Free Republic

Harry Belafonte in recent years has been positively Kanye-esque in his outspokenness. The 85-year-old singer — a revered icon in American pop music, the King of Calypso, the resonant voice behind the 1956 classic “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” — has tallied headlines for his frank opinions on matters ranging from U.S. foreign policy to race relations. In 2002, Belafonte likened Secretary of State Colin Powell to a “house slave” for his acquiescence to the invasion of Iraq. He called President George W. Bush “the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world” during a 2006 meeting...

In what has to be the worst case of wasteful packaging in the history of modern conveniece, a grocery store in Austria is actually selling pre-peeled bananas that have then been re-packaged in cellophane-covered foam trays.

Spray stops bananas breathing through their skin and kills the bacteria that make them rot It is derived from shrimp and crab shells Growers, supermarkets, even consumers could one day buy the experimental spray A spray that stops bananas from rapidly turning to mush is being developed by scientists. When used to coat green bananas, it slowed their ripening and so kept them fresh for almost a fortnight. By contrast, supermarket-bought bananas often go brown and soggy within two or three days.It is believed that the spray could help save some of the 1.6million bananas thrown away in Britain every...

From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now... 16 years old! Finally, all insurance companies will now provide free contraceptive and abortion services. This will not cost those companies any money. So let it be said, so let it be done.

President Obama, I oppose your appointment of Michael Taylor, a former VP and Lobbyist for Monsanto, the widely criticized Genetically Modified (GM) food multinational, as Senior Advisor to the Commissioner at the FDA. Taylor is the same person who was Food Safety Czar at the FDA when Genetically Modified Organisms were allowed into the US food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety or risks. This is a travesty. Taylor was in charge of policy for Monsanto's now-discredited GM Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) which is directly linked to cancer and opposed by many medical and hospital organizations.

My mother tells me that They say it's safe to eat food and drink milk that have shown trace amounts of radiation drifting from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan thousands of miles away. But when my mother says this, she's being sarcastic, because They, being the government They, simply cannot be trusted to tell us the truth on these matters. And a lot of other otherwise reasonable people feel the same way when we're told by a public or scientific entity that there's no reason to be worried. Which is why there was such widespread interest in...

I had a 4-55ft banana plant (dont know why they call it a banana plant, it didn't have bananas on it). Regardless, my brother-in-law was caring for our house and cut down our banana plant (it was looking dead from the winter, as they do this time of year) and he pruned it. When he cut down the plant he left about 1 inch of the stock remaining above the ground. My question is, will the plant grow back over time? thanks

PORT ANGELES, Wash. – A man in a banana costume is accused of exposing himself and brandishing a shotgun while riding around with a bunch of friends in Port Angeles. The Clallam County sheriff's office says the 21-year-old was arrested Tuesday evening for investigation of indecent exposure and reckless endangerment. The Peninsula Daily News reports police first received a report of the costumed man exposing himself at a restaurant. Sheriff's Sgt. Randy Pieper says they also drove through a neighborhood where the man got out brandishing the gun. After his arrest, the man couldn't explain why he was costumed. The...

NRA: Make-up artists to the painted mask of tyranny. In the middle of the night, I reget that I rightfully jumped all over an old friend. "Outside the limit of our sight, feeding off us, perched on top of us, from birth to death, are our owners! Our owners! They have us. They control us! They are our masters! Wake up! They're all about you! All around you!" -- Street Preacher in They Live, 1988. Folks, It is almost two in the morning and the dogs are barking outside but that is not why I am awake. I ran into...

Many have suggested that George Soros is the "brains" behind the Obama administration. I contend it is Woody Allen.

Federal regulators have denied a request by U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips to build a system of bridges to expand oil drilling on Alaska's North Slope, saying the project would harm aquatic wildlife. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied ConocoPhillips' application to build the bridges over the Colville River, in a decision Friday, saying other alternatives would meet overall project goals while better preserving marine wildlife. Houston-based Conoco plans to appeal the decision, company spokeswoman Natalie M. Lowman said Monday. She added that the company is "disappointed with their decision." Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and the state's governor, Sean Parnell,...

To be honest, the only things we’ve ever thought banana peels were good for were to fill the compost and to make people fall. Then we came across these genius ways to reuse the slippery guys…

EDINBURG — Workers at a state prison discovered some illicit produce last week while unpacking a fruit crate in the facility’s kitchen, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. Employees working in the mess hall of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Segovia Unit found 25 pounds of marijuana nestled in a crate of bananas and other fruits Friday. The fruit — which was donated by the Edinburg Police Department — originally came from a produce truck from which officers had seized more than a half a ton of the drug, Police Chief Quirino Muñoz said. Prisoners -- several of whom unloaded...

1 cup Gluten Free bread mix (white or whole meal) 2 eggs - beaten ¼ cup sugar (optional) ¼ teaspoon salt 2 ripe bananas - mashed Milk

TULSA, Okla. — One of the most deadly spiders in the world has been found in the produce section of a Tulsa grocery store. An employee of Whole Foods Market found the Brazilian Wandering Spider Sunday in bananas from Honduras and managed to catch it in a container. The spider was given to University of Tulsa Animal Facilities director Terry Childs who said this type of spider kills more people than any other.

A 21-year old Japanese woman is shopping desperately for bananas in her local supermarket but, sadly, bananas are hard to find these days in Japan. This is because Japan is the origination spot for the new Morning Banana Diet, which is sweeping Japanese women by storm. The young woman in the supermarket, who is urgently seeking out any bananas that may remain on the shelves, weighs only 100 pounds. So why does she need to diet at all? Shouldn't she be stocking up on greasy chicken fingers and fried calamari? The reason for her sudden urge to down some bananas...

Disfigured fruits and vegetables could be allowed in stores after most European Union members voted to loosen restrictions on produce, officials say. Misshapen bananas and cucumbers could be in stores by next year if reforms on produce rules are carried out, The Telegraph reported Thursday. The Telegraph said produce standards are so strict, many edible foods are discarded by farmers. European agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said she thinks some regulations should also be thrown out for onions, garlic, cauliflower and spinach. In this era of high prices and growing demand, it makes no sense to throw (misshapen fruit and...

ONCE you become accustomed to gas at $4 a gallon, brace yourself for the next shocking retail threshold: bananas reaching $1 a pound. At that price, Americans may stop thinking of bananas as a cheap staple, and then a strategy that has served the big banana companies for more than a century — enabling them to turn an exotic, tropical fruit into an everyday favorite — will begin to unravel. The immediate reasons for the price increase are the rising cost of oil and reduced supply caused by floods in Ecuador, the world’s biggest banana exporter. But something larger is...

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is formally opposing the relicensing of the Indian Point nuclear power facility in Buchanan. Cuomo cites terrorism and earthquake threats in addition to an inadequate evacuation plan. PRESS RELEASE FROM ANDREW CUOMO: GOVERNOR SPITZER AND ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO ANNOUNCE EFFORT TO HALT INDIAN POINT RELICENSING ~ Nuclear Regulatory Commission Should Consider Threat of Terrorism, Earthquakes, and Adequate Evacuation Plans; Westchester County, A.G. Blumenthal Join Filing NEW YORK, NY (December 3, 2007) - Governor Eliot Spitzer, New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, and Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano today...

Frontal Assault on Freedom: FBI Raids Liberty Dollar Posted by BJT on Nov 15, 2007 Read this email closely. I just got it this morning. Those of you who consider the gold standard a quaint anachronism, pay extra close attention. If Ron Paul supporters, gold standard advocates and the Liberty Dollar were nothing but harmless kooks, why would the FBI raid their offices when no crime was ever committed? This is a currency competing with the USD, yes, but they never, but never make the claim that it is legal tender or anything other than what it is: private currency....