Glad I'm not the only one disturbed by this:
There is ample reason to feel relief that Osama bin Laden is no longer a threat to the world, and I say that not just because I was among the many congressional staffers told to flee the U.S. Capitol on 9/11. I say that because he was clearly an evil person who celebrated violence against all who he deemed "enemies" -- and the world needs less of such zealotry, not more.
However, somber relief was not the dominant emotion presented to America when bin Laden's death was announced. Instead, the Washington press corps -- helped by a wild-eyed throng outside the White House -- insisted that unbridled euphoria is the appropriate response. And in this we see bin Laden's more enduring victory -- a victory that will unfortunately last far beyond his passing.
For decades, we have held in contempt those who actively celebrate death. When we've seen video footage of foreigners cheering terrorist attacks against America, we have ignored their insistence that they are celebrating merely because we have occupied their nations and killed their people. Instead, we have been rightly disgusted -- not only because they are lauding the death of our innocents, but because, more fundamentally, they are celebrating death itself. That latter part had been anathema to a nation built on the presumption that life is an "unalienable right."
But in the years since 9/11, we have begun vaguely mimicking those we say we despise, sometimes celebrating bloodshed against those we see as Bad Guys just as vigorously as our enemies celebrate bloodshed against innocent Americans they (wrongly) deem as Bad Guys. Indeed, an America that once carefully refrained from flaunting gruesome pictures of our victims for fear of engaging in ugly death euphoria now ogles pictures of Uday and Qusay's corpses, rejoices over images of Saddam Hussein's hanging and throws a party at news that bin Laden was shot in the head.
Sirota is, IMO, 100% right on this. Yes, Osama bin Laden was responsible for the horrors of 9/11. No, the people who are celebrating here are not as bad as OBL. But their knee-jerk reactions of chanting "USA! USA!" and singing "We are the Champions" (Freddie Mercury is spinning in his grave) is a testament to how far this country has fallen.
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Artist - Arend van Dam
Bob Cesca: I have a really hard time believing that Pakistani intelligence wasn't aware of Bin Laden's location, and it would seem that the Obama Administration has similar doubts given the fact that Pakistani authorities were not notified of the raid ahead of time. In other words, they have some 'splainin to do.
Consider the source, but Donald Rumsfeld told Newsmax that Bin Laden's courier was not subjected to "enhanced interrogation" -- aka. torture.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells Newsmax the information that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden was obtained through "normal interrogation approaches" and says the notion that terrorist suspects were waterboarded at Guantanamo Bay is a "myth."Rumsfeld also claims that elements of Pakistani intelligence could have been complicit in hiding the terrorist mastermind, asserts that his killing exonerates George W. Bush's approach to fighting terrorism, and warns that terrorists will likely try to avenge bin Laden's death with new attacks against America or its allies.
Another wingnut myth bites the dust.
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Team Obama watching and orchestrating the events in Abbottabad.
Can you imagine being these people when the word came down that the Seals took him out?
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Worst person in the world
WorldNetDaily contributor Mychal Massie for this:
As Jamil Smith tweeted, perhaps Secret Service should pay Mychal a little visit.
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The Rude Pundit: Dead Terrorist (In Brief)
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Peace and human dignity
First Obama shows us a birth certificate, then a death certificate.
I'm not sorry to see bin Laden dead, but I can't share in the triumphalism currently flooding the airwaves, nor do I feel any sense of relief, since I don't expect this to change anything.
(Triumphalism in Obama's address: "tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to." Dude, it was killing a dude on dialysis, not the freaking moon landing. Though it did take as long to accomplish.)
I could have done without Obama's use of the word justice – "bring him to justice," "justice has been done." This is George Bush's definition of justice, a shooting without a trial. It might be justice in a moral sense, but from the standpoint of a state – the only standpoint a head of state should adopt – the phrase "justice has been done" should only follow a judicial process.
Obama: "His demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity." Because nothing says peace and human dignity like sending soldiers into a foreign country guns blazing.
Speaking of peace and human dignity, this happened 8 years ago today:
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Mario: A Conservative media gone mad.
The assault force of Navy SEALs snatched a trove of computer drives and disks during their weekend raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, yielding what a U.S. official called "the mother lode of intelligence."The special operations forces grabbed personal computers, thumb drives and electronic equipment during the lightning raid that killed bin Laden, officials told POLITICO.
"They cleaned it out," one official said. "Can you imagine what's on Osama bin Laden's hard drive?"
This wasn't just about killing the guy who planned 9/11. This was about defeating the organization behind that attack. And this time, the mission is close being accomplished. For real.
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Waterboarding did not reveal Osama bin Laden's trail.
Of course that's not stopping the MSM from saying it did.
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Fox News congratulates Bush for bin Laden
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Ahh, West Virginia:
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It's official: Donald Trump is now oranger than John Boehner.
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Bush, five months after 9/11. "I just don't spend that much time on him [bin Laden]".
In July 2008, Larry King asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), "If you were president and knew that bin Laden was in Pakistan, you know where, would you have U.S. forces go in after him?"
McCain said he would not.
"Larry, I'm not going to go there and here's why: because Pakistan is a sovereign nation."
Obama said if elected in November 2008 he would be willing to attack inside Pakistan with or without approval from the Pakistani government, a move that would likely cause anxiety in the already troubled region.
"If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will," Obama said.
Keep that McCain quote in mind the next time he's on Meet the Press.
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Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) gave his farewell speech in front of a "mostly empty" Senate chamber, as none of his colleagues came to listen. On his final day in the Senate, Ensign spoke candidly about the sex scandal and ethics investigation that led to his resignation. Rep. Dean Heller (R) will fill the remainder of Ensign's term.
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Meet the deathers: Andrew Breitbart website publishing conspiracy that Osama might not be dead.
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While America's useless young people were busy chanting brain-dead Neanderthal slogans in front of the White House on Sunday, angry mobs of uncivilized Africans attacked many of the Western embassies in Tripoli! Why would they do something so loathsome and disgusting? (Ha-ha, which "they" are we talking about, again?) Here is your "no fly zone," neoliberal freaks: "NATO bombed Gaddafi's family compound in an attack officials said killed the leader's second youngest son and three grandchildren, ages six months to two years." Wow, we showed those infants? In a different but equally "winning" maneuver, NATO decimated the Libyan Down's Syndrome Society, which "prepares children with Down's Syndrome up to the age of 6 to go to normal schools, giving them speech therapy, handicrafts and sports sessions and teaching them to read and write." And the Internet is outraged! In fact, Papa John's just announced on Twitter that they've "taken steps to make sure [their] advertising doesn't appear on NATO's website in the future." It's nice to know that people really care. [The Guardian/Reuters]
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Here's the Death-Stare Face Obama Made While Waiting Yesterday.
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Hitler finds out bin Laden is dead.
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