Scum spam
: Osama bin Laden allegedly sent email to an Arab paper in London.
Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of al-Quds al-Arabi, said last night that the message, headed “A Bin Laden Communique”, denounced Saudi Arabia’s Middle East peace initiative and praised Palestinian suicide attacks….
The message also praised Palestinian suicide attacks on Israelis and urged Muslims to launch jihad, or holy struggle, against the Jewish state.
“The Jews try in vain to flee, finding no refuge and becoming exposed to exploding bodies that make them taste death and chased by horror,” it said. It described suicide bombings in Israel and the September 11 attacks as “the great events” and “the blessed jihad”.
There has been no proven communication from Bin Laden since the height of the Afghan war. It was unclear last night whether the message was genuine, but if so it would be the first evidence that he has survived the bombing.
If anything will bring him out of hiding, it will be his ego.
Uncle Miltie
: Milton Berle died. Of course, I’m sorry to hear that. On his last appearance on Howard Stern’s show, he proved to be a wry and funny and up to any comic challenge.
I know I’ll be accused of being cruel and heartless and nasty for saying this, but I dread the nostalgia that will come from this. People will be wailing about how he represented the “golden age” of TV. But that’s bull. Early television was bad vaudeville; it was tinny, not golden: silly, slapstick, obvious, easy. The truth is that the golden age of TV is now; television today is filled with far greater talent and imagination and artistry. I don’t mean to detract from Miltie’s pioneering in a new medium; can’t take that away from him. But I just have to say that young people should ignore all the nostaglic claptrap they are about to hear; things weren’t always better in the old days; sometimes, things actually get better over time and TV is one of those things.
: Mac Thomason is crueler than I am.
Bastards
: Big suicide bombing in Israel, killing 19 people and injuring more than 100 (at latest count).
: And we should listen to Arafat… why?
: And we should give a shit about the Palestinians… why?
Sympathy is dying fast. Oops, it just died.
Victimology
: So now a class-action suit on behalf of all black Americans has been filed against three companies that allegedly profited from slavery well more than a century ago under the doctrine that if the Jews can do it (for genocide in their lifetime) then shy shouldn’t the next guy?
Where the hell does this end, this exploitation of victimhood?
By this logic…
: The Jews should certainly sue Egypt for their time in slavery under the Pharaohs. Let’s get it filed in time for Passover, eh?
: Native Americans should sue England, France, and Spain for taking their land.
: Native Canadians should sue the Hudson’s Bay Company for taking their land and furs (and then PETA should sue them, too).
: Muslims should Christians for the Crusades (hey, it sure would beat murdering us en masse).
Where the hell does it end, this idiocy?
When do people stop being victims? When do people stop being perpetrators? Where does guilt end? Where does entitlement end?
My ancestors were dirt-poor hillbillies in Appalachia who couldn’t afford shoes let alone slaves. Yet this suit would have me pay for the sins of others’ ancestors because, just for instance, I happen to be a customer of Fleet bank, one of the defendants in the suit. So what moral code says I should pay higher checking fees because somebody 200 years ago did something wrong? And what moral code says that the next generation should carry guilt for the sins of not just our fathers but our father’s father’s father’s father’s fathers?
Idiocy. Offensive idiocy.
If the courts do not throw this out immediately, the courts are a jackass.
The cure for blogstipation
: Some folks just disappear from blogdom for awhile (Thomas Nephew, phone home!). Some store up their posts and then eat a good, big bowl of prunes and out it comes. Nick Denton is of the latter variety and he’s posting like mad from PC Forum. Good stuff.
Denton is also assuring himself new nicknames as he tweaks the Sergeants (who just dubbed him a “prissy airheaded blonde”). The other day, another blogger — I apologize for not remembering which one — dubbed Denton a “schoolmarm” and that reputation will only be amplified with Denton’s posts yesterday on proper blog etiquette.
: Update. Daypop is wonderful. I find that Reid Stott created the schoolmarm moniker for Nick.
The dreaded Afghan spring II
: If you’re keeping score for the future, note that the NY Times joins the chorus warning of a rough spring (coming after the rough winter that wasn’t rough) in Afghanistan. The Guardian started the spring quagmire whining on March 21.
