Free Republic

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A federal grand jury has indicted the environmental group Greenpeace and 11 people involved in hanging a banner on Mount Rushmore. Greenpeace has said three of its members hung the 65-by-35-foot banner calling for a stop to global warming July 8 while others blocked access to the site.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial's famous stone carvings of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt are about to receive a sculpted visitor: a massive bust of Barack Obama. According to Black Hills Today, the statue is made of steel and concrete, tops 20 feet tall and weighs roughly 12 tons. Crafted by artist David Adickes of Houston, Texas, the Obama bust left Adickes' sculpture center earlier this month, shipped in two pieces on the back of a truck , making its way along a 10-state, 40-city tour. The statue has been spotted in St. Louis, took a rest in Chicago's...

Barack Obama seems to know as much about movies as he does foreign policy: [Obama] did express curiosity about the filming of a chase scene in “North by Northwest,” Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 classic starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint that included a death-defying scramble over Rushmore’s presidential faces. “How did they get up there in the first place?” he asked ranger Wesley Jensen. “They didn’t. It was a movie set,” Jensen told him. Methinks the park ranger deserves a merit award for not using the word, “duh.” Five Feet of Fury has other Obama questions about the movies:...

LITTLE CHUTE, Wis. - A cheese carver has accomplished a task that's a real "Muenster" — or make that a "monster" — in size. Troy Landwehr used his carving tools to turn a 700-pound block of Land O' Lakes cheddar into a replica of Mount Rushmore. The cheese carver and winemaker was commissioned by Cheez-It snack crackers to make the monumental carving. He's heading to New York City in coming days to appear on TV and promote the work on Times Square. Then the carving hits the road on a publicity tour, while Landwehr heads home to Little Chute. The...

Tourism boycott of South Dakota urged Proposed abortion law sparks furor State flooded with calls — pro and con Mar. 20, 2006. 01:00 AM CHET BROKAW ASSOCIATED PRESS PIERRE, S.D.—The superintendent of Mount Rushmore was surprised at first when people from all over the country started calling to express their opinion about South Dakota's ban on nearly all abortions. Some callers said they were so upset they would never visit Mount Rushmore, South Dakota's No. 1 tourist attraction. Others said they were so thrilled they would make a point of coming to see the chiselled faces of four U.S. presidents...

PIERRE, S.D. - The superintendent of Mount Rushmore was surprised at first when people from all over the country started calling up to express their opinion about South Dakota's ban on nearly all abortions. Some callers said they were so upset that they would never visit Mount Rushmore, South Dakota's No. 1 tourist attraction. Others said they were so thrilled that they would make a point of coming to see the chiseled faces of four U.S. presidents in the Black Hills. On further reflection, Superintendent Gerard Baker decided that the messages from far and wide made sense, because Mount Rushmore...

Stay out of South Dakota. That's the message one pro-choice group has for its supporters. The Wisconsin-based Women's Medical Fund is calling for a boycott of South Dakota tourism if Governor Mike Rounds signs a bill banning most abortions. It's the state's second largest industry, but South Dakota tourism could see a drop in visitors who don't support a ban on abortion. Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Women's Medical Fund says, "Women across the country and those who believe in women's rights need to act immediately to let South Dakotans know that we will bypass South Dakota, that we can...

Sometimes I don't know how these things happen. I was wondering what I should post as the picture this week, and the phrase "needle's eye" occurred to me. I visualized a vague image of a formation called the Needle's Eye from my youth on a family trip. So I searched, and I found the "Needle's Eye" in the Black Hills. This is probably the one I'm remembering, since we took a trip to the Black Hills when I was a kid, and it seems to match my vague memory. (See the first comment for the challenge.) For a different perspective,...

Call it a makeover of monumental proportions. A crew began a project Thursday to wash the granite faces of Mount Rushmore to remove decades of dirt, grime and lichens that can damage the complexion of the four presidents. The workers began scaling the mountain and offered a demonstration of the pressure washing on Thursday, and plan to start the full-scale cleaning Friday. The job could take five weeks. Thorsten Mowes, a technician with the German company leading the project, started the demonstration Thursday by spraying the left side of Thomas Jefferson's forehead with a stream of pressurized water. He also...

WASHINGTON - As the first anniversary of Ronald Reagan's death approaches, backers are pushing to keep the former president's name alive across the nation - immortalized on schools, parks, coins and even Mount Rushmore.

Delivered 20 Jan., 2005, at a rally on Pennsylvania Ave. by John Armor, in Washington, D.C. Today, a President will be sworn in in time of war. President Bush will be the President of all Americans, not just of those who support him. He will be the President even for the blind fools who will, in their ignorance, seek to disrupt the parade that will pass down this street in a few hours. Four great Presidents are depicted on Mount Rushmore. Three of them served two terms. One, Theodore Roosevelt, took office after his predecessor was assassinated, and served almost...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio state representative wants to see President Ronald Reagan's image added to Mount Rushmore. Rep. Ron Young, R-Painesville, introduced a resolution Monday requesting Congress to add the former president's image to the South Dakota landmark. Reagan died Saturday at the age of 93. He was the nation's 40th president, and is credited with putting an end to the Cold War with the Soviet Union. "During the years of President Reagan, America laid to rest an era of division and self-doubt. Because of his leadership, the world laid to rest an era of fear and tyranny," Young...

A prediction or a threat? As the plane carrying the late President Reagan arrived back at Point Mugu Naval Air Station on Friday afternoon, Ted Koppel made it clear he was appalled at the suggestion that Reagan was the "greatest President of the 20th century," complaining that would mean "hopscotching him past Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt." Koppel predicted, or threatened, that if Reagan's "supporters try to raise to him to the very heights there, and perhaps find a place for him on Mount Rushmore," that the "controversial President" who had "fairly contentious issues" in his presidency which "we've...

MOUNT RUSHMORE 2008 Let's REALLY honor the Gipper and get his face and achievements carved in stone! JEFF

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio state representative wants to see President Ronald Reagan's image added to Mount Rushmore. Rep. Ron Young, R-Painesville, introduced a resolution Monday requesting Congress to add the former president's image to the South Dakota landmark. Reagan died Saturday at the age of 93. He was the nation's 40th president, and is credited with putting an end to the Cold War with the Soviet Union. "During the years of President Reagan, America laid to rest an era of division and self-doubt. Because of his leadership, the world laid to rest an era of fear and tyranny," Young...