Free Republic

NEW YORK - Maria Sharapova began the U.S. Open with as much buzz about her sponsorships as her strokes, as much talk about her getups as her game. She's long insisted she's more about substance than style, though, and now she owns a second Grand Slam title to prove it. Better on the biggest points all night, the third-seeded Sharapova beat No. 2 Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-4, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final Saturday to add a follow-up championship to her breakthrough title at Wimbledon in 2004. "I experienced it two years ago, and I knew that I wasn't done," Sharapova...

The patrol pulled up and men of the U.K. 3 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment jump out of their vehicles and approached a crowd of waiting men. Unlike most places in Iraq the airmen are relaxed. They are able to remove their helmets and conceal their weapons as they meet and greet the familiar faces of the Shaghamba tribe. For the Iraqis and British airmen the occasion is a happy one. The ceremony marked the completion of a project financed by Coalition forces in Iraq to pump water into a Marsh Arab village near Basra Air Station. "We are very...

7/19/2006 - KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Fifty-eight Air Force engineers filling a shortage of Soldiers in Iraq have completed more than a dozen construction projects, often under fire, throughout a 10,000-square-mile zone for the Army's 1st Brigade Combat Team. After six months, the Airmen of the 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron's Detachment 10 have maintained and repaired six convoy routes and seven forward-operating bases. "It's been very strenuous, and sometimes extremely dangerous. I'm ready to get home, see my family and unwind," said Master Sgt. Ken Dunbar, Det. 10 superintendent of operations and acting first sergeant. "We have...

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2006 – United Service Organizations of Metropolitan Washington will get a sizeable boost from Northrop Grumman Corporation tomorrow to help establish its newest military airport lounge, at Washington Dulles International Airport here. Jerry Agee, the company's corporate vice president, will present a $50,000 check to Elaine B. Rogers, president of the USO of Metropolitan Washington, to begin development of the lounge. Northrop Grumman has committed another $375,000 over a five-year period to support USO's operating budget at Dulles, said Adrienne Trout, vice president of communication and development for USO of Metropolitan Washington. "USO is very excited," she...

In the eyes of the federal agents who secretly watched him, Alberto Zatarain was a drug dealer who made all the right moves. He had at least three aliases. He switched cell phones every month and drove ugly old cars to avoid notice. After dark, he holed up and watched TV inside a rented matchbox house in Richfield that rattled from low-flying jets. No clubs, no parties, no women. And every few months, when another runner came up from Mexico, Zatarain handed off suitcases of cash -- profits from a booming business that stretched from metro suburbs to farm towns...

Condi and Sergei air differences over an open microphone By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow (Filed: 01/07/2006) Condoleezza Rice, America's secretary of state, is famed for her sang froid but one person seems to be able to rattle her - Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. The pair are known to have goaded each other on several occasions, reflecting the souring relationship between Washington and Moscow. However, a candid conversation between the pair was revealed to the world when a technician failed to switch off an audio feed during a closed-door lunch at a meeting of foreign ministers in Moscow. For...

PARIS (AFP) - Israeli soldier Shahar Peer was one of the top marksmen in her military training and now she has Martina Hingis in her sights at the The 19-year-old Peer knocked out Russian sixth seed Elena Dementieva 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday and faces Hingis on Sunday for a place in the quarter-finals. Win or lose, Peer will continue to combine her tennis career with her obligation to serve two years military service with the Israeli army. "I had to train with weapons during my two and half weeks basic training. I was one of the best in shooting. I...

Lorena Solorio remembers her younger brother teasing her as a child, telling her he was better than she was. Born in the United States, he was a citizen. Brought to the country in the trunk of a car, she was not. ``I couldn't understand why we had to sneak in,'' she said Sunday. Now an employee of Catholic Charities of San Jose and a U.S. citizen, Solorio works with many children who are in the country illegally. As the national debate over illegal immigration continues to swirl, she said, she sees in those children the same confusion she felt as...

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md., May 19, 2006 – The military showcased its personnel and equipment for its own today as the annual Joint Service Open House kicked off here. Duluth, Minn., Air National Guardsman Maj. John Klatt poses for photos with Abreanna Ball, 9, at the Joint Service Open House at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., May 19. Abreanna was touring the military displays with students from Benjamin D. Foulois Elementary School near the base. Photo by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The festivities, open today for military and civilian defense security badge holders...

President Bush plans to address the nation on Monday night at 8 PM to con the American public into buying into his ludicrous immigration policies. His approval ratings are at an all-time low, with only 31% of Americans approving of his job performance, while "68% believe the United States is worse off today than it was before Mr. Bush became president." Bush's immigration policies would open the floodgates to illegals, and Americans do not approve -- and it looks like the Senate agrees. Another poll shows support for the House's tough and very sensible immigration legislation, HR 4437: ...69 percent...

cspan 2 now. Saying the USA must accept internation migration This is foreign ministers giving the talking points of the DNC.

The state Legislature's legal adviser says the University of California regents have violated state open-meeting laws by voting behind closed doors on executive pay packages. In a 12-page opinion, the Office of Legislative Counsel wrote that the state Education Code requires regents' committees to meet in public whenever they take action on compensation proposals involving the president, chancellors and certain other top executives. The regents have held at least a dozen such meetings in private during the past five years, UC records show. --snip-- "It is our opinion that a standing committee of the Board of Regents of the University...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Raising money for local Republicans even as he ponders his own political future, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Monday that Republicans must increasingly be "a big party" that accepts divergent views. Giuliani said that broad-brush themes, like limited government, ought to define the Republican Party — not hot-button social issues like abortion and gay rights. "The major thing that we organize around as Republicans is government that puts more reliance on people than government," Giuliani said. "They (Democrats) tend to think of government solutions as most of the answers." Giuliani was in Iowa...

British troops in Iraq are afraid to open fire, secret MoD report confirms By Sean Rayment. Defence Correspondent (Filed: 30/04/2006) British troops in Iraq "lack the confidence to open fire" because of a "fear of prosecution", says a confidential Ministry of Defence (MoD) report seen by The Sunday Telegraph. It confirms that soldiers believe that if they shoot dead insurgents they will become embroiled in a "protracted investigation" and if prosecuted will receive "no support from the chain of command". British troops show restraint when attacked in Basra The study into soldiers' confidence is understood to have been ordered by...

Afghan Police Open Tactical Training Facility The facility allows Afghan National Police cadets to train to respond to domestic violence, apprehension of an insurgent, a hostage situation or when contraband is expected in the home. By Combined Security Transition Command–Afghanistan ABUL, Afghanistan, April 21, 2006 — The Afghan National Police took a major step toward advance training with the opening of the Brummet Tactical Training House at the Central Training Center April 18. This opening reflects the progress being made by the Afghan National Police.During a ribbon cutting ceremony, Afghan Brig. Gen. Khadadad Aga, Central Training Center commander, inaugurated...

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo., April 3, 2006 – Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson and former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz opened the 20th National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic here last night, praising participants for their sacrifices and their focus on their abilities, not their disabilities. Former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz speaks April 2 to disabled veterans at the opening ceremony for the 20th National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. Photo by John Sokolowski  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Nicholson saluted this year's 350 participants, including about 50 wounded during operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, for...

Chicago Voting Spots Open For New Orleans ElectionCenters To Help Displaced Hurricane Katrina Victims Vote Mar 22, 2006 8:08 am US/Central (AP) CHICAGO The NAACP has opened two voter assistance centers in Chicago to provide displaced Hurricane Katrina victims with information on the New Orleans city election. The Chicago centers will help Katrina victims by providing voter registration and absentee ballot information for the April 22 election. The last day to cast an absentee ballot is today if displaced New Orleans residents were registered as of Sept. 25. After today, voters will only be able to vote in New Orleans....

It is the secret of the world that all things subsist and do not die, but only retire from sight and afterwards return again. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson And so it happens again today, as it has through a lifetime, with the first Major League Baseball players returning to sight after retiring for a winter. All is good with the world again. It begins in Florida and in Arizona, with pitchers and catchers for eight teams reporting this afternoon to their respective Spring Training camps. Leading the way this year are the Tigers, Orioles, Rangers, Angels, Mariners, Cubs, Dodgers and...

  Afghan National Police Open Family Response Unit The Afghan National Police took the lead on this project because they are typically some of the first people called when domestic violence occurs. By Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 9, 2006 — The Afghan National Police of the tenth district recently opened the first-ever Family Response Unit, a unit intended to provide a safe haven for victims of abuse. Women, children, the disabled and elderly are welcome. The Afghan National Police took the lead on this project because they are typically some of the first people called when...

TAL AFAR, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 29, 2005) — In a ribbon cutting ceremony today, Tal Afar Police Chief Gen. Fawaz Mahmoud Issa officially opened the new Al Salam Police Station in Tal Afar. The event marked a milestone for Tal Afar’s Police Department as part of efforts to restore the city’s quality of life and security. Last year terrorists destroyed a police station in Tal Afar, but the opening of the new station represents a resurrection of the police force according to city officials. “We’re very thankful for the Coalition Forces for their support in building this police...