Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's office acknowledged on Thursday that he was mistaken when he asserted that China, at Cuba's behest, is drilling for oil in waters 60 miles from the Florida coast. In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Cheney said on Wednesday that waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, long off limits to oil companies, should be opened to drilling because China is already there pumping oil. ''Oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida,'' the vice president said. ''We're not doing it, the Chinese are, in cooperation...

A Home Depot store in Utah plans to celebrate Gay pride in the Store with decorations of Rainbows and employee Tee shirts announcing gay pride. Inside sources say that this is something that will be devastating to business as most of the customer base tends to be on the Right side of the issue as they are mostly religious people. I am actively involved in this business and i dont want to be a part of it bacuae this is contrary to my belief and would like advice from more experienced FReepers on how best to disrupt these outrageous plans...

This is what Barack Obama said following 9/11: “In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

Urban legends help Obama while hurting McCain and therefore our country We recently showed [http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=1118] how the National Jewish Democratic Council cut out part of a statement by John McCain to suggest that he, like Obama, is open to unconditional discussions with terrorists and rogue governments. Half-truths, out of context statements, and blatant falsehoods are the National Jewish Democratic Council’s stock in trade, and we have exposed NJDC for this on many occasions. NJDC is therefore a Republican asset that will do Barack Obama far more harm than good in November. We must caution those who are on our side...

MONTGOMERY The state Senate may have been locked down for most of the year, but it did find time to endorse a widely discredited urban legend spread by the John Birch Society. The upper chamber passed a joint resolution April 10 sponsored by state Sen. Rusty Glover, R-Semmes, claiming that Canada, Mexico and the United States are moving toward a "North American Union" and working on construction of a "NAFTA Superhighway" to link the countries and report edly destroy their sovereignty. "It's about retaining independence," said John McManus, the president of the John Birch Society, in a phone interview Mon...

Your Opinion Counts The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) & U.S. Congress wants your opinion regarding proposed rule changes. Comments are due April 28, 2008 Thank you for taking the time to comment on these proposed rule changes that would adversely affect your Air 1 station. The time you invest in this could keep Christian radio strong. Here is some additional information about what is happening and why your opinion counts. While the FCC is considering these rule changes, at the moment nothing is "set in stone" as they await public comment. If any of these changes were adopted, there...

On 3/27/08, the Delano Police Department Gang Unit received information that a California Criminal Street Gang is going to be holding gang initiations in the Cities of Delano and McFarland. Prospective members are to collide their vehicles into random vehicles from behind. As the driver of the victim vehicle exits, the prospective members will open fire. This information has not been substantiated nor do we know if it is credible. As always, the Delano Police Department is concerened with the safety of all Delano residents and therefore, we are strongly suggesting that everyone use extreme caution if they are involved...

I heard recently on the Rush Limbaugh show this quote. "What we still don't understand is why you Americans stopped the bombing of Hanoi. You had us on the ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder, just for another day or two, we were ready to surrender! It was the same at the battles of TET. You defeated us! We knew it, and we thought you knew it. But we were elated to notice your media was definitely helping us. They were causing more disruption in America than we could in the battlefields. We were ready to surrender....

A year or two, and a PC, ago I read in Free Republic about this website where I could check if a story in an e-mail was fact or urband legend. Unfortunately, after changing PCs, I lost the link to that site. I have wished over and over I had saved that info when I changed PCs. Finally, I've decided to ask the same people who gave me the information at least a year ago. Freepers, do y'all know the website I'm talking about? How about its address? Thanks.

Jay Leno wrote this; it's the Jay Leno we don't often see.... "The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true, given the source, right? The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence, 2/3's of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What are we so unhappy...

Has a mythical beast turned up in Texas? By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer August 31, 2007 Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra. "It is one ugly creature," Canion said, holding the head of the...

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/budweiser.asp They apparently don't like to have their stuff copied, since they won't let me select the text. Therefore, link only.

There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. The ironic part is, it's a "health food," one of our most popular. Now, I'm a health-food guy, a fanatic who seldom allows anything into his kitchen unless it's organic. I state my bias here just so you'll know I'm not anti-health food. The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place. You can hardly escape them anymore. I have nothing against an occasional soy snack. Soy is nutritious and contains lots of...

NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY | An urban myth or reality? Super suspicious foes The government denies any such plans, but campaign against it continues. By MATT STEARNS McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON | If the government really has a secret plan for a 12-lane road-and-rail NAFTA Superhighway that will split the heartland from Mexico to Canada, it is playing with a great poker face. “There is absolutely no U.S. government plan for a NAFTA Superhighway of any sort,” said David Bohigian, an assistant secretary of commerce. Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican and a powerful member of committees that would authorize and pay for...

REGION UPDATE Captured L.A. Gator Thought To Be Reggie May 25, 2007 LOS ANGELES – A 6½-foot alligator believed to be the elusive Reggie that lurked in a park lake for two years was captured yesterday in a wrestling match with a reptile expert and rangers, and was rushed to a zoo with TV news helicopters trailing its journey across the nation's second-largest city. The wily non-native reptile became a celebrity as it left a series of would-be gator wranglers empty-handed and then managed to disappear for 18 months until it was spotted again late last month. Yesterday, the alligator...

WASHINGTON --In a published report, the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania has detailed findings of a four month study of the intelligence quotient of President George W. Bush. Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the education community on each new president, which includes the famous "IQ" report among others. According to statements in the report, there have been twelve presidents over the past 60 years, from F. D. Roosevelt to G. W. Bush who were all rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they alone produced without aid of staff, their ability to speak with clarity,...

A GREAT ANSWER TO A DUMB QUESTION: Katie Couric, while interviewing a Marine sniper, asked: "What do you feel when you shoot a terrorist?" The Marine shrugged and replied: "Recoil." (Hard to fault a Marine that eloquent) Semper Fi!

NEW YORK - In the nine months since escaping her travel cage at Kennedy Airport, Vivi the wayward whippet has joined the Central Park coyote, high-rise tiger, Harlem Meer caiman and Molly the fugitive feline in New York's ever-growing pantheon of urban animal legends. She was reported dozens of times, roaming cemeteries with other dogs, or hanging around stores in the borough of Queens, in some cases miles from the tarmac where she disappeared while awaiting a flight home to California on Feb. 15. A day earlier, she had won an Award of Merit at the annual Westminster Kennel Club...

BOISE, Idaho (Oct. 28) - A black cat won't cross your path this Halloween, not if a northern Idaho animal shelter can help it. Like many shelters around the country, the Kootenai Humane Society in Coeur d'Alene is prohibiting black cat adoptions from now to Nov. 2, fearing the animals could be mistreated in Halloween pranks - or worse, sacrificed in some satanic ritual. The shelter's executive director, Phil Morgan, said that while the risk may be remote, the policy will remain just in case. Janet, a black cat, will have to wait till after Nov. 2 to be adopted...

YOU WORRY ME... I've been trying to say this since 9-11, but you worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me. I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends, for more than 20 years now. I don't fully...

.... The flags are France,Germany,and Russia.

The following from a director with SW BELL in Mexico City. ( Bob Blaydon) I spent five years working in Mexico. I worked under a tourist visa for three months and could legally renew it for three more months. After that you were working illegally. I was technically illegal for three weeks waiting on the FM3 approval. During that six months our Mexican and US Attorneys were working to secure a permanent work visa called a FM3. It was in addition to my US passport that I had to show each time I entered and left the country. Barbara's was...

On the wild and untamed Internet, he's an urban legend. But Joseph Olson wishes it would just go away. The Hamline University law professor, has been tied the past few years to a cryptic analysis of the 2000 election that predicts a timely end to American democracy. It's an apocalyptic vision that's turned up in thousands of Internet blogs and message boards and resurfaced in recent weeks. But it's false. Olson never wrote what's attributed to him. He doesn't know exactly how it happened. His only sin might have been passing on an e-mail with questionable information and somewhere someone...

Got this by email and figured I'd pass it on. Sounds a bit odd when you first read it, but I'm never surprised by the stupidity - or the brilliance - of the criminal mind. Here's the scenario: You walk across the parking lot, unlock your car and get inside. You lock your doors, start the engine and shift into reverse. You look into the rear view mirror to back out of your parking space and notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. You shift into PARK, unlock your doors, get out of the...

I just got an email from someone saying that Will Ferrell died in a paragliding accident. It sounds like something Will would have made up. The above link is not working for me but it was the only Google News link that says he is dead.

Robin Williams has presented a Peace Plan that will work. gotta love Robin Williams...... Even if he's nuts! Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan. What we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message. Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!) I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's ! one plan." 1) "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past &present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo,...

Do women make less than men? The wage-gap ratio isn't the best gauge for pay discrimination, and overemphasizing it can undermine an important issue.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - When you have a legitimate point to make, it can undercut your argument to rely heavily on a sound-bite statistic that easily can be misinterpreted. When it comes to pay discrimination, the one statistic you hear over and over is that women make only 76 cents for every dollar a man earns. To the average person, that ratio gives the false impression that any woman working is at risk of being paid 24...

Death Before DishonorGreyhawkThe latest Iraq war urban legend: Several female service members have died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day due to fear of being raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark. This is absurd for countless reasons - the most obvious being that death by dehydration takes a little longer than a couple hours without fluids, even in the hottest conditions. But this fabrication has an interesting source: Col. Janis Karpinski, former commander of the unit responsible for torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. And she's found...

FORT SUMNER, N.M. -- A small town rumor that sparked world wide interest about a mouse burning down a house has been found to be untrue. After 81-year-old Chano Mares's house burned down Saturday in Fort Sumner, news services picked up the quirky story. "Flaming Mouse Burns Down House" read the headline over an Associated Press story that appeared on TheNewMexicoChannel.com, for example. According to the initial report, Mares threw the critter in a pile of burning leaves near his home, but it ran back to the house on fire. A local firefighter said the mouse ran to just beneath...

It sounded like a demented Disney story: A mouse enraged at being set afire takes its revenge by running into his assailant's house and burning it to the ground. It was so good a story that the Clovis News-Journal printed it; The Associated Press picked it up; the Albuquerque Journal and every other news outlet in creation ran the AP story; and by yesterday noon, the story had just about circled the globe, even earning a chuckle and extended discussion on the Rush Limbaugh radio show. It remains ABQjournal.com's top e-mailed story and the fourth most-read story on our Web...

The bogus story of "Pope Joan" was not the only fiction that ABC and Diane Sawyer tried to hustle on the American public in last night's Primetime (Thursday December 29, 2005). In trying to convey the environment of ninth-century Europe, host Diane Sawyer and a guest, Donna Cross (author of Pope Joan), promulgated the debunked feminist myth that the phrase "rule of thumb" originated from a centuries-old law about wifebeating. The popular hoax purports that a man was once allowed to clobber a woman as long as the club was no wider than his thumb.In her much-acclaimed 1994 book, Who...

Tonight, ABC’s “Primetime” will air a segment, “On the Trail of Pope Joan,” that raises questions about the possible existence of Pope Joan.  Catholic League president Bill Donohue weighed in today: “ABC has been busy questioning the divinity of Jesus for years, what with its infamous ‘Search for Jesus’ specials.  In May of this year, it went back to the well again with a ‘20/20’ episode questioning the resurrection of Jesus.  Correspondent Elizabeth Vargas told viewers: ‘Whether the resurrection proclaimed by the disciples was physical, metaphysical, or simply a hallucination—the dreams of grieving followers,’ is not known.  In other words, Christians...

AP) Little Falls, Minn. It has been reported many times that the residents of Little Falls were so angry with hometown hero Charles Lindbergh's comments that the U.S. should stay out of World War II that they painted over his name on the water tower. The story was part of a PBS documentary about the famous pilot. It was reported in a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography released in 1999. However, many experts doubt it happened. "I've heard the stories but I've never seen the documentation myself," said Marlene White, president of the Anoka-based Lindbergh Foundation. There are some newspaper articles from...

Men. I can not confirm this with any searching/Googling yet but: It seams that the new recruits of Paris Island (Marine boot camp), will be issued a "sress card" to be used when a drill instructor stresses them out enough. All they need to do is pull out the card and wave it in the instructors face and the instructor needs to back off. Also, the thing called the crusible (hell week)is no more. I know this because I just needed to send back a PFC new Marine on Christmass day. We droped him off at Philly air port to...

"As its title reveals, the novel is based on the life of one of the most fascinating, extraordinary women in Western history--Pope Joan, a controversial figure of historical record who, disguised as a man, rose to rule Christianity in the 9th century as the first and only woman to sit on the throne of St. Peter. Brilliant and talented, young Joan rebels against the medieval social strictures forbidding women to learn to read and write. When her older brother is killed during a Viking attack, Joan takes up his cloak and identity, goes to the monastery of Fulda, and is...

A KIDNEY was removed from the body of a 27-year-old Irish man who died from a drug overdose in Ibiza last August, the Sunday Tribune has learned. The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed to the family of Finbarr Kelly that one of his kidneys was removed before his body was returned home to Ireland last August. His family had not given permission for such a procedure. The report of the autopsy carried out in Spain failed to record this information. Kelly, a business graduate from Sligo town, travelled to Playa d'en Bossa, Ibiza, last August with a group of 11...

In recent weeks, by claiming that President Bush lied us into the Iraq war, many on the Left have restarted their efforts to rewrite history. But this revisionism isn’t new. In the midst of the 2004 Presidential election, the cries were just as loud. The Bush Administration is finally pushing back, and many conservative bloggers are asking their readers to Google Clinton, Iraq, 1998 for all the information they need. Last fall, The American Enterprise debunked many of these same urban legends. Urban Legends About the Iraq War Urban Legend: The Bush Administration in general, and the Vice President and...

WAL-MART BANS CHRISTMAS: BOYCOTT LAUNCHED A woman who recently complained to Wal-Mart that the store was replacing “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” received an e-mail response from Customer Service. It appears below in its exact form: “Walmart is a world wide organization and must remain conscious of this. The majority of the world still has different practices other than ‘christmas’ which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism. The colors associated with ‘christmas’ red and white are actually a representation of of the aminita mascera mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the...

Discovery Institute's “Wedge Document�: How Darwinist Paranoia Fueled an Urban Legend In 1999 someone posted on the internet an early fundraising proposal for Discovery Institute’s Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture. Dubbed the “Wedge Document,� this proposal soon took on a life of its own, popping up in all sorts of places and eventually spawning what can only be called a giant urban legend. Among true-believers on the Darwinist fringe the document came to be viewed as evidence for a secret conspiracy to fuse religion with science and impose a theocracy. These claims were so outlandish that for...

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know what an American is ... so they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!) An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani,...

My brother, who is a member of the Illinois Air National Guard sent me the following email: "This came to me by way of a contact that stays up on veterans things: Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event. We received the following reply from the local TARGET management: "Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only donate to the arts, social action groups, gay &lesbian causes, and education." So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in general...

Family breakdown Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, says "the destruction of the black family" today can be traced to a single man from England who purposely paid a visit to Virginia during the early 18th century. "In 1712, British slave owner Willie Lynch was invited to the colony of Virginia to teach his methods of keeping slaves under control to American slave owners," Mr. Rangel says. "Almost 300 years later, the techniques that he prescribed seem to have not only been successful in controlling slaves, but lasting as a means of weakening and destroying the black family." Mr....

I got a chain letter on this, thought I'd share it. It is well written and its right as always. Paul Harvey and Prayer Paul Harvey says: I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution. Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal? It's not like...

Greenlighters are an emerging underground movement of sexually promiscuous teenagers, including bisexual, homosexual, and heterosexual members. Members of this movement wear a green polo shirt with the collar up, indicating that they are open to pretty much any sexual adventure. When someone comes up to them and puts the collar down, they are "collared" and will go with that person and do whatever sexual act they ask. Transfer of money is not usually involved. Some parent groups are starting to get involved - urging parents to go through their kids clothes and confiscate green shirts and polos. Supposedly this has...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The cover-up is over at the U.S. Justice Department. After more than three years of being blocked by large blue drapes, two Art Deco aluminum statues of semi-nude figures in the building's Great Hall can be seen again. The "Spirit of Justice" and the "Majesty of Justice," which loom over the stage in the Great Hall, were blocked from view by curtains installed by the department in January 2002, when former Attorney General John Ashcroft was in office. The curtains were quietly removed on Friday after a decision by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Justice Department spokesman Kevin...

With barely a word about it, workers at the Justice Department Friday removed the blue drapes that have famously covered two scantily clad statues for the past 3 1/2 years. Spirit of Justice, with her one breast exposed and her arms raised, and the bare-chested male Majesty of Law basked in the late afternoon light of Justice's ceremonial Great Hall. The drapes, installed in 2002 at a cost of $8,000, allowed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to speak in the Great Hall without fear of a breast showing up behind him in television or newspaper pictures. They also provoked jokes about...

"OUR GANG" Whatever happened to these people? Well, here is is.....the "rest of the story" of Our Gang/center> ALFALFA Carl Switzer was shot to death at age 31. CHUBBY 300-pound Norman Chaney died at age 22 following an operation. BUCKWHEAT William Thomas died at age 49 of a heart attack. DARLA HOOD The Our Gang leading lady contracted hepatitis and died at age 47. BRISBANE Kendall McCormas, known as Breezy Brisbane, committed suicide at age 64. MICKEY DANIELS He died of liver disease at 55. STYMIE Mathew Bear led a life of crime and drugs. He died of a stroke...

Bonsai Kitten site brings animal-rights roar E-Briefing archive For past E-Briefing columns, click here. Rae French doesn't think the little kittens shown stuffed into jars on the Web site, Bonsai Kitten, are real. She doesn't believe there is such a thing as bonsai kittens, or even that the MIT graduate students behind the Web site meant to do anything but make a "sick joke." But as president of Hugs for Homeless Animals, she stands by the e-campaign to shut it down, and she's hoping the FBI will take action. Yes, the FBI apparently is investigating the site that depicts kittens...

"Recently Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffees and to request that they send some of it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Marines thank you for their support in their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee. So as not to offend Starbucks, we should not support them by buying any of their products. As a war vet writing to fellow patriots, I feel we should get...