The Words Speak for Themselves:

This is from an email circular. Thanks to R.M.!

George W. Bush speech after the capture of Saddam Hussein:

The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate them.


Barack Obama speech after the killing of bin Laden:

And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network. Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan . And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad , Pakistan ..

Obama used the words I, me, or my over a dozen times in his entire speech. George Bush used them twice to say "I thank" and "I congratulate".

Read more...

So what else is ...

... new?

Read more...

Important New Blog

For those who come here because they are interested in Germany and German matters, I can't recommend strong enough Manfred Kleine-Hartlage's new blog German Views, an offshoot of his excellent essay blog Korrektheiten.

Read more...

Shit they make up as they go along

Pope John Paul II, who is as specifically as miraculously hailed for fostering Catholic-Jewish relations and remembering the Holocaust, has been beatified yesterday. For this, the remains of Pope Innocent XI had been removed from their place and moved to a less conspicious place.

Now the Holy Sea is trying to deal with its first and so far only pop star, the Internet is a-twitter with speculation about the reason why precisely THIS pope had to make way for for the many pilgrims who are likely to come to visit John Paul II's remains.

One theory quotes a book from 2002, saying that Innocent might have been fallen from grace because the Odescalchi family had financed the campaigns of William of Orange  who, at the Battle of the Boyne, defeated his father-in-law James II and forever removed Catholicism from the British throne.

What a clever supposition! So Innocent XI, né Benedetto Odescalchi, the saviour of the Occident, who was beatified himself in 1956, was removed in 2011 from his burial site because a book from 2002 had revealed that his family had been involved in some political shenanigans with an outcome that proved to be unfortunate for the Catholic world.

Give me a break!

And of course Innocent had a "frosty relationship" with France. What an astute observation. That was because the valiant Sun King, when Pope Innocent XI had called for a European Alliance alliance preceding the Battle of Vienna 1683, had to not only declined to join, but used the opportunity to raid cities in Alsace and other parts of South Germany.

At this point, I'd like to recall my entries Starhemberg, Lorraine, Sobieski, A City and A Battle and John Paul II -- Hailed and Reviled for the Wrong Reasons and How does one improve one's relationships with the Jews? Let me count the ways....

Read more...