There’s plenty about Wisconsin in this morning’s Jolt, but first, a bit from overseas . . .
The Libyan Dictator, Soon to Be Moammartyred?
Before we go any further on the story in Libya . . . does anyone have any information about the status of Gaddafi’s “voluptuous Ukrainian nurse?” And why do we not have pictures? Forget the Iraqi WMDs or the Iranian nuclear program. How do we not have spies falling all over themselves trying to get close to her?
Drew M., a regular at Ace of Spades, observes, “If Gadaffi weren’t such a sadistic tyrant, he’d be pretty funny.” If the guy talking to himself on the street corner had the chance to run an oil-rich nation, it would probably end up like Libya.
Victor Davis Hanson offered a typically eye-opening portrait: “It was like no other country I have ever visited: wet garbage and sewage in the streets; an oil-exporter with massive pot-holes and no asphalt to fix them; almost every room, office, or hallway in Tripoli with peeling paint, exposed wiring, and something broken; the airport a disaster; almost every human action a possible violation of some government statute. And, of course, Gaddafi’s picture was everywhere — sometimes as the protector of Islam, sometimes a sort of new-age Stalin, sometimes as the spiritual leader of black Africa, always presented with a nauseating green backdrop. In fact, books, shirts, even simple packaging was green. Citizens were terrified and talked in whispers, often relating some of the strangest rumors imaginable: past calls to burn all violins, past calls for every citizen to raise chickens, past calls for bonuses for marrying black African nationals. I arrived the day Lionel Ritchie was playing a 20th-anniversary anti-American concert commemorating Gaddafi’s heroic resistance to the Reagan bombing.”
I love how Lionel Ritchie is the finishing touch of weirdness in VDH’s scene-setter. He dances in like the Little Man from Another Place in Twin Peaks.
Plus, today’s Jolt notices a declaration that the Tea Parties are winning . . . from an unusual source.