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(SPRINGFIELD, MO.) - While Joe Biden talks about the “big issues” the country is facing - the worsening economic crisis, the need for energy independence, the disappearing pensions for American workers – it’s also worth noting that he has changed his tone on Sarah Palin to one that borders on condescension and mockery. Prior to the debate, Biden said he “respected” Palin and limited his comments to saying “I don’t know much about her” when he spoke publicly. In Green Bay last month, Biden said, “Sarah Palin has made a couple really good political speeches, and she makes a very...

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois today exhorted his supporters to get extremely aggressive in their communities to persuade their neighbors to vote for Obama in November.Speaking to a crowd in Elko, Nevada, Obama was quoted by the AP as urging the people to be his 'ambassadors':"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face. "And if they tell you that, 'Well, we're...

<p>German lawmakers embarrass their envoy in S.F. Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross Sunday, August 24, 2008 They came. They shopped. And they embarrassed the hell out of us.</p> <p>That was the reaction of the German consul general in San Francisco, Rolf Schütte, to a group of lawmakers from his homeland who recently traipsed through the city, leaving a lot of bad feelings in their wake after using a racial slur and choosing sightseeing and shopping over meetings with their U.S. counterparts.</p>

Three Minnesota Junior High Students Suspended for Not Standing During Pledge Saturday , May 10, 2008 AP DILWORTH, Minn. — Fourteen-year-old Bishop Edens was suspended from school Friday because he wouldn't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, but he was quickly invited back once his principal learned that rule might be unconstitutional. The back-and-forth came on the second day of controversy at Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High over the school's policy of requiring students to stand — but not necessarily recite — during the pledge. Edens saw three of his classmates get disciplined by Principal Colleen Houglum on Thursday, so he decided...

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Al Franken didn't exactly leave 'em laughing in Northfield. Earlier this month Franken was at Carleton College, where the late Sen. Paul Wellstone was a professor, for a student rally related to a special election in the state Senate District 25. After the rally in the great space of Sayles-Hill some students crowded around to take photos with the "Saturday Night Live" alum. Franken's spokesman Andy Barr said via e-mail Tuesday that Al "remembers having a spirited convo w/ College GOPer at the urging of some of the kid's College Dem pals. Seemed like everyone...

VINTON, Iowa -- It's one thing for Hillary Clinton's campaign to turn down interview requests for the candidate's daughter, Chelsea. But can't a 9-year old reporter catch a break? Sydney Rieckoff, a Cedar Rapids fourth grader and "kid reporter" for Scholastic News, has posed questions to seven Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls as they've campaigned across Iowa this year. But when she approached the 27-year-old Chelsea after a campaign event Sunday, she got a different response. "Do you think your dad would be a good 'first man' in the White House?" Rieckoff asked, but Chelsea brushed her question aside. "I'm...

Mr. & Mrs. Fred Thompson will be interviewed on Hannity & Colmes tonight.

A lot is going well for Rudy Giuliani's campaign. His fund raising is strong. He outstrips his GOP rivals in national polls. His speeches on taxes and health care were solid. He picked up some foreign-policy gravitas with a successful trip to London. But there is a fly in the ointment. Even members of Mr. Giuliani's own staff are appalled at how he handled the incident in which he answered a phone call from his wife, Judith, right in the middle of a nationally televised speech to the National Rifle Association. What was that about? Columnist Robert Novak cites "supporters...

AUSTIN, Texas — The Civil War ended nearly 142 years ago, for most of the country anyway, but bitter battles over how zealously that war should be remembered are erupting in Austin, the Texas capital. First, rock musician Ted Nugent wore a T-shirt featuring the Confederate battle flag — a banner sometimes employed by Southern white-supremacist groups — at the Jan. 16 inaugural ball for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, prompting criticism from civil-rights groups. A few days later, the state's elected land commissioner, arguing for a more "balanced" view of history, marked Confederate Heroes Day — an official state holiday...

While meeting last month with a group of area peace activists, then Congressman-elect Steve Kagen told a story of his first visit to the White House that shows a feisty and humorous side to our new man in Congress. He told the group one of the first lessons he learned in Washington is to never pass up a rest room because you don’t know when you’ll see one again. He’d already had a long day of freshman orientation when he and his wife, Gail, were expected at the White House. Upon arrival, he asks a Marine where he can find...

I just turned on the Today Show and saw Meredith Viera repeatedly interrupting the First Lady -- it was incredibly rude and disrespectful -- I couldn't bear to watch it, so I turned it off after about 1 minute. Whatever happened to respect and civility in this country? Is this what the mainstream media thinks we want to watch?

I just got a phone call from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, asking for a donation. When I tried to calmly and politely explain that I’m no longer associating myself with the Democrats because they “don’t consider Joe Lieberman a Democrat anymore,” the caller interrupted me and said, “Well, that’s true. He’s not a Democrat. He’s been acting like a Republican.” I responded that “that’s a distortion of his record” and briefly elaborated on why Lieberman is by no means a Republican. The caller again disagreed with me, saying, “Well, if you look at the way he’s been acting for...

AS Parisians crowd to the beaches in August, tourists are descending on the City of Light in droves, undeterred by a recent survey highlighting complaints that visitors get the cold shoulder from locals. The most visited country in the world, France received 76 million tourists last year, with Asians making up a growing proportion of those who came from non-European countries and 50,000 visitors jetting over every month from China alone. All this despite stereotyped images of rude waiters, bored shop assistants and impatient Parisians all too ready to give nervous tourists the brush off in rapid French. "French hospitality...

A cardboard sign hanging in a tree, directed at a boy with developmental disabilities, and the boy's mother, isn't happy. Neighbor: "I'm not taking the sign down, last night was the first night of peace we've got in a long ----- time." Carrie Heaton, Colton's Mother: "They've put up this sign now, that we feel is very discriminatory against my son." The cardboard sign is hanging in a tree in the Central Utah town of Nephi. It is also being denounced tonight by advocates for the disabled. The boy's family noticed the sign pointed at their home on Wednesday night,...

New paint blocks out cell phone signals ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 1 (UPI) -- A Rochester, N.Y., company has developed paint that can switch between blocking cell phone signals and allowing them through. "You could use this in a concert hall, allowing cell phones to work before the concert and during breaks, but shutting them down during the performance," said Michael Riedlinger, president of NaturalNano. Using nanotechnology, particles of copper are inserted into nanotubes, which are ultra-tiny tubes that occur naturally in halloysite clay mined in Utah. Combined with a radio-filtering device that collects phone signals from outside a shielded space,...

The phone, TV, personal computer and Internet have found revolutionary ways to connect people, entertain them and empower them. But nothing has matched the seismic cultural shift created by the cell phone, with its ability to connect and deliver content virtually anywhere, anytime. Although most of us have grown familiar with cell phones during the past 10 years, we often don't realize how much our world has been transformed by the little device in our pockets and purses. But now a number of surveys, studies and industry statistics provides a better glimpse of how this gadget has pushed us into...

Sitting in armchairs waiting for handouts not the best way to get scoops Members of the elite White House press corps this week have acted more like animals that have been kept in captivity for so long that they can’t find news unless it is forced down their open gullets at a daily press briefing. The Cheney hunting accident story embarrassingly revealed this fact, which probably explains the greater-than-normal anger and outrage of White House correspondents over the last few days. “Why weren’t we told?” has been the refrain, not “How did we miss that story?” The White House press...

Hello fellow Freepers, I always note the fact that the posters here generally respond with candor I can appreciate even though I may not always agree. That is why I am asking for advice in dealing with what could be a serious, saddening problem of which I have been made aware. Today, when I picked up my son from daycare, the daycare worker pulled me aside and informed me that other children at the daycare came to her to say that the driver of the bus they ride (from school to daycare in the afternoon), has been mean and rude...

Chinese on a Grand Tour By WAYNE ARNOLD SINGAPORE, Oct. 20 - There was near-pandemonium at the L'Oréal cosmetics counter. With only hours before the end of their weeklong National Day holiday earlier this month, a busload of package tourists from China descended on a local department store here and began clamoring for all the skin refiner and "wrinkle de-crease" they could buy. Karen Eu, one of three clerks attending to them and herself of Chinese ancestry, opened her eyes wide in exasperation. "Oh, my God," she said as she carried another fistful of Chinese yuan to the cash register....

WASHINGTON -- A new poll suggests Americans may be getting ruder. Nearly 70 percent of those questioned in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll think Americans are more rude than they were 20 or 30 years ago. And most people think parents are to blame for not teaching good manners to their children. The worst offenses in the eyes of many involve road rage and using cell phones in public. Still, most don't see themselves as offenders. More than 60 percent deny they themselves uttered profanity in public in the last few months. And more than 90 percent say they don't use...

WASHINGTON -- Americans' fast-paced, high-tech existence has taken a toll on the civil in society. From road rage in the morning commute to high decibel cell-phone conversations that ruin dinner out, men and women behaving badly has become the hallmark of a hurry-up world. An increasing informality -- flip-flops at the White House, even -- combined with self-absorbed communication gadgets and a demand for instant gratification have strained common courtesies to the breaking point. "All of these things lead to a world with more stress, more chances for people to be rude to each other," said Peter Post, a descendent...

On the flight home this morning, I was unfortunate enough to have a bleeder sit next to me. By bleeder, I mean he was invading my space because he was large and his body was spilling over into my seat. I've seen worse cases than what I had today but let's hear your experiences.

China's anger at 'rude' US report on its military expansion By Alec Russell, in Washington and Richard Spencer, in Beijing (Filed: 21/07/2005) Beijing hit back immediately and angrily yesterday at a long-awaited Pentagon report that warned of an aggressive Chinese military build-up, calling it "groundless, gratuitous and rude". Reflecting mounting concern in the Pentagon over China's military ambitions and scope, the report warned of a long-term threat not only to Taiwan but also to the US forces in the Pacific and regional powers including India and Japan. China is also expanding its nuclear arsenal with missiles capable of reaching India,...

The spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is warning the U.S. to stay out of his country's business – and, in particular, its nuclear program, which is set to resume this week. Speaking on a tour of southeast Iran, Khamenei called the U.S. "arrogant," "rude" and said the country "deserved a punch in the mouth." He also said Iran's presidential elections in June would not make any difference to its nuclear policy. Khamenei said it was not up to the U.S. to decide which countries needed nuclear technology. Iran announced yesterday it is likely to resume uranium enrichment-related activities...

UNITED NATIONS - Jeers and catcalls greeted the top U.S. delegate to a global women's conference on Friday as she stressed Washington's opposition to abortion and support for sexual abstinence and fidelity. After withdrawing an unpopular anti-abortion amendment from a key U.N. document, the United States joined in approving the declaration that reaffirmed a 150-page platform agreed 10 years ago at a landmark U.N. women's conference in Beijing. However, top U.S. delegate Ellen Sauerbrey drew boos from the audience, which included some of the 6,000 activists who came from around the world, when she commented on Washington's interpretation of the...

West Virginia University's Random Acts of Kindness Week urges students to be friendly to people of all different races, religions and backgrounds - including people from other states. Many New Jersey residents attend WVU, which may result in certain stereotypes. "West Virginia students sometimes claim that students from New Jersey are rude and patronizing," said Dr. Neil Berch, WVU political science professor and former New Jersey resident. For some, this may be the case. "I do find the majority of people from Jersey are louder and rude," said Jenny Baker, Bunker Hill, W.Va., resident. Not all students feel negatively toward...

Imagine yourself walking through a mall, a restaurant, or any other densely commercial area. In America, it's usually pleasant to see people going about their daily business and enjoying themselves. In recent years, however, something that I call "public rudity" has been on the rise. What I mean by this is that many of our fellow Americans have, for whatever reason, forgotten about kindness. This may often be overlooked, however it should still be pointed out, as manners are a sign of civilization. And there's no time I can think of better than the season of love, Valentine's Day, to...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

According to certain self-proclaimed leaders in the House of Representatives, if you are black, hold a political office, and have a healthy respect for carrying out your constitutional duties in spite of what that might mean for the electoral fortunes of the Democratic Party, you are a traitor to your race and shame should be heaped upon you until your dying day. This is the message that was sent yet again to one black man in particular last Thursday from the Democratic side of the floor of the House of Representatives. That man is Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state...

A producer for The O'Reilly Factor, who has accused the show's host of sexual harassment, reportedly caused a scene with customers at a New York hotel bar. Bethenny Frankel claims she was with friends last Friday at the Peninsula Hotel when she asked producer Andrea Mackris if she could borrow an extra chair at the TV producer's table, causing Mackris to became irate, the New York Post reported Friday. She literally verbally attacked and abused and harassed us ... like a raving lunatic. It was very strange, said Frankel, a chef and owner of a cookie-making company. Mackris' attorney confirmed...

Rev. Adrian Rogers, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, said Sunday that in six months he will retire as pastor of Shelby County's largest church. Rogers made the announcement on his 73rd birthday during an evening worship service. "He said tonight that he was announcing his retirement; that he would continue to pastor for six months," said Mark Dougharty, Bellevue Baptist's associate pastor, reached later at his home. Rogers, whose home telephone number is unlisted, could not be reached for comment. Dougharty said a press conference is planned for today. Rogers told the congregation that during the six months he continues...

The question is: "Is Kerry sticking his bony, well-manicured, girly, index finger in the chest of the Marine pictured here?" The answer is "No." After optimizing the pic with Photoshop and Image Optimizer, what looks like Kerry's finger is actually the top piece of a wooden frame that holds a mirror and is attached to the window. There is another mirror just like it behind the Marine, to the right of his elbow.

ENNIS, Ireland - The US administration confirmed it had axed an interview that US First Lady Laura Bush had been due to grant to Irish public television RTE, only two days after the broadcaster's exclusive interview with the US president himself. No explanation was given for the schedule change, but journalists travelling with the Bush entourage in Europe noted that the cancellation had come a day after George W. Bush's less-than-sunny showing in his RTE exclusive. During that interview, given on Thursday in Washington, Bush displayed annoyance and at one point lost his temper when he was contradicted by Irish...

China slams "rude" US resolution Last year's anniversary was marked by huge protestsChina has condemned the US Senate for "rude interference" after it passed a resolution supporting democratic reform in Hong Kong. The resolution comes ahead of a pro-democracy protest in the city which is expected to draw large crowds. US Senators said people in Hong Kong should be free to determine the pace of constitutional developments. BBC correspondent in China Francis Markus says there is no mistaking China's anger at the resolution. Bad timing China's foreign ministry said the country would "never accept the groundless censure from the US"...

THINGS YOU'D LIKE TO  SAY OUT LOUD AT WORK1. I can see your point, but  I still think you're full of shit.2. I don't know what your problem is, but  I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.3. How about never? Is never good  for you?4. I see you've set  aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.5. I'm really easy to get along with once  you people learn to see it my way.6. I'll try being nicer if you'll try  being smarter.7. I'm out of my  mind, but feel free to leave a message.8. I don't work here   I'm a...

Don't mean to be rude? Read rules DAVE BARRY OK, here are the rules: 1. If there's a line, you get at the end of the line, and you wait your turn. 2. You own ONE place in the line. You do NOT have the right to invite friends to join you in the line. This is rude to the people behind you, who got there before your friends, and will now have to wait longer. If you want to be with your friends, you can join them at the back of the line. And, no, it's not enough to...

Oscar-nominated actress Charlize Theron has spoken out in favor of gay marriage, branding those like Arnold Schwarzenegger who oppose it "prehistoric". The Monster star, who grew up around a number of gay and bisexual people in her native South Africa, is appalled that gay marriage is still up for debate in this day and age. Theron, currently dating Irish actor Stuart Townsend, says, "I just don't understand that at all. It's so unbelievably frustrating. "I mean, I am surrounded by so many beautiful relationships just in my life, I can't tell you - just so inspirational. And the fact that...

Between commercials and halftime show, NFL should move game to Playboy Channel Viewers who tuned in expecting a big-time football game saw the Super Bowl of Sleaze instead. Sexy and violent commercials that included jokes about flatulence and bestiality mercilessly interrupted the CBS telecast of Super Bowl XXXVIII from Houston last night, making it a dubious choice for family viewing. But it was the unexpected climax of the MTV-produced halftime show that shocked viewers and set the CBS switchboard ablaze. As a musical number ended, out popped one of Janet Jackson's breasts. Fellow performer Justin Timberlake clearly exposed it to...

Ivan the terribly rude By John Vincent (Filed: 02/01/2004) In a barely literate rant that would have landed him in the Tower had he been an Englishman, the Russian ruler railed against the Queen's "boorish" advisers and likened her to an old maid. The letter, discovered at the National Archives at Kew, south-west London, was especially inadvisable since at the time it was written, on Oct 28, 1570, the tsar was involved in a courtship of England and in particular English trade. But, historians will speculate, perhaps it was the failure of a courtship of a different kind that prompted...

<p>MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A state appeals court ruled a reverend can't be rude to the nude. The 3rd District Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a $1,000 fine against a minister accused of taunting a woman in a parking lot near a nude beach in 2001.</p>

Protestors yelling, "War criminal!" and "Murderer!" were the first to be dragged out of the auditorium at the New School this afternoon, after being given repeated warnings to stop disrupting Jeffrey Goldberg's interview of the Deputy Secretary of Defense.Although the majority of the audience seemed to be sympathetic to Wolfowitz, shouts of "Go home!" and "Resign!" and "Oil!" continued to partly drown out the speakers. Then a very big, buff personage in a tank top and a ponytail alarmed the security staff the most, as he ran up the left-hand aisle toward the stage, angrily shouting and menacing the Secretary....

Just heard this on the radio, has it been posted. It sure is funny and makes a mockery at where we are now in our war on terrorism and terrorists like Saddam.

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) - Lizzie Grubman, a New York publicist with a star-studded roster of clients, pleaded guilty Friday in a hit-and-run crash that injured 16 people outside a Hamptons nightclub. Grubman, 31, will likely receive two months in jail, 280 hours of community service and five years' probation under the plea agreement. She could have faced up to seven years behind bars if convicted. Sentencing is set for Oct. 23. According to witnesses at the Southampton club on July 7, 2001, Grubman became upset when a bouncer asked her to move her Mercedes SUV from a fire lane. The...

July 1, 2002, 8:45 a.m.Rude Awakenings Some effects of the Middle East wars on U.S. campuses. By Jay Nordlinger, from the July 15, 2002, issue of National Review When the Arab-Israeli conflict flared again, the reaction on campus was dramatic. It could have been expected to be anti-Israel, and severely so; but it was even more anti-Israel than usual. It was more anti-Semitic, too. (Sadly, these two "anti-"s seem to be going together more and more lately.) Also unusual, however, was the response of pro-Israel students and faculty, chiefly Jews: They were more determined, less cringing, more defiant than in...

MORAIRA, Spain - A priest fed up with mobile phones ringing during Mass has installed an electronic jammer to keep his flock in tune with God. The Rev. Francisco Llopis, pastor of the Church of the Defenseless, said the beeps, tunes and other digital noise emitted by today's omnipresent cell phones are incompatible with quiet worship. Llopis' church in this southeast coastal town is the first in Spain to install such a device, which transmits low-power radio signals that sever communications between cellular handsets and cellular base-stations. Llopis said that when he flicks the switch, "I ensure that the...