Free Republic

This is not what Barack Obama expected for a coming-out party. The “historic” revelation that he is now fully evolved, as from tadpole to frog, and now grooves on same-sex marriage, was meant to be marked with quiet ceremony. No music, no flowers, no kiss, no dancing, not even a cupcake. Rage and outrage over same-sex marriage would take everybody’s mind off the dreary economy, which whimpers on. Everybody was then supposed to shut up and get back to work (for those with work). Instead, the president gets his photograph (with a rainbow halo) on the cover of Newsweek magazine...

A hundred years ago — and that's when this picture was taken, in 1912 — men didn't leave home without a hat. Boys wore caps. This is a socialist political rally in Union Square in Manhattan. There may be a bare head or two in this crowd, but I think those heads are women's.

Next time you head down to your local supermarket, you may be taking your health into own hands — literally. New research shows that nearly three out of four shopping cart handles are rife with fecal bacteria, including some that can cause severe illness. Dr. Victoria Millett, a local infectious disease specialist, tells KFWB’s Maggie McKay researchers actually found more fecal bacteria on grocery cart handles than you would typically find in a bathroom. Professor Charles Gerba, the lead researcher in the University of Arizona study, took samples from the handles of 85 carts across four states for bacterial contamination....

Boortz was talking about an issue that they had a few years back in Atlanta. A new sewer plant was going to be built. Well the 'mostly White' folk lived on the North side while the 'mostly Minority and Black folk' lived on the South side. The sewer lines were going to have to run South from the North and wouldn't you know it .. A Stink<--(pun intended) arose. "The "Whites" were going to run Their White sewage down under the "Minority and Black Folks" sewage! (Oh No!!) The plant .. I guess, was never built!?(Feel free to jump in...

The gay rights group Queer Kissing Flashmob is organizing a kissing protest against Pope Benedict XVI when he tours Spain next month. The group says it will protest the pope's stance against gay relations and marriage equality by staging a giant kissing demonstration in front of the Holy Father. “When Benedict XVI passes before us, we'll kiss, man with man or woman with woman,” Carole Marylene, an organizer of the event, told Spanish news agency EFE. “It is curious to note how an act so noble as a kiss can be considered revolutionary, even in the 21st century.” Gay couples...

THOMASTON, Ga. (AP) - An Upson County couple is suing a grocery store chain in federal court, claiming that the husband found a used tampon in his bowl of cereal. According to the complaint, Thomas and Lynn Roddenberry said they bought a box of Chocolate Chip Crunch cereal from the Save-A-Lot store in Thomaston in October 2008. A day after buying the cereal, Thomas Roddenberry said he discovered the tampon in his bowl after taking a bite of the cereal.

TMZ has obtained a copy of court documents in which a doctor states he performed "an irreversible surgical procedure for the purpose of altering Chaz Bono's sex characteristics from female to male." According to the docs, on September 23, 2009, Dr. Michael Brownstein performed the operation. The specifics of the procedure are not outlined, but the Dr. says, "Chaz Bono has completed his gender reassignment surgery." In the "Petition for Change of Name and Gender" filed with the court, Chaz asks for a legal change from female to male.

Larry King took his first commercial flight since September 11 recently, and the airport security people, sensing a rare opportunity for fame-fondling, took a little advantage when he failed the metal detector test. "They had to give me the complete body search. So I had to stand there with [my] arms [out], and they are talking with me at the same time, 'loved the show last night, turn over your belt,' and then they grab you by the privates. They examined me pretty good."

AshScholl click link President Obama Picks His Nose on Live TV

It was not Susan Sarandon's night at The Box, where throngs of partygoers stayed from late Thursday into the early morning to help the Lower East Side burlesque club ring in its third anniversary. Sarandon, who recently separated from Tim Robbins, got an unpleasant party favor when transsexual performer Rose Wood vomited on stage directly onto the Oscar winner. A witness reports, "She actually handled it very well. She was laughing while a bunch of guys came over to towel her off."

PARIS, FRANCE, February 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- French homosexualist demonstrators had planned to have a "kiss in" in front of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris this Valentine's day.  But in response to the protests of a group of young French Catholics and patriots, it was moved away from the church of Our Lady.The kiss-in was ostensibly meant to combat “homophobia.” The organizer of the kiss-in, Arthur Vauthier, had nevertheless said that it was a "way to challenge the Church, to question the Church on the question of love and marriage between gays and between lesbians."  He had furthermore boasted that...

PARIS, February 10, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A French homosexualist organization will be staging a “kiss-in” at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this Sunday, St. Valentine’s day. Dozens of homosexuals are expected to turn up and kiss for five minutes at 2 p.m., after services at the cathedral. Organizer Arthur Vautier told a Paris homosexual magazine, Tetu, that the demonstration is meant to “ challenge the Church to question religion on the issue of love and marriage between gays and between lesbians.” “We were probably over a hundred at the last kiss-in,” Vautier said. The “Catholic Culture City” blog called on...

Modern Flourishes as Obamas Host First State Dinner RACHEL L. SWARNS November 24, 2009 WASHINGTON — It is an old tradition, a White House dinner governed by ritual and protocol that happens to be this city’s hottest social event. But at their first State Dinner on Tuesday night, President Obama and his wife, Michelle, made sure to infuse the glittering gala with distinctive touches. They hired a new florist, Laura Dowling, who bedecked the tented outdoor dining room with locally grown, sustainably harvested magnolias and ivy. They selected a guest chef, Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit in New York, an American...

WILLIAMSBURG History was made without fanfare on Saturday. Jessee Vasold, William and Mary's first transgender homecoming queen, took the field at halftime of the Tribe's game against James Madison wearing a red shirt, black pants and a small silver lip ring to applause and not much other notice. Vasold, a junior, and the other members of the homecoming court were introduced to the crowd, posed for pictures, and walked off the field. "I knew I was nominated, but I was just surprised, because there were a lot of other really good candidates on the ballot," Vasold said. "I know all...

Activists yell during a protest in Washington, DC. Thousands of gay rights activists marched on Washington to call for homosexual rights, a day after President Barack Obama vowed to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the US military. Doug Armstrong, 35, of Washington, left, blows bubbles at Arundhati Baden-Mayer Eidinger, 5, as she walks with her mother Alexis Baden-Mayer Eidinger, of Washington, center, during the National Equality March with thousands of gay rights advocates in Washington, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. Actress Cynthia Nixon speaks at the National Equality March in Washington, on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009

LOS ANGELES — An Arizona man faces criminal charges for allegedly posing as a fertility doctor so he could sexually molest men while pretending to give them physical examinations, MyFOXLa.com has reported. Jeffrey Graybill, 40, advertised online, offering people up to $4,000 monthly for sperm donations to support stem cell research, police said. He was arrested in Arizona on Wednesday and brought to Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Graybill is accused of stealing the identity of a San Francisco doctor and posing as a "Dr. Richardson" at a Los Angeles clinic.

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A 30-year-old man was arrested Thursday on a host of charges after a bag of cocaine “shot out” of his backside in a gas station, according to an affidavit released Friday. Investigators said they got a tip that cocaine was being transported in a brown Cadillac in the area of Interstate 95 and Midway Road, and investigators found the vehicle Thursday morning at a gas station at Midway and Glades Cut-Off roads. The affidavit gave this account: A man was pumping gas into the vehicle, and a drug sniffing dog smelled narcotics in the vehicle and...

Oh joy. Please God, help us relocate by then..... COLOGNE, Germany — The Federation of Gay Games announced this afternoon that Cleveland will be the site of the 2014 games. The city was chosen over Boston and Washington, D.C., after a year-long site-selection process, the organization said in a news release issued at 1 p.m. "Cleveland demonstrated to the Federation of Gay Games that they understood the mission of the Gay Games and our principles of ‘Participation, Inclusion, and Personal Best’," said Kurt Dahl, of Chicago, and Emy Ritt, of Paris, FGG Co-presidents.

SALT LAKE CITY -The Mormon church's vigorous, well-heeled support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California last year, has turned the Utah-based faith into a lightning rod for gay rights activism, including a nationwide "kiss-in" Saturday. The event comes after gay couples here and in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, were arrested, cited for trespassing or harassed by police for publicly kissing. In Utah, the July 9 trespassing incident occurred after a couple were observed by security guards on a downtown park-like plaza owned by the 13 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The court...

"Join the Impact", the national homosexual political group that organized angry demonstrations across the country to terrorize supporters of Proposition 8 and the other anti-same sex marriage initiatives, is back again. They've decided that the public needs to have homosexual behavior pushed in everyone's direction just a little harder.

SALT LAKE CITY — Gay rights activists are organizing a nationwide string of kissing demonstrations in response to the treatment of gay couples in Utah and Texas who tangled with security guards or police after kissing in public. The Great Nationwide Kiss-In is scheduled for Aug. 15. Events are planned for at least seven cities, including Boston, New York, Houston, Portland, Ore., and three California cities — Irvine, San Diego and San Francisco. A Web page and Facebook page promoting the demonstrations says more events are in the works. A pair of bloggers, David Badash, of New York, and David...

SALT LAKE CITY — Never mind the ick factor, a Utah boy is trying to get into the record books by covering his face with live snails. Eleven-year-old Fin Keheler, from Sandy, allowed 43 of the slimy mollusks to be put on his face Saturday. He wants the Guinness World Records to verify his effort. The Guinness web site says the record set in 2007 for snails on the face for 10 seconds is eight. The boy says he has since learned the record was 36. Fin made three attempts on Saturday. Sitting back in a reclining chair, snails gathered...

A condom in your Happy Meal? A girl found one at a Switzerland McDonald'sI am not one of those mothers that feels McDonald's is evil. My girls love Happy Meals. They can't wait to eat the nuggets but the toy is what they really want. However a condom was the lastest toy found in a Happy Meal at one McDonald's in Switzerland.

Obama Abdicates US's Role As Superpower By James G. Wiles, For The Bulletin In 1916, Field Marshall Ludendorf returned to Berlin after a visit to the front-lines of Germany’s ally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His report to the Kaiser and the General Staff was to the point: “we are allied,” he said, “to a corpse.” Somehow, one doubts that thought occurred to the Leader of the Free World (as American presidents used to be styled) as he and the Mighty Michelle (credit: BBC) winged their way home from their triumphant European tour. In that tour, nothing of benefit to the United...

NAIROBI, April 11 (Reuters) - Pirates seized a U.S.-owned and Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew on Saturday in the latest hijacking in the busy Gulf of Aden waterway, a regional maritime group said. Andrew Mwangura, of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said the crew were believed to be unharmed on the tugboat, which he added was operated from the United Arab Emirates.

U.S.President Barack Obama (L) whispers to Vice President Joe Biden during a commemoration of Greek Independence Day in the East Room of the White House in Washington, March 25, 2009. Vice president Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. share a laugh on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 25, 2009, prior to attending a luncheon.

Financials may lead market rebound in 2009 SIFMA Global SmartBrief | 12/31/2008 After a tumultuous 2008, the financial sector may be one of the leaders of a market rebound in 2009. The recovery might not be a rapid one, with a slight shift in focus among emerging markets, from BRIC to ICK countries. "Emerging markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China, or the BRIC nations, have tanked amid the global-asset sell-off," according to the Wall Street Journal. "As 2009 begins, emerging-market countries sporting the best earnings growth compared with current price are India, China and Korea, or the ICK countries."...

The Wilson family calls it the “Permibus”: a 1984 Bluebird school bus painted green and converted into a traveling exhibit of sustainable living. The Wilsons - Stan, 52, Delyla, 44, and their daughter Megan, 17 - have lived on the “Permibus” since it went on the road from California in February. They share their home with three dogs, three chickens and a composting bin full of worms. On Saturday, however, the Wilsons were evicted from the Permibus after it was pulled over and impounded by police on Interstate 94. Caught up in last weekend’s security sweep ahead of the Republican...

'2 people who love each other' THE OBAMAS | Michelle's brother once said of Barack: 'Nice guy. Too bad he won't last.' He was wrong. Her scolding him for not picking up his dirty socks. The chest-thumping family Scrabble tournaments. Date nights with the kids in tow. The cynics will say the Barack and Michelle Obama love story has been carefully scripted to convince voters that this is an ordinary, imperfect couple to whom anyone in America can relate. » Click to enlarge image Michelle and Barack Obama embrace while on the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Jan. 8....

PALM BAY, Fla. -- A Palm Bay woman claims her fast-food lunch included the head and front half of a frog and she snapped a cell phone photo to prove it. Michelle Arndt, 32, told Local 6 News partner Florida Today that she ordered a salad with fried chicken strips and found the frog after eating about half of the salad. Local 6 and Florida Today have not named the restaurant where the salad was purchased. "I think it's totally disgusting," Arndt said. "Where is the other half of the frog?" Arndt said a manager took the salad and her...

CHICAGO - A woman in her 30s who is one of the four organ transplant patients infected with HIV and hepatitis was not told that the infected donor was high risk, and had previously rejected another donor "because of his lifestyle," her attorney said. Attorney Thomas Demetrio filed a petition Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of the woman, asking officials to keep a hospital and an organ procurement center from destroying or altering any records involving the donation. "She's really a mess right now," Demetrio said of the Chicago-area woman. "She's still in shock." The patient, identified...

Broccoli juice 'better than sunscreens' Last Updated: 2:41am BST 23/10/2007 Broccoli juice is better than conventional sunscreens when it comes to protecting against the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, research has shown. Tests on six volunteers exposed to pulses of UV radiation showed the extract reduced sunburn symptoms by up to 78 per cent. Conventional sunscreens used in the same experiments were essentially ineffective. The ointment was made from extracts of three-day-old broccoli sprouts rich in protective compounds called sulphoraphanes. Unlike a normal sunscreen, it does not absorb UV light to prevent it entering the skin. Instead, it works inside the...

Hotels hop on the 'green' bandwagonBy Alfred Borcover, Special to the Chicago Tribune August 22, 2007 In case you haven't noticed, hotels are going green, doing their part to be ecologically friendly. You might call it the Al Gore effect, although the movement began before "An Inconvenient Truth" won an Academy Award this year. The green efforts go further than asking guests to use towels and bed linens more than once (as they do at home), to conserve water and avoid flushing more detergent-laden water into sewers. It's also more than replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs in...

ELIZABETH, Ind. - A Kentucky man who was playing slot machines at the Caesars Indiana casino claims he sat in a chair soaked with urine left by a gambler who had just exited the seat. Floyd Kibiloski, 60, of Fern Creek, Ky., filed a complaint with the Indiana Gaming Commission, saying a woman who had been playing the slot machine moments earlier had urinated in the chair at the southern Indiana casino. "My whole concern is that they fix this," he told The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky. "It's not apparent that they have anything in place to deal with this...

(CINCINNATI) -- A 90-year-old man has been arrested for public indecency at a local park. Leonard G. Dickman, of West Harrison, Ind. was arrested Tuesday afternoon at Mount Airy Forest. According to the arrest report, Dickman was arrested while sitting in his red Kia Rio and exposed his private parts by raising the leg of his shorts. Dickman is also accused of touching an undercover officer.

LIMA, Peru — Carmen Gonzalez plucks one of the 50 frogs from the aquarium at her bus stop restaurant, bangs it against tiles to kill it and then makes two incisions along its belly and peels off the skin as if husking corn. She's preparing frog juice, a beverage revered by some Andean cultures for having the power to cure asthma, bronchitis, sluggishness and a low sex drive. A drink of so-called "Peruvian Viagra" sells for about 90 cents. Gonzalez adds three ladles of hot, white bean broth, two generous spoonfuls of honey, raw aloe vera plant and several tablespoons...

Anheuser-Busch has rolled out three fruit-flavored versions of its Michelob Ultra brand. The three flavors - Pomegranate Raspberry, Lime Cactus and Tuscan Orange Grapefruit - will be available through Labor Day.

When school officials announce the name of the Fresno High School prom king on Saturday, Cinthia Covarrubias will be wearing a tuxedo just like the six boys vying for the honor. School officials this week added the 17-year-old's name to the ballot for prom king, reversing a previous district policy that allowed only males to run for king and females for prom queen. Gay youth advocates called it a landmark victory for campus gender expression and said they believe it's the first time in the U.S. that an openly transgender student has run for prom royalty. Covarrubias, who wears black-and-white...

The Clintons are back on war footing, and Harold Ickes is back at the center of things. Ickes is technically a volunteer for the campaign known as Hillary for President. His title, carefully chosen in a world with intricate internal politics, is "Adviser to the Campaign Manager." "I jokingly refer to myself as the Assistant Sanitation Commissioner," ... But Ickes, 67, is a legendary figure in Democratic politics, a pedigreed political street fighter known for both his loyalty and his abiding grudges. The son of a key adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he came up in New York City's...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel has offered assistance to hundreds of Palestinian Authority Arabs affected by a flood of raw sewage that swept through a Bedouin village in the northern Gaza Strip Tuesday afternoon. Defense Minister Amir Peretz instructed the IDF to prepare for the possibility of evacuating the injured to Israeli hospitals. The village, Umm Nasser, is near Beit Lahiya and less than a kilometer from the Gaza Strip border with Israel. At least 25 houses in the 200-family village were immediately swamped when the local sewage system's cesspool wall collapsed and pipes burst. Between six and nine people are reported dead,...

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) slipped in a compliment — of sorts — about a fellow 2008 hopeful during his appearances on the Iowa stump last weekend. “I want to wait and hear what John Edwards has to say, he’s kind of good-looking,” Obama envisioned Iowa caucus-goers from the small town of Clinton telling themselves. During an appearance in West Burlington, Iowa, the phrase appeared again, this time with Edwards as “kind of cute.” One Edwards supporter was nonplussed by the reference, coming as Obama stresses rising above petty politics and chafes at press attention to his own good looks. “Substance...

There's an alternative to fish for some Michigan Catholics abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent -- muskrat. The custom of eating muskrat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays in Lent apparently goes back to the early 1800s, the time of Father Gabriel Richard, an early missionary in Michigan whose flock included French-Canadian trappers. Legend has it that because trappers and their families were going hungry not eating flesh during Lent, he allowed them to eat muskrat, with the reasoning that the mammal lives in the water. The story varies on just where in Michigan the dispensation extends. Among areas mentioned...

Natural oils gave young boys breasts 22:00 31 January 2007 NewScientist.com news service Andy Coghlan Three young boys grew breast tissue after exposure to lotions and shampoos containing lavender or tea tree oil, researchers say. It is not uncommon for boys to develop breast tissue during puberty or just after, but the boys affected by the plant oils were aged four, seven and 10. The natural oils may be “gender-bending” chemicals mimicking effects of the female hormone, oestrogen, the findings suggest. The boys were otherwise normal, and lost the breast tissue within months of discontinuing use of the products. Researchers...

OLD TOWN, Maine — When members of the Bare Nekkid Mainers rent the Old Town Bowling Center, all they really need are the shoes. "Hey, you can't go skinny-dipping at this time of year," Hessa, who organizes the gatherings and wanted to be identified only by her first name, told the Bangor Daily News. Self-described naturist nudists, the Bare Nekkid Mainers belong to an international organization and participate in nudist events throughout the year. The group used to bowl in Albion, but their venue there closed. During the three events held at the Old Town center since September, the one-story...

Vegetarian alternatives to traditional holiday favorites are becoming increasingly popular and profitable by Rebecca Reisner With Thanksgiving upon us, the folks who make the vegetarian poultry alternative known as "Tofurky" have good reason to flap their wings. Having survived sitcom jokes and glacially slow initial sales, Turtle Island Foods is celebrating the sale of its 1 millionth Tofurky roast since the product was hatched in 1995. "At first, retailers didn't believe anyone was crazy enough to make a whole Tofurky roast for Thanksgiving," recalls Seth Tibbott, founder of Turtle Island Foods, located in Hood River, Ore. "The first one served...

Three years after the Food and Drug Administration first hinted that it might permit the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, prompting public reactions that ranged from curiosity to disgust, the agency is poised to endorse marketing of the mass-produced animals for public consumption.

Bandages containing fluids secreted by maggots could help accelerate the body's healing process, research suggests.

A US halloween festival has sparked a row by offering free admission to anyone who eats a live, Madagascar hissing cockroach.The stunt by the annual Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom's Fright Fest in Louisville has been met with protests of both child and animal cruelty. Some say it targets poor children and is a form of child abuse, while an animal rights group says it's cruel to cockroaches. But the amusement park claims to have received only a "minimal number of complaints" and has no intentions of canceling it, said park spokeswoman Carolyn Gaeta McLean. "People complaining are not going to...

Millions of anchovies — a protected species in Europe — have died in northern Spain after an unexplained mass beaching, officials said Friday. The fish, all juveniles, were found stranded along large stretches of Colunga beach, 35 miles east of the port city of Gijon, a normally pristine seaside landscape in the verdant province of Asturias. "More than three tons have been found so far, and our main — untested — hypothesis at the moment is that they tried to flee from predators and accidentally beached," said Luis Laria, chief coordinator of a marine protection unit working with the government....