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Quote of the day

posted at 10:45 pm on September 25, 2007 by Bryan
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“Of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy?”

Death was the obvious reply.

“And when,” I asked, “is this most melancholy topic most poetical?”

From what I have already explained at some length, the answer, here also, is obvious — “When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world …”


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I’d like to wonder why Mahdi wasn’t questioned harder on topics like these but, in the end, he only would have answered with more lies which makes the effort worthless. The only action is to not provide him a forum to speak in.

thedecider on September 25, 2007 at 10:59 PM

Very great peice and A story that wouldnt get out if Bloggers and people Like Michelle didnt make the effort to bypass the MSM who cant be bother with victims who arent proped up by our enemies for propaganda purposes.

Rachel Corie was drone on and on by the left and the media as a martyr when she put herself into the position to be killed. All Shiri did was what anyone of us would do in our daily lives just trying to board a public bus.

The sad thing is both these young ladies died for the greater glory of the Palistinian state and we can never let their true murders slip off the hook because of MSM culpibility in their propaganda use or ignoring another death because it doesnt fit the pattern of victimhood the MSM is so ready to give to the Palistinians.

What Ahmadinajab showed us in mentioning the Palistinians in his defense of denying the Holocost is that like all other Muslims the Palistinians are to be exploited for propaganda purposes. Even Osama has waved the Palistinian banner from his dark caves to exploit them for no other reason that to destroy Israel because its politically useful.

Then enter nutcases like Ron Paul who parrot “blowback” like a usefull idiot to legitimize attrocities done against the west because “we deserve it” and it becomes even more muddled.

The left attacks the right by constantly complaining that we wont listen to madmen like Ahmadinajob yet again and again fall silent on those murdered like Shiri or countless others in Iraq at the hands of the insurgency because it doesnt fit their political agendas.

The banality of evil that surrounded the Nazis came into being because too many accepted that it was OK to commit Genicide because the alternative of war was to evil to contemplate. And the left in this country seem far too willing to march down the road of genocide abators again by ignoring deaths like Shari because to take action would require guts and honesty that the just dont have

William Amos on September 25, 2007 at 11:05 PM

“Of all melancholy topics, what, according to the universal understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy?”

Oh, what might have been – was the obvious reply.

MB4 on September 25, 2007 at 11:13 PM

R.I.P. Shiri

infidel4life on September 25, 2007 at 11:25 PM

I saw this on Michelle’s site last night and to be honest it did more than just choke me up a little.

abinitioadinfinitum on September 25, 2007 at 11:31 PM

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

With all of the available ugly people on this planet, Hamas manages to go and blow up a rare beauty. Way to go, numbnuts.

What’s a young single male to do when all the pretty girls are being killed by unwashed, unshaven, unhinged, unkempt, ululating untermenschlich?

Harpazo on September 25, 2007 at 11:40 PM

Thanks.

Asher on September 25, 2007 at 11:41 PM

This deserved its separate post. I humbly resubmit my previous reaction:

Bryan, Michelle, Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi’s interview was very moving. Her poise and dignity is earned from months and years of bearing despair over the plight of her father, and the resulting commitment to her activism, which deserves amplification by the media — amplification that is instead reserved for the likes of Cindy Sheehan.

The video of Shiri and her family is beyond moving. It is utterly paralyzing in its poignancy and tragedy. Much is made of the emotionalism of the left in this country. And yet, that video turned this callous, irreverant Conservative into a damp, pacing, and deeply angry human being.

Why is there so little news like this coming out of the Middle East for the American people to see. There are thousands of hours of Saddam torture video in existence, and not a fifteen-second snippet has been “leaked” for the American people to get some perspective. So that maybe a clear majority could rally behind our country’s noble undertaking in a region of the world that damn well straight deserves freedom and modernity.

I’m going to have to stop now. Except for one thing. I hope I will meet Shiri one day. Maybe even sing with her behind that microphone, to the smiling faces of her beautiful family that, while left behind today, will tomorrow be present to bask in that blessed, cheerful smile forevermore.

RushBaby on September 25, 2007 at 11:48 PM

A very poignant sign and another solemn reminder of who the enemy is, why we fight and why we can’t quit.

Speakup on September 25, 2007 at 11:49 PM

Rachel Corie was drone on and on by the left and the media as a martyr when she put herself into the position to be killed.

William Amos on September 25, 2007 at 11:05 PM

I’ve been at Haaretz all evening. Some idiot just brought her up and said, “Iran did not bulldoze Rachel Corrie.” My reply? “She could have moved.”

Connie on September 26, 2007 at 12:32 AM

RushBaby on September 25, 2007 at 11:48 PM

Amen.

infidel4life on September 26, 2007 at 12:52 AM

Byran, thanks.

Spirit of 1776 on September 26, 2007 at 1:05 AM

I’m sorry, but I see nothing poetical about the moment in question, and for reasons I’m hard put to explain, the juxtaposition with Poe here strikes me as incredibly self-indulgent and demeaning. I’m not trying to fault anyone’s intentions, because my mileage clearly varies, but I don’t see how that sign wouldn’t be every bit as searing — and as searing an indictment — if the child had buck teeth, crossed eyes and bad hair. The idea that Shiri’s loveliness makes a difference only seems achingly sadder still.

As for poetry itself, death/beauty is not the most poetical, it’s the easy out — when it’s not just a way of tarting things up for public consumption. IMO, obviously. Notwithstanding Poe’s rather glib description of choosing a subject for the Raven, a good poet makes the poem a thing of beauty, not the other way around. Ironically, when you read his whole essay, that choice looks like the least important poetical decision he made.

JM Hanes on September 26, 2007 at 2:37 AM

If Little Hitler and his moongod have their way, there will be a million more Shiri’s – enough blood to bring the Twelfth Imam out of his cozy sewer to join the killfest. The ummah will present themselves as victims, and the Democrats will accommodate by demanding more political correctness.

RedWinged Blackbird on September 26, 2007 at 6:32 AM

Tears again. May God rest her Soul and comfort her family.

Zorro on September 26, 2007 at 6:45 AM

When the Columbia president introduced the dictator I thought very much like he was the impotant wife of an unfaithful abusing husband. You know the kind. The husband cheats on and beats his wife. Every now and then she gets “fed-up” and gives him a piece of her mind. He listens intently and then goes right on cheating and abusing. In reality, she is totally impotant but gets a brief power-up from expressing herself.

This was the Columbia president. “I’m-a-dinner-jacket” simply dismissed his impotant hollow words and got down to the business of legitimizing himself on a world stage. I wonder how long it will be before the dictator/terrorist is atomized.

The alums of Colubia shouldn’t send that school another penny.

Mojave Mark on September 26, 2007 at 8:12 AM

So sad. She looks just like an angel.

4shoes on September 26, 2007 at 8:53 AM

So glad the Koran opposes such violence.

It’s all “cultural”.

Or “political”.

Like the political Al-Aqsa mosque.

And the cultural need for Islam to dominate.

The only poetry I want is a couplet:

Islam
is gone.

profitsbeard on September 26, 2007 at 9:35 AM

A truly very, very sad occurrence, It shows the utter evil we non-muslims are dealing with. A very moving great tribute-blog for a person that will be missed. God bless her and her family.

countywolf on September 26, 2007 at 11:30 AM

I have to say, that Washington Times blog is one of the few from the mainstream press that seems to really understand blogging. Not only is the content good, but they actually link to other bloggers.

JackOfClubs on September 26, 2007 at 2:33 PM

I saw this on Michelle’s site last night and to be honest it did more than just choke me up a little.
abinitioadinfinitum on September 25, 2007 at 11:31 PM

No doubt, a ‘lump in the throat’ moment.
.
.

With all of the available ugly people on this planet, Hamas manages to go and blow up a rare beauty. Way to go, numbnuts.
What’s a young single male to do when all the pretty girls are being killed by unwashed, unshaven, unhinged, unkempt, ululating untermenschlich?

.
Well,
there is always THIS.

or an early lonely death. hehe

shooter on September 26, 2007 at 2:45 PM

Now, that’s beauty.

Jaibones on October 4, 2007 at 9:16 AM

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