Free Republic

Hilarious music video about self-absorbed phone zombies in public.WATCH: PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN

A boozy Brooklyn man was hit with hate crime charges Sunday for pouring beer on a newlywed neighbor, calling her an "Arab terrorist" and pummeling her husband, police sources said. Following the seemingly unprovoked attack Saturday night in Mill Basin, Simchon Schwartz, 46, hid in a local synagogue and tried to fight off cops when they came to arrest him, sources said. The Hasid even kicked out a window of a police cruiser as he sat inside, whining that "the cuffs are too tight," a source said. "F---ing Arabs! F---ing terrorists!" Schwartz screamed when he grabbed his neighbor, Selda Turan,...

How to Address Priests and Religious:Titles and Signs of Respect Marian Therese Horvat, Ph.DIn times past every Catholic used to know some of the simple rules that have been set aside from disuse. The general protocol was taught by sisters in grade school, but more often was learned as in osmosis from everyday practice. No one dreamed of calling Father O’Reilly by the nickname “Bill,” or, addressing Sister Margaret Mary as “Maggie.”Everyone knew you rose as a sign of respect when a priest or religious entered the room. Speaking before a gathering that included clergy or religious, a Catholic...

Old Rules Flummox Young Hipsters; 'I'm Wearing an $80 Fedora!' Hector Ramirez sort of knows, from watching old movies, that men are supposed to take off their hats when indoors. But the 19-year-old Brown University student wears fedoras in class—with jeans—anyway. "If I'm wearing a hat and it's part of my look, I don't think I should have to take it off," he says. On a recent trip to New York, an usher at a church had to remind him to take off his fedora. "I was wearing it all day and I guess I kind of just forgot I...

Less than an hour ago, while watching the NBC nitely news covering the French President's visit to our whitehouse, they had a camera angle directly between Obama and Sarkozy to three flags on stands in the distance. The AMERICAN FLAG was hanging down so low it was touching the floor so plainly that one could see the bottom 4 to 6 inches were deflected by the floor in plain sight!!! Did anyone else see or capture this disgusting display of disrespect "as seen on TV"??? I sure hope so and I hope a big huge stink is made about it....

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...

In addition to the three R’s, boys at one Arizona public high school have spent the past year learning to open doors for girls, pull out chairs for their female classmates and stand when a girl enters a room. Incorporating etiquette lessons into the classroom was the brainchild of Cord Ivanyi, a Latin teacher at Gilbert Classical Academy, a public college prep school 30 miles east of Phoenix. Courtesy of Cord Ivanyi Male students in Cord Ivanyi’s Latin class at Gilbert Classical Academy high school have learned such etiquette techniques as seating the girls at their desks. “I teach old-fashioned...

IT was a dark and stormy night — actually four stormy nights — when Jayme Otto, 31, and her husband, Ryan Otto, 33, drove 1,200 miles from their home in Boulder,Colo., to her parents’ house in Cleveland for Christmas. “We traveled all this way to bring our yellow Labrador, Cody Bear, home to spend time with his grandparents,” Ms. Otto said, “grandparents” being dog-person-speak for her parents. Besides wanting Cody Bear “to participate in his favorite yearly activity of unwrapping gifts and destroying all the boxes,” as Ms. Otto put it, they wanted the dog to meet her brother’s fiancée....

Our mission here at the International Center for Bathroom Etiquette is to improve the bathroom going experience for everyone by educating people about proper bathroom etiquette. Every day across the world millions of people are unsatisfied with the way their trip to the bathroom turned out, and we believe that it doesn’t have to be that way.

Stephanie Kahn wanted to bask in her engagement for a few hours before diving into the task of calling aunts, uncles and good friends with the big news. And even before she could call them, she had a surprise party to attend, one that her fiance had set up for their parents and her "closest group of girlfriends." That party was when Kahn lost control of her news. Some of the guests took photos and were "uploading them on Facebook before I could even post anything," Kahn said from Smyrna, Ga., where she lives. "Of course the next morning I...

Four of the most powerful business leaders in America arrived at the White House one day last month for lunch with President Barack Obama, sitting down in his private dining room just steps from the Oval Office. But even for powerful CEOs, there’s no such thing as a free lunch: White House staffers collected credit card numbers for each executive and carefully billed them for the cost of the meal with the president. The White House defended the unusual move as a way to avoid conflicts of interest. But the Bush administration didn’t charge presidential guests for meals, one former...

Word For The Day, Monday, 5/4/09 In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". objurgate to reproach or denounce vehemently; upbraid harshly; berate sharply. Other forms: ob'jur·ga'tion n., ob·jur'ga·to'ri·ly (ŏb-jûr'gə-tôr'ə-lē, -tōr'-) adv., ob·jur'ga·to'ry (-tôr'ē, -tōr'ē) adj. Etymology: 1610–20; < L objūrgātus, ptp. of objūrgāre to rebuke, equiv. to ob- ob- + jūrgāre, jurigāre to rebuke, equiv. to jūr- (s. of jūs) law + -ig-, comb. form of agere to drive, do + -ātus -ate 1 Rules: Everyone must leave a post using...

I'm just curious. Does it matter that to anyone that I don't fill in the "source" part of posts? Is it not enough that I give the URL? Does anyone except pissant give a damn? Get off my back, pissant! Just trying to do my part to save conservatism and fight Obamunism. Your pettiness about formatting gives this whole site a bad name. Not trying to start a fight; but get over yourself with the "proper posting" crap already!

President and Mrs. Obama will meet the Queen of England later today. This video talks about the etiquette rules they are supposed to follow when meeting the Queen. There are an awful lot of "do's and don'ts." Should be interesting to see if they get it all right. . . . . . (Watch Video)

“They belch, vomit, copulate, litter, and barge their way through public spaces, dressed like hookers and louts, defying the police without shame or modesty. British expatriates are some of the worst: overpaid, oversexed, and all over the place.” This is how Minette Marrin, writing in the Times, describes the British abroad, and with some justification. Marrin is responding to the case of well-heeled expatriates Michelle Palmer, 36, and Vince Acors, 34, who had drunken sex on a beach in Dubai and insulted a policeman who tried to caution them. The “couple” — or rather “copulating pair,” for they had only...

These days, it's difficult for a gentleman to know whether holding a door for a lady is a polite gesture...or a real insult.

Don't laugh at Dear Leader, SKorean athletes warned Wed Aug 20, 4:14 AM ET South Korean Olympic athletes have been given detailed guidelines to avoid friction with their North Korean counterparts in Beijing, officials said Wednesday. Contestants should not point or laugh at badges or portraits depicting North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il or his late father Kim Il-Sung, the (South) Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) says in a handbook. "Refrain from pointing, touching or laughing at badges, portraits and remarks idolising the father and son," the booklet advises. Athletes should also avoid using names like "South Korea" and "North Korea"...

Etiquette must, if it is to be of more than trifling use, include ethics as well as manners. Certainly what one is, is of far greater importance than what one appears to be. A knowledge of etiquette is of course essential to one’s decent behavior, just as clothing is essential to one’s decent appearance; and precisely as one wears the latter without being self-conscious of having on shoes and perhaps gloves, one who has good manners is equally unself-conscious in the observance of etiquette, the precepts of which must be so thoroughly absorbed as to make their observance a matter...

For anyone who finds the very prospect of carving a turkey tomorrow brings them out in a sweat, help is at hand. A 200-year-old book has recently been discovered detailing the traumas faced by the head of the table when preparing and carving the bird, and giving crucial advice on how to get it right and impress your guests. It says manners and etiquette are vital, and the ability to carve with "ease and grace" gains great respect among fellow diners. advertisementOn no account must the carver stand up while doing the deed, but must always have a chair high...

MISS MANNERS It's best to ignore strangers who shout their prejudices Judith Martin Miss Manners November 8, 2007 Dear Miss Manners: This evening I found myself waiting in line with two young men who proceeded loudly to proclaim at least five different countries they would like to bomb, and advocated reintroducing the draft so that everyone else would have to share their "sacrifice." They then loudly branded several political figures they disapproved of with a crude word. I bit my tongue and waited quietly. Then the people in front of me joined in and, incredibly, they all complained about how...