Markos Moulitsas of DailyKOS, the armpit of the Blogosphere, is currently in Las Vegas hosting a "Blog Convention". Unfortunately, the only representatives of the blogosphere are from the port side of the ship - no one from starboard. For…

Strangely reminiscent, that…….

If only. From Allahpundit @ Hot Air: “Our man on in the inside faces the terrible truth about YK: it’s crushingly boring.”……

Seriously though, is that supposed to be a crow or a raven or something? It looks like some sort of secret society the looney Alex Jones always “crows” (sorry last one, I promise) about. You know, like the big owl statue thing used at Bohemian Grove when the President and other national and world leaders gather to worship the devil and make mock sacrifices:
http://www.prisonplanet.tv/articles/november2005/bohemian_grove_reprise.htm

I shall now repeatedly stab myself in the thigh with a dirty fork as penance for my transgression…

Dread Pirate Roberts VI on June 9, 2006 at 1:35 PM

Hello Dread Pirate Roberts VI.

You have a good eye. However, it doesn’t look like Mr. Moulitsas is doing anything like what Jessie MacBeth did. Please allow me to explain.

A Presidential Unit Citation is a unit award, not an individual award. What is the difference? The following are examples of individual awards. An individual receives a Silver Star for acts of heroism. Or a purple heart for wounds in combat. Notice that it is only the individual who receives the award, and wears it. But he is eligible to wear the award for the rest of his life, both military and civilian.

A Unit award is different. It is awarded to a unit as a whole. For example, say a certain battalion in WWII fights with extraordinary valor in Europe. The actions of this Battalion as a whole were far above what most ordinary battalions did in the same time period. In this case, the unit as a whole can be awarded a medal, with the Presidential Unit Citation being one of them.

So now, the question is how is this medal worn? Well, it works like this. The award citation will say something like this: “From January 01 of 1944 to May 01 of 1944, Battalion XXX performed magnificently in XXX campaign. For this service, the Presidential Unit Citation is awarded.” So now, for the rest of their military career, any one who was in Battalion XXX from Jan 01 1944 to May 01 1944 is authorized to wear this Presidential Unit Citation. However, since it is a Unit Award, it sort of lives forever. What this means is that anyone who then later becomes a part of this Battalion XXX will now be eligible to wear the Presidential Unit Citation for as long as they are a member of this Battalion XXX. However, once they transfer out of Battalion XXX, and go to Battalion YYY, they are no longer eligible to wear that Presidential Unit Citation.

I am pretty certain this is what Mr. Moulitsas is doing here. At some time in the past, the 3rd ID (the patch on his shoulder) or a subunit of the 3rd ID earned a Presidential Unit Citation. So now, all soldiers who are a member of this unit will wear this Presidential Unit Citation for the duration of their service in that unit as a way of remembering and honoring the past unit bravery and accomplishments. So in this picture, Mr. Moulitsas has not “earned” per say, this award. However, he is quite right to wear it.

I am sorry I have provided no footnotes or references to back up my statement, but I am quite sure I am generally accurate in what I am writing.

Very respectfully,

EFG

P.S. All of the above is predicated on the 3rd ID actually being awarded the Presidential Unit Citation in the past. If it wasn’t, then Mr. Moulitsas is almost certainly guilty of awards fraud. However, I am almost certain that is not the case here. I haven’t actually looked up the Heraldry for the 3rd ID, but nothing about this picture so far is ringing any alarm bells. We may not agree with Mr. Moulitsas and his political orientation. However, it does not appear that he is in anyway misrepresenting himself in this photo as Jessie MacBeth did.

Looks like some kind of a pigeon to me. Oh, wait! That’s right. The libs will make pigeons of all of us – or I that sitting ducks.

As for the ‘imbedded’- good job! I would imagine it’s boring but also chuckle inducing to see/hear some of the lunacy.

As for Clark being there (funny, he was on broadcast on Fox’s show yesterday AM talking about Zarqawi; guess it was a long pee break from the convention), I can’t imagine why he WAS there; maybe to attract more fawners like Drew Barrymore…?

The picture of him dishing up food is GREAT material for a caption contest; I had a brief flashing image of Monica Lewinsky saying hi to Clinton, so pardon me as I indulge…

“Hi General; I hear you’re quite a pistol when loaded.”

“If you like legs instead, I’ve got some I can show you.”

etc, etc. =)

It almost looks as if they’ve flooded the room with happy gas.

Oh well, the one positive aspect of so many Kossies going to Nevada at one time… the IQ of 49 states suddenly increased quite a bit.

Presidential Unit Citation:

I was in 3rd infantry Divison in the early 80’s…which this clown appears to be in.. and the Presidential Unit Citation..(Blue Ribbon above name tag to those following along) was awarded to the UNIT back in WWII or Korea…(Can’t remember which, I’ve slept since then). It is just an honorary award that every soldier in the Division gets to wear while assigned to 3rd ID. Same with the Brown/orange rope which is a french or Belgian Augierre (Spelling) and once a solder transfers he doesn’t wear those anymore.. He gets to wear what ever the new unit has as Unit Citations.