Free Republic

President Barack Obama sees the presidential contest as a clutch moment in his favorite sporting moment -- the fourth quarter of a taut basketball game. "But the other side is coming strong," Obama said. "And they play a little dirty. We've got a few folks on our team in foul trouble. We have a couple of injuries. And I believe they have one last run in them." Obama raised $3 million with the help of the players, who included former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan and former Knicks Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley. NBA Commissioner David Stern also was there....

The mayor of Boston is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city after the company's president spoke out publicly against gay marriage. Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald on Thursday that he doesn't want a business in the city "that discriminates against a population." Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press this week that his privately owned company is "guilty as charged" in support of what he called the biblical definition of the family. The fast-food chicken sandwich chain later said that it strives to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect --...

My sons school is transitioning to a charter school this school year and I don't know too much about charter schools. The advantages or disadvantages. I've been looking up information on the internet but I was hoping that maybe someone could tell me in plain English what Charter Schools are actually all about.

I'm getting closer and closer to believing that we are now just waiting for God to end the world. More and more I find myself HOPING that God will come soon to end all of this. Having two sons makes it even harder because how could I want the end of the world when I have two beautiful sons who I want to watch grow? How can I have two sons grow in this society is also an alarming cause for scare. Our government is making decisions on when it's okay to kill a baby, our president is giving praise...

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has set its sights on iconic video game character Mario for wearing fur in Nintendo’s latest 3DS game Super Mario 3D Land. Since the game launched Sunday, the organization has launched a scathing online campaign entitled “Mario Kills Tanooki.” In Nintendo's new game, Mario sometimes dons the skin of a tanooki, which is a Japanese raccoon dog. “Tanooki may be just a suit in the game, but in real life tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur,” PETA’s site states. “By wearing a Tanooki, Mario...

Kanye West visited Occupy Wall Street in a $355 Givenchy shirt topped with wearing gold grills and chains. Alec Baldwin claims he supports Occupy Wall Street, but makes big bucks starring in commercials for Capital One Bank. Numerous other celebrities who annually pull in multiples of the average American salary also say they sympathize with the plight of the so-called 99 percent. So are the stars who say they support the Occupy Wall Street movement some of the cause’s heroes, or are they hypocrites? Producer and hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, who brought West to the protests at Liberty Square/Zuccotti...

Scores on the critical reading portion of the SAT college entrance exam fell three points to their lowest level on record last year, and combined reading and math scores reached their lowest point since 1995. The College Board, which released the scores Wednesday, said the results reflect the record number of students from the high school class of 2011 who took the exam and the growing diversity of the test-taking pool -- particularly Hispanics. As more students aim for college and take the exam, it tends to drag down average scores. Still, while the three-point decline to 497 may look...

Days before the 10th anniversary of 9/11 a leader from a group in Massachusetts is calling on public schools in one town to ban students from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, saying it has no educational value and the pressure it places on children to participate makes his “skin crawl,” The Boston Globe reported. Martin Rosenthal, the co-chair of Brookline Political Action for Peace, or Brookline Pax, told the paper the pledge puts “kids in an uncomfortable situation” and doesn’t belong in schools. The group, therefore, will ask town meeting voters in November to pass a nonbinding resolution on the...

About 30,000 college students are getting a real-world lesson in economics after cash-hungry Michigan kicked them off of food stamps to save roughly $75 million per year. Under the new rules, only single moms and students who work 20 hours a week may be able to keep their benefits, MyFoxDetroit.com reported. College students generally aren't eligible for federal food assistance but nearly all of them in Michigan had qualified for the state's program under an exception for those participating in an employment and training program whose criteria included attending college, the Detroit News reported. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/09/michigan-kicks-30000-college-students-off-food-stamps/#ixzz1UYWlCfPS

This GI Joe wannabe got a hero's welcome just by dressing the part. A Long Island man was arrested for donning an Army uniform and brazenly posing as a soldier so he'd get bumped up to first class on a flight to JFK from the Dominican Republic, Port Authority cops have charged. Rock Diaz, 22, of Freeport, has a history of pretending to be a military man to get VIP treatment, cops said -- he once even smooth-talked his way into a jetliner's cockpit, where he was photographed sitting at the controls wearing a goofy grin. The mile-high huckster was...

I have been out of politics (sadly). Can anyone tell me who the GOP has that can make a legitimate run at President. From the list of names that I have seen, it doesn't look too promising (Romney, Palin, Bachman). I like Palin and Bachman but I'm not too sure if the country would vote for either of them.

LeBron James says he's sorry for using the word "retarded" in a postgame news conference. The Miami Heat star muttered the word after Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals as he and Dwyane Wade listened to a question about Wade's takedown of Boston guard Rajon Rondo. James had his hand covering his mouth when he said "that's retarded" as a reporter asked Wade whether the play that dislocated Rondo's elbow was dirty. After Game 4 on Monday night, James opened his postgame comments by apologizing for using "the R-word."

David Schwimmer’s directorial effort “Trust,” starring Clive Owen, offers a disturbing look at an Internet sexual predator who slowly, unnervingly seeks out his prey – a typical, well-adjusted and athletic 15-year-old girl who he befriends in a cyber chat room. Despite an array of warning signs, Annie is still drawn to her “connection” with Charlie, a self-proclaimed grad student. Their real-life encounter subsequently turns into tragedy when she is raped by who turns out to be a 35-year-old man. Just how significant of a role does the Internet and social networking play in robbing today’s young generation of their innocence?

All over the U.S., bath salts are being sold with names like “Ivory Wave,” “White Lightning” and “Hurricane Charlie.” But these aren’t your average bath salts that you pour into the bathtub to soak in after a long, hard day to relax – these so-called bath salts are intended to be snorted, smoked or injected – and users are getting high off of them. The Drug Enforcement Administration does not regulate these substances, but they are under federal scrutiny, as the effects of these salts are comparable to methamphetamine abuse, according to poison control centers and other law enforcement agencies....

Director Ron Howard’s upcoming comedy “The Dilemma” came under fire after a trailer was released featuring the film's star Vince Vaughn’s character referring to electric cars as “gay.” CNN host Anderson Cooper appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and denounced the language, the joke soon disappeared from the film’s trailer. But an insider tells Pop Tarts it wasn’t Anderson-on-"Ellen" that initiated the change. “The decision to change the trailer came two to three weeks prior to Anderson Cooper’s appearance on ‘Ellen’ after learning some people were offended, as well corresponding with GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation,)" said...

NEW YORK -- The NFL could soon start suspending players for dangerous helmet-to-helment hits, vice president of football operations Ray Anderson told The Associated Press on Monday. A day after several scary collisions in Sunday's games, Anderson acknowledged the league might need to do more than fining players to prevent such hits. "There's strong testimonial for looking readily at evaluating discipline, especially in the areas of egregious and elevated dangerous hits," he said in a phone interview. "Going forward there are certain hits that occurred that will be more susceptible to suspension. There are some that could bring suspensions for...

Sladjana Vidovic's body lay in an open casket, dressed in the sparkly pink dress she had planned to wear to the prom. Days earlier, she had tied one end of a rope around her neck and the other around a bed post before jumping out her bedroom window. The 16-year-old's last words, scribbled in English and her native Croatian, told of her daily torment at Mentor High School, where students mocked her accent, taunted her with insults like "Slutty Jana" and threw food at her. It was the fourth time in little more than two years that a bullied high...

PHOENIX — The Obama administration is sending home more illegal immigrants than before, undermining blasts by Republicans, including Gov. Jan Brewer, that it is failing in its duty to deal with the problem. New statistics were put together by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. The numbers show more illegal immigrants were removed from the U.S. in the first nine months of this fiscal year than during the same period in 2008. That is when GOP President George W. Bush controlled Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In fact, the number of those ejected from the country between Oct. 1,...

I've seen 20 something year old Lindsay Lohan all over the news lately, just as many of you have also. She hasn't done anything to have the popularity that she has but somehow, people in this country can't get enough of her. I thought I would mention some names of 20 year old's that have done something and get no attention: Daniel Lim, 23 Joseph A. Bauer, 27 Conrad A. Mora, 24 James J. Oquin, 20 Michael L. Runyan, 24 Julio Vargas, 23 These are just a few names of the men in uniform that have made the ultimate sacrifice...

I'm part of a younger generation that does not remember too well what life was like without cell phones, the internet, and on demand television. I was born during Ronald Reagans first year in office - who I really wish I had a chance to see give a speech and have been old enough to understand it. My main question as per the title of this thread is how much effect do you think technology will have on Obama's run for a second term (should he make it that far - GOD I HOPE NOT!). With all the emails sent...