Oh, happy day

I can't sleep so I'll blog about Pinochet. Fair enough? I'd like to think so.

You'd think there would be a simple formula about, if anything, mass murdering, anti-democratic autocrats. But not so. Just like every single Kashi-eating, soy-milk-chugging democrat should have cheered when Saddam Hussein was captured--yes, I understand that wasn't so because stupidity transcends the Republican party--no one should be making excuses for Augusto Pinochet. But people still defend the fucker. And they are so reasonable that they tried to burn Santiago down today. The argument--if you can call it that--is that Pinochet brought Chile back from the economic abyss of Communism and modernized the country. But while that may be somewhat true, how does that excuse killing thousands of dissidents in soccer stadiums and disappearing the bodies? I've read Milton Friedman; I'm almost certain that wasn't part of his philosophy. Economic turnarounds are possible without mass executions, and if they are not, well, they're likely not worth the human rights violations.

Over at Babalu Blog, some blogger named Ziva is heartbroken that the mainstream media--that single-minded cabal of Jews and homosexuals--mentions that Pinochet's victims will never see justice carried out but to this blogger's recollection, no similar line has appeared in any story about Castro falling ill.

I feel like I've been stabbed in the heart; not once in the months since fidel went into the hospital have I read one word from the MSM about justice for castro's victims. Not once....

Yeah, that's cute. While Ziva's research is almost as bad as his rationale (the same service that he's quoting from--the Associated Press--moved a story devoted to Castro's victims not too long ago) that's beside the point. You know who also probably felt like they'd been stabbed in the heart, people who were actually SHOT in the heart in a firing squad put together by Pinochet's goon squads. I'm sure they feel almost as bad as you do, Ziva.

Fidel Castro is without a doubt the worst dictator the Western hemisphere has ever seen. But that doesn't make Pinochet a cuddly grandfather who just wanted to better his country's economy. And to use one AP story as the only basis for some cutesy, misguided media commentary is kind of dumb anyway. Who knows. I'm hoping Ziva is just suffering from heartburn.