Pundit Review Radio

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Major (Infantry) Christopher B. Wells, who earned a Silver Star in Afghanistan, "Exposed to heavy enemy fire, Captain Wells without regard for his own personal safety continually gave direction to each maneuvering element in the clearing compounds. Throughout the battle, Captain Wells continued to fight from his vehicle and on the ground, repeatedly exposing himself to hostile enemy fire. Once fixed wing ECAS arrived on station, Captain Wells began air to ground coordination to drop ordinance on the enemy, while avoiding friendly locations. At this point in the battle his vehicle began receiving heavy SPG-9, KPM, and mortar fire from the western ridgeline yet he continued to maintain his position in order t

Long time Boston area technology analyst, investor and marketer Chris Selland, currently CMO at Terametric, (@cselland on Twitter), joined me in-studio last night for a discussion on the terrible jobs situation, the environment for start-ups in Massachusetts and even some local and national politics. It was great to once again meet in-person a Twitter friend who I’ve only previously known through social media. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Review Radio? On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

It was great to welcome back to Pundit Review Radio Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby. It had been far too long between visits with Jeff. We discussed his excellent Sunday column, Tea Party Sounds a Needed Alarm, which focused on John Kerry’s snobbery and intellectual dishonesty, "Kerry is under no obligation to like the Tea Party’s style. He does have an obligation to contend responsibly with its arguments. A fiscal fire is burning, and reasonable people can differ on how best to quell it. But silencing the siren will accomplish nothing." Beyond the ridiculousness that is John Kerry, we discussed the implications of Iowa and we even talked some about our junior senator, Scott Brown, his job performance to date and the prospect of a campaign against Elizabeth Warren. I really enjoyed talking to Jeff last night. There will be no long stretch between visits with us again. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Review

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce did something a little different. He shared with us a post from a milblogger friend of his, who was a Top Gun Instructor. The post is in honor of the 200 Navy SEALS who dies in that awful helicopter incident a few weeks ago. The milblog is Neptunus Lex, and the post is titled I’ve Met Them, You go knowing that it is not merely your own life that trembles in the balance, but the lives of those you love, and who depend upon you. You go knowing that there is something more important even than those things: It is the idea we as a nation represent, whose best exemplification is those you fight alongside. You do not dwell on it, nor do you wear it on your sleeve. But it is there nonetheless. I know this because I have met the

With Michelle Bachmann leaving Iowa as the winner and now among the top-tier candidates, I have to begin to wonder if the actual winner wasn’t Barack Obama? What is the purpose of the primary process, is it to pick the candidate who best represents the vocal, activist wing of the party, in this case the Tea Party and social conservatives (no, they are not the same thing) or is it to produce the best candidate to win in the general election? I’m clearly in the latter camp, and I don’t see Michelle Bachmann having any shot of getting to, let alone winning in a general election. Rick Perry is certainly a welcome addition to the race. I only know Perry at a headline level today, I look forward to learning a lot more about him in the coming days. The whole point is to defeat Barack Obama. It has to happen. To do that, in my opinion, Republicans need a candidate who can appeal to independents, conservative Democrats and the buyers remorse wing of America, which is growing by the day. I don’t see a Bachmann or Pali

I was hoping to take my kids to the Paul Revere house this weekend. Wasn’t able to pull it off, but it got me thinking about all the amazing local places to visit. My kids learned about the Revere ride and have expressed an interest in history, so I want to support and encourage that. What better way than by taking day trips to some amazing local historical treasures? Took some great calls and heard about lots of amazing places. Speaking of amazing, we also heard from Boston Maggie, the Goddess of the Naval Blogosphere. Maggie put in a plug for the USS Constitution, and told us about a great event that is taking place this Friday evening. My personal favorite spot is the Adams National Historical Park in Quincy. Have to say, the winner with callers was a place I have never been to, Battleship Cove in Fall River. This was a really fun hour, lots of great calls and suggestions. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Revi

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Silver Star recipient, US Army Sergeant First Class Stephan Johns, "The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Stephan Johns, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Special Forces Sniper on a Special Operations Team, during combat operations in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, on 30 May 2004, in Afghanistan. On that date, Sergeant First Class Johns was in the last helicopter of a group mounting an assault on Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in a valley in northeast Afghanistan. His job was to shoot at the enemy from the air to provide cover to ground forces. When his helicopter was hit and brief

Well, this was fun. I met for the first time last night Samantha Clemens, host of the eponymously named show on Boston’s Progressive Talker AM 1510. Samantha has been on WRKO quite a bit lately. Lat night was our opportunity to welcome her in and talk politics. We discussed downgrades, debt, deficits, new tone and even fusion energy. It was a fun, fast hour of talk. What is Pundit Review Radio? On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

This was a real honor to welcome Curtis Patrick to Pundit Review Radio. Curtis worked for Barry Goldwater in 1964 and joined Ronald Reagan’s campaign for governor in 1965. He spent the next 40 years working in various roles for governor and president Reagan. We’re likely to never have a guest who knew the man better than Curtis Patrick. I loved that Reagan: What Was He Really Like? covers early Reagan and it does so not by talking to the upper echelon of his staff but the people who actually made things work on a day-to-day basis. These are the recollections of people inspired by Reagan and who worked long hours for little money or recognition. This is their story. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Review Radio? On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist r

The original premise of Pundit Review Radio was to bring the best of the blogs to the radio. A local blog I have been reading and enjoying for its smart take on the issues is called Critical Mass, written by “Dan”. I contacted Dan and told him I enjoyed his blog and wanted to have him on the show. Turns out Dan is something of an insider in the state Republican Party. It was Dan Haley, former Treasurer in the Charlie Baker for Governor campaign as well as former chief of Staff to Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey. He joined me in-studio to talk Massachusetts politics, especially Sen. Brown and the Democrats ridiculous attacks against him. What a great guy! Hope to have him back on soon. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Review Radio? On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen j

The original premise of Pundit Review Radio waaaaaay back in 2004 was to bring the best of the blogs to the radio. When I heard that Allen McDuffee had launched Think Tank Blogged in 2010, I was hooked. What a great idea! There are 1500 Think Tanks in Washington DC with an amazing amount of influence and nobody was covering them in a comprehensive, regular way. It was great to talk to him just as he launched the site. Just HOW good of an idea? Within a year, Allen and his blog were scooped up by the Washington Post! Amazing accomplishment to go from start up to acquisition by the beltway media Goliath within a year. Wow. Allen had just returned from the first Google Ideas summit on, of all things, violent extremism. Being a Google initiative, they have humble aspirations, The conference was also a defining moment for Google Ideas. The conference, which was the think tank’s first endeavor, is helping the organization refine its mission and structure. “We didn’t come into this with a perfectly defined organi

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Staff Sergeant Travis D. Crosby, recipient of the Silver Star, "Upon crossing, Sergeant Crosby and his team were ambushed by three Iraqi tanks, numerous vehicles and dismounted infantry. The ensuring fire fight was so close that friendly and enemy vehicles were intermingled making identification from the air extremely difficult. Despite the constant rain of fire around his vehicle, Sergeant Crosby was able to successfully empty his .50 caliber machine gun on the enemy soft-skin vehicles killing over 20 enemy personnel while simultaneously directing a precision strike by a flight of A-10s destroying the enemy armor. Shortly thereafter, during a tactical pause, two Republican Guard soldiers closed to within

Lisa Conboy is a health researcher who has worked with Harvard and New England School of Acupuncture. She is involved in a study funded by the Army to examine how acupuncture can treat Gulf War Illness symptoms. For background, in 2008, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses concluded, “The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time.” That’s a hell of a long time to suffer. We’re talking 1990-1991. "Gulf War illness is typically characterized by a combination of memory and concentration problems, persistent headaches, unexplained fatigue and widespread pain, and may also include chronic digestive problems, respiratory symptoms and skin rashes." The study is free of charge to Gulf War vets and includes four to six months of customized treatment. They provide a modest travel s

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about an amazing 56 hour firefight and the amazing courage and stamina of SSG Nicholas Gross, who was awarded the Silver Star, "Staff Sergeant Gross immediately pinpointed and engaged this highly trained, numerically superior, and well-equipped ACM force that the ODA had been dealing with and pursuing for the past thirty hours. Staff Sergeant Gross continued to engage without care for his own life. His only concerns were for the care of his fellow team mates and trying to eliminate, or draw some of the fire from those machine gun positions that had the lead element pinned down. No sooner had Staff Sergeant Gross begun to engage the well-emplaced enemy positions, when the rest of the ACM ambush opened up with an

It was a pleasure to welcome back to WRKO and Pundit Review Radio Iain Murray. Iain is VP of Strategy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and he first joined us on WRKO back in 2008 to discuss his great book The Really Inconvenient Truths. He’s back with a new book, Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You "Iain Murray—author of the rollicking exposé The Really Inconvenient Truths—knows all about bureaucrats and their lairs, because he used to be one himself. In Stealing You Blind he blows the whistle on the out-of-control bureaucracy whose greed could actually tip our country into a financial abyss." The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Review Radio? On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbre

So there I am on Saturday, having a lazy afternoon on my back porch, just me, my phone and Twitter. Pundit Review favorite, CNBC contributor and Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis was absolutely on fire, reporting on the debt ceiling meetings and providing extremely prescient insight and analysis. Basically, he nailed it, saying that Boehner would walk away from a bad deal, like Reagan at Reykjavik. It was great to have James back on the show at the end of a weekend that he himself described as one of the most exciting of his career! The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Review Radio? On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday even

For years, I have wondered aloud about when this country would start utilizing a clean, plentiful AND domestic source of energy, natural gas. I’ve written about fracking and technology advances that have made the natural resource so plentiful we barely have room to store it all. Natural gas used to be ok to enviro fanaticsbecause it is far cleaner than coal. That was before the wind and solar subsidy boondoggle started. Now, amazingly, natural gas is the enemy. Why is that at a time of nearly $gas? Because the Greens are out to protect the subsidies they need for their unprofitable, unproductive and marginal pet projects like wind and solar. Not content to simply be hypocrites, they have started a full fledged assault on natural gas. Naturally, they have found an ally in The New York Times. Author Jon Entine recently published a great article on Real Clear Politics exposing the truth about natural gas and the laugh out loud “reporting” of the New York Times on this topic. Before you Gorebots dismiss Entine a

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Amilcar Rodriguez who earned a Silver Star for his heroics in Afghanistan, "Rodriguez, equipped with his SAW, located the sniper position in a building and pulled the trigger, emptying the 200-round magazine and killing the two-man enemy team. While fighting ensued all around, Rodriguez dashed over to a wounded staff sergeant and quickly began to treat his leg wound and drag him to cover. But suddenly the corpsman felt shocks of pain. Three successive rounds, likely from a machine gun, struck Rodriguez. One round punctured his chest, cutting into one lung, and another sliced into his right arm. Rodriguez, in an interview with Marine Corps Times, recalled the staff sergeant “sa

It was great to have Producer Rob back behind the glass this weekend. We decided to lighten it up in hour three. We usually do a movie related topic because of Rob’s Rainman like knowledge. Next month Rob and I are going to see comedian Louis CK so we thought a segment on Favorite Comedians would be fun, and we were right. The segment tuned into an hour, and we got a wide variety of nominees, from Don Rickels to Buddy Hackett to Eddie Izard to Richard Prior. By far, the run away winner was the late, great Rodney Dangerfield. Here’s Rodney killing it on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson during the promotional tour for Caddyshack. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Review Radio? On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking”

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. SFC Danny Hall is someone we first told you way back in 2006, when Matt Burden, Blackfive himself, was still doing the Someone You Should Know segment Sunday’s on WRKO. In this edition, Bruce McQuain provides further details on his heroism, "SFC Hall’s actions were in keeping with the finest traditions of a Special Forces Medic, serving as both a rifleman and a combat medic. His demonstrated exceptional heroism, selflessness and lifesaving medical competence proved infectious to the entire ODA as he rallied his comrades in the face of overwhelming enemy firepower. Throughout the engagement, SFC Hall’s decisiveness, calm demeanor and aggressive spirit allowed the ODA to close with and destroy the enemy elements, to include 17 x AIF Kill