Oh my God, can you believe the crazy stuff Jill Carroll said on video while still in the custody of the guys who had murdered her translator and publicly threatened to murder her (but not to hit her, which apparently is all that matters)? The nerve of that woman! The world must know immediately what an America-hating traitor she is. After all, we never said all that crazy stuff the last time we got kidnapped by terrorists for three months, so how can she?

Seriously, though, some people need to give this a rest. Jim Geraghty puts it nicely:

My instinct is to lay off for a bit. If she comes out in a few weeks making the same comments and appears to be defending her abductors, then she’ll be fair game for criticism. But for now, I’m willing to chalk up the pre-release tape to duress and the strange comments in the immediate hours and days after her release to stress and trauma.

Allah expresses a similar sentiment. Personally, I think one of the best things about the blogosphere is that information gets out there very quickly, but under some circumstances this can also be one of the worst things about it. For cryin’ out loud, the woman was a hostage for three months. Is it really too much to ask that we reserve judgment for at least as many weeks before deciding whether she is America’s answer to Giuliana Sgrena or a decent woman who said strange things under exigent circumstances?

Blogosphere, stand down.

UPDATE: Carroll has disavowed her remarks, pointing out the obvious-to-everyone-whose-last-name-isn’t-Schlussel fact that hostages sometimes say what their captors want them to say rather than what they really think. Captain Ed, Dafydd ab Hugh and Michael Williams have more.

UPDATE x2: Idiot extraordinaire cum would-be character assassin Debbie Schlussel continues to dig her heels, arguing that she doesn’t owe Jill Carroll an apology since she didn’t really smear her over the propaganda video, she smeared her for other, equally specious crap instead. Nice of her to clear that up.

These guys seem pretty determined to make sure it does not become so.

OK, Food Lion, I give up. Do you consider peanut butter to be a type of greeting card, a magazine, a candy, a type of water, or a flavor of Kool-Aid?

If you’ve ever lost the use of your middle finger, you can almost understand why so many people fell for this transparent joke. Almost.

Below are the answers to Monday’s quote quiz, hidden in extended view in case anyone still wants to play.

(more…)

Same rules as Patterico’s – no Googling! Yes, I did violate that rule myself, but only to double-check that I’d gotten the lyrics right (didn’t want to test anybody’s knowledge of mondegreens, though those can be fun, too). I think this one will be infinitely easier than Patterico’s quizzes have been, but then again, I’m probably the wrong one to ask since I share my own musical taste 100%, and don’t share his by that margin. The real test, I suppose, will be to see how he does on my quiz. If I’m right, I’ll put together a harder list next week.

1.

Cry out to legions of the brave
Time again to save us from the jackals of the street
Ride out, protectors of the realm
Captain’s at the helm, sail across the sea of lights

2.

Drawn across the plainland
To the place that is higher
Drawn into the circle
That dances round the fire

3.

But, Jane, she knocked him right down
Well, he’ll just get right back up
Together they have this bond, you see
She likes to tie him up

4.

She walked up to me
And really stole my heart
And then she started
To take my body apart

5.

Somewhere along the lonely road
I had tried to find you.
Day after day on that windy road
I had walked, walked behind you.

6.

When the priest comes to read me the last rites
I take a look through the bars at the last sights
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me

7.

I know a mouse, and he hasn’t got a house
I don’t know why, I call him Gerald
He’s getting rather old, but he’s a good mouse

8.

Sometimes I park in handicapped spaces
While handicapped people make handicapped faces.

9.

Once we loved the flowers
Now we ask the price of the land
Once we would take water
But now it must be wine

10.

All the vampires walking through the Valley
Move west down Ventura Boulevard
All the bad boys are standing in the shadows
And the good girls are home with broken hearts

UPDATE: So far, CraigC is in the lead, with a score of 5. No, I’m not going to tell you which 5 of his 6 complete answers are correct. You’ll have to figger that out for yourself, but here’s a hint: two of the ten have not yet been answered correctly by anybody. Answers will be posted at 3:00 p.m. EST. For those of you in Rio Linda, California, that means 12 noon.

Today’s story suggests that Isaac Hayes didn’t really quit South Park after all. Did his handlers take advantage of his stroke and use the occasion to “quit” for him? Stay tuned.

Someone please tell me this purported D.I.Y. guide to abortion is a cheap effort to score political points for the pro-abortion lobby, and not a serious recommendation that anyone actually do it. Perhaps “Molly” (if that’s his/her/its real name) will find out how well the HHOS defense works when the D.A. goes after him/her/it for unlawful practice of medicine. Then again, if abortion is such a wonderful thing that it merits an exception to the Hippocratic Oath, maybe it merits an exception to laws against illegal practice of medicine, too.

Say what you want about Ted Rall, but while he may be stupid enough to threaten a frivolous lawsuit against Ann Coulter, at least he’s not stupid enough to do it on his own dime. That’s where his readers come in. Thus far, Rall claims his readers have pledged at least $6,000 to pay Ann Coulter’s legal fees when Rall and his lawyer are sanctioned for his frivolous suit. Rall maintains that his readers are voting 3-1 to sue Coulter, adding that the “no” votes are “mostly from people who worry that what she said is protected free expression.” It’s comforting to know that 75% of Rall’s voters, like Rall himself, have no such worries.

This time, it was for real. Pat Tip: Hatterico.

UPDATE: Or maybe not?