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Camp Marmal, Afghanistan — It is said jokingly, but with an edgy nervousness. Wisconsin National Guard troops in Afghanistan wonder whether they'll get sent to Iraq next. Though President Barack Obama and military leaders say there will be only limited involvement in shoring up the country, soldiers are not so sure. "We talk about that all the time," said Spc. Jasen Pomroy, 44, of Baldwin. "I don't think we want to get into another one if we're trying to finish this one out. Where's it going to end?" Pomroy worked in a route clearance unit in Iraq in 2010-'11. Many...

August 24, 2014Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 is 22:19-23 Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace:“I will thrust you from your officeand pull you down from your station.On that day I will summon my servantEliakim, son of Hilkiah;I will clothe him with your robe,and gird him with your sash,and give over to him your authority.He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,and to the house of Judah.I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder;when he opens, no one shall shutwhen he shuts, no one shall open.I...

The possibility of the ISIS terrorist group attacking America has Senator Jim Inhofe claiming that ISIS’ WMD capabilities may include developing a bomb big enough to destroy a U.S. city. The Islamic terrorist group is now the richest in the world and apparently the best organized since it’s believed that ISIS sleeper cells are allegedly planning a large scale terror attack within the United States. The full extent of ISIS’ WMD capabilities have been debated by the experts ever since it was revealed that the ISIS in Iraq had uncovered Saddam Hussein’s WMD stockpiles. The ISIS terrorist group even managed...

Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Jose Antonio Meade says Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent statements about the possibility that Islamic fundamentalists could be entering the U.S. from Mexico are “absurd.” …

Ads saying “guns save lives” have begun appearing again this month at Phoenix bus stops after being the subject of a four-year battle between city officials and a local activist, the Arizona Republic reported. The ads for a gun-safety training website overseen by gun-rights advocate Alan Korwin have been placed at bus shelters this month in downtown and northeast Phoenix. …

Health insurance companies in California may not refuse to cover the cost of abortions, state insurance officials have ruled in a reversal of policy stemming from the decision by two Catholic universities to drop elective abortions from their employee health plans. Although the federal Affordable Care Act does not compel employers to provide workers with health insurance that includes abortion coverage, the director of California’s Department of Managed Health Care said in a letter to seven insurance companies on Friday that the state Constitution and a 1975 state law prohibits them from selling group plans that exclude the procedure. The...

172-day prayer Marathon. Today at the first time of prayer, to the venue were not able to reach people because of the obstela block posts on Motel and Gornostaevskoj. In Donetsk there is no safe area, where you could feel safe. Today is the most exciting news is the release of our brother Yevgeny Francuka, who was in the unknown more than three weeks. God saved the life of this man, who was abducted while attempting to evacuate a disabled person from the hospital. More than two hours, three groups of people have been looking for Eugene, where expect...

Explanation: The city of Veszprem, Hungary was only briefly haunted by this mysterious spectre. On the morning of August 11, its monstrous form hovered in the mist above municipal buildings near the town center. A clue to its true identity is offered by the photographer, though, who reports he took the picture from the top of a twenty story building with the rising Sun directly at his back. That special geometry suggests this is an example of an atmospheric phenomenon called the Glory or sometimes "the Spectre of the Brocken". Also seen from mountain tops and airplanes when looking opposite...

Explanation: On July 13th, a good place to watch Comet Jacques was from Venus. Then, the recently discovered visitor (C/2014 E2) to the inner solar system passed within about 14.5 million kilometers of our sister planet. But the outbound comet will pass only 84 million kilometers from our fair planet on August 28 and is already a fine target for telescopes and binoculars. Two days ago Jacques' greenish coma and straight and narrow ion tail were captured in this telescopic snapshot, a single 2 minute long exposure with a modified digital camera. The comet is flanked by IC 1805 and...

Cocaine-Stuffed Tamales Seized at Houston Airport Aug 23, 2014, By BEN CANDEA PHOTO: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston stopped a would be smuggler from bringing nearly 7 ounces of cocaine into the country in tamales, Aug. 22, 2014. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston stopped a would be smuggler from bringing nearly 7 ounces of cocaine into the country in tamales, Aug. 22, 2014. U.S. Customs and Border Protection File this under "ways not to smuggle drugs." U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers...

Explanation: On Monday morning, Venus and Jupiter gathered close in dawn skies, for some separated by about half the width of a full moon. It was their closest conjunction since 2000, captured here above the eastern horizon before sunrise. The serene and colorful view is from Istia beach near the city of Capoliveri on the island of Elba. Distant lights and rolling hills are along Italy's Tuscan coast. Of course, the celestial pair soon wandered apart. Brighter Venus headed lower, toward the eastern horizon and the glare of the Sun, while Jupiter continues to rise a little higher now in...

White House Officials Will Attend Michael Brown Funeral Ferguson Is Calm as It Prepares to Bury Michael BrownNIGHTLY NEWS Three White House officials will attend Michael Brown’s funeral Monday on behalf of the Obama administration, a White House official told NBC News. Assistant to the President and White House Cabinet Secretary

Recently, states and communities have started to ban “saggy pants,” requiring those with their pants too low to pay a fine for indecency. The latest city to support the ban is Pikeville, Tennessee. If residents are caught sagging, they will be charged a $25 fine. The ban has raised questions over whether or not the government has the right to institute laws that regulate someone’s fashion choices. There are also doubts as to whether police will take the time to enforce the law. “All I know is we just don’t want them running around half-naked on our streets,” Pikeville Mayor...

Explanation: The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a whirlwind of spectacular star formation. Visible near the image center, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds, each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme stellar winds and intense energetic starlight. The tremendously bright nearby star, Herschel 36, lights the area. Walls of dust hide and redden other hot young stars. As energy from these stars pours into the cool dust and gas, large temperature differences in adjoining regions can be created generating shearing winds which may cause the funnels. This picture, spanning about 5 light years, combines images...

Explanation: Where should Philae land? As ESA's robotic spacecraft Rosetta circles toward Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a decision must eventually be made as to where its mechanical lander should attempt to touch-down. Reaching the comet earlier this month, Rosetta is sending back detailed pictures of the comet's unusual nucleus from which a smooth landing site will be selected. Pictured above, near the image top, the head of the comet's nucleus shows rugged grooves, while near the image bottom, the body shows a patch-work of areas sometimes separated by jagged hills. Some of the patch-work areas apparent on both the head and...

Most people will always say that a movie that has been redone never should have been redone (the older someone is, the more they are apt to feel that way too). There are probably a few movies of course that is as good as better than the original (like True Grit?). There are also a few movies that might be nice to see remade if the original has a nice concept but was horribly directed or some movies might serve better updated for the times. What movie(s) would you like to see redone?

Psalm 74 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. But now...

Recently, Al Sharpton responded to claims that he had once asked Bill O’Reilly to donate to benefit his Harlem charity. According to O’Reilly, he donated $25,000 to the organization. So you can imagine his surprise when he found out that Sharpton had called him “racist and a brutalizer of the poor.” “When Mr. O’Reilly started attacking me after my question of the Zimmerman verdict, he started talking about the grievance industry and that I was a ‘racial huckster,’ never telling people he knew better and that he was a contributor of mine,” Sharpton recently told the Washington Post. “If I...

Three decades after it was inducted into the Russian Air Force, the Sukhoi-27 remains the ultimate jet fighter with its super-maneuverability, grace, beauty and sheer power. In 1984, after seven years of development and test flights, the Sukhoi-27 (codenamed Flanker by NATO) was inducted into the Soviet Air Force and the Soviet Air Defence Force. It was a defining moment in the history of combat aviation as the Su-27 – and its later iterations – became the jet fighter that would shift air superiority decisively away from western air forces. British fighter pilot John Farlight, who saw Victor Pugachev turn...

It occurs to me that dystopian literature is essentially conservative/libertarian. Dystopian literature and film are essentially a pro-liberty art form. They remind us how Big Government abuses citizens and how much better things operate in an environment of freedom.