Free Republic

ARLINGTON, Texas, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers 4-0 on Sunday to move within one victory of their first World Series title in 56 years. A superb performance by 21-year-old rookie left-hander Madison Bumgarner helped San Francisco claim a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Fall Classic. Home runs by Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey provided the firepower for the Giants, now one win away from clinching their first Major League Baseball championship since 1954 when they played in New York. Game Five of the Series will be played on Monday, with San Francisco sending...

Game 1: Tonight in San Francisco 6:30 p.m. (Texas time) on FOXSee the full schedule at MLB.com

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be second in line to the presidency, but her influence apparently pales in comparison to a good poker face. Pop star and "Poker Face" hitmaker Lady Gaga is more powerful than Pelosi and many others, including Sarah Palin, according to Forbes magazine's new list of the world's 100 most powerful women. We've come up with a new ranking of the female power elite that reflects the New Order of now," Forbes' Meghan Casserly wrote, explaining that new rankings are based on broader cultural influence than traditional titles. First Lady Michelle Obama topped the list and...

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Check out the link to see what the hometown newspaper thinks of the hometown team.

Brett Favre told ESPN's Ed Werder in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Wednesday that he has not made any decision about returning to play for the Minnesota Vikings this season and says he will play if healthy. Favre's agent, Bus Cook, said in a statement to the NFL Network on Wednesday that the quarterback has an appointment with Dr. James Andrews next week and will know more at that time. Andrews performed surgery on Favre's ankle in May. Favre denied sending text messages to Vikings teammates and club officials that might have indicated he had decided to retire. Favre told ESPN that...

President Barack Obama is introduced by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka before he spoke about jobs and the economy during an address before the AFL-CIO Executive Council in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010.

Whatever your opinion of President Obama, there's no question he has spectacularly revived the number and quality of musical performances in the White House. Look no further than "Paul McCartney: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in Performance at the White House," taped early last month and screening on PBS on Wednesday, the fourth "In Performance" show thus far during his young administration. Yes, Sir Paul is English. But the award is not restricted to U.S. citizens. Named in honor of brothers Ira and George Gershwin, the award is given to a composer or performer whose lifetime...

I can't believe the news coverage being given to a spoiled 20-something year old. Here are a few 20 year-olds worth knowing about: Justin Allen 23, Brett Linley 29, Matthew Weikert 29, Justus Bartett 27, Dave Santos 21, Chase Stanley 21, Jesse Reed 26, Matthew Johnson 21, Zachary Fisher 24, Brandon King 23, Christopher Goeke 23, & Sheldon Tate 27. These 20-somethings gave their lives for you this week. Lindsey who?

Indonesia's top Islamic body declared Tuesday that Muslims can drink civet coffee—the world's most expensive coffee, which is extracted from the dung of civet cats.

Life's usually a beach for the cast of 'Jersey Shore,' but the reality stars are reportedly so dissatisfied over their contract they're refusing to shoot anymore until they get a better deal.

PAMPLONA, Spain -- Thousands of daredevils dashed through Pamplona's historic old quarter Wednesday for a goring-free first bull run at the San Fermin fiesta, a raucous event that ushers in Spain's summer party season. The thrillseekers raced to keep ahead of six fighting bulls and six bell-tinkling steers tasked with trying to keep the beasts together along the 930-yard (850-meter) course from a holding pen to the bull ring in this northern city. Several runners were knocked to the ground and some were trampled on by the animals weighing more than 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) but there were no gorings...

Last week, while many of us were distracted by the oil belching forth from the gulf floor and the president’s ham-handed attempts to demonstrate that he was sufficiently engaged and enraged, Gallup released a stunning, and little noticed, report on Americans’ evolving views of homosexuality. Allow me to enlighten: 1. For the first time, the percentage of Americans who perceive “gay and lesbian relations” as morally acceptable has crossed the 50 percent mark. (You have to love the fact that they still use the word “relations.” So quaint.) 2. Also for the first time, the percentage of men who hold...

IRVING, Texas -- Break out the parkas! The 2014 Super Bowl will be held in New Jersey and it won't be indoors. NFL owners have voted to put the championship game in the new $1.6 billion Meadowlands stadium that's about to become home to the New York Jets and Giants. It does not have a roof and it will be February.

From Scroogle (enter a search term, hit enter, and this is the message you'll see....) We regret to announce that our Google scraper may have to be permanently retired, thanks to a change at Google. It depends on whether Google is willing to restore the simple interface that we've been scraping since Scroogle started five years ago. Actually, we've been using that interface for scraping since Google-Watch.org began in 2002. This interface was remarkably stable all that time. During those eight years there were only about five changes that required some programming adjustments. Also, this interface was available at every...

A 41-year-old woman in Norrköping has been indicted on charges of forgery and fraud after borrowing about 450,000 kronor ($62,000) in her best friend's name, of which she spent 50,000 kronor on breast surgery in Thailand. The accused has admitted to the crimes. The woman also repaid private debts, including those from failed businesses overseas, with the funds, newspapers in Norrköping reported on Thursday. In addition, the woman travelled to Thailand several times and underwent a breast operation. The woman tricked her friend into believing that she needed to use her bank account in order to deposit money that she...

Obama's #1 Fan!

Below is the complete email conversation that Adelaide man David Thorne claims he had with a utility company chasing payment of an overdue bill. From: Jane Gilles Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.19pm To: David Thorne Subject: Overdue account Dear David, Our records indicate that your account is overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding. Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles From: David Thorne Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.37pm To: Jane Gilles Subject:...

 10. Blog hawking (I know, I know, we're supposed to be nice.)  9. Run-on, single-paragraph posts 8. Pings to Jim Robinson with kiss ass complements 7. Posting "hugh and series", "stuned beeber" or "Bush's fault" 6. A post asking a noOb if they are sure they're logged in 5. Passive-aggressive keyword epithet war 4. Satire posts that fool you (the rest are hilarious) 3. Viking Kitties (just kidding... love ya'... really...  who'd poke fun at you...  rah roh.) 2. Vanities 1. ...