Dumbshits is right. I'm sure it makes sense for the president to announce to the whole world his intentions on dealing with the pirates during the actual standoff.

A few interesting reads about Somali pirates:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-vazquez/on-piratesb186015.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-somalia-pirates_salopek1oct10,0,6155016.story

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html

Was the mission accomplished? Without the grinning jackass in a flight suit on an aircraft carrier, I can't be sure.

Dumbshits indeed.

I don't know if you've seen this ad against gay marriage Norm that's been going around on youtube(maybe you've already done a post on this before), but when my friend sent this to me today, I was rendered speechless...it's amazing we can even grow this kind of stupidity here in America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp76ly2_NoI

ARRRRRRRR! RRepublicans!

I like how they are angered that the navy would bring in hostage experts from the FBI and then they must all be totally caught off gaurd when they actually did something. Their criticisms are so stupid. They can't see past the end of their noses.

can't we just arrest the idiots for treason yet?

Christ, can you imagine the Republican fallout if Obama were to have a military failure--like losing two wars at once over the course of six years. It's obvious that they (right-wing morons) are no longer rational, not that being rational was ever one of their strong points.

Dumbshit just might be an insult to shit. These clips again make me happy that I watch little - no tv. Gingrich discusses all the pirate attacks in the past year as a criticism that Obama's not taking care of business. Wait a second, Stephanopoulus saved Newt from realizing that Bush didn't do jack about piracy during much of the past 12 months, let alone in the last 8 years.

The last bit should have included that our guys didn't fire until 2/3 pirates had guns pointed at the good captain's back. We should be holding a higher standard in defense: only use weapons if you MUST, not because you're holding one and I'm holding a flag.

I have to say that on a personal note, I find Glen Beck the most objectionable talking head out there. Considering the competition, that's no small statement!

But all hostilities aside (and as much as I'd like to see him tarred and feathered), it really says something poor about our concept of "democracy" (in particular media democracy), when ideologues like Beck, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, etc., can reach such a large audience. It is nothing short of proto-fascism, by which I mean in the absence of a society with fairly decent checks and balances, like the US, they'd be leading the charge for deportations, concentration camps, and probably worse.

On a related note, in Canada, where I'm from, the media situation is arguably worse. Here we're thoroughly dominated by corporate media, with no significant alternatives or advocacy groups with any real voice. For example, the reigning Conservative government recently banned a sitting British MP, George Galloway, from entering the country due to supposed links to "terrorism." His "crime" was being part of a convoy offering humanitarian aid to Gaza after the devastating siege in December/January. He's also an outspoken critic of Israeli policy, which is a no-no in the current climate. In fact, our current Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as well as the Liberal leader of the opposition, Michael Ignatiff, stated that any criticism of Israel is tantamount to anti-Semitism.

Part of the reason they can get away with this is that our corporate media offers very little in the way of critical analysis on this an other issues, and in certain cases (such as with the nation-wide daily the National Post, which part of the country's largest media metwork, CanWest Global) is owned by radical pro-Zionist ideologues. The current CEO is a close personal friend of the current far-Right PM of Israel, Benjamin Netenyahoo (sp).

The only station that covered the Galloway story is the CBC (our public broadcaster), interviewing him from New York, where he was allowed. The CBC is currently under crisis as well, as its been the Conservative's pet project to destroy them for years. Recently, they offered various corporate media outlets $150 billion in bail-out money, while offering the CBC nothing, forcing them to cut jobs (800 already) and to consider a public-private partnership.

It's proto-fascism all around, folks. Hopefully it ain't too late to reverse it!

Enough angry rambling for one day.