Free Republic

From the National Geographic website... A video showing a black bear opening the front (unlocked) door of a Subway restaurant, and getting some free samples... VIDEO: A Bear Walks Into a Restaurant...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Republican National Committee (RNC) today added a new friend update to its social networking Web site, http://www.BarackBook.com. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080519/RNCLOGO ) The most recent friend update includes Barack Obama's notable association with friend and former Illinois state Senate colleague Larry Walsh, whose office was raided on Oct. 1, in connection with an FBI probe into dealings with a lobbying company. BarackBook will be updated routinely between now and Election Day with additional, new Obama friends. Users can receive automated updates or invite others to view BarackBook by installing the Facebook application here ( http://www.new.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=23308630814 )....

Brains and charm are fine, but a real guy needs to know how to do real stuff. After months of debate among PM’s expert editors, here’s our lineup of essential skills, broken down in 10 categories for the competent man—plus 20 tools you need to own. Automotive 1. Handle a blowout 2. Drive in snow 3. Check trouble codes 4. Replace fan belt 5. Wax a car 6. Conquer an off-road obstacle 7. Use a stick welder 8. Hitch up a trailer 9. Jump start a car Handling Emergencies 10. Perform the Heimlich 11. Reverse hypothermia 12. Perform hands-only CPR...

MIDDLETOWN -- A Middletown woman is accused of being disorderly in public -- while wearing a cow suit. A police report filed about the incident said Michelle Allen allegedly chased children in her neighborhood while wearing the suit on Monday evening. Allen also urinated on a neighbor's front porch, the report said, and was warned by officers to go home and stay there.

The remains of a 30-foot-long predatory dinosaur discovered along the banks of Argentina's Rio Colorado is helping to unravel how birds evolved their unusual breathing system. University of Michigan paleontologist Jeffrey Wilson was part of the team that made the discovery, to be published Sept. 29 in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE and announced at a news conference in Mendoza, Argentina. The discovery of this dinosaur builds on decades of paleontological research indicating that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Birds have a breathing system that is unique among land animals. Instead of lungs that expand, birds have a...

Free Republic's List of the Top Ten Reasons Obama Lost the Debate: #10. showed up # 9. pick Joe Biden as his V.P. running mate # 8. opened his mouth # 7. sleep deprived after 3:00A.M. phone call from Mahmoud Ahmahdinejad. # 6. still on emotional high after setting up White House, bringing both parties together and creating an environment in which they got somethin' done. # 5. thought he was debating Jim Lehrer # 4. misread Michelle's base coaching hand signals # 3. preoccupied with trying to recall how many houses McCain owns. # 2. thought he heard a...

Mood moosic to get cows going   Calm ... Graham VallisSOUTH WEST NEWS SERVICE   By JOHN COLES Published: 20 Sep 2008     FARMERS are being encouraged to MOO at their cows — to boost milk production. It came after a dairy farmer reported getting six times more milk by mimicking his herd’s sound. Graham Vallis, 48, does meditation-style mooing for five minutes before milking — and said his cows fall into a relaxed state. Now the Federation of Organic Milk Groups is urging its 450 members to do the same. Graham, of Bradninch, Devon, said: “I often...

Mary Consuela, a futbol mom from a suburb of Cancun was quick to endorse the fence. “They come to work to support their families in America – I understand that,” said Consuela. “But they drive our highways without insurance, sleep 9 people in a studio apartment and are mostly employed under-the-table to avoid taxes. What happens when they need health care or other services? It comes out of my pocket.” Small protests have popped-up across the country as people waving American flags demanded amnesty. Those without bribe money were taken into the desert and shot by authorities.

A man was killed trying to steal a copper cable which was carrying 11,000 volts, an inquest heard today. Kirk John Thompson was electrocuted at the derelict Panteg steelworks, in Pontypool, South Wales, when his bolt croppers pierced the plastic coating of a cable still connected to the National Grid. Britain has been hit by a plague of of metal thefts in recent years as the Asian construction and manufacturing boom has pushed up the prices of raw materials. Thieves routinely rip long sections of copper cable from the side of railway lines or steal lead flashing from church roofs...

Scientists from Leeds University have discovered that the world was ruled by pig-like creatures for a million years. The “Age of the Porcine” occurred around 260 million years ago - when the creatures called lystrosaurs were the few survivors of a mass extinction. Nearly 95 pct of the living species were destroyed by a series of volcanic eruptions leaving behind pigs in a “golden age” of no predators. They had Earth’s abundant plant-life all to themselves. “We can only speculate on how lystrosaurs survived while the rest died. Perhaps its ability to burrow and hibernate protected it from the worst...

Four tree-sitters began climbing down from an 80-foot-tall redwood tree near Memorial Stadium this afternoon after UC Berkeley officials agreed to create a committee that will oversee future campus development, a spokesman for the protesters said. UC officials declined to comment on the reported deal, saying they will speak after the nearly 2-year-long standoff ends. But protesters atop the tree pumped their fists in a show of victory. Before climbing down, one of the protesters, nicknamed Huck, shouted, "We love you" to cheering supporters below. The protesters' deal with the university does not include amnesty from criminal charges, said their...

Fish flies out of lake, breaks Arkansas teen's jaw Sun Sep 7, 8:26 PM ET LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - It's a fishing tale that packs a wallop so strong it broke the jaw of a southeastern Arkansas teen and covered him in fish blood and guts. Seth Russell, 15, of Crossett, was cruising Lake Chicot on a large inner tube towed by a boat when a Silver Asian carp leaped from the water and smacked him in the face. Seth was knocked unconscious. "He doesn't remember anything at all," the boy's mother, Linda Russell, said last week. "He was laughing,...

FRESNO -- A burglar who broke into a home just east of Fresno rubbed spices over the body of one of two men as they slept in their rooms and then used an 8-inch sausage to whack the other man in the face and head before he ran out of the house, Fresno County sheriff's deputies said Saturday. Lt. Ian Burrimond, describing the crime as one of the strangest he's ever heard of, said a suspect was found hiding in a nearby field a few minutes later and taken into custody on suspicion of residential robbery. Deputies, he said, had...

(2008-09-06) — In the days following Gov. Sarah Palin’s appointment as John McCain’s running mate, Americans have grown increasingly concerned about her brand of radical Christianity. A new recording released to the media today by Barack Obama’s campaign, gives definitive proof that Gov. Palin’s pastor, in an emotional tirade, once called on God to “bless” America. The recording captured at Wasilla Bible Church, the Palin’s home congregation, will doubtless cause discomfort among educated Americans, and raises new questions about Gov. Palin’s worldview. “It’s provincial, primitive and mythological,” said one unnamed Obama staffer. “Presumably, if she became president, Sarah Palin would...

On a last ditch effort to revitalize the Official Friday Silliness Thread.... I sent out an email to ya'll and got a lot of responses that even though people don't contribute to this thread, they still read it.... However, this thread used to get to 1,000+ posts, back in the day.....and last weeks thread was only 45. So if you're one who only reads the thread, or you're too busy, come on, we need you. Throw down that work, step away from responsibility and BE SILLY. We all need silliness, so EVERY ONE contribute and lets blow this thing up....

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Sung to the tune of "Oh! Susanna, don’t you cry for me." “Oh, no Bama, please don’t lie to me... for I’m off to Free Republic with a banjo on my knee.” I come from Minnesota with my banjo on my knee; I’m goin’ to Free Republic my true love for to see. It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry; The sun so hot I froze to death, Obama don’t you lie. Oh! No Bama, don’t you lie to me; I come from Minnesota, with my banjo on my knee. I had a dream...

The 2007 FreeRepublic LexiconAKA "The Freepism, Freepology, Lingo, Dictionary, Terminology, Lore Handbook" A revised and condensed version of The Lexicon of FreeRepublic, culled from Lexicon of FreeRepublic - 4th Edition and Freeper Lingo Thread (the history and meening of 'Freepisms' including pictures). Thanks to the many Freepers who contributed! (see also The 2007 FreeRepublic Lexicon) I have attempted to include all definitions and histories provided to me and give credit to those who provided me the information. I apologize, in advance to those I failed to credit, but please understand that it was very difficult to keep up with all...

#1 The media believes in Reproductive Privacy for John Edwards, but not for Sarah Palin #2: Sarah Palin knows how many children she has and with whom (a tip of the hat to FReeper Question Liberal Authority) #3: John Edwards would worry more about his hair at 3:00 AM (a tip of the hat to FReeper bahblahbah) #4: John Edwards thinks he is prettier than Sarah Palin (a tip of the hat to FReeper LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget) #5: Sarah Palin is NOT a lawyer (a tip of the hat to FReeper NonValueAdded) #6 Sarah Palin doesn’t channel dead girls (a tip of...

At the age of 10, Sarah Palin got her very own bunny rabbit. Which means to say that she crouched down in the grass outside her family home, aimed her shotgun and blew its furry little head off. That's how things work in Alaska. You kill stuff. You freeze it. You turn it into stew. Even as a pre-pubescent, the future Governor of Alaska - and now, perhaps, the future Vice-President of the United States - was able to fully exercise her Second-Amendment right to keep and bear arms. There's no doubt about it: even by the standards of the...

Original caption: Senator Robert Byrd is a mentor for Senator Barack Obama

The Bible refers to ancient Israel as the "land flowing with milk and honey," so it's fitting that one of its towns milked honey for all it was worth. Scientists have unearthed the remains of a large-scale beekeeping operation at a nearly 3,000-year-old Israeli site, which dates to the time of biblical accounts of King David and King Solomon. Excavations in northern Israel at a huge earthen mound called Tel Rehov revealed the Iron Age settlement. From 2005 to 2007, workers at Tel Rehov uncovered the oldest known remnants of human-made beehives, excavation director Amihai Mazar and colleagues report in...

My fellow Americans, it is an honor to address the Democratic National Convention at this defining moment in history. We stand at a crossroads at a pivot point, near a fork in the road on the edge of a precipice in the midst of the most consequential election since last year’s “American Idol.” One path before us leads to the past, and the extinction of the human race. The other path leads to the future, when we will all be dead. We must choose wisely. We must close the book on the bleeding wounds of the old politics of division...

Scientists from the University of Oregon, North Carolina State University and the Australian National University have refuted the conclusion of Lee R. Berger and colleagues that Hobbit-like little people once lived there... They argue that Berger, an expert on much earlier humans dating to the Pleistocene, failed to review existing documentation, much of it published by Nelson or Fitzpatrick. Much of their rebuttal comes from remains unearthed by Fitzpatrick and Nelson at Chelechol ra Orrak, only miles from Berger's two sites. Among these whole remains are bone pieces that match -- some are even smaller that fragments found by Berger...

US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) eats an ice cream cone during a campaign stop at Windmill Ice Cream Shop in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, August 29, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)

We have observed spectroscopic changes in temperature sensitive molecular lines, in the magnetic splitting of an Fe I line, and in the continuum brightness of over 1000 sunspot umbrae from 1990-2005. All three measurements show consistent trends in which the darkest parts of the sunspot umbra have become warmer (45K per year) and their magnetic field strengths have decreased (77 Gauss per year), independently of the normal 11-year sunspot cycle. A linear extrapolation of these trends suggests that few sunspots will be visible after 2015.

Switzerland is well on its way to becoming the most dignified country in the world, after its federal parliament decreed that goldfish must be protected against physical and psychological abuse. From September 1, Swiss aquariums must have an opaque side to allow the fish live in a natural cycle of day and night. The new law sets rigorous standards for the treatment of all "social animals". It will be an offence, for instance, to keep only one guinea pig or budgerigar. Or one rhinoceros, apparently, because the law also covers pet rhinoceroses. The Swiss are amongst the best educated people...

Protesters get pepper sprayed by the police after a demonstration got out of hand in downtown Denver, Colorado August 25, 2008. REUTERS/Mark Leffingwell (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA) Masked protesters shout slogans near the Pepsi Center, site of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado August 24, 2008. Denver will host the upcoming convention, which begins Monday August 25. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA) An injured demonstrator gets help getting pepper spray washed out after a protest got out of hand in downtown Denver, Colorado August 25, 2008. REUTERS/Mark Leffingwell (UNITED...

Ten polar bears have been spotted swimming in open water during an aerial survey as the peak of summer sea ice melting nears. Drowning polar bears has only been seen as a threat to the species in recent years as the extent of sea ice recedes to historic low levels. Last year, there was more open water than ever before recorded; this year's melt, while dramatic, won't reach the same extent as 2007.

SEATTLE - Only in Seattle could an event touted as a way to help the environment get washed out during what is supposed to be the driest time of the year. Car-free days is part of Mayor Greg Nickels' campaign to encourage people to walk, bike or take mass transit. One neighborhood is closed off to car traffic during selected weekends this summer. On Sunday it was the area around 14th and Republican on Capitol Hill, a residential area that's normally quiet anyway. "I think it promotes awareness of whatever we're promoting awareness of," said resident Thomas Hubbard. "A car...

Who says there’s nothing funny about Barack Obama? From this site at WLS Chicago- http://www.wlsam.com/article.asp?id=849697&SPID=12107 Click on the links below or scroll down to “Last month, Jerry’s Kidders embarked on an ambitious experimental project. We attempted to prove that it was possible to make Barack Obama jokes for an hour. (part one: part two:” and click on them there. http://wlsam.1871dev.com/content/img/f47256/Agar___Barack_No_Phobia_Pt_1.mp3http://wlsam.1871dev.com/content/img/f47257/Agar___Barack_No_Phobia_Pt_2.mp3

<p>AP) -- Nine polar bears were observed in one day swimming in open ocean off Alaska's northwest coast, an increase from previous surveys that may indicate warming conditions are forcing bears to make riskier, long-distance swims to stable sea ice or land.</p>

http://www.sonnyradio.com/treadmillcats.html

chorus: Obama beautiful morning Obama beautiful day I've got an Oh Bama feeling Everything's O bama K He's the bright golden haze on the meadow He's the hope of John Stewart and Leno His ethics are high, but not pie-in-the-sky He thinks before talking, and tries not to lie All our children are waiting for clean air All the polar bears want is just their share The world needs to heal from the this peril and war Not the mav'rick please earth screams we don't need no more! We need Barry to bring us together We're tired of 8 years...

US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) is seen on a screen as he answers questions by Pastor Rick Warren at the Civil Forum on the Presidency at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, August 16, 2008. REUTERS/Mark Avery (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)

In the showdown between House Republicans and Speaker Nancy Pelosi over an up-or-down vote on increasing American oil supply by opening up offshore drilling, Pelosi blinked before a national TV audience on Larry King Live Monday night. When asked by King about bringing Congress back into session for a vote, Pelosi responded in part, “[Republicans] have this thing that says drill offshore in the protected areas. Well, we can do that. We can have a vote on that.” Before her book tour flopped, Pelosi haughtily informed Republicans that they needed to “imagine” a vote. As monumental as that capitulation to...

A media firestorm erupted Wednesday night as allegations involving drug use and religion swirled around Democrat nominee Barack Obama. The furor started when Obama claimed that Obama had smoked marijuana and used cocaine when he was younger. Obama then went on to accuse Obama of having a Muslim stepfather and of having grown up in Indonesia, a majority Islamic country. “In a scurrilous new attack, Sen. Obama is the victim of discredited allegations,” Campbell Brown said as she opened CNN’s Election Center. The New York Times is expected to editorialize tomorrow morning that “these allegations have repeatedly been proven false...

When it comes to artistic carving and sculpting at the Indiana State Fair there is no doubt who is considered the big cheese. It’s the Cheese Lady, Sarah Kaufmann, creator of her third giant cheese sculpture masterpiece. The sculpture is commissioned by the American Dairy Association of Indiana and Monday a large crowd witnessed the 2nd unveiling of the new State Fair covered bridge. This one though, is 2,000 pounds of cheese. “When I did the bridge, I was carving the bridge, making the windows,” Sarah told us. “People were intrigued. But when I started doing the Gouda cows that...

The science blog Cosmic Variance has a great rundown of what the LHC could find. At the top of this list is the Higgs boson, which is the only particle in the Standard Model (the theory that describes the fundamental interactions between the particles that make up all matter), that hasn't yet been detected. The site thinks there is a 95 percent chance the LHC finds this particle, and that could lead to a much better understanding of how our universe works. Other notable possibilities on Cosmic Variance's list include finding extra dimensions (these could be so-called "warped" hidden dimensions...

The conventional theory advanced by most paleontologists is that a "catastrophic event" took place 72 million years ago at the Kremmling site. A major hurricane or tidal surge drove the thousands of ammonites onto a sandbar where they died, became buried under sediment and eventually became fossilized. Dr. Evanoff rejects that theory, arguing that there is no evidence of the "stacking" of the animals and other debris that would have been caused by a violent catastrophic storm. Instead, he points out that the fossils are found more spread out along the site. Evanoff's alternate theory is that the KCAL is...

Artists, they can be so temperamental. Me? I can be temperamental too, but I never thought that I had anything in common with the creative class. However, if the object of this story s truly art, then it appears I may be an artist after all. Check it out. (A GIANT inflatable dog turd by the American artist Paul McCarthy has blown away from an exhibition in the garden of a

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Farming kangaroos instead of sheep and cattle in Australia could cut by almost a quarter the greenhouse gases produced by grazing livestock, which account for 11 percent of the nation's annual emissions, said a new study. Removing seven million cattle and 36 million sheep by 2020 and replacing them with 175 million kangaroos, to produce the same amount of meat, could lower national greenhouse gases by 3 percent a year, said the University of New South Wales study. Methane from the foregut of cattle and sheep constitutes 11 percent of Australia's total greenhouse emissions, but kangaroos produce...

We all view the world in different ways. Some see it as a world filled with treat givers, others as a world of treat takers but at least we all see the physical world the same way - right side up. Well, a goldfish in the UK has spurned this world view and decided to mark it’s time on earth by doing it upside down.

August 9, 2008Exclusive: Nancy Pelosi: Woman of 1,000 Faces Satire by Shawn Goodwin  It’s been a very difficult week for Nancy Pelosi. Her fellow representatives, the media, and the American public have hammered the Democrat Speaker of the House on all sides for everything from mortgage bailouts to the skyrocketing energy prices. Normally, a career politician would suffer significant damage from these constant barrages.    Luckily for the Scourge of the Proletariat, those BOTOX injections keep her visage impervious to the slings and arrows of her detractors, and could deflect an explosive round (as well as a clock) from 200...

The creation of the magical technology has been the subject of intense research ever since Victorian author HG Wells captivated readers with his tales of a scientist who becomes invisible after consuming a cocktail of drugs. Now scientists at the University of California in Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around three dimensional objects making them "disappear", according to an article on Nature magazine's website. The research, funded by the American military, paves the way for stealth tanks, aircraft and even warships that can disappear from enemy soldiers' sights. The technology works like water flowing around a...

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, Utah — One of the largest and most photographed arches in Arches National Park has collapsed. Paul Henderson, the park's chief of interpretation, said Wall Arch collapsed sometime late Monday or early Tuesday. The arch is along Devils Garden Trail, one of the most popular in the park. For years, the arch has been a favorite stopping point for photographers. Henderson said the arch was claimed by forces that will eventually destroy others in the park: gravity and erosion. "They all let go after a while," he said Friday. He said it's the first collapse of a...

This is Your FINAL WARNING Dear __MR. BURGE_____ According to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of public campaign finance records, we have determined that you made a contribution of __$20, 3 BEAN SALAD, 24 PACK OF LEINENKUGEL___ to the __JOHNSON COUNTY GOP POTLUCK__ on __7 JUNE 2008__. I imagine it is difficult sleeping at night knowing that your __$20, 3 BEAN SALAD, 24 PACK OF LEINENKUGEL__ helped directly fund the most criminal administration in the history of the United States, the illegal torture of innocents, and the indiscriminate slaughter of billions of children worldwide. Of course, this presumes...

The Obama campaign announced that from now on all media questions must be submitted in writing, in advance. “Too many trick questions are being asked,” said Harvey Sain, deputy media specialist for the Obama campaign. “The Senator’s message is getting lost in the media’s demand for answers to trivial matters. Iraq, Iran, drilling, taxes…these petty concerns should not be allowed to distract voters from our promise of hope and change.” Sain also questioned the motives of reporters asking such questions. “Are they shills for McCain?” Sain asked. “Or are they closet racists? Either way, we’re putting a stop to it....

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=3012960&referralPlaylistId=playlist

South Windsor (WTNH) -- A man who legally changed his name to Almighty Allah is facing a narcotics charge in South Windsor. According to police, members of the East Central Narcotics Task Force were tipped off to a drug transaction in the town. Police found the suspect and his car on John Fitch Blvd. The driver didn't stop right away when police tried to pull him over, but he eventually was stopped and arrested. He was identified as Almighty Supremebeing Allah, age 35, who lives on Elmhurst St. in West Hartford. "The arrestee in the narcotics case had apparently legally...