If so, I hereby Pit Muammar al-Gaddafi for using foreign mercenaries and helicopter gunships to shoot down his own rebellious people in the streets.
And, while I’m at it, for his whole history as a silly tin-pot dictator of greater than usual brutality and quite extraordinary mental instability; and for supporting or even arranging terrorism (e.g., Pan Am Flight 103); and for taking such a potentially rich country (all that oil! such a lovely Mediterranean location!) and making such a crazy shithole of it.
And for having a name that no two media outlets can agree how to spell in Roman letters. I sometimes wonder if there is any standardized spelling of it even in Arabic letters.
On the other hand it is said that Gadaffi taught Berlusconi that little amusing party game whereby you sit on a chair in the middle of the room, and a bunch of young (with Berlusconi sometimes very young) and pretty and scantly clad girls circle around you. And then after a while you decide which one of them you want to spend the rest of the night with. And you have to admit that is a nice little way to spend your time if there’s noting on the telly.
While reading up on the latest Apple rumors this morning, I came across this blog post by Bob Cringely, the technology writer. Back in the day, he was a Middle East correspondent, and he interviewed Qaddafi and Major Jollud, then his right-hand man. It’s an interesting perspective on what’s going on over there now.
Right now the news is reporting that Qadaffy is calling for his supporters to stand up and demonstrate in his defense. This is how I like to imagine it’s going:
“Take to the streets, my loyal supporters! Fight and die for the cause!” crickets
Gotta say, though, there’s something about despotism that keeps you young. Note Mubarak over eighty, not a gray hair. Ghaddafi, Burlusconi, same thing. Obama? Turning to Granpa Simpson before our very eyes.
I keep reading the thread title subject as Gandalf. I don’t think he’s worth pitting, so what if he smokes lot of weed and has an unnatural affection for Hobbits, he took on a Balrog and that makes him aces in my book.
No, he is not worth pitting, but he might be worth dipping into a vat of liquid nitrogen. xtisme and I have an experiment we would love to see carried out.
His own official sites don’t agree how to spell it in Roman letters (it does have a standard spelling in Arabic letters). I tend to go for Gaddafi myself, but find Qaddafi or Qaddhafi acceptable alternatives. Qadhdhafi would be the closest to a straight transliteration of the Arabic, but has its obvious problems.
Can you pit a person like you pit an olive? The Japanese kappa is reputed to reach up its victim’s buttockular orifice and pull out the liver.
If you dip someone in nitrogen, rather than shatter them, could you keep them on display like Han Solo? Or would they just eventually melt and make a mess?
