My grandfather John Sadler and my uncle Alan Lockett, both of the RAAF, are two of the finest men I have ever known. Their lives and service are an inspiration, and taking the time to remember them today brings a smile to my face.

When such youth voice their overheated moral indignation in the West, my view is: Why should anyone listen to them?  They don’t know a thing about the world; they have never had the responsibility of running a business, have only intermittently worked, have no parental duties, and believe themselves to be the first people in the history of the world to feel indignation about poverty or inequality and are all the more proud of themselves for doing so.  The Western press loves to glorify such ignorant protesters in the U.S. or Europe, however, because a. it gives them a story, and b. the almost inevitable left-wing slant of youth protests fits nicely with the press’s own pretensions towards “progressive” enlightenment.

So why should we take the youth movement any more seriously when it erupts in repressive or totalitarian regimes?

My answer: the youth in the West are pretty darn safe and they know it, but the youth abroad know they risk death.  They can riot with impunity, because they know that police in Seattle or Washington or New York are going to fire rubber bullets and water cannon; the youth in repressive regimes know they face actual bullets.  The Western youth have all the courage of a chihuahua barking at a muzzled rottweiler that’s behind a fence; in repressive regimes the fence is gone.  In 1968, the American radicals knew that the Chicago police would act with much more restraint than the Czechoslovakian military.

The youth under repressive regimes know that they’re facing death.  Just because they look like the hipsters the clutter up arty coffeeshops in Chelsea or Adams Morgan doesn’t make them any less courageous.  We can hope that they make Egypt and Tunisia better places, like Yeltsin did when the hardliners called out the tanks, but they might also wind up slaughtered like in Tiananmen Square.

I remember in the primary last year certain conservatives tried to paint Christie as the squish Republican because of social issues. Now that he seems to be on a perpetual Tell It As It Is tour, I believe that, though the man may well way 350 pounds, there is not one ounce of squish on him.

Mr Stender, 43, said: “I built the bus for two reasons. The first is to entertain people because, come on, it’s a jet bus.

“The second, is to keep kids off drugs. Jets are hot, drugs are not.”

That sound you hear at the end of the video is the sound of a million joints hitting the ground as kids give up the wacky weed and head for their neighborhood jet propulsion laboratory.

He makes a case for Greatest American and maybe even Greatest Human.

A true loss.

Medic gets Distinguished Service Cross

By Henry Cuningham
Military editor

Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor on Wednesday received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest valor award, for his actions during a 17-hour battle in Afghanistan.

snip

O’Connor led a quick reaction force June 24, 2006, in Kandahar province’s Panjwai District, described by Special Forces as one of the most hotly contested areas of southern Afghanistan.

He maneuvered his force through Taliban positions and crawled alone through enemy machine-gun fire to reach two wounded soldiers, the citation said. He tied a signal cloth to his back to identify himself to aircraft overhead. While under fire, he provided medical care and carried a wounded soldier more than 150 yards across open ground. He climbed over a wall three times under enemy fire to help wounded soldiers seek cover. Then he took over as the operations sergeant and rallied, motivated and led his team.

“Thank God for men like Master Sgt. O’Connor,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.

Maj. Sheffield Ford said after the ceremony that O’Connor picked up Sgt. Joseph Fuerst and carried him over his shoulder and ran while under fire.

“Knowing that bullets were coming in all around him, he didn’t hesitate,” Ford said. “He continued to get up and move because he knew he had to get Joe back if he was going to have a chance to try to save him.” Fuerst died, and Staff Sgt. Matthew Binney survived, Ford said.

Dear, God that’s bravery.

Some say John McCain’s character was formed in a North Vietnamese prison. I say those people should take a gander at what John chose to do–voluntarily. Being a carrier pilot requires aptitude, intelligence, skill, knowledge, discernment, and courage of a kind rarely found anywhere but in a poem of Homer’s or a half gallon of Dewar’s. I look from John McCain to what the opposition has to offer. There’s Ms. Smarty-Pantsuit, the Bosnia-Under-Sniper-Fire poster gal, former prominent Washington hostess, and now the JV senator from the state that brought you Eliot Spitzer and Bear Stearns. And there’s the happy-talk boy wonder, the plaster Balthazar in the Cook County political crèche, whose policy pronouncements sound like a walk through Greenwich Village in 1968: “Change, man? Got any spare change? Change?”

Some people say John McCain isn’t conservative enough. But there’s more to conservatism than low taxes, Jesus, and waterboarding at Gitmo. Conservatism is also a matter of honor, duty, valor, patriotism, self-discipline, responsibility, good order, respect for our national institutions, reverence for the traditions of civilization, and adherence to the political honesty upon which all principles of democracy are based. Given what screw-ups we humans are in these respects, conservatism is also a matter of sense of humor. Heard any good quips lately from Hillary or Barack?

P.J. is witty as usual but it is his almost perfect distilation of the spirit of conservatism that I enjoy most.

(H/T)

Thank you to those that serve in the Australian Armed Forces – the only Allies you Americans have had for every conflict since WW1.

A special thanks to both my Uncle Alan Lockett RAAF, who served in Vietnam, and most of all my Grandfather John Sadler RAAF who served in Europe during WWII.

Navy SEAL paid ultimate price to save buddies

• Story Highlights
• Navy SEAL Michael Monsoor awarded posthumous Medal of Honor for heroism
• President Bush gave medal to Monsoor’s parents at a White House ceremony
• Monsoor died in Iraq after falling on a grenade to protect his comrades
• He’s the first Navy SEAL to win Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq

From Mike Mount
CNN Pentagon Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) — When a grenade bounced off his chest and fell to the floor near his fellow troops, Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor acted out of instinct.

His actions didn’t stem from a lack of training. His instant reaction was to protect his comrades.

The Navy says he committed a selfless act — jumping on the grenade and taking the full force of the blast.

President Bush presented Monsoor’s parents with a posthumous Medal of Honor for their son at an emotional White House ceremony on Tuesday. Watch Monsoor’s sister share her memories »

Monsoor was one of the U.S. military’s most highly trained combatants, a Navy SEAL. He’s the first SEAL to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq.

On September 29, 2006, Monsoor was part of a major clearing and isolating operation to root out enemy fighters holding parts of Ramadi, the Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad.

Monsoor was in a sniper position on a rooftop along with two other SEALs when a grenade flew into his location from out of nowhere. It bounced off his chest and landed in an area where it likely would have killed or seriously wounded all three of them.

Monsoor was in a position to escape before the explosion but instead leapt on the grenade.

There are no words that can truly honor this man’s bravery and sacrifice.

Very Impressive: Fixing a jammed MK-19 automatic grenade launcher under fire.

Oh-My-God-Dude-That’s-Awesome: Fixing your buddy’s jammed MK-19 automatic grenade launcher under fire and then unloading it on the Taliban.

“I jumped into the turret and saw that the charging handle was stuck behind the bolt and I knew the only way to fix it was to disassemble the weapon system,” [Sgt. Jonas Jerome] Allen said. “I knew I had to hurry because we were taking RPG’s and small-arms fire and I’d rather fire at the enemy than to have the enemy fire at me.”

Allen said he disassembled and reassembled the weapon as fast as he could.

“I just was thinking that if I hurry up and fix the MK-19, I could start engaging the enemy and kill them,” he said.

Once he repaired it, he had the driver of the truck move him into a better position then he put it to use.

“After checking the weapon, we both decided to stay where we were,” Villasenor said. “He had more knowledge on the MK-19 and I am more proficient on the .50 cal.”

“[I] fired the MK-19 into the house and the rooftop we were receiving contact from and after I unloaded an ammo can of 40 mm rounds, I reloaded it and kept engaging the enemy until we stopped taking contact,” Allen said.