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Skelton to Introduce Legislation to Protect TRICARE Washington, D.C.—Today, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) released the statement below regarding his intent to introduce legislation to explicitly state in law that TRICARE and the DOD nonappropriated fund (NAF) health plans meet all of the health care requirements currently under consideration by Congress for individual health insurance. These programs provide health coverage to members of the military and their families, military retirees and their families, and employees of U.S. military post/base exchanges and other nonappropriated fund activities. “Our nation’s military provides us with first-class protection, and it is our...

This Ammendment established the Income Tax. Amendment 16 - Status of Income Tax Clarified. Ratified 2/3/1913. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 30 words, only 4 of which exceed 2 syllables. Today - 96 years later - Subtitle A (Income Tax) of Title 26 of US Code (aka The Internal Revenue Code), has hundreds of sections and is thousands of pages long. Go here yourself and see if you can figure out how many pages it...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The adult sons of an Idaho state senator are in hot water with authorities in Idaho's capital city after two American flags dedicated to soldiers killed in Iraq were vandalized. Twenty-four-year-old Michael Burkett was arrested and 22-year-old Thomas Burkett was cited for allegedly damaging flags and flagpoles on the grounds of the Idaho Capitol building this morning. Police say Michael Burkett also resisted and obstructed officers. Boise Police say one flag pole had been bent so the flag was lying on the ground, the other had been pulled from the ground. Their father is Boise Senator...

The race for Maryland's open U.S. Senate seat has narrowed, but Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin holds a 6-point edge, the result of firm support among black voters and strong leads in Baltimore and suburban Washington, according to a new poll for The Sun. Cardin is ahead of Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, 49 percent to 43 percent, with 5 percent of voters undecided less than a week before the election. The Baltimore congressman's lead has been cut nearly in half, however, since a September Sun survey showed him with an 11-point advantage. Still, Cardin has solidified his backing among...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker on Wednesday criticized retired generals who have come out against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other defense leaders, calling their comments “unfortunate” and “inappropriate.” “I was retired, and you didn’t see me doing it,” Schoomaker told reporters during a Washington press breakfast. “If I thought what these officers were saying was true, I would not be here.” Schoomaker suggested that if the generals were so unhappy with their civilian masters, they should have left their jobs in protest. “I think we have a responsibility, while we’re in uniform, if we...

Patriot Guard Riders stand watch at White funeral Daily Home Online, AL - Jan 17, 2006 TALLADEGA — With rain steadily streaming, about 15 members of the Patriot Guard Riders stood watch outside Kelly Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Munford ... Patriot Guard Riders to attend White funeral Daily Home Online, AL - Jan 13, 2006 TALLADEGA — The Alabama chapter of an organization called the Patriot Guard Riders announced they would be attending the funeral of Sgt First Class Stephen J ... Pastor said Barbosa's life resulted in victory. Greensboro News Record, NC - 16 hours ago ... Monday's...

1 August, 1780 New York, New York - The Colonial Fortress overlooking the Hudson River at West Point, New York, was captured by the British Army last week, apparently without having to fire a single shot. Soldiers formerly garrisoned at Fortress West Point, who escaped the fort during the occupation by the Redcoats, report that the forces commanded by Sir Henry Clinton were escorted through the front gate by embattled Colonial Army Major General Benedict Arnold. The day began, according to the brave escapees, with Arnold ordering all the garrison's weapons being locked in storage for an inspection and inventory....

"To intrude on a family over a cause of gay rights...is just pathetic," says Councilman Jerry Russell. Russell echoes the sentiment of at least 10 others who speak out at city hall. They`re upset over protests like one at Sergeant Edward Myers funeral last August. Protesters have said in the past that soldiers` deaths are gods retribution for America`s tolerance of homosexuals. "You drive by these people who are dragging the flag on the ground and I just can`t imagine what the widow is going through," says JL Robertson, Director of Rupp Funeral Home. With Monday night`s vote, council unanimously...

I don't know if the war in Iraq is ultimately unwinnable, but what I do know makes me skeptical of those who say so. I do know that since Vietnam, liberals have viewed every exercise of American military power (with the exception of those undertaken by Bill Clinton) as preludes to disaster. The very first question Ronald Reagan was asked at his first presidential press conference concerned El Salvador. The question: Did he think it was going to turn into another Vietnam? Democrats invoked Vietnam with every other sentence during the long and nasty controversy about aiding the resistance in...

One of the most critical issues that members of Congress must address is the wisdom of setting a schedule for our continued presence in Iraq. In this regard, I would hope that they would look back to September 1983, when both houses of Congress held War Powers Act hearings on our presence in Beirut as part of a multinational force. I asked Congress then not to set a schedule for our withdrawal from war-torn Lebanon. I said, "If the time is too short, our enemies will wait us out; if it is too long, they will drive us out." My...

A member of the Texas Army National Guard stationed at Fort Sam Houston who wants to be discharged as a conscientious objector stopped using military benefits after finding out her unit got orders for active duty, according to her lawyer. Austin attorney Beverly Reeves today also told U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia Katherine Jashinski had an epiphany that caused her to question the values with which she was raised. Jashinski, 22, now believes in protecting life and opposes war. Jashinski, originally from Wautoma, Wisc., enlisted in April 2002 for six years, and is under orders to ship out to Fort...

BAGHDAD -- It used to be the most dangerous highway in Iraq, five miles of bomb-blasted road between Baghdad International Airport and the capital cityscape. It was a white-knuckle ride, coming or going. To reach Baghdad or leave it, you had to survive the airport road first. In April, 13 people died along the route, including an American aid worker, Marla Ruzicka, who was killed on a sliver of pocked pavement that intersects threadbare fields and modest cement homes. Then, two months ago, the killings stopped. In October, one person was wounded on the road and no one was killed,...

It was a slide down the toad hole that ended with a bump as I landed in Wonderland: The E Ring office of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld where the great man waited to do battle with me. The occasion was an invitation to a private lunch with the secretary, and I knew I was not there to receive the Defense Distinguished Service Medal or a pat on the back. My recent columns on the state of the Army and the conduct of the war in Iraq have not been well received at the uppermost levels in the Pentagon....

Here's the analogy I use when I hear the BS argument about supporting the troops but not the war: You're a parent and your kid is a star on the HS football team. You love your son, feed him, clothe him, give him proper medical care. On the other hand you hate his football coach because of personality conflicts. The football team makes it to the state championship, but you're going to root for the opposing team and you're going to pull your kid out at halftime to undermine the coach's strategy to win, all because you don't like the...

Low experience levels of federal employees sent to Iraq and their short deployments are hindering the U.S. government's efforts to quickly establish well-functioning government ministries there, say Bush administration officials. The officials said rules from the Office of Personnel Management meant to safeguard deployed employees can result in sending less-qualified persons. Their expertise is needed to teach such basic government functions as banking, reconstruction, policing and farm policies. As a result, the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies are brainstorming about proposals to create a permanent rapid-response corps of federal civilians who would deploy on call to rebuild a nation.

TOKYO - Moving closer toward their longtime goal of fielding a unified Olympic team, South and North Korea agreed in principle on Tuesday to have their athletes compete together at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In another sign of reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula, officials from the two countries issued a short statement agreeing to a unified team after a three-hour meeting in Macao, where Korean athletes were competing in the East Asian games.

US planning for Cuba's "transition" after the demise of Fidel Castro has entered a new stage, with a special office for reconstruction inside the US State Department preparing for the "day after", when Washington will try to back a democratic government in Havana. The inter-agency effort, which also involves the Defense Department, recognises that the Cuba transition may not go peacefully and that the US may have to launch a nation-building exercise. Caleb McCarry, the Cuba transition co-ordinator, is working on the project within the Office for Reconstruction and Stabilization, which was established by the Bush administration to prevent and...

In late August, Gen. John Abizaid and Rear Adm. Michael LeFever discussed the next assignment for LeFever and his men. Abizaid oversees the U.S. Central Command, while LeFever leads the San Diego-based Expeditionary Strike Group 1. The strike group had left San Diego in July for a six-month deployment and worked its way through Japan, the Philippines, Egypt and Australia as it headed toward the Persian Gulf to guard Iraqi oil. LeFever recalled Abizaid as saying: "I suspect you are going to find yourself some place you never thought you'd be." A few days after a large earthquake struck the...

BAGHDAD — For Sahar Rubayie, the last days of Ramadan are a time to build up her spiritual strength by fasting and contemplating the Koran. But they're also a time to build up her wardrobe, and her country's economy, by shopping for clothes in anticipation of Eid al-Fitr, the annual three-day period of family gatherings and celebrations that marks the end of the holy month. Despite the ongoing insurgency, sectarian violence and an infrastructure ravaged by sabotage and neglect, Iraqis interviewed around the country generally appeared to be spending more money in the days leading up to Eid this year...

The Iraq conflict is the first Internet war, replete with emails, satellite-based 3-D maps and even blogs by troops. But the Web is also playing a sadder role: commemorating the war's casualties through online tributes choked in grief. From the start of the war, a number of newspapers and television networks have kept up-to-date honor rolls on their Web sites showing the American soldiers who have been killed -- the number passed the 2,000 mark last week, as coming Veterans Day ceremonies will surely note. Many of the sites let viewers "drill down" into the lists for more details. The...