Free Republic

NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as investors remained skeptical about how much of President Barack Obama's $447 billion proposal to generate U.S. jobs would make it through Congress.

Several speakers at the only public hearing on a plan to remove grizzly bears from federal endangered species protection called for more hearings on the proposal. About 235 people gathered at Tuesday's hearing in Cody. The hearing was preceded by an informal open house. Similar open houses were planned this week in Jackson, Bozeman, Mont., and Idaho Falls, Idaho. But no more public hearings were planned. "I am somewhat disappointed that after 30 years of working on the bear issue, and all the millions of man hours, we only have this one public hearing," said wildlife photographer Dewey Vanderhoff of...

A South African mugger fleeing the scene of his crime hides in a tiger enclosure. On the country's coast, a woman attempts to be a good Samaritan by pushing a young seal into the sea, believing the poor thing is stranded. Both people paid heavily for their stupidity, underscoring one of nature's truisms: humans do dumb things around wild animals. "I blame it on Walt Disney, where animals are given human qualities. People don't understand that a wild animal is not something that is nice to pat. It can seriously harm you," said James Cameron, a South African professional hunter....

CONDON, Mont. -- Along about Labor Day, a tall, dark stranger known as "M-23" is likely to take a 40-mile trek south to Seeley Lake. There, peering out from a wooded, marshy area, he'll see tourists sunning themselves outside lakefront cabins and motorboats buzzing through the placid waters of this popular resort. Chances are, nobody will see M-23, which may be just as well. Weighing 325 pounds and standing more than 6 feet tall, with a distinctive shoulder hump, he sports long scimitar-like claws and has a face scarred from years of vicious fights with other male grizzly bears. Though...