Free Republic

Why do we love scary stories? Matt Kaplan looks at the science behind monsters old and new, and our perverse love of a good fright. In the darkness it came. There was no way out. Cornered and helpless, all who found themselves in this dreaded place knew their fate ...

Ever been so afraid that you could not speak or move, or worse, experience symptoms of not being able to breath or faint? Have you ever been so scared that you thought you might die? Well, the worst situation you ever encountered that caused you to be scared out of your mind may have given you heart palpitations, severe sweating, or weakness in all your muscles and more. According to Answers.com, Fright, a state of sudden, extreme fear, is provoked either by a situation experienced as an external danger or by the feeling of a high probability of danger. Situations...

Do white right-wing preachers have it easier than black left-wing preachers? Is there a double standard? The political explosion around the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was inevitable, given Wright's personal closeness to Barack Obama and the outrageous rubbish the pastor has offered about AIDS, Sept. 11 and Louis Farrakhan. After Wright's bizarre and narcissistic performance at the National Press Club on Monday, Obama would have looked weak and irresolute had he not denounced him. But if there was a moment of courage in this drama, it was not Obama's condemnation of Wright but his earlier and now much-criticized effort to avoid...

"I can no more disown him [Jeremiah Wright] than I can disown my white grandmother." -- Barack Obama, Philadelphia, March 18 Guess it's time to disown Granny, if Obama's famous Philadelphia "race" speech is to be believed. Of course, the speech was not just believed. It was hailed, celebrated, canonized as the greatest pronouncement on race in America since Lincoln at Cooper Union. A New York Times columnist said it "should be required reading in classrooms across the country." College seniors and first-graders, suggested the excitable Chris Matthews. Apparently there's been a curriculum change. On Tuesday, the good senator begged...

Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor Last Updated: 7:29pm BST 19/09/2007 Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East. "This is a very dangerous situation for the dollar," said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas. "Saudi Arabia has $800bn (£400bn) in their future generation fund, and the entire region...

An Indonesian militant group has said over 200 Islamic suicide bombers will target countries that support Israel, including Britain and the US. Suaib Didu, chairman of the Jakarta-based ASEAN Muslim Youth Movement (AMYM), said militants have been trained to carry out suicide bombings to revenge Israel's military strikes on the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. Hardline militant groups in Indonesia have made claims in the past of sending volunteers to participate in conflicts overseas which have sometimes proved exaggerated. Didu claims over 3,000 people signed up for the mission but only 217 people from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore have...

Wow, did you hear the latest on the runaway bride? Turns out she was going to New Mexico to visit an ex boyfriend to get some action before her wedding. Todd Kendrick, a CPA, said, “she liked sex,” and added, “It wasn't serious. It was what it was,” referring to their brief, but steamy, relationship. Kendrick never did hook up with Jennifer this time, but stated that “we broke up when she started freakin’ out on me, I mean who wants to have sex in a hot tub filled with Cheetos®?” Sources report that Kendrick said Wilbanks had a healthy...

Why is Harry Reid acting like David Koresh? Becuase conservatives are winning. In 1987, Rush Limbaugh sat down at a microphone at radio station KFBK-AM in Sacramento and began broadcasting something called "The Rush Limbaugh Show." The rest is history. The "rest"--the inexorable 15-year rise of conservative ideas and clout across what Howard Stern calls "all media"--is described in a provocative new book by Brian C. Anderson, "South Park Conservatives." What was once a mostly exclusive liberal country club--television, the press, book publishing, even the campuses--has become heavily integrated with aggressive, even crude, conservatives. As described by Mr. Anderson, a...

Candidate's Stage Fright Ends Debate Parra: 'I Just Can't Do This' October 22, 2004 FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- A northeastern Indiana congressional candidate said she abruptly ended a debate because she got stage fright. Democrat Maria Parra walked off a television stage Thursday, ending what would have been her only debate with incumbent Republican Mark Souder in the 3rd District congressional race. "I'm not used to being in front of the camera. ... I couldn't get my words out. I was just overwhelmed," she said after the aborted debate, which was being filmed at WPTA and would have been aired...

"The Journey Continues--Week 2" Posted by Doc Farmer Wednesday, August 20, 2003 As most of you know, I lost my job in Doha, Qatar. It’s been two weeks now, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the many of you who sent me e-mail messages of encouragement. They were greatly appreciated. What’s it like, being unemployed? Most of us have experienced it at least once in our careers, but it’s rare that we really examine it or talk about it. But there are things that I need to really get off my chest. Partly, this is a simple...

PARIS, - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday accused countries like France that want much longer arms inspections in Iraq of being "afraid" to take responsibility for a possible war. In an interview with French public radio France Info, he also said Washington already had United Nations authority under November's resolution 1441 to use force even without a second resolution it was now drafting. France, which has a veto in the Security Council, says it sees no need for a new resolution. "It cannot be a satisfactory solution for inspections just to continue forever because some nations are...

Monster Squid Grips Racing Yacht? AFP Jan. 16 — A French yacht taking part in the Jules Verne round-the-world sailing trophy was gripped by a giant squid for about an hour in the mid-Atlantic, its skipper announced by radio-link. Veteran yachtsman Oliver de Kersauson, at the helm of the trimaran Geronimo, said the three-hulled boat was hit by strange vibrations on Sunday, so he sent a crew member below deck to try to identify what was wrong. "Suddenly he saw something moving," de Kersauson said. "It was tentacles. "The squid was pulling really hard, so we put the boat...

Police link 3 slayings, and women are scared Public's help sought; safety classes offered in Baton Rouge 07/31/2002 Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. - Taking a routine walk seemed riskier to many women as Louisiana's capital city remained on edge Tuesday, a day after police confirmed that three unsolved slayings of women were connected to one killer. DNA evidence linked the killings of Pam Kinamore, Gina Wilson Green and Charlotte Murray Pace, police said Monday, adding that it was obvious that all three crimes "have been committed by the same person." "I woke up at 3 o'clock in the...