Free Republic

Black Farmer Trucks his Tractor to Capitol Hill to Make PointSeptember 16, 2010 at 08:25 am *Beginning Thursday, the head of the National Black Farmers Association will ride a tractor to Capitol Hill to press Congress to fund a historic discrimination case settlement involving minority farmers. John Boyd says he will make the ride on the tractor he named “Justice” each day the Senate is in session. “I’m sorry my tractor may slow things down, but any delay in traffic is small potatoes compared to the years of delay black farmers have endured in our pursuit of justice,” he said....

Viral video: Is it appropriate to use children yelling profanity to push a scheme that gives $5 to unspecified charities from every $13 t-shirt they sell? CAUTION: Extreme profanity in this clip. Many F-bombs unloaded.

RICHFIELD, Minn. -- When North Dakotan Dennis McCoy gets together with his uncle Wes in his retirement high rise in Richfield, they farm at the kitchen table. "That was our first rubber-tired tractor," says Wes to Dennis as they peer at a photo of a 1938 Allis Chalmers WC. It's moments like this that have led Dennis to one of the great passions in his life: locating and restoring tractors that match the makes and models his grandfather -- Wes' dad Ed McCoy -- used on their North Dakota farm from the 1920s through the 1950s. Already he's paid for...

Hilarious (if you are a musician)

I have a 1948 Farmall M (that's an old farm tractor for you non-rural types) which I plan to put in the local July 4 parade if it stops raining by then. It has a set of plows mounted on it and I'm looking for ideas for something pithy to say. So far I'm thinking "Plowed under with debt. Thanks, Washington."Suggestions welcome.Back in '04, I pulled a manure spreader with a sign on it that said "Political Promises Here". Got lots of thumbs up along the route. The turd hearse has since been given away, unfortunately.

For those interested in such things. Freepers that have farm experience are aware of how efficient diesel tractors are. I put five gallons in mine and bush hog all summer. Here is a link to some guys that convert vehicles to tractor power and have gotten as much as 50mpg from a full size pickup! http://www.shadetreeconversions.com/

This guy is amazing, how he was able to get it on the train, I don't know. Pictures on site

A quick-thinking taxi driver and two police officers stopped a bulldozer terrorist from carrying out what he hoped would be a murderous rampage on Jerusalem's Menachem Begin Highway Thursday afternoon. A photo essay follows:

A HILL farmer has devised a cunning plan to rid his fields of a plague of rabbits. Paul Coppen, 69, camouflaged his vintage Massey Ferguson tractor as a cow – complete with a firing platform and a gunslit. He admitted the disguise – a black and white cow under a tree painted on a wooden board fixed to the side of the vehicle – was not foolproof. The former technical manager for ICI in the north of England said: " One of my neighbours, Stan Mitchell, came up with the idea and helped me out, and I just went with...

Angry man hit by ricochet after firing five bullets into tractor Tuesday, August 5, 2008 2:58 PM THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH A Pickaway County man shot at a tractor mowing a ditch on his property last night and ended up hit by one of his own bullets, authorities said. Randall Turner of Ashville threatened the driver of the tractor, which was pulling a mower, before firing five bullets into the tractor, Pickaway County Prosecutor Judy Wolford said. One of the bullets ricocheted and hit him, she said. "So he went to the hospital and then he went to jail," she said....

Uighur group claims China bus attacks, threatens Olympics Sat Jul 26, 3:14 AM ET A Uighur separatist group has taken credit for a deadly bus bombing in Shanghai in May and warned of new attacks in China during the Olympics, a group monitoring threats by extremists on the Internet said. In a video statement, Commander Seyfullah of the Turkestan Islamic Party claimed credit for several attacks, including the May 5 Shanghai bus bombing which killed three; another Shanghai attack; an attack on police in Wenzhou on July 17 using an explosive-laden tractor; a bombing of a Guangzhou plastic factory on...

Engine efficiency used to be all about fuel consumption if an engine used less fuel for a given output then it was deemed to be efficient. But just as engine manufacturers were being commended for their ability to squeeze ever higher volumes of work from ever smaller volumes of fuel, along came the challenge of complying with exhaust emissions. And fuel efficiency and reduced emissions do not necessarily go hand in hand. The solution was to find an alternative source of power that could be used alongside the existing fuel-guzzling, gas-emitting combustion engine. A power supply, moreover, that was inherently...

Taliban or tractor? British try to win over peasants By Patrick Bishop in Mandisar (Filed: 16/09/2006) In the arid villages of southern Afghanistan, British soldiers are asking peasants to make a big life choice — a tractor or the Taliban? British forces for 34 Sqn RAF Regiment meet locals in Mandisar near Kandahar If they inform on insurgent activity in their areas, they will be rewarded with a shiny new machine to plough their dusty fields. If they fail to co-operate they will be deprived of the thin stream of assistance trickling into the countryside via the campaign to turn...

Drink-driving Polish nun denounces policeman over bribe Thu Jan 12, 11:49 AM ET WARSAW (AFP) - A Polish nun who caused two accidents while driving under the influence of alcohol informed on a police officer who asked for a bribe to cover up her mishaps. The 35-year-old policeman has been accused of corruption and faces a possible jail sentence of up to eight years, said Ewa Weglarowicz-Makowska, spokeswoman for the state prosecutor's office in Jelenia Gora, southwest Poland. The Benedictine nun caused two accidents, the first in 2004, when driving a tractor towing a snowplough, she hit a car parked...

Man dies in tractor-trailer wreck From Staff Reports Thursday, December 1, 2005 Guilford County EMS personnel and a firefighter work at a wreck involving an 18-wheeler on West Market Street in Greensboro. GREENSBORO - A middle-age man was killed in an early-morning wreck Thursday on West Market Street after he pulled his car into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer, police said. The wreck occurred at the intersection West Market and Landmark Drive. The impact pushed both vehicles about 50 yards east of the collision, where they came to a rest on the side of the westbound lanes of West...

Forgive my vanity post, I never post them but I could use some advice and have assisted other Freepers with their vanity questions. I'm buying my poor father a tractor for father's day so he doesn't die of heatstroke while push mowing his 1 acre lawn. I own a Craftsman twin cylinder 21HP tractor that I bought in 2001 and haven't had any problems with it other than replacing the deck but I’m hard on tractors. I'm going to get one of 2 tractors and would like your opinion. If you were my father which one would you like to...

ATLANTA - An airline passenger wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms stole a baggage tractor at the city's main airport and drove it onto an active runway early Wednesday, police said. Atlanta police say Robert W. Buzzell, 31, had walked out an exit door that had an alarm at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Flights were not affected by the incident, which took place before 6 a.m., airport officials said. The man was stopped by mechanics who asked him for an employee identification card. When he could not provide one, they escorted him to an office and called police. Authorities...

<p>DECKER, Ind. -- A man driving a stolen tractor crushed a sport-utility vehicle and passed through a watermelon field before he was arrested on a drunken driving charge, police said.</p> <p>Police were called early Sunday about a tractor running over an SUV parked in front of the vehicle owner's home in Decker, about 35 miles north of Evansville, the Knox County Sheriff's Department said. Another complaint was made that the tractor crossed several roads, ran through a watermelon field and a front yard.</p>

<p>Gasoline tanker explodes on I-70 at Bircher about 7:30 p.m.; all lanes closed.</p>

WASHINGTON - A tractor-driving North Carolina farmer whose one-man protest of federal farm policy last spring created enormous traffic jams around the capital is defending himself in court. Dwight Watson, 50, who drove his tractor into a pond on the National Mall and sat there for two days while police sharpshooters kept him in their sights, is charged with making a false threat to use explosives and destroying government property. No explosives were found, although a practice grenade incapable of detonating was found inside the cab of Watson's tractor after he surrendered. Watson's trial in U.S. District Court was scheduled...