Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
This week Bruce told us about Staff Sergeant Travis D. Crosby, recipient of the Silver Star,
Upon crossing, Sergeant Crosby and his team were ambushed by three Iraqi tanks, numerous vehicles and dismounted infantry. The ensuring fire fight was so close that friendly and enemy vehicles were intermingled making identification from the air extremely difficult. Despite the constant rain of fire around his vehicle, Sergeant Crosby was able to successfully empty his .50 caliber machine gun on the enemy soft-skin vehicles killing over 20 enemy personnel while simultaneously directing a precision strike by a flight of A-10s destroying the enemy armor. Shortly thereafter, during a tactical pause, two Republican Guard soldiers closed to within 10 feet of his vehicle. Sergeant Crosby heroically risked life and limb by fully emerging from the protection of his vehicle and fired 15 rounds from his handgun, instantly killing the attacking enemy soldiers. Throughout the 20-hour engagement at Objective Peach, Sergeant Crosby deftly controlled eight flights of aircraft, destroying numerous enemy forces and pieces of warfighting equipment. By his gallantry and devotion to duty, Staff Sergeant Crosby has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.
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 SYSK archive can be found here and The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio.
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 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Strawman: a weak or sham argument set up to be easily refuted
I noticed recently on Twitter that John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, has taken to calling Scott Brown “Kentucky’s Third Senator”. He’s expanded on the theme with a column in the Cape Cod Times built upon a central casting Strawman: Is Scott Brown a maverick?
Opening sentence, “There’s a rumor going around that Scott Brown is a maverick.” Um, no there isn’t. Not even close. It goes on,
“You may have read about it on this very page. Like many rumors about politicians, it’s spreading like wildfire and completely untrue. Scott Brown is no maverick.”
Walsh’s main argument is “the fact that he’s (Brown) more interested in serving his party than the citizens of the Commonwealth.”
Pretty strong claim. Ignores a lot of evidence too.
Brown offers amendment to kill medical device tax
WASHINGTON—Senator Scott Brown filed an amendment today that would remove the 2.3 percent tax on medical device companies from the Senate reconciliation bill.
…“Placing a tax on medical devices, in my opinion and in their opinion, would dramatically affect jobs — not only in Massachusetts but throughout the country,†Brown said today on the Senate floor. “I hope we will look twice about what we’re trying to do here in order to pay for the so-called health care bill.â€
Well, what do you know, Boston Scientific to lay off 1,200-plus
To be fair, Boston Scientific has a host of problems, including digesting Guident, one of the worst acquisitions ever. Still, more taxes sure aren’t part of the solution. Massachusetts is a leader in medical devices and Scott Brown was out to protect them, period.
Back to the column, Walsh cites, you guessed it, Kentucky’s own Mitch McConnell as proof of Brown’s misplaced priorities. Brown votes with McConnell 90% of the time says Walsh!
A pretty off-base assessment of Scott Brown and the Republican party if you ask me.
McConnell is viewed as an establishment, moderate Republican, considered by many in the GOP to be a RINO, too willing to make deals. He is despised by conservatives. If you don’t believe me, ask Erick Erickson, head of RedState.com,
If You Support Mitch McConnell, We Don’t Support You
I am instituting a new policy here at RedState. In the future, as we support candidates for the U.S. Senate in Republican Primaries, we will not support any candidate who goes on the record supporting Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican Leader.
What does the Tea Party think of Mitch McConnell?
Press Release Headline: Tea Party Rips “Boehner-McConnell RINOs” for Debt Ceiling Cave-In
How about Tea Party congressmen Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who went on MSNBC and called McConnell’s debt ceiling plan, “an entirely stupid idea.”
This is an especially peculiar time to try and turn Scott Brown into “Kentucky’s Third Senator” considering all the praise being thrown McConnell’s way by the likes of partisan Democrats Harry Reid and Dick Durbin,
Harry Reid
“I commend him (McConnell) for his thoughtful and unique proposal, something that we have to look at very closely. I’m heartened by what I read. This is a serious proposal, and I commend the Republican leader for coming forward with it.”
Dick Durbin
a “positive and thoughtful response” to the need to raise the debt ceiling.
Oh no, not The Real Maverick?
John McCain
“The last-case emergency proposal that Senator McConnell outlined yesterday is a smart, forward-looking plan to make clear to all Americans that should we get to August 2nd without an agreement, it is President Obama alone—and not Republicans in Congress—who decides whether to raise the debt limit, and owns the economic consequences of any default. I applaud Senator McConnell for his leadership.”
Bottom Line: Grass roots conservatives and the Tea Party consider Mitch McConnell a RINO because of his willingness to compromise.
John Walsh is confirming that Scott Brown is who he told us he was, and, he’s doing what he said he would in Washington.
They must be running out of Strawmen, though somehow I doubt it.
It was a real pleasure to welcome Jim Stergios to the WRKO studio tonight. Jim is the Executive Director of the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy.
Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts through civic discourse and intellectually rigorous, data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government.
There is an amazing amount of great information available at the Pioneer website and they also have a great blog, as does Jim at Boston.com, Rock the Schoolhouse. This hour flew by as we jumped from one topic to the next, starting with a bread and butter issue for Pioneer, education reform. We also talked about our transportation mess, led by the Big Dig and MBTA, the gas tax, municipal reform and immigration.
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio.
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 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Lisa Conboy is a health researcher who has worked with Harvard and New England School of Acupuncture. She is involved in a study funded by the Army to examine how acupuncture can treat Gulf War Illness symptoms. For background, in 2008, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses concluded,
“The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time.”
That’s a hell of a long time to suffer. We’re talking 1990-1991.
Gulf War illness is typically characterized by a combination of memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue and widespread pain, and may also include chronic digestive problems, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes.
The study is free of charge to Gulf War vets and includes four to six months of customized treatment. They provide a modest travel stipend and use local acupuncturists to make it easier to participate. One of those acupuncturists is my brother Mark. He joined us in-studio to tell us about Chinese Medicine and what study participants can expect.
From the NESA website,
If you have an interest in participating in this research study serving veterans with Gulf War Illness, please send your inquiry and cv to at CKrieger@nesa.edu. Study staff are also available by phone at 617-558-1788 ext 269 to answer questions and provide additional information.
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio.
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 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
This week Bruce told us about an amazing 56 hour firefight and the amazing courage and stamina of SSG Nicholas Gross, who was awarded the Silver Star,
Staff Sergeant Gross immediately pinpointed and engaged this highly trained, numerically superior, and well-equipped ACM force that the ODA had been dealing with and pursuing for the past thirty hours. Staff Sergeant Gross continued to engage without care for his own life. His only concerns were for the care of his fellow team mates and trying to eliminate, or draw some of the fire from those machine gun positions that had the lead element pinned down. No sooner had Staff Sergeant Gross begun to engage the well-emplaced enemy positions, when the rest of the ACM ambush opened up with an enormous amount of fire on the entire element. Within minutes Staff Sergeant Gross was the only machine gunner still in operation and engaging in the fierce enemy with pinpoint accuracy by himself. Staff Sergeant Gross played an instrumental role in the ability of other members of the team to move Staff Sergeant Falkel’s body down from his turret by placing high volumes of fire on the enemy forces with hopes to draw fire away from Staff Sergeant Falkel’s vehicle and onto his own position. He continued to engage without care for his own welfare or safety, his only care being that of his fellow team members. Staff Sergeant Gross single handedly continued to lay down heavy volumes of fire on the well-emplaced positions while receiving heavy volumes of fire on his positions until the whole element was able to move to a place of protection from the enemy fire.
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 SYSK archive can be found here and The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio.
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 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
It was a pleasure to welcome back to WRKO and Pundit Review Radio Iain Murray. Iain is VP of Strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and he first joined us on WRKO back in 2008 to discuss his great book The Really Inconvenient Truths. He’s back with a new book, Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You
Iain Murray—author of the rollicking exposé The Really Inconvenient Truths—knows all about bureaucrats and their lairs, because he used to be one himself. In Stealing You Blind he blows the whistle on the out-of-control bureaucracy whose greed could actually tip our country into a financial abyss.
I really enjoyed talking with Iain and reading Stealing You Blind. Be sure to check him out over at National Review as well, where he writes extensively.
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio.
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 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
So there I am on Saturday, having a lazy afternoon on my back porch, just me, my phone and Twitter. Pundit Review favorite, CNBC contributor and Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis was absolutely on fire, reporting on the debt ceiling meetings and providing extremely prescient insight and analysis. Basically, he nailed it, saying that Boehner would walk away from a bad deal, like Reagan at Reykjavik.
It was great to have James back on the show at the end of a weekend that he himself described as one of the most exciting of his career!
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio.
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 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.