Free Republic

SIERRA VISTA — This Independence Day marks the 39th year of the Sierra Vista Rotary’s staging of Sierra Vista’s Independence Day celebration. Planners have great expectations for this year’s festivities, including its biggest fireworks show ever. The annual celebration begins this evening at Veterans’ Memorial Park. The San Pedro Kiwanis club sponsors a concert and street dance. A local favorite, blues band Train Wreck, will take the bandshell stage starting at 7 p.m. The festivities continue throughout Tuesday at the park. Starting at 5 p.m. the action shifts to the Stone Athletic Complex with concerts and the fireworks. Fort Huachuca...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 28, 2006 – Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines can now register for a shot at becoming the second Military Idol. 2005 Military Idol winner Sgt. William Glenn (center), an Alabama National Guardsman then stationed in Darmstadt, Germany, receives the winning check from Sgt. Maj. Willie Wilson of the Army Community and Family Support Center while emcee Leeann Tweeden and competitors watch. Photo by Kristy Davies   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation program is based on the premises of Fox's "American Idol." Contestants - whether they're from an active, Guard...

USS ENTERPRISE, At sea – The Enterprise Carrier Strike Group began conducting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in the Arabian Gulf today, June 6, as part of a routine rotation of maritime forces. USS Enterprise (CVN 65) is the flagship for Commander, Strike Group (CSG) 12 and is also home to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2. Other ships in the strike group include guided missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74), guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), guided missile frigate USS Nicholas (FFG 47), and supply ship USNS Supply (T-AOE-6). The strike group arrived in...

Ill wind blows over storm-hit lands The US hurricane season starts today with predictions of severe turbulence ahead Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington Thursday June 1, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Barstools are all that remain from a restaurant in Long Beach, Mississippi, after hurricane Katrina. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Alberto, Beryl, Chris and Debby. Somewhere over the Atlantic, a combination of warm sea surface temperatures and wind shear is brewing up a string of tropical storms that threaten to unleash a fresh season of devastation on coastal America. With New Orleans still surrounded by the wreckage of Katrina, a new hurricane season...

SACRAMENTO Six lawmakers are scheduled this week to begin the tedious task of ironing out differences between Assembly and Senate versions of the state budget, but this year their job could be easier than usual. Both chambers have produced spending plans for the fiscal year starting July 1 that are remarkably similar to the $131.1 billion budget Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed earlier this month. "Over the years I've worked here, this is about the smallest number of differences between us and the Senate and us and the administration that I've seen," said Craig Cornett, budget adviser to Assembly Speaker Fabian...

Quiet revolution for Saudi shops begins in ladies' underwear By Anton La Guardia in Jeddah (Filed: 29/04/2006) It is hailed as a major step forward for women's emancipation in Saudi Arabia: in the coming weeks they will enjoy the right to buy lingerie from female shop assistants. This may be a far cry from bra-burning feminism but in Saudi Arabia the notion of buying one's brassiere from a woman is nothing short of revolutionary. A new decree requiring shop owners to hire female staff to sell undergarments illustrates the cautious liberalisation the kingdom is undergoing - and how far it...

USS ENTERPRISE (NNS) -- USS Enterprise's (CVN 65) Junior Sailor Association (JSA), Enterprise First Class Association and Morale, Welfare and Recreation took the opportunity to conduct alcohol awareness training for the crew before pulling into port March 31. This was no ordinary lecture about drinking, though. Enterprise conducted an activity-filled day in Hangar Bay Two as part of the Right Spirit campaign, allowing Sailors a chance to learn, train and have fun. “Right Spirit is a program that we put together to show all Sailors how to make good decisions,” said Aviation Boatswain's Mate Handler (AW/SW) 2nd Class Harrison Moorer,...

From Riverside to San Francisco to Bakersfield, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is spending the week touting his economic record at taxpayer expense, taking credit for California's job growth on his watch and patting himself on the back for reducing the state's structural budget deficit. At the same time, Schwarzenegger's political team is highlighting the Republican governor's economic batting average in its first television advertising blast of the spring. Schwarzenegger campaign strategist Matthew Dowd drew no distinctions between the campaign ads and Schwarzenegger's official state business when he told reporters Monday, "We're talking about the economy this week, and this ad is...

Construction Begins on WTC Memorial By AMY WESTFELDT, Associated Press Writer 40 minutes ago In this rendering released by the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, Monday, March 13, 2006, the 'Reflecting Absence' design for the World Trade Center memorial is shown. Without political ceremony, construction began on the World Trade Center memorial Monday morning, while relatives of some of the Sept. 11 victims headed to court to fight plans to build over the twin towers' historic footprints. (AP Photo/WTC Memorial Foundation, LMDC) NEW YORK - Construction workers began clearing gravel and debris from the site of the World Trade Center...

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Feb. 16, 2006) -- After months of delays, construction has begun on Camp Taqaddum’s new medical facility, with the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 22 stepping up to the task. The unit, a part of the 30th Naval Construction Regiment, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, has faced difficulties in getting the project underway and is working hard to see that the medical facility begins taking form. The biggest difficulty the unit has faced as it has sought to begin construction has been getting its hands on quality materials, said Lt. Jay E. Lowack, officer-in-charge of the project and Charlie...

Diabetes most often begins in March Ben Harder A person's likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes varies seasonally and is about 50 percent higher in March than in August, according to a 6-year study. Led by Péter Doró, researchers at the University of Szeged in Hungary analyzed 26,695 cases of the disease that arose in one Hungarian county between 1999 and 2004. The scientists recorded diabetes onset as the date on which each patient first received drugs to reduce blood glucose. Type 2 diabetes onset peaked in March, at about 10 cases per 10,000 county residents, and fell in subsequent...

The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association has announced the appointment of Dave Ehrig as chairman of the Longhunter Committee and the NMLRA Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Records Program. Since 1988, the NMLRA Longhunter Committee and staff have maintained a trophy measuring, scoring, and record-keeping program for North American big game animals taken with muzzleloading firearms. The fourth edition of The Longhunter Muzzleloading Big Game Record Book, which includes all qualifying animals taken since the program’s inception, was recently released. Mr. Ehrig is well known among muzzleloading enthusiasts and others in the black powder shooting industry. Known as "Pennsylvania’s Mr. Black...

ABOARD USS TARAWA, At sea in the Indian Ocean (NNS) -- Four thousand Sailors and Marines of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 entered the 7th Fleet area of operations Jan. 12 en route to their homeport of San Diego after completing their assigned mission in the 5th Fleet region. The ESG-1 flagship, USS Tarawa (LHA 1), the amphibious transport dock USS Cleveland (LPD 7), the amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) and the embarked Marines of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit spent more than four months in-theatre. “ESG-1 was simply impressive,” said Vice Adm. Patrick Walsh, Commander...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Legislative leaders returned to work Wednesday promising cooperation with each other and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger despite last year's special election battles and a general election just 11 months away. Saying they understand voters' growing discontent with Sacramento, lawmakers said they will set aside politics in favor of making progress on a number of issues. "The voters clearly said they want us to solve California's problems," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. "They don't want bickering, and they certainly don't want to be given the responsibility of solving the problems they sent us to do." The...

Iraq Closing Borders Ahead of Election By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago Iraqi soldiers hold election campaign posters for the Iraqi National list carrying pictures of the head of the list, Shiite secular leader and former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi while receiving released prisoners in Baghdad, Iraq Sunday, Dec. 11, 2005. Voting begins Monday in hospitals, military camps and even prisons across Iraq, launching the process to choose a new parliament that the United States hopes can help quell the insurgency so U.S. forces can begin heading home. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) BAGHDAD, Iraq - Voting begins Monday...

MEXICO CITY - President Vicente Fox heads into his final year of office Thursday, promising a more democratic, less corrupt and economically stable Mexico. But some call Fox's tenure one of "wasted opportunities" and say it's too late for him to make much of a difference for the country. Fox toppled one of the world's longest ruling parties in 2000, setting off a national euphoria that a new, modern Mexico was at hand. But many Mexicans quickly grew frustrated at the former Coca-Cola executive's inability to push through reforms. Today, some believe the country may be worse off than when...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi troops launched an operation in western Iraq to clear insurgents from a suspected safe area used to make car and roadside bombs, the military said Wednesday. The campaign came as President Bush defended his Iraq policy in a major speech, saying more Iraqi security forces are increasingly taking the lead in battle but that "this will take time and patience." About 1,500 U.S. Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 500 U.S. soldiers and 500 Iraqi soldiers were taking part in Operation Iron Hammer near Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, a U.S. Marine...

FORT HOOD, TEXAS (Army News Service, Oct. 31, 2005) -- Marking the official beginning of the 4th Infantry Division's deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Soldiers of the "Ivy" Division cased their colors at a ceremony on Fort Hood's Cameron Field Oct. 28. Although 470 Soldiers from the division's Support Brigade have already made their way to the troubled region to set up beans and bullets for the incoming troops, the rest of the division's 20,500 Soldiers are scheduled to hit ground through the rest of this year. "Only 580 days ago, you (the 4th Inf. Div.)...

HIT, Iraq (Oct. 25, 2005) -- The yellow footprints at Marine Corps Recruit Depots are the beginning of a new chapter for every Marine and are never forgotten. For a new battalion of Iraqi Soldiers, their different life began with the faces of 11 Marines and one Sailor from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. The 2nd MAW (Forward) Military Transition Team met their new recruits June 9, and spent the next few months training them to become the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade of the 7th Iraqi Army Division. The team assembled during May and after receiving a close quarters combat...

'Independent Action' tests abilities to plan, schedule and execute missions. By U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Herb PhillipsCoalition Military Assistance and Training Team Air Cell BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 25, 2005 — With the lift-off of two fully-loaded C-130E Hercules aircraft from Ali Base in southern Iraq Oct. 12, the Iraqi Air Force's 23rd Squadron (Transport) began its move to its new home at Al Muthana Air Base at Baghdad International Airport. The move is part of "Independent Action," the first in a series of exercises aimed at developing the C-130 squadron. The intent of this exercise was to deploy...