Pundit Review Radio
Sunday, 8pm-10pm est
Streaming Live, WRKO

Chris Simcox, President of the Minutemean Civilian Defense Corps, will be our guest at 8pm EST on Sunday Evening

The Voice of America sets up the topic,

The Minuteman organization, a private group that advocates stricter immigration controls, is planning a month-long operation along the border with Mexico starting Saturday. The group is also keeping a close eye on the U.S Senate’s current debate over immigration reform.

Pundit Review Radio Introduces New Segment Featuring Blackfive’s ‘Someone You Should Know’ Portraits of Bravery and Herosim

In hour two, we will be introducing a new weekly segment in conjunction with Blackfive, the award winning milblogger.

We will introduce you to the incredible true stories of the heroes who have been featured in Blackfive’s series ‘Someone You Should Know‘. We are honored to collaborate with Matt from Blackfive, and we share his belief that the public needs, and wants, to hear the stories of the bravery, courage and dignity of the men and women who fight for us. We will bring them to you every Sunday at 9pm.

The Media Research Center held its annual DisHonor Awards ‘Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters of 2005′.

The announcement includes links to audio and video of the best of the worst in MSM bias. Check it out.

Plagiarism is making a comeback, and not just in the world of journalism.

Yesterday Instapundit linked to an interesting story alleging plagiarism by the AP. And who did they steal from? A blogger.

There are many things that bother me about plagiarism, but nothing irks me more than when a mainstream reporter (or organization) with all of the resources of a small nation at their disposal lifts from the small press, freelance journalists, and bloggers.

Read the whole thing.

The big story of course has been this,

A fresh embarrassment for journalism
Commentary: Conservative Domenech quits post.blog
By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Just when it seemed like journalists had finally moved on beyond the multitude of 21st century scandals that damaged our blessed craft, another bomb explodes.
The profession suffered an embarrassment Friday when a 24-year-old conservative columnist named Ben Domenech exited the Washington Post’s Web site — a mere three days after his introduction, following allegations of plagiarism.

Captain Ed is asking the right question,

Will Blogs Eat Themselves?

The entire tempest surrounding the hiring and termination of Ben Domenech as the Washington Post’s designated conservative blogger shows that the blogosphere has a lot of growing up to do. Between the hysteria, the personal attacks, the revelation of wrongdoing and the triumphalism that followed, bloggers did tremendous damage to themselves.

What a nightmare. Anyway, plagiarism this week has moved beyond the world of journalism into the world of cooking and celebrity chefs. One of my best friends in college was Wylie Dufresne. Wylie has gone on to become a superstar chef in New York City. His original restaurant, 71 Clinton Fresh Food, was an instant classic.

The New York Times on 71 Clinton Fresh Food,

71 Clinton Fresh Food, single-handedly turned the Lower East Side into an up-and-coming restaurant neighborhood, and it made Wylie Dufresne an overnight star…Mr. Dufresne, one of the most distinctive culinary talents in New York…

I had the most amazng meal of my life at that restaurant! Wylie is as good a guy as he is a chef. If you�??re ever in NYC, check out his new restaurant called WD-50, located at 50 Clinton Street in the lower east side.

Anyway, I like to see what Wylie is up to, where he is travelling or when he is appearing again on TV, so I Google his name occasionally. This time I came across a plagiarism scandal in the food world.

The good feud guide

AMONG Melbourne diners, the food at Robin Wickens’ two-hatted Fitzroy restaurant, Interlude, has inspired such breathless adjectives as “whimsical”, “daring” and “arch”.

But in recent days, a harsher term has been suggested: “plagiarised”.

The storm began 10 days ago on specialist internet forum eGullet, after it was revealed that among Wickens’ offerings was, in fact, a replica of a dish first “invented” at New York’s famed WD-50.

The dish features pureed prawns, reformulated into noodle shapes with the assistance of an enzyme, transglutamate, and served with smoked yoghurt, paprika and nori.

Editorial staff from eGullet have since posted pictures of four other dishes by the 2005 Age Good Food Guide young chef of the year, which emulate creations by Grant Achatz, of Chicago’s Alinea, including a dessert served in a test tube.

There is no question of legal action against Wickens: recipes, no matter how unique, cannot be protected by copyright, nor have they ever been successfully patented.

But chefs and diners have questioned whether Wickens’ conduct in replicating dishes �?? right down to the plating �?? is poor form.

Where will it end, this plagiarism epidemic?

We often criticize the MSM for their overly negative, unbalanced coverage of the war in Iraq. Well, today we come to praise USA Today for their excellent profile of the doctors and nurses in Iraq who work in tremendously tense, gruelling conditions to save our brave soldiers when they are injured.

Lifesaving knowledge, innovation emerge in war clinic
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

As patients arrive, doctors and nurses poke, prod and inspect; they cut away clothing, shout out blood pressure readings, insert oxygen tubes and wheel up portable X-ray machines. Helicopter medics, helmets under their arms, squeeze into the scrum to recite how each soldier fell on the battlefield.

Bloody linens and body fluids collect on the floor. The clatter of arriving or departing helicopters, beating against the hospital tents, muffles conversation.

Please read the whole article.(HT: MKH at Hugh Hewitt)

This is a tremendous story, and it proves that there is more to Iraq than car bombs and killings. The MSM is quick to note that getting at the good news in Iraq is difficult. Iraq is a dangerous place. True. But the MSM can write story after story about the outstanding conduct and bravery of our troops, if they wanted to. This is something they do far too infrequently.

As the Media Research Center found in a recent audit of Iraq War coverege,

Few stories focused on the heroism or generous actions of American soldiers. Just eight stories were devoted to recounting episodes of heroism or valor by U.S. troops, and another nine stories featured instances when soldiers reached out to help the Iraqi people. In contrast, 79 stories focused on allegations of combat mistakes or outright misconduct on the part of U.S. military personnel.

For regular profiles of the outstanding conduct and bravery of our troops, turn to the new media, to the outstanding milblog Blackfive in particular, and read his series, Someone You Should Know.

This article in USA Today stands out because it is so unique. I hope to see more of this type of coverage going forward. We are quick to criticize the MSM so we should also be quick with praise on those rare occassions when they deliver a breath of fresh air.

We often hear that we need illegals to do the jobs “Americans won’t do.”

Illegals do the jobs Americans would do if wages were not artificially depressed.

We talked on our radio show last night about what to do about the 15 million illegals in this country . Some in Congress have proposed amnesty in one form or another. Our President actually supports a �??Guest Worker�?� program and penalties and fines for those who are illegally in this country. Those mealy mouth Senators (McCain and Kennedy) and, yes, our �??conservative president�?� are dangerously wrong on this issue.

I say that those whose first official act in our country was to willfully violate our federal immigration laws should be rounded up and shipped back to their country of origin. They can, after a stipulated period of time, re-apply for entry to become legalized American citizens. They must have a rudimentary understanding of English, U.S. history, and our Foudning documents as well.

We are either a nation of laws or of men- pure and simple. Regardless of the purported justification for allowing and even encouraging illegal immigration, nothing that any illegal immigration �??activist�?� can offer trumps our Constitution. Period.

Sound uncompassionate? All it will take is for one or two terrorists to sneak across our northern or southern border with a loose nuke for Boston, Philadelphia, or Los Angeles to be erased from the map.

We are at war people with jihadist throat cutters who are very good at finding their way into our country. Why make it easier for them for leaving the back door unlocked.

There are also many other reasons why condoning illegal immigration is harmful to our country (illegals use more govt services than they pay in taxes, illegals who are �??guest workers�?� don�??t have any incentive to assimilate and become Americans, almost half of all prisoners in our country are illegals, etc�?�)

Another fundamental issue that is often times over-looked in the immigration debate is that we have an urgent need for highly skilled engineers and computer scientists from other countries to keep American high tech companies competitive in the global economy. The WSJ editors explain why this is problematic and what should be done.

Because of archaic limits on visas for skilled workers currently at 65,000 per year, many of our best American companies face shortages of high skilled employees.

It has been estimated that 8,000 illegals (mostly from Mexico) cross the border illegally every day. (almost 3 million per year) If we are going to turn a blind eye to those 3 million who are entering our country illegally who are a net drain on our economy and culture, doesn�??t it make sense to increase the number of highly skilled workers who will be a net gain for our economy in terms of thier enhanced productivity?

If we want to export our technology to the rest of the world (and “insource capital investment from abroad in our flourishing American companies) and remain the technological powerhouse that we are, it is vital that we start increasing legal immigration of highly skilled workers to perform the jobs too many Americans don�??t have the abilities (sadly enough) to perform. This is the most vital aspect of the immigration debate that is seldom discussed.

Until we overhaul our abysmal monopolistic government run K-12 school system and turn out kids who can actually read, write, and perform basic math, we must ensure that American companies are able to fill vital positions so that we can continue to lead the world in high technology. This is not only an economic imperative, but more importantly, a grave national security concern since the War on Terror is increasingly becoming one of information, intelligence, and militray and space technological innovation.

Gregg J

Tonight at 8pm EST of Pundit Review Radio we will talking about the two hotttest issues in America: The Iraq War and Immigration.

You can stream the show live at WRKO and participate by calling 877-469-4322.

In the first hour, our guest will be Thomas Joscelyn, reporter for The Weekly Standard. Thomas has been all over the Pentagon to declassify the hundreds of thousands of documents seized from Saddam’s regime. Here is a sample of his excellent work,

“Blessed July”
One of the Saddam documents details orders for an extensive terrorist operation.
by Thomas Joscelyn
03/24/2006

SADDAM’S ULTRA-LOYAL Fedayeen martyrs were ordered to carry out bombings and assassinations in London, Iran, and “self ruled areas” of Iraq in May 1999, according to a newly released Iraqi intelligence document. One such operation, codenamed “Tamooz Mubarak” or “Blessed July,” was apparently intended to hunt down Iraqi dissidents and bomb other unspecified locations.

Although a copy of the original document was not released, an English translation was published on the Foreign Military Studies Office’s Joint Reserve Intelligence Center website yesterday.

Read the whole article.

Among the often repeated myths (aka lies) of the left that we will be debunking tonight,

1. Saddam had no connection to Al Qaeda
2. Saddam had no connection to global terrorism
3. Saddam had no WMDs.

The second hour will feature a discussion on the immigration debate which is heating up right now. We will look at the proposals for reform, and the politics behind them.

For an excellent round-up of new and traditional media commentary on the Immigration issue, check out Real Clear Politics.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin & Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. This unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening at 8pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston�??s Talk Leader.

This Sunday evening at 8pm, Iraq will be front and center once again on Pundit Review Radio. Our guest will be Thomas Joscelyn, a New York based economist and contributing writer to The Weekly Standard.

Along with Stephen F. Hayes, Thomas Joscelyn has been leading The Weekly Standard’s efforts to gain access to documents siezed by coalition forces in Iraq. He has written excellent essays about many aspects of the Iraq war.

To read Thomas’ Weekly Standard archive, click here

When: Sunday 8pm est
Where: Streaming Live on Boston’s Talk Station WRKO
Contact: Call toll free at 877-469-4322

About Pundit Review Radio

Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin & Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. This unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening at 8pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston�??s Talk Leader.

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Originally uploaded by punditreview.

Michael Yon and Hugh Hewitt were interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN. They debate the media coverage of the war with Time’s Baghdad bureau chief Nick Ware and CNN’s Nick Robertson.

A great 10 minute discussion. Check it out.

To listen to Hugh Hewitt and Michael Yon on Pundit Review Radio, click here.

How many times have you heard a Democrat politician, or a Bush basher, tell you that there was absolutely, positively no connection between Iraq and AlQaeda? A hundred? A thousand? Here’s more evidence. Sigh.

Osama Bin Laden Contact With Iraq

Following are the ABC News Investigative Unit’s summaries of five documents from Saddam Hussein’s government, which have been released by the U.S. government.

The documents discuss Osama bin Laden, weapons of mass destruction, al Qaeda and more.

A sample from one of the summaries,

Although contacts between bin Laden and the Iraqis have been reported in the 9/11 Commission report and elsewhere, (e.g. the 9/11 report states “Bin Ladn himself met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Khartoum in late 1994 or early 1995) this document indicates the contacts were approved personally by Saddam Hussein.

It also indicates the discussions were substantive, in particular that bin Laden was proposing an operational relationship, and that the Iraqis were, at a minimum, interested in exploring a potential relationship and prepared to show good faith by broadcasting the speeches of al Ouda, the radical cleric who was also a bin Laden mentor.

The document does not establish that the two parties did in fact enter into an operational relationship. Given that the document claims bin Laden was proposing to the Iraqis that they conduct “joint operations against foreign forces” in Saudi Arabia, it is interesting to note that eight months after the meeting �?? on November 13, 1995 �?? terrorists attacked Saudi National Guard Headquarters in Riyadh, killing 5 U.S. military advisors. The militants later confessed on Saudi TV to having been trained by Osama bin Laden.)

One of the true gentlemen of the blogosphere, Mark Tapscott, has just announced that he has a new job back in the newpspaper business, where he spent more than 25 years as a reporter and editor.

Halleluyah! I am Headed Back to the Newsroom!!

I have never been so excited about a job in my entire career as I am about becoming Editorial Page Editor of The Washington Examiner and a member of Clarity Media Group’s National Editorial Board.

In addition to overseeing the editorial pages of the three Washington-area editions of the Examiner, I will also have a role in The Baltimore Examiner, which begins publication in a few days.

Well, if this isn’t about the best news I’ve heard all week. Congratulations to Mark, this is very, very good news and I cannot wait to read the product he puts out.

To hear Mark’s visit with Pundit Review Radio, click here.