This week Bruce told us about Maj. Daniel A. Strelkauskas,

In June 2008, Strelkauskas was on dismounted patrol in Afghanistan when his team came under heavy machine gun and sniper fire, according to his medal citation. With fire coming from more than a dozen positions, he “ran deeper into the kill zone to drag a wounded Marine across open terrain to a covered position,” the citation reads. He suffered multiple fragmentation wounds to his hands from rounds ricocheting near his position.

He ordered critical air support of 2000 pound bombs which provided suppression of the enemy to allow movement of casualties. After the evacuation, the citation reads, Strelkauskas coordinated follow up airstrikes that killed an estimated 40 among the enemy, including several mid-level Taliban leaders.

The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce does an incredible job with the series every week. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-8pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

In today speak, Garcia and the Grateful Dead launched multiple, synergistic initiatives to leverage their installed base. He was a visionary leader who understood social networks, marketing and monetization. I’m making him sound like a dot-com CEO! Have I completely lost my marbles? I don’t think so and here’s why…

Seems like I wasn’t that far off after all, as both The Atlantic Magazine and CNBC, the business news network, have done extended pieces looking at the Dead and their business success.

The Atlantic: Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead Archive, scheduled to open soon at the University of California at Santa Cruz, will be a mecca for academics of all stripes: from ethno­musicologists to philosophers, sociologists to historians. But the biggest beneficiaries may prove to be business scholars and management theorists, who are discovering that the Dead were visionary geniuses in the way they created “customer value,” promoted social networking, and did strategic business planning.

Dead Right on Business

The Dead Business Model

Last night we had our first chance to welcome Jeff Perry to Pundit Review Radio. Jeff is a state representative running to replace retiring Bill Delahunt in Congress.

Jeff was personable, likeable and direct. He is that rare breed of politician because his words and deeds are in synch. Jeff says he is a fiscal conservative, and he backed it up by being one of only two state legislators to vote “NO” on the boy it feels good but how will we ever pay for it Mass Health bill. That took serious political courage to stand on principle and against his friend and governor Mitt Romney.

We sent Scott Brown to Washington and he’s a breath of fresh air. I see many of the same qualities in Jeff Perry. Can Massachusetts send two fiscal conservatives to Washington in the same year? Yes We Can!

The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-8pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

They say there are not many things the left and right can agree on these days, here’s one, Yalta: The Price of Peace is a great book!

The end of the Cold War has given scholars a chance to step back and take a more dispassionate look at those eight consequential days in February 1945. It is hard to imagine anyone doing so better than S.M. Plokhy in Yalta: The Price of Peace … colorful and gripping …
-The Wall Street Journal

Harvard historian S.M. Plokhy has produced a gripping narrative of the eight days in February 1945 when the Big Three - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin - convened the Yalta summit as World War II raged on.
-The Boston Globe

It was a real pleasure to welcome Harvard professor and author S.M. Plokhy to the WRKO studios last evening. Yalta is a topic where the mythology around it is pretty well set in stone. This book shows that much of it is wrong.

The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-8pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

Michael Yon returned to Pundit Review Radio and WRKO, this time live from Kandahar Afghanistan. I was also joined by Bruce McQuain, the man behind the Someone You Should Know series. Bruce spent 28 years in the Army, is a veteran of the Vietnam War and has a son currently serving in Afghanistan. We covered the rules of engagement, the fighting in Marjah, the coming battle in Kandahar and the notion of mission creep.

The highly respected Pentagon journalist Tom Ricks had this to say about Michael’s reporting,

Learn how to be a war correspondent

Wanna learn how to cover front-line combat? Read Michael Yon’s column today on the death of a soldier. Written as clearly as Ernie Pyle, but without the sentimentalism that often crept into Pyle’s writing. Also, frankly, Yon and others, like C.J. Chivers of the New York Times, know more about military affairs than Pyle did. What people tend to forget is that St. Ernie really was a career feature writer who spent a couple of years covering World War II.

Another difference: Someone was picking up Pyle’s salary. Yon depends on reader contributions. Like you.

You can support his great work here.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-8pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

Tonight, the focus was on this week’s healthcare summit. We talked about the political theater, the style and the substance. We also took a lot of calls from the great WRKO listeners.

The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-8pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

This week Bruce told us about Spc. Aaron Davis,

“With all my years in the Army, I have never pinned a Silver Star to a Soldier. This ceremony is a huge honor for me,” said Brig. Gen. James Gilman, commander, Great Plains Regional Medical Command and Brooke Army Medical Center.

Davlyn Davis, mother of Davis, emphasized the ceremony is not only about her son but also for the ones that perished from the fight.

“They are the true heroes; I’m proud to be a mom of a Soldier. Every-one involved in this journey took extraordinary measures to ensure my son and my family was in good hands,” added Mrs. Davis.

The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy.

The Silver Star is the third highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is also the third highest award given for valor, in the face of the enemy.

“Although it’s hard to think about what happened in the battlefield, I am glad I was there to help my comrades,” said Davis.

Davis remains as an outpatient with BAMC but hopes that when he makes a full recovery he can return to be a squad leader with the Warrior in Transition Unit. “I’d really like to stay on and help out with the other Soldiers who are coming back; I know what it’s like. I’ve been through it,” concluded Davis

The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce does an incredible job with the series every week. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-8pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

When Republicans do it, it’s called The Nuclear Option!

I’ve enjoyed his Washington DC reporting and commentary for a long time and last night finally had the opportunity to welcome Matt Lewis of Politics Daily to Pundit Review Radio.

Matt attended CPAC and I wanted to get his impressions of the event, from the speakers to the topics to the energy and optimism of the attendees. We took calls, including one from Boston Maggie about Admiral Lippold, who might be running against Harry Reid in NV. Go figure, a Navy question from Maggie!

One of the things Matt wrote about and we discussed was the sense that the GOP has entered a new era. Nothing exhibited that more than this clip, of homophobe fool Ryan Sorba getting a reception he so richly deserved,

The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-8pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

I love books that stand conventional wisdom on its head and ask the reader to think about old problems in new ways. That, in a nutshell, is what Lee Smith has done with The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations.

I especially liked the book description from Max Boot,

The Strong Horse is hard to describe and even harder to put down. Lee Smith has concocted an addictive and original brew of reportage, memoir, and political analysis that casts the Middle East and its relations with the “Great Satan”; in a fresh and fascinating light. Writing about his meetings with everyone from Omar Sharif to Natan Sharansky, he delivers one shrewd insight after another. Anyone seeking to understand the world’s most volatile region should read this timely and entertaining book.

It was a pleasure to welcome Lee to the show, I only wish we had more time to discuss this because clearly, we were only able to scratch the surface. Special thanks to Martin Solomon of Solomonia who recommended the book to me.

The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.

What is Pundit Review Radio?

On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-8pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.