BlackFive

So last night I infiltrated a Juicebox fiesta celebrating the new job of Dave Weigel, who was one of the first Journolistas outed. Now he had some awesomely, unfriendly things to say about conservatives let there be no doubt, such as:

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh famously said he hoped President Obama would “fail” in January, 2009. Almost a year later, when Limbaugh was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, Washington Post reporter David Weigel had a wish of his own. “I hope he fails,” Weigel cracked to fellow liberal reporters on the “Journolist” email list-serv.

“Too soon?” he wondered.

Cold-blooded? Oh Hell yeah, but I gotta admit that a search of my own email archives would yield any number of wicked rips that might shock those of you accustomed to my sweetness and light, milk of human kindness personality. Bottom line is Weigel was just about like his supporters said, not a left wing ideologue more of a wicked smart ass. I liked him and had a good time. My favorite tweet bit was this from my favorite Juiceboxer and the most over-rated writer on the left Matthew WhyGlesias.

The ideological diversity at @daveweigel's party is freaking me out. Where's my echo chamber?

He may have been trying to be cute, but in vino tweets veritas. You're welcome Matthew, I'll be here all election season.

UPDATE: The Juicebox Mafia is a term coined by Eli Lake of the Wash Times to describe the collection of young liberal smarty pantses like Ezra Klein, Matthew WhyGlesias, Spencer Ackerman etc. It is a play on a rap group called the 3/6 Mafia and the juiceboxes of the playground. My previous reporting on the Juicebox Mafia.

Regulars here will remember that Soldiers' Mom recently fought a battle with cancer.  She won, and is now working to take the fight home against the enemy by participating in the Nebraska Race for the Cure.  In her own words:

As a breast cancer survivor of not quite two years, I am soliciting sponsorship donations for the Nebraska Race for the Cure.  The only thing that inspires my passion as much is Soldier's Angels and my children and grandchildren.  No one has to, but if you donate, 75% of the funds raised at each race stay locally to fund mammograms, care and aftercare for breast cancer patients with little or no insurance.  One in eight women will be stricken with breast cancer in their lifetime.  And don't forget, men can be stricken with breast cancer also and have a 10 times higher death rate due to not believing that they have it.  Please consider this and go to my personal page.

There are plenty of reasons to love the Floyd, but you can add a big one now. Roger Waters gave permission to a couple of Iranian brothers in Canadia with a band called Blurred Vision to re-record the the song as "Another brick in the wall (Hey Ayatollah, leave those kids alone). It is brilliant and it should blow up, and good on Waters for allowing his music to be used to fight tyranny. Green Power! Death to tyrants!

I sat in for Mr. Gaffney today and had a fun show.

Jim addresses the Administration’s lack of a Grand Strategy for dealing with militant Islam and provides his solutions to the security issues created by these clashing cultures. Next, Jim talks with documentary film maker J.D. Johannes who just returned from Afghanistan and will be discussing his experience. Later, Jim visits with David Bellavia an Iraq combat veteran and author of House to House about the battle of Fallujah, about the classified intelligence documents posted on WikiLeaks and his take on the damage this has done to US efforts to gain trust of the local populous. Finally, Jim talks with Noah Pollack, Executive Director of the Emergency Committee for Israel. Noah gives a brief overview of his organization and its efforts to combat the immediate threats to Israel in the American political debate in the midst of the midterm elections.

They transcribed my monologue which I'll post below the fold.

NOTE:  A little birdie has told me that the illustrious Greyhawk has agreed to be the host/MC for the military track at Blog World... 

A free pass to the military track at this year's Blog World and New Media Expo (http://blogworldexpo.com) is being offered to all members of the Armed Forces.  The free pass not only provides access to the military track panels on Thursday 14 October, but to the exhibit hall and evening events for the entire conference.

"The military secures our freedoms, including our ability to blog about any and all topics," says Blog World CEO Rick Calvert.  "Social Media has changed the way we all communicate in our personal and business lives and the military is no exception. Blogs and social networking tools have been a godsend to Military personal deployed half a world away from their loved ones; allowing them to communicate with their families easier than ever before. Many of them (and their spouses) also generously share their experiences on their personal blogs, giving civilians a much deeper understanding of the level of sacrifice our men and women in the armed forces make for our freedoms. It is truly our honor and pleasure to provide them this free pass."

While details are not yet available, Calvert notes that efforts are underway for a very special series of panels.  Because of these panels, and limitations on seating, a pre-registration process is being started and is being coordinated by Cooking with the Troops.

"New and social media have been our foundation as we get started," notes Cooking with the Troops CEO C. Blake Powers.  "Helping coordinate the pre-registration for the free membership being offered allows us to support the troops and their families in a different way, and it's an honor to do so."

The free membership offer is available to all those currently serving in the Armed Forces, all veterans, and their families.  To pre-register, send an e-mail to [email protected] that provides your name, service information (branch, dates; or, branch and dates of spouse, child, or other immediate relative), and the names and relation of any other persons (spouse, child, parent) you wish to register as well.  Closer to the conference, you will be sent instructions on how to register online and receive the free membership.
Those desiring to attend other panels and events can pay an upgrade fee during the final registration process to do so.  There is no charge to pre-register.

This month, Lt. Col. Tom Mullikin traveled to Europe to understand the experiences of his father Charlie Mullikin, a veteran of World War II.

The elder Mullikin landed at Normandy, and fought his way across Europe as a member of a special reconnaissance unit of the 407th Infantry Regiment. His outfit was led by 1st Lt. Roy "Buck" Rogers, and the stellar unit would earn them the nickname "Rogers' Raiders" (not to be confused with Rogers' Rangers, the American unit that achieved fame during the French and Indian War).

Mullikin shares a story of his father's unit from February 1945 :

At exactly 0300 Buck Roger’s Night Raiders of the 407th Infantry pushed out into darkness, out into the narrow torrential Roer (River). … A German machine gun opened up not 50 yards away … Two long minutes later … the boats hit the Roer’s east bank. …With clocklike precision dark figures fanned out around the ominous machine gun. …One man returned the fire. Another grasped his grenade. A good throw. A dull thud. A scream. Silence.

One group… swung toward the railroad bounded by a dense minefield … The rest of the patrol slugged south mopping up one nest after another. At H-hour—30 minutes later—the first assault wave of the 407th Infantry crossed without a hitch. Their bridgehead, the first across the Roer, was established.

When the 30 minutes of intense action had ended, the Raiders had destroyed five machine gun nests along with six other automatic weapon positions, killed 15 and captured eight of the enemy … all without losing a single American.

Walking the beaches - and SCUBA diving among the wrecks as Mullikin did - would be a wonderful experience, but I can imagine that splashing through the same surf your father did when landing at Normandy 66 years earlier would be absolutely incredible.

More information on the operation is available here.

The cover of TIME magazine this week is tough to look at, but that is all the more reason to do so.

This 19 year old Afghan girl had her nose and ears cut off as punishment for fleeing an abusive forced marriage. A Taliban commander made the determination and so she was mutilated. That is what the status quo will be if we fail in our mission to create a state in Afghanistan where the Taliban are not in charge. The light of women in that country is not why we are there, if that was the case there are dozens of countries where we would be needed. But is doesn't mean we cannot take the oppression and barbarity of the Talibs into account as we look at our cause.

Women have made tremendous strides since the Taliban were over thrown and they ought to be considered some of our most interested allies. The patriarchal and religious society that existed and still exists in much of Afghanistan relegates women to the status of chattel, property. That is repugnant and offensive and if we can change it we ought, especially if we can do so in conjunction with our efforts to put a less extreme government in place. Our moral betters on the left love to preach about how women in America are discriminated against, and don't earn as much as men do. But it kinda puts things in perspective when you look at this girl, eh? The next time you see some feminist yotch bitching and moaning about the man keeping them down, send her this picture and tell he to STFU!

The biggest flaw in our efforts in Afghanistan is not our military strategy, it is our lack of a grand strategy to deal with the larger war of cultures between the free, liberal Western society we are privileged to live in and the stone age obscurantists who rule far too many places in the name of Islam. It is always unfair to paint all Muslims as oppressive extremists, but it is equally unfair to deny that Islam empowers many of the worst human rights violators on Earth. We need a way to put a wedge between those two groups and maybe women can be that. It is certainly a start and a noble cause to begin freeing hundreds of millions of girls from a life that offers nothing to them but submission. The fact that an outlet like TIME has seen fit to highlight this shows that the left knows what this is about, well let's pressure them to act in concert with us and face the challenge united. They have the ability to pressure and we have the ability to enforce. It would be nice if once that was combined to serve the cause of defeating religious oppression and making the world a freer and better place.

So it turns out, according to Andrew Napolitano, that Julian Assange claims to have offered early access to the trove of documents leaked to him earlier and which he published just a few days ago.  We are supposed to assume that because of this, any guilt he or his organization bear for putting the lives of troops and innocent Afghan sources at risk goes away.  Questions:

1) Do you have an email showing that the offer was made, or something similar?  Or did you just call up the white house and get frustrated by the long hold?  

2) Who did you make your offer to?

3) Did you also make this offer to anyone at the Pentagon?  If the answer is no, then why not?

4) Do you think that their decision not to play your game resolves you of any guilt for not removing those names yourself?  If so, please explain.

-- Pig, out

Related:  Tunku weighs in.

Must read of the day:  I Need You