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WASHINGTON, July 18, 2007 – A Tennessee-based organization provides deployed servicemembers with a link to home and the gratitude of the American public through care packages and letters it sends. “Operation Troop Aid is … striving to make a positive difference and inspire our armed forces by letting them know Americans stand with them,” Mark Woods, the group’s president, said. Operation Troop Aid is a new member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad. The group’s primary mission of sending servicemembers things they...

Go to the Senator's web page and click on the immigration tab. Nothing comes up. His former positions on immigration are now lost in the electronic mist. Administrator, please move this if it is in the wrong category.

WASHINGTON - Researchers have decoded proteins from a 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex, the oldest such material ever found. The unprecedented step, once thought impossible, adds new weight to the idea that today's birds are descendants of the mighty dinosaurs. "The door just opens up to a whole avenue of research that involves anything extinct," said Matthew T. Carrano, curator of dinosaurs at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. While dinosaur bones have long been studied, "it's always been assumed that preservation does not extend to the cellular or molecular level," said Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University....

Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home — and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor. Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way off his property. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person. "I wouldn't be nice to him anyway," Edwards said in an interview. "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who when he doesn't...

'Perfectionism' bowel pain link Women are more prone to IBS Perfectionists are more prone to developing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) after an infection, a study has suggested. University of Southampton researchers asked 620 people with gastroenteritis about stress and their illness. Those who pushed themselves or were particularly anxious about symptoms were more likely to develop IBS. Experts said the study, published in Gut, may explain why only some people develop IBS after a gut infection. About 5% of the UK population have IBS. Up to one in 10 people develop it after a having a bacterial gut infection, having...

I really hope I am posting this in the right placeI need some information, good or bad, on Peter Lance, investigative report and author of 1000 Years for Revenge.I am reading his 2nd book, Cover Up: What the Government is still hiding About the War on Terror and a major tenent of the book thesis is that no link existed prior to the 1993 WTC bombing between Saddam Hussein and al Queda; but, I know I have seen such a link exposed on this website.When did we know about the link and what dates are shown for the link? What...

Alzheimer's heart link explained Amyloid protein damages brain cells Scientists have discovered how heart disease or a stroke may trigger Alzheimer's disease. Both conditions lead to a reduction of oxygen flow to the brain. A University of British Columbia team, studying mice, found this stimulates increased development of the protein clumps thought to cause Alzheimer's. The lack of oxygen increases activity in a gene controlling production of the key protein, found the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study. This protein, beta amyloid, collects in knots in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease, and is thought to cause...

Link between El Niños and droughts in India< Sid Perkins Scientists report that droughts in India are associated with a particular type of El Niño, the climate phenomenon marked by increased sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific. The rainy season in India occurs in June, July, and August. Between 1871 and 2002, central India experienced 10 severe summertime droughts, says Martin Hoerling, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colo. Every one of those dry spells occurred during an El Niño, he notes. However, not all El Niños during that 132-year period caused droughts—in 13 cases,...

Picture Proof: The Saddam-Al Qaeda Connections The following information did not make it into the Senate Intelligence Committee's report released last Friday, that claimed Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward" al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his associates. What do you suppose the committee had to say about these documents? Captured Iraqi Document ISGC-2004-019920 Page 6From blogger The Dread Pundit Bluto: ISGZ-2004-0199202002 Iraqi Intelligence Correspondence concerning the presence of al-Qaida Members in Iraq. Correspondence between IRS members on a suspicion, later confirmed, of the presence of an Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Moreover,...

BBC did not know of 9/11 film's link to religious right David Leigh Wednesday September 13, 2006 The Guardian (UK) The BBC broadcast a controversial docu-drama, The Path to 9/11, this week without realising that it had been made by a member of the US religious right. The three-hour programme, shown over two nights on BBC2 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the attack on the twin towers, was purchased from ABC, a subsidiary of Disney. At the last minute the US television company was forced to re-edit sequences after claims of distortion from former president Bill Clinton and members...

Only an excerpt, because the full article is heavily linked, and posting just the text here doesn't present it accurately. "An alternative approach to the problem is a formal 'detection and attribution' analysis which seeks to establish the role of a potentially forced signal in the midst of climate 'noise'. This is where the new Santer et al paper comes in. Here, the authors examine the model simulations for the 20th Century that were coordinated for the IPCC AR4 and which now form a very valuable database that can be used in addressing issues such as those which concern us...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel and Hezbollah fought bloody ground battles and exchanged fierce air and missile strikes Friday — including bombing raids that severed Lebanon's last major supply link with Syria and the outside world, and the guerrillas' deepest rocket attack inside Israel to date. Loud explosions resounded in Beirut early Saturday as Israeli warplanes renewed their onslaught, carrying out several strikes on southern suburbs, local media said. Israeli helicopters, meanwhile, attacked suspected Hezbollah positions in the southern city of Tyre, according to residents. After days of desultory diplomacy, Washington said it was near agreement with France on a U.N....

Peru link to Indian archaeological find? By Harsh Kabra Vadodara, Gujarat Geologists have discovered a striking archaeological feature on a hillock in the Kutch district of the western Indian state of Gujarat. This feature is shaped like the Roman numeral VI. Each arm of this feature is a trench that is about two metres wide, two metres deep and more than 100 metres long. The feature has evoked the curiosity of archaeologists because such signs have mostly been observed so far in Peru. The team, led by Dr RV Karanth, a former professor of geology at the Maharaja Sayajirao University...

Expecting more heat-related deaths and health problems as global warming increases, California public health officials Wednesday announced a new plan to track heat-related fatalities and hospital visits over the next five years. The $4.5 million study, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also will project how increased temperatures from global warming are expected to boosts deaths and illnesses in decades ahead, including asthma emergencies, heat stroke and heart attacks. It is believed to be the first major statewide study in the nation examining the link between global warming and emergency room visits. The research will be...

Students held in terror plot inquiry By Paul Stokes (Filed: 08/06/2006) Two students were being detained in West Yorkshire under the Terrorism Act last night in connection with arrests in Canada over an alleged al-Qa'eda plot. A 21-year-old man was arrested as he arrived at Manchester airport on his return from Canada on Tuesday night. He is a Bradford-based student of Pakistani origin. Police later searched three addresses in the city. A 16-year-old college student was arrested in Dewsbury as part of the same operation shortly after 3pm yesterday. Premises in the town were searched. Police say armed officers were...

Hominids' cave rave-ups may link music and speech Wed May 31, 2006 2:15 AM BST By Michael Roddy (Reuters) - It was a dark and stormy night, and in a cave in what is now southern France, Neanderthals were singing, dancing and tapping on stalagmites with their fingernails to pass the time. Did this Ice-Age rave-up happen, perhaps 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, on a cold night in the Pleistocene Epoch? Or is it purely a figment of the imagination of Steven Mithen, professor of early prehistory at the University of Reading in England? Impossible to know, Mithen, 45, readily...

Today's Nashville Tennessean reports that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be hosting a fundraiser for Harold Ford Jr. at her Washington residence on June 15. Harold may pick up a wad of cash from the event, but the Republicans will no doubt have the fundraiser staked out to get pictures of Harold the undertaker cozying up to Log Legs and all of her merry minions.

Ancient American Skeleton Has European DNA Link[Original headline: Sinkhole Skeleton Skeleton’s DNA Could Shed Light on American Migrations] Vanlue, Ohio [AP] — The discovery of prehistoric tools from an Ohio cave is one of several finds that has scientists questioning the identity of settlers thought to have moved in 11,000 years ago. A just completed excavation of Sheriden Cave in Wyandot County, 100 miles southwest of Cleveland, revealed tools made from flaked stone and bone. The items are scheduled to go on display next year at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Kent State University archaeologist Kenneth Tankersley, who led...

Bush is ruining Tony Blair’s career By Amitabh Pal May 9, 2006 Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “special relationship” with President Bush could very spell finis for his career. Blair is in trouble for a major cabinet reshuffle, the highlight being the firing of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. A column in the London Independent asserts that Straw was dropped because of his opposition to a U.S. military assault on Iran. Straw had labeled the idea of a U.S. nuclear strike on Iran as “nuts” and had said that British action against Iran was “inconceivable.” Apparently, Bush wasn’t too amused. The cabinet...

Hillary Clinton defended her warming relationship on Tuesday with Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media mogul. Commenting on Mr Murdoch's decision to host a fundraiser for her Senate-election campaign, Mrs Clinton said: "He's my constituent and I'm very gratified that he thinks I'm doing a good job." Mr Murdoch's New York Post tabloid newspaper initially attacked the New York Democrat's decision to stand for the Senate, running front-page headlines pleading "Don't Run". Mrs Clinton is the leading Democratic candidate for president in 2008. But one person involved in the event said Mr Murdoch's decision to support her reflected his opinion of...