Free Republic

WASILLA, Alaska -- Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, the teenage daughter of Gov. Sarah Palin, have broken off their engagement, he said Wednesday, about 2 1/2 months after the couple had a baby. Johnston, 19, told The Associated Press that he and 18-year-old Bristol Palin mutually decided "a while ago" to end their relationship. He declined to elaborate as he stood outside his family's home in Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage. He also said some details of the breakup, rumors of which had been swirling on the Internet, were inaccurate. Bristol Palin said in a statement that she...

About half of the oil in the ocean bubbles up naturally from the seafloor, with Earth giving it up freely like it was of no value. Likewise, NASA satellites collect thousands of images and 1.5 terrabytes of data every year, but some of it gets passed over because no one thinks there is a use for it.

Norman, OK. January 12, 2009 A seven year old boy was at the center of a county courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy had a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the Oklahoma child custody law requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible. At the hearing, the boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her....

I have grown sick and tired of the incessant Bush bashing in this country. Why don't John McCain and Sarah Palin stand up and call a spade a spade? For all their trashing talking, the fact is that not one Democrat can dispute this simple truth - George Bush has kept us safe since 9/11/01. Barack Obama and the Democrats, and worse yet, the average Democrat on the street, are going to drag this country under and sink it forever if we do not stop them dead in their tracks.

Fred Thompson quits presidential race Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson quit the Republican presidential race on Tuesday, after a string of poor finishes in early primary and caucus states. "Today, I have withdrawn my candidacy for president of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort," Thompson said in a statement. Thompson's fate was sealed last Saturday in the South Carolina primary, when he finished third in a state that he had said he needed to win. In the statement, Thompson did not say whether he would endorse any...

Amid confusion of a new Seminole County Courthouse, 11 citizens were directed to sit in the wrong courtroom to respond to traffic citations. Next door in an adjoining courtroom, an angry Judge John Sloop signed warrants for their arrest for failing to show. The citizens were handcuffed and chained by 15 officers who took them to jail, where they were strip-searched and sat locked up nine hours until 9 that Friday night. On the following Monday, when Chief Judge James Perry asked why he didn’t solve the problem when two judges and a bailiff first alerted him to the mistake...

Cy, short for Cyclopes, a kitten born with only one eye and no nose, is shown in this photo provided by its owner in Redmond, Oregon, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005. The kitten, a ragdoll breed, which died after living for one day, was one of two in the litter. Its sibling was born normal and healthy. (AP Photo/Traci Allen)

Cursed art thou, Johnny Iscariot!

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Yankees grabbed center fielder Johnny Damon away from the rival Boston Red Sox, reaching a preliminary agreement Tuesday night on a $52 million, four-year contract. Details of the deal were still being negotiated and Damon must pass a physical, a baseball official said on condition of anonymity because negotiations were not yet final. Moving from Fenway Park to Yankee Stadium will mean a change of style and scenery for the long-haired, bearded Damon - New York owner George Steinbrenner has rules governing the length of hair and bans beards. "Sad to say bye...

(10-27) 10:55 PDT Frederica, Del. (AP) -- The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said. The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said. The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles. State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank....

WACO, Texas (AP) -- A pastor performing a baptism was electrocuted inside his church Sunday morning when he adjusted a nearby microphone while standing in water, a church employee said. The Rev. Kyle Lake, 33, was stepping into the baptistery as he reached out for the microphone, which produced an electric shock, said University Baptist Church community pastor Ben Dudley. Water in a baptistery usually reaches above the waist, said Byron Weathersbee, interim university chaplain at Baylor University.

Ranked No. 8 in the nation, the University of Louisville was shocked, stunned and stomped by South Florida Saturday night in Tampa, 45-14. Picked to win the Big East Conference and accept a BCS bowl bid, Louisville lost its first-ever Big East game in surprising fashion. USF jumped to a fast start, with a 21-0 lead at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, buiding the lead to 45-7 in the fourth quarter. In the closing minutes, USF fans started chanting "Overrated" and singing "Goodbye" to the more than 6,000 Louisville fans who made the 15 hour trip to Tampa for...

BERLIN (AP) -- More than 1,000 toads have puffed up and exploded in a Hamburg pond in recent weeks, and scientists still have no explanation for what's causing the combustion, an official said Wednesday. Both the pond's water and body parts of the toads have been tested, but scientists have been unable to find a bacteria or virus that would cause the toads to swell up and pop, said Janne Kloepper, of the Hamburg-based Institute for Hygiene and the Environment. "It's absolutely strange," she said. "We have a really unique story here in Hamburg. This phenomenon really doesn't seem to...

MOBILE, Ala. - A federal judge ordered a 90-year-old woman and her 60-year-old son jailed without bail on drug charges, saying they might represent a danger to the community if freed. Lucious Westry, also known as "Big "Mama," and son Calvin Westry pleaded innocent Friday. Defense attorneys asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Bert Milling Jr. to let them stay with Calvin Westry's daughter until the case is resolved, but he refused. "I'm not concerned about a risk of flight," the magistrate judge said. "I am concerned about the danger to the public because of a long-standing drug activity in that community."...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Farmer Amphol Wangboon was hesitant to give up his beloved Thong Khaow for marriage until he found her the perfect match and a dowry he couldn't refuse: truckloads of fresh grass, hay, maize and $2,400. So Thong Khaow and her new mate, Thong Kham - a pair of rare dwarf Brahman cattle - were married Sunday morning in a traditional Thai ceremony featuring a banquet for more than 2,000 human guests in central Sa Kaew province. The animals wore silk outfits and jasmine garlands. Other beasts, including goats, also attended the wedding. Amphol said Thong Kham's owner,...

An Internet auction of military hardware will test Ukraine's new openness, experts say, as the former Soviet republic prepares to sell off enough equipment to outfit an army of three million soldiers, Globeandmail.com reported. Ukraine's Defence Ministry plans to launch a website next week, where prospective buyers can browse through hundreds of military products, from tanks and armoured personnel carriers to more prosaic items such as trucks, tents, tarpaulins, medical equipment and field kitchens. "Any weapons could be for sale without any restrictions," said Andrei Sparuk, an aide to deputy defence minister Vyacheslav Kredisov. Mr. Sparuk also said the on-line...

Excerpts from conversations between Pinnacle Airlines Capt. Jesse Rhodes and First Officer Peter Cesarz just before they died in the crash of a Bombardier regional jet on Oct. 14, 2004. Investigators say the crash occurred after the pilots took the plane to 41,000 feet, an altitude where engine problems can develop. 9:48:44 p.m. Cesarz: "Man we can do it. Forty-one it." 9:48:46 Rhodes: "(Unintelligible) baby." 9:48:57 Cesarz: "Hundred and eighty knots, still cruising at Mach point six four." 9:51:51 Cesarz: "There's four-one-oh, my man." 9:51:53 Cesarz: "Made it, man." 9:54:19 Rhodes: "Yeah, that's funny, we got up here, it won't...

Aizawl: A well-known wildlife enthusiast in India's northeastern state of Mizoram has offered his corpse to be left for wild animals to feed on as part of a bizarre will, court officials said Wednesday. A spokesperson at the District Council Court in Mizoram's capital Aizawl said 46-year-old New World Laldingliana, a Christian tribal, has made a will wishing that his mortal remains be left in the forest for wild animals to eat.

Semi Truck Nearly Split in Half by Train 12/22/04 -- A train versus semi accident closed a Livingston county road for several hours Wednesday night. The Michigan State Police Brighton Post told 6 News that the accident happened around 7 PM at the Burkhart-Grand River intersection near Howell. Officials say that semi truck was literally split in half. Amazingly, there were no injuries. Some fuel was spilled on the tracks, but has since been cleaned up. State Police continue to investigate.

High tension in Sichuan dam standoff by Kelly Haggart Troops with steel helmets and machine guns have moved in to the Hanyuan county seat in Sichuan province as tension runs high in the Pubugou dam conflict, according to Chinese-language Hong Kong newspaper reports today (Nov. 8). Hundreds of villagers protesting against construction of the dam on the Dadu River in southwest China have been detained, and several dozen farmers have been hospitalized after violent clashes with police that began late last month. The county seat has now been sealed off and outsiders prevented from entering, the newspaper reports said. Eyewitnesses...

TACOMA, Wash. (Oct. 28) - A seriously wounded 8-year-old boy calmly described his father's deadly knife rampage during a call for help to 911. "My daddy killed me with a knife and I'm gone," the boy told a dispatcher. "Can you please send the Army men or the ambulance?" The soft-spoken child gave a wrong address and then hung up. But a second dispatcher called back, keeping him on the line while a frantic search was under way. On Wednesday, authorities released the remarkable tape of Anthony Sukto's calm courage during the Oct. 22 ordeal, and the frantic efforts to...

ROCHESTER, NY--According to the Democrat & Chronicle (which cannot be reposted here thanks to the cretins at Gannett news), "Former nurse's aide John Horace, imprisoned for raping and impregnating a comatose woman, claimed to the state Parole Board that he committed his crime because he thought a pregnancy could jolt the woman from her coma."The paper notes that the woman gave birth to a son in March 1996, and died in March 1997 of natural causes unconnected to the rape. She'd been comatose for more than a decade from injuries suffered in a car accident, the paper reported.According to the...

Just reported on Fox News. They chuckled.

today in school i did a sort of political experiment. In my high school, in which i am a freshman, i wore a t-shirt (generously provided by iconoclast2) which had the pictures of Hitler, Stalin, and Hussein on the front, with the comment "these experts agree...gun control does work! Although i didn't really expect too amazing a reaction to the shirt, when last period ended, I felt like I was in a sitcom. well...not really, but the reactions i got were still funny. First period i have music appreciation, and there are two teachers of that in my school. when...

By OREN DORELL, Staff Writer A Raleigh man was arrested twice Friday morning on charges of drunken driving -- once after an accident and again three hours later after returning to his car and driving it away from where it was parked. "It was absolutely terrible," Sougata Mukherjee , editor of the Triangle Business Journal, said Friday afternoon, summing up a night that began at Sullivan's Steakhouse on Glenwood Avenue. "This is the first time something like this has happened to me." Mukherjee's first arrest occurred after his 2001 Nissan Pathfinder rear-ended a 2001 Saab driven by Winston Cavin, a...

TO: Anita Lavine, Sr. VP Production FROM: Taylor Donahue, VP Production SUBJECT: Location shooting for Codename Courage Anita, Assuming the current situation with Iraq leads to combat activity by US troops, I suggest we get a small film crew credentialed as press to shoot over there. This will solve some of the budget vs. production value problems we?ve discussed. In the best case scenario we can also get one or two of our leads over there in costume to do a scene with the mayhem of real war as a backdrop. [Take a look at pages 65, 72-74, and 96...