Free Republic

A PSYCHOTIC-looking clown who promises to scare children senseless can be booked as a birthday surprise. For a fee, actor Dominic Deville dresses up in a deathly clown mask and contacts his child "victims" in the Swiss city of Lucerne to tell them he is watching them. His "evil clown" service unfolds further as he teases his targets with texts, phone calls and booby-trapped letters, warning them that at some point during their birthday party, he will throw a cake in their face, the Austrian Times reports. Mr Deville's look appears based on the monster clown played by Tim Curry...

For anti-Americans and others addicted to Schadenfreude, it could hardly get better. The delicious clip of Republican candidate Rick Perry, unable to remember the name of one of the three departments of the federal government he had pledged to abolish, was a moment to treasure. But seen in a larger context, the comic relief soon fades. For the American political system seems to be unravelling in the most extraordinary way. A president whom many regard as a failure, and who is a disappointment even to his most fervent admirers, looks likely to squeeze through the 2012 presidential election, now less...

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is demonstrating an appalling ignorance on the Iranian nuclear issue and the threat it poses to world security. In fact, several times during the recent GOP debates he blamed the animosity against the U.S. in the Middle East on America's foreign policy. Paul recently argued on "Fox News Sunday" that sanctions should be removed altogether to get Iran to act differently and that the U.S. response to Iran's nuclear pursuit was an "overreaction." He added that Iran does not pose a threat to either the U.S. or the region. The congressman from Texas insists that...

The conversations were wire-tapped as part of an investigation into an alleged prostitution ring surrounding the prime minister Mr Berlusconi was recorded gloating about the encounters, and lamenting that he could not manage another three women that night. The conversations were wire-tapped as part of an investigation into an alleged prostitution ring surrounding the prime minister. The taped conversations also suggested for the first time that Mr Berlusconi gave money to the women he allegedly slept with, contradicting his repeated insistence that he has never paid for sex. In revelations which are set to test Italian tolerance to the limit,...

Send In the ClownsYippee! We've all got a front-row seat at the three-ring Stupid Party circus. Am I the only potato who levitated from his couch last week when my favorite cartoon character, Mr. Newt, announced to a breathlessly waiting world that he and his running mate, Callista, were forming an “exploratory committee� for a possible presidential run next year? There he was, waddling along and grinning from ear to ear, good old SpongeBob SquarePants himself, coyly flirting with the wingnut electorate like an aging Sally Rand who left her fan collection back at the Casa di Riposo. I was...

MOSCOW, Feb. 19 - Russian budget airline Avianova announced it will be hiring clowns, actors and musicians to amuse and entertain passengers during flights. Avianova officials said the first in-flight live entertainment will take place Saturday on a flight from Moscow to Krasnodar. The airline said it was inspired to install stages on the planes when it was forced to reduce the number of seats from 180 to 159 because of a change in Russian customs policy.

WASHINGTON — In a classic case of shutting the barn door after the horse has left, the Obama administration and the Department of Defense have ordered the hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors not to view the secret cables and other classified documents published by Wikileaks and news organizations around the world unless the workers have the required security clearance or authorization.

Confronted by 60 cannibal tribesmen carrying spears, Larry Harmon recalled what the grizzled Aussie bush pilot had said upon dropping him off at the airstrip. “You ain’t coming out of them jungles, mate. Your head’ll be on a stick before nightfall.” Harmon could have run. But not very fast. He was wearing clown shoes. Larry Harmon was Bozo the Clown. And it was this total Bozo’s big idea to risk his life in the most impenetrable place on earth — the 1960s wilds of New Guinea — to test his theory that “joy and laughter” were universal, that goodwill, affability...

A Mexican street clown--arrested in full face paint--was booked Wednedsday on a sexual assault charge. Pedro Artega Velazquez, 53, was juggling on a Juarez street corner when collared by cops in connection with the alleged assault of his teenage stepdaughter. Velazquez posed for the below mug shot, which was released by the Chihuahua state attorney general's office (along with a press release, in Spanish, about the case). Juarez, a border town across from El Paso, Texas, is the violent epicenter of the country's narcoterrorism plague. Velazquez is the latest suspect to be nabbed with something (besides guilt) on his face....

About 100 professional clowns who make money by performing on public buses marched through Salvadoran capital Thursday to protest the killing of a passenger by two imposter clowns. On Monday, a man was shot five times in the face and stomach when he declined to give money to two assailants dressed as clowns who boarded a public bus. No one has been arrested.

With no time to spare, Capitol Democrats and Republicans reached a last-minute deal Sunday night to close a $3 billion hole in the state budget. But with no time left to actually process a bill, Gov. Tim Pawlenty called the Legislature into a post-midnight special session to vote on it. He said he expected the Legislature to act on the agreement and adjourn for the year "by breakfast." While the 2010 session ends today, midnight was the deadline for passing bills. "We were able to resolve a $3 billion budget deficit without raising taxes," Pawlenty said. "I feel very good...

Evil clown stalks kids as birthday treat From: NewsCore April 15, 2010 A PSYCHOTIC-looking clown who promises to scare children senseless can be booked as a birthday surprise, the Austrian Times reported. For a fee, actor Dominic Deville dresses up in a deathly clown mask and contacts his child "victims" in the Swiss city of Lucerne, south of Zurich, to tell them he is watching them. His "evil clown" service unfolds further as he teases his targets with texts, phone calls and booby-trapped letters, warning them that at some point during their birthday party, he will throw a cake in...

NEW YORK, February 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As nations around the world are beginning to feel the effects of plummeting birth rates, the Vatican’s representative to the United Nations has stressed that population growth is the key to overcoming poverty. Speaking before the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore said, “too often population growth is viewed as the cause of poverty whereas it is a means of overcoming it, for only within the work force can the solution for poverty be found.”The archbishop explained: “where economic growth rates have declined, the answers lie not...

If Team Obama is so keen on trying Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other terrorists in civilian court, it needs to remember that criminals have rights. Such as the right not to have the verdict and sentence publicly proclaimed before trial by the nation's top officials. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs declared last week that 9/11 kingpin KSM "is going to meet justice, and he's going to meet his maker and he's likely to be executed for the heinous crimes that he committed." And President Obama himself said something similar last November, declaring of KSM: "I don't think that it will...

Rand Paul: Try, Convict and Lock Up Terrorists In Guantanamo | Campaign for Liberty at the Daily Paul

Hannity explores the media's double-standard.

With Noot and T-Paw being foisted upon us as the latest in presidential contenders, I just had to relieve my frustration....Caption at will...

At a recent Colorado town hall, University of Colorado at Boulder student Zach Lahn asked President Obama how private insurers could be expected to compete with a public health care plan. Lahn, 23, also told Obama, "I'd love to have a debate just all out, anytime, Oxford-style, if you'd like" on health care. Obama answered that "UPS and FedEx are doing a lot better than the Post Office." (If I were Obama, I wouldn't mention the post office while touting public health care.) Then the president observed, "It's good to see a young person who's very engaged and confident challenging...

A fitting tribute to B. Hussein Obama and his accomplices in the media.

See link.

Is First Lady Michelle Obama sporting a taste for ultra-expensive fashion pieces, or is she cementing her status as a savvy shopper? Back in April she wore a pair of $540 Lanvin sneakers at a Washington food bank. Earlier this week (while strolling the wooded landscape outside of Moscow), she carried a sexy black clutch, which Italian luxury house VBH boasts is their shiny black alligator manila bag – with a retail sticker price of $5,950. The White House flatly denies that Obama bought such a high-priced accessory, and says that she was carrying a patent clutch that retails for...

Talk about luxury in the woods! Michelle Obama showed off her more expensive taste in fashion by carrying a $5,950 VBH black alligator manila clutch while strolling the wooded landscape

MOSCOW — If Paris is for lovers, it looks like Moscow is for families. After passing on dinner with the French president to go on a date in the City of Light with his wife last month, President Obama took leave of his Russian hosts on Tuesday night to seclude himself in his Moscow hotel with his wife, Michelle, and their daughters. The first family enjoyed a relaxed evening at the O2 Lounge, the super-chic, super-pricey rooftop club at the new Ritz-Carlton, although no doubt the Secret Service first cleared the place of most if not all of the swaggering...

After talking to President Barack Obama on the phone today, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch says he believes the White House will move swiftly on its Supreme Court nominee, perhaps making an announcement by the end of this week. Obama made no timing commitments to the Utah Republican, but the senator, who has been in the middle of several pitched Supreme Court battles, said: “I’d be surprised if it went beyond this week. ... I would think by the end of this week or over the weekend, he’ll nominate somebody. I’m sure they’ve discussed this internally, back and forth for months...

No earthly society is above or outside cultural anthropological study. Therefore I propose to examine the possibility of a functioning clown society in America. They call themselves many things, but are most commonly known as homosexuals. Clown society is defined in wikipedia: "Clown society is a term used in anthropology and sociology for an organization of comedic entertainers...who have a formalized role in a culture or society." With a little more help from wiki we learn: Sometimes...the purpose served by members of a clown society is only to parody excessive seriousness, or to deflate pomposity.In the sense of how clowns...

The real world is a dangerous place filled with dangerous people. Severe myopia can be fatal. Mr. Magoo makes an amusing cartoon character, but a lousy role model. Jimmy Carter bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Magoo. That is why I am deeply troubled when Barack Obama begins to resemble Jimmy Carter.

WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Steven Chu -- whose agency has long taken the lead on global oil-market policy -- said Thursday he doesn't know what the Obama administration would urge the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to do at its meeting next month. "I'm not the administration," Mr. Chu said during a meeting with reporters Thursday. OPEC members are scheduled to meet March 15 to discuss the possibility of production cuts to respond to slumping prices. "I will be speaking and learning more about this in order to figure out what the U.S. position should be and what the president's...

Just a reminder that the federal minimum wage will be going up to $7.25 in July of this year. Its in the mid- sixes now, which makes it an increase of almost $1 per hour. Great timing on this for businesses. /Sarc I haven't heard anything from the clowns in Washington about stopping this, why not use the excuse of poor economy as a basis for political action like the left is doing and start making calls to stop this increase?

... David Gergen told about 600 guests attending a dinner at the University of Oklahoma on Wednesday that John McCain and Barack Obama are locked in a virtual tie and the Republicans could pull off an upset. "Race has, and is, the big gorilla in the room that you can't get around," Gergen said. "We have made a lot of progress but we're not there yet. It gives alot of unpredictability to what we do." ...

Larry Harmon, the man credited with making Bozo the Clown the icon he was, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83. Harmon wasn't the original Bozo, but built up the character and eventually licensed it to television stations across the country. Born in Toledo, Ohio, Harmon became interested in theater while studying at the University of Southern California. "Bozo is a star, an entertainer, bigger than life," Harmon once said. "People see him as Mr. Bozo, somebody you can relate to, touch and laugh with."

FORT MYER, Va., April 7, 2008 – Children normally are told to quit clowning around, but today it was actually encouraged, as clowns from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus entertained more than 100 youngsters at the child development center here. More than 100 children from the child development center on Fort Myer, Va., enjoy a performance by members of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, April 7, 2008. These four, from left, Ryan Cline, 2, Madeline Fontana, 5, Jaylen Wright, 4, and Liam Ryan, 4, got a chance to be part of the action. Photo by...

Next time the cashier says "paper or plastic," think outside the bags. Think about ocean pollution, giant landfills and global warming, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels says. Then think to next year, when you might have to either pull out a reusable tote or pay 20 cents a bag. Nickels and City Council President Richard Conlin proposed a 20-cent "green fee" Wednesday on all disposable bags to encourage customers to carry their milk and eggs home in their own bags. Forget the canvas sacks at home? Shoppers at grocery, convenience and drug stores will pay the price starting Jan. 1, if...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two Northland residents came up with a unique way to boost the morale of U.S. troops serving overseas. Cheryl Herrington and Larry Mills are two clowns who have sent thousands of red foam noses to cheer up soldiers at war.

LONDON (Reuters) - Unhappy clowns from around the world say a study that reported that children didn't like them has wiped the big smile from their faces, and have been falling over their large shoes to put their case. A poll by researchers looking at what decor to put in hospital children's wards found that youngsters do not like clowns on the walls and even older ones think they are scary. "We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable," said Penny Curtis, senior researcher at the University of Sheffield which questioned 250...

LONDON (Reuters) - Bad news for Coco and Blinko -- children don't like clowns and even older kids are scared of them. The news that will no doubt have clowns shedding tears was revealed in a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards. The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary. "As adults we make assumptions about what works for...

Don't send in the clowns Hospitals are being urged not to decorate children's wards with paintings of clowns in case they upset young patients. State-funded research has found that in a survey of more than 250 children aged four to 16, all disliked the use of clowns in hospital decor, with even the teenagers seeing them as "scary". "Given that children and young people do not find hospitals frightening per se - and only express fear about those spaces associated with needles - this finding is somewhat ironic," said Dr Penny Curtis of Sheffield University. The aim of the Space...

Amid new polling that points to a shift in momentum in this crucial state, Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama made arguments Monday that electing the other would prove a costly mistake.

<snip>Paul's electoral success has befuddled Democrats. They say he routinely opposes bills that would help his sprawling 14th Congressional District, a mostly rural swath of coast that stretches from the northern outskirts of Corpus Christi to Galveston.Last year, Republican appropriators zeroed out millions of dollars in funding for several dredging and port improvement projects in the district - a casualty, Democrats say, of Paul's opposition to government pork even if it benefits his own constituents.Democrat Shane Sklar, a rancher who lost to Paul last year, said the congressman's supporters either didn't believe or didn't care that his votes had made...

Waukesha, WI - Troubles keep adding up for Ronald E. Schroeder, who performed professionally as Silly the Clown but has been sitting in the Waukesha County Jail since May on charges of sexual assault, domestic violence and possession of child pornography. On Aug. 10, he was granted work-release privileges and was supposed to be transferred to the county's Huber facility so he could leave for work. It never happened. Here's why: Schroeder is $4,000 behind on his child support payments resulting from a 1995 divorce in Milwaukee County. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Mary Kuhnmuench found him in contempt in June...

For the first time in the history of Canterbury Cathedral, the Holy Fools UK will be holding a special service to cerebrate their 25th Silver Anniversary. The Service will take place on Saturday, 15 September at 6pm and will have up to 30 Christian clowns (Holy Fools) in the service, all colourfully made up and in costume ready to present this special service with all the energy and fun that clowns give. The public is warmly invited to the service to join them in this special celebration The Holy Fools is a national Christian organization with members throughout the UK....

McALLEN — A man wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of a Reynosa police officer may have crossed into the United States dressed as a clown, Mexican state police said Thursday. Tamaulipas investigators alerted U.S. authorities Wednesday that the suspect may have crossed the Rio Grande illegally while wearing a costume as a disguise. On Monday, accomplices sneaked the man through the Reynosa in a garbage cart to help him get out of town, said Fernando Miranda Guerrero, chief of homicide investigations for the state police. “We went to the river and searched along it with the help of...

Twenty years ago, a few clowns decided to change from making people laugh to making them cry. With the help of a transitional deacon who had been nurturing the idea of a clown ministry, "The Way of the Cross in the Company of Clowns" was born.They perform around the Albany Diocese only during Lent, with a poignant look at the passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus, and during Advent, when they celebrate the birth of Jesus.First tries"People loved it," Jack Ablett said of the early performances. He and his wife Rita are among the original founders of the ministry at...

Four members of the anti-war group Code Pink were arrested outside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday afternoon, following an announcement that they would seek to take over the office. The group’s members had planned to hold a symbolic “Pin the war on the Donkey” demonstration at Pelosi’s office to show their frustration with the Democratic leadership’s inaction on ending the war in Iraq. However, Capitol Police prevented the taping of a drawn donkey to the wall. Code Pink members were crying outside Pelosi’s office. When asked why, Rae Abileah, 24, said she was crying out of...

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (Feb 24, 2007) Police said they arrested a man yesterday in connection with the killing of two clowns in front of dozens of children during a performance, in a case that has convulsed the violence-hardened South American country. Walter Bautista, 21, who goes by the alias "My Fish," was being held on charges of murder and trafficking in arms, a police statement said. Clowns Willington Villamizar, 18, known as "Rony," and Nelson Nunez, 24, known as "Andres," were gunned down Tuesday night in the middle of their circus act in the town Cucuta, about 650 kilometres northeast of...

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Two clowns were shot and killed by an unidentified gunman during their performance at a traveling circus in the eastern Colombian town of Cucuta, police said Wednesday. The gunman burst into the Circo del Sol de Cali on Monday night and shot the clowns in front of an audience of 20 to 50 people, local police chief Jose Humberto Henao told Reuters. One of the clowns was killed instantly, and the second died the next day in hospital. "The killings had nothing to do with the show the victims were performing at the time of the...

MESA - Hundreds of people who believe the government has lied about the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States plan to gather in Chandler later this week to strategize about how to find out the truth. The 9/11 Accountability: Strategies and Solutions Conference will be held Friday through Sunday at the Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort in Chandler. The conference will include keynote speakers, panel discussions, strategy workshops and a documentary film marathon. Theories on what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, include one that the government planted bombs to bring down the World Trade Center towers...

Two anti-whaling activists, one an Australian, were feared missing in Antarctic waters after a clash with a Japanese whaling fleet. A search for the two men was under way after the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd confronted Japanese whaling vessels in the Ross Sea. International director of Sea Shepherd, Jonny Vasic, said anti-whaling activists from two ships had used high speed inflatables to try to disrupt the operations of the whaling fleet. But a mayday message was issued after radio contact was lost with two activists in an inflatable. One of the men was an Australian from Perth and the other...

"That is not a hair question." "That is also not a hair question." These guys are kind of funny.

Customs inspectors discover 500 pounds; additional 600 pounds found on another tour bus entering U.S. HIDALGO - Clowns are not usually a party to large drug investigations. But on Sunday, customs inspectors at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge found more than 500 pounds of cocaine on a private tour bus in which a Latin Grammy-nominated musical group of clowns was riding. About 40 minutes later, an additional 600 pounds of cocaine was seized from another tour bus entering the United States Officials said the two drug seizures were not related. Customs and Border Protection estimates the street value of the drugs...

It is amazing how the United States deals with its history by either hiding its head in the sand or attempting to rewrite the accounts of its shameful behavior. What is even more disturbing is that the much vaunted “free press” in the U.S. is complicit in this intellectual rape of the general populace. The collaboration between the delusional political prostitutes that act as the government and the intellectual eunuchs who make up the communications media has left the American public deaf, dumb and blind to the truth. Americans need to know that both President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran and...