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Patriots' affiliate sues bond insurer to block fees Securities trouble boosted costs of financing stadium NPS, a Patriots' affiliate, issued bonds to finance the new stadium, but market woes drove up the costs. By Ross Kerber Globe Staff / July 16, 2008 An affiliate of the New England Patriots football team is playing defense on a new field: the market for auction-rate securities. The Foxborough team affiliate has sued Ambac Assurance Corp., the big bond insurer, in a dispute similar to a raft of others in which institutional borrowers found that policies they took out didn't guarantee low interest rates...

Code Pink was sickly sweet in our presence on Wednesday night, trying to look good in front of their pot luck dinner attendees. We were offered ice cream cones, soda, beer and to participate in their pot luck dinner. All declined since we didn’t have the antidote to strychnine or a shower was not close by. In the Politico article Some on left target McCain's war record, “Suzzie” Medea Benjamin was quoted as saying: "I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero," said Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the theatrical anti-war group Code Pink. "In...

It may not be much of a deal to most Americans, but to we Philadelphians, Saturday is Flag Day. Betsy Ross was once a member of my church, Old St. George’s (America’s first and world’s oldest Methodist Church). Contrary to what the National Park Service contends, there is concrete proof she crafted the first American Flag. Philadelphians will gather for an observation in front of her home on Arch Street. Another tradition is the annual radio broadcast "I am Your Flag" by Bob Nelson, aired on KYW 1060 AM, Philadelphia’s All-News station. KYW NewsRadio and its anchors are an institution...

Video - Memo to Mr. Obama: This is the America your preacher damns. We ARE the good guys and sometimes, when talking doesn't work, you just have to go kill the bad guys. Learn your history.

Today's column is for those of us who grew up, unlike Michelle Obama, proud of being American. Some of us have stood at the gentle slopes overlooking Arlington National Cemetery and smelled the freshly cut lawn of summer, felt the blustery wind chill of autumn, and the quiet white of winter's blanket; each season nourishing the stone soldiers. No other place on Earth will make you as proud to be an American patriot. Listen carefully in quiet solitude and you can hear the ping and clack of spent brass ammunition falling on metal and wood. You can hear in the...

BAYJI, Iraq – The Sons of Iraq are quietly making large strides in the northern Iraqi city of Bayji, along with soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. Although more often than not, changes here go unrecognized, Bulldog Soldiers are quick to recognize the transformation of their battle space. “Without witnessing what goes on in our cities every day, it’s most likely that someone wouldn’t understand the importance of these seemingly small changes,” said Capt. Michael Sykes, battalion adjutant. Sykes said numerous roads have been opened, easing travel restrictions and making commuting...

4/24/2008 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff of the Air Force T. Michael Moseley have issued the following letter highlighting the contributions of America's Airmen: Airmen, This past Monday, the Secretary of Defense delivered an address at Maxwell AFB to the students of our Air War College and Air Command and Staff College. Initial press coverage of his remarks misrepresented the tone and content of his address. Whereas some press reports characterized Secretary Gates as making a singular critique about one Service's commitment to the Global War on Terror, his...

MISSION - Volunteers with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps have returned to the Rio Grande Valley. Participating in a month-long "muster" along the Rio Grande in Mission, the group hopes to aid federal authorities in stopping immigrants, criminal aliens and others from crossing the border illegally. The organization began patrolling the area between the Hidalgo International Bridge and the Los Ebanos International Ferry on March 29. Using night vision goggles, camouflaged vehicles and high-tech radios the group is credited with stopping thousands of illegal border crossers over the past several years. Although volunteers have no authority to detain illegal crossers,...

A Hundred Thousand Motorcycle Riders (Well quite a few hundred) infiltrated Berkeley along with hundreds of others who drove cages and used other forms of transportation (Tunnels with Trains) in Support of our Troops and the Marine Officer Selection Recritiment Office in the California town that is trying to withdraw from the human race and The United States Of America.Well, that's my take on the actions of Berkeley whose very existance depends on our country being well armed and manned by Military Personell.I arrived about 11AM, although my camera thought it was 10The speakers were scheduled to speak in an...

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Matt Walsh, the former New England Patriots employee said to have tapes of illegal spying by the team, is close to an agreement to turn over information to the NFL. The NFL said in a statement Sunday night that in the last week, lawyers for Walsh and the league have made "substantial progress toward an agreement that will allow Mr. Walsh to be interviewed." "Both sides are optimistic that any remaining issues can be addressed successfully and they are committed to reaching a full agreement as promptly as possible," the statement added. Walsh, a golf pro in Hawaii, has been...

Frustrated at the obstacles confronting his investigation of "Spygate," Sen. Arlen Specter accused the New England Patriots of "stonewalling" on Friday and suggested the NFL might never get around to questioning key witness Matt Walsh, a former Patriots video assistant. Specter's comments are in stark contrast to remarks on Wednesday from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who told reporters that the NFL was moving toward an agreement that would allow Walsh to tell what he knows about the Patriots' spying practices without fear of being sued.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl and ended the season with a perfect 19-0 record -- at least it looks that way in Nicaragua. The NFL donated 290 Patriots hats and an equal number of team jerseys trumpeting the slogans "Super Bowl Champions, 19-0" to impoverished children from two small communities in southern Nicaragua. Thursday's gifts could not change history -- the Patriots lost the Feb. 3 game to the New York Giants 17-14 -- but they made a lot of youngsters in the communities of San Gregorio and Buena Vista very happy, said...

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel has deployed a battery of U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles near the northern port city of Haifa as part of precautions against a possible attack by Lebanon's Hezbollah in response to the assassination last week of the group's top commander, Israeli security officials said Monday.The officials said the battery was put on standby Sunday for the first time since Israel's monthlong war with Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, when the Lebanese guerrillas fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel. The Israeli military said it was not its policy to comment on what a spokesman called...

Patriots coach Bill Belichick and vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli issued a broad denial Sunday in a report on The Boston Globe's Web site regarding suggestions by a former employee that their team taped a St. Louis Rams walk-through before the 2002 Super Bowl. "In my entire coaching career, I've never seen another team's practice film prior to playing that team," Belichick told the newspaper Sunday. "I have never authorized, or heard of, or even seen in any way, shape, or form any other team's walk-through. We don't even film our own. We don't even want to see...

The lawyer for Matt Walsh, a former Patriots employee who has hinted he has tapes that could prove damaging to the team, including one of the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, said his client will turn over those tapes to the NFL if the league will agree to indemnify Walsh as long as he tells the truth.

A day after meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in Washington, Sen. Arlen Specter said he continues to be troubled by a number of issues surrounding the league's handling of Spygate and will continue his investigation. Specter, R-Pa., told ESPN.com that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., offered support Thursday for his inquiry into the New England Patriots' questionable videotaping practices, saying Leahy is "prepared to have the committee pay for people who travel and investigate." Leahy sat in on a part of Wednesday's session with Goodell and league counsel, Specter said. Sen. Arlen Specter, ranking Republican on the Senate...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bill Belichick has been illegally taping opponents' defensive signals since he became the New England Patriots' coach in 2000, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told him that during a meeting Wednesday. "There was confirmation that there has been taping since 2000, when Coach Belichick took over," Specter said. Specter said Goodell gave him that information during the 1-hour, 40-minute meeting, which was requested by Specter so the commissioner could explain his reasons for destroying the Spygate tapes and notes.

The revelation that the New England Patriots secretly videotaped the New York Giants, to decipher hand signals and review practice sessions, should leave a sour taste in the mouth of all sports fans. The football gods decided that the just punishment for the Patriots was to have the Giants upset them by scoring late into the fourth quarter leaving them no time to recover. Las Vegas casinos and sports bookies couldn’t be happier. The Patriots’ Super Bowl loss comes after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined the team’s head coach $500,000, the Patriots organization $250,000 and took away one of the...

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday at the Pro Bowl that the NFL is willing to give former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh legal indemnification for any information and materials he would provide to the league regarding his work with the Patriots.

Dear Senator Specter, With all due respect, but given your abysmal failures over the last 40 years of not being able to find yourself a real job, can you please leave our sports alone until after the off season? Or does your fragile ego require that you get in the way on the biggest day of the season so that it is about YOU and not the game? Why have you confused public service with a career of helping to destroy our republic at the expense of satisfying your pathetic self existence? What is it about this potential story that...

PHOENIX - A member of the New England Patriots' video staff taped the St. Louis Rams' last walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl, a Boston newspaper reported Saturday. The NFL, however, said it was satisfied this was not another Spygate. New England Patriots chairman and owner Robert Kraft, center, is seen as the team gets ready for a team photo at University of Phoenix Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008 in Glendale, Ariz. The Patriots will play the New York Giants in the Super Bowl XLII football game on Sunday, Feb. 3 "We were aware of the rumor months ago...

Thousands waited outside the Flour Bluff entrance to Naval Air Station-Corpus Christie, expecting a confrontation with the members of the Westboro Baptist Church members, but they never came. The crowd instead showed support for U. S. Soldiers.

Well, we liked to think it wouldn't happen. We acted like the Patriots' spying scandal would never resurface again. So much for that. The Boston Herald quoted a source who said that on the eve of their first Super Bowl win, the Patriots videotaped a St. Louis Rams walkthrough. Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh has hinted to a few media organizations that he has some seriously damaging info on the Pats' videotaping practices. And suddenly, a compelling Super Bowl just got a lot more compelling. This is not going away. It will not go away. And it raises all...

OFFICIAL FR SUPER BOWL XLII LIVE THREAD NEW YORK GIANTS VS NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS Sunday February 3, 2008 At University of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, AZ 6:17PM ET TV Network: FOX

An unnamed source has claimed a New England Patriots employee secretly videotaped the St. Louis Rams' pre-game walkthrough the day before Super Bowl XXXVI, the Boston Herald reported Saturday.

You're rooting for the Patriots to lose. I don't blame you. If they weren't my team, I'd probably be rooting against them too. I understand your dislike. The boredom of perfection. The unsporting offensive onslaught. The records broken. That cover boy with the dimples at quarterback. Spygate. Really, when you look closely, what's to like? But I come from a different place. I remember the first Patriots championship appearance. It was January 1964 and I was nine years old. The Pats suffered a 51-10 blowout....

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2008 – Despite a challenging recruiting environment, all four branches of the military have met with significant recruiting success in the past year and are on target to continue that success, the services’ recruiting chiefs told a Congressional committee yesterday. In fiscal 2007, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps all exceeded their active-duty enlisted recruiting goals, and only the Air Force fell slightly short of its goal on the reserve-component side, the officers in charge of recruitment for the four services said at a hearing of the personnel subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee....

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Associated Press PHOENIX — Tom Brady was back where he belongs Monday, behind center for the New England Patriots' first practice session of Super Bowl week. The NFL's Most Valuable Player missed three practices last week with a tender right ankle, which was taped for Monday's training at Arizona State in nearby Tempe. According to the Chicago Tribune's Dan Pompei, the designated pool reporter, the star quarterback appeared to have a slight limp but participated in all phases of practice, including jogging the length of the field twice at the end of drills. Coach Bill Belichick, as usual, declined to...

OKLAHOMA CITY -- She went to her bedroom and cried that night, not because of what the man said but because she knew the whole world was wrong. One hundred and five faxes, 104 "no"s, and it was about to end there, on a harsh winter day, when Wes Welker sat at a long table at the University of Tulsa. All he wanted was a scholarship. If you sign Wes, his mama said, you won't be sorry. If you sign Wes, he'll change your program. The coach turned to Shelley Welker and sized up her 5-foot-9 son. "Well, my mother...

FOXBOROUGH - Tom Brady may have an actual reason to be on the injury report for Super Bowl XLII. The quarterback, who has played in 126 straight games despite being a staple of the injury ledger because of his right shoulder, was photographed in New York City yesterday with what appeared to be a walking boot on his right foot. The gossip website TMZ.com posted a 1-minute-18-second video clip featuring Brady and his supermodel girlfriend Gisele Bundchen in New York. On the video, a hooded Brady, who is seen carrying a duffel bag and flowers, is noticeably favoring his right...

Fans of the New England Patriots had to be swallowing hard Monday when pictures of quarterback Tom Brady sporting a walking cast on his right foot surfaced. A video taken of Brady in New York Sunday, which is available on TMZ.com, shows the NFL's MVP returning to girlfriend Gisele Bundchen's apartment. He's walking gingerly on the sidewalk after emerging from a black SUV parked on the street. During his weekly appearance on WEEI's "Dennis and Callahan" show, Brady didn't dismiss the notion he had suffered some type of leg injury during Sunday's AFC Championship win. "Ah, you know, there's always...

OFFICIAL FR NFL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME SUNDAY LIVE THREAD JANUARY 20TH, 2008 AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME @ 3:00PM ET - CBS NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME @ 6:30PM ET - FOX

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Perfection comes down to one game now. Despite a shaky Tom Brady, the New England Patriots were still too much for the banged-up San Diego Chargers in the AFC championship game Sunday, pulling out a 21-12 victory that sent them back to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven seasons. Brady made several stunningly poor throws that fluttered in the wind, Randy Moss was a non-factor for the second straight game and the highest-scoring team in NFL history sputtered all afternoon. Instead, the Patriots (18-0) relied on Laurence Maroney's spins, cuts and helmet-rattling runs. With...

One of the NFL's top athletes is in trouble again. New England Patriot's wide receiver Randy Moss has been hit with a temporary injunction for protection against dating violence. According to the affidavit Moss committed a battery upon the victim causing serious injury and then refused to allow her to seek medical attention.

PATROL BASE CORREGIDOR, Iraq — OK, Spc. Matthew Brustien admits he is a New York Giants fan. But it was the New England Patriots who sent the 26-year-old soldier an American flag signed by the team members. On Wednesday, fellow soldiers of Bravo Company, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) posed for a photo with the signed flag. Brustien said he is going to have the troop sign an American flag to send to the Patriots, along with a serious and funny photo from the recent photo taking, along with pictures of the entire troop in...

She calls herself My Rice Girl and there’s no denying she’s a dish, but the mysterious topless Patriots [team stats] fanatic emerging as an Internet shooting star can now be revealed. Meet Cheryl Ling - a kind of Lucille Ball meets Toyko Rose, rapping and jiggling beneath dollar-bill pasties in a so-far successful attempt to undermine the confidence of NFL teams that mean to block New England from a fourth Super Bowl championship. “Being Chinese, being an Asian woman, it’s impossible for people to believe I’m a football fan. I have to prove my fandom,” Ling said in a phone...

What a whiner and crybaby old man is Don Shula. I mean really Don, get over it. No matter how good the Patriots do in 2007-2008 it doesnt effect how good you were. You are still as good as you were before the "perfect season" of the Pats. You are embarassing yourself and football generally by your whining about spygate, etc. PS: If your best team ever played the 2007 Pats, you would lose by 50-3. At least.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - With one mighty heave, Tom Brady and Randy Moss took care of the record books. Now it's down to business for the unbeaten New England Patriots: stamping themselves as the greatest team in NFL history. The Patriots completed a perfect if somewhat joyless journey through the regular season Saturday night, finishing with a remarkable 16-0 record following a thrilling 38-35 comeback victory over the New York Giants. New England became the first NFL team since the 1972 Dolphins to win every game on the schedule, and that one was only 14-0. This victory required a...

Will the Patriots make history tonight and go 16-0? The game takes place in the Meadowlands, but playing on the road has not stopped the Patriots this year. Will the Hillary Curse affect the Giants? Has Hillary always been a Giants fan? Is John Kerry's favorite player Randy Brady? We shall find out the answers soon. 8:15 Eastern on CBS and NBC.

League announces that game, in which New England could be the first NFL team ever to go 16-0, will now be available to every TV viewer in the country. NEW YORK (AP) -- The New England Patriots' shot at history Saturday night will be available to every television viewer in the country after months of wrangling. Their game against the New York Giants, in which the Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season, was originally scheduled to be shown only on the NFL Network. Fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with...

NEW YORK -- The New England Patriots' shot at history Saturday night will be available for every household in the country with a television after months of wrangling. The game against the New York Giants, in which the Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season, was originally scheduled to be shown only on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs. But the league announced Wednesday that the NFL Network feed will be simulcast on NBC and CBS. It's a major concession by league...

There ... I've said it.

More people watched the New England Patriots squeeze past the Baltimore Ravens on ESPN's "Monday Night Football" than viewed any other program in the history of cable TV. Game drew a total aud of 17.5 million viewers, besting the previous record of 17.2 million set in August by Disney Channel's "High School Musical 2." The Patriots are undefeated and could end up as the second NFL team ever to go through an entire season without a loss (the Miami Dolphins did it in 1972). ESPN's Monday cablecast of the Patriots-Ravens bout finished first for the night among programs on all...

I was going to post MY OWN "after-action report" from the AMAZING rally for Fred Thompson [with Tom McClintck, John Zeigler -- and JERI !] this morning in Southern California......but since Curt from Flopping Aces did such a GREAT JOB, I'll just post a link to HIS report, and add my comments to THIS thread. :o) Plus, Flopping Aces now has the FULL VIDEO of Fred's speech posted online here:www.floppingaces.net/2007/12/01/a-visit-from-fred-thompson ..so you can watch the whole thing online FOR YOURSELF!It's almost like being there LIVE!

Eagles Vs. Patriots Good game so far.

PHILADELPHIA -- Just three seasons after being separated by just three points in Super Bowl XXXIX, the gap between the Patriots and Eagles has widened to historic proportions: Philly is a 23½-point underdog. That is the largest point spread for an NFL game that does not involve an expansion team, according to odds-making experts in Las Vegas. On Dec. 5, 1976, the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers were 24-point underdogs to the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers covered easily, winning 42-0. "Nowadays, you don't see too many spreads over 16 or 17 points," said Sean Van Patten, an...

Hall of Fame coach Don Shula tried to clarify his comments about the effect the "Spygate" scandal would have on any records that may be achieved by this season's New England Patriots. Shula told ESPN's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on Thursday that if the Patriots finish with a perfect record to match that of his 1972 Dolphins, then there "shouldn't be any attachment to it," referring to a possible asterisk next to New England's name in the record books. "If they run the table, and they win all the games, then they are doing it within the rules...

Dolphins Hall of Fame coach Don Shula clarified his comments on the Patriots' "Spygate" scandal today, telling ESPN's "Mike and Mike in the Morning" that New England's accomplishments should not have an asterisk attached to them. more stories like this "If they run the table, and they win all the games, then they are doing it within the rules of the National Football League," Shula said. "And there shouldn't be any asterisk to it. That would be the accomplishment that they made. It would be the best in all of sports." Shula's 1972 Dolphins team had a perfect 14-0 record....