BlackFive

First, Greyhawk takes a look at a recent Washington Post article that examined a lefty blog and a righty blog.  Greyhawk is one of the best writers around.  Here's a bit of his take on the lefty blogs' self-destruction:

...You might notice I don't use the terms "liberal" or "progressive" when addressing the Left here. They have been neither for quite some time. (See "rigid orthodoxy" above.) They still refer to themselves in such terms, of course. I blame Rush Limbaugh for maintaining their delusion.

Individuals on the Right also often shut down opposing views, of course, but the spectrum of opinion on virtually every topic I can name seems broader across the Right. Perhaps that's because it's currently defined as anyone who doesn't adhere to the left's strict orthodoxy on every conceivable point.

There are liberals who are left of center, of course, but the signal to noise ratio is falling fast...

There's a lot more.  That was just a bit of his post.

Next, Hugh Hewitt examines the left blogosphere more thoroughly.  Here's a taste:

...The lefty blogs are training an entire generation of activists to conduct themselves outside of those rules, to develop habits which are not only handicaps to persuasion, but are actually almost insurmountable barriers between the lefty blogs and a huge portion of the independent vote and even a large slice of Democrats...

Hugh goes on to discuss many aspects of the rancor on the left and winds up discussing MilBlogs - and our dismissal by the left blogs. 

I would venture a guess that many MilBloggers are, in fact, Democrats.  That's right.

But with the recent possibility of a *shudder* President Kerry and the left's willingness to roll over anyone (including the troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan) in order to destroy President Bush, you find many of us on the Center-Right.  What other serious choice do they have?

You can blaim George Soros or Teddy Kennedy or Media Matters or Howard Dean or Terry McAuliffe for that.  If the Democrats took back the center of their party, they'd have a chance at winning some of the MilBloggers back.

Attention Democrats - Gangrene has set in.  It's time for the true Democrats to decide whether to allow the infection to spread or to amputate.

You have bleed first before you can heal...

Thief sends this link to a story about an air-drop of Teddy Bears to Iraqi kids.  The brain-child of Chief Warrant Officer Randy Kirgiss, Operation Teddy Drop has support from many areas including his chain of command and civilians back home.

Mustang 23 of Assumption of Command has more on this humanitarian/military mission.

Ma Deuce Gunner has a post about Britain's orders to it's tactical teams hunting terrorists...

"The covert armed units are under orders to shoot to kill if surveillance suggests that a terror suspect is carrying a bomb and he refuses to surrender if challenged."

Interesting.

A Soldier's Perspective has a on-the-ground story that was also reported by the AP - a multi-pronged suicide bomb attack was prevented by US and Iraqi forces.

This is a tactic that Hamas tried to perfect against Israelis - set off a bomb, and when the first responders arrive to care for the living, bomb them.  Not only does this tactic increase the carnage, it also slows down the responders ability to reach the severely wounded - decreasing their chances for survival significantly.

Dean Esmay links to Jane's blog - Armies of Liberation - where she is attempting to support Democracy in Yemen by ensuring that (1) there is freedom of speech and (2) when someone is imprisoned for speaking out against the government, that the government is held accountable.

Michael Yon travels back to his usual stomping grounds in Mosul and hears a story that should you read.

While you're there, consider sponsoring Yon's reporting.  He's there on his own.  Click on the "Sponsor the next Dispatch" button at the BOTTOM of his post.

And, as usual, when I post about sponsoring or donating, I contributed this morning.

Be sure to get over to Mudville this morning.  Greyhawk and the Mrs. have a lot of good posts and links to read.  Mrs. Greyhawk knocked the cover off the ball about the sniper video that everyone has been linking to (including me). 

Every once in awhile, someone asks "What happened to your picture...not the HALO one but the drunk Doughboy."

It's the pic I used to use as my image for the (month long) run up to St. Patrick's Day.

It's uncanny how closely I resemble that drunk Pilsbury Doughboy...

Didn't know that Glenn Reynolds and Steven Den Beste were Wedding Crashers?...

Then click here for the trailer of their new movie (Work Safe).

Quick!  Hide the Bridesmaids!

[Yes, I edited the trailer.  You can too by clicking on Crash This Trailer.]

Via Instapundit - Australian Prime Minister John Howard on what effect will Australia's involvement in War on Terror Operations have on inspiring terrorists to strike down under...

...MAXINE McKEW: Prime Minister, if as you say you can't rule out that possibility that we could have potential bombers right here in Australia, what if today's announcement, this redeployment to Afghanistan and our continued presence in Iraq is all the provocation they need?

JOHN HOWARD: Maxine, these people are opposed to what we believe in and what we stand for, far more than what we do. If you imagine that you can buy immunity from fanatics by curling yourself in a ball, apologising for the world - to the world - for who you are and what you stand for and what you believe in, not only is that morally bankrupt, but it's also ineffective. Because fanatics despise a lot of things and the things they despise most is weakness and timidity. There has been plenty of evidence through history that fanatics attack weakness and retreating people even more savagely than they do defiant people.

MAXINE McKEW: But this must be a factor in your thinking. I mean, you make a decision - or Cabinet made yesterday a decision - to go ahead and put extra troops into Afghanistan. And as compelling a moral and strategic reasons as there are for that decision, there could be some people out there who seek to do us harm, who will see this as just the excuse they need. That must weigh in your decision, so you're saying basically that's a risk we have to take?

JOHN HOWARD: Well, Maxine, you cannot conduct the foreign policy of a country as if it were shadow-boxing with fanatics. You just can't do that. You have to take decisions that you believe are in your country's best interests, and I believe very strongly it's in this country's best interests in 2005 to do the things we are doing in cooperation with our allies and our friends. I cannot look you in the face or the Australian public in the face and say, "This country is guaranteed immunity from a terrorist attack." I hope and pray it never happens, but it's a possibility. We have to understand that that is the world we're living in, and it's fair to say that the people who died on the London Underground, they were certainly not all white Anglo-Celtic Christians, they were a combination of people of different races and of different religions and it just undermines the fact that murderous fanatics are the enemies of us all, not just the enemies of a stereotypical idea of what a Westerner represents.