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WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2009 – Based on an independent study by the Institute of Medicine last month, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki has directed broader health coverage from his department for Vietnam War veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange. Research found that three illnesses – B cell leukemias, Parkinson’s disease and ischemic heart disease -- possibly are associated with Agent Orange exposure. Those conditions join a list of related diseases for which Vietnam War veterans already receive compensation, such as prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, soft-tissue sarcomas, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. "Since my confirmation as secretary,...

e White House lit up pumpkin-orange and thousands of little ghosts and goblins trick-or-treating the president of the United States. Barack Obama's first Halloween as president saw him dishing out candy and pastries baked by his chef to many of the estimated 2,000 children -- many in elaborate costumes -- from 11 area schools on the north portico of the White House, as some of his top staff stepped into frightful or fuzzy character.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2009 – A new Department of Veterans Affairs ruling will soon relieve Vietnam veterans suffering from three specific illnesses from the burden of proving their ailments are linked to Agent Orange exposure to receive VA health care and disability payments. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki's decision, announced today, establishes a service connection for Vietnam vets stricken with hairy-cell leukemia and other B-cell leukemias, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease, VA chief of staff John Gingrich told American Forces Press Service. Shinseki made the decision based on a recent report by the National Academy of Science's Institute...

The FBI on Wednesday announced that it had charged 53 defendants, the largest number ever charged in a cybercrime case, following a multinational investigation into a phishing scheme that operated in the United States and Egypt. Thirty-three of the 53 defendants named in the indictment have been arrested, the FBI said, and several others are being sought. The investigation, dubbed "Operation Phish Phry," began in 2007. Authorities in Egypt have charged 47 defendants linked to the phishing operation. Phishing is a form of social engineering that attempts to convince Internet users, via e-mail or other means, to provide online credentials...

Another woman shot herself at a Central Florida gun range Saturday in a suicide attempt, authorities said. The woman rented a handgun and filled out paperwork indicating she had no mental-health problems, wasn't on drugs and had no other conditions or situations to preclude her from shooting safely, said John Ritz, manager of the east Orange County range. Like other customers, she also was read the safety rules. The shooting happened about 12:30 p.m. at East Orange Shooting Sports on Gardner Street, east of Winter Park. There was a suicide there several years ago. < snip >

Counter-demonstrators dream opportunity to assure free speech is not intimidated in Orange County, Ca.

Second Loud Boom Rattles Windows In NY May Have Been Meteorite (3/9/2009) There's been another loud "boom." This time it rattled windows in parts of Rockland County. Nanuet resident Keith Wallenstein said the mysterious noise woke him up at about 5:15 Monday morning and sounded like someone had flown an F-16 over his house. An earlier loud "boom" heard in Westchester County early Saturday might have been a meteorite. Police and The Journal News got a flurry of reports from people in Scarsdale, Mount Vernon, Yonkers, Tuckahoe, Eastchester and Bronxville. Weather officials say there was no thunder in the area...

Two women saw a little more than they expected as they jogged on the Katy Trail in Dallas this week. The joggers ran by a naked man painted orange around 11 a.m. Thursday. “He was a terra-cotta color,” said personal trainer Nancy Cole. “I thought he was a statue. Who would be that color?”

At the board meeting today, Orange County deputies searched gun-rights supporters, especially those wearing CCW buttons, according to those who attended the meeting. Although Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said she would let the permits expire rather than revoke them, her real disdain for freedom is shown by the presence of the SWAT team and the heavyhanded searches of law-abiding residents who wanted to attend the board meeting. Did the sheriff really think that gun supporters are somehow dangerous. I’ve been to gun shows and gun events and have never felt safer. Share this post: 9 Responses to “SWAT team searches gun-rights...

Hey FReepers, I am looking for other FReepers in Orange County. We are starting a new action oriented grassroots conservative group to provide support (and opposition) for local issues. It will be very action oriented (rallies, precinct walks, phone banks, etc.) and will hold regular monthly meetings in the Saddleback Valley. If you live in the area please let me know. We are holding our first meeting a week from tonight to discuss forming the club, it will be in Rancho Santa Margarita on Monday Dec 1st at 7:00 PM. Email me if interested in getting involved jesse@joinjesse.com Thanks!

A 28-year-old Russian female, who visited Dubai on a tourist visa, and a 30-year-old male citizen of Lebanon, a salesman in a local store, were put on trial for drinking juice in a public place in the daytime during Muslim fasting. The police caught the two people red-handed at a gas station in Dubai, Emirat.ru reports with reference to Gulf News. In accordance with the Federal Penal Code of the United Arab Emirates, a public intake of food and beverages during daytime hours of the month of Ramadan is forbidden by Article 313. The article stipulates the punishment in the...

New Study Strengthens Association Of Prostate Cancer With Exposure To Agent Orange ScienceDaily (May 16, 2008) — As men age, their risk of developing prostate cancer increases. Aging Vietnam veterans are giving researchers new opportunities to solidify the connection between in-country exposure to Agent Orange and subsequent prostate cancer development. In a study presented during the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) in Orlando, researchers presented data from a large study of veterans enrolled in the Northern California VA System, examining prostate cancer incidence and disease characteristics in those exposed to Agent Orange compared to those who...

THE Grand Master of the Scottish Orange Order yesterday revealed he had rewritten much of the organisation's founding document in a bid to tone down its anti-Catholic sentiments. Ian Wilson says he is staging a campaign to improve the order's public image. He says while the society is proud of its Protestant base, he does not want it to be seen as anti-Catholic. And he has revealed he is seeking approval of the order's members to allow them to attend Catholic funeral Masses. Mr Wilson said: "I have no issues with the Orange Order's Protestant credentials, but what has to...

KIEV — Thousands of opponents of Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych blocked the entrances to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, forcing riot police to intervene to allow judges in for the second day of hearings into the legality of a presidential decree dissolving the parliament. The session began more than one hour late after helmeted police linked arms and formed a corridor to usher judges through a scrum of flag-waving demonstrators, which included rival lawmakers pushing and shoving each other outside the court’s black metal gates. The hearing began with 16 of the 18 judges in place, said chief judge...

KIEV (Reuters) - Riot police pushed aside protesters massed outside a Ukrainian courthouse on Wednesday, allowing judges inside to assess whether embattled President Viktor Yushchenko acted legally in ordering a snap election. About 4,000 protesters backing Yushchenko's call for an early election -- but opposing the Constitutional Court's examination of the presidential decree -- had been waving flags outside the building from early morning. The sitting got under way after about an hour's delay, with 15 of the 18 judges present. Yushchenko, long at odds with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich over Ukraine's future direction, has dissolved the chamber and ordered...

Victor Yushchenko has met with leaders of Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies and military units, according to the President`s press-office. Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko, Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko, Interior Minister Mykhailo Korniyenko (acting), Security Service Chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko (acting), Border Service Chief Mykola Lytvyn, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Kyrychenko, Interior Forces Commander Oleksandr Kikhtenko, Intelligence Service Chief Oleksandr Halaka, External Intelligence Service Chief Mykola Malomuzh, and State Guard Chief Petro Plyuta were present at the meeting, as well as Secretariat Chief of Staff Viktor Baloha, Security Council Secretary Vitaly Haiduk, Head of the Secretariat Law...

MOSCOW — The scenes from Kiev and Bishkek are unsettlingly familiar: thousands of demonstrators crowding the central squares of the capitals of Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, waving banners and shouting demands. Less than three years ago, similar protests helped propel reformist politicians into both countries' presidencies, raising hopes that democratic movements across the former Soviet Union would triumph over regimes marked by corruption, stagnation and manipulated elections. The future, briefly, seemed as bright as the cheery names the demonstrators adopted — Ukraine's Orange Revolution, Kyrgyzstan's Tulip Revolution. But within a few months both countries were mired in political crises that seemed...

What has gone wrong with Ukraine’s Orange Revolution? The best answer is that it never went right. The latest crisis merely brings to a head the tension between two halves of a country so deeply divided it barely looks like one nation. President Yushchenko was too convenient a hero for Europe and the US after the 2004 revolution, when he wrested power from his rival Viktor Yanukovich, as hundreds of thousands rallied in freezing temperatures in Independence Square to protest against rigged elections. Pockmarked, from dioxin poisoning before the election, a crime that has never been solved, Yushchenko seemed the...

KIEV, April 3 (Itar-Tass) - Ukraine is getting immersed in a deep political crisis with unpredictable consequences. The parliamentary majority has given a hostile reception to the presidential decree on the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and does not intend to obey it. The confrontation between political forces will inevitably spill out into to the streets. The opposition leaders have already called for a new Maidan (permanent rally) in downtown Kiev. Yuri Lutsenko, leader of the People's Self-Defence movement, has stated that a platform for speakers will be set up in Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosty) on Tuesday and rallies...

Ukraine is facing its second general election in less than two years after President Viktor Yushchenko last night dissolved parliament, citing "unconstitutional" behaviour by the Moscow-friendly government of Viktor Yanukovich, prime minister. In a move aimed at ending months of political gridlock caused by a stand-off with his long-standing rival Mr Yanukovich, the president said in a television address that it was his "duty" to call fresh elections, accusing the government of the "the politics of intrigue and fraud". The poll will take place on May 27, he said. Mr Yushchenko urged Ukrainians to remain calm saying "the situation is...