Free Republic

The September unemployment stats for Michigan came out this week and they are high — as expected. Mlive.com highlighted the statistics on a municipal level, showing the five cities with the highest jobless rates are all over 25 percent. The cities of Highland Park and Pontiac, which leaned heavily on auto-related employment, had the highest unemployment with 35.2 percent of residents reportedly jobless. Both cities have declared bankruptcy in the recent past. Highland Park recently emerged from state receivership and Pontiac just slipped under state control last year. While the overall state’s unemployment rate is the highest in the nation...

The New York State Health Commissioner's new mandate that all health care workers be vaccinated against both the seasonal and the swine flu this fall could qualify as the major public health blunder of the year, because it is likely to backfire. Flu has been rightly characterized as a "slippery disease" that can mutate quickly and unpredictably, which means that planning for flu epidemics must be flexible and should be reviewed regularly as evidence of disease spread and severity accumulates. We are already experiencing the beginning of a second wave of swine flu, the 2009 H1N1 influenza. Effective response will...

Here's a whole lot of information on the American Police Force Dossier: American Police Force

Barack Obama got to play peacemaker during his staged meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. In a throwback to Bill Clinton's famous photo op on the White House Lawn with Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, Obama stood between the men, holding their arms as the two shook hands.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Barack Obama's chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operated across borders. The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of U.S. troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against U.S. soldiers and their Afghan allies.

WASHINGTON, July 1, 2009 – It would be easy to confuse Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan with the NATO International Security Assistance Force there. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal commands both organizations. The biggest difference, officials say, is the mission. Operation Enduring Freedom was the U.S.-led operation that toppled the Taliban in 2001. American and coalition servicemembers worked with the Afghan Northern Alliance soon after the terror attack in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Part of Operation Enduring Freedom retains that mission: to find and kill or capture terrorists. Since 2001, servicemembers assigned to Operation Enduring Freedom also have...

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 11, 2009 – With NATO defense ministers having agreed to reduce the alliance’s military presence in Kosovo from 14,000 to 10,000 troops by the year’s end, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today urged that the reduction take place as an organized process. On the first day of an alliance defense ministers conference here, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the force reduction today, noting that Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, has proposed moving toward a deterrent presence in Kosovo that will require fewer troops in the country. Gates said...

Want to join the Air Force? Look at the picture above. How about now? Still no? Well damn, the Air Force is gonna be pissed -- this was supposed to be a powerful recruitment tool. The Challenger Vapor features radar-absorbing stealth-black paint, not unlike what is used to mask stealth bombers. The Vapor is set to run almost silently, thanks to "stealth exhaust" - whatever that means. Reminds us of when KITT used to go "Silent Mode" on Knight Rider. You need biometric verification to enter the cockpit via gull wing doors. The driver can view night/thermal vision projections on...

A TRUE American hero has been freed. Three pirates are dead. A fourth pirate is in custody. Our Navy shone. Now the hard work starts. This weekend's success won't be enough to keep our merchant mariners and cargo ships safe. Somali pirate gangs have already threatened retaliation against third-party captives. (We'll see what they do.) And all Somalis believe that the United States lacks strength of will and staying power. They remember President Bill Clinton's cowardly retreat from Mogadishu. They'll expect a replay from President Obama. Some pirates may avoid US-flagged ships. Others will go out hunting for them --...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force on Monday endorsed the Pentagon in its plan to end production of Lockheed Martin Corp's top-of-the-line F-22 fighter jets after having pushed to buy more for years. "This is the time to make the transition from F-22 to F-35 production," Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and General Norton Schwartz, the service's top uniformed officer, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

The only sure way to deal with pirates is to kill them. Piracy is on the rise on the high seas, but governments - including ours - are not taking the threat seriously enough. The first seizure of a U.S. flagged vessel by pirates in recent memory was thwarted yesterday as the crew retook the vessel. The taking and retaking of the Maersk Alabama has grabbed headlines, but it was one of six ships attacked in that area since last weekend. The only reason this ship was saved is that the American crew fought back. Today's pirates are bolder, better...

Emergency crews have called off the search in Texas for a C-17 transport plane.

BAGHDAD — Multi-National Force - Iraq announced yesterday that two Brigade Combat Teams, who are scheduled to redeploy in the next 6 months, along with associated enabling forces such as logistics, engineers, and intelligence, will not be replaced. Additionally, an F-16 squadron recently redeployed and will not be replaced. This drawdown of forces from Iraq will reduce the total number of U.S. Brigade Combat Teams from 14 to 12. Additionally, a British Combat Brigade will also redeploy without replacement. The reduction is possible due to the increased level of security and stability that Iraq has achieved over the last 12...

BAGHDAD, March 8, 2009 – Two Army brigades leaving Iraq in the next six months won’t be replaced, Multinational Force Iraq officials announced today. Associated enabling forces -- such as logistics, engineers and intelligence soldiers -- will leave along with the brigades, and an Air Force F-16 squadron that recently returned to its home station also will not be replaced, officials said. The drawdown will reduce the total number of U.S. brigade combat teams in Iraq from 14 to 12. A British combat brigade also will return home without replacement. Officials said the increased level of security and stability that...

Last Friday, Vice President Joe Biden and seven White House cabinet members traveled to Philadelphia to kick off the inaugural gathering of President Obama's Middle Class Task Force. The task force will convene monthly in cities across the country to confront the problems faced by average Americans. It's an admirable goal; with rising costs, stagnant wages and job cuts, a Pew Research study found that 78% of self-described middle class Americans have trouble maintaining their current standard of living. Still, the middle class may have a better shot at making ends meet than at influencing the Middle Class Task Force....

Federal officials said this morning they have indicted an Afghan national for lying about his alleged ties to terrorists in a bid to fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport. Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, 34, who was arrested without incident this morning at his Tustin residence by members of the joint terrorism task force, was named in a five-count indictment returned Feb. 11 by a federal grand jury. The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges Niazi hid associations with “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban, when he

(IsraelNN.com) US President Barack Obama may pressure Kadima prime ministerial candidate Tzipi Livni to enter into a coalition with Likud's Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu if Netanyahu is asked to head the government. Obama's only hope of forcing Israel back to the negotiating table with the Palestinian Authority is through a 'national unity government' comprising Likud and Kadima, according to a report in Britain's The Daily Telegraph. According to sources in Washington, Obama is ready to manipulate Israeli politics behind the scenes in order to make that happen, as Israeli president Shimon Peres determines who he will ask to head up Israel's...

Judge slams Mountie in Banff arrestRCMP and the Crown are looking into the case of a Banff constable who Tasered a man multiple times while arresting him, after a judge ruled the officer was not justified in handcuffing him in the first place. Provincial court Judge John Reilly accused arresting officer Const. Casey Murphy of using excessive force and giving "deliberately false" evidence during the trial on a charge of obstructing a police officer. Exshaw resident Adam Dormer, 26, was found not guilty on Monday and will not have to pay a bylaw fine issued for being a nuisance. "We...

WASHINGTON -- If you're a criminal and you're not entitled to be in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants you out of the country. Napolitano wants what she calls "criminal aliens" off American streets. She is looking at existing immigration enforcement programs to see if taxpayers are getting the most bang for their buck. "That sounds very simple, but it's historically not been done," Napolitano said, speaking to reporters and senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Thursday. About 113,000 criminals who were in the U.S. illegally were deported last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The agency...

The New Year is shaping up as a brutal one for Californians. With the potential acquiescence of a governor who once posed as taxpayers' most ardent defender, the Democrats who control the Legislature are poised to execute a slick end run around the state constitution and impose vast tax hikes on a simple majority vote. These higher sales, gas and income levies are likely to make the recession last longer and be more destructive. And they will only be the beginning. At least until Proposition 11 ends gerrymandered legislative districts in 2012, we can expect a steady series of tax...

Candidate Barack Obama promised "change we can believe in," but he never hinted that this change would all but circumvent Congress to impose on America the most dramatic liberal social transformation since the New Deal. While promising to lead, he did not suggest that he would create a kind of "imperial presidency" that would horrify the Founding Fathers. Based on their own direct experience with a sovereign, they were rightly concerned with any one man having too much power. This is the kind of power that Obama is now reaching for, following the same kind of "stealth strategy" that helped...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s

USNA has beaten USAFA for the 6th consecutive year, 33-27!!!! GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY!

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2008 – The current number of forces in Afghanistan is enough to accomplish the mission, but it’ll take awhile to do so, the U.S. officer who just finished his tour as commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan said here today. “Let’s just say that somebody waved a magic wand, and by gosh, between the Afghans and the international force you’d produced a force that was well over 400,000,” Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill said to reporters at a Pentagon news conference. That larger force, McNeill said, likely would produce “instant quiet” across much of Afghanistan. Yet, “in...

SENATE, No. 1415 STATE OF NEW JERSEY 213th LEGISLATURE INTRODUCED MARCH 3, 2008 Sponsored by: Senator STEVEN V. OROHO District 24 (Sussex, Hunterdon and Morris) SYNOPSIS Permits use of deadly force against black bears in certain cases. CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT As introduced. An Act concerning black bears and the lawful use of deadly force, and supplementing chapter 4 of Title 23 of the Revised Statutes. Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey: 1. a. In addition to the lawful taking of a black bear by a licensed hunter during authorized times...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2008 – As Iraqi maneuver units continue to make great progress, coalition trainers must concentrate on “enablers” of the force, the general in charge of the effort to train Iraqi forces said today. Army Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik, commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, spoke to military analysts by phone from his headquarters in Baghdad. He said coalition and Iraqi planners understand that enablers -- combat service support functions for the military -- must make progress for the Iraqi military to be a balanced force. The combat units of the Iraqi army are doing well;...

Hugo Chavez leveled a threat against Venezuelan farmers over the weekend, another step in creating his socialist paradise. He called farmers who sell abroad to gain a better price for their goods "traitors", and told his ministers to identify them so that he could send the Army to confiscate their property: President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to take over farms or milk plants if owners refuse to sell their milk for domestic consumption and instead seek higher profits abroad or from cheese-makers. With the country recently facing milk shortages, Chavez said "it's treason" if farmers deny milk to Venezuelans...

Tue November 20, 2007Hopes Flew With Lame Jet By Bryan Dean Staff Writer A four-star general pinned medals Monday on 12 airmen and nine civilians from Tinker Air Force Base for their role in salvaging a B-1B bomber after an engine fire left the jet crippled on an airstrip in Afghanistan. The plane landed at an airfield in Afghanistan in mid-August after a fire warning went off during a mission. The jet's No. 4 engine was in flames, and firefighters had to extinguish the blaze after the plane landed. The Air Force had a tough choice. The fire caused significant...

Does the United States Air Force (USAF) fit into the post–September 11 world, a world in which the military mission of U.S. forces focuses more on counterterrorism and counterinsurgency? Not very well. Even the new counterinsurgency manual authored in part by Gen. David H. Petraeus, specifically notes that the excessive use of airpower in counterinsurgency conflict can lead to disaster. In response, the Air Force has gone on the defensive. In September 2006, Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap Jr. published an article in Armed Forces Journal denouncing "boots on the ground zealots," and insisting that airpower can solve the most important...

Everyone knows our health-care system, superior as it is in so many ways, is too expensive, too bureaucratic and wasteful. Basically, we hand over about $2.2 trillion each year to hospitals, insurance companies and government paper-pushers -- and then we let them micromanage our health care like we are helpless babies, not rational consumers. Everyone also knows by now that Canada’s “free� national health care system -- like its sibling socialistic systems in Britain and France -- is a just another Big Government fraud. So can any wealthy, modern country get health care right without resorting to socialism? Yes. You...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2007 – The all-volunteer military force is serving the nation well, and no one in the Pentagon is considering a return to a military draft, a Defense Department official said today. “There is absolutely no consideration being given to reinstituting a draft,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today during a morning meeting with reporters. Whitman said the current all-volunteer force is doing the job, and doing it well. “The all-volunteer force has surpassed all of the expectations of its founders,” Whitman said. “The volunteer force is more experienced, more motivated to serve and reenlist. It’s more educated,...

US Force Not Ruled Out in Pakistan Sunday July 22, 2007 4:16 PM By HOPE YEN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. would consider military force if necessary to stem al-Qaida's growing ability to use its hideout in Pakistan to launch terrorist attacks, a White House aide said Sunday. The president's homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, said the U.S. was committed first and foremost to working with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, in his efforts to control militants in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. But she indicated the U.S. was ready to take additional measures. ``Just because we don't speak...

WASHINGTON, July 20, 2007 – What began as a shared love of German cars has morphed through friendship into a passion to honor, educate and entertain servicemembers, Operation Wheels of Freedom’s program director said. Military children receive large-scale Hot Wheels toy cars during an Operation Wheels of Freedom event to honor, entertain and educate servicemembers. Mattel, one of the group’s sponsors, has provided thousands of the toys. Operation Wheels of Freedom courtesy photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “We are a group of committed car guys who want to do our part to say thanks to the...

Lawyers for Mohamed al Fayed today launched an astonishing bid to force the Queen to give evidence in the Diana, Princess of Wales inquest. They called for the monarch to be "directly approached" over conversations she allegedly had with former royal butler Paul Burrell. Mr Burrell, who previously worked for the Princess, claimed after the collapse of his Old Bailey trial for theft that the monarch had once warned him of "powers at work in this country which we have no knowledge about".Mohamed al Fayed has fought a long battle over the inquest of his son, Dodi, and Diana, Princess...

SAN YSIDRO -- As planning begins to reduce the number of National Guard troops along the border with Mexico, less than 1,000 of 6,000 new U.S. Border Patrol agents that the Bush administration wants in place by the end of next year have been hired. As of March 17, the Border Patrol has only been able to hire and train 593 new agents or 9 percent of the administration's goal, according to Javier Rios, a Border Patrol spokesman in Washington. Screening new agents and a lengthy training process have resulted in the relatively small number of new hires. By the...

WASHINGTON, April 6, 2007 – The partnership between Iraqi and U.S. soldiers is helping to tamp down insurgent violence northwest of Baghdad, a senior U.S. military officer assigned in Iraq said today. “The key to this counterpart relationship is our partnering of one U.S. company to each Iraqi army battalion,” Army Col. Paul E. Funk, commander of the 1st “Iron Horse” Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference from his headquarters in Iraq. Assigned to Multinational Division Baghdad, Funk and his 3,800 soldiers have teamed with Iraqi Army troops and police forces...

An anonymous reader writes "The author of the Windows Vista keygen that was reported yesterday has admitted that the program does not actually work. Here is the initial announcement of the original release of the keygen, and here is the followup post in which the same author acknowledges that the program is fake. Apparently, the keygen program does legitimately attack Windows Vista keys via brute force, but the chances of success are too low for this to be a practical method. Quote from the author: 'Everyone who said they got a key is probably lying or mistaken!'"

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2007 – When troops ask the military’s highest-ranking officer questions about the war in Iraq, force levels or tour lengths, Marine Gen. Peter Pace is eager to answer frankly and completely. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff fielded questions Feb. 22 and 23 from active duty, National Guard and Reserve troops in Alaska at the Army’s Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, and at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. After brief opening remarks, Pace told the troops he’d rather answer their questions than “talk at them.” The troops responded with questions on the global picture...

NHRA and ESPN “Force Feeds it’s Viewers All Weekend” Some people like John Force. But, like oil in an engine, you can have too much. Last weekend’s broadcast of the Winternationals in Pomona was wall to wall Force; if it wasn’t John, it was his daughter Ashley. But the good news was that Ashley didn’t subject us to the yabber-yabbers that has made her father famous. He’s the Dino Flintstone of Auto Sports; Ashley is a mild mannered young lady straining to reach the loquacious levels of her father. The coverage of the qualifying days featured John and Ashley. Then...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2007 – An increase in the active-duty military and changes to the policies for reserve forces announced this month by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates are aimed to increase the military’s overall capabilities, a senior defense official said here today. “This build is about the whole range of capabilities that makes American military forces effective,” David S. C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said at a Pentagon news conference. “Particularly, it is designed to relieve the pressure on units that are described as ‘high-demand, low-density,’ meaning in plain English, there aren’t enough.” Gates...

BAGHDAD — The Airport Road here was once one of the most violent and dangerous roads in the country. Roadside bombs, small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade attacks were an everyday occurrence. Visiting dignitaries, news reporters and the soldiers tasked with providing security were well aware of these dangers along this five-mile stretch, known to the coalition forces as Route Irish. Things began to change in late 2004 and early 2005. The coalition recognized the critical importance of this main artery between Baghdad International Airport and the International Zone, located in the heart of Baghdad. A new focus was given to clear...

The emergence of a video showing a Los Angeles police officer repeatedly punching a suspect in the face has thrust the LAPD into the national spotlight again over officers' use of force and whether the department has fostered a "warrior" culture despite more than a decade of reforms. The video, which surfaced on the Internet site YouTube.com last week, shows one officer holding down William Cardenas, 23, as another places his knee on Cardenas' neck and punches him a half-dozen times. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles Police Department have launched investigations. Police and city officials have...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2006 -- A planned increase in Iraqi security forces is a result of ongoing assessments of the situation in Iraq and will allow coalition forces to shift to more of a supporting role in that country, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld escorts Estonian Defense Minister Jurgen Ligi through a cordon of honor guards and into the Pentagon, Oct. 31. The two defense leaders met to discuss a range of international issues of mutual interest. Photo by James M. Bowman   '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Speaking after...

This war against terrorism has been going on since the '80's, but no one has really wanted to understand what it is. It is never going away. You can't wash it away, or rehabilitate it. They will destroy every man, woman, and child on this earth who does not believe in and adhere to their way of life. It is as simple as that. The problem is we have, thus far, not been willing to destroy them. They get medals for cutting our heads off, whereas we go to jail for putting underwear on their heads.

Nobel winner says feminism can help IranBy Erin Gartner, Associated Press Writer September 15, 2006 RALEIGH, N.C. --Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian human rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, said supporting feminist movements in the Islamic world would better promote democracy than military force. "Instead of bringing democracy with cluster bombs, we should support women fighting for democracy," Shirin Ebadi said through an interpreter Thursday during a speech at Meredith College, a women's university in Raleigh. A lawyer, former judge and writer in Iran, Ebadi spoke in Farsi to about 1,000 people about fighting for human rights...

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces reiterated their commitment to the Iraqi security forces and the Government of Iraq on Monday, pledging to stand by them as they face the complex challenges inherent in building and protecting a new democracy. During a joint press conference, representatives of the Iraqi government and the multi-national Coalition discussed ongoing efforts to secure peace and prosperity throughout the country. Brig. Gen. Qassim Mousawi, spokesman for the general commander of the Iraqi Armed Forces, discussed the strength of Iraqi forces and the positive trend in the number of Iraqis who have volunteered to serve their country. “The...

China ups Lebanon force to 1,000 China sent 180 engineers to Lebanon before the recent fighting China will increase its peacekeeping presence in Lebanon to 1,000 troops, Premier Wen Jiabao has confirmed. The move would make China one of the largest contributors to a strengthened UN force designed to keep the peace. It would also signal that China, now the world's fourth largest economy, was starting to lift its diplomacy in areas it had previously not seen as vital. The UN wants to raise troop numbers in southern Lebanon to 15,000 as part of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. It...

Nothing on the planet can see the F-22, much less outfight it. But when the F-35 comes online, the two will literally dominate the skies. The F-35 will be able to see virtually hundreds of airplanes at distances far exceeding the scope of previous fighter systems. Tracking distances are classified, but the new aircraft's sight range is said to be twice that of existing fighters (about 40 miles in every direction for existing aircraft).

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Sept. 13, 2006 -- Staff Sgt. Mike Myers experienced one of the most frightening events of his life in Afghanistan, while the birth of his child was taking place simultaneously more than 7,000 miles away. Army Staff Sgt. Mike Myers explains what happened to him on a recent mission as he sits in the driver's seat of a Humvee he was operating when it was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. The attack came Sept. 6 at almost the same time his son was being born in the U.S. Myers is a security forces member deployed...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2006 – We remember where we were that day. At 9:38 a.m., the entire Pentagon shook. I went outside and saw the horrific face of war in the 21st century. Those present could feel the heat of the flames and smell the burning jet fuel -- all that remained of American Airlines flight 77. Destruction surrounded us: smoldering rubble, twisted steel, victims in agony. Last week, President Bush greeted the families of September 11 victims in the East Room of the White House and told them about the efforts to bring to justice those who attacked our...