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WESLACO - Three people from Afghanistan are in Border Patrol custody in the Valley. Border Patrol acknowledges they apprehended the three Afghanis in the Valley. They were found in two different groups. One was found south of Mission by the river. The other two were found in a stash house north of Moorefield Road. Samuel Freeman, a political science professor at the University of Texas Pan American and expert on U.S. foreign policy, says it's unusual for Afghanis to show up in the Rio Grande Valley. Freeman says the three could be drug runners. He says there's a huge pipeline...

Blogs Obama: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED posted by Wayne Allyn Root on Aug 05, 2011 By Wayne Allyn Root, Former Libertarian Vice Presidential Nominee Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University Class of '83). I tried to warn the country that virtually all of my classmates and professors were marxist, despised America, and wanted to bring down capitalism. I tried to warn the country that Obama would follow the detailed plan of two Columbia professors named Cloward and Piven- a plan designed to destroy capitalism by overwhelming the U.S. economy with government spending, regulations, entitlements, taxes and debt. That is precisely...

Just think, in a few hours, you get.......SUN PEE! Cross-posted at UNCOVERAGE.net Isn’t it bad enough Obama is cancelling the space program? Now the astronauts have to drink their own pee on the final trip? CNET: Soon, we will not only be able to drink our recycled urine. We’ll transform into a tastier, more refreshing beverage choice–thanks, in part, to NASA’s final space shuttle mission. The shuttle Atlantis is carrying aloft tests of the Forward Osmosis Bag, which is designed to convert dirty water into a liquid that is safe to drink using a semi-permeable membrane and a concentrated sugar...

WASHINGTON (WJZ)—Don’t panic if you see large planes flying unusually low over Maryland roadways next week. It’s all part of a major plan by NASA to help study air pollution over major cities. Derek Valcourt explains where you’ll be seeing some of those low-flying planes. The study will focus on air pollution over many of Maryland’s major roads, from Baltimore’s beltway, to the 95 corridor, even over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. This is no ordinary plane, it’s a specially fitted NASA aircraft designed with equipment to measure air pollution levels in flight. And starting next week the skies over Maryland...

Barack Obama kept military commanders hanging by declaring he would 'sleep on it' before taking 16 hours to give the go-ahead to raid Bin Laden's compound. Hit squads of specialist Navy Seals - who were not even told who they were preparing to capture - had practised the mission at two reconstructions of the terror chiefs sprawling compound. The mission looked set to be given the all clear last Thursday when analysts confirmed beyond doubt that Bin Laden was in busy town of Abbottabad in northern Pakistan.

Apparently the White House tossed out a number of perfectly good names before arriving at "Operation Odyssey Dawn": 10.Operation Nine Months In The Senate Didn't Prepare Me For This 9. Operation Organizing for Libya 8. Operation Double Standard 7. Operation FINE! I'll Do Something 6. Operation Enduring Narcissism 5. Operation So That's What the Red Button Does 4. Operation France Backed Me Into A Corner

"Barack n' Awe" "At last I have my own war".....more HERE

This is incredible devastation. Please ask your church to take special offerings for this tomorrow. And pass the word to Christians to give and pray for this. We have already spent almost $1000 tonight renting a first truck and buying food to take north, Lord willing tomorrow night. This is a very small start on a huge and expensive project these next months. Pray that we can really help, and show the love of Christ in this lost land. One news report an hour ago said that in a hard hit northeastern prefecture a village of 17,000 people was missing...

The 14 Senate Democrats who are boycotting a vote on a controversial "union-busting" bill have left the state, a Wisconsin state senator said.

My new husband and I are visiting his uncle and his third wife, a lovely woman. We get along great politically. They could well be FReepers once I introduce them to FR. The problem is her daughter, a teacher in her late 20s. The daughter is raising money so she can join a mission thru Habitat for Humanity (H4H) to spend two weeks in Vietnam doing some humanitarian work. She is now doing fundraising for her trip. She has to pay her own round-trip airfare AND pay H4H $2000 for the priviledge of working on this mission for two weeks....

...Pope Benedict reminds us all that the Church "exists to evangelize" with an urgency reminiscent of the Saint whose feast we celebrated the day this message was made public. He writes,"This task has lost none of its urgency.We cannot rest easy at the thought that, after two thousand, there are people who still do not know Christ, who have not yet heard His message of salvation." Here he is speaking of the missionary mandate of the Church "ad gentes" , to the Nations. The Church has always taught that every single human being on the face of the earth has...

After blaming the tea party for the mass slaughter on Saturday one tea party leader is receiving death threats. The sheriff’s office told Tucson tea party leader Trent Humphries to stay home. The Tuscon Tea Party leader started receiving death threats since the shootings at the Safeway on Saturday. Talking Points Memo reported, via Free Republic: Trent Humphries, the leader of the largest tea party group in this mourning southern Arizona city, has nothing but praise for the way President Obama has led the nation through the aftermath of Saturday’s mass shooting at a constituent event for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords...

Proposed by British scientists as a joint effort of NASA and the European Space Agency, the mission would offer the first close-up view of Uranus in 25 years.British space scientists are leading plans to send a probe to explore giant ice planet Uranus. They have put forward a detailed proposal to the European Space Agency to launch a joint mission with NASA to the distant world, 1.8 billion miles from the sun. It would give scientists their first close-up views of Uranus since NASA’s Voyager 2 flew past and captured fleeting pictures 25 years ago. The £400million mission is designed...

A FOCAL Mission into the Oort Cloud by Paul Gilster on November 15, 2010 After all this time, IÂ’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of massive objects in space as lenses, their distortion of spacetime offering the ability to see distant objects at huge magnification. On Friday we saw how the lensing effect caused by galactic clusters can be used to study dark energy. And consider the early results from the Herschel-ATLAS project, conducted by ESAÂ’s Herschel Space Observatory. Herschel is scanning large areas of the sky in far-infrared and sub-millimeter light. Many of its...

BELTSVILLE, Md.- President Barack Obama says his mission is to accelerate the economy's recovery. He's calling attention to a proposal he says would create jobs, grow the economy and help businesses.Obama spoke Friday after the government reported that the economy grew at a faster rate from July to September. It was the last snapshot of the country's economic health before voters elect a new Congress on Tuesday.Obama wants Congress to allow businesses to deduct 100 percent of the cost of certain investments, such as new equipment, through the end of 2011. Businesses now can deduct half of such costs.

Benedict XVI. on the Shepherd's Responsibilities of the Successors of the Apostles -- by Armin Schwibach/ Rome Rome[kath.net/as] The Bishop is not a pure manager, he is not a bureaucrat or a simple moderator and organizer of the life of the diocese. Much more, he must be a "father, brother and friend" and be on the "Christian and human path", who knows he has to create, "an atmosphere of trust, acceptance, sympathy, but also uprightness and justice". With these words Pope Benedict XVI. addressed a second group of newly ordained Bishops this morning, who participated in a course organized by...

WASHINGTON - Two U.S. troops were shot to death and nine wounded by an Iraqi soldier yesterday in the first deadly attack on Americans since President Obama declared the U.S. combat mission over. The attacker wore an Iraqi army uniform, U.S. military officials said, and he was later identified by an Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman as Soran Rahman of the Iraqi Army's 4th Division, CNN reported. Rahman allegedly got into an argument that turned into a fight with U.S. Army troops. The GIs were on security duty for a company commander who was visiting an Iraqi commando base in Salah-ad-Din...

KABUL, Afghanistan – One gave up a lucrative practice to give free dental care to children ... Others had devoted whole decades of their lives to helping the Afghan people through war and deprivation. The years of service ended in a hail of bullets in a remote valley of a land that members of the medical team had learned to love. The bodies of the 10 slain volunteers - six Americans, two Afghans, a German and a Briton - were flown Sunday back to Kabul ... friends and family bitterly rejected Taliban claims the group had tried to convert Afghans...

Though still short of full diplomatic recognition, move raises representation to level of PLO missions in many European countries and Canada. The United States State Department has upgraded the Palestinian Liberation Organization's mission in Washington, the PLO's U.S. representative said on Thursday. The upgrade, which will give the PLO Mission to the U.S. the status of 'Delegation General', became effective beginning July 20, 2010. Ambassador Maen Rashid Areikat, the PLO's representative to the United States, said that the decision was preceded by several consultations made over the past year between the PLO Mission and the Obama administration.

BAGHDAD, July 3, 2010 – The United States in on track or ahead of schedule to end its combat mission in Iraq this summer, and the lack of a permanent government there will not serve as a deterrent to that plan, senior administration officials traveling with Vice President Joe Biden said today. But, an official speaking on background said, "we would like to see -- the Iraqi people would like to see -- a government as expeditiously as possible." Political maneuvering has continued since Iraq’s March election, and a permanent government has yet to be seated. The vice president is...

DIYALA — U.S. Army medics and doctors recently volunteered to visit the Bakhtiyari Medical Clinic in the neighborhood of Khaniqan here to provide medical care to residents. A girl demonstrates proper teeth brushing procedures to Capt. Mary Nolan, of Lewiston, Minn, and the preventive medicine officer for 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, during a Military Civilian Medical Operation in the Bakhtiyari neighborhood of Khaniqan, Iraq, June 22, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Adrian Muehe.Coming together for this Military Civilian Medical Operation (MCMO) were Soldiers from Charlie Company, 296th Brigade Support Battalion; Headquarters Support Battery, 1st Battalion,...

DIYALA — U.S. and Iraqi Soldiers here recently visited the small village of Al Hamid located six kilometers west of the Iranian border to provide medical assistance to residents in need.Suzan, an interpreter with Company C, 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, comforts an Iraqi girl with a broken leg during a joint medical civil action program in Al Hamid, Iraq, June 1, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Adrian Muehe.The village is able to operate a small clinic, but restocking medical supplies requires a lengthy trip to Balad Ruz over 100 kilometers away....

4/19/2010 - CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- A team of 28 aerial port and vehicle maintenance Airmen from the 451st Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Det. 1 here are moving the mission in Afghanistan. The unit's air traffic operations center and ramp operations have uploaded and downloaded more than 40,000 short tons of cargo from almost 3,000 aircraft moving in and out of the airfield here since Jan. 1. "We are a small group of guys doing a big mission out here," said 1st Lt. Josh Meyer, the 451st ELRS Det. 1 commander deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. "Seven...

Why don't we start a letter writing campaign to the court to encourage them to give solid, real sentences to these monsters and not give them a slap on the wrist? By doing that we'll ensure that justice is done.

/8/2010 - KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- Airmen from the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing here welcomed one of the newest members of the Air Force's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance weapons systems to Kandahar Airfield March 29. The MC-12 Liberty aircraft is a manned special-mission turboprop aircraft designed for ISR and brings a different capability to the fight, said Lt. Col. Darren Halford, the 361st Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron commander. The aircraft flew its first combat sortie here April 1. The MC-12 Liberty provides real-time tactical ISR, with analysts and aircrew deployed together for seamless operations and maximum interaction with joint ground...

4/7/2010 - KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNS) -- For two vehicle maintainers attached to Kirkuk Regional Air Base, their job responsibilities extend beyond this base. They work at Forward Operating Base Diamondback in Mosul, Iraq, as maintainers for three aircraft cargo loaders. Tech. Sgt. Greg Marchand and Airman 1st Class Chris Kuczynski, both members of the 506th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron, work on the Army-controlled airfield in Mosul to support its movement control team mission. "Basically, the MCT handles both the cargo and the passenger side of things on the airfield," Sergeant Marchand said. "Of course we Air Force...

A prominent feature of Mission San Xavier del Bac - which has graced the desert southwest of Tucson for two centuries - faces unchecked decay now that critical funding has been cut. Work to repair and restore the mission's deteriorated east bell tower was supposed to be under way this spring, but not a dab of new mortar has been applied. A previously approved $150,000 grant from the Arizona Heritage Fund to kick-start the project was abruptly canceled last year. Persistent efforts to get the funding restored have failed, so the bell tower will languish for the foreseeable future -...

And idea came to me last night on how to spread Christ in the middle east, espeically to closed societies such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. Why not use the postal services to mail a one page Christian letter or tract to random addresses in the middle east? The letter would have key scriptures, no doubt John 3:16 and the Roman road to salvation. It could start out with the verse from the Koran that says that muslims are to accept what was revealed through Moses and Jesus, and then go on to share some of those scriptures. 1 Or...

3/25/2010 - KABUL, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- A joint aircrew of U.S. Airmen from the 538th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron and Afghan soldiers in the Afghanistan National Army Air Corps completed an operational C-27 Spartan mission here March 24. Taking off from Kabul International Airport, the four-man aircrew flew Southwest to Kandahar Airfield. The crew was tasked with an International Security Assistance Force cargo delivery mission with 3,400 pounds of emergency medical equipment and 19 passengers. "The key for moving Afghan people and equipment will be airlift," said Lt. Col. James Piel, 538th AEAS commander and pilot deployed from the 6th...

Special Ops Teams I think two of the most inspiring people I have seen in the last year are James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who made ACORN videos, and what I'm suggesting in this post is inspired by them. If there's anything the passage of the Health Care Bill has done to me, it is to convince me that it is time to take action against those who would deprive us of our liberty. It is time to take the gloves off and to fight with bare fists. I am NOT saying it is time to take up arms against...

BASRAH – As the U.S. prepares to reduce troop levels here to 50,000 by September 2010, military leaders must still complete the mission; even with less boots on the ground. Smaller numbers of Soldiers depend on one another to accomplish the daily tasks needed to maintain the security, integrity and safety of the Basrah Operations Center and this host city that is home to more than 1.2 million people. Because of the drawdown and the return of U.S. camps to the Iraqi government, the remaining squad-sized elements from 2nd and 3rd platoons, 206th Military Police Company, 49th Military Police Battalion,...

“Crandall flew to Haiti Saturday, Jan. 23, with Julius Hunter, a Baton Rouge, La., pastor, pilot Bruce Case and 1,200 pounds of medical supplies as part of a six-day mission aided by King's Wings, a West Palm Beach-based charity,” wrote Rogers. “There, while attending to Haitians wounded by the Jan. 12 earthquake, Crandall witnessed the chaos, confusion, suffering and hope that emerged.

The Trinity United Methodist Church in Hackettstown, NJ is praying for 15 missing members who are in Haiti. The missionaries went to Haiti to deliver medical supplies to Grace’s Children Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

12/31/2009 - CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- A team of Airmen handles thousands of passengers, pallets and vehicles flying into Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. The 'Port Dawgs,' as they liked to be called, proudly proclaim that they move as much cargo here as their unit does back home. But they have approximately 15 people instead of 200 handling the thousands of passengers and tons of cargo arriving monthly at the air field. The team is comprised of aerial porters, vehicle maintainers and leadership primarily deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. They work loading and unloading cargo coming to the U.S....

Maj. John Walton from Pine Bush, N.Y., operations officer, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, talks with an Iraqi child during a joint humanitarian aid delivery in the village of Sudoor, Dec. 18. Photo by Spc Anderson Savoy, 145th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. DIYALA — Iraqi Army Soldiers took the lead in planning and conducting a combined humanitarian aid delivery to displaced persons living in the village of Sudoor, Diyala province, Dec. 18. The supplies were delivered by the 20th Brigade, 5th IA Division to Sunni Arabs who were removed from their homes...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2009 – Despite a new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan that entails sending 30,000 additional American forces, the more important operation for the Marine Corps is Iraq, the service’s top officer said today. Gen. James Conway, the Marine commandant who returned recently from visiting troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, called the Afghan mission more dangerous but less vital than Iraq. “What I told the troops in Iraq is that the most dangerous thing that our corps is doing today is happening in Afghanistan,” he told Pentagon reporters. “The most important thing we're doing today is happening in Iraq....

Under the shift in strategy, the teams now focus on targeting key Taliban figures rather than mainly hunting Al Qaeda leaders and have increased the number of raids they conduct, officials say. Reporting from Washington - The U.S. military command has quietly shifted and intensified the mission of clandestine special operations forces in Afghanistan, senior officials said, targeting key figures within the Taliban, rather than almost exclusively hunting Al Qaeda leaders.

In June, McChrystal noted, he had arrived in Afghanistan and set about fulfilling his assignment. His lean face, hovering on the screen at the end of the table, was replaced by a mission statement on a slide: "Defeat the Taliban. Secure the Population." "Is that really what you think your mission is?" one of those in the Situation Room asked. On the face of it, it was impossible -- the Taliban were part of the fabric of the Pashtun belt of southern Afghanistan, culturally if not ideologically supported by a significant part of the population. "We don't need to do...

1. Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) high above Earth's rugged terrain, 25 November 2009 (4288 x 2846 pixels) 2. International Space Station over cloudy Earth, 25 November 2009 (4288 x 2846 pixels) 3. NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) high above the Mediterranean Sea, near the coast of Algeria, 25 November 2009 (4288 x 2846 pixels) Photos and Captions Taken From http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200911.htm (#8, #9, #12) 

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Nov. 3, 2009 – When a deployed unit approaches its end-of-tour date, the focus begins to shift from the deployment at hand to redeployment stateside. Army Sgt. Nic Light and Army Spc. Andrew Carpenter inspect a truck on Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, Oct. 17, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Andy Mehler  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. But not so for those who support the mission until its final moment, such as the mechanics with the 628th Aviation Support Battalion, who face the pressures of repairing vehicles quickly while also taking steps to...

In his new suburban American home, Shaker Yakub, a Yemeni Jew, folded a large scarf in half, wrapped it around his head and tucked in his spiraling side curls. "This is how I passed for a Muslim," said the 59-year-old father of seven, improvising a turban that hid his black skullcap. The ploy enabled Mr. Yakub and half a dozen members of his family to slip undetected out of their native town of Raida, Yemen, and travel to the capital 50 miles to the south. There, they met U.S. State Department officials conducting a clandestine operation to bring some of...

A U.S. Army AH-64D Apache attack helicopter (left) flies alongside an Iraqi UH-1 Huey during a joint air mission over Baghdad between 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, and the 2nd Squadron of the Iraqi Air Force, Oct. 21. Photo by Sgt. Travis Zielinski, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade. CAMP TAJI — In a display of strength and partnership, U.S. military aviators with the 1st Cavalry Division and the Iraqi Air Force (IqAF) joined forces for an Iraqi-led helicopter mission over Baghdad, Oct. 21. The leadership of 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2009 – Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 17th Fires Brigade and the 14th Iraqi Army Division conducted their first joint medical military-civic operations clinic at Basra Operations Center Oct. 8, drawing about 150 people. Army Sgt. 1st Class Maryfaith B. Payne soothes a child as his mother is seen during a medical engagement in Basra, Iraq, Oct. 7, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Maurice A. Galloway  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The purpose of an event such as this is to provide treatment for minor illnesses and teach these people how...

The other day, deep in Rego Park, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, Stanley Moscowitz and Walter Israel sat down at a Formica table for lunch at Ben's Best Kosher Deli on Queens Boulevard. Moscowitz, who's 53 and grew up in nearby Forest Hills, ordered first: matzo ball, tip of the tongue, roast beef, rye, Russian, onions and Dr. Brown's diet cherry drink. Israel ordered pastrami on rye bread. His son Jason ordered pastrami on white. In his defense, Jason did not ask for mayonnaise, but the combination of pastrami and white bread enjoys a certain...

10/15/2009 - FORT GORDON, Ga. (AFNS) -- An ordinary day for the Kapisa/Parwan Provincial Reconstruction team in Afghanistan became an unforgettable opportunity for an Airman from here to help save children's lives. Staff Sgt. Jonathan Okeefe, a 338th Training Squadron Det. 1 satellite, wideband and telemetry systems instructor at Fort Gordon, recently returned from a 12-month deployment to Afghanistan where he served as the chief communications officer for the Kapisa/Parwan PRT based out of Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. "Each PRT is assigned to one of the 26 provinces in Afghanistan," Sergeant Okeefe said. "The mission of each team is to make...

The US voiced disappointment Thursday at the failure of a seven-nation mission to persuade coup leaders in Honduras to accept a settlement and renewed its support for ousted president Manuel Zelaya. "We are disappointed by this inability to move forward," the State Department said in a statement to AFP. "The United States supports the peaceful restoration of democratic and constitutional order in Honduras with President Zelaya?s return as president to finish his term," it said. "We firmly believe a negotiated solution is the appropriate way forward and that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias' plan for resolving this crisis is a...

Focusing on the needs in Uganda the International Mission Board, the sending arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, sends missionaries for two years through their Journeyman Program. The Journeyman, such as Chris Bosson, shadow a church and primarily start new churches and equip them with everything from food, medical care, to Bible resources. Chris Bosson's time was spent ministering to the youth in villages by showing the Jesus Film, leading youth Bible conferences, and teaching a weekly youth Bible Study out of his home. This weekly Bible Study-Crossover continues today under Pastor Enoch Kategaya's oversight.

The world is celebrating the amazing journey that Apollo 11 made to the Moon 40 years ago. But few realise that an early bid to reach the Moon was launched from England, way back in the 17th century. Wilkins and Hooke aboard their spaceship Incredible as it may seem, one of the greatest scientific minds of the time, Dr John Wilkins, a founder of the Royal Society, was planning his own lunar mission four centuries ago around the time of the English Civil War. It wasn't hot air either. Inspired by the great voyages of discovery around the globe...

British Army Capt, Adrian R. Craddock, Kineton, Warwickshire, England and U.S. Army Col. Patrick J. Kelly, commander of Task Force Troy, prepare the British flag for casing at the casing ceremony signifying the end of mission for the British military contingency assigned to the task force at Camp Victory, Iraq, July 15. CAMP LIBERTY — Members of the multi-national, multi-service team known as Task Force Troy gathered on July 15 at the 1st Cavalry Division's Moral Welfare and Recreation's Field House gym on Camp Liberty to say goodbye to their comrades from the British army with a flag casing ceremony.Task...

As the U.S. military continues its slow withdrawal from Iraq, the Iraqi people face a decision that might force those efforts into overdrive. A referendum scheduled for July 30 would give Iraqis the chance to vote for or against the Iraqi-U.S. security agreement that calls for all American troops to leave Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011. If the referendum goes ahead as scheduled and Iraqi voters reject the agreement — a likely outcome, observers say — the United States would be obliged to pull out troops one year after the vote, or nearly 1½ years before the deadline set by...