We at Pundit Review are unceasingly inspired by the noble and selfless acts of valor of our military men and women who are protecting and defending our nation and the rest of Western Civilization from the global Jihadists who seek to destroy us.
Some of you may be aware of one such “wounded warrior” that Kevin found out was in the hospital here in Boston after serving in Iraq with her baby who was born prematurely with complications. Kevin immediately contacted our friends at Soldier’s Angels and they came through with $15,000. We were also able to raise additional money through the generosity of many of our loyal listeners to our show.
Here is the latest on Selena and Baby Kameryn. Donate if you felt led and at the very least keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
After being stranded in the Hub for six months with her preemie daughter at Childrenâ??s Hospital, National Guard Spc. Selena Lassien was looking forward to a homecoming yesterday in her native Louisiana.
Instead, Lassien woke this morning just hoping her first born will be well enough to go home in time for Christmas.
â??We were all excited. Everyone at home was all excited about her coming home and then I had to call back and say, â??Weâ??re not coming home,â?? â? said Lassien, 26.
Lassien has been trying to go home since June, when major complications with her first pregnancy prevented her from boarding a plane after her cousinâ??s high school graduation in .Jamaica Plain
At least one person on the left is honest about who Jimmy Carter has become. Professor Kenneth Stein of Emory University and the Carter Center for 23-years, resigned today in protest over Carter’s new book. Powerline had the story today, and the context,
Professor Stein’s expertise lies in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Our reader writes that when he was an undergraduate student at Emory in the mid-1990’s, Professor Stein was one of the most revered, respected professors on campus, and that Professor Stein had a long-standing association with the Carter Center in his capacity as an expert in Middle East politics and history. Professor Stein was in fact the first director of the Carter Center (1983-1986).
Here is an excerpt from the letter,
President Carter’s book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analyses; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book. Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook. Having little access to Arabic and Hebrew sources, I believe, clearly handicapped his understanding and analyses of how history has unfolded over the last decade. Falsehoods, if repeated often enough become meta-truths, and they then can become the erroneous baseline for shaping and reinforcing attitudes and for policy-making. The history and interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict is already drowning in half-truths, suppositions, and self-serving myths; more are not necessary.
For more on Jimmy Carter, click here, here and especially here.
At BaroneBlog, Michael says the GOP is facing a major geographical shift, potentially, if they nominate Rudy or McCain,
In effect, if the Republicans nominate Giuliani or McCain, they would be trading southern-accented voters (as far north as rural Missouri and the Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois counties just north of the Ohio River) for northern-accented voters, with Giuliani particularly strong with New York-accented voters and McCain with New England-accented voters. The Electoral College map would look more like that of 1988 or even 1976 than that of 1996, 2000, and 2004. But I emphasize here that I have used the weasel words suggest and if. These numbers aren’t etched in stone. They mean a lot more than the numbers you see on Mitt Romney, Tom Vilsack, or even John Edwards today, who are not known in depth by most voters.
Andrew Sullivan, to his credit, called it on the day after the election,
The obvious result of last night’s returns is the complete historical and geographical inversion of what was once the Republican Party. Nixon’s cynical Southern strategy has now been played out to the nth degree – and, after a good period of opportunistic success, it has failed.
Blogger Patrick Ruffini, reviewed Kevin Phillips 1969 classic, The Emerging Republican Majority, over at Amazon,
The Emerging Republican Majority remains the most concise and dependable guide to historical voting trends in the United States in the 20th century. The book itself is notorious for urging that Republicans pursue a “Southern strategy” and abandon the liberal establishmentarian constituencies in the northeast that had previously held sway over the party, but its real value is in the rich historical background Phillips provides.
It is ironic that it happened on Karl Rove’s watch. He was the new millennium’s Lee Atwater. Rove ran circles against the competition. I know, the competition was Bob Strum, but still. I really don’t think Rove, or the Southern Strategy itself, is to blame. Iraq overrides everything. The voter discontent over Iraq is bigger than any regional strategy, no matter how successful.
Thirty seven years is a pretty good run, if it is indeed, over.
I blogged last week about Dennis Prager’s original peice in Townhall.com entitled, “America, Not Keith Ellison, Decides What Book a Congressman Takes His Oath on.”
Well he recieved a lot of harsh criticism and was attacked visciously as he describes especially by the left-blogosphere who just can’t seem to engage in any type of civilized discourse and offers this rebuttal to the major accusations of his critics:
To those who claim Prager is advocating something unconstitutional by demanding that the Bible be included in oaths of office and that Mr. Ellison has a right to practice the religion of his choice and that there shall be no religious test for candidates for office in America Prager has this to say:
I never even hinted that there should be a religious test. It has never occurred to me that only Christians run for office in America. The idea is particularly laughable in my case since I am not now, nor ever have been, a Christian. I am a Jew (a non-denominational religious Jew, for the record), and I would vote for any Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Mormon, atheist, Jew, Zoroastrian, Hindu, Wiccan, Confucian, Taoist or combination thereof whose social values I share. Conversely, I would not vote for a fellow Jew whose social values I did not share. I want people of every faith and of no faith who affirm the values I affirm to enter political life…I agree with the tens of thousands of office holders in American history who have honored the American tradition — I am well aware it is not a law, and I do not want it to be — of bringing a Bible to their ceremonial or actual swearing-in. Keith Ellison is ending that powerful tradition, and it is he who has called the public’s attention to his doing so. He obviously thinks this is important. I think it is important. My critics think it isn’t.
Why wouldn’t Ellison bring a Bible along with the Koran? That he chose not to is the narcissism of multiculturalism that I referred to: The individual’s culture trumps the national culture.You don’t have to be Christian to acknowledge that the Bible is the source of America’s values. Virtually every founder of this country knew that and acknowledged it. The argument that founders such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were deists, even if accurate (it is greatly exaggerated), makes my point, not my opponents’. The founders who were not believing Christians venerated the Bible as the source of America’s values just as much as practicing Christians did.
America derives its laws from its Constitution. It derives its values from the Bible. We don’t get inalienable rights from the Constitution; we get them from God. Which is exactly what the signers of the Declaration of Independence wrote: We are endowed with inalienable rights by our Creator, not by government and not by any man-made document. And that Creator and those inalienable rights emanate from the Bible. Keith Ellison’s freedom to openly believe and practice Islam and to run for elective office as a Muslim is a direct result of a society molded by the Bible and the people who believed in it, a fact he should be willing to honor as he is sworn in.
I cannot name any Western European country that does not have a document similar to the American Constitution and something akin to our Bill of Rights. It is, therefore, not the Constitution that has made America unique and a moral beacon to the world’s downtrodden. What has made America unique is the combination of Enlightenment ideas with our underlying Judeo-Christian values. (I have described 24 of those values in 24 columns in 2005, all available on the Internet through www.pragerradio.com.)
It was understood from the beginning of the republic that liberty is derived from God, not from man alone. That is why the Liberty Bell has an inscription from the Bible (from the Torah in the Old Testament) on it, not an inscription from any secular Enlightenment (or ancient Greek) source.
Entire article here
Prager and Eugene Voloch debate here on CNN
Prager on Fox News
And Kevin McCullough of TownHall.com says
Dennis main construct is that since this is a symbolic action, no one man should have the allowance to destroy what that symbolism is, means, and stands for.
He is 100% correct.
One of the most respected men in the new media, Bill Roggio, is back as an embedded reporter in Iraq. Bill has earned that respect from his years of writing, reporting and analyzing a host of military topics. He is the perfect combination that makes the best blogs great, a passionate, articulate, subject matter expert.
In nearly every conversation, the soldiers, Marines and contractors expressed they were upset with the coverage of the war in Iraq in general, and the public perception of the daily situation on the ground. The felt the media was there to sensationalize the news, and several stated some reporters were only interested in â??blood and guts.â? They freely admitted the obstacles in front of them in Iraq. Most recognized that while we are winning the war on the battlefield, albeit with difficulties in some areas, we are losing the information war. They felt the media had abandoned them.
Support courageous patriots like Bill by visiting their blogs and making a donation. Don’t forget Michael Yon and Michael Fumento.
Back in June, Bill joined us live from Afghanistan along with Matt from Blackfive for a discussion on the situation on the ground, Haditha, and the role of Iran and Russia in the war on terror. You can download the interview from iTunes by searching for Pundit Review Podcast, or you can click here.
David Bellavia of Vets for Freedom is a former Army Staff Sergeant who served in the First Infantry Division for six years. His leadership recommended David for the Medal of Honor, and he has been nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross. Both awards are still under review. He has received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Cross (New York State�??s highest combat valor award), and he was recently inducted into the New York State Veteran�??s Hall of Fame. His Task Force 2-2 Infantry fought on such battlefields as Al Muqdadiyah, An Najaf, Al Fallujah, Mosul, and Baqubah. He is 30 years old.
David was on the radio with us recently and stunned us with a story of soldiers in Iraq listening to Someone You Should Know on their iPods.
We want to thank Matt from Blackfive for bringing these inspirational stories forward, giving them the attention they deserve.
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 7-10pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston�??s Talk Leader.
Someone You Should Know tonight featured two stories, both related to the blogosphere in some way. The first story we featured was about Sgt. 1st Class James D. Priestap. James was the brother-in-law of Wizbang blogger Kim Priestrap. We shared a beautiful tribute Kim wrote. Here is a tribute from someone who served under James,
In memory of SFC James Priestap (my platoon sgt.). Killed by a sniper at Checkpoint 17 while distributing food and water to the Iraqi Police. Moments before his death, he was smiling and giving candy to the kids in the area. He was a man with a wife and 2 kids, ages 11 and 9. I had to help load his body in the backseat of my humvee and then loaded him onto the MEDEVAC helicopter. I had in my posession a camo pattern angel that i carried for my own good luck charm. Before we got him on the helicopter, i placed the angel on his body and said a prayer to help him on his way to Heaven. He will now be living in eternal happines and we all have another guardian angel watching over us. The expression on his face is something that is forever burned into my memory and i’ll never forget it. It was most certainly a life altering experience and I now have a whole different outlook on life in general. This man was one of the greatest leaders in our company. He had a huge heart and he would do absolutely anything for his soldiers that were under his command. This incident may have dented our morale here, but we will NOT stand down and we will NOT back away. We will be back out at Checkpoint 17 soon and those motherfuckers better be ready to die. They may think they’ve had a victory on thanksgiving day but they haven’t seen the wrath of my squad and the sheer anger we now have growing inside us all. After we took SFC Priestap’s weapon we divided up the rounds in the magazine to everyone in the squad. The first round in the chamber of our M4 rifles is one of his tracer rounds and it will be the first round out of the barrel in his name. He will not have died in vain.
Gregg told us the personal story of a man many of you have seen, Chief Master Sergent John Gebhardt. Where have you seen him?
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 7-10pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Leader.