I happened to read Alex’s (the Martini guy’s) response to Ali’s follow-up post on 12/16. I quote from Alex:

“Had the only rallying point been the liberation of Iraq from Saddam, there would have been no different political dynamic than the 12 years preceding?”

I tried to politely point out to him that the military operation was named “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and that it would have been a mite difficult to miss the point (and the logic) that we were trying to liberate Iraq from Saddam and replace it with a democracy. I also added this (easier than paraphrasing):

“I find it fascinating that if that had been the ONLY reason expressed for going to war – you evidently would now be supporting it enthusiastically. But if that is only one very good reason among 1/2 dozen good reasons {which in all fairness I did spell out}, then suddenly the whole thing is discredited, if one of the other good reasons is found to have been discredited (and frankly I don’t even think the WMD argument is discredited as the Duelfer report clearly shows Saddam’s intentions to rapidly reconstitute his programs after getting the sanctions lifted.)”

Alex’s response is as follows:

“..if the label of the military operation settles the issue for you, your vapor thin intellect leaves you no standing to critique the logic of others.”

Oh my. What was I saying about ad hominen attacks again??.

Don’t look now Cathy but it looks as though the Martini guys (Alex/Bombay) have responded to you: It’s called “….a tribute to Cathy Seipp”. I’ll leave the elipses to your imagination.

Funny thing is that even the regulars in the comments section seem to be distancing themselves from Alex’s post. It certainly might help if someone would give Alex a briefing on the meaning of the term “ad hominem attack”.

Oh – and incidentally, if site traffic is any indication, the smear of the ITM brothers was spectacularly unsuccessful.

I’ve never had trouble while mixing reds, but I did once become deathly ill after eating Red Snapper at a very good San Francisco restaurant. The only reason I’d ordered it was that someone I trusted had raved about it. I couldn’t wait to tell her I’d been poisoned.

On the other hand, I shared a house for a couple of years with a couple (he was from Italy) who sold mushrooms and truffles to Bay Area restaurants. Truffles are the least overrated fungi, no food, known to me. I ate and drank better than I lived during those couple of years.

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I agree with Danny Peary when he agrees with “critic William S. Pechter: ‘It’s A Wonderful Life is the kind of work that defies criticism; almost one might say, defies art. It is one of the funniest and one of the bleakest, as well as being one of the most technically adroit films ever made; it is a masterpiece.’”

It is my favorite movie made by Hollywood, my favorite movie made in English and, as Les Quatre Cents Coups and Shichinin No Samurai both began as “original” screenplays, my favorite movie based on an adaptation.

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Virginia Postrel and Wretchard remain my two favorite blog reads. Every once in awhile I even agree with them.

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The earlier post was, in retrospect, a bad idea. My apologies to Roger for wasting bandwidth and to all who read it—even those who responded. This smile is turning into a laugh, so, if I may be serious for a moment

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To “Happy Holidays” and/or “Merry Christmas” my stock response is:

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Whatever

-or-

Good luck with that.

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You choose.

I know. I check them out once a week or so, just to see how they’re doing. They seem so deludedly sincere.

For some reason I always hear, faintly, Aqualung. Is that built into their site?

For one thing a significant part of the popualtion is Kurdish. You know they were not happy about this.

And you know what else? Our soldiers have been there for a long time and this event is one of the worse single attacks they have seen. If most people felt the way the AP would have us believe this stuff would happen everyday.

Iím sure that the AP journalist did not seek out those Iraqis horrified about the carnage. Is this news service a direct decedent of Joseph Goebbels? I hesitate to push my argument that far. Still, I do sense that the AP considers the American forces and the so-called insurgents to be morally equivalent. It is therefore not to be trusted. And yes, I suspect the worse regarding the AP pictures of the executed three Iraqi election officials. The photographer was most likely alerted by the murderers themselves.

Yeah, I can just imagine the contortions Andrew Sullivan would be going through right now if Kerry had won.

The AP ran a report today in which they cited three Iraqis talking about the suicide bomber, of course all of them could have cared less about dead Americans. One even called the guy with the bomb a hero.

I don’t believe that report. I think the AP reports what it wants to believe.

But they all forget that whatever the truth is sooner or later this shall pass and it will become evident. All the bias in the world won’t change that. Unless ofcouse another Saddam ends up in charge and the people are afraid to speak. Maybe that is what the AP is counting on.

Not just the MSM—but also the leftist supporters of John Kerry.

It seems to me that these folks swallowed a chill pill during the campaign. They didnít wish to alert American voters to the probability that the Massachusettsí senator would abandon Iraq at the earliest opportunity. He didnít win, and thereís little sense in continuing the charade. They are now willing to let it all hang out.

Increasingly, I am coming to the conclusion that the United States dodge a bullet when President Bush was reelected. Kerry would have most assuredly been a disastrous commander-in-chief. Iím trying to give the benefit of the doubt to Mickey Kaus, Daniel Drezner, and the other so-called intelligent backers of the Democratic nominee. Nonetheless, the nicest thing I can say is that they might have meant well.