Free Republic

TORONTO — A little over a week ago, the literary world was lauding novelist Stephenie Meyer, a Mormon stay-at-home mother, as the new J.K. Rowling amid the excitement surrounding the release of the fourth instalment in her "Twilight" teen fiction series, "Breaking Dawn." Today, the bestselling book is the subject of a backlash that's prompted a group in the United States to organize a "return your book" protest. On Amazon's U.S. website, a group of readers, led by a one-time bookstore employee, is urging former fans to return their copies of "Breaking Dawn" in order to deprive Meyer of royalties...

Pardubice, East Bohemia, July 11 (CTK) - Archaeologists have uncovered a 4000-year-old grave in Mikulovice, east Bohemia, with remains of what might have been considered a vampire at the time, Nova TV has reported. The experts made the terrifying find within their research of a burial site from the Early Bronze Age. One of the graves was situated somewhat aside. The skeleton in it bears traces of unusual treatment. When buried, the dead man was weighed down with two big stones, one on his chest and the other on his head. "Remains treated in this way are now considered as...

Has a mythical beast turned up in Texas? By ELIZABETH WHITE, Associated Press Writer August 31, 2007 Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra. "It is one ugly creature," Canion said, holding the head of the...

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it's time to replace an "on your own" society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity. The Democratic senator said what the Bush administration touts as an "ownership society" really is an "on your own" society that has widened the gap between rich and poor. "I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she said. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."...

An elderly woman was lynched after villagers accused her of being an evil spirit who drinks the blood of human babies. Police in Guyana, South America, say they have arrested three people and are questioning several others over the killing. The victim's remains were found in a village 15 miles east of the capital Georgetown. The mob apparently believed she was an "Old Higue" - a vampire in the local Obeah religion that blends folk magic and African rituals. She was beaten to death with a broom and her body circled with white rice to imprison the evil spirit. A...

The 2008 presidential bid just got a little more challenging for the race’s only satanic vampire candidate. Jonathon “The Impaler” Sharkey, a 42-year-old New Jersey man who is running under the Vampire, Witches and Pagan Party, is currently being investigated by the Secret Service for potential threats toward President George W. Bush. According to Sharkey, Secret Service agents visited him and his 19-year-old wife, Spree, in Ohio on Feb. 15. The visit concerned Sharkey’s repeated remarks about impaling Bush, an act Sharkey said he would only do if he were elected president. “They never even asked to see my impaling...

SLOBA THE VAMPIRE Man Drives Stake In Grave Of Slobodan Milosevic Be careful or Milosevic will get you from his grave, the police told the man who had driven a stake through Milosevic's grave. On Saturday, Miroslav Milosevic, a well known member of the Resistance from Pozarevac, invaded the grave of Slobodan Milosevic through his neighbour's courtyard and put up a hawthorn stake, report Serbian media. The time of vampiresHe visited Milosevic's grave twice that Saturday: the first time at 1 A.M., when he wrote the following words in the Book of Memory: "Dark to dark, he is buried...

Dracula's castle on sale for 60 mln euros Bucharest (ANTARA News) - Bran Castle, better known as Dracula's Castle, has been put up for sale for 60 million euros (75.6 million dollars) and local authorities in Romania are considering buying it, officials said Wednesday. "Bran Castle is very important for our province's tourism industry. We have set up a commission with five members of the council that will examine the possibility of buying it," Aristotel Cancescu, president of Brasov province's council, was quoted by AFP as saying. The castle was returned in December 2006 to Dominic Habsburg, the grandson of...

Freepers, take a look at this photo...someone back in '04 photoshopped this pic to make Kerry into a vampire, and saying something like "Oh sweet appeal...I drink thee up.." Can anyone post that?? Or any other hilarious Kerry stuff.

I.R.S. to Cut Tax AuditorsBy DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Published: July 23, 2006 The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others. The administration plans to cut the jobs of 157 of the agency’s 345 estate tax lawyers, plus 17 support personnel, in less than 70 days. Kevin Brown, an I.R.S. deputy commissioner, confirmed the cuts after The...

== THE HISTORICAL DRACULA: VLAD III TEPES, 1431-1476 == == I. Historical Background == M ost of you ("the members of this list", R.P.'92, -Ed.) are probably aware of the fact that when Bram Stoker penned his immortal classic, Dracula, he based his vampire villian on an actual historical figure. Stoker's model was Vlad III Dracula (called Tepes, pronounced tse-pesh); a fifteenth century viovode, or prince, of Wallachia of the princely House of Basarab. Wallachia is a provence of Romania bordered to the north by Transylvania and Moldavia, to the east by the Black Sea and to the south by...

By Claudia Parsons NEW YORK (Reuters) - The third vampire musical to try its luck on Broadway in four years drew all the familiar puns in scathing reviews Thursday that said "Lestat" was "bloody awful," "sucked of life" and the "kiss of death." "Lestat" was Hollywood studio Warner Bros.' first attempt to challenge Disney's dominance of the mass-market musical genre, reportedly with a budget of up to $12 million. Based on Anne Rice's vampire novels, the show features songs by Elton John and his writing partner, Bernie Taupin. Expectations had been low after a critically savaged trial run in San...

PRINCETON, Minn., Jan. 41 (UPI)-Self-described vampire and Minesota gubernatorial candidate Jonathan "The Impaler" Sharkey has been arrested on Indiana charges of stalking and escape.Sharkey is wanted in Indianapolis on the charges on which bond has been set at $100,000, the Princeton (Minn.) Union-Eagle reported.

Vampyre candidate for governor arrested MORA, Minn. -- A fringe candidate for governor who played up his satanic side — and pledged public impalement for terrorists — wound up behind bars today thanks to a sharp-eyed sheriff's dispatcher. Jonathon Sharkey, 41, of Princeton, was arrested Monday night on two felony counts from Indiana, said Mike Smith, the Mille Lacs County jail administrator. One warrant was for escape, another for stalking.

Jonathon Sharkey, a former professional wrestler and self-proclaimed vampire who is running for Governor of Minnesota will be on the show in the second half hour.

"To my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.” — novelist and New Orleans resident Anne Rice Let me get this straight. Ms. Rice, you live in (what was) a very attractive city which lies below sea...

A woman has been arrested in Ukraine after luring street children into her home for their blood. Diana Semenuha, 29, believed that drinking blood could fend off a muscle-wasting condition. She kept the children intoxicated on drugs and alcohol and bled them regularly, selling the surplus to other black magic practitioners. When the children grew weak, she dumped them back on the streets and lured replacements with the promise of a place to sleep and a hot meal. Police raided Semenuha's flat in the Black Sea port of Odessa after a tip-off. Olga Buravceva, a police spokesman, said: "The apartment...

READ THE LAWSUIT AT HILLCAP.ORG MIDI - TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART Hillary is dangerous She is very dangerous (Be afraid) Every day she's planning for that day that she will take the White House and her power back (Be afraid) Every day she calculates a new position and the next person she'll attack (Be afraid) Every day she works hard fooling voters that she is no Marxist (Be afraid) Every day she makes a clever move as she's getting just that much closer Be afraid...people Each and every day we're warning you Be afraid...people In 2008 we could...

Woman claims group planned sacrifice - A Brownsville mother said her son is involved in a teenage “vampire cult” that was recently planning to kill and bathe in their victim’s blood. Brownsville Independent School District police are investigating the claims though school district officials could not substantiate the woman’s story or her son’s allegations Tuesday. The 16-year-old boy provided a statement to school officials Thursday about an alleged drug purchase at Rivera High School and told them of his involvement with a group of local students who drink each other’s blood and were plotting to sacrifice a victim. In his...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Although most people think of bats as stealthy mammals that flit about in the night sky, at least one species has evolved a terrestrial trot never before seen in bats, according to a recent Cornell University study. It's known that the common vampire bats of Central and South America behave much more like four-legged terrestrial mammals, in that they like to walk around on the ground; other bat species fumble helplessly when left to walk. But researchers in Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine have discovered that these bats not only walk but run. The unprecedented gait of...

PAKDASHT, Iran: An Iranian serial killer convicted of kidnapping and murdering 21 people, most of them little boys, was publicly flogged and hanged south of Tehran on Wednesday before thousands of spectators. Mohammad Bijeh, branded "the vampire of the desert" in the Iranian press, was lashed 100 times, stabbed in the back by a furious brother of one victim before a blue nylon rope was placed around his neck by the mother of another murdered child. The 22-year-old killer, who remained calm and kept silent throughout the punishment, was then hauled into the air by a crane to cries from...

A MURDERER dubbed the vampire killer after he drank his best pal's blood and ate his skull has been found dead in prison. Allan Menzies, 23, was found hanged in his cell at Shotts Prison in Lanarkshire yesterday morning. He was jailed in October 2003 after being convicted of bludgeoning his friend to death. During his trial, the court heard he had drunk Thomas McKendrick's blood from a whisky glass and then eaten a part of his skull. Judge Roderick Macdonald QC branded Menzies an 'evil and dangerous psychopath' and recommended he serve at least 18 years in prison. The...

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Vice President Dick Cheney drew the loudest cheers on his first bus tour of the 2004 election campaign when he told audiences that trial lawyers wreck good companies, wipe out jobs and saddle doctors with costs they pass to patients. ``Lawsuits can ruin an honest business,'' Cheney said at a July 4 rally in Pittsburgh, part of a swing through Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia for President George W. Bush's re-election bid. ``It's a lot easier for America's businesses to hire workers when they know they don't have to keep hiring lawyers.'' Two days later, Democratic...

LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday tossed out a $21 million medical malpractice verdict against a Dearborn hospital, saying the jury had no basis for deciding that a doctor's error caused a baby to develop cerebral palsy and other neurological problems. The court, in a 6-1 ruling, overturned the judgment and ordered a lower court judge to enter a verdict in favor of Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn and the doctors involved. Justice Marilyn Kelly dissented. A Wayne County jury awarded the $21 million verdict in 1997, after Kimberly Craig sued, alleging her son, Antonio, then 13, was...

I have been a registered Democrat all my life. My family are from Arkansas via Tennessee, Kentucky and Virgina. My ancestors fought against Lincoln in the Civil War and the entire family has been Democrat ever since. But prior to that ... fought in the Revolutionary war. I believe in God and bear allegiance to America, liberty, freedom, and the Constitution of the United States of America - not some political party. And so for the last time I'm gonna tell you, this website is for the Constitution, not your bloodsucking party. In other words, kwitchyurbellyakin or bailthehellout!

Premier Bob Carr has a blunt message for the hundreds of Sydney lawyers out of work because of his Government's law reforms: "Get retrained and start another job." He was unmoved by the report that the entire 14th floor of Wardell Chambers in Martin Place, employing 23 barristers and support staff, will close its doors on December 31. Offering no apology for the jobs shake-out in law practices following his legislative assault on "the culture of litigation", Mr Carr said: "The fact is there will be fewer jobs for lawyers, but with their education they are well placed to go...

A VICAR tried to stop two Dracula fans terrorising him by writing them letters addressed "Dear Vampires", a court heard. Rev Chris Rowberry, 45, stuck the messages on the church noticeboard - and left the pair a book written by a Christian. He told a jury yesterday: "They wrote me letters signed 'Vampires' so that is how I addressed them. There was theological debate in our correspondence." The vicar said he was "frightened and distressed" at the hate campaign by self-styled vampires Scott Bower and Ben Lewis, who the court heard drank each other's blood. Harassment included late-night howling in...

BLANTYRE, Malawi (Reuters) - Hundreds of angry Malawians hounded a senior political figure from his house and stoned him late Wednesday, accusing him of harboring vampires. Blantire Urban Governor Eric Chiwaya, a member of the ruling United Democratic Front, was the latest victim of a bizarre rumor that the country's government is colluding with vampires to collect human blood for international aid agencies. Bearing severe cuts to his face and body, he told Reuters from his hospital bed that a crowd had hailed him with stones and other missiles, chanting "vampire" and threatening to kill him. Chiwaya said he knew...

<p>LONDON, England -- A British teenager has been jailed for 12 years for murdering his elderly neighbour and drinking her blood in a vampire ritual.</p> <p>Vampire-mad art student Mathew Hardman, 17, cut out Mabel Leyshon's heart after stabbing her 22 times at her home in Llanfairpwll, North Wales, last November.</p>

A man accused of murdering his lifelong friend and burying his body in a shallow grave has claimed he was ordered to do it by a character in a vampire movie. Allan Menzies, 22, told the High Court in Edinburgh he had become obsessed with the film Queen Of The Damned, in which the late US singer Aaliyah played the female vampire Akasha. He said he watched the film around 100 times in a few weeks and that afterwards he "wanted to go out and murder people". Menzies also said Akasha would visit him in the bedroom of his home...

<p>DALLAS (AP) - A substance in the saliva of vampire bats could prove to be a potent new treatment for strokes, an Australian scientist says.</p> <p>That same substance -- Desmodus rotundus salivary plasminogen activator, or DSPA -- might someday be given to stroke victims to dissolve clots and thereby limit brain damage, he said.</p>

Date: Posted 9/27/2002 "Vampire" Appliances -- They Suck Electricity Even When Switched Off -- Cost Consumers $3 Billion A Year, Says Cornell Energy Expert ITHACA, N.Y. -- The typical American home has 20 electrical appliances that bleed consumers of money. That's because the appliances continue to suck electricity even when they're off, says a Cornell University energy expert. His studies estimate that these so-called "vampire" appliances cost consumers $3 billion a year -- or about $200 per household. "Off doesn't mean off anymore, but standby," says Mark Pierce, a Cornell Cooperative Extension associate in the Department of Design and Environmental...

Man accused of assault on wife, her friend at festival LEBANON | A Warren County judge has rejected a Cincinnati man's plan to claim he dropped boxes, soda cans, drums and a sheathed dagger on his estranged wife and her lover at the Ohio Renaissance Festival last fall out of fear they were vampires. David R. Biren, 52, is charged with domestic violence and assault in Warren County Court. The trial, expected to take three days, began Monday after court officials said Judge James Heath barred Biren and his lawyer from claiming he was justified in using force against Kimberly...