***Operation Infinite Freedom - Situation Room - 18 MAY 03/Day 60 - LIVE THREAD***

Everywhere! | 18 MAY 03 | null and void

[null and void]

Operation Infinite Freedom

Link to the previous thread

Good Morning.

This is the Daily Thread of Operation Infinite Freedom, formerly Operation Iraqi Freedom - Situation Room - LIVE THREAD.

It is designed for general conversation about the ongoing war on terror, and the related events of the day. In depth discussion of events should be left to individual threads - but links to the threads or other articles is highly encouraged. This allows us to stay abreast of the situation in general, while also providing a means of obtaining specific information.

[NormsRevenge]

Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Torres, center, from Decatur, Texas, is reunited with his wife Denarae, left, as he gets a pat on the back from good friend Cpl. Carlos Paredes, right, Saturday, May 17, 2003, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., after Torres and other members of the 2nd Force Service Support Group returned from deployment. (AP Photo/Bob Jordan)

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Chris Duncan, 11, whose father, Chief Warrant Officer Michael Duncan, is a member of the 2nd Force Service Support Group, struggles with his dad's sea bag Saturday, May 17, 2003, at Camp Lejeune, N.C., after his dad returned from duty in Iraq (news - web sites). (AP Photo/Bob Jordan)

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[TexKat]

Good evening all, just checking in and catching up. Will be out for a couple of hours attending my baby girl's high school baccalaureate service. Since 9/11 which happened when my daughter was a sophomore in high school, it really struck me hard that her generation and perhaps generations on will not live life as terrorist threat free as we once did.

But still this is a happy day and a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Type at yous guys a little later. Have a wonderful Sunday.

[NormsRevenge]

From the Desert Trail

Troops are coming home

MCAGCC -- The wait is over. Marines and Sailors deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom are coming home to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.

Saturday night, May 17, saw the return of some 100 Marines and Sailors, many part of an advanced party sent to make sure the base is ready for the other 5,000 to 6,000 troops who were deployed to Kuwait and then Iraq.

A spokesman for the base said Saturday night he expected some 1,500 troops would be redeployed to the Marine Base by the end of the week and that all the Marines and Sailors sent to the Middle East would be back by August.

For more details, see the May 22 issue ofThe Desert Trail.

[NormsRevenge]

NEW PATRIOTIC
BANNERS

New patriotic banners are adorning the streets of Twentynine Palms.

[TexKat]

Saudis Link 4 Blast Suspects to al-Qaida

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Four suspects arrested in connection with this week's suicide attacks on Riyadh housing complexes for foreigners are linked to al-Qaida, the Saudi interior minister said Sunday.

Prince Nayef also said three of the nine attackers believed to have carried out the May 12 bombings were wanted in connection with an earlier investigation surrounding the discovery of a weapons cache linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Graduation is an important time for you and your daughter. Have a wonderful day, Kat.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Great pics.

...all the Marines and Sailors sent to the Middle East would be back by August.

August? Wow, time both flies and stands still during wartime. Which reminds me, as a public service for other grammar-impaired Freepers and lurkers:

Subject: How to speak English GOOD

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.

2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.

4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat)

6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.

7. Be more or less specific.

8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.

9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.

10. No sentence fragments.

11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.

12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.

13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.

14. One should NEVER generalize.

15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

16. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

17. One-word sentences? Eliminate.

18. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

19. The passive voice is to be ignored.

20. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.

21. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.

22. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.

23. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas.

24. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

25. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.

26. Puns are for children, not groan readers.

27. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

28. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

29. Who needs rhetorical questions?

30. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

And the last one...

31. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

http://www.terpsboy.com/archives/000931.html

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And I don't do all of the above every day, because, as everyone in the universe knows, "variety is the spice life."

[DollyCali]

Antwone Fisher is a great movie.. see it if you can.. out this year & has won awards & raves left & right.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Air Force News:

  Week in Photos

 Click the image to view this Week in Photos.

[NormsRevenge]

LOL.. Thanks for ALL the reminders. ;-)

Some of the women who most influenced and affected my "literary development" were English junior high school teachers, Estelle and Sonja.

Estelle was the editor of the school newspaper. (She would execute most modern media types today, without a bat of her eyelids.)

Sonja, a petite blonde from South Dakota tutored me during my spelling bee days. I have fond memories of both to this day. (punctuation?)

Can U get a degree in Punctuation these days 8-?

[prairiebreeze]

Congratulations for you and daughter TexKat. I will also be celebrating baccalaureate and my daughters HS Graduation in a couple of weeks.

My prayers are that visionary, spiritual and pro-active leaders like our President Bush, PM Tony Blair and others along with their learned advisors, and with the brave militaries of freedom loving people all over the world will at some point, restore security for our children, and country. It's my biggest hope.

Have a great afternoon!

Prairie

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Lol! I do believe we have some punctuation instructors here at FR, but I picture them looking more like this:

Curmudgeonly & Skeptical (^;

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BBL. Have to phone potential blood donors for our drive tomorrow. When the Red Cross misbehaves - being quick to believe Baghdad Bob and to falsely accuse the Coalition of regime atrocities during the war, mishandling funds and the blood supply..and when the Red Cross doesn't do the honorable thing, come forward, apologize, admit they're too big for their "role", look into the waste and abuse....blood centers all over the nation suffer.

[TexKat]

Breaking News Fox

New Explosions in Tel Aviv.

Will check back later.

[TexKat]

Tel Aviv, false alarm, just a gas cannister exploded. Some injury.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Hollywood entertainers play ball at Edwards                    

                                          

5/16/2003 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN)  --  Hollywood entertainers “traveled” here May 10 for the second annual National Basketball Association Entertainment League game.  Zane Stoddard, NBA director of entertainment marketing, said he was happy he could bring the entertainers out, show base people a good time and support the military.

 

"Obviously with the situation in Iraq, emotions are running high and there is a lot of appreciation for what the military is doing for us," said Stoddard. "I said last year the entertainment industry and the NBA are not isolated from what's going on around the world. We appreciate the freedom that we have and the people that maintain that freedom."

Many of the entertainers who came out said they were happy to be putting on a show for the military.

"Right now I think it's funny how America has reacted to the war," said Dean Cain, host of “Ripley's Believe It or Not” and participant in the game. "All the people protesting are the outspoken minority. As a part of the quiet majority, I support our troops 100 percent. I'm just happy to be out here." (cont..)

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN)--

Donald Faison (blue) goes up against Dean Cain (white)

during the second annual National Basketball Association

Entertainment League game May 10. (U.S. Air Force photo

 by Lewis Mitchell)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Congrats on your two daughter, too, prairie. They are so lucky to have a mom who gets it (and can teach it Y).

LOVE OF FLIGHT UNITES
COCHRAN, YEAGER

EDWARDS AIR FORCE
BASE, Calif. (AFPN)--
Jackie Cochran and
Col. Chuck Yeager walk
away from an aircraft
after a flight in 1962.
Their friendship lasted
until her death in 1980.
(Courtesy photo)

[NormsRevenge]

Great story on these old fighter pilots! Thanks!

both of 'em, Pioneers... What a rush that must have been flying rocket planes!

[prairiebreeze]

Thanks RC. For the compliment and for helping out with the blood drive--we never know when we or out loved ones will need blood.

As far as teaching teenagers....well, they become pretty selective as to what they choose to listen to. I'm looking forward to that day soon when she will realizes mom and dad are actually pretty smart and know quite a lot of what they are talking about. LOL!

Usually happens when they go off to college---which of course is a bittersweet time.

Prairie


Prairie

[MEG33]

Loved the How to speak English Good!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

MSNBC is showing previews of tonight's National Geographic Explorer (8 PM - EST) : "Devil Dog Diaries"  - the liberation of Baghdad.  Crowds are lining the street smiling and waving, a father holds the hands of his two children and smiles, people wave and cheer from behind windows and on balconies...the Marines riding into Baghdad are surprised. Saddam's regime bad boys have been shooting at them for hundreds of miles, but once in the city, and on and on into the city - the people cheer "like in the old WWII movies."  "It seemed impossible that that many people could be out there cheering us on," says one happy Marine.

 

"Man wants to be free, that is not an administration doctrine, not an American doctrine, but a God-given doctrine." - Ari Fleischer, WH Press Conf. Apr. 9, 2003

 

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