Free Republic

Fox News host Greta Van Susteren on Friday blasted a bizarre television spot by longshot Texas Senate candidate Dwayne Stovall that likens Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to a Looney Tunes turtle. "This ad is lousy," Van Susteren said on her Fox website. "It is gratuitously insulting. "I have no idea whether Stovall is a great candidate or not — but his ad makes me think he is a jerk," she added. "You can be clever and funny in ads … or you can be gratuitously insulting." In the ad, Stovell, one of seven candidates vying to unseat Sen. John Cornyn...

Some within the Tea Party are furious over the decision by Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to help shepherd the passage of the debt ceiling increase earlier this week. Both McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tx.) have come under fire -- with national conservative groups slamming McConnell and one of Cornyn's primary challengers, Rep. Steve Stockman, sending a colorful tweet criticizing the incumbent Thursday night. But, just when you thought you had seen it all comes this ad via Dwayne Stovall, who is also challenging Cornyn in the Texas primary.

Dwayne Stovall, a Republican Senate candidate from Texas mounting a (longshot) bid to oust Texas Sen. John Cornyn is out with a new ad comparing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to a turtle.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) defended his condemnation of the Senate Conservatives Fund on Tuesday and stressed that despite his disputes with the organization he remains a fan of the tea party movement at large. “Let me make it clear: I’m a big fan of the tea party movement. It’s been extremely important in helping us regain the House and do well in the Senate in 2010,” McConnell told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching a heavy TV ad buy in defense of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, the latest turn in the establishment’s move to shore up GOP candidates against hard-right opponents, POLITICO has learned. The Chamber placed a $182,240 statewide buy on broadcast TV from Dec. 3 through Dec. 12, three media-buying sources said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) used the "nuclear option" yesterday to eliminate the free and open debate of judicial nominations. Harry Reid did this because he knows Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will let him get away with it. The only way to deter a nuclear attack is to make it clear that the response will be equally devastating. Unfortunately, weakness is the only message Mitch McConnell has sent the Democrats on this issue. He's been so ineffective that even his allies in the mainstream media are mocking him with political cartoons like the one shown here from Politico....

For the most part, Mitch McConnell speaks in typical elected politician jargon. But as the Dems took away his chief legislative weapon, he sounded more like a character from “The Godfather.” carl hulse @hillhulse Sen McConnell issues blunt threat: "You will regret this and you may regret it a lot sonner than you think," suggesting 2015 GOP Senate. 10:09 AM - 21 Nov 2013

Why be really, really round? It turns out that the precisely circular carapace of a newly discovered species of fossil turtle may have made the ancient creature too wide to be swallowed by predators - and helped it warm up in the sun. Edwin Cadena at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and colleagues, uncovered the 1.5 metre long fossil buried at the Cerrejón Coal Mine in north-western Colombia. Puentemys mushaisaensis is thought to have lived 60 million years ago, shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs. It is the most recent discovery in a string of super large reptiles...

Obama is a post turtle. When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'..... You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with.

A turtle the size of a small car once roamed what is now South America 60 million years ago, suggests its fossilized remains. Discovered in a coal mine in Colombia in 2005, the turtle was given the name Carbonemys cofrinii, which means "coal turtle." It wasn't until now that the turtle was examined and described in a scientific journal; the findings are detailed online Thursday in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology. The researchers say C. cofrinii belongs to a group of side-necked turtles known as pelomedusoides. The turtle's skull, roughly the size of an NFL football, was the most complete...

WILMINGTON (AP) — The cold weather gripping North Carolina means more stunned sea turtles off the state's coast. The cold-blooded sea turtles become paralyzed by abnormally low temperatures. The StarNews of Wilmington reports that 30 turtles were reported in trouble Tuesday afternoon near Cape Lookout. That's on top of the more than 20 turtles that Topsail Beach Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center director Karen Beasley says have already been discovered along the coast. Loggerhead sea turtles are protected as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. Six loggerhead sea turtles that had been rescued from waters off...

OKALOOSA ISLAND — A local family remains upset four days after giving their pet turtle to the Gulfarium and watching it get eaten by an alligator. Brenda Guthrie and her 8-year-old son Colton witnessed Tomalina’s death as the red-eared slider disappeared into the alligator’s jaws. When the two looked away from the sight, she said they could hear the crunching of the turtle’s shell. “He was jumping up and down screaming,” Guthrie said of her son’s reaction. “He was shouting, ‘Oh no alligator, let it go.’ ” Guthrie said that they decided to donate Tomalina after the turtle outgrew its...

ATLANTA (AP) -- A caged, 2-inch turtle traveling with a 10-year-old girl caused a crew to turn around a taxiing plane, take the girl and her sisters off the flight and tell them they couldn't bring their pet along. The sisters threw the animal and cage in the trash and returned to their seats crying Tuesday after AirTran Airways employees on the jetway said they couldn't care for the turtle while their father drove to retrieve it. Two days later, however, Carley Helm was reunited with Neytiri even though at first the family thought the pet was emptied with the...

The 1,100-mile journey of a diver's camera lost in the Caribbean has been revealed with the extraordinary help of a sea turtle who switched it on and filmed some of the epic adventure. Royal Dutch Navy sergeant Dick de Bruin was exploring a wreck off the tropical island of Aruba last year when his bright red camera silently floated away. Yet following a six-month odyssey the camera has found its way back to Mr Dr Bruin, with some unique ocean footage recorded by the turtle.

Camera lost in Aruba is found in the Keys with video to bootSea turtles have the ability to do almost anything in the water, but we didn't known shooting film was one of the reptile's talents. A man who lost his camera in Aruba is crediting a sea turtle for switching on his waterproof recorder and helping the camera find its way to the Florida Keys. Dick de Bruin said he lost his camera about six months ago while he was on a boating trip with his family in Aruba. Thought to be lost forever, de Bruin, didn't worry about...

VIRGINIA BEACH The Virginia Aquarium is releasing a dozen Kemp's ridley turtles rehabilitated in Virginia and Massachusetts to make space available for any turtles affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The aquarium says the endangered sea turtles will be released at 11 a.m. Tuesday off Cape Charles. The release is a joint effort by the Virginia Aquarium and the New England Aquarium. Ten turtles suffering from cold stunning were found in Massachusetts' Cape Cod Bay in November and December. Cold stunning occurs when sea turtles are exposed to extremely cold water. The two Virginia turtles also suffered from...

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of poor Hindu villagers in eastern India have refused to hand over a rare turtle to authorities, saying it is an incarnation of God, officials said on Tuesday. Villagers chanting hymns and carrying garlands, bowls of rice and fruits are pouring in from remote villages to a temple in Kendrapara, a coastal district in eastern Orissa state. Policemen have struggled to control the gathering and have failed to persuade the villagers to give up the sea turtle. "We have asked the villagers to hand it over as it is illegal to confine a turtle, but...

Lucky The Injured Turtle Comes Out Of His Shell After Receiving New Legs... Made Out Of Furniture Coasters By Mail Foreign Service 08th September 2009 [Pics in URL] It's not every day you see a turtle sliding around with furniture coasters attached to his undershell. But after Lucky the box turtle was attacked by a raccoon, owner Sally Pyne, 60 had to come up with a shatterproof solution. Sally said: 'He was in so much pain, I was ready to let little Lucky go, but Lucky, wasn't ready to give up. He was shoving himself around on his two back...

One growing export has tipped the U.S.-China trade balance: live turtles. Each year millions of U.S. turtles that are hatched in farms or caught in the wild are devoured in China, where the onetime delicacy has become more available to the masses. The Chinese eat turtles—especially softshell and snapper species—and use the animals' parts in traditional medicines that are said to boost everything from the immune system to sexual prowess. But conservationists worry that this high demand will cause some U.S. turtle species to be eaten to extinction. That's why the U.S. state of Florida just passed a tough new...

NEW YORK – A runway at New York City's Kennedy Airport was shut down Wednesday morning after 78 turtles emerged from the bay and crawled onto the tarmac. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says grounds crews rounded up the wayward reptiles in about 35 minutes and deposited them back in the water, further from airport property. The shutdown disrupted flight schedules, though, with delays climbing to nearly 1 1/2 hours. Pilots reported the first turtle sightings at around 8:30 a.m. The Port Authority identified the turtles as Diamondback Terrapins. They appeared to be about 8 inches...