Free Republic

During a discussion on CNN this morning of the health care mandate, radio host Michael Smerconish said, “The way in which you can afford to pay for people with pre-existing conditions is if you get a guy who’s a stud like Chris Cuomo who works out and is healthy, and get him into the pool.” From far rejecting Smerconish’s embarrassing bit of ingratiation, Cuomo engaged in some dabbing that would make Cam Newton proud. See the screencap. View the video here.

Every stallion has a “tell,” says Bridgette Jablonsky, and, in this moment, in a dimly lit barn at Hanover Shoe Farms in Hanover, Pa., Somebeachsomewhere, the legendary Canadian harness racing champion and international Hall of Fame horse, is telling Jablonsky he is ready to perform. Somebeachsomewhere’s readiness is never a certainty. He is a finicky and, at times, apathetic lover. To hasten his readiness Chiptease, a mare in heat, is in the barn, standing idly by as her would-be mate nips at her hindquarters, throws back his head, inhales deeply and, after 10 minutes, starts dancing about on his hooves....

LONDON – A former meerkat expert at London Zoo has been ordered to pay compensation to a monkey handler she attacked with a wine glass in a love spat over a llama-keeper. A judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court said Wednesday that Caroline Westlake must pay 800 pounds ($1,235) to Kate Sanders for assaulting her in a dispute over colleague Adam Davies, who had dated both women.

'Mystery' Horse Impregnates Five Mares on Bourbon Farm CENTERVILLE — As bettors and the general public study equine bloodlines to prep for their possible Kentucky Derby wagers, Bourbon County horse owner Marilyn Montavon is trying to solve a mystery that could cost her thousands of dollars. On April 15, tax-filing deadline day, two new dependents showed up on her farm in the form of two foals — a colt born to the mare Goldie and a filly born to Mert. The babies were a surprise to Montavon because she has no studs on her farm, and she hadn't bred the...

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh is set to marry his longtime girlfriend, Kathryn Rogers, next week in an intimate ceremony at his beachfront home in Palm Beach, Fla. Limbaugh, 59, met 33-year-old Rogers, a direct descendant of Founding Father John Adams, in 2004 when she ran a golf tournament/charity fundraiser and Limbaugh was a celebrity guest, Jose Lambiet reports in his column in the Palm Beach Post. At the time, Limbaugh was getting divorced from third wife Marta. That split was finalized later that year, and Limbaugh and Rogers were an item by the summer of 2007.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — David "Chip" Reese, a card star who won one of the biggest cash games in the world and three World Series of Poker championships, has died. He was 56. Reese died in his sleep and was found by his son early Tuesday morning at his Las Vegas home after suffering from symptoms of pneumonia, said poker great Doyle Brunson, his longtime friend. "I knew him for 35 years, I never saw him get mad or raise his voice," Brunson said. "He had the most even disposition of anyone I've ever met. He's certainly the best poker...

Heidi Fleiss plans 'stud farm' LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss says she's bound for a brothel in the southern Nevada desert that she wants to help remake into a resort featuring male prostitutes serving female customers. "I am moving to Crystal," Fleiss said Wednesday of a desert crossroads 20 miles north of Pahrump and about 80 miles outside Las Vegas. It features two bordellos and little else. "I am opening up a stud farm," Fleiss declared from her Hollywood home overlooking the Sunset Strip. "I am going to have the sexiest men on earth. Women...

Hollywood Madam to open Nevada 'stud farm' Thu Nov 17, 2005 10:11 PM ET   By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss, whose previous career running a call-girl ring landed her in prison, is returning to the world's oldest profession -- to open a Nevada brothel catering to women. Fleiss said on Thursday she has struck a deal with a licensed brothel owner in Nevada, where prostitution is legal, to turn one of his three establishments, the Cherry Patch, into a glitzy new bordello that she will rename "Heidi Fleiss' Stud Farm." She plans to...

Story and photo by Tawny Archibald Campbell/The Bayonet FORT BENNING, Ga. (TRADOC News Service, Feb. 25, 2005) - There was a time when 29-year-old Windrell Hayes thought he had it all. He had a beautiful wife, a college education and a career with the National Football League. After being released from the New York Jets in October 2001 and spending the following spring with the Green Bay Packers, Hayes realized he wasn’t all that happy with his life. He didn’t enjoy playing professional football, and he wasn’t having fun. “I got into football because my brother played, and I was...

Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, who spent his boyhood in Tampa, became a man in the Army and died outside Baghdad defending his outnumbered soldiers from an Iraqi attack, will receive America's highest award for bravery. President Bush will present the Medal of Honor to Smith's wife, Birgit, and their children Jessica, 18, and David, 10, at a ceremony at the White House, possibly in March. The official announcement will come soon, but the Pentagon called Mrs. Smith with the news Tuesday afternoon. "We had faith he was going to get it," Mrs. Smith said from her home in...

Every day the Toronto Sun, a high circulation daily newspaper, publishes a "Sunshine Girl" and "Sunshine Boy" in full color. The women are usually decked out in small bikinis, and the men span from local fire fighters to calendar hunks. It's a very popular feature of the Sun as so many residents cut out their favorites for keepsakes. My personal favorite has to be blue eyed George from Texas, check it out...

Marine Pictured in Photo Unfazed by Fame PIKEVILLE, Ky. - An eastern Kentucky Marine whose battle-grimed face has quickly become a symbol of the fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah says he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. But his mother is thrilled. Maxie Webber, of Robinson Creek in eastern Kentucky, said the close-up of Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller let her know that her son was OK. Webber said she first saw it Wednesday on CBS. "I just sat here and I thought, that's my son," Webber said. "I couldn't believe it." The photograph, taken by...

Just call me Studboy.com Dave Barry Miami Herald I started lifting weights. But not for the reason you think. You think I want to look ''cut'' and ''ripped'' and have bulging muscles like the ones on male underwear models, who for some reason are always shown posing outdoors, looking sullen, as if a group of even more-muscular models stole their pants. You think I want to have muscles like that, so women will look at me and think: ``Wow! I would like to see HIS syndicated column!'' But you are wrong. I'm lifting weights for sensible medical reasons, which I...

<p>PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Five years have passed without the pitter-patter of baby gorilla feet, and zookeepers have decided that Demba and Chaka just aren't working out.</p> <p>Introduced to each other five years ago at the Philadelphia Zoo amid high reproductive hopes, it's not even clear the gorillas ever mated. That's a big change for Chaka, who had been dubbed "best stud muffin" after fathering eight little ones at Cincinnati's zoo.</p>

502nd soldier has division's first Iraq war Silver Star Pvt. Dwayne Turner doesn't think he's a hero. But the Army says otherwise and awarded him the Silver Star Thursday. The medic with Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, saved the lives of 16 soldiers in Iraq on April 13 despite being critically wounded himself. In a ceremony at Fort Campbell's division headquarters, Assistant Division Commander (operations) Brig. Gen. Frank G. Helmick pinned Turner with the highest medal given thus far to 101st Airborne Division soldiers serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "I didn't figure myself a hero. I just wanted...

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) _ A Vergennes priest who had a long-running sexual relationship with a young man has resigned his post and asked to be allowed to retire from the ministry. In a letter to his parishioners at St. Peter's Church, the Rev. Donal Ward said that he was one of the priests referred to earlier this week by Attorney General William Sorrell, who cleared two priests of any illegal conduct. Ward, who was suspended from his ministerial duties in May, said in his letter that he never engaged in pedophilia, but he did say he had been involved in...

Only 12 survivors were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center after the towers fell on Sept. 11, despite intense rescue efforts. Two of the last three to be located and saved were Port Authority police officers. They were not discovered by a heroic firefighter, or a rescue worker, or a cop. They were discovered by Dave Karnes. Karnes hadn't been near the World Trade Center. He wasn't even in New York when the planes hit the towers. He was in Wilton, Conn., working in his job as a senior accountant with Deloitte Touche. When the second plane...