My condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Private First Class Shane D. Penley.

My sympathies go out to the family, friends and comrades of Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, the member of Bartonville-based 724th Transportation Company, who as captured following an ambush April 9th, 2004. His captors released a low-quality video of Maupin that depicting his murder, but it was not clear until now that is what happened. [...]

This post written by Bill Dennis on Peoria Pundit.
That’s the impression I’m supposed to be getting, I think, from this column by Georgie Anne Geyer:
The White House sees terrorists as born, not created by history, bearing the mark of Cain, not the mark of circumstance. There is a scarlet “T” written on their foreheads [...]

Can someone explain to me why the Kurds shouldn’t have their own nation? They exist spread out through several nations. In any nation where they are a minority, they are oppressed by their Islamic “brothers.” And why shouldn’t the United States support the Kurds. They are our only consistent allies in Iraq, despite the fact [...]

I’m not the only one who found CNN’s graphical treatment of the news of Saddam’s death to be more than a little off-putting. Michelle Malkin had this observation:
Lots of readers are peeved by CNN’s memorial tribute to Saddam. Reader Roger writes, “Did Gerald Ford get this much respect on CNN’s home page?”
Answer: Yes. Almost exactly [...]

Saddam Hussein is just hours away from achieving room temperature. In fact, the bastard might be barking in Hell by the time I finish typing this post. Events are moving a rapid pace in Iraq, certainly faster than our namby-pamby judicial system where the accused actually have rights.
I thought it might be appropriate to speculate [...]

According to Political Wire, people like me are the new swing voters:
A new Cato Institute report says libertarians — people who historically tend to agree with Republicans on fiscal issues and Democrats on personal freedom — are the new swing voters. The authors estimate approximately 13% of voters fall into this category.
[...]

Via a midday update from the Journal Star
Spcs. George R. Obourn Jr., 20, and Kristofer C. Walker, 20, both originally of Creve Coeur, recently died in Iraq, East Peoria Superintendent Cliff Cobert confirmed Wednesday.
“They were good students in school, quite active with the band,” he said. “It is our understanding they joined (the Army) together.”
The [...]

I enjoyed Brad Burke’s column on how the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks hardly lived up to their promise of ending irony. It was one of many 9/11 stories in the JS these days, as Peoria’s newspaper of record has jumped on the bandwagon along with other media organizations who have decided that because, come [...]

He wasn’t wearing a uniform, but try telling me this man wasn’t one of the good guys:
A North Carolina man who graduated from Pekin High School in 1984 was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb of the kind he was employed to remove, a family member said Saturday.
Richard Todd Rhodes, 40, of [...]

There’s a story out about how Lindsay Lohan is just soooooooo eager to visit the troops in Iraq with Sen. Hillary Clinton that she just can’t stand it. The senator’s office says, however, that they’ve told Lindsay — or her handlers — that she needs to contact the non-profit USO organization, who will be happy [...]

Via WEEK:
The U.S. Defense Department says Sergeant First Class Shawn C. Dostie of Granite City died in Baghdad on December 30.
Officials say the 32-year old was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee while on patrol.
My condolences to the family of Sgt. Dostie.
iraq,Shawn C. Dostie,granite city

An insurance company sales contest paid dividends to U.S. military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in the form of free phone cards:
During a recent press conference, Congressman Ray LaHood representing the 18th Congressional District of Illinois remarked, “I, along with Pekin Insurance, feel that the phone card is a way of saying thank you to [...]

I don’t remember Sgt. First Class Eric Pearrow. But the 40-year-old man was a freshman at Woodruff High School when I was a senior.
I wish I did.
Pearrow died in Iraq on Thanksgiving Day in a single vehicle accident involving a M1 Abrams tank. Pearrow was a member of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment Thunder Squadron, [...]

WEEK is reporting
Three more Peoria based Marine Reservists are going on active to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. They will leave Monday morning for Camp Lejeune, NC.
This brief article got me wondering something. I used to make a big deal out of announcements like this. Now, I barely acknowledge them, and don’t mention them in the [...]