Quote of the Day
"Proclaim liberty throughout all the land
unto all the inhabitants thereof - Lev. XXV, v. x..."
-- from the inscription on the Liberty Bell
News of Note
Operation Iraqi FreedomNew Bootleg Saddam Hanging VideoSaddam Tape Reveals Plan to Exterminate KurdsVIDEOS:
Saddam the Martyr? -
Saddam's Brutal Regime -
Translation of New Saddam Execution VideoPols: Bush Will Call of Troop 'Surge' in IraqDems Seek to Wield Budget Hammer on IraqIraq backs Bush troop plan, clashes in Baghdad -
Video50 militants said killed in Iraq battleHomeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah HappeningsU.S. Stages Payback AttackGunship strikes Al Qaeda hideout in Somalia -
VIDEOU.S. Jets From Redeployed Carrier Begin Surveillance FlightsChronology: U.S. involvement in SomaliaAuthorities: Miami package was harmlessItalian, U.S. agents urge govts to stop CIA trialGerman Court Gives Moroccan Max for 9/11Hamas and Fatah gunmen clash in Gaza -
VideoOther Military NewsU.S. Submarine and Japanese Ship Collide in Arabian SeaWorldwide WackosChavez Announces Plans to Move Toward 'Socialist Republic of Venezuela'N. Korea nuclear test likely: generalOlmert seeks tougher stand on Iran from ChinaMilitary.com Blog:
Israel to Employ Tactical Nukes?Politics / GovernmentDelay of Congress Called for BCS GameDemocrats ready to kick off "100-hour" agendaSchwarzenegger wants health care for all in CalifSharpton considers running for presidentHouse resumes stem cell research debateBritain's Blair faces trial by theater and TVImmigration / Border ControlTexas jury set to weigh smuggling deathsIn the Courts / Crime and PunishmentMan Accused of Killing Clemson Student With Bikini Top Appears in CourtDrugs, Alcohol Found in Prostitutes Discovered Dead Near Atlantic City Ivy League Professor Charged in Wife's Beating DeathKatrina insurance trial to beginMedia in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the WebBrazilian Phone Company Blocks YouTube Over Model Sex VideoYahoo redesigns Web search to run on mobile phonesMotorola sees media, Internet as '07 prioritiesScience / NatureWife Rescues Husband from Jaws of a Giant CrocodileMontserrat Volcano Shoots 5-Mile-High Ash Cloud -
PHOTOSWildfire destroys 4 homes in MalibuWild game herds of Serengeti: wonder or worry?Australia zoo puts humans on displayFish follow their noses back to tropical reefsBird deaths shut down downtown AustinNews from My Neck of the WoodsNY gas smell sends 19 to hospital -
VideoN.J. eyed as source of stench over NYC (You know...naaaah, too easy)OdditiesGirls Gone Wild: Texas Cheerleaders Terrorize TownWorld's Smallest 'Country' for SaleTexas-based pizza chain accepts Mexican pesosOther News of NoteIndonesia plane search focuses on undersea objectFox NewsIvy League Students Go Wild for Naked Parties (Mom and Dad must be so proud...)Report: Apple Cell Phone to Use CingularSharp Unveils 108-Inch Flat-Panel TVNo. 2 Florida Upsets No. 1 Ohio State 41-14 to Win College Football National Championship -
PHOTOSSharp Unveils 108-Inch Flat-Panel TVReport: Cingular to Provide Service for New Apple Cell PhoneReuters: Top NewsSweden's Sami struggle over land rightsU.S. health-care spending hits nearly $2 trillionVan Halen, R.E.M. among Rock hall of fame entrantsL.A. move does little to boost Trump's TV audienceApple shares up before product showEnergy ETF drops as crude price tumbleFutures rise on tech optimism; oil dropsMentor Graphics rises as outlook raisedOil plunges $2, crashes through key $55 level -
VideoThe CEO pay debateJust enough to eat at McDonald'sLSE steps up fight against NasdaqGE seeks bids for plastics unit: reportsSmall business optimism slips in Dec: surveySupervalu posts higher profitCitigroup sees $370 mln loss in Japan finance unitAP World NewsDow, Nasdaq poised to extend gainsAngelina Jolie: Madonna's adoption riskyGwynn, Ripken likely for Hall of FameCartoonist who created Scooby-Doo diesMan waives Oprah extortion case hearingSprint to cut 5,000 jobs; Stock plungesObituaries in the newsMother wanted in child killings arrestedSubway cars scrutinized after derailmentMilitary.comPlay Trivia and Win an iPodWorld's Largest Veteran's Job BoardGot Money Questions? Ask June!TRICARE Can Cut CostsFind Your Old Military BuddiesCENTCOM: News ReleasesU.S. NAVY SUBMARINE AND MERCHANT VESSEL COLLIDE IN STRAIT OF HORMUZMND-B ENGAGES IN ANTI-INSURGENT OPERATION MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION - BAGHDAD PAOIRAQI ARMY CELEBRATES 86TH BIRTHDAYIRAQI POLICE TAKE SUPPLIES TO SCHOOL IN RAMADIA DAY OF CARING FOR OTHERSIRAQI ARMY TROOPS FIND WEAPONS CACHEREGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM 5 WELCOMES ARMY BATTALIONIRAQI ARMY KILLS THREE INSURGENTS IN RAID TO CAPTURE INSURGENT LEADER NEAR BAQUBAHTWO CIVILIANS, ONE POLICE WOUNDED AFTER VIOLENT DEMONSTRATION DISPERSED IN SAMARRARAMADI POLICE CAPTURE INSURGENTS IN TA'MEEMFOUR TERRORISTS KILLED; TIED TO IED PRODUCTIONIRAQI HIGHWAY PATROL, PARATROOPERS WORK TOGETHER TO FIND, DESTROY BOMBJOINT OPERATION FINDS, SECURES IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE SOUTH OF BAGHDADPLANT RAIDS NET WEAPONS CACHES, DETAINS 32SOLDIERS CLEAN UP WITH HELP OF QUARTERMASTER COMPANYIRAQI ARMY FORCES DETAINS 7 MEMBERS OF IED CELL IN SAMARRACANADIAN SOLDIER JOINS U.S. RANKS TO CREATE A BETTER LIFE FOR FAMILYSUSPECTS DETAINED, WEAPONS TAKEN, LOCALS ASSISTEDIA, CF CONTINUE TO CLEAR SAFE HAVENNATIONAL POLICE DETAIN FOUR SUSPECTS, SEIZE WEAPONS CACHE IN SE BAGHDADTWO SUSPECTS DETAINED IN JOINT OPERATIONSOLDIERS CELEBRATE 3 KINGS DAY IN IRAQCOALITION FORCES SEIZE, DESTROY HOMEMADE EXPLOSIVES FACILITYBOMB-MAKING CELLS TARGETED IN RAIDS SOUTH OF BAGHDADUSJFCOMU.S. Joint Forces Command bringing together military, interagency for Multinational Experiment 5 -
podcast2006 -- The Year in ReviewUSJFCOM gets approval to connect U.S., Australian networks -
podcastDepartment of DefenseNEWS UPDATES
Coalition Forces Uncover Weapons -
StoryStability & Security in Iraq Report (pdf)For Top News Visit DefenseLinkON THE GROUNDNew Commander Discusses Challenges in Iraq -
StoryMarines Improve Conditions in Iraqi Bunkers -
StoryIraqi Soldiers Pressure Insurgents in Baghdad -
StorySoldiers Spruce up Observation Point -
StoryMaliki Joins Troops in Celebrating Army Day -
StoryIN IRAQIraqi Army, Police Team Up for Baghdad OpsSoldiers Celebrate Three Kings Day in IraqBuilding Becomes ‘Shining Light’ for Tal AfarIraqi Trainers Graduate 120 From Police AcademyParatroopers Seek to Build Trust in SamarraServicemembers Unite to Save Iraqi Girl's LifeIN AFGHANISTAN277th Named Army’s ‘Top Aviation Battalion’Panjshir Team Helps to Repair MosqueAfghan Officials, U.S. Troops Open Runway Chief of Chaplains Brings Support to Region Buccaneers Return from Afghanistan TourBACKGROUND
IRAQRenewal 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 BaseWeatherAfghanistan Bost/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 History1296 - Earl Floris V signs accord with French king
1317 - Phillips V, the Tall, crowned king of France
1349 - 700 Jews of Basel Switzerland, burned alive in their houses
1464 - 1st meeting of States-General of Netherlands
1493 - 1st sight of manatees (by Christopher Columbus)
1558 - Geneva becomes independent from Berne canton, Switzerland
1570 - Tsar Ivan the terrible kills 1000-2000 residents of Novgorod
1718 - France declares war on Spain
1760 - Afghans defeat Marathas in battle of Barari Ghat
1788 - Connecticut becomes 5th state
1792 - Russia & Turkey sign Peace of Jassy
1793 - Jean Pierre Blanchard makes 1st balloon flight in North America (Philadelphia)
1799 - Income Tax introduced in UK
1812 - Swedish Pomerania (Germany) seized by Napoleon
1834 -
HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin arrives in Port San Julian, Patagonia
1839 - Daguerrotype photo process announced at French Academy of Science; Thomas Henderson measures 1st stellar parallax (Alpha Centauri)
1848 - People's uprising in Palermo Sicily
1854 - Astor Library opens in New York City NY
1855 - Clipper
Guiding Star disappears in Atlantic, taking 480 with her
1857 - 7.9 earthquake shakes Fort Tejon CA
1861 - 1st hostile act of Civil War;
Star of the West fired on, Sumter SC; Mississippi becomes 2nd state to secede
1863 -Jan 11th] Battle of Arkansas Post AR (Fort Hindman)
1879 - Cheyenne prisoners led by Dull Knife revolt at Fort Robinson; Kirland Warbler discovered on Andros Island in Bahamas
1880 - 6' (1.8 meters) of snow falls in Seattle in 5 days
1894 - "Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze" released in movie theaters
1905 - Bloody Sunday-demonstrators fired on by tsarist troops
1908 - Frans Schollaert succeeds De Trooz as premier of Belgium
1909 - Ernest Shackleton reaches 88º23' south
1912 - US Marines invade Honduras
1923 - Juan de la Cierva makes 1st autogiro (helicopter) flight, Spain
1925 - German Postal Minister A Höfle resigns due to corruption
1936 - Semi-automatic rifles adopted by US army
1937 - Italian regime bans marriages between Italians & Abyssinians
1940 - 2 German officers make emergency landing in Belgium
1941 - Maiden flight by Canada's Avro Lancaster military plane; 6,000 Jews exterminated in pogrom in Bucharest Romania
1942 - US Joint Chiefs of Staff created
1943 - Japanese government in Java limits sale & use of motorcars
1945 - US soldiers led by General Douglas MacArthur invade Philippines
1952 - Belgian Pholien government resigns; Marines give notice that they will recall Ted Williams to active duty
1953 - Korean ferryboat "Chang Tyong-Ho" sank off Pusan killing 249
1956 - Abigail Van Buren's "Dear Abby" column 1st appears in newspapers; Samir el-Rifai forms government in Jordan
1957 - Checheno-Ingush ASSR reformed in RSFSR; Karachayevo-Cherkess Autonomous Region reestablished in RSFSR; British premier Anthony Eden resigns; Dutch Newspaper Society expels communist daily paper "Truth"
1959 - Dam across Tera River collapses after heavy winter rains, 135 die
1960 - Building of Aswan dam in Egypt, begins
1964 - Anti-US rioting breaks out in the Panamá Canal Zone
1968 - Surveyor 7 space probe soft lands on the Moon
1969 - Concorde jetliner's 1st test flight (Bristol England)
1970 - Constitution of Singapore enacted
1972 - Passenger ship Queen Elizabeth destroyed by fire
1973 - Luna 21 launched, to Moon
1978 - Commonwealth of Northern Marianas established
1979 - High-school player Daryl Moreau makes 126th consecutive free throwsj; Supreme Court strikes down (6-3) PA law requiring doctors performing an abortion to try to preserve lives of potentially viable fetuses
1980 - 63 beheaded in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
1981 - Francisco Balsamao elected President of Portugal
1982 - 5.9 earthquake in New England & Canada; 1st since 1855
1983 - British PM Margaret Thatcher visits the Falkland Islands
1987 - New Nicaraguan constitution takes effect; Chinese/Vietnamese border fights, 1500 killed
1989 - Johnny Bench & Carl Yastrzemski elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1990 - 64th US manned space mission STS 32 (Columbia 10) launches into orbit; Supreme Court strikes down Dallas' ordinance imposing strict zoning on sexually oriented businesses; Jim Palmer & Joe Morgan elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1991 - Baker & Aziz meet in Geneva; talks fail to defuse the Persian Gulf crisis; Baseball officially bans Pete Rose from being elected to Hall of Fame; Dean Smith of North Carolina is 6th to win 700 career coaching basketball games
1995 - Ecuador & Peru involved in boundary fight; Worker accidentally cuts electrical wires at Newark Airport
1998 - Anatoly Solovyov & Pavel Vinogradov spacewalk record 3 hours 8 minutes; Decapitated head of Danish Little Mermaid is returned
Birthdays1554 - Gregory XV (Alessandro Ludovisi), Roman Catholic pope (1621-23)
1803 - Christopher Gustavus Memminger, Confederate Secretary Treasurer
1816 - John Palmer Usher, Union Secretary of the Interior
1822 - John Porter Hatch, Union Brevet Major General
1832 - Esquire Maurits A de Savornin Lohman, Dutch Governor of Suriname
1859 - Carrie Lane Chapman, Catt women's rights leader/founder (League of Women Voters)
1913 - Richard Milhouse Nixon Yorba Linda CA, (R) 37th US President (1969-74); Peter John Norton naval diplomat/artist
1922 - Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea (1957-84); Har G. Khorana India/Canada bio-chemist (Nobel 1968)
1928 - Fernand J. St Germain (Representative-RI)
1933 - Robert Garcia (Representative-NY)
1935 - Dick Enberg, sportscaster
1938 - Aad Kosto, Dutch theologist/actor/assistant Secretary of Justice
1952 - Eveline L. Herfkens Dutch MP
Passings1324 - Marco Polo, Italian explorer
1499 - Johan Cicero, elector of (Brandenburg, 1486-99), dies at 43
1798 - Pedro Pablo Abarca d Bolea, Earl of Aranda Spanish officer, dies at 79
1843 - Caroline Herschel, "1st lady of astronomy", dies at 98 in Germany
1878 - Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia (1849-61)/Italy (1861-78), dies at 57
1879 - Don Joaquin B.F. Espartero, field marshall/viceroy of Navarra, dies at 86
1941 - Ko Boezeman, Dutch resistance fighter, dies
1995 - Souphanouvong (Red Prince), President of Laos (1975-87), dies at 85
1997 - Edward Osobka-Morawski, Prime Minister of Poland (1945-47), dies
Reported Missing in Action1966Schimberg, James P.,
US Army (IA); OV1C shot down (w/Williams), remains returned December, 1998
Williams, Thaddeus E.,
US Army (AL); OV1C shot down (w/Schimberg), remains returned December, 1998
1968
Daly, James A., Jr.,
US Army (NY); disappeared during ground action, released by PRG March, 1973 - deceased
Green, Norman M.,
USAF (DC); F4D shot down (w/Irsch)
Irsch, Wayne C.,
USAF (OK); F4D shot down (w/Green)
Newton, Warren E.,
US Army (OR); UH1C shot down
Phipps, James L.,
US Army (IL); UH1C shot down
Ramos, Rainier S.,
US Army (WA); UH1C shot down
Rehe, Richard R.,
US Army (CA); disappeared during ground action - DIC January, 1968 according to Daly
Sykes, Derri,
US Army (IL); disappeared during ground action - DIC October, 1968 according to Daly
Watkins, Willie A.,
US Army (NC); released November, 1969
1969Byrd, Hugh M., Jr.,
US Army (KY); O1G shot down (pilot, w/O'Brien)
O'Brien, Kevin,
US Army (NY); O1G shot down (observer, w/Byrd)