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WASHINGTON, May 26, 2006 – More and more Iraqi national police are working alongside U.S. soldiers in securing southern Baghdad, a U.S. Army colonel working there said today. Terrorists would like the American public to believe violent groups are winning the fight in Baghdad, Army Col. Michael Beech, commander of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, said from Forward Operating Base Prosperity in central Baghdad. "But, of course, that's not what's happening here," he said. Beech's brigade includes 4,400 U.S. troops, a battalion of soldiers from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and about 2,000 Iraq soldiers and police....

MOUNTAIN BROOK, Ala. Some parents are asking for answers after their children sang a popular marching song of the Confederacy during a Civil War history lesson. At least five black students sang, along with other fifth-graders, the lyrics of "The Bonnie Blue Flag" at the closing of last Friday's program at The Highlands School in Mountain Brook. The 1861 song was written in honor of the blue flag with the white star that Mississippi flew over the state Capitol upon seceding from the Union. Some are the lyrics are --quote-- "We are a band of brothers and native to the...

strong dose of the world's many cultures and issues right here in Tucson brings dozens of filmmakers to the Arizona International Film Festival. Featured at the festival Saturday night a film that hits close to home here along the U.S./Mexico border. El Inmigrante is a documentary film that examines the Mexican and American border crisis ..... There's also a film on line about this

What else should we ban from public view other than the Confederate battle flag? Should we ban the Stars and Stripes? After all, it flew from the fantail of slave-carrying ships owned in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Old Glory is the official flag not only of the United States, but also of the Ku Klux Klan. Look at photos of the largest Klan march in history, in Washington in 1925. The only flag you see the Klansmen carrying is the United States flag. Not a single one of them is carrying the Confederate battle flag....

Many southern states and their political subdivisions, including Texas and Grimes County, recognize April as Confederate History and Heritage Month. The war had many causes, including slavery and tariffs. In March 1861, the U.S. Senate passed the Morrill Tariff, which immediately raised the average tariff rate from about 15 percent to 37.5 percent, but with a greatly expanded list of covered items. Soon thereafter, a second tariff increased the average rate to 47.06 percent. President Lincoln hinted very strongly in his first inaugural address a military invasion was possible if the tripled tariff was not collected. At that time the...

When I began to study the Civil War, I realized that much of what I had been taught about it in school was either wrong or incomplete. It has been said that history is written by the victors. This is especially true when it comes to the Civil War. The Southern side of the story is rarely presented fairly in our public schools and textbooks today. I believe it is important that we as Americans know the whole truth about the Civil War. The purpose of this article is to present the South's side of the story. The following basic...

HEADING into my one-week relief-effort trip to Louisiana, I half-expected to lose a little weight because of the hard work I anticipated as a volunteer on a roofing crew. Oops. I gained five pounds. In keeping with the upcoming Fat Tuesday celebration New Orleans is famous for, I was a glutton for a week on the bayou. I couldn't help myself. The food just appeared while we were working. People felt bad if we didn't eat their treats right away. We had to oblige them. It started with our first meal in Beaumont, Texas, about an hour out of our...

Relatively few people are aware that during the Civil War, Confederate leaders put forth a proposal to arm slaves to fight against the Union in exchange for their freedom. In his new book Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2006), UCSC history professor Bruce Levine examines the circumstances that led to this startling and provocative piece of American history. In the process, he sheds new light on a little-known but significant story of slavery, freedom, and race during the Civil War. The idea for the book came to Levine in...

Ancient ‘kitchen’ unearthed in southern IndianaFrom The Associated PressCHARLESTOWN — Workers building a boat ramp at southeastern Indiana’s Charlestown State Park have uncovered the apparent remains of a 4,000-year-old “kitchen” ancient American Indians tribes may have used to prepare their winter food supply. The discovery of the site in eastern Clark County prompted the state to temporarily halt work on the Ohio River boat ramp project. Bob McCullough, who heads an archaeological survey team from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said the low-lying area was probably used by nomadic tribes of hunters and gatherers. He said they appear to have...

A largely forgotten and greatly misunderstood era of American Jewish history concerns the leading role-played by Southern Jews in the Confederate armed forces. Some 3,500 to 5,000 Jews fought for the South, honorably and loyally. They, like their compatriots, showed amazing courage, dedication, and valor, enduring incredible hardships, against overwhelming and often hopeless odds, in fighting, for their homeland -- not for slavery, as is so often said, but for their families, homes, and country. The story of these Southern patriots is told eloquently in two authoritative books: “The Jewish Confederates,” by Robert Rosen, and “Last Order of the Lost...

Memo from Santa:     I regret to inform you that, effective immediately, I will no longer serve Georgia, Florida, West Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas, Ohio, Louisiana or Alabama on Christmas Eve.     Due to the overwhelming current population of the earth, my contract was renegotiated by North American Fairies and Elves Local 209. As part of the new and better contract, I also get longer breaks for milk and cookies so keep that in mind.     However, I'm certain that your children will be in good hands with your local replacement, who happens to be...

CARY, N.C. - The joke around here is that this town's name is really an acronym for "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees." As far as Vernon Yates is concerned, they haven't been contained well enough. Nearly surrounded by pricey subdivisions, the cinderblock Yates Grocery and Farm Supply sells neither anymore. As if things weren't bad enough, style maven Martha Stewart has chosen this Raleigh suburb to build a signature neighborhood of houses designed after her homes in Maine and New York. Holding court near a potbellied stove, the 69-year-old man in the suspenders and NASCAR shirt laments that his old...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, concerned that the decline in President Bush's popularity will pull down his special election measures, is not expected to appear with the president when he visits California next week. Bush is scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Los Angeles for the Republican National Committee on Thursday and help cut the ribbon Friday at the opening of the new Air Force One exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Although the governor's staff will not confirm his schedule this far in advance, sources said Schwarzenegger is not planning to attend either event. He is tentatively...

HISTORY OF SOUTHERN ROCK CMT EXPLORES THE ROOTS, LEGACY AND ARTISTS OF SOUTHERN ROCK IN "AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS: SOUTHERN ROCK" Sun, Aug 21st 5:00 PM ET/PT on CMT American Revolutions: Southern Rock, a CMT original 90-minute documentary, explores the roots and legacy of Southern rock by tracing the rise of its greatest artists and their music from the late 1960s to the present. As a young white South looked to redefine its identity after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, Southern rock gave a voice (and driving backbeat) to that struggle in the 1970s -- and had a pretty damn...

PHOENIX (AP) - When burglars broke into Rep. Jim Kolbe's cabin last month, they ignored an antique rifle and other valuables. Instead, the intruders ate some food, used the shower and took some clothes from the home less than 30 miles from the Mexican border, near the nation's busiest corridor for illegal immigrants. Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada regularly hears about migrants burglarizing homes as they cross the Arizona desert. Two or three such break-ins are reported in the county each month, and residents complain about trespassers every day, he said Thursday. "It happens. And it probably happens more...

June 21-22, 2005 may be one of the most important dates in the history of our nation. It could very well determine whether our nation will continue to descend exponentially into her moral free fall, or spark a revival and reformation which could save our nation. In Nashville Tennessee, the Southern Baptist Convention will consider a resolution addressing the issue of pro-homosexual materials in public schools and encourage parents to seek alternatives to public school education. How can a simple resolution at a meeting with a bunch of Baptists impact America and the history of our republic? Please do not...

So far this fiscal year, the Border Patrol has apprehended almost 100,000 undocumented migrants from countries other than Mexico, commonly called OTMs, says a report in GovExec.com. The number of OTMs is projected to reach about 150,000 by the end of this fiscal year, which is a 200 percent increase compared to fiscal 2004, according to the Border Patrol. Concerns about OTMs from special interest countries - such as Iraq, Syria and Iran - were highlighted in Capitol Hill testimony in February by former Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy: "Recent information from ongoing investigations, detentions and emerging threat streams...

BATTLE CRY By Kay Day for W. Thomas Smith, Jr. He thought he heard it first in the oak trees, within boughs he chose for lookouts, sturdy perches where he spotted enemy encroaching fields of peanuts or cotton: fierce Hessians with scraggly beards and beefy arms, earnest Yankees in blue, Braves in feathers and paint, his enemy shaped in tales he’d heard or read. He heard it again in the water, pulling him along the rivulets where he dodged arrows and musket balls, a call urging attack, defend. The sound was the sweetest he’d known since he was an infant...

"The question of creating a Russian military base in Osh is currently in the phase of discussion and consultations..."

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A black doctor has offered $50,000 to a Southern heritage group to buy the naming rights to a Vanderbilt University dormitory at the center of a legal fight over whether it should be called Confederate Memorial Hall.