Jesus ... remind me never to piss you off.

Exposure to bear dander can cause respitory distress.

Andrew: "Oh the irony: i'm the biggest bear-lover in the world, but I'm allergic to them!"

Ah, let's face it. The problem with (activist) homosexuals isn't the perversion so much as the all-consumming narcissism.

Powerprof, the raw animal power of such succint thinking and exposition as you display is an intellectual aphrodesiac. And Ace, your hammering wit truly slices the rough edges off a Monday morning. I need a cigarette...

Powerprof,
And that is exactly the basis of my opposition to SSM. I was originally neutral, but the more narcissism I encountered as I asked questions, the more I moved to oppose...

One of my biggest problems with same-sex marriage is that many of those who push most stridently for it have no interest in actually committing themselves to anything like a monogamous relationship. Are we (Americans, that is) really so cynical about the value of fidelity?

I'm reminded of the resuscitation scene in The Abyss. "Goddamnit, you bitch, you never backed away from anything in your life! Now fight! Fight!"

Speaking from personal experience, bronchitis is hideously painful and usually means an extended stay in hospital. Further, for HIV positive folks like Andrew, serial infections can be serious and even life-threatening.

Speaking from personal experience, bronchitis is hideously painful and usually means an extended stay in hospital.

Is that so? I know a woman with chronic bronchitis and she doesn't tell me she's frequently hospitalized. She's never mentioned being hospitalized for bronchitis, actually.

I'm not saying it never happens. I'm saying that based on my second-hand personal experience, it's an affliction, but not one requiring frequent hospitalization.

Further, for HIV positive folks like Andrew, serial infections can be serious and even life-threatening.

I really don't like the quick play of the HIV card.

If Sullivan becomes genuinely ill, I'll refrain from making negative comments. I don't wish serious illness on him.

I'm documenting a fault of Sullivan's which I don't think has much relationship to his HIV status -- the girlie "journaling" nature of his blog, with his frequent off-topic posts about his life. I suppose readers who are actually interested in Sullivan, the Human Being Who Hurts, might find such irrelevancies "on-topic." I don't. To the extent I read his blog at all, I read for politics.

Not to get graphic with all of you, but I had GI problems this weekend. I'll leave that vague so as not to put images in anyone's head.

Should I have posted about it?

Do you care?

It happened to me, and even I don't care about it. I mean, I sort of cared at the time; now that's it's passed, I care not at all, except in a "Thank goodness that's over" sense.

I know you're a good guy, but for crying out loud, why don't you keep that HIV card up your sleeve for when it's genuinely warranted. The next thing you'll tell me is that his constant updates on beagles or P-town is also an HIV-related syndrome, because, as someone who's gay and afflicted with a life-threatening illness, he feels a special need to seek the company of similarly-situated persons, and adorable tri-color hunting dogs, and thus I should make greater allowances for him.

Fight, you indomitable bitch! God damn you, fight.

I don't get it, Dean.

Maybe you think that Sullivan is heroic or something for managing to, um, blog while afflicted with HIV.

Maybe you think it's important that he remind you of this stoic heroism on a weekly basis.

I don't. I know he has HIV, and if his situation actually worsens (and I trust we'll hear about that), I will wish him well.

But this business of the daily sniffles-alert is just too narcissistic. I can't put to fine a point on this: I don't care, and I wouldn't care if any other blogger were telling me such trivialities with such insistent frequency.

If you're saying I should care just because he has HIV, I say: No, sorry, that won't wash.

Getting sick, being run-down, etc., is a fairly common human occurrence. And chronic medical conditions aren't terribly uncommon either, unfortunately. It doesn't just happen to Sullivan or those with HIV.

You'll have to explain why I have some special prerogative to be interested in Sullivan's health especially.

And just to make this doubly-clear:

Regarding major changes in health, sure, I think that a blogger should, if he wants, report such changes.

If a blogger I read was diagnosed with some terrible disease, I wouldn't begrudge him letting me know that. He'd have both my interest and my prayers (such as the latter might be).

But Sullivan is, by his own reporting, living a fairly normal life, and his real health -- his life-and-death health -- is, again by his own reporting, pretty good. The man is more physically active than I am, certainly.

If this changes, then yes, he can and should mention it (if he wishes), and you won't hear anything negative from me.

But your formulation seems to be that "HIV affects a man's health" and therefore "any minor malady is important news concerning someone with HIV."

I disagree. I am aware of Sullivan's general health (basically healthy, but continuing to live with a potentially deadly disease). I am sympathetic to that. But the fact that I'm sympathetic to his general health status doesn't mean I need updates about the specific (and often trivial) maladies he faces.

We all get sick. That's a fact. It is not, however, necessarily a post.

Complain about Sullivan all you want, but leave the Beagles out of it.

Damnation...my GI acted up this weekend, too. I think it was from drinking too much chocolate malted.

Right now I have a crick in my neck.

Feel free to put this as "more" addition to your Sullivan post, free of charge.

I used to suffer from CSD, then it occured to me,
where in my brain is the Ace Of Spades? And how could I put that talent to good use? No matter,
the world is OUT THERE, and so is Andrew Sullivan
and I hope he's feeling better.

But, Joan, does it slice like a hammer? Or was that another blog?

I'm not an activist, but I have it on good authority that I'm fairly narcissistic

I had some mosquito bites this weekend. Later, I felt weak and pitiful. Does that count?

People talking about their personal issues on their personal blogs is their decision, however, Andrew Sullivan's blog is NOT a "personal blog."

What ticks me off about Sullivan's narscisism is that once a year he runs these bloody pledge drives asking for money to keep his website full of "snark disguised as analysis" afloat financially. His blog is really just relating all things current through him personally, so when he talks about his illnesses and dogs, it amplifies his already intenesly personal way of looking at the world.

Since I am the giving type and my giving mentality just flows out of me, I'd say this year when he resumes his pledge drive, we get bloggers together to get him a collective gift certificate at Exxon which is good to only buy gas, presumably for his frickin' bike. This will be a big thank you from all of us in the blog world who have been blessed with snark...I mean insight.

Maybe we can get Instapundit to devote some real estate to mocking Sullivan's time-out bulletins, too. And Lileks, he's pretty inventive; maybe he'll take it up in The Bleat. We don't even have to ask Steyn, I imagine; dude, he's gonna be like all over this one.

Good news, "the antibiotics and inhalers are now working."

Huzzah!

Well, quick then, we'd better milk this for all the comedy potential it has before he finishes his recovery. Hmm, never mind, the teat seems to be dry already.

Ace -- Having read your blog for quite a while now, I've come to the inescapable conclusion that you should send out a daily newsletter. :-)

Ace:

Sorry if I've offended you or touched a raw nerve or something.

I cannot speak to your friend's experience with bronchitis, only my own and my mother's; both of us landed in hospital most of the time when contracting it. And it is painful.