Free Republic

Chief of staff hopes reorganization boosts capability, fosters more skilled mission-support groupsBy Bruce Rolfsen, Times staff writer A shift in priorities and aging aircraft forced the service to reorganize its wings — and Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper is confident his Air Force will emerge stronger than ever. "Our focus in the U.S. Air Force is not on our home base training operations but on making sure that we give the proper support to thousands that we have deployed in contingency operations," Jumper said in an interview with Air Force Times. "That’s what we need to organize ourselves for...

1. Have you ever attended the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs? (If yes, thank them for their time and move them on to the next house.) 2. Would you be willing to limit yourself to 4 or less terms in office and would you be willing to sign a public proclamation saying so? 3. Do you think government can solve most of our problems? (If yes, thank them for their time and move them on to the next house) 4. Why are you running? (answer in 30 words or less) 5. Other than Karl Marx, please tell me...

A proposal to transform the F-22 Raptor into a high-altitude, first-strike bomber illustrates a harsh reality: The U.S. bombing fleet is ill-prepared to fight wars in regions that are short on friendly nations willing to lend air bases.By Bill Sweetman Turning a fighter into a bomber may seem like trying to convert a Honda S2000 roadster into a pickup truck. Fighters, which are designed to dogfight with hostile airplanes and perform short-range attack missions, are fast and agile; bombers are made to haul heavy loads for thousands of miles. But Lockheed Martin is designing a fighter-bomber hybrid based on the...

The Coast Guard and Florida authorities have done a great deal to make the Port of Miami more resistant to terrorist attack. But is it enough?By James Kitfield PORT OF MIAMI, Fla. -- As the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Majesty of the Seas glides through a narrow channel bound for the waters of the Caribbean, Coast Guard Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Bill Dennis and his crew power their 41-foot skiff through the behemoth's wake like a pilot fish shadowing a whale. The Coast Guard boat quickly and firmly warns off any recreational boaters who stray into an invisible 100-yard perimeter...

Humans slow electronic attacks, so planners pick unmanned aircraft as EA-6B Prowler replacementBy David A. Fulghum and Robert Wall, Washington The U.S. Air Force has changed the requirements for Boeing's high-performance unmanned combat aircraft to include electronic attack as part of its initial operational capability. That change would make the Block 10 UCAV--which is to evolve from Boeing's X-45--the Air Force's replacement for the Navy and Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler. The Navy has already selected the two-man EA-18 as its follow-on. This latest shift is only one of a series of twists and turns in the Pentagon's attempt to define...

Here is the ENTIRE state budget, in its entirety: http://www.state.tn.us/finance/bud/bud0203/buddoc0203.pdf It is a 1.8 MB PDF, but it is relatively easy to navigate.

<p>America's founders developed ideas on liberty that remain with us today.</p> <p>The "Glorious Cause," George Washington called the American Revolution. He and the other founders fought not only for independence from Great Britain, but for a new conception of freedom, of the individual person as someone with intrinsic rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."</p>

Russia is making a big symbolic break with the past by freeing the market in agricultural land. Turning theory into practice will be harder A TOTEM lies in fragments. State control of land symbolised Soviet communism. After a wrenching collectivisation that cost millions of lives, huge farms, managed either directly by the state or through sham collectives, gobbled resources and dribbled results. Soviet agriculture was a byword for waste, inefficiency and farm labourers' drunkenness. Now the land is to be freed for sale to whoever (except foreigners, who may only lease it) thinks he can run it best. One big...

A maverick officer’s plan to overhaul the service’s culture On June 27, a major on the verge of retirement conducted a one-on-one briefing with Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane in the latter’s roomy Pentagon office. The major had a blunt message: the Army is broken, and fixing it will require the most comprehensive overhaul of the service in decades. The major then offered the four-star general a plan to do just that. His proposals included: shattering the personnel system; keeping a battalion’s troops together for four-year cycles so they achieve true cohesion; eliminating division, corps and army-level commands;...

Kashmiris Reject War in Favour of Democratic Means The vast majority of Kashmiris, 63%, oppose India and Pakistan going to war to find a permanent solution to the situation in Kashmir and believe the correct way to bring peace to the region is through democratic elections (71%). They also believe the unique cultural identity of the region should be preserved in any long-term solution (81%), and there is virtually no support for the state of Jammu and Kashmir being divided on the basis of religion or ethnic group (8%). There is also widespread consensus on the types of proposals which...

When the Arab-Israeli conflict flared again, the reaction on campus was dramatic. It could have been expected to be anti-Israel, and severely so; but it was even more anti-Israel than usual. It was more anti-Semitic, too. (Sadly, these two "anti-"s seem to be going together more and more lately.) Also unusual, however, was the response of pro-Israel students and faculty, chiefly Jews: They were more determined, less cringing, more defiant than in the past. More willing to talk back, and to fight back. A writer in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz sensed that an "awakening" was going on, and that...

Freepers we have extended the deadline to register at our Early Bird rate! The extension is for one week, and the last day to register will be SUNDAY JULY 7. Conference and registration information can be found on the FREE REPUBLIC CONFERENCE WEBSITE Book your hotel room at the Treasure Island Hotel by calling 1-888-503-8999, $99 a night for the FR conference. Go directly to register for the conference HERE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THERE!!!

The lone chair across the table from members of the Kent County gun board is known as the hot seat. But when Mark Gelders recently sidled up to ask permission to carry a concealed weapon, it barely got warm. Thanks to the state's nearly year-old CCW law, Gelders left with a permit in less than a minute -- one of more than 2,000 issued by the county's gun board in the last year. Under the old law, he would have walked away empty-handed. "I'm under the belief that if more people are carrying weapons, there will be less crime," said...

-----Original Message----- From: Vervynckt, Lawrence Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 4:10 PM To: Brown, Dick (mail centre); Brown, Dick (Mail Box) Cc: EDS Americas Employees; EDS Employees; EDS; 'presweb@pobox.upenn.edu'; NISC ALL EMPLOYEES Subject: memo to Dick Brown Dick, There are ethical ways to cut costs, and then there is executive greed. Your comment at the recent shareholder's meeting will be your legacy, like it or not ("I have to make that much money, I have an expensive wife."). Most of the people were proud to work for EDS and liked/like what they do/did at one time, but no more. Most...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “word for the day”. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the “word of the day”; in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post on.... claque \KLACK\, noun: claques; plural 1. A group hired to applaud at a performance. 2. A group of fawning admirers. He cultivated the "Georgetown set" of leading journalists and columnists and had them...

WorldCom has not opened for trading today, but investors seem to be stampeding out of every other telecom issue in their portfolios. That may be premature, because some of these companies could end up benefiting from WorldCom's woes by raiding its client list. Along with AT&T, WorldCom has dominated the lucrative market for providing blue-chip firms with telecommunications services, says Patrick Comack, a telecom analyst for Guzman & Co. Today, after WorldCom said its 2001 reported profits were actually losses, it's a safe bet that all its corporate clients are being aggressively wooed by rival providers. Besides AT&T, these rivals...

WASHINGTON - WorldCom's revelation that it fudged its accounts by $3.8 billion could whip the politics of corporate corruption into a Republican disaster. Continues. =============================================================== Will Wall Street Scandals hurt Republicans? No. Here's why The election-year Democrat/Media campaign to tie Bush with sleaze/scandal on Wall Street saw its wheels come off over the weekend as the President forcefully seized the initiative, beginning with his weekly radio address, in which he vowed zero-tolerance for "violations of the public's trust." If Dems expected Bush, on this issue, to roll over and play dead, they had another thing coming. Instead, the President...

"Today, Fossett's trying to do it again — and he might actually succeed this time. But he'd be hard pressed to get any sympathy from the regular Joes of the world for his previous near-death experience — or even accolades this time if he succeeds. That's because each one of these round-the-world balloon trips, according to press reports, is estimated to have cost at least $300,000 a pop. Fossett representative Stuart Radnofsky told ABCNEWS, "We don't discuss costs." In contrast, the average American income is roughly $30,000 a year, according to U.S. government statistics. But the millionaire Fossett, a semi-retired...

Smaller, faster, but above all smarter The nation's capital of late has been riveted by a war--not the one between the U.S. and its terrorist enemies but the struggle over the first big Pentagon weapons program to be targeted for extinction by the Bush administration. At issue is the Army's controversial $11 billion Crusader gun--a monstrous self-propelled cannon conceived eight years ago in the heady days following America's heavy armor triumph in the Persian Gulf War. Able to fire farther and faster than the aging Paladin mobile gun now in service, the huge weapon has had the backing of the...

"The quickest way to prevent heresy is to teach all truths, and the most certain way of refuting it is to expose them all." Blaise Pascal The Puritans were masters of defending the Gospel against the attacks of those who sought an attempt at destroying the Christian faith. They wrote masterful treatises (writings characterized by sound biblical arguments, biblical rationalism and logic) by which many great polemical and apologetic arguments are still helpful today. For all intents and purposes, I do pray for those who may be entrenched in some type of false doctrine, and for those who may...