News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Severed Fingers of Kidnapped Westerners Sent to U.S. Officials in Iraq
Iraq archbishop kidnappers wanted $1 million: police
Detroit's Cardinal Maida on Killing of Iraqi Archbishop
Statement on the Murder of the Archbishop Paulo Faraj Rahho
Study: Antiwar Reporting Helps Iraq Insurgents (No surprise)
Raven B Soars to Iraq
Operation Golden Shovel breaks ground for a brighter future in Balad
Significant caches found in Anbar
Ramadi’s Recovery Illustrates Success in Iraq

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Man Pleads Guilty in Alaskan Pipeline Terror Plot
U.S. convenes meeting on Israeli-Palestinian plan
FBI disregarded secret court on private records
Al-Qaida sets deadline for held tourists
Austria says won't bow to Al Qaeda demands
Egypt Islamists in hiding ahead of vote (The Muslim Brotherhood - Al Qaeda pals)

Fallen Heroes
DoD Identifies Army Casualties (Balad Ruz)

Wounded Warriors
Medical Care on Right Track

Other Military News
Military sees fewer sex assault reports

Religion of Peace??
Dutch warn EU of possible anti-Koran video backlash

Worldwide Wackos
Iranians Vote for Parliament; Reformists Barred
U.S. to follow up on nuclear talks with North Korea
US sees progress but no NKorean pact

Homegrown Moonbats
Weather Channel Founder: Sue Al Gore for Fraud (I like it - let's settle this once and for all!)

Politics / Government
Tax Cuts Die, Pork Lives - House, Senate pass $3 trillion budget plans (Pretty much makes Congress' priorities clear, doesn't it?)
House Closes Doors for Secret Session to Discuss Spy Bill
McCain: I'll Fight Pullout From Iraq
Pelosi: Clinton-Obama Dream Ticket a Fantasy
Hillary Clinton Revisited and Reviled
Is Sexism Hurting the Clinton Campaign?
Will Oprah's Words Work for Obama in Mississippi?
Florida Dems Take Cue from GOP in Ballot Dispute
Scandal Isn't Stopping Detroit Mayor ... Yet - VIDEO
Disgraced Spitzer to Avoid Prostitution Charges?
Paterson's ascension inspires disabled
Mayors band together against guns (This ought to get real fun if we have a Leftie in the White House)
Obama blasts McCain on tax stance - Video
Michigan, campaigns talk do-over primary
Obama tries to allay Jewish concerns (Which should be interesting, given his pastor buddy's comments)
Clinton, Obama woo Pa. political players
Germany's Merkel to address Israeli assembly

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
Illegal Immigrant Worker Sentenced in Slaying of Actress Adrienne Shelly

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Man Accused of Forcing Daughter, 7, to Kill Pet Cat
Mexican Drug Wars Keep Spring Breakers From Heading South of the Border
Tell It to the Judge: My Husband's a WOMAN!!! - VIDEO
No Jail for Man Convicted of Selling Drugs Near School
Joe Francis Says He Was a 'Rock Star' in Prison, Plans to Proceed With 'Girls Gone Wild'
2 Sentenced in Pro Wrestler 'Hardbody Harrison's Sex Ring
Sheriff: Charge Boyfriend in Case of Kansas Woman Pried Off Toilet After 2 Years
Vivendi seeks $3 billion PTC damages from Poland
SocGen court hearing to weigh freeing jailed trader

Adventures in Political Correctness
Britons hit by new 'sin taxes'

U.N. News
Kosovo Serbs take over U.N. court in flashpoint town
Eastern Chad Under Severe Humanitarian Strain, UN Official Says
Rwandan Armed Groups in Eastern DR Congo Must Surrender - Security Council

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Microsoft and Yahoo met to discuss merger: report
Ed McMahon recovering from neck injury

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
Astronauts Add Hands to Space Station Robot
Scientists: More Evidence That Life Began in Space
Popcorn ingredient causes lung disease: U.S. study
CDC clarifies preference on childhood vaccines
Samsung to spend $1.4 billion to upgrade chip lines
Software "hiccup" undermines trip past Saturn moon
Astronauts leave station to install lab section
India says not considering banning BlackBerry
Some viruses come pre-installed
Verizon gets cozy with P2P file-sharers
New Web Feature Shows How NASA Technologies Improve Our Lives

Mother Nature
NOAA: Coolest Winter Since 2001 for U.S., Globe

Oddities
'Flying Saucer' Home to Be Auctioned in Tennessee
Sleepy Student Claims Teacher's Wake-Up Slam Caused Hearing Loss
Baby Girl Born With Two Faces Worshipped as Reincarnated God - Video
Travel Picks: Top 10 quirky vacation camps for adults
Flying trampoline halts high-speed train
A dozen pregnant women wanted - for ballet
Man forgets to wear pants at drive-thru

Other News of Note
Shops set on fire in Tibet violence: witnesses
Vonn helps make US skiing history

Fox News
FOX Business: Subprime Report Sparks Dow Comeback
Hooker Behind Spitzer's Fall Sought by Penthouse
Top Pop Station Plays Alleged Sptizer Call Girl's Single

Reuters
Chad and Sudan make peace
Bhutto's widower cleared of Pakistani graft cases
Malaysia PM urged to resign as rift opens in party
Lay Catholic movement leader Chiara Lubich dies
James Dean inspires designer at India fashion week
Carlyle may help CCC investors: report
Southwest CEO apologizes for lapses: report
Target, JP Morgan talk on credit card deal: report
EU to press banks for speedy subprime remedies
Nike reports persistent problems at China factories
Global stocks mixed on credit stress - Video
Dollar claws up from record lows
UK's Prudential 2007 profit up 25 percent
Swatch Group cautions on gold and forex, shares drop
Wall Street seen lower; data, Bernanke eyed
TUI shares up on breakup speculation
Cash gold nears $1,000 level hit by U.S. futures
Alitalia shares dive ahead of Air France-KLM offer
Oil slips from record $111, eyes dollar, economy
Too little too late
Linda Stern on Personal Finance
Getting a handle on bank fees

AP World News
Maui drivers watch gas prices reach $4
India suspends warrant against Gere
Crow Says She'll Sing With Fleetwood Mac
UCLA routs California in Pac-10 tourney
Crystal strikes out in new career
Couples gets in groove at Bay Hill
Snoop Dogg to remix ABC soap opera theme

News Blaze
PHOTOS: Moving Day
IED Attack Kills Iraqi Civilian
MND-B Soldiers Thwart Ambush Attempt, Discover Cache
PHOTOS: Maintenance Soldiers Not Afraid of Little Grease
MND-B Soldiers Detain Suspected IED Maker in Karadah
Falcons Lead 'Surge' Into Baghdad
Combat Lifesaver Trauma Kits To IA Soldiers
PHOTOS: Gen. Visits Iraqi Market
Iraq News
Operations in Iraq
FOB Warhorse Memorial Photos
Videos

CENTCOM
Afghan troops give aid to villagers
ANSF secure Khak-e Safid, Farah
International Women’s Day Brings Unity, Call for Peace
‘Village of Hope’ aims to boost economy
Paratroopers inspect hydro project

USJFCOM
JKO provides training for those deployment-bound - podcast
More about Joint Knowledge Online
Targeting school revising courses to prepare students - podcast
More about Joint Targeting School
SOCJFCOM continues to ready warfighters for global operations - podcast
More about SOCJFCOM

Multi-National Force - Iraq
Salman Pak market opens for business
IP Recruits Undertake Prep Course
Anti-insurgency Tactics Succeeding in Iraqi Detention Facilities
Female suicide bomber kills 2, wounds 6 (Zaab)
MND-B Soldiers thwart ambush attempt, discover cache (Baghdad)

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
Bush Lauds Provincial Reconstruction Teams
Chairman Cites Brittle Nature Of Iraq Security Progress

MILITARY NEWS
Panel Proposes Pay Changes

AFGHANISTAN NEWS
Afghan, Coalition Troops Help Oruzgan Province Villagers

IRAQ NEWS
Coalition Forces Kill Two Terrorists, Detain 22
Camp Liberty Water Facility Keeps Troops Hydrated
Al Qaeda in Iraq Damaged, But Remains Dangerous
Anti-insurgency Tactics Succeeding With Detainees

WHY WE SERVE
Veterans Connect with College Students
Speakers Inspire Cadets
Professor Taps Troops

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

Labels: Headlines, History