Free Republic

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported October 23 that Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha is in a statistical dead heat with Republican challenger William Russell, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel who decided to run against Murtha after the congressman made disparaging remarks about Marines serving in Iraq. According to the report, Murtha holds a lead of just over 4 percentage points, which is within the polling margin of error for the poll cited by the Tribune-Review. The poll was taken immediately after Murtha's latest controversial remark about constituents in his district, so the poll may change again after the effect of Murtha's comments...

Here’s the news The Battle for Main Street, Hometown, U.S.A: Sept 29, 2008, Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd committed an act of domestic, economic terrorism. Don’t wait for the claim of responsibility from their organization known as ALL SPENDA. Obama Bin Phonein will not call that in, he does not want us to get a fix on his position. We should expect the release of tapes demonstrating that Bin Phonein is still alive, it’s all Bush’s fault and that all American’s will pay dearly on April 15th 2009. The follow up attack of April 15th is being conducted under the...

WHEN IS JOHN McCAIN ACTUALLY GOING TO JOIN BATTLE WITH HIS OPPONENTS IN THIS CAMPAIGN? I have grown so discouraged with John McCain's inaction; his seeming lack of commitment; his refusal to take the fight to the enemy in this Presidential Campaign, that a few moments ago I submitted the comments below to his Official Campaign Website. For all I know they may be deleted and totally disregarded by the operatives at his end. But they relect my true feelings at this juncture.

Shifting Battleground Since the polling team last surveyed likely voters in August, a lot has changed. The number of battleground states has shrunk — from 19 to 14 — as Alaska, Georgia, North Dakota and Montana returned to their Republican roots. In August, Obama led in the 14 states by 3 points. Now McCain leads in those states by 2, and the underlying political landscape has shifted a bit as well. In August, by a 7-point margin, more voters identified themselves as Democrats. Now, in the battleground states, the Democratic advantage in party identification has shrunk to 2 points.

One of the members of the crew of a ship in the Black Sea Fleet, upon his return to Sevastopol is interviewed by a reporter regarding the battle with Georgian cutters off of Abkhazia on 10 August. This is currently leading the news in the Ukraine. The story suggests he is being interviewed by a kpunews reporter. "We took up station guarding the opposed landing on the Abkhaz shore when all of a sudden four high speed targets were detected. We sent out an IFF signal and the targets didn't react. Receiving a command from the flagship, we got into...

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2008 – Army and Air National Guard members from California and North Carolina are supporting firefighting efforts in Northern California today following a state active-duty call-up by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a request for airborne firefighting assets by the Interagency Fire Center. The governor's office reported yesterday that a "swarm of dry lighting cells over the last 16 hours sparked nearly 400 new fires across the state, spanning from Monterey and Fresno counties to the Oregon-California border." Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency June 22 for Monterey and Trinity counties. The governor made similar declarations for...

SACRAMENTO - Guarding against a unilateral move by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to build a revised Peripheral Canal, key lawmakers have inserted special provisions in the state budget to prevent an end-run around the Legislature and voters. Schwarzenegger's top water advisers maintain they have no intentions of independently launching a new north-to-south delivery system. But, the state has already initiated exploratory environmental studies for four different conveyance options. Even the Legislature's own attorney, in a recent opinion, concluded that the Department of Water Resources "has the authority, without further legislative or voter approval, to build a conveyance facility, commonly referred to...

KOBE, Japan - The world is losing momentum in the battle against global warming, the U.N. climate chief warned on Saturday, urging environmental ministers from wealthy nations to revive the effort by setting clear targets for reducing greenhouse gases. The ministers gathered in the western Japanese city of Kobe for a three-day meeting as evidence mounted that rising world temperatures have been taking a toll on the earth at a faster rate than previously forecast. The officials from the Group of Eight countries, joined by representatives from other countries including China and other organizations, were to lay the foundations for...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU — Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, conducted training with their IA counterparts at Patrol Base Red May 15 to prepare the IA Soldiers for joint patrols. The Soldiers of Company D, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, are stationed at PB Red along with the Iraqi company from 6th Battalion, 25th Brigade, 6th IA Division. “We’re currently training the IA in basic soldiering skills,” said platoon leader and instructor 1st Lt. Christopher Domenico, adding the Soldiers are right out of the Iraqi basic training environment. “They do know good skills. They can...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Moqtada al-Sadr's militiamen Tuesday battled troops in four Iraqi cities on Tuesday, including the capital, as the hardline Shiite cleric threatened a countrywide campaign of civil revolt. Heavy clashes broke out between Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters in the southern oil city of Basra, killing at least seven people and wounding 48, and in Kut and Hilla, both south of Baghdad, officials said. As evening fell, Mahdi Army fighters fought with Iraqi and US forces in their Sadr City bastion in eastern Baghdad for the first time since last October, a security official and witnesses told AFP. Troops...

Battle for the £4 million sea fortress By Richard Savill Last Updated: 1:36am GMT 07/03/2008 With armour-plated walls rising defiantly from the sea, No Man's Land Fort has held out against invaders since it was built to repel Napoleon III 150 years ago. Now, however, the Solent fortress is under siege for the first time and could be facing its most determined enemy yet - estate agents. The fort, which has been converted into a hotel, has been put on the market by administrators. However, Harmesh Pooni, 42, who claims he is the rightful owner of the Grade II-listed building,...

** EXCERPT ** (CNN) — Likely GOP nominee John McCain said Sunday that beating an energized Democratic party in a fall election fight would be “an uphill battle all the way.”The Arizona senator told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week that he “can out-campaign them, and I can out-debate them, and I can out-perform them” but conceded that he had his work cut out for him in the months ahead.“…We've got to reunite the party, and we've got to re-energize the party. And I'm prepared to do that. We've got plenty of time. But I won't waste a day,” said...

McCartney and Mills' divorce battle to continue By Nick Allen Last Updated: 4:34pm GMT 15/02/2008 Sir Paul McCartney’s estranged wife Heather has criticised him for turning down a request from an autograph hunter as their divorce battle moved towards a bitter conclusion at the High Court. Heather Mills smiles as she leaves court The Beatles fan approached Sir Paul with an original version of the 1968 White Album as he prepared to enter Court 34 where the proceedings are being held in private. But, apparently Sir Paul turned him down, explaining he was sorry but he was not allowed to...

Ringgold City Council is facing potential legal action based on its 2005 decision to remove the Confederate Battle Flag from the Ringgold Depot Civil War Memorial. The Southern Legal Resource Center notified the city Feb. 11 by letter from SLRC chief trial counsel Kirk D. Lyons that it will face legal action unless it replaces the battle flag within 10 days. According to Roger McCredie, Southern Legal Resource Center executive director, the letter puts the city on notice that its clients, the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and its local Joseph McConnell Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp...

BASTOGNE, Belgium, Dec. 21, 2007 – Standing next to the killing field where he once found himself face-down in the snow surrounded by the dead and dying, Ted Paluch said his return wasn’t as emotional as it once was, especially having visited three other times. Emotions begin to overcome Malmedy massacre survivor Ted Paluch after he presented a wreath to remember 84 U.S. soldiers executed in World War II. To Paluch’s right is Fabien Steffese, curator of the Baugneze 44 Historical Center, which recounts the tragedy. Photo by Ray Johnson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. His resiliency and...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 6, 2007 – Violence in Iraq has dropped significantly in recent months, but it’s still too soon to declare the home stretch in U.S. operations here, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said today. Army Gen David H. Petraeus cited significant security progress during a roundtable with reporters at the Multinational Task Force headquarters at Camp Victory. Following the roundtable discussion, the general spent an hour with visiting Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Weekly attacks in recent weeks are roughly 60 percent of the levels they were in June, Petraeus said. High-profile attacks are down 60 percent from...

I wasn't born at the time of the Vietnam war... I am from the Reagan-Bush Sr generation. This video is my tribute to the previous generation who fought and bled there, and who often thinks that they are ignored by the new generation.

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition forces killed about 80 Taliban fighters during a six-hour battle outside a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the latest in a series of increasingly bloody engagements in the region, officials said. Also Saturday, suicide bomber wearing an Afghan security uniform detonated his explosives at the entrance to a combined U.S.-Afghan base in the east of the country, killing four Afghan soldiers and a civilian, officials said. The battle near Musa Qala in Helmand province — the world's largest poppy growing region — is at least the fifth major fight in the area since...

Doctors battle to save 'human pin-cushion' By Richard Spencer and Juliet Turner Last Updated: 5:47pm BST 25/10/2007 Doctors in China have saved the life of a woman who had 26 pins and needles inserted into her body when she was a child in an apparent attempt to change her sex to a boy. The objects were discovered when the 29-year-old woman, named in local papers as Luo Cuifen, went to hospital for a check-up after she started experiencing blood in her urine. They had penetrated vital organs such as the lungs, kidney and liver, while a needle in her brain...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2007 – An eight-hour battle this morning in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province ended with another defeat of the Taliban by Afghan forces. A combined force led by an element of 205th Afghan National Army Corps advised by coalition forces was on a combat patrol near a small village in the Meian Nashin district when more than 30 enemy fighters attacked from multiple compounds and fighting positions using small-arms fire. The Afghan-led force repelled the attempted ambush with small-arms and crew-served-weapons fire. As the insurgents continued to reinforce their positions with additional fighters, the ground commander requested coalition close-air...