Free Republic

JUNE 24--Meet Lahoma Sue Smith. The Oklahoma woman, 36, copped a plea last week to a prostitution charge for accepting a box of Frito-Lay chips in exchange for oral sex. According to the below Oklahoma City Police Department report, john Faron Johnson told cops that he informed Smith that he did not have any money, but that she "agreed to give him a 'b*** job' meaning oral sex, for a box of chips." Johnson, a Frito-Lay employee, provided Smith with a case of chips he valued at $30. Following her February arrest, Smith, pictured in the mug shot at right,...

TOKYO (AFP) – As the International Whaling Commission started its annual meeting in Portugal Monday, a group of bars and restaurants near Tokyo have sought to lure patrons with an exotic new spread of whale dishes. On the menu, alongside local staples such as whale sashimi, were new creations including whale spring rolls, whale bacon and even an Italian cheese whale cutlet -- all served with a dollop of local whaling history. "Whale meat is a very important part of Japanese tradition," said Masanobu Tai, the restaurateur leading the promotional drive in the Noge district of the port city of...

Budget Must Pass By Midnight Tuesday, Or Must Government Functions Will Stop INDIANAPOLIS (CBS) ― The State of Indiana is reeling from the death of perhaps its most famous native ever. But as if that weren't enough, the state is also plagued by a budget battle that now threatens a government shutdown. Gov. Mitch Daniels says if no state budget passes before midnight this coming Tuesday, he has the authority to keep prisons operating and state police on the roads, but most other government functions must stop. "I don't think we can wait any longer to let the public know...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) ― The country's smallest state has the longest official name: "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." A push to drop "Providence Plantations" from that name advanced farther than ever on Thursday when House lawmakers voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be called the "State of Rhode Island." It's an encouraging sign for those who believe the formal name conjures up images of slavery, while opponents argue it's an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island's tradition of religious liberty and tolerance. The bill permitting a statewide referendum on the issue...

Listen up! Carbon dioxide being absorbed by the oceans is having a puzzling effect on fish — their ears get bigger. Now, that doesn't mean you're going to reel in the Mr. Spock of the sea. Fish ears are inside their bodies. But, as in humans, their ears perform a major role in sensing movement and whether the animal is upright — abilities that are important for survival.

David Limbaugh speaks at 9 AM & 10:45 AM. Lt. Col. Oliver North will speak at 7 PM.

Rob Finch/The Oregonian/2002U.S. Marine Corps Col. Kenneth L. Reusser (center) is joined by Marine Staff Sgt. Marvin Harper (left) and Air Force Staff Sgt. Kim Nickerson on the Freedom Train, a string of cars honoring Oregon veterans, firefighters and disaster-relief workers who flew to New York City after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. CLACKAMAS -- They came by ones and twos Friday, quietly slipping into the pews at New Hope Community Church. They smiled at the words honoring a man whose faith made him an inspiration and whose exploits in three wars made him a hero. And when the...

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Funeral services will be held for a famed South Carolina blacksmith who died this week. The Harleston Boags Funeral Home of Charleston says that the Saturday funeral for Philip Simmons has been moved to the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium to accommodate the large crowd that's expected.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned an audience of 800 at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park that "business as usual" would lead to a dramatically changed world in the coming decades...he described a world with more severe storms and droughts, far more hot summer days exceeding 90 degrees, rising sea levels and species extinctions if carbon emissions aren't markedly scaled back. Chu focused on a chart from a report released this month from the NOAA [that] tracked atmospheric carbon dioxide levels over an 800,000-year period, measured from an Antarctic ice core. In it, a red line ranged between...

The “Silent Treatment”, you know, the treatment you get from your spouse when you have really, really, screwed up and you know your in really, really deep? The calm before the storm so to speak. Let them begin to wonder what we’re thinking, because it’s apparent that they don’t give a damn when we do tell them. `We The People’ stopped the Immigration bill a while back, but that isn’t working anymore. We melted down their phone lines yesterday with our objections to this latest, UNREAD, travesty of a bill, and they ignored us. Maybe it’s time to ignore them...

puroresu writes "I currently reside in the UK. In recent years I've seen privacy, free expression and civil liberties steadily eroded, and I can't see anything changing for the better any time soon. With people being banned from the UK for expressing (admittedly reprehensible) opinions, the continuing efforts to implement mandatory ID cards and the prospect of a Conservative government in the near future, I'm seriously considering emigrating to a less restrictive country. Which countries would you recommend in terms of freedom and privacy? Distance is not an issue, though a reasonable level of stability and provision of public services...

Sandra Bernhard issued a blistering warning to Sarah Palin during a performance of her new one-woman show. The Republican V.P. nom would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers" if she enters Manhattan, Bernhard said. Palin is said to be making a campaign stop in New York next week.

In cleaning up my PC and hard drive I came across music that I had converted and saved years ago. One song "This is not America" from the movie Falcon and the Snowman really struck home. With all that is going on in our country, the music seams appropriate for today. The Lyrics are: A little piece of you The little peace in me Will die For this is not America Blossom falls to bloom This season Promise not to stare Too long For this is not a miracle There was a time A storm that blew so pure For...

The West should listen to the dissidents in Iran craving freedom -- they can feel the future. Once again, the world is amazed. As with the seemingly sudden appearance of the Solidarity movement in Poland in the 1980s, or the gaudy, grand-scale collapse of the Soviet empire at the end of that decade, the massive revolt of Iranian citizens has elicited the unmitigated surprise of the free world's army of experts, pundits and commentators. Who would have known? Who could have predicted this eruption of protest in a system so highly repressed, where a generally quiescent populace lives under such...

Sonia Sotomayor was one of three appeals court judges who ruled that New Haven, Conn. officials acted properly in throwing out firefighters' exams because of racially skewed results. The city decided not to use test scores to determine promotions b/c it might have been vulnerable to claims the exam had a "disparate impact" on minorities in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Sotomayor's opinion has been criticized as a cursory look at a tough issue. Among critics are Soto's fellow judges on NY's 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.... outcome could alter how public and private sector employers make...

The time for a nationwide protest against our “lawmakers” has come—I am no longer referring to them as our representatives as they have stopped representing We-the-People. The volume of calls placed on Friday to the US Capitol switchboard and our Congressional Reps again shut it down and voice mailboxes were full. The calls placed were reported to be 10-1 AGAINST Obama‘s and Pelosi’s plan to raise energy prices to we the consumers by at least 100% and in most cases 150-200%. Despite We-the-People (now We-the-Peons) telling the House of Representatives to vote “NO”, after reportedly being strong-armed and threatened by...

I've looked and can't find it anywhere. It should be a politician's training tape.

The full transcript of the 911 call from Michael Jackson's home has been released by the Los Angeles Fire Department.

San Francisco celebrates diversity with the 39th annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade & Festival this weekend. Dozens of pride-related events take place throughout the Bay Area during the week to entertain the thousands of celebrants making the pilgrimage to San Francisco, but the big weekend party at Civic Center Plaza has been known to draw vast crowds in the hundreds of thousands. This year's event theme keeps the recent struggle for the legalization of same-sex marriage at the forefront of the celebration, drawing the theme concept “In Order to Form a More Perfect Union” from the Preamble to...

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Friday it will launch a series of district-specific radio ads targeting vulnerable Republicans who voted against President Obama’s controversial war supplemental package. As a matter of national security in years past Republicans have shown tremendous support for similar measures, however last week they voted en bloc against the $106 billion appropriations bill. The Democratic Leadership and the DCCC would be content to let the public believe Republicans were “playing politics” with the troops, having voted against the emergency legislation out of pure spite for the president. Over 100 Republicans voted for the bill when...