Sen. McCain's Son Joins the Marines

ok, Capt B and Taco... You guys have anything to do with this?? (Yes, you did!)

This September, Senator John McCain's youngest son, Jimmy, 18, will report to a U.S. Marine Corps depot near Camp Pendleton in San Diego. After three months of boot camp and a month of specialized training, he will be ready to deploy. Depending on the unit he joins, he could be in Iraq as early as this time next year, and his chances of seeing combat at some point are high. Of the 178,000 active-duty Marines in the world, some 80,000 have seen a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan, and there are 25,000 bearing the brunt of some of the worst fighting in Iraq now. About 6,000 Marines have been wounded there, and about 650 have been killed. "I'm obviously very proud of my son," says the elder McCain, "but also understandably a little nervous."

McCain says he doesn't read much into Jimmy's decision. "I know that he's aware of his family's service background," he says, "but I think the main motivator was, he had friends who were in the Marine Corps, and he'd known Marines, and he'd read about them, and he just wanted to join up."

Couldn't agree more with Senator McCain here:

McCain says his son's service won't change his position on the war; he claims it won't even affect how he feels about it. "Like every parent who has a son or daughter serving that way, you will have great concern, but you'll also have great pride," McCain says.

Like his father before the Senator, I wouldn't want to be him...

But it will be hard to ignore. If Republicans retain control of the Senate after November's midterm elections, McCain is due to ascend to the chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee in January, a position he has long aimed for. There he will have day-to-day responsibility for the oversight of the war.

Oorah, James. Oorah. (and keep in mind that McCain has a 20 yr old son about to start his 2nd year at the Naval Academy...)

Read the whole TIME Mag story HERE

From the "You Must Be Kidding" file

No wonder Ahmadinejad is taking so long to reject the nuke proposal ... He's busy in the "reading room"...

From FOXNews...

Iranian Leader: 'Pizza' to Be Called 'Elastic Loaves' in Foreign Word Ban Saturday, July 29, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the language, such as "pizzas" which will now be known as "elastic loaves," state media reported Saturday.

The presidential decree, issued earlier this week, orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deemed more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi, or Persian Academy, the Irna official news agency reported.

The academy has introduced more than 2,000 words as alternatives for some of the foreign words that have become commonly used in Iran, mostly from Western languages. The government is less sensitive about Arabic words, because the Koran is written in Arabic.

Among other changes, a "chat" will become a "short talk" and a "cabin" will be renamed a "small room," according to official Web site of the academy.

Army Dismisses Arabic Linguist Chorus Singer

The headline reads: Army Dismisses Gay Arabic Linguist. As with most of these stories that make it into the news, the charge is that the soldier was "outed" by "anonymous sources" and it was these anonymous sources that formed the basis of his discharge.

Andrew Stuttaford of NRO opines that this is part of a "Sept 10th mentality" on the part of the Army.

Yet again, the policy on homosexuals in the military is reported on by those who haven't read it.

CNN Special Airs Tonight on Beirut Bombing

Tonight (Saturday) and Sunday at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET, CNN will air a special report on the October 23, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 241 service men and women.

I can tell you firsthand that this event pained Cap to his core; he was never really able to move beyond it.
He always felt that his strong, almost strident, warnings to the President should have somehow been even stronger.

As he wrote in his autobiography, In the Arena:

Our mission would be nebulous at best, with no way to tell when it was completed. Although I made these arguments repeatedly and forcefully, the president, unfortunately, concluded otherwise....I have never overcome the feeling that I somehow should have been more persuasive in urging the president not to engage in such a failed policy. The whole episode ingrained even more deeply in me the conviction that we should never commit troops into situations where the goals we give them are not clear and where the equipment we give them is not sufficient at least for self-defense.

As President Reagan later wrote in his autobiography, An American Life, "Every day since the death of those boys, I have prayed for them and their loved ones."

Then as now, sage counsel from both men.

Navy Astronaut Charles E. Bradey dead at 54

This is a sad story. Good to remember that when it is all said and done, that guy that seems to win it all, have it all, and everything he touches turns to gold - in the end - just may want to trade places with you. What a loss for his kids, family and nation.

Strykers

Now that the 172nd SBCT has been held in Iraq(Not the 10th or 101st) could the Grand Planners at the Pentagon finally admit that up-armoring Humvees is penny wise and pound foolish, and just spend the extra money for Strykers?

Outstanding video of threat to Israel from the sea

Excellent report on seaborne threats to Israel by Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Video here.

Cross posted.

Seattle Jewish Center Shooting

via Reuters

SEATTLE, July 28 (Reuters) - A woman was killed and five other women were wounded on Friday when a gunman opened fire at a Jewish organization in downtown Seattle that last weekend organized a rally in support of Israel.

Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Vice President Amy Wasser-Simpson told the Seattle Times in a story on its Web site that a man got through security at the building and shouted, "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel," then began shooting.