LM, your posts are some of the best of the written word on the nets and are always a worthwhile read.
There are only a couple of blogs that I go to that have substantive discussion in the comments section, and I think this one continues the tradition of the original News Blog as being the best. I know it takes a helluva lot more time to tap out these long and well-thought out posts than my half-formed stream of consciousness gibberish, and I thank you guys(and girls) for taking the time and adding the content, especially with this being an ad-free site.
So keep it up and maybe we can get more references on the tubes like HS got for his post on the voting numbers on Countdown one night.
We love you, too. Thanks for all the hard work, and for carrying Steve's pennant.
We fight back!
****blushes****No, really YOU are the best!!! I feel like the old chipmunks in the cartoons.....no, after you.....please, you go first....
You, as the creators of this blog, have truly taken Gilly's heart and soul and continued to give it to all of your readers. The comments and dialogue that results is just a tribute to you all as well as a tribute to him.
We miss him every day, but having this as a place to come and learn and discuss with others makes us all better people.
We thank you.
LM--- I was just talking about this to folks yesterday. Why this place is special, and how a good blog is a conversation NOT a magazine.
Hear Hear!
the gnb community is quite simply-- wonderful.
hugs to all
LM's been taking drugs and got all wobbly on us.
Thank you for having me.
I challenge you...
For each of us that are having trouble stomaching the idea of the "other guy or gal" winning this nomination...
for anyone that has even in though compared our opponent to the GOP/ BUSH/ etc.
we must do penance.
go now, read this Thank God For Howard Dean and then go give money to the DNC. today. 10$ 20$ something. today. go do it and make right with the world.
I just sent them 20$ all I can afford this week. go on now.
luv.
tlg
LM, thank YOU for thanking us, but then, there would be no us without you. You're like the ocean, we are the waves. There can be the ocean without waves, but there cannot be waves without the ocean. Thanks for carrying on the Gilly torch - I know he's pleased. And fuck the fuckin' Yankees.
“LM's been taking drugs and got all wobbly on us.”
ME: (Staggering about drunkenly, shirttail out and covered in a fresh layer of sweat) No, man! Seriously! Seriously! SeriouslySeriouslySeriouslySh-eriously, dude! I mean this from my heart, bro! I luuuhhve ya, man! And-and I have no problem sayin' it...'cause man, I'm comfortable with my-sssssself, and I fuggin-a' mean it!
(Grabs commenters by the shoulders hard. TOO hard, and looks blearily into their eyes.)
I luhhve you guys, man!
(Falls over in a heap).
Jesus Christ...who-who moved th'...fuggin' floor!
i'm doing this through a vicodin and dental pain fog (tuesdays dental surgery was brutal and bloody, it's milkshakes, vicodin and basketball playoffs for the rest of my week) so, i'll be brief.
my dentist, being very respectful of my 15 years clean and sober, tried to send me home with motrin. i looked at him and through the bloody guaze said "one thing i've learned in 15 years of AA is that there are no extra points for needless suffering." republicans might find that enduring needless pain is somehow ennobling but i've never believed that or them.
you're right that the threads here can take some brilliant turns. i love the way that a warning that forbade pie fights turned into a great recipe exhange forum.
i started reading here because i was in shock at the loss of our gilly. i've stayed for a lot of the reasons that you've mentioned.
your writing is a huge part of that LM. i know that merely being able to read and digest the brilliant stuff you put out has made me a better writer. thanks for that. i can honestly say that, at my best, i think i approach your average level.
but, damn son, you're like bob gibson, you just keep nailing those low and inside fastballs for strikes. can't hit 'em, can't lay off 'em. keep them coming.
also, just for fun, a little of my favorite music.
play daddy, sing mavis, i'll take you there
Hey, is there any chance you people could start signing your names at the TOP of the posting? Unlike the SteveG days, you-all are distinctly different people and frequently I have to scroll down to the bottom of a post to see who's talking so I can see what context they're speaking in.
Just last week as I was also going through the dental crisis thing and reading LM about same, I suddenly realized that the Group Blog hasn't been around long at all, and Steve hasn't been gone very long either. Yet, the output here at GNB is so high in fiber that digesting all of the tasty posts of the last ten months just seems so filling and satisfying and comforting, like they have always been there, not like they are something new.
Also, the number and quality of the commenters seems just right too. Goldilocks would approve.
Genuine mutuality is the real goods. 
Have you ever thought about paid 'commenters'.......... much like the Pentagon's recently revealed media operatives? Just asking.........
Go LoLo! Go Team!
Thanks LM!,
But to paraphrase, "if you write it, they will come and give comments and comments and ...".
Yeah.
You're right - we kick ass.
But you writers are the reason why.
Daunting standards aren't convenient or fun, but they can & do breed premium results.
It's easy to polish a turd, if you hold your nose - but cutting a diamond takes patience, skill & smarts. I need to do a lot less digging to find those gems here than most places - so thank YOU for making reading your words worth the time.
Thanks for some amazing posts and comments everyone!
FTFY!
Just wondering if Jesse banned another anons.
You know, when Steve initially got sick and everyone just sort of pitched in and started keeping the doors open on The News Blog, I mentioned this place to my mother. One of the things we see a lot of up here in Maine is the locals banding together to keep the store/deli/shop open and running with volunteers when the proprieter falls ill or whatever. It is a tiny bright spot in my general outlook toward humanity, and what was done at TNB was exactly that. And when Steve died, in the fog I found myself wandering around in, trying to come to grips with both his passing and my own reaction to the passing of someone I had never met, one of the things that alarmed me, as much as losing the Steve-crutch, was losing access to some of his commenters, and by no coincidence, I am sure, those commenters I was thinking of are all present and accounted for here at GNB, on both sides of the masthead. Y'all made something great here, and did it in double quick time. It's my first stop every morning, as I have flip-flopped first with Driftglass (due to his reduced writing schedule).
Ya done good.
I'm delurking to say thank you. I didn't know much about Steve until months after he passed so I'm still in the process of reading his brilliant works, but this place is something special too. This blog always has such intelligent back and forth. Even if there are disagreements they rarely dissolve into juvenile name calling like other blogs. Thanks GNB crew and keep up the good work.
P.S. LM you really should compile your GNB essays into a book. You just have such a way with words that leaves me in awe.
if we start hugging im out 
oh and if the comments make t into the book i want mine unedited
LM,
Luvs ya back! How are you feeling? I actually just got back from Da Dentist myself...look, Ma, no cavities; those two overpriced overlays are actually holding up and I'm getting good ROI on my wisdom teeth pull...
:D
I was impressed that that the subject of Peak Oil (in a post) and anarcho-primitivism (which I probably really shouldn't have brought up in the comments, but what can I say, I've always had a huge masochistic streak) was discussed here at one point. Very many if not most liberal political blogs run away in shrieking, arm-flailing terror from such topics.
those commenters I was thinking of are all present and accounted for here at GNBM
I must admit, I do miss both Gracchus and Marx & Lenin (not to mention the back-and-forth between those two). But I do understand how some people might feel that it's just not the same without Gilly.
Thanks for including my comment in your write up there. What everyone has done with the Newsblog and now the groupnewsblog is simply amazing. I'm going to try and post more comments and interact a bit more. The writers are who make it possible for all of the great commenters to gather together here in this fantastic community. I simply can't praise everyone here enough.
Commenting by HaloScan
