Mike Waller was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He joined the Army in 1983 and served in the Gulf War and in Mogadishu, Somalia from August, 1993 to December 1993. He left the Army in 1995 and now lives in a suburb outside of Detroit.
Active Apaches in Afghanistan
December 18, 2006: U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Philip Learn, and his co-pilot, Captain Brian Hummel, were recently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroics a year ago in Afghanistan. But there's a lot more to it than that.
The two were flying an AH-64 Apache gunship at the time, escorting two CH-47 transport helicopters near Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan. One of the CH-47's took some ground fire, was damaged, but managed to land. Then the 34 troops on the CH-47 found themselves under fire from a large group of Taliban gunmen in the area. So Learn and Hummel took their AH-64 in low and basically shot it out with the Taliban, killing and wounding many, and forcing the rest to leave the area. At times, the AH-64 was exchanging fire with over a dozen Taliban, who were armed with assault rifles, machine-guns and PRGs.
The incoming Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee could not describe Hezbollah and incorrectly described al-Qaeda's Islamic roots in a recent interview.
Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), whom incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) named earlier this month to chair the panel, formally known as the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was asked by a reporter from Congressional Quarterly whether al-Qaeda was Sunni or Shiite. "Predominantly -- probably Shiite," Reyes replied.
From Osama bin Laden down, al-Qaeda's leadership is comprehensively Sunni and subscribes to a form of Sunni Islam known for not tolerating theological deviation.
Attorney General Greg Stumbo has asked the state ethics commission to reconsider its opinion that said he could not run for governor in 2007 without confronting a “perceived or actual” conflict of interest.
Stumbo, a Democrat, said in an interview Thursday with The Courier-Journal he has not decided whether to run for governor but has no plans to do so “at this time.”
Taxpayers picked up a tab of at least $2.1 million for the investigation of Gov. Ernie Fletcher and his staff for awarding civil service jobs to political allies.
But the full cost will remain a mystery.
"Yes, the investigation was worth it. Kentucky will see the benefits of this investigation as its work force in state government is allowed to function as the law intended it to, where jobs are awarded on merit and what you know -- not who you know," he said.
Democrats tidying up a cluster of unfinished spending bills dumped on them by departing Republican leaders in Congress will start by removing billions of dollars in lawmakers' pet projects next month.
The move, orchestrated by the incoming chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, could prove politically savvy even as it proves unpopular with other members of Congress, who as a group will lose thousands of so-called earmarks.
"There will be no congressional earmarks," Rep. David Obey , D-Wis., and Sen. Robert Byrd , D-W.Va., said Monday in a statement announcing their plans, which were quickly endorsed by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Earmarks are congressionally mandated projects such as grants for local governments, home-state universities and hospitals, roads, bridges and flood control construction, and economic development efforts not included in the president's spending proposals.
Often called "pork" by critics, their sponsors defend inserting the projects into spending bills by claiming that, as elected representatives, they know more about the needs of people in their states and government programs than the president or bureaucrats in the executive branch.
Such projects have exploded in number under GOP control of Congress over the last 12 years and at the same time have spawned a boom on Washington's K Street lobbying corridor, where consultants earn big fees by helping outsiders navigate the system.
Last week, however, McGuire obtained an assault warrant against the principal at Central Elementary in Johnson County, one of 50 school districts in Kentucky that still permit corporal punishment.
McGuire concedes he gave the school permission to paddle his son at the beginning of the school year. The boy was punished Nov. 27 after what McGuire termed a wrestling match with another student during recess.
But McGuire says principal Ben Hamilton, 43, went too far and hit too hard.
"He crossed the line," said McGuire, who said bruises on his son's buttocks in the shape of a paddle were still visible yesterday. "You're talking about a straight-A student who's never been in trouble before and, in his first whipping, you tear his backside off."
Hamilton referred questions to his lawyer, Ned Pillersdorf, who said he has filed a motion to dismiss the warrant because Hamilton is immune from prosecution under state law. Principals have the right to use necessary force to promote discipline, Pillersdorf said yesterday.
Teacher Beth Lemaster, who witnessed the paddling, said in a court affidavit that it "was not excessive, hurtful and was routine in nature, and was designed to instill discipline in the child."
Former Secretary of State James Baker and his panelists are trying to shore up the failing regional system that their generation designed. Released yesterday, their report doesn't offer "a new way forward." Its recommendations echo past failures. And it shows no sense of how gravely the world has changed.
The report doesn't offer a plan, but a muddle of truisms and truly bad ideas.
European Socialists promised on Thursday to work to rebuild Europe's strategic alliance with the United States now that the Democrats control Congress after last month's elections.
Socialist leaders attending a meeting of the European Socialist Party pledged that with the Democrats on the rise, strong ties could be renewed with the United States after years of cool relations with Republican President George W. Bush.
Howard Dean, chairman of the national committee of the U.S. Democratic Party, is attending the two-day conference together with the leaders of leftist governments of several countries and party leaders from across Europe.
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