Bumped:
1 in custody, 3 overboard.

"Defense Department officials confirmed that one pirate is in custody. A U.S. official said the status of the other pirates is unknown but they were reported to "be in the water."

Heh. Now I know that supposedly merchantmen are not supposed to be carrying weapons these days, but something tells me that the guys in the water have extra holes in them.

Still, compliments to the crew.

UPDATE:
Finally.

An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a U.S. Navy operation that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, a senior U.S. intelligence official said.

I was wondering how long this farce was going to go on. Now. Start bombing the pirate ports until they get the idea that this is not a healthy occupation.

WELL. This is just plain fascinating.

Memeorandum, at 10:20pm EST on April 12th.

Senator Obama has, as the saying goes, stepped on his training aid; and reveals that he really does not have a clue. Either that, or he's just not experienced enough to act in the Kabuki theater that American presidential election politics has become lately.

And you know what else? I still think he's going to get nominated by the Democrats.

Now, as in wars, those who make the fewest (or maybe the smallest) mistakes typically win. McCain at this point just basically has to not make any big mistakes like this, and he's going to get elected President.

Heh. Looks like they just figured it out, after all.

HANOVER, N.H. - The leading Democratic White House hopefuls conceded Wednesday night they cannot guarantee to pull all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of the next presidential term in 2013.

This makes me giggle, for some reason.

The Truth, can you handle it?

More.

And more.

I thought this was going to turn out worse than it did. As many, I didn't think that the President of Columbia University would say the things that he did. Curious indeed.

(via American Digest)

Go ahead and stammer, you old, fat, turdbag.

Quick:

What's wrong with this picture?

(Explanation here.)

The story in his head.

By now, I'm assuming that readers of this blog are aware of PVT Scott Thomas Beauchamp.

If not, go over Michelle Malkin's site and keep scrolling.

My post is a bit of a follow to Grim's post on bloggers and journalists.

What we see here is something similar. Beauchamp has a story in his head and he got to tell it, but unfortunately, he confused his reality (or truth? or fiction?) with actual facts and incidents and mundane and boring things like that.

I think he's going to get a big dose of reality pretty soon though. Check out his 1SG and Captain, here: A/1/18 INF

It was a workable plan: Join the Army, serve in Iraq, return to civilian life and then be able with "absolute moral authority" make shit up. And become some "authentic voice" of the Iraq war, and be a writer and do that whole bohemian writer thing.

But, PVT Snuffy screwed it up by prematurely ejaculating his fictions. If he'd waited to get out, in a year or two, things could have been--would have been--more difficult to refute or verify or whatever. It would have worked. But maybe the moment would have passed too, by then, since it appears that Hollywood is set to start its Freidenssturm this fall with Anti-war movies, probably as a spoiling attack at influencing the 2008 presidential election. (Or so they think--me, I think their movies will fail miserably.)

Anyway, going back to that idea that "journalists" have their own truth or story that they want to tell, we see that The New Republic badly wanted to tell a story that PVT Beauchamp fitted perfectly into. And so they did. 10 years ago they would have go away with it. Not anymore.

And that's a good thing.

UPDATE:
bthun finds an actual email from A/1/18's 1SG here at "the Foxhole"

1SG Hatley pretty much confirms what I thought.