10,000 WREATHS
Charles "Chuck" Wright, commander of the Kansas City Composite Squadron, a civil air patrol, salutes after he places a wreath on the son of a veteran, Dec. 15, 2007, at Arlington National Cemetery. Wright, a Vietnam War Marine veteran, volunteered to place some of the 10,000 wreaths donated by the Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine. Defense Dept. photo by Linda Hosek - Story - Photos - Video

Labels: Arlington National Cemetery, Fallen Heroes, Supporting the troops, USMC, Veterans, Worcester Wreath Company

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Ceremony Marks Iraqi Control of Basra
U.S. Troops Discover, Destroy al-Qaida Tunnel Network
Army Engineers Open Road in Mosul

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Israel kills top Gaza militant and five others dead - Video
Senate postpones consideration of spy bill
Congress seeks passport rule delay

Other Military News
Japan Successfully Intercepts Missile in Space from Ship

Religion of Peace??
Report: Saudi King Pardons Teen Female Rape Victim Sentenced to 200 Lashes
For Muslim Brides 'Re-Virginizing' Matter of Life, Death
Muslim pilgrims prepare for peak of haj east of Mecca

Worldwide Wackos
Iran On Our Doorstep? - Islamic republic makes push into Nicaragua
Iran Gets Russian Nuclear Fuel; Critics Object
Fidel Castro: Dictator Emeritus?
Venezuela says U.S. trying to divide Latin America

Politics / Government
Congress Submits Final, $542 Billion Budget Bill; White House Fears Eased
Barack Obama Goes to Church, Talks About His Faith Amid Internet Muslim Rumors
Road to the White House Defies Tradition
Bush wants market solutions for U.S. airline delays
U.S. security envoy to hold talks in Israel
California health reform passes first vote
Second votes could sway Iowa Democratic race - Video
White House told to detail Christian leader visits
Hillary Clinton seeks to warm up her image
McCain basks in ex-Dem Lieberman support
Judge: White House logs are public
Giuliani pins hopes on big later states
Bush says US economy is safe and sound
Bush says he hopes to sign budget bill
Putin seeks prime minister's post

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
War On the Border - Officials: agents attacked over 1,000 times
Crime-hit Mexico border city digs up unknown bodies

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
7-Year-Old 'Angel to Her Mother' Fights for Life
Missouri Man Reportedly Kills Wife, Her Friend, Then Himself in Domestic Dispute
Officials: Escaped Inmates Put Bikini Photos Over Holes in Walls
Robert William Fisher Wanted for Fatally Shooting Wife, Slitting Kids' Throats
Teacher Sex Figure Lafave to Appear in Court - PHOTOS
4 Dead Men Found in Ohio Beaten, Stabbed in Heart
'Leprechaun Bandit' Gets 14 Years in Prison
Millionaires Found Guilty in 'Modern-Day Slavery' Case

Adventures in Political Correctness
Girl, 10, Arrested for Using Knife to Cut Food at School

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
FOX TV Reporter Refuses to Give In to Skin Disorder Turning Him White - PHOTOS
Hajj intimidating for secular reporter

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
Report: EMS Mistakenly Declares Woman Dead at Crash Scene
Ancient Oversized Armadillo-Like Species Discovered
Giant Rat Discovered in Jungle From the 'Lost World'
Short legs linked to liver disease in study
Some psoriasis linked to higher death rates: study
"Bully" black hole blasts nearby galaxy: NASA
Norway plans world's first ship tunnel
Apple launch of Leopard system its best ever: group
Nintendo sees strong DS sales, frowns on Wii bundles
Americans worry Chinese-made toys unsafe: poll
WHO urges vigilance as bird flu spreads
US corn boom has downside for Gulf (Knew ethanol was gonna come back to bite us - the fertilizer growing all that extra corn is killing the Gulf...gotta love moonbat initiatives)
Caught on tape: Death star galaxy

Mother Nature
Snowstorm Pounds Great Lakes, New England - PHOTOS
Thousands lack power days after storm

Oddities
Alleged Terrorist: ‘We Were Hunting Nessie’
How to Survive a Fall From a 47-Story High-Rise
Accident-prone driver caught again at 100
Property bust? Lunar land prices are rocketing

Fox News
Canadians Strip Off Old Clothes on U.S. Shopping Trips
FOXBusiness: Three Tips on How to Avoid Holiday Debt
Private Jets and Million-Dollar Bras: Gifts for the Rich and Famous
Pop Tarts: Victoria's Secret Supermodels Reveal the Power of the Bra

Reuters
Grammy-winning jazz producer Joel Dorn dies at 65
ANC to vote on Mbeki's fate amid signs of comeback
Depp named top autograph signer as Ferrell bombs
Pamela Anderson plans divorce, then scraps it
TV hosts Leno, O'Brien to return despite strike - Video
New Goldman hedge fund to start with over $6 billion
December home builder sentiment holds at record low
Paulson welcomes banks' steps on subprime debt
Merrill hires ex-executive Kronthal to sort subprime woes
Ingersoll-Rand to buy Trane in cash, stock deal
Guy Hands' Xmas gift compares market now to 1929
New Fed term auction to draw decent demand
UBS sees $4 bln in Ambac losses from subprime CDOs
Ghost of stagflation past spooks Wall Street
Asia shares bruised by stagflation worry, JGBs up - Video
Oil steady as eyes possible OPEC hike
Adobe 4th quarter profit up 21 percent on strong revenue
United Rentals stock up 6 percent on settlement hopes
Dollar steadies, Fed rate view supports for now - Video
Trane shares rise on Ingersoll-Rand deal
United Rentals shares rise after trial delay
Illinois Tool cuts profit estimate, shares fall
Life support can't cure

AP World News
Stocks fall amid economic worries
Do the late shows want your jokes? No!
Opportunistic Bears lead Vikings
Peterson to play for Bears AND Vikings
Rihanna shrugs off Hartnett rumors
Widow takes husband's ashes to NFL game
AP Poll: North Carolina still No. 1
2 women tried to revive Donda West
Rich Rodriguez: Michigan's man
Friend: Diana didn't seek to wed Dodi

CENTCOM: News Releases
MNC-I SOLDIER DIES FROM NON-COMBAT RELATED INJURY
BY CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES PATRICIA A. BUTENIS AND GENERAL DAVID H. PETRAEUS ON THE TRANSFER OF SECURITY RESPONSIBILITY FOR BASRA PROVINCE

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
Upgrading Maysan’s 33kV Feeder Lines
Coalition forces disrupt al-Qaeda operations; five terrorists killed, 11 detained (Baghdad)
Air Force MQ-1 crashes in Iraq
'Black Lions" capture suspected extremist leader
Arrests dent extremist cash flow (Doura)
MNC-I Soldier dies from non-combat related injury (Camp Taji)
MND-Center Soldiers secure caches, detain 2 suspected AQI operatives

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
Bush: Troops Getting Best Medical Care Possible
Iraqis Gain Control Of Basra
Success in Iraq, Afghanistan Critical to Military Way Ahead, Mullen Says
USO Tour Enters High Gear During Show in Kuwait
Photos: USO, Mullen Make Holiday Visit
Chairman Brings Holiday Cheer

IRAQ NEWS
Commander Reflects on Successes in Baghdad
Entertainers Bring Cheer to Troops
Troops Get Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids
Coalition Seizes Suspected Terrorists

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
Soldiers Visit School, Talk with Elders
Troops Detain Two, Aid Attack Victims

MILITARY NEWS
Travel Policy Change Benefits Military Families
Defense Travel System Maintains Customer Focus

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
"Guardian Eagles" Help Needy Troops
Volunteers Lay Wreaths at Arlington Cemetery - Photos - Video

FACE OF DEFENSE
Cooks Boost Morale

WHY WE SERVE
Marine Carries Legacy

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
0283 - St. Gaius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1526 - Ferdinand of Austria chosen as King of Bohemia; Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero - forms Inquisition
1538 - Pope Paul III excommunicated England's King Henry VIII
1572 - Spanish army begins fires in Haarlem Netherlands
1587 - Earl Leicesters army leaves Netherlands
1638 - French/Swedish troops occupy Breisach on the Rhine
1718 - England declares war on Spain
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charles army retreats to Scotland
1777 - France recognizes independence of English colonies in America; George Washington's army returns to Valley Forge PA
1788 - Russian army of Grigorij Potemkin occupies Ochárov
1790 - Aztec calendar stone discovered in México City
1791 - NYC traffic regulation creates 1st 1-way street
1792 - Opening of 1st legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Québec City
1798 - 1st impeachment trial against a US senator (William Blount, Tennessee) begins
1819 - Congress of Angostura establishes Colombia's independence from Spain
1821 - Kentucky abolishes debtors prisons
1832 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin sails in Strait Le Maire
1852 - 1st Hawaiian cavalry organized
1862 - General US Grant issues order #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee
1864 - Battle of Franklin, TN
1875 - Violent bread riots in Montréal
1885 - France declares Madagascar a protectorate
1895 - George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine (Massachusetts)
1900 - 1st prize of 100,000 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials. Martians excluded-considered too easy; New Ellis Island Immigration station completed costing $1.5 million
1903 - At 10:35 AM, 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight (Orville Wright)
1907 - Ugyen Wangchuck became 1st hereditary king of Bhutan
1909 - Leopold II, king of Belgium, buried in Brussels
1914 - Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities; Austrian troops beat Russians in Limanova Poland; Great Britain declares Egypt a protectorate
1920 - British Empire receives League of Nations mandate to Nauru; Japan receives League of Nations mandate over Pacific islands; South Africa receives League of Nations mandate over SW Africa
1922 - Last British troops leave Ireland Freestate
1923 - Greek king George II overthrown by army/republic
1925 - Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell court-martial for insubordination; Russia & Turkey sign non-aggresion pact
1926 - German Marx government falls due to cooperation with red army; Lithuanian military state under General Augustine Woldemaras
1927 - US sub 'S-4' sinks after collision kills all 34 aboard
1933 - Spain's 2nd Government of Lerroux forms
1939 - German pocket battleship Graf Spee scuttled by its crew off Uruguay
1940 - British troops occupies Sollum
1941 - German troops led by Rommel begin retreating in North Africa; Dutch & Australian troops lands on Portuguese-Timor; German submarine U-31 sunk
1942 - Allies in London sentence German war criminals
1943 - Transport 63 departs with French Jews to Nazi-Germany
1944 - US Army announces end of excluding Japanese-Americans from West Coast; Japanese-Americans are released from detention camps; US destroyers sink in storm off Philippines, 790 killed
1946 - US V-2 rocket reaches 183 km, White Sands Proving Grounds NM
1949 - Burma recognizes People's Republic of China
1951 - Dutch Communist Party members forbidden to be civil servants
1957 - US successfully test-fires Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile
1961 - Disgruntled employee set fire to a Niteroi Circus of Rio de Janeiro circus tent in Niteroi Brazil - 323 die; India seizes Goa & 2 other Portuguese colonies
1962 - Current constitution of Monaco promulgated
1963 - Tsjoi Doo Sun forms government in South Korea; West & East Berlin sign accord about travel rules
1965 - Largest newspaper-Sunday New York Times at 946 pages (50¢); British government proclaims end of oil-embargo against Rhodesia
1969 - USAF closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings
1971 - Cease-fire between India & Pakistan in Kashmir
1972 - New line of control agreed to in Kashmir between India & Pakistan
1973 - Arab terrorists shoot passengers on Boeing 737 to Kuwait
1975 - John Paul Stevens appointed to the Supreme Court; Lynette Fromme is sentenced to life for attempt on President Ford's life
1978 - Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda; OPEC raises oil prices 18%
1979 - Budweiser rocket car reaches 1190 kph (record for wheeled vehicle)
1980 - Mauritania provisional constitution published
1981 - Members of the Red Brigades kidnap Brigadier-General James L Dozier
1983 - Bomb attack on Harrod's war house in London, 5 killed, 94 injured; Disco in Madrid catches fire; 83 die
1986 - Mrs Davina Thompson makes medical history by having the 1st heart, lung & liver transplant (Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England); US Congress forms "Irangate" committee
1987 - Czechoslovak party leader Gustav Husák resigns
1988 - USS Tennessee, 1st sub to carry Trident 2 missiles, commissioned
1989 - Brazil elects conservative Fernando Collor de Mello president
1991 - Patrick Manning becomes premier of Trinidad & Tobago
1992 - General Suwa finds tooth of 4.4 million year old Australopithecus ramidus
1993 - Bangladesh moslems call for murder of feminist Taslima Nasrin
1994 - KLM's last DC-10 goes out of service

Birthdays:
1734 - William Floyd, US soldier/signer of the Declaration of Independence
1778 - Sir Humphrey Davy, discovered several chemical elements
1797 - Joseph Henry, scientist/inventor/pioneer of electromagnetism
1801 - Johan, king of Saxon (1854-73) (translated Divina Commedia)
1819 - Samuel Jones, Major General
1820 - Frederick Tracy Dent, Union Brigadier-General
1821 - Frederick West Lander, Union Brigadier-General
1824 - Manning Ferguson Force, Union Brevet Major General
1833 - James Thadeus Holtzclaw, Confederate Brigadier-General
1894 - Arthur Fiedler, conductor (Boston Pops); Willem Schermerhorn, Netherlands premier (1945-46)
1909 - Ferdinand H. Aus der Fünten, German war criminal (Breda 4)
1930 - Robert (C.J. Edward) Guccione, adult magazine publisher
1970 - Benedictine (St. Bernard) becomes heaviest known dog (137 kg)

Passings:
1187 - Gregory VIII (Alberto de Morra), Italian Pope (1187)
1195 - Boudouin V, count of Hainault/Flanders (Boudouin VIII)
1471 - Isabella of Portugal, duchess of Burgundy
1830 - Simon Bolivar, President of Colombia, dies at 47 in Colombia
1891 - Msiri, king of Garanganja (Katanga), dies in battle; Omer Bodson Belgian captain, dies in battle
1893 - Levinus T. Keuchenius, Dutch Minister of Colonies (1888-90), dies at 71
1909 - Leopold II, king of Belgium dies
1967 - Harold Holt, Australian premier (1966-67), drowns at 59
1969 - Arturo da Costa e Silva President of Brazil (1967-69), dies at 67
1991 - John Blatnik (Representative-MN, 1947-75), dies at 80
1996 - Stanko Todorov. PM of Bulgaria (1971-81)

Reported Missing in Action
1967
Boyer, Terry L., USAF (CA); F4D shot down (w/Fleenor), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive as of 1998

Ellis, Jeffrey T., USAF (NJ); F105 shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Brigadier General - alive as of 1998

Fleenor, Kenneth R., USAF (KY); F4D shot down (w/Boyer), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Brigadier General - alive and well as of 1998

Labels: Headlines, History