Free Republic

An alligator creeping through a Florida neighborhood had to be rescued after it became stuck in a storm drain. The 8-foot-long reptile dove into the roadside drain in Largo, Fla., head first on Friday, according to a news release from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office said they were alerted to the distressed gator, which was lurking three blocks from an elementary school, by a passerby, who saw the dark green body sticking out of the drainage opening.

Independence, Mo. (AP) -- Police responding to a rare alligator sighting in suburban Kansas City took quick action to dispatch of the beast, shooting it in the head, as instructed, while it lurked menacingly in the weeds leading down to a pond. It wasn't until a second rifle shot bounced off the reptile's head that the officers realized they had mortally wounded a concrete lawn ornament.

To those who think of the Dixie Chicks as "fascists" for putting down the ignorant fool whose "election" fell off a truck in true "Sopranos" fashion, I submit a quote from Huey Long in 1933: "Fascism WILL come to America, but perhaps under another name. It'll be called anti-fascism." If you voted for this guy, you're part of the problem. Look in the mirror and consider yourself responsible for the hatred we've rightfully engendered all over the world. Better yet, get out your passport (if you even have one!) and see for yourself!

The Bush administration, in developing a potential approach for toppling President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, is concentrating its attention on a major air campaign and ground invasion, with initial estimates contemplating the use of 70,000 to 250,000 troops. The administration is turning to that approach after concluding that a coup in Iraq would be unlikely to succeed and that a proxy battle using local forces there would be insufficient to bring a change in power. But senior officials now acknowledge that any offensive would probably be delayed until early next year, allowing time to create the right military, economic and...