Free Republic

Reds. Russets. Yukon Golds. Up until about a year or so ago, you could throw together a pretty decent breakfast after frying up a potato, some onions, and parsley for home fries. And you didn't have to do anything more to the potato than wash it and slice or chop it up. Not anymore. The spuds for sale at WalMart or Publix for five and six bucks a bag look like the real thing, but wait until you try to cook them. The problem is, they won't. Or don't. You can fry them all you want. Yet they'll stay raw...

Does anyone ever wonder what happens to all the bacon grease? I doubt if many ever ponder this question for very long. In the current economy, our leaders, as well as environmental "experts," are encouraging us to "go green." We are looking for ways to save gas, and soon we'll be encouraged to buy little electric automobiles that look like roller skates on steroids. Imagine trying to drive one of those down a two-track in a northern Michigan winter! I wonder if the hybrids will be available in a four-wheel drive version with a Hemi? Can you imagine a hunter...

My very own newspaper is asking for feedback regarding the refusal by certain Muslim cashiers to handle pork. This latest development, coupled with the problem of certain Muslim cabdrivers at the airport refusing to take passengers who have alcohol, was apparently too much for the newspaper to understand. As an institution, we must have gotten into a room and scratched our heads. In asking for help, the newspaper printed an anonymous e-mail from a reader, a cruel and thoughtless e-mail that featured the word "savages," which suggested to me that the newspaper not only doesn't understand the depth of the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison told U.S. interrogators as early as April 2002, just four months after the first detainees arrived, that military guards abused them and desecrated the Quran, declassified FBI records say. "Their behavior is bad," one detainee is quoted as saying of his guards during an interrogation by an FBI special agent in July 2002. "About five months ago the guards beat the detainees. They flushed a Quran in the toilet." The statements about guards disrespecting the Quran echo public allegations made many months later by some detainees and their lawyers after...

PORTUGAL: MEDIEVAL MUSLIM BURIAL GROUND UNEARTHED Lisbon, 12 May (AKI) - Skeletons belonging to some 35 corpses have surfaced from a Portuguese excavation site which archaelogists believe could be one of the the largest medieval Muslim burial grounds in Europe. The corpses, found in vaults carved out of the rockface were buried facing due west in the direction of the Muslim holy city, Mecca. The remains were unearthed at the Largo de Candido Dos Reis park, near the northern Portuguese city of Santarem. Local authorities believe the burial ground, discovered by Portuguese archaeologist, Antonio Matias, could extend over an area...

Ruben Studdard, winner of "American Idol." KnoxNews   'Idol' winner eats well at home Weight of 360 pounds due to mom's cookingBy LEIGH ANNE MONITOR, Scripps Howard News ServiceMay 25, 2003When "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard was a little boy, his mama cooked foods that would help make him grow into a singing sensation. It's likely no one guessed as much back then, but a few specialty Ruben Studdard dishes are oh-so-famous - around mom Emily Studdard's kitchen table in Winewood, Ala. Ruben, 24, the city's tie to the Fox show "American Idol," loves his mama's chicken tetrazzini, her...