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WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2007 – The defense budget requests President Bush submitted to Congress today will “make the necessary strategic investments to modernize and recapitalize key capabilities in the armed forces,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said at a Pentagon news conference. Gates said the fiscal 2008 defense budget request and the 2007 emergency supplemental request for funding the global war on terror will help sustain the all-volunteer military by reducing stress on the force and improving quality of life for U.S. troops and their families. The $481.4 billion budget request will improve readiness through additional training and maintenance...

My FRiends, I would be very grateful for your prayers in behalf of my Dad whose health has taken a turn for the worse right after Thanksgiving, and even more so in the past few days. Dad is 81, a veteran of World War II in the Pacific Theatre, he served as a munitions expert, Browning Automatic rifleman, and finally as a medical corpsman before being wounded and sent home. He continued to serve our Nation in the Department of the Army his entire working career. He has been the finest Dad I could ask for and my life has...

Can anyone post here the "Merry Christmas Legal Disclaimer" that has been posted many times before. Something on the order of "Wish does not imply fullfillment, merely good intention, blah, blah..."

If you're posting an article from a website that requires membership to view the rest of the article, please note that somehow -- whether in your comments or in the headline. Also, does anyone think it is a good idea to create a box you can check when posting the article, like the "This is an excerpt" box that will give that article some sort of lable indicating it is from a subscribers-only source? Let's be honest, it's pretty annoying to start reading an interesting article only to find out that you have to register to read the rest.

Dear FReepers, I received a call from my daughter in the Philippines, advising me that my 1 year old grandson, Jorge, has been ill for several days with a high fever, and he is unable to keep down his food. She took him to a doctor and got medicine for him, but it is apparently not working. Therefore, once again I am requesting prayers from the FReeper Prayer Warriors. Please pray for God's healing power for my grandson, Jorge. Thank you in advance.

TO ALL, long-time FReeper, MamaB, sent me the following tragic news, and asked me to start a prayer thread. So I post this in loving memory of Mr. MamaB, and in hopes it will provide some measure of comfort to his wife and family now suffering through his loss. I just wanted to let you know that my hubby died last night at 7:30. We are all heartbroken. Will you start a thread for me and I will give more details when we get back from the funeral home. Have to be there at 11.

Hey, I need to batch convert quite a lot of .tif graphics for work. I need to rotate them 90 degrees and save them out, either overwriting the old files or putting the new files, same names, in a new directory. The problem is, I know that some graphics programs I have used will balloon the file size by tenfold when this is done for some reason. (WideImage will, Kodak Imaging won't.) Can anyone recommend a graphics program which will allow me to do this?

WASHINGTON - Democrats sought to get embattled Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) to resign his seat on the House's most prestigious committee. "In the interest of upholding the high ethical standard of the House Democratic Caucus, I am writing to request your immediate resignation from the Ways and Means Committee," wrote House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in the one-sentence correspondence. The Louisiana Democrat was defiant. "With respect, I decline to do so," he wrote back to Pelosi."I will not give up a committee assignment that is so vital to New Orleans at this crucial time for any uncertain,...

Fellow FReepers, your prayers are urgently needed for MamaB and her husband and family. I received the following email from her this morning: We got more bad news yesterday at the Kirklin Clinic. There is no treatment available right now unless the dr. down there can find a clinical study at a cancer research center like in San Antonio. He has 6-9 months to live without any treatment. We are all heartbroken and disgusted with the oncologist here who shoul have found this months if not years ago. Could you tell the people on the Dose tonight? Thanks. I have...

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2006 – In a rare joint appearance before Congress, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to quickly pass a $91 billion supplemental spending bill. The bill proposes $65.3 billion to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as about $20 billion needed for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction. The two cabinet members appeared with Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command. Rumsfeld said the supplemental includes $34.7 billion for on-going deployments and operations...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2006 – A $70 billion supplemental fund for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will be part of the administration's fiscal 2007 budget request set to be delivered to Congress Feb. 6, officials said yesterday. "The president has committed to ensuring that our military forces have not only what they need, but they have it in the quantities that they need to be successful in prosecuting the military components of the war on terror," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Bryan Whitman said during a teleconference. Joel Kaplan, deputy director of the White House Office of Management and...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A judge on Thursday denied a request by defense attorneys to seal records and prevent the Riverside County district attorney's office from releasing information about the recent arrests of 49 men accused of attempted child molestation. Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz denied both motions filed by the county's public defender's office, saying there wasn't enough evidence to justify the request. The decision affected only nine defendants who remain in custody. It was unknown whether defense attorneys will file a similar motion with the other 40 men who have posted bail. A message left for defense attorneys...

Dear Fellow Freepers, Mrs. B-Chan was admitted to the hospital tonight and will undergo surgery within the next several days. Although her life is not in immediate danger and she is resting comfortably at present, I would deeply appreciate it if you could take a moment to ask God to bless her during her illness and convalescence. For those of you who do not believe in God, would you please pray for her anyway as a favor to me? A brief, silent prayer costs you nothing, and God will hear you whether you believe in Him or not. Thank you.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal judge ruled Monday that prosecutors can use a confession by a man charged with joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush, despite defense claims that the confession was obtained through torture. The ruling came after a six-day hearing in which Ahmed Omar Abu Ali testified that Saudi Arabian security officers whipped his back, kicked him in the stomach and pulled on his beard to obtain a confession. U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee issued a one-page ruling and said he would explain his reasoning in a forthcoming order. Abu Ali's lawyers wanted the confession...

If I get this pasted go to the near bottom of the Washington Post article and see how K. Blanco thought it better to avoid Martial Law declared in her state than to save the lives of her people. and - she is advised by the law firm of Clintoon's ex, former director Witt in how to avoid a "takeover" http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9189916

This is a heartfelt prayer request, and I hope you don't mind a little detail - it's important to my situation: I had something happen at the end of last week that REALLY made me mad - and that's not easy - and disturbed me as well. I had called a collection agency as a potential client (deadbeat customer of mine), one that I had been a debtor with (a mistaken collection placement when the original creditor didn't apply my payments) and had come to a successful conclusion with. I had asked for, and worked with Collector A - nice...

I hate for my first post to be a vanity, but so be it. On Sunday night, a woman was shot in a parking lot of a convenience store as a result of a custody fight between the shooter and the victim’s husband. I found out today that the victim is a friend of mine from my co-ed softball team. I didn’t recognize the name because she was just married on July 16th, and didn’t know her new last name. She was shot twice in the stomach and once in the arm. She had surgery on her stomach yesterday and...

Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (August 1, 1930-) was born in Milwaukee. Described as a career diplomat, Eagleburger joined the Foreign Service in 1957 and held a series of embassy, State Department, national security, and Defense Department posts before serving as Ambassador (1977-81) to Yugoslavia. He was a State Department Assistant Secretary (1981-82) and Undersecretary (1982-84) before serving as Deputy Secretary of State (1989-92) and Secretary of State (1992-93) under President George Herbert Walker Bush, becoming the first Foreign Service officer to hold the latter post.

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats opposed to John R. Bolton asked one of his GOP supporters to be a go-between in their pursuit of information that could break an impasse over his nomination to be U.N. ambassador. At the same time, a Democratic lawmaker said the Bush administration has made overtures to try to get the nomination to a final vote. "The White House did make some proposals which didn't really do it, but they're reaching out a little bit," Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., told reporters Thursday. Democrats have demanded to know more about communications intercepted by...

I would like to ask for prayers as I work through a difficult time. The early part of this year was very slow for me. Primarily I take responsibility because I allowed certain personal problems to drag me down. In response, my compensation package was changed and my advances were ended. I have since remedied the situation, but am still struggling. I have already had one pay period where I went unpaid. I do not have the type of job where it is likely to earn commissions every 2 weeks by the nature of the industry. It looks like I...