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David Brooks and Ruben Navarrette have different takes on the government's response on all levels to hurricane Katrina. Not surprisingly I find myself siding with Brooks. Brooks argues: Katrina was the most anticipated natural disaster in American history, and still...

Daschle Coterie Continues Campaign of Lies against Thune

Maybe it's time to get out the oaken stakes, garlic, and crucifixes to try to deal with the undead of South Dakota politics, the hapless partisans of Tom Daschle that are currently spouting a series of lies, half-truths, and distortions in an ill-begotten attempt to assissinate the character and image of Sen. John Thune.

The gory details are laid out by Sibby here, here, and here. (Not to short-change the yeoman service done over at South Dakota Politics on this also: they are regularly linked by Sibby in his postings.)

On the face of it Hildebrandt, Epp, and the rest of thier ilk from the Daschle camp seem to have a reality problem: their guy lost the election, largely because their true orientation on the issues was too far removbed from what most SD voters thought. Somebody better call them a waahmbulance: wah-wah, wah-wah, wah-wah!

While the storm rages over just how much the Katrina aftermath will affect George Bush's poll numbers, here are a couple of forward looking stories. First, how many people really died? I was always suspicious of the 10,000 speculation. I...

How about some miracle baby stories from New Orleans? Now off to get my yearly dose of Jerry Lewis....

Kaus has it about right: Sure, the Bushies are using the federalism issue, and Louisiana's potentially bruised feelings, as an excuse--especially when they talk about how "it would have been perceived" if Bush had seized control of the relief effort...

I'm up in South Dakota right now for my birthday weekend, so expect blogging to be light. I'm also going to be helping my grandmother move today, so there's that. However, fear not: the drive for our local Sheriff's Relief...

Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears. This was e-mailed to the Chief, you may have seen it, but I haven't before, & think it it well worth some attention and thought:

Meet Brian Chontosh. Churchville-Chili Central School class of 1991. Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father. First lieutenant (now Captain) in the United States Marine Corps. And a genuine hero. The Secretary of the Navy said so yesterday.

At 29 Palms in California, Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow.

It was on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee. When all hell broke loose. Ambush city.

The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him. So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire.

Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them. Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines.

Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride, and he ran down the trench, with its mortars and riflemen, machine-guns and grenadiers.

He fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.

When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more. But that's probably not how he would tell it. He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble.

The citation concluded: "By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."

NOT TYPICALLY BEING REPORTED BY THE MSM ? BUT CERTAINLY WORTHY OF NOTICE.

?People sleep peaceably in their beds because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.? ? George Orwell

CSPAN's In Depth program from Book TV has now video archived the Harvey Mansfield show from this past weekend. Sure it's three hours long, but while the interview starts slowly (my kingdom for Brian Lamb!) you soon find out why...

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