I read that headline this morning over at Daily Kos and snarled, “You’ve got to be kidding me”
What I found was very surprising.
UPDATE: Because of a Red Sox rain out, and the necessity to move a soccer game to WRKO, our show tonight will be pushed back to 9-11pm est. The 9am hour will go on as planned, with Matt from Blackfive for Someone You Should Know, and Michael Yon on developments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Ann Coulter interview will be taped and aired during the 10pm hour tonight. Believe me, we are bummed that we can’t do the Coulter interview live, with callers. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your understanding and support.
How this for a line-up?
8pm est: Ann Coulter (maybe you’ve heard of her?)
9pm: Blackfive’s Someone You Should Know
9:20pm: Michael Yon on Zarqawi, Iraq and Afghanistan. We will also get the latest on his ongoing copyright dispute with HFM, the French publishing comapny that has acted, well, French.
To see what you can do to help Michael in his dispute with HFM, click here.
Stream the show live at WRKO
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin & Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Hailed as â??Groundbreakingâ? by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening at 8pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Bostonâ??s Talk Leader.
Murtha Interested in Majority Leader Post
The Associated Press
Friday, June 9, 2006
WASHINGTON — Rep. John Murtha, a 16-term Democrat known for his close ties to the military and his outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq, said Friday he will run for House majority leader if Democrats win control in November.
Murtha, 73, wrote in a letter to Democratic colleagues that he would seek the post “if we prevail, as I hope and know we will, and return to the majority this next Congress.”
“I would appreciate your consideration and vote and look forward to speaking to you personally about my decision,” he wrote
Now there can be no question about it. Jack Murtha is swooning over his elevated status as an annointed media darling of the left. He is willing, eager in fact, to prematurely hang his fellow Marines to further his personal political ambitions. Can you think of anything more sickening? The sad thing is, he is the perfect man to represent what the Democrats have become.
Another example of NY Times editor’s being asleep at the switch. They unintentionally bolstered the administrations case for war against Iraq today. Andy McCarthy at NRO’s Corner blog noticed this little nugget in the NY Times today,
[U.S. spokesman] Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV … told reporters at a briefing that United States commanders had identified the man most likely to take over as Al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, an Egyptian militant who uses the nom de guerre Abu al-Masri. General Caldwell said Mr. Masri had been in Iraq since 2002, and had played a major role in organizing suicide bombings around Baghdad.
“But wait a minute,” you say. I thought you guys at the Times said there were no terrorists in Iraq until the Americans brought them there.”
It’s a good time to remember that there were long-standing ties between Iraq and al Qaeda before we invaded in 2003, and that Zarqawi himself was in Iraq (and had contacts with Iraqi Intelligence) well in advance of the invasion.
Steve Hayes summarized some of the intelligence in his important book, The Connection. As he wrote, drawing from a CIA senior executive memorandum dated February 21, 2003:
Close al Qaeda associate al Zarqawi has had an operational alliance with Iraqi officials. As of October 2002, al Zarqawi maintained contacts with the IIS [Iraqi Intelligence Service] to procure weapons and explosives, including surface-to-air missiles from an IIS official in Baghdad…. Zarqawi was setting up sleeper cells in Baghdad to be activated in case of a U.S. occupation of the city….
Here is an urgent message from Soldiers Angles/Valour IT founder Patti Patton-Bader,
WE ARE BEHIND 11 LAPTOPS. NEED MONEY. PLEASE, PLEASE HELP. I cannot fail heroes. I just cannot.
Mudville Gazette has more,
There are Eleven recipients waiting and means we need at least $7,000.
I hear a blogswarm brewing.
The combined efforts of MilBlogs have raise over $100,000 in the past, let’s see what we can do this round .
What exactly is Valour IT?
Valour IT provides voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the ‘Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field without having to press a key or move a mouse.
If you are interested in helping this wonderful organization, click here.
To learn more about Soldier Angels and Valour IT, check out a recent edition of Blackfive’s Someone You Should Know featuring founder Patti Patton-Bader by clicking here.
To listen to our interview with Patti Patton-Bader on Pundit Review Radio, click here.
Some Democrats call Zarqaqi killing a “stunt“
Some Democrats, breaking ranks from their leadership, today said the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi in Iraq was a stunt to divert attention from an unpopular and hopeless war.
“This is just to cover Bush’s [rear] so he doesn’t have to answer” for Iraqi civilians being killed by the U.S. military and his own sagging poll numbers, said Rep. Pete Stark, California Democrat. “Iraq is still a mess — get out.”
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, said Zarqawi was a small part of “a growing anti-American insurgency” and that it’s time to get out.
“We’re there for all the wrong reasons,” Mr. Kucinich said.
Officially, Democratic leaders reacted positively to the news and praised the troops that successfully targeted al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq with 500-pound bombs at his safe house 30 miles from Baghdad.
“This is a good day for the Iraqi people, the U.S. military and our intelligence community,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
President Bush said that yesterday’s killing of the 39-year-old Jordanian-born terrorist offers an opportunity to “turn the tide” in the war and that Tuesday he will discuss with Iraqi leaders “how to best deploy America’s resources in Iraq.”
A senior White House official cautioned that Mr. Bush was not hinting at possible early reductions in U.S. troops there, according to Reuters news agency.
Meanwhile, Democrats sprinkled caveats throughout their praise.
“That is good news; he was a dreadful, vicious person,” said Sen. Kent Conrad, North Dakota Democrat. Mr. Conrad added that he hopes the military can get Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, another top al Qaeda leader. “They’re even more important,” he said.
Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Michigan Democrat, said it was good news but added, “I think we have a long way to go.”
Liberal bloggers are, unsurprisingly, echoing these comments,
Huffington Post’s Scott Thill
It almost felt great clapping along with the rest of the administration-approved puppets in power at the press conference. Well, almost. Why? Well, for one thing, Zarqawi was an invented menace.
Democrats will never admit it, but killing Zarqawi is more important, more significant, than killing Bin Laden, IMHO.
He was directing anti-coaltion efforts in what Bin Laden himself admits is the central front in the war on terror. Now he is gone. Now the new Iraqi government has a major feather in their cap. They also have a new defense minister, which would have been the big, positive development in Iraq today,
Iraqi Parliament Swears in New Ministers
The new defense minister is Iraqi Army Gen. Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji and Shiites Jawad al-Bolani for interior and Sherwan al-Waili for national security.
The posts are considered crucial for al-Maliki’s government to implement a plan allowing Iraqi forces to take over security from the U.S.-led coalition within 18 months, opening the way for the eventual withdrawal of foreign troops. The appointments end a stalemate among Iraq’s religious and ethnic groups over the crucial posts.
Al-Mifarji, who is not affiliated with any Sunni Arab party, told the 275-member body that he graduated from the Iraqi military academy in 1969 and was thrown out of the military and Saddam Hussein’s now outlawed Baath Party in 1991 after he criticized the invasion of Kuwait _ which led to his conviction by a military court in 1994 and a seven year prison sentence.
This is important, a Sunni who has anti-Saddam credibility.
For more on Zarqawi, Instapundit has a great round up of new media links.
UPDATE: if you care to watch Zarqawi’s demise, click here.