Free Republic

Authorities in South Carolina on Thursday warned residents to lock their doors and windows after more than 40 monkeys escaped from a research facility. The primates broke loose from a Alpha Genesis facility in Beaufort County and traps have been set up and thermal imaging cameras are being used in an effort to locate the fugitive monkeys, the Yemassee Police Department said in a statement. In an update posted Thursday, police confirmed 43 rhesus macaque primates escaped and none had been captured as of early afternoon. Authorities said the primates were "very young females weighing approximately 6-7 lbs" and had...

WASHINGTON — The House on Friday overwhelmingly rejected calls for an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq, a vote engineered by Republicans that was intended to fail. Democrats derided the vote as a political stunt. "Our troops have become the enemy. We need to change direction in Iraq," said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a Democratic hawk whose call a day earlier for pulling out troops sparked a nasty, personal debate over the war. The House voted 403-3 to reject a nonbinding resolution offered by the GOP calling for the military to pull out of Iraq. "We want to make sure...