Courtesy of Little Green Footballs — today is the tenth anniversary of the battle in Mogadishu that became the focus of the film, Black Hawk Down. Particularly interesting are Osama bin Laden’s comments from a 1997 interview with Robert Fisk.
Damage Control, etc II
Here’s an AP update to all the Schwarzenonsense from the past 24 hours or so. According to an Austrian news source, California’s leading candidate for Governer terminated a meeting of neo-Nazis when he was 17 years old, hunting them down and dispersing them. There’s been five more women who’ve come forward with more groping stories, which Mickey Kaus covers in his latest entry.
Who says we ain’t got couth?
President Bush surprises everyone with his deep, artistic side by writing poetry. This ought to silence those of his foes who dare to challenge his intellect, eh?
Requiem for a Dream (review w/spoilers)
I haven’t absorbed the movie Requiem for a Dream in enough detail to give a thorough review, but I can give some impressions of it from two viewings. The primary feeling I got from the movie is hopelessness. There is no redemption in RFAD. From the first moments of the film, you know that the lives of its characters are sad and wretched, and the strong impression that they won’t be going anywhere but down is quickly validated.
This is a terrific movie nonetheless, and I think if you can handle the subject material and some graphic scenes of violence and sex (especially towards the end), you can’t help but carry this movie with you. Both Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly do great work, but Ellen Burstyn really walks off with this movie. Maybe it’s because hers is the most sympathetic character and her destruction is so unbearably sad, but that’s true because of Burstyn’s brilliance. Marlon Wayans is also exceptional in a smaller role; he should do more dramatic work in the future.
This is ranked #46 on IMDB. Definitely deserves to be in that neighborhood, although some reviewers say it doesn’t measure up to Trainspotting. I haven’t seen that one yet, but Trainspotting would have to be almost unbelievable great to top this.
Oh, here come the protests
I can see PETA protesting this — perhaps they’d prefer Cheney or Wolfowitz take a turn as a beefeater. Or, better yet, Bush could do the tasting to keep the mice safe.
Damage Control, etc
Mickey Kaus continues to have fun with this story. Unfortunately, he’s probably right about the transient nature of the bounce; it’s likely a result of Ah-nold trying to “terminate” the scandal with a quick mea culpa, as well as the high level of disgust at the LA Times for spending several weeks specifically to dredge up this kind of crap.
It’s not that I don’t think that the women are lying, although the fact that four of the six won’t identify themselves, and all six never availed themselves of the legal system, does not give me confidence. Arnold himself acknowledged that he’s done something, after all. And the incidents in the report are all ugly. But for crying out loud, after all the screeching the Times did over the Clinton sexual peccadiloes (that occured while he was in office, with staff underlings, on the public dime) being blown out of proportion and none of our business, what the hell were they doing spending all that money specifically to dig up this specific kind of dirt?
A long shot, if you’ll pardon the pun
I doubt this will pan out for the sniper suspects, seeing as how the 9th Circuit won’t have jurisdiction on appeal.
David Kay’s report explained in better detail
Power Line’s Big Trunk has posted an e-mail he received from author Dr. Laurie Mylroie that explains more about the David Kay report. Go now and read the entire message, and while you’re at it check out all of Power Line. It’s a great blog.
Also, they have an entry two posts below the Mylroie e-mail with a link to an article in the Sun, a British newspaper, on the Kay report.
Let’s piss off Glenn Reynolds
Glenn’s right — we should all be reviewing actual news sources for our blogs. But let’s all go to Instapundit first just to piss him off.
Defending the indefensible
Allen Barra defends Rush Limbaugh in his recent contretemps over Donovan McNabb. I think Barra is all wet on this one. McNabb may not have fulfilled his potential at Philadelphia, but he’s hardly to blame for being the leading rusher on a team that can’t run block or pass block worth a damn. Besides, the point isn’t whether McNabb is overrated; he probably was, but expectations have come down quite a bit for him. However, Limbaugh’s assertion that the media deliberately overrated him as a sort of affirmative action program is just too much to swallow. There is hardly a dearth of black quarterbacks in the NFL these days, and they don’t need the press to make them feel good about their performances.
ESPN made a mistake in hiring Limbaugh, and Limbaugh made a mistake in taking the job. Normally I respect Limbaugh’s intelligence even if I disagree with him, but in this case he was a fool. At least he seems to have wised up. I wonder how long it will be until Allen Barra does the same.