Face of Defense: Enlisted Marine Returns as Officer
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62705
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C., Feb. 4, 2011 – Marine Corps Capt. Joshua H. Weiland grew up in a typical American family in Park Falls, Wis. Not much more than a couple of intersections in the middle of a national forest, the town gave Weiland an environment that fit his personality.
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WikiLeaks: US Agreed to Reveal UK’s Nuclear Secrets to Russia
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/wikileaks-us-agreed-to-reveal-uks-nuclear-secrets-to-russia/
In yet another bombshell disclosure this week, the online site WikiLeaks is shedding disturbing new light on the “special relationship” that once bound the United States and Great Britain.
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Hackers Penetrate Nasdaq Computers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576124502351634690.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
Hackers have repeatedly penetrated the computer network of the company that runs the Nasdaq Stock Market during the past year, and federal investigators are trying to identify the perpetrators and their purpose, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Labor Force Participation Plunges To Fresh 26 Year Low
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/labor-force-participations-plunges-fresh-26-year-low
At 64.2%, the labor force participation rate (as a percentage of the total civilian noninstitutional population) is now at a fresh 26 year low, the lowest since March 1984, and is the only reason why the unemployment rate dropped to 9% (labor force declined from 153,690 to 153,186).
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Unions Can Bargain on Behalf of Airport Security
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/us/05unionize.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1296925237-zf5HpGBLhoVaeBTi2X0w5Q
WASHINGTON — Seeking to end a debate that has brewed for nearly a decade, the director of the Transportation Security Administration announced on Friday that a union would be allowed to bargain over working conditions on behalf of the nation’s 45,000 airport security officers, although certain issues like pay will not be subject to negotiation.
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Convicted: Woman ‘disobeyed’ illegal order
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=259457
An appeal is challenging a Christian activist’s conviction for failing to obey a police officer’s order to shut down her camera while she was filming fellow Christian missionaries at last year’s Dearborn Arab Festival because the command apparently wasn’t legal.
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Big Obama donor quits envoy job amid criticism
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5icvkPhBDrb3c8ySkXkQURKNJ9sSw?docId=306882dbed82458e8897d5afef59d730
WASHINGTON (AP) — As a supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama, Cynthia Stroum was a superstar whose financial backing of the campaign landed her a plum diplomatic posting in Europe.
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U.S. Ambassador Cynthia Stroum Called “Bullying, Hostile” in State Department Investigation
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20030683-503544.html
One way that presidents reward their biggest donors is by offering them plum ambassadorships. Which is why it wasn’t surprising when the Obama administration tapped Cynthia Stroum to be U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg.
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US warns about night driving in major Mexican city
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110205/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico
MEXICO CITY – Officials are warning U.S. citizens not to drive at night in parts of the western Mexican city of Guadalajara after suspected drug-gang members burned vehicles and blocked streets. A separate U.S. alert Friday said the northern city of Monterrey has seen a significant increase in armed robberies at restaurants and convenience stores.
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Beck & Rosenberg Explain the ‘New Caliphate’
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/beck-rosenberg-explain-the-new-caliphate/
NOTE: This is a 4:52 long video from Glenn Beck’s 2/4 Fox News TV show.
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Blast rocks gas terminal in Egypt’s Sinai
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110205/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_egypt_pipeline_explosion
EL-ARISH, Egypt – An explosion rocked a gas terminal in Egypt’s northern Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, setting off a massive fire that was contained by shutting off the flow of gas to neighboring Jordan and Israel, officials and witnesses said.
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Is this the end? Mubarak quits as party leader after 12 days of bloodshed and riots in Egypt
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353951/Egypt-protests-Hosni-Mubarak-quits-party-leader-12-days-riots.html
President Hosni Mubarak has resigned as the head of Egypt ruling party, according to State television. It comes as the country was on the verge of descending into chaos as newly appointed vice president Omar Suleiman reportedly survived an assassination attempt and saboteurs allegedly attacked an oil pipeline.
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Egypt Officials Seek to Ease Mubarak Out
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/world/middleeast/06egypt.html?hp
CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak appeared increasingly isolated on Saturday, with protests entering their 12th day and the Obama administration and some members of the Egyptian military and civilian elite pursuing plans to nudge him from power.
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State multiculturalism has failed, says David Cameron
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12371994
David Cameron has criticised “state multiculturalism” in his first speech as prime minister on radicalisation and the causes of terrorism. At a security conference in Munich, he argued the UK needed a stronger national identity to prevent people turning to all kinds of extremism.
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Sudan’s Bashir vows freedoms and open government
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110205/wl_nm/us_sudan_bashir
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan’s president promised a future of freedom and open government on Saturday in a strikingly conciliatory speech following a week of small protests in Sudan and an uprising in neighboring Egypt.
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PIMCO says Europe should relieve Greece of debt
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/05/us-fund-greek-idUSTRE7141MC20110205
(Reuters) – Europe should relieve Greece of some of its debt burden as its savings program would only stifle economic growth, the head of the world’s biggest bond fund was quoted as saying in a German magazine on Saturday.
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Russian FM opposes further sanctioning Iran
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?ID=206916&R=R1
MUNICH — Russia’s foreign minister on Saturday indicated that he opposes slapping more international sanctions on Iran in the standoff over its nuclear program.
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Hate of U.S. keeps weapons trade thriving
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=259313
Intelligence analysts say the three-way relationship, especially involving weapons trade, between Russia, China and Iran is complex, but it’s held together by a common enemy: The United States.
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Off-Duty Cop Credits Divine Intervention in Rescuing Kidnapped Woman
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/off-duty-cop-credits-divine-intervention-in-rescuing-kidnapped-woman/
Do you believe in God? Lt. Tommy Butler does and the Scotland County, N.C., deputy sheriff believes it was His divine intervention that helped him rescue a kidnapped woman trapped inside her abductors’ car trunk.
News Articles For 12/16
December 16, 2010 — Operation RoosterStar-studded tour entertains Currahee troops
http://www.cjtf101.com/en/regional-command-east-news-mainmenu-401/3830-star-studded-tour-entertains-currahee-troops.html
PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Actor Robin Williams, country music singer Kix Brooks from the duo Brooks and Dunn, and Hall of Fame songwriter Bob Dipiero visited Soldiers from Task Force Currahee as part of a USO show Dec. 15.
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USO tour visits with troops at FOB Fenty
http://www.cjtf101.com/en/regional-command-east-news-mainmenu-401/3825-uso-tour-visits-with-troops-at-fob-fenty.html
NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Several entertainers, sponsored by the USO, visited servicemembers here Dec. 15. The group included comedians Lewis Black and Kathleen Madigan; athlete Lance Armstrong; and special guest Deborah Mullen, wife of U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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Event Pays Tribute to ‘The Chosin Few’
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62127
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2010 – Fang Woo walked into a room, walls adorned with Navy history memorabilia, and made a beeline for a young Marine reservist across the room.
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Face of Defense: Guardsman Has Complementary Dual Roles
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62125
SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 16, 2010 – When he’s asked about the upcoming weather forecast, Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Sterling Poulson switches to his “TV voice” to report, “It’s 70 degrees outside and pretty nice!”
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Approval of Internet traffic rules likely-analysts
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1516757220101215
WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Contentious Internet traffic rules facing a vote next week are likely to be adopted without radically veering from a proposal unveiled earlier in the month, telecommunications policy analysts said on Wednesday.
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Senate GOP likely to force confrontation of FCC net neutrality rules
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2010/12/senate-gop-likely-force-confrontation-fcc-net-neutrality-rules
Thirty senators have signed a letter making it clear that should the Federal Communications Commission implement “net neutrality” regulations during its December 21st meeting, the GOP will force a confrontation on the Senate floor over the rules. Doing so would provide insight into how Republicans, as a minority in the Senate, leverage its control over the House of Representatives to hamstring attempts by the executive branch to rule by regulatory fiat.
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Leaders pile up $2 billion in earmarks
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46459.html
Senate leaders and top appropriators from both parties racked up more than $2.2 billion in earmarks in the massive omnibus spending bill that Democrats are pushing to enact in the final days of the 111th Congress.
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Redistribution on steroids
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1687936.html
Rep. Cleaver has proposed a $48 billion earmark. When absurdity gives way to hilarity, you must be talking about politics. In the midst of a colossal global concern for the economic stability of our great nation, Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri’s 5th Congressional District representative, has one small earmark on his wish list that deserves some attention.
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Senate votes to begin debate on START
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/15/senate-votes-to-begin-debate-on-start/
The Senate voted Wednesday to begin debating a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia in a test vote that signals the treaty – which would cut the number of nuclear weapons that the U.S. and Russia have deployed – has enough support to be ratified.
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Florida judge to rule on health-care challenge by states
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121602003.html?hpid=topnews
PENSACOLA, FLA. – Three days after a federal judge in Virginia voided a key provision of the U.S. health-care overhaul, attorneys for 20 other states will ask a federal judge in this Florida city to do the same.
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Obama quietly erasing borders
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=240045
Acting quietly, below the radar of U.S. public opinion and without congressional approval, the Obama administration is implementing a key policy objective of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, to erase the border with Mexico and Canada.
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Justice Scalia to Teach First Congressional ‘Constitution 101’ Class
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/justice-scalia-to-teach-first-congressional-constitution-101-class/
When the 112th Congress convenes next year, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Tea Pary Caucus will get a crash course on the constitutional separation of powers by Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, CNN reports. Justice Scalia will lead the first of the constitutional seminars for members of Congress in late January.
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Feds bust suspected Yemeni terror ring in N.C.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=239977
Federal agents have raided several convenience stores and a mosque in tiny Henderson, N.C., while arresting at least two Muslim men in connection with the raid.
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Iraq: Al Qaeda Planning Holiday Attacks in West
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/15/world/main7152700.shtml
(AP) Iraqi authorities have obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim al Qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the Christmas season, two senior officials said Wednesday.
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ECB boosts capital to cope with euro zone crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6BE29I20101216
FRANKFURT/BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (Reuters) – The European Central Bank acted to increase its financial firepower in the euro zone debt crisis on Thursday by deciding to almost double its capital to cope with increased credit risk and market volatility.
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Man in need finds wallet and moral compass
http://www.boston.com/community/stories_to_inspire/articles/2010/12/15/man_in_need_finds_wallet_and_moral_compass/
Maybe it was the holiday spirit. Maybe it was because it was the right thing to do. Or maybe it was a little bit of both that inspired Brian Christopher to perform a simple act of kindness.
