Free Republic

LAKELAND -- Deputy Billy Osborne heard the man's cries for help but couldn't see him through the thick brush and pre-dawn darkness. " 'I have two broken arms, and an alligator's got me pinned. I can't move. Please help me,' " the Polk County deputy sheriff recalled the man saying at a news conference Wednesday. As Osborne listened, he followed the pleading voice through more than 20 yards of weeds in Lake Parker's murky, chest-deep water about 4 a.m. Then he saw them: a naked man slumped over, caught in the jaws of a huge alligator amid thick cattails in...

<p>This country is in the grip of the right wing of the Republican Party. George W. Bush is not only planning the war in Iraq but is now plotting to break the federal unions with his plot to privatize up to 850,000 federal jobs. Among other things.</p> <p>More than 200 miles north of the White House, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Thursday declared his intent to slash services to his fellow New Yorkers and hike taxes to resolve the city’s horrid fiscal crisis. Maine school districts will soon lose $10 million in funds because of the state’s budget gap. Not to mention many other cities and states in severe financial straits.</p>