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The head of the Japanese Navy was dismissed yesterday and scores of officers and civilian bureaucrats punished after a series of fiascos that have heaped humiliation on what was once the proudest of the country’s armed services. Admiral Eiji Yoshikawa, chief of staff of the Maritime Self-Defence Force (MSDF), was one of 88 people disciplined one month after an incident in which a 7,750-tonne ship crushed a fishing boat while the officers on watch were sheltering from the rain and its captain was asleep. Yesterday Shigeru Ishiba, the Defence Minister, published a report revealing that the ship’s lookouts were inside...

I've heard several times that B. Rocko Bama's Rev. Wright served as a Marine. Does anyone have any idea when or where he served? What kind of discharge he got? Did he get any medals? In other words, I am starting to wonder.

A county emergency management official takes a leave of absence just days after police pick up his wife in a high-profile sex sting. Sources tell Fox Philadelphia that Edward Atkins, the director of emergency services in Chester County, took a leave of absence until his wife's legal matters can be worked out. 49-year-old Theresa Atkins was one of five women picked up by Philadelphia police at a high-end Center City hotel after allegedly offering to perform sex acts in exchange for cash. Sources say she told undercover cops she was turning tricks to put her kids through college. On her...

Barack Obama was able to take the focus off of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Friday by picking up the endorsement of (a bearded) Bill Richardson. Obama's allies are hoping the focus will stay off of Wright this Easter Sunday when the Democratic frontrunner skips services at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and heads on vacation. Story Richardson Backs Obama, Rebuffs ClintonPer ABC News' Sunlen Miller, sources familiar with Obama's plans say the Illinois Democrat is expected to go on a tropical vacation with the most likely bet appearing to be St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands....

Endorsements rarely determine the outcome of presidential races, but the decision by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to announce his support for Barack Obama today is nonetheless an important boost for Obama in his nomination battle with Hillary Clinton. The endorsement is valuable for at least five reasons. The first is timing. Richardson has ridden to Obama's rescue during what has been the roughest stretch of his candidacy. It comes after the uproar over Obama's spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which has knocked Obama off stride. It comes after losses in Ohio and Texas, which cost Obama the opportunity...

Here is the link to the Official Olympics Website contact page. Send them a quick email. Tell them to back off Tibet or Olympic sponsors will be boycotted! http://en.beijing2008.cn/57/66/column211716657.shtml

Holy Saturday   Christ is in His tomb. Rather, His Body is in the tomb, but when His Soul left His Body, He descended into Hell to "free the captives." "Hell" here refers to the place of the dead in general ("Sheol" in the Hebrew, or "Hades" in the Greek), not to the place of torment with which the word "Hell" is most usually associated with today. The world "Hell" in the loosest, earliest sense includes: the Limbo of the Fathers, the place for those who were righteous by charity and faith in the coming Messias and who died before His...

As shoot-outs go, the Supreme Court had a famous one Tuesday during oral arguments over the constitutionality of Washington D.C.'s handgun ban. The smoke won't clear until the High Court issues its decision, but the debate this week augurs well for a conclusion that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. Judging by Tuesday argument, the High Court has a majority in support of the circuit court opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts asked why the Framers included the word "people" if the Amendment only applied to militias. Justice Antonin Scalia discussed the importance the Framers attached to...

Good Friday  Good Friday1 (also called "Great Friday" or "Holy Friday") is the most somber day of the entire year. A silence pervades, socializing is kept to a minimum, things are done quietly; it is a day of mourning; it is a funeral. The Temple of the Body of Christ is destroyed, capping the the penitential seasons begun on Septuagesima Sunday and becoming more intense throughout Lent. Traditional Catholics wear black, cover their mirrors, extinguish candles and any lamps burning before icons, keep amusements and distractions down, and go about the day in great solemnity. Jesus was put on the...

Maundy Thursday   This day, Maundy Thursday (also "Holy Thursday" or "Shire Thursday"1) commemorates Christ's Last Supper and the initiation of the Eucharist. Its name of "Maundy" comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning "command." This stems from Christ's words in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you." It is the first of the three days known as the "Triduum," and after the Vigil tonight, and until the Vigil of Easter, a more profoundly somber attitude prevails (most especially during the hours between Noon and 3:00 PM on Good Friday). Raucous amusements should be set aside... The Last...

Hillary Clinton's strategists are delighted at what they consider Barack Obama's latest stumble in the hypersensitive world of racial politics. Obama is drawing a new round of criticism for his comments on a Philadelphia radio sports program yesterday in which he said his grandmother is a "typical white person" who has fears about black men. He was attempting to explain a portion of his speech on race earlier this week—specifically, the statement that his white grandmother gets nervous when a black man approaches her on the street. Obama told the radio host, "The point I was making was not that...

President Sarkozy of France will tell Gordon Brown next week that France plans to send an extra 1,000 soldiers to Afghanistan to bolster the battle against the Taleban. Senior ministers have told The Times that Mr Sarkozy wants to underline his commitment to the alliance during his state visit to Britain. The Ministry of Defence has made a working assumption that President Sarkozy will announce a deployment of “slightly more than 1,000 troops to the eastern region”, one said. The deployment would deliver a significant fillip to the military operation in Afghanistan, ensuring that other countries such as Canada remain...

Spy Wednesday   In the Old Testament Joseph, who prefigured Christ, was betrayed by his older brother, Judah -- the father of the tribe whence came King David and through which the Messianic prophecies were fulfilled -- when Judah sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt for so many shekels of silver (see Genesis 37-38, and also Psalm 68:2-29 and Acts 1:13-20). From that tribe of Judah came Our Lord, Who was betrayed by another Judah, a man who is more commonly known as Judas Iscariot ("Iscariot" refers to Kerioth, a town in Judea). This Judas handled the money for the...

The sudden problem for Obama is this: For the past 15 months he has campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination as a kumbaya-humming racial uniter, yet for the past 20 years he has sat regularly in a church overseen by a racial divider - indeed, as Obama acknowledges, by a racial divider who has doubled as a personal mentor. Obama's 20-year membership in Wright's church implies acceptance of Wright's views broadly - and so suggests an Obama as not necessarily the racial uniter of his campaign rhetoric. Devastatingly, Steele writes, Obama has "fellow-traveled with a hate-filled, anti-American black nationalism all...

The Grayback was to slip into North Vietnamese waters and let out several four-man SEAL teams in small, submersible vehicles just offshore on June 3. The teams were to rendezvous with the two prisoners – who had communicated their plans through a method that today remains secret – on an offshore island.

DEADLINE to Register is March 24th in Pennsylvania BY JULIE BENAMATI The Tribune-Democrat As Monday’s deadline fast approaches to sign up to vote in Pennsylvania’s presidential primary, elections offices in Cambria and Somerset counties report a significant increase in Democratic registrations. Political party leaders say the contest between Democratic hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is bringing new voters to the polls – and causing some to change party affiliation altogether. Cambria County’s election office has seen 955 new voter registrations since October, and 377 voters have changed parties in the past four weeks – about 90 percent of...

In an audiotape posted on Internet, Osama Bin Laden threatened Europe with punishment because of its "negligence in spite of the opportunity presented to take the necessary measures" to stop the publishing of the Danish cartoons.  It also menaced the Vatican with retribution for an alleged role in incitement "against religion."  This al Qaeda warning would have been normal in Salafi Jihad logic. This radical movement obviously considers the drawings as an ultimate insult to Muslims and would unleash extreme violence in retaliation. Actually one would have expected al Qaeda to strike back "for the cartoons offense" a long time ago. In...

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson finally made up his mind and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama today, but a senior adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign — which likewise spent months courting the former Democratic presidential candidate’s nod — dismissed its significance. “Look, I think that everyone has their endorsers,” said senior Clinton strategist Mark Penn, adding — with a little huff — “I think New Mexico is a state that, actually, we won.” “The time that he could have been effective has long since passed,” he continued. “I don’t think it is a significant endorsement in this environment.” Perhaps sensing...

Countries around the world have expressed their support to the Chinese government on its handling of the recent riots in Lhasa, capital city of China's Tibet Autonomous Region. A spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday strongly denounced the unsavory elements of their moves to seek "the independence of Tibet" and scuttle the upcoming Beijing Olympics. He expressed support to the Chinese government in its efforts to ensure social stability and the rule of law in Tibet and to defend the fundamental interests of the Tibetan people. A spokesman of Mongolia's...

In Denver. Denver is not equipped to handle any convention scenario other than a coronation, and certainly not the most (potentially) contentious national convention in 40 years. It is important to point out that the state of Colorado, and the city of Denver, is currently nearly completely controlled by Democrats at every level of government. This puts these locals in a box, politically and from a law enforcement standpoint. This sets up a scenario similar to Seattle 1999 WTO debacle. I happened to be living in downtown Seattle during that awful experience, and what stands out is that the city...