Here’s someone I lost track of for a bit:
LOS ANGELES-AP- Charles Nelson Reilly, the Tony Award winner who later became known for his ribald appearances on the “Tonight Show” and various game shows, has died. He was 76.
Reilly died Friday in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia, his partner, Patrick Hughes, told the New York Times.
His was a sense of humor I always appreciated. Timing, mostly.
Tags: BitsBlog, The bell tolls
What a week, two moonbats quit. Rosie leaves the View and Mrs. Sheehan has announced she is leaving the democrat party.
Kos is so heart broken he slams the door on her as she leaves, “Good Riddance Attention Whore.”
In the spirit of Winston Churchill normallly I’d inspired to say a few good words about anybody who can aggrevate Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, Alas. Mrs. Sheehan is moonbat, and I can offer her no praise.
So, I’ll leave it to Tammy Bruce to describe Pathetic Cindy.
As is the rule. Allahpundit, Hot Air, has an assortment of videos.
It appears the MSM only deemed Mrs. Sheehan authentic when she criticized republicans. If Mrs. Sheehan wants a new assignment, she can go to Venezula persuade her boyfriend Hugo to reopen the television station.?
Tags: BitsBlog, Democrats, Idiots, WHAT biased press?
The similarities between the cases, and the conduct, of Ex-president Bill Clinton, and that of soon- to- be- ex- Congressman and fellow Democrat Gary Condit, are startling. This is true for both the conduct of the central figures, and the defense being put up for each.Now, we both know that the happenings of Bill Clinton, are well documented first in ‘Body Count” and and in other places since, are well enough known.
So I won’t delve too deeply into them here, except in comparison.
Last I knew, we’re supposed to operate under presumption of innocence in this country. When we do so, we abandon the mentality of the mob.(A mentality which oddly enough, seems rather prevelant when Conservatives are accused of something or another.) So, we’ll push aside the ideas and arguments surrounding the charge that Chandra Levy is dead and Condit has something to do with that death, for the moment.
That done, there is still much in the way of similarity between Condit’s case, and Clinton,s vis-a-vie Monica Lewinsky, and the rest of the number of women.
Consider:
In the time since Levy’s disappearance,
*Condit’s has engaged in Clintonesque evasion.
*Condit’s has engaged in Clintonesque spin.
*Condit’s has engaged in Clintonesque flat out lies.
*Condit, like Bill Clinton has apparently engaged in apparent attempt to suborn perjury.
*Condit, like Bill Clinton, is both lecherous and dishonest. An evil mix in normal life, much less public life.
*Condit, like Bill Clinton is rather cruel, at need. ( having obviously and deliberately misled and stonewalled Ms. Levy’s parents in the matter or where she was, and the nature of the calls made to him, by her, on his secure phone line..)
*Condit, like Bill Clinton, either delegated or ‘permitted’ aides run a Clinton-like whisper campaign against Chandra Levy. This ‘nuts and sluts’ tactic backfired rather badly, and was soon abandoned. A new tactic was promptly employed: Attack Chandra Levy’s parents. Sounds just like Bill Clinton, no?
It gets better: we now have reports from people investigating Condit that they are in fear for their lives. Just like Bill Clinton.
*Like Bill Clinton, Condit has a history of sexual abuse. Reports to show in the national media within a week of when this is written, report that Condit was investigated for it in 1983. The case officer at that time reported that the teenage girls he attacked were also terrified of Condit to the point that they fled their homes…
Just like Bill Clinton.
Also, the case file was later stolen…(Or was it simply mislaid?)
Just like Bill Clinton.
Clearly, Bill Clinton, if nothing else, has eroded our vision on the question of “private character” vs. “public virtue”. Integrity you will recall, used to be defined as ‘what controls what you do when nobody’s looking’. It is apparent that definition has been altered to ‘what you do when people are looking on’.
As a quick aside, let’s ask ourselves the question… Even assuming a public figure could be a sexual predator, and a criminal in private while being a prince in public, should s/he be rewarded for that roguish behavior with our high public offices? Do we really want to publicly approve of a leader who supposedly does their job well, but can’t seem to keep their hands off young interns? What kind of lesson does that teach the next generation, particularly in a society so consumed with protecting women’s rights, at the exclusion of common sense?
The biggest and first rule in “The Ethics Manual of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct” tells members to “conduct themselves at all times in a manner that reflects credibility on the House.”
Now, look gang, I really don’t care, for the sake of argument, what you think or don’t about of adultery, per se’. It is, as it happens, still a crime in the District of Columbia, though I can’t find any record of it having been enforced recently. (I’ve looked) But regardless, does the House really want to say that having sex with an intern reflects credibility on the institution? That spin, evasion and flat out lies to cover up such entanglements reflects credibility on the institution?
That point having been raised, the question also comes to mind, what of Bubba? Assume for the moment, that Condit gets ousted, as he should. Does that ousting mean that the only reason Bill Clinton wasn’t ousted from his office was because, of the two similar behaviors, Condit alone was the one didn’t have the power of the presidency to protect him in his misdeeds?
Yes, it does.
But there is another similarity, here. A larger, more compelling and more dangerous one… and sadly one the Democrats are more likely to ignore… Sad, because it runs against their stated purpose of helping the helpless in our society. In this, it is revealing, as well.
At the bottom line, Condit, like Clinton, is one of the powerful, not giving a damn about the less powerful. In the Condit case, the Levys are just an average family. They have means that, relative to Condits, are rather modest. Condit knew full well they lacked the power to cause him any real problem and so wasn’t at all worried about putting his own self-interest above their needs. This elitism may also explain why the press is so reluctant to report on the matter… CBS and ABC in particular. The so-called mainstream press has show symptoms of this elitism in the past, even the recent past. I suppose and expect this is simply one more example of it.
Just like Bill Clinton; consider the treatment of the people who got in his way.. even the ones who were his sexual servators. There is a similarity in the way the press treated these, as well. Hump as many interns as you like, abuse your power all you like…. so long as you save the snail darter.
Don’t misunderstand; This is not to suggest Clinton broke any new ground for the Democrats. Consider the treatment of the Kopeckne Family by the press, and by Ted “Hang a left off the next bridge” Kennedy. Jesse Jackson, seemingly, is in similar trouble, and tried a whisper campaign of his own against the woman in question. William Kennedy Smith, of teh rape case of two years ago, is now considering a run for the Senate from Illinois. WHich would seem to partially
explain Hillary Clinton running from New York instead of her home state, Illinois. Gee… anyone would think there’s something of a pattern developing here, were this any other group on the planet. But these are liberal Democrats and so this problem goes without note.
The question has now elevated to the point of: “Are the Democrats going to stand up and be counted in their fight against the powerful abusing the powerless, or are they going to hide because the powerful happen to be Democrats?”
Alas, I fear the latter, given the long history of this situation.
But more, I fear the press, too, will let them get away with it again. And again, and again. And yet more, I fear so too, will the congress, who will ignore their duty, all in the interests of ‘diversity’, of course.
Humping interns is a diversity thing, isn’t it? Only a personal judgment, after all.
One wonders if the Amercan people haven’t had enough of the judgments of such abusers. And if not, why not?
Perhaps we’d better put some ice on that.
edit: (David L)
Tags: BitsBlog, Democrats, Greatest Hits
OK, perhaps something a bit lighter for discussion.
I find with the new truck I’ve really gotten into getting that and my wife’s car to look their best. At the moment, my efforts are concentrated on making the paint ‘pop’ visually.
I’m looking at various wax/ bonding products. I’ve used Meguires Cleaner Wax as a first step, on the idea that any step would be a good one for the first time out. That produced excellent results, but proved to be a pain in the butt to get the truck cleaned from all the wax ‘corn’ and the other residual that sneaks into every single crack and seam on the vehicle. I suppose that would be the situation for every non-clear product I try.
So, I’m looking at the clear products; Turtle Wax’s ICE, Which is apparently nothing more than liquefied, clarified Carnuba. It’s a little on the expensive side, but might be worth it if it saves me the trouble of going back over the car several times trying to remove all the little white spots between the doors, and in the trim, and so on.
I’m also finding that there’s a deadly combo on this truck; Aluminum spoked wheels, and disk brakes. Cleaning the wheels every second day is getting to be the routine. I have a half an idea that waxing the wheels may save me some cleaning, but is there a better way to minimize this problem?
Perhaps we can start a discussion about this stuff, here.
Tags: automotive, BitsBlog
Tags: BitsBlog, Democrats, International affairs
This one hurts a bit. We have had mild praise, for Bill Richardson. Yet this is getting to be a habit, a bad habit. Richardson makes the Roll of Shame for the second time. Michelle Malkins does does honors.
From Little Green Footballs, July 15, 2004, “Terror in the Skies, Again?:”
:
At Womens Wall Street, a highly disturbing must-read (and I stress, must-read) article for anyone who flies often, by Annie Jacobsen: Terror in the Skies, Again? (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Jacobsen recounts a white-knuckle flight from Detroit to Los Angeles, that she and her husband shared with a group of about 15 Middle Eastern men (they turned out to be Syrians) who were almost certainly (judging from her description) conducting a dry run for a repeat of September 11, with teams of hijackers prepared for passenger resistance.
Charles, yesterday:
Three years after Annie Jacobsen wrote her article about the terrorist “dry run” she observed on a Northwest Airlines flight, the Department of Homeland Security has released new information that confirms our worst suspicions—not only about terrorist plans for another 9/11, but about DHS’s amazing incompetence, because the incident was not even filed with them until four days later: More details on Flight 327 released.
Note to democrats, it is not just a bumper sticker.
The Music: 100 Proof, Aged i Soul; Somebody’s been sleeping in my bed.
The album is great late 60’s soul. Put together by Motown greats Holland- Dozier- Holland, and signed to the “Hot Wax” label… (One of two such labels set up by the team, the other being Invictus), the group boasted of three of the best vocalists HDH ever signed; Steve Mancha, Eddie Holiday, and Joe Stubbs… the latter being the brother of Levi, who led the Four Tops.
Certainly, the sound is similar in many ways to the Four Tops, but the production sensibilities, are quite a bit different. For one thing the vocals use a generous amount of tape and microphone overload, and so sound reminiscent of Felix Cavalieres vocals with the Rascals, or perhaps a number of Michael McDonald’s performances. Almost “Blue-Eye soul”. Almost. Tape overload, in case you don’t know, was a trick for getting a louder overall sound to AM broadcasts, that’s been used ever since Alan Freed started doing it back in the 50’s. On other comparison would be, that these guys would feel right at home with Southside Johnny’s early Epic recordings… the overall sound is quite different from Southside, (And certainly, Miami Steve never fell into the trap of middle 60’s sound tricks) but the FEEL is much the same.
(Hmmm. Ya know, come to think of it, I can hear, in my mind’s ear, Southside doing “I’ve come to save you” from the first album… He didn’t of course… but I mean to say, he could have cut that one easily.It would have fit right in on “This Time it’s for Real” It would have even put up with Don Mehan’s over-echoed mixing… Oh, well)
One is reminded of the Tower of Power album that was just out a year to back, Bump City. In many ways, the song craft is the same; nice little tunes, for a vocalist that can carry them, a number of decent hooks, for the taste mongers of the day, and a numbOne er of good spots to blow little musical flash into. Like that TOP album, the lyrics are often downright silly, but the sound is so outtasight, you don’t really care.
In the whole, this is a group that deserved far better than they got in the changeable times of the late 60’s and early70’s. And they still can’t seem to catch a break; since HDH sold the rights to the record company, several people have owned the rights to the sounds… Fantasy records (Yes, that Fantasy) was one of them. Not good. On the bright side, I’m hearing that Joe Tarantino remastered both their albums for Concord Music, who owns the rights, last I knew. I’ve not heard of this remaster being released, though.
Like I say; Sad.
* Interesting thought from Mark Steyn, today:
In Gaza, Islamic Jihad is planning to send waves of female suicide bombers into action against the Zionist Entity. Asked by an Israeli reporter whether self-detonating ladies enjoy the same 72-virgin deal as the lads, an Arab scholar said no, but that the gals will be served in Paradise by “dwarfs.” Snow White got seven dwarfs, but it’s unclear whether Blow White will get the full 72: Sleepy, Grumpy, Bashful, etc., all the way down to Incendiary, Non-Alcoholic and Anti-Zionist.
Ya know, I’d wondered about that one, myself. One wonders what kind of propaganda they managed to inflict on these women to get them to sacrifice themselves so. Certainly, some kind of reward is offered. But what? And by the way, as Steyn indicates, it doesn’t need to make sense…
* Word on the street that Whacky Charlie’s having second thoughts about that 9/11 conspiracy flick of his. No shock for that; the negatives he’s getting off this have to be in the lead weight category. But that’s not the only indication overall:
The conspiracy documentary got a further boost earlier this month when Virgin Atlantic announced it would offer the current, narration-free version as an in-flight movie choice. But just days later, it scrapped the idea. “After Virgin announced it, bloggers went nuts and there was so much negative feedback that [the airline] a few days later nixed it,” the source said.
(Chuckle) Leaving aside the rather obvious attempt to indoctrinate a captive audience, I am reminded instantly of the old Airplane movies… I don’t recall which one… where airline passenger Helen Hayes slips on her headphones to enjoy the in flight movie… which turns out to be films of airliner test crashes. This is classic, people. I’ll bet there are some over there at Virgin Atlanic who don’t understand why they got their butts kicked on this stuff.
.
* Yes, I noted that Loud Rosie quit “The View”
I note that Kathy Griffin says the reason she left was the split screen. Yeah, I don’t think so either, but….
Revealing a conversation she had with O’Donnell about how the show’s producers split O’Donnell’s image with Hasselbeck’s during their fight, Griffin said: “And that’s what it was. I said, ‘What was really it?’ And she said, ‘The split-screen.’ She said, ‘I don’t want to do Hannity and Colmes. ‘ “
That may fly in the world of he said, she said, but out here in the real world, David’s got this one right, I think; She couldn’t deal with being challenged. So it happens every time, and both David and I have seen it this way for many years, now between us. Full disclosure: Personally, I I’m convinced the world would be well served by her and her girlfriend taking a nice romantic walk off the pier.
.
* Dalrymple makes an interesting note, today:
There is something to be said here about the word “depression,” which has almost entirely eliminated the word and even the concept of unhappiness from modern life. Of the thousands of patients I have seen, only two or three have ever claimed to be unhappy: all the rest have said that they were depressed. This semantic shift is deeply significant, for it implies that dissatisfaction with life is itself pathological, a medical condition, which it is the responsibility of the doctor to alleviate by medical means. Everyone has a right to health; depression is unhealthy; therefore everyone has a right to be happy (the opposite of being depressed). This idea in turn implies that one’s state of mind, or one’s mood, is or should be independent of the way that one lives one’s life, a belief that must deprive human existence of all meaning, radically disconnecting reward from conduct.
A ridiculous pas de deux between doctor and patient ensues: the patient pretends to be ill, and the doctor pretends to cure him. In the process, the patient is willfully blinded to the conduct that inevitably causes his misery in the first place.
He does get into this somewhat deeper, but this short passage brings up a point that I have often considered central in the argument against government based Healthcare; such funding schemes can only encourage this kind of behavior. Government funding is a hypochondriac’s heaven. Thereby, raising prices taxes for us all.
* My new ride came with an XM Radio receiver built in, and I’ve been checking it out.
I must say, I’m disappointed by what I’m hearing… the audio quality stinks. I mean 64 to 96kbit bad. as a reminder, I have somewhere on the order of 40 gig of MP3’s on file on the internal and network of Casa De Bit. Generally, I can’t listen to digitally encoded audio with a bitstream of anything less than 128k. Even there, things start getting edgy. The streams I’m getting off XM are seriously below that, at least judging by the audio. What they’re putting on the channels I can get… (They seem to be doing some kind of promotion, this weekend, and so have a few channels open, apparently to even non-subscribers) is actually quite good… in terms of content. A notch in their favor. But what I’m hearing in terms of technical sound is decidedly not high quality.
The distortion can be visually described this way:
Yes, that’s a fairly lossy JPG, blown up so you can see the imperfections. It is, in fact the same file has posted in the paragraph above. The concept is the same, on a visual track. Lesson digital compression, means less distortion, in both the visual and the audio realm. It also means additional bandwidth being consumed , and that to XM means less channels are available at the Satalite to put programing on.
In fairness, most people can’t hear, much less identify what I’m hearing. Mostly what I’m hearing, is arriving at my ear as phase instability and intermod distortion, both caused by the data compression being applied.
In further fairness, it should be pointed out that many of the terrestrial stations that I listen to our also run into faced ability issues , either from their origin material which is all computer driven anymore anyway, or issues with their audio processing at the transmitter’s audio chain, or both. There is, after all, no automatic gain control on the planet that is completely phase stable. Even the digital ones will get nasty if you push ’em too hard.
So the question becomes, is an XM subscription worth it to me? If the answer is “possibly”. I’m still toying with the idea. If the truck hadn’t come with the unit, I’d not even be considering it at all. As it is, it bothers my hindbrain a little, not making use of all the truck came with.
* Along the same lines, the truck also came with OnStar. At least, it came with the phone. Trouble is, and the phone that they were putting in back in 2004, was a purely analog phone. my system, to be tightened of arises network, new leads to be upgraded. This will end up costing me somewhere on the order of $100.00. Not outlandish fee, given what’s being swapped out, but it’s still a minor annoyance, particularly since I’m not overly flush, just now. I’ve been carrying a cell phone with me for years, of course. The advantage to having one of the truck, is mobile mounted cell phones are higher power, and the longer range. Given the amount of time that we spend out in the boonies camping, it will probably come in handy. So, once the financial situation is where, I’ll probably make that swap. The total will come to $100.00 for the hardware swap, plus another hundred dollars or so for a year’s worth of one star service, plus the cost of the additional line from Verizon, who I am already on. I suppose after all of that, the $15.00 or so to get my XM satellite radio working will seem incidental.
* The old radio hand in me cannot resist mentioning that 77WABC, WLS/890 and 1050CHUM will all be doing “rewinds” this weekend… running shows of their heyday, on Memorial day. Some great listening. If you’re not within daytime earshot of those stations, be aware that there are web links for all three of them.
* Finally, I find myself somewhat bemused this evening, by the lack of flags that I see being flown . Those that are being flown, are not being flown at half mast as would be proper . It’s time to get the flag out of mothballs, people.
Tags: BitsBlog, Nightly Ramble
The late Rachel Carson(1907-1964), author of Silent Spring, is an iconic figure to the enviromental movement. Yet while I suggest that Carson was not per se an evil person of the nature of say Adolf Hitler, the deaths attributed to Carson are comparable to those attributable to Hitler.
To some Carson is some sort of hero:
She was the mother of environmentalism, and in 1962 she published what turned out to be the founding text of modern ecology: Silent Spring. Its title was meant to evoke a time – not far in the future – when the season of new growth would be one in which, to quote Keats, “no birds sing”, because they had all died from pesticide poisoning. It was a work which was to be listed – alongside The Wealth of Nations, Das Kapital and The Origin of the Species – as a book which changed the course of history.
To others, not. J.R. Dunn, American Thinker, examines Carson’s legacy of death.
Carson’s book was rife with omissions, misrepresentations, and errors.
It is not fitting and it is not proper that bridge intended for use by the livng, should be renamed to “honor” a woman who contributed to the deaths of so many millions.
Tags: BitsBlog, Enviro-Nazis
Joyner, this monring, strikes a note of alarm as regards anti-terrorism laws being pushed through in the UK and titles his piece:
Britain to Repeal Magna Carta
Oh, please.
OK, look, I, too, have some problems with all of this. That said, I wonder if James isn’t being overly dramatic, here.
At it’s most basic, the argument comes down to this:
The Magna Carta was written on a few assumptions; One of them being the assumption of a moral people being under it. And by moral, I mean in this case, a people all operating within the same moral sphere. John Adams, famously pointed out about our own constitution:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
This is most certainly a recognition on the part of Adams that our constitution could be used against us by those who were not limited by our morality. I wonder if this situation is simply the result of a recognition that the Magna Carta was similarly restricted.
Are we, after all, talking about a set of principles which are ideally to be applied, or are we talking about a suicide pact?
Addendum;
I’m quite aware that this will generate some disagreement; So be it; such is the nature of political discussion.
In the end, however, this comes down to a question of who we trust more ; the people that we thought enough of to put into office , and their representatives, or a bunch of fourteenth century are rejects who would like to spread their world vision over us? I’m certainly not happy with a reduction of rights, temporary or otherwise . But I consider the chance of the reduction being temporary far greater with our own people calling the shots, then I do with a group of Islamic radicals calling them. Certainly, there have been access is on the part of police and other government officials. While all too frequent, those are the exception, rather than the rule they would be under Islamic law.
And, yes, that is the choice, I think.
Tags: BitsBlog
Sister Toldjah reports on the media’s highly selective obession with certain milestones
Yet as Murdoc pointed out the previous March, the numbers United States military deaths are not exceptional, and in the same range of that of the Clinton administration.
Is the media driven by some new found, and most certainly short lived, concern for the welfare of our troops, or just the usual Bush Derangement Syndrome?
Tags: BitsBlog, WHAT biased press?
Blondie, a.k.a. Valerie Plame Wilson, flat-out iied to Henry Waxman. Byron York, NRO, has the goods.
I guess if you are a modestly cute blonde, telling the truth to an old geezer like Waxman is strictly optional. Contact the House Committee on Oversight and Governent Reform hotline to complain
More, Ace.
Tags: BitsBlog, Blogging, Democrats, Just for fun
The Glittering Eye, has unquestionably been on the leading edge of this contaminated pet food business, for some time. The Eye reaches in, and comes up with another comment on it, today:
Most people are not aware of the massive effect that the world’s largest company has on the American food supply. As noted by Charles Fishman in his book “The Wal-Mart Effect,” Wal-Mart is China’s eighth-largest trading partner. In 2004, almost 10 percent of everything imported to the United States from China was imported by Wal-Mart. With the way Wal-Mart pushes its suppliers to do business at the lowest possible cost, systems are poorly regulated and done on the cheap.
Clearly, Wal-Mart’s taking the lead in this matter would simultaneously be good corporate citizenship and good business—when all is said and done Wal-Mart will probably have been noticeably injured by the pet food recall. But there is an old fable about geese and golden eggs and China certainly is that for Wal-Mart.
Personally am getting a little tired of Wal-Mart being painted the villain, every time the name comes up. And frankly, that’s precisely what’s going on here; Wal-Mart yet again is being painted the villain in the matter, for not doing anything. Unfortunately there’s no evidence to support that thesis either way. Thus the reaction is more of knee jerk than of actual thought.
Applying free market principles however we see another possibility; Given the amount of dollars that rides on this, I can’t imagine that Wal-mart execs are not already putting pressure on China, if only to cover their own future liability, by, for example, buying from other sources within China, for example… sources untainted by the recent problems, you should pardon the pun.
You see, sometimes, the overt pressure is the less effective, than are the goings on you CAN’T see. The Invisible Hand, ya know.
..every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.
Yes, I know very well that he is referring in part to local production, here. But the world is getting smaller over the last few hundred years. Therefore “local” is less important than it used to be. Still, the principle holds, in the overall; Wal-Mart’s self-interest, here is also the interests of the public at large. Therefore, I dismiss as highly unlikely, the concept that Wal-Mart isn’t already taking action; Action that we can’t see at our level.
Tags: BitsBlog, Economics, International affairs
McQ, today, tells us the story of a tactical Air Controller.
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It’s time I said something about the links from BitsBlog to these posts from McQ every week.
As some of you will know, BitsBlog has been on this bandwagon from the beginning of Project Hero as McQ calls it, and in fact created the graphic sets used, like the one to the left, here. We’d like to see others join in on this effort as well.
No…not because McQ’s efforts are more worthy than some others, or because we have some special relationship with Q&O. We don’t.
Frankly, It’s a convenient star to latch onto, to further a belief that we have long had here; America has heroes. They live among us.
At BitsBlog, we are of the firm belief that America, simply put, needs heroes to survive in these times, or, for that matter at ANY time. To ensure that we continue as a people, we need to honor such efforts, such people.
As McQ says:
PROJECT HERO is an ongoing attempt to highlight the valor of our military as they fight in both Iraq and Afghanistan. We constantly hear the negative and far to little of the positive and inspiring stories coming out of those countries. This is one small attempt to rectify that. If you know of a story of valor you’d like to see highlighted here (published on Saturday), please contact us. And we’d appreciate your link so we can spread the word.
Also, in all honesty, we think that efforts toward the end of recognizing heroes, themselves, also need recognition. So, to McQ, a “well done” from us here at BitsBlog.
Consider something today, as you go about your business. In a very real sense, memorializing of heroes, is not for the heroes. Instead, it is for us. It is for us to recognize, how different our lives would be without such people, and without such sacrifices.
Since it is Memorial day weekend, I’m going to do something I don’t think I’ve ever done, here; I will repost the complete list of people so honored in Project Hero. Read these names. Drill through, and read their stories, if you like. But know that behind each one of these names, stands another 10,000 heroes and more, of like quality. Know, also, that each one of these individuals, had their own life to live; they had a favor color, a favorite song, favored poem, favorite food, they had loved ones, and they had their dreams. Not unlike you and I. And yet, remarkably, they all risked all of that, and gave them up in many cases, because of a concept that they saw as being bigger than themselves: Service to honor, to family, and to country. Those ideals, and not the individuals, are the real, underlying focus of days like Memorial day. Values without which, we would cease to exist.
.
Read these names. Honor them in your heart. So it must be; We owe them that. We owe ourselves that. Their sacrifices were made for all of us.
1LT Brian Chontosh: Navy Cross
PFC Daniel McClenney: Silver Star
PVT Dwayne Turner: Silver Star
MSG Robert Collins & SFC Danny Hall: Silver Star
SSG William Thomas Payne: Silver Star
CPT Christoper J. Bronzi: Silver Star
SSG Charles Good: Silver Star
SR AMN Jason D. Cunningham: Air Force Cross
PFC Jeremy Church: Silver Star
SGT Leigh Ann Hester: Silver Star
CSM Ron Riling: Silver Star
CPL Jason L. Dunham: Medal of Honor
PFC Joseph Perez: Navy Cross
COL James Coffman, Jr: Distinguished Service Cross
1LT Karl Gregory: Silver Star
1LT Brian Stann: Silver Star
MSG Anthony Pryor: Silver Star
TSGT John Chapman: Air Force Cross
MSG Sarun Sar: Silver Star
1LT Jeffery Lee: Silver Star
SGT James Witkowski: Silver Star
SGT Timothy Connors: Silver Star
PO2 Juan Rubio: Silver Star
SFC David Lowe: Silver Star
SGT Leandro Baptista: Silver Star
SPC Gerrit Kobes: Silver Star
SSG Anthony Viggiani: Navy Cross
LCPL Carlos Gomez-Perez: Silver Star
SGT Joshua Szott: Silver Star
MSG Donald R. Hollenbaugh: Distinguished Service Cross
SGT Jarred L. Adams: Silver Star
1LT Thomas E Cogan: Silver Star
MAJ Mark E. Mitchell: Distinguished Service Cross
CPL Robert Mitchell Jr: Navy Cross
SGT David Neil Wimberg: Silver Star
CWO3 Christopher Palumbo: Silver Star
SGT Tommy Rieman: Silver Star
SCPO Britt Slabinski: Navy Cross
LT David Halderman: FDNY – 9/11/01
1LT Stephen Boada: Silver Star
1LT Neil Prakash: Silver Star
SFC Gerald Wolford: Silver Star
SGT Tommy Rieman: Silver Star
SSG Matthew Zedwick: Silver Star
LCPL Christopher Adlesperger: nominee Medal of Honor
SGT Joshua Szott: Silver Star
SPC Richard Ghent: Silver Star
CPL Mark Camp: Silver Star
The Veteran
CW3 Lori Hill: Distinguished Flying Cross
SGT Paul R. Smith: Medal of Honor
PFC Ross A. McGinnis: Silver Star
SGT Joseph E. Proctor: Silver Star
PFC Christopher Fernandez: Silver Star
MAJ James Gant: Silver Star
1SG John E. Mangels: Silver Star
Don Surber explains “the difference between [Chris] Muir and William Arkin, the Washington Post’s military expert.”
As Don says, “Muir actually has been to Iraq.” Don compares Muir to the great Bill Mauldin.
I do not concur with Don’s description of Arkin as a military expert. Arkin is merely paid by the WaPo to write on military subjects. Charging a fee for a serviice, does not make a person an expert.
Tags: BitsBlog, Honor those who serve, War on American culture
