Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today:

1. Carl Levin - Neocon from Michigan
2. Reconstruction in Iraq - An Ancient Land, but a New Country
3. Not supporting our injured troops - Gates takes responsibility for Walter Reed conditions
4. Does the Blogosphere need more censorship? - Eric Alterman advocates for a Blacklist for Bloggers
5. Rudy on Abortion - It's about the Judges
6. A Real Hero - Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Crandall - Medal of Honor

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Carl Levin - Neoconservative

As one of the most vocal opponents of the President's surge or escalation plan in Iraq, one would expect Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin to oppose all aspects of the American military, in a Jack Murtha "slow-bleed" manner. He has opposed the troop surge, and in the past advocated for quick withdrawal. The New York Times said this recently:

Sen Carl Levin, incoming Armed Services Committee chairman, says phased redeployment in four to six months would signal to Iraqis that America's 'open-ended commitment' is over and put pressure on Iraqi government to take over themselves...

It may be that the good Chairman is not as much opposed to the Bush plan, as he is wishing to escalate the pressure on the Malaki government in Iraq. But increasing pressure doesn't necessarily mean withdrawing support, or hoping for defeat. There is plenty of daylight between the defeatocrats like Murtha, and the position Levin is taking. Pressure on the parties to negotiate can accelerate compromise. That is one of the two points Levin brought forward in the hearings he chaired this week in the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. The other point was a request that our military be more aggressive against the weapons suppliers in the region, namely Iran and Syria. Appearing for the administration was Director of National Intelligence John McConnell, and several other officials.. Listen to these two interchanges, one from the start of the hearing and one from the end, in which Levin prods DNI John McConnell on the unhelpful weapons suppliers in the area.

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Michael Ledeen, writing in the Corner on National Review Online, offered up this:

Carl Levin has endorsed my longstanding proposal to go after terrorist training camps and weapons assembly facilities in Syria and Iran.

Carl Levin, you say?

Yeah, Carl Levin, the newly minted neocon from Michigan. My kinda guy.

This is clearly stepping off the Democratic Pelosi/Murtha reservation, where only those who advocate a quick withdrawal, sorry, redeployment are acceptable. While not advocating a bombing campaign against either Iran or Syria, he is clearly recommending a very robust posture against the activities of enemies, inside and outside Iraq. How refreshing in a Democratic politician. The cynic in me asks what has changed to make him such a hawk. But on principal, I oppose questioning someone's motives, especially when their recommendation lines up with mine. Go get 'em boys!

Reconstruction in Iraq - An Ancient Land, but a New Country

I joined a blogger conference call Wednesday morning with the head of the Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Michael J. Walsh, CG U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region. It was an opportunity for the Pentagon to get a good news story on the work rebuilding the entire infrastructure of a long neglected country. General Walsh covered a number of issues in the conference call on what they have been able to accomplish in the area of water, sewer, power, and petroleum projects. Here is some excerpts from the call. The first is from his introductory remarks.

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The phone line to Iraq kept dropping out, and his administrative assistant in Baghdad was very apologetic. Here he is coming back to answer a question from Victoria at RedState.com.

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Later on, other bloggers asked other questions. What follows are the questions by Austin Bay, Mark Finkelstein, and Andrew Lubin on how things have changed since 2003.

Play clip.

I like measurements. Instead of trying to make a decision about how things are going in Iraq by watching the evening news, we can track the progress. I have no reason to doubt the veracity of General Walsh. Certainly things would have gone better if the Iraqi's had taken the opportunity presented to them by their liberation and start building their country instead of starting the civil war or insurgency depending on your point of view. In that same hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican John Warner offered the following perplexity:

Play clip.

The American GI is not alone in being perplexed over why the Shia fight the Sunni. But it is not necessary to understand it to want the Iraqi's to be able to live a better life.

Not supporting our injured troops - Gates and the military take responsibility for the Walter Reed Hospital conditions

After the Washington Post exposed the deplorable conditions at building 18 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the first reaction from senior military leaders was to take responsibility and promise action. The conditions were horrendous. As Dana Priest and Anne Hull:

the despair of Building 18 symbolizes a larger problem in Walter Reed's treatment of the wounded, according to dozens of soldiers, family members, veterans aid groups, and current and former Walter Reed staff members interviewed by two Washington Post reporters, who spent more than four months visiting the outpatient world without the knowledge or permission of Walter Reed officials..

While the hospital is a place of scrubbed-down order and daily miracles, with medical advances saving more soldiers than ever, the outpatients in the Other Walter Reed encounter a messy bureaucratic battlefield nearly as chaotic as the real battlefields they faced overseas.

Listen to this clip from Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaking to reporters after the story broke.

Play clip.

He goes on to describe a panel he has appointed to investigate and make recommendations on repairs to the situation. I appreciate the lack of excuses. Take responsibility. Fix it. Report back when it's fixed. Jay Tea of my parent site, Wizbang, noticed that the hospital was set for closing.

Walter Reed ... is owned and operated by the United States Army, and is for active duty personnel.

And as part of the Army, it fell under the last round of Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) cuts.

In 2004, a non-partisan commission took a long, hard look at our military installations, and made recommendations that many of them be reduced, consolidated, or eliminated entirely. And Walter Reed -- the Army's premiere hospital -- has been around for almost a century. The commission recommended that it be closed, effective 2011, and consolidated with the Naval National Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland.

It's not an excuse, but just a fact. Our soldiers deserve the best. But you knew that.

Does the Blogosphere need more censorship? - Eric Alterman advocates for a Blacklist for Bloggers

Ann Althouse listened to Blogging Heads TV, Mickey Kaus's video production site where two smart people chat over simulated video phones. She writes:

Alterman is talking with Mark Schmitt on the new Bloggingheads...But I was put off by the mindset he revealed... He'd like a blacklist.

Here's a clip from the program where Eric Alterman, who writes for the Nation, and is the author of the national bestsellers, What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News, and The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America. His most recent book is When Presidents Lie: A History of Deception and its Consequences, just sort of musing about blacklisting those he disagrees with. This is a montage of three sections of the Blogging Heads clip, where Alterman talks with Mark Schmitt about gatekeeping in general, people who get too personal on their blogs, (Andrew Sullivan is the example here), and the Blogging Council™ who will function to condemn people who violate his rules.

Play clip.

Eric later wrote a long blog post dancing around the implications of his idea. He wrote:

I do actually believe what I said. Ever since the beginning of blogging-time, I have worried -- in public and on blogging panels -- about the loss of the media's gatekeeper function. Now, I believe I literally wrote the book on this topic ... and I am ... aware ...of the dangers of the misuse of that function. Almost all of my books deal with this tension in one way or another. But the fact is, the function is absolutely necessary. A democracy of hundreds of millions of people is functionally impossible for reasons it requires an entire book to explain

This sentiment is so wrong. Democracy functions because it gives people a vote, which in turn gives them a role in choosing who is in charge. Voting gives people hope that they can fix whatever is broken by replacing the elected leaders. If, as Alterman advocates, there are gatekeepers, it diminishes the power of the people.

Not to overgeneralize, but liberals like Alterman tend to blame the leaders for all that is wrong. Just listen to the titles of his books.

• What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News
• The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America
• When Presidents Lie: A History of Deception and its Consequences

They are all about Bush, not the Presidency he occupies. They think that nothing is wrong with government that couldn't be fixed if we just replaced the people in charge with more perfect leaders. It's up to the highly educated and dispassionate gatekeepers to choose who would do the best job of running things.

This attitude shows a fundamental lack of trust in people.

Conservatives, on the other hand, recognize the fundamental flaws in human nature. We don't trust people to be able to chose the perfect leader; rather, we put in place a structure that holds leaders accountable. If someone doesn't lead properly, we can and do vote them out of office. Some may think we should have an opportunity to do that more often, but that is a matter of discussion and compromise, kind of like that done during the constitutional convention in 1787. It's a law we can live with, I would say.

Rudy on Abortion - It's about the Judges

Rudy Giuliani's run for the White House has a few major hurdles in the way. One is his position on abortion. Some will argue that no person could get through the Republican primaries without being 100% pro-life, just like a Democratic candidate would have to be pro-choice to survive the hard cord base of their party. Such is the conventional wisdom. Rudy has tried two different approaches to the problem. First, he splits the difference by stating his opposition to partial birth abortion, parental notification laws, and other restrictions that have been recently enacted. But he still opposes putting women in jail for having an abortion, or doctors for performing them. His approach is to stress that his position on judges should comfort conservatives, since any wholesale changes to abortion laws would have to start with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. This may be a secret code words to anti-abortion fanatics in the Republican base, but it has the side benefit of appealing to more conservative voters like me, who would like to preserve the current state of affairs. Listen to him finesse the issue on Hugh Hewitt's radio show last week. Thanks to Powerline for the pointer to the show.

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Rudy has many appealing characteristics. He is smart, quick on his feet, and possesses a great legacy in office as U.S. attorney prosecuting organized crime, as a Mayor cleaning up New York. Plus he has been a strong advocate in the war on terror, before and after 9-11.

A Real Hero - Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Crandall - Medal of Honor

Listen to President Bush tell this story of heroism in the Viet Nam war and tell me if the hair on the back of your neck does not stand at attention. Thanks to the White House new web site for the audio.

Play clip.

A great American Hero.

That's it for now podcatchers. I'm Charlie Quidnunc reporting from the Jeep studio in Mercer Island.