Free Republic

(AP) LYNCHBURG, VA -- The Black Widow strikes again. Sonya Thomas, a 100-pound woman who earned her nickname by outeating many of her heavyweight male opponents on the competitive eating circuit, ate 60 ham biscuits Saturday to win an eating contest at the 16th Annual Virginia State Harley Davidson Owners Group Rally. The 37-year-old from Alexandria beat out 11 other competitors from the International Federation of Competitive Eating and Harley Davidson owners from throughout the state. Her closest competitor, Eric "Badlands" Booker, of Copiague, N.Y., ate 42 ham biscuits. The buttermilk biscuits stuffed with ham are a Southern favorite. With...

Toyota is planning to voluntarily recall about 2/3 of the Prius cars they have made. Someone in Japan learned that when you turn the steeling wheel and drive real slow into a curb, it can break something in the steering mechanism. Trust me, you drive very slowly in Japan a lot, with the steering wheel turned all the way the left or right. Usually, its bad business for a car company to do something like this. However, Toyota is sucking it up, making the changes on their own dime BEFORE a tire blows out, or a car rolls over and...

Tens of thousands of protesters, many chanting... [blah, blah, blah -- More show up at the March for Life each year, protesting the slaughter of unborn Americans, than those illegal immigrants on the mall in DC today wanting amnesty.]

Am I the only one who thinks France is nuttier than frangipane? Here is how I understand last week's wave of marches, riots and blockades in the land of loitering existentially in smoky cafés while making meaningful hand gestures: Lots of over-educated youths with too much black in their wardrobes are desperate to dress up in balaclavas and bandannas and torch things because (now let me word this correctly) they are disillusioned that their government wants to help them get jobs, because when you get a job there is a big danger you might one day lose it, especially if...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration remains interested in limited talks with Iran on its activities in Iraq, but no meeting is scheduled, a State Department spokesman said Friday. The talks would be held in Baghdad, where U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was authorized months ago by President Bush to meet with Iranian diplomats on a limited basis. "We don't have a timeline for such a meeting," spokesman Sean McCormack said. "As for whether there will be a meeting, we will see." The U.S. official added: "We've had concerns about the Iranians' behavior in Iraq. We are calling for good, neighborly, transparent...

WASHINGTON - Putting aside party differences, Senate Republicans and Democrats coalesced Thursday around compromise legislation that holds out the hope of citizenship to an estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States unlawfully. "We can no longer afford to delay reform," said Republican Sens. John McCain and Edward M. Kennedy in a statement that capped weeks of struggle to find common ground. [TRANSLATION: Amnesty and a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal aliens]

It's time to break a taboo and place the word "socialism" across the top of the page in a major American progressive magazine. Time for the left to stop repressing the side of ourselves that the right finds most objectionable. Until we thumb our noses at the Democratic pols who have been calling the shots and reassert the very ideas they say are unthinkable, we will keep stumbling around in the dark corners of American politics, wondering how we lost our souls--and how to find them again. I can hear tongues clucking the conventional wisdom that the "S" word is...

A couple of weeks ago, I had a brake line fail, no big deal in itself, but when the car was on the hoist, you could clearly see the carpeting coming through the rusted floorboard. One seat bolt had already rusted away and I figured that someday soon I may wind up sitting on the street. On top of that, the driver's side door was getting real hard to close so I thought I better get something before the door falls off. So I started looking: one Camaro was a real dog, one was great but expensive, and there was...

I just got an email from someone saying that Will Ferrell died in a paragliding accident. It sounds like something Will would have made up. The above link is not working for me but it was the only Google News link that says he is dead.

Cool, the first OFST of the new year. My only standing resolution was to make no more resolutions and I've already broken it. *shrugs*

WASHINGTON -- Just four days after bowing out of a reelection campaign -- and paving the way for a 2008 presidential run -- Governor Mitt Romney yesterday drew his first rebuke from a White House rival. Romney had been quoted as saying of Senator John McCain of Arizona: ''You know, John McCain, the other day, said that he thinks about being president every day in the shower. I guess I'd turn instead to the words of 'Star Wars,' which is it's in a galaxy far, far away. Look, that's down the road. It's a lifetime away in the world of...

Rialto, Calif. -- Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by Los Angeles police led to the deadly Los Angeles riots of 1992, was arrested for allegedly making threats following a fight between his daughter, his girlfriend and an ex-girlfriend, police said. King, 40, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of making criminal threats. He was held on $25,000 bail. Police were called to the King home shortly after 4:15 p.m. Authorities said King's live-in girlfriend, Dawn Jean, 29, got into a fight with daughter Candace King, 23, who also lives in the home. The daughter allegedly assaulted Jean, leading Carmen Simpson, Candace...

WASHINGTON -- Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan met with a prominent lawmaker who supports the Iraq war. Sheehan thanked Sen. John McCain for meeting with her Tuesday, but she came away disappointed. Sheehan, who calls the Vietnam veteran a "warmonger," said "he tried to tell us what George Bush would have said." "I don't believe he believes what he was telling me," Sheehan said. The Arizona Republican also seemed disappointed in the Washington meeting. He said it had been misrepresented to him as including some of his constituents. Only one person in Sheehan's small delegation had ties to Arizona, and that...

The Walken Platform These are the issues that need solutions now, and Christopher Walken is not afraid to address them. He wants his supporters and opponents to know that he is clear in his ideals and will fight to lead America to a better place. Campaign Finance Reform: "I believe that campaign finance is a very tough issue, with good points on both sides; but I feel, as a wealthy american, that I should have no more say than even the least fortunate American citizen. That is why I am for campaign finance reform." Military Funding: "I am a huge...