Attention to Orders:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Staff Sergeant Jared C. Monti distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a team leader with Headquarters and Headquarters troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, in connection with combat operations against an enemy in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, on June 21st, 2006. While Staff Sergeant Monti was leading a mission aimed at gathering intelligence and directing fire against the enemy, his 16-man patrol was attacked by as many as 50 enemy fighters. On the verge of being overrun, Staff Sergeant Monti quickly directed his men to set up a defensive position behind a rock formation. He then called for indirect fire support, accurately targeting the rounds upon the enemy who had closed to within 50 meters of his position. While still directing fire, Staff Sergeant Monti personally engaged the enemy with his rifle and a grenade, successfully disrupting an attempt to flank his patrol. Staff Sergeant Monti then realized that one on his soldier was lying wounding in the open ground between the advancing enemy and the patrol’s position. With complete disregard for his own safety, Staff Sergeant Monti twice attempted to move from behind the cover of the rocks into the face of relentless enemy fire to rescue his fallen comrade. Determined not to leave his soldier, Staff Sergeant Monti made a third attempt to cross open terrain through intense enemy fire. On this final attempt, he was mortally wounded, sacrificing his own life in an effort to save his fellow soldier. Staff Sergeant Monti’s selfless acts of heroism inspired his patrol to fight off the larger enemy force. Staff Sergeant Monti’s immeasurable courage and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and the United States Army.

Service: Army

Rank: Staff Sergeant

Presented Thursday, 17 September 2009.

Vindication of the effectiveness of Warfare over Lawfare, and a triumph for the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

The ambivelent news is that The UK recently managed to convict a group of three terrorists for attempted terrorism:

Airline terror trial: The bomb plot to kill 10,000 people
Three British Muslims have been convicted of planning a series of co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks on transatlantic airliners, which could have killed up to 10,000 people.
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Telegraph.co.uk

The al-Qaeda cell plotted to cause mass murder by detonating home-made liquid explosives on board at least seven passenger flights bound for the US and Canada. The plot had the potential to be three times as deadly as the 9/11 attacks of 2001.

The convictions followed Britain’s largest counter-terrorism operation and two criminal trials which, in total, cost an estimated £60million.

All three men convicted on Monday had been found guilty at an earlier trial last year of conspiracy to murder, but prosecutors said it was vital to secure a conviction on another charge of conspiring to blow up the aircraft in order to prove that the threat to air traffic was genuine.

How, you ask, is this ambivalent news? It took two trials. Read the rest of this entry »

The English Language is a constantly evolving thing. Having no official governing body, it tends to do so haphazardly (which is, in the end, a good thing). Efforts to enforce controls on the language (see Newspeak in Orwell’s 1984, or “politically correct” speech on any college campus) are, at their heart, efforts to control thought.

I arrive at these ruminations today due to an essay from Hot Air’s Green Room:

The Eff Word
Fascism
By Doctor Zero
HotAir

It’s the ultimate political epithet, the atomic blast that ends calm and measured debate. This makes those who seek to be reasonable and persuasive understandably reluctant to use the word… and those who aren’t interested in either reason or persuasion eager to hurl it at their opponents. There is nothing surprising about the visceral emotions conjured by the mention of its name. The history of fascism is written in the blood of innocents, on a scale that challenges the limits of human imagination.

Indeed it is. That it should be so is something of an irony of history. Fascism is without question an ideology whose history is written in blood. Yet for all its manifest evils, Fascism is not the most blood soaked ideology in history. That distinction belongs to Communism, which killed nearly two orders of magnitude more innocents in the 20^th century.

More ironic is the common mis-perception of Fascism as a creature of the political “right.” It was no such thing. Fascism was an outgrowth of Socialism and Progressivism. It’s current assignment in the political spectrum is a testament to the effectiveness of Communist Propaganda (no enemies to the left) and the leftward tilt of the modern academy.

Doctor Zero continues… Read the rest of this entry »

House doubled request for VIP jets over Obama Administration request

Four executive jets are not enough for Madam Speaker, she requires twice that number.

Opposition Emerges to House’s Jet Spree
By BRODY MULLINS and T.W. FARNAM
The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—Bipartisan opposition is emerging in the Senate to a plan by House lawmakers to spend $550 million for additional passenger jets for senior government officials.

The resistance to buying eight Gulfstream and Boeing planes comes as members of both chambers of Congress embark on the busiest month of the year for official overseas travel. The plan to upgrade the fleet of government jets, which was included in a broader defense-funding bill, has also sparked criticism from the Pentagon, which has said it doesn’t need half of the new jets.

I should hope so.

In this time of recession bordering on depression one would hope that Congress would fly commercial, thus pumping money into the airlines, vice taking flight crews and service crews away from the Air Force in time of war.

It’s not like they couldn’t afford the money out of their own pockets.

That was not a typo, nor an exaggeration. Overall, 83% of voters favor concealed carry.

Oh. My.

Zogby/O’Leary Poll Reveals Majority of Voters Will Oppose Senators Who Vote to Confirm an Anti-Second Amendment Supreme Court Nominee

Strong Majority of Independents, Democrats and Obama Voters Support the Right to Carry a Firearm

…Judge Sotomayor does not believe the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms” and the right to self-defense are fundamental rights of all Americans. Specifically, Judge Sotomayor believes the Second Amendment only applies to the federal government and does not apply to the States, as indicated by her recent testimony and past rulings.

Zogby/O’Leary asked voters:

“Would you support or oppose a U.S. Senator who voted to confirm a Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court who does not believe in the right to keep and bear arms and the right to self-defense?”

Fifty-two percent of American voters would oppose the re-election of any Senator who votes to confirm a Supreme Court nominee who does not believe in the right to keep and bear arms. Only 26 percent of voters would support such a Senator. Read the rest of this entry »

For Conspicuous Gallantry Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

Greyhawk, at The Mudville Gazette provides the circumstances:

On 21 June 2006, SFC Monti, then a staff sergeant, was the assistant patrol leader for a 16-man patrol tasked to conduct surveillance in the Gowardesh region. The patrol was to provide up-to-date intelligence, interdict enemy movement and ensure early warning for the squadron’s main effort as it inserted into the province.

As nightfall approached, the patrol was attacked by a well organized enemy force of at least 60 personnel. Outnumbered four-to-one, SFC Monti’s patrol was in serious danger of being overrun.

The enemy fighters had established two support-by-fire positions directly above the patrol in a densely wooded ridgeline. SFC Monti immediately returned fire and ordered the patrol to seek cover and return fire. He then reached for his radio headset and calmly initiated calls for indirect fire and close air support (CAS), both danger-close to the patrol’s position. He did this while simultaneously directing the patrol’s fires.

When SFC Monti realized that a member of the patrol, Private First Class (PFC) Brian J. Bradbury, was critically wounded and exposed 10 meters from cover, without regard for his personal safety, he advanced through enemy fire to within three feet of PFC Bradbury’s position. But he was forced back by intense RPG fire. He tried again to secure PFC Bradbury, but he was forced to stay in place again as the enemy intensified its fires. Read the rest of this entry »

Some, hopefully most of you, read about this today:

Pool Boots Kids Who Might “Change the Complexion”
Campers sent packing after first visit to swim club
By KAREN ARAIZA

More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason.

“I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child,’” said camper Dymire Baylor.

The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club. The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers’ first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.

If accurate (and who amongst us really trusts the press these days?), this is clearly outrageous. Such blatant racism has no place.

An insinuation that this was, of course, those nasty Republicans inspired me to do some research…

First up, a search for “Valley+Swim+Club+PA” which yielded a link to this handy site. From there I had a street address, but more importantly, a City. Next search: “Huntingdon+Valley+PA+county” which yields Montgomery County. Next stop, The Tired Gray Crone’s Election Map 2008 for Pennsylvania. Montgomery County is just Northwest of Philadelphia.

Turns out that county went for Obama by 54.7% and is one of the bluest of blue counties in PA.

How about them limousine liberals!

That’s my answer to Wired’s question:

Should NSA Whistleblower Be Prosecuted?
By Kim Zetter
December 15, 2008 | 9:43:42 PM

Opinions are divided on whether Thomas Tamm, the original source for The New York Times 2005 story on the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping, should be prosecuted for revealing classified information. Tamm is a former justice department prosecutor.

Seems like a rather clear situation to this former holder of a high level security clearance. The laws on the matter are explained on a regular basis to all who carry such clearances, as are the penalties for compromising such information.

I say charge him with every pertinent and lesser included charge and try him in the FIS court before a jury of his peers: persons currently carrying clearances of the level he held.

Hat Tip: Glenn Reynolds