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FORT HOOD, Texas — The attorney for the Army psychiatrist accused of killing fellow soldiers at Fort Hood says doctors have told the soldier he may be paralyzed from the waist down. Attorney John Galligan told The Associated Press on Friday that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan told him that he has no feeling in his legs and doctors say the condition may be permanent. Galligan says Hasan also told him he had extreme pain in his hands. Hasan was shot by police officers responding to last week's shootings at Fort Hood. Galligan spoke with him Thursday in the intensive care...

Recently declassified documents obtained by Wired magazine reveal a massive Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data mining operation. It already possesses over 1.5 billion records from government and private-sector sources. That figure is expected by the FBI to balloon to over 6 billion within a few years. And it is not just terrorists they are after.  According to the documents, the National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) is being used to pursue multiple types of non-terrorism domestic investigations. It is also meant to be able to sort through the data — everything from health and travel records to credit card...

ATLANTA (September 4, 2009) – This week, Senator John Douglas (R-Social Circle) fought to ensure that Georgia classrooms were given the opportunity to choose how their class time is used during the broadcast of President Barack Obama’s “Back- to-School” address. As a result, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) released a statement to Georgia school systems noting that instructional time is a valuable commodity for schools and if a decision is made to show the video, it is important that its viewing and any subsequent discussion be tied directly to the standards being taught at the school. In addition, the...

Tech, UGA Games Free Online To Military Posted: 11:06 am EDT August 27, 2009 ATLANTA -- U.S. troops around the world will again be able to listen to Georgia and Georgia Tech football games online for free this fall. The two schools have agreed to waive annual fees on live streaming audio on all athletic events for military personnel stationed overseas and serving within the U.S. They have been providing the free service since 2006. “I am delighted both the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech are once again providing free Internet broadcasts of their athletic events for our nation’s...

President Obama set out for a weeklong family vacation Sunday facing the first stiff headwind of his presidency, with public polls showing his popularity has dipped as he has attempted an overhaul of the nation's ailing health care system. A series of national surveys has confirmed what was becoming clear as large groups of protesters rallied outside the speeches and town-hall events the president hosted last week in Western states. The Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll released Sunday showed that 41 percent of voters strongly disapprove of Mr. Obama's performance as president, compared with 27 percent who strongly approved. Rasmussen...

The unemployment rate dipped to 9.4 percent in July, its first decline in 15 months, leading the White House to claim the economy is finally pulling "back from the edge." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday there's still plenty of work to do despite the latest government report showing the jobless rate dropped a tenth of a point from the month before. He said President Obama still thinks the jobless rate will hit 10 percent later this year, but the report is "more evidence that we have pulled back from the edge" of a depression.

HAVING accepted that his son was dead, Richard Cass went to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday to have a small "closure ceremony". He carved his boy's name, lit a candle and planted a red rose for England. With hope lost and his heart broken, he then prepared to return to Britain to tell Jamie Neale's mother he was sorry but he had not been able to find their boy and bring him home. "I'd prepared myself," Mr Cass said yesterday. "I thought, he's got lost in the dark, fallen off a cliff. "I'll be honest, I'd lost faith." Mr Neale,...

Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm "exceeded her legal authority" when she directed the state Department of Environmental Quality to impose new legal requirements on future coal-fired plants, Attorney General Mike Cox has determined. State Rep. Kenneth B. Horn, a Frankenmuth Republican, was one of two lawmakers who had asked Cox to issue an opinion on the governor's directive that she announced in her State of the State address this month. In her announcement, the Democratic governor called for the DEQ to review the need for new coal-fired plants and to explore alternatives before issuing air quality permits. She said the state...

OAKLAND -- A man being robbed by two Oakland men in the parking lot of the Fruitvale BART station managed to grab a knife from one of the assailants and stabbed the other one to death, authorities said today. The robbery victim was approached by the two 18-year-old men about 9:30 p.m. Thursday. One of the men showed a knife and the other said he had a gun, BART spokesman Linton Johnson said. Their target, a 23-year-old man who lives out of state, was robbed of some items before wrestling away the knife from one of the men and stabbing...

  Dedicated: Nurse Debbie Noble, right, walked to treat kidney patient Steph Crawford  Nurse walked nine miles in the snow to save my lifeAnna Davis 13.02.09   A nurse walked nine miles through deep snow two days in a row to save the life of a patient who required kidney dialysis and was trapped at home.Renal nurse Debbie Noble, 49, made the four-hour round trip to help Steph Crawford fearing she could die without the treatment.Mrs Crawford, 45, from Ewell, suffers from kidney failure. She could not drive to her usual dialysis centre in Kingston, and ambulances could not...

  Ghanaian orphan ... Paul Apowida My duty to serve the country   Published: 30 Dec 2008     AN orphan has joined the British Army to repay the country that saved his life. Ghanaian Paul Apowida was sent to a boarding school and later college by UK charity Afrikids. He had been brought up in an orphanage after being rescued by a nun when his stepmum tried to poison him. Now rifleman Paul, 23, has joined the 1st Infantry Training Battalion in Catterick, North Yorks, to pay the debt he feels he owes. The talented artist, who recently...

A Canadian woman who went missing last week in a blizzard has been found alive, buried under almost a foot of snow for four days.   Freezing: Donna Molner is taken to hospital after four days in the snow  Donna Molnar, 55, set off from home in Ancaster, Ontario, on Friday but her car got stuck in a field of snow drifts.The vehicle was found a day later, abandoned by the side of a road.By this time, fears for her survival were mounting and it was not until Monday, when police officer Ray Lau was trudging through almost knee-high...

CHICAGO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Arena Football League has canceled its 2009 season, but will resume play the following year, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and The New York Times reported on Monday. League officials could not be reached to comment, but have previously denied the indoor football league would cancel the 2009 season. The AFL, founded in 1987, has 16 teams after New Orleans folded in October. However, the owner of the Cleveland Gladiators told the Times that AFL executives and team owners moved to suspend the 2009 season, pending approval by the players' union, so the league could...

Call it the big shrink. Citing the effects of a recession that's prompting marketers to trim budgets and the number of media outlets they work with, media companies are shedding jobs at a furious rate. But the deep cuts they're making are as much about these conglomerates shedding their old media models as they are about the economy. Viacom and NBC Universal swung the ax last week, eliminating 850 and 500 jobs, or 7% and 3% of their work forces, respectively. Add that to 600 job cuts at Time Inc., 1,500 at Yahoo, 1,800 at Gannett, hundreds at CBS's radio...

A hero Royal Marine saved 130 soldiers from certain death when he rugby tackled a suicide attacker before he could detonate a huge motorcycle bomb. The 40-year-old Marine saw the Afghan insurgent reaching for a yellow detonator button on the bike and leapt into action to drag him away.He foiled a cunningly planned attack in which the same motorcycle had been checked by the same troops just hours earlier when its panniers had been packed with potatoes instead of explosives.The suicide bomb contained 70 kilograms of explosives and was so huge it would have destroyed everything within 180 metres...

An elaborate modeling of housing prices and traffic congestion in cities across the US concludes that financing roads with comprehensive congestion priced tolls rather than taxes rather would provide major benefits in reducing housing prices and sub-optimal densities - 'sprawl' - as well as reducing the familiar delays and uncertain travel times. Moving to tolls or other direct road use charges will significantly improve overall welfare, economic efficiency and standards of living, the study says. Authors are Ashley Langer University of California Berkeley and Clifford Winston, Brookings Institution. The study is reported in Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs 2008. ......

Bush's 'Fire Sale' For Oil, Gas Industries SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ― The view of Delicate Arch natural bridge - an unspoiled landmark so iconic it's on Utah's license plates - could one day include a drilling platform under a proposal that environmentalists call a Bush administration "fire sale" for the oil and gas industry. Late on Election Day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a Dec. 19 auction of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within view of Arches National Park and two other redrock national parks in Utah: Dinosaur and Canyonlands. The...

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed a senior Al Qaeda in Iraq leader in the Tarmiyah area north of Baghdad. A U.S. statement says the Al Qaeda leader, known as Abu Ghazwan, was killed Thursday during a raid on a weapons cache.

One of the reasons for the success of the surge in Baghdad was the construction of blast walls that separated Sunni and Shia neighborhoods. These walls gave a certain level of security to both sides who had been ravaged by sectarian violence for months. The walls come a tumblin' down. .. Market by market, square by square, the walls are beginning to come down. The miles of hulking blast walls, ugly but effective, were installed as a central feature of the surge of American troops to stop neighbors from killing one another."They protected against car bombs and drive-by attacks," said...

Reading FR over the past 48 hours or so has been downright depressing. Yesterday I found myself snapping at my children for no other reason than my negative state of mind. The election is still a month away. I don't believe that all is lost. Polls are being manipulated and so are we! So, what GOOD news have you heard lately? What is going on in your part of the country that gives you hope that McCain will win? What positive anecdotes can you share with all of us? Post it here. We could all use the encouragement.

Internet users, as well as editors making edits on Wikinews and Wikipedia, have been the victims of a recent hoax that talk show host Oprah Winfrey has been found dead in her Chicago, Illinois home. The rumors are considered to be a hoax, connected with the online group known as Anonymous. Other reports say that the website 4chan.org is responsible for starting the rumor which began to spread quickly over the Internet. The rumors started after a statement Winfrey made on a recent show, defending a United States Senate bill against pedophiles and child rapists saying a pedophile group has...

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn't equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can't agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way. Lawmakers say they are unlikely to take action before, or to delay, their planned adjournments -- Sept. 26 for the House of Representatives, a week later for the Senate.

LONDON (Reuters) - The bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers (LEH.N) is another blow for the hedge fund industry, though the writing has been on the wall long enough for many to have reduced their exposure to the U.S. investment bank. Legendary fund manager George Soros, who runs around $18 billion in assets, looks likely to have had his fingers burned after raising his stake in Lehman to 9.5 million shares in the second quarter. A spokesman for Soros Fund Management declined to comment on the composition of their portfolio. British activist hedge fund Algebris will also probably have taken a...

A major secret British operation to boost the economy in Afghanistan's Helmand province has been completed after a force of 5,000 troops fought for a week to drive a huge dam turbine through Taliban lines. British commanders estimate that more than 200 Taliban were killed as they tried to prevent the convoy of 100 vehicles from getting the machinery to Kajaki hydroelectric dam where it will provide a significant increase in energy for up to two million Afghans. The operation has been described as the biggest of its kind since the Second World War. For the last five days the...

Melting alpine glaciers are revealing fascinating clues to Neolithic life in the high mountains... Everyone knows the story of Oetzi the Ice Man, found in an Austrian glacier in 1991. Oetzi was discovered at an altitude of over 3,000m. He lived in about 3,300 BC, leading to speculation that the Alps may have had more human habitation than previously suspected. Now, more dramatic findings from the 2,756m Schnidejoch glacier in Switzerland have confirmed the theory. It all started at the end of the long hot summer of 2003, when a Swiss couple, hiking across a melting Schnidejoch, came across a...

Opec last month pushed its production to the highest level in its 48-year history even as demand was slipping in the US and Europe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. The combination of surplus supply and weaker demand has pushed oil prices to $113.50 a barrel, down 24 per cent in the past month and the lowest level since late April. The effort was led by Saudi Arabia, which had come under increasing pressure for doing too little to compensate for lower supplies from countries outside Opec, where growth has been lacklustre as fields have aged in countries...

BREAKING NEWS — Senior Al Qaeda commander Abu Saeed al-Masri has been killed in recent clashes with Pakistani forces in a Pakistani region near the Afghan border, a security official told Reuters on Tuesday. "He was believed to be among the top leadership of Al Qaeda," the senior security official told the news agency on condition of anonymity. Al-Masri, which means Egyptian, was the senior most Al Qaeda operative

See the video under "TOP VIDEO", they say it is going to be turned on THIS WEEKEND in the video, you might want to give your mom or other loved ones a call and tell them that you love them ;)

WASHINGTON – A controversial one-year program allowing Mexican trucks to travel deep into the United States will be extended for two more years, federal officials announced Monday. John H. Hill, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said the extension would allow for the collection of more data to determine whether Mexican trucks can operate safely in the United States. Opponents quickly denounced the move, which some had been expecting despite their protests that the program poses a danger on U.S. highways. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, accused U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary...

CAMP VICTORY — Coalition forces once named the predominantly Sunni area in central Iraq, consisting of the cities of Yusuifiyah, Mahmudiyah, Iskandariyah and Latifiyah, the “Triangle of Death.” The troop surge initiated in 2007 neutralized much of the area enabling Iraqi Security Forces to take a leading role in the securing the region. An uprising there in March raised concerns and directed attention to the Iraqi Security Forces operating in that area; Coalition forces feared the ISF would struggle to maintain rule of law in the communities. “We got word that special group members were going to be coming down...

U.S. combat casualties in Iraq dwindled to the lowest level of the war in July, according to a CNSNews.com analysis of Defense Department data. Four U.S. service personnel were killed by the enemy in Iraq in July, the fewest combat casualties for any month since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. Additionally, one Air Force sergeant died of natural causes at Balad Air Force Base on July 17, according to Defense Department records, while five other U.S service personnel died during the month as a result of non-combat incidents. Also, the remains of two U.S. servicemen who...

Organizers of a Christian prayer ministry are expecting over a million people will fill the National Mall in Washington, D.C, on Aug. 16 for a 12-hour assembly of fasting and prayer for the country. The group is called TheCall, and according to their website, volunteers are working hard to gather people from every state in the country to fill the massive park between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol on one day to fervently ask God for his undeserved mercy on the nation. Originally inspired by the 1997 Promise Keepers "Stand in the Gap" assembly at the same location,...

U.S. Deaths In Iraq Fall To Lowest Of the War Bush Suggests Gains May Allow More Troops To Come Home Sooner By Amit R. Paley Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, August 1, 2008; Page A01 BAGHDAD, July 31 -- Five American troops died in July as a result of combat in Iraq, by far the lowest monthly U.S. death toll of the five-year war. The number of Iraq-related American troop fatalities in July -- a total of 13 when noncombat deaths and the discovered bodies of two missing soldiers are included -- is a dramatic drop from just over a...

BAGHDAD, July 30 (Reuters) - The number of U.S. soldiers killed in combat in Iraq has dropped sharply in July and the monthly total is likely to be the lowest since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. Five U.S. soldiers have been killed in combat in Iraq so far in July compared to 66 in the same month last year, according to the independent website icasualties.org, which keeps records of U.S. military losses in the conflict. The drop underscores the dramatic fall in violence in Iraq to lows not seen since early 2004. Seeking to build on those...

POLL: What do you think? Bush declares progress in Iraq; says troop reductions may follow WASHINGTON — President Bush declared significant progress in the Iraq war Thursday, saying terrorists "are on the run" and that generally improved security likely will permit further U.S. troop reductions. Standing on the Colonnade outside the Oval Office of the White House, Bush also announced that effective Thursday, the duration of troop tours in Iraq will be cut from 15 months to 12 months. Bush said this reduction "will relieve the burden on our forces and it will make life easier for our wonderful military...

A London man accused of hacking into the computer systems of the US military and NASA on Wednesday lost his appeal against extradition to face trial. Gary McKinnon, 42, tried to prevent his transfer to the United States to be tried over what has been described as the "biggest military hack of all time" by taking his case to Britain's highest court, the House of Lords. But five judges unanimously rejected the appeal, paving the way for the unemployed UFO enthusiast to be extradited to the US, where he could be jailed for up to 70 years if convicted of...

A U.S. marine watches children play in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. (AP File Photo/Todd Pitman)(CNSNews.com) – American heroism has been ignored and overlooked by networks at home and overseas for the duration of the Iraq war, while insurgents and terrorists have used willing media outlets to score public relations wins. That bleak assessment comes from U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq during the pre-surge time frame, when the insurgency was its height. A collection of graphs and charts made available through the public affairs office of the Multi-National Corps in Iraq indicates that the media has pulled back...

There is an interesting piece of graffiti on a bridge near Basra. A fleeing militiaman has scrawled “We'll be back”; underneath an Iraqi soldier has scribbled in reply “And we'll be waiting for you”. The Shia militias, the Jaish al- Mahdi, who controlled large parts of Basra until March this year, has now gone and instead the city is firmly under the grip of Iraq's new security forces, in whom the coalition has invested so much training. They re-established control in April, in an operation romantically named “The Charge of the Knights”, systematically clearing the city with British and American...

Just some of the unreported progress in Iraq that the media is not telling you about courtesy of Sgt. Freedom: 1. 47 countries have re-established embassies in Iraq. 2. Over 1 million new cell phone subscribers in Iraq. 3. Jan. 2005 - 25 Iraqi students came here to re-establish the Fulbright Scholarship program for Iraq. 4. There are 1.2 million Iraqis now employed by the Iraqi government. 5. There are 3,100 schools that have been renovated. 6. There are 364 schools under rehabilitation. 7. There are 4 research centers that have been built. 8. There are 263 new schools under...

I am pretty sure this is the longest period of time without a fatality since the war began. God Bless our Troops, our President, and the United States of America. I'm going to go pick up the NY Times to read the front page article they surely must have written about the fantastic success of George W. Bush and his policy of establishing a stable democracy in Iraq.

A Canadian court has ordered the country's refugee board to re-examine an American deserter's rejected attempt for asylum in Canada.The court ruled that the board made mistakes when it turned down Joshua Key's claim for asylum. Mr Key served in Iraq in 2003 before deserting to Canada with his family while on leave in the US. The ruling could affect scores of other US soldiers sheltering in Canada who have refused to fight in Iraq. Possible deportations Joshua Key served in Iraq as a US combat engineer in Iraq in 2003. He claims that he witnessed several cases of abusive...

WASHINGTON: Barack Obama's political success might claim an unintended victim: affirmative action, a much-debated policy that he supports. Already weakened by several court rulings and state referendums, affirmative action now confronts a challenge to its very reason for existing. If Americans make a black person the leading contender for president, as nationwide polls suggest, how can racial prejudice be so prevalent and potent that it justifies special efforts to place minorities in coveted jobs and schools? "The primary rationale for affirmative action is that America is institutionally racist and institutionally sexist," said Ward Connerly, the leader of state-by-state efforts to...

The baby they said would never be born         SO SPECIAL: Catherine Kent and Kevin Gray with baby Leona-Lee. Proud parents Kevin Gray and Catherine Kent cradle the daughter they were told would never be born. Three months into Catherine's pregnancy, doctors told the 27-year-old that her baby had died inside her. Turning down surgical treatment to remove the baby, she spent a month carrying what she believed was a dead child until a check-up at Sunderland Royal Hospital revealed a mistake had been made and her baby was alive. Six months after the devastating news,...

Late-Term Abortion Facility in Dallas To Close - Eighth Closure Since Bishop Began Prayer at Clinics 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ecumenical effort was organized, with more than 800 people from 89 churches and several denominations The Catholic Pro-Life Committee, the Respect Life Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, has reported that Aaron Women's Health Center, a late-term abortion facility in Dallas will be closing its doors on June 28. Aaron's was one of three abortion clinics in Texas authorized to perform late-term abortions on unborn babies older than 16 weeks gestation.  When Bishop Charles Grahmann...

There is a reason progress in Iraq is not receiving more attention. It isn't that Americans are "bored" or "tired" or have "moved on" or "don't care" or "have already made up their minds that the war was a colossal mistake." All of these are variations on themes articulated by certain liberals, Bush-haters, Barack Obama supporters (but I repeat myself) inside and outside the big media. The main reason progress in Iraq is not receiving more attention is that the progress is considerable and the big media are not paying attention because they don't like the new storyline. They prefer...

(CNSNews.com) - Deploying more U.S. troops in Iraq has resulted in a dramatic decline in the number of U.S. troops being killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in that country. IED-caused casualties have dropped 89 percent since the surge went full force last June, according to a Cybercast News Service database of Iraq casualties. IED-caused casualties spiked in the early part of last year as the surge began. In January 2007, the U.S. started deploying an additional 30,000 troops to the country. The surge in forces was completed in mid-June. Click For Larger Image On June 17, Gen. David Petraeus,...

HABBANIYAH — Two years ago, al-Anbar was said to be the most violent province in Iraq. It was a place where the insurgency in Iraq had begun and where the bloodiest battles took place. Today, thanks to the hard work and sacrifices made by the Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen who served in the area, it has become a model for the rest of Iraq. Marines of 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1, have put in countless hours and have risked their lives every day to ensure their area of operations within al-Anbar Province stays that way...

SAN DIEGO – Presidential candidate Barack Obama will travel to San Diego next month to join opponent John McCain in speaking at the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. Both senators are expected to address immigration and other issues pertinent to Latino voters, NCLR President Janet Murguía said during a visit to San Diego promoting the convention. Obama's plans were announced yesterday; McCain had agreed earlier to address the convention. The fact that both candidates will attend “speaks to a number of things, not only to the importance...

The United States has quietly informed Western allies of its intention to walk away from the U.N. Human Rights Council, diplomatic sources said on Friday. The U.S. delegation has observer status, with the right to speak, in the 47-member state forum, which meets in Geneva, and has never stood for election to the Council since it was set up two years ago. Diplomatic sources and rights activists said that U.S. officials had informed the European Union on Friday morning of its intention to halt its involvement in the Council. "They said they were going to disengage totally," said one representative...

US walking away from U.N. rights forum -diplomats 06 Jun 2008 15:50:07 GMT Source: Reuters GENEVA, June 6 (Reuters) - The United States has quietly informed Western allies of its intention to walk away from the U.N. Human Rights Council, diplomatic sources said on Friday. The U.S. delegation has observer status, with the right to speak, in the 47-member state forum, which meets in Geneva, and has never stood for election to the Council since it was set up two years ago. Diplomatic sources and rights activists said that U.S. officials had informed the European Union on Friday morning of...