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Copy and paste the link, Tennessean don't link off site links. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091124/NEWS03/91124060/Judge-Gloria-Dumas-fighting-misconduct-charges

The FBI says a Centerville man is charged with buying and shipping about 7,000 stolen cell phones in connection with an international ring trafficking weapons and stolen goods. According to the FBI, Hussein Ali Asfour of Centerville is charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property and faces up to five years in prison. A criminal complaint in the case listed his address as 100 Cross Link Trail. USA Today reports that Asfour was charged along with four other men, including three accused of trying to buy Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and machine guns destined for Syria or Iran. USA Today describes...

If the current pace continues, Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue is on track to become perhaps the best-selling nonfiction book ever. The extraordinary, record-breaking rollout and the throngs of fans who await Sarah at every stop of her nationwide bus tour is rivaled only by the endless succession of liberal talking heads who are willing to put aside years of carefully cultivated gender sensitivity in an attempt to finish off a job they had hoped they had taken care of last year – or at least in the last two months of granting Levi Johnston full access to the most coveted...

The temptation to have sex before marriage is as old as marriage itself. More than 1,600 years ago, St. Augustine, grappling with his desires, cried out to God, "Give me chastity . . . but not yet!"What is chastity? The word is often used to mean simply abstaining from sex, as if it were equivalent to celibacy. So it may be strange to learn that, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life." If that meant total abstinence, how would there be any new Catholics? (After all, cloning is...

This man is deranged and should be held criminally responsible for the death of every troop while he parties and dithers.

By Alex Schadenberg, Chairman, Euthanasia Prevention CoalitionNovember 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Many people will have read the story of Rom Houben, the Belgium man who was diagnosed as being in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) for 23 years, but who in fact had a condition known as Locked-in Syndrome. A person in locked-in syndrome is fully aware of all of their surroundings and they hear and remember the conversations that take place around them, but due to their cognitive disability they are unable to respond.The case of Rom Houben is significant given that many bioethicists are attempting to redefine...

The Obama administration has another reason to hate Fox: it appears to be the only national television news outlet in America interested in the growing ClimateGate scandal. Despite last Friday morning's bombshell that hacked e-mail messages from a British university suggested a conspiracy by some of the world's leading global warming alarmists -- many with direct ties to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- to manipulate temperature data, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and NBC through Monday evening have completely ignored the subject. LexisNexis searches indicate that NPR appears to also be part of this news boycott. By...

The most compelling explanation for the media’s declining interest in government spies is that their concern always had more to do with the political affiliation of those doing the spying than with any high-minded concerns for Americans’ privacy. And a year ago, the issue stopped being a stick with which they could beat the Bush administration. Of course, there is also the embarrassing fact that President Obama, he of the ever-shifting principles and promises that come with expiration dates, is retaining much of the intelligence-gathering apparatus his predecessor put in place. While revelations about government eavesdropping and data-mining operations are...

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that Democrats face "serious unrest" over President Obama's possible expansion of tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan. Pelosi, in a conference call with economists, said House Democrats were concerned about the "opportunity costs" of steering billions of dollars toward the troop increase as compared to "our ability to invest domestically with an eye to fiscal soundness." The issue of financing new troops in the region has come to a head in advance of Obama's decision, to be announced next week, as a handful of senior Democrats have proposed a "war tax"...

Members of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2, the Royal Navy and members of the Iraqi Defense Forces gather aboard the coastal patrol boat USS Firebolt (PC 10). Firebolt is being used in an operation to remove a sunken barge from an Iraqi waterway. Photo courtesy of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. UMM QASR — The Coalition Naval Advisory Training Team here has been mentoring and training units of the Iraqi Navy and Marines for more than three years. Comprised of nearly 150 active and reserve Sailors and Marines, the International Transition and Advisory Mission combines United States and United...

Democrats and their major media propagandists used a full-court press against George Bush and against his policies. That was a love-fest next to the campaign against Sarah Palin; the hysteria is obvious in the juvenile name-calling that most of it parses down to, telling us more about the attackers than about Palin. Those attackers have a problem; they don’t want to discuss Palins’ policy ideas. They dismiss her book, “Going Rogue;” if they did not, they would have to deal with the thoughts on national and international policy that she presents in her writing. They dismiss her personally for the...

An Economic Agenda for the GOP Republicans need to be pro-market, not pro-business. /snip The Republican Party today must follow a similar strategy, updated for present circumstances. It has to move from a pro-business strategy that defends the interests of existing companies to a pro-market strategy that fosters open competition and freedom of entry. While the two agendas sometimes coincide—as in the case of protecting property rights—they are often at odds. Established firms are threatened by competition and frequently use their political muscle to restrict new entries into their industry, strengthening their positions but putting their customers at a disadvantage....

By popular request, a “festive” exchange from this afternoon’s Cavuto in honor of WaPo’s new poll showing growing skepticism about the topic du jour. Growing, that is, but still mild: Fully 72 percent believe in global warming (down from 80 percent last year), including 71 percent of independents. Even a majority of Republicans believe in it, although that percentage has dipped from 76 percent all the way down to 54. Imagine what the numbers would look like if television news hadn’t completely blacked out news of Climategate. Incidentally, am I hallucinating or did Ed Begley choose this week of all...

11/24/2009 - BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- Gary Sinise and the Lieutenant Dan Band made their first appearance in Afghanistan performing for hundreds of Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Coast Guard members Nov. 23 here. This visit is one in a long line of entertainment and celebrity visits to boost morale of servicemembers who are away from home and their loved ones during the holidays, said Col. Edward Shock, the Armed Forces Entertainment director. That sentiment of thanking the troops during the holidays was echoed by the visitors. "We understand and appreciate your sacrifice. We do not take you for granted,"...

A report Tuesday on the latest climate-change research shows emissions rising quickly and ice caps melting faster than projected. The report comes amid a controversy over hacked scientists’ e-mails that some say point to a global warming hoax.Global carbon-dioxide emissions are rising fast, global temperatures continue to climb at a pace in line with projections, and polar regions are losing ice faster than climate models have projected.These are some of the recent research findings highlighted by a group of 26 climate scientists in a report released Tuesday dubbed The Copenhagen Diagnosis.The purpose of the effort, say researchers from eight countries,...

They must denounce exclusionary biases and embrace the vision. (Or else.) Do you believe in the American dream -- the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools -- at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus. In a report compiled last summer, the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U's College of Education and Human Development...

11/24/2009 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- Capt. Marian Collins' third deployment to Afghanistan in October became her most rewarding one. Not because of any medal earned or battle fought, but because she reached out to an Afghan youth whose gratitude gave added meaning to her team's mission. Captain Collins, the assistant director of operations for the 571st Global Mobility Squadron at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., was deployed to Shindand, Afghanistan, to restore a 1960s-era airfield to accommodate air mobility operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. While deployed, her desire to help others inspired her to...

I caught this photo in today's print edition of the New York Post, where they note the president is bringing along his favorite reading material: A recent GQ magazine with himself on the cover. Nothing like stroking your ego on the way to the golf course.

Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.) emailed supporters today to say he's considering a primary against John McCain and to ask for funds to pay off his 2006 campaign debt. "You have contacted me with words of encouragement following the release of a Rasmussen Reports Poll which finds me in a statistical dead heat with John McCain for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in 2010," Hayworth wrote, referring to this poll. "Miss Mary, our children, and I will do a lot of praying and a lot of talking in the days ahead, as we determine the best course...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2009 – Iraqi police killed a suspected bombing-cell member and arrested six others in operations over the last two days, military officials reported. Police arrested a suspect today during a combined security operation in Beiji, southwest of Kirkuk, during a search for a member of an al-Qaida in Iraq-sponsored bombing cell. Based on preliminary questioning and evidence found at the scene, police arrested a suspected accomplice of the wanted man, who was not apprehended. –In Mosul yesterday, federal police elements arrested five suspected vehicle-borne bomb cell members. A sixth suspect was shot and killed during the operation....

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15. This is the lowest Approval Index rating yet measured for President Obama (see trends). Fifty-two percent (52%) of Democrats Strongly Approve while 68% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major political party, just 16% Strongly Approve and 51% Strongly Disapprove (see other recent demographic highlights from the tracking poll).

It has been described as the "greatest scientific scandal of modern age." The story broke last Thursday when a person unknown -- some say it was a hacker, others an inside-leak job -- broke into the servers at Britain's Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia and published at least 61megabytes of confidential data on a Russian website. Despite efforts in liberal quarters to play the story down as a criminal issue of no great consequence, the blogosophere almost instantly recognized it as political dynamite: perhaps even the final nail in the coffin of Al Gore's increasingly expensive...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2009 – Combined Afghan and international forces killed an enemy militant and detained numerous suspects in recent operations in Afghanistan, military officials reported. In Kandahar province today, a combined force detained several suspected militants, including a known Taliban facilitator responsible for the financial and logistical support of militant elements in the area. Tips from intelligence sources led the force to search compounds near the village of Bahay Dehe Sufla, southwest of Kandahar City. The suspects were detained without resistance, and one confirmed his identity as the Taliban facilitator. In another operation today, a combined force detained a...

Africa is poised to experience a surge in civil wars, causing nearly 400,000 additional battle deaths by 2030 – all as a direct result of rising temperatures. This bold prediction is one of the most alarming results yet to emerge from attempts to discover how climate change will affect patterns of human conflict. It is already proving controversial. Previous attempts to model the effects of climate on patterns of conflict in Africa have mostly concentrated on rainfall. But now researchers led by Marshall Burke at the University of California, Berkeley, and David Lobell of Stanford University have studied both rainfall...

They’re calling it “Climategate.” The scandal that the suffix –gate implies is the state of climate science over the past decade or so revealed by a thousand or so emails, documents, and computer code sets between various prominent scientists released following a leak from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in the UK. This may seem obscure, but the science involved is being used to justify the diversion of literally trillions of dollars of the world’s wealth in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by phasing out fossil fuels. The CRU is the Pentagon of...

November 25, 2009 Swedish Buyer Drops Deal to Buy Saab By DAVID JOLLY PARIS — The future of General Motors’ European operations was thrown further into confusion Tuesday when the automaker said the sale of its Saab Automobile subsidiary in Sweden had fallen through. The expected buyer, Koenigsegg Automotive, backed out of the deal, G.M. said. The announcement caught the American automaker, which is also struggling to restructure its Adam Opel unit in Europe, by surprise. General Motors is “obviously very disappointed with the decision,” Fritz Henderson, the G.M. chief executive, said in a statement. . . . Joran Hagglund,...

There are blue/grey herons around the world, and there are 3 in the USA, plus the Reddish Heron which has a blue cast. I seldom see a Reddish Heron this far North.I got the main trio today in just a few minutes. Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea Tricolored heron Egretta tricolor Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias

One woman has not forgotten September 11th, 2001. Debra Burlingame, sister of Chic Burlingame, pilot of AA Flight 77 that was crashed into the Pentagon, wants the world to know she is not happy with President Obama’s and AG Eric Holder’s decision to try the 9-11 terrorists, including KSM, in Federal Court in New York. She’s has formed the 9-11 “Never Forget” coalition, and making arrangements for a nationwide protest on December 5th. The Coalition formed to fight the decision of President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to try the 9/11 co-conspirators in New York City’s federal court,...

An Associated Press-Petside.com poll shows 52 percent of pet owners plan to buy their animals a holiday gift — up from 43 percent last year.

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 24, 2009 – How do you plan Thanksgiving dinner for 180,000 people more than 6,000 miles away? If you’re a food buyer at the Defense Logistics Agency, you start by making a shopping list in April for meals to be served to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Providing superb meals to our U.S. troops is a critical mission of the Defense Logistics Agency, and one we put a great deal of effort into,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Scott Chambers commander of the DLA Philadelphia field activity, which provides all the food for U.S. military personnel worldwide,...

Less than 24 hours ago, I lay prostrate on an operating table while surgeons aided by a robot(da Vinci) made six deep cuts in my belly area and carved out my oversized cancerous prostate. The robot allegedly made such precise cuts that important nerves and muscles were protected from damage so my functionality would be maintained. Makes one wonder if you can rent it for carving turkey— Hmmmm.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Nov. 24, 2009 – Dependable communication is essential for any successful organization, and for a deployed military unit, that holds all the more true. Army Master Sgt. Harold Miller and Army Col. Teresa Gallagher watch the Chambersburg (Pa.) Area Senior High School graduation via video teleconference from Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, June 12, 2009. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Keeping communications dependable here falls in part to Army Master Sgt. Thomas Kemble and Army 1st Lt. Francis Conroy of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 28th Combat Aviation Brigade....

FORT RILEY, Kan., Nov. 24, 2009 – A former soldier who spent about 16 months in the warrior transition battalion here now looks forward to a rewarding career as an Army civilian. Erik Stewart discusses preparations for an upcoming higher-headquarters assessment with Ward Philips at Fort Riley, Kan., Nov. 6, 2009. Stewart was a soldier in Fort Riley's warrior transition battalion who transitioned to a civilian career with the Fort Riley garrison. U.S. Army photo by Alison Kohler  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Former Army Capt. Erik Stewart advises other warriors in transition not to rush the process. "Make...

Russia and China have joined four Western powers in readying a resolution critical of Iran's nuclear program, diplomats said Tuesday, as Teheran pushed forward its own alternatives to a UN-backed plan aimed at preventing it from developing nuclear weapons. The development is significant because it groups Russia and China with the four other powers - the US, Britain, France and Germany - in unified criticism of Iran's nuclear program. Russia and China have acted as a drag on Western calls for tougher action against Iran. While the board passed an IAEA resolution critical of Iran in 2006 that had the...

ALBANY, N.Y. — The Conservative Party candidate conceded a race in upstate New York for a U.S. House of Representatives seat for the second time Tuesday, saying he doesn't have enough votes.

Plundering California Public-sector unions have brought the state to its knees. 23 November 2009 The economy is struggling, the unemployment rate is high, and many Americans are struggling to pay the bills, but one class of Americans is doing quite well: government workers. Their pay levels are soaring, they enjoy unmatched benefits, and they remain largely immune from layoffs, except for some overly publicized cutbacks around the margins. To make matters worse, government employees—thanks largely to the power of their unions—have carved out special protections that exempt them from many of the rules that other working Americans must live by....

By now, virtually everyone has read and reread the copious news accounts of the terrible shooting a few weeks ago at Fort Hood, Texas. This column will not attempt to add new details to what is already a highly scrutinized tragedy. However, I do want to pose three basic questions that, to me, are extremely glaring and, for the most part, absent from the discussion. Question 1: Why were the soldiers not armed? After all, this is a military base; more than that, it is an Army base that emphasizes the training and equipping of frontline, combat-ready soldiers. For the...

My 16 year old son loves World War II documentaries so I'm looking for those or movies on DVD. Suggestions?

Join us for a lively chat during the show. "V" returns in Spring 2010, after the Winter Olympics.

THREE weeks ago Prime Minister Kevin Rudd named me as part of an international conspiracy to spread lies about global warming. How I laughed. But I'm not laughing now. Emails leaked at the weekend show there is indeed a conspiracy to deceive the world - and Rudd has fallen for it. This conspiracy comprises a group of warming scientists who have been central in spreading the false claim that the world has never been hotter and man's gases are to blame. It's come to light after nearly 4000 emails and documents were stolen from the Climatic Research Unit of the...

Terrifying? Inevitable? Harbinger? In any case, it’s a first: Police in Long Island, New York, have arrested a man for not using Twitter. Someone named Justin Bieber, who apparently is a teenage singer, was supposed to appear at the Roosevelt Field mall on Friday, but stayed away because the crowd had become too unruly. Police asked a record label executive to help disperse the horde using the messaging service, and claim he didn’t cooperate.

The Congress of the United States of America is consigning you, your children, and your children's progeny to slavery. Maybe it's the Scottish strain in my DNA, but I've been concerned about the national debt since before it breached the $1 trillion mark. That was way back in 1982. So it's heartening to see folks finally getting concerned about this issue. Debt matters. From the installation of America's first government in 1789, it took 193 years to rack up that initial 13-digit debt. To put such an ungodly bar tab in context, here are some key debt benchmarks. Each benchmark...

US President Barack Obama is widely expected to announce next week that he favours sending more than 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, in a momentous decision for his presidency. At an appearance on Tuesday with Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, Mr Obama said that after eight years in which the US did not have “either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job”. He added: ”the whole world... has a core security interest in making sure that the kind of extremism and violence that you’ve seen emanating from this region...

Just 39 percent of white Americans now approve of President Obama's job performance, a steep drop-off of support since he was inaugurated in January, according to the latest Gallup Poll. In his first full week in office, starting Jan. 26, just over six in 10 white people gave him their approval. Now that number is down to under four in 10, indicating a net drop of 22 points. Black voters, meanwhile, have continued to support Obama to the tune of approximately 90 percent. And Democrats and liberals give Obama approval ratings of above 80 percent. "Though he maintains widespread loyalty...

When I was in college, I read a book that changed my life. It was Susan Brownmiller's tome, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, which explained rape as an act of power instead of just lust. What I found particularly chilling was the chapter on war -- how rape is used to terrorize a population and destroy the enemy's spirit. While edifying, the book magnified the vulnerability I already felt as a female. Fear of rape became a constant dread, and I sought a solution that would help shield me from danger. The answer: seek safe harbor within the...

The lone major sport with its roots in America could soon see its premier players dunking and driving to the hoop wearing uniforms made in Thailand, costing nearly 100 workers their jobs in upstate New York. Sports apparel giant Adidas plans to end its contract with Perry, N.Y.-based apparel supplier American Classic Outfitters (ACO), which currently manufactures more than half of the uniforms worn in the National Basketball Association. And that's downright un-American, says Donna Wampole, who has worked at ACO, outside Buffalo, for 22 years. She says losing Adidas' business will undoubtedly hurt the company and will likely lead...

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - Talk about getting stuck with the cheap seats. The Pontiac Silverdome in suburban Detroit was built three decades ago for $56 million. Now it's being virtually given away after a judge approved its sale for a paltry $583,000. That comes out to $7.25 a seat as the once-proud arena is relegated to being another sad symbol of the Detroit area's economic collapse. The Silverdome opened in 1975 as home of the Detroit Lions and housed the NBA's Pistons in 1978-88.

FORMER Liberal frontbencher Kevin Andrews has confirmed today he is a starter in any leadership contest with Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Turnbull insisted today he will defy calls for a leadership vote this week and stare down "a minority in the Liberal Party who don't want to do anything about climate change". But Mr Andrews has warned the Opposition leader it would be "extraordinary" if he didn't act on a formal request for a spill. "There is growing concern in the electorate that this is going to be a massive tax by Mr Rudd which we will be paying for, not...

Who gave this jihadi chasing lawyer the a-ok to speak for the Gitmo terrorists? Scott Fenstermaker has been on a publicity tour acting as though he is authorized to speak for the terrorists scheduled to make an appearance in federal criminal court. Fifteen months ago, Fenstermaker lost privileges and was removed from the military commissions civilian defense counsel pool. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has the exclusive story with information from a Pentagon source including a copy of the letter Fenstermaker received from Steven David, the chief defense council of the collection of attorneys who represented detainees at Camp Delta...