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Shortly after the tragedy last October at the Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, PA I saw a fellow interviewed (can’t remember where) who travels around to schools and instructs students as to how to react if an armed intruder enters their classroom. Simplified, his basic premise was to act as quickly as possible. To work as a group, grab whatever might be handy, throw the objects en masse at the intruder, and rush him collectively. His theory was that, by doing so, the odds are greater for a larger number of survivors to walk out of the classroom alive than...

Hundreds of mourners have flocked to Saddam Hussein's tomb in his home village in northern Iraq, where he was buried after being hanged for crimes against humanity. In an outpouring of grief and anger from Saddam's fellow Sunni Arabs, mourners knelt and prayed by his tomb, over which the Iraqi flag had been draped. Many have vowed revenge against Americans soldiers and the Shiite-led Government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. More than 1,000 Palestinians have demonstrated in Jenin in the northern West Bank in response to the execution. Demonstrators carried pictures of Saddam and chanted slogans against Iran, the United...

PALM DESERT, Calif. - Army Maj. Gen. Guy C. Swan III will accompany Gerald R. Ford's family during the next several days of mourning, from Friday's services in California to the presidential burial on Wednesday, military officials said. As military escort, Swan will stay with Ford's immediate family throughout services in Palm Desert, at the Capitol in Washington and the final ceremonies in Grand Rapids, Mich. Swan, who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1976, is commanding general of the Army Military District of Washington and Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region. During the California services Friday and Saturday,...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary December 28, 2006 National Day of Mourning for Gerald R. Ford       Remembering President Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006) As a further mark of respect to the memory of Gerald R. Ford, the thirty-eighth President of the United States, NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, in honor and tribute to the memory of Gerald R. Ford, and as an expression of public sorrow, do appoint Tuesday, January 2, 2007, as...

FANS and the famous from around the world paid tribute to Steve Irwin yesterday. Thousands of everyday fans flooded websites around the world, including the Herald Sun's. One of the most touching messages was from the RSPCA. "He was a modern-day Noah and should be acknowledged as such," said the Queensland RSPCA's chief executive, Mark Townend. Prime Minister John Howard echoed many thoughts when he said: "I am quite shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death. "It's a huge loss to Australia. He was a wonderful character. He was a passionate environmentalist. "He brought joy and...

LTC (Ret) James Harvey Willis Treadwell, 91, of Elizabethtown died Wednesday, December 7th, 2005 at his residence. Willis was born in Galveston, Texas on October 26, 1914 to Willis Oliver and Ethel Dodds Treadwell. His father, a conductor on the Galveston to Houston Interurban Railroad, perished while attempting to rescue women and children when the train was swept off a causeway during a hurricane in August 1915. Soon after his father’s death, he and his mother moved to Starkville, Mississippi where her brother, Richey, was a practicing physician. His Uncle Richey became a surrogate father for him, cheering on the...

SHANGHAI, China - Thousands of Chinese Catholics attended services for Pope John Paul II in Shanghai on Saturday, despite the Chinese government's refusal to forge ties with the Vatican. "Our pope loved China and loved the Chinese church," Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian said at a memorial mass at Shanghai's St. Ignatius Cathedral, the city's main Catholic Church. "He hoped the Chinese church would be united and not divided," Jin said, a reference to the split between the state-sanctioned church and unofficial groups that still revere the pope as their leader. A symbolic funeral bier was laid at the base of...

VATICAN CITY, APR 7, 2005 (VIS) - Archbishop Piero Marini, master of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, has published a note on the "novendiali" or period of nine days of official mourning for the late Pope John Paul II, explaining the background and indicating the dates, times and  principal celebrants of each of the nine Masses.     The communique states that "according to an ancient custom, for nine consecutive days there are special Eucharistic celebrations for the repose of the soul of the deceased Roman Pontiff, starting with the funeral Mass which is determined by the Congregation...

  Mourning the Pope An official mourning period of nine days, called the Novemdiales*, begins when a Pope dies. The day of death is counted as the first day of this period. On each of these nine days the Mass of each Cardinal must be a funeral rite for the Pope. The Missal provides a Mass formula "For a Deceased Pope," and the Liturgy of the Hours an Office of the Dead, which can be used during this time, if the liturgical season permits. In 2005, since Pope John Paul II died during the Octave of Easter, the initial rites celebrated...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Cancer claimed her tonight at the tender age of 84. I was scheduled to leave home to drive to be at her bedside when she passed. But I cancelled some appointments and was packing to go when my brother called and said to take my time. The sweet little lady's been my mom for 62 years, so it's hard to see her go, even though it was a peaceful and painless passing for her. But I know she's in a better place now.

Democrats are going through stages of Mourning. Kubler-Ross Sequence of Emotions. Here are the typical stages. They are not necessarily experienced in this order, and it is not unusual for people to vacillate between the various stages. Denial Oh, no! There must be some mistake! It's imppossible Kerry loss the election!" Anger "I am deeply offended. How could 52 million people be so dumb! @#$%^#^" Bargaining "If you promise .... then ....." Depression "All right! It is true! I am like that. I am a truly rotten person and that things are only going to get worse." Acceptance Realization that...

The MSM's Men (and women) In Black

The values of Red America are ascendant: Fear, intolerance, and a pinched moral code

RIP, My Bullheaded Love By JOHN BARRY, Deputy Floridian Editor Published August 28, 2004 Pat Kobin placed this notice in the newspaper after her husband, Ken Kobin, died. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pat and Ken Kobin’s marriage was down-to-earth and forthright, filled with spirited repartee and differences of opinion. Owen Kenneth Kobin: April 21, 1931-Aug. 11, 2004 * * * LARGO - You could have called Ken Kobin irascible, curmudgeonly or exasperating. His plain-spoken wife Pat preferred "bullheaded." In his obituary. In the St. Petersburg Times. For all the world to see. How could his widow have written such a thing? The answer...

Parents of slain Kim Seon-il broke down upon hearing the news of his death. Kim Jung-sook, a sister of Kim Seon-il, wails. Kim Seon-il during his military service (middle) Kim Seon-il's funeral in preparation His Alma Mater mourns his death. Parent of Kim Seon-il holding his photo Ambassadors to S. Korea from Mid-Eastern countries confering at Foreign Ministry Muslims walk by at a Mosque in Seoul, S. Korea while police are watching.

I see that my neighbors still have theirs at half staff. Who knows how long we're supposed to fly them at half staff?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A week of national mourning for Ronald Reagan has helped President Bush politically by shunting Democrat John Kerry to the sidelines and driving bad news from Baghdad off the front pages. This week's burst of Reagan nostalgia, which included a flood of tributes to the Republican icon and reminders of Bush's claim to Reagan's legacy, could provide at least a short-term political boost for the president in his race for re-election. But analysts and strategists in both parties caution that any benefits for Bush, who delivered a eulogy at Reagan's funeral on Friday, were likely to fade...

Ronald Reagan (class of 1932) is being fondly remembered by his alma mater, Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois. A series of profiles about the former President, news articles, and an announcement of a memorial service tomorrow on the campus are available on the college's website: http://www.eureka.edu

WASHINGTON -- They met at midnight under clear moonlit skies, strangers standing on a patch of foot-worn grass. There were cattlemen from Texas, soldiers from Virginia, two nuns, two interns in party dresses, a college kid from Delaware wearing a handmade tribute T-shirt. Three suit-and-tie Republicans from Connecticut waited with a child from Washington too young to know why he was there and a Nicaraguan man from California who said it was the least he could do.