Free Republic

BEING GREEN! Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations. She was right - our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent...

Oh! and BTW. Is that not the most arrogant, smug, pompous looking face you ever wanted to slap silly? (Covering Your Back Just in Case The NSA is Snopping Around.) Oh, and speaking of Algore, let me introduce someone who had he survived would have been the biggest supporter of Algore's running joke on Global Warming, someone who had his very own Enviro"Mental" Planet Earth Catastrophe Scenario of Destruction but never knew how to monetize it, having popularized, prostelyized a similar sounding catchy scheme in which to inject the fear of the End of Days as his very own...

Desmond Tutu's house was burgled on the day he gave a speech at his friend Nelson Mandela's memorial service, police said.

Some 30,000 grocery store workers in the state of Washington could be walking picket lines as soon as next week, in what some say is a direct result of ObamaCare. Big supermarket chains including Safeway, QFC, Albertsons and Fred Meyer are represented by Allied Employers in contract negotiations with the United Food and Commercial Workers and Teamsters. One of the employers' new proposals is to provide healthcare only to employees who work 30 or more hours per week, a minimum requirement under ObamaCare. “As with all employers, the Affordable Care Act will impact how we deliver health benefits to our...

When I first heard about this video, I thought perhaps this took place at a high school, where free-speech restrictions sometimes can apply. Not so, though, and FIRE’s involvement makes that clear anyway. A student at Modesto Junior College in California decided to celebrate Constitution Day by handing out copies of a dangerously radical document, which was, er … the Constitution of the United States of America. You know, the one that includes the pesky prohibition against infringing on free speech.Readers can guess where this goes from there: This gets even more Orwellian than one might assume. After telling the...

Hall & Oates has never won a Grammy but the No. 1 selling duo of all time has won something else: hipster respect. Putting aside those shoulder pads for a moment, Daryl Hall and John Oates looked like hand-picked opposites: The lanky blond Hall called himself the "more flamboyant" one, while the shorter dark-haired Oates — with his distinctive 'stache — embraced his role as "worker bee." But their union came from no design, except by the music gods: The Temple University students met in an elevator, both trying to duck a gunfight that had broken out at the Adelphi...

If you believe the myth that all cats hate getting wet, then you've yet to meet the flat-headed cat. With webbed feet and a streamlined head perfectly adapted for speed in the water, these strange felines not only like the water, they practically live in it. They are also recognized as the world's least known feline. And unfortunately, they may remain mysterious. According to National Geographic, a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE has indicated that the flat-headed cat's habitat is rapidly being transformed into vast biofuel plantations. Native to the swampy peat forests of Thailand, Malaysia and...

In order to ensure Americans understand how to access the benefits available to them when many provisions of the Affordable Care Act go online October 1, the Obama administration announced last month that it is setting up a call center that will be accessible to Americans 24 hours a day. One branch of that call center will be located in California’s Contra Costa County, where, reportedly, 7,000 people applied for the 204 jobs. According to the Contra Costa Times, however, “about half the jobs are part-time, with no health benefits — a stinging disappointment to workers and local politicians who...

Bear in mind that Big Labor went to bat for ObamaCare in a big way throughout the months-long debate over its passage. When Tea Party activists demonstrated to raise opposition to the legislation, unions like the Teamsters counterprotested, sometimes violently, in an attempt to intimidate conservatives into acquiescence. Unions spent big money in the 2010 election hoping to protect Democrats from the consequences of their votes on ObamaCare, arguing that the bill would help the working class by sticking it to insurers and fat cats. Now that the law is about to be implemented, though, it suddenly looks awful to...

Man Rescues Bald Eagle, Could Face Jail Time An Indiana man was charged this week with the unlawful possession of a bald eagle, which the man says he cared for and rescued from the mud pit in which it was trapped. The former Department of Natural Resources employee, Jeffrey Henry, could face up to 60 days of jail time and a $500 fine as part of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, Yahoo reports: As reported by WISH News 8, Henry had the bird in his home for 11 hours after several weeks of caring for the sick animal...

• Man attempts to behead judge in court • To appear in court on Monday THERE was pandemonium on the premises of the City Higher Sharia Court, Kanwurin Sarki, Gusau in Zamfara State, as a 27-year-old man, Safiyanu Musa, stormed the court with a cutlass and attempted to behead the judge, Alhaji Hadi Sani Gusau. Eyewitnesses told the Saturday Tribune that Musa broke into the court session about 11.30 a.m. a few days ago charging at the judge and announcing his intention to kill him. The judge was said to have, in an earlier judgment a year ago, sentenced Musa...

Should Gov. Scott Walker have pulled Portage native Scott Inglett's nomination as a student regent at the University of Wisconsin because Inglett signed a petition in 2011 to recall the Governor from office?

As I write this, my television screen is full of violent and disturbing images from last week's Boston Marathon bombing. These images of heartbreak, fear, and panic have become way too common and so have the cases of individuals committing senseless acts of violence and parents losing their innocent children. Right now feels like the right time for us all to come together to stop the violence, which is why I started the "No Guns Allowed" movement. Growing up in the streets of Long Beach, I've seen the devastation that comes from gun violence firsthand... Homies dead or put in...

A vehicle that was carjacked early Friday morning by the suspects of Monday’s terrorist bombing of the Boston Marathon has the “COEXIST” sticker affixed to its bumper. The bumper sticker, which spells out “COEXIST” using the Islamic moon, a peace symbol, a gender symbol, the Star of David, a pagan symbol, a ying-yang and a cross, is put out by the Coexist Foundation — “a non-profit organization creating understanding across divides.”

A seller on eBay is auctioning off his autographed photo of Jim Carrey so that he can afford to buy a gun to protect his family. … The seller says he lost all respect for Carrey after watching his video which mocks Charlton Heston and gun owners. …

Gabrielle Giffords’ Husband Pulls Daughter’s Dog Off Sea Lion In Laguna Beach LAGUNA BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Gabrielle Giffords’ husband pulled his daughter’s dog off of a sea lion in Laguna Beach over the weekend. The incident, which was captured on video, happened around 1:40 p.m. Saturday at Goff Cove Beach by the Montage Laguna Beach. Retired astronaut Mark Kelly’s 18-year-old daughter, who was on vacation with her father and Giffords, was walking the American bulldog on a leash when the 65-pound dog saw the sea lion, ran off and attacked. Nathan, who declined to give his last name, happened to...

Hey everyone - great news! We are all women now! Today, Obama signed into law the Violence against Women Act of 2013. Our leaders opened up the scope of the law thus: (13) CIVIL RIGHTS.— (A) NONDISCRIMINATION.—No person in the United States shall, on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity (as defined in paragraph 249(c)(4) of title 18, United States Code), sexual orientation, or disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity funded in whole or in part with...

Vice President Biden says a mental health check on gun sales may have averted the 2007 mass shooting on Virginia Tech‘s campus. Biden’s comments came after a roundtable discussion in Richmond today that included experts involved with the gun control commission convened after the university tragedy. The vice president reported the panel had reached “pretty broad consensus” over what criteria they proposed should deny a sale, including “mental capacity.”

A coalition of 125 celebrity musicians, including pop singer Katy Perry, have joined forces with anti-tax advocates including Grover Norquist and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) to oppose an intellectual property "reform" bill that critics charge expands government to the detriment of the free market. Opponents say the Internet Radio Fairness Act, being pushed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), would mandatorily lower the licensing fees paid by Internet radio giant Pandora, moving the royalties system further away from a free market and instead entrenching a system in...

If irony is the ethos of our age — and it is — then the hipster is our archetype of ironic living. The hipster haunts every city street and university town. Manifesting a nostalgia for times he never lived himself, this contemporary urban harlequin appropriates outmoded fashions (the mustache, the tiny shorts), mechanisms (fixed-gear bicycles, portable record players) and hobbies (home brewing, playing trombone). He harvests awkwardness and self-consciousness. Before he makes any choice, he has proceeded through several stages of self-scrutiny. The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies relentlessly, foraging for what...