This is the most heartwarming chuckle I've gotten in a long time. Check out JR's new prosthetic.

(Can you tell I'm the first milblogger on the scene? All the others partied like rock stars last night while the pregnant lady was sleeping. So now I have plenty of time to screw around on the internet while waiting for them.)

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Here's a Mark Steyn quote to go along with the Peggy Noonan one from the other day:

It seems to me, for example, that when anti-war types bemoan Iraq as this generation's Vietnam "quagmire," older folks are thinking of the real Vietnam – the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and whatnot – but most anybody under 50 is thinking of Vietnam movies: some vague video-store mélange of "The Full Metal Deer Apocalypse."

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Two links found off Instapundit...

Peggy Noonan:

I'll jump here, or lurch I suppose, to something I am concerned about that I think I am observing accurately. It has to do with what sometimes seems to me to be the limited lives that have been or are being lived by the rising generation of American professionals in the arts, journalism, academia and business. They have had good lives, happy lives, but there is a sense with some of them that they didn't so much live it as view it. That they learned too much from media and not enough from life's difficulties. That they saw much of what they know in a film or play and picked up all the memes and themes.

OPFOR:

Members of the Iraqi Army in Besmaya collected a donation for the San Diego, Calif., fire victims Thursday night at the Besmaya Range Complex in a moving ceremony to support Besmaya's San Diego residents.

Iraqi Army Col. Abbass, the commander of the complex, presented a gift of $1,000 to U.S. Army Col. Darel Maxfield, Besmaya Range Complex officer in charge, Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq, to send to the fire victims in California.

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A nice snappy post from QandO.
(Found via RWN)

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From an article discussing how Katie Couric is uncomfortable "saying ‘we’ when referring to the United States.” (via Photon Courier)

I’ve come around to the view that the culture war can best be understood as a conflict between two different kinds of patriotism. On the one hand, there are people who believe being an American is all about dissent and change, that the American idea is inseparable from “progress.” America is certainly an idea, but it is not merely an idea. It is also a nation with a culture as real as France’s or Mexico’s. That’s where the other patriots come in; they think patriotism is about preserving Americanness.

Yet the strangest and most ironic aspect of our national culture is that we have an aversion to talking about a national culture.

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Mistakes were made in Iraq. No, not our mistakes, theirs.
Mission Accomplished
I can't say enough how interesting this article was. It addresses all the common complaints about OIF, from the Iraqi side. It breaks down Sunni worries and Shia strategies. It is crucial reading. I plan to read it again.

Oh, and like the der Spiegel article, this one wasn't written in the US either. Why can't our press come up with stuff like this?

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The husband and I have been hesitant to see Flags of our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima. If Lileks' reaction is any indication, then we were right to be leery.

But I seem to be in the minority in my reaction. IÂ’m sure Eastwood intended the movie to be respectful, but sometimes it seems like the second half of his career has been spent apologizing for the first half.

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The 5 Things I Saw that Make Me Support the War

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Niiiice:

Imagine if a more reliably sober-minded sort — say Zbigniew Brzezinski, David Broder — prophesied six years ago that in 2007, Bin Laden would still be at-large and giving televised addresses in which he offered generous blurbs for Noam Chomsky, touted global warming, expressed disappointment with the Democratic majority in Congress and championed a flat tax so low it would make Steve Forbes blush like John Ashcroft at a Pussycat Dolls audition. Most of us would have suggested that Messrs. Brzezinski or Broder should open the window when they cook their meth.

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I saw this today and my heart just melted because, you know, we have a Charlie too.
Soldier looking for way to get his dog back from Iraq
He's got pictures of this cutie on his blog.

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1 I love the fact that people are so willing to do so much for their animals. I suppose it is b/c I am such an animal lover myself. We have about 5 houses of Saudi neighbors right now that have stated that they hate dogs and are afraid of them, it is making all of the American households in our neighborhood live on pins and needles with our animals! UGH! Lovin' the animal lovers even more right now

Posted by: LMT at September 06, 2007 05:51 AM (ASoq0)

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Two witty observations about the Larry Craig fiasco:

Jack Kelly:

When a scandal involves a Republican, his or her party affiliation is mentioned in the lead. When it involves a Democrat, party affiliation typically is mentioned deep in the story, if at all.

But media bias is not the main reason why Republicans suffer more from scandals. Democratic voters expect Democrats to steal on their behalf. Lawmakers are judged on the basis of how many goodies from the federal treasury they can shower on their constituents.

Mark Steyn:

Instead, Sen. Craig copped a plea. Because of that, he should disappear from public life as swiftly as possible and embrace full time the anonymity he cherishes in his sexual encounters. Not, as the left urges, on grounds of "hypocrisy" – because he's a "family values" politician who opposes "gay marriage" yet trawls for rough trade in men's rooms. A measure of hypocrisy is necessary to a functioning society. It's quite possible, on the one hand, to be opposed to the legalization of prostitution yet, on the other, to pull your hat down over your brow every other Tuesday and sneak off to the cat house on the other side of town. Your inability to live up to your own standards does not, in and of itself, nullify them. The left gives the impression that a Republican senator caught in a whorehouse ought immediately to say, "You're right. I should have supported earmarks for hookers in the 2005 appropriations bill." That's the reason why sex scandals take down Republicans but not Democrats: Sex-wise, the left's standards are that whatever's your bag is cool – which is the equivalent of no standards.

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Ecofashion? I'm all for not being a jerk to the earth, but are we really calculating the carbon footprint of our back-to-school clothes now? Kids not only have to worry about looking cool; they now get to worry that their clothes are "grown with petrochemical fertilizers."

Hey Mom, when I wanted those Guess jeans in 6th grade, instead of telling me that I didn't need to wear a certain pair of jeans in order to make the right friends, maybe you could've said acid wash causes acid rain.

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This experiment was really interesting: Six weeks without a wash: The soapless experiment

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I didn't even have to make it to the article body to feel a lump in my throat over this one (via LMT): Family Loses Second Son in Iraq War

And what came to mind was this:

Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,--

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln

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I loved this airforcewife post over at SpouseBUZZ...

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A fascinating story via Amritas
Terrorist Hunter: By day, Shannen Rossmiller is a Montana mother of three. At night, she takes down AmericaÂ’s enemies. ItÂ’s a compulsion even she canÂ’t explain.

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Should people with no kids pay more taxes to cover the slack for those who can't afford their own kids? Good thing I'm not the only one who was horrified at the suggestion: this comments section was reassuring.

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Two teasers to make you think and hopefully get you to read the blog posts to which they belong.

First: Thereby Hangs a Tale's Does America Support our Military Strategy? (via Achilles)

We have an angry voting public. About 71% are mad at the war and the President. But just what are they angry about? I’ve researched the polls and no poll that I can find goes beyond a simplistic, “Are you for or agin the war?” Are those polled just angry at a bullheaded (or principled, depending on your view) President? Are they frustrated by continued fighting in a war that may already be lost?

Second: Neptunus Lex's Us and Them Part I

It’s also popular to say that the people are “war weary,” but - apart from the very small percentage of those who are actually deployed, or their families - what do they have to be weary of? We live lives of ease, prosperity and entitlement our own parents could not have imagined, we shop at the mall, are very nearly fully employed, the economy is on solid footing, the stock market is through the roof and yet we go to the watercoolers with worried looks and tell ourselves that the country is very much on the wrong track, tut-tut.

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Guard Wife gives it to Ted Rall with both barrels. She uses phrases like "Left-wing cuckoobird who draws junior-high level cartoons for a living" and hands him his hat. Nicely done.

And this comments section at Standing By is fascinating. Go be a fly on the wall.

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1 Awww, thanks! (blushing)

Posted by: Guard Wife at July 19, 2007 02:04 PM (mMRvT)

2 Army Wife Toddler Mom also has a great post about this... linkage ain't workin so well for me at 0130 today, but it's there. http://armywifetoddlermom.blogspot.com

Posted by: Green at July 20, 2007 08:35 PM (VqW06)

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Some morning links before I head to the airport:

Mark Steyn: British bomb plot and Michael Moore-style health care

According to a report in the British Medical Journal, white males comprise 43.5 percent of the population but now account for less than a quarter of students at UK medical schools. In other words, being a doctor is no longer an attractive middle-class career proposition. That's quite a monument to six decades of Michael Moore-style socialist health care.

Incidentally, that was the exact same argument I tried to make at our office Christmas party in Germany.

John Stossel: Government is all about force

Government has nothing it hasn't first expropriated from some productive person. In contrast, the private sector – whether nonprofit or a greedy business – must work through persuasion and consent. No matter how rich Bill Gates gets, he cannot force us to buy his software. Outside government, actions are voluntary, and voluntary is better because it reflects the free judgment of creative, productive people.

And a great Mark Steyn quote from The Corner:

I want to bequeath the wonders of this earth to the next generation, but I worry that my grandchildren will never know the feeling that you've totally demonstrated your tremendous concern and commitment to taking action just by going to a concert and staying until halfway through the George Michael set when he started doing stuff from the new album.

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