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Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

Until yesterday, outdoor weddings were forbidden in the Archdiocese of Seattle. If a couple wanted an official church marriage, a priest had to perform the ceremony in a parish church building - never outside under the blue skies of the Pacific Northwest with beautiful snow capped mountains in the background. Christine Gregoire is the governor of Washington State. Her daughter Courtney wanted an outdoor wedding at the governor's mansion in Olympia. Yesterday, the Archdiocese of Seattle gave Courtney and Scott the outdoor Roman Catholic wedding they wanted. I am very happy for them and for the precedent this sets for...

Malin Alexandersson and Leif Lundgren celebrated 08-08-08 day by climbing on to the roof of the Stockholm Globe arena to tie the knot. The happy couple had to climb to the top of the 80 metre higher Stockholm landmark with the help of safety harnesses while their guests instead followed the wedding ceremony from a nearby balcony. The heavy rain that hit Stockholm on Friday was close to throwing a spanner in the works - but the rain ceased just prior to the beginning of the ceremony. The couple won the right to matrimony on the Globe's roof in a...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Heterosexual couples are rushing to get married in a conservative California county that plans to halt all civil wedding ceremonies as gay marriage is set to be legalized. Kern County Clerk Ann Barnett says Friday is the last day the county will perform civil weddings. Starting Tuesday, when the California Supreme Court's order legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect, Kern will issue new gender-neutral marriage licenses as required by law. But couples seeking to get hitched will have to go somewhere else for the ceremony. Barnett says the increased demand for ceremonies would overwhelm her staff and pose...

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

Are you a joyful bride-to-be? An eager (or nervous!) groom? Perhaps you have a son or daughter getting married this spring or summer? Perhaps a beloved grandchild? Or maybe a lifelong friend? The peak of wedding season is arriving and many of us have a special acquaintance or family member ready to “tie the knot” in a beautiful marriage ceremony of thrilling romance and holy commitment. So what does any of this have to do with the law? Why am I raising the subject of weddings in my Christian legal column? I’m writing to brides and grooms and those close...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

ATLANTA: Investigators initially thought a terrorism suspect may have been using his wedding plans to cloak the real purpose of his overseas travel, an FBI agent testified Friday. . . . Inside the lining of the bag, agents found two CDs, maps of Washington, D.C., and Fairfax, Virginia, and some scraps of paper with writing on them.Previously, prosecutors have alleged that "casing videos" of the Capitol building, the World Bank and a fuel tank farm were sent by computer from a nonprofit where Sadequee worked in Atlanta to a counterpart in London.

The San Francisco-based Gay-Straight Alliance Network is urging its clubs on high school and middle school campuses across California to “get active and get engaged” in the 11th annual Freedom to Marry Week. [[MarryWkLogo.jpg]]The Jan. 30 GSA Network News encouraged students to join the nationwide event, which begins today and runs through Feb. 16, because “a fundamental human right -- the right to marry those whom we love -- is denied to LGBT people.” Among the “more than 1000 rights and benefits [that] come with legal marriage, but are currently denied to LGBT people” is “the right to provide two...

The number of gay weddings has plummeted by more than 50 per cent in the past year. Civil partnerships became legal for homosexuals in December 2005, allowing them to acquire the same sorts of tax and pension rights as straight married couples. Initially, thousands of gay and lesbian couples held ceremonies. However, a survey by the Local Government Association found that all the 40 councils across England they surveyed had experienced a fall in the number taking place - the figures show an average drop of 55 per cent in 2007 from 2006.

Disney opens Fairy Tale Weddings to gay couples Fri Apr 6, 2007 7:47 AM IST By Gina Keating LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. has changed its policy to allow same-sex couples to participate in a popular Fairy Tale Wedding program it runs mainly at its two U.S. resorts and cruise line, a Disney spokesman said on Thursday. Disney previously had allowed gay couples to organize their own weddings or commitment ceremonies at rented meeting rooms at the resorts, but had barred them from purchasing its Fairy Tale Wedding package and holding the event at locations at Disneyland...

http://graphics10.nytimes.com/images/2006/09/17/fashion/17vows.600.jpg Adam Berger and Stephen Frank By KATHRYN SHATTUCK THEY had been close friends for years, first at college and later in New York, but now Adam Berger was baring his soul to Stephen Frank. “I have news: I don’t play on your team,” he said, adapting the line from “Seinfeld.” They had gotten to know each other as freshmen at Harvard. As college progressed, they became best friends, dated women and ultimately became suite mates. They bickered, they quibbled, they finished each other’s sentences practically before the one speaking knew what he was actually going to say. So much...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lonely? Feeling low? Try taking a walk -- down the aisle. Getting married enhances mental health, especially if you're depressed, according to a new U.S. study. The benefits of marriage for the depressed are particularly dramatic, a finding that surprised the professor-student team behind the study. "We actually found the opposite of what we expected," said Adrianne Frech, a PhD sociology student at Ohio State University who conducted the study with Kristi Williams, an assistant professor of sociology. They expected to find that one spouse's depression weighed too much on the marriage, but "just mattering to...

See for example this thread first. A theme park cancels "Muslim Day" (Just not enough interest, they say.) A park full of burkhas And some derka-derkas(*) Islam's almost as PC as "gay"!

When one of New York’s most-eligible hard-living, jet-setting, model-dating, turban-wearing bachelors decides (or, more precisely, when his dad decides) the time has come for him to get married, it’s bound to be quite a party.Sometimes it takes a father to know when a young man is ready to step into adulthood by stepping to the plate of holy matrimony. This was the case with Vikram Chatwal, the 34-year-old scion of a sprawling, multicontinental hotel-and-restaurant chain, Hampshire Hotels, controlled by his father, Sant. The family owns eleven hotels in Manhattan, including the Majestic and the Dream in Times Square, which has...

Dubai - A United Arab Emirates court has jailed 12 men who were arrested after being discovered preparing for a gay wedding, but acquitted another 14 defendants, an official said on Sunday. "Eleven men have confessed to practising homsexuality. They were sentenced to five years in prison (for homosexuality) and one year for obscenity," said the official. "Another man was sentenced to one year in prison for obscenity, but was acquitted of homosexuality charges... while 14 others have been released after being found not guilty," he said. The 26 defendants, including UAE citizens, an Indian and three nationals of neighbouring...

DUBAI -- Hounded by police India's most-wanted man Dawood Ibrahim was unable to attend his daughter's Dubai wedding but managed to follow the ceremony live on his laptop "elsewhere", local media reported on Wednesday. "Dawood Ibrahim saw it all; captured live by cameras strategically positioned around the ... ballroom here in Dubai and relayed to his laptop elsewhere," the English-language Khaleej Times said of Saturday's nuptials. A prime suspect in a string of blasts that rocked Mumbai in 1993 killing at least 300 people, the man best known as Dawood was declared a "global terrorist" by the United States in...

NEW DELHI -- With even the wedding invitations being investigated by police, few will admit they're on the guest list let alone boast they're planning to attend the marriage in Dubai this weekend of an Indian crime don's daughter. A mobile phone message invitation - "Your presence is solicited for the auspicious wedding of Mahrukh. For travel arrangements, contact Noorabhai. Regards, from D" - has been sent to top politicians, officials, film and media personalities in Mumbai, according to police and journalists. It was purportedly sent by international fugitive and India's most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim, popularly known by his...

OK, just curious what current wedding etiquette is... among polite society. ie: single people aren't "allowed" to bring a guest unless it is their fiance, or as miss manners asserts, "gifts are brought to a childs birthday party, not a wedding." I have no judgements on either subject I posted above...but I'm just curious what FR folks think since we are in wedding season... any aspect is fair game. who should be tipped by who, is-there-still-a-bride-or-groom-side-of-the-church to who should be giving toats... (I say give a plastic cup and plastic fork to anyone obnoxious enough to start banging their fork...

You're supposed to be happy at your wedding, even though some people aren't. At the same time, it's still considered selfish and immature to run away and abandon the caterers if you're distraught -- even though lots of people probably want to. Part of the culture says the conventional, social bits of weddings don't matter, and part of the culture says they do. Part of the culture says weddings are about true love, and part of the culture says they're about Cuisinarts. It's been hard, to avoid learning that she and her husband had planned to have 28 attendants and...

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – December in Pakistan is known as the Season of Weddings. It is a time that brings young hearts closer, and saddles some families with lifelong debt. A Pakistani wedding is much more than a single event. It stretches over days of songs, dances, meals arranged for hundreds of guests, and a heavy dowry presented to the bridegroom. This lavish social custom is expected even among the poor, which make up more than 30 percent of Pakistan's 140 million people. Now, in a novel effort to help the poor, Pakistan's Supreme Court has upheld a ban on serving...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

UCC: "CBS, NBC refuse to air church's television advertisement" December 1, 2004 - According to a UCC press release, CBS and NBC have refused to air the new UCC television advertisement... and predictably, UCC leaders are going nuts. According to the release, CBS offered this explanation: "Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast...

the French team is confident they have identified a portion of a protein that is common to all types of HIV. It is called CBD1 and is part of the gp41 protein, which is important for helping the AIDS virus dock and infiltrate target cells. The researchers created a peptide chain, the building blocks of proteins, that corresponded to CBD1 and immunized a group of rabbits. The rabbits proved to be resistant to a range of subtypes of HIV-1.

The New York Times broke the media silence on the cause of Arafat's death Friday by suggesting the terrorist leader may have died from AIDS. In an article entitled "Secrecy by Aides and Silence by Doctors Persists, and What Killed Arafat Is Still a Mystery" the paper chronicled Arafat's rapid health decline and the mystery shrouding his illness. Two days before his death, aides revealed that Arafat was in a coma after having a brain hemorrhage. But the Times doubts this stroke was likely not the cause of Arafat's death. Another clue: "At the time of his medical evacuation to...

There are speeches yet to go at the Republican Convention, as I write this. President Bush will speak tonight, and of course the most important speech given at any party convention is the one by its nominee. Still, without fear of being proven wrong, in my opinion the most powerful and evocative speech at this Convention was given yesterday. By a Democrat, Senator Zell Miller. The title which summarizes his work is just one letter different from the catch phrase made famous in the Oscar-winning performance of Peter Finch in the 1976 classic, Network. Finch played Howard Beale, the TV...

Have at him!

Rush is reporting that the docs came from the Kerry campaign and that the campaign knew that were fakes.

This is outside my usual area of discussion, but (1) living in Michigan, I was intrigued by the historic role Detroit played in John Kerry's "aid and comfort to the enemy" saga, and (2) my late father was a U.S. Marine who survived Pearl Harbor and served during both WWII and the Korean War, which means I was raised to have strong feelings about that "aid and comfort" stuff. If those Swift Boat guys remain on the ball as they have so far, I'll bet the information below eventually becomes the subject of one of their ads. It certainly should....

Michael Hoffman, of the Iraq Veterans Against the War, recently interviewed on Fox News, advocates the same violence promoted by Malcom X and finds friends among Marxist Socialists. In his strange interview on the Fox News Oreilly Factor, Hoffman said he opposed the war before it started because he knew that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Now just how did he know that since even current opponents of the war agreed with the President before the war that Iraq had WMDs?... Remainder of Story at: http://www.grassboots.org

Another Disgruntled Democrat <![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]> <![endif]> Betsy Newmark had "blogger withdrawal" because Blogger would not let her post all day. I had "Betsy withdrawal" because Blogger would not let her post all day. She has lots of good stuff up, so check her out. The words of this Democrat posted at Betsy's Page probably say what many Democrats are thinking. Speaking as an embarrassed and fed-up Democrat, I have to say to the national leaders of my own party: What were you thinking when you nominated this man!? Is there really no one better than this that the Democratic...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A television writer and fund-raiser for John Kerry is the first six-figure donor to a new group that is criticizing President Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War. Daniel O'Keefe, a writer/producer whose work includes such sitcoms as "The Drew Carey Show" and "Seinfeld," donated $100,000 this week to Texans for Truth, an Austin-based group that plans to run anti-Bush television ads starting Monday. The group spent about $100,000 on its first ad buy, an anti-Bush commercial that starts Monday in the presidential battleground states Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania. In addition to his Texans...

Bush skipped out on his National Guard duty. He also snorted coke, and was a drunk. I don’t care. He is defeating fascist Islam, and that’s all that matters. CBS is running a story showing that Bush missed some of his National Guard duty. Let me cut to the chase and spare you the spin. Let’s say that Bush skipped all of his National Guard duty, that he never even put on the uniform once. Hell, let’s say he torched his draft card and moved to Canada from 1968-1974. It doesn’t matter at all. Bush is not running on his...

Pardon, the vanity, but for those of us in the Long Island/NY area who are on the right-of-center and are familiar with the pinko-rag known as "Newsday", you will know what I mean... More baseless rantings from Newsday columnists... Political ranting is fine. Most of us interested in the political realm are us little people who go blogging and do a lot of ranting on our little political soapboxes in the 'blogosphere'. But professional columnists really need to do a little more research - especially when they are writing for major newspapers - like Long Island's leftwing, environmental rag 'Newsday'. Blind...

I am John Kerry. I was against the first Iraq war, I am against the second Iraq war, but I voted for it. Now I'm against it but I was for it. I support the UN. I'm against terrorism and against the Iraq war. But I voted for the Iraq war. So, I voted against the first war and supported the second war, wait... I'm against gay marriage but for gay unions. I support gays but think the San Francisco mayor is wrong. I support gay marriages. No, wait, gay unions. I'm Catholic. Wait, I'm Jewish. My dad was Jewish,...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry and the Democratic Party are limiting television advertising to just 14 states as the fall campaign opens, curbing their ambitions for a broader playing field against President Bush. The shift reduces Missouri, Colorado, Arizona and four Southern states to second-tier status. The Republican incumbent is likely to follow suit, perhaps by pulling money out of those same seven GOP-leaning states and shifting it to traditionally Democratic battlegrounds.

CORUNNA, MI – Sam Burwell, third generation UAW member and autoworker, Local 362, today issued the following statement: "President Bush has presented a clear agenda for a more hopeful America and a more prosperous economy, but John Kerry has responded with nothing but cynicism and false attacks. John Kerry's plans for higher taxes, increased regulation and more government spending would devastate Michigan's economy. “Kerry's proposal for higher CAFE standards would kill 450,000 jobs and has been criticized by the UAW for its harmful impact on the American auto industry. Michiganders aren't going to trust a candidate who cares more about...

Foes fear ballot issue will take away benefits GRAND RAPIDS - At least one poll shows solid support among Michigan residents for a constitutional ban on gay marriage, but a clergyman says that doesn't guarantee voters will endorse the idea. The state Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage in Michigan as a union between one man and one woman should appear on the Nov. 2 ballot. Opponents including the Rev. Doug Van Doren, pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Grand Rapids, fear the amendment will be used to take away benefits for same-sex partners....

"Politics in a Time of War" in the latest USNews shows liberal Sen. John Kerry on a war footing with President Bush, as a possible prelude to a presidential run by eternal hopeful Kerry in 2004. Kerry is a Vietnam War hero, as he reminds us every chance he gets. According to US News: “Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts sat at his Senate office desk next to the bullet-punctured American flag that used to fly from the gunboat he commanded in Vietnam and implied that anybody who tried to question his patriotism was going to run into a buzz...

Kerry to Bush: 'We're coming, you're going' 12:12 AM CST on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 From Wire Reports DES MOINES, Iowa – John Kerry's voice was so hoarse when he woke at 4:45 a.m. Monday that he sent stand-ins to three get-out-the-vote rallies. But by late afternoon he hopped back on his campaign bus, the Real Deal Express, saying he wanted to see undecided Iowa caucusgoers one last time to "fight for every vote." Those four words became the Massachusetts senator's political vow in the final weeks before the nation's first presidential caucuses – which Mr. Kerry won easily over...

There is a “hate crimes” bill that has already passed the U.S. Senate. The House will soon vote on the bill. If the bill passes, the ultimate result could be that it is a federal crime to publicly criticize the homosexual lifestyle. It is urgent that you contact your Representative today to oppose this dangerous “hate crimes” amendment that could lay the groundwork for persecution of Christians. Can’t happen, you say. In Canada, one cannot publicly criticize homosexuality. Because of a “hate crimes” law that includes sexual orientation, even the quoting of Scriptures that condemn homosexuality can be illegal. Because...

It's funny... Associated Press, Reuters, Yahoo News, etc etc... (all the same frigging thing, anyway) ...they have had the gay couples marrying in massachusettes as their top headline all day long on their "top stories" line up... Nevermind the WMD found in Iraq, lookie here! Gay people being set FREE!!!!!! How lovely!!!!! Yes!!!! BARF! It's almost as if they are shoving it in our faces once again... Billy PatriotEdition.com

The court would have to decide if the 4,000 marriages remain valid, if they would be automatically be voided or of they could they be voided at some time in the future. Assuming Newsom's defeat, which many legal scholars predict, the court asked: "Would the marriages that have been performed and registered nonetheless be valid, would the marriages be voidable or would the marriages be void?" Lockyer has already told the court in briefs that the marriages, which have left the newlyweds in a state of legal limbo, are invalid and that those married should get their $82 fees refunded.

Lockyer: SF officials violated separation of powers in gay marriages By: LISA LEFF - Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer told the California Supreme Court Thursday that in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, San Francisco authorities violated the separation of powers doctrine by assuming for themselves "more power than the Governor, or the Supreme Court, or the Legislature." The seven justices are considering whether San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had the legal authority to direct his administration to sanction marriages of gay and lesbians even though the state's Family Code in at least three places defines...

Saturday, February 28, 2004 Some in GOP Criticize Bush's Wedding Ban By Susan Montoya Bryan The Associated Press A leader of a GOP group that supports gay rights criticized President Bush's proposal for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, calling it a "recipe for disaster." The Log Cabin Republicans worry that Bush's stance on same-sex marriage risks alienating the 1 million gays and lesbians who voted for him in 2000. "The federal marriage amendment is a big problem for us, and it should be for any person who supports equality. The constitution should not be used as a political football,"...

Saturday, February 28, 2004 Sandoval Clerk Weathers Torrent of Criticism By Joshua Akers Journal Staff Writer Rarely does a county clerk catch the attention of a U.S. president, much less end up in Time magazine. Of course, it's also unusual for a clerk to file a police report against the county attorney. Or obtain fingerprints from the county spokesman. Or go through six chief deputy clerks in three years. Sandoval County Clerk Victoria Dunlap is a maverick Republican who has courted controversy since the day she was elected. But her decision earlier this month to issue marriage licenses to same-sex...

Prominent Democrats question S.F. nuptials BOXER, GAY LAWMAKER DISAGREE WITH MAYOR'S DECISION For a week, the parade of gay couples lining up to marry at San Francisco City Hall has resonated as a love story, a civil-rights struggle, a morality play and a legal tussle. (SNIP) But the biggest surprise of the day came from U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, seeking her third term this fall and long a champion of gay rights, who publicly stated that she does not believe in changing state law to allow for the recognition of same-sex marriage. (SNIP) Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, a...

<p>It didn't turn out to be a happy wedding day for a Centerville, Utah, couple.</p> <p>While buying makeup last Saturday for a wedding later that day, the Salt Lake Tribune reports, the maid of honor dropped a bombshell on the bride.</p> <p>She'd slept with the groom the night before.</p>

Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota-AP -- Around Washington County, Minnesota, Howard Albertson is known as the "marrying man." The judge, who expects to perform his five-thousandth wedding later this month, has been putting people together for 46 years. He's even turned his farm into a wedding wonderland, complete with thousands of tulips, a gazebo and a 45-foot waterfall. Albertson says other judges have other hobbies. But he doesn't hunt or fish -- he does weddings. The 75-year-old performed his first marriage in 1957. He took a 12-year break while he was a state representative but now performs about 200 weddings...

Weddings make comeback Since Saddam's downfall, Iraqis are tying the knot in record numbers By Karl Vick, Washington Post BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The fat man in the parking lot of the Babylon Hotel was dancing like a bulldog in a cartoon, index finger twirling in the air, hips swiveling below. A snare drum snapped out a rhythm from the desert. A young man with a red face coaxed a sinuous arabesque from a battered trumpet. And here came the bride. Wrestling her hoop skirt out from the back seat of a decorated BMW, she wore a henna tattoo on her...