Free Republic

Thanks, I'm sure, to yesterday's threads as well as to Matt Drudge, Paul O'Neill's book is #2 on the amazon.com sales rank list. The book isn't due to come out until September 25th and it's the second most popular book for amazon.com shoppers, after the 9/11 Commission Report. This is a testament to the influence of FR and Drudge devotees. Way to go!!

Feds enlist beetles to control salt cedar Staff Report The Associated Press 03/12/2004 The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation wants to use a leaf-eating beetle from Greece as an alternative to chemical control of salt cedar. The bureau's plan calls for the beetle to be released on Bureau of Reclamation land in the Carlsbad area. Researchers hope the beetle will help control the spread of salt cedar -- an evasive nonnative plant that soaks up as much as 200 gallons of water a day. Officials say killing off salt cedar would allow more water to stay in the river, which could...

Some people no doubt raise an eyebrow that North American Air Defense Command, or NORAD, for the 49th consecutive year is undertaking the annual task of tracking the global progress of Santa Claus starting Dec. 24 and continuing through the early hours of Christmas Day. Rest assured that Santa certainly knows who you are and has duly placed you upon the infamous "naughty" list. And so close to his yearly visit. Tsk. Tsk. "Our tax dollars at work," various of you have been heard to comment. "Shouldn't they be keeping an eye on North Korea?" others have asked with dripping...

Ringo Starr's Double Life Since 1989, when he decided to give up various forms of substance abuse and rekindle his performing career, Ringo Starr has lived a double life, musically. In one, he is the principal attraction of the All-Starrs, a nostalgia band in which members of defunct groups from the 1960's and 1970's (this year's model will stretch into the 1980's) join Mr. Starr to take turns singing their hits. In the other, he pops into the studio every few years to record an album of new material. The two lives rarely meet: very few of Mr. Starr's post-1989...