Bruce McQuain from QandO joined us tonight for another edition of Someone You Should Know. As part of his Project Hero series, Bruce wrote the following about SSG Chad Malmberg,
This is the story of a young National Guard staff sergeant who was a convoy commander in charge of getting all the vehicles and the 15 soldiers back to his base in Iraq safely. Naturally about 30 insurgents decided they’d ambush him and the convoy with the idea of killing or capturing them all.
As you’ll see, SSG Chad Malmberg had a completely different outcome in mind and he took charge and made his outcome the final one.
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Thanks to Matt, Bruce is now on board and we are lucky to have him as part of the show. All of our interviews are also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley via the Pundit Review Radio Podcast.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg 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 your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Bruce McQuain from QandO joined us for another edition of Someone You Should Know. This week Bruce told us the incredible story of 1LT David Tiedeman, a member of the 278th Regimental Combat Team of the Tennessee National Guard,
Sgt. Betterton, shot 8 times during that engagement and awarded the Bronze Star for valor, has recovered and has volunteered for another tour in Iraq. He’ll be leaving soon. Let’s wish him a very uneventful, even boring, 15 months. Both of these men exemplify what it means to be warriors. Both risked their lives to save the other, and in the case of 1LT Tiedeman, he saved the life of Sgt. Betterton by his heroic action and refusal to leave Betterton wounded and alone. You can’t ask anymore than that of your leaders.
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Thanks to Matt, Bruce is now on board and we are lucky to have him as part of the show. All of our interviews are also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley via the Pundit Review Radio Podcast.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg 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 your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
As I mentioned last weekend on our show, I was one of about two dozen conservative leaders nationwide, including the chairman of the Free Congress Foundation and Founder of the Heritage Foundation and Moral Majority, Paul Weyrich, who signed a letter to John McCain regarding his VP selection that appeared today as a full page ad in the local Prescott Arizona news paper in the city where McCain campaigned and spoke.
Incidentally, Mr. Weyrich has recently stated at the Council of National Policy meeting in New Orleans that endorsing Romney was the “biggest mistake of his life.” He has stated that he was unaware of Romney’s true record and role in establishing abortion with a $50 co pay as a “healthcare benefit” (after his supposed pro-life conversion) and illegally instituting same sex “marriage” in Massachusetts (which by the way remains illegal as the current marriage statute Chapter 207 has never been amended to include marriage between same sex “couples.” A bill before the legislature to do just that was just voted down last week.)
Our letter has been a major topic nationally and has been covered on CNN, Fox News Channel, CNS News, CBN, CNBC, Townhall, and World Net Daily among others.
So far the only responses hve been to call us “bible thumpers,” “jealous Huckabee supporters,” and “anti-Mormon haters.” Pretty much the same banal responses to the multitude of articles I have written on Townhall.com critical of former governor Romney. There has been no attempt to even refute any of the substantive evidence from the actual letter… just name calling. No surprise.
Here’s the WorldNetDaily piece on the letter:
‘No Mitt’ campaign targets VP slot
‘We can’t support a McCain-Romney ticket,” coalition saysSen. John McCain needs to choose someone other than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as his vice-presidential candidate, says a coalition that has accused Romney of violating the state constitution and mocking the principle of limited government while governor.
The message is being proclaimed in new full-page newspaper advertisements that will begin running in locations where McCain will be campaigning, starting this weekend in Prescott, Ariz., according to the sponsors.
“With Mitt Romney on the ticket there could very well be enough social conservatives staying at home to allow a Barack Obama victory in the fall,” said a statement from sponsor Government is Not God-PAC, run by William Murray.
Readers are being directed to a NoMittVP website, where they can express their opinions about Romney as a possible vice president.
Among the signatures on the ad is Paul Weyrich, founder of the Heritage Foundation and a supporter of Romney as little as a few months ago.
However, revelations about Romney’s actions as Massachusetts government have terrified some conservatives about what he might do as president.
“Picking a running mate as dishonest, cynical and with so little regard for innocent human life, natural marriage and the binding force of constitutions as Mitt Romney would be a deal breaker for many, many voters,” said John Haskins, who signed as an individual but works with the ParentsRightsCoalition and UndergroundJournal.net.
“Mitt Romney is the Barak Obama of the Republican Party,” he said.
The advertisement is listed as “An open letter to John McCain: NO Mitt.”
“We are conservatives who believe strongly in the sanctity of human life and of marriage and we recognize that the issues at stake in this upcoming election are serious and profound. Indeed, we believe the very future of America’s security, against threats both foreign and domestic, will be determined by whom America elects as president in November,” the ad says. “Because we have invested our lives in securing a prosperous America that honors life and liberty, we must state our grave concerns regarding your pending choice of a running mate.
And here is the full page ad
Five years ago yesterday the great editor/columnist/reporter Michael Kelly became the first US journalist to die in Iraq. I wrote at the time,
This is a tragic day for anyone who loves political commentary. Michael Kelly, America’s greatest columnist, died in Iraq today. He was the first American and first embedded reporter killed in the war.
Its not very often that the passing of a person you have never met moves you deeply. I am truly saddened by his death. My heart goes out to his wife and two young sons.
Hats off the the Salem Evening News for a story on his family in today’s paper,
Five years later, Kelly family has good days and bad
By Steve Landwehr
Like the parent of any kids who have lost a parent, Kelly said she worries about how it will affect hers. But they’re doing well in school and are as well-adjusted as can be expected, she said.
It’s sometimes hard to believe five years have gone by, she said, and sobering to consider that Jack is now more than twice as old as he was at the time of his father’s death.
Kelly has a lot of good days, she said, and they’re no different from anyone else’s good days — the kids get off to school on time and without any arguments and the rest of the day proceeds smoothly.
“I’m not a very unhappy person,” she said.
She struggles to describe the feelings that will never go away, but shares a friend’s outlook.
“She’s also a widow, and she recently remarried,” Kelly said. “She loves her husband, but she still mourns the future she’ll never have.”
Five years ago I also posted tributes from his colleagues which were incredibly moving then and remain so today. Here they are,
Below are remembrances from his colleagues…
Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal: The death of Michael Kelly is a sin against the order of the world. He was a young man on his way to becoming a great man. He was going to be one of the great editors of his time, and at the age of 46 he was already one of its great journalists. And one’s first thought about him, after saying the obvious–that he wrote like a dream, that he was a great reporter with great eyes, that he was a keen judge of what is news and what should be news–is this. He was an independent man. He had an indignant independence that was beauty to behold. He knew what he thought and why, and he announced it in his columns and essays with wit and anger.
Jonah Goldberg: Howard Kurtz’ obit says Kelly was a conservative and I suppose that’s right. But I never really saw him as one. Rather, I always perceived him as an old style blue collar Democrat whose B.S. detector pushed him to the right on specific issues. Whatever, his columns were tough as nails, but he always explained where he was coming from. In that I’ve always seen him as a role model — there’s nothing wrong with hitting the other guy hard as long as you provide a rationale for doing so and are willing to take your lumps in return. But Kelly was also an intellectually gifted man with a profound sense of decency, or at least that’s the impression I always got from his work.
Byron York, National Review: A Courageous Man: He had the courage to speak his mind even when it might cost him his job and the approval of his less independent-minded colleagues. Some writers would do anything rather than say something that would risk the disapproval of the right people. Kelly wasn’t one of them.
Jonathan Chiatt, United Press International: Appreciation: Remembering Michael Kelly: If you knew Michael Kelly only through his columns, you either loved him or hated him, probably depending upon your political persuasion. My politics were quite different from his, and if I had known him only as a reader I probably would have hated him. But I also knew Mike as an editor and as a person, and because of that I loved him.
James Taranto, OpinionJournal.com, A Journalist and a Hero: Kelly’s greatest journalistic achievement was to transform The Atlantic Monthly, of which he became editor in 1999, from an insomnia cure into a must-read. He stepped down as editor last fall. A statement from the magazine quotes managing editor Cullen Murphy: “Mike Kelly was a loyal and warm friend, a passionate and courageous advocate, an extraordinary reporter and editor, and above all a profoundly good and generous man. You didn’t need to know Mike for long to understand that you could stake your life on all of those qualities.” We met Kelly only once–we had a long chat with him at an Atlantic cocktail party in New York a couple of years ago–and can attest that Murphy is right.
Murphy continues: “He saw his profession not as a game but as a public service. I want Mike’s boys Tom and Jack to know that their Dad was a hero. His loss is devastating to all of us.” May he rest in peace.
See what made Michael Kelly so great, his columns dating back to 1999.
Global warming ‘dips this year’
BBC News environment analyst
La Nina caused some of the coldest temperatures in memory in China. Global temperatures will drop slightly this year due to the cooling effect of the La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists have said. The World Meteorological Organization’s secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told the BBC it was likely that La Nina would continue into the summer. This would mean global temperatures have not risen since 1998, prompting some to question climate change theory.
Those who question global warming, of course, are nothing more than holocaust deniers, flat earth types, isn’t that right Al Gore?
After all, we should never question the “scientific consensus“!
“The discoveries of changes in the sun’s heat and the southward advance of glaciers in recent years have given rise to conjectures of the possible advent of a new ice age.â€
–Time Magazine, Sept. 10, 1923
“MacMillan Reports Signs of New Ice Ageâ€
–The New York Times, Sept. 18, 1924
“America in Longest Warm Spell Since 1776; Temperature Line Records a 25-Year Riseâ€
–The New York Times, March 27, 1933
“Gaffers who claim that winters were harder when they were boys are quite right… weather men have no doubt that the world at
least for the time being is growing warmer.â€
–Time Magazine, Jan. 2, 1939
“Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the
harbinger of another ice age.â€
–Time Magazine, June 24, 1974
“Scientists Ponder Why World’s Climate is Changing; A Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitableâ€
–The New York Times, May 21, 1975
“[S]cientists no longer doubt that global warming is happening, and almost nobody questions the fact that humans are at least partly responsible. “
–Time Magazine, April 9, 2001
“Past Hot Times Hold Few Reasons to Relax About New Warmingâ€
–The New York Times, Dec. 27, 2005
Dictionary definition of congenital
1 a: existing at or dating from birth
b: constituting an essential characteristic : inherent c: acquired during development in the uterus and not through heredity
2: being such by nature
From William Safire in the New York Times
January 08, 1996
Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our first lady – a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation – is a congenital liar.
At the time, he was referring to her tortured explanations of her cattle futures bonanza, Travelgate and Vince Foster’s missing files. Today, he could be talking about her combat experience in Bosnia or her tall tale about being named after Sir Edmund Hillary.
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has a look at a blockbuster column by Dan Calabrese who,
interviewed Jerry Zeifman, the man who served as chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate hearings, has tried to tell the story of his former staffer’s behavior during those proceedings for years. Zeifman claims he fired Hillary for unethical behavior and that she conspired to deny Richard Nixon counsel during the hearings…
Jerry Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, supervised the work of 27-year-old Hillary Rodham on the committee. Hillary got a job working on the investigation at the behest of her former law professor, Burke Marshall, who was also Sen. Ted Kennedy’s chief counsel in the Chappaquiddick affair. When the investigation was over, Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career.
Why?
“Because she was a liar,†Zeifman said in an interview last week. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.â€
Hillary’s has always used her time on the Watergate committee as a way of demonstrating that she was one of the best and brightest of her generation. It’s a central part of her mythology. Not anymore. Now her time on the Watergate committee will be seen as further proof that William Safire was prescient in his observations of the former First Lady.
Gateway Pundit has the details.