>> Check out this response to the folks at Sierra Nevada, who took notice of Jeff Culbreath’s writings. “May I suggest that children are not particularly well-served by killing them?”

>> The life and times of Sam Wyche, South Carolina High School Football Coach.  Football sure does have a mysterious way about it.

>> Classic Brett Favre, starting at about the 1:30 count.

>> Ace and The Captain notice that the films I discussed here are, well, bombing horribly. And that’s charitable (The Kingdom, by the way, had grossed a respectable $40 million after three weeks). Again: I understand you’re going to make anti-war films, Hollywood. We expect it. But can’t they at least be good as films, instead of being artistic pieces with all the enduring quality and depth of your average DKos entry suggesting we all convert to Islam?

>> Chomsky and Zinn on Lord of the Rings, via McSweeneys.  Pure brilliance.  “The ‘master ring,’ the so-called ‘one ring to rule them all,’ is actually a rather elaborate justification for preemptive war on Mordor.”

>> The Washington Redskins have a Drunken Anonymous Hero to thank for Neil Rackers’ game ending shank in their tense win versus the Cardinals on Sunday.  C’mon Mr. Snyder, you can spare the change - give this guy that seat from here on out.

>> The neat thing here is that, with Rick Reilly going to ESPN, soon every sportswriter I can’t stand will be under one roof. It’s so convenient - makes it easier to hate. The first comment says it all: “Two stories Reilly wrote really stick out in my mind: The one where he got to do something cool like fly in an F-14 or caddy for a pro and then tell us common-folk about it, and the one where something sad happened to a person and he wrote about it. Those are the two I remember best.”

>> Michael Barone has a good reminder for us. It ain’t 2006 anymore.

Read the story.

Listen to the podcast.

The November issue of The American Spectator magazine will feature as its cover story the exclusive recounting of a chilling tale of heroism, courage, and loss one morning in Iraq — an article by yours truly, which was only made possible by the fact that I was there at the front lines in Iraq (thanks in large part to your help) to cover it.

Here’s the skinny:

Six weeks ago in Samarra, as a small American sniper team was set upon by dozens of al Qaeda terrorists who had but one goal in mind: to humiliate America in front of the world, only days before General Petraeus’s internationally televised testimony before Congress, by kidnapping and slaughtering these American soldiers.

Four U.S. paratroopers faced impossible odds, against dozens of dedicated enemy fighters.

Not all would survive - but all would become heroes.

>> Falling Down, the suburban D.C. version.