Quote of the Day
"Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts.
The person who makes a success of living
is one who sees his goal steadily
and aims for it unswervingly.
That's dedication."
-- Cecil B. DeMille
News of NoteOperation Iraqi FreedomIraqis Arrest Official Accused of Recording Saddam Execution on Cell PhoneIraqi Gov't Probes Saddam Execution -
VIDEOSaddam execution video draws criticism (Sick that this has been more controversial than videos of terrorists beheading the innocent)Iraq: 12,000 civilians killed in '06Saddam Co-Defendants to Be HangedAl-Maliki Rules Out Second Term in InterviewOperation Enduring FreedomAFGHAN, COALITION FORCES CAPTURE ONE SUSPECTED TERRORISTHomeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Just 6 Cities Earn Top Marks for Crisis CommunicationsFeds grade 75 cities on emergency interactionPat Robertson: God Told Me Major Terror Attack Is Coming in 2007FBI Details Possible Gitmo Detainee AbuseTroops on TrialNavy Begins Investigation Into Iraqi Soldier's DeathIraqi Soldier Fatally Wounded By MarineOther Military NewsHelicopter crashes east of San DiegoTroops Aid Stranded Colorado CattlePHOTO ESSAY: National Guardsmen Airdrop AidGeneral Wants Gay Ban LiftedReligion of Peace??Somalia's PM: Islamic Forces NeutralizedBattle for Somalia nears Kenya border: residents -
VideoWorldwide WackosNorth Korean Foreign Minister Paek diesPolitics / GovernmentEx-U.S. President Ford called "rock of stability"Wednesday to bring final rest for FordFord Funeral Moves to MichiganOp-ed:
Thanking Ford for VietnamMass. Gay Marriage Ban Proposal ProceedsBush to Meet Cabinet Ahead of Dem TakeoverGiuliani '08 Plan Laid Out in Newspaper (DOH!)Bush seeks positive tone for new U.S. CongressPoll shows support for Democrats' goalsPelosi ascent in Congress a breakthroughImmigration / Border ControlGerman Muslim held, denied U.S. entryU.N. NewsAnother Snub by the U.N.? (Oh, what a surprise...)U.N. urges end to Sri Lanka fighting after deathsScience / NatureHaylift to save snowbound cattle beginsMissouri man reels in ancient fishhookAncient latrine fuels debate at QumranYour Car Becomes the CopOdditiesWoman Mistakes Antifreeze for Home BrewPaging Agent Mulder: O'Hare 'UFO' ReportedApology for "topless" New Year's Eve shockMob burns house of village thugOther News of NoteMan Saves Teen Who Fell Into Train Tracks14 Year Old Sails Across Atlantic AloneFox NewsDenver Memorials Spring Up for Slain BroncoU.S. Honors Former President Ford -
PHOTOSStarbucks: Yes to Caffeine, No to Trans FatsCops Indicted in Katrina Shootings ApplaudedFla. Mobile Home Owners May Be MillionairesSearch Resumes for Missing Indonesian JetNew Secretary-General to Fill 2 U.N. Posts This Week, Could Bring ControversyDakota Fanning 'Rape' Film Heads to SundancePantyhose Regaining Footing After Losing LegsJudge's Book Fans Flames of Culture WarReuters: Top NewsAnger as Indonesia resumes search for airliner -
VideoOusted Thai PM denies any links to Bangkok bombsJava ferry survivor says bodies dumped from life raft -
VideoMerkel seeks closer EU-US ties on economic issuesHasina-led alliance to boycott Bangladesh elections"Perfect storm" brews over Australia's westSirius reaches 6 mln subscribers, free cash flow positiveFrom yap to growl, Israeli device dogs intrudersBare-fist bouts a knockout with SAfrica fight fansHealth insurance bridges gap for poor familiesA drink may help high blood pressure risk"Pirates" sequel buoyed box office in 2006Oprah opens academy for poor girls in South AfricaOil deepens losses on mild U.S. weatherThai stocks fall after bombs, tourism shares hit -
VideoEuro holds firm as yield plays dominateEuropean shares little changed at openMild jobs may lift stocks as '07 startsFX market ready for higher '07 returnsAsian deals with PartyGamingManhattan apartment downturn short-lived: reportU.S. group sues Nokia, Samsung over BluetoothDivining fourth-quarter earnings from December salesFlorida tribe sued over Hard Rock takeoverPlethico Pharma eyeing two firms in the U.S.: sourceAP World NewsSearch resumes for Indonesian jetlinerCarly Simon to promote her new CD on QVCAutomakers spend big at Detroit showLouisville dreams big after Orange BowlSkinner, Deacons tie Orange Bowl 10-10'Wheel,' 'Jeopardy!' renewed to 2012Red Wings retire Yzerman's No. 19 jerseyAlabama, Dolphins await Saban's decisionMoore surprised she clicked with KutcherCancer's unrecognized toll: timeOrange Bowl QBs not cut from same moldS.F. group enjoys shopping sabbaticalUtah town's dog license limit is ruffMilitary.comSpouseBUZZ Looks at TaxesDef. Tech:
Rapid FireExclusive:
Jerry Ford, Navy HeroA Cause for Wounded VetsAn Exclusive Excerpt from Operation HomecomingCENTCOM: News ReleasesAL-QAIDA WEAPONS DEALER KILLED DURING BAGHDAD RAIDIRAQI ARMY CAPTURES IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE FACILITATORIRAQI ARMY CONDUCTS OPERATIONS TO CAPTURE INSURGENT CELL LEADERINITIAL TIP LEADS TO DISCOVERY, ELIMINATION OF IED MATERIALSSUSPECTED IED FACTORY FOUND IN EASTERN BAGHDADIRAQI SECURITY FORCES COMBAT INSURGENCY IN ANBAR PROVINCEUSJFCOM2006 -- The Year in ReviewUSJFCOM gets approval to connect U.S., Australian networks -
podcastDepartment of DefenseNEWS UPDATESStability & Security in Iraq Report (pdf)For Top News Visit DefenseLinkON THE GROUNDTop Marines Visit Camp Taqaddum in Iraq -
StorySoldiers Work Fast to Keep Aircraft Refueled -
StoryRaids in Iraq Yield Terrorists, Terror Leaders -
StoryStryker Brigade Reunites in Baghdad -
StoryCoalition Troops Kill 4 Terrorists; Iraqis Detain 21 -
StoryIraqi Doctors Facilitate Change in Healthcare -
StoryIN IRAQU.S. Troops Help Conduct Operations in SiniyahSoldiers Rescue Kidnapped Iraqis from InsurgentsCell Leader Killed in Iraq, Weapons Cache FoundFive Iranians Detained in Recent Baghdad RaidsIN AFGHANISTANAfghan Officials, U.S. Troops Open Runway Chief of Chaplains Brings Support to Region Buccaneers Return from Afghanistan TourBACKGROUNDIRAQRenewal 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 TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: Budget RequestFact Sheet: War on TerrorFact Sheet: Terror Plots DisruptedWaging and Winning the War on TerrorTerrorism TimelineTerrorism Knowledge BaseCASUALTIESOfficials Identify Casualties -
StoryWeatherAfghanistanBost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul QandaharGermanyAnsbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld BremerhavenDarmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau GarmischGarmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen KitzingenHanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart TrierWiesbaden WurzburgGitmoGuamAgana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan BarrigadaIraqAl Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al KutAn Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall KayfJapanKadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo YokohamaPhilippinesBaler Radar Site Catanduanes Radar Site ManilaSouth KoreaCheju Upper/Radar Chonju Chunchon Inch'on Kunsan Masan Mokp'oOsan Pusan Seoul Suwon Taegu Taejon Tonghae Radar Site Ulsan Yosu* If you're deployed, and want to see your location's weather listed here, please email me! *Today in History0236 - St Anterus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0269 - St Felix I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0936 - Duke Alberik II of Spoleto appoints his son Pope Leo VII
1407 - Bloody battles between Hoeksen & Kabeljauwen in Dordrecht
1431 - Joan of Arc handed over to the bishop
1521 - Martin Luther excommunicated by Roman Catholic Church
1667 - Russia & Poland sign Truce of Androsovo
1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army leaves Glasgow
1752 - East Indies invasion "Geldermalsen" leaves at Malakka 92 killed
1777 - Washington defeats British at Battle of Princeton, New Jersey
1780 - Danish national anthem "Kong Kristian", 1st sung
1825 - Scottish factory owner Robert Owen buys 30,000 acres in Indiana as site for New Harmony utopian community
1831 - 1st US building & loan association organized, Frankford PA
1833 - Britain seizes control of Falkland Islands in South Atlantic
1840 - 1st deep sea sounding
1847 - California town of Yerba Buena renamed San Francisco
1852 - 1st Chinese arrive in Hawaii
1861 - Delaware legislature rejects proposal to join Confederacy; US Fort Pulaski & Fort Jackson, Savannah, seized by Georgia
1862 - Romney Campaign - Stonewall Jackson moves north from Winchester
1868 - Meiji Restoration returns authority to Japan's emperors
1870 - Brooklyn Bridge construction begins; completed May 24, 1883
1871 - Oleomargarine patented by Henry Bradley, Binghamton NY
1872 - 1st patent list issued by US Patent Office
1876 - 1st free kindergarten in US opens in Florence MA
1888 - 1st wax drinking straw patented, by Marvin C Stone in Washington DC
1889 - Admissions convention meets in Ellensburg WA, asks for statehood
1890 - 1st US college-level dairy school opens at University of Wisconsin
1896 - Emperor Wilhelm congratulates President Kruger on the Jameson Raid
1900 - Perihelion Passage
1911 - US postal savings bank inaugurated
1918 - US employment service opens as a unit of Department of Labor
1921 - Turkey makes peace with Armenia
1922 - 1st living person identified on a US coin (Thomas E. Kirby) on the Alabama Centennial half-dollar
1924 - British Egyptologist Howard Carter finds sarcophagus of Tutankhamun
1925 - Mussolini dissolves Italian parliament/becomes dictator
1926 - Greek General Theodorus Pángulos names himself dictator
1929 - 27 year old William S Paley becomes CBS president
1938 - March of Dimes established to fight polio
1939 - Gene Cox becomes 1st female page in US House of Representatives
1941 - Canada & US acquire air bases in Newfoundland (99 year lease); Italian counter offensive in Albania
1942 - American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command forms
1943 - 1st missing persons telecast (New York City NY); Canadian Army troops arrive in North Africa
1945 - Allies land on west coast of Burma, conquer Akyab; British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visits France; Greek General Plastiras forms government; US aircraft carriers attack Okinawa
1947 - William Dawson becomes 1st black to head congressional committee; 1st opening session of Congress to be televised
1952 - "Dragnet" with Jack Webb premieres on NBC TV
1955 - José Ramon Guizado becomes President of Panamá
1959 - Alaska admitted as 49th US state
1961 - Adam Clayton Powell elected Chairman of House Education & Labor; US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
1962 - Ground is broken for the Houston Astrodome; Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
1967 - Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys is indicted for draft evasion
1969 - Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., seated by Congress
1970 - Marxist government takes over in Congo
1974 - Arias Navarro succeeds Carrero Blanco as premier of Spain; Burma accepts its constitution
1977 - Apple Computer incorporated
1984 - Syria frees captured US pilot after appeal from Jesse Jackson
1985 - Israel government confirms resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews
1988 - Israel orders 9 Palestinian "instigators" deported from West Beirut; Margaret Thatcher becomes longest-serving British PM this century
1990 - Panamá's leader, General Manuel Noriega, surrenders to US authorities
1991 - Israel reopens consulate in USSR after 23 years
1992 - 32 Cubans defect to the US via helicopter
1994 - 100s killed in Venezuela in prison revolt; 35-foot-tall Chief Wahoo, trademark of Indians on top of Stadium since 1962, is taken down, to be moved to Jacob's Field
1994 - Tupolev-154M crashes at Irkutsk, Siberia 122 killed
1997 - Bryant Gumbel co-hosted his final "Today" show on NBC-TV
Birthdays106 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero Rome, statesman/author (Academica)
1624 - William Tucker, 1st Black child born in America
1763 - Joseph Fesch, French cardinal/war commission/earl/senator
1793 - Lucretia Coffin Mott, US teacher/minister/abolitionist/feminist
1810 - Eliza Von Bretton di Zerega, baroness
1819 - Thomas Hill Watts, Confederate Attorney General
1876 - Wilhelm Pieck, co-founder of German Communist Party/President (1949-60)
1879 - Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge, US First Lady (1923-29)
1883 - Clement Richard Attlee, British PM (1945-51)
1901 - Ngo Dinh Diem President/Dictator of South Vietnam (1955-63)
1902 - Henry Lennox d'Aubigny Hopkinson, diplomat/politician
1903 - Charles Foulkes, Canadian General
1916 - Betty Furness, actress/consumer activist (Studio 1)
1922 - Morten Nielsen, poet/resistance fighter
1924 - Henry M. Fazzie, South African Union/UDF-leader
1929 - Marilyn Lloyd (Representative-TN, 1975-1995)
1932 - Anatoli Petrovich Kuklin, cosmonaut
1934 - Carla Hills, politician (US Presidential Commission on Housing-1982)
1945 - Stephen Stills, singer/songwriter/guitarist (Crosby Stills & Nash)
1946 - John Paul Jones, rocker (Led Zeppelin)
1947 - Sergey Filipovich Protchenko, Russian cosmonaut
1956 - Mel Gibson, actor (Mad Max, Lethal Weapon)
1967 - Joseph Amor, video game record holder (Space Invaders)
Passings1322 - Philip V "the Tall," King of France (1316-22)
1543 - Juan Cabrillo, conqueror of Central America, discoverer of California
1552 - Henry II of Bavaria, bishop of Utrecht (1524-29), dies at 64
1560 - Peder Palladus, Danish church reformer (Visitasbog), dies at about 56
1570 - Bartholomeus Latomus [Steinmetz], Flemish archbishop of Trier, dies
1661 - Maria Henriëtte Stuart (of Orange), English Princess Royal/eldest daughter of the English king Charles I/mother of English king William III, dies of smallpox at 29
1670 - George Monck, English General (-to the-sea), dies at 61
1759 - Marquis & Marquess of Tavora, Portuguese nobles, executed
1835 - Willem F. Röell, Dutch baron/minister of Internal Affairs, dies at 67
1898 - James Wimshurst, British designer/inventor (vacuum pump), dies at 70
1915 - James E. Flecker, British diplomat/novelist (Hassan), dies at 30
1931 - Joseph J.C. Joffre, French marshal, dies at 78
1933 - Wilhelm Cuno, German Reich's chancellor (1922-23), dies at 56
1946 - William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw), hanged in Britain for treason
1967 - Jack Ruby, assassin who killed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies at 55
1972 - Frans Masereel, Flemish WWII resistance fighter (Le Soleil), dies at 82
1976 - Michael V. Love, US test pilot (X-24), dies in F-4 crash at 37
1977 - Avraham Ofer Israeli minister of housing, suicide
1979 - Conrad Hilton. US founder (Hilton Hotels), dies at 91
1988 - Gaston Eyskens, PM of Belgium (1949, 1958-61, 1968-72), dies at 82
1992 - Radomiro Tomic, Chilean President (1970), dies
1993 - Peter Brocco, blacklisted in the 1950's, dies of heart attack at 89
1995 - Byron MacGregor, newscaster, dies at 56
Reported Missing in Action1968Anderson, Roger D.,
US Army (TX); escaped January, 1968
Bean, James E.,
USAF (KY); F105D shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - alive as of 1998
** also flew 41 combat missions in the P-47 in France and Germany during WWII with the Army Air Corps **Ellis, Billy J.,
US Army (TN); disappeared during an attack on LZ Leslie - likely KIA
Estes, Edward D.,
USN (MO); A4C shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Captain - alive and well as of 1998
Lancaster, Kenneth R.,
US Army (MD); fell from skid of UH1H during extraction, likely Killed
1971Ayres, James H.,
USAF (TX); F4E crashed (w/Stratton)
Stratton, Charles W.,
USAF (TX); F4E crashed (w/Ayres)
The following US Army personnel reported MIA when their U6 disappeared:Holgun, Luis G. (CA)
Magee, Patrick J. (MT)
Omelia, Dennis W. (NC)
Okerlund, Thomas R. (WA)
Palen, Carl A. (IA)
Parsons, Michael D. (NV)
Rhodes, Ferris A., Jr. (SC)
1973Scaife, Kenneth Doyle,
USN (PA); drowned
1975Rawlings, James; remains ID'd February, 1974