BlackFive

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the beginning of the Tet Offensive. Two soldiers earned the Medal of Honor: Frederick E. Ferguson (Hue) and Drew D. Dix (Chau Doc Province, Jan. 31 - Feb. 1, 1968). The two men are the only troops awarded the Medal of Honor during Tet, and both are counted as among today's 91 surviving recipients. Unfortunately, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society will disband when there are only 25 members remaining.

Their citations can be read at the above links.

Democrats living large on the taxpayers' expense? Surely not.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has racked up an amazing $2.1 million travel tab during the last two years according to government documents obtained by Judicial Watch through a FOIA request. The Air Force Gulfstream V she rides costs almost $6,000 per hour (an average cost per flight of over $28,000). But that's nothing when you consider the $22,000 per hour price tag of the Boeing 757 that she requested for ferrying her between her district and Washington.

Interestingly enough, over $100,000 of which was for alcohol and food. What is she eating, unicorn steaks?

Now I understand that for national security reasons, Pelosi shouldn't travel commercial. But a non-stop flight from D.C. to San Francisco (first class) costs around $800. In fact, it would take Pelosi 35 first-class commercial flights to equal the cost of one trip on the Gulfstream. She may be second-in-line to replace POTUS, but she isn't Queen.

If the Air Force is willing to take suggestions, I say that they should palletize her and her entourage and put them on Space Available transportation.

Looking forward to the '60 Minutes' expose on this. Holding my breath even.

[Originally posted at Unto the Breach]

Today's totally awesome weather in DC reminded me of my favorite video of Kev. I blame Al Gore.

My good friend David Bellavia's blog is rapidly turning into serious competition for the Onion. I have been exposed to his wicked hilarity for a long while now, but he has brought it out into public for all to see and I strongly recommend you wallow in it. He and I created one of the most amazing pieces of talk radio ever w/ the Blue Falcon Radio segment. He has several contributors from his shady past as a Theater major and assassinator of Stephen Sondheim's play "Assassins". One of these contributors is a vegan and David has asked him to conduct email exchanges with some of the knuckledragger community. I am first in the rack and it's quite a bit of fun. I have suggested Chuck Z as the next to play, that could be epic. Anyhow, go check it out.

Interview with a Vegan- Uncle Jimbo

This morning I had the pleasure of discussing the Obama administration's approach to terrorism, precipitated by the news that KSM's trial is likely to be someplace other than NYC. That is good news, but not quite the right answer yet. Changing to another civilian venue is not enough, I hear Gitmo is lovely this time of year. The entire Lawfare approach to terrorism is wrong, our enemies know it is war and we need to reciprocate that.

Gen. Petraeus spent some time at the Institute for the Study of War last week and discussed the many challenges CENTCOM and all of us face. Kim Kagan hosted him and you can see the entire event here at ISW's website.

OK let's play the game. Where was this picture taken this morning? More to follow later.

Subsunk called it with Brit Hume's office, although it is actually the Special Report studio and I was in Bret Baier's chair. It was a spot on FOX's America's Newsroom w/ Bill Hemmer about the KSM trial moving and lawfare. Should have video in a bit.

As seen through a night-vision device, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Chad Melanson performs a night patrol of the perimeter of Camp Wright in Asadabad, Afghanistan, Jan. 24, 2010. Melanson is a Kunar Provincial Reconstruction Team and security forces member assigned to the Nevada National Guard’s 1st Squadron, 221st Calvary Regiment.
U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Brian Boisvert

A close friend from Perth sends this Aussie view of Terrorism Alert Levels - it's akin to our Military Differential Theory [Snake Model] - I thought you'd get a laugh out of it:

    The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to a "Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588 when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

    The Scots raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get those Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

    The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.
    
     It's not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert: Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

    The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose".

    Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

    The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

    Americans meanwhile and as usual are carrying out pre-emptive strikes on all of their allies 'just in case'.

    Canada doesn't have any alert levels.

    And in the southern hemisphere:
    New Zealand has also raised its security levels - from "baaa" to "BAAAA". Due to continuing defense cutbacks (the airforce being a squadron of spotty teenagers flying paper aeroplanes and the navy some toy boats in the Prime Minister's bath), New Zealand only has one more level of escalation, which is "I hope Australia will come and rescue us".

    Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be al'right, mate". Three more escalation levels remain: "Crikey!', "I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend" and "The barbie is cancelled". So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

Today we scoured the city to no avail. No trauma patients, and clinics are set up every where. Tomorrow we go a town 3 hours away where we hear there are many people still untreated and with many fractured bones.

[You can read all of Team Rubicon's updates on Blackfive here]
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PS - Thank you to American Airlines for staying classy!