As a 22-year-old Army Specialist serving in Afghanistan in 2007, Giunta was among eight paratroopers ambushed by a band of Taliban fighters. Two of the paratroopers died in the Oct. 25, 2007 attack, and most suffered serious injuries; however, members of his unit and Army officials say the death toll would have been much higher if not for Giunta's bravery. Giunta threw grenades and returned fire as he rescued his comrades and fought off Taliban fighters attempting to take one of the wounded American soldiers as a hostage.

"Since its inception in 1862, 108 Iowans from 10 conflicts have received the Medal of Honor. All of Iowa joins me in congratulating Salvatore Giunta on joining this distinguished list as the state's 109th Medal of Honor recipient," Culver said. "It is appropriate that his bravery and service to this nation have been recognized in this way."  Giunta will become the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor who has served in any war since Vietnam.

Things have gotten out of hand when it comes to predictions of a Republican victory in the upcoming midterm elections. In recent days, talk of a GOP edge has turned into talk of a GOP blowout. Prognosticators have upgraded the coming political storm from Category 4 to Category 5. Republican control of the House has gone from possible to inevitable.

But Republicans don't believe it, or at least the insiders involved in the midterm effort don't believe it. As they see it, they're in a good position to pick up the 39 seats needed to win control of the House, but polls showing a huge GOP lead are simply wrong. "I'm assuming that Cook and Rothenberg and Rove and the others have got different indications from what we've got," says one member of the House GOP election team. "I don't want to overestimate what's out there."

"I think it's about even," says a strategist involved in the GOP effort. "That is a remarkable place to be, given where we were in the '08 election. But it's about even."

 Residents: We smelled gas a week before deadly blast

So what's this new David Cronenberg film The Dangerous Method all about? We know it is based on Christopher Hampton's play The Talking Cure, and that it concerns the early friendship and working relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), and the young woman (Keira Knightley) that came between them. For many people, that's enough -- that cast plus that story and Cronenberg and I'm certainly good to go.

But if you want to know more, and straight from the mouth of the director, here's a few minutes of video from Toronto's recent FanExpo, at which Cronenberg finally appeared as a guest, after years of scheduling conflicts kept him away from the biggest genre event in his home city. At the outset of his panel, the director talked about the history of The Dangerous Method and his reasons for making the film.

Sharron Angle cancels debate, infuriates reporter

"Earlier today, Sharron Angle's campaign agreed to accept our invitation to debate Harry Reid on 'Face to Face' in an hour-long live broadcast from Reno on October 21st. Within hours of Reid accepting, Angle's campaign called to say, well, it's backing out now," Ralston said on the local news show "Face to Face" Thursday. He then played a clip of Angle saying she would like to have a debate on the show with Reid.

"I thought I had seen it all in this campaign. I guess not," Ralson continued. "I had agreement from Angle's deputy campaign manager for this debate, but soon after we announced Reid had agreed to the date and place, her campaign spokesman called to say there was no agreement. I'm not making this up, folks. A campaign spokesman overrules a deputy campaign manager? I really don't understand the hierarchy in that campaign."
The Angle campaign subsequently sent out a press release saying there would be a debate -- at a local high school. Ralston responded on Twitter, "But Reid won't even be there. He already taped Q and A at skl. #lame #amateurhour."

Later he added, "Remember "Scanners" where people's heads exploded. That's how I feel right now. This is a Senate race, not a competition for h.s. president." He added this morning that he is "Still stunned. She is on tape!"

DARPA has been trying to crawl inside the minds of soldiers for a while now, but a new ultrasound technology could let them get deeper inside than ever. Working under a DARPA grant, a researcher at Arizona State is developing transcranial pulsed ultrasound  technology that could be implanted in troops' battle helmets, allowing soldiers to manipulate brain functions to boost alertness, relieve stress, or even reduce the effects of traumatic brain injury.

Manipulating the brain to enhance warfighting capabilities and maintain mental acuity on the battlefield has long been a topic of interest for DARPA and various military research labs, but the technology to do so remains limited. Deep brain stimulation (DBS), for instance, requires surgically implanted electrodes to stimulate neural tissues, while less-invasive methods like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) possess limited reach and low spatial resolution.

But something must be done, and here (the tea party) is the closest thing, anywhere in the West, to a political movement committed to the only measure that can possibly save us from riding over that cliff. Merely slowing down won't do it.

That measure is, quite frankly, the complete dismantlement of the Nanny State, and the restoration of the status quo ante -- governments focused on the provision of national defence, and domestically on the machinery of law and order. Full stop.

While that happens to be the only available formula for mitigating our impending economic and social catastrophe -- leave people free not only to earn, but to help each other flexibly and directly -- the issue of freedom itself lies deeper. For the Nanny State isn't, and never was, compatible with the organic development of a free society. We do need laws to be enforced against specific, definable evils. But insofar as we are adults, we have never required comprehensive daycare.