Free Republic

A novice rider is suing a rodeo company in Vernon over a bull named Slow Poke that he alleges failed to live up to its name and caused him serious injury. [Snip] [The plaintiff] is seeking damages and health-care costs. "Contrary to representation, Slow Poke was violent," his claim reads.

FORT WORTH — For some faithful rodeo fans, the inclusion of a Muslim imam in the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo has become a burr under the saddle. The Stock Show has become more diverse this year as officials have let more groups offer prayers before the start of events. But the Facebook page for the 23-day event lit up this week after Moujahed Bakhach of the Islamic Association of Tarrant County led the public prayer Sunday night. While many of the comments on the Stock Show’s Facebook page were supportive of the more inclusive prayer policy, most were...

I kind of like how it turned out..

ANGOLA, La. – They're often thrown like rag dolls or risk being gored by bucking bulls and broncos. But in those few seconds in the spotlight of the rodeo, they are part of the world again. Some of Louisiana's most violent criminals are the stars of the Angola Prison Rodeo, the nation's longest-running prison rodeo that this year celebrates 50 years. The event has grown from a small "fun" event for prisoners into big business, with proceeds going into the Louisiana State Penitentiary Inmate Welfare Fund for inmate education and recreational supplies.

Rodeo clown Tuffy Gessling was banned for life from the Missouri State Fair rodeo after he wore an Obama mask and taunted bulls at the state rodeo. ... But Tuffy still has a committed fan base. Tuffy the Rodeo Clown, who mocked Barack Obama at the Missouri State Fair, is running away with the “Person of the Year” award in Sedalia, Missouri.

The Mesquite Rodeo isn't shying from controversy this weekend by promoting the appearance of a rodeo clown wearing a mask of Barack Obama.

If an eccentric, liberal, nudist musician had not attended a rodeo at the Missouri State Fair a week ago Saturday, the world would be a slightly happier place. The State Fair would not have banned rodeo clown Tuffy Gessling for life. The NAACP would not have asked the Secret Service to investigate Tuffy for a "hate crime." His clown colleagues would not have been dispatched to sensitivity training. And race tension nationwide would not have ratcheted up another notch. But the eccentric in question, Perry Beam, did attend the rodeo. He took his wife and a Taiwanese student with him....

Over the years, I’ve meticulously chronicled progressive haters and their rank hypocrisy. It’s time for yet another refresher course as the libs go nuts over a rodeo clown. Without further ado, drawn from my blog archives, here are 10 images/signs/agitprop items mocking George W. Bush that were far, far worse than any of the silly Obama gags causing prog conniptions.

Dear President Obama, I’m reaching out to you as a friend. I know you must be deeply hurting after what happened at the Missouri State Fair. Sure, you probably try to avoid watching the news while you’re on vacation, but I’m sure the pilot who airlifted your dog to your rental mansion in Martha’s Vineyard probably caught you up to speed (that guy is such a chatterbox). Your jaw must have hit the floor when you heard the news: A rodeo clown in Missouri poked fun at you. Yeah, I know, almost impossible to believe. The gall! The gumption! The...

On Saturday night in Sedalia, a Missouri city with a population that would fit into Arrowhead Stadium four times over, the entire nation was shaken when a rodeo clown wearing an Obama mask performed his usual routine. Toward the end of Obama’s first term a tornado had torn through Sedalia blowing off roofs and destroying a school bus barn, but that was nothing compared to this. The governor of Missouri stated that the performance, which involved Obama being chased by a bull, did not “reflect the values of Missourians”. He did not clarify whether the other times that a rodeo...

Missouri officials say they will look into whether school district employees engaged in "offensive conduct or remarks" in a controversial state fair rodeo skit. Missouri State Fair officials have banned a rodeo clown for life from the fair for the skit in which he wore a Barack Obama mask and taunted a bull. The state fair commission apologized Sunday for the clown's performance at the taxpayer-funded state fair in Sedalia. Mark Ficken resigned Tuesday as president of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association after fair officials fired the clown for what it called "disrespectful" treatment of the president. Ficken, who was...

Texas Republican Rep. Steve Stockman has invited the rodeo clown who caused a stir this week when he mocked President Barack Obama during an act at the Missouri State Fair to come perform in Texas, saying the negative reaction to the act amount to “liberals … targeting this man for personal destruction.” In the act, during the bull riding competition, the clown wore an Obama mask and the dialogue suggested Obama get run over by a bull. Politicians on both sides of the aisle condemned the performance and the clown was permanently banned from the Missouri State Fair. Future clowns...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: This Missouri clown situation is so out of hand and out of proportion, and I'm gonna tell you what this is like, and I'm not gonna pull any punches.  This is no different than those countries reacting freakishly when there were cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.  That is exactly what this is.  It is as though President Obama is a messiah or is a god and this little thing that happened at the Missouri State Fair is a defamation, a denunciation, almost a religious sacrilege that took place.    He's the president of the United States!  They...

Huh, where was Obama and his leftist friends when this came out? Where was the outrage, like there is for this rodeo clown today.

The Missouri State Fair will force rodeo clowns to complete sensitivity training after a clown mocked President Obama in a stunt one spectator likened to a Ku Klux Klan rally. The fair’s commission also approved a lifetime ban on the offending clown. **SNIP** The fair commission has called the stunt “unacceptable” and approved a measure that would force the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association to crack down on everyone responsible. The association would also have to prove all officials and subcontractors — such as the clowns — had successfully completed sensitivity training before working future rodeos.

EDGARTOWN, Mass., Aug 14 (Reuters) - An appearance by a rodeo clown wearing a mask lampooning President Barack Obama at a Missouri fair is an embarrassing moment for the state, a Missouri-born White House spokesman said on Wednesday.

As every Constitutional scholar knows, the First Amendment includes a clause that strictly forbids mockery of the President of the United States, depending on who it is, and which party he belongs to. It’s in one of the penumbras of the Constitution, or maybe it’s an emanation. I always get those two mixed up. Thus it became essential for the forces of freedom and democracy to crush an impertinent rodeo clown who dared to put on a mask of our Dear Leader, President Barack Obama, and ask spectators if they would like to seem him get run down by a...

Rodeo clown Tuffy Gessling was banned for life from the Missouri State Fair rodeo after he wore an Obama mask and taunted bulls on Saturday night. Now, thousands of fans are flocking to support Tuffy. “Support Rodeo Clown Tuffy Gessling” Facebook Page has amassed over 25,000 supporters in a little over a day. Via The Missouri Torch: Poor Tuffy. A rodeo clown’s gotta eat.

While there is no written law, we may have finally reached a place in America where it’s forbidden to publicly mock the president of the United States — assuming the president is an African-American and a member of the Democratic Party. The outcry over a rodeo clown donning a mask resembling President Obama reached a new level of absurdity when it was reported Monday that the man behind the mask has been permanently banned from performing at the fair ever again, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Missouri State Fair officials barred the rodeo clown from ever performing at...