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Time magazine called "The Hurt Locker" "a near-perfect war film," but Ryan Gallucci, an Iraq war veteran, had to turn the movie off three times, he says, "or else I would have thrown my remote through the television." Critics adore the film and it has been nominated for nine Oscars -- a feat matched only by "Avatar," the top-grossing movie of all time -- but Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says that's "nine more Oscar nominations than it deserves. I don't know why critics love this silly, inaccurate film so much," he wrote on his...

Former Virginia congressman Virgil Goode said in an interview today that "a couple of groups" have asked him to run for his old seat in central and southside Virginia's 5th Congressional District -- and while he didn't say he would, he didn't say he wouldn't, either. Goode, a lawyer from Rocky Mount, said he's paying close attention to the seven candidates seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democrat Tom Perriello, who unseated Goode two years ago by fewer than 1,000 votes. Goode said his hope is that Republicans will nominate a candidate "who shares most of my beliefs and my...

Despite appearances to the contrary, “there are times when I am not so calm,” President Barack Obama said this morning at an African American congregation in Northwest Washington where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on February 7, 1968. Today’s largely personal speech during a session of Sunday worship, not coincidentally just before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, may signal a shift for Obama back to the impassioned and personal rhetoric we’ve come to expect from the president, as he admitted pain and impatience. My wife knows,” he continued. “There are times when progress seems too slow. There are times...

Sacramento - -- Regulations on small businesses in California have cost the state's economy $492 billion and 3.8 million jobs, according to a report quietly released by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office this week. Republicans in the Legislature have pounced on the findings and on Thursday called the report the "smoking gun" that proves lawmakers are killing the state's economy through burdensome government mandates. But Democrats and at least one capital think tank are highly skeptical of the accuracy of the findings. The 84-page report does not specify which regulations were studied and relies on data collected largely by Forbes. Citing...

Movie Review: The Hurt Locker by: Brandon Friedman Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 08:45:00 AM EDT And now for something not-so-serious. I don't typically write book or movie reviews, but after this weekend, I really felt compelled to. This movie just stuck in my craw. But take heed: This is a review for military people. So if you've never been in the military or never been to Iraq, just stop reading this. Because if you keep reading, I'll probably ruin what could be a pretty good action flick for you. The Hurt Locker is a high-tension, well-made, action movie that...

Mooadieb, a fellow Liveleaker and my oldest UMSC brother (and Best Friend) was over at the house a few minutes ago and we were swimming, grilling, and having a blast. He and his 10-year-old left to get ready for our evening with Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" in the park, but on the way home, Mooadieb's little boy accidentally opened the door to the truck and fell out onto the road at 45 MPH. He's hurt really bad. So if you pray (and in this instance I don't care which God you pray to) then please take a minute to get...

WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday. The plot by as many as nine boys and girls at Center Elementary School in south Georgia was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said. "We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been...

Late payments on U.S. home equity lines of credit rose to a 5-1/2 year high in the second quarter of 2007 but delinquencies on many other types of consumer loans fell, the American Bankers Association said Wednesday. In its quarterly report on consumer borrowing, the bankers group said delinquencies in repaying home equity lines of credit rose to 0.77 percent in the April-June period. That compared to a rate of 0.60 percent in the first quarter and represented the highest rate since the fourth quarter of 2001 when the rate was 0.81 percent. However, the rate of closed-end home equity...

John Hurt admits sadness at his faked Irish ancestry By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent Last Updated: 2:56am BST 12/09/2007 For years the actor John Hurt took great pride in his Irish aristocratic ancestry, believing that his great-grandmother was the illegitimate child of the Marquis of Sligo. Actor John Hurt admitted that his lack of Irish blood was a great disappointment Much to his disappointment, genealogists have discovered that his Irishness was nothing more than a family myth, perhaps created to give the family tree a spurious link to the upper class. Instead it appears that his family hails from Croydon,...

WASHINGTON - Dismal approval ratings for the Democratic-led Congress — even worse than President Bush's — don't seem to be a threat to the party in next year's elections. Congress' reputation is hurt by widespread anger over the war in Iraq, and lawmakers' inability to change the war's course. On that point, Republicans are still far more vulnerable than Democrats, say strategists in both parties. That's why Democrats are doing all they can to stoke dissatisfaction with the war through repeated votes and attention-grabbing scenes like the Senate's all-night debate this week. For now, they're not worrying that voters will...

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2007 – A delay in approving the Defense Department’s fiscal 2007 supplemental budget request will seriously damage the Army’s readiness, possibly resulting in delayed training for units headed to Iraq and reduced funding for building and equipment repairs, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. If the supplemental funding is not passed by April 15, the Army will be forced to consider curtailing and suspending home-station training for Reserve and National Guard units, and slowing the training of units slated to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan, Gates told reporters at the Pentagon. The Army also...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The North American Free Trade Agreement has lowered the standard of living for workers in the United States, Mexico and Canada, according to a new report. Signed in 1994, the trade deal was touted as a win-win situation for all three signatories. But the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think-tank, said that NAFTA has led to cuts in social spending and prompted wages to stagnate or even fall. "Twelve years later, it is clear that the costs to workers outweighed the benefits in all three nations," the report said. "Workers' share of the gains from rising...

10 British tourists hurt by bombs in Turkey By Stephanie Condron and James Burleigh (Filed: 28/08/2006) Ten Britons were injured last night in a series of bomb explosions in the Turkish Mediterranean holiday resort of Marmaris. Another bomb exploded in Istanbul. In all 22 people were hurt. All 10 Britons were taken to hospital and four were said to be in a serious condition. It is believed that at least one of the Marmaris bombs went off on one of the many dolmuses - minibuses that serve as a taxi service for holidaymakers. Residents said one exploded near a McDonald's...

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands of California waiters, hairstylists, bellhops and other workers who rely on tips to boost their incomes could see their wages slashed under federal legislation the U.S. Senate could take up by Friday. The House already passed HR 5790, a far-reaching bill that would raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in nine years, reinstate tax cuts for teachers and those who pay college tuition and reduce estate taxes for the richest of Americans. But Democrats are blasting a provision in the GOP-written bill that would require that tips be counted as part of...

Seven people were injured when the driver of a pickup truck fleeing from Border Patrol agents crashed into a second pickup in Marana. A Border Patrol agent spotted the Chevrolet truck on Arizona 86 near Sandario Road about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, said Agent Sean King, a Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. The agent was suspicious because the truck had no license plate. He tried to pull it over, but the driver sped away, King said. A helicopter followed as the truck turned onto Interstate 19 and then Interstate 10, he said. It left the freeway at Tangerine Road and ran...

WASHINGTON - A key Supreme Court justice said Wednesday that Texas Republicans appeared to hurt minority voters when they redrew congressional boundaries that helped the GOP entrench its power in Congress. But despite Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's misgivings, it did not appear there was broad support on the high court to throw out the entire map promoted by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas to help Republicans win six more seats. Justices also did not seem ready to bar states from drawing their boundaries more than once a decade. The court took up four appeals that raised complicated...

SACRAMENTO - A microcosm for what went wrong for Gov. Schwarzenegger in this month's special election can be found in part of East Highlands. The San Bernardino County area supported the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis. More than half of its registered voters are Republicans, like Schwarzenegger. Yet 53 percent of voters there opposed the centerpiece of Schwarzenegger's "year of reform" agenda: Prop. 76. They also opposed another Schwarzenegger-backed measure, Prop. 77, the redistricting initiative. Across the region, places where voters backed the 2003 recall and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger swung against the governor Nov. 8 and opposed...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2005 – Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers responded to help five Iraqi children injured in a Nov. 20 roadside bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad, military officials reported. Officials said the bomb most likely was targeting an Iraqi police patrol, but missed the target and detonated near a vehicle filled with children. Police and U.S. soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry, secured the site and took the wounded children to a local hospital for treatment. In other news, Iraqi police and soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team killed one suspect and injured two more...

<p>A 10-year-old boy was in critical condition Sunday after three toy poodles escaped from a home and went on a rampage, attacking six people before police shot and killed dogs, authorities said.....</p>