These x-rated stacked "plastic utility funnels" (hubba hubba) caught our camera's eye last night at the grand opening of the new Home Depot in Chelsea.
When Tiny and Baby woke us for breakfast early morning, Fox News was in full Alert! Breaking News! Live! mode, delivering the longed-for report of -- in the President's words -- "a victory in the war on terror and an opportunity for Iraq's new government to turn the tide of this struggle." Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the thug Osama dubbed "the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq," had been dispatched yesterday afternoon by the good guys, who dropped two 500-pound bombs on the "safe house" where the Jordanian-born high-school dropout had been meeting with his fellow "insurgents." We couldn't get enough of the wall-to-wall coverage -- except for a jaw-dropper moment when Fox & Friends briefly "interviewed" the father of Nick Berg, the American businessman beheaded by Zarqawi two years back. Berg pater, suffering an advanced case of BDS, Sheehan strain, told ED Hill that he had forgiven his son's murderer and displaced his anger onto you know who [Bush's fault™].
A chorus line of toilets take a bow in rhythmic synchrony. Duchamp can eat his heart out.
The blogosphere was all over the news, of course, with the usual suspects falling on the light or dark side of the great divide. We took our fill and plucked a handful of quotations from leaders and opinion makers that cover the waterfront. From the light side:
"Today, Zarqawi has been terminated. Every time a Zarqawi appears, we will kill him." -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Malik, who also announced he has filled the important posts of interior, defense and national security ministers in his new government
"It really does mark a new day." -- Tony Snow press briefing
"This is a great morale booster for our troops [and] it does show that our intelligence and surveillance services are working very well." -- Ed Rollins on Fox's Big Show
Ever on the lookout for beauty in unexpected places, we were dazzled by our own reflection (upside down wearing pale blue jacket and black slacks, upper right) in this hyper glossy steel sink hanging on the wall at the end of one of the aisles.
More takes from the light side:
"We know they will continue to kill, we know there are many, many obstacles to overcome. But they also know that our determination to defeat them is total." -- Tony Blair
It gave [Iraqis] courage. They saw that with a little patience -- which is not a big commodity in the Middle East -- he could be taken out." -- Walid Phares on Fox
"It gives me goosebumps. I'm amazed at the ability of our military to carry something like this off." -- Sean Hannity telling Tommy Franks about his reaction to the Zarqawi strike video [via Blackfive]
"This is a hugely positive thing for the stockmarket. I think it validates what we're trying to do over there." -- Panelist on Your World with Cavuto
"Oil down, dollar up as al-Zarqawi dies" -- Aljazeera headline
Another bout of basement flooding due to excessive rainfall yesterday made us late for the opening, but there was a silver lining: Tuck won a Home Depot Gift Card worth $100!
And from the dark side:
"We wrote a 25 million check as a reward, and get a new headline to bump off Haditha." -- Daily Kos of the "reality-based community" [via Dr. Sanity]
It's so nice to have a Home Depot around the house (just about 2 miles from our doorstep).
This one isn't Zarqawi related, but it made our day (be sure to read the whole thing):
"Hand me your wallet and I'll buy you a Coke." -- Wretchard of The Belmont Club fisking the underlying message of Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown's clueless criticism of "too much unchecked UN-bashing and stereotyping over too many years" on the part of US administrations
Unchecked free speech? This man's been living in the imperious UN bubble too long.
Update: A thousand points of light from blogfriend Laura Lee Donoho of The Wide Awake Cafe, who emails Instapundit:
As I was just up drinking coffee, and reading the great news that Zarqawi is dead my son called. He is training at Camp McCoy for his deployment to Iraq later this summer. He wasn't anywhere near internet access but had his cellphone and wanted to learn the details. He told me that one of the guys in his unit learned the news from his cellphone. They were all tremendously excited. My son said it is a big moral victory.
Daniel Henninger at Opinion Journal agrees: "A Moral Victory: The meaning of Zarqawi's death."
Beautiful post. Your photos of an American business doing its business juxtaposed with the news of the death of a monster was brilliant. Thanks also for the link.
Posted by: Laura Lee Donoho | June 09, 2006 at 11:41 AM
It occurs to me to thank my lucky stars I'm not a lefty. How tedious is a life where one can never celebrate a victory; where one's country is always, always, always wrong; where one must apologize for defending oneself from those who would have you dead.
I think I'll just be an insensitive jerk and be happy that our guys won this one - we have a victory! And - No - I have no intention of apologizing for it. *grin* If I could, I'd be doing a happy dance on the Zarkman's grave - while NOT wearing a burqa.
Posted by: Teresa | June 10, 2006 at 04:25 PM