The nation's third-highest medal for valor.

Texas girl (Lake Jackson, near Houston). A nineteen year old kid (I'm allowed to say this at my age and I am not objectifying her).

Under gunfire and mortar fire, she helped move wounded comrades to safety, at times shielding them with her own body.

Brown, of Lake Jackson, Texas, is scheduled to receive the Silver Star later this month. She was part of a four-vehicle convoy patrolling near Jani Kheil in the eastern province of Paktia on April 25, 2007, when a bomb struck one of the Humvees.

"We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag," Brown said.

She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out.

"I assessed the patients to see how bad they were. We tried to move them to a safer location because we were still receiving incoming fire," Brown said.

She helped move them out of harm's way, eventually some 500 yards, and then treated their wounds and saw them off to safety.

She saved their lives.

The military said Brown's "bravery, unselfish actions and medical aid rendered under fire saved the lives of her comrades and represents the finest traditions of heroism in combat."

Spc. Brown serves in the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team.

She did them proud.

Well done Specialist Brown. All American.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 09:57 AM | Comments (49)
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Having troops in Iraq or being strong supporters of Israel are the only reasons Islamic terrorists attack people, right? So, how exactly do Democrats and other assorted morons explain this?

Wang Lequan, the top Communist Party official in the far western region of Xinjiang, said materials seized in a Jan. 27 raid in the regional capital, Urumqi, suggested the plotters' planned "specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics."

Â…Wang said the group had been trained by and was following the orders of a Uighur separatist group based in Pakistan and Afghanistan called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM. The group has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the United States. East Turkestan is another name for Xinjiang.

Â…Wang said security forces would take pro-active measures to crush terrorism, religious extremism, and separatism.

"These guys are fantasizing if they think they can disrupt the Olympics," said Wang, known for his hardline stance on crushing dissent. "They don't have the strength."

Anyone want to bet these guys would give anything to be going to Gitmo instead of wherever it is they are going to wind up now?

Posted by: DrewM at 09:46 AM | Comments (15)
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I don't remember seeing this in that dopey Die Hard movie.

Traces of sedatives in NYC water.

Here's what I've experienced about water in NY (Manhattan). It's clean and doesn't smell of sulphur like the stuff around here.

It probably doesn't gum up flexible shower heads. Good news for the ladies!

(sorry, I was objectifying. my bad).

Still, there are apparently drugs in the water, which must explain the posey-happy-goofy smiles you get when you bump into someone climbing out of the 47th Street* station or trip on the stairs and flatten somebody on the Circle Line boat tour.

No wait. That was probably somebody from Nebraska.

The article says "barely measurable" which makes me wonder what they test for anyhow. They got the scrutinizer turned up to eleven.

* I made that up but I'm sure there's a station somewhere on 47th street. They use numbers up there for this stuff. We use former Presidents and trees here.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 09:04 AM | Comments (27)
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Headline-sidebar type stuff, but wanted a fresh post on the front page, so. Here.

Democrat wins Hastert's seat. It's never too early for Vodka n' Nyquil on a Sunday.

Google removes 'street view' images of Fort Sam Houston from Google Maps at the request of the DOD. Ooopsies.

Google spokesperson Larry Yu said it was against Google's policy to seek access to military installations or otherwise private facilities. "Our policy is to stay on public roads," he said. "A driver broke that policy."

Italian court upholds the right of a cheating wife to lie to the court about the affair in order to preserve her 'honor.' This word you keep using, I do not think it means what you think it means.

Homeland Security and ICE vow to crack down on illegal immigration. Believe it when we see it.

US Fish and Wildlife Service under pressure to classify polar bears as 'threatened,' based entirely on climate projections and not current data.

A comment on that article from an Alaskan:

Alaskans do not need outsiders to tell them how to manage their state's wildlife. The polar bear population is at an all-time high right now, and they are being shot as they seek food in the villages across the north. There is no interest in Alaska to allowing outsiders to meddle in their affairs.

If some climate models are correct, we could be on the verge of a long cooling period, aka ice age.

Based on those models, I would like to propose that polar bears be stripped of their 'vulnerable' status and listed as 'fashion fur.'

The last thing you'll see in the coming ice age, if polar bears aren't eradicated:

Found another one! Man, I could eat a million of these things.

Posted by: LauraW at 08:20 AM | Comments (30)
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Despite my appearance, I love to exercise. The endorphins I feel after a 5k or 10k run or an hour of yoga beat almost anything else out there, save sex. And since I am married, and we have a very active toddler running around the house who DOESN"T LIKE TO SLEEP, that aspect of life is a distant memory. Add to it the fact I don't smoke, eat fairly healthy, limit my booze intake to my "blogging hours", when the rest of the house is asleep, I should live forever, right?

Well, maybe. Maybe not. I am starting to get the impression that while certain lifestyle choices may speed up an early demise, genetics plays a key role. Why do I say that?

Here is why. This guy is 101 and plans to run a marathon. And how does he plan on handling himself after the race?

Martin, who had 17 children and returned to work at the age of 99 saying he was bored after two years of retirement, would beat the previous record for world's oldest marathon runner by eight years.

"If I finish, I'll do what I always do and have a pint and a fag[cigarette]," he said. "People ask what is my secret but I haven't got one. They say fags [cigarettes]and booze are bad for you -- but I'm still here, aren't I?"

Well said, sir. Well said. Looks as though smoking didn't hurt this chap. And knowing my luck, I'll drop over tomorrow, and this old bastard will live another five years.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:15 PM | Comments (38)
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As any parent can attest to, kids can be a handful. Sometimes a mom has to let off a little pressure, 300 psi at a time that is. A woman in Orlando (yes Florida of course), was charged with child abuse for trying to cool off her temper tantrum prone 2 ½ year old daughter with a commercial car wash hose. Unfortunately, the video capturing the whole sordid event ended before the questions of whether the mom sprang for the lemony foam brush or the deluxe hot spray wax discipline reinforcement options were answered.

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:15 PM | Comments (43)
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I thought I'd put up some random links just to put something new up top for people not interested in the blog drama. Well, that and there are some technical problems at the good ship doubleplusundead.

The problem will work itself out over the next few hours, I still can't access my own site, if you can though(some people can, it seems to be totally random), there should be some fun or interesting links there to check out too.

So anyway, here are some links for you,

British cuisine going the way of the dinosaur?

Light to moderate drinking may be even better for you than previously thought.

Two teenage boys get expelled from school for redundancy.

This may warrant a full post later by the Moron-in-Chief or the co-Moronbloggers, a judge decided to reject a foster child's request to enlist with the Marine Corps because she "didn't approve of the Iraq war, didn't trust recruiters and didn't support the military." The judge claims to have denied access to someone who wished to enlist with the Navy as well. (Now I decide to look at the sidebar...and see that this story was linked there, I might need to try to actually read the site someday)

And to end on a lighter note, have you picked up an official S. Weasel Zombie Reagan '08 Campaign Picture for your sidebar?

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:56 PM | Comments (14)
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Hey everyone. Did I miss anything while I was gone?

Seriously, before I get started, I should thank all the morons who offered best wishes during my hospitalization. Especially commenter Michael & his lovely wife Cathy, who sent me a flower bouquet, which came with a teddy bear and a (remember this because it will seem REALLY ironic later) packet of Hershey's Almond Kisses. You guys/gals are the bestest pretend interwebthingy buddies a guy could have, and your best wishes helped me rise and walk away from my sickbed.

(UPDATE: Wow, I should have thought twice before putting this monster right after Ace's little "Lighten up, Frances" message to all the wimmenfolk. Or maybe I could have written the whole thing in LOLendocrinologist:

I kan haz cheezburger? Yah, butt no fryzz, an thro awa 1/2 the bunn.

im in ur pantry, pissin on all the bred )

I'm gonna put the whole story in the extended entry, because of my stream of consciousness writing style, but the summary is as follows:

Russ was sick. Russ went to doctor to get antibiotics for bronchitis. Doctor freaked out when Russ' blood tests came back. Russ flat on his back in hospital with nurses jabbing his fingers for blood every hour for 24 hours straight. Russ discharged after 2 days & visits endocrinologist. Russ go to Maid-Rite for a sandwich & onion rings. Russ come home & sleep the sleep of the dead. more...

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 04:27 PM | Comments (27)
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I've got cabin fever. It's been raining and cold here for two weeks and I don't think I left the apartment for three days before yesterday.

So I'm going to hang out with some nonline people tonight. Yeah, nonline. I just made that up. I'm on the internet so much that "online" is the new normal and it's the "nonline" people who are unusual.

I made a reference to some gender-war blog drama the other day. Villainous Company has a recap. And as this seems to be percolating, I guess, against my wishes and better judgment, I should address it.

The reason I didn't address it is that I know, being Blogger of the Year and all, that this is an incendiary issue that gets comments threads closed. It gets very ugly, often very quickly.

It's great for traffic. 500 comments, easy. But bad for the blog. A lot of pissed off people and even some lost readers.

This is why I'm going to be a really, really condescending schoolmarm about suggesting rules to follow if you're going to comment on this at all. I'm not being bossy. I just have seen this goddamn argument before and it always winds up the same way. I'd like to avoid that.

It's like this.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:40 PM | Comments (558)
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Not enough IMO. I'd make it a million. This fucker/fuckers need to go down hard.

...No arrests have been made, no suspects identified. But police investigators said that a blue bicycle recovered at Madison Avenue and 38th Street on Thursday morning was probably the one used by the bomber. A $12,000 reward has been offered for any information that leads to a conviction in the bombing...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 12:24 PM | Comments (22)
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