J. M. Verville

Obama is so honest and so concentrated on making a difference in the world he is not een considering doing any political stunts:

Sen. Barack Obama says he may travel to Iraq between winning the Democratic nomination and the November general election.

The Illinois Democrat told reporters that “Iraq would obviously be at the top of the list of stops.”

“I think that if I’m going to Iraq, then I’m there to talk to troops and talk to commanders. I’m not there to try to score political points or perform,” Obama said Wednesday. “The work they’re doing there is too important.”

Obama said he was considering visiting Iraq after Sen. John McCain had suggested that the two should make a joint trip to the country, a proposal Obama dismissed Tuesday as “nothing more than a political stunt.” (more…)

This was founded by the great Ska Punk in this thread on Conservative Punk. Thanks for finding an excellent article

The head of the U.S. Military Academy thinks it’s time to replace the “men” and “sons” in West Point’s two most beloved songs with more gender-neutral lyrics.

Lt. Gen. Franklin “Buster” Hagenbeck, superintendent of the nation’s oldest military academy, told a congressional oversight committee Wednesday that with more than 3,000 women graduating from West Point since 1976, the change is long overdue.

During a presentation Wednesday to the academy’s Board of Visitors meeting in Washington, Hagenbeck said he wants to change the words to the military academy’s alma mater and its companion piece, “The Corps.” Both songs date back about a century. (more…)

This is just weird:

Look up Alex Lindsay on the Internet and you’ll find glimpses into the life of a young man preoccupied with guns and survivalism.

Mr. Lindsay’s Facebook page says he has “very conservative” political views. He lists one of his favourite quotes as, “These are the days of our lives, sleep with an AK, ride with a .45.”

Of the 23 Facebook groups he has joined, one is called “Canadian Firearms Centre should be a store NOT a government bureaucracy.” (more…)

This is the first time I have felt this way in a long time. Probably the first time since around late 2006. It isn’t really a good feeling but it doesn’t have to be a bad feeling, I guess, but one really should not amuse oneself by accepting it lightly.

I am alone again and I feel slightly inadequate over it due to the circumstances of this solitude. I feel like I let down another person on some level due to my occupation and lack of time that I could provide them. But I also feel entirely let down by them, by what they should have been giving to me, which would’ve been the understanding of where I am in life and what that means. (more…)

The leftist movement has been moaning about the continued ‘privatization’ of the war, where jobs normally done by the military are given to private contractors at an ever increasing rate. The film greatly produced and acted by John Cusack, War, Inc. tackles just this idea by portraying a war that is entirely done by private enterprise.

However, one thing that the Left is not asking themselves is why these wars are given to private companies at a greater rate.

The answer is surprisingly simple:

Liberals are voting against funding for the war as well as allowing recruiters access to schools. 

The $163 billion fund for the war was blocked by Democrats and now the issue is being forced to be re-hashed over and over again with increased efforts to essentially deny funds for the military.  When these bills get through with last minute pushes the notion of being able to implement these directly in the military effort by our government becomes a far more difficult task to execute and thus the option of contracting these jobs to a company ready to deploy and fulfill the task immediately becomes so appealing.

Since the private companies are often staffed by ex-military who have already receive extensive training, and since already we have a shortage of troops that we need over there and want to give more of our military personnel a rest, the idea is more than appealing to privatize aspects of the fight.

What is also of note is the left’s stance against military recruiters in their communities and in the schools.  CodePink is proud of their campaign against the Berkeley recruiting station, and as they say for the tactic, “ “Counter-recruitment is the fastest growing and most hopeful strategy of resistance to war in Iraq.” 

They have essentially incorporated counter-recruitment as a tactic in their effort against the Iraq war. In campaigns that are so hostile to recruitment it creates a greater anti-military culture across the board and really makes me chuckle about the efforts then to criticize decisions to use private companies.

Code Pink and other organizations essentially campaign against recruiting itself and then act as if it is equally repugnant for the military to use other means to try to accomplish the mission. At every turn, the left opposes the war effort and then acts surprised when new means are came up with to accomplish the mission. (more…)

You know it logically had to happen:

Senator John McCain mocked Senator Barack Obama here today at an airport rally, repeatedly calling him a “young man” with “very little experience.”

Mr. McCain, 71, who would become, if he is elected, the oldest first-term president in history, has been laying out a case against Mr. Obama based upon judgment and experience.
But this time he introduced a new moniker for Mr. Obama, repeatedly calling him “young man.”

“I admire and respect Senator Obama,” Mr. McCain said, his voice full of sarcasm. “For a young man with very little experience, he’s done very well.” (more…)

Interesting science tidbit that makes me look forward to being an old feller:

Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit.

The studies are analyzed in a new edition of a neurology book, “Progress in Brain Research.”

Some brains do deteriorate with age. Alzheimer’s disease, for example, strikes 13 percent of Americans 65 and older. But for most aging adults, the authors say, much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to latch onto just one fact, like a name or a telephone number. Although that can be frustrating, it is often useful. (more…)

Politics is naturally a dirty affair and frankly I think it is inappropriate the way that religion is dragged into it. Politics never reflects good on religion and there is something certainly scary with the notion of cult like religious zealotry empowering elections.

McCain tried to play the religion game but in the end he had to throw it all away in the name of total moderation:

STOCKTON, Calif., May 22 — Sen. John McCain on Thursday repudiated the presidential endorsement of the Rev. John Hagee after learning about a sermon in which the megachurch pastor from San Antonio declared that God allowed the rise of Adolf Hitler because it resulted in returning Israel to the Jewish people.

The Arizona Republican’s decision to distance himself from Hagee came after months of mounting criticism, particularly from Roman Catholics, over his acceptance of Hagee’s endorsement in late February. Hagee has called the Catholic Church a “false religious system” and a “false cult system” and has suggested that the church played a role in the Holocaust.

Hagee, 68, is one of the country’s best-known Christian television evangelists and is known for his fervent support of Israel. But he has a conflicted relationship with Jewish organizations. He spearheaded a group called Christians United for Israel, but not all Jewish groups embrace him, because he does not support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They are also leery of his support because he has suggested that their “rebellion” against “Jehovah” has caused much of their suffering, including the Holocaust.

Washington Post

What Hagee says about Catholicism can seem very accurate to many Protestants, and on the same note, there are prominent Jewish rabbis like Rabbi Yaacov that spoke of the Jews bringing the Holocaust upon themselves. These ideas are hardly radical or new but rather they are really age old beliefs that now seem utterly shocking in the context of political correctness and secularism. (more…)

This is kind of a mockery of what justice should be about:

HOUSTON — A Texas appeals court ruled on Thursday that the state had illegally seized up to 468 children from their homes at a polygamist ranch in West Texas. The decision abruptly threw the largest custody case in recent American history into turmoil.

Although the court did not order the children’s immediate release, it raised the prospect that many of them would be reunited with their families, possibly within 10 days. The children have been in foster homes scattered across Texas since early April, making their parents travel hundreds of miles to visit them. (more…)

A lot of people like to think of race and ethnicity in literally black and white (and yellow and brown) terms but we all know that no one race is a monolithic force. Not only has Africa been riddled by tribal war but now we even see nationalist, xenophobic responses to immigration:

Mob violence against foreigners in Johannesburg and elsewhere in South Africa continued Monday despite police efforts to end killing sprees of which Zimbabweans were a prime target. Sources estimated that some 20 Zimbabweans had died since the latest outburst of violence inspired by xenophobia flared on the weekend.

News reports and direct sources said mobs continued to roam the city’s poorer neighborhoods, burning shacks, looting stores, and attacking immigrants.

Authorities said 22 people had been confirmed to have died in the violence, and South African police said they had arrested 217 people.

 Voice Of America

It seems like immigrants the world over cannot get a break.

Living together is a lot harder than a lot of people think.