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Here is the Schedule, as released by the Freaks at the Westboro "Baptist Church"... http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html 12/01/2008 5:15 PM - 5:45 PM Virginia Beach, VA Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base 12/03/2008 07:30 AM - 08:00 AM Virginia Beach, VA Fort Story Army Base 12/03/2008 08:45 AM - 09:15 AM Norfolk, VA Norfolk Naval Station 12/03/2008 09:15 AM - 09:45 AM Virginia Beach, VA Oceana Naval Air Station 12/03/2008 10:15 AM - 10:45 AM Portsmouth, VA Portsmouth Naval Medical Center (If you go to counter any of these, this is the one to do so at) 12/03/2008 12:45 PM - 1:15 PM...

The destroyer Barry ran aground Thursday as it was preparing to dock at a port in the Black Sea, the Navy confirmed Friday. The incident happened at about 10:30 a.m. local time, as the Norfolk-based ship was entering the Turkish port of Samsun. The ship ran aground in silt as it was maneuvering in the port’s turning basin, about 200 yards from the pier. A harbor pilot was on board at the time, a Navy official said. Tugs were able to free the ship with assistance from Turkish coast guard divers, and the vessel is currently moored at a Samsun...

The first example to be recorded in Norfolk of a very rare gold Roman brooch was found by a metal detector, it hasd been revealed. Norfolk Museum and Archaeology Service (NMAS) is now keen to acquire the “significant” piece, which dates from the third or fourth century, in order to keep it in the county after it was found in a field in Gunthorpe. Dr Andrew Rogerson, head of the Finds Identification and Recording Service within the NMAS said it was unique within the county and important in the context of our understanding of the late Roman period. “It is...

VIRGINIA BEACH Blackbeard, meet Blackwater. Worldwide. The Moyock, N.C., company has a ship in Hampton Roads ready to begin patrolling the Gulf of Aden to protect merchant vessels against pirates. The company has spoken to about 10 shipping firms but as yet has no takers, said Bill Mathews, Blackwater Worldwide executive vice president. "There's definitely a need and a desire," Mathews said during a tour of the 183-foot vessel, named McArthur, on Friday. It's moored at a commercial pier at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. Somali pirates in late September seized a Ukrainian ship loaded with military vehicles in the...

Video is right here.

As you might recall, Norfolk paid VCDL member Danladi Moore $10,000 for unlawfully harassing him for openly carrying a gun. The check was barely in the bank when the Norfolk police did it to him again on a Norfolk bus, as was detailed in the VCDL mini-update on September 22nd. You would think that Norfolk would have learned their lesson (don't forget that Chet Szymecki and his wife, Deborah, each still have lawsuits against Norfolk in federal court over Chet's unlawful arrest last year in Norfolk, too). We need you to join us next Tuesday, October 7th, as we tell...

Lots of Virginia readers are disturbed by a report in the Virginia Pilot yesterday on loosened voter registration rules for college students. Red flagging it: Norfolk election officials on Friday reluctantly loosened procedures for registering college students to vote after protests from presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign and an admonishment from state election officials. The Illinois senator’s campaign complained that the Norfolk registrar’s policy of sending a questionnaire to anyone applying to register from a college campus discouraged students from following through. The State Board of Elections asked general registrar Elisa J. Long to halt the practice. The Norfolk Electoral...

Norfolk election officials on Friday reluctantly loosened procedures for registering college students to vote after protests from presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign and an admonishment from state election officials. The Illinois senator's campaign complained that the Norfolk registrar's policy of sending a questionnaire to anyone applying to register from a college campus discouraged students from following through. The State Board of Elections asked general registrar Elisa J. Long to halt the practice. The Norfolk Electoral Board agreed to that but said in a statement: "This compliance is with the understanding that the Board strongly feels that by doing so, we...

Norfolk elections officials today reluctantly loosened their procedures for registering college students to vote after protests from presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign and an admonishment from state election officials

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) _ Michelle Obama took a break recently from the campaign trail to get her hands messy breading shrimp as she helped prepare a deep-fried dinner with the Food Network's first lady of Southern cooking, Paula Deen. The wife of Democrat Barack Obama got cozy with Deen in the kitchen during a recent taping of the Savannah celebrity cook's TV show "Paula's Party," scheduled to air on the cable network Sept. 20. Michelle Obama and Deen swapped stories about their families' favorite meals as they cooked fried shrimp and french fries at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.,...

Michelle Obama shared a stage this afternoon with six hand-picked military spouses in Norfolk as the campaign announced the formation of “Blue Star Families for Obama.” Obama said families of military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan not only are suffering the uncertainty of having loved ones in harm’s way, but also are coping with rising prices and unemployment. She wove details of her husband's plan to support military families into the conversation with the spouses. The wives talked about inadequate child care on bases, education opportunities for children and health care. The event was this afternoon at Old Dominion...

I’ll say this much for the Obamas: No one has more interesting political conversations with second-graders than they do. Something for everyone here — for the righties, some easy snark that the correct way to proceed in Iraq is obvious even to grade-school kids; for the lefties, some even easier snark that it takes someone with the mindset of a grade-school kid to think this is the correct way to proceed; and for the nonpolitical among us, a warm and fuzzy moment at the end. A good time was had by all. Video at link

080722-N-7571S-001 ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 22, 2008) A French F-2 Rafale launches from the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during the first integrated U.S. and French carrier qualifications aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier. The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is participating in Joint Task Force Exercise "Operation Brimstone" off the Atlantic coast. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jonathan Snyder/Released) 080721-N-7241L-009 ATLANTIC OCEAN (July 21, 2008) A French Rafale M prepares to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during combined French and American carrier qualifications. This event marks the first...

‘Harassed for being a Christian’- the policeman who objected to gay ribbons and is turning to a tribunal Last updated at 01:08am on 20.07.08    A policeman is taking his force to an employment tribunal, claiming that he has been harassed because of his Christian beliefs.Constable Graham Cogman says he has been persecuted since he objected to wearing ribbons to mark a gay event.The controversy echoes the case of Lillian Ladele, the Christian registrar who successfully took on Islington Council in London over her refusal to conduct civil-partnership ceremonies for gay couples.  Making a stand: PC Graham Cogman says...

Poll Question Should the federal ban on offshore drilling for oil and gas be lifted?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One sailor was treated for first-degree burns and 23 others for heat stress after a fire on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier burned for hours, the Navy said Friday. The U.S. Navy described a fire as "serious" aboard the USS George Washington. There were no fatalities on the ship.

ABOARD THE USS HARRY S. TRUMAN - U.S. pilots flying missions over Iraq come to the region expecting a host of challenges, including swirling sandstorms and urban battlefields filled with a mix of enemies and civilians. But Naval aviators flying off the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman said one of the newest difficulties has been the least expected: navigating increasingly crowded airspace in a region that has experienced the world's fastest airline growth in recent years. The mix of U.S. combat aircraft and civilian planes from booming Gulf airlines illustrates the growing divide in the Middle East between countries...

080428-N-7883G-683 SOUTH CHINA SEA (April 28, 2008) The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) prepares to anchor in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor. Hong Kong is Kitty Hawk's last scheduled overseas port visit before its return to the United States later this year. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kyle D. Gahlau (Released)

The National Weather Service confirms three tornadoes touched down in central and southeastern Virginia Monday. Associated Press reports authorities say at least 200 people suffered injuries throughout the Commonwealth. --------- A tornado came ashore on Pier 2 at Naval Station Norfolk, according to spokesperson Terry Davis. She adds that the damage is "superficial," limited to a door, a copule of windows, a section of siding and a few fallen trees.

NORFOLK The Navy will review maintenance and training across the surface fleet after a recent inspection found the Norfolk-based destroyer Stout unfit for sustained combat, a top admiral said Friday. Three months after the ship returned from a deployment to the Horn of Africa, inspectors found inoperable missile and close-in weapon systems, an unsafe flight deck and widespread corrosion. Rear Adm. Kevin Quinn, commander of the naval surface force, said the surface fleet will investigate whether the problems are widespread across all ship classes or limited to individual ships. A second ship, the Hawaii-based cruiser Chosin, also failed inspection. Jan...

NORFOLK When the George Washington ties up in Yokosuka, Japan, in August, it will become the first nuclear-powered carrier based in the only nation ever to be attacked by nuclear weapons. While its departure Monday from the East Coast brings both a sentimental and financial loss, its relocation to the Far East means the ship’s crew must bring along as much diplomacy as weaponry. “What people don’t understand they sometimes fear,” said Rear Adm. Philip Cullom, commander of the George Washington Strike Group. “Sometimes it’s a matter of articulating the story so that people understand it.” The carrier’s arrival in...

Attacks on nuclear power stations, oil and gas terminals, Canary Wharf and Heathrow’s control tower were being considered by leaders of the plot to blow up seven transatlantic airliners in mid-flight, a court was told yesterday. Documents found on computer memory sticks at the home of an alleged terrorist ringleader contained a list of targets across Britain – including the gas pipeline between Britain and Belgium. The man, Assad Sarwar, was said to be in contact with terrorist leaders overseas and visited Pakistan a month before his arrest as preparations for the airline attacks were being finalised. Peter Wright, QC,...

NORFOLK The Navy could spend nearly $500 million to ready Mayport Naval Station in Florida for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier - perhaps from Norfolk - by 2014. Or it could choose to make no changes in the base's operations. A draft report released Friday by the Navy proposed a range of options for the future of Mayport, the Jacksonville base that lost its only carrier, the John F. Kennedy, when the ship was decommissioned last year. The Navy's decision, expected early next year, could determine whether ships and perhaps thousands of sailors from Hampton Roads relocate to northern Florida. Mark...

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., presidential candidate Barack Obama’s minister, agreed to speak April 13 at Bank Street Memorial Baptist Church long before his sudden notoriety for his strong social commentary. Bank Street’s interim pastor, the Rev. William Dixon, said Wright was invited months ago because he is the nephew of the church’s late minister, the Rev. J.B. Henderson. Wright’s visit will coincide with the church’s celebration of its booster club, formed years ago to fundraise for Henderson’s missionary travels. “We do not know at this point as to what he’ll be speaking about,” Dixon said of Wright. Wright...

A sailor on the Norfolk-based carrier Theodore Roosevelt died Saturday from a severe head injury sustained when the ship hit heavy seas off the coast of Florida, the Navy said Sunday. The sailor's name was not released pending family notification. -snip-

A Granby High School teacher accused of sending improper photos of herself to students via cell phone has been arrested.Natasha L. Sizow, 24, of Alton Drive in Virginia Beach, was charged with two counts each of indecent liberties and use of a communications device to facilitate crimes against children, according to police and court records. She turned herself in Tuesday night, said Officer Chris Amos, police spokesman.Schools spokesman Vincent Rhodes said Sizow was a first-year social studies teacher and the girls’ swimming coach at Granby. She was accused of sending photos of herself  “in various stages of undress,” said Sgt....

NORFOLK, Va. - Family members of the 17 sailors killed in the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen want to use a new federal law to reopen their lawsuit seeking more than $100 million in damages from Sudan. A federal judge found last July that Sudan provided training and logistics that allowed al-Qaida terrorists to bomb the Norfolk-based Navy destroyer on Oct. 12, 2000.

If anyone has any info. regarding where to live. Single man...looking for a 'nice' area to live in. Will be working in Norfolk. Thanks very much.

ABOARD USS ENTERPRISE (NNS) -- Enterprise Strike Group (ENTSG), led by the strike group commander, Rear Adm. Dan Holloway, returned to its homeport of Norfolk, Dec. 19 after a five-month deployment in support of Maritime Security Operations, Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF), Iraqi oil platform protection, anti-piracy operations and the struggle against violent extremists. The more than 5,500 Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) traveled approximately 48,646 miles throughout the course of the deployment, doing everything from combat operations to diplomatic relations missions in the 6th and 5th fleet areas of responsibility (AOR). "The...

Bird flu outbreak detected in Norfolk By Felix Lowe and agencies Last Updated: 7:57pm GMT 12/11/2007 Around 7,500 birds are being slaughtered after a fresh case of avian flu was confirmed on a South Norfolk poultry holding. It is not yet known if the disease is the deadly H5NI strain that was detected nearby in February The H5 subtype of the disease was detected in turkeys on a farm at Redgrave, Norfolk, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said today after a conference with veterinary officials. It is not yet known if the tests had detected the...

NORFOLK (NNS) -- More than 7,300 Sailors from 17 commands and three staffs left their homeports Nov. 5 as Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) deployed to the Central Command Area of Operations as part of the ongoing rotation to support Maritime Security Operations in the region. According to Rear Adm. Bill Gortney, commander, Carrier Strike Group (CCSG) 10, the mission of the HSTCSG is to be ready, when called upon, to support theater commanders. He emphasized that throughout all operations, safety will remain a primary focus. "We are a robust strike group able to support the needs of...

NORFOLK--The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group will deploy Monday with nearly 7,500 sailors in support of maritime security operations. The strike group is commanded by Rear Adm. William E. Gortney, according to a Navy news release. Leaving from Norfolk will be the carrier Harry S. Truman, Carrier Air Wing Three, the guided missile destroyers Oscar Austin and Winston S. Churchill, the guided missile cruiser San Jacinto and the submarine Montpelier, the release said. The guided missile cruiser Hue City and the guided missile destroyer Carney will leave from Mayport, Fla. Also, the fast combat support ship Arctic will deploy...

NORFOLK (NNS) -- The hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) stopped at Naval Station Norfolk Oct. 15, to allow approximately 500 crew members to return to their home units and parent commands before Comfort travels to its lay berth in Baltimore. Comfort completed its four-month humanitarian assistance and training deployment to 12 Latin American and Caribbean nations Oct. 7. Comfort served as an enabling platform for U.S. medical professionals, including U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, Air Force, Army and non-government organizations Project Hope and Operation Smile, to provide more than 386,000 medical “encounters,” to more than 98,000 patients...

<p>Police in Norfolk, Va., are investigating whether an alleged attack against a 13-year-old boy that witnesses caught on tape Saturday was racially motivated, WAVY-TV reported Monday. The tape shows the victim, Damien O'Rourke, who is white, being violently beaten by a group of African American teenagers. According to the report, Damie and his mother, Reesha Price, said the fight was unprovoked and believe Damien was attacked because he is white. Damien said he was attacked while going to meet friends to play football. Price told WAVY-TV that she found her badly beaten son just blocks from her home after receiving a phone call alerting her to the attack Saturday afternoon. The family had just recently moved to the Norfolk area, WAVY-TV reported. Damien said one of his alleged attackers was among a group of students at his school that mistreated him because he was the new kid. Price told WAVY-TV that she now fears her son is being targeted because of his race. Norfolk police reportedly told WAVY-TV that their gang unit will be investigating the case.</p>

The McArthur, at Nauticus in Norfolk on Tuesday afternoon, is owned by Blackwater and has been outfitted for disaster response and training. Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot Related: Iraqi Prime Minister disputes Blackwater version of attack Special ReportBlackwater: Inside America's Private Army NORFOLK As it tries to weather a worldwide storm of negative publicity, Blackwater USA is hoping to find a little love this week on the Norfolk waterfront.The Moyock, N.C.-based private military company is hosting an invitation-only open house today and Thursday on board the McArthur, a training vessel recently acquired by its new maritime division.The ship is docked adjacent...

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A small fire broke out aboard a Navy guided missile cruiser Saturday, injuring five civilian workers, officials said. The workers were taken to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known. The USS Leyte Gulf was undergoing repairs and a renovation when the fire started Saturday morning, Norfolk Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Bruce Evans said. The blaze was put out by a portable extinguisher about 15 minutes after it began. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, though Evans said it appeared to be an industrial accident. The...

It was 40 years ago today, in the waters off Vietnam, that the crew of the USS Forrestal saw the gates of hell. A missile accidentally fired from a plane on the flight deck triggered a blazing inferno that would claim the lives of 134 men, two from New Jersey -- Francis Campeau of Bergenfield and Richard Vallone of Bridgewater. Not since World War II had a ship's crew sustained so many casualties. The Forrestal, the first of the Navy's newest class of super carriers left Norfolk, Va., in June 1967 for what was to be her first combat deployment....

At the Keen Mountain Correctional Center, a gray complex of poured concrete in rural southwest Virginia, Joseph Jesse Dick Jr. sits behind the thick glass pane of a prison interview booth like a specimen in an oversize shadow box. A man of delicate bearing with receding reddish brown hair, a sparse mustache and rectangular prison-issue glasses a bit wide on his long, gaunt face, Dick is here because he pleaded guilty to the 1997 rape and murder of his neighbor Michelle Moore-Bosko — a crime he now says he didn’t commit. And maybe he didn’t. Such proclamations of innocence are...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Over 400 Sailors of Navy Provisional Detainee Battalion (NPDB) 2 returned home to Naval Station Norfolk Aug. 11, after a 16-month deployment in Iraq where they guarded 19,000 detainees at Camp Bucca. “We definitely accomplished our mission," said Cmdr. Kathryn Donovan, commanding officer NPDB-2. "It’s an ongoing mission of detainee ops down in Camp Bucca, Iraq. I thought we did a great job as a unit. We had very few MAs, but everyone performed outside of their rate successfully,” The unit was comprised of 422 Sailors from both active-duty and reserve components. They received advanced combat...

And a lawsuit is being prepared. Norfolk passed an ILLEGAL 'no guns' ordinance a few months ago (no, I am NOT kidding) and ENFORCED that illegal ordinance against a VCDL member! Bad, bad, bad mistake. New firearms ordinances, other than those to control discharge or hunting, have been illegal in the Commonwealth since 1987! But Norfolk appears to have been passing a series of gun banning ordinances pertaining to various festivals that the City has put on over the years! Unbelievable. And Norfolk, of all places, KNOWS better than to do that. (VCDL has had TWO large turnouts at City...

After 23 years of service and four Battle Efficiency awards, the submarine USS Minneapolis-St. Paul will be decommissioned today in a ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The Los Angeles-class attack sub has been involved in 12 deployments since it was commissioned, the most recent being a six-month deployment to the North Atlantic. It has visited 26 different ports in its life span. It was the first submarine to carry Tomahawk missiles in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the first Persian Gulf War. The Minneapolis-St Paul was built in 1984. It is 360 feet long, 33 feet wide...

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Fisher greets his wife and seven-month-old daughter at a flight line homecoming on Naval Station Norfolk, Va., after returning with the "Rawhides" of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40, Detachment 3, May 21, 2007. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason R. Zalasky Sailors Return After Eight-Month Deployment Air Wing completes more than 11,000 sorties in war on terror. By Lt. Shannon Moore Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group Public Affairs NORFOLK, Va., May 23, 2007 — Pilots and air crew from Carrier Air Wing 7 embarked on board the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight...

April Maxwell, lured by the promise of the black college experience, with its distinct traditions and tight-knit campus life, enrolled at Hampton University in 2001 without even visiting the waterfront campus in Hampton, Va. A lesbian who is open about her sexual orientation, she arrived eager to join the extended Hampton family. Instead, she said, "I felt like I was the only gay person on campus -- it seemed like nobody was really out." Miss Maxwell, 24, channeled her isolation into organizing a support group, but a panel of students and faculty denied it a charter. The panel recently denied...

Key House Democrats plan to insist the Pentagon shut down the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and are contemplating the relocation of many of the 385 or so remaining terrorist suspects to military brigs along the East Coast -- including Quantico, Va., and Charleston, S.C. "It sets us back in the war on terrorism to be maintaining Guantanamo," said Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), who's heading an investigation of the facility for the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. "It will enhance our reputation to close it down and to apply our system of justice to all of these detainees," he added....

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2006 -- Eighteen cities and counties in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region are planning Freedom Walks to commemorate victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and show support for veterans past and present. Inspired by the 2005 America Supports You Freedom Walk, in Washington, D.C., Hampton Roads and several other cities nationwide are planning their own Freedom Walks, marking the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11. Each Freedom Walk will conclude with a ceremony, featuring speeches from local officials and patriotic music. Organizers of the walks say they anticipate 500 to 1,000 people will participate in each...

NORFOLK, Va. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is endorsing U-S Senator George Allen's re-election bid. Giuliani joined Allen today for a briefing on port security in Norfolk and a private fundraising luncheon in Virginia Beach. It is the second time in two weeks that Allen has appeared with a possible rival for the 2008 G-O-P presidential nomination. Giuliani is best known nationally for his leadership following the terrorist attacks on New York City five years ago. He has been traveling around the nation speaking on behalf of Republican candidates. Allen brought the popular former mayor with him to Hampton...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military has charged a U.S. Navy officer who worked as a lawyer at Guantanamo Bay with mailing classified information on foreign terrorism suspects there to an unauthorized person, the Navy said on Tuesday. Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz, stationed from July 2004 to January 2005 at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, faced a total of eight counts of three criminal charges and could spend 36 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all, the Navy said. Diaz, 40, was not charged with espionage and remains free, working at a Navy office in Jacksonville, Florida,...

NORFOLK - A Navy lawyer who was stationed at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with copying and sending secret information about detainees in U.S. custody to someone outside the government. Lt. Cmdr. Matthew M. Diaz could face more than 36 years in prison if convicted of three violations of military law. Diaz, now based in Jacksonville, Fla., is tentatively scheduled for a preliminary hearing in October in Norfolk, said Beth Baker, a spokeswoman for the Navy's Mid-Atlantic Region.According to the eight specific counts against him, which the Navy released Monday, Diaz deliberately made "a print out of classified secret information...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, Aug. 17, after an 18-month deployment under the Atlantic Fleet’s Sea Swap initiative. The crew that returned to Norfolk assumed command of the ship Feb. 22, and successfully completed a deployment to the Persian Gulf, Horn of Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. While deployed, Gonzalez was tasked with assisting non-combatant evacuation efforts in Lebanon. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel to arrive in support of the evacuation efforts. “We’re an air defense platform and that is our job; we provided air defense...

NORFOLK — A petty officer has been in the Norfolk Naval Station brig for more than four months facing espionage, desertion and other charges, but the Navy has refused to release details of the case. The case against Fire Control Technician 3rd Class Ariel J. Weinmann is indicative of the secrecy surrounding the Navy military court here, where public affairs and trial court officials have denied access to basic information including the court docket – a listing of cases to be heard. After months of requests, the Navy this week provided The Virginian-Pilot with Weinmann’s name, rank and the charges...