Free Republic

One of the terrible tragedies of communist Cuba is the dead silence of Cubans who must voicelessly live on that island. Unless we have Cuban relatives, we don't know a thing about those people, who might as well be living in the blacked-out Iraq of Saddam Hussein, or on the far side of the moon, for that matter. The only sound out of Cuba is the megalomanical voice of dictator Fidel Castro, or the parroting of his obedient minions. In the Cuban press and public square, every single issue and article, one way or another, is ultimately all about Castro....

Lurch, Herman Munster, we've all seen Kerry compared to these hollywood monsters. Now you can put that to work for you this Halloween. If you go to the source link, you can download a .pdf that, when you print it out on cardstock and follow the instructions, provides you with your very own 'sKerrystein' mask for Halloween. Enjoy. PS: It didn't take much editing, honest!

There has been reports of novelty stores selling Osama bin Laden masks. I have people telling me this but cannot verify as to whether this is true that novelty stores are making a buck off of the 9/11 event and the lives of 3000 people thinking the Osama bin Laden mask is the best thing since sliced bread. Can people report and verify this, and which stores are carrying the mask and which company is making this mask?

The Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Maybe there’s a reason Halloween and Election Day are so close together. For the last six presidential elections, since Ronald Reagan’s first victory, sales of rubber Halloween masks caricaturing the Republican and Democratic candidates have predicted the next president, according to an Internet costume seller. Buycostumes.com is keeping track of which mask — President Bush or his Democratic opponent John Kerry — the company sells the most of and posts the results on the Web site. As of Thursday, 55 percent of the masks sold were of Bush and 45 percent Kerry. On Election Day,...

Ancient golden mask unearthed August 20 2004 at 06:14PM Sofia, Bulgaria - Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed a 2 400-year-old golden mask in the tomb of an ancient Thracian king, a newspaper said on Friday. The mask bears the image of a human face and is made of 500 grams of solid gold, the project's lead archaeologist Georgi Kitov told the local Trud daily. The discovery was made on Thursday near the village of Shipka, 200 kilometres east of Sofia. Kitov, who is at the excavations site, could not be reached immediately for comment. Dozens of Thracian mounds are spread throughout...

Michael Jackson Asked to Identify Himself After Wearing a Ski Mask in Colorado Feb 27, 2004 The Associated Press GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Michael Jackson was pulled over by police and asked to identify himself after shopping at a Wal-Mart while wearing a ski mask. An employee called police Tuesday, police Lt. Bill Kimminau said. The employee gave a description of the vehicle and Jackson was stopped a short time later. Authorities asked Jackson to identify himself, which he did by removing his mask. "There were no problems, and that was it," Kimminau said. Jackson spokeswoman Raymone Bain said...

A mysterious ancient stone mask from Mexico has spoken but apparently only to say that its people's written language remains undeciphered. BYU's Stephen Houston holds a copy of ancient script from Mexico. He disagrees with claims that "Teo Mask" words have been deciphered.Stuart Johnson, Deseret Morning News A study by Brigham Young University archaeologist Stephen Houston and his colleague from Yale University, Michael D. Coe, say the mask disproves earlier claims that the language had been cracked. Their paper is to be published in "Mexicon," a journal about news and research from Mesoamerica. The title is "Has Isthmian Writing Been...

Iraq's most cherished antiquity, the 5,000-year-old Warka Mask, was returned home on Tuesday after being looted during the anarchy that accompanied the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April. Captain Vance Kuhner said the mask was found after an intensive search by US troops and Iraqi police that led them to a farm just north of Baghdad where it was discovered buried under six inches of dirt. "A tip-off came to the museum, we were given an address that led us to a juvenile, then an older man and eventually the culprit. Then it took a week of negotiations," Kuhner...

<p>MARINE COMBAT HEADQUARTERS, Southern Iraq ? At 2:05 p.m., Lt. Col. David Pere, the senior watch officer at this U.S. command post, fields a disturbing intelligence report.</p> <p>Iraqi troops at an Ababil missile site northwest of Basra have been spotted wearing chemical weapons suits. A special vehicle designed to decontaminate troops and their gear after a chemical attack is parked nearby.</p>

By Joseph Giordono, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Monday, February 17, 2003 Joseph Giordono / S&S Marines with scrub brushes wait their turn to decontaminate vehicles during a chemical weapons drill in the Kuwaiti desert. Joseph Giordono / S&S A Marine decontaminates a forklift. Joseph Giordono / S&S A Marine decontaminates a piece of equipment during a chemical weapons drill at a camp in the Kuwaiti desert. CAMP TARAWA, Kuwait — As the echo of live-fire exercises rumbles across the desert, mobile Marine Corps decontamination units are practicing for a job none of them hopes to do. Just outside a Marine...

This Halloween, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster seem positively cuddly. To inspire some real fear, try dressing up as one of these current and former chief executives. Now that's scary. Bernard J. Ebbers, Former WorldCom CEO Under Ebbers' watch, WorldCom (otc: WCOEQ - news - people ) overstated cash flow by booking operating expenses as capital expenses. By the latest account, WorldCom has overstated income by as much as $9 billion over several years. Former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan and ex-controller David Myers were arrested and criminally charged, but so far Ebbers himself has escaped legal jeopardy. Still, Ebbers presided...

Man in Saddam Hussein mask arrested at US embassy A man wearing a Saddam Hussein mask tried to attend a September 11 memorial ceremony at the US embassy in Singapore. Police say he was also wearing combat fatigues and was arrested before he could enter the premises. The 47-year-old taxi driver was asked to leave but insisted on attending dressed in his outfit. Nearly 500 diplomats, religious leaders, business people, and military officers gathered inside the embassy gates to commemorate the September 11 terrorist attacks. Security was tight, with a bank of metal detectors set up outside the embassy and...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 April 6 Vintage Gamma Rays Credit: ESA / IAS / CEA-SACLAY Explanation: Gamma-rays are the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation. But these high energy photons penetrate and interact in normal materials and cannot be focused by lenses and mirrors like those in optical telescopes. So how do you make an image in gamma-ray light? One way is to use a patterned mask of material which can...