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  Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do! For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~   Real Hollywood Heroes Part 1 Info from here.               "Armies do not fight wars; nations fight wars. War is not a military activity conducted by soldiers, but rather a social activity that involves entire nations. . . ." ~ Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, U.S. Army  There were...

Fact Sheet Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC April 13, 2014 “No amount of propaganda can make right something that the world knows is wrong.” – President Obama, March 26 Russia continues to spin a false and dangerous narrative to justify its illegal actions in Ukraine. The Russian propaganda machine continues to promote hate speech and incite violence by creating a false threat in Ukraine that does not exist. We would not be seeing the violence and sad events that we've witnessed this weekend without this relentless stream of disinformation and Russian provocateurs fostering unrest in eastern Ukraine. Here are...

Outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the administration's own predictions that the new health care law's online sign-up system would be ready by Oct. 1 were "just flat out wrong." Sebelius told NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview airing Sunday the health care website's launch was "terribly flawed and terribly difficult." She says that eight-week period was her low point of her tenure. Sebelius last week announced her resignation. She says she wanted to give President Barack Obama enough time to bring in a new health chief.

Q: I read that methane is an even worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and cattle are a big source of methane emissions. How are they going to regulate that? Not just cattle, but dairy cows as well! That doubles the worry. Fortunately, there is really nothing to worry about, scientifically. The main thing to worry about is over-reacting politicians and another layer of unnecessary government regulations. To understand methane’s role in the atmosphere, first it’s necessary to understand what absorption means. When light passes through a gas (sunlight through air, for example), some molecules in the gas might absorb...

Government officials retreated Saturday from federal property in Gold Butte, Nev., leaving behind some 389 “trespass cattle” that had been impounded as the result of a decades-long dispute between a local rancher and the U.S. government. But while the story has managed to capture the attention of thousands of Americans, it has also managed to confuse thousands more. Indeed, from questions regarding property rights to whether a Democratic senator was involved in the cattle roundup, many have been left wondering what it’s all about and searching for the facts.[snip] Does Sen. Harry Reid have a connection to the Bureau of...

The ranch, which has been in Cliven Bundy’s family for more than a century, is ground zero for a growing showdown between federal authorities and individual rights activists.VideoAs a family in Clark County, Nev. continues to face an onslaught of heavily armed federal agents determined to kick them off of their ranch, reports have surfaced that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might be behind the entire ordeal. The ranch, which has been in Cliven Bundy’s family for more than a century, is ground zero for a growing showdown between federal authorities and individual rights activists. Despite attempting to silence protesters...

It’s been protected from meddlesome hikers by the threat of prison time. But the pampered desert dweller now faces a threat from the very people who have nurtured it as BLM closes Vegas rescue center. LAS VEGAS — For decades, the vulnerable desert tortoise has led a sheltered existence. Developers have taken pains to keep the animal safe. It’s been protected from meddlesome hikers by the threat of prison time. And wildlife officials have set the species up on a sprawling conservation reserve outside Las Vegas. But the pampered desert dweller now faces a threat from the very people who...

Federal land managers say "escalating tensions" led them to release all 400 or so head of cattle rounded up on public land in southern Nevada from a rancher who has refused to recognize their authority. "Based on information about conditions on the ground and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concerns about the safety of employees and members of the public," Kornze said in a statement. Hundreds of states' rights protesters, including militia members, showed up at corrals outside Mesquite to demand the animals' return to rancher...

....Virologists, using serologic and early genetic tests, soon began to suggest the cause of the reappearance was a laboratory escape of a 1949-50 virus, and as genomic techniques advanced, it became clear that this was true. By 2010, researchers published it as fact: “The most famous case of a released laboratory strain is the re-emergent H1N1 influenza-A virus which was first observed in China in May of 1977 and in Russia shortly thereafter.” The virus may have escaped from a lab attempting to prepare an attenuated H1N1 vaccine in response to the U.S. swine flu pandemic alert..... In 2007, Foot...

      NAVIGATION Navigation of a ship at sea is, in principle, a very simple matter: you plot a course between where you are and where you want to be, and let the propeller muscle the ship through the water. As simple as that seems, it won’t happen without another very important element: the rudder! The rudder performs its quiet, steady work, unshaken by the tremendous pressures directed against it. And it must hold the true course without deviation. The navigation of a human life is also, in principle, a very simple matter. As with a ship, there...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled a Friday session that won't have any votes, rejecting Republican and Democratic requests that he allow a vote on a bill that would allow rape kits to be processed more quickly. “Debbie Smith is an extraordinary woman and an effective advocate," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told the Washington Examiner. "She's personally asked me, John Cornyn and others to pass this critically important legislation that bears her name, and it's deeply disappointing that the majority leader is blocking it from reaching the president's desk. I will fight to get this done for...

Speaking at Al Sharpton's National Action Network convention on Friday in New York City, President Barack Obama revealed that he believes voter fraud does not exist, everyone who wants to should be able to vote, even if they cannot provide identifying documentation, and Republicans are plotting to take the franchise away from minorities. Obama, who hails from a city known for the Daley Machine and its "vote early and vote often" slogan, ripped Republicans for trying to preserve the integrity of the ballot by reducing voter fraud and requiring voter IDs. He made the accusation that there is a "well-organized...

A top building trades union is launching a midterm-election assault on House Democrats who oppose construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. A letter distributed Friday by the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) to the districts of 27 House Democrats calls for union members to make sure their representative "feels the power and the fury of LIUNA this November."

As of this weekend, the Ukrainian government seems to have finally lost control of wide areas in the east of the country. On Friday, its ultimatum to separatists who had taken over government buildings in eastern cities expired, but it launched no operation to dislodge the gunmen. On Saturday, buildings in more towns were taken by force. The organization and coordination leave little doubt that these people are inspired and directed by Moscow, similar to the situation in late February in Crimea before the Russian invasion and annexation of the peninsula. But Russian troops have yet to be seen in...

The phrase a few students decided to wear to class on a T-shirt sparked a social media blitz at a local high school. The matching shirts share one controversial message. "I just made it say 'Gay Day is not OK,' because I don't believe that it's OK," Oregon City High School student Alex Borho said. He and just a few of his friends wore the shirts at the school where there are more than 2,000 students. For some there, today was a day of silence. It's part of a national movement that only about 40 kids at Oregon City High...

Deal reached; BLM will release confiscated cattle to rancher Posted: Apr 12, 2014 3:06 PM EDT Updated: Apr 12, 2014 4:57 PM EDT By Caroline Bleakley, Senior Online Editor LAS VEGAS --  A deal has been reached between Bundy family leaders and the BLM, but not without some very tense moments.Armed Bundy family leaders met with BLM officers Saturday afternoon in Mesquite to discuss the fate of the Bundy's cattle that the feds removed from BLM land, over the past week. The cattle are being held at a holding area in Mesquite.Prior to the meeting, hundreds of protesters, some armed, tried...

Followers of the Kardashian clan were introduced to an unlikely new character this week: Marianne Williamson, the independent candidate running for soon-to-retire Representative Henry Waxman’s seat in California’s 33rd district. “I went to hear @mariannewilliamson speak the other night w @kourtneykardash & @rachel_roy,” Kim reported on Instagram. “Very inspiring!” Also inspired by the 61-year-old author and spiritual adviser: Katy Perry and Nicole Richie, who attended a recent campaign event sporting new green and purple dye jobs respectively; Steven Tyler and Chaka Khan, who performed at a fund-raiser; and former Desperate Housewives Eva Longoria and Marcia Cross, who reunited at another...

Hillary Clinton is an odds-on favorite to be the next Democratic nominee for President of the United States, so when she mentioned a famous Portland doughnut shop Tuesday night, the sugar artists at Voodoo Doughnut took note. Inspired by a famous photo of Clinton, Voodoo's staff in downtown Portland created a doughnut likeness of the former Secretary of State. The doughnut depicts Clinton wearing sunglasses and checking her cell phone. If it looks familiar, it's because the image inspired by a whole Internet meme -- see textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com. Clinton was giving a quick preview of her speech Tuesday at the Keller...

UPDATE: Armed Bundy family leaders meet with BLM officers Posted: Apr 12, 2014 3:06 PM EDT Updated: Apr 12, 2014 4:05 PM EDT By Caroline Bleakley, Senior Online Editor - LAS VEGAS --  Armed Bundy family leaders are meeting with BLM officers to discuss what will become of the cattle that the feds removed from BLM land, over the past week.Tensions are running high and I-15 is closed in both directions, about seven miles south of Mesquite, because protesters have blocked the freeway, according to Nevada Highway Patrol.The protesters have gathered in support of rancher Cliven Bundy, who has been locked...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Staff Sgt. Shannon Hutto thought his bomb sniffing dog Eddie was just being lazy when he wouldn’t move from a certain spot one hot day in Afghanistan in 2012. But Hutto then saw what Eddie smelled: a homemade bomb, partially buried in the dirt. It was six inches from Hutto’s foot.