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Textron Systems announced Thursday that it will deliver an all-electric version of its M5 Ripsaw Robotic Combat Vehicle prototype to the U.S. Army for experimentation next year. Earlier this year, the Army selected a Textron team to develop its subsidiary Howe & Howe's unmanned vehicle for the service's Robotic Combat Vehicle, or RCV, Medium platform. The Army wants to develop a light, medium and heavy version of the RCV to give commanders the option of sending unmanned vehicles into combat against enemy forces. The service selected QinetiQ North America to build four light versions of the RCV. Textron is scheduled...

Katharine Lee Bates, a 33-year-old English literature teacher at Wellesley College, was on “a merry expedition up Pike’s Peak” in Colorado in 1893 when she looked out “over the sea-like expanse of fertile country spreading away so far under those ample skies.” In an instant, she said, “the opening lines of the hymn floated into my mind.” Those lines became “America the Beautiful” — a song that will be featured today in countless parades and band concerts. Everyone knows the first verse, with its evocation of “amber waves of grain” and “purple mountain majesties.” But how many have read —...

Link here: http://www.clickondetroit.com/sports/hockey-legend-gordie-howe-dies-at-age-88

This allowed Washington and his army to retreat across the river to Manhattan under cover of darkness on the night of August 29th. Eye-witness accounts record how the army silently retreated that night in the storm. The British were camped only a few hundreds yards away. All through the night, American soldiers retreated from one entrenchment after another in the order they were assigned. Slowly they made their way down to the waters edge and filed aboard small boats. They were so careful not to make noise that the sailors tied their shirts around the oars to muffle their sound...

Now 300 years old, the Loring Bowl, as it is known, will be the star of the show at Sotheby’s auction of early American silver in New York on Jan. 22. It is, by far, the biggest bowl of its kind and period that Sotheby’s has ever handled. Now 300 years old, the Loring Bowl, as it is known, will be the star of the show at Sotheby’s auction of early American silver in New York on Jan. 22. It is, by far, the biggest bowl of its kind and period that Sotheby’s has ever handled. (Southeby's) Fearing for his...

One of the most oft-repeated mantras about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that there is no military solution; the only solution is to talk with our enemies. This mantra also has a popular corollary: Because we must ultimately negotiate with the Palestinians, decisive military action is counterproductive - it merely sows hatred that makes the inevitable dialogue that much harder. It is ironic that the leading proponents of these theories are Jews and Europeans - two groups well acquainted with the obvious counterexample: The Allies never negotiated with the Nazis either during or after World War II; they destroyed Nazi Germany...

via machine translation - Bogota present evidence of life of Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans HOSTAGES. The Colombian government has made public Friday evidence-videos, photographs and letters showing that 16 hostages of the Colombian guerrilla, whose Franco-Colombienne Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans were alive. A video that was broadcast without the soundtrack by television Colombian Ingrid Betancourt demonstrated in extreme thinness, and chained hands crossed, head down and apparently quite tired. Ingrid Betancourt who was in pants and a blue shirt, remained silent. She has very long hair tied up on the shoulder. The hostage, kidnapped on February 23, 2002...

10 minutes ago NEW YORK - Steve Howe, the relief pitcher whose promising career was derailed by drug and alcohol abuse, died Friday when his pickup truck rolled over in Coachella, Calif. He was 48.

The state imposed a $140,000 penalty for what it called "willful, continuing, and egregious" violations of the price law... The Minnesota Commerce Department on Thursday announced plans to fine a gas station chain $140,000 for repeatedly selling gas below the state's legal minimum price. The fine against Midwest Oil of Minnesota is twice as large as any imposed on a company since 2001, when the state established a formula based on wholesale prices, fees and taxes to determine a daily floor for gas prices. Kevin Murphy, deputy commissioner of the department, called the violations "willful, continuing, and egregious and warrant...

The McCurtain Daily Gazette today reports several former powerful and high ranking Justice department officials confirm there was a coverup of the investigation to the Oklahoma City bombing. Ten years after the Oklahoma City bombing, a published report says several former high ranking Department of Justice officials who want to remain anonymous claim there was a coverup of the attack which killed 168 persons. The story is carried by the McCurtain Daily Gazette in Idabel whose reporter J-D Cash has spent a decade investigating the bombing and its ties to Elohim City, a religious and white separatist compound in eastern...

Speaking on the condition that their names not be revealed, a group of former Department of Justice (DOJ) officials have told this newspaper that the FBI never seriously investigated Tim McVeigh's connections to a right-wing paramilitary training camp. Neither, they say, were McVeigh's ties to a notorious bank robbery gang operating in the Midwest investigated. Further, FBI agents interested in working the case were thwarted by Department of Justice attorneys and by other FBI officials. Even spoken with their identities hidden because of fears of retribution, the explosive statements are especially surprising now, coming as they do on the heels...

On the surface there would seem to be little to unite the Aryan racialists of the neo-Nazi movement with the terrorists of radical Islam. To the neo-Nazis, Muslims are almost all members of ``inferior`` races; and to the Islamic terrorists, the neo-Nazis are almost without exception either atheists or members of fringe quasi-Christian sects. But the reality is that there has been close cooperation between Muslim extremists and Fascists ever since the founding of the Nazi movement in the 1920`s. For all of their differences, Muslim extremists and Nazis have always been united by a common group of beliefs and...

WASHINGTON - A Secret Service document written shortly after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing described security video footage of the attack and witness testimony that suggested Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites) may have had accomplices at the scene. "Security video tapes from the area show the truck detonation 3 minutes and 6 seconds after the suspects exited the truck," the Secret Service reported six days after the attack on a log of agents' activities and evidence in the Oklahoma investigation. The government has insisted McVeigh drove the truck himself and that it never had any video of the bombing...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Having recently been subjected to many (2) Iterations of a commercial for Tim Robbins new movie, I delved back into Yes and Dean. One of the things I have discovered most in life, the hardest thing, is that truth is not a Knowledge, it cannot be bought or sold, none of us deserve it, it is a momentary light that shines on us, and for a brief, unforgetable time, shows us the true face of God. "A man conceived a moment’s answers to the dream, Staying the flowers daily, sensing all the themes. As a foundation left to create the...