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'Dirty Dozen' hero from Oklahoma has died. James “Jake” McNiece led a World War II group hours before the June 6, 1944, invasion to destroy bridges to prevent German reinforcements from moving into Normandy. By Michael McNutt | Published: January 21, 2013 James “Jake” McNiece, the leader of a World War II group that came to be known as the “Dirty Dozen,” died Monday, family members said. He was 93. McNiece, a retired Ponca City postal worker, commanded a group of rough men nicknamed “The Filthy 13,” who served as the inspiration for the movie “The Dirty Dozen.” Hours before...

Last week President Obama bluntly warned Congress that he will not negotiate when it comes to raising the statutory debt limit. If Republicans attempt to use a debt ceiling vote to win concessions on spending from the White House, Mr. Obama threatens simply to raise the limit by executive order or other unilateral action. This is business as usual in Washington. Democrats literally do not believe we have a deficit and debt problem, and reliably propose greater borrowing and spending. Republicans talk a good game when it comes to government debt, but have no credibility to argue against deficits or...

Baghdad (CNN) -- Iraq's state-owned oil exploration company has made the country's first oil find in 30 years, an Oil Ministry spokesman said Monday. The company found at least a billion barrels of crude under the ground in a southeastern province near the border with Iran, spokesman Assim Jihad said Monday. The discovery in Maysan, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) south of Baghdad, is a "significant achievement" for the country, Jihad said. Despite vast reserves and reliance on oil for government income, exploration in Iraq has been hindered by decades of conflict.

Prince Harry's life on duty in Afghanistan (CNN) -- Britain's Prince Harry has acknowledged that he killed Taliban insurgents on his latest tour of duty in Afghanistan as a crew member of an Apache attack helicopter. Harry has been serving for four months as a co-pilot gunner (CPG) in southern Helmand province -- considered a Taliban heartland -- and flew on scores of missions with the trigger to rockets, missiles and a 30mm cannon at his fingertips. No one is saying how many insurgents Harry might have killed but toward the end of his deployment, the 28-year-old, known to his...

Four people reportedly shot along Martin Luther King, Jr. parade route in New Orleans (CBS/AP) NEW ORLEANS - At least four people were shot Monday in New Orleans along the route of the city's Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial March. CBS affiliate WWLTV reports that, according to neighbors, gunshots rang out less than an hour after the parade passed through the neighborhood. New Orleans police responded to the gunfire at about 1 p.m. in the Central City neighborhood, near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and LaSalle Street. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas was among those who responded to...

Former Miss Alabama Katherine Webb is moving to New York and may appear in an upcoming season of Dancing With The Stars, it emerged today. What should have been a mere 15 minutes of fame after ESPN commentator Brent Musburger momentarily fell in love with her as she watched her quarterback boyfriend play in the BSC Championships, has now turned into what could well be a promising career for the 23-year-old.

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With President Obama's second inaugural address out of the way, with its combination of high sounding language and bitter, partisan combativeness, one is moved to wonder what inaugural addresses were like in alternate universes.

The Black Heritage Society is sponsoring the 35th annual "Original" MLK Parade beginning at 10 a.m. on the corner of Texas and Jackson in downtown. Glorice McPherson, event coordinator for the Black Heritage Society, said the festivities will include an awards gala, a health fair, and a groundbreaking for a statue of MLK Jr. Charles Stamps, chairman and CEO for the MLK Parade Foundation, said the parade will have two battle of the bands contests this year instead of just one, as well as the youth parade.

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I bought my first World Almanac in the last week of December 1970 (I have bought one each year since then). I was fascinatined by the miscellaneous facts and statistics. One section I enjoyed was the "celebrities" section, giving the birth place and birth years of famous people in the entertainment business. Of course, there were many listed in this section I had never heard of. One of my major discoveries was the "one-name celebrities." I had never heard of such a thing before. But here they were--Annabella, Cantinflas, Dagmar, Fabian, Fernandel, Genevieve, Hildegarde, and Margo. Who were these people?...

On Jan. 7, exactly two weeks before we are to simultaneously celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and inaugurate Barack Obama to his second term as President of the United States, sinister advertisements went up in dozens of subway stations around New York City, making evident that despite the undoubted strides our nation has made toward achieving justice and equality, bigotry and fear-mongering remain alive and well in America. The American Freedom Defense Initiative, headed by Pamela Geller, an inflammatory demagogue with a long history of anti-Muslim incitement, purchased space in 39 stations for ads with an...

The U.S. Government took some enormous steps and continues to take enormous steps to right the economy.In his 2013 outlook, KKR's Henry McVey points to the $7.66 trillion worth of stimulus as a reason to be bullish on real assets like real estate and commodities.From McVey:The United States is running an explicit reflationary policy of holding nominal interest rates below nominal GDP. Though this relationship was slightly more stretched back in the late 1970s, it is again near record levels. We are also dealing with far more liquidity injections by the U.S. government than in the past. In the U.S....

The ceremonial lunch President Obama and his former congressional colleagues are eating Monday tops out at 3,000 calories, according to a website that has tallied up the luxurious menu of lobster, bison and apple pie. HealthyFoodRecipe.net posted the full menu, complete with its calorie count, and said it was “unsatisfactory” to see such an unhealthy spread, given first lady Michelle Obama’s push for healthier eating. She has come under fire for the high-calorie counts of some of the state dinners she’s hosted at the White House, but other nutritionists have given her a pass, saying indulging on special occasions is...

Several Rats, including the head Rat, have said they want more "revenue" beyond the tax increases already passed this year. What do you think they have in mind? Here are a few "tax breaks" (anything which lets people keep more of their own money) I can think of. tax deductions for IRA and 401(k) contributions untaxed employer-provided health benefits tax-free status of municipal bond interest (reducing this I could live with, since it would raise the cost of borrowing for local government) income tax-free build up of cash value in life insurance policies

Politicians typically talk about rising inequality and the sluggish recovery as separate phenomena, when they are in fact intertwined. Inequality stifles, restrains and holds back our growth. When even the free-market-oriented magazine The Economist argues — as it did in a special feature in October — that the magnitude and nature of the country’s inequality represent a serious threat to America, we should know that something has gone horribly wrong. ... There are four major reasons inequality is squelching our recovery. The most immediate is that our middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that has historically...

As we officially embark into President Obama's second term today, let's take a moment to examine the new economic normal with which the voting public is apparently quite comfortable. While we've finally, technically fallen below the national eight percent unemployment rate we heard so much about during Obama's first term, there is a very significant qualifier in that math that communicates nothing really uplifting about where our economy actually stands: The number of Americans age 16 or older who decided not to work or even to seek a job increased by 8,332,000 to a record 88,839,000 in President Barack ObamaÂ’s...

Mickelson expects to make 'drastic' changes LA QUINTA — San Diego professional golfer Phil Mickelson said after the final round of the PGA Tour’s Humana Challenge on Sunday that he will have to make “drastic changes” in his life because of the federal and state taxes he is paying, and he confirmed that his decision to not buy an interest in the Padres was directly related to his financial situation. "I'll probably talk more in depth next week (at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines). I'm not going to jump the gun,” Mickelson said. “There are going to be...

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Here are 138 examples of Barack Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, government waste, and other misdeeds In the 2008 United States election, I wrote in Ron Paul for President. In the 2012 election, I voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Those who are of a more leftist persuasion than myself might want to consider voting for the Green Party in future elections.Here are 138 examples of Barack Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, government waste, and other misdeeds:1) Carried out military interventionism in Libya without Congressional approvalIn June 2011, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)...

BURLINGTON, Vt. —The Burlington Police Department is getting caught in the crossfire between Burlington City Council and Second Amendment advocates. A shooting range in Morrisville, Vt. is no longer letting Burlington Police officers train there.