BLUE ANGELS SOAR
The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, perform at the El Centro Air Show, March 8, 2008. The show was the first of 35 planned performances for the Blue Angels in 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Gaines

Labels: aircraft, Blue Angels, El Centro Air Show, photos, US Navy

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
U.S. soldiers, militia exchange fire in south Iraq - Video
Local National child killed in an escalation of force incident in Diyala Province
Civilian bus attacked by EFP near Basra, one soldier and one civilian wounded
Aircraft Provide One-Two Punch from Above
Iraqi Army Bomb Disposal Company Takes on EOD Mission
Judges Return to Salman Pak

Operation Enduring Freedom
41 Taliban Fighters Killed in Battle in Afghanistan
U.S. Troops Targeted in Homicide Attack That Killed 6

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Gaza Rocket Squads Barrage Israel After Violent Clash
Islamists behead three soldiers in Somalia
Juvenile suspects face trial at Gitmo

Wounded Warriors
DoD, VA List Advances in Wounded Warrior Care

Other Military News
New Centcom chief will be a quick study

Worldwide Wackos
Iran poll to offer no sure verdict on Ahmadinejad

Politics / Government
French Minister: U.S. Is History - 'The magic is over,' diplomat declares (Like our self-esteem should be dictated by the surrender capital of the world...)
Love Gov's Girl - PHOTOS
Spitzer Resigns
Paterson to Be N.Y.'s First Black Gov.
Hillary to Blacks: I'm Sorry - Candidate issues mea culpa after racial flare-up
Obama's Pastor: Hillary Was Never Called a N***** - VIDEO
Ferraro Defends Remarks as 'Statement of Fact' - VIDEO
McCain to talk security on Europe and Mideast trip
Clinton and Obama disagree on Florida, Michigan revote
Florida Dems weigh mail-in plan
Candidates return for budget votes
Lincoln Never Looked So Good
Detroit Mayor Condemned for Public Use of N-Word After Burying it
Former Democratic Sen. Metzenbaum dies: media
Serbian election to be held May 11
Headache delayed Sudan-Chad pact due on Thursday
Malaysia opposition patches up alliance - for now

Illegal Immigration / Border Control
15 People Rescued at Sea Off California Coast

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
Cops Let Man Get Away With Painting Car Like Police Cruiser
Teen Admits to Beating, Stabbing Model to Death in London
Texas Mother, Son Charged in Sex Slavery Plot
Miss. Bank Shooting Leaves 4 Dead, Including Gunman
In One Arizona Home, Hundreds of Dogs Found in 'Record Breaker' Bust
India police arrest 2nd man over UK tourist murder
Ex-FBI official sentenced in abduction
Killings put Southern campuses on edge

Adventures in Political Correctness
Colorado School District Drops Grade System

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
TV Reporter Attacked by Murder Suspect's Family
China overtakes U.S. as top Web market: researcher

Science / Medicine and Health / Technology
Emergency Rooms in America: A Deadly Prognosis
Hong Kong Closes All Primary Schools Amid Flu Outbreak
Shuttle, station crews meet, greet and get to work - Video
Japan's surrogate moms
If pregnant women stop smoking, babies are happier
Brain fitness seen as hot industry of the future
China reassures scientists not to fear failure
Spacecraft zips over Saturn's geyser-spurting moon
Asustek says two-thirds of Eee PCs will have Windows XP
Report: Woman, cat shared staph bug
Astronauts to work on giant robot

Mother Nature
Smog rule tightened; 345 counties fail

Oddities
Mystery: Woman's Body Kept on Ice at Hotel for a Year?
Kansas Police: Woman Pried From Boyfriend's Toilet After Sitting on It for 2 Years (OK, this is just freakish)
Burned alive for "not washing feet"
Wonder what his mob nickname is...

Other News of Note
Tibetan protests ripple across mountain region
Southwest grounds planes over new maintenance glitch

Fox News
Twelve Year Low: U.S. Dollar Falls Below 100 Yen
FOXBusiness: Oil Hits New High Above $109
Pop Tarts: Brooke Hogan 'The Victim' in Hulk’s Alleged Adultery With Her Best Friend?

Reuters
U.S. passion for guns has roots in hunting
Zaha Hadid toys with nomadic architecture
Just A Minute With: "Idol" judge Randy Jackson
Former male stripper voted out of "American Idol"
Hollywood studios troubled by labor pains
Policy makers to propose mortgage rules revamp: report
Carlyle Capital says unable reach deal with lenders
Toyota expects steady North America demand
EA plans tender offer for Take-Two: source
SocGen banker freed in Kerviel trading probe
Japan lawmakers seek breakthrough on BOJ head
Google to unveil new ad service for publishers: report
ECB's Trichet says disorderly FX moves undesirable
Dollar tumbles as credit woes batter stocks
Oil holds near record highs on dollar
Dollar slide picks up steam; breaks below 100 yen
Allianz Germany eyes premium, earnings rise in 2008
Volkswagen aims to sell 8 million vehicles in 2011
Nestle raises outlook after strong 2008 start
Gold nears record high on weak dollar, oil jump
Enel to sell assets to cut debt mountain
CEO sees good growth for Coca-Cola in 2008: paper
Risky bargains
Locked in vicious cycle

AP World News
Study: Profanity affects PG box office
Rockets top Hawks for 20th straight win
Last 'Harry Potter' book becomes 2 films
Tony Stewart defends Goodyear criticism
Little 'Idol,' big voice: Malubay, baby
Emu ranching struggles to take flight

News Blaze
PHOTO: Pastry shopping
440th Airlift Wing Officer Shoots for a 'Three-Peat' Gold
PHOTO: MND-B Soldier shares tender moment with Iraqi child while on patrol
GoI Representatives Visit Tarmiya
PHOTOS: Soldiers patrol western Baghdad together, interact with locals
Month's Pay in Abayachi
Patrol Western Baghdad Daily
Dragon's Lair Facility Welcomes Reconciliation
Iraq News
Operations in Iraq
FOB Warhorse Memorial Photos
Videos

CENTCOM
Haqqani Network claims responsibility for Sabari blast
Paratroopers inspect hydro project
Troops conduct remote medical training
Arab Jabour power lines nearly complete

USJFCOM
Command begins contract solicitation process
Sailor named Senior Military Member of the Quarter
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
Iraq Report Cites Security Gains, Need for Political, Economic Progress
Iraqi Police discover large cache (Salah ad Din Province)
Soldiers detain suspected terrorists connected to SVEST attack (Baghdad)
Iraqi Army, Coalition forces prevent car bomb construction, seize anti-armor IEDs (Mosul)
Coalition force Soldiers attacked by indirect fire (Nasiriyah)

DefenseLink
TOP NEWS
China Requires Close Eye as It Expands Its Influence
Cheney: National Missile Defense Remains Critical

MILITARY NEWS
Kansas Aircrew Brings WWII Comrades Back From Watery Grave

FACE OF DEFENSE
Officers Honored for Recovery Efforts

IRAQ NEWS
Anti-insurgency Tactics Succeeding With Detainees
Al Qaeda in Iraq Damaged, But Remains Dangerous
Iraqi Police Gain Trust of People in Wasit Province

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Stars Rock Kuwaiti Desert in Support of Troops - Photos

WHY WE SERVE
‘Why We Serve’ Speakers Inspire Cadets

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

Philippines
Baler Radar Site Catanduanes Radar Site Manila

South Korea
Cheju Upper/Radar Chonju Chunchon Inch'on Kunsan Masan Mokp'o
Osan Pusan Seoul Suwon Taegu Taejon Tonghae Radar Site Ulsan Yosu

Today in History
0483 - St. Felix III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0607 - 12th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1138 - German king Koenraad II von Hohenstaufen crowned
1519 - Cortez lands in México
1560 - Spanish fleet occupies Djerba, at Tripoli
1567 - Battle at Oosterweel: Spanish troops destroy Geuzenleger
1569 - Battle of Jarnac, Count of Anjou defeats Huguenots
1591 - Battle at Tondibi: Moroccans army under Judar beats sultan Askia Ishaq II of Songhai
1639 - Cambridge College renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard
1656 - Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam
1677 - Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000
1759 - 27th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1781 - Sir William Herschel sees "comet" (really discovered Uranus)
1790 - John Martin, 1st American-born actor, performs in Philadelphia
1852 - Uncle Sam cartoon figure debuts in the "New York Lantern" weekly
1861 - Jefferson Davis signs bill authorizing use of slaves as soldiers
1865 - US Confederate Congress calls on black slaves for field service
1868 - Senate begins President Andrew Johnson impeachment trial
1869 - Arkansas legislature passes anti-Klan law
1884 - Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins; US adopts Standard Time
1887 - Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs
1888 - Great Blizzard of 1888 rages
1894 - J.L. Johnstone of England invents horse racing starting gate
1900 - British troops occupy Bloemfontein, Orange-Free state
1904 - Bronze statue of Christ on Argentine-Chilian border dedicated
1913 - Kansas legislature approves censorship of motion pictures
1915 - Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit
1918 - American Red Magen David (Jewish Red Cross) forms
1920 - Wolfgang Kapp's coup attempt in Berlin fails
1921 - Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China
1923 - Lee de Forest demonstrates his sound-on-film moving pictures (New York NY)
1925 - Tennessee makes it unlawful to teach evolution
1928 - 450 die in St. Francis Valley Dam burst (California)
1930 - Clyde Tombaugh announces discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory
1933 - US Banks reopen; Josef Göbbels becomes German minister of Information & Propaganda
1935 - Driving tests introduced in Great Britain
1938 - Anschluß-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany
1940 - Finland-Russian cease fire signed, Finland gives up Karelische
1941 - A. Bougne forms AGRA (Amis du Grand Reich Allemand)
1942 - Julia Flikke, Nurse Corps, becomes 1st woman Colonel in US Army
1943 - Failed assassin attempt on Hitler during Smolensk-Rastenburg flight
1944 - USSR recognizes Italian Badoglio government
1945 - Queen Wilhelmina returns to Netherlands; Sicherheitsdienst arrest Dutch resistance fighter Henry Werkman
1951 - 2nd Dutch government of Drees forms; Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany
1954 - Viet Minh General Giap opens assault on That Bien Phu
1955 - Bir BSD Mahendra succeeds Tribhubana as king of Nepal
1957 - Bloody battles after anti-Batista demonstration in Havana, Cuba
1958 - Govt troops land in Sumatra, Indonesia
1961 - Elizabeth Gurley Finn (70) becomes president of US Communist Party; JFK sets up the Alliance for Progress; Landslide in USSR, kills 145; Old type, black & white notes cease to be legal tender
1962 - Yugoslavia grants 1,000 prisoners amnesty
1963 - 2 Russian reconnaissance flights over Alaska
1963 - Indonesia & Netherlands recover diplomatic relations
1964 - Turkey threatens Cyprus with armed attack
1967 - Congo sentences ex-premier Moïse Tsjombe to death
1969 - Apollo 9 returns to Earth
1970 - 100 year Beehive anniversary ends in brawl in Amsterdam; Digital Equipment Corp introduces PDP-11 minicomputer
1973 - Syria adopts constitution
1974 - Charles de Gaulle Airport opens near Paris, France
1978 - Moluccans "suicide commandos" occupy Province house
1980 - Ford Motor Co found innocent in death of 3 women in a fiery Pinto
1981 - Attempt on Pope John Paul II's life by Mehemet Ali Agca
1985 - Funeral services held for Konstantin Chernenko (Moscow)
1986 - Soyuz T-15 carries 2 cosmonauts to Soviet space station Mir; Space probe Giotto encounters Halley's Comet
1987 - John Gotti is acquitted of racketeering
1989 - 27th shuttle mission, STS-29 (Discovery 8) launched, 1st woman to do the countdown; FDA orders recall of all Chilean fruit in US
1990 - Nicholoas Braithwaite elected premier of Grenada
1991 - Exxon pays $1-billion dollars in fines & cleanup of Valdez oil spill (Prince William Sound, Alaska)
1992 - 570 die in a Turkish earthquake
1993 - Blizzard of '93 hits north-east US
1994 - 33.3% of Austria votes for ultra-right FPÖ; Oil tank/airship crash at Bosporus (huge fire/15+ killed); President Mangope of Bophuthaswana deposed
1995 - Anti fascist Kazakhstan anti-parliament forms; Istanbul police shoot dead 16 Alawitische demonstrators
1996 - Thomas Hamilton kills 16 kindergardeners, their teacher & himself in Dunblane, Scotland

Birthdays
1599 - Johannes Berchmans, Dutch Jesuit/saint
1615 - Innocent XII [Antonio Pignatelli], Pope (1691-1700)
1696 - Louis F.A.D. Duke de Richelieu, French marshal
1741 - Jozef II, Arch Duke of Austria/Roman Catholic German emperor (1765-90)
1764 - Charles Earl Grey (Whig), British Prime Minister (1830-34)
1768 - Charles Louis W.J. van Keverberg, Dutch civil servant
1798 - Abigail Powers Fillmore, US First Lady - Millard Fillmore (1850-53)
1818 - Albion Parris Howe, Union Brevet Major General (Union Army)
1820 - Louis Herbert, Confederate Brigadier General
1855 - Percival "Percy" Lowell, US astronomer (predicted discovery of Pluto)
1904 - Henry Iliffe Cozens, pilot
1909 - Gilbert Inglefield, Mayor of London (1967-68)
1911 - L[aFayette] Ron Hubbard, sci-fi writer/Scientologist (Dianetics)
1912 - James Friell, political cartoonist
1913 - William J. Casey, headed CIA during Iran-contra scandal (1981-87)
1916 - (Corinne) Lindy (Claiborne) Boggs (Representative-LA)
1918 - Faye Glenn Abdellan, US government official (health services)
1920 - Frans van der Elst, Flemish attorney/MP (Volksunie)
1921 - Allan Jaffee, comic strip cartoonist/illustrator (MAD Magazine)
1926 - Raúl Alfonsín, Argentine President (1983-89)
1933 - Frank H. Murkowski (Senator-AK)
1936 - Clarence Nash, animation voice (Donald Duck)
1937 - Fofo I.F. Sunia (Representative-American Samoa)
1958 - Rick A. Lazio (Representative-NY)

Passings
1202 - Mieszko III the Elder, Grand Duke of Poland (1173-77, 1200-02)
1516 - Vladislav II Jagiello, King of Bohemia (1490-1516), dies at 60
1569 - Louis Condé, French prince/co-leader of Hugenots, dies in battle
1573 - Michel de l'Hôpital, Chancellor of France (1560-68), dies at about 65
1837 - Nikita P. Panin, Russian diplomat/minister of Foreign affairs, dies at 66
1881 - Alexander II, Tsar of Russia, assassinated at 62
1901 - Benjamin Harrison, 23rd US President (1889-1893), dies in Indianapolis at 67
1906 - Susan B[rownell] Anthony, American suffragist, dies at 85
1915 - Sergei J. Witte, Dutch count/premier of Russia, dies at 65
1938 - Clarence S. Darrow, Scopes Monkey Trial attorney, dies in Chicago at 80
1941 - A. Coenradi, Bernard Ijzerdraat, E. Hellendoorn, J. Eyl, Dutch resistance fighters, executed; Isaak E. Babel, Russian writer (Zakat, Marija), executed at 46
1946 - Werner von Blomberg, German minister of Reichswehr, dies at 67
1951 - Alfred Hugenberg, German Roman Catholic president-director of Krupp/media magnate, dies
1955 - Maharajadhiraja Tribhuvana Bir Bikram Yung Bahadur Shum Shere; Yung Deva, King of Nepal (191.-55), dies at about 48
1964 - Kitty Genovese, stabbed to death in Queens - 40 neighbors looked on
1975 - Ali Sastroamidjojo, Indonesian attorney/minister/premier, dies at 71
1977 - Fanie Lou Hamer, freedom fighter
1982 - Wilfred Hawker, Suriname Sergeant-Major, executed
1986 - Alvaro Fayad Delgado, Colombian guerilla leader (M-19)
1995 - Abdul Ali Mazari Afghan shite leader, shot to death; John Silverlight journalist, dies at 75; Leo Kaplan, lawyer (ASCAP), dies at 89; P.C.J. van Lierde, Dutch vicar-general of Vatican (1951-91), dies at 87
1996 - Brian Hulls, television news cameraman, dies at 48

Reported Missing in Action
1966
The following USAF personnel reported MIA when their AC47D disappeared over Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam:
Davis, Gene E. (IN)

Duvall, Dean A. (IN); aerial gunner

Henninger, Howard W. (CA); pilot

Morgan, Edwin E. (NC); aerial gunner

Olson, Gerald E. (FL)

Pasekoff, Robert E. (PA)

Pauley, Marshall I. (WV); aerial gunner

Also reported MIA this day in 1966:
Parker, Udon, US Army (AL); fell into a stream and was swept away - Killed, body not recovered

1967
Harris, Paul Winiford, USMC (OH); UH34D shot down (w/Terwilliger)

Terwilliger, Virgil Byron, USMC (OH); UH34D shot down (w/Harris)

1968
The following personnel reported MIA when their UH1B was hit by enemy fire and forced to land (crew forced to attempt to evade on the ground):
Evans, Cleveland, Jr., USMC (AR); passenger

Heitman, Steven W., US Army (IN); passenger

Watson, Jimmy L., US Army (NC); pilot

Also reported MIA this day in 1968:
Byrne, Joseph Henry, USAF (IL); A1E shot down (w/Collins)

Collins, Guy Fletcher, USAF (FL); A1E shot down (w/Byrne)

Westbrook, Donald E., USAF (TX); A1E shot down while searching for survivors of the attack on Lima 85, Phou Pha Thi, Laos

1971
Creed, Barton S., USN (NY); A7E shot down, believed captured

Labels: Headlines, History