As Matt from Blackfive said, “Spirtual Warfare Needed – A lot of you ask what you can do. In some cases, you can do a lot like adopt a soldier or donate to help wounded soldiers (ie. Valour-IT) at Soldiers’ Angels. In other cases, prayers are simply the most and the best that you can do.”
This is one of those cases.
On February 7th, 2007, DJ was at a checkpoint near a crowded place when a terrorist walked up to the Marines. DJ’s Battalion Sergeant Major, Joseph Ellis (a recon Marine of 23 years), suspected that a bomber was approaching and put himself between the bomber and his Marines.
The bomber quickly detonated himself, instantly killing Sergeant Major Ellis. The Sergeant Major’s sacrifice absorbed enough of the blast to barely keep DJ from being killed. DJ was hit hard in his abdomen – an artery was cut causing kidney failure – both legs and one arm were shattered, and, in fact, his wounds were so severe that doctors didn’t think that he’d make it. They had him on a respirator, fighting infection, fever, kidney failure and other problems for a time before he stabilized enough (just barely) to make the flight to Germany where his parents and wife met him. While still unconscious, his family kept telling him to fight. Then, on the 18th, DJ was strong enough to make the trip from Germany to the US (Bethesda).
Both his legs have been amputated and are infected. DJ’s stomach wound is infected and can’t be closed until the infection is gone. And his kidneys are not working still…
At this point, please pray for a miracle.
Did you know that Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein recently resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee?
No? I’m not surprised. Care to guess the reason?
As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum’s ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.
As MILCON leader, Feinstein relished the details of military construction, even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design. She regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect construction projects, some of which were contracted to her husband’s companies, Perini Corp. and URS Corp.
Perhaps she resigned from MILCON because she could not take the heat generated by Metro’s expose of her ethics (which was partially funded by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute). Or was her work on the subcommittee finished because Blum divested ownership of his military construction and advanced weapons manufacturing firms in late 2005?
I used a subscription news search service that has more than 30,000 publications in its database and searched the following,
“Military Construction Appropriations and Feinstein”
0 hits today | 0 hits this week | 0 hits this month“Feinstein resigns”
0 hits today | 0 hits this week | 4 hits this month
Of the four hits, two were from the pub that broke the story, Metroactive,one was from Metro-Santa Cruz and one was from something called Bohemian-The West.
In other words, nothing from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC…you get the picture.
Anyone want to make the argument that if Feinstein was a Republican this would NOT be considered news by the MSM?
Last Sunday evening we were scheduled to talk to Michael Yon live from Baghdad. Given that he is half a world away and in a war zone, it is sometimes not that easy a thing to get him on the phone. In his most recent Dispatch, Michael explained what happened and apologizes to our listeners. That was entirely not necessary, because Michael has been a great friend of the show, is welcome anytime, and heck, these things are bound to happen.
Intelligence had come in, and the 1-4 headed off for a raid to get a couple guys who were said to be murdering people. I was scheduled to do a radio interview with WRKO in Boston on my cell phone at 4:30 a.m., and I greatly wanted to tell the people at home about the 1-4 Cav and the seminary, but my ride was going to a raid. And soon we were running through the early morning streets of a densely packed neighborhood, when a voice started crying over a loudspeaker — ALLLLAAAAHHHHHH…..—- that was spooky, and I was actually making video while running. After 15 minutes or so of running and fast movement, we made it to the target house. I was sweating in full under the bodyarmor and helmet. Birds can be heard on the video before the morning twilight. Our soldiers moved to the entrance. The gate was pried open, and our guys were in, led by a soldier wearing PVS-15s and black shoes. My deepest apologies to listeners of WRKO, but I could not turn the phone on during combat operations. Time to go.
Michael also had an email exchange this week with our friend Dean Barnett on the situation in Tal Afar. As usual, his assessment was straightforward, honest and free of any agenda. Here is what Michael had to say,
The civil war is very real. It’s not an apparition or a politically-contrived term. The flames of civil war are real, and the flames were not made hotter by calling them fire. It is what it is. But the term “civil war” does not describe the entirety of the violence here. Yes, the civil war is real, but Iraq is far from a state of anarchy. The government truly is becoming stronger. I spoke with some Baghdad police yesterday, and they actually brought up the topic of the attacks in Tal Afar. These Baghdad police brought up the apparent fact that the Tal Afar police engaged in reprisal attacks and murdered civilians. The Baghdad police were disgusted, disgusted that Iraqi police in Tal Afar apparently had murdered innocent women and children.
Yes, the civil war is very real, but not everyone here is a party to it. There are many, many Iraqis who want to see their country come together. I see these Iraqis all the time.
Michael
As you know, Michael is a truly independent voice in Iraq, delivering the news as he sees it, the good, the bad and the ugly. If you can, please support his work. The length of his stay in Iraq is entirely up to support from his readers. Well, almost entirely up to his readers.
Voters should pay very close attention to what Democrats say about being “fiscally responsible” and how they actually vote in Congress.
If Katie or Brian failed to report on it last night on the “evening news” here is what happened yesterday:
Yesterday House Democrats voted to impose the largest tax hike in American history.
entire article here
Republican House leader Boehner writes in today’s Wall St. Journal:
The budget approved by Democrats on Thursday reverses 12 years of Republican tax cuts and pro-growth policies. It lays the groundwork for increasing personal income tax rates on middle-income families, slashing the child tax credit, reinstating the marriage penalty and bringing back the death tax.
What does all this mean for “average working families” the wealth redistributionists purport to represent you ask? Will these tax increases “soak the rich?” Hardly…
Their budget would raise the tax bill for every working American — 115 million taxpayers will see their taxes go up by an average of $1,795. And if you’re married, have children, or own a small business, you’re in for extra punishment.
For example, 48 million married couples will face an average tax increase of $2,899. Seventeen million elderly individuals will pay an average tax increase of $2,270; 26 million small business owners will be hit by an average tax increase $3,960. More than five million individuals and families who would have seen their income tax liabilities completely eliminated will now have to pay taxes. And by failing to reform or eliminate the alternative minimum tax (AMT) that’s threatening to engulf more and more Americans, the Democrats’ budget imposes an immediate $50 billion tax hike on middle class families.
So, when Hillary, Obama, and the other class warriors are on the campaign trail touting their grandiose economic plans, they should be asked how their support for what would amount to be the largest tax increase in American history is fiscally “conservative” and “responsible.”
I posted this letter on the blog Feb 27,2007 the exact day that my letter to the editor was published in the Wall St. Journal and received this comment from a reader – we’ll refer to as “Mr. Personality” who goes by the very covert name of “bnkpm.” He’s a very secretive and bitter guy.
“…I notice that you changed the version of your letter that you posted here to remove the “lowest in 30 years” lie, but the WSJ already published it. Slick move, liar.”
My response:
I “changed the version of my letter” did I? The letter to the editor posted in the the Tuesday Feb 27,2007 Wall St. Journal in which I rebut the distortions and inaccuracies of Senator Conrad’s previous Feb 16th letter, which he still has not responded to, which I have posted above is ver batim as it appears in the actual paper.
Perhaps you can cite your proof source that shows that I said that “the current 4.6% unemployment rate is the lowest in 30 years.”
So until you prove me wrong, it is you not I who is the liar.
My letter above is the exact letter to the editor published in the Tuesday Feb 27th edition of the WSJ.
So, I’ll be waiting for your “proof” that I changed my letter. Until then we’ll all assume that you are a bitter partisan bomb throwing moron. Also funny how you could not rebut one of my statements in my letter to Senator Conrad.
Thanks for playing…
Gregg
Instead of actually proving that I omitted words that appeared in the original (“lowest in 30 years”) he goes on to call me a liar 57 times.
It is obvious the left has lost the intellectual debate in this country. All they have left is name sophomoric name calling. It’s actually pretty pathetic.
So compare my published letter to the editor that I posted on this blog from opinionjournal.com online to the actual letter to the editor as it appeared in the print version dated Tuesday February 27, 2007 page B6. The words I was accused of “omitting” from the original never appeared in the original.Specifically, I was accused of omitting “the lowest level in 30 years” from the original after the sentence in the 3rd paragraph “More than 7.5 million jobs have been created with unemployment at 4.6% .”
There is no “the lowest level in 30 years” after that sentence in the original. Period. End of story. Case closed. Here it is, you can click to enlarge.
So will the guy who has falsely charged me with intentionally changing the version I posted on this blog from the original now apologize to me? The question is does this man (or woman. I should not assume the person is a male automatically) have enough integrity and humility to admit he was wrong and apologize to me?
This was his final comment:
“So where is it? If you’re so confident that you can show the world what a liar and moon bat I am, surely you’d post it prominently on the front page of your blog, right? But you won’t, because you’re a liar and a coward.
“And cut the “give me your name” and “$100k bet” grandstanding. That’s all pompous bloviation and a pathetic diversion and you know it.
“Just post a scan of the letter and the matter will be resolved, and you will be shown to be a compulsive pathological liar, just like your lyin’ buddies Ann, Sean, Bill and Rush.
“C’mon, coward – POST IT!
So, I “scanned” and “posted” the letter. I “posted it.”
And what did it prove? It proved that “Mr. Personality” falsely accused me of intentionally deceiving my readers by omitting words from the original. I knew there was a reason he wouldn’t wager any money on it. (I bet him $100,000.)
Case closed.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for an apology. But I am glad that this has been resolved and everybody knows who the “liar” is.
Now fly away MOONBAT!
Does this remind you of anyone?
(His) gift with language — his powerful speaking style and the graceful prose and compelling story of his best-selling memoir — has been an engine of his dramatic, high-velocity rise in presidential politics. But he has also shown a tendency toward seemingly minor contradictions and rhetorical slips that serve as reminders that he is still a newcomer to national politics.
It reminds me of candidate Bill Clinton. I don’t think the problem has anything to do with being a newcomer. It has to do with being too full of it. The increasingly banal Barack Obama has a lot in common with Bubba Clinton, at least when it comes to his smooth talking breezy style and the ease with which he is able to pander. It’s a gift frankly.
That kind of politics is completely effective, most especially on people who are not paying attention. And, as we know in this country, that counts for a lot. However, given the media saturation, one has to wonder how long candidate Obama can get away peddling such brazen BS,
Speaking early this month at a church in Selma, Ala., Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said: “I’m in Washington. I see what’s going on. I see those powers and principalities have snuck back in there, that they’re writing the energy bills and the drug laws.”
It was a fine populist riff calculated to appeal to Democratic audiences as Obama seeks his party’s presidential nomination. But not only did Obama vote for the Senate’s big energy bill in 2005, he also put out a press release bragging about its provisions, and his Senate Web site carries a news article about the vote headlined, “Senate energy bill contains goodies for Illinois.”
We had the distinct pleasure of spending an entire hour with Walid Shoebat on Pundit Review Radio. Mr. Shoebat is a former PLO terrorist who is now speaking out against radical Islam. He is one of the most courageous men in the world.
All of us who are looking for answers in this long war need to listen to men like Walid Shoebat. He had many interesting things to say, especially when it comes to the way we are approaching the war on terror. His book is titled Why We Want To Kill You: The Jihadist Mindset and How to Defeat It
This was a truly fascinating hour, and we barely scratched the surface. We will have him back on the show in the very near future.
The interview is also available for download at iTunes and Podcast Alley by searching for 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. Hailed as “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.