Press Conference

"While it is true that our great leader has suffered
injury, he has now recovered, turned on his attackers, and
at this very moment they are dying on the gallows steps."

Analyze This

I'm pleased to see an AP writer reminding us of Saddam's support of terror in the middle east. Of course the Palestinians will miss him. He made many families rich with his $25,000 rewards for suicide/murder bombings. Just throw away a son or daughter and you're on easy street. But what grabbed my attention was a quote from a man in a refugee camp:

Saddam's downfall — his defeat by America, his capture in a filthy hole, his conviction and his execution — dismayed Palestinians. They lionized the former Iraqi leader and praised his willingness to stand up to America and Israel when other Arab leaders would not.

"Saddam was a person who had the ability to say, 'No,' in the face of a great country," said Hosni al Ejel, 46, from the al Amari refugee camp near Ramallah.

Remember the Billy Crystal movie Analyze This?

Dr. Ben Sobel: You don't hear the word "no" a lot, do you?
Boss Paul Vitti: Well, I hear it all the time, only it's more like "no, please, no!"

Don't Tell Me Where We're Going With This

I know where we're going with this..



It's just a matter of time.

Saddam's Execution

Sure, it's interesting to see who is upset over the execution of Saddam. But the net-crazies were with us before the execution and they will be here long after. They'll keep finding proof that secret organizations control the government, that we engineered 9-11, that their neighbor's dog is trying to control their mind with thought rays... It goes on and on. And they've become uninteresting. Ultimately this was an Iraqi solution to an Iraqi problem. And I'm glad that, after years of oppression under the heel of this dictator, the Iraqi people were able to bring him to justice. I'll defer to Iraqi sentiments on the matter, from Iraq the Model:

Executing Saddam is an execution to a dark era in Iraq's history and it's a message to all those who followed his ways that there is no turning back; yes, the people will never kneel to a tyrant again and will never give up.
The future is in the hands of the people and they will choose their way no matter how big the sacrifice is.
We have suffered too much for too long and we deserve a better life and that we will keep pursuing.

Saddam

From a Yahoo page of quotes during his trial:

"I'm Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq.
I am above all." — May 22.

Well, yeah, now.

Drudge Headline

The headline is sometimes all you need:

Woman Charged With Malicious Castration -- during a Christmas party!...

So, of course, my first thought is.... was anyone ever charged with benevolent castration? And close on it's heels, thought two... what does the Christmas party have to do with it? Like you're reading along, la-la-la, hmmm, Saddam to Hang, la-la, Snow in Denver, yadda-yadda-yadda, Woman Charged With Malicious Castration, dum-de-diddle, Polar Bears, who cares, what???? What was that? -- during a Christmas party!??? Oh, well that's different then, that's beyond the pale, no sir, not at a Christmas party you don't.

Like, if it had been at a Tupperware party, that would have been ok.

Who is Joseph Rago Anyway?

And who whizzed in his cornflakes?

The Blog Mob
"Written by fools to be read by imbeciles."

......Every conceivable belief is on the scene, but the collective prose, by and large, is homogeneous: A tone of careless informality prevails; posts oscillate between the uselessly brief and the uselessly logorrheic; complexity and complication are eschewed; the humor is cringe-making, with irony present only in its conspicuous absence; arguments are solipsistic; writers traffic more in pronouncement than persuasion . . .

"by and large, homogeneous"?

I think we can all agree this is false.

"careless informality prevails"?

I have to admit the term 'asshat' has always come across as a tad familiar. So, though I don't think I've ever used the term, in the interest of formality, I'm prepared to label Joe Rago: Mr. Asshat.

"uselessly brief"?

touché

"uselessly logorrheic"?

huh?

"irony present only in its conspicuous absence"?

.

JR Salzman

I got to Lumberjack in a Desert via Mudville Gazette, which passed on this ungood news:

it is hard for me to tell you all this but i was hurt by an ied here. my right arm has been amputated below the elbow, my left has four working fingers. my legs are fine so l can still logroll! i am on my way to the hospital in germany, then back to the states for more care. i am in high spirits. i am going to be ok, but i will have a long road to recovery. please remember me in your prayers, as well as those who were injured with me. i will let you know more as time passes.

~ J.R. SALZMAN

What a way to find out there are other blogging lumberjacks (technically: blumberjacks, or, in my case, blogging faux lumberjacks, or bloflumberjacks) out there. Don't know why I never googled "lumberjacks," though a fair amount of traffic gets here by way of searches. Anyway, I wish I'd found Lumberjack in a Desert under different circumstances. I'm wishing JR Salzman the best of luck in his recovery. He's in our prayers.

Lone Ranger

Misleading Photo

Much has been made of a single photo showing John Kerry eating alone on his recent trip to Iraq. Later photos show that the senator did have table mates at one point in the meal. It also should be pointed out that most of the senator's friends in Iraq are not allowed in the Green Zone. This made it hard for him to coordinate meetings, lunches, etc.