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It was in the QCTimes the other day but wasn't confirmed. Just heard on radio. They said it would be at Central High School, but looks like it may have been changed to the River Center, downtown Davenport. Doors open 8:30 am; Program 10:30am. Tickets are required and will be available at Scott County Republican Party Headquarters Thursday at 9:00 am. Headquarters are located at 1880 E 54th Street, Dav, IA. The phone number is (563) 332-9666. Also have another phone number (563) 823-5854. When I pick up our tickets, if there are any changes, will post an update. I'm...

Iraqi Army Soldiers with the 3rd Battalion, 42nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division, sort through a large cache discovered in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Aug. 14, 2008, after a resident informed the unit of its location. Photo by Sgt. Zachary Mott. PATROL BASE COMANCHE — In the three months since the Iraqi Army began patrolling inside the Sadr City district of Baghdad, the Soldiers conducting these patrols have worked hard to cultivate a relationship with the people there. Constant patrols, handing out food and water as well as providing medical services have helped advance this new relationship. In...

An Iraqi policeman stands guard outside a voter registration center in Mosul as US and Iraqi troops enter. When Iraqi Army Brigadier General Noor Aldeen visited his old secondary school in northern Mosul this week, he had little time to reminisce about placing first in spelling and arithmetic. His former school in the neighborhood of Al Nomaniya is an election registration site for upcoming regional elections in October, making it a popular place for a terrorist attack in the coming weeks. Almost all of the 57 registration sites in Iraq’s third-largest city are at primary and secondary schools --...

CAMP TAJI — Working together with the Iraqi Army (IA) is an important step in the success of this war – and an important step toward Iraqis taking charge of their nation. A fire team showing a unified Coalition front line force at a Joint Security Station near Camp Taji, northwest of Baghdad, is a model for a successful transition from a dependent Iraq to a sovereign nation that can secure its people. The fire team consists of both Multi-National Division – Baghdad and IA Soldiers from the 36th Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division. Sgt. Michael Rios, a native of...

Some 10,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, backed by tanks, pushed deep into Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Baghdad bastion on Tuesday, stamping the government's authority on an area until now outside its control. The army said they met no resistance as they moved into Sadr City in the early hours, securing three quarters of the sprawling slum where hundreds have been killed in weeks of fighting between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militants loyal to Sadr. A truce 10 days ago between Shi'ite factions largely ended the fighting in one of Baghdad's poorest districts and paved the way for Tuesday's...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY — Iraqi national police officials with support from Iraqi army soldiers conducted a clearance mission in the Karadah Security District of eastern Baghdad, May 17. With national police Brig. Gen. Aamir and his operations officer, Col. Tariq, leading the effort, 1st Brigade, 1st National Police Division, conducted a cordon-and-search mission within Muhalla 711 to find and confiscate illegal weapons and explosives. Other goals of the mission, which involved every battalion of the brigade including Iraqi army soldiers under their operational control, encompassed deterring special group and Jaysh al-Mahdi activity in the area and apprehending insurgent suspects...

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi Army and Iraqi National Police partnered together to conduct a multi-day joint operation in the eastern Baghdad district of Karadah to neutralize violent extremists and safeguard their citizens. In one such operation, IA soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, established the outer cordon while NPs from 1st Brigade, 1st National Police Division, conducted a search in the southeast Baghdad neighborhood of Zafraniyah. Concurrently, a company of Jundi (Iraqi Army soldiers) searched adjacent farmland and scattered homes. “This is a positive sign of increased capability and performance by the Iraqi Security Forces,” said Col....

A soldier of the Iraqi army 42nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi army division, hands out water to young boys before they wait in line for medical care at an abandoned school in the southern portion of the Sadr City District of Baghdad on May 8. The Iraqi army handed out relief supplies and provided medical care in an effort to help the people in the district. More than 250 people showed up to receive free food and medical supplies. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Cohen Young. CAMP LIBERTY — Residents in Sadr City continue to receive humanitarian aid from...

Priests in the United States are as varied as the country in which they live -- some are past retirement age, others were not born Catholics, and others have sought the priesthood after other careers or vocations. "The Class of 2008: Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood" was performed by the Georgetown University-based Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The annual survey was prepared for the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations. "We are blessed with the enthusiasm the newly ordained will bring to the mission of the Church," said Cardinal Sean O'Malley, chairman of the...

JOHNSTON, Iowa -- Homecoming ceremonies will be held on Wednesday in Denison, Johnston and Sioux City for members of two Iowa Army National Guard units returning from Iraq.About 120 soldiers were mobilized from Company D, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, based in Denison. Another 120 soldiers were mobilized from Troop A, 1st Squadron, 113th Calvary, based at Camp Dodge in Johnston and Sioux City. The guard said both units were mobilized last May. The soldiers left Iowa in June for additional training at Camp Shelby, Miss., before being sent to Iraq, where both units served in the Baghdad area.The homecoming for...

Iraqi soldiers, suffering from a shortage of experienced noncommissioned officers, have often been firing wildly, expending vast quantities of ammunition to try to silence militias that are equipped with AK-47’s, mortars and rockets. But pulling back from their positions earlier, they now appear to be holding their ground — albeit with considerable American support. Iraqi politics has played a role in shaping the military strategy. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has decreed that American ground forces should not push into the heart of Sadr City, according to a senior American officer. American commanders also want to limit the United States’...

(NOTE: From FRC action E-MAIL; link is to their home page. I've broken it into paragraphs, and added emphasis): Washington is reeling from last night's Iowa caucuses. A loud and clear message was delivered, but whether it will be heard is yet to be seen. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee's huge victory can be attributed to two primary reasons. First, he is real and his style reflects it. He is engaging and he talks with people, not at them. He is a great campaigner; he is the communicator in this presidential election cycle. Second, evangelicals, dispirited by Republican indifference...

Iraqi & Coalition forces Order of Battle as of December 31, 2007. The January 2008 updates to the Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle are now available at the ISF OOB Page. The significant changes to the Order of Battle are summarized below. On December 14, the quarterly report to congress was released. The details have been addressed in "Iraqi Security Forces continue to surge" and only updates or changes to that report will be addressed in this update. On December 15, the ninth of 18 Iraqi provinces transferred to Iraqi control. Basrah marked the halfway point in the...

AMES, Iowa -- Doug Gross, the chairman of Mitt Romney’s campaign in Iowa, said today it is focusing on turning out its supporters Thursday night, placing 22,000 phone calls just on Tuesday in an attempt to make sure the more than 50,000 Romney supporters they have identified show up. "This is all about a ground game," Gross told reporters. "And the bottom line is whoever does the best job at turning out is going to win this thing. And we think we have the best organization… We’ve been working the last year, year and a half, on organization, and we’re...

So in calling around to figure out what exactly is going on in Iowa, I'm hearing that Huck's stunt yesterday — where he showed an anti-Romney ad at a press conference and then said he wasn't going to show it — was genuine. I hear that broader coordinated efforts to support the anti-Romney ad were also called off at the last minute, after materials were prepared. But this shows the Huck camp's basic problem. They are a shoestring organization that has struggled to put together a cohesive strategy. Further, Huck's flighty campaign style — as evidenced by the stunt yesterday...

Click here for video.Click here for transcript

COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa -- Down more than 10 points in the polls here only weeks ago, Mitt Romney appears to be surging back days before Iowans head to their caucuses. Two polls released over the weekend showed Romney ahead of rival Mike Huckabee by several points, while another survey out Sunday has Romney in a statistical tie with the former Arkansas governor. That's a far cry from early November, when a surging Huckabee took the front-runner mantle from Romney and never looked back. While Iowa's caucuses -- the first test of the presidential contest - are difficult to poll given...

Iowa Poll-apalooza! (Updated) The L.A. Times conducted a widely discussed poll of Iowa and New Hampshire voters. In Iowa, the Times had Huckabee leading Romney 37%-23%. In her write-up of the poll results, Times staff writer Janet Hook oddly neglected to mention that the results among likely voters are much closer. Counting only the likely voters, Romney trailed 36%-28%. Ms. Hook’s story on the poll reported Huckabee’s fourteen point lead as definitive. Why, even Hugh Hewitt didn’t notice the discrepancy between the “likely voters” result and the Times’ coverage of its own poll. To find the difference, you had...

http://www.fred08.com/Virtual/iowabustour.aspx Fred's "Clear Conservative Choice: Hands Down!" Bus Tour of Iowa 12/27/2007 - 10:05 am Fred Participates in Live in studio radio interview with Jan Mickelson of WHO 1040 Des Moines, Iowa - WHO 1040 Studio 12/27/2007 - 11:30 am Meet Fred in Urbandale Urbandale, Iowa - Fred08 Iowa HQ 12/27/2007 - 3:50 pm Fred Thompson Tours Downtown Chariton and Drops by Chariton Leader Chariton, Iowa - Chariton Leader 12/27/2007 - 6:00 pm Meet Fred in Knoxville, Iowa Knoxville, Iowa - National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum

Fred Thompson's refusal to raise his hand is being hailed by many as what could be the turning point of his campaign for president. But Fred's takedown of the debate's moderator was just the most memorable moment in an overall debate performance which was outstanding, as Phillip Klein observed in the American Spectator: Fred Thompson was the only candidate who stood out. He was funny, charming, and peppy. Here was a guy who wasn't afraid to speak hard truths, and who displayed knowledge of the policy issues--especially on entitlements. But the moment of the debate, the moment that will be...

"The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad." - Source "I would like us to restore relationships and rebuild the kind of positive attitudes people have historically had toward our nation and do that by showing the kind of respect that other nations would want and deserve." - Source "I have also come to understand that from a perspective of the way the world looks at us, GITMO has become a symbol of what a lot of people are angry about, and whatever value it has, it's being lost by the ill-will that it has...

Air America radio host Randi Rhodes unleashed a torrent of what's being called "liberal racism" and accused Oprah Winfrey of "acting" when she stumped for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. On her show last week, Rhodes discussed Oprah's appearances on Obama's behalf, and told listeners: "She was blacker than Obama yesterday . . . Let me tell you something. Everyone who watches Oprah are the whitest people in the world . . . Even the black men who watch Oprah are white women while they watch Oprah . . . "She's like so unbelievably white . . . Why is...

BAGHDAD — Elements of the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division entered the Abu Hanifa Mosque in the eastern Adhamiyah neighorhood of the Iraqi capital in an early morning operation and detained 12 individuals, including two known terrorists who were using the mosque as a base. The captured terrorists are suspected of improvised explosive device emplacement, kidnapping, murder of Iraqi civilians and attacks against Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces throughout Baghdad. They are also known to have links with al-Qaeda, said Capt. Phillip Dow, a staff officer with the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat...

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces saw a possible glimpse of the future in Hawr Rajab recently, when they observed Concerned Local Citizens (CLC) at a checkpoint come under attack from insurgents, defend themselves, and then receive reinforcements from Iraqi Army troops, Oct. 31. Paratroopers of Troop A, 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska, currently attached to 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div., Fort Stewart, Ga., observed the event from a rooftop. Everything kicked off with a bang. Paratroopers were en route to the concerned citizens’ southern-most checkpoint just outside of Hawr Rajab,...

Hillary Clinton’s top advisers charge that the presidential candidate was unfairly targeted by moderator Tim Russert during Tuesday night’s Democratic debate in Philadelphia. Russert asked Clinton a number of tough questions during the MSNBC-sponsored debate, including one on Social Security and another on the release of documents from the Bill Clinton administration, as she sought to fend off attacks from her Democratic rivals. Mark Penn, Clinton’s senior strategist, said: “Russert made it appear that President Clinton had done something new or unusual� in regard to the release of documents. “I think there will be further clarification.� Penn and Jonathan Mantz,...

Do to copyright issues, I can only post the link. http://blogs.dmregister.com/?p=8775

You've undoubtedly already heard the results of the Ames, Iowa, Republican straw poll.......(snip)... I'll start off with some comments on the finish of each of the candidates.Mitt Romney. Romney had to finish first and did. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain took themselves out of the straw poll in June, and Fred Thompson, who has yet to officially announce, did nothing. (A few guys from Texas and Tennessee drove up and bought a table next to some other guys who bought a table for Alan Keyes, who has already demonstrated that he can lose by a landslide margin to Barack Obama.)...

Just announced: Romney wins with a third of the vote. Huckabee comes in second.

Since the Romney interview has been launched onto the net, to say I've been getting feedback is an understatement. So I'll try to respond. In the interest of full disclosure, I consider myself a pro-life Christian libertarian. Whazat? The second verse of American the Beautiful describes it best. America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law! Iowa is my home. WHO Radio has been my post since '88. Before that, it was talk radio in Cincinnati before I came home. Since Iowa has its legendary first-in-the-nation status caucuses, my job has offered...

CLEAR LAKE, Iowa — Former Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, had a little time to kill before the start of the Independence Day parade here, so they decided to go say hello to the other presidential candidate and her spouse taking part in the festivities. "Mr. President, how are you, Mitt Romney," the Republican said after finding Bill Clinton working the three-deep crowd gathering along Main Ave. "This is my wife, Ann, and my son, Josh." After introductions were made, Romney observed that "this is kinda fun." "How many times you done this before?" he asked. "Once or...

Night Vision, Zoom Lens Catches Troops in the Groove Video at link

Mitt speaks of his "life long" experience with herding sheep.Click here for the video.

Nothing says “frontrunner” quite like a giant red bullseye painted on your chest. And Mitt Romney is morphing into the frontrunner of the GOP race - at least in Iowa and New Hampshire, anyway - two of the most important states in the nomination process. Two months ago in April, Romney was being compared to Phil Gramm all over the blogosphere. Sure he’s got the money, they said, but he doesn’t have the support. He’s still in single digits in national polls, they said, and he isn’t even doing that well in Iowa where he needs to win. Two months...

"It looks as if we just beat those campaigns in Iowa two months earlier than we had planned on beating them." --Romney for President spokesman Kevin Madden on the decision of Rudy Giuliani and John McCain to “skip” the Ames, Iowa straw poll. The first Republican presidential debate was at the Reagan Library on May 3, 2007. The third was on June 5, 2007 in New Hampshire. In the space of one month and a day, former Massachusetts Governor went from fundraising frontrunner to a dead heat with the other two and a half candidates for the GOP nomination: Rudy...

By Sean J. Miller .... sean@dmcityview.com Iowans warm up to Romney The former Massachusetts governor is riding high among Republicans Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, during two campaign stops in the Des Moines area last Wednesday, outlined his plan for increasing the size of the military, confronting international terrorism and providing healthcare to uninsured Americans. Romney’s message is resonating with Iowa Republicans. The former governor and business consultant enjoys a 12-13 point lead over his rivals Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani among Republicans caucus-goers polled by The Des Moines Register May 12-16. His...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2007 – Retired Army Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall was admitted into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes today, one day after President Bush presented him the Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam. Retired Army Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall, who was inducted today into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes, said brotherhood and belief in their mission motivated him and his fellow soldiers in Vietnam. Crandall received the Medal of Honor during a Feb. 26 White House ceremony. Photo by Donna Miles  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Chief of Staff Peter J. Schoomaker praised Crandall, a...

Major General J D Shaw CBE, General Officer Commanding Headquarters Multi National Division (South East) (right) meets the Iraqi Ground Forces Commander Lieutenant General Ali Ghaydan (center) and the 10 Iraqi Army Division, General Abdul Lateef Thu'ban (left) at the Headquarters building in Basrah. Ministry of Defence photo by Cpl Ian Forsyth. RLC. BASRAH -- The Iraqi Army division based in Basra has transferred from Coalition command, and is now - for the first time – taking its orders direct from an Iraqi headquarters in Baghdad. The transfer is a significant step toward Iraqi forces taking responsibility for security in...

Monday, 01 January 2007 A new Iraqi Army officer receives his rank insignia from his father and uncle. AL RUSTAMIYAH -- More than 200 cadets were promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in a graduation ceremony Thursday at the Iraqi Military Academy Al Rustamiyah. The new officers completed a year-long military leadership development course based on the United Kingdom Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, which focuses on building command, leadership and advanced military skills that the graduates will implement at their units throughout the Iraqi Army, according to IMAR’s NATO advisers.”I am glad today because I will become...

Diversa Corporation, a developer of high-performance specialty enzymes, announced that its Purifine enzyme has obtained GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for edible oil applications. This food-application approval follows the September 28th approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for non-food applications, including the use of Purifine enzyme for increasing the efficiency of oilseed processing for the production of biodiesel fuel. (Earlier post.) Purifine enzyme facilitates a novel degumming process designed to increase the oil yield and reduce low-value byproducts by removing oil phospholipids in the oil refining process. The total yield...

University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman is offering students an interesting lesson: Never let the law prevail over your own vanity. Just one day after Michigan voters overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2 - thereby ending racial and gender preferences in the state's public sector, Coleman said she'd do everything possible to avoid incorporating racial equality into her school's admissions policies.

The Vatican has defrocked two Roman Catholic priests over allegations they sexually abused minors, the Des Moines diocese said Thursday.Pope Benedict XVI granted the diocese's requests to dismiss John Ryan and Richard Wagner from the priesthood last month. They haven't been allowed to function as priests since 2003, the diocese said.Both men served at several parishes in the diocese and taught at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, where Wagner also was principal.Allegations against Ryan involved abuse of adolescent boys, the diocese has said. He was ordained in 1950 and retired in 1988.Ryan lives in Johnston with his...

DAVENPORT, Iowa, OCT. 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop William E. Franklin, 76, of Davenport and appointed Auxiliary Bishop Martin Amos of Cleveland as his successor. The Pope also named Father John Dooher, pastor of St. Mary's Church, Dedham, Massachusetts, and Father Robert F. Hennessey, pastor of Most Holy Redeemer Church, East Boston, as auxiliary bishops of Boston. Martin John Amos was born in Cleveland on Dec. 8, 1941. He studied at Borromeo Seminary College, Wickliffe, and St. Mary Seminary, Cleveland. He holds a master's in education. He was ordained a priest of the Cleveland...

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- The Vatican announced the bishop of Davenport's retirement Thursday, two days after the Roman Catholic diocese filed for bankruptcy amid dozens of lawsuits alleging priest sex abuse.Bishop William Franklin had offered his resignation when he turned 75 in May 2005, as the church requires.The Vatican said Thursday that his resignation had been approved and that he would be succeeded by Monsignor Martin J. Amos, an auxiliary bishop in Cleveland.The Diocese of Davenport on Tuesday became the fourth Catholic diocese in the United States to file for bankruptcy amid the national clergy abuse scandal, following the Archdiocese of...

(Iowa City, Iowa-AP) October 10, 2006 - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.That makes it the fourth diocese across the country to seek financial protection to deal with priest sex abuse cases.The filing comes less than two weeks before it defends itself at a trial involving a former priest accused of sexually abusing a high school student. Posted 7:11pm by Chantelle Janelle

FOB LOYALTY, Iraq – Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers from Battery B, 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, located a munitions cache during a combined patrol in east Baghdad Monday. A tip from an Iraqi citizen led the patrol to a location where they discovered 18 60mm mortar rounds in two separate ammunition boxes; the rounds had fuses already installed. It took the MND-B Soldiers less than 15 minutes from the time the tip was called in to locate the cache. The...

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, April 21, 2006) – Working together as a cohesive team, Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, Iraqi army soldiers and private-security company employees work at entry control checkpoints to provide safety and security for Baghdad’s “Green Zone.” “Our mission is to provide safety for the local nationals (and IA and MND-B Soldiers). We try to keep terrorists out of the Green Zone. It’s pretty much a safe haven,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jesse Matthews, infantryman, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, who works at an Entry Control Point near Forward Operating...

DULUIYA, Iraq (Army News Service, March 28, 2006) – Soldiers of Task Force Band of Brothers conducted medical screenings of Iraqi citizens on the Jabouri Peninsula March 27. The screenings came nine days after forces netted thousands of pounds in artillery and mortar rounds, rockets, air-defense rockets, ammunition, machine guns, materials for improvised explosive devices and other terrorist weapons along the Tigris River. Medics from the 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division – along with civil affairs Soldiers – held the health assessment at a...

KARMAH, Iraq (Feb. 3, 2006) -- The Dec. 15 elections were fast approaching for the Iraqi people and the Marines of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment conducted operations to disrupt insurgents that might try to hinder the election process. Corporal Peter D. Foster, 1st Squad leader for 1st Platoon, Company F, and his Marines helped conduct an Iraqi Army cordon and knock operation in a town north of Karmah to disrupt insurgent activity. “We helped the Iraqi Army in the search for insurgents north of the city of Karmah,” the Southold, N.Y. native stated. “They conducted cordon and knocks on...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version January 13, 2006, 8:11 a.m. The Butcher with the Terror Ties The evidence mounts. Drip, drip, drip. Drop by drop, isolated news stories and emerging documents are eroding the popular myth that Saddam Hussein had no connections to Islamofascist terrorists. These revelations undermine war critics’ efforts to whitewash Baghdad’s ancien regime — such as when Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid declared: “There was [sic] no terrorists in Iraq.” Likewise, Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) describes a “nonexistent relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.” Reid, Levin, and others who dismiss...

Saturday, September 24thBaltimore, MD - Johns Hopkins University5:45-6:45 PM - Rally & News Conference at John Hopkins University at the Glass Pavillion - located right by Levering Hall and Gilman Hall. “Support the Troops” banner-sheets will be on display, for you to sign and include a message of support. The sheets will be sent to the troops upon the completion of the nationwide bus tour and Washington, D.C. rally. Audience members will recite the pledge of allegiance to protest the ruling against the pledge by activist U.S. District Judge, Lawrence Karlton. Campus Map: (PDF) === From Yahoo Maps === I...