair in the raucous House of Commons sessions on C-Span. Wouldn't it be great if we had a similar situation here in the US, where Bush would have to face other elected officials publicly and respond to them off the cuff?

Novakula took the stage on CNN's "The Situation Room," to give a farewell interview with Wolf Blitzer. Here's the question. What do you have to hide? How come every other journalist-which includes Judy Miller, Matt Cooper, Tim Russert and Viveca Novak gave us at least their own version of what they told Fitzgerald?

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Wolf tried asking Novak why he's keeping his mouth shut.

Wolf: Why can't you do that now?

Novakula: I can't tell you why, I can't do it. I've been advised by council not to-my lawyers...

Reddhedd from FireDogLake says:

"If Novak's attorney is telling him not to talk, it means one of three things: He's in legal hot water himself and his attorney is trying to keep him out of any further trouble (the keep your mouth shut and don't piss off the prosecutor any further line of lawyering); he has been specifically told not to discuss something because he will be questioned further in regard to specific issues material to the case; or his source is in hot water due to conflicting testimony between the two of them. (which could tie in with the first and second things, especially if Fitz is looking at obstruction or conspiracy issues)

But there is no prohibition on a witness speaking about testimony following their appearance before a grand jury. The only reason you don't do so is because you have to worry about pissing off the prosecutor or because you don't want to let anyone know what your testimony was because maybe you have a whole lot of things to hide."

His only regret was not that he outed a CIA agent, or that he worked as a political operative for BushCo to intimidate others from speaking out against a war he says he hates, but because it caused him so much trouble. The CIA told him not to print her name, but his excuse of "everybody knew she was a CIA agent" is laughable. Working with Sean Hannity is the perfect fit for this detestable excuse of a reporter to hang his hat with.

Try to imagine yourself as Rosa Parks did when she left work that day in 1955. Exhausted from working long hours in the department store, she looked to take a seat like always; but making sure she sat in the right section of that bus at the risk of being handcuffed. You can't-can you? It took this incredible woman to refuse to give up her seat to a white man on that bus to change the course of American history.

She added, "I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind." U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a Democrat "By sitting down, she was standing up for all Americans."

Farewell Rosa Parks.

Las Shawn Barber has a round up of reactions from bloggers on both sides of the aisle.