I saw the Last Samurai yesterday. It was ok- I didn’t feel like my money had been wasted when it was over. I guess you can call that a movie review. Probably should have seen Master and Commander.
John Cole started Balloon Juice early in 2002. Those who have followed along know that this has been quite the journey.
On Another Note
Do they not have firecrackers in the Middle East? Why do these people keep shooting bullets up into the air? It seems to me a wise entrepeneuer would start a firecracker import company.
We Got the Bastard
American military officials confirmed today that Saddam Hussein had been captured alive in Tikrit on Saturday night.
They confirmed that it was him based on DNA evidence.
In Baghdad, huge crowds celebrated in the streets with gunfire.
The most emotional aspect was watching the Middle Eastern reporters reaction during the announcement. The other members of the press started taking pictures of them.
L. Paul Bremer III, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, was greeted by cheers today upon announcing the capture of Saddam Hussein.
The Washington Post has more:
The capture of Hussein has been a high priority for U.S. forces since last spring’s invasion, but the former Iraqi leader had proven elusive despite a $25 million reward that the Bush administration offered for information that led to him.
U.S. authorities had received numerous tips about possible hiding places for Hussein and suspect they were close to nabbing him on a few occasions. Hussein’s two sons, Uday and Qusay, were found in July in a house in Tikrit and died in a firefight with U.S. troops.
From his hideouts, Hussein continued to taunt U.S. authorities, issuing periodic audio tapes urging resistance to the American-led occupation. To spearhead the search for him, the Pentagon established a group of Special Operations forces known as Task Force 121. In recent months, U.S. forces have focused on hunting down mid-level former Iraqi officers and mid-ranking onetime Baath Party operatives in hopes they could provide intelligence that might lead to Hussein.
That would be the same Task Force 121 that Seymour Hersh had written this alarmist piece about in the New Yorker. Hersh’s next book should be “How to be Wrong About Everything All the Time.”
How are Democrats going to spin this as an administration failure? My guess is the “But where is Osama catcalls will begin.”
*** Update ***
Atrios’s only remark is to title a link to the story as ‘Something Right.’ The first comment underneath that post is: “Now if only someone would come and capture our ‘leader.'”
I am not exagerating when I say the members of the Atrios ‘moderate’ left have lost their collective minds.
*** Update #2 ***
The Command Post is on the Saddam Capture like ugly on an ape.
More Defense of Dean
Dean Esmay has more in defense of Howard Dean’s deferrment, something we talked about a few days ago here.
This really is a non-issue to me.
Thanks
I got back from the office today and at my doorstep was a box from Amazon chock full of goodies that someone had purchased for me from my Amazon Wish List. A BIG thanks to George Kelly for the brand spanking new copies of Civil Disobedience and Other Essays and The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History.
Thanks a bunch, and I will keep them right here with my other reference books (after I re-read them, of course).
This IS Wrong
This is wrong. No, it isn’t wrong, it is sick.
Misha, there is over-the-top-rhetoric, and then there is what is going on at your site. It is one thing to say Kucinich is sick for using that commercial- I said so myself. It is also perfectly acceptable to state that the author of that flash animation is twisted and evil- any mind that works like that and thinks the deaths of our soldiers is an acceptable form of propaganda in a domestic political campaign is, in my mind, sick and evil. It is perfectly acceptable to point out that out, and I have no problem with anyone stating as much.
I do, however, have a problem when you step over the line as you have done here. Read your own words, the words you directed at the author of the flash animation:
Here’s a hint to you, ****: The gov’t can’t do anything to you over that ad, but that’s the extent of your protection under the First Amendment.
The rest of us, however, aren’t the gov’t, in case you’ve forgotten, and quite few of us would be more than happy to wipe that nervous little grin off your traitorous mug – with a belt sander.
Not saying anything in specific, mind you, but we’d be damn careful about showing our face in public if we were you. You just never know who that perfect stranger behind you in that alleyway might be. Could be a sibling or other relative of one of the fallen soldiers that you just took a dump on the grave of, and G-d only knows what might happen then.
Eric may not be famous enough to be a pick for the 2004 Dead Pool, but there’s another signed Imperial Mug for the first LC to inform me that Eric Blumrich has died in a “tragic” accident.
Accidents DO happen, you know, and that’s the kind of news that would definitely make my entire day.
That is a threat, and it is sickening. This is not the voice of reasonable debate. This is no disagreement over policy or issues of he day. This is an out and out threat, no different from the rhetoric that comes from the KKK or the parasites at the Vanguard News Network.
Accidents happen? A reward for information regarding a person’s untimely demise?
Add to that the publication of the personal information (and I give nary a rat’s ass whether it is publicly available) as well as a map to the guy’s house? While the author of the flash animation and Kucinich are capitalizing on our war dead, they are clearly not advocating or anticipating the death of anyone else. Call Kucinich whatever you want- when you start to write things like this and let your commenters say the things they have said in that thread, and it is time for a long look in the mirror.
This is the same sort of tactic that those sick bastards in the anti-abortion movement used to intimidate and bully abortion providers. Publish pictures of them, their routines, their addresses, and when some sick son of a bitch like that swine Paul Hill murdered one, they crossed their name off the list. How can you possibly even dismiss that this is not a threat?
This is the tactic of intimidation, calling on the elimination of political opponents. It is frightening. It IS fascistic. This is the brownshirt mentality. It is evil, wrong, unconscionable, unethical, immoral, and most of all, it is downright twisted.
People have long pestered me to de-link you, but I have always let you have a long leash, because I figured your over-the-top rhetoric was just that- rhetoric. This, however, reads like a call to action, and I can not and will not condone it. Could you live with yourself if one of your readers did murder this man in a ‘tragic accident?’ Would you really be able to glibly state that you had no part in his demise? Be honest with yourself.
Until you remove that post and permanently ban all those who posted this man’s private information, issue an apology to the individual who you have threatened, and seriously re-evaluate the harm your rhetoric could cause, consider our relationship terminated. If this post reflects your real sentiments, and your ideal approach to politics, you are not the person I thought you were. This post was disturbing in its audicity, frightening in its implications, a horrible misuse of free speech, and most of all, it was Un-American.
*** Update ***
Whoever is responsible for threatening BlackFive is a real treat, too.
Furthermore, I don’t want this comments thread to devolve into a bash Misha-a-thon. That was not the point of this post at all. I wrote it because it frightened me, and I don’t think Misha really understands how far over the line he went and how dangerous and irresponsible that post was.
Enemy of the (Democratic) State
Also via Oliver (who is posting like a man possessed), we see this:
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader said Thursday he is leaning toward another independent run for the presidency and will make his decision public in January.
“We’re testing the waters,” Nader said in an interview with CNN. “It’s a high probability but that is yet to be determined.”
Nader has formed an exploratory committee for a 2004 run and said he would gauge his support through the success of fund-raising efforts and the number of volunteers who come forward.
If you thought the Democrats hated Bush and Reagan, you ain’t seen nothing yet.