Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
My girlfriend wrote to me last night asking why the disparity in Osama’s death, vs when it was reported. She also asked, “Won’t someone else just rise up to take his place?” Here’s my response:
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Based on what I’m hearing, OBL *was* killed a week ago, and word is just now getting out about it. The reason for the delay is due to the need to extract DNA evidence to be sure it’s really him. Supposedly this takes about a week.
The US government would have really egg on its face if it turned out to be a false celebration, so it’s understandable that they wanted to make absolutely sure before going public with the news.
As to your second question, no, this absolutely isn’t the end of terrorism. I doubt it is even the *beginning* of the end to our involvement in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Al Queda, which was founded and ostensibly led by Osama Bin Laden (OBL), isn’t really something you can cut the head off of. It’s not like the Nazis were under Hitler, with everything controlled directly from the top. It’s more like a loosely organized network of small individual terrorist cells all over the world, each of which has a great deal of individual autonomy. And then, of course, there are other terrorist groups who never answered to Osama to begin with – Hezbollah, Hamas, Abu Sayyif, Islamic Jihad, and a few others I could name for you.
However, don’t misunderstand. This DOES have meaning. OBL was the world’s most wanted man for ten years because he masterminded and planned the most horrific attack on our country in its entire history. A lot of people wanted him dead for doing that. He and/or his terror organization also were responsible for planning and executing a bunch of other attacks on our interests – World Trade Center 1993, Khobar Towers 1996, US embassies in Africa 1998, USS Cole 2000, and probably others I’ve forgotten. Thousands of our people died in those attacks. Killing him is a huge PR victory if nothing else.
Finally, you have to realize that while OBL is far from the world’s only terrorist, he was a charismatic leader who was instrumental in recruiting radicalized young Muslim men into Al Queda and other terrorist organizations allied with it. The mere fact that he’d eluded death or capture for ten long years – with the world’s most powerful and well-funded military going all-out to find him – was a big freaking deal in the Muslim world. It was bragging rights. It suggested that he was a really smart guy who knew how to outwit the combined might of all the Western world’s intelligence agencies.
Now, he is dead and none of that counts anymore. It also sent a message to anyone else who’d been thinking about attacking the United States: “We will hunt you down. We will pursue you to the ends of the Earth. We don’t care whose borders we violate in the process. (Rumor has it Pakistan didn’t even know our guys were in-country.) There’s nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. We will never stop chasing you, and we’ll find you, and we’ll kill you, even if it takes ten years and billions of dollars.” That right there is a very important message to send.
As for the bit about this assuring Obama’s re-election, I’ll believe it when I see it. He still has to contend with $5/gallon gas, unemployment through the roof, an unpopular healthcare law, a shift in the ideological mood of the country, and a housing market that’s in shambles, as well as other problems. The average citizen is going to care a lot more about that than he does OBL, come next November.
- cylarz | 05/02/2011 @ 13:38