Belated thanks

In my opinion, the two most impressive essayists of my side of the blogosphere are the inestimable Bill Whittle and Steven Den Beste. Bill is still writing but, sadly, Steven decided that he would quit his blog earlier this year. Via David Boxenhorn at Rishon Rishon comes some additional information that was provided by Steven himself in comments to a post at EuroPundits.

He told us up front that he was getting tired of all the pedantic nitpicking in email that would follow any post he made. But now we find out that he has a degenerative genetic condition that makes it difficult to write the way he used to without taking powerful stimulants. In light of this, his low tolerance for those that criticize the little stuff in his posts makes more sense. I never criticized him for his reaction to trivial criticism of his works as I felt that reaction was justified. Now I think I understand it even more.

So, on the incredibly slim chance that you ever read this, Steven, I wanted to add my voice to the growing chorus and thank you for the work you did. Your writings form the backbone of my understanding of both the broad and narrow issues in the war we are currently engaged in. You have provided a service for your country and I know I speak for many when I say that I am grateful for it. Yes, I wish you could and would write more but you have earned your rest. Now that you've laid the foundation, we can take it from here.