Free Republic

PORTLAND, Ore. – Washington County's "Bunny Lady" is back in the hutch after violating a court order banning her from owning animals for five years. Miriam Sakewitz, 47, was arrested Tuesday at a hotel in the Portland suburb of Tigard after an employee reported finding rabbits hopping around in her room. Problems for Sakewitz started in October 2006 when police in Hillsboro, about 15 miles west of Portland, found and confiscated nearly 250 rabbits in her home, including about 100 dead ones in freezers and refrigerators.

DON'T BE HARD ON GM'S NEW CHAIRMAN EDWARD WHITACRE for confessing during an interview last week that he knows nothing about cars. He simply suffered a Joe Biden moment. Texans often tumble over their tongues when taking a stab at humility. In fact, few car companies, let alone their CEOs, know how to build cars, which is why so many of them are conking out. The Obama administration, in my view, picked Whitacre to run General Motors (ticker: GM) because he has a more important talent: He knows how to play Chicago-style politics.

Stereotypes are usually negative and should be avoided. That’s what we teach our children. Yet, some adults are still incapable of understanding that discriminating against a dog, based solely on his breed is wrong. You cannot judge an entire breed of dog on a few individuals. Pit bulls are misunderstood and used as a scapegoat when dog owners are negligent. You could eliminate pit bulls from the planet, and dog bites would still occur. Another breed would then be persecuted. The first point to make is that ‘pit bull’ is not a breed. Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Pit Bull Terrier,...

In a recent article about legislation against Pit Bulls, I ended with a comment on how fear and anger over isolated and heavily reported attacks was resulting in reprehensible actions being taken against Pit Bulls as a breed group, blaming the dog, and not irresponsible dog owners. A common refrain is "get rid of these dangerous dogs", even though breed specific legislation has not resulted in changes promised. Not anywhere.Petraits for Lake Shore Animal Shelter After reading an article showcasing a Baltimore group which, like the HSUS's "End Dogfighting in Chicago" organization, is working to help Pit Bulls and the...

Completing the Obama Administration's plan to replace its fleet of government vehicles with newer, more efficient vehicles, the U.S. General Services Administration is reporting a purchase of roughly $210 million worth of new vehicles from Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. Of the three American automakers, Ford was the clear winner of government funds with a total of 7,924 Blue Ovals bought and paid for at a total of $129 million (about $16,280 per car). GM was well represented too with the Fed's $105 million outlay bringing in a total of 6,348 cars (about $16,540 per car). Chrysler held up the...

One of the great things about football is that a fan can experience all of its highs and lows and never, ever have to think about politics. NFL Sundays are a safe zone from the "let's scream at each other and call it political discourse" babble that's so unavoidable during the week.

Business groups are daring President Barack Obama to impose pay caps on labor union bosses in light of indications the White House will limit how much corporate executives can be paid. President Obama has argued “corporate greed” has contributed to the economic crisis and appointed a “compensation czar” to review executive pay for several companies receiving taxpayer bailout money Wednesday. Now White House officials have told the press legislation should be enacted to limit executive pay in private companies through nonbinding shareholders votes.

You’ve read about Sonia Sotomayor’s rulings and about her, what do you think? Is she Supreme Court material? Is she a racist as Rush and Newt tell you? If she’s qualified, should she be confirmed or opposed because of how you think she might vote on specific issues? Should she be opposed just because Obama nominated her? Should she be confirmed just because she is female, Hispanic and was nominated by the President? Have at it!

We've just seen a higher resolution image of the photo that appears to be David Carradine's body hanging in his hotel room -- and it shows what seems consistent with an auto-erotica scenario ... at least from outward appearances. The photo -- published by a Thai tabloid -- shows a body suspended from a bar in a closet, with his hands bound together above his head. Carradine's genitals were also tied. But the new sharper image also reveals what appears to be fishnet stockings covering the body. You can also see red women's lingerie on the bed. And, it appears,...

Undeterred by an on-court intruder, Federer beat surprise finalist Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4 on Sunday to complete a career Grand Slam and win his 14th major title, matching Sampras' record. On his fourth try at Roland Garros, Federer became the sixth man to win all four Grand Slam championships. When the stylish Swiss hit a service winner on championship point, he fell on his knees to the clay that had vexed him for so long, screamed and briefly buried his face in his hands. He was teary by the time he met Soderling at the net, and fans gave...

David Carradine said. “I’m no kind of Scientologist, but I’ve been around it enough to know it’s a very intelligent thing.”

LOS ANGELES – The greatness of Shaquille O’Neal(notes) demands that his name, his legacy, never drifts far from an NBA Finals. Even when he’s long out of the league, that’ll still be true. For the immortals, the lifetime benefits include the exhaustive examination of the next generation’s stars to your standards. How does Tom Brady measure to Joe Montana?

you can read the article here Caged ideas about breed sometime wrong Why doesn't FR automatically make links active?

Someone asked me to name examples of people who had very little experience being asked to run something and succeeded. This was in response to the thread of the 31 year old in charge of dismantling GM http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2262191/posts I came up with three examples 1.Sarah Palin (who didn't have a whole lot of experience but was and has been quite influential in reviving some hope for the GOP while having success in steering Alaska through these troubled economic waters. 2. Theo Epstein, the very limited experienced GM of the Bosox who was named GM at 28 and helped guide the...

Yep, it sure seems obvious that Eminem's tempestuous reaction to his face being attacked by Sacha Baron Cohen's butt at the MTV Movie Awards was orchestrated. As a winged, nearly naked Cohen crashed to earth like Icarus, he had to land on someone if the stunt was to have comedic effect. For max funniness, that person should have max rebellious 'tude. That's Eminem in that crowd last night. It can't be a coincidence that the two forces met and cameras were poised to catch it perfectly on TV. Eminem Sacha Baron Cohen MTV Movie Awards 837429516 news Furthermore, it seemed...

According to a story in today's Sun by Brent Jones, Phoenix, is in stable condition at an unnamed hospital in Pennsylvania. Sounds like the next few days will be touch and go as she fights potential infections and other burn-related issues. In case anyone missed yesterday's stories, someone in Southwest Baltimore doused the 1-year-old pit bull puppy with gasoline and set her on fire. A police office saw her in flames and put the fire out with a sweater. There is a $1,000 reward being offered for information on who might have done that to the dog. Unleashed will try...

NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - A Federal Reserve economist said on Thursday the recent stress tests of the largest U.S. banks showed they can weather the impending tidal wave of defaults expected in the commercial real estate market. "I feel comfortable that the size and portion of commercial real estate exposure was taken into account in the stress test," Til Schuermann, vide president, risk management for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told a Congressional Oversight Panel hearing in Manhattan.

Barack Obama's great uncle offered some blunt language as to why his nephew is visiting the memorial at the former Buchenwald concentration camp next week during his trip to Europe and the Middle East. “This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I'm sure, but for political reasons,” Charles Payne told the German magazine Spiegel. “Perhaps his visit also has something to do with improving his standing with (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel. She gave him a hard time during his campaign and also afterwards.”

An openly-gay, teenage boy was just voted "Prom Queen" at Los Angeles' Fairfax High School in a campaign that began as a stunt -- but ended up spurring discussion on the campus about gender roles and teen popularity. Sergio Garcia, 18, was crowned queen Saturday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. "I feel invincible," Garcia said in his tiara and charcoal-gray tuxedo. A few days earlier, he gave a speech that won over some cynics and led to an ovation and his unlikely victory. "At one time, prom may have been a big popularity contest where the best-looking guy or...

Donald Sterling looks good. The 76-year-old billionaire owner of the Clippers always looks good, an occasional tousle of salt-and-cinnamon hair dangling over his expressive, perpetually tanned face. Sweeping into the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles the night of May 14 wearing a black suit and white tie, he directs photo ops before commenting to his companions about a Mag reporter: "Do you know why they're here? They want to know why the NAACP would give an award to someone with my track record!" For more than two years, Sterling has been staring down federal civil rights charges related...