Squiggler

Saddam execution imminent - Saddam is now history! (Update)

 

Saddam handed over to Iraqi authorities, all signatures finalized. Execution could take place at any time.  All U.S. forces on "High Alert."

Join Curt and the Flopping Aces readers at:

Swinging Saddam - Live Thread

Caution: graphic pictures

Wizbang has running updates at:

Saddam Dead by Sunday

And typically, from the terrorist newspaper of record:

The New York Times Doesn’t Want Saddam Hanged

And another "Open Thread" at Red State:

An Open Thread

By [email protected] (Redstate Network) on War

   

Yes, I will celebrate. Yes, I will be happy. While I understand the positions of my friend John Cole and of Rick Moran, I disagree with them.

Sorry, I am not as understanding as Red State. I respect John Cole's decision. As for Rick Moran ... well there is nothing about him worthy of my respect. I know that is nasty to say, but truth is truth.

I am no big death penalty advocate. I do believe it should be used when face to face with pure evil. I would have executed Jeffrey Dahlmer and I have absolutely no problem with executing Saddam Hussein.

From Atlas Shrugs:

Saddam to Die Tonight 10 PM

By Pamela Geller Oshry on Iraq

***TOP THREAD SCROLL FOR NEW POSTS AND UPDATES ***

Pamela says: I just stole this pic from my  fellow infidels at IBA .

I stole it from Pamela. Hey, good things need to be passed along.

An interesting set of poll numbers passed along via email from the lovely Larwyn:

Europe, yes Europe, backs the "death sentence" for Saddam Hussein in a recent poll:

82 percent of Americans are in favour of Saddam's death penalty, compared to
69 percent of Britons,
58 percent of French,
53 percent of Germans and
51 percent of Spaniards.

Only 46 percent of Italians support sentencing Saddam to death.

At 6:10 AM Baghdad time, Fox via Al Arabiya is reporting that Saddam died at 6:00 AM Baghdad time. (7 PM PST)

Graphic: Lucianne.com  

May he be met not by 70 virgins or by Allah, but by all the souls he tortured and killed over his lifetime of pure evil. May his final rest be one of turmoil and agony.

Godfather of Soul, Gone but Never Forgotten

James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, dead at age 73. Baby Boomers and rock'n'rollers around the world will mourn his passing. I will be one of them.

Related:

JAMES BROWN - DEAD AT 73

Who is James Brown?

A first hand memory by CraigC (Protein Wisdom)

Tracking Santa

NORAD on Alert
beginning Christmas Eve!

“For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa. The tradition began after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. store advertisement for children to call Santa on a special “hotline” included an inadvertently misprinted telephone number. Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations “hotline.” The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, received the first “Santa” call on Christmas Eve 1955. Realizing what had happened, Colonel Shoup had his staff check radar data to see if there was any indication of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Indeed there were signs of Santa and children who called were given an update on Santa’s position. Thus, the tradition was born. In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for the North American continent called the North American Air Defense Command, known as NORAD. Canada and the U.S. believed they could better defend North America together as a team instead of separately.

NORAD carried out its first Santa tracking in 1958 after inheriting the tradition from CONAD. Since that time, Canadian and American men and women who work at NORAD have responded to phone calls from children personally. Additionally, media from all over the world call NORAD on Christmas Eve for updates on Santa’s location. Last year this Website was visited by millions of people who wanted to know Santa’s whereabouts. This year, the information is provided in six languages.

NORAD relies on many volunteers to help make Santa tracking possible. Hundreds of volunteers spend part of their Christmas Eve at the Santa Tracking Operations Center answering phones and emails to provide Santa updates to thousands of inquiring children worldwide.”  H/T: Macsmind

Countdown to Christmas

Click here to Countdown to Christmas

   
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a super New Year!

Christmas, military style

If you can read this without tears, you might need to have your humanity gene checked.

Merry Christmas, My Friend

Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone.
I had come down the chimney, with presents to give
and to see just who in this home did live

As I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures of a far distant land.

With medals and badges, awards of all kind,
a sobering thought soon came to my mind.
For this house was different, unlike any I’d seen.
This was the home of a U.S. Marine.

I’d heard stories about them, I had to see more,
so I walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
And there he lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor in his one-bedroom home.

He seemed so gentle, his face so serene,
Not how I pictured a U.S. Marine.
Was this the hero, of whom I’d just read?
Curled up in his poncho, a floor for his bed?

His head was clean-shaven, his weathered face tan.
I soon understood, this was more than a man.
For I realized the families that I saw that night,
owed their lives to these men, who were willing to fight.

Soon around the Nation, the children would play,
And grown-ups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day.
They all enjoyed freedom, each month and all year,
because of Marines like this one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve, in a land far from home.
Just the very thought brought a tear to my eye.
I dropped to my knees and I started to cry.

He must have awoken, for I heard a rough voice,
“Santa, don’t cry, this life is my choice
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more.
My life is my God, my country, my Corps.”

With that he rolled over, drifted off into sleep,
I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.

I watched him for hours, so silent and still.
I noticed he shivered from the cold night’s chill.
So I took off my jacket, the one made of red,
and covered this Marine from his toes to his head.

Then I put on his T-shirt of scarlet and gold,
with an eagle, globe and anchor emblazoned so bold.
And although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride,
and for one shining moment, I was Marine Corps deep inside.

I didn’t want to leave him so quiet in the night,
this guardian of honor so willing to fight.
But half asleep he rolled over, and in a voice clean and pure,
said “Carry on, Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all secure.”
One look at my watch and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend, Semper Fi and goodnight.

 

While a Lance Corporal serving as Battalion Counter Sniper at the Marine

Barracks 8th & I

, Washington, DC, under Commandant

P.X. Kelly

and Battalion Commander

D.J. Myers

[in 1986], James M. Schmidt wrote this poem to hang on the door of the Gym in the BEQ. When Colonel Myers came upon it, he read it and immediately had copies sent to each department at the Barracks and promptly dismissed the entire Battalion early for Christmas leave. The poem was placed that day in the Marine Corps Gazette, distributed worldwide and later submitted to Leatherneck Magazine.

I'm back! Sort of.

I'm finally up and running again. There is no other way to describe the move than to say "it was hell!" Finally got everything packed and out of the house, but now I feel like I'm camping out because I can't find anything, including simple things like my shoes and hair brush. It too two extra days to get the Broadband hookup at the new location, and then another day to get the modem talking to my wireless router. Can you say nightmarish? And in early February, I'll have to do it all over again, as I've made my decision and I'm moving to Florida, near the Clearwater area.

I'm giving serious thought to giving up political blogging.

For this next month, I am offering this blog as available to someone or someones who would like to take it over. I have decided to concentrate on my other major project of Senior Pal Alliance and the Pal2Pal blog, which are completely apolitical.

If you would be interested in taking over the Squiggler, please send me an email to: [email protected] with the subject line "Interested."

Happy Thanksgiving to All

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a delicious traditional meal. Posting will be light to nonexistent over this Thanksgiving weekend. I'm moving starting tonight and my cable hookup won't be in until Monday. Also, we have sadness with a death in the family early this morning, so I'll be leaving for a couple of days to attend the funeral.

Please feel free to consider this an open thread and a place to say what you are thankful for in this crazy mixed up world we live in. I am reflecting on what it is like to now be the first of the new oldest generation of the family. With the death of my Aunt this morning, the last of the generation of our parents is now gone. I and my cousins are now the oldest generation of the family and it seems a very weird place to be. So I've been reflecting today on being thankful that those who came before me were good role models. They were people with high ethics and solid principles they lived by. It is a lot to live up to and a big responsibility to the generation to follow. Boomers have reinvented every phase of life they've passed through. Well, we're here and I, for one, want to stick around for the ride. So I'm thankful I don't own a rocking chair.

Have a good weekend. I'll check in if and when I can get a signal.

And the biggest thanks of all to my regulars and readers. I appreciate every one of you.  And those of you who disagree with me, you know  who you are. Thanks for keeping it interesting.

Peaceful Fallujah? Yes

Posting is light today because I'm having another bad back day. The following is the kind of story that we as bloggers need to make sure get told and copies need to be sent to Congressional offices.

FALLUJAH PACIFIED

By Punditarian

FALLUJAH THEN (above); FALLUJAH NOW (below).



More news that suggests the situation in Iraq is not as dire as Carl Levin and Charlie Rangel seem to think:

The Iraqi city of Fallujah, which two years ago was the site of one of the fiercest battles between insurgents and Americans, has become a stabilized safe haven. In fact, the city, termed “a gated community” by one of the Marine commanders responsible for it, is receiving as many as 150 people per day seeking to escape the ongoing violence in Baghdad.

This news was reported by the Marine Corps Times. Why not the New York Times? Because it doesn't fit the New York Times' support for the "insurgency." (Hat tip: AJ Strata.)

Yikes! Terror in Detroit

I remember this story vaguely as being treated as nothing. A no there there type of half day story. From this follow-up at LGF, it sure sounds like there is plenty of there there. Shivers.

Detroit Metro Terror Arrest Update

In Detroit Metro

Ethiopian-born Sisayehiticha Dinssa, arrested at Detroit Metro Airport, is going to stay locked up: Suspicious airline passenger to stay locked up. (Hat tip: Joseph.)

This article has new details about what Dinssa had in his possession, including $80,000 in cash, data about US nuclear power plants, suitcase bomb instructions, a commemorative edition of a newspaper dated September 11, 2002, and a hand-written threatening note.

And perhaps the most appalling thing about the story: a federal judge had to overrule a magistrate’s decision to release him.

A federal judge overturned a lower ruling Monday and ordered detention for a man stopped at Detroit Metropolitan Airport with articles about nuclear plants and suitcase bombs and the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman ruled Sisayehiticha Dinssa, 34, was both a flight risk and a danger to the community. He overturned a ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen, who earlier on Monday ordered Dinssa released under strict supervision.

Dinssa, an Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen who lists his address as Dallas, Texas, was arrested Tuesday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after arriving from Kenya by way of Amsterdam.

He is charged with currency smuggling after telling Customs agents he was only carrying about $18,000 before a search of his luggage turned up nearly $80,000.

Though he faces no terrorism charges to date, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leonid Feller told Borman that evidence found in Dinssa’s luggage and inside his laptop computer makes him a potential threat to national security.

Agents found articles about nuclear plants, suitcase bombs and a hard-copy commemorative edition of the Dallas Morning News from Sept. 11, 2002 — the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Feller said.

Agents also found a hand-written note saying: “This community is angry. Something is going to happen. We are going to see justice. This is a powder keg waiting to go off.”

Safe in California? Looks like it

I am not sure where this might apply to me personally, but I think I'm glad that it does.

California court: websites not liable for libel in third-party postings

Nov 20 6:15 PM US/Eastern

California court: websites not liable for libel in third-party postings

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Websites that publish inflammatory information written by other parties cannot be sued for libel, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling in favour of free online expression was a victory for a San Diego woman who was sued by two doctors for posting an allegedly libelous e-mail on two websites.

Some of the Internet's biggest names, including Amazon.com, America Online Inc., EBay Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., took the defendant's side out of concern a ruling against her would expose them to liability.

In reversing an appellate court's decision, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 provides broad immunity from defamation lawsuits for people who publish information on the Internet that was gathered from another source.

"The prospect of blanket immunity for those who intentionally redistribute defamatory statements on the Internet has disturbing implications," Associate Justice Carol Corrigan wrote in the majority opinion. "Nevertheless ... statutory immunity serves to protect online freedom of expression and to encourage self-regulation, as Congress intended."

Unless the U.S. Congress revises the existing law, people who claim they were defamed in an Internet posting can only seek damages from the original source of the statement, the court ruled.

How 'bout those Chargers! The most exciting football in the league!

San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson (21) follows a block by teammate MIke Goff (79) on a 3-yard touchdown run during the first quarter of a NFL football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006, in Denver. (David Zalubowskii/AP)  View Photo Gallery Archive

 



Down 17 points in the 3rd Quarter, Chargers come back to whoop Denver 35 - 27 in a showdown for first place in the AFC West thanks to 4 TDs by the great LT. For the 2nd week in a row -- "one hell of a game!" 

Tomlinson rewrites history

    LaDainian Tomlinson became the fastest player in NFL history to score 100 career touchdowns and broke his team record for touchdowns in a season Sunday night against the Broncos. Read the full story



Chargers Rule!

San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson (21) follows a block by teammate MIke Goff (79) on a 3-yard touchdown run during the first quarter of a NFL football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006, in Denver. (David Zalubowskii/AP)  View Photo Gallery Archive

 



Down 17 points in the 3rd Quarter, Chargers come back to whoop Denver 35 - 27 in a showdown for first place in the AFC West thanks to 4 TDs by the great LT. For the 2nd week in a row -- "one hell of a game!" 

Tomlinson rewrites history

    LaDainian Tomlinson became the fastest player in NFL history to score 100 career touchdowns and broke his team record for touchdowns in a season Sunday night against the Broncos. Read the full story



Chargers Rule!