Michelle Malkin notes that Monday is "Take a Vet to Dinner Day." Here's a heart-warming Veteran's Day story (with video courtesy of Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit.
Three young Marines from Camp Pendleton -- Daniel Duffy, Joshua Tennenbaum and Benjamin Krejci -- were on a weekend trip to beautiful Santa Barbara, Calif. Strolling along State Street on Saturday afternoon, they spotted the Reagan Ranch Center operated by Young America's Foundation. Being admirers of President Reagan, they decided to drop by and view the exhibits, including a slab of concrete that was part of the Berlin Wall when President Reagan gave his famous "tear down this wall" speech."
A staffer at the Center talked to the Marines, who apparently did not realize they were visiting during YAF's West Coast Leadership Conference. Next thing you know, the Marines found themselves being introduced to YAF President Ron Robinson, who immediately invited them to that evening's Torch of Freedom Awards banquet.
These three lance corporals -- scheduled to deploy to Iraq in January -- dined with the guest of honor, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, and were introduced to YAF's supporters by former Virginia Republican Party Chairwoman Kate Obershain. Watch the video:
In addition to Gateway Pundit, YAF brought bloggers Ace of Spades, Rusty Shackleford of the Jawa Report, and Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom to the West Coast conference, along with L.A.-area blogger Little Miss Attilla and American Spectator reporter Phillip Klein.
Two big scoops emerged from the event:
1. "With a few notable exceptions, bloggers like the drinkey."
2. "24" producer Joel Surnow likes Rudy Giuliani and vodka gimlets (on the rocks).
The second scoop has been linked by Mary Katharine Ham of Townhall.com, James Joyner of Outside the Beltway, Worcester Right and Nice Deb, who has a question:
As the barrage of anti-Iraq war movies continue to tank, when is somebody going to come up with a good pro-American script about the war on terror?
-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times
