Shazam! It is great to be an American!
Osama bin Laden is deader than a doornail and sleeping with the fish. May he rot in hell, and may those who danced around and burned American flags after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, which killed more than 3,000 innocent people, end up there with him – minus their virgins.
Applause to President Barack Obama, who changed a lot of opinions about his personality and his leadership abilities. It was on his orders that a group of Navy Seals stormed into a compound outside Islamabad, the capital city of a joke called Pakistan, and took out bin Laden and his buddies, who were brave enough to defend themselves by using a woman as a shield. Why am I not surprised?
In making the announcement of bin Laden’s death, the president said, “Justice has been done.” Amen and amen. A lot of Americans who experienced that bitter day almost 10 years ago would agree with you, Mr. President. We have had to suffer in silence and listening to apologists make excuses for what these bad people did to us. You helped us even the score.
It turns out that Obama gave the orders to get bin Laden just before leaving on a tour of the storm devastation in Tuscaloosa. He was a busy man.
Bin Laden was reputed to be hiding in caves in Afghanistan, but in fact was in a mansion on the outskirts of the town set on hilltop and ringed by 18-foot-high concrete walls topped with barbed wire. And nobody in town knew he was there. Yeah, right.
How we found that out where he was, I don’t know at this writing, but I am sure the Washington Post and New York Times will tell us and blow our cover and make it harder to catch the bad guys in the future. That’s their job.
I’m also not sure how self-proclaimed comedian Bill Maher will receive the news. He opined that the 9/11 terrorists did not act in a cowardly manner in killing their innocent victims and rebutting President Bush’s statement that the hijackers were “cowards.” Maher said then, “We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly.”
How about a bunch of Navy Seals going into a hostile environment and taking out the world’s No. 1 terrorist and leaving in 40 minutes, Bill? Say what you want about it. Not cowardly.
The best thing of all was to see people out on the streets and in ballparks and restaurants cheering and chanting, “USA! USA!” It is enough to give apologists a tummy-ache. Don’t we understand all that is wrong with our country? We are bullies and war-mongers. And we are celebrating? San Francisco has to be in mourning today for the nation’s abhorrent behavior.
The national news media is now warning us all that we will likely face retaliation from the terrorists for our actions. I’m not sure what the alternative is. Live in fear of jive-talking Islamic terrorists or let them know that if they hurt us, we will hurt them back? I think we all know the answer to that one.
As we lose one lowlife scumbag, we also lost a great Georgian and a great American as a result of the killer tornadoes that struck Georgia and its neighbors: a good friend, Earl Patton Jr., a successful developer and a civic leader in metro Atlanta. He was a former Republican state legislator who ran against incumbent Democrat Herman Talmadge for the U.S. Senate in 1968, when there were more wombats in Georgia than Republicans. He got only 22 percent of the vote but he paved the way for a true two-party system in the state.
I saw Earl at lunch a few days before the storm. We shared a good laugh. It was to be the last time I would see this kind and decent man. One week later, he was the victim of a brutal tornado that hit the Lake Burton area in Rabun County and damaged or destroyed at least 100 homes, including his. Patton was 83 years old.
He would be proud of his country today and would be the first to tell you that while we are Democrats and Republicans, we are first and foremost Americans. Proud Americans. Rest in peace, Earl.

Yarbrough can be reached at yarb2400@bellsouth.net or P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Ga. 31139.