Eye for an Eye makes everyone go blind.

Before I jump back in with both feet, allow me to take a moment to thank the Hamster running on the server wheel to keep this place afloat while we were shut down. It's not often you get free service from the menial, facilities staff but free service we got. Initially we planned to fire the Hamster for posting opposing view points and, frankly, contrived hate speech but traffic increased and we were able to save some jobs in the Ahlblog reorganization this past month. So, from time to time, we will be entertaining some opposing viewpoints from the Hamster and maybe we will even post a debate between the Hamster and myself, Ahlblogger. That said, let us get past the housekeeping horse shit and onto the big story of the day...

The White House situation room while they skype with Osama bin Laden getting shot.

This was a surreal milestone for me, while I certainly felt a sort of joy that they "finally got him" and the quite sudden media-a-palooza that kicked in late Sunday night had it's usual detached excitement. I can't help but feel a little guilty as I just don't think it's all that great to celebrate a death, essentially a political assassination, by filling the streets with mock patriotism.

well, perhaps "mock patriotism" is a bit too high handed or judgmental as there certainly was, and is, a catharsis in the fact that Osama has been eliminated in an apparently clear and concise action on our part. But that also facilitates the fantasy that we are the "good guys" and we just killed Hans Gruber at the end of Die Hard. What's done is done and I do not intend to dwell on it much, just a strange vibe that today is a "good day" because Osama apparently had two bullets forcefully sent through his head (or as I have seen a few times today, "double-tapped right over the left eye") in a country that is supposedly an ally who also supposedly didn't know we were doing this until after the fact. Not exactly the kind of shit we put on the school holiday calendar is what I am trying to say.

In a kind of biblical sense justice has been done and personally I think I would rather it this way then a ridiculous show trial that would drag on for months or years. Though it feels naive of me to even pretend that IF Osama simply surrendered rather than apparently taking up arms and going the martyr route:

"If we had the opportunity to take him alive, we would have done that," Brennan said, noting that he and other security officials expected bin Laden to fight back, which he did. "We're hoping to bury the rest of al-Qaeda along with bin Laden."

I wonder if there really would have been a trial? My assumption would have been that he would have been dropped into some black-site, secret prison, or Guantanamo, or the brig of some ship off shore somewhere far, far away from any prying eyes or meddlesome lawyers. Wouldn't it be worth it to "not" torture him (cause, you know, we don't do that in America) and see if he had any useful intelligence? Not that he would have, or tell us anything anyhow. Maybe they did? That's why they haven't released any pictures of him (at the time of this writing anyway)?!?! Maybe they don't need to know anything more and have all they want to continue to "bury the rest of al-Qaeda long with bin Laden." So, tough sounding, isn't it? We're winning again, I guess. Not that it matters, it's completely hypothetical and I hear the whole operation was cleverly named, "Operation Kill Osama" so I get the feeling no one worked too hard to make him surrender.

A couple of quotes that made the social network rounds today I thought were worth putting here to kind of help me sort through the day:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." ~ attributed to Martin Luther King, Jr (but turns out he never said this!)

I can't say that I truly live by this but I think it's one of those quotes that shows our ideals and how they are in reach if we work a little harder to not hate.
The other quote I saw, I think, better sums up the day:

"I've never wished a man dead, but I've read some obituaries with great pleasure." --Mark Twain--

The bigger question one could ask is, "now what?" It would actually be nice if this did change the game and we could now draw down on Afghanistan, Iraq and the rest of our secret and not so secret little wars abroad and bring all the waste, both human and treasure, back home. And when we get home we can get back to that civil republic we used to have before all of this happened. I think my old mentor said it best when he said:

had a dream last night. He dreamt people took to the streets yelling USA!, USA! but this time it was true patriotism rather than blind nationalism, and they called for a restoration of American values: the end of torture, the destruction of Guantanamo, the protection of civil liberties, the end of obsessive secrecy, and a belief in the rule of law and the dignity of human beings. Ah, but it was just a dream.

That is sad on so many levels but especially because the sad reality that the above is supposed to be real, supposed to have been real all along, and instead is one of those, "too good to be true" things that sound good on paper but don't really happen in practice.

Lets flip the coin; one of the worst quotes I saw today was from a typical, conservative type, not unlike our own Hamster running on the server wheel below:

Bin Ladens death... real deal or Presidential marketing ploy.. ? Perfect timing. Just seems suspicious to me from mister "hopey/changey"!! lol!

Yes, Laugh out loud indeed. I suspect that this sort of thing, or this one:

"Bin Laden's body was buried at sea" translates to "this is a hoax to boost Obama's ratings."

Not that anyone is, or will be, shocked that people who already don't like Obama will now suddenly start liking him because he made a tough call, a gutsy call, a W kind of call, and had that trigger pulled on what could have just as easily been another "Operation Eagle Claw."

At any rate, the decision to quickly dump Osama's body in the drink and not immediately release at least a photo of him, among one or two other things, will surely further inflame the fine folks who spent the last two and a half years bloviating about that whole ri-COCK-ulous birth certificate bullshit. Who spend most of their time finding fault in any and everything "not mah president" does. It probably wouldn't have mattered as assholes will be assholes and facts don't do much but enable them to doubt harder.

Surely, if a picture or video are released it will be considered fake just like the birth certificate was. They, nor our new contributor Hamster, will not be swayed and find it waaay easier to indulge in some ridiculous conspiracy theory and pretend they are the smart, independent one's who take the time to be "skeptical" now. Arrogant jag-bags, all of them. I am certain Obama lies to us just as much as any President has and does but I feel like the shit slung at him is just fucking bizarre. From simple things like socialist, to the more ridiculous like the birther thing, the non-American citizen crap, it just smells to me...Like racism. But what do I know? Despite Obama's obvious and direct involvement in "Operation Kill Osama," the memo became this by the end of the day:

Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American soldier, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found UBL and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!! Repost if you agree!!

Ignorant AND stupid. Welp, these people will get theirs in 2012...I get the feeling it will be the conservative's 2004 election! Remember when Clinton won his second term? Yeah, like that...SUCKAS!

No doubt.

The good news is that he does his job with style. One reason that I like the man, if not everything about the President, is that he is pretty damn funny so to help in aiding and abetting the Obama love week: