Free Republic

Scientists are stepping up efforts to identify a mysterious gooey substance polluting waters along the eastern edge of San Francisco Bay, coating hundreds of sea birds and killing scores of them, a state wildlife official said Tuesday. Initial field testing of the slime, first reported on Friday, came back negative for petroleum but authorities hope a more comprehensive laboratory analysis will provide some conclusive results, said Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. More than 100 birds, mostly ocean-going water fowl, have died after their feathers became soaked in the colorless, odorless goop, impairing their ability...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was booed at Netroots Nation in San Jose, Calif. — a progressive conference for bloggers and activists — on Saturday after stating that Edward Snowden “did violate the law in terms of releasing those documents.” The California Democrat made the remark during a question-and-answer segment called “Ask the Leader,” in which questions were posed to the former Speaker of the House via Twitter. Pelosi’s comment came after she defended President Obama and the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, stating that the administration had taken steps toward making such proceedings more transparent since Democrats have...

Film director Roman Polanski today broke his silence first the time about his Swiss arrest and pending extradition back to Los Angeles. He released this statement to the news media through his Paris friend and author Bernard-Henri Lévy, director of the French magazine La Règle du Jeu: Throughout my seven months since September 26, 2009, the date of my arrest at Zurich Airport, where I had landed with a view to receiving a lifetime award for my work from the representative of the Swiss Minister of Culture, I have refrained from making any public statements and have requested my lawyers...

Okay - I'm a teacher on vacation and watching Fox news. It's 11:00 in the morning and an ad comes on for "KY massage and personal lubricant." The husband lights up when the wife says "personal lubricant" and she says it again at the end of the ad and winks. There is a clear sexual tone to the ad.Is it me or is this out of bounds?Anyone else see it?I'm calling FOX and I'll post what happens.