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7/18/2006 - BALAD AIR FORCE BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- When Airmen deploy to combat, they expect a mission-focused environment. Without the daily demands of home life and the distractions of fast-paced America, many use their limited spare time to develop themselves in new ways. "Some people get in shape at the gym," said Chaplain (Capt.) Jose Tate, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Chaplain Services. "Some say they want to get in shape spiritually." For people seeking this kind of growth, chaplains provide the services, counseling and sometimes just a friendly ear for those who want to talk. "First and foremost, we...

UN is like the Twilight Zone, says Bolton (Filed: 01/05/2006) In his first interview with a British newspaper, America's ambassador to the United Nations tells Alec Russell why it is in dire need of reform John Bolton was in his element. America's famously blunt UN ambassador and hundreds of other senior diplomats had just spent almost two hours twiddling their thumbs in a deadlocked meeting awaiting a letter from the secretary general. John Bolton says he is not combative. ‘I am assertive’ Then moments after the document arrived, the session was adjourned as the representatives of the developing world retired...

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, April 21, 2006) – Working together as a cohesive team, Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, Iraqi army soldiers and private-security company employees work at entry control checkpoints to provide safety and security for Baghdad’s “Green Zone.” “Our mission is to provide safety for the local nationals (and IA and MND-B Soldiers). We try to keep terrorists out of the Green Zone. It’s pretty much a safe haven,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jesse Matthews, infantryman, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, who works at an Entry Control Point near Forward Operating...

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 – Many U.S. pilots who patrolled the skies of Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War would later put that experience to use during Operation Iraqi Freedom, an F-16 pilot who flew combat missions over Iraq early in the war said here yesterday. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the then-vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, brief reporters at the Pentagon on Sept. 30, 2002, about the continuing attempts by Iraq to shoot down coalition aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones in the north and south of the...

CAMP MERCURY, Iraq (April 3, 2006) -- Lance Cpl. Jason Willis has a new look on life after recovering from injuries he incurred just over a month ago. While driving a seven-ton truck on a late-night re-supply mission in late February, the heavy equipment operator attached to Headquarters and Support Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, was struck by an improvised explosive device. “I remember it quite well,” said the 23-year-old from Lakeland, Fla. “It went off right next to my door and blew it in three spots, through the window, gun port and through the floorboard.” At first he...

U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. David Tarnowski (right), 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, was once the Boy Scout leader of Airman 1st Class Ian Zerby, 379th Civil Engineering Squadron. The two recently reunited after deploying to Southwest Asia. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Veronica Aceveda U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Ian Zerby, Chief Master Sgt. David Tarnowski Boy Scout Connection Found in War Zone By Tech. Sgt. Veronica Aceveda 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs SOUTHWEST ASIA, March 30, 2006 — For 96 years, the Boy Scouts of America has provided a common ground for thousands...

Downtown turns war zone Friday, March 10, 2006 By NADIA MOHANDESSI About 60 Air Force personnel flooded lower Dauphin Street and the surrounding area Thursday night in mock combat battles that looked a little more like a scene from West Side Story than one from downtown Baghdad. With less singing and dancing, of course. The U.S. Air Force Weapons School's 14th Weapons Squadron, based out of Hurlburt Field, Fla., staged simulated combat scenes beginning shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday near Bienville and Cathedral squares to show personnel flying an AC-130 Gunship aircraft what different urban combat scenarios looked like from...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2005 – When Seattle Seahawk's defensive end Bryce Fisher isn't staring down an opponent across the line of scrimmage, he's standing in defense of freedom. Fisher, a native of Renton, Wash., recently took the oath of office as a captain in the Washington Air National Guard, where he now serves as a public affairs officer. Fisher graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1999, and the Buffalo Bills drafted him in the seventh round of the National Football League draft the same year. Because of his unique situation, an agreement he reached with the Air Force led...

Race riot fears turn Bondi into no-go zone By Nick Squires In Sydney (Filed: 17/12/2005) Australian police warned visitors to stay away from Bondi and other famous beaches in Sydney this weekend amid fears of another flare-up of race violence between gangs of white and Middle Eastern youths. The warning, unprecedented in a country in which the beach forms a central part of the national psyche, extended to two other cities in New South Wales. A young surfer carries her board outside a Sydney surf club Bondi was declared a virtual no-go zone for the weekend, along with other popular...

I'm retired and live off my IRA distibutions yearly. I live in the path of Hurricane Rita. I'm hearing of a new law that would allow me to withdraw some IRA funds without the 10% penalty. I've checked with the IRS and they of course "know nothing". My congressman says it's the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act and it just passed the House. It apparently hasn't passed the Senate and hasn't been signed by Bush of course. Does anybody know anything about this law? It's getting late this year an I have to send for my 2005 distribution. I would like...

10/25/2005 - ABOVE IRAQ (AFPN) -- Tuskegee Airman Col. Richard Toliver (left) chats with Maj. (Dr.) Vanessa Williams as their C-17 Globemaster III makes its final approach to Balad Air Base, Iraq. Five of the original Tuskegee Airmen -- the first African-American aviators of World War II -- are visiting the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad. The unit is a descendant of the "Red Tail Angels" of the Tuskegee Airmen's 332nd Fighter Group. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Andra Higgs)

AL ASAD, Iraq, Sept. 6, 2005 – Keeping in touch with friends and family at home is always a challenge during deployments. Though communications in combat zones have evolved, some still find it difficult to contact people they care about. Freedom Calls Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded to keep military personnel closer to those they love, is taking the next step in wartime communications. “Faced with extended tours of duty, our front line soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are not able to speak with members of their families for months at a time,” the organization says on its Web site....

MOSCOW, July 12 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's possible refusal to participate in the Common Economic Space (CES) will not stop Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus from continuing integration processes, a high-ranking official said Tuesday. Dmitry Sukhoparov, Russia's national coordinator in the High-Level Group on the CES, told a RIA Novosti news conference: "The CES can work even without Ukraine. We [Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan] can work when there are three of us." However, Sukhoparov stressed, "It should not be forgotten that Ukraine means almost 50 million people, and the bigger the market in terms of area, number, GDP and capital, the more...

NEW YORK -- A red-light district tentatively cleared for construction on the Internet -- the ''.xxx'' domain -- is being billed by backers as giving the online porn industry an opportunity to clean up its act. A distinct online sector for the salacious will reduce the chances of Internet users accidentally stumbling onto porn sites, they argue. If only it were so simple. Zoning in cyberspace has always been a daunting proposition, and participation in the porn domain will be voluntary. Even if it's voluntary, supporters say, adult sites will have incentives to use ''.xxx.'' ''If the carrot's big enough,...

SWITCH on your satellite television receiver in Tehran nowadays and something is amiss - "No Signal", the otherwise fuzzy television screen says for much of the day and night. With presidential elections just over a week away, Islamic Iran's technological guardians appear to be waging a war against enemies in the airwaves - opposition-run television channels. However, the problem is that they may also be frying people's brains. "Microwaves," explained an Iranian satellite television technician, who earns his keep by installing dishes even though they are technically banned. "They're jamming, and these signals used to block the satellites have never...

Diet-related chronic diseases represent the single largest cause of death and sickness in the United States and most Western countries. Yet while these diseases are epidemic in contemporary Westernized populations and typically afflict two-thirds of the adult population, they are rare or nonexistent in hunter-gatherers and other less Westernized cultures.Why? There is an increasing awareness that the profound environmental changes, such as diet and other lifestyle conditions that began with the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry (the care and breeding of domestic animals), occurred too recently for the human genome to adapt to.Thus, universal characteristics of preagricultural human diets...

The Brooklyn teacher who sent an American soldier demoralizing letters written by sixth-graders apologized yesterday and admitted blame. In a statement issued by the Department of Education, social studies teacher Alex Kunhardt said he regretted offending Pfc. Rob Jacobs. His statement, however, did not address whether he either coached the students or read their missives — which accused soldiers of committing atrocities in Iraq — before mailing them.

This bill that amends current NH law to exlude lawfully possessed firearms from school zones has been put together by the notoriously anti-American and anti-LEO Hampton Police Chief and his murderous cohorts in the NH Chiefs of Police Association. It is scheduled to be voted on in committee on 1/25/05. You can contact the 3 sponsors based on the links below: Rep. Michael O'Neil, Hampton;Rep. George D. Winchell, Atkinson;Rep. Joseph E Stone, Candia. One person who contacted Rep. O'Neil was told that Mr. O'Neil really didn't know what was in the bill, and that the NH COPA had written it....

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Where Have You Gone James Otis? July 26, 2004 © New Republican Archive Boston – The Democratic National Convention started today with most local Bostonians fleeing for the hills and protesters driven away by the palace guard (Secret Service). Traffic on the roads and in the subways was so light today that it was like a normal Sunday evening, only this wasn’t Sunday, and it was anything but normal. The local traffic was so light, nearly a 70% drop from the norm we are told, that police are reported on the local airwaves to be planning to scale down their...