Free Republic

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- Bay St. Louis animal-control officers said there have been several reports in the past few days of a kangaroo hopping along U.S. 90. Mayor Eddie Favre said he's heard reports of people seeing a kangaroo four or five different times, and at first, Favre said, he wondered if someone was just joking around. Some officials suspect the animal was someone's pet that may have escaped. Based on eyewitness accounts, the kangaroo is about 4 feet tall. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said kangaroos usually feed on fruits and vegetables. Most are nocturnal, but some...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan, June 15, 2007 – A large line could be seen extending from the chow hall here as the aroma of steak floated across the base June 13. Soldiers are treated to food from Outback Steakhouse on June 13 at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Clifton, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Soldiers here were treated to a little taste of home when “Feeding Freedom 5” brought the “Down Under” taste of Outback Steakhouse to the base dining facility. “Feeding Freedom” is the program that brings food from Outback Steakhouse...

Outback spirit dries up in face of record drought By Nick Squires in Bourke Last Updated: 1:41am GMT 20/11/2006 One of the most celebrated Outback towns has been pushed to the brink of social and economic collapse as a result of the worst drought in Australia's history. Bourke, in the parched west of New South Wales, was enshrined in frontier mythology by 19th-century bush poets such as Henry Lawson, who declared: "If you know Bourke, you know Australia." The expression "back o'Bourke" is understood by all Australians to mean in the middle of nowhere. But the town's resilience has been...

OUTBACK artist Pro Hart has died at his Broken Hill home after battling motor neurone disease. The 77-year-old was diagnosed with the debilitating disease that causes muscle wastage late last year but his condition began to fail last week. His family decided to cease his medication on Friday and the legendary artist died at 2.45am (AEDT) today, Pro's family said in a statement. Pro Hart became a household name for his unconventional and diverse art works - which at one time featured in a popular carpet-cleaning advertisement. He was "a truly remarkable Australian and one that will be sadly missed",...

IT'S cowboy country all right, but parts of north and central Queensland won't be seeing the controversial cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain. The film - banned in two cinemas in the US because of its tale of gay cowboy love - won't be seen in Townsville - home of NRL grand finalists the Cowboys. Nor, also due to its "limited release" status, will it be hitting the screens further south in Rockhampton. But the snub of two major Queensland cities has angered gay activists, who say much of its community could relate to the gay character played by Australian actor Heath...

Here is the day we have all been waiting for. The "New Year's Day" bowl games are on the day after, but there are some great matchups today. Look at at least 2 upsets....

Footprints Reveal Ancient Outback Life CANBERRA, Australia, Dec. 22, 2005 (AP) Children meandered around their parents' ankles. A man, likely a hunter, dashed through the mud. Somebody dragged a dead animal along the shores of a lake. Now the footprints they left some 20,000 years ago are giving a fresh perspective on the lives of Australian Aborigines. Since an Aboriginal park ranger stumbled upon the first print in 2003 in Mungo National Park, 500 miles west of Sydney, archaeologists helped by local Aborigines have excavated 457 other prints from the region's shifting sands. "This is the nearest we've got to...

Washington DC, Dec. 09, 2005 (CNA) - Intervening in the heated debate about the mention of Christmas on the public square, Concerned Women for America (CWA) presented a first Christmas list showing which businesses are honouring the Reason for the Season (the birth of Jesus), which ones are not, and which have mixed records. It first lists the corporation ‘Nice’ or friendly to the Original Christmas tradition.  This year Macy's joins the NICE list because it has returned the explicit mention of Christmas and Merry Christmas to its stores and its ads. L.L. Bean, on the other hand, just barely...

USS NIMITZ, PERSIAN GULF, Sept. 20, 2005 – Sailors and Marines aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) were served a steak dinner Sept. 14 cooked by employees of Outback Steakhouse and Carrabba’s Italian Grill. According to Joel Barker, director of research and development for Serious Food Operations, Outback sponsored the all-day buffet, known as “Feeding Freedom”, for the crew of more than 4,600 men and women in uniform as a way of saying thank you. “When I was approached with this opportunity, there was no question in my mind about it,” Barker said. “I’m sure that sometimes being...

A new case of Mad Cow disease has been reported by the Dept.of Agriculture in the U.S....BREAKING.......

The former Elks headquarters in Jonesboro, Ark., seemed like a fine place to open an Outback Steakhouse, except for one problem: a 1944 county law that forbids businesses from serving alcohol. Outback didn't let local custom stand in its way. It applied for a liquor license as a nonprofit called North Hills Hillbillies, hoping to use a loophole meant for private clubs. When the alcohol board and an appellate court struck down that gambit, the Tampa company's political action committee turned to state legislators for relief, and today the fight goes on. While much of America fixates on the drama...

"Suddenly there was this flash, it's the only way I can describe it – it was so bright it was a white flash and it lit everything up. It was like somebody had turned on 50,000 spotlights." That's how Elsa Nelms described the bright light in the Australian outback around 7 p.m. local time last night, as a huge fireball reportedly crashed to Earth somewhere in the state of Queensland. "We all looked up in the sky and there was a white smoke trail coming from the Northeast – like a firecracker smoke trail but it was too high to...

CANBERRA, Australia - Locusts have swarmed through the Australian Outback, devastating crops just as farmers had begun recovering from a two-year drought. Agriculture officials said on Tuesday the insects hatched in northeastern Australia after heavy rains last month. They began migrating south, feeding on newly spouted crops of oats and alfalfa. "A thick haze of them came through over the weekend and chomped their way through our oats crop overnight," said Bev Dennis from her farm in Tomingley, 340 miles west of Sydney. The oats were intended for lambs, which have struggled for two years with little green grass as...

A power company plans to build a 1,000m-high (3,280ft) solar tower in the outback of Australia that would dwarf the world's tallest structures. The tower, as wide as a football pitch and set in the centre of a glass dish 4 miles across, would cost A$1bn (£350m) to build as part of a global drive to use more renewable energy. If completed as planned in 2006, the tower in New South Wales would be more than twice the height of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which stand at 452m. Currently, the tallest free-standing structure is the Canadian National Tower...

CONDOBOLIN, Australia (AP) - Looking like a cross between James Bond and Crocodile Dundee in his tux, cowboy boots and felt hat, Brad Barnett lounges against the dusty doorway of a country hall and casts an eye over his romantic prospects. The 23-year-old rancher drove hundreds of miles in a pickup truck to a parched Outback fairground looking for love at the Condobolin Bachelor and Spinster's Ball. But despite the traditional role such dances — known as a B&S — have played as rural Australia's cupid, Barnett and his friend, 21-year-old welder Warwick Ranclaud, doubt this affair will offer the...

St. Petersburg Times July 2, 2002 Heaven In Time Of War: 6,700 Ribeyes By Tamara Lush For troops in Kandahar, comfort is an Outback meal delivered on a C-17. But for those traveling to prepare the meal, it's a nerve-wracking mission. The rumor started about a month ago. It spread through the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan like a dust storm in Kandahar. Nobody really believed it, because it sounded too good to be true. The Outback Steakhouse people were coming. And they were bringing food. Members of the 101st Airborne, like all of the troops in Afghanistan,have been eating...

Outback Steakhouse feeds U.S. troops in AfghanistanBy Tamara Lush, St. Petersburg TimesJuly 5, 2002 The rumor started about a month ago. It spread through the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan like a dust storm in Kandahar. Nobody really believed it, because it sounded too good to be true. The Outback Steakhouse people were coming — and they were bringing food. Members of the 101st Airborne, like all the troops in Afghanistan, have been eating meals such as T-rations, food that's sealed in large tin containers. The entire container has to be boiled to heat the food. Powdered eggs the color...

A contingent of 15 Outback Steakhouse employees from across America traveled to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on June 17 with food in tow to cook for the coalition forces deployed there. On the flight between Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and Kandahar, Lt. Col. Gary Goldstone, 17th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron vice commander, described the delivery as a big surprise. “This mission is special,” Goldstone said. “We’re delivering about 6,000 steaks to people who have been eating (Meals Ready to Eat) for the last three to six months. The look on their faces should be telling.” A lot of planning went into the mission,...