Free Republic

PHILADELPHIA -- Strangers passing by a goofy, dancing scarecrow were unsuspecting, believing it was a rare, cute photo opportunity for the Halloween season. What these people didn't know was that underneath this seemingly harmless, silly scarecrow costume was actually a vicious, terrifying zombie. Take a look below.

Progressive radio host and frequent MSNBC guest, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, appeared on MSNBC with Thomas Roberts on Tuesday where he dug into Republican efforts to deflect criticism that state-level voter identification laws are designed to disenfranchise minority voters. Hutchinson said that racially insensitive attacks on President Barack Obama appeal to the GOP’s base voters, personified by a rodeo clown who was recently criticized for wearing an Obama mask. “The relentless racial assault on Obama has been the one unyielding constant from the moment that Obama declared his presidential candidacy in 2007,” Hutchinson recently wrote on his blog. Asked to...

Missouri State Fair officials have banned for life the rodeo clown who wore a President Obama mask while facing bulls at the event over the weekend.The clown in question engaged in an “unconscionable stunt” and will never perform at the Show Me state venue again, the Missouri State Fair Commission said Monday, in a statement. Fair officials are also reviewing their contract with the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association, the contractor responsible for hiring and overseeing bull ring clowns. The performance was “inappropriate and not in keeping with the Fair’s standards," said the statement. The fair did not reveal the clown’s...

With projections of 9.5 billion people by 2050, humankind faces the challenge of feeding modern diets to additional mouths while using the same amounts of water, fertilizer and arable land as today. Cornell researchers have taken a leap toward meeting those needs by discovering a gene that could lead to new varieties of staple crops with 50 percent higher yields. The gene, called Scarecrow, is the first discovered to control a special leaf structure, known as Kranz anatomy, which leads to more efficient photosynthesis. Plants photosynthesize using one of two methods: C3, a less efficient, ancient method found in most...

A Halloween display at a home in Brooklyn has been taken down after some called it a symbol of racism. A scarecrow painted to have dark skin was hanging by a rope from a tree in front of a home in Kensington. Some neighbors say the homeowner gets in the spirit of Halloween every year and believe he meant no harm by the display. But one councilman argued it was reminiscent of a lynching. “It’s unacceptable,” said Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn). “You ain’t speaking for this whole community because some people on this block came by and said it was offensive....

In case the rest of the media didn't get the memo - the plan is say the name "Boehner" so many times that people start understanding who this guy is. Boehner, Boehner, Boehner.

Finally! Dark Night of the Scarecrow DVD! Now here's some truly great news. Deadpit.com's "Creepy Kentuckian" is reporting that the classic (and largely unseen by today's audiences) 1981 made-for-TV fright flick Dark Night of the Scarecrow is at long last getting the DVD and Blu-Ray treatment. About damn time! Dark Night of the Scarecrow is a genuinely creepy horror movie about a mentally handicapped young man (Larry Drake, Dr. Giggles) wrongfully accused of assaulting a young girl in a rural farm community who is then hunted down by a lynch mob led by legendary character actor Charles Durning. The frightened...

CHEESY crooner Barry Manilow was unveiled yesterday as a weapon in the fight against teen mobs. Council chiefs say shops should pump out uncool songs such as Barry’s Mandy to scare kids away. The Local Government Association found this was a big hit in Australia and drew up a hit-list of bad-taste tunes. The move came as Children’s Commissioner Sir Al Aynsley-Green called to ban the Mosquito device, which emits a high-pitched sound that only under-25s can hear. THE NAFF TOP FIVE: 1. Mandy – Barry Manilow; 2. Please Release Me – Engelbert Humperdinck

Just announced on the FNC.

       Hillary wasn't done giving us her mad moments in her Aspen Ideas Festival speech (and don't think Mad wouldn't have a field day with the concept of an Ideas Festival, either). Later in her remarks, she delivered this eye-popping economic analysis for the Colorado audience: "Ours will be the last generation to rely so exclusively on fossil fuels." She added that the "ups and downs of the global oil market cost the U.S. economy $7 trillion last year . . . almost enough to pay off our entire national debt." Seven trillion dollars? That would surprise most...

Welcome to the ongoing vanity saga of my new backyard Koi Pond. A while back, I created a frantic post after discovering that Great Blue Herons were eating my Koi, so I asked FReepers for advice. Later, after installing a "Scarecrow", an infra-red, motion detecting, water sprinkler, I created a second post describing my success in using this device to ward off the Herons and preserve my expensive fish. During that thread, some folks requested that I post some pictures of my newest pond. So, after picking up a very cheap digital camera on Ebay, I started taking pictures. I...

<p>As the Democratic presidential contenders turn their gaze towards New Hampshire, all kinds of theories are being used to explain John Kerry's stunning upset in Iowa.</p> <p>One is that his latest campaign ad, which drummed home his exploits as a war hero, was what won over the voters. Another is that by the time he got to Iowa he'd gotten better on the stump. Still another is that his organization was a lot better than people realized. And, of course, many believe that Howard Dean simply imploded there.</p>