Murtha worthy of the military's highest civilian honor?

Apparently Congressman John Murtha (D-Pa) was award the Navy's highest civilian honor earlier this year. Then, Drudge links to the following article highlighting growing outrage from Veteran's groups: Murtha Award Sparks Vet Outrage. Good you think, more and more constituents are rightfully concerned about his record of wanton earmarking to support home district defense contractors and apparent graft. Good to see.

No, actually. The outrage is over:
"(Murtha's) comments in the heat of the 2006 congressional mid-term election campaign, in a move some political analysts saw as an attempt to stoke the anti-war vote for a Democratic takeover of the House. The former Marine and distinguished Vietnam veteran continued his accusations in follow-up media appearances before an official Pentagon and Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation had been completed."

The article contains not even a passing mention of Murtha's broiling ethics scandal over earmarking. Which got me to thinking, surely no one with his long-term track record of defense contractor earmarking can continue unchecked without implicit or complicit allies in the defense department. At some point, some senior military brass somewhere might have said, "thanks but no thanks, not really a necessary project." I guess that conversation never happened....

Top reading recommendations from 2008

I recently (ok, so not so recently) asked friends to send me their favorite reads from 2008. There's something refreshing about seeing what people are reading - a glimpse into another side of friends and colleagues one often doesn't get. Since I didn't ask for permission to cite the comments for each recommendation, I've included only titles and authors here.

Here's my completely arbitrary selection of the Top Ten (Plus Two):

1. Winter’s Tale, by Mark Helprin.

2. The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

3. The Spectator Bird, by Wallace Stegner.

4. The Wild Braid, by Stanley Kunitz.

5. Fieldwork (a novel), by Mischa Berlinski.

6. The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz.

7. The Leopard, by Guiseppe Lampedusa.

8. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

9. The Kite Runner.

10. Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds.

11. God Particles, by Thomas Lux.

12. (a blog recommendation) More than 95 theses.

I live for lines like this

from King Kaufman's recap of New Year's Day sports viewing, at Salon:

"How dumb is a business -- college football -- that doesn't have to pay its employees, but still manages to get outsmarted and outflanked by the NHL."