ARABIAN SEA — Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Ashley Sharp checks for blemishes to ensure proper aerodynamics on the tail of an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile in the hangar bay aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, March 10, 2007. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in support of maritime security operations. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Rafael Duffie

Labels: military women, photos, US Navy, USS John C. Stennis

News of Note
Operation Iraqi FreedomSigns of Progress for Iraq Crackdown
U.S., Iraqi Officials Upbeat on Security
Ernie Is Dead: Web Correspondent Michael Yon Reports From Iraq (Fox News publishes an unabridged post by Michael Yon)
Senate Begins Debate on Iraq Pullout by 2008 (Hell, the Dems have got to go for a pullout now...the surge is working! They can't allow that - we actually might have a clear victory!)
U.S. says car bombs a concern despite Baghdad plan
Iraqi president returns after treatment
GOP set to derail troop withdrawal bill
Military.com Poll: Will the Surge Work?

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Feds: Chiquita Did Business With Terror Groups
U.S. plans new financial sanctions on Sudan
Judge: USS Cole Blast Is Sudan's Fault
Palestinian factions agree on unity cabinet (And by the time you finish reading this sentence, the deal will be off again...)

Other Military News
Navy Makes Contact With Silent Sub
Gay-rights groups criticize Pentagon on dismissals

Worldwide Wackos
Iranian Officials Angry Over 'Hostile Portrayal' in Hollywood Hit Movie '300' (Oh, BOO FLIPPIN' HOO....just makes me want to see it more)

Politics / Government
Former N.J. Gov. McGreevey Seeks Custody of 5-Year-Old Daughter, Child Support From Wife
Bush 'Not Happy' With Firing Flap - SPEAKOUT!
Drumbeat of bad news trails Bush in Latin America - Video
Putin and Prodi want EU-Russia talks to start soon
Texas lawmakers vote on cancer vaccine
Republican says Gonzales should be fired

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
Mexican President Criticizes Border Fence, Asks Bush to Curb U.S. Drug Use
Bush to push for immigration legislation

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment
Is Missing Boy Alive?
'Concealing death' charges filed, no body found - VIDEO
New York City Police Launches Manhunt for Thug Who Attacked 101-Year-Old Woman
Couple Charged With Trying to Arrange Sex With 5-Year-Old Girl
Wisconsin Man Charged With Choking, Beating Wife to Death Outside of Police Station (Don't you feel safe now?)
Redirect: Tennessee Cops Have Hair-Raising Experience With Drunk Driver
'Concealing Death' Charges Filed in Case of Missing Georgia Boy
Jury Deciding Life or Death for Couey
Judge Drops Charges Against HP Chair Dunn
'Top Model' Designer Accused of Rape

Science / Medicine / Technology
Pills May Cause 'Sleep-Driving,' FDA Warns
Court: Dying Woman Still Can't Smoke Weed
Effects of chickenpox vaccine fade over time: study
Don't have a heart attack on the weekend: study
Birds may get bearings from beak sensors
Odd rock may have spawned asteroid family

Mother Nature
Slumbering Supervolcano (Uh Oh....Yellowstone is making some noise...)

Oddities
Boy, 6, Stays in Home 2 Days With Dead Dad
Firefighter Donates Bone Marrow, Docked Pay
Neighbors, Family of Deceased Man Found in Home 18 Months After Rita Unsure How He Went Unnoticed
Mom's solution to cramped living
Serial lingerie thief arrested
Prosecutor: Unicorn defense was a mixup

Fox News
Top Dog: Mackey Wins Iditarod - PHOTOS
Mario Vazquez Is Not a Bad 'Idol'
Fame-o-Phobia: What Scares the Stars?
Pop Tarts: K-Fed Getting Out the Britney Shears?
Lance Mackey Wins Iditarod Sled Dog Race
Roger Daltrey Walks Out of The Who Concert During First Song, Blames Bronchitis

Reuters: Top News
Mortgage troubles - Hispanics hit hard
Top investor sees U.S. property crash
Homeowners expect steady house prices
Class-action lawyers pounce in crisis
Will an equity hit keep the bears at bay?
Home builders assess exposure
FAQ: Trouble in the mortgage market
Mugabe warns Zimbabwe opposition of "heavy price"
Britain votes to stay nuclear despite revolt
Microsoft service to link console, PC gamers online
NBC to offer on-demand mobile television service
"Gay fairytales" anger British religious groups
Bandits plunder art, churches, pubs for pricey metal
CBS, "Guiding Light" lead Daytime Emmy nominations - Video
Jolie arrives in Vietnam to adopt child
Indexes recover as investors buy financials
Oil rises on U.S. fuel draw, eyes on OPEC
Mortgage insurers fall on National City exposure
Dollar rallies vs yen as equities gain
Barclays demands New Century buy back loans
Foreign love for U.S. assets at risk
GE investors are wondering what's next
Subprime woes hit global investors, corporations - Video
GM swings to profit but falls short of estimates
Freeport, Phelps shareholders approve deal
Ford tells Congress it has realistic business plan
Banking & Finance: Barclays demands New Century buy back loans
Consumer Products & Retail: Home Depot CEO says no plans to go private
Health: Baxter targets sales rise of at least 6 pct a year
Tech, Media & Telco: Microsoft to buy voice recognition company Tellme
S.African parents complain about Oprah school rules
Greece's first health food on-the-go a hit
Italy resists "Pinocchio plonk" aging techniques - Video

AP World News
La. governor outraged over faulty pumps
Furor over Baptist's gay-baby article
Bob Barker up for 18th Daytime Emmy
The Dow goes below 12,000, then recovers
Last-place Bucks fire coach Terry Stotts
Americans assume control of Liverpool (Teh soccer club, not the city)
Trumpeter reports to federal prison
Family: Delp's death was suicide
Virile gorilla leads to baby boom at zoo
Angels' Matthews denies taking HGH
DA will ID sports drug-buyers to leagues
GM swings to 4Q profit
Universal giving free tickets to movie
Lohan's dad released from prison
Niagara tops Fla. A&M in NCAA play-in

Military.com
Forum: The Thousand Ship Navy
DT: Pam Hess on the War
Blog: Ernie Pyle is Dead
Advisors: Fighting TRICARE Increases
Finance: Get Money Smart for Springtime
NASCAR

USJFCOM
NATO military committee visits USJFCOM
More about USJFCOM and Allied Command Transformation
JIOC-X continues to improve intelligence support for joint warfighter - podcast
New data technology makes aerial reconnaissance video available to users in the field - podcast
Congressman calls command modeling and simulation hub - podcast

DefenseLink
General Notes Downturn in Violence in Iraq - Story
U.S. Diplomat Feels Renewed Sense of Hope - Story
Troops Reach Out to America via YouTube - Story
Aberdeen Test Center Focuses on Warfighters - Story
Medical Review Group Hosts First Meeting - Story

More Headline News
Gates Reflects on Leadership, Troop Support
Gates: Baghdad Security Plan Encouraging So Far
Leaders Support 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy
Wounded Servicemembers Become U.S. Citizens

Military News
Army Guard Leader Visits Troops in Afghanistan
Commander Wants to End One-Year Tours
Multi-service Crew Fights War on Terror in Afghanistan

War on Terror
Program Focuses on Training - Story
Soldier, Marine Killed in Iraq
Soldiers Uncover Four Caches

America Supports You
WWE Honors Wounded Troops - Story
Association Honors Supporters
Overseas Troops Enjoy Gifts
Firefighters Thank Injured Vets

Transformation
Idea Encourages Recycling
Air Force Notes 50th Launch
Future Bright for Space Assets
Marines Finish Corporals Course

Face of Defense
Couple Serves Together in Iraq - Story
Brothers Reunite in Kuwait
Son Motivates Marine's Success

DefendAmerica
NEWS UPDATES
Program Shifts Focus to Training - Story

ON THE GROUND
U.S., Iraqi Leaders Open Teachers' Institute - Story
Man's Best Friends Search Iraq Countryside - Story
Metal Shop Workers Help Ensure Troops' Safety - Story
U.S. Army Engineers Visit Remote School Project - Story
Iraqi Soldiers Keep 1st Division on the Road - Story

IN IRAQ
Navy's Top Lawyer Visits Military Legal Team
Iraqi Substation Provides Reliable Power Supply
Transition Teams Key to Iraqi Forces' Success
Army Medics Providing Vital Support to Marines

IN KENYA
Chaplain Meets with Kenyan Religious Leaders

BACKGROUND
IRAQ
Renewal In Iraq
Iraq: Security, Stability
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Weekly Reconstruction Report (PDF)
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Update Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

Weather
Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Germany
Ansbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld Bremerhaven
Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
Agana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan Barrigada

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

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Today in History
1558 - Ferdinand I appointed Holy Roman emperor
1559 - Storm floods ravage Gorinchem, Dordrecht & Woudrichem, Netherlands
1590 - Battle at Ivry: French King Henri IV beats Catholic League
1629 - England grants a royal charter to Massachusetts Bay Colony
1644 - England grants patent for Providence Plantations (now Rhode Island)
1653 - Johan van Galen beats English fleet at Livorno
1689 - Scotland dismisses Willem III & Mary Stuart as King and Queen
1743 - 1st American town meeting (Boston's Faneuil Hall)
1794 - Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin
1800 - Luigi Chiaramonti crowned Pope Pius VII
1812 - Congress authorizes war bonds to finance War of 1812
1826 - General Congress of South American States assembles at Panamá
1836 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin leaves Australia
1862 - Battle of New Bern, NC: General Burnside conquers New Bern
1864 - Union troops occupy Fort de Russy, Louisiana
1870 - California legislature approves act making Golden Gate Park possible
1900 - Hugo de Vries rediscovers Mendel's laws of genetics; US currency goes on gold standard
1903 - 1st national bird reservation established in Sebastian FL
1909 - Amsterdam Social-Democratic Party (SDP) forms
1912 - King Vittorio Emanuel III of Rome injured during assassination attempt
1914 - Serbia & Turkey sign peace treaty
1915 - German cruiser Dresden blows itself up near coast of Chile
1916 - Battle of Verdun: German attack on Mort-Homme ridge, West of Verdun
1918 - 1st concrete ship to cross the Atlantic (Faith) is launched, San Francisco
1923 - Allies accepts Vilnus taking East-Galicië in Poland
1923 - President Warren G. Harding became 1st President to file income tax report and pay taxes
1936 - Federal Register, 1st magazine of the US government, publishes 1st issue
1937 - Pope Pius XI publishes anti-Nazi-encyclical Mit brennender Sorge
1939 - Nazi Germany dissolves Republic of Czechoslovakia
1940 - 27 killed, 15 injured when truck full of migrant workers collides with a train outside McAllen TX
1941 - Nazi occupiers of Holland forbid Jewish owned companies
1945 - RAF bomb cuts railway link Hannover-Hamm
1946 - Belgian government of Spaak, forms
1948 - Freedom Train arrives in San Francisco
1950 - FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" program begins
1951 - During Korean War, US/UN forces recapture Seoul; Earthquake at Euskirchen, Germany
1953 - Nikita Khrushchev succeeds Malenkov as Secretary of Communist Party
1955 - Prince Mahemdra becomes king of Nepal
1957 - Indonesian government of Sastroamidjojo resigns
1958 - South Africa government disallows ANC
1960 - 14 die in a train crash in Bakersfield, CA
1962 - Disarmament conference opens in Geneva without France
1964 - Dallas jury sentences Jack Ruby to death for Lee Harvey Oswald murder
1965 - Israeli cabinet approves diplomatic relations with West Germany
1967 - JFK's body moved from temporary grave to a permanent memorial
1968 - CBS TV suspends Radio Free Europe free advertising because RFE doesn't make it clear it is sponsored by the CIA; POM performs atmospheric nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
1971 - South Vietnamese troops flee Laos
1973 - Liam Cosgrave appointed president of Ireland
1980 - Polish airliner crash kills all 87 aboard (22 are US amateur boxers)
1983 - OPEC cut oil prices for 1st time in 23 years
1986 - European Space Agency's Giotto flies by Halley's Comet (605 km)
1990 - Mikhail S. Gorbachev becomes president of the Soviet Congress
1991 - British Court of Appeal frees "Birmingham 6" who had been unjustly sentenced in August 1975 to life imprisonment; Emir of Kuwait returns to Kuwait City, after the Iraqis leave
1992 - Soviet newspaper "Pravda" suspends publication
1994 - Soyuz TM-21 launches with V Dezyurov, G Strekalov & N Thagard
1995 - 1st time 13 people in space
1997 - Iranian military plane crashes, killing 80

Birthdays
1692 - Peter Musschenbroek, Dutch physician/physicist (Leyden jar)
1782 - Thomas Hart Benton (Representative), "Old Bullion"
1808 - Catharinus Putnam Buckingham, Union Brigadier General
1816 - Montgomery Dent Corse, Confederate Brigadier General
1820 - Victor Emmanuel II, King of Sardinia (1849-61)/Italy (1861-78)
1823 - Roswell Sabine Ripley, Confederate Brigadier General
1833 - John Sappington Marmaduke, Confederate Major General; Lucy Hobbs Taylor, 1st US woman dentist (1866)
1835 - Giovanni V. Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer (Mars)
1837 - Charles Ammi Cutter, US librarian (Expansive classification/originated Cutter system)
1844 - King Umberto I of Italy (1878-1900)
1854 - Paul Ehrlich, German bacteriologist (Nobel-1908); Thomas Riley Marshall, 28th Vice President (1913-21)
1862 - Vilhelm F.K. Bjerknes, Norwegian/US physicist/meteorology
1864 - [John] Casey Jones, RR engineer (Ballad of Casey Jones)
1879 - Albert Einstein, (E=mc²/Theory of Relativity, Nobel 1921)
1920 - Hank Ketcham, cartoonist (Dennis the Menace)
1928 - Frank Borman, astronaut (Gemini 7, Apollo 8)/CEO-Eastern Airlines
1934 - Eugene A. Cernan, Captain USN/astronaut (Gemini 9, Apollo 10 17)
1939 - William Benjamin Lenoir, astronaut (STS-5)
1947 - Billy Crystal, comedian (Soap, Saturday Night Live, City Slickers); Jan [AJ] te Veldhuis, Dutch MP (VVD); William Jefferson (Representative-LA)
1956 - Natalya Dmitriyevna Kuleshova, cosmonaut
1963 - Pedro Duque, engineer/astronaut (STS 78 alternate, sk-95)
1967 - Edward M. Fincke, Captain USAF/astronaut

Passings
1490 - Charles I, Duke of Savoy, dies at 21
1573 - Claude II of Lotharingen, Duke of Aumale/murdered Admiral Coligny
1590 - Philip van Egmont General/Prince of Gavere, dies in battle at 30
1647 - Frederik Hendrik, Count of Nassau/prince of Orange, dies at 63
1757 - John Byng, English Admiral (Minorca), executed at 52
1811 - August Henry Fitzroy, English premier (1768-70), dies at 75
1925 - Walter Camp father of American football, dies at 65
1932 - George Eastman, US industrialist (Kodak-camera), suicide at 77
1953 - Klement Gottwald, Premier/President of Czechoslovakia, dies at 56
1973 - Murat B. "Chic" Young, US comic strip artist (Blondie), dies at 72
1986 - Marlin Perkins, TV host (Wild Kingdom) at 80
1989 - Zita, Empress of Austria/Queen of Hungary, dies at 96
1992 - Steven Brian Pennell, 1st execution in Delaware in 45 years, at 34
1995 - William A. Fowler, US nuclear/astro-physicist (Nobel 1983), dies at 83

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Hilton, Robert L., USAF (MD); HU16B shot down (w/Pleiman)

Klute, Karl Edwin, (IN)

Pleiman, James E., USAF (OH); HU16B shot down (w/Hilton) - remains returned March, 1989

1968
Hamm, James E., USAF (CO); F100D shot down - KIA, body not recovered

1972
Hardy, Arthur Hans, USAF (MA); F4D shot down - remains returned September, 1983

Got some work stuff to take care of this morning - posts will be up this afternnoon.


In the meantime, check out Michael Yon's latest dispatch - which Fox News has published in its entirety on their website. See it here:

Ernie Is Dead: Web Correspondent Michael Yon Reports From Iraq