Jon Swift (Al Weisel) died Feb 27, 2010

During the Bush years I found solace in the ironic writings of Jon Swift. He didn't write every day, so I didn't notice when he stopped.

Today, browsing old links, I saw his blog. The last post was in March of 2009, a link to a friend's tragedy.

There's a lot of spam in the comment thread on that post, but midway down is a story ...

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)

The blog went silent almost a year before he died. This news got some coverage in March of 2010, but I don't read many lefty blogs (I'm lefty enough). If you enjoyed Jon's writings, spare a moment for his partner, friends and family.

This post has links to some of his best writing.

I'm guessing his partner didn't have his passwords, or there would have been a follow-up post and the commenting would have been disabled.