Stone Cold Crazy Bitch

Sorry about the language, but Debbie Schlussel is at it again

When previews for “United 93” were shown in New York City movie houses, the crowd whined, “Too soon!”

But “United 93” is not arriving in theaters too soon. If anything, it is arriving too late.

Whined?

Debbie the Demented may have forgotten exactly what happened on 9/11, but much of the damage was done to New York. If you lived in New York City then, there’s a large possibility you were at least acquainted with someone who died in the towers. Or, like me, you were close enough to witness the whole thing.

This may be difficult for D the D to grasp, as she’s clearly a stone cold crazy bitch, but this was an incredibly intense experience. Even after all these years emotions about 9/11 are still raw in New York. More raw, I suspect, than for people who were sitting comfortably in Detroit, or wherever D the D was, watching something happen on television to a bunch of strangers.

Just last year I walked through a museum display that included a twisted piece of one of the towers, and — much to my surprise — I started to hyperventilate. I wasn’t even aware myself how raw it still was.

I used to walk through the lower levels of one of the towers as part of my daily commute. I can still close my eyes and see it as it was, every detail. All the shops, all the people.

I heard the Flight 93 film is good, and I’m fine with the fact that there’s a film, but I don’t believe I will see it in theaters. I’m afraid I won’t be able to sit through it. I’ll wait until it’s on TV — I can change the channel if I need to.

I understand the film premier was in Tribeca, which is adjacent to Wall Street. And Wall Street is … well, you know. That’s where it happened. I’d love for D the D to stand outside the movie theater in Tribeca and tell New Yorkers they’re a bunch of whiners because some weren’t ready to watch a film about 9/11. Go ahead, Debbie. I’m sure they’ll care what you think.

The rest of her post might cause you to hyperventilate. Here’s the joke —

It has been almost five years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and most Americans have fallen back to sleep. They’ve forgotten who our enemy is: extremist Islam. They’ve forgotten why the Patriot Act was enacted. They’ve forgotten why it was necessary for the NSA to listen in on phone calls of Muslims in America to their friends overseas. They’ve forgotten why it is necessary that many Islamic charities allegedly funding hospitals and orphanages must be shut down (because as on 9/11, they fund acts and groups that continue to put people in hospitals and orphanages).

Now, here’s the punch line:

That’s why “United 93” should be required movie viewing for all Americans who love freedom. …

Stone cold crazy STUPID bitch.

Update: See Attywood.

Never Mind

Last week, even as the revelation of Mary McCarthy’s firing was leaked to the press, another story hit the news — a European Union investigator named Gijs de Vries reported he had “not turned up any proof of secret renditions of terror suspects on EU territory.”

Guess again. From today’s Guardian by Richard Norton-Taylor:

The CIA has operated more than 1,000 secret flights over EU territory in the past five years, some to transfer terror suspects in a practice known as “extraordinary rendition”, an investigation by the European parliament said yesterday.
The figure is significantly higher than previously thought. EU parliamentarians who conducted the investigation concluded that incidents when terror suspects were handed over to US agents did not appear to be isolated. They said the suspects were often transported around Europe on the same planes by agents whose names repeatedly came up in their investigation.

They accused the CIA of kidnapping terror suspects and said those responsible for monitoring air safety regulations revealed unusual flight paths to and from European airports. The report’s author, Italian MEP Claudio Fava, suggested some EU governments knew about the flights. …

… His report, the first interim report by EU parliamentarians on rendition, obtained data from Eurocontrol, the European air safety agency, and gathered information during three months of hearings and more than 50 hours of testimony by individuals who said they were kidnapped and tortured by American agents, as well as EU officials and human rights groups.

Righties will dismiss this because Fava is a member of the EU Parliament’s socialist group. However, data is data.

Data showed that CIA planes made numerous secret stopovers on European territory, violating an international air treaty that requires airlines to declare the route and stopovers for planes with a police mission, he said. “The routes for some of these flights seem to be quite suspect. … They are rather strange routes for flights to take. It is hard to imagine … those stopovers were simply for providing fuel.”…

… The Bush administration has admitted to secret rendition flights but says it does not condone torture.

The EU Parliament is still investigating the secret prisons.

Fitz v. Karl

As a sure-enough leftie blogger I feel obligated to blog something about Karl Rove’s grand jury appearance yesterday, even though I don’t have any insights that somebody else didn’t blog first.

(Frankly, I am tired of being teased; I’m too old to stay on the edge of the seat of suspense this long. I long for a comfy and unambiguous seat with lots of pillows. I’ll let the young folks maintain the knife’s-edge anticipation until something substantive happens.)

Taylor Marsh says that when she wants to understand what’s going on with the Fitz & Karl show she reads Lawrence O’Donnell. OK, sounds good. And here’s the insight from O’Donnell:

Karl Rove’s return to the grand jury today could mean the end of the Rove investigation or the beginning of the Rove prosecution. It depends on who asked Rove to return. If Fitzgerald asked Rove to return to the grand jury, that means Fitzgerald thinks he doesn’t have enough for an indictment.

If Rove asked to return to the grand jury, that means Rove’s lawyer, Bob Luskin, believes an indictment is imminent and is sending his client back to make a final desperate attempt to avoid indictment.

Rove’s lawyer released a statement saying that Rove appeared “voluntarily and unconditionally at the request of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.” Hmm.

For a recap of past episodes of the Fitz & Karl show, see Jane Hamsher.