Back in April we told you the story of Kevin Dupont from Chicopee, MA. Kevin is a 52-year old Army National Guard soldier who volunteered to go to Afghanistan. He was severely injured in an IED explosion while riding in a humvee. He suffered expensive burns and he was fighting for life at US Army Burn Center at Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. His friend, MA State Police Sgt. Jim Deyermond, shared Kevin’s story and joined us on the radio,
Kevin had a web site established where his wife Lisa provided daily updates on his condition. I read her updates daily and was blown away by her strength, spirit, faith and love for her husband. She is a remarkable woman.
After an incredibly courageous and difficult fight, Kevin Dupont passed away this morning. He was to be awarded the Bronze Star today. My thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family, they really rallied behind Kevin and Lisa, a true testimony to the man he was.
We did something a little bit different last night, a segment on movies that moved you. The reason? I had just seen Gran Torino by Clint Eastwood, twice, in a matter of days. What an incredible movie. When people talk of our greatest actor the names Pacino and De Niro always come up before Eastwood. Sure, their resumes are outstanding, having made some of the greatest movies ever made. But what have they done lately, say the last decade or so? That is where their careers and Eastwood’s go in opposite directions. Pacino and DeNero are simply vaccuming as many paychecks as possible these days. If you don’t believe me, try to sit through Righteous Kill.
Clint Eastwood continues to make amazing movies. Unforgiven, In the Line of Fire, True Crimes, Gone Baby Gone and now Gran Torino, the best movie of his career. A reviewer at IMDB said this about Gran Torino and Eastwood and I agree completly,
If this is Clint Eastwood’s last film, I can only say that that his performance, in this stunning film, is what legends are made of.
People loved this topic, we had full lines and a lot of great movie recommendations. We’ll be revisiting this topic again soon, it was a lot of fun.
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What is Pundit Review Radio?
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 your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
The Massachusetts state senate has forty members, only five of them are Republicans. One of the five, Robert Hedlund, joined me tonight to discuss pension reform and the state of the GOP in Mass.
On pensions, my golf clap grade stands. Sen. Hedlund is cautiously optimistic that we’ll see more serious reform in the future. I hope he’s is right.
We talked about the state party and its limited resources and he had some good advice for people thinking of running for office.
Sen. Hedlund and his fellow Republicans have a very good blog called Scaling the Hill that is a great way to stay informed of what is going on up thee on Beacon Hill.
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
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 your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST 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.
Tonight Bruce told us about Spc. David Hutchinson, only the fifth Army Reserve Soldier to receive a Silver Star.
Hutchinson’s actions were without a doubt the primary disruptor of the enemy actions that day. His actions contributed to the safety of 17 Soldiers and showed extraordinary courage, loyalty and selfless service under fire.
The enemy had fire superiority –until Hutchinson engaged the machine gun nest with devastating firepower, destroying it. Hutchinson’s fire was so effective in disrupting the enemy’s efforts that the enemy concentrated their attack on him and his MK-19 grenade launcher.
Hutchinson held his position under intense fire, continuing to place fire on the remaining enemy in total disregard of his own peril. Other Soldiers later counted over 100 bullet holes in the turret of his Humvee.
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 Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
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 your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
The Boston Herald lays out the reforms,
The bill will end some of the most egregious abuses of the system – including one that has allowed state employees to inflate their pensions by including as “regular compensation†housing expenses, parking and other perks. Let’s call that one the “Billy Bulger provision†after the former Senate president and University of Massachusetts head who went to court to fight for his right to milk the public to include those perks. The bill would end the practice that allows workers to claim an entire year of service by merely showing up for one day into the new year and the one that allows anyone injured on the job while subbing at a higher pay grade to claim a higher pension.
Also ended would be the practice of allowing elected officials to puff up their pensions by serving on, say, the local library board for a few years. In the future a job would have to pay more than $5,000 a year to count toward creditable service. And elected officials tossed out by the voters would not longer be able to claim a “termination allowance.â€
And we are assured that the MBTA’s loony 23-years-and-out rule will be dealt with in the upcoming transportation reform package.
Sean Murphy has more in the Globe.
I give them a golf clap. Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end for reform on Beacon Hill? Let’s be honest, all they did was get rid of some real pig at the trough behavior that they created and exploited for decades. What happens when the truly difficult issues come up or the public loses interest? Is anyone really bullish on the prospect of organic reform on Beacon Hill?
I liked Jay Fitz take at the mighty Hub Blog,
Passage of pension reforms is undeniably good news. It’s a rare reform victory in Massachusetts. But it’s that rarity — and the way foot-dragging lawmakers were forced to grudgingly pass reforms — that mutes celebrations. The pension abuses have indeed been going on “for decades.” They were not just recently revealed. The reforms were only passed after massive political pressure was brought to bear following the indictment of the third straight House speaker. There are other “egregious” pension loopholes that need closing. There’s more to do. … But, yes, I’m happy some very solid reforms have passed — and Gov. Patrick deserves to take a bow. I just want to see a lot more evidence that lawmakers collectively “get it.”
I have to disagree on Deval however. He’s the same guy that tried recently to stuff Marian Walsh into that $175K/yr job that was empty for twelve years. Deval Patrick who has added 2000 to the state payrolls? The same guy who appointed Aloisi? The same guy who only took a reform stand once the writing was on the wall, in 100 font, all caps, in bold.
Well blow me over with a feather. Wednesday afternoon I did a very rare Tweet ( @punditreview) asking a simple question,
What time is the N.O.W. press conference denouncing David Letterman for his jokes about Palin’s 14-year old daughter?
1:59 PM Jun 10th from web
Tounge in cheek as the silence was deafening and the double standard too obvious to ignore. Turns out, on this issue anyway, NOW is being intellectually honest about the situation. Here is a portion of the statement they released tonight,
NOW’s Media Hall of Shame: David Letterman
Comedians in search of a laugh should really know better than to snicker about men having sex with teenage girls (or young women) less than half their age.The sexualization of girls and women in the media is reaching new lows these days — it is exploitative and has a negative effect on how all women and girls are perceived and how they view themselves. Letterman also joked about what he called Palin’s “slutty flight attendant look” — yet another example of how the media love to focus on a woman politician’s appearance, especially as it relates to her sexual appeal to men. Someone of Letterman’s stature, who appears on what used to be known as “the Tiffany Network” (CBS), should be above wallowing in the juvenile, sexist mud that other comedians and broadcasters seem to prefer.
On that point, it’s important to note that when Chelsea Clinton was 13 years old she was the target of numerous insults based on her appearance. Rush Limbaugh even referred to her as the “White House dog.” NOW hopes that all the conservatives who are fired up about sexism in the media lately will join us in calling out sexism when it is directed at women who aren’t professed conservatives.
They proved me wrong and did the right thing. Good for them for speaking out. That said, I certainly think negative publicity and sustained anger over the comments played a role in their decision, not to mention Letterman’s weasly apology.
Ever the diplomat, ALLAHPUNDIT offers this grand compromise,
People on Twitter are grumbling about that last paragraph but (a) given how peeved the sisterhood will be that they’re defending Palin, surely you won’t begrudge NOW some sort of ass-covering knock on conservatives here, and (b) their point is, unfortunately, too often valid, as a scroll through righty blog comments about Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton (at least before 2008) will attest. A compromise, then: The right will join in calling out sexism directed at liberal women when the left stops treating conservative women as “inauthentic†or traitors to their gender because they happen to be pro-life. Deal?
Hat Tip: Kathryn Lopez, The Corner
Congressional Quarterly on the latest, and perhaps most expensive, difference yet between Barack Obama’s words and deeds,
One Tough Sell: Paying for Health Care Overhaul
Last year, candidate Barack Obama zeroed in on a feature of John McCain ’s health care plan that would have taxed workers’ benefits, branding it history’s largest middle-class tax increase and saying it was too radical a proposition to seriously consider.
Eight months later, President Obama appears ready to roll the same type of tax hike into his ambitious plan to overhaul the U.S. health system — if enough Democrats in Congress are willing to go along.
Finally, a few on the political left are awakening to the reality that Barack Obama is not a new kind of politician. He’s as double talking and cynical as they come. Here is David Sirota at Salon, a leading liberal news site,
Obama’s trail of broken promises
The prophet of hope now doesn’t even bother with explanations when he reneges on his campaign pledges.
It’s true that politicians have always broken promises, but rarely so proudly and with such impunity.
We once respected democracy by at least demanding explanations — however weak — for unfulfilled promises. Then we became a country whose scorched-earth campaigns against flip-flopping desensitized us to reversals. Now, we don’t flinch when our president appears tickled that a few poor souls still expect politicians to fulfill promises and justify broken ones.
The worst part of this devolution is the centrality of Obama, the prophet of “hope†and “change†who once said that “cynicism is a sorry kind of wisdom.” If that’s true, then he has become America’s wisest man — the guy who seems to know my kids will laugh when I tell them politicians and voters once believed in democracy and took campaign promises seriously.
If he read Pundit Review during the campain, he’d be a lot less surprised, that’s for sure.
UPDATE: Well, what do you know, here’s another reversal,
Washington Post: Obama says OK to mountaintop mining
DURING THE campaign and after his election, President Obama left environmentalists in coal country with the distinct impression that he was going to do away with mountaintop removal mining in the Appalachians. That’s where coal companies expose coal seams by stripping the dirt and rock covering them or blasting the tops of mountains to bits with dynamite and then, under legally defined conditions, dump the debris into valleys. It’s a particularly destructive practice, but it’s legal. And it will remain so under a memorandum of understanding the Obama administration will announce today.
…While Mr. Obama may have wanted voters to believe otherwise, he never flat-out said he would end this brand of mining. His decision reflects energy and political realities.
Oh, so it’s not a broken promise but a broken insinuation. That makes sense. Here’s a tip for Obama supporters, ask to see both hands next time he’s telling you what you want to hear,
