Free Republic

Sporting a brace on his left knee, Mariota turned in his worst performance of the season in Oregon's loss to Stanford, its first of the year. He finished with negative rushing yards for the first time this season and could not get the Ducks on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter, when he threw two touchdowns. The comeback effort fell short after Oregon could not recover a second onside kick.

A duckling that was abandoned by her mother at birth has found a new home among a family of cats.The baby duck was adopted by a feline called Tosia after she was separated from her mum when she hurt her foot in Olesnica, Poland.‘Tosia came walking into the kitchen one day with something in her mouth,’ said the cat’s owner Ryszard Andrzejczuk.‘At first I thought it was a mouse or something, but then she placed it on the ground and I saw it was a little duckling.’The 68-year-old added the female cat and the duckling were now inseparable, with the...

he past few days, the Internet has been filled with commentary on whether the National Science Foundation should have paid for my study on duck genitalia, and 88.7 percent of respondents to a Fox news online poll agreed that studying duck genitalia is wasteful government spending. The commentary supporting and decrying the study continues to grow. As the lead investigator in this research, I would like to weigh in on the controversy and offer some insights into the process of research funding by the NSF. My research on bird genitalia was originally funded in 2005, during the Bush administration. Thus...

OGDEN — On Friday, judges charged with selecting the 2012 Federal Duck Stamp image pared down 192 artistic entries to 75. On Saturday morning, the panel of judges gathered at Weber State University to score each entry again by holding up scores hidden from other judges but visible to the audience as each new image was shown. As artists and art fans looked on, the judges eliminated all but 17 paintings. And at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, the final announcement was made. The 2013 Federal Duck Stamp will feature a common golden eye, with fine green feathering on its head, white...

Big Billy Kinder Outdoors is ON THE AIR, Saturdays, 5:00am to 6:00am on WBAP, our Flagship station, AND...a Growing NETWORK OF STATIONS! Grab your coffee and join Big Billy Kinder at 5:00am Saturday mornings! We invite you to come into the camp-house for an hour of outdoor talk that will get your weekend going. Weekly, you will enjoy Big Billy and other Pro Staff, WFAA, Chief Meteorologist Pete Delkus, and Dallas Morning News, Columnist, Ray Sasser PLUS invited special celebrity guests. See you in the camp THIS Saturday!

Hair-raising video of duck and her ducklings waddling through interstate traffic in Toronto has gone viral. You get a bird's eye view of this drama as it unfolds back in May. There is a trail of ducklings loyally following their mama duck across several lanes of interstate traffic. As cars and trucks roar by, this little family dodges as best they can.

JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Road work on two emergency routes in central North Dakota is being delayed because of possible bird nesting, a county commissioner says. Officials want to raise the roadbed of the former Highway 10 in western Stutsman County because the road has been repeatedly flooded. Its dirt roadbed is now surrounded by water.

Attorney General Eric Holder again today would not answer who the highest-ranking Obama administration official was that had knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious and the gunwalking tactics it employed before Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered. Instead, when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith pressed him directly during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, Holder dodged giving a response. “Mr. Attorney General, who is the highest ranking official in this administration that knew that these tactics were being used?” Smith asked of Holder at the beginning of a Thursday hearing. “And I’m talking about, knew the tactics...

An American hunter who abused wounded birds in Western Canada and videotaped his antics is facing a $15,000 fine and a three-year hunting ban in Canada. Jeffery Burdett Foiles, 54, of Pleasant Hill, Illinois, pleaded guilty in an Edmonton court Wednesday to causing unnecessary pain and suffering to a duck, contrary to the Criminal Code.

Last week, a wood duck whooshed through the yard at forty miles-per-hour and wove through the thick woods without hitting a tree. One of the latest extreme human sports is wing-suiting, where idiots with nothing better to do jump off a cliff wearing an outfit that makes them float like a flying squirrel. As they fall towards the base of the cliff, their goal is to catch some air and swoop between the trees down the side of the mountain. Just like a wood duck. One mistake and they go splat. After they go splat, some poor rescue squad with...

With little fanfare, Rationer-in-Chief Donald Berwick, President Obama’s choice to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee and did his best impression of Gumby – twisting and turning his support for rationing health care. Berwick has championed the British health care system for years proclaiming his outright support of rationing. In 2009, Berwick said, “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care — the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.” In a 2008 speech, Berwick proclaimed, “I am romantic about the NHS; I love...

CHICAGO (STMW) – A bizarre scene is evolving on the Chicago lakefront, with Canada geese and mallard ducks gulping down dead or dying gizzard shad. A major die-off of what appears to be the 2010 class is happening in Chicago harbors. Thousands, perhaps far more than that, of dead gizzard shad in the 3- to 5-inch range are frozen in the ice of Chicago harbors or floating around in open patches of water. “Gizzard shad are pretty sensitive,’’ Lake Michigan Program biologist Dan Makauskas said. “On the toughness scale, the herrings are pretty soft.’’ Gizzard shad, members of the herring...

Last month, citizens across the country sent a strong message to politicians - Republicans and Democrats alike - that they do not want more congressional meddling. But the leaders of the lame-duck Congress didn't listen. One of Big Labor's top objectives is to ram the so-called Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (reintroduced last week as S. 3991) into law. Under this cynically mislabeled legislation, all states and localities would be denied the option to refuse to grant a single public-safety union the power to speak for all front-line employees, including those who don't want to join.

> Mr Rouyer said there was "no better worming substance" for ducks and that his flock was in excellent health. A police spokesman said it was the first time they had heard such a claim. Mr Rouyer, who lives in the village of Gripperie-Saint-Symphorien on France's Atlantic coast, did also admit to smoking some of the marijuana.

Husband and wife charged in plot to rid neighborhood of What a pair of quacks. The South Florida husband and wife accused of hatching a plot to rid their Palm Beach Gardens community of ducks are going to court. Robert and Blain Aymond face misdemeanor theft charges after they rounded up eight ducks belonging to their homeowner's association and hired a trapper to take them to a shelter where they'd be killed, according to the Palm Beach Post. The trial was expected to begin Monday morning. Prosecutors say the Aymonds had trapped the ducks on their patio and planned...

A wild duck found with an arrow through its head is recovering at a veterinary centre south of Perth as environment officers seek public help to track down its attacker. The injured Pacific Black Duck was captured in the Coodanup area near Mandurah by a West Australian Sea Bird Rescue volunteer helped by a Mandurah City ranger on Saturday. Vets at the Coastal Veterinary Centre in Mandurah removed the arrow and have been caring for the bird. Department of Environment and Conservation wildlife officer Cameron Craigie said the attack was senseless and the department was appealing for public help to...

Liberals discuss non-existent job prospects for irrelevant majors Many from the Class of 2009 are living with their parents and working part-time retail jobs they could have landed without a degree. Others are taking more college classes to put off paying back student loans, which average more than $20,000. Many say they’ve lost self-confidence. Still, none of the 18 students from the Classes of 2009 and 2010 interviewed by The Oregonian expressed regret about going to college. After a yearlong search, Jackie Mroz, 22, of Oregon City, is about to get some experience, but at a cost. She put...

The mama mallard had circled the storm sewer grate for four hours Sunday, quacking nonstop. Finally, a trio of concerned citizens summoned Shakopee police. Officer Vince Stahl responded to the corner near downtown and soon found that this rescue on an otherwise peaceful morning in the south metro community would become his first "duck assist." Stahl deduced that the mother duck's webbed feet had been big enough to cross the storm sewer, but her three ducklings's feet were so tiny that they dropped through the grate to the damp debris a few feet below. It's a rite-of-spring mini-drama of the...

Dallas Cowboys offensive guard Leonard Davis saved a different type of birdie during the Dallas Cowboys annual Sponsor Appreciation Golf Tournament Wednesday. Davis, ever an animal-loving gentle giant, came to the rescue of nearly a dozen baby ducks stranded in a sand bunker on the 11th Hole. Davis walked into the bunker and picked up the baby ducks one-by-one and placed them gingerly on the fairway. Quickly, the little ducks scurried back to their mother -- who previously, and very quickly, had left the sand trap as the 6 foot 6 inch, 360-pound lineman approached. This wasn’t the first time...

Meteorologist Angela Hutti stepped outside of her front door a few weeks ago and was greeted by a small momma duck who seemed to be scoping out the landscape. A few days later, she woke up and there was a nest and an one little egg. 11 eggs later, Indigo, as Angela has named her due to the blue feathers on her face, is almost ready for the eggs to hatch. You can watch the process as the duck patiently sits on her eggs throughout the day. Take a look at our duck cam via UStream!