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Mr. Hashim Abd Al-Amir Mahdi, owner of the Miran Company and operator of the new Joint Base Balad Container Repair facility shares a light moment with Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Crabtree of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The facility is yet another project of the burgeoning Iraqi based industrial zones initiate that provides Iraqis with economic growth opportunities on the perimeters of installations of Coalition forces. Photo by Staff Sgt. Lesley Newport. JOINT BASE BALAD — In a region where many men are often judged on their ability to thwart progress, he is counted among a growing number that...

RALEIGH, N.C. — A combative Barack Obama said Tuesday that Republican John McCain “doesn’t know what he’s up against” in this election and challenged his rival to stop questioning his character and patriotism. Obama, campaigning in a state where he hopes to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in more than three decades, implored his supporters to fight for the presidency. “Our job in this election is not just ‘win,’ although I’m a big believer in winning,” Obama said during the rally. “I don’t intend to lose this election. John McCain doesn’t know what he’s up against.”

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)-If the trends of the past three decades continue, it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now, a government-funded study projects. The figure might sound alarming, or impossible, but researchers say that even if the actual rate never reaches the 100-percent mark, any upward movement is worrying; two-thirds of the population is already overweight....

Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee. Fresh from his presidential-style world tour, during which foreign leaders and American generals lined up to show him affection, Obama settled down to some presidential-style business in Washington yesterday. He ordered up a teleconference with the (current president's) Treasury secretary, granted an audience to the Pakistani prime minister and had his staff arrange for the chairman of the Federal Reserve to give him a briefing. Then, he went up to Capitol Hill to be adored by House Democrats in a presidential-style pep rally. Along the...

http://msunderestimated.com/2008/07/05/an-unrepentant-proud-american/

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi marking the anniversary of the U.S. air raid on Libya. The address aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 11, 2008: Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: It has been proven that there is no democracy in [the U.S.]. Rather, it is a dictatorship no different than the dictatorships of Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, and the rest of the tyrants. In the days of crazy Reagan, the American president issued a presidential order to launch a war against Libya, for example, a presidential order to besiege Libya, a...

Thanks for serving...

2 Kings 5 1 Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she waited on Naaman's wife. 3 She said to her mistress, "I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his...

Great pics of the 'Angels. Graphic heavy...

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2008 – Marine Capt. John Sand knows what it takes to be a good college student: go to class, read the book, and take good notes. And, for him, first spend four years in the Marine Corps. Marine Capt. John Sand is telling his story to audiences around the country as part of the Defense Department’s “Why We Serve” public-outreach program. Defense Department photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. This realization came after Sand spent a few years as a not-so-good college student after high school, he said. “I had a 0.8 grade point average...

“For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.” These are not the words found on the message boards of Daily Kos, nor in a press release from Code Pink. They are words uttered only last week by the person who could soon become the First Lady of the United States. And it wasn’t a slip of the tongue. Later the same day, Michelle Obama repeated the same thought, though this time crediting her newfound pride in America to people being “hungry for change.” Really,...

I recently attended a District Republican meeting. I was wearing one of my Republican logo'd shirts. And there I was, in a room FULL of Republicans .... and I was the only one who seemed proud enough to be a Republican to show it. Save for the GOP Flag, there was not one other Republican Logo in the room. Well, except for a Republican logo on a guy's binder — that was facing left. (Logo faces right, friends.) New Slogan: The Republican Party: The Invisible Party. Oh yeah. Go to the convention and wear your Elephants. Sing to the choir....

Election 2008: Michelle Obama didn't seem to think there was anything in her country to be proud of until her husband's presidential campaign took off. Maybe she should drop the politics and open a newspaper.Barack Obama tried to play down his wife's statement, but it's not the sort of remark that can be spun away. To say that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country," and trying to justify it as pride in a political campaign, carries a casually stark assumption that there's nothing within this country that's really worth praising. But...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Feb. 20, 2008 – Army Pvt. William Gentry was nervous and anxious to see what Iraq was like when he received his deployment notice. Until he deployed, the Austin, Texas, native had never been outside the United States. Army Pvt. William Gentry, a native of Austin, Texas, stands watch during a patrol with Company B, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Multinational Division Baghdad. Photo by Sgt. Brad Willeford, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “My heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Feb. 8, 2008 – A long way from his family, friends and hunting, Army Pvt. Benjamin Raulerson, a native of Jacksonville, Ala., is here helping his unit rid northwestern Baghdad of terrorism and criminal activity. Army Pvt. Benjamin Raulerson, a native of Jacksonville, Ala., who is assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Multinational Division Baghdad, walks on patrol in the northwestern Baghdad area. Photo by Sgt. Brad Willeford, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In his first month in Iraq, the 22-year-old infantryman has...

Stephen Schork, a former trader at Nymex and editor of the oil market Schork Report told the Financial Times: "A local trader just spent about $600 in a trading loss to buy the right to tell his grandchildren he was the one who did it. "Probably he is framing right now the print reflecting the trade," he added.

Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth. The announcement, which is expected within weeks and could come as early as Monday at the annual meeting of his scientific institute in San Diego, California, will herald a giant leap forward in the development of designer genomes. It is certain to provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species and could unlock the door to new...

  Avoiding False Hope and Pride VAIN is the man who puts his trust in men, in created things. Do not be ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ and to seem poor in this world. Do not be self-sufficient but place your trust in God. Do what lies in your power and God will aid your good will. Put no trust in your own learning nor in the cunning of any man, but rather in the grace of God Who helps the humble and humbles the proud. If you have wealth, do not glory in...

Harry Potter and "the Death of God" - by Michael D. O'Brien Special to LifeSiteNews.com Editor's Note: LifeSiteNews.com, the news service which first put online the letter signed by Cardinal Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict XVI - against the Harry Potter books, is proud to present Michael O'Brien's latest essay on the Potter series.  The author, North America's foremost Potter critic, has written many articles that analyze in detail the Harry Potter novels. Here he reflects on the significance of the series as a whole. Well, July 21st has come and gone and the world is muggling onward. The date,...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE RUSTAMIYAH — Iraqi Soldiers and police officers creep in file along the dusty path, ignoring or pretending to ignore the escalating heat. Their boots hitting the dusty trail are the only sound, the lonely road the only scenery. Suddenly, one of them notices a large white delivery truck parked off the road amongst some trees. While the rest pull security, he checks the deliveryman and his truck for any weapons or explosives. Everything is okay, so the patrol sets off again. Throughout the day there are other challenges, such as angry mobs and suspicious boxes. It’s all...

"Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility."—Proverbs 18:12. ALMOST every event has its prophetic prelude. It is an old and common saying, that "coming events cast their shadows before them;" the wise man teaches us the same lesson in the verse before us. When destruction walks through the land, it casts its shadow; it is in the shape of pride. When honor visits a man's house, it casts its shadow before it; it is in the fashion of humility. "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty;" pride is as surely the sign of...

WASHINGTON, July 15, 2007 – Each day, as the nation’s volunteer military men and women perform their mission in Iraq and Afghanistan, they know the enemy they’re up against employs uncommon tactics and weapons. They know that a simple misstep could cause disfigurement or death. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, center, poses with four Purple Heart recipients at a reception at the Marine Corps Barracks in Washington, D.C., July 13, 2007. With him, from left, are Marine Sgt. Nicholas Wahle, Army Cpl. Mathew Murray, Navy Senior Chief David L. Hall and Air Force Senior...

The Moscow government has officially rejected the organization of gay pride parade in Russia's capital, RIA Novosti reports with reference to security agencies of the city authorities. The organizers of the gay pride parade officially informed the Moscow administration of their intention to hold the event in the city at the end of May, officials said. Moscow's first gay parade in 2006 ended with clashes and arrests

PARIS, May 6 -- Nicolas Sarkozy, the combative son of a Hungarian immigrant, was elected president of France on Sunday, promising a new generation of leadership to transform the country, restore its self-respect and reinvigorate ties with the United States and Europe. Sarkozy, a member of the ruling party and France's former top law enforcement officer, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal, who waged a determined battle to become France's first elected female head of state, by a 53 percent to 47 percent vote, according to final results. Voter turnout was a near-record 84 percent.

Each Sunday morning where my wife and I worship we admit that we are public sinners. Upon an invitation from the pastor, we join in what is called the General Confession. The words are incisive and solemn. We admit that we have sinned against God, in “thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have failed to do.” It is a general statement, and we are not called upon to stand up and say publicly what particular sins we have committed. Now and then I worship in churches that offer written forms of confession that...

A new sermon has been added to the Life and Liberty Ministries website. "Sermons and Audio Clips" It is entitled, "Pride and the Christian". It is an important message for believers today.

BAGHDAD -- One of the top priorities for the mayor of Mahmudiyah is rebuilding his city’s downtown market. “It’s the heart of our community,” Muayid Fadhil said.“We are going to build a new market as a memorial to those innocent men, women and children who have been killed there,” Fadhil said. “It will tell the insurgents we will never give up, they cannot stop us.”That market has been the target of numerous insurgent attacks in the past year. Currently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing a $245,372 project to construct new market stalls with overhead cover, and...

   by Fr. James Farfaglia Other Articles by Fr. James FarfagliaContact this Author Envy — It’s a Killer 11/04/06 Quick — what do Cain, Satan, and Claudias (Uncle of Hamlet) have in common? And do you have it in common with them? In This Article...Bad CompanyThe Envy Trap Be Transformed Bad Company I’m talking here about envy, one of the seven deadly sins. They all had it — Satan still has it — and if you have it, well, suffice it to say you may not want to be in their company. To diagnose whether you have envy — or whether...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2006 -- Leaders of major veterans organizations joined Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson here today in launching an effort to “kindle a new spark of patriotism” by asking men and women who have served in the military to wear their medals on Veterans Day. Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson, along with leaders of major veterans organizations, announces the Veterans Pride Initiative at the Department of Veterans Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C., Oct. 18. VA photo   '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "We are announcing a ‘Veterans Pride Initiative’ to remind Americans of the...

Life and Liberty Ministries asks that you let your voice be heard! WARNING! THIS CALL TO ACTION CONTAINS OBSCENE AND OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE! Gay Pride Virginia presented its Pride Fest at the 17th Street Farmers Market in the City of Richmond on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006. Life and Liberty Ministries was there to share the Gospel with the attendees. The event sponsors stated the following on the Gay Pride Virginia website, "The event will be family friendly so feel free to bring the kids for face painting, balloons and magic! Vendors and food and beverage stands and will be set up...

Satan's Arsenal"The Seven Deadly Sins" Peter and Paul Ministries 1)The SIN of PRIDE:Pride is the "mother of all sins" and is the cause of every other sin. Pride is an excessive self-love. Examples of Pride:* Boasting* Arrogance* Inordinate exaltation of oneself* The total rejection of the Catholic Church.* Stating one is already saved.* Picking and choosing Catholic teachings one wishes to follow. 2) The SIN of GREED:Greed wants to get its " fair share" and much more.The unquenchable desire for money or material possessions. Examples of Greed:* The love of money* Obsessive consumerism * Living beyond ones means *...

Britain must regain a pride in its identity, Chief Rabbi warns By Jonathan Wynne-Jones (Filed: 17/09/2006) A crisis of national and social identity is undermining Britain's efforts to integrate its immigrant population, according to the Chief Rabbi. Sir Jonathan Sacks told The Sunday Telegraph that multiculturalism had led to segregation and a country that was no longer confident of what it stood for. Sir Jonathan: 'Britain used to know who and what it was' It needed to regain a sense of pride in being British, he said, but must be less afraid to allow ethnic minorities to contribute to society,...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Monday signed a bill that would bar condominium and homeowner associations from restricting how the American flag can be displayed. Sponsored by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., the resolution would prohibit those groups from preventing residents from displaying an American flag on their own property. It was passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate.

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2006 – Watching TV coverage of Marines from their former unit helping Americans leave Beirut churns up a host of emotions for former Marines who served there when a barracks was bombed in October 1983. Marine Gen. P.X. Kelley (left) and Col. Tim Geraghty (right) take then-Vice President George H.W. Bush on a tour around the site of the Beirut barracks bombing two days after the Oct. 23, 1983, explosion killed 241 servicemembers, mostly Marines, at the Beirut International Airport. Photo by Randy Gaddo   Randy Gaddo was a Marine staff sergeant with the 24th Marine Amphibious...

Ottawa Pride saved from untimely demise CAPITAL PRIDE / Not-for-profit fronts $20,000 for struggling Pride fest Jefferson Mendoza / Capital Xtra / Monday, July 10, 2006 A unifying moment for Ottawa's queer community occurred today when it was announced that Capital Xtra -- under the paper's parent company Pink Triangle Press -- will be providing the emergency funding of $20,000 to the Pride Committee Of Ottawa-Gatineau. Representatives from both organizations shook hands at the Human Rights Memorial, just in front of city hall, during the announcement. The 2006 Pride festival will be renamed Capital Pride, not inspired from the paper's...

<p>Here's to the Freepers - I love you guys... please have a safe and happy Independance Day! Pray for us all and fire off as many explosive decorations as possible (or legal).</p>

Hello my fellow Freepers. How are you today?I am writing this vanity out of sense of frustration more than anything else. Last weekend I was in San Francisco with two of my children when I noticed the massive amounts of congestion caused by a few loudmouthed, deviant perverts from the homosexual community. I had forgotten that this is their "Gay Pride" week and much to my chagrin and the embarrassment my sons experienced when those less modest sodomites gleefully strolled down the streets and sidewalks, I couldn't help but wonder why this nation continues to support this corrupt, vial city...

Barring a miracle, there will be no Pride Week Festival in Ottawa this year, festival organizers say, after city council rejected please for emergency funding yesterday. Somerset Councillor Diane Holmes asked councillors and the mayor to grant $20,000 to help get this year's event - the 20th anniversary edition - off the ground. But the plea fell mostly on deaf ears, and the move was defeated on a vote of 15 to 3.Ms. Holmes then tried to get councillors and the mayor to agree to give organizers $12,000 to pay for insurance so a small-scale festival could be held. This...

When it comes to national pride, Americans are No. 1, according to a survey of 34 countries' patriotism. Venezuela came in a close second in the survey, released Tuesday by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. People rated how proud they were of their countries in 10 areas: political influence, social security, the way their democracy works, economic success, science and technology, sports, arts and literature, military, history, and fair treatment of all groups in society. In the U.S., "the two things we rank high on are what we think of as the political or power...

June 25, 2006 — Few people have enjoyed the same access to President George W. Bush's mind as his head speech writer of seven years, Michael Gerson. He is the latest of the administration's top aides to resign, but is proud of the work he did while in the White House. Named one of Time magazine's 25 most influential evangelical Christians, the Bush administration said Gerson is leaving for new career options. "There's no way to replace him," top presidential advisor Karl Rove told The New York Times. "He is a once-in-a-generation. He helped take the president on his best...

We have a real opportunity to turn a city around FOREVER here and embarrass the heck out of the gay lobby. As a previous post mentioned, the Ottawa Pride parade and festival was NOT granted the money it requested by the committee. Now it goes to full City Council on Wednesday. The gay lobby is stepping up and pushing Council to grant the necessary money, as they have struggled to get the money needed with little corporate support. If it does not come, the event could be PERMANENTLY lost. It would be the second large North American city to watch...

The following statement was issued June 21 by the Communist Party USA and Young Communist League in honor of Pride Month. The month of June has been designated as Pride Month in celebration of the struggles and achievements of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States. This coming weekend marks the anniversary of the uprising that occurred at the Stonewall Inn on June 27, 1969, in New York City. The uprising, in response to bar raids and attacks by the police, was led by working-class gay and transgender people, many of whom were Black or Latino, and...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - The largest U.S. Presbyterian Church body approved a measure on Tuesday that would open the way for the ordination of gays and lesbians under certain circumstances. The new policy was approved on a vote of 57-43 percent among 500 church representatives at the biennial meeting of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. It gives local church organizations more leeway in deciding if gays can be ordained as lay deacons and elders as well as clergy, provided they are faithful to the church's core values. "It permits local governing bodies to examine candidates on a wider criterion than sexual...

Pride Festival Denied Funding Josh Pringle Tuesday, June 20, 2006 Organizers of Ottawa-Gatineau Pride Week say the future of the festival is in jeopardy. The comments were made after a City of Ottawa committee rejected a request for 20 million dollars in emergency funding. The Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee did approve 30-thousand dollars in city services and debt forgiveness. Vice-Chair of the Pride Week Committee Tamara Stammis says the board will have to meet to decide their next step. Stammis says the cash request was an important element for the festival. Councillor Diane Holmes tells CFRA News "is...

A Catholic priest preached yesterday at the main worship service associated with Boston's gay pride week, setting up a potential conflict with a church hierarchy that has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of the growing acceptance of gay relationships in Western societies.The Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, a longtime advocate of outreach to gays and lesbians in the Catholic Church, did not criticize or dispute Catholic teaching during his remarks, and he quoted several times from a 1997 document issued by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which declared that ``the teachings of the Church make it clear that the...

Two weeks ago, I pointed out that we live in something close to the best of times, with record worldwide economic growth and at a low point in armed conflict in the world. Yet Americans are in a sour mood, a mood that may be explained by the lack of a sense of history. The military struggle in Iraq (nearly 2,500 military deaths) is spoken of in as dire terms as Vietnam (58,219), Korea (54,246) or World War II (405,399). We bemoan the cruel injustice of $3 a gallon for gas in a country where three-quarters of people classified as...

Victor Davis Hanson: And here at home? There are few Ernie Pyles in Iraq to record the heroism of our soldiers; no John Fords to film their valor — but legions to write ad nauseam of Abu Ghraib, and to make up stories of flushed Korans and Americans terrorizing Iraqi women and children. The Haditha courts-martial is out in the Gulf, gathering strength.  It has the potential to be an order of magnitude worse than Abu Ghraib.  It will make land fall in about two weeks, and it will be a Category 5 storm.IF atrocities have been committed, they are...

American soldiers in Iraq have shown the best of this country. There may be a lot to regret about the past policy of the United States in the Middle East, but the removal of Saddam Hussein and the effort to birth democracy in his place is surely not one of them. And we should remember that this Memorial Day. Whatever our righteous anger at Khomeinist Iran, it was wrong, well aside from the arms-for-hostages scandal, to provide even a modicum of aid to Saddam Hussein, the great butcher of his own, during the Iran-Iraq war. Inviting the fascist Baathist government...

VIRGINIA BEACH-Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson is warning that, according to God, storms and possibly a tidal wave will pound America's coastline this year.

TORONTO (CP) - A female Canadian soldier killed in combat Wednesday in Afghanistan described missing her daily Tim Hortons coffee and feeling the pride of wearing the uniform in a lengthy e-mail posted on her sister's Internet blog. In an e-mail dated early March to her younger sister Kate, Capt. Nichola Goddard recounted carrying a 45-kilogram pack uphill on a two-kilometre march, as well as other daily challenges of her role in the Afghan mission. "I feel like a poster child for why people should join the military," Goddard wrote. "It was an amazing 15 days." In her e-mail, Goddard...