Very, very cool. (From Brig, with thanks.)

I was about to put a small apology here for all the Elian thoughts and links today, but then I realized that it’s my f’ing weblog, and the point is to express the things that are making my mind spin. When I watch something this sad take this long to resolve, and then watch people spread conspiracy notions and unattributed misconceptions, my mind starts spinning.

Wanted: at least one primary source that confirms the wildly repeated, never attributed statement that Elian will be held in some sort of camp upon return to Cuba, so that, as claimed, he can be resocialized to the proper lifestyle of a Cuban (or some derivative thereof). Send one along, if they exist. (Update: Mike came through with a secondary source that seems to talk about something similar to the debriefing that American hostages go through after returning to the U.S., except according to the CNN clip linked from that page, Elian would be with his entire immediate family.)

I swear, I had a dream at around 5 AM that the feds were finally going to go in and rescue the hostage, Elian Gonzalez, from the house of his Miami relatives — and it turns out that right about then, they were doing exactly that. My favorite quote so far is Marisleysis Gonzalez saying that she and her family were “given no warning.” Ummmm, how about a solid week’s worth? Or even better, how about three month’s worth? Ever since they decided to defy a federal order to give him to his father, they knew that they were doing something illegal, and that the INS could come in at any time to take Elian away.

Of course, now we’ll be inundated with the people who try to make a claim that the way this all played out at 5 AM today is the fault of the U.S. Government, rather than the Miami relatives who refused to transfer Elian to his father peacefully and without armed Federal marshalls involved.

Specifically for Mike: two things. First, according to the psychiatrists who have been involved in the case, the child was in “imminent danger to his physical and emotional well-being”; the videotapes that the family released early this week are very comparable to hostage situation tapes. Second, the administration acted according to Title 8, Section 1103(a) of the U.S. Code, at least according to the ruling from the Federal District Court earlier this month. This section gives broad enforcement powers to the Attorney General in all matters of immigration, and section III.B.3 of the same court ruling has a very good and detailed analysis of exactly how this broad enforcement power relates to the specifics of Elian’s situation.

We’ve all seen the picture of the agent in the bedroom closet with Elian and the fisherman; Salon already has an article on the photographer who got that shot. (His name is Alan Diaz, and his picture also ran on the AP photo wire.) Pretty interesting piece, and pretty clear that the family wanted to manipulate the media even during the hostage rescue.

One of the paid “extras” who was in the studio audience for the taping of Dr. Laura’s first TV talk show has given a first-hand account of just how terrible she is — as a person, yes, but more specifically, as a talk show host.

There’s a very well-written letter by Dub Dublin in the Letters to the Editor section of the latest Linux Weekly News that tries to debunk the currently-popular notion that patents are evil. (I’ve asked Dub if I can reprint it here, but until then, just scroll down to the letter from Dub_Dublin@tivoli.com on that Letters to the Editor page.)

Ick — following a long tradition, penitents in the Philippines allowed themselves to be crucified yesterday as a show of faith. (Question, though — if you go through this ritual seven times, as one of the men in the story had, are there convenient soft spots in your hands and feet that they can reuse every year?)