Free Republic

AN ANGEL IN THE POST OFFICE Date: 2007-11-23, 10:55PM MST This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a kind soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service. Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her...

Republican Ron Johnson now leads incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold by 12 points in Wisconsin’s race for the U.S. Senate. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Johnson picking up 54% support, while Feingold, who is running for his fourth term in the Senate, gets 42% of the vote with leaners included. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) more are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) The latest numbers move this race to Leans Republican from a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Balance of Power rankings.

By NBC News Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 4:47pm An Illinois community is mourning the death of 7-year-old Jason Walter after the boy was viciously attacked by four dogs Wednesday. Walter, his brother and mother were visiting Eric Shanklin at his rural home in Marshall County where the incident took place. According to Marshall County Sheriff Rob Russell the 7-year-old was mauled by three pit-bulls and a mixed-breed in Shanklin's driveway early Wednesday morning. Family members called 911.

Sweet little hobby Create a buzz, and help distressed bees, with your own hive JANET CARSON SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE While some people fear bees and many worry about getting stung, these little insects more than redeem themselves as the primary pollinators of plants worldwide. Today is National Honeybee Appreciation Day — well deserved because it’s estimated that more than 80 percent of flowering plants and almost a third of human food crops need bees as pollinators. Reports have been claiming the loss of bee populations is due to mites, pesticides and human activities. Many species of pollinators, including bees,...

LOCATION: Jericho THE SKINNY: It’s the concept that never seems to die, and that’s a good thing according to JERICHO executive producer/director. While promoting his new horror TV series HARPER’S ISLAND for CBS (airing midseason), Turteltaub tells iF that he’s really happy about JERICHO’s first season being re-aired Sunday nights on the CW.

When Robert Dynes departed as president of the University of California, we hoped his pattern of outlandish compensation for his staff and others would depart with him. It didn't. It merely took another form, which became public in April when UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria Harrison retired with a lump-sum package of $2.1 million and was immediately rehired as UC Berkeley police chief with higher pay than she had earned before her retirement. At the least, Harrison's rehiring broke the UC regents' rules, which limit retirees to one year of work and no more than 19 hours a week. It...

The more important issue than Senator Obama’s choice of words, is the world view underneath them. By using voter’s adverse economic circumstances to rationalize his cultural beliefs, Barack Obama has reintroduced what has been a defining question in American politics for more than generation: Why do so many working-class voters cast their ballots on social and values-based issues like gun ownership, abortion and same-sex marriage rather than on economic policy prescriptions?These voters — known as “the silent majority” in the 1970s, “Reagan Democrats” in the ’80s, and as “values voters” during the last two election cycles — have long been...

Sweet Potato Promises Hunger Relief In Developing Countries ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2007) — Sweetpotatoes, often misunderstood and underrated, are receiving new attention as a life-saving food crop in developing countries. According to the International Potato Center, more than 95 percent of the global sweetpotato crop is grown in developing countries, where it is the fifth most important food crop. Despite its name, the sweetpotato is not related to the potato. Potatoes are tubers (referring to their thickened stems) and members of the Solanaceae family, which also includes tomatoes, red peppers, and eggplant. Sweetpotatoes are classified as "storage roots" and belong...

More than 140 years after the Civil War ended, a Mason-Dixon line of sorts still persists when it comes to iced tea. Order an iced tea at a restaurant in the Deep South or Texas, and the frosty beverage set before you likely will be a world away from what you’d be served in New York or Chicago. Sweet tea, as Southerners call their iced tea, is named for its two key ingredients – tea and lots of sugar. There’s no such thing as an unsweetened sweet tea. And unlike its summer-loving Northern counterpart, sweet tea is consumed year-round. “About...

Today Bill OReilly blamed "Sugar" for our obseity. HE, like most Americans, has confused High Fruitose Corn Syrup with Sugar. In the Days when Soft Drinks and Fast Food actually used Sugar, 12 ounces was a BIG Pepsi. When Donut Batter included real Sugar, a box of a Dozen was expected to sevre 6 or more. We got Full, not FAT. Then Cuba fell to Castro. Industry discovered "Corn sweeteners". Today, Government and the Media call "High Fruitose Corn Syrup" SUGAR. Then they blame "SUGAR" for our Obeisity.

FORT HUACHUCA — On Sept. 11, 2003, Ronald Fruchey was beginning Army basic training. In March of that year, the United States and its coalition partners attacked Iraq. On Monday, Fruchey, now a specialist with Company C, 40th Signal Battalion, held his 6-month-old daughter Eliana. Monday was 9/11, five years after the U.S. was attacked by terrorists and three years after he started basic training to become a soldier, and it was the day he came home from Iraq. While Sept. 11, 2001 and 2003, both have special meanings, for Fruchey it is this year’s Sept. 11 that has the...

Okay, I've procrastinated too long on this project so now I am presenting the FIRST DUmmie FUnnies AUDIO PODCAST. Yes, the DUmmie FUnnies will continue as before with the TEXT DUFU editions but we now take it to the next level with AUDIO DUFU editions. The fact is that the Web is full of not only lunatic liberal rantings in print but also in AUDIO. Therefore, I plan to add audio DUFU podcasts as well. For this inaugural DUFU audio podcast, I am DUFUing THE RUDE GUY. I know your initial reaction to the Rude Guy will be, "Is...

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider appeals from abortion rights groups wanting to block states from issuing car license plates bearing the message "Choose Life." About a dozen states allow drivers to pay extra for the specialty car tags to show the car owners opposition to abortion. Justices said they would not look at tag laws in Louisiana and Tennessee. Abortion opponents contend they have a free-speech right to broadcast their own views on their car tags. Proposals to offer car owners an alternative "Choose Choice" plate failed in both state Legislatures. A federal judge ruled that...

February 22, 2006 - Take a look at these adorable little British girls. They were Good Morning America's picture of the week. As you can see, one looks white and one looks black. But they are biological twins! Their names are Kayeen and Roomay. Mom and dad are of mixed race. We're told, the odds of having twins this diverse in color is one in one million!

Boy charged with felony for carrying sugar BY JUSTINA WANG A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed. The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends. The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar....

From: Korean Friendship Association/Corey Kobernik Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2006 1:54 PM Subject: Birth Anniversary of Leader KIM JONG IL Dear Friends, The 64th anniversary of the birth of Leader Kim Jong Il takes place on the 16th of February. This is a very joyous holiday in which the Korean people celebrate in a myriad of ways. People all around the world will be involved in marking the occasion as well through various activities including sending their own personal congratulatory greetings. We highly encourage you to avail yourself of this opportunity to honor Leader Kim Jong Il on his birth...

Stephen B. Johnson stepped down as chairman of the Richmond School Board tonight. He will remain on the board as the 5th District representative. In an article reported in The Times-Dispatch last week, Johnson admitted to posting his profile on a pornographic (male-dating) Internet dating site available to the public. The profile, which included explicit text, has been removed from the site. At tonight's School Board meeting, Johnson drew praise for his service as chairman, a post he has held this year. He also received expressions of support from fellow board members, Richmond Schools Superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman and others who...

<p>Wow! What a great president!</p> <p>What is wrong with you guys? How can you support Bush? Is it just because he is against gay marriage? How does gay marriage effect you? Is it really wrong for to men who love each other to get married? Maybe you should worry about your own marriage instead.</p>

Fox News is reporting that the latest album by the Rolling Stones, "A Bigger Bang," is "less than a month old, [and] already out of the Top 50.""A Bigger Bang" is the album that features "Sweet Neo-Con," a rare poltical song from the band, and one that attacks President Bush and Condoleezza Rice as "full of sh-t."Fox also reports that the latest album by frequent Bush critic Barbra Streisand, "Guilty Pleasures," "has caused little excitement even among her rabid fans."Both the Stones and Streisand are acts that appeal to the adult segment of the music buying public. Approximately half that...

Commission makes San Antonio's sweet deal even sweeter By T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer SAN ANTONIO — Things looked sweet for San Antonio under the Pentagon's proposed base-closure plan. This week's voting made it even sweeter. While the nine-member Base Closure and Realignment Commission voted Thursday to end the military's presence at Brooks City-Base, it overrode the Defense Department's recommendations by keeping one of Brooks' key medical research missions and some 300 jobs in San Antonio. That vote came a day after the commission opted to keep the 800-job Cryptologic Systems Group, which services communications equipment for federal intelligence agencies,...