Free Republic

Alan Keyes, a Republican whose two previous runs for president ended in failure, is making a third try for the White House. The Maryland conservative announced on his Web site that he filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Friday to make his candidacy official. He joins a crowded Republican field of nine candidates and is scheduled to participate Monday night at a debate involving lesser-known candidates in Florida. Keyes, a former State Department official under President Reagan, made unsuccessful presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. He also has been a Senate candidate from Maryland, and, in 2004, he...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – After two previous runs for U.S. president, former Reagan diplomat Alan Keyes has announced he's again seeking the White House in the 2008 election, and he'll take part in Monday night's Republican presidential debate here. Keyes told syndicated radio host Janet Parshall he's "unmoved" by the lack of moral courage shown by the other candidates, among whom he sees no standout who articulates the "key kernel of truth that must, with courage, be presented to our people." He added, "The one thing I've always been called to do is to raise the standard ... of our...

Hollywood star Bill Murray has spoken out about the events that led to him leaving a blood sample at a Stockholm police station last month. While speaking to the press at the Venice Film Festival, Murray was asked by a Swedish journalist to explain just what he was doing driving around Stockholm city centre in a golf cart. "A friend of mine, Jesper Parnevik, invited me to play in a pro-am golf tournament in Stockholm. I was driven to a party celebrating the event in a golf cart," Murray said. "After the party, the people that drove in the golf...

Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Early Spring: Thousands Flock To Punxsutawney, Pa., For Annual Rite (CBS) PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. A new pair of hands pulled Punxsutawney Phil from his stump this year, so it was only fitting that the groundhog offered a new prediction. Phil did not see his shadow on Friday which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of six more weeks of winter. Since 1886, Phil has seen his shadow 96 times, hasn't seen it 14 times and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The last time...

Groundhog Day, redux By: RAY HAYNES - Commentary In the movie "Groundhog Day," Bill Murray's character wakes up to the same refrain from the song "I Got You, Babe" every morning, and that is how he knows he is stuck in the same place on the same day, day after day, throughout the movie. I keep hearing the same refrain day after day, week after week, year after year, from the Democrats in Sacramento. This last week was no exception. In 1998, then Gov. Pete Wilson proposed a $58.6 billion general fund budget. Between 1999 and 2001, the state experienced...

Well, Groundhog Day came and went. Punxsutawney Phil came out of his Gobbler's Knob hole at sunrise on Feb. 2 and saw his shadow. This means that we will have six more weeks of winter. But I could have told you that simply by looking at the calendar. Did you know that the Punxsutawney rodent and U.S. Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.) were once named co-porkers of the month? Peterson and the rodent were chastised by Citizens Against Government Waste a couple of years ago for picking $100,000 out of the taxpayer's pockets. The federal grant was for a weather museum....

Punxsutawney Phil must be stopped. The lovable little groundhog must be stopped. You know the routine. Every Feb. 2, Groundhog Day, Phil is yanked from a tree stump in Punxsutawney, Pa. If he sees his shadow, his organizers allege, there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't, spring will be just around the corner. Millions have loved this primitive ritual for years, but now there's a problem. Groundhog Day evolved out of Candlemas Day, you see, a Christian tradition commemorating the purification of the Virgin Mary. As this tradition evolved in Germany, it got ever more colorful....

PITTSBURGH - Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, but it was hard to find a complainer in the crowd at Gobbler’s Knob, where the morning temperature was well above freezing and the Groundhog Day high was expected to hit 48 degrees. There were a few boos at the groundhog’s prediction of six more weeks of winter, but most of the hundreds of revelers instead turned the event into an impromptu Pittsburgh Steelers rally. Fans in football jerseys sang “Here we go Steelers,” and members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club’s Inner Circle — the top-hat- and tuxedo-wearing businessmen responsible for carrying on...

And they are good with some red wine and a lot of garlic.

Here's a line you'll either recognize or you won't: "This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather." If you don't recognize this little gem, you've either never seen Groundhog Day or you're not a fan of what is, in my opinion, one of the best films of the last 40 years. As the day of the groundhog again approaches, it seems only fitting to celebrate what will almost undoubtedly join It's a Wonderful Life in the pantheon of America's most uplifting, morally serious, enjoyable, and timeless movies.

Word For The Day, Thursday, February 02, 2006, Groundhog Day - recondite In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". recondite \REK-uhn-dyt\, adjective1. Difficult to understand; abstruse.2. Concerned with obscure subject matter. Example sentences: And his fondness for stopping his readers short in their tracks with evidence of his recondite vocabulary is wonderfully irritating. --"Books of the Times," New York Times, February 23, 1951 Among his playmates he counts the Italian novelist and semiotics professor Umberto Eco, whom he befriended 15 years...

Today: January 26, 2006 at 4:21:39 PST Punxsutawney Phil's Handler Stepping Down ASSOCIATED PRESS PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) - Whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not on Groundhog Day, one thing's for sure: The man who has been the furry forecaster's official handler for the past 15 years will step down after this year. Bill Deeley, 56, said he doesn't have the energy or the time. Part of the job includes taking Phil to parades and special events. "I could stay in forever, but even the Pony Express changed horses," Deeley said. Deeley joined the Inner Circle - the top-hat-...

FOX News

Based on the extensive quotations cited in the complaint, it appears a safe bet that Mackris, 33, recorded some of O'Reilly's more steamy soliloquies. For example, we direct you to his Caribbean shower fantasies. While we suggest reading the entire document, TSG will point you to interesting sections on a Thailand sex show, Al Franken, and the climax of one August 2004 phone conversation.

About 2,000 people gathered in Punxsutawney, Pa., on Wednesday morning for the updated winter forecast from the famous groundhog. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and that means six more weeks of winter.

ere's a line you'll either recognize or you won't: "This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather." If you don't recognize this little gem, you've either never seen Groundhog Day or you're not a fan of what is, in my opinion, one of the best films of the last 40 years. As the day of the groundhog again approaches, it seems only fitting to celebrate what will almost undoubtedly join It's a Wonderful Life in the pantheon of America's most uplifting, morally serious, enjoyable, and timeless movies. When...

Discovering the History of Groundhog Day By Stephanie Blozy, WeatherBug Chief Chirp Although most of us are entering the heart of winter, the start of spring could be just around the corner…that is, according to the legend of Groundhog Day. While there is no meteorological truth to Groundhog Day, there is fun in the legend of it all. Each year on February 2, we wait in great anticipation for Phil the Groundhog’s latest proclamation. And this year, I’ll witness it live and share all the details with you. Bill Murray made Punxsutawney Phil a household name in 1993, when he...

ACLU Sues Seminole Co. Elections Office Over Faxed Registration POSTED: 6:39 pm EDT October 19, 2004 ORLANDO, Fla. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is suing Seminole County elections officials, saying they refused to register a voter living in Germany. David B. de Treville has lived overseas since 1987. He says elections officials denied his application to register and request an absentee ballot because it was a fax, not the original. He faxed the application in August, and was informed of the denial eight weeks later when he called to follow up because he had not heard anything....

NAACP sues elections chief over early voting By JAMES MILLER Staff Writer Last update: October 08, 2004 DELAND -- The NAACP filed a federal voting rights lawsuit Thursday against Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Deanie Lowe, plunging the county into an elections controversy just weeks before the Nov. 2 general election. The suit claims that by having only one early voting site -- in DeLand -- Lowe disenfranchises black voters in eastern Volusia County, where the majority of black residents live. A state law adopted in May requires county elections officials to offer early voting at the Department of Elections...