Free Republic

BLACK PASTOR ATTACKS OBAMA This hate filled video says it all................

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2008 – More than 400 guests attended a dedication ceremony for the 39th Fisher House recently built on the grounds of Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Richmond, Va., one of the VA’s four Level 1 polytrauma centers. This artist’s rendering depicts the 16,000 square-foot, 21-suite Fisher House built on the grounds of Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, in Richmond, Va. The 39th Fisher House was dedicated in a ceremony July 10, 2008, at the house. Courtesy of Fisher House Foundation  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “It was an opportunity to be...

Smithfield — Maj. Dennis McCool is no stranger to war. A retired Army officer, McCool, 60, began his 20-year Army career at the height of an unpopular war. His deployment to Vietnam, where more than 58,000 American soldiers died, lasted for several years. “I have lived for 38 years with a burden that every Vietnam veteran carries,” says McCool, a native of Sanford, Fla. “That burden is that we did not win. It was not our fault... Since returning home in December, the trio has embarked on another mission: to rally support for the troops. They set out on March...

Cmdr. Frost chats with families at a newly opened primary healthcare clinic. USACE photo by Norris Jones. BAGHDAD — Using his skills as a Navy Seabee, he successfully managed construction projects in some of Baghdad’s most turbulent neighborhoods. Navy Cmdr. Steven Frost is concluding a year-long deployment as the Deputy Commander with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Central district. His staff oversaw hundreds of construction projects including a new $50 million water treatment plant for Sadr City, hospital and school renovations, new courthouses, fire stations, sewer and water line installations, and road paving. But the work Frost...

A frail Billy Graham, using a walker and leaning on his son Franklin, was honored Thursday by three former U.S. presidents as they dedicated a museum built to be a "living crusade" that will carry on his work after the minister is gone. The $27 million Billy Graham Library traces the evangelist's journey from farm boy to the most widely heard minister of all time. He befriended every U.S. president since Harry Truman and preached in person to more than 210 million. "This building behind me is just a building," Graham said in brief remarks. "It's an instrument, a tool...

Disabled trumpeter, dad steal the show A member of the Louisville Cardinals marching band -- who is blind and in a wheelchair -- never fails to inspire when he takes the field with the help of his father. BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN The most inspirational team in the Orange Bowl this year, the one that best exemplifies courage and willpower, is not Louisville or Wake Forest. It is the team of Patrick Henry Hughes and his father, Patrick John Hughes, who will perform a feat more remarkable than anything displayed by the extraordinary athletes on the Dolphin Stadium field. Patrick Henry...

If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master; If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2006 -- Americans must understand the dedication, commitment and sacrifices of Iraqi troops, a top coalition spokesman said yesterday. Iraqi soldiers and police are putting their lives on the line for a democratic, free Iraq, Army Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, said in a telephone interview from Baghdad. Coalition forces have trained and equipped about 320,000 Iraqi soldiers and police. This number will reach 355,000 by the end of the year. They are increasingly in the lead in the fight against insurgents and sectarian violence. “Last month during Ramadan, when we experienced one...

I received an email that I suspect many on FR will have also. For those who have not, here it is: Last week, while traveling to Chicago on business, I noticed a Marine sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together. After we boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been invited to sit in First Class (across from me), and inquired if he was heading home. No, he responded. Heading out I asked? No. I'm escorting a soldier home. Going to pick him up? No. He is with me right now....

August 5, 2006 Saturday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Saturday 32 Reading 1Jer 26:11-16, 24 The priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the people,“This man deserves death;he has prophesied against this city,as you have heard with your own ears.”Jeremiah gave this answer to the princes and all the people:“It was the LORD who sent me to prophesy against this house and cityall that you have heard.Now, therefore, reform your ways and your deeds;listen to the voice of the LORD your God,so that the LORD will repent of the evil with which he threatens...

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2006 – A ceremony here today marking the start of construction for the Pentagon Memorial will provide "a reminder of why we all do what we do," the Joint Staff's deputy director for regional operations told Pentagon reporters yesterday. The dedication ceremony, set for 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, will honor those killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon, Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham said during a Pentagon news briefing. "It's for those who were killed, and their families, that all of us privileged to wear the uniforms of our nation have pledged...

Returning to her camp near Baghdad, Sgt. 1st Class Juanita Wilson's last supply run turned out very differently than the other missions in her seven-month tour in Iraq.

FORT HOOD, Texas (Army News Service, April 3, 2006) – The 1st Cavalry Division will commemorate the sacrifice and service of its members during a dedication ceremony of the Operation Iraqi Freedom Memorial April 4 at 10 a.m. outside the division headquarters. Located on the east end of the division’s parade field, the memorial honors all troops who have participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom under the First Team. The names of 168 Soldiers who were killed during the division's deployment are etched into polished, black granite panels. The panels are from the same mountain in India used for the Vietnam...

A very powerful presentation, make sure your speakers are up. You might need to keep some Kleenex nearby. Click Here

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Nov. 23, 2005 – At the tail end of his first visit here, the recently appointed senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said he's "happy with the quality of people you see here." Army Command Sgt. Maj. William J. "Joe" Gainey said he is impressed with the dedication he witnessed during a brief visit Nov. 22. He told several servicemembers they should take pride in their mission. "Display the pride that you have in your service, because pride is contagious," he told two senior petty officers he met at...

November 9, 2005Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome Psalm: Wednesday 48 Reading IEz 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 The angel brought meback to the entrance of the temple,and I saw water flowing outfrom beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,for the façade of the temple was toward the east;the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple,south of the altar.He led me outside by the north gate,and around to the outer gate facing the east,where I saw water trickling from the southern side.He said to me,“This water flows into the eastern district down upon...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2005 – The American men and women fighting in Iraq believe in their mission, and the Iraqi people appreciate what the U.S. military has done for them, top military leaders told the House Armed Services Committee here today. Three senior leaders from the Army and Marine Corps who have served multiple tours in Iraq testified at the hearing, titled "Your Troops: Their Story." The leaders spoke about the quality of America's servicemembers and their dedication to duty. "In all of my experiences -- both tours -- in all of the improvised-explosive-device attacks I either observed or came...

August 5, 2005Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Friday 34 Reading IDt 4:32-40 Moses said to the people:"Ask now of the days of old, before your time,ever since God created man upon the earth;ask from one end of the sky to the other:Did anything so great ever happen before?Was it ever heard of? Did a people ever hear the voice of Godspeaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himselffrom the midst of another nation,by testings, by signs and wonders, by war,with his...

By all accounts, Randall Yungerberg became a gasoline theft vigilante this week. But his attempts to exact justice at the St. Paul gas station where he works left him critically injured Wednesday after he tried to stop a customer reportedly leaving without paying. His head injuries came three days after he was arrested on suspicion of taking a hammer to the car of a customer he suspected of not paying. That customer was arrested after Yungerberg, 49, was punched. While experts advise against going after thieves, some people say they understand how the frustration of standing by could lead some...

A 15-year old girl, who fought cancer to appear for her SSC (Secondary School Certifficate) examination in Mumbai has scored 77 per cent marks, but isn't around to celebrate. Vaibhavi, who wrote 'I am going to conquer the disease and not let the disease conquer me' in all her notebooks, lost the battle to cancer in May. But before she breathed her last, Vaibhavi did what she had promised herself and her parents -- she wrote all her papers without any special assistance. The board offered a writer's help and also extra time to finish her papers. She said no...