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Are you an unhinged billionaire? Are you a sucker for impulse buys? Do you sit around wondering if the fellow née Nicolas Kim Coppola is an immortal Confederate soldier who feasts on human blood? Then have I got an eBay purchase for you, pilgrim! Behold this recent auction titled "Nicolas Cage is a Vampire / Photo from 1870 / Tennessee":

Editor's Note: The writer is the author of "A Time to Betray," a book about his double life as a CIA agent in Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Iran is warning Israel that its citizens should flee the Middle East or face annihilation. The chief commander of Iran's Basiji forces, Brig. Gen. Mohammad-Reza Naghdi, recently stated that Iran has no option but to destroy Israel. Ratcheting up the war of words, Naghdi is now threatening Israelis in the "occupied lands" that they are surrounded by mujahedeen of Islam bent on their destruction. "I quote our supreme leader, Imam Khamenei, who clearly stated...

Three Christian murder victims were brutally tortured for hours before their death, Turkish media reports reveal. The Islamic zealots who attacked a Christian publishing house in the city of Malatya on April 18 prolonged the suffering of their victims by stabbing them repeatedly with dull knives, the media report. A Sabah newspaper story notes that one victim, the German missionary Tilman Geske, suffered 156 knife wounds. An AsiaNews correspondent notes that the Turkish media have provided gruesome details of the crime, but still shy away from mentioning the motivation of the killers, who were apparently influenced by a vitriolic anti-Christian...

Sources at rival studios tell me that Disney's Sorcerer's Apprentice made about $3.7 million today from 3,385 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. That makes for a 5-day projection of less than $30M, and one studio predicted only $20+M, which is extremely disappointing for the costly Jerry Bruckheimer tentpole starring Nic Cage, and much less than even the low-ball $35M which Hollywood thought it could make. But I'd been following the pic's tracking, which at no point hinted at a blockbuster.

A Texas high school used cage fights to settle disputes among problem students, internal investigation documents obtained by The Dallas Morning News allege. The principal and other staff at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas repeatedly put students in a steel utility cage located in a section of the boys basketball locker room to battle it out — with their bare fists and without head protection, the documents show. A 2008 investigation within the Dallas school district's Office of Professional Responsibility found that then-principal Donald Moten and other school officials "knew of the practice, allowed it to go on...

Without the cage you wouldn't stand a chance swimming with a massive saltwater crocodile. But for brave punters who still want to get cosy with a feisty croc, a new Australian tourist attraction is offering the chance for a close encounter in the safety of a clear acrylic box dubbed the 'cage of death'. Just 4cm of acrylic, a pair of goggles and a swimsuit, will separate thrill-seekers from the jaws of Choppa, a saltwater crocodile. Close encounter: A tourist dives into a cage partially immersed in a crocodile pen at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin, Australia Getting cosy: Choppa the...

For those familiar with the antics of shock comic Sacha Baron Cohen , it was a case of déjà vu, all over again. On May 28, he outraged a crowd of unsuspecting guests at a Carrollton office park by luring them to what they thought was a new talk show on "family values." [Click image for a larger version] Hello, Arkansas. As an encore early last month, he outraged a crowd of 1,600 by luring them to what was billed as cage fighting. Police say the show was designed instead to capture the reactions of the unsuspecting to the sight...

Denver won't 'cage protesters' at DNCBy Chuck Plunkett The Denver Post Article Last Updated: 04/17/2008 04:38:57 PM MDT Protesters will not be confined to "cages" during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and the city wants to get away from the long lines of shoulder-to-shoulder, riot-gear-clad police that typified security at the national conventions in Boston and New York, Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown said today. "We don't want to provoke violence," Brown said. Brown said he talked with Mayor John Hickenlooper on Wednesday and that the two discussed "trying to get away from having lines of police officers." Brown later...

The Chicago Police Department and the Illinois State Police have teamed up to make good on Mayor Daley's pledge that, if it were up to him, nobody would have a gun. Daley and his elite "CAGE" unit are apparently taking advantage of gun privacy loopholes to pinpoint certain individuals for inclusion in the confiscation program. The ISRA is following up on leads in one case that has disturbing implications. An elderly first-generation Chicago resident was recently paid a visit by an Illinois State Police trooper. After asking to come inside the man's home, the trooper asked if the man owned...

Britain's first Muslim Miss World contestant is making a few concessions for her religion during the event - she will parade in a sarong instead of the usual bikini. Miss England - Hammasa Kohistani - is hoping the event will bring her fame and fortune.

dolphin says: But... but... he was only sponsoring the Islamic Jihad!.. A truly shocking, unbelievable piece that will long be revered as an epitome of whitewashing in the history of journalism. Al-Reuters, without a hint of shame, attempts to portray the apparent sponsor of terrorism, who barely escaped conviction, as a simple peaceful man who is only trying to help his fellow Muslims in the Palestinian Authority.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a country seared by the September 11 attacks, Muslim American charities and donors say they live in constant fear of frozen funds, indictments and even closure, regardless of whether they...

A rock chip this isn't! How about a lightning bolt! It's what's left of a Salt Lake woman's windshield after lightning struck as she was driving down a highway. Lightning is the number one natural killer in Utah so she's lucky to be alive, and what a story she has. One minute she's driving down the highway, the next she's pulled over after lightning ripped through her car. If the chances of getting struck by lightning are slim, then getting hit two times should be near impossible. That means Aline Devaud of Millcreek shouldn't ever have to worry about it...

Nicolas Cage to star in upcoming 9/11 movie Fri Jul 8, 2005 7:50 PM ET By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Nicolas Cage will star as a real-life policeman who survived the collapse of the World Trade Center in what would be one of Hollywood's first films to dramatize the Sept. 11 attacks on America, Paramount Pictures said on Friday. Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone is on board to direct the untitled movie, which centers on the story of the last two men -- a pair of Port Authority police officers -- rescued from the rubble of the twin...

A St. Paul mother and her live-in boyfriend are accused of locking the woman's 11-year-old daughter in a chain-link dog kennel in a warehouse basement, leaving her cold and, one night, naked. Deborah L. Cameron and Eric Bare appeared in Ramsey County District Court on Wednesday, each charged with two counts of unreasonable restraint of a child, a gross misdemeanor.

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

America rattles Saddam's cage hoping he will lash out in anger By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 13 July 2002 The Bush administration is seeking to prove that a war can be won by sabre-rattling alone. Amid an almost deafening public indifference to the prospect, hardly a day goes by without a new report or disclosure suggesting that a US attack, at the end of this year or early next, is a virtual certainty. The official position was set out by President George Bush at his press conference on Monday. America is committed to "regime change" in Baghdad and will use...