I found this picture...

...and story with my Electric Scotland newsletter this week. I liked it. It, kinda, bridges a generation.


Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as "Iron Mike" or just "Gunny". He is on his third tour in Iraq. He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. "You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision," he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term "the longest walk", stepping gingerly into a 5ft deep and 8ft wide crater. The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7in knife to probe the ground. "I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs," he says. "That's when I knew I was screwed."


Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet. "A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded," he recalls. "As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down."


His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there. "My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down," says Sgt Burghardt. "I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. "I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher." He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. "I flipped them one. It was like, 'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week'."


Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit. Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY...

...and blandly misleading!

The blandly misleading headline of the day, from the Associated Press (who, along with Reuters, has apparently stopped identifying when their wire stories are written by Palestinian stringers):

Three Palestinians Killed in Violence.

Of those "three Palestinians," one blew himself up and the other two were "militants" involved in a gun battle.


JENIN, West Bank - A Palestinian militant blew himself up Thursday and two other Palestinians were killed in a gunbattle with Israeli troops during an arrest raid in the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinian security officials said. No soldiers were injured during the raid, the army said. Thursday, January 12, 2006

Bigger government...

...does not make better government. Making more rules does not solve the problem! McCain/Feingold campaign funding/lobbyist money rules are a bunch of HORSE HOCKEY! Basically they took campaign contributions away from the middle class and us poor-boy-middle-class-wanna-be's and put them in the hands of people that have enough bucks to set up FOUNDATIONS and other 'big word money hiding schemes'.

How about this for a plan? Let's have 100% transparency. Anybody can give any amopunt of money that they wish to the politician or party of their choice. All donations will be reported including the AMOUNT OF MONEY GIVEN (OR CASH VALUE OF THE GIFT) and the NAME OF THE DONOR WHOSE MONEY (or product) IT IS and not just the name of the Foundation or whatever!

And while we're at it (just for fun) either the president has LINE ITEM BUDGET VETO POWERS or EARMARKING FUNDS IN THE BUDGET IS TOTALLY DISALLOWED AND ATTEMPTS AT EARMARKING BECOME A 'firing-squad-offense'!

And, that can mean being "fired by the voters", as in losing elections. Probably it won't happen, but even frogs have dreams.

Kermit

I checked into...

...Doctor Sanity's Clinic this morning. I left laughing. Everything will be oKay (even in Canada, where there is some serious politics going on). Enjoy this!!!

BOMBSHELL !

Well, sort of.... from The Corner:

We are reliably told that the crackerjack Kennedy staff has dug up another damning episode in Sam Alioto's background. It seems that a boy in his Cub Scout den, who was particularly close to young Sam, declared "Girls are stinky" on more than one occasion - in earshot of Sam at least once. It seems that Sam still attended the offending boy's birthday party and Senator Kennedy will insist on a subpoena to get a copy of the invitation list if that's what it takes to get to the bottom of this association.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .


FULL DISCLOSURE: I was a member of the Boy Scouts when I was 15 years old. The troop specialized in recruiting boys who wanted to be doctors. This was, to say the least, somewhat shocking since I am female and it was in the mid 1960's. I have always had a soft heart for the Boy Scouts for allowing me to be a member back then when Women's Lib was in its mere infancy. However, there were a few boys who did think my being part of the troop was "stinky". I don't remember if Sam was a member or not....

I have lost my...

...mind and cannot find it. Help me! Help me!

The madness in D.C. is getting to me. Given the state of the U.S. Government, I may be on my own when it comes from defense of my turf from people with philosophies that indicate that it would be better for them if I were dead. Having run out of my own humor at this point, I found something uproariously funny...


The Proper Care and Feeding of Moonbats


It has come to our attention here at The Right Place that many people foolishly purchased moonbats as pets for themselves or their children during this holiday season. While the appeal of keeping these hideously ugly, ill-tempered, high-pitched screeching wonders of nature as housepets truly eludes us, we hope to perform a public service by presenting these helpful tips for caring for your new pet, courtesy of the world's foremost moonbat expert, Dr. Wayne Bruce:The Responsible Pet OwnerThe first, most important thing for all responsible moonbat owners to do is to have their pets spayed or neutered ...


...cardinal rule with moonbats is that one must never, ever encourage them to vote or to seek to dwell in a government building, as this would be dangerous to the continued well-being of society! Too many moonbats are already loose in American government at all levels, and it will already take us years to fumigate them all!Thank you and enjoy your new pet!

Dr. Wayne Bruce, DVM

Chief Moonbatologist, American Veterinary Center for the Study of Common Household Pests and Other Useless Vermin