Free Republic

Now, after the fact, the left is convulsing and gnashing their teeth. How could we have allowed ourselves to so demean Sarah Palin as to turn her home-run speech into a genuine star-making speech by lowering expectations so much through our derision!?! How could you have done that, you ask. That's not the right question. The right question is Is it even possible for you to avoid doing that?, because you do every. Single. God. Damn. Election. Cycle. It works in my favor, and yet I'm still horrified to see you doing it every time. Have you ever done anything...

2/13/2008 - MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AFPN) -- A retired general had been waiting on a call for some time; 55 years to be exact. Retired Lt. Gen. Charles G. Cleveland answered his home phone in January that turned out to be one of the most important calls of his life. "That's how I found out the Air Force was officially recognizing me as an ace," General Cleveland said. "Right there on the phone." But while the notification of his new-found status was brief and unceremonious, General Cleveland's journey to reach this point was a very long one. It started in South...

Will `Ace' McCain Flame Out Again? - Brief ArticleKelly Patricia O'Meara Over the years he's played many roles and worn many titles, including Navy aviator, prisoner of war, hero, congressman, U.S. senator, Washington insider, maverick outsider and, now, presidential candidate. But the one title of which few are aware is that of "service ace." John Sidney McCain III is known among many of his Vietnam flight buddies as "Ace" McCain. This title has not been bestowed upon McCain because he destroyed five enemy aircraft. On the contrary: It was five on our side -- in fact, five of his own....

Last Saturday, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings gave the commencement address for the Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education Master's Program. Secretary Spellings discussed the importance of Catholic educators in today’s society: “99 percent of your students will graduate from high school, and 97 percent will go on to college. That's a tremendous accomplishment... and it's a strong reminder that we can't afford to lose any of these schools. Like I said before, Catholic schools are national treasures. At a time when 90 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require higher education, we need every school in America to have success...

A HUSBAND IS AT HOME WATCHING A FOOTBALL GAME WHEN HIS WIFE INTERRUPTS, HONEY, COULD YOU FIX THE LIGHT IN THE HALLWAY? IT'S BEEN FLICKERING FOR WEEKS NOW. HE LOOK AT HER AND SAYS ANGRILY, FIX THE LIGHTS NOW? DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE GE WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD? I DON'T THINK SO. FINE, THEN THE WIFE ASKS, WELL THEN, COULD YOU FIX THE FRIDGE DOOR? IT WON'T CLOSE RIGHT TO WHICH HE REPLIED, FIX THE FRIDGE DOOR? DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE WESTINGHOUSE WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD? I DON'T THINK SO FINE, SHE SAYS, THEN YOU COULD...

A former Navy Top Gun with decades of flying experience forgot to put his plane's landing gear down during an air show practice run in Tucson in March, the Federal Aviation Administration found. Retired Capt. Dale "Snort" Snodgrass, a seasoned pro on the military air-show circuit, was piloting a Korean War-era F-86 Sabre that scraped to a stop and caught fire in the March 4 mishap at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Snodgrass, 57, was given counseling as "corrective action," according to the FAA report, obtained by the Arizona Daily Star under the Freedom of Information Act. The pilot was unhurt...

To make a point to fellow fighter pilots in World War II, Col. Fred J. Christensen always flew with Sinbad, a stray black cat he had found. Seeing him return safe from combat missions — black cat and all — helped motivate the other pilots, his daughter Diane Haagensen said Sunday. And counter to traditional superstitions, Sinbad was very good luck for her father, who shot down 22 Nazi planes during the war, including six in a two-minute span of one air battle. Christensen, who the Massachusetts Air National Guard said was believed to be the last living U.S. ace...

Pierre Clostermann, an ace fighter pilot who flew for de Gaulle's Free French forces in World War II, engaging in fierce combat in the Battle of Britain and over Normandy on D-Day, died March 22 at his home in Montesquieu des Albères in southwestern France. He was 85. After the war, Mr. Clostermann became a pillar of Gaullist politics. French newspapers, from the national Le Monde and Le Figaro to the regional press, registered his death as the passing of one the country's last true war heroes. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin eulogized him as a "legend and an example"...

General Robert L. Scott, fighter ace, best selling author and boyhood hero of mine, passed away this past Monday at 97. As a kid, I began to amass a small assemblage of ideals based on my reading, discussions around the dinner table and talks with friends. In the imagined room I constructed, with the sepia toned photos, heroic busts, lit by the yellow light cast from those old clear bulbs hidden behind the heavy cloth shades attached to the ancient lamps, arranged on sturdy tables, decorated with large leather bound volumes on heavy bookcases, above a busy thoroughfare, not unlike...

We don't need to honor any more rich white males So says one member of the University of Washington Student Senate. Gregory Pappy Boyington...graduate of the Univeristy of Washington (went to High School in Tacoma), winner of the medal of honor, shot down 28 enemy aircraft, was a prisoner of war for 20 months, and apparently does not - according to the student senate - deserve a memorial on campus. Apparently we are told that he "is not the type of person we want to honor" and some even went so far as to liken his duty in WW2 to...

During his days as a Navy pilot, Randy "Duke" Cunningham headed a squadron whose members poked fun at each other by writing humorous entries in a journal dubbed the "hit log." Officers who served with Randy "Duke" Cunningham said the qualities that made him a good pilot – cockiness, a sense of entitlement – led to his undoing in Washington. Cunningham would make entries in the book from time to time, singling out his subordinates for good-natured ribbing. But his writing was so riddled with misspellings and tortured punctuation that a junior officer took to diagramming the sentences, describing Cunningham's...

...Mr. Spitzer has discovered bad behavior in so-called bid-rigging by insurance brokers.... Soliciting fake bids to drive up prices is a crime, and Mr. Spitzer has already won two guilty pleas from employees of AIG. At least in this case the New York AG has charged people for breaking the law. This is a prosecutor's main duty, but in his previous financial crusades Mr. Spitzer has used public mau-mauing to scare his targets into a settlement rather than prove something to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. But bid-rigging aside, Mr. Spitzer's goal seems to be nothing short of altering...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted on Tue, Sep. 21, 2004 Did injured brain betray Red Baron? Trauma from earlier wound likely caused lack of judgment on fatal flight, psychologists say By ALAN BAVLEY The Kansas City Star The Associated Press An undated photo circa 1917 of the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen It's never been clear why the World War I German flying ace dubbed the Red Baron took the chances that got him killed one spring day in 1918. Now two retired U.S. Air Force psychologists think they have an answer: The Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, had suffered so traumatic a...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... . U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. . . Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family...

Decorated World War II aviator and "Ace" Lee Andrew Archer Jr., 84, says he dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot at an early age. The Yonkers, N.Y.-born veteran recalled reading comic books during his boyhood that featured illustrated stories depicting World War I duels in the skies between Germany's Baron von Richthofen and allied fliers. "I wanted to be a pilot," Archer said at a Feb. 19 National Black History Month commemoration ceremony at Veterans Affairs Department headquarters, noting that watching planes take off and land at a small airport near his family's summer home in Saratoga, N.Y., also whetted...

A year ago, a mystery virus began to kill people in China. Causing an illness dubbed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the virus quickly spread beyond Asia and for a few months stirred fears of a worldwide epidemic. With stunning speed, scientists identified the virus and decoded its genetic sequence (SN: 4/26/03, p. 262: http://www.sciencenews.org/20030426/fob8.asp). Now, a research team has claimed victory in the race to identify the cellular receptor—the protein to which the virus attaches when it infects cells—for the SARS virus. Since the protein turned out to be a well-known one that had previously been implicated in heart...

ORLANDO, Fla. Nov. 9 — Doctors have known for a decade that drugs called ACE inhibitors are a cornerstone of care for congestive heart failure, yet a nationwide survey released Sunday shows that nearly one-third of patients are sent home from the hospital without this lifesaving treatment. The report documents what many see as a dangerous reality of modern medicine: Doctors often fail to offer, or simply don't know about, the most basic elements of care for the many conditions they see daily. Just why doctors do not give patients the treatments experts universally agree work best is not always...

Waunakee man sinks hole-in-one, bowls perfect 300 in 24 hours (Published Friday, October 17, 2003 08:56:45 AM CDT) Associated Press MADISON, Wis. -- Paul Hughes is hot these days. The 74-year-old Waunakee man hit a hole-in-one and bowled a perfect 300 game in a 24-hour span earlier this week. Hughes, a retired heating and plumbing business owner, sank the hole-in-one on the 149-yard fifth hole at the Pleasant View golf course in Middleton Monday afternoon. He bowled the perfect game at Bowling Green lanes in Middleton Tuesday. "It's a super feeling," Hughes said. Ted Donker, director of golf operations at...

Lord, Keep our troops forever in your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. God Bless America...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members...

Calls Uday, Qusay 'Do-nothings' Abid Hamid Mahmoud al-Tikriti, the just-captured "ace of diamonds" from the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, last night blasted his number-four status, arguing that he should rank higher than both Uday and Qusay Hussein in the infamous deck of cards. "When the Americans told me I was number four, I practically fell out of my chair," Mr. Mahmoud told CNN's Larry King during an hour-long interview. "What were they smoking when they put together these rankings?" Mr. Mahmoud attempted to portray himself as a victim of nepotism, claiming that the Hussein sons' role in Saddam's...

When Lt. Grant Turley, 21, was shot down over Germany on March 6, 1944, he was carrying a four-leaf clover, a photo of his wife and a lock of his horse's mane. Turley, the fighter pilot who was Arizona's first ace in World War II, is cherished as much for his humanity as for his heroics. His siblings recall that this tall, lean cowboy from Aripine was quiet and generous, that he would lend his brother Stan $5 for socializing and be satisfied to be paid back only $3 because, he would tell Stan, "you need it more than I...

Beer-Belly Gene Found Gene Type Linked to Fat Abs in Men By Daniel DeNoon Reviewed By Charlotte Grayson, MD on Monday, January 06, 2003 WebMD Medical News Jan. 6, 2003 -- It's the end of the season for too much TV football, too much food, and, well, too much. But now some men can put the blame for their beer guts on something else -- their parents. Men who inherit a certain gene from both parents have a higher risk of abdominal fat, an Italian study finds. "Overweight and abdominal [fat] were more common in men with the [certain gene...