Free Republic

Owners’ effort to go green suffers blackout HINGHAM — Greenhouse gases and melting polar ice caps were never pressing concerns for Hingham carpenter Ben Burnham. Still, Burnham found himself buying an electric-powered ZAP Xebra last month to do his small part for the environment. The three-wheeled vehicle has become a neighborhood oddity, a futuristic looking pickup truck with no tailpipe and a row of batteries instead of a gas tank. Drivers point cell phone cameras at Burnham as he zips nonchalantly past $4.19-a-gallon gas pumps, albeit at a top speed of 40 mph. But the state has put the...

<p>A woman who filmed the moment she was hit by lightning has spoken of her terror as the strike passed through her body.</p> <p>Jessica Lynch can be heard screaming in fear after the lightning blew a hole in the ground just feet from where she was recording, in astonishing footage posted on the internet.</p>

BOULDER, Colo. - It wasn't exactly pistols at 30 paces, but police say a security company supervisor and a restaurateur shot each other with Tasers in a "bonehead" confrontation over parking...

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTERS: Generation of Vipers

We've got some real challenges facing us. FR was established to fight against government corruption, overstepping, and abuse and to fight for a return to the limited constitutional government as envisioned and set forth by our founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and other founding documents. One of the biggest cases of government corruption, overstepping and abuse that I know of is its disgraceful headlong slide into a socialist hell. Our founders never intended for abortion to be the law of the land. And they never intended the Supreme Court to be a legislative body. They...

OCEANSIDE – Sheriff's deputies checking out a report of downed power lines early Thursday morning found the body of a man who had apparently been electrocuted. Authorities suspect the man was trying to steal copper wire contained in the energized transmission cables. The body was discovered just after 1 a.m. in an unincorporated area east of Oceanside near state Route 76 and Holly Lane, sheriff's officials said. When deputies arrived they found that two power lines had been cut and one of them was touching the man's body, which was lying on the ground. A ladder was leaning against the...

KAKAMIGAHARA, Gifu -- An aquarium filled with exotic fish here is using an electric eel to power lights on a Christmas tree. Each time the electric eel at the Aqua Toto Gifu aquarium touches a copper wire in its tank, it sends power that lights up globes decking a Christmas tree. Officials expect the "eel Christmas tree" to be a popular attraction for dating couples in the lead-up to Christmas Day, when the tree will be removed. Electric eels are capable of generating electricity in their bodies. They have notoriously poor eyesight and use electric shocks to stun prey so...

The University of Florida said today it has asked state law enforcement officials to investigate an incident in which campus police Tasered a student as he tried to question Sen. John Kerry during a forum. Andrew Meyer, 21, was arrested after being zapped with a stun gun last night. He was released this morning on his own recognizance. Video of the incident, posted on several Web sites, shows campus police officers pulling Meyer away from a microphone after the student loudly asks Kerry about impeaching President Bush and whether he and Bush both belonged to the secret society Skull and...

Should UPD drop its charges against Andrew Meyer? Click above link and page down to almost the bottom. This is "The Independent Florida Alligator" the campus newspaper.

GAINESVILLE - Police have released the incident report detailing the Tasering of a University of Florida student during a campus forum with Sen. John Kerry Monday, and the officer who actually Tasered Andrew Meyer wrote in the report that Meyer later told police, "You didn't do anything wrong." VIDEO HERE: University of Florida student Tasered at Kerry forum In the 12-page report, which gives accounts of the incident from the perspective of eight different officers who were present Monday afternoon, Officer Nicole Mallo writes that Meyer would only resist officers when cameras were present. "As (Meyer) was escorted down stairs...

Video of police Tasering a persistent questioner of Sen. John Kerry became an Internet and TV sensation Tuesday, generating fierce debate about free speech and the motives of the college student involved—a known prankster who often posts practical jokes online.

"University of Florida student Andrew Meyer struggles with University Police as officers try to remove him from a question and answer session with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, in Gainesville, Fla. Meyer, 21, was Tasered and arrested after he angrily and repeatedly tried to ask Kerry about the 2004 election and other subjects during a campus forum.""University of Florida student Andrew Meyer speaks with university police after being removed from a forum where Sen. John Kerry was speaking in Gainesville, Fla., Monday Sept. 17, 2007. Meyer, 21, was Tasered and arrested after he angrily and repeatedly tried...

A UF student was shot with a Taser gun today at a campus forum with U.S. Sen. John Kerry. Andrew Meyer, a telecommunication senior, yelled out to Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and insisted his questions be answered while police tried to restrain him. Meyer shouted that the senator should answer everyone’s questions. Kerry was brought to UF by Accent, Student Government’s speakers bureau. Kerry said it would "be fair" to answer Meyer’s question, and police allowed Meyer to approach one of the microphones set up in the University Auditorium. Kerry finished answering a previous question, which was intended to...

Islamabad (dpa) - At least 40 people were killed Friday and several other injured in lightening strikes in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), media reports said. Seventeen houses were also damaged in the lightning storm, which took place in Naashnamil village of mountainous upper Dir area of NWFP, Aaj news channel reported. There were fears the death toll would rise further as the local residents were still working to rescue people from the debris of the houses.

Manchester, New Hampshire - Was it a sign from above? Lightning zapped remarks by Republican presidential contender and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani during a debate Tuesday night, just as he began defending his pro-choice stand on abortion rights against criticism by a Roman Catholic bishop. 'I guess I'm here by myself,' Giuliani quipped after a loud buzz momentarily interrupted the sound system. He turned around, then looked skyward as the audience broke out laughing. 'For someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that's happening right now,' he said. Debate host...

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Georgia (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday unveiled what it called a revolutionary heat-beaming weapon that could be used to control mobs or repel foes in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. The so-called Active Denial System causes an intense burning sensation causing people to run for cover, but no lasting harm, officials said. "This is a breakthrough technology that's going to give our forces a capability they don't now have," Theodore Barna, an assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for advanced systems and concepts, told Reuters. "We expect the services to add it to their...

The state Supreme Court on Friday rejected an inmate's appeal that the electric chair amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, leaving Nebraska as still the only state with electrocution as its sole means of execution. No American court has ever ruled that electrocution amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. But as legal challenges were mounted against its use, others states adopted alternative methods of execution, primarily lethal injection. "Nebraska ... now is alone in the United States, actually in the whole world, in still requiring electrocution," Carey Dean Moore's lawyer, Alan Peterson, argued to the court. "Nebraska is the last...

A Sumter man was severely burned late Sunday night after he reportedly climbed an electrical pole to try and steal copper wire. Authorities said Herbert Wayne Odom, 34, of 306 E. Charlotte Ave. was taken to Tuomey Regional Medical Center and later flown by helicopter to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Ga., following the 9:30 p.m. incident. "There's fluid around his heart, and he's burnt up pretty good," said a man who only wanted to be identified as Odom's brother. "We're not sure if he's going to make it." His condition could not be determined as of...

(Wild bird escapes from empty home after face-off...) A wayward turkey created havoc after smashing through a window of a home on the city's southwest side, eventually prompting the police to resort to a Taser to get the bird to leave. Officers Chad Joswiak and Daniel Borth were called to the home at about 4:45 p.m. on April 7 after motion detectors set off an alarm. Steve Hird, the son of the couple who own the home, said the officers found a nearly 2-foot-wide hole in the 24-inch-by-50-inch window "smack dab in the middle." The bird flew at enough force...

A team of scientists from Old Dominion University and Eastern Virginia Medical School has reported killing melanoma s in mice using lightning-fast, high-powered jolts of electricity. The researchers expect their paper to be placed online Wednesday in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications . It's the culmination of at least eight years of work seeking possible health benefits from short, high-voltage doses of electricity. The results, the researchers think , eventually could translate into an effective cancer treatment that carries no side effects. "We've never had a tumor that didn't respond," said the lead researcher, Richard Nuccitelli , an...

A laser has blasted to a new energy level, a milestone that picks up the pace for moving them from the lab onto the battlefield. Northrop Grumman announced November 9 that the company’s solid-state laser being built for the military has fired one of the most powerful beams yet produced by an electric laser. The advancement stems from a military effort to leap frog speed-of-light technology under the Joint High Power Solid-State Laser (JHPSSL) demonstration program. The solid-state laser churned out more than 27 kilowatts of energy with a run time of 350 seconds. In a separate test, the company...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building. Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woollen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together. When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria on Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet. "It sounded almost like a firecracker", Clewer told Australian...

Last Update: Friday, September 16, 2005. 12:18pm (AEST) Man builds up 30,000 volts of static electricity Victorian authorities believe a man built up at least 30,000 volts of static electricity in his jacket simply by walking around the western Victorian city of Warrnambool yesterday. The man left a trail of scorch marks and molten plastic behind him. It was yesterday afternoon when Frank Clewer walked into a Warrnambool business and got his first shock. "It sounded almost like a firecracker or something like that," he said. "It was at the reception area. Within say, around five minutes, the carpet started...

Breaking in DFW, Texas Rangers Pitcher Kenny Rodgers attacks Fox Reporter and others. Did anyone in the DFW area just see it on the news? Reporters have the right to be on the field.. He totally lost his cool. One reporter left on a stretcher. Charges will be filed.

Criminal charges are not warranted against Pacifica police officers who repeatedly applied stun-gun shocks to a combative, cocaine-intoxicated suspect who later died, the San Mateo County district attorney said Friday. Gregory Saulsbury Jr.'s family has filed a $30 million federal lawsuit claiming that police violated his civil rights. District Attorney Jim Fox said his independent review concluded that the three officers struggling to subdue Saulsbury, whom authorities characterized as violent and out of control, "performed at the highest standard of law enforcement in a very difficult and dangerous situation."

Long story, but given the apparent end of democracy in America, and the open hostility to persons of the Christian Faith, and given History over the past 200 years or so, How can one be sure, or even 50% sure that an org such as Free Republic is legitimate? It would seem plausible that this group is merely another plant. Someone help me out here. zapp

A rock chip this isn't! How about a lightning bolt! It's what's left of a Salt Lake woman's windshield after lightning struck as she was driving down a highway. Lightning is the number one natural killer in Utah so she's lucky to be alive, and what a story she has. One minute she's driving down the highway, the next she's pulled over after lightning ripped through her car. If the chances of getting struck by lightning are slim, then getting hit two times should be near impossible. That means Aline Devaud of Millcreek shouldn't ever have to worry about it...

Sanford man dies when tasered by police By KRISTEN REED Staff WriterDELAND -- A 30-year-old Sanford man died Sunday night after being tasered during an altercation with police here. DeLand Police Chief Ed Overman said the man, whose name had not yet been released this afternoon, was considered a burglar suspect and he fled when approached by police in the downtown area. The man jumped onto the second-story awning of a building and later broke a window with his bare hands to enter. Overman said two officers followed him inside where a struggle ensued and the man had to be...

GILLESPIE -- Authorities admit they had to resort to a Taser to subdue a cat in a manner that is making fur fly around town. Gillespie Police Chief Rick Hearn said Thursday morning that a cat fight ended earlier this month with one cat being Tasered then shot to death by police officers. Hearn, who said his officers’ response was appropriate given the circumstances, said the incident began at 9:12 p.m. Feb. 9 when dispatch notified his son, part-time Gillespie police officer Rob Hearn, of a cat fight at the home of George Mull. Rob Hearn called the Mull house...

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — A 12-year-old boy stabbed his sister in the arm in an argument over a chicken pot pie, authorities said. The boy is charged as a juvenile with assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, said Robert A. Holmes, senior assistant Isabella County prosecutor. The alleged attack took place Monday evening at the siblings' home in Mount Pleasant. "They were having a brother-sister argument," Officer Michael G. Covarrubias told The Saginaw News for a story Wednesday. "This is going to make them sound stupid, but they were...

Two police officers pointed their weapons at a man in St. Paul who was shouting at them, "Shoot me, kill me, I want to die." One officer aimed a gun, the other a Taser. The officer with the Taser shot, sending 50,000 volts of electricity into the man, knocking him over and enabling his arrest. It marked the first of four lives that St. Paul police believe were saved since they started using Tasers more than 10 months ago. In total, officers shot Tasers 151 times from the first use Feb. 22 to the end of the year. Police say...

LENA HORNE ZAPS JANET Mon Feb 23, 7:00 PM ET MICHAEL FLEMING and JOSEF ADALIAN (Variety) In the latest ripple caused by Janet Jackson (news)'s Super Bowl exposure, the singer has abruptly withdrawn from an ABC biopic about Lena Horne (news) ---putting the project in limbo. Storyline Entertainment partners Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have ankled as exec producers in solidarity with Jackson, who was due to play Horne. A spokeswoman for Jackson said she was effectively dis-invited from the movie by Horne and her daughter Gail Lumet Buckley, who were incensed when Jackson flashed during the halftime show. Horne...

PALATKA, Fla. -- A classroom disturbance in Palatka Monday ended with a student being tasered by a school resource officer. The officer said he was trying to arrest the 14-year-old girl when she put up a fight, then he shocked her. .........Snip According to the resource officer's report: "I deployed my taser … to her chest. [She] continued to struggle. … I touched [her] a second time on her back with my taser and attempted to place her on her stomach. [She] then jumped to her feet and pushed her teacher to the ground and began to run. …I then...

BEWARE OF WEAR Inventor: Adam Whiton and Yolita Nugent Ready for a shocking fashion statement? The No-Contact Jacket may look pretty fly, but it's also a piece of serious personal-defense technology. If the wearer feels threatened in any way, she (so far it's only for women) can activate a switch in either palm that blasts an 80,000-volt electrical pulse through the jacket's material. That's enough to knock anybody back a few paces. Powered by a regular 9-volt battery, the No-Contact Jacket is fully insulated, so the wearer won't feel a thing. Even when it's not in use, it crackles with...

NOTE: while the political left hysterically calls our president a Nazi, war criminal, etc., we are able to attack them through humor and mocking. Smile and sing. http://miditrax.com/xmasmidis.htm MIDI - ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH All I want for Hillary's a lightning bolt...a lightning bolt...ZAP! a lightning boltAll I want for Hillary's a lightning bolt…now, that would be a Merry Christmas She traveled where our soldiers are...their commander she was badly dissingIf she gets lit up by a bolt, on her I won't be ****ing All I want for Hillary's a lightning bolt...a lightning bolt...ZAP!...

<p>BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- A strong geomagnetic storm was expected to hit Earth on Friday with the potential to affect electrical grids and satellite communications.</p> <p>One of the largest sunspot clusters in years developed over the past three days and produced a coronal mass ejection, similar to a solar flare, at 3 a.m. EDT Wednesday, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.</p>

A Sheriff's Officer Is Injured During A Demonstration Of The Electronic Weapon. Wisconsin State Journal Saturday, April 19, 2003 Ed Treleven Wisconsin State Journal When the Dane County Sheriff's Office invited the media to eyeball two new electronic restraint devices Friday, nobody was supposed to get hurt. But Sgt. Krist Boldt struck his head on a floor at the Dane County Public Safety Building after Sgt. Pat Price gave him a 50,000-volt shock during a demonstration of a Taser, an electronic weapon designed to temporarily disable a person. The blow sent Boldt to a local hospital, where he received...

This is huge. It means that Scott's boat was NEVER LAUNCHED.