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The year 1968 was one of the mst discouraging in modern US history. The Vietnam War dragged on. Despite major civil rights bills, many people feared the country was turning "increasingly seperate and unequal." The nation grieved over the assassinations of Martin Luther King JR. and Robert Kennedy. Riots filled the streets.

While most of us on Christmas Eve were enjoying time with our families, buying last minute Christmas gifts or going to church, our federal government was busy trying to wrap up three shenanigans (Think: "The Grinch" before his conversion to generosity.) just in time for the big day. Hoping that no one was noticing, our government gave us these three lumps of coal...

Arkansas police continue to search for two suspects in the shooting death of a Salvation Army major on Christmas Eve. Salvation Army Major Philip Wise was killed outside the organization’s community center in North Little Rock, Arkansas as his three young children looked on. Wise had worked for the Salvation Army for 16 years and had been at the Little Rock location for 3 years. "He was so important to that community," said North Little Rock Police Department spokesman Terry Kuykendahl told FoxNews.com. "This has been a tremendous blow to (them)." Thanks to private citizens' donations, police are offering a...

LITTLE ROCK — Salvation Army Maj. Phillip Wise had Christmas plans. All he had to do was drop off the Christmas Eve donations at the Salvation Army headquarters in North Little Rock, pick up his wife, Cindy, who also is a Salvation Army major and was in the building waiting on him, and head home, to West Virginia, for the holidays. His three young children — 4, 6 and 8 — were with him. Then the unthinkable happened. Wise was robbed at gunpoint and as his children watched. He was then shot and bled to death in the parking lot...

Salvation Army major shot dead in front of 3 children By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette A Salvation Army major was fatally shot in front of his three children Thursday afternoon as he walked into the the organization's community center in North Little Rock, authorities said. Around 4 p.m., two black men dressed in black approached Philip Wise, 40, of Maumelle outside the community center at 1505 W. 18th St., Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper said. Wise’ children — ages 4, 6, and 8 — were walking with him when the men came up to them, police said. His wife, Cindy, also...

On Christmas Day, a Major with the Salvation Army taking his three children into the organization's community center in North Little Rock, was held up and shot to death (in what appears to be a botched robbery attempt). The Major and his children are white and the two perpetrators were black. Given what we know about how long it takes for racial wounds to heal, what's to say that these three young children (four, six, and eight) who witnessed the murder of their father become personally hostile to every black person they see, and who could really blame them?

‘Work is not done,’ widow says Wife of Salvation Army pastor speaks of prayer for his killer EVIN DEMIREL ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Leading a Sunday service in the building where her husband was shot and killed in a Christmas Eve robbery attempt, Salvation Army Major Cindy Wise said her mission to minister to the people in North Little Rock’s Baring Cross neighborhood has not changed. “I believe I have peace today because I know the work is not done here yet,” Wise told nearly 50 people on Sunday. Standing before the congregation in her navy blue uniform, she said she will...

Sana’a – A US-born radical cleric is alive and well following reports he may have been killed in a Yemeni airstrike against suspected Al-Qaeda hideouts, friends and relatives said Friday. The government said it targeted a meeting of high-level Al-Qaeda operatives in Thursday’s airstrike in the remote Shabwa region. It claimed at least 30 militants were killed, possibly including Anwar Al-Awlaki, a radical cleric who has been linked to the shooter in last month’s attack at the Fort Hood military base in the US. In addition to Al-Awlaki, the top leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (in Saudi Arabia...

Bless this night, oh Lord, we pray, Bless our families we love so dear, Bless our friends far and near— Lord, give peace in every way.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A man has been arrested in the beating and mugging of an elderly man outside a church on Christmas Eve. Prince George's County Police arrested 28-year-old Shanon Washington of Capitol Heights on New Year's Day. Washington is charged with attempted murder, assault and robbery in the attack on 69-year-old Wayne Williams in the parking lot of the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

COVINA, Calif. – Law enforcement officials in Southern California say the gunman who killed nine people in a Christmas Eve bloodbath at his ex-in-laws' Covina home intended to flee to Canada but was severely burned before he killed himself. Police said Friday that after the shooting, 45-year-old Bruce Jeffrey Pardo used a homemade device to spray racing fuel around the home and that the vapor was ignited by a pilot light or candle. He suffered third-degree burns on both arms when it exploded. Authorities say Pardo's Santa suit actually melted onto his body before he fled. After Pardo shot himself...

http://www.longwarjournal.org/cgi-bin/mt-search.cgi?tag=Philippines&blog_id=7 # BLOG ENTRY - QUOTE: http://www.longwarjournal.org/today-in/2008/12/the_moro_islamic_liberation_fr_1.php Moro Islamic Liberation Front killed nine people during attacks on villagers in the provinces of Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat on Christmas eve, and continued raids on Christmas day. MILF refused to change its negotiating position or representatives, but demanded a cabinet-level official head the peace panel. Find related articles: Philippines Posted by Bill Roggio on December 25, 2008 10:33 PM | Permalink

COVINA, Calif. (AP) - Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his ex-wife dressed up like Santa, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least six people before killing himself hours later. Three people were listed as missing after Bruce Pardo's rampage - his ex-wife and her parents - and it was feared their remains were among the ashes of the home, which Pardo set ablaze using a bizarre homemade device that sprayed flammable liquid.

WATERFORD, Wis. - Some people get surprise birthday parties. Ilda Ruth Southey gets surprise weddings. Twice in her life Southey was surprised with a wedding ceremony on Christmas Eve, both times to Francis Southey. Her future husband planned their original wedding for Christmas Eve 1942 while he was stationed in Sherman, Texas, awaiting orders to ship off to Europe during World War II. "I didn't know I was getting married, I just went to spend Christmas with him and I got down there, he had the wedding all arranged," said Ruth Southey, 85, who lives at the Waterford Senior Living...

Full moon near Mars on December 23 Earth & Sky Radio Series with hosts Deborah Byrd, Joel Block, Lindsay Patterson and Jorge Salazar. Sunday, December 23, 2007 For us in the U.S., the full moon is tonight. And if you look outside you’ll see this full moon near a blazing reddish light in our sky. It’s the planet Mars. Flying through space at 18 miles per second, Earth is about to go between the sun and Mars. Earth will pass between Mars and the sun tomorrow. So the distance between us and Mars is now about at its least for...

Mars will be unusually bright this Christmas Eve and the moon will be shining full — a development that might make Santa Claus rethink his need for Rudolph's red nose. That idea, from Miami Space Transit Planetarium director Jack Horkheimer, made us wonder if retooling a certain reindeer song is the best way to explain it to the kids: Mars is a red-tinged planet With a very shiny glow And if you look to see it You will find the moon in tow. The red planet will shine brighter because it will be directly opposite the sun, reflecting the most...

1) 50 Cent was hired to rap the sermon and give the service “street cred.” 2) When a recent visitor asked about advent services, a confused volunteer gave her directions to the nearest pharmacy. 3) Thanks to a new title sponsor, the service was renamed “The Starbucks Christmas Eve Extravaganza at Springfield Community Church” 4) Hannah Montana offered to sing in the service but was told she is “too over the hill.” 5) The sign language translator was sacked and replaced by someone who instant messages the sermon text to the PDAs of the hearing impaired. 6) The entire Christmas...

Even though I wasn't born until 1970 I still like to listen this.. You can view the video here: Apollo 8

As he did in 2001, President Bush is giving most federal workers Christmas Eve off with pay so they may have a four-day holiday weekend. It was wrong then, and it's wrong now. Yes, Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon and Carter did the same thing when Christmas Eve fell on Monday, but they did it because federal workers at the time were less handsomely paid. That age, however, is a distant memory. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average federal salary is 48 percent higher than the private-sector average. When the value of fringe benefits (pension, health and life...

Executive Order: Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on Monday, December 24, 2007 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 2007, the day before Christmas Day, except as provided in section 2 below. Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their...