Free Republic

For 64 years, Norton Anenberg guarded a present. He kept it in the attic. Or tucked in his desk. But one day in 1990, acting on a longtime desire, the then-vice president of an oil company pulled open his office's file cabinet and declared it was time to act. "You know something," the now-76-year-old Covina resident remembered saying. "I'm gonna find this family." The present was the war flag of a World World II Japanese soldier, given to Anenberg by a family friend returning from fighting in the South Pacific in 1945. And it wasn't until August, after nearly twenty...

Since GM's 60-day money-back return policy started, there've been around 150,000 retail sales and only one confirmed return. A manual transmission Corvette was returned after the driver tired of rowing gears. What'd he get instead? An automatic model.

You fell in love with that $22,000 Chevy Malibu because of its color, style and price. After driving it home, you realize it's not what you wanted. Maybe it's the way it handles on the highway, the location of the cup holders or the shape of the seats. Don't worry. Bring it back for a refund, no questions asked, says GM's Chairman and new TV pitchman Edward Whitacre Jr.

DIYALA — The small Diyala province village of Jiaffra was once a stronghold for insurgent groups, causing village residents to flee for their safety. After three years of displacement, 16 families returned home to a celebration marked with music and dancing, Aug. 15. During the celebration, residents thanked Iraqi and U.S. forces for their help in bringing safety back to the area. Though there are still struggles in the village for some basic needs, Iraqi government officials promised during the celebration to immediately bring the villagers water and work on providing other necessities as soon as possible. “What a great...

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq, June 29, 2009 – Six wounded soldiers, all amputees, returned here last week hoping to close the door on the combat that changed them forever. Left to right; U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Brown, retired Staff Sgt. Bradley Gruetzner, and Sgt. Christopher A. Burrell, soldiers wounded in combat while deployed to Iraq, walk through “Hero’s Highway” at Air Force Theater Hospital before returning to Camp Victory after a visit to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, June 25, 2009. Brown, Gruetner, Burrell, and four other soldiers had the opportunity to return to Iraq and to visit the places they...

Staff Sgt. Bradley K. Gruetzner explains his prosthetic arm to servicemembers at Al-Faw Palace here on Camp Victory, June 21. Photo by Sgt. Kathleen Briere, Multi-National Corps – Iraq. BAGHDAD — Six amputee combat veterans put their uniforms back on and returned to Iraq recently for the first time since sustaining their injuries in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the rotunda of the Al Faw Palace here on Camp Victory, they introduced themselves to hundreds of their brothers and sisters in arms in support of yet another operation, Operation Proper Exit. Operation Proper Exit is a pilot program being...

Manny Ramirez is scheduled to return to the field next week for the first time since his May 7 suspension for violating baseball's drug policy. And Manager Joe Torre said Wednesday that Ramirez's first game would likely be with Inland Empire, the Dodgers' affiliate in the Class-A California League.

One of President Obama’s first decisions upon taking office was to issue an executive order mandating the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison where suspected terrorists are being held. As a lightning rod for anti-American propagandists and those genuinely concerned about civil liberties, the closure of the camp is an admirable objective, but should it be done hastily and without adequate planning, a disaster will be forthcoming. The next generation of terrorists and radical Islamists may be led by former Gitmo prisoners, as the rate of recidivism of one in seven indicates. Already, several terrorists that have quickly climbed through...

Patriots, Can you help?? Contact Elyse at USMCdaughter1@aol.com That's right folks - Operation Hug In is just about ready to launch! Just what is Operation Hug In? The homecoming of our men and women from Iraq will be broken into two phases - the first of which involves welcoming them as their planes arrive at McGuire/Ft. Dix. The greeting of the planes has been broken out according to dates as they will be coming home by unit at different days and times. Keep in mind, we are running on military times with this ;) We have been accorded the honor...

Does anyone know what's up with the actor/ role of "Zach Addy"? I'm hoping that the reason they keep alternating his "replacements" is because they eventually are planning on bringing him back. Perhaps the actor has other obligations, and he is just on a personal hiatus from the show. But I've grown accustomed to his character, and I want to see him return...preferably sooner, rather than later...but this limbo has been going on for quite some time now, and if they are not going to bring him back, I'd prefer to see them properly replace him with a new consecutive...

U.S. ARMY GARRISON HUMPHREYS, South Korea, April 3, 2009 – Some people just can’t get the military out of their system – nor do they want to. Army Staff Sgt. Dianne Smith, right, an administrative soldier in the 3rd Military Intelligence Battlion, talks about her return to the Army noncommissioned officer corps after a 15-year break in service with Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth O. Preston and 8th U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Winzenried at Humphreys Garrison, South Korea, Nov. 25, 2008. U.S. Army photo by Ken Hall  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. That is the...

Maybe TV isn’t so bad after all.An estimated 92,000 inactive Catholics have come back to the Church in the last year thanks in large part to the groundbreaking Catholics Come Home television advertising campaign.The promotional spots featured people and locations from around the Phoenix Diocese to promote the Church during prime time television. The cornerstone of the campaign, the Catholics Come Home Web site, addresses often misunderstood aspects of the faith.“For those who had fallen away from the practice of their faith, it let them know that we want them to come home,” Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said.The commercials, which...

FORT HUACHUCA — Nearly 600 soldiers of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Brigade will be returning next week after completing a 15-month deployment to the Middle East and other areas. Most of the battalion, which is part of the 11th Signal Brigade, left the fort in early December to provide communications network support in Iraq. Soldiers of the battalion also served in Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan, providing communication support for America’s war on terrorism. It is expected the soldiers will return in two groups over a period of two days, said Eric Hortin, a spokesman for the Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th...

In today’s turbulent financial times and difficult economic conditions, a lot of unjustified criticism and unwarranted accusations have been laid at the doorstep of capitalism. Many in the mainstream press and academia, a majority of politicians, and a large number of Americans have jumped on the bandwagon and unfairly blame capitalistic principles for the huge mess that we are in. Such widespread confusion evidences a misunderstanding by many Americans of how value is actually created in society and what capitalism really represents.

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father...Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Matthew 24:36, 42 These two verses will cause no shortage of consternation among my readers. That's fine. Wise and more scholarly men than I have debated the meaning of these kinds of texts for ages and have still come to different conclusion. These verses talk about Jesus' second coming to Earth. We know it's going to happen; we just don't know when. We get a...

Roy got up at 6:30 the day after Christmas so he could beat the crowds and get to the gift return counter as early as possible. When he arrived at the store parking lot, he was surprised at the number of shoppers with the same idea. He parked, grabbed his unwanted gift and made for the return counter. Quite a few shoppers had arrived ahead of him, but that was OK; standing in line would allow him to think about what to buy with his refund. For Christmas, he'd really wanted the shiatsu massager with iPod dock and mug warmer,...

BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials recently reported that more than 2,000 Iraqi families have returned to their homes in eastern Baghdad this year. The 2,084 returning families left their homes in the districts of Rusafa, Karadah and 9 Nissan due to security concerns. Categorized as Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), they have returned to a more secure and safe environment. The number of returnees in the area is a sign of vastly improved security conditions, said Lt. Col. Eric Holliday, deputy team leader of Baghdad-2 embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team. “The more returnees we get back into the neighborhoods from where they were...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2008 – Despite losing a leg in combat, Army Sgt. Chris Alvin Burrell is focusing on his rehabilitation to one day return to what he calls his “normal day of work.” Army Sgt. Chris Burrell is focused on his rehabilitation since losing a leg in an explosion in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood on Dec. 26, 2007. He hopes to return to his job as a canine handler. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “My main focus right now is to heal properly and quickly in the right timeframe, and just make sure I’m healed...

“If you will return, O Israel, return to me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will be blessed by him and in him they will glory.” Jeremiah 4:1-2 As I write this, the returns are just starting to come in from Tuesday’s Presidential election. At this point, no one knows who won. But even if the most righteous man in the world ran for President, these verses would...

Bloodbath ahead Big differences in hedge fund performance could put weakest ones on endangered list By Christine Williamson The biggest performance dispersion among hedge funds and funds of funds in six years has set the stage for what some predict will be a six-month-long bloodbath. Sources said they expect the body count to total as many as 2,000 hedge funds and 500 hedge funds of funds between now and the end of March as investors redeem assets from the poorest performers and weakest managers, and move into funds managed by strong, institutionally oriented firms. Data from Hedge Fund Research Inc.,...

AL KHWALIS — More than 100 Individually Displaced families returned to their homes recently in the town of Al Khwalis. The event was celebrated by a welcome ceremony and is a significant mark in the reconciliation process. The families left the area when tensions mounted after the Iraqi Army cleared the area of Al Qaeda last year. “Today was a ceremony that represents the reconciling of differences between Sunni and Shia families,” said Capt. Roger Miranda, executive officer, 1st Battalion, 19th Brigade, 5th Division, Military Transition Team. “These people have been living in the town of Hib Hib since they...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2008 – Through a high-adventure recreation program the Army calls Warrior Adventure Quest, soldiers have a new way of transitioning from combat to a “new normal,” reducing the potential for high-risk behaviors that are counterproductive to unit training requirements. Soldiers from the 503rd Infantry in Vicenza, Italy, navigate through nearly 30 miles of mountain trails during a Warrior Adventure Quest activity that also included paintball and whitewater rafting. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “In the past,” said John O’Sullivan, Outdoor Recreation Program Manager at the Army’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation...

Displaced Iraqi citizens are returning with their families and goods to local communities and muhallahs in the Rashid District of southern Baghdad. During 2008, More than 7,700 families have resettled in their homes and neighborhoods after leaving due to the sectarian violence and intimidation of previous years. Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, are working with Iraqi security forces to ensure that the Iraqi families return home to security and a sense of normalcy. Photo by Staff Sgt. Brent Williams. FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON — An Iraqi family stands in the doorjamb...

WASHINGTON - John McCain's campaign said Thursday it is returning $50,000 in contributions solicited by a foreign citizen. The move follows the disclosure that the money was being raised by a Jordanian man who is a business partner of prominent Florida Republican Harry Sargeant III, who has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for McCain.

Meretz MK Yossi Beilin on Thursday called on European countries to declare how many Palestinian refugees and their descendants they would be willing to absorb as part of any future peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. "It is important that we know now how many Palestinian refugees [third] countries are willing to absorb, so that when we get to the critical moment [of a peace agreement] we will be prepared for such an eventuality, and be able to carry it out," Beilin said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. The dovish lawmaker made the remarks one day after...

The last of the five Army brigades to deploy with the “troop surge” in Iraq will return in July after a 13-month deployment, during which soldiers detained more than 800 terrorist suspects and helped foster Iraqi self-governance. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team has operated in the Arab Jabour area of southeastern Baghdad, where the number of attacks plummeted from about 30 a week when they arrived in May 2007 to about one a week now. “All in all, it's been a very successful operation for us,” Army Col. Terry Ferrell, 2nd Brigade Combat Team commander, told reporters...

The Palestinian Authority is planning to mark Israel's 60th anniversary by calling on all Palestinians living abroad to converge on Israel by land, sea and air. The plan, drawn by Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Fatah operative and Deputy Minister for Prisoners' Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, states that the Palestinians have decided to implement United Nations Resolution 194 regarding the refugees. Article 11 of the resolution, which was passed in December 1948, says that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date,...

IRVING, Texas --- A crowd of friends, family, and Marines applaud and cheer as Marines from Detachment A, Marine Air Control Squadron 24, Marine Air Control Group 48, walk into the terminal at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Feb. 15. The Marines returned from a 7-month deployment to Iraq. GySgt. Steven Allemang, an air traffic controller with Det A, MACS-24, holds his 6-year-old daughter, Samantha, while reuniting with his family at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Feb. 15 after returning from Fallujah, Iraq. Allemang deployed as the team leader for the Marine Mobile Team from the detachment that deployed...

BAQUBAH — Families displaced from a town near Baqubah were escorted back to their homes by the Iraqi Army (IA) and Coalition forces, Feb. 13, during ‘Operation Fierce Thrasher’. During the operation, Soldiers from Company F, 52nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., helped 39 families dislocated due to fear of terrorist attacks return to their homes in the town of Durah. “Today’s mission was to secure the village of Durah to allow the repatriation of the Sunnis into the village,” said Capt. Troy Mills, commander of Company F. The Coalition troops...

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., Feb. 5, 2008 – Marine Corps Sgt. Jeremy F. Boutwell, 23, knows a thing or two about honor, courage and commitment. Marine Corps Sgt. Jeremy F. Boutwell, an intelligence specialist with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, stands on the command deck at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Jan. 8, 2008. Boutwell is planning for an upcoming deployment to Iraq after recovering from severe injuries suffered during a March 2004 attack in Iraq’s Anbar province. Photo by Pfc. Casey Jones, USMC  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, Feb. 5, 2008 – About 1,000 residents returned to a town southwest of Baghdad last week after learning coalition and Iraqi forces had secured the area. Residents of the Zambraniyah, Iraq, area move through a coalition checkpoint as they return to their homes. Residents fled the area in January when coalition and Iraqi forces moved in to clear out al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists. Photo by Staff Sgt. Michael Paredes, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. When heavy fighting broke out in the Zambraniyah area in early January, coalition forces advised families to...

WASHINGTON – Sgt. Klay South with help from this mother Janet launched Veterans of Valor on October 4, 2007. South was wounded November 2004 and spent a long recovery process to reconstruct his face and jaw after being shot in the face with an AK-47. Veterans of Valor visited Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed Army Medical Center January 17 to give backpacks and words of encouragement to wounded service members. BETHESDA, Md. – Cpl. Jimmy Kinsey receives his backpack from Sgt. Klay South, founder of Veterans of Valor. Veterans of Valor visited Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed...

More than 40 soldiers from Fort Huachuca are scheduled to return to Southern Arizona this weekend. The soldiers, members of the U.S. Army's 518th Tactical Installation and Networking Platoon, are scheduled to arrive Sunday at Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista, according to a press release. The unit — based at Fort Huachuca, roughly 75 miles southeast of Tucson — has been deployed to Southwest Asia for 15 months. Some members served in Iraq, whereas others were stationed in Afghanistan, said Gordon Van Vleet, a spokesman for the unit's command. The platoon is part of network and communication units based...

Maj. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, commanding general, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, welcomes home the Marines and Sailors of 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, at Assault Craft Unit 5 here, Nov. 17. MARSOC’s silent warriors conducted special operations in the Philippines and Afghanistan in the first ever deployment of a company from 1st MSOB. California Congressman Darrell Issa congratulates the Marines and Sailors of 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command, on a job well done and welcomes them home at Assault Craft Unit 5 here, Nov. 17. MARSOC’s silent warriors conducted...

Don Imus returned to the air waves this morning with a lengthy explanation of his side of the events that took place last April. He spoke of the meeting he had with the Rutger's women's basketball team and the things that he and they discussed. Imus also spoke of how the media said, at the time, that they were going to begin a dialog about race relations and quipped, "I must have missed that." He then pledged to do the media's work for them by using his program as a platform for such a dialog. Imus then ended the first...

FORT HUACHUCA — More than 300 Soldiers from the 86th Signal Battalion of the 11th Signal Brigade are scheduled to return to the post sometime Thursday afternoon after a 15-month deployment to Iraq. The 86th Signal Battalion’s mission took members of the unit to all parts of Iraq, where the organization was charged with providing communications for Multi-National Corps Iraq and ensuring the effective application of communications assets and services at 16 sites; spread over 100,000 square miles in central, western and southern regions of the country.

More than 250 soldiers from the 86th Signal Battalion of the 11th Signal Brigade will return home from their 15-month deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom sometime during the first week of November. The soldiers will arrive at Libby Army Airfield and soon after will be taken to a welcome home ceremony, with family members present, at Barnes Field House on post. The 86th Signal Battalion’s mission took members of the battalion to all parts of Iraq, with the soldiers providing services such as Internet communications, computer help desk assistance, satellite transmissions, phone lines, and cable/phone line/fiber...

One hundred fifty soldiers with the Arizona Army National Guard's 259th Security Force Company returned home Saturday. Members come from across the state, including Tucson, Casa Grande, Sierra Vista and Florence. Dozens of families were in Phoenix Saturday to welcome home their loved ones who spent a year of service in Iraq. But the Security Force Company did not return in full, something people couldn't help but think of. "Because although all of them are coming back, there's still some that we've lost, some that have gotten injured, and we're thinking of them as well in this time," Renate Garcia...

FORT LEWIS, Wash., Sept. 11, 2007 – When the first planeload of soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade returned here last night after their second deployment to Iraq, they didn’t arrive to a darkened, padlocked brigade headquarters. Members of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 3rd Stryker Brigade rear detachment at Fort Lewis, Wash., prepare for the unit’s redeployment from Iraq. From left are: Darlene Pacheco, the brigade’s family-assistant representative; Melissa Townsend, wife of Brigade Commander Col. Steve Townsend; and Army Maj. Kyle Marsh, rear detachment commander. Photo by Donna Miles   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

Investing in China, with a crash helmet By Conrad de Aenlle Friday, July 27, 2007 China's economy is expanding at the fastest pace in more than a decade. It seems at first like an opportunity not to be wasted, and anyone who has owned Chinese shares during the past two years has a lot to show for it. But one veteran manager of Asian portfolios warns that investors buying China today may be wasting money. Some investment houses are using the stunning increase in economic output - 11.9 percent in the 12 months through June - as the centerpiece of...

From our good news file: Ailing White House spokesman Tony Snow has told his boss that he plans to return to work on April 30. "That's what he's been telling people" inside the West Wing, says an official. Snow's been away fighting cancer and surprised Washington when he attended last Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Snow has said he feels pretty good, considering the treatment, though it's unclear how often he will handle questions in the White House briefing room.

Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal threatened on Monday evening to return the Golan Heights to Syrian hands "by way of resistance if Israel [rejects] the Arab peace initiative."

In two recent articles in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa, Saudi columnist Yousef Nasser Al-Sweidan argued that the Palestinian refugees' right of return is an idea that cannot be implemented, and that the only solution is for the refugees to be naturalized in the countries where they currently reside. The following are excerpts from the articles: The Right of Return – An Idea that Cannot Be Implemented In the first article, published March 5, 2007 and titled "On the Impossible [Idea] of the Right of Return," Al-Sweidan wrote: "...The slogan 'right of return'... which is brandished by Palestinian organizations, is perceived...

Many Arabs in foreign countries would choose to remain where they are despite Arab League and Palestinian Authority (PA) demands that Israel allow them to immigrate to the Jewish state, according to a report in the International Herald Tribune. The so-called "right of return" demands that about three million Arabs in foreign countries be allowed to live in Israel because they are descendants of about half a million Arabs who fled during the War of Independence in 1948. Most of them left Israel under the leadership of Arab nations that told them they could return after a quick defeat of...

HAVANA (AFP) - Fidel Castro, who has been recovering from intestinal surgery almost eight months ago, could resume a more active role in government work "soon," a top cabinet member said Tuesday. "What we are expecting is that we will have him back (at work) with us, in a more active way, soon," Communist Party Politburo member and Basic Industry Minister Yadira Garcia told reporters. Castro, 80, handed over power for the first time in more than four decades in July to his brother and regime number-two Raul Castro, 75, following the surgery. "Our comandante is recovering, his recovery process...

Private Kim, one of the two N. Korean soldiers who accidentally strayed into the water off the coast of Sokcho, Kangwon Province, on Dec. 9, on a wooden boat is being handed over to N. Korea at Panmunjum on Dec. 27.

The Palestinian Authority on Monday gave a lukewarm reaction to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's offer to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank and return to the negotiating table, while Hamas described the statements as a "conspiracy." "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's statements are not in accordance with the road map and the [2002] Arab peace initiative," said Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. "We want the implementation of the United Nations resolutions concerning the establishment of a Palestinian state within the territories that were occupied in 1967. With regards to the issue of the refugees,...

FORT RICHARDSON, Alaska, Nov. 27, 2006 -- Two days after Thanksgiving, the families of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team had a lot to be thankful for as three planeloads of the “Arctic Wolves” returned from a 16-month deployment to Iraq. Families of the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment see their soldiers for the first time in 16 months as they file into Buckner Gym at Fort Richardson, Alaska, Nov. 25 for their homecoming ceremony. Photo by Brian Lepley  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Fort Wainwright welcomed more than 620 soldiers and Fort Richardson welcomed another 215 troops...

CAMP HABBANIYAH, Iraq (Oct. 17, 2006) -- More than 1,500 Iraqi soldiers who were absent without leave returned to duty by reporting here between Sept. 20 and Oct. 1. Top Iraqi military officials approved the full reinstatement of the soldiers due to troop shortages throughout the Iraqi Army, said Col. Juan Ayala, senior advisor to the 1st Iraqi Army Division. “The fact that they came back on their own volition shows that they want to serve,” said Ayala. “It’s going to give this division a much needed influx of soldiers.” The Iraqi Army is a voluntary force but unlike American...

ARKALYK, Kazakhstan - The capsule carrying the world's first female space tourist touched down Friday on the Kazakh steppe after a bone-jarring journey from the international space station. Anousheh Ansari, Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams had left the station aboard a cramped Russian Soyuz capsule about three hours earlier. After the capsule entered the Earth's atmosphere, search and rescue teams in three planes and 12 helicopters tracked the trajectory and scrambled to help the crew out of the craft. Officials monitoring the landing from Russia's Mission Control outside Moscow applauded after confirming that the capsule had...