ninme

Briefly, on our Communist Guiliana Sgrena:

a) There’s nothing wrong with being a Communist (other than being very silly). She’s obviously not ashamed of it. Her newspaper is called Il Manifesto; obviously it’s not ashamed of it either. So why should CNN be?

LGF - Italian Communist Says She Was “Ambushed”

CNN blandly identifies her newspaper as “left leaning,” when it is a hard-core Leninist journal: Shot hostage disputes U.S. account.

b) Najma is pretty upset by it, and NZ Pundit isn’t offering much sympathy. I feel worst for the dead Intelligence officer. One has to wonder what the past week’s been like. I wonder if he had words with the driver, or what. But to have thrown himself on top of her…

c) Can anyone imagine, if, say, a couple UK soldiers shot and wounded one of our more minor journalists, say, Kevin Sites, without the notoriety, that the US street would rise up in emotional protests? There’s something terribly unhinged about Europe, these late decades. Some say it’s a lack of religion (in Princess Di’s case, mostly), but what is up with all the “emotional outpourings of grief”? Since when did Americans become the reticent ones? But, as Lord Stockbridge says in Gosford Park:

“Oh, do stop sniveling. Anyone would think you were Italian. Christ.”

Update 3.7:

Michelle Malkin has a terrific roundup of interesting tidbits, fun facts, and contradictory quotes. Just in case you’re still not sure who Guiliana Sgrena is.

Update II:

Roger L. Simon:

Now don’t get me wrong, much as I think Sgrena a complete fuddy-duddy reactionary (how else to describe the outdated blather printed by Il Manifesto?), I’d probably have been begging for my life, as she did, too. But one thing is sure… Giuliana Sgrena is no La Pasionaria. She’s a petty little weasel of a journalist who cried like a frightened infant when in the arms of terrorist thugs (we all saw it, Giuliana!) and now pretends she’s someone brave and important. How pathetic!

Heh. Poor Italy ain’t gettin’ much respect these days. I think it would be better for all parties if they shut this stupid woman up.

Update III:

My main man in the submarines has gone off on the sheer stupidity of this whole thing.

The stupid shall be punished - This Is Getting Ridiculous

I love how Ms Sgrena and her crowd, intelligent people, presumably, can believe, all at once, that:

Americans wanted to kill her, but took her to hospital and saved her life.
Americans tried to kill her, but couldn’t.
It wasn’t a checkpoint, but there was a big tank standing there.
It was a barrage of gunfire, but only one man was killed.
Americans are capable of listening in to cell phone calls, but need to be told by the italians where they’re taking her.
The Italians had to pay upwards of $10 mil to spring this bird out, but Americans can monitor all cellphone calls in Iraq (wouldn’t they have known where she was?)
The Americans are able to tell some 19-year-old corn fed kid from Iowa (I’m guessing) to assassinate an Italian journalist, but can’t get the kid to move in for the kill?

And so on, and so on, and so on.

Update IV:

Charles Johnson found something that really pissed him off. He even uses the “E” word.

Update V 3.8:

LGF again has pics of the car. It’s pristine. Riddled with bullets, my aunt Fanny. The kid that shot into the engine block should get a marksmanship award. It looks like one bullet hit the thing and killed that poor guy.