Quote of the Day
"In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you."
-- Amy Tan

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Bush Touts Iraqi Economy- Dems Doubt Iraq Progress
Saddam Hussein Skips Trial- Hostage Deadline Extended- Bodyguard's Son Taken
Troops Held Back - May be a sign of drawdown
Japan OKs Iraq Troop Extension
Suicide bomber kills 30 on Baghdad bus

Operation Enduring Freedom
Poll: Most Afghans say life is better now

Homeland Security / War on Terror
'Unfortunate Incident'
Neighbors React
Marshals in Spotlight
Video: Air Marshals Kill Passenger
Top court bans 'torture evidence' from UK hearings
Rice speech in Ukraine appears to signal major shift on detainee policy

Politics
Grand jury in CIA leak case meets for 3 hours
US envoy said to be source in CIA case

U.N. Scandals
Draft report urges UN overhaul after oil-for-food scandal

Hurricane Season
FEMA Unprepared a Year Before Katrina

Oddities
Pushing the envelope on love letters
Call of nature saves man from garbage crusher
Woman jailed when 'coke' turns to cheese
Five deer leap to their death off parking garage
Hibernating bear pulled from house

Blogging in the News
Blog gets 3 students in trouble

Other News of Note
Army Special Ops Pioneer Dies
Pearl Harbor Remembered
Survivors, sailors reflect on Pearl Harbor
Fitting in: Artistry comes to aid of maimed soldier

Fox News
54 Dead in China Mine Blast
Margaret Thatcher in Hospital
Aides: Menendez Tapped for New Jersey Senator Post
N. Korea Sanctions Stand
Rice: U.S. Doesn't Torture- Military Knew of Abuse Reports
Israel Kills Top Gaza Terrorist
Test Slated for Bird Flu Plan
Vanuatu Volcano Erupts
Cold Grips Midwest
Stocks to Watch: Costco
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
Citigroup wins $900 mln case in arbitration: WSJ
Battle for Time Warner
Israel hits Gaza rocket sites after suicide bomb
Japan panel approves restart of US beef imports
Bush rating improves, but Iraq war concerns linger
Schwarzenegger to hear last appeal on gang leader
House votes to extend terrorism insurance
Bush rating improves, but Iraq war concerns linger
House and Senate seek deal on torture amendment
Inuit accuse Washington of violating human rights
US states differ over emissions plan
Microsoft's CEO will have to shop for his Xbox
Rampant software piracy stifles growth: survey
Tourists unfazed by bird flu in Asia
Europe seems far away in unstable southeast Turkey
Marijuana derivatives may provide MS treatment
Monkeypox often affects lymph nodes
Floral, musical tributes for Lennon 25 years on

AP World News
Latest China Coal Mine Disaster Kills 74
Blast in Pakistani Tribal Bazaar Kills 12
Police: Bombing in Bangladesh Kills Five
Japan to Extend Military Mission to Iraq
Brotherhood Wins 12 Egypt Parliament Seats
Report: China Considering Building Dam
New Red Cross Emblem Paves Way for Israel
Arctic Natives Seek Global Warming Ruling
New Tory Leader Needles Blair As Has-Been
South Africa Accepts Leader's Withdrawal
China Reforms Death Penalty Appeals Process
Angry Iranians Mourn Plane Crash Victims
U.N. Says Ban on Torture Becoming Casualty
U.N. Rejects Eritrea's Expulsion Order
Report Uncovers Paris Hotels' Collusion

The Seattle Times
Bush insists gains made in Iraq, cites challenges
20 gunmen carried out raid on Kirkuk hospital, police say
Three tax cuts zip through House
Canada faults U.S. on global warming
Farm issues threaten next WTO meeting
Citizenship for U.S.-born babies faces test
Indicted Virginia mayor denies wrongdoing
Corzine to name Menendez to Senate
Social Security not off-limits for debt, Supreme Court rules
Writing test on SAT not a major factor
Teens give "Hamlet" modern-day worries
Research bolsters link of pesticides to Parkinson's
All too human? Monkeys mimic children in toy picks
Dog genome may also offer insight into his pal, man
For Rome's aching lion, arthritis fix is pure gold
Family says journalist kidnapped in Pakistan
Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian militant
Midwest, Rockies in deep freeze

Chicago Sun-Times
City Council snuffs out cigarettes
Reputed hit man pleads for parole
NBA star's dad 'angry' at murder of 2nd son
Fountains in Texas where 4 Chicagoans drowned closing for overhaul
'MiPiramide' warns Spanish speakers of threat of obesity
Wis. Senate OKs carrying concealed weapons
Michael Schiavo forms PAC to defeat political opponents
Space control: From music to spying, U.S. satellites outnumber rest of world
Arizona court denies killer's bid to be lawyer
Purdue Christmas tree gets name back

Boston Globe: World
China probe of chemical spill intensifies
Bank worker charged in heist
N. Dakota man says hostage shown in Mideast video is his brother
Find work you love, Rice advises
UN official targets US detentions

Military.com
No More 'Army of One'
Iraq Invasion Could Have Been Avoided (The headline is a bit misleading)
Air Marshal Kills Man
TRICARE Fee Increase

CENTCOM: News Releases
OPERATION RAMS CONCLUDES
TERRORIST DETONATES BOMB IN COFFEE SHOP
MAJOR CACHE UNCOVERED NEAR TUZ

Department of Defense
Bush Cites Rebuilding, Accomplishments - Story Remarks Fact Sheet: Rebuilding Iraq Video
All-Iraqi Aircrew Shows Security Forces' Progress
Center Works to Reduce IED Threat to Troops - Story
Forces Wrap Up Operation Rams in Ramadi - Story
Bomb Explodes at Coffee Shop; Blast Kills U.S. Soldier
U.S. Marines Killed Dec. 1 at Ceremony, Not on Patrol

ON THE GROUND
MP Unit Tackles Variety of Duties at Salerno - Story
Doctors Give Iraqi Baby New Lease on Life - Story

IN IRAQ
Communications Marines Transform into Combat Team

FACE OF DEFENSE
Wounded Marine Looks Toward Uncertain Future - Story

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Rumsfeld: Report Full Iraq Story
Saddam Nephew Gets Prison Term
Academy Attackers Not Women
U.S. Soldier Killed; Weapons Found
Canal Projects Deliver Water
Casey Attends Election Conference
Ukrainians Provide Military Gear
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq (pdf)
Multinational Force Iraq
Eye on Iraq Update (pdf)
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (pdf)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Coalition Forces Kill, Nab Militants
SEDM Approves Afghan Deployment
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Cheney Praises Troops Video
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Navy Course Improves EOD Training
National Guard, Reserve Update

Weather
Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo

National Hurricane Center

Today in History
1710 - Battle at Brihuega: English General Stanhope captured
1776 - George Washington's retreating army crosses Delaware River from New Jersey
1863 - Abraham Lincoln announces plan for Reconstruction of South
1874 - Jesse James gang robs train at Muncie, KS
1880 - 5,000 armed Boers gather in Paardekraal South-Africa
1881 - Vienna's Ring Theater destroyed by fire, kills between 640-850
1886 - American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed by 26 craft unions; Samuel Gompers elected AFL president
1895 - Battle at Amba Alagi: Ethiopian emperor Menelik II drives Italian General Baratieri out
1902 - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., becomes Associate Justice on U.S. Supreme Court
1914 - British and German fleets battle at Falkland Islands
1921 - Eamon de Valera publicly repudiates Anglo-Irish Treaty
1923 - German-U.S. friendship treaty signed; Labour/Liberals win British parliament
1931 - Coaxial cable patented
1936 - N.A.A.C.P. files suit to equalize the salaries of Black and White teachers; Anastasio Somoza elected President of Nicaragua
1941 - U.S., Britain, Netherlands declare war on Japan; Russia's 16th Army recaptures Krijukovo
1946 - Army rocket plane XS-1 makes its first powered flight
1948 - Jordan annexs Arabic Palestine
1949 - Chinese Nationalist government moves from Chinese mainland to Formosa
1952 - French troops shoot on demonstrators at Casablanca, 50 die; Isaak Ben-Zwi elected President of Israel
1955 - Turkish government of Menderes forms
1959 - Dom Mintoff demands independence for Malta
1962 - 114-day newspaper strike begins in New York, NY
1963 - 3 fuel tanks explodes when jetliner is struck by lightning crashing near Elkton, MD-Only case of lightning caused crash, 81 die
1965 - Nikolai Podgorny succeeds Mikojan as President of U.S.S.R.
1966 - U.S. and U.S.S.R. sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space
1969 - Greek DC-6B crashes in storm at Athens, 93 killed; Police launch a surprise attack on Black-Panthers in Los Angeles
1972 - United Airlines airplane crashes at Chicago's Midway Airport killing 45
1974 - Soyuz 16 returns to Earth; Greek monarchy rejected by referendum; Irish Republican Socialist Party forms
1976 - U.N. General Assembly re-elects Kurt Waldheim as Secretary-General
1977 - Portugal's premier Soares resigns
1982 - Demanding an end to nuclear weapons, Norman Mayer, holds the Washington Monument hostage - After 10 hours, police kill him - he has no explosives; Suriname army leader Bouterse murders 15 opponents
1983 - 9th Space Shuttle Mission-Columbia 6-lands at Edwards AFB
1984 - Europe and 64 developing countries sign Lomé III treaty
1986 - House Democrats select majority leader Jim Wright as 48th speaker
1987 - Occupied Palestinians start "intefadeh" (uprising) against Israel; President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles
1990 - Galileo Earth-1 Flyby
1991 - Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine form Commonwealth of Independent States
1992 - Galileo's nearest approach to Jupiter (303 km)
1993 - 30 killed at religious rebellion in Algeria; Storm hits western Europe, 11 killed in England
1994 - Fire in cinema in Karamay China, 310 killed

Birthdays
65 BC- Horace Rome, lyric poet/satirist (Satire, Odes)
1626 - Christina, Queen of Swedenden who abdicated after becoming Catholic
1704 - Anton de Haen, medical expert (Ratio Medendi)
1708 - Francis I, Holy Roman emperor (1745-1765)
1765 - Eli Whitney, inventor (Cotton Gin)
1822 - Luther Prentice Bradley, Union Brigadier-General
1828 - Clinton Bowen Fisk, Union Brevet Major General; Robert Bullock, Confederate Brigadier-General
1861 - William Crapo Durant, founder of General Motors
1908 - John Volpe (Governor-MA) / U.S. Secretary of Treasury (1969-73)
1915 - Denis Harding, soldier
1916 - Dorothy Mae Ballard, labor union representative
1922 - John B. (Jack) McKay, U.S. test pilot (X-15)
1925 - Sammy Davis, Jr., singer/dancer/actor (Ocean's 11, Candy Man)
1927 - Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shatalov, USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 4, 8, 10)
1937 - Jan van Houwelingen, Dutch UnderSecretary of Defense (CDA)
1941 - Albert J. Evenhuis, Dutch UnderSecretary of Economic (VVD)
1943 - Jim Morrison, singer (Doors)
1947 - Gregg Allman, guitarist/vocalist (Allman Brothers Band)

Passings
0644 - Omar I, second kalief of Islam, murdered
0899 - Arnulf of Carinthia, last emperor of Austria-France
1292 - John Peckham, English archbishop of Canterbury, dies at 62
1587 - Mary Queen of Scots (1560-1587), executed
1596 - Luis de Carabajal, first Jewish author in America, executed in México
1643 - John Pym, English House of Commons member, dies at about 59
1722 - Elisabeth C. "Liselotte" van Palts, German/French duchess, dies at 70
1751 - Jozef L.D. von Königsegg, minister of Austrian Netherlands, dies at 78
1831 - James Hoban, architect who designed the White House
1907 - Oscar II, Frederick King of Sweden (-1907)/Norway (-1905)
1967 - Robert H Lawrence USAF/astronaut, dies at 32
1972 - George Collins (Representative-IL), dies at 47, in airplane crash
1978 - Golda Meir, Israel's PM (1969-74), dies in Jerusalem at 80
1980 - John Lennon, assassinated at 40 in New York by Mark David Chapman
1982 - André Kamperveen, Suriname minister, murdered; Bram Behr, Suriname revolutionary, murdered; Cyrill Daal, Suriname worker's union leader, murdered; Frank Wijngaarde, Suriname journalist, murdered; Gerald Leckie Suriname, scholar, murdered; Harald Riedewald, Suriname attorney, murdered; John Baboeram, Suriname lawyer, murdered; Jozef Slagveer, Suriname journalist, murdered; Kenneth Goncalves, Deacon of Surinamese order of advocate, murdered; Leslie Rahman, Suriname journalist, murdered; Surendre Rambocus, Suriname army lieutenant, murdered
1992 - William Shawn, editor-in-chief (New Yorker, 1952-87), dies at 85
1994 - Jesús "Enrique" Líster, Spanish/Russian general (Civil War), dies at 87

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Corle, John T., USMC (PA); UH-34D shot down, KIA, body not recovered

Richtsteig, David John, USMC (UT); remains recovered September, 1974

1966
Asire, Donald H., USAF (CA); F105D shot down, remains retrned June, 1989

Hyde, Michael Lewis, USAF (CO); F100D shot down, remains returned, ID'd April, 1991

1968
Rex, Robert Alan, USAF (UT); F105D shot down, remains returned September, 1996

1969
Pirruccello, Joseph S., USAF (OH); A1E shot down, KIA, body not recovered