Free Republic

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 6, 2008 – More than 160 National Guard members turned out today to support recovery missions in three states hit by a violent string of tornadoes last night. The National Guard Bureau reported that Guard members were called out to perform search and rescue missions, provide security at traffic control points, and to support civilian authorities in other ways in Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Many of the Guard soldiers who responded were undergoing pre-deployment training at the Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center in Greenville, Ky., about five miles from one of the areas hit by a...

Rush Limbaugh responded this morning to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who called the talk show host "irrelevant" and said he wasn't Limbaugh's servant. Or rather, Schwarzenegger called Limbaugh's political views irrelevant. The two men, as Limbaugh pointed out, have shared cigars and the Republican governor generally has been diplomatic about occasional barbs from the nationally syndicated talk show host. (The governor dodged attacking Limbaugh during a recent "Face the Nation" appearance, when he was asked an identical question about conservative critics.) Toward the end of his remarks, Limbaugh said Schwarzenegger "is a sellout, and I'm seeing way too many Republicans do...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2006 -- Hundreds of National Guardsmen responded over the weekend and today to devastating winter storms in Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, National Guard officials reported. Missouri has 262 Guardsmen on state active duty, removing debris, providing generator support, health and welfare checks, and transportation support. Highways there are much improved, with a few closed by downed power lines and fallen trees, and 198,800 Missouri residences are still without power, officials said. Missouri has reported seven storm-related fatalities to date. As of today, Illinois has no Guardsmen on state active duty, officials said. Over the weekend, 73...

State responds to potential pandemic should bird flu wing our way Leslie Newell Peacock Updated: 8/31/2006 A visit to the World Health Organization’s pandemic alert website on Aug. 14 found this news: Avian influenza — situation in Indonesia — update 26 The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed the country’s 57th case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case is a 17-year-old male from a remote village in Garut district, West Java Province. He developed symptoms on 26 July and was referred to hospital on 9 August. At the hospital, medical staff suspected H5N1 infection...

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2006 – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today discounted a U.N. committee's call for the U.S. to close its terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Rice said a U.N. Committee Against Torture report, released May 19, criticizing U.S. treatment of detainees at Guantanamo was written "by remote control." "It would have been helpful if the reporter for that report had actually gone to Guantanamo; it's a little difficult to do this by remote control. And we did have a sense that this report, as John Bellinger, who is our legal counsel, said, might have been written...

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2006 – About 30 Iowa Army National Guard troops were called to duty last night to help local police maintain security after a wave of storms blew through the eastern part of the state and a tornado hit in the heart of Iowa City. Sgt. Shane Thirtyacre from the Iowa Army National Guard's Headquarters Support Company, 109th Area Support Medical Battalion, shows an Iowa City man a safe route through the city following severe storms and a tornado that struck the state April 13. Photo by Tim Mills   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Members...

SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq (Army News Service, March 13, 2006) – Iraqi and U.S. firefighters battled a five-alarm fire at a weapons training facility on the Victory Base Complex March 11, adjacent to Baghdad International Airport. Iraqi firefighters based at the training site responded to the fire after seeing thick, black smoke billowing into the clear, blue sky. Realizing the fire was too much for their two fire trucks, they called for assistance from American and Iraqi firefighters located throughout the complex. “The Army (trainers) there said they used fire extinguishers initially, but the fire got too big,” said Mario...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2005 – Wouldn't the United States be better off if it simply left the terrorists alone and brought its troops home from Iraq? Wouldn't that stop the violence there? Don't we need more troops to do the job there? And why is just one Iraqi battalion capable of independent operations? Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded today to these and other questions he often gets about operations in Iraq during a session at the National Defense University at Fort McNair here. To those who question if the American people would be...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2005 – More than 150 Indiana Army and Air National Guard troops remained on state active duty today supporting recovery operations after the devastating tornado that roared through the southwestern part of the state early Nov. 6. The Guard troops, most of whom already were on duty for weekend drills when the tornado struck at about 2 a.m., responded immediately, said Army Capt. Lisa Kopczynski, Indiana National Guard public affairs officer. About 80 members of the Jaspar-based 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry Regiment, are focusing on security duty, assisting local law enforcement workers and helping manage the site,...

The warmongers will stop at nothing. If you hear these lies, please be forearmed with the truth: (This from the website of Rep. John Conyers: http://johnconyers.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={00BD10CF-C087-4EBD-A7D3-C9EE6B68B214} Rebutting the Lies of the Right Wing Smear Campaign -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are plenty of lies being spread about Cindy. Here’s a little help sorting through the fiction. Feel free to cut-and-paste and share these with others. Cindy is a being manipulated by liberal activist groups. Cindy went to Crawford on a moment’s notice without discussing or coordinating her plans with any organization. She was accompanied to Crawford by a handful of dear friends. Cindy...

My email to the FCC - fccinfo@fcc.gov - on 9/22/04 Where is the FCC on CBS? CBS News is investigating ITSELF on felonious behavior? Isn't this the job of the FCC? What if, after three months, CBS finds NOTHING? Is that when the FCC kicks in? This issue should be front and center at any and all staff meetings. No FCC investigation will be noticed - by everyone on the Internet. I fully expect a response from you within one day. Thanks for your help. The FCC responds 10/06/04 - You are receiving this email in response to your inquiry...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan hit back Wednesday at allegations of corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program, saying the world body had no control over Saddam Hussein's oil smuggling and was being blamed unfairly. Annan pointed out that all members of the U.N. Security Council were on the committee overseeing the program, yet none had come forward and said "we had a role." Instead, Annan said, all accusations of wrongdoing were being leveled at the U.N. Secretariat which he heads. "Be that as it may, these allegations are doing damage, and we need to face them sternly and...

LOS ANGELES - George Carlin (news) famously dissected "The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television" as a way to explore what everyone was so uptight about. Thirty-two years later the same debate is still raging, now fueled by Janet Jackson (news)'s Super Bowl flash, the suspension of Howard Stern's raunchy radio show from six stations and new House legislation that would raise a performer's indecency fine from $11,000 to $500,000. So what does the 66-year-old Carlin think of the current handwringing over what is indecent, profane, obscene, immoral, lewd or insulting? "More of the same, more of the same....