Teaser: Jesse "The Former Governor" Ventura on America's overstretched Guard and Reserve force

More to follow on this, but I spent the day at conference titled “Transforming the Reserve Component for the 21st Century” put together by the Association of the United States Army, the Center for American Progress, and the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University. As one might have predicted, Jesse "The Former Governor" Ventura was the most entertaining of the speakers, which included Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI). He had some choice words for the Bush administration about how it is using the Guard and Reserve in Iraq. (He also had a lot to say about the two-party system, gay marriage, and some other issues.) I'll say more in an article I'm working on for TomPaine.com, but here's a taste:

"If the National Guard as it is today would have been in effect in the late 1960s, our current commander-in-chief wouldn't have volunteered for that duty, since he was trying to avoid being sent overseas. He's sending them to do something he wasn't willing to do, and that's just wrong."

Preach it, Jesse!