Free Republic

Can't recall the last vanity I've done but I thought this was funny/interesting enough to post one now.

When he heard the name connected to the story – the one about the college kid who allegedly "hacked" his way into a personal e-mail account for Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin – Tracey McDaniels was not surprised. There was, after all, a history there. "He did the same kind of thing when he went to school here," said McDaniels, a history teacher at Eastern Hills Middle School. "He and another kid found a way to get onto the school's server – they just sat down and figured out the password." A taste of things to come for...

Local elections officials are looking into potential election fraud and some of the information is pointing to a Democratic-leaning voter's group. ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations For Reform Now, has been registering thousands of new voters for this year's election, but in Seminole County, some voter applications are being withheld until it's proven they're legitimate. Election fraud is a felony, but first it has to be proven and someone has to be charged. So far, elections officials said they are just beginning to gather clues in this case. Seminole County's elections supervisor is holding up dozens of voter registration...

Governor Palin about to speak at rally in Florida. Here is a live stream from an Orlando station

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A controversial billboard in Orange County has a picture of the burning World Trade Center and the message, "Please Don't Vote for a Democrat." The man who paid for the ad says he's trying to help Republicans, but officials with both political parties are calling the billboard inappropriate. There are billboards up and down busy Orange Blossom Trail, but this at John Young Parkway (see map) one sticks out. "Just looking at it, I'm not thinking about Democrat or Republican, I'm thinking about the twin towers and all the people killed," resident Mary Anderson told Eyewitness...

Catholics consider the consecrated wafer, the Eucharist, among the most sacred objects in the world and believe it becomes the 'Body of Christ' through transubstantiation. Student Government Senator Webster Cook filed the hazing charges with University of Central Florida administrators shortly after he admitted violating church rules by bringing the Eucharist home from Mass on June 29, then holding it hostage for one week in a plastic bag before returning it. Cook said his hazing complaint cited a UCF anti-hazing policy banning the forced consumption of any food in which the initiation or admission into or affiliation with a University...

A 13-year-old girl's sexual shenanigans have put a second man behind bars. Morris Williams, 22, told the judge he thought the girl was 18-years-old, but he found out Tuesday that ignorance is not a defense. Morris Williams' mother wailed as he went off to jail. The judge asked for media not to show 13-year-old Alisha Dean's face in court, but her pictures are all over her MySpace page and they portray a sexy, 19-year-old divorced woman. "She told me she had just turned 18," Williams said. Williams said Dean picked him up on the street and after a few conversations...

MARION COUNTY, Fla. -- A Marion County man who opened fire on his wife bought the shotgun used in the crime just hours earlier at a nearby Wal-Mart. He didn't have to wait to get the gun. He passed a mandatory background check in the store and walked right out with it. The man then went back into the store and bought some shotgun shells. Detectives said he then went home and murdered his wife. Cheryl Schleher heard a knock at the door Monday night around 11 o'clock. It was her neighbor, Johnny High. "My husband went out there and...

MARION COUNTY, Fla. -- A man who kidnapped and molested a Marion County boy choked to death in prison. Frederick Fretz died at a federal prison in Atwater, California after choking on a hot dog. In 2005, Fretz kidnapped 11-year-old Adam Kirkirt from Dunellon Elementary School. At the time, he told Kirkirt he was going to take him to his father, who had been arrested in Kentucky. Fretz and the child were later found in Georgia.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Florida's citrus growers are reporting only minor damage as the state thaws out from an overnight cold snap, even as snow flurries fall in parts of the Sunshine State. The National Weather Service says temperatures dropped into the 20s across north Florida, including parts of the Panhandle. The lowest temperature recorded was 20 degrees in Cross City, about 90 miles southeast of Tallahassee. A serious freeze would have been devastating to the state's citrus industry, already struggling from years of diseases and hurricanes. But most citrus growers are based in central and South Florida, where temperatures hovered...

cbs4denver will live stream a news conference about the religious shootings with Arvada and Colorado Springs Police at 4 p.m. A link will be provided here (at http://cbs4denver.com/ )

Hyderabad, April. 3 (PTI): The Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh today said it would support the state-wide strike called tomorrow by an OBC body to protest the Supreme Court's stay on the quota for backward classes in elite educational institutions. The entire Opposition, including the TDP, TRS, BJP, CPI and CPI(M), had earlier announced that it would back the shutdown called by the Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Association. Expressing solidarity with the strike, the government asked the Road Transport Coproration to suspend its bus services. All public examinations scheduled for tomorrow would be postponed to a later date, Backward...

Florida has given concealed weapon licenses to hundreds of people who wouldn't have a chance of getting them in most other states because of their criminal histories. Courts have found them responsible for assaults, burglaries, sexual battery, drug possession, child molestation -- even homicide.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A man celebrating the Fourth of July fatally shot himself while playing with a handgun, police said. Casey Neal, 36, was drinking during a cookout at his house early Wednesday, police said. Neal pointed the semiautomatic handgun at his head and told friends he would pull the trigger after counting down from five. Police said it appeared to be an accident. Other Fourth of July incidents in the area were less serious. Another man in St. Petersburg was hospitalized after being struck in the face by fireworks, authorities said. In Tampa, a woman and a 6-year-old...

Billboard I saw on the way home advertising for the UMC: If you can wish, you an believe.

Saw this on the road in Orlando the other day: I think my brain overloaded trying to figure it out. I'm glad to see that the Vols are conceding long before the season starts this year. But seriously, what ARE they thinking?

Plane crash near Charleston, WV. Plane was being escorted as it was not communicating with tower. No indication yet of foul play. Waiting for news to catch up. Admin Mod, no link as of yet. Please delete if need be due to this.

OCALA NATIONAL FOREST -- Leo Boatman paid $32.50 for a Greyhound ticket from Clearwater to Ocala the night of Jan. 2 -- a stolen AK-47 tucked in his bag and murder hidden in his heart, authorities said.

Three witnesses told police they saw a man and two women in a four-door white vehicle approach the Murphy USA gas station in the southwest corner of the Wal-Mart parking lot...The man then threw a package of red tubes wrapped with electrical tape. They were made to resemble dynamite, and also attached was something made to resemble a fuse, police said.

(Excerpted) At least two people were killed Tuesday when a sport utility vehicle overturned after it was hit by a pickup at U.S. Highway 192 and Avalon Road in south Orange County. After the crash, the driver of the truck tried to alter his appearance by changing shirts and then tried to walk away, Pratts said. Vazquez-Jiminez is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and does not have a drivers license, Pratts said.