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CAMP LIBERTY — Troops serving at this large logistics base near Baghdad International Airport were provided a rare opportunity Saturday to meet and talk with Gen. Peter Pace, the sixteenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pace answered questions from Soldiers of Multi-National Division – Baghdad and the 4th Infantry Division. “We came a long way to do one very special thing, and that is to say thank you to you for what you are doing over here. We are so proud of what you do,” said Pace to the room of about 50 service members. “Sometimes, when you...

With virtually no mention in the mainstream media, Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez convened on June 15, the first meeting of the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC), an apparently extra-constitutional advisory group organized by the Department of Commerce (DOC) under the auspices of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). A March 31 press release on the White House website, under the title “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America: Progress,” announced the formation of the NACC. The press release noted that the NACC would meet annually “with security and prosperity Ministers and will engage with senior government officials on an...

CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo (Army News Service, July 5, 2006) –Soldiers from the Texas National Guard’s 36th Infantry Division and Multi-National Task Force (East) marked America’s 230th year of independence during a July 4 ceremony on the Camp Bondsteel parade field. Brig. Gen. Darren Owens, commanding general of MNTF(E), spoke about America’s struggle for independence. “We as Americans can proudly say the Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776, gave birth to the ideals of freedom that others in the world only dream about,” Owens said. “We are free to love, worship and live as we want – but freedom does have...

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2006 – On a day that is meant to represent more than just the unofficial start of the summer season, thousands of people lined Constitution Avenue here to watch a Memorial Day parade commemorating U.S. troops who have died while serving their country. Members of the Nassau-Suffolk Horsemen's Association from Long Island, N.Y., march in the National Memorial Day Parade down Constitution Avenue in Washington, May 29. Photo by Steven Donald Smith  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "The parade is great. I love it," said Todd Stockstiol, of Memphis, Tenn. "We can't take all the...

SAN ANTONIO, May 25, 2006 – Their mission here accomplished, three Virginia businessmen are scheduled to arrive home today after completing their "Ride for America's Patriots," a 3,200-mile roundtrip motorcycle ride designed to raise money for wounded veterans. Bikers representing American Legion Post 593 in Converse, Texas, lead the way for three Virginia men arriving on their "Ride for America's Patriots" May 19 after a four-day trek from Fairfax, Va. Photo by Cheryl Harrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. On May 15, three riders - Tom Donegan, Joe Kurnos and Bob Loy - set off in cool temperatures...

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2006 – Inspired by a severely injured veteran of the war in Iraq, three men set out on a nearly 1,600-mile motorcycle ride today that will raise awareness and money to help injured servicemembers. Bob Loy (left), Joe Kurnos (center), and Tom Donegan get ready to hit the road on a nearly 1,600-mile trek May 15. The journey, meant to raise awareness of servicemembers' sacrifices as well as money for the troop support organization Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, will take the trio from Fairfax, Va., to San Antonio in five days. Photo by Samantha L....

January Was America's Warmest on Record Wednesday February 8, 2006 12:16 AM By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Recording the warmest January on record allowed Americans to save on their heating, but like all good things, last month's mildness seems to have been too good to last. The country's average temperature for the month was 39.5 degrees Fahrenheit, 8.5 degrees above average for January, the National Climatic Data Center said Tuesday. The old record for January warmth was 37.3 degrees set in 1953. On the other hand, while much of the United States was basking in...

A map due to be unveiled in Beijing and London next week may lend weight to a theory a Chinese admiral discovered America before Christopher Columbus. The map, which shows North and South America, apparently states that it is a 1763 copy of another map made in 1418. If true, it could imply Chinese mariners discovered and mapped America decades before Columbus' 1492 arrival. The map, which is being dated to check it was made in 1763, faces a lot of scepticism from experts. Chinese characters written beside the map say it was drawn by Mo Yi Tong and copied...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2006 – The war on terror has been a fight unlike any the United States ever has experienced, but the country has proven its resolve and will continue to do so as it faces the challenges that lie ahead, Vice President Dick Cheney said today at the Heritage Foundation here. "The United States will keep our commitment," Cheney said. "We will continue the work of reconstruction; our forces will keep going after the terrorists; we will continue training the Iraqi military so that Iraqis can eventually take the lead in their country's security and our men and...

Fuente Magna Rosetta stone of the Americas "Atlantis: the Andes Solution" by J.M.Allen (pub Windrush Press 1998) and basis of the Discovery film "Atlantis in the Andes" by Lisa Hutchison proposes the question "did anyone ever consider that the first reed boats may have crossed from west to east perhaps following the route from the River Plate eastwards across the Atlantic, past the Cape of Good Hope and via the Indian Ocean to enter the Persian Gulf and Red Sea to found the early civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt?" It is obvious that at that time, the author suspected a...

Habana, Dec 20 - Evo Morales, who gained victory in Bolivia's presidential election, praised President Fidel Castro in an interview with government television broadcast Monday. "I want to tell you that this year I dreamt of joining the anti-imperialist struggle of Fidel and the Cuban people," he said in a message to the Cuban people. "Now I have the opportunity to be with him in this struggle, in search of peace with social justice," he said. Morales praised the resilence of Cuban in resisting the decades-old US trade embargo against the island. "I hope the government of the United States...

Contact: Steve Bradt steve_bradt@harvard.edu 617-496-8070 Harvard University Ancient humans brought bottle gourds to the Americas from AsiaPlants widely used as containers arrived, already domesticated, some 10,000 years ago CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 13, 2005 -- Thick-skinned bottle gourds widely used as containers by prehistoric peoples were likely brought to the Americas some 10,000 years ago by individuals who arrived from Asia, according to a new genetic comparison of modern bottle gourds with gourds found at archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere. The finding solves a longstanding archaeological enigma by explaining how a domesticated variant of a species native to Africa ended...

Study sheds light on early migrationSkulls raise questions on first Americans By MIKE TONER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 12/13/05 A 10-year study of ancient human skulls from Brazil provides new evidence that two distinct populations of prehistoric people settled the Americas more than 12,000 years ago — a finding that raises new questions about the identity and origins of the first Americans. Brazilian researchers say physical features of the skulls excavated from several limestone caves near Lagoa Santa in central Brazil differ sharply from the ancestors of today's Native Americans, who are thought to have migrated from Siberia to...

U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCES, PACIFIC, CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii (Dec. 5, 2005) -- The 3rd Marine Regiment color guard led the largest community parade in the state of Hawaii during the 43rd annual Kaneohe Bay Christmas Parade, Dec. 3. If you’re not accustomed to a Hawaiian winter you would have found yourself a bit confused as to what this parade was for; the typically warm weather and the “Celebration of Freedom” theme made it as much like a 4th of July celebration than Christmas. Kaneohe celebrated not only Christmas but also all the men and women who serve to...

WHETSTONE — June 9, 1944, is a day Bob Strosser remembers well. The submarine he was serving on was on war patrol off Truk Island, retrieving Army Air Force crew members from aircraft that might have been downed by Japanese gunfire. Strosser, now 80, was one of three lookouts on the surfaced USS Snapper. The former torpedoman put that day’s harrowing experience succinctly. “We got strafed,” he said, as he talked about that day more than 61 years ago. A lookout and torpedoman named McKee was killed, and Strosser and the other sailor were wounded. Strosser was hit by shrapnel...

...We are heading to a formal partition of the hemisphere. One bloc is made up of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Chile, and several other countries, whose combined gross domestic product is an estimated $14.5 trillion. The other emerging bloc is made up of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Paraguay and Uruguay, whose economies add up to about $2.2 trillion. there was widespread resentment against the Argentine hosts for introducing the anti-FTAA motion a day before the summit -- after six months of negotiations to reach a near consensus on the final document -- and for allowing an atmosphere...

Leaders from across the Americas ended their two-day summit Saturday without agreeing whether to restart talks on a free trade zone stretching from Alaska to Chile. Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa said the summit's declaration would state two opposing views: one favoring the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, and another saying discussions should wait until after World Trade Organization talks in December. The decision came after negotiations extended eight hours past the scheduled deadline. Almost all the leaders - including President Bush - left during the discussions and put other negotiators in charge. Mexico, the United States and...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: The Summit of the Americas wrapped up in Argentina, and the presidential party headed for Brazil. President left the summit on schedule, before leaders reached any agreement on a declaration concerning the future of hemisphere-wide trade talks. Discussions at the summit were more than three hours behind schedule when the presidential party left as planned at 3:30 p.m. local time. Tom Shannon, assistant U.S. Secretary of State for the western hemisphere, stayed behind to represent the U.S. in the talks. On Friday, President Bush said he was disappointed by the decision by Senate Judiciary Chairman...

Unlike most of the world's people, many Americans view the possession of firearms as the norm rather than the exception. The European and Japanese feudal aristocracies loathed firearms, because they eliminated the role of the nobility in combat. Firearms democratized warfare, penetrated armor, and allowed fighting from a distance, thereby greatly reducing the importance of the nobility's old skills with swords in close combat. In Japan and much of Europe, the aristocracy promoted laws restricting or prohibiting the possession of firearms, especially handguns, by common people. In continental Europe and England, hunting was tightly controlled by the aristocracy. Common people...

A protester kicks in a window of a bank during a march against the presence of U.S. President George W. Bush in the Fourth Summit of the Americas in the Atlantic resort city of Mar del Plata, Argentina on Friday Nov. 4, 2005.(AP Photo/Dado Galdieri)