BLATHER REVIEW

To a lot of us "old" hands, Rachel was far more than just another blogger. Bill Whittle, our Imperial Minister of Truth and Gift to Mankind, got started blogging in part because of The Duchess' gentle prodding and our own site, The Rott', was designed pretty much entirely by her. Apart from a few minor changes, what you see today is all Rachel's work.

And to those of us lucky enough to get to know her personally (Bill, myself, Mr. and Mrs. du Toit, just to name a few) she and her brother Rick became very dear friends.

Her sunny disposition, her razor sharp wit, her astounding vocabulary and her unflinching loyalty and generosity towards those lucky enough to be counted among her friends make up for a total that is infinitely larger than the sum of her parts, and we miss her daily insights more than words can adequately express.

But life got in the way (in a good way, we should add, lest people start worrying about her), and the BlogoSphere lost one of its best.

However, we'll always have the memories and the hope that one day, somewhere, she'll put up another site or revive her old one.

We miss you, Rachel, we miss you and thank our Maker that we got to know you.

Rachel got me addicted to blogsites. I was trying to look something up on the Internet, mis-spelled the word, and somehow, her site was in my search results. No connection to what I was looking for, just there. Out of curiousity, I clicked on it, and fell in love almost immediately. Since I started reading her on her downward slide, I can only imagine what she was like in her prime. But, part-time, and short of opportunity, she was head and shoulders better than opinions I had read up to that point. (My city's conservative newspaper endorses mostly Democrats. You don't want to know who the liberal paper endorses). Well, when she started to go on hiatus, I started clicking on some of her links, and found The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller, along with IMAO. And have been lurking in the background there for about 3 months. And because of the chain of events that started with a mis-spelled word, (I wish I could remember what it was, but it had NO relation to her name, site, or topic) here I am, considering starting my own blog, when I get the money and hardware. So, thank you, Rachel. You have done far more for me than I for you. May all your endeavors be as succesful as your site.

I posted this in Emperor Misha's comments too, but as long as I'm here, I'll direct you to a place where you can read Rachel's archives up until June of 2003:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030623142438/http://rachellucas.com/

The Wayback Machine rocks.

Dear T.S., I am honored beyond belief that you even put me in the same sentence with Rachel Lucas!

Rachel Lucas is exceptional because she is so completely ordinary -- and I mean that as the highest compliment. Rachel is readable, and Rachel touches so many people, because she has uncommon common sense, and by that I mean, when you read Rachel Lucas, you wonder how people like Michael Moore could even get through their morning coffee before slapping themselves on the forehead and saying "I'm an idiot!"

Rachel tells the truth straight up, simple, and right on the money. She doesn't take no crap from no one.

That's what made me a regular reader. But like my Liege Lord, Emperor Misha I, she single-handedly coded my entire website, for free, and made innumerable changes for me for months afterward. She is generous, humble, decent and cool.

I refuse to speak of Rachel in the past tense. The Islamicists can have their Mahdi - we have Rachel, who will re-appear some day when we need her the most.

I don't want to tell anyone else what to do, but I for one put her at the top of my rather limited blogroll and there she stays.

I'm glad I asked.

Clearly, it was my loss and misfortune to have not wandered into the world of blogging sooner than I did.

I just read the archive that CD linked - thank you. Now I really have an understanding of what/who I missed.

I dearly miss Rachel, too. As Spork pointed out, even the pic is gone, but there's a nice one here. Also, I can't seem to find it in his archives but Misha had some additional pics of a get-together of Dallas bloggers last year with pics of her.

I posted this comment at nicedoggie.net:

Rachel (I still find it hard to use the familiar) gave me a feeling of wanting to do something more after the double blow of losing my mother and a month later, 9/11.
My son had joined the Army out of HS in the summer of 2001 and was just starting boot camp when the Wahabe hit the fan in September and I nearly lost it.

For over a year and a half I was in a depressed stuper half the time when one day I followed a link (or hat tip) from *eeevilll Glen's* site to Rachel's.

Like Humble DD, I only came late to the party. She changed me though. She helped direct my anger and give it focus. I invested in over $4500.00 in computer equipment, built a home network (wireless and wired LAN), so I could let everyone in my home find the things Rachel showed me how to find.

I bought one of her cups (I've a Rotty one, too, sire) with that rainbow and her logo "Imagine No Liberals". It shattered into 50 pieces last November and I carefully glued it back together. It will never be a transport for my Monitor Wash™ again, but it now sits on my primary console as a pencil holder and I gaze on her smile every day.

I have a deep respect for you VRWC guys. Rachel Lucas showed me a new way to make friends.

***Thanks for that fine post TS, and thank you CD, for the tip on her archives I'm gonna do a lot of catch-up there.***

What a great post! I, too, miss her every day as she was one of the first bloggers I ever emailed. Fortunately, I still have her response archived. I can appreciate how life can get in the way but, I wish she could find a way to come back to us. Hope springs eternal. Best, Terry

Not a week goes by when I don't kick myself for not ordering her Imagine no Liberals mug!!! Argh! Stupid, stupid, stupid me!!!

Sorry Misha, but I always read Rachel first. Above all, I appreciated Rachel's understanding of history and how she used that knowledge to skewer the various asshats she encountered. I particularly loved her stories about trying to jump start the thought processes of the liberal "elite" she met in her university classes - took me back to the days when my engineering classmates and I threw an anti-war protestor out of a third story window when he tried to disrupt a lecture with a "student strike" 3 weeks before finals. Being engineers, we didn't have Rachel's verbal skills, but we knew how to communicate with asshats!

I still click over to her site about once a month to see if somehow, someway, she's decided to start blogging again. She is sorely missed.

Rachellucas.com was the first blog I ever visited - or heard of, for that matter. Once I found it, I was hooked. I immediately fell in love with Rachel (along with just about every other guy who happened across her blog, I'm sure).

I too, miss her sharp wit and beautiful Texas smile. I check her site at least once or twice a week just to see if she's started up again.

Someday maybe...
I miss you Rachel - and I **still** love you!

Rachel's was the first blog I read, got to it via a link in a gunnie email List that pointed to Bill Whittle's essay. After reading the essay, I perused the comments, which led to Kim Dutoit's site, and then to others. I now waste WAY too much time reading blogs.

And, I tear up a bit every time I think of Rachel's blog being "gone". It will be a wonderful day in BlogLand if she decides to come back.

I'm another one that refuses to think Rachel is gone, it's just a long vacation.
My only regret in life is that she was born so late, or I so early. Not that I would trade my wife of thirty-five years but that I never learned the word 'asshat' until I retired from law enforcement, it's a word I badly needed and now, too late, have.
One has to think that she'll be back, there's too much talent fighting it's way out.

Spork, please accept my thanks, sincere compliments and undying gratitude for stirring our collective memory of Rachel's touchstone blog.

I posted this over on Misha's site, where I found this link to your tremendous site. Yep, I'll be visiting often!

***

Rachel's was the very first blog I'd ever read. In fact, before finding her link from ThoseShirts, I'd never even heard of the term "blog"!

The rest, as they say, is history. From her magnificent site, I soon found Mr.&Mrs. DuToit, Acidman, and of course, His Rottishness.

And from their combined inspiration, Smoke on the Water came to be.

If I could ask anything for a blogiversary next November, it would be a guest post from Ms. Lucas.

We surely do miss you, Rachel.

Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX

I miss Rachel's blog. I think I came across her site years back from a link on the now sadly defunct "right wing texan" blog. Her site was my first stop of the day. I often wished I had both the talent and nerve to say what she wrote. I was able to live vicariously through her rants~!

I still have her linked on my favorites list and like others I'll cruise back by her site about once a month or so ... or occasionally when I read some truly over the top piece of news I'll cruise by wishing for a Rachel Rant.

I'm glad to hear that good 'real world' stuff is taking her time, but hope that someday she'll miss it enough to come back to blogging.

I'm cross posting at the Emperor's place and here - because Rachel deserves it! Thanks for posting about her - it's always nice to know you're not alone!

***********

And here I thought I was the only one silly enough to keep clicking on my bookmark to see if Rachel has returned! I see that not only am I NOT alone, but much of the blogosphere is doing the same thing. Amazing!

For the life of me, I can't remember how I found her blog. It might have been a link thru Instapundit, but from the first reading, I was hooked! She had already disabled comments by the time I started reading her site, which makes me feel sad that I missed the opportunity to throw my support behind her in writing.

She has such a gift of expressing herself, especially when it came to the Hollywood left. Her posts on Michael Moore were classics.

She had stopped blogging well before I started my blog, and I never thought to add her to the blogroll (D'OH!!!) I think I'll do that tonight. It's a fitting tribute to someone who is 1000 times the blogger I could ever hope to be!

Hope springs eternal that she will one day return with that razor sharp wit and extraordinary turn of phrase.

When I first read Rachel I felt like I had just read an instruction manual on How to Write a Blog. (Only James Lileks ever invoked that same feeling.)
She has the gift of kvetch, and most of her posts seemed to be oh so chock full of Rachelly ranty goodness! Ol' Ranty McRant, she once called herself...

Yep, Rachel was the first blog for me too, found via a google search. I immediately sent links to some friends who got hooked as well, as did my daughter Mookie (also a Rachael).

When Mookie started checking out politcal books from the library and admitted blogging them on her livejournal site, I emailed Rachel and told her about it, she sent back a wonderfully upbeat and kind letter.

She's missed, and I'm glad to hear that she's doing well.

Again I say HOLY. CRAP!

I just commented over at Misha's about all this, and I will say it here again - I AM STUNNED. Seriously folks, I had no idea people even still gave one moment's thought to me or my blog. I really am in shock and awe.

I have to bring the blog back now. Have no choice. Thank you all SO much, you have no idea what pleasure you've brought to me this beautiful spring morning. I am simply basking in it.

Thank you all, I mean that. You rule.

YAY! SHE'S COMING BACK! THANK YOU RACHEL!

First blogs that I ever read were Rachel's, Misha's, den Beste's, Bill's and that Frank guy.

I am pretty sure that Rachel patented "Asshat"...a term that has taken the world by storm. My three year old used it in preschool and got his mommy in a bit of trouble (for using it so often).

Best Rachel Lucas Post: How the Blogosphere is like High School

...makes me laugh even harder now that I'm a blogger, too.

Come back soon, Rachel. We need you. Until then, we've still got you linked.

Yay! You awoke the sleeping princess with a kiss, and she's back to her feisty self! My goodnes, T.S., you deserve a freaking medal!

Yay! She should be an honorary Munuvian.

Rachel says it is your fault...
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
Hurrah! Hooray! La dee Da! Life is sweet!

Oh. My. God.

Yeeeeeeeeeee HAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!

Now that Rachel is making a comeback, I have one suggestion to readers who maintain sites of their own - let's all show our support by linking to her.

She was hard-coded into my previous blogroll. I checked (via Favorites) to see when/if she'd ever do anything -- and lo and behold. . .

Rachel is one of the warmest, kindest and nicest women -- with a razor-sharp tongue -- that I've ever had the pleasure to meet. By "meet" I say via e-mail. I shyly emailed her back in February and March of 2003 and she generously offered help in starting my own blog.

She's one of a kind. And I'm SO GLAD she's going to grace us with her sassy wit.

Thanks T.S.! I owe you a beverage of your choice!

Wow,

Damn Glad I asked the right guy that question.