News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraq Shi'ite leader wants U.S.-backed units curbed
Gates offers hope of Iraq withdrawals
Normalcy Returning Near Baghdad

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
No truce until Hamas stops rockets: Israel's Peres
Lebanon delays presidential vote
Suicide attack kills 48 in Pakistan mosque - Video
Judge delays decision on CIA inquiry
Lawyer urges judge to open CIA tapes inquiry
Gates: Qaeda has regrouped in Pakistan border area
Saudi police nab militants as pilgrims complete haj

Fallen Heroes
Family of Slain Marine Adopts Son's Partner - PHOTOS - VIDEO
One of the Last World War I Veterans Dies at 109
DoD Identifies Army Casualty (Kanaan)

Worldwide Wackos
Security Barrier: Making an Entrance, Qaddafi Style
Enriched Uranium Found on North Korean Equipment (But that can't be true....they promised to stop...you don't suppose they LIED, do you?)
Chavez extends oil largesse at Caribbean summit

Politics / Government
Huckabee: Did I Say That?
Giuliani Back Home After Brief Hospital Visit
Biden: 'I'm Still In the Game'
Full FOX Election Coverage: You Decide 2008
White House tour omits rare 1963 Christmas card
White House hopefuls temper campaigning for Christmas - Video
AP Interview: Obama pans campaign tone
Biden pushes for 3rd in Iowa caucuses
Reid, wife talk about sons' addictions
Rice: Huckabee wrong about Bush policy
Rice: US has 'no permanent enemies'
Iraq becomes focus on presidential campaign again - Video
Giuliani back on trail after illness
U.S. special envoy to Sudan resigns post
Putin Shows Off Judo Chops in New Instructional DVD

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
The Slaughterhouse Fired
Devlin Gets Additional 170 Years in Prison
Pennsylvania Man, 60, Sues Colorado Boy, 8, Over Ski Slope Collision
Canadian Man Who Sexually Abused Daughter Live on Internet Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison
Police: University of North Carolina Football Players Sexually Assaulted, Bound With Tape
Nicaragua Overturns Slay Conviction, Frees American
DoJ Appeals to High Court to Toss Jefferson Ruling
Police in NY groom shooting case want new venue
Three disciplined over Mel Gibson's 2006 arrest
Grimsley, Radomski affidavits unsealed
Colo. teens in court over fatal beating
Inmate says he needs Thor's hammer, drum
Woman allegedly stabs husband over gift
Bonds appears in court
Mich. man convicted of killing wife

Adventures in Political Correctness
Student: Teacher Asked Her to Cover Up Lesbian Shirt

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
3 Ohio Teens Sue Over Facebook Teacher 'Parody'

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
Teen Dies After Insurance Balks - Family plans to sue; press for criminal charges (Good for them)
FOXSexpert: Pregnant Women Have the Best Sex, Better Orgasms
New Father Dies After Contracting Chickenpox
Scientists: Asteroid Has Unusually High Odds of Hitting Mars in Next Month
Meat, Dairy Producers Offer to Track Cloned Livestock
Corpse doctor provides glimpse inside the "Body Farm"
Revealed: The seven great "medical myths"
China appeals to common sense to ensure food safety
Contractor hitch delays NASA Mars probe
Ariane rocket launches African, N.American satellites
Vonage and AT&T settle patent dispute
Nokia, InterDigital claim patent case victory
NASA conflict delays Mars probe

Oddities
Woman Wakes Up From Coma to Find Out She's A New Mom
Roofing Magnate Falls Through Roof, Dies
Revealed: The seven great "medical myths"
UFO debate invades politicians' space

Other News of Note
Video Captures Spectacular Crash of Cyclists in Australia
FOXBusiness: General Motors Recalls 313,000 Cars
Texas Adds $5 'Pole Tax' to Strip Clubs
Friend of 'Secret Santa' Continues Giving Tradition

Fox News
Pop Tarts: Super-Skinny Tara Reid Mistaken for Jenna Jameson
Tom Cruise’s Holiday Campaign vs. Nicole Kidman
Terrell Owens Clears the Air on Saying Jessica Simpson Is 'Not a Fan Favorite'

Reuters
Stores desperately seeking shoppers on Super Saturday
Gunmen kill Guatemala lawmaker near tourist resort
Zuma says no word from prosecutors on graft
DJ Spooky's latest spin? A visual poem to Chicago
Luxury jeweler sues supermodel Heidi Klum in NY
Chuck Norris sues, says his tears no cancer cure
Microsoft's piracy fight gains momentum in China
Marsh & McLennan ousts Cherkasky
Merrill may get cash from Singapore: report
Goldman's Blankfein gets $67.9 million bonus
Chrysler says exceeding financial targets
Alcoa sells packaging unit for $2.7 billion
Banks abandon plan for Super-SIV
Circuit City shares plunge on forecasted loss
Techs and banks prompt stocks to fly with Santa
Consumer spending strong in November
RIM stock shoots higher after results
First Solar jumps to new high on Cramer pick
Merrill up on report of capital infusion
Stocks rally on Merrill, but bond prices slip - Video
Oil jumps more than $2 on U.S. spending report
Gold hits one-week highs on dollar, AngloGold talk
Dollar rises to 6-week high vs yen
For savvy retailers, a post-holiday gift

AP World News
Van Halen, Bertinelli divorce finalized
Ike Turner remembered in musical service
Report: Baron Cohen offing Borat, Ali G
Producers ponder fate of Spears' show
Stocks surge on RIM, Merrill reports

CENTCOM: News Releases
AL-QAEDA NETWORKS DISRUPTED; ONE TERRORIST KILLED, 19 SUSPECTS DETAINED
COALITION FORCES CAPTURE SPECIAL GROUPS CRIMINAL ELEMENT LEADER, DETAIN THREE SUSPECTS
DETENTION OPERATIONS HOLD EID AL ADHA RELEASE CEREMONY

USJFCOM
U.S. Joint Forces Command, IBM sign new cooperative research and development agreement
More about CRADAs
Ribbon cut for new SOCJFCOM headquarters - podcast
Newsmaker Profile: SOCJFCOM Commander Army Col. Wesley Rehorn - podcast
More about SOCJFCOM

Multi-National Force-Iraq
Soldiers Find Atrocity Site, Torture Complex and Weapons During Operation Iron Reaper
Multi-National Division – Baghdad Transfers Authority
Coalition forces capture Special Groups leader, disrupt criminal element network
Al-Qaeda networks disrupted; one terrorist killed, 19 suspects detained
Coalition forces capture two Special Groups leaders, detain three other suspects
U.S., Iraqi Soldiers patrol CLC security positions in north Babil
Suicide bomber attacks MND-N Soldiers, Iraqis (Diyala)

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
No Furloughs for Christmas
President Thanks Troops, Families for Sacrifices
Afghan Strategy Needs Constant Evaluation, Mullen Says
Gates Sends Holiday Message to Troops
Secretary Proud of Iraq Progress

IRAQ NEWS
Baghdad Division Transfers Authority
Troops Kill Suspected Terrorist, Detain 24
Northern Push Exposes Al Qaeda Torture

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
Kandahar Base Shows Inequities
Afghan, Coalition Forces Brighten Lives
CJTF 82 Launches New Web Site

WHY WE SERVE
Veterans Connect With America
England Thanks ‘Why We Serve’ Speakers

MILITARY NEWS
MRAP Deliveries Top Year-End Goal
NORAD Set to Track Santa's Travels
Mullen, USO Rock Troops in Afghanistan - Photos
Mail Handlers in Overdrive to Get Gifts to Soldiers
Battle of the Bulge Memories, Emotions Live On
Airmen, Sailors Complete Interservice Training

FACE OF DEFENSE
Airman Saves Life

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Wounded Troops Benefit From Soldier's Legacy
Kuwait Troops Get Christmas Stockings

Today in History
1163 - Hurricane hits villages in Holland/Friesland, causing floods
1620 - 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
1688 - Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham
1784 - John Jay becomes 1st US Secretary of State (foreign affairs)
1788 - Hue Tay Son becomes emperor Quang Trung of Vietnam
1829 - 1st stone arch railroad bridge in US dedicated, Baltimore
1835 - HMS Beagle sails into Bay of Islands (New Zealand)
1864 - General Sherman conquers Savannah, GA
1891 - 18 students play 1st basketball game (Springfield College)
1898 - Scientists Pierre & Marie Curie discover radium
1907 - Dutch government of De Master falls due to war budget
1909 - University of Copenhagen rejects Cook's claim that he was 1st to North Pole; 1st junior high school established (Berkeley CA)
1910 - Explosion in coal mine in Hulton England - 344 mine workers die
1912 - Denmark, Norway & Sweden declare neutrality in Comende war
1913 - 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in New York World
1914 - 1st feature-length silent film comedy, "Tillie's Punctured Romance" released (starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand & Charles Chaplin)
1919 - J. Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia
1921 - Supreme Court rules labor injunctions & picketing unconstitutional
1923 - Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation
1929 - 1st US group hospital insurance plan instituted, Dallas TX
1933 - Dried human blood serum 1st prepared, University of Pennsylvania; Newfoundland reverts to being a crown colony
1937 - 1st feature-length color & sound cartoon premieres (Disney's Snow White)
1939 - Hitler named Adolf Eichmann leader of "Referat IV B"
1941 - German submarine U-567 sinks
1942 - US Supreme court declares Nevada separation legal
1946 - Earthquake in South Japan, kills 1,086; Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" premieres
1948 - State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
1949 - Dutch 1st Chamber accept soeveregnty of Indonesia
1951 - Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement
1954 - Dr. Sam Sheppard is convicted of his wife Marilyn's murder
1957 - Indonesia proclaims end to state of war
1958 - Charles De Gaulle wins 7 year term as 1st President of 5th Republic of France
1959 - 10th largest snowfall in NYC history (13.7"); Citizens of Deerfield, IL, block building of interracial housing
1961 - JFK & British PM MacMillan meet in Bermuda
1962 - Angolin leaves Comecon; US & Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive
1966 - USSR launches Luna 13; soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum
1968 - Apollo 8 (Frank Borman, Jim Lovell & Bill Anders) 1st manned Moon voyage
1969 - Vince Lombardi (Redskins) coaches his last football game, losing
1971 - UN Security Council chooses Kurt Waldheim as 4th Secretary General
1972 - Soviet Union signs a separate peace with East Germany
1973 - Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US & USSR meet in Geneva
1975 - Madagascar adopts constitution
1976 - Patricia R. Harris named Secretary of HUD; UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child
1978 - Police in Des Plaines IL, arrest John Wayne Gacy Jr for murder
1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR; Zimbabwe adopts constitution
1984 - USSR launches Vega 2 for fly-by of Halley's Comet
1985 - ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles WA
1987 - Soyuz TM-4 carries 3 cosmonauts (Musa Manarov, Anatoly Levchenko & Vladimir Titov) to space station Mir
1988 - New York bound Pan Am jumbo jet (Flight 103) explodes over Scotland, killing all 259 people on the plane and 11 people on the ground; Vladimir Titov, Anatoly Levchenko & Musa Manarov return to earth (a year) with Chretien
1989 - Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's final speech (he is executed 12/25); US invades Panamá and ousts General Noriega; Vice-President Quayle sends out 30,000 Xmas cards with word beacon spelled beakon
1991 - 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996); El Sayid Nosair acquitted of killing Meir Kahane; Soviet Union formally dissolves - 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States; US actress Jane Fonda marries CNN-director Ted Turner
1992 - Dutch DC-10 on fire at landing on Faro Portugal, 56 die
1997 - Detroit Lions linebacker Reggie Brown, knocked unconscious in game

Birthdays
1117 - Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury
1537 - Johan III, King of Sweden (1569-92)
1804 - Benjamin Disraeli (Tory), British PM (1868, 1874-80)
1818 - Amalia wife of king Otto of Greece
1832 - John Henry Ketcham, Union Brevet Major General
1860 - Henrietta Szold, founder (Hadassah)
1874 - Juan Bautista Sacasa, President of Nicaragua (1932-36)
1879 - Joseph Stalin [Dzoegashvili], Russian dictator; murdered 11,000,000
1890 - Fred M. Vinson, US Supreme Court Justice (1946-53)
1891 - John W. McCormack, (D) Speaker of the House (1962-70)
1896 - Carl Romme, Dutch catholic foreman/KVP-Minister of Socialist Business; Constantine Rokossovski, Russian marshal/vice-premier of Poland
1898 - Ira S. Bowen, US physicist/astronomer (Mount Wilson/Palomar)
1909 - George Ball, lawyer/UnderSecretary of state
1916 - Eve Perrick, journalist
1918 - Donald Regan, White House staffer/US Secretary of Treasury (1981-85); Kurt Waldheim, Nazi / 4th UN Secretary-General (1972-81) / Austrian President (1986-92)
1930 - Willem R. "Wim" van der Zee, Secretary of Council of Churches
1935 - Phil Donahue, talk show host
1937 - Jane Fonda, actress (Barbarella, Klute); Harald Crown Prince, son of King Olav V, heir apparent of Norway
1945 - Millie Hughes-Fulford, astronaut (STS 40)
1948 - Willem Vermeend, Dutch economist/UnderSecretary of Finance (1994-)
1953 - Tina Brown, journalist (New Yorker)

Passings
0918 - Conrad I, Duke of Franconia/German King (911-918)
1308 - Henry I the Child, 1st landgrave of Hessen (1256-1308)
1429 - Jacquemart de Bléharies Tournay, "heretic", burned to death
1597 - Petrus Canisius, Dutch jesuit/saint, at 76
1921 - P.B.S. Pinchback, major Reconstruction politician, at 84
1928 - Luigi Cadorna, Italian fieldmarshal (WWI, Caporetto), at 78
1937 - Frank Kellog, US foreign minister (Nobel 1929), at 80
1940 - F[rancis] Scott [Key] Fitzgerald, author (Great Gatsby, Zelda), of a heart attack in Hollywood at 44
1945 - George S. Patton, US general (Sicily/Normandy), in car accident in Heidelberg at 60
1948 - Seishiro Itagaki, Japanese general/Minister of War, hanged
1967 - Louis Washkansky, 18 days after 1st heart transplant at 55
1993 - Philip Christison, British general (Rangoon), at 100
1994 - Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State, at 85
1996 - Margaret E. Rey, author of children's books, at 90
1997 - Michael Lyne, air-marshal, at 78

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Glenn, Danny Elloy, USN (OK); A4C shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Commander, alive and well as of 1998

1967
Scurlock, Lee D., US Army SF (OH); shot while climbing ladder for extraction

1968
Allee, Richard K., USAF (NY); F105 D shot down - remains returned 1996 / ID'd April, 1998

1972
The following USAF personnel reported missing when their B52 was shot down:
Bebus, Charles J. (MN); gunner - remains returned November, 1988

Beens, Lynn R. (UT); crew, released by DRV March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Heggen, Keith R. (IA); crew, remains returned March, 1974

Johnson, Edward H. (OR); crew - remains returned May, 1989

Lynn, Robert R. (IL); electronic warfare officer - remains returned June, 1989

Nagahiro, James Y. (HI); pilot, released by DRV March, 1973 - alive as of 1998

Walters, Donovan K. (NE); co-pilot - remains returned December, 1988

The following USAF personnel reported missing when their AC130-A was shot down:
Birch, Joel Ray (AZ); not on official DIA list - partial remains recovered 1972

Dickens, Delma E., (GA); remains retunred February, 1985

Elliott, Robert T., (AR); remains returned February, 1985

Fenter, Charles F., (AZ); remains returned February, 1985 - family disputes

Fuller, James R., (TX); remains returned February, 1985 - ID rescinded

Hart, Thomas T. III, (FL); remains returned February, 1985 - ID rescinded

Kroboth, Stanley N., (GA); remains returned February, 1985

Lagerwall, Harry R., (NY); remains returned February, 1985

Liles, Robert L., Jr. (LA); remains recovered February, 1985

MacDonald, George D., (IL); remains returned February, 1989 - ID rescinded

Meder, Paul O., (NY); remains returned February, 1985

Reaid, Rollie K., (AL); remains returned February, 1985

Walsh, Francis A., (CT); remains returned February, 1985

Winningham, John Q., (CA); remains returned February, 1985

The following USAF personnel reported missing when their B52 was shot down:
Craddock, Randall J. (OK) - remains returned May, 1989

Darr, Charles E. (AR); remains returned 1988

Lollar, James L. (MS); released by DRV March, 1973

Kirby, Bobby A., (GA); remains returned July, 1989

Lockhart, George B., (TX); remains returned April, 1989

Perry, Ronald D., (TN); SRV returned remains December, 1975

Also reported missing this day in 1972:
Caffarelli, Charles J., USAF (PA); F111A shot down

Gould, Frak A., USAF (NY); B52D shot down

Graustein, Robert Stewart, USN (ME); A6A shot down - remains returned December, 1985

Higdon, Kenneth H., USN (CA); A6A shot down (w/Nakagawa), released injured by DRV - alive 1999

Nakagawa, Gordon R., USN (CA); A6A shot down (w/Higdon), released by DRV March, 1973 - alive and well as of 1998

Wade, Barton S., USN (IN); A6A shot down - remains returned December, 1985

Labels: Headlines, History