Free Republic

A magazine editor visiting from Salt Lake City was walking along a Humboldt Bay jetty with her son. A school principal was on vacation, taking family photos by the sea in Mendocino Big River Headlands State Park. A father and his two young children were spending a Sunday at Blind Beach in Sonoma Coast State Park. A man in his 30s was hiking with friends along the coast in the Marin Headlands. A man and woman were searching for mussels on the rocks at Pescadero State Park. Then came the waves. Each of these people was swept from dry ground...

Common idiomatic expressions like "bringing home the bacon" may eventually fall out of usage as more people embrace vegetarianism and veganism, a university researcher says. Dr. Shareena Hamzah of Swansea University says meat- and animal-themed phrases will slowly be abandoned as awareness of animal cruelty and the negative effects of raising animals for meat production - on both the climate and the human body - grows. People will become less likely to use meat/animal metaphors in order not to offend sensitive vegan ears, Hamzah says. PETA, of course, is all for speeding up the process when it comes to rewriting...

EW YORK, June 26 (Reuters) - The Obama administration is considering requiring all new cars and trucks sold in the United States to get an average of 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Have just spent the afternoon, browsing the manufacturers websites of every major US automaker, looking for a basic flex-fuel pickup truck. GM. Ford. Chrysler. Found some flex-fuel trucks (mostly on the GM site), but only top of the line, with large engines. Will US automakers drop THIS ball also?

The idea that the Bush administration participated in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is not limited to fringe Web sites and conspiracy theorists, according to a poll commissioned by a Web site that promotes alternative explanations for the events of Sept. 11. The poll, conducted by Zogby International for 911Truth.org and released last week, found that 31 percent of Americans do not accept the official explanation for Sept. 11 -- that "19 Arab fundamentalists executed a surprise attack which caught U.S. intelligence and military forces off guard." Among that 31 percent, around 26 percent agreed that the American government...

Yesterday I posted this quote from Elizabeth from the Will Steger Foundation global warming expedition to the artic.............. It felt so good to be back on trail. The weather was relatively warm for this time of year, there was little wind and the sun was shining. The mountains plunge dramatically to the ice on all sides. The U-shape of the head of the fiord ahead of us gave us a clue to the glaciations that sculpted this land, grinding away the granite to leave sheer walls of bare rock. I felt like I was inside an I-Max movie. I couldn't...

Alleged felons accused of driving a stolen car to court. Two Bowling Green men who drove to their trial at the Butler County Courthouse in Morgantown not only were convicted, but were arrested again when the trial was over. Authorities say Terry Hunt, 39, and Justin Hawkins, 24, were accused of driving to the courthouse Tuesday in a stolen car. Hunt and Hawkins had driven a 2005 BMW to the courthouse to attend their jury trial on arson and fraudulent insurance acts. After the discovery of the stolen vehicle, police searched the residence of the two in Bowling Green and...

The nuts ARE running the asylum in Chicagoland... Today's 11/27 cartoon in the PAPER carried a note: "TOday's Get Fuzzy strip does not meet our standards for taste, so please enjoy this substitute strip from 2002." So, they showed some strip. Curiosity got me wondering WHAT was so terrible that they had to pull it... So, to www.comics.com I went. HERE is the strip they refused to post. Clearly, a cartoon cat with his "thumbs up" review for the pretty puppy is too much for the Trib...but, they printed the Doonesbury "Watch it Brown Sugar" comment cartoon with President Bush...

Woman Testifies In Victoria's Secret Lawsuit POSTED: 11:12 a.m. EDT April 13, 2004 UPDATED: 11:31 a.m. EDT April 13, 2004 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A woman described to jurors Monday how her full-length Victoria's Secret nightgown caught fire in a 1998 accident. Linda Rossby is suing the Columbus- based lingerie chain for more than $10 million in damages. She appeared in court in Little Rock, Arkansas for the first time Monday. Her lawyers said scars keep Rossby from sitting for long periods. Rossby testified that her right arm caught on fire as she reached in an oven to get a...

CHICAGO (AP) -- Jay Berwanger, who won the first Heisman Trophy and became the first player ever drafted by the NFL, died of lung cancer after a long illness. He was 88. Berwanger died Wednesday night at his home in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, University of Chicago spokesman Seth Sanders said Thursday. Berwanger was a halfback for the University of Chicago Maroons when the team was a powerhouse in the Big Ten -- and before the school's president abolished varsity football in 1939. In the days before platoon football, Berwanger had to pass, punt, block, tackle, kick off,...