Combat Camera: Defend America for 25 Nov. 2006

U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, center, senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and country music singer Michael Peterson, seated on Gainey's right, eat Thanksgiving dinner with servicemembers on Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, Nov. 23, 2006. Peterson visited troops and conducted concerts through the USO. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Christopher DeWitt

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Travis J. Schellpeper, an explosive ordnance disposal technician assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 3, Multi-National Division - Central South, searches the home of a suspected insurgent during a cordon and search in Naimi, Iraq, Nov. 20, 2006. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Dawn M. Price

An Iraqi policeman leads a joint patrol of U.S. and Iraqi forces during a mission to hand out educational flyers in the village of Ambulshabi, Iraq, Nov. 20, 2006. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Samuel Bendet

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Justin Geers, left, second squad leader, Detachment 7, 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, inspects weapons at Victory Base, Iraq, Nov. 11, 2006. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Steve Cline

President Bush Expresses Thanksgiving Appreciation to Troops
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25, 2006 –- President Bush expressed thanks in his radio address today to the troops who are risking their lives far from home this Thanksgiving holiday to protect the rights the Pilgrims celebrated that first Thanksgiving Day. Read it.

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Operation Care and Comfort Sends Tons of Packages

America Supports You: Operation Care and Comfort Sends Tons of Packages

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2006 (American Forces Press Service) -– Operation Care and Comfort, a military care package program, has reached a milestone with its 200,000th pound of care packages shipped to the troops.

Since April 2003, this all-volunteer program has worked with the community to send a touch of home to troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflict regions. Dozens of volunteers of all ages joined in on Nov. 19 and helped pack about 10,000 pounds of care packages to send.

This self-funded, grassroots program is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program designed to connect the American public with servicemembers at home and overseas. Operation Care and Comfort is affiliated with the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Operation Care and Comfort's unique program invites members of the community to use their time, talents and treasure to show servicemembers in harm's way that they are not forgotten.

"Our program's strength is in the fantastic volunteers who have come forward to help in all areas, including fund raising, product donation drives, letter writing campaigns, etc. We are included in the Department of Defense America Supports You program, so folks all over the country contact us with questions regarding supporting our troops," said Julie DeMaria, co-founder, Operation Care and Comfort. "In addition, our servicemembers also find us and ask for support for their units, via our Web site. We are currently shipping monthly care packages to 60 different military units of all branches, with more on a waiting list."

Operation Care and Comfort's holiday drive began Sept. 1. TroopFest 2006, an Operation Care and Comfort troop support rally and benefit concert, was held onboard the USS Hornet Sept. 30, drawing thousands of people from all over northern California. Entertainment included Greg Kihn, Tony Lindsay and others.

"We are still collecting items, handwritten cards and letters, and monetary donations to offset shipping costs of $1 a pound. Items donated by Dec. 1 will be packed and shipped in time for a Christmas delivery, DeMaria said. For ways to help, visit www.operationcareandcomfort.org or call (408) 373-8635.

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Racism: Alive and Well Update

If it looks and sounds like a Seinfeld episode ... perhaps it is.

• The Brits have noticed that the career of actor Michael Richards, famed as Seinfeld's wacky neighbor Kramer, took a further nosedive as fresh details of his racist comments came to light.
  
  The Daily Mail reports that Kramer has now been accused of making anti-Jewish comments during a stand-up routine as well.
  
  

  Richards allegedly lashed out at Jews during performance earlier this year, yelling at one audience member: "You're a f***ing Jew. Your people are the cause of Jesus dying."

  Carol Oschin, who was at the show, said: "We didn't know if this was part of the act. He was getting very (verbally) violent, very agitated."
  
  You can check out the videos and reports of the famous Kramer rant here: Racism: Alive and Well. And pay attention folks, you never know who has their video phone pointed your way!

• First he went on national television to apologize for his racial tirade against two black hecklers. Now Michael Richards is taking his contriteness to the next level: he's hired a public relations expert with deep contacts in the black community according to AP.
  
  

  "Michael apologized profusely. He wants to heal the tremendous wound that he's inflicted on the American public, and on the African-American community," New York publicist Howard Rubenstein said.

  "Clearly he needs some race sensibility training, and some psychiatric help. His anger is volatile and dangerous to himself and others," Jackson said. "I hope he gets the help he needs. But the culture that's producing this kind of animosity toward blacks must be addressed. ... We're increasingly facing cultural isolation in Hollywood, in the movies and in TV."

  It's too bad Richards stooped to blaming Bush for the whole triade in the apology.

• Adding their collective voice to the Kramer fray, the NAACP on Wednesday rejected comedian Michael Richards' claim that he is not a racist after his much-publicized outburst at a comedy club, reports DC metro NBC 4.
  
  

  "Mr. Richards' commentary was clearly racist and revealed racist thinking. His declaration that he 'is not a racist' is indicative of the type of denial that too often accompanies racist rhetoric," said Vicangelo Bulluck, director of the NAACP's Hollywood Bureau.

  "What is so disconcerting is these recent racist outbursts are coming from notable personalities that have benefited from the support of millions of minority fans around the world. Their behavior is totally inexcusable because they should know better," Bulluck said.

  "Those that are given access to the public through mainstream media must be put on notice that they have everything to lose by spewing racist ideas and rants," the NAACP said in the statement, adding that its Hollywood bureau has placed calls to Richards' representatives and is awaiting a response.

• ABC News reports Joe Mroszczyk, president of the College Republicans at Boston University, admits he set out to stir up a hornet's nest when he came up with the idea of offering a whites-only scholarship at the school. But he got a little more buzz than he bargained for.
  
  

  "To tell you the truth, we didn't see this coming," Mroszczyk said. "The Drudge Report picked it up yesterday, and today I just finished a round of national interviews. It's kind of overwhelming."

  All the media attention is focused on a $250 Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship offered by Mroszczyk and the BU chapter of the College Republicans. Applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher; they must write two essays; and, here's the kicker, they must be at least one-quarter Caucasian.

• Native American students at Dartmouth College in Massachusetts are alleging racism over a series of events including a "cowboy and Indian" theme party, according to UPI.
  
  In an ad by a campus Native American Council in the school newspaper this week, several incidents were cited as racist, including the theme party and an incident on Columbus day where fraternity pledges allegedly disrupted a Native American drumming circle.

• DC metro Fox 5 reports an eastern Missouri high school student is suing his school district after being suspended for wearing a cap and T-shirt bearing the Confederate flag. Bryce Archambo, a freshman at Farmington High School, filed suit in federal court in St. Louis Tuesday, alleging the school district policy is unconstitutional and discriminatory.
  
  The suit alleges the district's policy violates state law that bars prohibitions against emblems or clothing that are not disruptive. The suit asks a judge to bar the school from enforcing that policy, re-admit Archambo and remove any disciplinary record of the incident.

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Combat Camera: Thanksgiving 2006

Soldiers from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division stop for a line of turkeys crossing the road in Mosul, Iraq, Nov. 3, not far from the Turkish border where the gobblers may have originated. Photo by Sgt. Antonieta Rico, November 22, 2006

When 1st Lt. Rosanna Vasquez Brown stepped off a plane at Fort Campbell, Ky., Nov. 20, a few days before Thanksgiving, she was greeted and hugged by her whole family -- their first reunion since 9/11. Here, she hugs her daughter Elisa, as her husband, Master Sgt. Mark Brown smiles after a welcome home ceremony at Campbell Army Airfield. Rosanna, stationed at Fort Campbell, is currently serving in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division as a physician assistant in the Baghdad area. She also is a treatment platoon leader for a group of 25 Soldiers. Rosanna has been approved for a Bronze Star Medal. Mark served two tours in Iraqi and one combat tour in Panama in 1989. His awards include two Bronze Star Medals. While in Iraq, his team was responsible for training thousands of Iraqi soldiers. Photo by Kelli Bland, Fort Campbell Courier November 21, 2006

Ali Al Salem, Kuwait (Nov. 22, 2006) - Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) The Honorable Dr. Donald C. Winter wishes Sailors and Marines stationed at Camp Moreell a Happy Thanksgiving and gives thanks for their service during his visit to Ali Al Salem, Kuwait. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shawn P. Eklund (RELEASED)

Tech. Sgt. Charles Allegretta hands Staff Sgt. James Lotz a case of apple pies that will be baked for the Thanksgiving feast. More than 130 pies were ordered in all flavors -- pumpkin, sweet potato and pecan included. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jason Tudor)

Al Anbar, Iraq (Nov. 23, 2006) - Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) The Honorable Dr. Donald C. Winter takes a moment in prayer with U.S. Marines and Sailors stationed at Camp Fallujah. The SECNAV is in Iraq to wish all a Happy Thanksgiving and give thanks for their service during his visit. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shawn P. Eklund (RELEASED)

U.S. soldiers serve food to fellow soldiers as they celebrate Thanksgiving Day at a U.S. military camp in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad November 23, 2006. Pool/Mohammed Ameen (IRAQ)

Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006, at Bagram air base, 35km (21miles) north of Kabul, Afghanistan. Around 20, 000 U.S. soldiers remain based in Afghanistan since the collapse of the Taliban in late 2001. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Operation Iraqi Freedom: Click Here to Send Your Message to the Troops

Stars and Stripes: Click Here to Send a Holiday Message to a Soldier

NEWSBYTES

Pausing to reflect on blessings, freedoms
Monday, 27 November 2006
By Gen. George Casey
Commander, MNF-I
The American Thanksgiving holiday provides an opportunity to pause and reflect on the many blessings and freedoms that each of us enjoy –and for the many reasons each of has to be thankful. I am thankful that you and all the members of this great Coalition have been instrumental in bringing freedom to a nation that had known none for decades.

U.S. Soldiers Share Thanksgiving Tradition With Iraqis
By Staff Sgt. Angela McKinzie, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service
YUSUFIYAH, Iraq, Nov. 24, 2006 –- In 1620, natives of England sailed to the Americas in hopes of a better future, but suffered a devastating first winter. At the beginning of the following fall, 46 of the original 102 pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower to America had died, making the harvest of 1621 a special occasion to the survivors.

Patriotism, Country Music, Humor Greet Troops in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Nov. 23, 2006 (AFIS) -– U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan are the embodiment of the Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage, country singer Michael Peterson told troops here today during a Thanksgiving concert.

Troops to get holiday meals
NATICK, Mass. (Army News Service, Nov. 22, 2006) -- The holidays are going to be a little bit tastier for warfighters serving in Iraq and Afghanistan thanks to a team of scientists at Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center. Read.

Preparation key to Turkey Day in Iraq
CAMP LIBERTY (CENTCOM) -- Thanksgiving Day has historically been the biggest meal military dining facilities serve around the globe. This year’s banquet in Baghdad will be no exception. Read.

Marines Observe Thanksgiving in Iraq
FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- From their positions across Iraq's dangerous and insurgent-dominated Anbar province, more than 20,000 Marines quickly and quietly marked Thanksgiving on Thursday - then got back to work.

CENTCOM MULTIMEDIA

Video: Air Force Report - O'Malley Award
This edition features a story on an Airman receiving the Air Force's O'Malley Award for his efforts during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Cameron.

Video: Air Force Report - Tsunami Response
This edition features a story on Airmen responding to a recent tsunami warning off the coast of Japan. Hosted by Senior Airman Brad Cameron.

DOD MULTIMEDIA

Holiday Message from the Secretary of Defense

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Bush Pardons a Real Turkey

I was sure this bird would be John Kerry, but alas, Bush wasn't pardoning a jive turkey.

• Remarks by the President at the Pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey
  From the Rose Garden:
  

  We're here in the Rose Garden. This is a place where Barney likes to hang out. Barney is my dog. And he likes to chase a soccer ball here. He came out a little early, as did Flyer, and instead of chasing the soccer ball, he chased the bird. (Laughter.) And it kind of made the turkey nervous. See, the turkey was already nervous to begin with. Nobody has told him yet about the pardon I'm about to give him. (Laughter.)

• Thanksgiving at the White House, 2006
  This year marks the 59th anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation. Though live Thanksgiving turkeys have been presented intermittently to presidents since the Lincoln administration, the current ceremony dates to 1947, when the first National Thanksgiving Turkey was presented to President Harry Truman.

• Thanksgiving Day, 2006
  A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

• Video

• The Truth About Turkey and Thanksgiving
  (American Heritage) -- Every autumn the President of the United States performs a solemn duty. Presented with a prize turkey intended for his Thanksgiving table, he demurs. He graciously accepts the bird but cannot bring himself to have it killed. He grants it a presidential pardon, sending it to live out its old age in some poultry retirement community. Here’s a question: Which President started this venerable tradition?

• President Bush Pardons A Real Turkey
  (CBS/AP) -- He was going to pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey anyway, but President Bush figured he really owed the bird this time. His dog had just scared the stuffing out of it.
  
  

  "I am granting a full presidential pardon so they can live out their lives as safe as can be," the president declared.

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Bush Pardons National Turkey

Updated here.

Bush Jinxed by Voodoo?

Strange coincidences or typical chaos?

• A renowned black magic practitioner performed a voodoo ritual Thu, Nov. 16 to jinx President George W. Bush and his entourage while he was on a brief visit to Indonesia, according to AP.
  
  

  "I don't hate Americans, but I don't like Bush," said Pamungkas, who believed the ritual would succeed as, "the devil is with me today."

  He said the jinx would sent spirits to posses Secret Service personnel guarding Bush and leave them in a trance, leading them into falsely thinking the President was under attack, thus eventually causing chaos in Bogor Presidential Palace, where the American leader met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday.
  
  Perhaps the jinx had a delayed effect. One thing's for sure, the President and those surrounding him have had stirred up more than their fair share of chaos and confusion over the past week.

• Brian Ross at ABC News reports First Daughter Barbara Bush had her purse and cell phone stolen as she had dinner in a restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina, even though she was being guarded by a detail of Secret Service agents, according to law enforcement reports made available to ABC News.
  
  

  A Secret Service agent on the advance detail got into an "altercation" with someone after a night out and was badly beaten, according to the law enforcement reports. The Secret Service said today the incident was an attempted mugging that occurred while the agent was on his own time. The agent is doing fine.

  AP notes U.S. and Argentine media reported that one of President Bush's 24- year-old twin daughters had her purse stolen while being guarded by the Secret Service during a visit here.
  
  La Nacion newspaper, citing anonymous government sources, said in its online edition early Wednesday that one of Bush's daughters had her purse taken Sunday afternoon in the popular tourist district of San Telmo.
  
  Argentina's largest-circulation daily, Clarin, ran an online report citing the government news agency Telam as saying that Barbara Bush had her purse taken along with a cell phone that was inside it. Telam cited an official source who did not wish to be identified by name and who provided no other details.

• KITV reports the acting director of the White House Travel Office was robbed and beaten in Waikiki early on Tuesday morning outside a nightclub, according to Honolulu police.
  
  Three men mugged Greg Pitts at about 2 a.m. while he was walking through the International Marketplace near Bobby G's Dance Club, police said.
  
  Pitts accompanied President George W. Bush on a brief visit to Hawaii. The stop came after an eight-day trip to Asia.

• Two of the three Honolulu Police Department motorcycle officers involved in a crash while escorting President George W. Bush to Hickam Air Force Base are in serious condition at The Queen's Medical Center according to The Honolulu Adviser.

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Combat Camera: Al Wzar River Patrol

U.S. Marines assigned to Dam Security Unit 3 deploy their small unit reconnaissance crafts to prepare for a reconnaissance patrol along the Al Wzar River around Ramadi, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2006. Marines of DSU-3 are deployed with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in support of war on terror. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Edward Reagan

U.S. Marines assigned to Dam Security Unit 3 conduct a reconnaissance patrol along the Al Wzar River around Ramadi, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2006. Marines of DSU-3 are deployed with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in support of war on terror. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Edward Reagan

U.S. Army Sgt. Timothy Stephens, a combat cameraman from the 982nd Combat Camera Airborne Company, documents a reconnaissance patrol along the Al Wzar River around Ramadi, Iraq, conducted by U.S. Marines assigned to Dam Security Unit 3 Oct. 21, 2006. Marines of DSU-3 are deployed with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in support of war on terror. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Edward Reagan

U.S. Marines assigned to Dam Security Unit 3 conduct a reconnaissance patrol along the Al Wzar River around Ramadi, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2006. Marines of DSU-3 are deployed with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in support of war on terror. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Edward Reagan

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jason Shanty, assigned to Dam Security Unit 3, looks through a pair of binoculars while providing security while the rest of his crew deploy their boats in the Al Wzar River around Ramadi, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2006. Marines of DSU-3 are deployed with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in support of war on terror. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Edward Reagan

U.S. Marines assigned to Dam Security Unit 3 conduct a reconnaissance patrol along the Al Wzar River around Ramadi, Iraq, Oct. 21, 2006. Marines of DSU-3 are deployed with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) in support of war on terror. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Edward Reagan

CENTCOM MULTIMEDIA

Video: Freedom Watch Afghanistan Nov. 21
This edition features a story on Soldiers becoming citizens in a naturalization ceremony. Hosted by Cpl. Nick Diornio.

Video: Air Force Report - Ethiopia Relief
This edition features a story on the Air Force's efforts to provide medical aid and food to citizens in Ethiopia. Hosted by Senior Airmen Brad Cameron.

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Decline and Fall of Western Civ Extra, 21 Nov.

Late developments:

• Brian Ross at ABC News reports First Daughter Barbara Bush had her purse and cell phone stolen as she had dinner in a restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina, even though she was being guarded by a detail of Secret Service agents, according to law enforcement reports made available to ABC News.
  
  

  A Secret Service agent on the advance detail got into an "altercation" with someone after a night out and was badly beaten, according to the law enforcement reports. The Secret Service said today the incident was an attempted mugging that occurred while the agent was on his own time. The agent is doing fine.

• KITV reports the acting director of the White House Travel Office was robbed and beaten in Waikiki early on Tuesday morning outside a nightclub, according to Honolulu police.
  
  Three men mugged Greg Pitts at about 2 a.m. while he was walking through the International Marketplace near Bobby G's Dance Club, police said.
  
  Pitts accompanied President George W. Bush on a brief visit to Hawaii. The stop came after an eight-day trip to Asia.

• Two of the three Honolulu Police Department motorcycle officers involved in a crash while escorting President George W. Bush to Hickam Air Force Base are in serious condition at The Queen's Medical Center according to The Honolulu Adviser.

• AP reports nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.

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Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965 by Mark Moyar

BOOKS IN THE NEWS

Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965 by Mark Moyar
(From Booklist) -- This thoroughly researched and richly informative history of the Vietnam War examines first the war's central characters and countries in the years leading up to 1954. Moyar contends that South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, who has been incessantly depicted as an obtuse, tyrannical reactionary by some historians, was in reality a very wise and effective leader. Moyar states that supporting the November 1963 coup was the worst American mistake of the war, that President Kennedy had no plans to abandon his South Vietnamese allies after the 1964 election, and that President Johnson's lack of forcefulness in Vietnam in late 1964 and early 1965 squandered America's deterrent power and led to a decision in Hanoi to invade South Vietnam with large North Vietnamese army units. Moyar notes that historians have argued that an American ground-troop presence in Laos would not have stopped most of the infiltration, but much new evidence contradicts this contention. Where the U.S. committed major errors, he writes, was in formulating strategies for defending South Vietnam. A valuable appraisal.

(From the Publisher) -- Drawing on a wealth of new evidence from all sides, Triumph Forsaken overturns most of the historical orthodoxy on the Vietnam War. Through the analysis of international perceptions and power, it shows that South Vietnam was a vital interest of the United States. The book provides many new insights into the overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963 and demonstrates that the coup negated the South Vietnamese government's tremendous, and hitherto unappreciated, military and political gains between 1954 and 1963. After Diem's assassination, President Lyndon Johnson had at his disposal several aggressive policy options that could have enabled South Vietnam to continue the war without a massive US troop infusion, but he ruled out these options because of faulty assumptions and inadequate intelligence, making such an infusion the only means of saving the country.

About the Author: Mark Moyar holds a B.A. summa cum laude in history from Harvard and a PhD in history from Cambridge. He is the author of Phoenix and the Birds of Prey: The CIA's Secret Campaign to Destroy the Viet Cong. Dr. Moyar has taught at Cambridge, Ohio State University, and Texas A&M University, and at present he is an Associate Professor and Course Director at the U.S. Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.

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The Decline and Fall of Western Civ for 21 Nov.

After reading: wash, rinse and repeat.

• KITV reports the acting director of the White House Travel Office was robbed and beaten in Waikiki early on Tuesday morning outside a nightclub, according to Honolulu police.
  
  Three men mugged Greg Pitts at about 2 a.m. while he was walking through the International Marketplace near Bobby G's Dance Club, police said.
  
  Pitts accompanied President George W. Bush on a brief visit to Hawaii. The stop came after an eight-day trip to Asia.

• Two of the three Honolulu Police Department motorcycle officers involved in a crash while escorting President George W. Bush to Hickam Air Force Base are in serious condition at The Queen's Medical Center according to The Honolulu Adviser.

• In more news from the police blotter, pressofatlanticcity.com reports four female bodies were found face down in a drainage ditch Monday afternoon in the West Atlantic City section of the township, authorities confirmed.
  
  The bodies, which have not been identified, were found lying in several inches of water shortly after 3 p.m., Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey S. Blitz said. Autopsies are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. today.
  
  

  “We're in the process of attempting to identify the bodies,” the prosecutor said in a phone interview. “We have confirmed that there are four dead bodies; we haven't confirmed whether they are homicides. There is an ongoing investigation.”

  NBC 10 notes investigators in Atlantic City say one of four women found dead in a ditch Monday night was strangled to death.

• AP reports out-of-wedlock births in the United States have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly four in 10 babies born last year, government health officials said Tuesday.
  
  

  "A lot of people think of teenagers and unmarried mothers synonymously, but they are not driving this," said Stephanie Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics, a co-author of the report.

• Not to be topped by yesterday's Racism: Alive and Well segment starring Cosmo Kramer, Boston U's The Daily Free Press reports, looking to draw attention to what they call the "worst form of bigotry confronting America today," Boston University's College Republicans are circulating an application for a "Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship" that requires applicants be at least 25 percent Caucasian.
  
  

  "Did we do this to give a scholarship to white kids? Of course not," the scholarship reads. "Did we do it to trigger a discussion on what we believe to be the morally wrong practice of basing decisions in our schools and our jobs on racial preferences rather than merit? Absolutely."

• The global HIV epidemic is growing, leaving an estimated 39.5 million people worldwide infected with the deadly virus, the United Nations said Tuesday, according to AP.
  
  

  "In a short quarter of a century AIDS has drastically changed our world," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said at a staff meeting Monday in Geneva. "AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria make up the deadliest triad the world has known."

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Combat Camera: Joint Patrol in Adhamiyah, Iraq

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Widmark Quashie, third from left, assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, conducts a briefing before a patrol in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 13, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki

U.S. Army soldiers assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division provide security during a patrol in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 13, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Tom Walsh, assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, searches a car during a patrol in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 13, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Tom Walsh, assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, removes a backpack while conducting a car search during a patrol in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 13, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki

U.S. Army Maj. Peter Zike, right, commander of the Military Transition Team from 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, and an Iraqi army commander, left, with 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, walk through a marketplace to talk to local nationals during a combined patrol in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 13, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki

Iraqi army soldiers with 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division conduct a combined patrol with U.S. Army soldiers from the Military Transition Team of 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 13, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki

A U.S. Army soldier assigned to the Military Transition Team of 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, conducts a patrol in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 13, 2006. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Bronco Suzuki

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