Sgt. Tim Sumner is asking a simple question today,

What explains the New York Times’ ten-day delay in reporting that U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy would be posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor?

and providing the answer,

The short answer is some people never change. Thirty-five years ago, when the Times’ Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger Jr. was asked by his father about his preference should an American soldier run into a North Vietnamese soldier, antiwar activist “Pinch” responded, I would want to see the American get shot. It’s the other guy’s country.”

Everything you need to know about the agenda, integrity and character of those running the New York Times, in a simple paragraph,

Since 9/11, on all battlefields, more than 4,000 American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines have earned and been awarded the top six medals for valor, the Bronze Star with ‘V’ device and higher. Conversely, the Times has written and published but four straight stories about the battlefield heroics of the War on Terror’s most highly decorated troops — and not one time has even their heroism made the Times’ front page.

Read the whole piece, but not too soon after eating, you may lose your lunch.

If you are interested in the combat heroics of these brave men and women, check out our Someone You Should Know archive here.

Hat Tip: Greyhawk at the indespensible Mudville Gazette

From a Boston.com photoshop contest; Brett Dewey from Wicked Cool sent in this dig at an old rival of the Sox.

GI back from Iraq early surprises kids at school
Charles E. Ramirez / The Detroit News

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — Brittainy and Madison were hoping their dad, Maj. Robert Thomas, would come home from Iraq in the next couple of weeks.

So it’s no wonder they were bowled over when he walked into their school’s gymnasium during a student program about patriotism Thursday.

Who knew you could still get away with a student program about patriotism? Won’t some people find that offensive? Right, who cares.

As a father, these photos (and captions from the Detroit News) brought a tear to my eye,

Brittainy Thomas, center, reacts as she sees her dad walk into the Atwood Elementary School gym. Her sister, Madison, second from right, does not see her dad yet.

Brittainy flies into her father’s arms as sister Madison, left, waits her turn.

Brittainy looks up at her dad with tears in her eyes as they are interviewed by the media after the surprise.

The Thomases - dad Robert, mom Michele and daughters Madison and Brittainy - are reunited. The school staff planned the event when they heard about Thomas’ homecoming a couple of weeks ago from Michele.

Hat Tip: K-Lo at The Corner

Michael Yon on The New Republic’s latest Fabulist, Scott Beauchamp.

As for The New Republic, some on the staff may feel like they’ve been hounded and treed, but it’s hard to feel the same sympathy for a group of cowards who won’t fess up and can’t face the scorn of American combat soldiers who were injured by their collective lapse of judgment. It’s up to their readers to decide the ultimate fate.

Read the whole thing.

And support Michael’s great work here, I did.

This is fantastic. This creep thought he could take down his arrogant, obnoxious post about dealing with the US soldiers at a checkpoint, but he was sorely mistaken.

The Americans, however, are the absolute worst. I had a testy exchange Tuesday with an American soldier at an entry checkpoint into the Green Zone.

The pomposity and arrogance of this turd is incredible. He removed this post because he was being mocked far and wide across the blogosphere (well, at least the conservative blogosphere)

Here’s more,

He took offense at my response.

Then he looked at the second ID of my companion. It was a badge issued by our newspaper. He said it wouldn’t do. Besides, he asked, what is Knight Ridder?

“I never heard of it,” he said. He probably would have never heard of McClatchy, either. (We use Knight Ridder because it already had a bureau in Baghdad before the chain was bought by the McClatchy Co.)

If only the soldier said, “Oh yea, now I remember, McClatchy, your the morons who wrote that tear jerker the other day about the bear market for ditch diggers.”

Read the whole thing. This reporter thought he could pull his obnoxious post and avoid the wrath of angry bloggers. He was sadly mistaken.

Read the whole post.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

From Laughing Wolf at Blackfive,

I discovered that Patti is a finalist in the Microsoft Above and Beyond Awards. Patti does go above and beyond, always has and always will methinks, and that seems to be the norm for the fine folks at Soldier’s Angels, as I haven’t met a one of them who don’t do so too.

For all that she has done, for all that she does, and for all that she will do — and for the force she has unleashed to help our soldiers, please go vote for her now. I can think of no one who deserves this honor more.

Patti is one of the most inspirational people I have ever had the honor of meeting. The enormity of what she has done with Soldiers Angels cannot be conveyed in a few words. Soldiers Angels is a remarkable organization.

Please vote for Patti!

I took the quiz and here are my results,

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 70% Conservative, 30% Liberal Social Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal Ethics: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

Got to give the MSM points for persistence. Just a few days ago we got a hearty laugh out of the report about ditch diggers at Iraq’s largest cemetery. Seems like the dramatic drop in violence was bad for business.

Now, we have yet another story that twists itself into a pretzel trying to bring “context” to the situation on the ground. Yes, the violence is plummeting, but there are still “victims” like the now helpless cab drivers that used to idle their cabs outside the morgues.

Taxi driver Ahmed Khalil Baqir used to station himself outside Baghdad’s main morgue, waiting for grieving families who went there to claim their relatives’ dead bodies.

“I was totally dependent on them for my living,” Baqir, a 44-year-old father of four, said.” I never thought about picking up people in the street as I was being hired five to eight times a day by these families. But now it is a waste of time to wait there and these days I wait only for about three hours in the morning and I continue my work picking up passengers in the street.”

When will this parade of bad news end? Oh the humanity.

Get ready for the next big scandal of the Bush Administration, according to Newsweak Magazine,

The Bush administration is starving for good news out of Iraq, and it may finally have some: new U.S. government statistics showing that violent attacks of all kinds are down to levels not seen since 2005. But until recently, the administration appears to have resisted acknowledging a key element of the new data, because it flies in the face of President George W. Bush’s ongoing rhetorical confrontation with Iran’s clerical regime.

That’s right, Bush is downplaying good news in Iraq in order to attack Iran. Uh-huh.

And you dear reader get three guesses at the sources behind this brilliant theory,

According to three senior U.S. officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, the decline in Iraq violence also includes a decrease in the number of attacks attributable to insurgents backed or armed by Iran. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed to NEWSWEEK that “there has indeed been a drop” in such attacks, but he added that “it’s not entirely clear what the reason for that is.”

Ok fine, you only needed one guess, “anonymous sources”.

Greyhawk at the Mudville Gazette has more on “never-before published quadruple super secret” information from the United Nations here.

Later in the same story, Newsweak outs itself as a member of Bush’s Vast Necon Conspiracy,

…trends show a significant drop in violence over the last several months, according to previously unpublished military statistics obtained by NEWSWEEK.

It’s getting harder all the time to tell the difference between the MSM and Scrappleface.

Resistance is futile: You will be (mis)informed.

Today I am in Iraq, back in a war of such strategic consequence that it will affect generations yet unborn—whether or not they want it to. Hiding under the covers will not work, because whether it is good news or bad, whether it is true or untrue, once information is widely circulated, it has such formidable inertia that public opinion seems impervious to the corrective balm of simple and clear facts.

Anyone who has been in Iraq for longer than a few months, visited a handful of provinces, and spoken with a good number of Iraqis, likely would acknowledge that the reality here is complex and dynamic. But in the last six months it also has been increasingly hopeful, despite what the pessimistic dogma dome allows Americans and British to believe…

…The only antidote for this toxic press is a steady dose of detailed stories about the amazing men and women who serve in the United States military.

So, what is Michael doing? He’s offering his work FREE to any newspaper in the country that wants to print it. How many will take his offer? He loses a lot of money by doing this, so we need to support his efforts here.