Free Republic

LANCASTER, Pa. – The mother of the nation's first double hand transplant patient says he's out of the hospital and looking forward to returning to his wife and daughter in Georgia. Doris Schafer told the Intelligencer Journal-Lancaster New Era that her son, Jeff Kepner, visited her over the weekend in Lancaster. She says he plans to return to Augusta, Ga., at the end of this week. Schafer says Kepner is considerably happier than when she saw him in June at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, about a month after the transplant. She says her son still has no feeling...

Laying out the Bush administration's case for treatment of terror suspects, former Vice President Dick Cheney challenged the Obama administration to declassify information about the intelligence gleaned from enhanced interrogation techniques. "Releasing the interrogation memos was flatly contrary to the national security interest of the United States," Cheney said Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute. "The harm done only begins with top secret information now in the hands of the terrorists, who have just received a lengthy insert for their training manual." "I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program," Cheney said. "They were legal, essential,...

Being the child of a wealthy entrepreneur must be something of a mixed blessing. Growing up in such a hothouse atmosphere, full of privilege and expectation, cannot be a relaxing experience. I spend most of my time working with entrepreneurs, and I really believe that they are not the same as other people. They have an ambition, a competitive urge and a lust to take risks that is way beyond the norm. I recall meeting Rupert Murdoch, Jimmy Goldsmith and Richard Branson on separate occasions in my late teens and wondering what they were like as businessmen and, even more,...

Does anyone else out there miss Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's presence on the national stage? I miss her terribly. All anyone wants to talk about nowadays are pirates and our horrible economy; back in election days, the stock market could drop 700 points in a day and the lead story would be Gov. Palin's inability to form a complete sentence on national television. Who cares about your pension being wiped out when you can feel smarter than a vice presidential candidate? Of course, it was just cheap fun and the country was going to have to move on from poking...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2009 – Iraq’s government and its security forces deserve praise for overseeing the successful and mostly violence-free provincial elections that were held countrywide Jan. 31, a senior U.S. military officer posted in Iraq said today. “First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate the government of Iraq for a successful, legitimate and credible election,” Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, told reporters during a Baghdad news conference. Iraqi soldiers and police performed well during the election, Austin said, citing their “well-coordinated and executed security plan.” The “hard work and dedication” evidenced...

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2008 – The last of the five Army brigades to deploy with the “troop surge” in Iraq will return in July after a 13-month deployment, during which soldiers detained more than 800 terrorist suspects and helped foster Iraqi self-governance. Video The 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team has operated in the Arab Jabour area of southeastern Baghdad, where the number of attacks plummeted from about 30 a week when they arrived in May 2007 to about one a week now. “All in all, it's been a very successful operation for us,” Army Col. Terry Ferrell,...

Students in university-run leadership positions are often required to participate in some type of diversity training because simply being a just and logical person is no longer enough to lead a group of people. Instead, one must be immersed in every type of culture, background, and lifestyle the Office of Diversity Programs and Services can comprehend. The Resident Advisor preparation I was given at George Mason University recently was no exception, and I have broken down GMU diversity indoctrination into five easy steps so that you, too, can become the sensitive person the Left wants you to be. Step #1:...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2008 – Based on debris analysis, officials are confident the Feb. 21 missile intercept and destruction of a nonfunctioning National Reconnaissance Office satellite was successful in destroying the fuel tank and reducing risk to people on Earth, the Defense Department announced today. The satellite’s fuel tank contained hydrazine, a hazardous chemical that could have posed a risk to humans if the satellite or its fuel tank had reentered the atmosphere intact. "By all accounts, this was a successful mission. From the debris analysis, we have a high degree of confidence the satellite's fuel tank was destroyed...

Lasting Impression: Does The Face Of A CEO Determine A Successful Company? ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2008) — It certainly takes more than a pretty face to run a leading national corporation. But according to a recent Tufts University study, the performance levels of America’s top companies could be related to the first impressions made by their chief executive officers (CEOs). Using photographs of the highest and lowest ranked Fortune 1000 companies’ CEOs, psychologists Nicholas Rule and Nalini Ambady quizzed ordinary college students to determine which of the pictured faces were characteristic of a leader. Without knowledge of the pictured individuals’...

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Customers in Germany and Britain lined up to buy the iPhone as it debuted there Friday, with Apple Inc. hoping to replicate the success that the combination cell phone, music player and Web browser has seen in the United States. Apple hopes to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008, helped by its launch in Asia next year. In Germany, the phone went on sale at more than 700 T-Mobile shops, including one in Cologne that opened just after midnight with some 350 customers already waiting outside...

AN NAJAF — A young boy from Hollendia underwent a final surgery to correct a severe colon condition at Al Sadr Hospital in An Najaf Oct. 9. The boy, Ahaip, had already undergone two surgeries to reintroduce his colon into his body. For Ahaip, this final surgery marked the end of a long road to recovery, made possible by U.S. Soldiers. Ahaip was born with an obstructed bowel at birth, which required emergency surgery. The surgery left Ahaip’s intestines outside his body until he was discovered by Soldiers from the 97th Civil Affairs Battalion, a Reserve unit from Fort Bragg,...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE Q-WEST— Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 5th Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, have been working side-by-side with the Iraqi Police (IP) since November in southern Ninevah province. During the 10 months of deployment, the 5-82 FA troops have seen the IP improve in their capabilities to conduct operations and ultimately secure Iraq. “A lot has changed since the beginning of the war and the beginning of our deployment,” said Sgt. Kurt Schroder, artillery surveyor and dismounted patrolman. “The IP are doing better on their own and they are doing...

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2007 – Afghan National Security Forces, supported by coalition partners, successfully conducted an operation against Taliban fighters in Helmand province this week, military officials reported. Several Taliban fighters were killed during a precise operation July 27, according to reports, and there were no reported civilian casualties or damage. “This operation follows a series of … blows against the Taliban command over the last few weeks,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Claudia Foss, International Security Assistance Force spokesman. “They are aimed at impacting the ability of the Taliban to plan and coordinate its attacks.” In other operations...

Source: University Of Edinburgh Date: July 10, 2007 Best Males Have Less Successful Daughters Science Daily — The strongest and fittest of a species might be expected to produce the best offspring, but this is not always the case, researchers at the University have found. Red deer stag. (Credit: iStockphoto/Roger Whiteway)Studies of red deer published recently in Nature suggest that the most successful males are more likely to produce less fertile daughters. Male and female deer need different attributes to succeed. Genes which prove to be an advantage in fathers don't necessarily prove beneficial in daughters. Males who win fights...

WASHINGTON, June 6, 2007 – Afghan and coalition forces detained 19 suspected militants, killed two dozen enemy fighters and discovered numerous enemy weapons during operations in Afghanistan over the past three days, military officials reported. In operations today, Afghan and coalition forces detained 10 militants in an operation against Taliban forces in the Qalat district of Zabul province. Coalition forces acted on credible intelligence that led them to the suspected Taliban hideout, officials said. As forces began the operation, two men fled the scene with a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher and three grenades. Coalition forces fired warning shots and apprehended the two...

CAMP ECHO — Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Division-Central South Brigade Combat Team conducted a successful military operation in the Al Izza district of Al Kut city Wednesday. ISF and Coalition troops dubbed the Operation Viper’s Bite. The operation, which involved close air support, resulted in the detainment of 13 people suspected of insurgent activities. Three of them are on the most wanted persons list in Wasit province. The rest of the detainees were handed over to the Iraqi Police. The joint forces seized machine guns, rocket propelled grenades, 122 mm artillery shells and approximately 1500 rounds of small caliber...

"...Last week, I attended a debate organised by Intelligence Squared, an organisation devoted to high-level public argument. The subject was so popular that, instead of the usual venue, the Methodist Central Hall in London had to be hired. More than 2,000 people crammed in. The motion was "We'd be better off without religion". ...By a curious reversal, it is now the atheists who thump the tub for their non-faith, as if it were they who were the preachers. ...I feel that atheism may be acquiring precisely those characteristics that atheists so dislike about religion - intolerance, dogmatism, righteousness, moral contempt...

When historians get around to chronicling the first half of the 21st century, let's hope they don't write that America lost its war against terror by default. Any change of direction from Washington now will be taken as a concession, and will certainly be read by Hamas, Hezbollah and the Taliban as a signal that they are on the right track. But, what choice do we have? How can we achieve victory when we are fighting a war that has no specific goal? In our effort to bring peace and democracy to the world, we seem to have confused the...

A Soldier from Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, communicates with his squad leader while pulling security during Operation Beastmaster.BAGHDAD — Staring down at an empty lot, Spc. Craig McBaine wondered how such a tranquil neighborhood could be the scene of so much carnage. Nicknamed “IED Alley East,” this 700-meter stretch of barren earth has been the scene of many attacks against coalition and Iraqi security forces. On this day, the patch of land, bordered on three sides by once-beautiful three-story houses, is occupied by up-armored Humvees, Bradley Fighting Vehicles...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 -- Nearly five years after America “awoke to a nightmare attack” on Sept. 11, 2001, the nation is thankful that terrorists haven’t succeeded in launching another attack on U.S. soil, but recognizes that it’s not for the terrorists’ lack of trying, President Bush said at the White House today. “Nineteen men, armed with box cutters, took control of airplanes and turned them into missiles,” Bush said of the Sept. 11 attacks. “They used them to kill nearly 3,000 innocent people. We watched the Twin Towers collapse before our eyes -- and it became instantly clear that...