Free Republic

Magdeburg waterworks keeps crocodile mascot Nearly 40 years ago, the African nation of Mali gave former East Germany a baby crocodile as a gift. Now, Theophila is over three metres long and lives in Magdeburg's water treatment plant where she has become a local legend. Theophila, a nile crocodile, arrived in the communist country as a thank you from the Malian town of Kayes for building its waterworks some four decades ago. Just 22 centimetres long, the boss of the Colbitz water plant at the time, Gunter Hellmann, never imagined she would still be paddling around today. “The African mentality...

Check Your Driver's License. Now you can see anyone's Driver's License on the Internet and determine if yours is posted. I just searched for mine and there it was, picture and all! Thanks Homeland Security. Go to the Driver License Check and check to see if yours has been posted. Just enter your name, city, and state to view if yours is on file. After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked "Please Remove." This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement.

Who is buried in the Hoover Dam? The Hoover Dam is one of the most phenomenal structures in modern history. This 1244 feet long, 660 feet thick, and 726 feet high concrete behemoth holds back so much water that it deformed the earth's crust and caused 600 small earthquakes in the decade after its construction. Over 100 workers died constructing the Hoover Dam — and legend has it, some of them are buried within its concrete facade. Is there anything to these rumors? An enormous number of deaths - Over 100 people died in the construction of the Hoover Dam....

Possible GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson had two meetings on Rudolph Giuliani's home turf today. Thompson met with Michael Long, head of the state conservative party and with Steve Cassidy, president of the firefighters union. Yesterday, the International Association of Fire Fighters released a video, criticizing Giuliani's handling of 9/11. When asked about the controversy, the former Tennessee senator, a Republican, refused to weigh in and would not comment on Giuliani's record on 9/11. "I have the greatest respect for Steve and his organization and what they're doing,” said Thompson. “I've read about it but I don't have enough knowledge...

There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. The ironic part is, it's a "health food," one of our most popular. Now, I'm a health-food guy, a fanatic who seldom allows anything into his kitchen unless it's organic. I state my bias here just so you'll know I'm not anti-health food. The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place. You can hardly escape them anymore. I have nothing against an occasional soy snack. Soy is nutritious and contains lots of...

NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY | An urban myth or reality? Super suspicious foes The government denies any such plans, but campaign against it continues. By MATT STEARNS McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON | If the government really has a secret plan for a 12-lane road-and-rail NAFTA Superhighway that will split the heartland from Mexico to Canada, it is playing with a great poker face. “There is absolutely no U.S. government plan for a NAFTA Superhighway of any sort,” said David Bohigian, an assistant secretary of commerce. Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican and a powerful member of committees that would authorize and pay for...

REGION UPDATE Captured L.A. Gator Thought To Be Reggie May 25, 2007 LOS ANGELES – A 6½-foot alligator believed to be the elusive Reggie that lurked in a park lake for two years was captured yesterday in a wrestling match with a reptile expert and rangers, and was rushed to a zoo with TV news helicopters trailing its journey across the nation's second-largest city. The wily non-native reptile became a celebrity as it left a series of would-be gator wranglers empty-handed and then managed to disappear for 18 months until it was spotted again late last month. Yesterday, the alligator...

Can someone please find me a link to a picture of President Bush reading to students on 9/11. A colleague showed me a picture of him reading to students with a book upside down, along with assorted (mis)quotes. If its (otherwise) the same picture I will be able to point out the quality of his information. thanks.

Associated Press CONCORD - The U.S. attorney for New Hampshire is firing back against charges that lax gun-control laws in northern New England are partly responsible for an increase in gun crimes in Boston. U.S. Attorney Thomas Colantuono told Foster’s Sunday Citizen that’s an "urban myth" that doesn’t stand up to the facts. Data collected by the federa* Project Safe Neighborhoods" show that most of the guns used in Massachusetts crimes come from within that state, Colantuono said. The data also show that fewer than 10 percent of the guns used in Massachusetts crimes come from New Hampshire; instead, Georgia...

WAL-MART BANS CHRISTMAS: BOYCOTT LAUNCHED A woman who recently complained to Wal-Mart that the store was replacing “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” received an e-mail response from Customer Service. It appears below in its exact form: “Walmart is a world wide organization and must remain conscious of this. The majority of the world still has different practices other than ‘christmas’ which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism. The colors associated with ‘christmas’ red and white are actually a representation of of the aminita mascera mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the...

The Rambo Granny of Melbourne, Australia Gun-toting granny Ava Estelle, 81, was so ticked-off when two thugs raped her 18-year-old granddaughter that she tracked the unsuspecting ex-cons down - - and shot off their testicles. The old lady spent a week hunting those men down -- and when she found them, she took revenge on them in her own special way, said Melbourne police investigator Evan Delp. Then she took a taxi to the nearest police station, laid the gun on the sergeant's desk and told him as calm as could be: 'Those bastards will never rape anybody again, by...

"Recently Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffees and to request that they send some of it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Marines thank you for their support in their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee. So as not to offend Starbucks, we should not support them by buying any of their products. As a war vet writing to fellow patriots, I feel we should get...

According to an article published in the September issue of Handguns magazine, a recent decline in fatalities resulting from inner city handgun shootings can be credited to the thriving popularity of a flashy new gangsta-style shooting technique wherein the weapon is canted 180 degrees from its normal upright position. "Hollywood overkill of the sideways gangsta shooting method encouraged many modern hoods to look for a less trendy but equally cool-looking technique for offin' someone,'" wrote freelancer Marian Ayoob in Handguns' September cover story, entitled "Better To Look Good Than To Shoot Good." "Over the last three months, holding a gun...

Urban myth turns into a reality on the streets of San Francisco - Homeless Poet Has Shrinking Fortune January 3, 2004 SAN FRANCISCO – One of San Francisco's enduring urban myths – the homeless man with the sizable trust fund – turned out to be more than just a figment of the collective imagination. Lou Dinarde, 68, is a deep-pockets drifter with a drinking problem who reads poetry at North Beach cafes over coffee when he's sober. However, he spends most of his time polishing off bottles of stronger stuff sprawled out on the sidewalk, with the knowledge he had...