CNN's Casualties Map, Memoria Day 2011

Today is Memorial Day, and as I did last year, I remind readers again that CNN has a resource that helps us reflect on the number of soldiers' lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, its casualties map. You can move your cursor over the spots on its map of the United States to read the names of soldiers who have died from those areas.

R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011): Poet Passes at Age 62

You know that the spoken word poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" by Gil Scott-Heron left its mark on America because the title's become a commonplace. For instance, I heard a television reporter making reference to the poem during the so-called "Arab Spring" protests of this year as a point of commentary. He said, "Apparently the revolution will be televised."

The title of Gil Scott-Heron's poem has become a cultural reference point. It's a saying with which people are familiar, but many young people don't know when they hear it that it is an allusion to a poem. So, I wanted to honor his memory today with that point of recognition because yesterday I heard that he died.

Poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron has passed on at age 62. His death, according to the New York Times, was announced on Twitter and later confirmed by his publisher. His work was a part of my coming of age in the 70s, but the last time I mentioned him on this blog was after President Barack Obama's inauguration. At that time poet E. Ethelbert Miller was wondering why no one was comparing Elizabeth Alexander's poem "Praise Song for the Day," written for Obama's inauguration, to GSH's "Winter in America." Miller's observation was rather astute.

The NYT piece, which calls GSH "the voice of Black culture," also says:

Mr. Scott-Heron often bristled at the suggestion that his work had prefigured rap. (“I don’t know if I can take the blame for it,” he said in an interview last year with the music Web site The Daily Swarm.) He preferred to call himself a “bluesologist,” drawing on the traditions of blues, jazz and Harlem Renaissance poetics.

I never associated him directly with HipHop. I see how he could be associated with early protest rap music, but his work never popped into my head when I heard the party-like-a-fool, "on-and-on-til-the-break-of-dawn" rap that blasted across college campuses in the late 70s and early 80s. And definitely--I definitely did not associate his work with misogyny or anything that glorified a black man killing a black man, commercialized gangsta rap imagery. Maybe I thought of GSH when I heard Taalam Acey or other spoken word artists or perhaps I hear the echo of his spirit concerned for his people in Raheem DeVaugh's "Bulletproof" featuring Ludacris, but not when I hear Nelly's "Shake Ya' Tail Feather." I've never made an aesthetic connection between Gil Scott-Heron and the sexual simplicity of "shorty dropping it like it's hot."

Apparently the poet did not see a connection either. He felt rap was directed at youngsters not grown folks. The NYT's obituary says he preferred jazz.

I think I became aware of Gil Scott-Heron in the 70s because my older cousins from California would come to New Orleans for the summer and one of them was into the poet's work. I think my cousin Ricky must have played "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which I've embedded in this post.

Somehow I was exposed to The Last Poets, too, of which GSH was a contemporary but not a member. It had to have been one of my cousins who introduced me to radical protest poetry because my mother, who exposed me to a lot of poetry, was more the Langston Hughes/James Weldon Johnson/Gwendolyn Brooks type. But maybe she was aware of of GSH also because he admired Langston Hughes as well. All I know is that when I was 13 in 1973 I was at a predominantly white boarding school, sensitive to racism, and trying to imitate protest poetry. So, his work and that of other black protest poets must have made an impression on me.

And some of GSH's work was also played on black local radio stations later. I remember hearing "The Bottle" a lot. I can't pinpoint exactly when and how I became aware of his work, but I know I was aware of it and even recall seeing him on Soul Train. His image and words stuck in my head. He said something worth saying.

SYTYCD "Addiction" by Mia Michaels Danced to "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles

Set to Sara Bareilles "Gravity," Kayla Radomski and Kupono Aweau perform a So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 contemporary routine choreographed by Mia Michaels, who envisioned it as a story of a woman's addiction to drugs. I thought the routine was stunning and moving then and I still think it's stunning and moving. Sadly, sometimes romantic relationships with people run this course as well.

Anyway, I watched the first auditions for this year's So You Think You Can Dance, Season 8, and saw a pair auditioning to the same song. They did a decent job, but they did not top the Season 5 routine. However, like the Tyce D'Orio routine to Maxwell's "This Woman's Work," also of Season 5, half of the emotional connection to the piece comes from the song itself.

I don't remember the names of the pair who auditioned last night. Only the woman wanted to compete on the show. Nevertheless, when I heard their song choice, it reminded me of the Season 5 performance to "Gravity," and so, I decided to post it. I also remembered that I never bought the song itself, and decided to buy it last night. I played it so many times my son came in to ask me this morning the name of the song. He liked enough to not complain that I had looped it for hours.

Good-Bye Oprah Show: Maybe I Won't Have to Hear Black Men Complain About Oprah So Much Anymore

I added this video of the 300 Morehouse men, Oprah crying, and interview with Morehouse president on May 26. Dr. Franklin says that Oprah believes it's cheaper to educate than incarcerate and that since the airing of the Morehouse graduates paying tribute to Oprah and people learning that these men are paying their scholarships forward, donations have poured in.

I confess that I have watched all of Oprah's Farewell Season, and I will be buying the DVD set as soon as it's released. And yes, I cried watching the celebrity celebration on Monday and Tuesday, as did my aunts. My mother would have been crying with us had she been alive to witness the end of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The Morehouse men segment of yesterday's show moved me the most and that may be because over the years I've had to listen to some black men who seem to hate Oprah and see her as some kind of threat to black male/female relationships or black masculinity. I've told some of these men in the past that Oprah's probably done more to help black men than they realize.

Tyler Perry spoke during the Morehouse scholarships segment and said of Oprah, "You've often said that when you educate a black man, you empower families, you empower sons and daughters and you change generations." So, who has a problem with that?

The men brought Oprah to tears and I'm glad her producers decided to include it in the show. (See video above added May 26. The president of Morehouse said they pitched the idea to Oprah's producers.)

Indifference toward Oprah is understandable. Different strokes for different folks, but I've discovered that hating Oprah is another thing entirely. From what I've observed, when people truly hate Oprah or intensely object to her success, the reason they give for that hostility usually reveals more about a sense of inadequacy they battle within themselves than it does about any aspect of Oprah herself. I have yet to meet a black man, for instance, who has an intense disrespect or dislike of Oprah that did not also prove to have a problem with women in general and successful or strong-willed black women in particular that also reared its head in his personal life.

In addition, some women who dislike Oprah intensely ultimately reveal an envy of her money and success. If it's not the success issue, then their dislike usually boils down to one show they saw where Oprah agreed with a guest that said something that struck a nerve with the woman and made her feel like she was doing something wrong with her life or that she should face up to something that happened in her past, such as abuse. In that case, they hate Oprah in that way of shooting the messenger.

Again. I'm not talking about people who say simply Oprah's not their cup of tea, meaning she just doesn't interest them at all. I'm talking about people who spit out nothing but venom when you mention Oprah's name. Venom indicates a deeper issue. However, there are other people who don't hate her that much but have strong opinions.

For example there are people who dislike Oprah based on principle alone. One woman told me, "No one should have that much power!" I laughed because she implied there is something inherently evil about anyone who has enormous influence. In that case, I knew I was talking to a natural skeptic. She didn't hate Oprah. She just didn't trust her. She probably doesn't trust a lot of people and concepts. Those who think like her don't spew venom, just ice water. And they're right to warn us not to follow anyone blindly, even Oprah.

So, today is the last show. Oprah produced it. Who knows what she has up her sleeve. Perhaps some gift for her staff will be included and what she knows for sure. Whatever's coming, I'll be watching.

Obama Surprises Memphis High School Graduates

My aunt in Memphis told me about President Barack Obama surprising students at Booker T. Washington in Memphis, Tenn., on May 16, She said it made her cry. CNN posted a longer video of his surprise visit on YouTube. Obama later spoke at their graduation.

Why Did We Open the Morganza Spillway?

I know people who live in Terrebonne Parish and near the Atchafalaya Basin. Naturally some of them are suspicious about the reasons behind the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) decision to open the Morganza Spillway because its opening will result in flooding an area that includes approximately 25,000 people in south-central Louisiana.

This event is rightfully described as a modern-day sacrifice to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge from flooding, but some people in the Atchafalya who have only recently begun to feel that they've recovered from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustav ask, "Why now after all these years? Why for the first time since 1973 are they opening the Morganza?" I understand the sorrow and apprehension behind the questioning. Some people ask even when they already know the answer because the questions help them process inevitable loss.

It is not my intent with this post to debate the ethics of such decisions. Nor will I examine why the areas selected for flooding are often poor areas. I simply wish to place in historical context what's happening because I perceive that some viewers and news gazers, perhaps due to hectic lives, are missing parts of this story.

Speaking of the USACE's decision to keep Cairo, Ill., from flooding by blowing up Missouri levees at Birds Point, levees that protect Missouri farmland, Jeff Opperman at Nature.org explains in his April 29 blog post that such decisions are not made haphazardly. (The levees were blown up on May 2.) He tells his readers that officials are following policies in a system that has been set up since 1928, a system established after the devastating flood of 1927.

I suspect that quite a few busy, hard-working people down here were not paying attention to the USACE exploding the levees on the Missouri/Illinois border two weeks ago, but residents in Missouri whose farm land would be flooded probably watched reports like the one in the following video with trepidation.



Undoubtedly this is the kind of report Opperman has in mind when he writes:

The breathless coverage describes a seemingly last-ditch, desperate proposal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to blow up a levee and send a torrent of floodwater across 130,000 acres of Missouri cropland. By breaching the levee and sacrificing the farms, the Corps hopes to lower the level of the Mississippi River and relieve pressure against other levees protecting the town of Cairo, Illinois.

The story packs great drama as it pits town against farmer, one state against another, and state leaders against a federal agency: Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has taken the Army Corps to Federal Court in a bid to stop their plan. [That bid failed.]

This 2011 drama that has now reached us here in Louisiana with the opening of the Morganza Spillway began months ago, as the Insurance Journal explains through other sources:

“The flooding began when a critical weather pattern brought tornadoes, hail, damaging winds and large quantities of precipitation over the Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys,” said Dr. Boyko Dodov, principal scientist at catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide. “This large, slow-moving system, spanning a period of almost a month, and encompassing several rainstorm events, has contributed to record accumulations of precipitation and major flooding in these regions.”

Perhaps nothing shows us how we are all connected as much as the groaning and outbursts of Mother Nature.

Opperman connects the dots for us further when he says that "this drama (as relayed sometimes through mainstream media) obscures some important insights about how we manage floods and floodplains." A video at the top of his post provides the beginnings of context, and so I've posted it below. Michael Reuter of the Nature Conservancy stands beside the New Madrid Floodway discussing the unprecedented water levels that rose in the Ohio and Mississippi rivers this year following higher-than-average rainfall, and he describes the power of these two great rivers that "drain to 41 percent of the nation, portions of 31 states."

"If you think of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers as two big four- or six-lane highways coming together. And it's been moving slowly. We've got water where we've never seen before," says Reuter.



We now know that the overflow of these rivers made its way to Tennessee, flooding parts of Memphis. With the Memphis flooding, the newsy noise of potential flooding in Louisiana grew louder and people began to pay attention as talk of opening the Morganza and Bonnet Carré spillways crept into daily television, newspaper reports, and household conversations.

We all want to understand what's going on when news events disrupt our lives. Especially curious are those who are too young to remember the last time the Morganza was opened in 1973 or who were so young that they didn't pay attention to its significance back then. I've turned to state schoolbooks to refresh my memory.

The Louisiana Journey, an 8th-grade Louisiana history book published after Hurricane Katrina, explains how the government controls Louisiana rivers and the history of the levees and spillways. It's written in accessible language, and I learned this research trick reading a interview with Nora Roberts, I think, who said she goes to children's books when she's trying to learn about a scientific or technical process and then builds from there.

The history book says that "Louisiana's many rivers are a mixed blessing." They've shaped the land and our way of life, contributing to Louisiana's economy, but each waterway comes with dangers, the periodic and expected devastation of flooded communities. According to the book, the French built the first levees in the state in the 1700s hoping to manage river flooding. In the great flood of 1927, one fourth of the state flooded, and as Opperman says in his blog post, a good part of the nation also flooded. As a result, the federal government invested in and built the current levee system.

The book explains what would be apparent to people living down here and that is that levees run on both sides of the Mississippi River. However, while levees solve some problems, they create others:

By confining water to the river channel, water levels inside the levees can become dangerously high. If the levee breaks, as happened in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, an area may flood rapidly.

Consequently, the levees are not enough to control all the water. You may take a look at the book for illustrations and pictures that show how water rises within a levee system.

The book's narrative continues, telling of the Old River Control Structure, a dam built during 1960s at the head of the Atchafalaya River that directs one quarter of the Mississippi River and all of the Red River into the Atchafalaya, which was once only "a small distributary" of the Mississippi. The Old River Control Structure has kept the Mississippi from changing course to flow down the Atchafalaya, but it almost broke during the 1973 flood. Repairs were made.

If you read the section discussed here of The Louisiana Journey, you'll get a good sense of how men have tried to control the Mississippi and other waterways for the sake of commerce and their own personal interest. For example, in 1831 Captain Henry Miller Shreve, the man for whom Shreveport was named, "cut a shorter channel" from the Mississippi River to the Red "in order to give steamboats easier access to the Red River." It was through this meddling that Old River was created, sending more of the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya, making that river larger and reshaping the land. "So much sediment came down the river in the 1973 flood that a delta was formed," according to the history book.

These changes concern river and geological experts because the reformation of the land, as well as the Atchafalaya being lower than the Mississippi, could cause the Mississippi to change course permanently, flooding forever Morgan City and other towns along the Atchafalaya and destroying the economies of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. What is currently the lower part of the Mississippi would become too shallow for large vessels to navigate. Saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico would flow farther north, contaminating the drinking water of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Vegetation holding soil would die, more land would flow away, and eventually, "what is now the lower Mississippi would become a bay of the Gulf of Mexico."

The river control projects discussed that complement the levees are the Bonnet Carré Spillway, which was built on the Mississippi's east bank to divert its overflow from New Orleans into Lake Pontchartrain; the Morganza, which was built up-river of Baton Rouge on the Mississippi's west bank and directs overflow away from the state's capitol into the Atchafalya Basin; and the Bennett Johnston waterway which helps control Red River, protecting the Shreveport area.

From Wikipedia:

Since the early 20th century, because of manmade alterations in the channel, the Mississippi has sought to change its main channel to the Atchafalaya River. By law, a regulated proportion of the water (30%) from the Mississippi is diverted into the Atchafalaya at the Old River Control Structure. In times of extreme flooding, the US Army Corps of Engineers may open the Morganza Spillway to relieve pressure on levees and control structures along the Mississippi. On May 13, 2011, in the face of a rising Mississippi River that threatened to flood New Orleans and other heavily populated parts of Louisiana, the USACE ordered the Morganza Spillway opened ... This water floods the Atchafalaya Basin between the levees along the western and eastern limits of the Morganza and Atchafalaya basin floodways.

While critiquing media coverage of the USACE's blowing up the levees in Missouri two weeks ago, Opperman clarifies a point some of us, perhaps those who did not grow up here or who are young, miss in Louisiana:

[I]t was very hard to find an article that mentioned one crucial point. The 130,000 acres the Corps proposes to intentionally flood has a name: the New Madrid Floodway. Simply using that term—floodway—would certainly have shed some light on this debate.

An accurate sentence describing this controversy could read as follows: “Faced with possibly the highest river levels ever recorded at the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, the Army Corps of Engineers has announced that, if necessary to protect lives and property, it will divert approximately one-fourth of the Mississippi River’s flow into the New Madrid Floodway. The New Madrid Floodway was authorized by Congress in 1928 in response to the cataclysmic 1927 Mississippi flood. By allowing the intentional flooding of select areas like the New Madrid Floodway, cities, towns and farms along the river can have greater security from flood disasters.”

He acknowledges that his paragraph is not exciting, but makes an excellent case that in focusing on the drama and fears of flooding, some media outlets misrepresent the history and laws behind the explosion of the levees, and I add that such coverage distorts the opening of spillways as well. For instance, we've heard the phrase "opening the Morganza Spillway" often without the clarification "so the waters will flow into the floodway." Both the Morganza and the Bonnet Carré spillway projects were part of the 1928 legislation.

CNN's Don Lemon covered the opening of the first gate of the Morganza. Listen to his voice. He's so amazed and dramatic that not once in this clip does he clarify that what is being flooded is a "floodway." Yes, people have homes in the floodway, and yes it's heartbreaking to think of entire communities taking on waters to protect larger communities, but if the opening of the spillway were placed in context of the devastation of the 1927 flood, subsequent legislation, and the weather system that we witnessed slamming the nation earlier this year, the story might be seen in a different light.



My concern about the way the news is delivered in the video is that it bows to sensationalism by making it sound as though the people in the floodway were oblivious to the possibility that this could ever happen to them. In reality, anyone who lives in a flood-prone area knows that even without the opening of a spillway, their homes may be flooded. I like Don Lemon, and so, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he may have done a more thorough job earlier in his broadcast, but this clip of his report is all that's posted on CNN's site. Where is the full explanation? Perhaps in a separate online text that no one will read.

As for our local newscasters, I credit them that if you listen long enough, eventually someone will provide a more in-depth explanation of what is happening within the context of history. Often they turn to 1927-flood expert John Barry, a local resident and author who national media outlets also use. Fortunately, Barry brings up the 1927 flood and discusses the history and policies I've mentioned here when he talks about the flooding. So, those listening carefully can get a fuller picture if they want one.

Barry, author of “Rising Tide,” considered the definitive history of the 1927 flood, the most disastrous flood in US history to date that displaced over 600,000 people and flooded 26,000 square miles, says the actions taken by the Corps since that incident produced “a very good comprehensive system that includes all sorts of elements including, by a wide margin, the strongest levees in the U.S.”

The agricultural use of the floodplain is understandable because it “is too valuable to just leave fallow,” Mr. Barry says. But opening the Morganza was a calculated risk work taking, he adds. River levels in New Orleans, for example, are expected to crest at 19.5 feet, just inches from the top of the levees there.

Barry says that possibility could lead to a “massive levee breach” where there would be “Niagara Falls or more pouring of the river for an extended period of time.”

“Once that breach opens, that can’t be closed,” he says, which would cause worse flooding than the city experienced following Hurricane Katrina. (Yahoo News)

While I have compassion for the people whose homes are flooded, I can also tell you that when you buy a home in a floodplain or a floodway, by law you must be informed in writing that your home is located in such an area, and if it's not clear to you from the fine print, it should become clear when you are required, if you have a mortgage, to purchase flood insurance. People who don't live in areas that flood are not required to buy flood insurance in order to get a mortgage.

I have only seen two people interviewed down here on a local station who did not seem to understand that life in the Atchafalaya area is a life that takes on this greater risk. Still, we have to help these people, many of whom are facing this trial with great courage. We cannot leave all the heavy lifting to government programs, especially those of us in New Orleans and Baton Rouge whose homes may be protected by the sacrificial flooding of the Atchafalaya Basin.

Many of the people who live in these areas do so because it is the place their families have lived for centuries and the lifestyle is cultural. Others do not have the financial means to go elsewhere, and as Barry indicates, the farmers in this area are providing a necessary service to the rest of us by increasing our food supply.

NOLAfemmes reports, and I also heard last night on WWL TV, that the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilots Association is working with First NBC Bank and the American Red Cross to raise money for Morganza Spillway flood victims. The Red Cross also has other programs to help those in the flood zone. Please donate.

Related: We Can't Ignore Wetlands: A Look at Books

River Watch: Snakes Not Greatest Flood Threat, Says Lutz

New Orleans-located infectious disease expert Dr. Brobson Lutz says in the video above that people going to watch the rising Mississippi River along the area's levees should be more concerned about the viruses they could catch from mosquito bites than about encountering a snake. He said that whenever flooding makes the news, you can count on someone to air video with a snake swimming in the flood waters. However, someone walking through flood waters is more likely to sustain an injury from stepping on a nail in debris beneath the surface.

He's right about that but as someone with a bit of snake phobia, I watched Diane Sawyer's report about Memphis, Tenn. flooding with my heart in my throat. And its on my mind with all the news stories about potential flooding down here in Louisiana.

See Sawyer's video below, which features water moccasins also known as cotton mouths. In addition, the video covers poisonous spiders, deer, and other critters who may be fleeing the flooding and taking up residence in the homes of humans.

Video: Poetry Celebration at the White House

Here's video of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama's Wednesday, May 11, evening event of Poets at the White House. The president started the evening saying, "The power of poetry is that everybody experiences it differently.

There are no rules for what makes a great poem. Understanding it isn’t just about metaphor or meter. Instead, a great poem is one that resonates with us, that challenges us and that teaches us something about ourselves and the world that we live in. As Rita Dove says, “If [poetry] doesn’t affect you on some level that cannot be explained in words, then the poem hasn’t done its job.” Also known as, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. That’s a little ad-lib there. (Read full transcript.)

I heard on Real Time that conservatives were upset because Obama invited Common to this evening of poetry. The UPI via CBS News reports that "Objections [arose] from a 2007 YouTube video of Common in which he says, among other things, 'tell the law, my Uzi weighs a ton.'" From John Lundberg:

If you heard about the White House poetry event this past Wednesday, you probably heard about it for the wrong reasons. The decision to invite hip-hop artist and actor Common to read poetry drew a surprising amount of furor from the right. Former Bush senior advisor Karl Rove and Fox News host Sean Hannity, among others, offered their in-depth analysis of Common's lyrics, coming off like a couple of flustered freshmen in a poetry workshop. I suppose such strange distractions are to be expected in the weeks after your political enemy kills Osama bin Laden, but the Common silliness was unfortunate, as it tarnished what was otherwise a great day for poetry.

He's right about the controversy being "Common silliness." Don't conservatives have something more important to whine about like the crazy people who want to run for president under the conservative umbrella?

Rita Dove begins the recitations part of the evening. The other poets included Elizabeth Alexander, Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Kenneth Goldsmith, Alison Knowles, Aimee Mann and Jill Scott. I'm grateful for the Internet because the way my week went last week, I would not have been able to see this night of poetry without it.

S.O.S. Day Protests Jindal's Cuts to Higher Education in Louisiana: The SUNO-UNO Merger

On April 26, 2011, the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus held a rally on the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge to protest Gov. Bobby Jindal's cuts to higher education. The most urgent matter on the minds of the speakers was Jindal's push to merge Southern University of New Orleans with University of New Orleans, SUNO with UNO.

The event was hosted by the Southern University System and called an S.O.S. Day at the Legislature. SUNO is a historically black university, and while African Americans fought for integration and the right to attend the University of New Orleans years ago, many in the African American community still believe that SUNO and the Southern University System serve a need for students of color that the state's historically white colleges and universities cannot.

Senator Cynthia Willard-Lewis (District 2) speaks passionately in the video, invoking the name of Frederick Douglass, and Senator Edwin R. Murray (District 4)follows her. He urges rally participants and everyone else to contact their legislators and let them know that they do not support the merger nor do they support cuts to higher education, k-12, and hospital services.

As of May 9, the Times Picayune is reporting the following:

"A bill to merge the University of New Orleans and Southern University at New Orleans continued moving through the Legislature Monday, when a second House committee gave its approval despite uncertainty about how much it will cost the state. "

You may watch the full video of all the speeches at the Orleans Parish School Board's Vimeo page.

The video on this page also includes music and pictures related to the history of African American literacy and education in America. I had not planned to make the video, but I changed the TV channel accidentally on the remote while I was under the weather in bed Tuesday morning, heard Cynthia Willard-Lewis's fiery speech, and the next thing I knew, I was putting something together.

Photos of Osama bin Laden's Body: So, You Really Want to See those? Why? When Do We Get Enough?

Updated Wednesday: President Obama says White House will not release Osama bin Laden death photos: "We don't trot out this stuff as trophies"


The White House should not make the photos of bin Laden's body available for broadcast. For Americans who want to see the body photos, the government should put the pics in a case at the Pentagon. The morbidly curious can contact the military if they want to see the photos and then drive/fly/walk to D.C. for a peek. For the rest of the world, send hard copies of the photos to their leaders who request them and anyone in those countries who wants to see the pictures should contact them.

That's my opinion as posted to my Facebook page. The U.S.A. finally killed Osama bin Laden and the only people who don't believe it are conspiracy theorists, President Obama haters, and bin Laden followers. Why rush to accommodate any of these groups?

U.S. Gets Osama Bin Laden: Obama's Still Cool

I did not think this day would come, but about two hours ago, my son rushed into the living room and said, "Mom, Osama bin Laden is dead!"

"What? Was it natural causes?"

"No," he said. "He was killed." (Later sources reported that bin Laden was shot in the head, shot through the left eye.)

I stopped watching Treme on HBO and turned to CNN where I saw that about 30 or 40 people had already gathered in front of the White House. As I write this post, it looks like that crowd has grown to more than 500 now. And people are celebrating at Ground Zero in New York City as well.

Here's video of President Barack Obama's speech in which he makes clear he had his hand on the operation to get bin Laden who was killed in Pakistan.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read full remarks at WhiteHouse.gov.

Unfortunately the video above does not capture Obama's walk to the podium before his speech. My daughter, 30, commented, "Look at his walk," and people are tweeting about his swagger and saying Obama got Osama. Interesting the things people notice on momentous occasions.

Even one Republican congressman, Peter King I think, put it this way, and I paraphrase: If the mission had failed, we would have blamed the president. So he gets credit for this success. He and someone else said the president showed guts. It was his call to take the shot and he took it. Others are praising the Obama administration for being able to keep the operation quiet, the way it kept the lid on security and avoided leaks.

And still, Obama is cool. Consider that he knew about this when they were releasing the long form of the birth certificate and as he did his comedy routine last night at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. (See clip of Obama smiling at Seth Meyer's Osama joke at WHCD on Saturday night before Osama was dead. To look at him, you'd think nothing like the Osama operation was brewing that night.) I'm reminded that Colin Powell said he endorsed him in part because of he's level-headed.

The strike was a highly organized intelligence operation carried out by Navy Seals with cooperation from Pakinstan's civil government, reports CNN. The Seals engaged in a firefight, killed bin Laden and a few other people, including a woman who one of Osama bin Laden's people used as a human shield, and then our soldiers took possession of bin Laden's body.

Former president's George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have also issued statements. Obama called Bush before he made the news public.

My family and I lived in New Jersey not far from New York City when the planes hit the World Trade Center nearly 10 years ago on September 11. I think bin Laden's death will give a lot of families some sense of closure.

President Obama stressed that this is not the end of terrorism. I'm going to guess our military is on high alert for possible retaliation. My prayers are with them and with us over here, too, because some Osama-wannabe is no doubt out there now trying to make a name for himself by shedding more blood and there's already talk in the media of sleeper cells being activated. But today, as the president said, justice was served.

The screen shot is a screenshot of the Huffington Post's main page reporting that Osama bin Laden is dead. BlogHer.com has an open thread that's already getting lots of comments.