Free Republic

Joe Biden Isn't Joe Biden Anymore, He's John McCain Thanks to the lightning speed of the Republican National Committee's media team, this video was circulated everywhere today. It shows an announcer at a Democratic campaign rally in Tampa getting Joe Biden confused with John McCain. Instead of introducing Biden as the "next vice president of the United States," the announcer flubbed his introduction and said "the next Vice President of the United States, John McCain."

<p>Well, the good news first. After installing three very sweet machines and new networking equipment, FR is geared up for the onslaught of traffic we anticipate during this election cycle. All that is left is some tuning and bringing online another database server.</p>

MARION COUNTY, Fla. -- A man who kidnapped and molested a Marion County boy choked to death in prison. Frederick Fretz died at a federal prison in Atwater, California after choking on a hot dog. In 2005, Fretz kidnapped 11-year-old Adam Kirkirt from Dunellon Elementary School. At the time, he told Kirkirt he was going to take him to his father, who had been arrested in Kentucky. Fretz and the child were later found in Georgia.

UPS and Fed-Ex accident.

CHESAPEAKE - A 19-year-old who police said is in the country illegally was detained after a store clerk who processed film he dropped off suspected an undressed girl on the film could be underage. Carlos Ramos of the 3700 block of S. Military Hwy. is charged with producing sexually explicit materials, said Christi Golden, a police spokeswoman. Ramos is being held without bond in the Chesapeake jail. Other charges are pending.A clerk at the Wal-Mart on Grassfield Parkway called police Tuesday after processing the pictures, which included a 13-year-old girl, Golden said. The girl is nude in at least one...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch police station trying to help Muslim detainees face Mecca for their prayers painted arrows in cells pointing in the wrong direction...

GENEVA - A 43-foot-long magnet for the world's largest particle collider broke "with a loud bang and a cloud of dust" during a high-pressure test, and officials said Tuesday they are working to find a replacement part. The part that failed March 27 was in a super-cooled magnet designed to focus streams of protons so that they collide and allow scientists to study the results of the collision, giving them a better understanding of the makeup of matter, according to Fermilab, based in suburban Chicago, which has an accelerator of its own and is helping build one deep beneath the...

MILWAUKEE - All 18 young whooping cranes led south from Wisconsin by ultralight aircraft last fall were killed in storms that hit Florida, dealing a devastating blow to a project to create a second migratory flock of the endangered birds in North American, a spokesman said. The cranes were being kept in an enclosure at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge near Crystal River, Fla., when the storms moved in and intensified Thursday night, said Joe Duff, senior pilot and co-founder of Operation Migration, a nonprofit organization coordinating the project. "The birds were checked in late afternoon the day before, and...

MIAMI (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro has long prided himself on Cuba's doctors and free public health care system, but that system seems to have let him down after he fell ill in July , U.S.-based doctors said on Tuesday. Based on a report in Tuesday's edition of Spain's El Pais newspaper, the doctors -- who have no first-hand knowledge of Castro's condition -- said Castro had received questionable or even botched care at the hands of health experts on his communist-ruled island. "It's not a good story. Too bad they didn't send him to Miami for surgery," said...

Man trying to kill bees sets home ablaze Thu Jan 11, 8:06 PM ET CAPE CORAL, Fla. - A man who tried to keep bees off his property accidentally set fire to his house instead, causing at least $500 damage. Franklyn Pigott Jr. set his home ablaze Wednesday while attempting to destroy a nest of bees that had formed outside the home, the Fort Myers News-Press reported Thursday. When Pigott, 38, mixed a product called Real Kill Indoor Fogger with WD-40, it became a "flame-thrower" and melted the home's vinyl siding, according to a police incident report.

The crew of an Airbus plane with 39 passengers on board landed at the wrong airport, an accident report revealed today. The Dublin-based Eirjet flight, being operated on behalf of Ryanair, should have touched down at Derry, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said. But the Airbus A320, flying from Liverpool, landed at Ballykelly airfield, an ex-RAF base now used by the British Army, about five miles from Derry Airport. The AAIB report said air traffic controllers (ATC) had been told by the Airbus A320 aircraft crew: "We've just touched down." ATC replied: "It was the wrong airport, you've landed...

It beat Chris Sharek, the director of Venice's utilities department, whose job is to ensure that the city obeys environmental regulations, though he apparently failed to do so himself. A judge slapped Sharek with 25 hours of community service and probation last month for off-roading through a protected wilderness preserve with his wife and father-in-law. When their vehicles got stuck in the mud at Myakka River State Park, Sharek phoned for help. Friends arrived and dismantled a fence so they could drive in to free them. Their cars, in turn, got stuck. Another round of calls went out. Another round...

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Air Force safety experts were seeking answers Friday on why a U.S. fighter plane released a dummy bomb Wednesday that caused no injuries but ripped a jagged path through a South Korean wire factory. The nonexplosive training bomb sent startled workers scurrying at the two-story 3A Company Ltd. factory after it crashed through the roof and burrowed its way into a ground-floor office. The mishap occurred around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in Eumseong, northern Chungcheong province. The bomb dropped from an A-10 attack plane assigned to the 25th Fighter Squadron, part of the 51st Fighter...

SUAMICO, Wis. A Pulaski man is hospitalized at a burn center in Milwaukee after his home-made sheep costume caught fire at a bar in Suamico. Twenty-one-year-old Justin DeStarkey suffered burns over 80 percent of his body when the cotton balls and glue ignited at Chambers Hill Bar early Sunday. Sheriff's investigators say DeStarkey was dancing near the bar when he may have brushed against a cigarette.

A US casino mogul has pulled out of a deal to sell his Picasso painting for a record $139m (£74m) after accidentally elbowing a hole in the middle. Las Vegas magnate Steve Wynn was showing Le Reve (The Dream) to guests at his office in Las Vegas last month. Mr Wynn, who has retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease affecting peripheral vision, tore a coin-sized hole. He will now keep the painting, which he bought in 1997 for $48.4m, and repair it, his spokeswoman said. 'Terrible noise' Mr Wynn had finalised the sale of the 1932 painting to art collector Steven...

Radioactive snails lead to Spain-U.S. atomic probe MADRID (Reuters) - The discovery of radioactive snails at a site in southeastern Spain where three U.S. hydrogen bombs fell by accident 40 years ago may trigger a new joint U.S.-Spanish clean-up operation, officials said on Wednesday. The hydrogen bombs fell near the fishing village of Palomares in 1966 after a mid-air collision between a bomber and a refuelling craft, in which seven of 11 crewmen died. Hundreds of tons of soil were removed from the Palomares area and shipped to the United States after high explosive igniters on two bombs detonated...

10/06/2006 | 12:34 Russian bombers passed aviation tower unnoticed The flight tower at Keflavík airport was seemingly unaware of two Russian bombers that flew through Icelandic airspace last Friday. This is claimed by Hjördís Gudmundsdóttir, press officer of the Icelandic Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCAA), although the Minister for Foreign Affairs has made claims to the contrary. RÚV online reports. Gudmundsdóttir says that the DCAA only registers aircraft that have their radars on, and this is not always the case with military aircraft. This was an unusual incident, as Icelandic aviation authorities are usually notified of military rehearsals near the...

LONDON (Reuters) - Jack Neal briefly became the proud owner of a pink convertible car after he managed to buy it for 9,000 pounds ($17,000) on the Internet despite being only three years old. Jack's mother told the BBC she had left her password for the eBay auction site in her computer and her son used the "buy it now" option to complete the purchase. "Jack's a whizz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons," Rachel Neal said. The seller of the second-hand car, a dealer from Worcestershire, central England, was amused by the bid and agreed...

Bundles containing 1,200 marijuana plants cut down by narcotics agents hours earlier were stolen - possibly by the illicit growers - from a site on the Mount Tamalpais watershed in the middle of the night, water district officials said Friday. The stolen haul, part of 20,000 plants discovered at several West Marin pot gardens earlier in the week, was valued at roughly $3 million, according to estimates by narcotics agents. "It was overnight on Tuesday when the plants were taken," said Paul Helliker, general manager of the Marin Municipal Water District. "Apparently some of the growers returned." Disclosure of the...

Paraglider lands in minefield 1 hour, 30 minutes ago JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli man was stuck in the middle of a minefield near the Syrian border Saturday after crashing his paraglider and severely injuring himself. The unidentified man took off from a peak in the Golan Heights and drifted east toward the Syrian and Jordanian borders before crashing in the minefield, injuring his legs and breaking several bones, rescue services said. "He's in the process of being rescued," an army spokesman said. Paragliding, in which participants jump off tall peaks or cliffs with a parachute strapped to their back,...

FOX NEWS has confirmed that Actor Mel Gibson has been arrested in Los Angeles County for DUI. We are awaiting further details from the L.A. County Sheriffs Dept.... DEVELOPING...

Posted by Chuck Muth June 25, 2006 at 4:46 pm JOHN JACOB DINGLE-BERRY SCHMIDT The old axiom that Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity has never been more in play than in this Tuesday’s GOP primary race in Utah’s 3rd congressional district. Challenger John Jacob had the money to credibly take on incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon. And he had the hottest of red-hot issues: illegal immigration. Cannon, after all, is well known as a champion of amnesty for illegal aliens and Jacob has been successfully pounding him on it. In addition, Rep. Tom Tancredo’s Team America PAC,...

PARIS (AFP) - The French navy made a red-faced admission that it had lost a multi-million dollar sonar navigation device after its cable ripped in stormy waters. Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie confirmed a report in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine, and said an investigation had been launched into how the three-million-euro (3.7-million-dollars) device was mislaid. "An inquiry is underway to determine whether a technical or a human error is at the origin of this problem," she told reporters. Le Canard Enchaine reported that the captain of the De Grasse frigate, decided against his lieutenants' advice to try out the...

According to what Holloway's friends have told authorities, the blond-haired, blue-eyed van Cromvoirt was seen with their classmate after she left van der Sloot - the pals say they saw them in the Holiday Inn casino together. But when the casino's video surveillance tapes were turned over to police, investigators could find no sign of Holloway and van Cromvoirt, the source noted. Van Cromvoirt's father is the security expert in charge of video surveillance at the hotel. Aruban authorities are also scrutinizing a surveillance tape taken earlier on May 30 that shows Holloway arguing with a light-haired young man in...

Va. Lawmaker's Gun Discharges in Office By BOB LEWIS, Associated Press Writer Thu Jan 26, 11:19 PM ET RICHMOND, Va. - A state lawmaker's handgun accidentally discharged in his office Thursday as he tried to unload it, sending a bullet zinging across the room. It was stopped by a bulletproof vest hanging on the door. "That absorbed the entire thing," said Del. John S. "Jack" Reid, a 63-year-old Republican who was both shaken and embarrassed by the incident. He later took the rare step of apologizing to both the Democratic and Republican caucuses before Thursday's floor session, and then made...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda in Iraq's leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi said in an Internet audiotape on Friday that the group did not intend to target Muslim wedding parties in deadly bomb attacks in Jordan last week. In the tape, posted on an Islamist Web site often used by insurgent groups in Iraq, Zarqawi defended the suicide blasts on three hotels saying al Qaeda had inside information that they were home to U.S., Israeli and Jordanian intelligence agencies. "We ask God to have mercy on the Muslims, who we did not intend to target, even if they were in hotels...

Ozark "escort service" mix-up settled out of court Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - An Ozarks man who provides motorcycle escorts for funeral processions has settled a lawsuit with a Kansas-based phone book company that published his business number under the heading "escort services," leading to late-night calls from people wanting female company rather than a ride. Larry Perkins, 57, started Ozark Motorcycle Escort about 2 1/2 years ago, basing the business out of his Highlandville home. But in the current Names and Numbers directories for Springfield and Branson - published in December 2004 - Perkins' business is misidentified as "Ozark...

In the midst of the Cold War, when Nike missile sites dotted the Southland, a bright red runaway Navy drone airplane veered off course and headed for Los Angeles, triggering a dangerous sequence of events known as the "Battle of Palmdale." It's not a battle that the military could say it won back on Aug. 16, 1956. The Navy summoned two fighter jets to shoot down the pilotless drone, a Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat, minutes after it went out of control after being launched from Point Mugu Naval Air Station. As the wayward Hellcat headed toward Los Angeles, twin Scorpion interceptors...

4 Die in Gaza City House Explosion By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - An explosion destroyed a house after nightfall Monday in Gaza City, killing four people and injuring at least 30, residents and officials said. Three nearby buildings were reported on fire. Residents said the wrecked home in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood near the border with Israel belonged to a well-known family of supporters of the Islamic militant group Hamas, but the Israeli military denied having anything to do with the blast.

Three missiles have been fired from the Jordanian port of Aqaba, missing a US Navy ship but hitting Israel. Two rockets missed the USS Ashland, an American naval ship docked in the port. A Jordanian soldier died when one of the two missiles hit the dockside. The third missile landed near Eilat airport in neighbouring Israel, causing no injuries. An internet statement, purportedly from a group which says it has links to al-Qaeda, said it was to blame. The statement, allegedly from the Abdullah al-Azzam Brigades, said the attacks were the group's first attack in Jordan and were aimed at...

He was known as Peter Pan - the boy who could fly - but something went fatally wrong moments after Australian Darcy Zoitsas leapt from a 1000-metre Norwegian BASE jumping site. As he hurtled down the huge cliff face of Kjerag Peak in western Norway his parachute failed to open on Monday. "I used to call him Peter Pan, the boy who can fly and refuses to grow up and are surrounded by lost boys. He would smile in recognition and call me his Wendy," wrote Lesley Assersen at an online remembrance message board. "I had hoped to live with...

June 17, 2005 has been announced as the date for Iran's presidential election, which the conservatives seem likely to win. Although many candidates are planning to run for Iran’s presidency, the majority will be from the conservative ranks, consolidating their power in an already “reformist-frail” government. A tight competition is likely between Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a conservative-leaning pragmatist and Ali Larijani, former head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, who is preferred by the conservative alliance.

MEADOW LAKE, SASK. - The Canadian Red Cross will return a $10,000 tsunami relief donation to a northern Saskatchewan town after its council said the motion to approve the expenditure passed accidentally.

Satellite Photos taken by S. Korean Satellite Arirang 1 Resolution: 6.6m Taken between 10:59-11:01am, Sept. 15, 2004 Note: Yong-jo-ri is known to have a missile base. Hu-chang is a probable blast site. 09/26/2000 09/15/2004 Upper Rectangle: Hu-chang Lower Rectangle: Yong-jo-ri Yong-jo-ri 1 Yong-jo-ri 2 Hu-chang 1 Hu-chang 2

PASADENA, Calif. (Reuters) - A space capsule returning solar particles to earth has crashed in the Utah desert before it could be captured in a mid-air recovery by a Hollywood stunt helicopter pilot, officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Wednesday.

On July 2, I wed my lovely bride, hellinahandcart. Please celebrate with us.

    Internet Attack Exploits Microsoft Software Flaws Fri Jun 25, 2004 08:25 PM ET By Duncan Martell SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A potentially dangerous attack on personal computers by a virus designed to steal financial data and passwords from Web users rippled across the Internet on Friday, computer security experts said. The attack, which surfaced earlier this week and is known as the "Scob" outbreak, exploits a vulnerability in servers using Microsoft Corp.'s IIS software and has been called more dangerous than the recent "Sasser" and "Blaster" infections. The infected servers in turn exploit another vulnerability in Microsoft's...

California Researchers Accidentally Exposed to Live Anthrax Paul Elias/Associated Press Jun 10, 2004 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - At least five workers developing an anthrax vaccine at a children's hospital research lab in Oakland were accidentally exposed to the deadly bacterium because of a shipping mistake, officials reported Thursday. Officials with the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute said none of the researchers has shown symptoms of infection since the first exposure about two weeks ago, but each is being treated with precautionary antibiotics. The researchers believed they were working with syringes full of a dead version of anthrax, hospital spokeswoman Bev...

Nablus: 3 Hamas operatives killed in premature bomb detonation IDF says blast most likely result of car bomb that exploded prematurely. Marwan Athamna Three Hamas operatives were killed this afternoon (Sunday) in an explosion that rocked their car while driving in the streets of Nablus, Palestinian sources reported. The sources initially said that missiles fired from an IAF helicopter gunship had caused the blast. Later, they reported that the blast was a result of a premature detonation (widely known as a ‘work accident’). The IDF also said it had nothing to do with the blast and that it was most...

Sen. Joe Biden said, Bush must "demand the resignations for whoever is involved in this policy, and that includes Lord God Almighty himself. It includes anybody involved." MIDI - GO AWAY LITTLE GIRL Go away, the Lord God...go away, the Lord God If you're involved in prisoner abuse As senator I'll found out...what prison life was about If it's your fault, your apologies are no use Go away, the Lord God...go away, the Lord God If you are to blame, with me you won't get a truce As senator I'll found out...what prison life was about If it's your fault,...

More than 3.5 tons of the fertilizer ammonium nitrate, a chemical used by terrorists for making bombs, has gone missing from an Adeliade warehouse.The 47 bags were discovered missing in late March during a routine audit of a transport company, news reports said Thursday.Half a ton of ammonium nitrate was recently siezed by police in Britain and members of a suspected terror group arrested.South Australia Police Assistant Commissioner Madeleine Glynn said recent world events prompted police to investigate the loss.'Its important that we establish the whereabouts of the materials as part of the overall national effort in combating the threat...

KIEV - The Ukrainian Defense Ministry cannot find evidence that it had dismantled its decommissioned missiles, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevgeny Marchuk told reporters. “Unfortunately, there are ‘exotic’ things when we are looking for several hundred missiles that have been decommissioned, but we cannot find them," he said. “The missiles are said to have been dismantled,” Mr. Marchuk noted, adding that such missiles contained silver, gold, and platinum-group metals. “Where are the results of the dismantling?” he asked. There was no common accounting system in the Ukrainian armed forces before Mr. Marchuk was appointed Defense Minister in June 2003. An inventory...

Putin's nuclear show blows up in his face By Julius Strauss in Moscow (Filed: 18/02/2004) Russia's biggest military exercise since the collapse of communism flopped yesterday, ruining an attempt to project Vladimir Putin as a global leader and reaffirm the country's status as a nuclear superpower. With Mr Putin and a host of military officials watching from the nuclear submarine Arkhangelsk, two intercontinental ballistic missiles went wrong during a firing from a submarine believed to be the Novomoskovsk. They were aimed at Kamchatka on the Pacific coast. A malfunctioning satellite was blamed. Putin promised that Russia will again be a...

Close observers of Amazon.com noticed something peculiar this week: The company's Canadian site had suddenly revealed the identities of thousands of people who had anonymously posted book reviews on the U.S. site under signatures like "a reader from New York." The weeklong glitch, which Amazon fixed after outed reviewers complained, provided a rare glimpse at how writers and readers are wielding the online reviews as a tool to promote or pan a book -- when they think no one is watching. John Rechy, the author of the best-selling 1963 novel, "City of Night," and winner of the PEN-USA-WEST award for...

MEDFORD, N.J. (AP) - Military jets Saturday diverted a small plane flying in temporarily restricted air space shortly before President Bush flew out of Philadelphia on Air Force One, a Secret Service spokeswoman said. Two F-16 fighter jets ordered the plane to land at Medford's Flying W Airport, and the president was never in any danger, Secret Service spokeswoman Ann Roman said. The fighter jets had to use flares to get the pilot's attention, said Lt. Col. Kacey Blaney of the Northeast Air Defense Sector. Usually pilots respond to radio contact or other signals, she said. The plane and pilot...

MIDI - CAMP GRENADA Bye bye, Qusai…bye bye Udai…we have finally…kicked your boot-tay Let's hope others…learn the lesson…with the great US of A do not be messin' When Slick Willy…was in power…you would never…have to cower Those good old days…you ran wild…little girls worried that they'd be defiled You were both sick…heartless bastards…for your nation…a disaster Had Gore stolen…the election…there would not have been the need to seek protection Bush had warned you…. to be leaving…your poor daddy…has been grieving No more sports cars…no more raping…from the morgue it's really hard to be escaping Is it hot where you're...

MIDI - IF I FELL - first version If I fell down on my rear...would Dowd write a brand new smear Would she be mocking me? 'Cause I've heard that stuff before...from that Michael Douglas whore She does it with glee When I got on that Segway It seemed easy...but it just wasn't my day I pulled a Jerry Ford Wasn't chasing tail, you see That's how that predator Bill had hurt his knee With his pants down he ran...and he tumbled down the stairs, oh my Don't believe her...Hillary knows her guy Then I'm watching as my mom...

Louisiana yellow pages direct motor vehicle calls to sex line 05/22/2003 Associated Press MONROE, La. – A misprint in the 2004 BellSouth Yellow Pages for northeastern Louisiana means callers who dial an 800 number expecting the Office of Motor Vehicles are instead being connected to a phone sex line. What should have been an 877 number connecting callers to the OMV in Baton Rouge was printed as an 800 number that gives callers over 18 the opportunity to "talk only to the girls who turn you on" for $1.99 per minute by pushing 1 on a touch-tone phone. The phone...

FBI Special Agent Mark Mershon in charge of the San Francisco Region confirmed that the FBI wanted to interview 'several hundred Iraqi males who are relatively recent arrivals in Northern California.'

The Big Rip: New Theory Ends Universe by Shredding EverythingBy Robert Roy BrittSenior Science Writerposted: 12:04 pm ET06 March 2003 A rather harrowing new theory about the death of the universe paints a picture of "phantom energy" ripping apart galaxies, stars, planets and eventually every speck of matter in a fantastical end to time.Scientifically it is just about the most repulsive notion ever conceived.The speculative but serious cosmology is described as a "pretty fantastic possibility" even by its lead author, Robert Caldwell of Dartmouth University. It explains one possible outcome for solid astronomical observations made in the late 1990s...