Quickies

(A round-up of news items, articles, columns and blog posts that caught our eye this past week.)






Count us among those puzzled (outraged?) at the controversial rapper Common's appearance at a White House poetry gala this past week.

Have you heard? He might possibly be pro-life. This administration... this administration invites a pro-life wing nut to one of their hootenannys?

Oh, you can check out his, um, performance at the event, here.

The Liberator Today takes a look at the Kabuki theater that is Big Oil-bashing and the tax debate regarding the same, here.






So, let's get this straight: we don't release the "hit" photos of bin Laden because we don't want to appear to be "spiking the ball in the end zone" or otherwise enflaming delicate jihadist sensibilities but we let everyone know about the porn stash found at the OBL compound.

Again, we commend the President in making the decision to take out OBL but the administration's post-hit messaging has been kind of a disaster.


Totally related victory lap quote of the day:

Speaking at a town hall with Marines at Camp Lejeune on Thursday morning, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Special Forces who participated in the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden were worried about their safety, and that he was concerned that so many details of the operation had become known to the public.

“Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden,” Gates said. “That all fell apart on Monday -- the next day.”

Gates’ response was prompted by a question from a Marine in a Medical Logistics Company, who asked “what measures are being taken to protect the identities and the lives of the SEAL team members, as well as the lives of military forces deployed that might have to face extreme retaliation from terrorist organizations that want to have those identities known?”

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Libyan rebels will meet senior White House officials in Washington Friday, seeking both cash and diplomatic legitimacy in their war to topple Muammar Gaddafi.

The head of the rebel National Transitional Council's executive bureau, Mahmoud Jebril, will meet President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, and other senior officials, the White House said in a statement.

Jebril, a U.S.-educated technocrat who has become the public face of the rebel council, made a plea for Washington to free up some $180 million in frozen Gaddafi funds to fund the rebels fighting to end his 41-year rule.

If and when our post-OBL snuff buzz wears off perhaps the press could kindly ask of the administration just what the hell it is we are doing in Libya. Are we preventing a civilian massacre, aiding the rebels, attempting to snuff out Gaddafi... all the above?
And would it be above Congress to start asking the same questions?

It's times like this when we wish President Bush were back in office. People would be asking questions. But you knew that.





Ummm... just so no one forgets, there are a couple of young U.S. citizens currently languishing in prison in Iran.

Trial has been delayed again for two Americans detained in Iran for more than 21 months after being detained during a hiking trek along the Iran-Iraq border.

According to their lawyer, neither Shane Bauer, a freelance journalist who has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, nor his pal Joshua Fattal, were even brought to the courtroom on Wednesday, which was the next scheduled hearing in their ongoing trial on security charges.

"The hikers were not fetched from the jail to court," said Masoud Shafii, their Tehran attorney, who said he submitted a complaint to the court.

Authorities offered no explanation for the delay. Neither did they announce a new trial date. They're being held inside Tehran's infamous Evin Prison as they face charges of espionage and trespassing.

Somewhat surprised by the nature of the comments at linked article from the L.A. Times.





More fun in Arizona: Proceeds from tea party license plates going to AZ tea party groups? No thanks.

Sounds like either a false flag operation or establishment Republicans attempting to pit tea party groups against one another. Any tea party group there in Arizona that thought this was a good idea are kind of missing the point here in all this.

Leslie of Temple of Mut has the details here.

And speaking of Arizona, tax-payers in Tucson got a chance to hear just what is in one of the text books of the controversial ethnic studies cirriculum program that is offered there to grade schoolers.



Let's see: "rape", "castration", "destroy capitalism", "shit", "bloodsuckers", "bullshit"... not too shabby. We hadn't stepped up our vocabulary to that level until at least jr. high.

And, of course, nothing better illustrates the idiocy of all this than the white-haired school board member warning the lady at the podium on her language.

We understand there are some folks there in the south of Arizona that wish to break away from the rest of the state forming a supposed Baja Arizona. Hell, given what it is that they teach in their schools, why stop at merely seceding from the state?