Free Republic

The beloved American children's book character Curious George is breaking fast for Ramadan this year -- with chocolate-covered bananas, of course.The just-released children's book "It's Ramadan, Curious George" celebrates the Muslim holiday, teaching kids about the sacred month.It comes amid rising tensions fueled by worries about Islamist extremism and a heated presidential campaign during which Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump has called for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States.US author Hena Khan "wanted to focus on the celebratory aspects" of Ramadan, so George attends family gatherings and accompanies his friend Kareem to a mosque to put together...

The mischievous traveling monkey that became a childhood favorite, Curious George, might never have become an American curiosity had it not been for the Nazi invasion of France. His creators escaped oppression, and he eventually became an icon. Now the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie is honoring thier achievement in a new exhibit that shares the story of the husband-and-wife creators of the “good little monkey,” reports the Sun-Times H.A. and Margret Reys were German Jews living in Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion. During their five-month escape in 1940, they fled on bicycles with...

Sometimes a President Is Just a President The other night I dreamt of Barack Obama. He was taking a shower right when I needed to get into the bathroom to shave my legs, and then he was being yelled at by my husband, Max, for smoking in the house. It was not clear whether Max was feeling protective of the president’s health or jealous because of the cigarette. The other day a friend of mine confided that in the weeks leading up to the election, the Obamas’ apparent joy as a couple had made her just miserable. Their marriage looked...

The president of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is disturbed by an offensive t-shirt the group received in the mail Wednesday, the day after Barack Obama claimed his party's presidential nomination. The shirt has a cartoon image of Curious George, the beloved children's character, with a paper bag over his head holding a sign that says "A Truth We Can Believe in '08!!!" written underneath. CBCF President Elsie Scott says she believes the timing of the package was no coincidence. "We received it as a reaction to Obama winning the nomination," she tells the Sleuth. The t-shirt was made by...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, with talent on loan from G-d, at the cutting-edge of societal evolution, with half his brain tied behind his back — just to make it fair, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling,...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, with talent on loan from G-d, at the cutting-edge of societal evolution, with half his brain tied behind his back — just to make it fair, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling,...

The night he met his violent end, Alan Shalleck, the creator of Curious George children's books, had planned an evening of sex with two men he met through a gay magazine ad, according to a taped confession from Vincent Puglisi, who with co-defendant Rex Ditto is charged with Shalleck's February 2006 slaying.

For the politically correct Bay Area parent, the "Curious George" children's books are a minefield of cultural horrors through which to tiptoe. Imperialism. Animal abuse. Bad parenting.

Curiously, new monkey movie lands in middle of cultural battle - Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, February 10, 2006 For the politically correct Bay Area parent, the "Curious George" children's books are a minefield of cultural horrors through which to tiptoe. Imperialism. Animal abuse. Bad parenting. Puh-leeeeze, George's defenders say. They're children's books, whose charm has not dimmed -- 25 million books and countless swag sold -- even if ideas about political correctness have evolved since the first George adventure was published in 1941. Sometimes a speechless, mischievous monkey is just that -- a monkey, not a metaphor. Besides,...

For the politically correct Bay Area parent, the "Curious George" children's books are a minefield of cultural horrors through which to tiptoe. Imperialism. Animal abuse. Bad parenting. Puh-leeeeze, George's defenders say. They're children's books, whose charm has not dimmed -- 25 million books and countless swag sold -- even if ideas about political correctness have evolved since the first George adventure was published in 1941. Sometimes a speechless, mischievous monkey is just that -- a monkey, not a metaphor. Besides, George's tales are no more un-PC than those of that royalist warmonger, Babar. Both camps are wondering how "Curious...

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Alan Shalleck, who collaborated with the co-creator of "Curious George" to bring the mischievous monkey to television and a series of book sequels, was found dead outside his home, and police were treating the death as a possible homicide. The bloodied body of Shalleck, 76, was found Tuesday covered in garbage bags in the driveway of his mobile home. Police said it was there for at least a day before a maintenance man discovered it. "I went to drag it this morning and said, 'This is a body, this isn't garbage,'" maintenance supervisor Burt Venturelli said....

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - A collaborator on the children’s book series Curious George has been found dead on the driveway of his mobile home in Florida. Police say Allen Shalleck’s body was covered in black garbage bags. Neighbors had passed by for a least a day, thinking it was just trash. Investigators haven’t released any details of the death. But the timing is an odd curiosity, as a Universal Pictures animated movie about the mischievous monkey opens in theaters Friday, with Will Ferrell as the voice of the Man in the Yellow Hat, George's amiable owner and friend.