Quote of the Day
We FewBeloved heritage is ours
To fondly cherish evermore.
By God's own hand sweet Freedom's flower
Was planted at our nation's door.
Warm blood of men enriched the soil
In hope it blossom-filled would thrive.
Though tyrants sent fierce weeds to foil
And hamper growth, it still survived.
The blooms will wither not nor die;
Some men will crave the fragrant air.
Unyielding Resolve reigns on high
With Duty calling those who care.
Much-needed care cannot be sloughed;
A few must bear the load for all.
From sun-soaked shores to windswept bluffs
We few will answer Duty's call.-- Former POW
Colonel Howard John Hill, USAF
News of Note
Operation Iraqi FreedomIraq's Maliki promises to target insurgents: W.HouseIraqi conference seeks to end sectarian bloodshedHomeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah HappeningsHamas, Fatah Clash as Chaos Rocks GazaAbbas to deliver speech, may call early elections -
VideoRice plans to boost funding for Abbas forces (Why...???)Chertoff defends security program delayOther Military NewsPentagon eyes $468.9 bln budget for fiscal 2008F-35 fighter wraps up first test flightPentagon to move troops into KuwaitReligion of Peace??Somali Islamists vow not to strike governmentWest ups calls on Sudan to accept Darfur troops'Tis the SeasonGingerbread Nazi Display Moved to New Ohio Town on Hanukkah EveWorldwide WackosIran elections gauge support for Ahmadinejad -
VideoHomegrown MoonbatsPeace, love, exams - U.S. anti-war movement quietPolitics / GovernmentEx-Rep. Bob Barr Ditches GOP for LibertariansRumsfeld Bids Goodbye on Last Day Reid: Sen. Johnson Looks 'Good' After Brain SurgeryDoctor: Senator's progress 'encouraging'In the Courts / Crime and PunishmentExecutioners WrongFlorida halts executions after needle mistakeCalifornia's 'Death by Lethal Injection' Ruled UnconstitutionalBritish Police Identify 5th Victim of 'Ipswitch Ripper'Paternity Test for Duke Rape Accuser's Baby Approved; DNA Tests Under FireDuke Rape Accuser Gives BirthU.N. NewsPowder found at U.N. apparently flourMedia in the Media / Bloggers in the News
Controversial O.J. Simpson 'If I Did It' Book Publisher Gets Pink SlipScience / NatureSearchers: Lost Mt. Hood Hikers Well EquippedMilitary plane finds no sign of climbersSpace-Station Aerobics Fail to Free Stuck PanelResearchers reverse diabetes in miceStorm kills 4, cuts power in NorthwestOdditiesRobber caught in mesh of mistakesMiss USA in danger of losing crown due to behaviorCollector pays $2.3M for $1,000 billOther News of Note250 Get Sick From Indianapolis Olive GardenFox NewsReport: Miss USA Tara Conner Will Be Dethroned'Law & Order: SVU' May Be OverReuters: Top NewsNintendo to replace Wii straps, Japan DS adaptersMusic on the move as mobile applications multiplyStarr sees value of parity but cherishes excellenceHoaxer, not Hilton, wrote Britney defense postingOprah Winfrey reality series headed to prime timeDell says gets non-compliance letter from NasdaqOver 250 sick after eating at Indiana Olive GardenHarrah's considering two $87/share bids: WSJConsumer prices flat in NovemberTerex to replace Navistar in S&P 500Sovereign to cut jobs in cost-reduction planMerck wins Vioxx trial in Alabama state courtAOL to restructure senior management -- sourcesBangladesh marks victory day amid political strifeVietnam condemns six heroin traffickers to deathAP World NewsRed hot Suns run winning streak to 13Sharpton plans shooting protest march76ers still can't find the answerJays, Wells agree to $126M extensionBagwell calls it quits after 15 yearsMorgan Stanley CEO gets $40M 2006 bonusBeyonce transforms into 'Sasha' onstageDrugs eyed in slayings of British womenDow ends up 29 on tame inflation dataNBC's 'Biggest Loser' considered surgeryMilitary.comPrince William GraduatesU.K., Canada Keep JSF Options OpenOp-ed:
Into Iraq's QuicksandDefense Tech:
Tricycle of DeathA Military Aviation Crisis LoomingAdvisors:
Home Alone for the HolidaysPodcast:
Philpott on Benefits 2007Beat the Weekend Shopping CrowdsGear in the News;
SSN 709CENTCOM: News ReleasesCAVALRY TROOPS CONFISCATE WEAPONS, DETAIN SUSPECTPOLAR BEARS STORM QUARGHULI VILLAGE BY AIR, LAND AND WATERCOALITION FORCES, IRAQI NATIONAL POLICE RESPOND TO EXPLOSION AT MOSQUE IN ZUBAIDAJOINT STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR ZALMAY KHALILZAD AND GEN. GEORGE CASEY ON IRAQ’S WINNING SILVER IN THE 15TH ASIAN GAMES IN DOHA, QATARISF CAPTURES ILLEGAL ARMED GROUP MEMBER, DETAIN TWO OTHERSISF CONDUCT OPERATIONS TO CAPTURE ILLEGAL ARMED GROUP LEADERISP CAPTURE INSURGENT CELL LEADERPARATROOPERS FIND CACHE, DETAIN THREEFUSION CELLS HELP TO LOCATE TERRORISTSPARATROOPERS FIND CACHE SOUTH OF BAGHDADUSJFCOMUSJFCOM’s new super computer to enhance joint experimentation, training -
podcastCommand surgeon hosts joint task force medical seminar -
podcastDepartment of DefenseNEWS UPDATES
Cheney, Pace Praise Rumsfeld at Farewell Ceremony -
StoryFor Top News Visit DefenseLinkON THE GROUND'Ironhorse' Troops Serve as Escorts -
StoryFallen Engineer Missed Not Forgotten -
StoryPower Transfer Over Multinational Corps Iraq -
StoryIraqi Police Return Home From Training -
StoryIN IRAQCeremony Focuses on Stryker Brigade Journey'Arctic Wolves' Honor Fallen ComradesField Activities Create Cohesion, Raise MoraleAvionics Marines Give Harriers 'Pulse' at Al AsadSoldier's Ultimate Sacrifice Earns Silver StarJoint Operations Combat Insurgency in DiyalaMarine Engineers Focus on Repairing Vital RunwayIN AFGHANISTANPatrol Trucks to Increase Security in Afghanistan Flight Surgeons Certify Afghan Army Aviators Military Policemen Prepare for Return to States Afghan Farming Communities to Receive TractorsReconstruction Team Hosts First Vendor FairBACKGROUNDIRAQRenewal In IraqIraq: Security, StabilityFact Sheet: Progress and Work AheadReport: Strategy for Victory in Iraq Iraq Daily UpdateThis Week in Iraq Multinational Force IraqState Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (PDF)'Boots on the Ground' Audio ArchiveWeekly Reconstruction Report (PDF) Iraq ReconstructionMapsAFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan UpdateMapsWAR ON TERRORISMFact Sheet: Budget RequestFact Sheet: War on TerrorFact Sheet: Terror Plots DisruptedWaging and Winning the War on TerrorTerrorism TimelineTerrorism Knowledge BaseCASUALTIESOfficials Identify Previous Casualties -
StoryWeatherIraqAl Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al KutAn Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall KayfAfghanistanBost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul QandaharGitmoToday in History0882 - John VIII ends his reign as Catholic Pope; Marinus I begins his
1431 - King Henry VI of England crowned king of France
1538 - King François I orders renewed pursuit of Protestants
1577 - Danzig surrenders to troops of Polish king István Báthory
1617 - Spanish viceroy Hernando Arias de Saavedra founds provinces Río de la Plata (Argentina)/Guaira (Paraguay)
1631 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy erupts, destroys 6 villages & kills 4,000
1653 - Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland & Ireland
1659 - General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland
1689 - English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution
1740 - Prussian Libya falls to Silezie
1761 - Russian army occupies Kolberg
1773 - Boston Tea Party1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte divorces Empress Josephine by the French Senate
1811 - Most violent & prolonged quakes in US begins in Midwest region; 8.0 earthquake shakes New Madrid MO
1817 - Leaders of Molukkas uprising hanged in Ambon
1824 - Great North Holland Canal opens
1835 - Fire consumes over 600 buildings in New York NY
1838 - Boers beat Zulu chieftain Dingaan in South Africa
1857 - Earthquake in Naples, Italy
1858 - Dutch government decides to vacate Schokland Island
1862 - Kingdom of Nepal accepts its constitution
1864 - Battle of Nashville ends after 4400 casualities
1880 - Republic of South-Africa forms
1884 - Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1897 - 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated
1900 - Boer army under General Kritzinger take Cape colony
1905 - "Variety", covering all phases of show business, 1st published
1907 - Great White Fleet sails from Hampton Downs on its World Cruise
1909 - US pressure forces Nicaraguan President José Santos Zelaya from office
1912 - 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20¢ parcel post, issued; Austria-Hungary engage in conflict with Serbia
1913 - Charlie Chaplin began his film career at Keystone for $150 a week
1914 - French offensive in Artois (Pétain)
1915 - Albert Einstein publishes his "General Theory of Relativity"
1920 - Over 180,000 die when 8.6 earthquake destroys 15,000² miles (Kansu China)
1930 - Golfer Bobby Jones wins James E Sullivan Award
1931 - German SPD begins Eiserne Front against fascism
1932 - Heavy earthquake ravages Kansu China, 70,000 killed
1940 - British air raid on Mannheim
1941 - Sarawak occupied by the Japanese
1942 - Hitler orders combat against partisans in Russia & Balkan
1943 - "Tamiami Champion" trains collide, kills 73 & injures 200
1944 - Battle of the Bulge begins in Belgium; German V-2 strikes Antwerp bioscope (638 kill); US 2nd Infantry division occupies "Heartbreak Crossroads," Wahlerscheid
1949 - Sukarno becomes President of Indonesia; Mokammed Hatta becomes premier
1950 - Truman proclaims state of emergency against "Communist imperialism"
1953 - 1st White House Press Conference (President Eisenhower & 161 reporters); Charles E. Yeager flies over 2,575 kph (1,650 mph) in Bell X-1A (first man to fly at nearly two and one-half times the speed of sound)
1960 - 134 die as United DC-8 & TWA Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, New York NY
1962 - Constitutional Monarchical Hindu State of Nepál adopts new constitution
1965 - Gemini 6 returns to Earth; Pioneer 6 launched into solar orbit; Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, becomes King of Tonga
1969 - British House of Commons votes 343-185 abolishing the death penalty
1970 - 1st successful landing on Venus (USSR)
1971 - Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declares independence from Pakistan
1973 - US kidnap victim Paul Getty III freed
1976 - Government halts swine flu vaccination program following reports of paralysis; Andrew Young named Ambassador & Chief US Delegate to UN; Liberian tanker stranded at Nantucket, 180,000 barrels oil in sea
1978 - Ronald Reagan denounces President Jimmy Carter's recognition of China People's Republic
1980 - President-elect Reagan announces Alexander Haig as Secretary of State
1981 - Dutch Van Agt's 2nd government falls
1983 - Riverside CA judge denies cerebral palsy victim Elizabeth Bouviato request to starve herself to death in a county hospital
1988 - Political cult leader Lyndon LaRouche convicted of tax, mail fraud
1990 - Reverend Jean-Betrand Aristide elected President of Haiti
1991 - UN reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote
1992 - Israel orders deportation of 415 Palestinians after escalating terrorist activity
1997 - President Clinton names his Labrador retriever, "Buddy"
Birthdays1485 - Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess/1st wife of Henry VIII
1622 - Kurt S. Adeler, Danish admiral/ship builder
1742 - Gebhard Leberecht Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt, German fieldmarshal
1809 - Peter P. van Bosse, Dutch attorney/liberal minister of Finance
1812 - William Grose, Union Brevet Major General
1819 - Robert Selden Garnett, Confederate Brigadier-General
1825 - Henry Heth, Confederate Major General
1828 - John Beatty, Union Brigadier-General
1830 - John Frederick Hartranft, Union Brevet Major General
1851 - Theodoor H. de Meester, Dutch premier (1905-08)
1857 - Edward Emerson, astronomer (Jupiter's 5th satellite)
1863 - Ralph Adams Cram, US gothic architect (Cathedral of St John the Divine NYC)
1888 - Alphonse Juin, French marshal
1906 - John Morrison, politician/landowner; Lord Margadale, English Conservative parliament leader/large landowner
1907 - Ray C. Bliss, Ohio State Republican Chairman
1909 - Henricus Verbunt, civil servant/resistance fighter
1941 - Lesley Stahl, White House correspondent (CBS-TV)
1955 - Carol M. Browner, US Administrator (EPA)
Passings0714 - Pippin II of Héristal, Duke/prince of France
0875 - Ado of Vienne, French archbishop of Vienne, dies at about 75
0882 - John VIII, Italian Pope (872-82), dies
0999 - Adelheid the Saint, German empress of Otto I/saint, dies at about 68
1404 - Albrecht of Bavaria, duke of Bavaria, dies at about 74
1670 - Dorothy, 1st English marquis of Halifax, dies
1672 - John II Casimir Vasa, cardinal/king of Poland (1648-68), dies at 63
1774 - François Quesnay, French personal physician of Louis XIV, dies at 80
1858 - Richard Bright, British Dr. (Bright's disease/nephritis), dies at 69
1859 - Wilhelm Grimm, writer (Grimm's Fairy Tales), dies at 73
1916 - Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, powerful Russian monk, murdered at 45
1920 - Ma Mua-Ming-Hsin the Benovelent, Chinese muslim rebel (holy war)
1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz, 1st President of Poland (December 7-16, 1922), assassinated
1944 - Glenn Miller, USAF veteran, jazz composer/orchestra leader (Danny boy), dies at 40 when his plane disappears on the way to entertain US troops
1945 - Fumimaro Konu Japanese prince/PM (1937-39, 40-41), commits harakiri
1949 - Traitsjo Kostov Bulgarian communist vice-premier, executed
1980 - Harland "Colonel" Sanders, founder Kentucky Fried Chicken, dies at 90
1983 - Kusan Sunim, founded Milae Sa temple/Bulsung Sa Zen in Korea, dies at 74
1985 - Paul Castellano, Organized-crime chief, shot dead at a New York, NY restaurant
1987 - Albert P. Morano (Representative-CT, 1951-59), dies at 79
1993 - Bentri Seddik, Algerian court judge, murdered at 46; Kakuei Tanaka premier of Japan (1972-74), dies at 75; Ratu Penaia Ganilau President of Fiji (1987-93), dies at 75
1996 - Jean-Pierre Levy, resistance leader, dies at 85
Reported Missing in Action1965Wickhamm, David W. II,
USN (WV);A4C shot down, KIA, body not recovered
1967
Hill, Howard J.,
USAF (IL); F4D shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Colonel - alive as of 1998
Low, James Frederick,
USAF (CA); F4D shot down, released August, 1968
1969Buckley, Victor P.,
USN (VA); RF8G shot down, KIA, body not recovered
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