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The soldiers are living like animals at a little rat’s nest called FOB Gibraltar. They call it “Gib.” Named after the lynchpin of British naval dominance in the Mediterranean, this cluster of mud huts in the middle of hostile territory is more like Fort Apache, Afghanistan. The British soldiers from C-Company 2 Para live in ugly conditions, fight just about every day, and morale is the best I have seen probably anywhere. The few outside visitors arrive in helicopters that are sometimes spaced days apart, so that if a visitor stays overnight, he could be stuck for a week or...

Biden's Son, Brother Named in Two Suits By Kimberly Kindy and Joe Stephens Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, August 24, 2008; A09 A son and a brother of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) are accused in two lawsuits of defrauding a former business partner and an investor of millions of dollars in a hedge fund deal that went sour, court records show. The Democratic vice presidential candidate's son Hunter, 38, and brother James, 59, assert instead that their former partner defrauded them by misrepresenting his experience in the hedge fund industry and recommending that they hire a lawyer with...

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Barack Obama will portray himself Thursday night as an agent of change for mainstream America, but his eight-year voting record in the Illinois Senate shows the Democrat was on occasion an agent of isolation who took stands - particularly on anti-crime legislation - that put him to the left of his own party. Mr. Obama was the only member of the state Senate to vote against a bill to prohibit the early release of convicted criminal sexual abusers; was among only four who voted against bills to toughen criminal sentences and to increase penalties for "gangbangers" and dealers...

Hackers prevented Al Qaeda from releasing a videotape to mark the seventh anniversary of 9/11. Al Qaeda has traditionally issued a video or audiotape by either Osama bin Laden or Ayman al Zawahiri, the terror network’s two leaders, to mark their massive terrorist attack on the US. As-Sahab, Al Qaeda’s media unit, had indicated earlier this week that it would post such a videotape on September 11. As-Sahab had banner images on the internet showing a silhouetted head with a question mark and the words, “Wait 11 September”. The US-based intelligence group IntelCenter had speculated the video would be a...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 09/15/2008 Pelosi on Financial Market Turmoil: We Cannot Afford to Continue Failed Republican Economic Policies Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today in response to the troubling news in the financial markets: “In the midst of a dire economic situation, President Bush this morning characterized recent market developments as an ‘adjustment’ that can be painful for investors and employees of the firms, while Senator McCain said the ‘fundamentals of our economy are strong.’ President Bush, Senator McCain, and their Republican Party are out of touch and...

This new site http://therealmccain.com/ has posted a new video entitled "John McCain's health records must be released" with numerous doctors spreading lies and distortions about McCain's health. The most egregious "doctor" is one Noah Craft, M.D. who in the video states the following..."There are a list of diseases which just get more common with age--Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, stroke, arthritis. He has a lot of them. I'd like to see what tests are being done to see if he has any of the others." He "has a lot of them"? He has arthritis, period. This is a disgraceful slander and very...

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is trying to collect billions of dollars in late taxes from nearly half a million federal employees. Documents obtained by WTOP radio through the Freedom of Information Act show the federal employees and retirees did not pay more than $3.5 billion in taxes owed last year.

More than half a million Tri-state homes and businesses are without power after high winds rip through the Tri-State. Trees and power lines are down in many communities, some blocking major roads. Damage in most areas is extensive. Four deaths blamed on storm The storm is also blamed for four deaths in the Tri-State. A woman died in Mount Healthy when a tree fell onto her house. It happened on Martin Street. No word if anyone else was home at the time. Another person was killed when a tree fell on them in Ohio County, Indiana. Our partners at the...

Results of a program using Aspen’s Canary Initiative to sell carbon offset credits to Democratic National Convention attendees are a little underwhelming. The program, set up by the DNC Host Committee through the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau and rolled out about a week before the convention started, raised a total of $18.34 worth of Canary Tags, offsetting 0.9 tons of carbon emissions.

House plans vote on $50 bln to stimulate economy Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:11pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives plans to debate legislation this month to inject another $50 billion of stimulus into the faltering U.S. economy, mostly with the goal of creating new jobs, a senior House Democratic aide said on Monday. Amid fears of wider economic damage from turmoil on Wall Street, the roughly $50 billion would aim to spark needed road, bridge and other construction projects that help create jobs, with details still being worked out, the aide said. The money also would be...

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden says the once independent-minded John McCain has adopted serve-the-rich policies of President Bush and the divisive tactics of ex-Bush strategist Karl Rove. "The campaign a person runs says everything about the way they'll govern," Biden said in remarks prepared for delivery Monday in the Detroit suburb of St. Clair Shores. "John McCain has decided to bet the house on the politics perfected by Karl Rove." Biden was referring to a series of attack ads from the McCain campaign as well as misstatements that the Republican presidential candidate and running mate Sarah Palin have continued...

HERE is a titbit for you. I am sure you all heard the quip vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin made before the assembled multitudes at the Republican convention in Minnysooda last week. "You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?" she asked. Then she did a nice take, paused, pointed to her mouth without changing expression: "Lipstick." Biggest laugh of the night. Maybe of the convention, though former senator Fred Thompson had them reaching for their inhalers the night before. The titbit? That line was not in her speech. She stuck it in there when mentioning her...

A US military incursion into the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan was aborted after Pakistani troops opened fire on the force, reports from Pakistan indicate. At least two American helicopters were fired on after crossing the Pakistani frontier near Angoor Adda in South Waziristan, Geo TV reported. "The U.S. choppers came into Pakistan by just 100 to 150 meters at Angor Adda. Even then our troops did not spare them, opened fire on them and they turned away," an anonymous security official told Reuters. The incident has not been confirmed by the US or Pakistan military. Angoor Adda is...

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove said Sunday that Sen. John McCain had gone "one step too far" in some of his recent ads attacking Sen. Barack Obama. Rove has leveled similar criticism against Obama. "McCain has gone in some of his ads -- similarly gone one step too far," he told Fox News, "and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the '100 percent truth' test." The Obama campaign immediately leaped on the quote. "In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove --...

Minnesota has become a battleground in a presidential campaign that has dramatically tightened nationwide. A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows that the race is now a dead heat between Barack Obama and John McCain, each supported by 45 percent of likely voters in the state. The new poll likely will stoke both sides' efforts during the final 51 days until the election, triggering a barrage of advertising, grass-roots politicking and, potentially, stepped-up visits by the candidates. The poll found that McCain has made gains across the board since a May Minnesota Poll that showed him trailing by 13 points....

In his weekly prime time national taxpayer-supported PBS show on September 12, 2008, left wing icon Bill Moyers targeted talk radio - focusing exclusively on conservative, right of center talk radio and also on Michael Savage. Moyers' show appeared to suggest that conservatives' including Savage's work may have inspired the Knoxville church shooter (July 2008). Completely absent was any reporting on left wing talk radio show hosts' frequent advocacy of violence--what Michelle Malkin has termed "assassination chic." Contacted for comment, Michael Savage had this to say...

Schweitzer 'joke' may have grain of truth By JENNIFER McKEE Gazette State Bureau UPDATE 3:30 p.m. : HELENA - Gov. Brian Schweitzer said this week he was "just joking" this summer when he suggested he tampered with the hotly-contested 2006 Senate election. However, at least one Big Horn County observer was escorted out of a Crow Indian polling place that election night, (snip) Schweitzer has been criticized this week for remarks he made to a lawyer’s group in Philadelphia this July. In the remarks, Schweitzer insinuates that he tampered with election to secure a victory for Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon...

North to Alaska: It turns out that well before he was jettisoned for what he says was his refusal to fire trooper Wooten at the behest of Sarah Palin, Monegan had his own share of domestic troubles - some of them spilling all the way down to the Bay Area. In October 1994, Monegan's estranged wife, who had moved from Alaska to the Peninsula with the couple's two daughters after more than 10 years of marriage, sought a temporary restraining order against him - accusing Monegan of threatening to kill her, waving a gun at her and dislocating her shoulder,...

John McCain's camp has hit back on Sunday after Barack Obama's campaign charged his White House bid was based on "disgusting lies", accusing Democrats of reeling in "full throated panic". The Democratic hopeful meanwhile said he had smashed his own record and raised $US66 million ($A82.4 million) last month, grabbing a leg-up in the frenetic seven weeks of no-holds-barred, coast-to-coast campaigning until the election. Republicans went on the offensive after Obama launched a fierce counter-attack last week as his poll numbers ebbed and Republicans rode a wave of enthusiasm following McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. "The...

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