Free Republic

<p>Slices aren't an option at Whitney Aycock's Rockaway Beach pizza shop, as he will happily explain to anyone who orders one: “If you want a slice, go to Elegante’s. I don’t give a fig,” he told one customer late on a recent Friday night. Next in line was a pair of teenagers. One was eager to sample Aycock's handcrafted creations. The other was scared to try something new. She asked for plain. “Plain pizza?” Aycock asked, sounding offended. “What is ‘plain’ pizza?” After a playful yet testy exchange, both kids turned around without making an order and fled out the door. Aycock was fine with losing the sale if it helped him make his point.</p>

Too many people who lean left would rather crack nasty jokes than actually be liberal and listen to other views. Why is it that liberals feel no qualms about being rude? Far too many people who are perfectly polite and courteous, otherwise, think nothing of insulting you for not sharing their political opinions. They look at us with disdain, thinking we're unenlightened conservatives and never hesitating to say so. As the lone conservative at the tennis courts, I cringe at the Sarah Palin jokes and the jabs at Mormons. When news came on 9/11 that planes had struck the World...

We can't count the number of times we've wanted to enact vengeance on some inconsiderate audience member whose cell phone goes off during a performance. But, like most people, we just bottle that fury up deep down inside and take it out on the break room vending machine later. Not Kevin Williamson. Last night the National Review writer was in attendance at the marvelous new musical Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 when one theatergoer's incessant cell phone use finally drove him over the edge... into vigilantism. The stellar production—a swinging cabaret-type musical adaptation loosely adapted from Leo...

I take a lot of photographs. So many, that my Sony DSLR broke, probably from abuse of my use, the LCD screen in the OVF mode won’t display, though everything else works OK, and two distant repair outfits sent me estimates of $200 and $235 plus shipping, while Sony says send it in, we’ll tell ya. (Ever hear any more of local repair shops for anything?) Repair or replace? Anyway, walking downtown this afternoon I saw a familiar figure a tenor saxophone player, a very good one, who plays at some or other spot downtown all the time, really, I...

1. Thou shalt give top priority to those who are with you. Listen intently when you are with friends, family members and coworkers. When you constantly check messages, you send the message that other people and things are more important to you.

ATLANTA — One August night, two men walked into a popular restaurant attached to this city’s fanciest shopping mall. They sat at the bar, ordered drinks and pondered the menu. Two women stood behind them. A bartender asked if they would mind offering their seats to the ladies. Yes, they would mind. Very much. Angry words came next, then a federal court date and a claim for more than $3 million in damages. The men, a former professional basketball player and a lawyer, also happen to be black. The women are white. The men’s lawyers argued that the Tavern at...

[snip] "This nation has to be governed by someone's values, so let's have Christian values guide" us, Perry said quietly. This was Rick Perry standing tall and proud -- proud to be an American, proud to be a Christian, proud to stand for "a life of consequence" and "faith." And when he advised the students that each, individually, was "a spiritual being meant to live in relationship with God and one another," Philip Rucker of the Washington Post rolled his eyes so hard that he spent the rest of the convocation looking like a character out of the Little Orphan...

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (CBS Tampa) – Definitely not lovin’ it. A man accused of disgusting McDonald’s patrons by popping his pimples was under arrest after customer complaints led to a brief chase by officers. It started Monday when customers of the McDonald’s located at 2404 Santa Barbara Blvd. alerted authorities to a man standing outside the restaurant for about 10 minutes squeezing away at the acne on his back. Events that followed with police ended in a brief chase and the arrest of the man, who allegedly gave a false name when confronted about the

COURTLAND—A Southampton Middle School student was suspended Thursday for opening an exterior door for a visitor. “Students are not allowed to open the doors, and if anyone does, they will be suspended,” said Dr. Wayne K. Smith, executive director of administration and personnel. A districtwide policy prohibiting students and staff from opening doors to the outside was recently adopted after a $10,800 security system was installed at the middle school, Southampton High School, Southampton Technical Career Center and Nottoway, Meherrin and Capron elementary schools. Riverdale Elementary had a similar system installed when it was built three years ago. All of...

Helping your child master these simple rules of etiquette will get him noticed -- for all the right reasons. By David Lowry, Ph.D. Your child's rude 'tude isn't always intentional. Sometimes kids just don't realize it's impolite to interrupt, pick their nose, or loudly observe that the lady walking in front of them has a large behind. And in the hustle and bustle of daily life, busy moms and dads don't always have the time to focus on etiquette. But if you reinforce these 25 must-do manners, you'll raise a polite, kind, well-liked child.-

About a week ago, I had another lesson in liberal civility. I was pulling into the parking lot of a burger-joint when an agitated young man drove up next to me. He rolled down his window, as I did. I thought I might have cut him off in traffic and prepared to apologize. The first words out of his mouth were: “Are you a retard?” This is known as a rhetorical question. I was tempted to answer, “No, but I am still beating my wife.” The graduate of The Charlie Sheen School of Refinement was incensed by one of my...

Breaking wind is set to be made a crime in an African country. The government of Malawi plan to punish persistent offenders 'who foul the air' in a bid to 'mould responsible and disciplined citizens.' But locals fear that pinning responsibility on the crime will be difficult - and may lead to miscarriages of justice as 'criminals' attempt to blame others for their offence. One Malawian told the website Africanews.com: 'My goodness. What happens in a public place where a group is gathered. Do they lock up half a minibus? 'And how about at meetings where it is difficult to...

We have coffee, rain, traffic, and apparently some of the rudest people in America. According to survey in Travel and Leisure Magazine, Seattle is ranked number 16 in a list of the country's 20 rudest cities. The magazine recommends striking up a conversation at Pike Place Market, which is actually Washington state's number one tourist destination meaning you'll probably be talking with an outsider. Cities ruder than Seattle included Chicago, Phoenix, Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Miami. Los Angeles beat out Boston and New York for the top spot. People in Seattle are nicer than those in Anchorage, Houston, and...

I'd like to hear from any Freepers down in Dixie on a societal question. I'd like to know if the old southern virtues survive, or if mass-media culture has erased or eroded them. I'm talking about the basic manners, and in particular, the relationship of young people to adults. Allow me a moment to explain. I was born and raised in New Jersey. I was in many respects NOT raised right. EXCEPT, I was fortunate enough to spend extended periods down in Alabama with my grandmother. I attended public school for a short time in Alabama as well. This was...

George W. Bush has come out of his self-imposed media blackout to promote his new book, Decision Points, which goes into full release on November 9th. Oprah Winfrey will air a pretaped interview with the former President on that day, but has a preview of the appearance out already, via The Right Scoop. In this clip, Bush tells Winfrey that he refrains from opining on Barack Obama’s performance because he wants to treat the current President the way he wished other former Presidents had treated him. Also, he elects to stay out of the “swamp” of punditry when Winfrey asks...

One of the more satisfying conclusions I've reached as a participant in American life for nearly six decades is that we've grown into being a fairly kind, forgiving, and empathetic citizenry. Everywhere I travel, I find people striving to be helpful. I see complete strangers acknowledge each other walking down the street or standing in an elevator. Eating dinner out alone, as I often do when I travel, seems to bring about magically ephemeral friendships purchased with the currency of nothing more than the exchange of a first name. It's been a long time -- years, really -- since I've...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Al Franken apologized Thursday for being rude to Sen. Mitch McConnell as the Senate's top Republican was winding up a solemn debate on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Franken, a liberal Democrat from Minnesota, was presiding over the Senate as McConnell explained his opposition to President Barack Obama's high-court nominee. A Senate GOP aide said Franken made theatrical gestures and whispered under his breath as the Kentucky senator spoke. It was distracting enough that McConnell went up to the former comedian afterward and said, "This isn't 'Saturday Night Live,' Al."

...These are all things we’ve been experiencing in large and small ways for some time now. For every item in the list above, I’m sure you can call to mind several recent occurrences that you’ve read or heard about in the news. Good grief, if our current economy and the ridiculous legislative attempts to spend ourselves out of debt isn’t a poster-child for doom, I don’t know what is...

Economics Of Being Nice By Bill Bonner 03/25/10 Paris, France – Dear readers get a break today. We’re on our way back to the USA. No time to check the markets… Here’s something for the “miscellaneous” file, something we found in the paper this morning: A team of Canadian researchers wanted to know if people who bought “green” products were nicer than other people. They did a study of it and came to the conclusion, as reported in The Financial Times, that “those who bought supposedly ethical products were more likely to lie, cheat and steal and less likely...

Can something as simple as good manners help to stem the coarsening of our culture? Yes! Cord Ivanyi, a Latin teacher at a Phoenix high school, was tired seeing the boys in his class subject the girls to vulgar words and behavior. The behavior was disrespectful, and disrupting to his classes. So Ivanyi decided to give the boys an example in chivalry. When a girl got up to go to the restroom, Ivanyi stood as a sign of respect. When she came back to class, Ivanyi held the door for her. [...] Christians need to resist the slide into vulgarity...