WEDNESDAY'S HERO
This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By Kathi
Sitting in the car with Lt. Col. Michael E. McLaughlin's 18-year-old daughter, her father's friend of 21 years had just broken the news of his death. During years of friendship and service in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Lt. Col. McLauglin and retired Capt. Brad Mifsud had a bond so close that they promised each other if something were ever to happen to either one of them, they would be there for the other's family. Lt. Col. McLaughlin died when a suicide bomber rushed through a crowd of Iraqi police recruits in Ramadi and detonated a bomb that also killed a Marine and nearly 80 Iraqis. The day before the attack, Lt. Col. McLaughlin said he was fully confident that Ramadi had finally turned a corner in the insurgency. As hundreds of local men streamed into the Ramadi Glass Factory on Wednesday to join the city's long-defunct police force, a wide grin spread over a pinch of tobacco stuffed into the 44-year-old's lower lip. "This may not look like much, but it's history," McLaughlin told a reporter. "We're making history right here." With a significant wound to the back of his head, Lt. Col. McLaughlin turned to his injured personal security detail officers and inquired about their well-being. Waving off medical attention, he asked them to check on the soldiers under his command. "In an act of extreme selflessness, he stated that he was OK, but to concentrate on saving the lives of his men," said Col. Grey Berrier, a close friend of Lt. Col. McLaughlin. Lt. Col. McLaughlin died shortly after giving that instruction, according to the Guard. A long-time artillery officer in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, McLaughlin was assigned to Task Force 2-222 Field Artillery and was the primary liaison between the 2-28 Brigade Combat Team and local tribal and government leaders in Ramadi. His efforts were instrumental in getting local sheikhs to support the recruitment drive and encourage more than 1,000 area men to volunteer for the force, commanders said. "Mike is a true hero in every sense of the word, and he died while doing his job the only way he knew how - out front and with great enthusiasm and courage," said Col. John L. Gronski, commander of the 2-28 BCT. "This loss only strengthens our resolve to carry on and complete the mission in order to honor his memory." A gregarious wisecracker, McLaughlin said his hope was to one day return to a peaceful Iraq, where he planned to walk the streets of Ramadi in a traditional Arab "man dress," or dishdasha, and sip coffee and chai with those sheikhs he had met during the war. McLaughlin said that one particular tribal leader he had developed a close relationship with dubbed him "The Sheikh of Sheikhs" - a nickname that was soon picked up by fellow officers in the brigade.The GREAT IRAQ WAR RESOLUTION PLEDGE Hugh Hewitt is the brain behind it.
THE GREAT CAT SOAP OPERA
The big news is that - role of the drum, please - we have an official home for one of the kittens! The little guy is eating kitten Iams like a little piglet and pooping, so we're ready for our new home. He's going to live with Miss Kira, who is all of 3 years old! She's a baby doll who lives very nice grandparents. And the kitten will have a 6 week's old German Shepherd puppy as a sibling! It dawned on me that I was looking in the wrong place for adoptive homes, so I called the local pet store. The wanted to know how much I wanted for the babies - as if I could sell them! I have offered to pay for spaying/neutering and declawing, so I know they are being taken care of! Just talked to Kira's grandmother, Maggie. They're going to pick up the little guy either tomorrow or Friday. And - we're going to be dealing with a Mommy Cat having a breakdown! Just think, two more homes and I'm out of the kitten business, for good (I hope!).
While I'm working on the blog today, I'm also setting up my new Vaio, VGN-TX850P! It is so tiny, it makes my Pavillion look like a moose! It's the same computer the new (not to my taste) James Bond was using. I can't get over the way technology has grown. This thing has 1G of RAM, 80G HD, DVD-rewright, and every from of wireless there is, including built in cell system. My next step is a touch pad writing screen.
I want to bring your attention to a piece I covered just a bit last night from The Gates of Vienna.
This morning I was up early. Turned on Fox and Friends to hear the latest about that big round up of illegals (round up is for cattle not humans). They then mentioned the Iraqi family of illegals caught in
Once upon a time, people like that family would be called refuges an welcomed with open arms. What has happened in this country? These are not terrorists. They are Assyrian Christians on the lam from Islamic prosecution in
Oh, my gosh have you seen this shark! Cool. It's called a frilled shark.
The Tancredo Watch comments on my Blog Critics piece about TT. They speculate he isn't even going to run for the House. Could his "Presidential bid" be nothing but a smoke screen to bow out of a district he might not be able to carry next time? I'm beginning to wonder.
American Thinker on the Fraud of the Fairness Doctrine.
You know the world can fall apart, Congress blow up, or declare war, but no matter. What do they concentrate on? How about a Congresswoman who is all hands! Guess now that HRH Nancy I is in control, women can do unto the Prez, what previous office holders have done unto them. I think it is hilarious.
Just what does Red State want in a candidate? There is no perfect conservative. Let's face it, if RWR were marketed under a different name, he would not be conservative enough for today's RIGHT.
THE SPEECH
I feel so sorry for the MSM. GWB did not fall flat on his face. We're not pulling out of Iraq today. His numbers did not go farther south. They just need to try something else to destroy him. I'm sure they and the Dems will come up with something. I do agree with Dick Morris. The only thing I fault the President for not doing enough of during his Presidency is pound the Bully Pulpit. I wish he would, I really do. I think the only saving grace of the past year has been Tony Snow. Naturally Tancredo did not approve. Maybe the President should listen to him. I seem to remember TT putting himself up there with God as the Pope's primary advisor.
The one thing I don't remember hearing anyone say is the health care proposal could eventually take the onus of having to deal with health insurance out of the hands of the small business person. I don't know about you, but isn't that a good idea?
Blog Lizards agrees with me. Flopping Aces Strata-Sphere
ISLAM, IRAN, TERROR
Counterterror Blog on latest Iranian hijinks.
Captain Ed says Ethopia is pulling out of Somalia.
The Opinion Journal's Best of the Web today:
More UK Islamic problems.
IRAQ
Malkin on deployed then fired. Or, with friends like this...who needs Al Qaeda?
THE PREZ:
"...Listen to this warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: "We will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse." Osama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us."
These men are not given to idle words, and they are just one camp in the Islamist radical movement. In recent times, it has also become clear that we face an escalating danger from Shia extremists who are just as hostile to America, and are also determined to dominate the Middle East. Many are known to take direction from the regime in Iran, which is funding and arming terrorists like Hezbollah--a group second only to al Qaeda in the American lives it has taken.
The Shia and Sunni extremists are different faces of the same totalitarian threat. Whatever slogans they chant, when they slaughter the innocent they have the same wicked purposes. They want to kill Americans, kill democracy in the Middle East, and gain the weapons to kill on an even more horrific scale...."
DEMS GONE WILD
HRH
PRIMARIES 2008: Richardson is first Hispanic to Run. New Giuliani #'s are in. New Iowa numbers are in. Romney and the DC Two-step. John McCain did NOT fall asleep. Flap on Giuliani in or out. My two cents is the media and certain RIGHT pundits are trying to redicule him now as he is going to be the nominee - try to reduce his success
Gone but not forgotten. 
THURSDAY 13TH LIST (a day early)
1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the
subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an ass.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until
you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops
bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows
little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose ofgaining carnal knowledge of someone.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the
person who doesn't get it.
9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit).
10. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day
consuming only things that are good for you. 11.Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter
when they come at you rapidly.
12. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into
your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
13. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm
in the fruit you're eating.
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