Free Republic

WASHINGTON--The Securities and Exchange Commission announced an emergency action aimed at reducing short-selling that targets Wall Street brokerage firms as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and will immediately begin considering new rules to extend new requirements to the rest of the market. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said the SEC would institute an emergency order requiring any traders to pre-borrow stock before shorting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the embattled government-sponsored entities that own or back more than half the nation's mortgages. It would also apply to the stocks of Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley....

The "naked sushi" trend — you know, the one "Sex and the City" Samantha latched onto in the hit movie as a way of tantalizing her boyfriend — has been bait for geisha partygoers in Japan for centuries. Now, it's catching on in Florida, according to The St. Petersburg Times. A club in Clearwater has attracted open-mouthed patrons after adopting the tradition, which involves serving raw fish delicacies straight off the body of a barely clothed woman.

He walked naked through the Australian outback and died without clothes in a canoe in the jungle - but it was learned yesterday that the so-called 'Naked Nomad' had left behind a £2 million fortune. Eccentric Victor Flanagan wandered the sun-scorched roads of Australia without a stitch of clothing, slipping on a simple sarong when he entered towns, a curious figure with shoulder-length greying hair who had rejected civilisation. Everyone believed he was penniless, but it has now been revealed that Mr Flanagan had left behind land worth £2 million near Busselton, in Western Australia. He had inherited the property...

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm. Travel agency OssiUrlaub.de said it would start taking bookings from Friday for a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, planned for July 5 and costing 499 euros ($735). "It's expensive, I know," managing director Enrico Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's because the plane's very small. There's no real reason why a flight in which...

Britney Spears stunned sales staff at a Betsey Johnson store in Sherman Oaks, California on Sunday (13Jan08) when she stepped out of a fitting room completely naked. A day before Spears' bizarre antics outside a Los Angeles courthouse cost her visitation rights to her young son for a month, the singer was stripping in front of shoppers. Spears and her paparazzi boyfriend Adnan Ghalib caused a stir at the upmarket store upon their arrival, and as trendy shoppers watched, Spears grabbed a Betsey Johnson dress and took it to a fitting room. But when she re-appeared, she wasn't wearing the...

MANKATO, Minn. - Police shot and killed a naked man who apparently broke into an apartment and threatened the officers with broken glass.

October 12, 2007 -- What a weenie! Tourists' eyes were popping and locals' jaws were dropping yesterday morning when a curly-haired hipster bopped around Times Square in the buff. Stunned passers-by stopped, stared and snapped pics of Josh Drimmer, 26, during his several-minutes-long naked stroll at the Crossroads of the World.

CARBONDALE, Pa. - Authorities said a man wearing nothing but a hat tried to rob a convenience store in Carbondale. Police say the 24-year-old man charged in last month's robbery attempt often stands naked in front of the window of his apartment. He was first arrested on an accusation of exposing himself to two women at his apartment building. Carbondale Police Sgt. Thomas Heller says the man ultimately confessed to being the one who tried to rob the store — and said he did so because he was bored. The clerk at the store kept her cool during last month's...

Hundreds of naked people formed a "living sculpture" on Switzerland's Aletsch glacier Saturday, hoping to raise awareness about climate change. The photo shoot by Spencer Tunick, the New York artist famous for his pictures of nude gatherings in public settings worldwide, was designed to draw attention to the effects of global warming on Switzerland's shrinking glaciers. "The melting of the glaciers is an indisputable sign of global climate change," said the environmental group Greenpeace, which co-organized the event...

On Sarasota's North Tamiami Trail, two mannequins are causing controversy. Some people say they're offensive. The man who put up the display says he wanted to offend his neighbors and the city of Sarasota. People have recently sent e-mails to Sarasota city commissioners asking for help to please have this man take these mannequins down. But city commissioners say, believe it or not, he's not violating any city code. The owner of this now empty building... commonly referred to as the mirrored house... has put these female mannequins on display in the window. Arnold Herbst, a neighbor to the windows,...

He's known for outrageous claims. But this one, he says, it absolutely true. Frederic Von Anhalt, the husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor, says he was robbed and tied up by a group of female robbers Thursday. Von Anhalt says he was asked to take a picture with two girls on a street in Los Angeles. He says as he was posing, he felt a weapon pressed to his neck by a third woman who he hadn't seen come up. Von Anhalt says the women, who he describes as 'beautiful', then stole his diamond encrusted watch. But it gets worse. He...

(05-22) 13:38 PDT STANFORD UNIVERSITY -- Eleven Stanford University students are staging a sit-in today at the university president's office in an attempt to convince officials that they should not use sweatshop labor to produce Stanford gear, protest organizers said. The students were joined by about 50 protesters -- a few of whom were naked -- who marched from White Plaza and rallied outside Hennessey's office for about an hour. The naked protesters were a bit shy, and several were covering their private parts. The students were cheering loudly, chanting ""What do we want to be? Sweat-free!" and carrying signs...

MILAN, Italy (AP) - It would take one very large fig leaf to restore modesty to Milan's main park after the installation of a 70-foot floating sculpture of a naked man. The balloon self-portrait by Polish artist Pawel Althamer has been hovering outside the Renaissance Palazzina Appiani in Parco Sempione since Monday, drawing second takes, amused looks and some reprobation about exposing children to nudity. [snip] "This wouldn't fly in the U.S.," observed 31-year-old American Adriana Spatafora, an English language teacher passing by.

Naked members of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals protest outside, the Troy Marriott during a meeting of Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise owners, while a Troy police officer looks on. . TROY, MI — Several members of an animal rights group created a stir in front of the Troy Marriott on Big Beaver Road April 30, touting their message while appearing to wear nothing but a sandwich board. Two female members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claimed to be wearing nothing more than a white banner that read “The Naked Truth: KFC Tortures Chickens” and “Turn your...

MEXICO CITY – More than 18,000 people stripped down and bared it all in Mexico City's vast main square Sunday for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick's biggest nude shoot yet. Standing up to salute, crouching in fetal positions and lying prone on the tiles of the Zocalo plaza, the volunteers formed a sea of flesh that Tunick snapped from balconies and a small crane in the morning light. “What a moment for the Mexican art scene!” Tunick said in a news conference. “I think all eyes are looking south from the United Sates to Mexico City to see how a country...

A naked motorcyclist is on the loose in southern Sweden. Police in Höör were informed at lunchtime on Friday that a man had been spotted riding naked by Nya Torget in the town. But by the time a police patrol arrived at the central square, however, the mystery biker had vanished. "We put it out on the police radio but none of our patrols have seen him yet," police spokesman Lars Mahler told The Local. There are no indications as to whether the man was properly protected.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report Thursday. SAPA news agency said the attackers, dressed in suits, hijacked a man in his 50s and forced him at gunpoint to take them to his home in Johannesburg. "The victim was then forced to strip, after which he was superglued to the seat of an exercise bicycle, his hands were superglued, as were his feet and then his mouth was superglued shut," SAPA quoted Mark Stokoe, a spokesman for emergency services Netcare 911,...

McMINNVILLE, Ore. - A man wearing nothing but women's high heels was the cause of a building lockdown by police in downtown McMinnville. The unidentified man was spotted sitting on a bench on the basement floor of a nearly vacant medical building Wednesday afternoon. After a call to 911 dispatchers, two McMinnville police units responded and were assisted by deputies from the Yamhill County Sheriffs Office and the Oregon State Police. The building was locked down and surrounded, but alas, no naked man. The man was described as 40 to 50 years old, bald or with short white hair, of...

oceanfront resort when police fired into their bungalow after they refused to drop a handgun, authorities said. Police were called Sunday to the Montage Resort and Spa by a security guard who said a man and a woman were engaged in a domestic dispute, said police Sgt. Jason Kravetz. "It may not have been domestic violence, but that's how we were called to the scene," Kravetz said. "Usually in a domestic violence (case) the woman doesn't go out and try to shoot at other people." Several 911 callers said a naked woman was running around the hotel waving a gun,...

The "naked rambler" Stephen Gough has been cleared of causing a breach of the peace by refusing to cover up in a public car park. Despite being convicted eight times, Sheriff Isobel Poole ruled that his latest case was not proven. The ex-marine, from Eastleigh in Hampshire, admitted refusing to dress before being released into Saughton Prison car park in Edinburgh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fcre8P2UUY Bloomberg TV just did a special documentary on Naked Short Selling and airs March 13th at 7pm EST, 9pm EST, 10pm EST. Discusses naked short selling and what is being done to stop it.

Police Say Man Stripped Naked At Hotel Officially, Douglas Craig Melvin resigned his post at the Federal Security Director for the Transportation Security Administration in Boise, ID for "personal reasons"... but his decision likely had something to do with an incident early last week at an Idaho Falls hotel. Boise television station KTVB-7 reports Melvin, 48, was arrested after he allegedly entered the swimming area at a Fairfield Inn on the night of February 19, removed his clothes and proceeded to walk naked around the pool -- in full view of hotel employees and guests. According to police reports, Melvin...

Drew Barrymore hasn't totally left her wild child days behind her — she still likes to run naked in Irish wheat fields...

Mon 8 Jan 2007 Birthday-suit parties all the rage for Ivy League students CRAIG HOWIE STUDENTS at America's prestigious Ivy League universities are rebelling against their colleges' stuffy reputations, casting off society's norms along with their clothes to hold naked parties. The Pundits, a secretive society at Yale University, initiated the events - which profess to be non-sexual in nature - in the mid-1990s, open to a select few. The society claims that president George Bush's daughter, Barbara, attended a naked party during her second year, in 2002. The White House has always declined to comment. But the naked parties...

Two peace activists conceive Global Orgasm for Peace and set goal of having everyone in world have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace Associated Press Published: 11.20.06, 13:07 Two peace activists from San Francisco have planned a massive anti-war demonstration for the first day of winter. But they don't want you marching in the streets. They'd much rather you just stay home. The Global Orgasm for Peace was conceived by Donna Sheehan, 76, and Paul Reffell, 55, whose immodest goal is for everyone in the world to have an orgasm Dec. 22 while focusing on world peace....

Naked Couple Enters Waffle House, Chase Ensues POSTED: 8:04 am CST November 3, 2006 UPDATED: 12:24 pm CST November 3, 2006  | Print this storySign Up for Breaking News Alerts NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Customers at a west Nashville Waffle House restaurant were in shock Friday morning after a naked man and woman walked into the restaurant.Authorities said the naked man, Larry Boyd, and the unidentified woman were sharing a room at the nearby Super 8 motel.The woman told police that Boyd took a hit of cocaine and started acting crazy, trashing their room and choking her. She then ran to the...

An animal-rights activist who stripped nearly nude before striping herself to look like a tiger is now, ironically, telling women not to dress sexily for Halloween, calling the trend of erotic costumes "hyper-sexualization."

Palestinian avoids arrest while 'doing acrobatics to hide my buttocks and sexual organ' Aaron Klein, WND Published: 10.30.06, 18:41 A wanted Palestinian terrorist showering at his parents’ home last week escaped an Israeli arrest raid by jumping out a window and running naked through a densely populated refugee camp. The terrorist, a senior leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern West Bank, recounted the story to WND under the condition his name and location be withheld, conceding he is "very embarrassed" by the incident. He demanded anonymity even though the event is now well-known in his city....

ROME — A Roman Catholic priest now living in Malta acknowledged Thursday that he used to go naked in saunas with former Rep. Mark Foley when Foley was a boy in the 1960s. But the priest insists the two never had sex. Describing the sauna visits with parishioner Foley, Rev. Anthony Mercieca told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home on Gozo, one of the Maltese islands, that "everybody does that." Foley was 12 and 13 years old at the time.

A speeding, out-of-control car driven by a naked woman fatally struck a pedestrian and collided with another vehicle before sailing over a fence and landing in a shopping center parking lot, authorities said Thursday. The driver, Taliyah Taylor, 24, of Staten Island, was pulled out of the car by police following the 10:50 p.m. incident Wednesday, said William Smith Jr., a spokesman for the Staten Island district attorney's office. She was awaiting arraignment Thursday at Staten Island Criminal Court on charges of second-degree manslaughter and driving while impaired by drugs. The court was trying to find her a lawyer, Smith...

Nearly Naked: Large swath of Pacific lacks seafloor sediment Sid Perkins Oceanographers have discovered a broad, almost-bare patch of seafloor in the remote South Pacific. An unusual combination of circumstances has left the region without the mineral and organic sediments hundreds of meters deep that are typical elsewhere in the world's oceans, the scientists say. BARE FACTS. A 2-million-square-kilometer region (orange) is almost devoid of seafloor sediment. E. Roell The sediment-poor region is about the size of the Mediterranean Sea and centered approximately 4,000 kilometers east of New Zealand. Researchers discovered the area, which they dubbed the South Pacific Bare...

Man Who Got Naked In Fayette Co. Store Caught (KDKA) UNIONTOWN Police were able to find the man who got naked inside a Fayette County convenience store. Police say Gregory Moore, Jr., 25, from Uniontown is the man who was caught on store surveillance video taking off all of his clothes. The clerk thought he was going to rob the store. But when she started to hand over the cash, Moore took off all of his clothes. Another woman entered the store, asked Moore what he was doing and then the two left. Moore is charged with criminal mischief. Police...

With student molestations skyrocketing, lawmakers demand weapon in drug fight WASHINGTON – Even though student molestations seem to be reaching epidemic proportions in schools across America, the House of Representatives has approved a tough new anti-drug and anti-weapon law that would require local districts to develop search policies – including strip searches – with immunity against prosecution for teachers and staff. Schools would have to develop policies for searching students, or face the loss of some federal funding, under the bill – HR 5295, approved by a voice vote Tuesday. It moves to the Senate, which does not have similar...

...We’ve all seen or heard of some of the more perverse forms of so-called art that go on display. Statues created from excrement, etc. But how’s about a woman who feels that she’s being artistic by lying around with a dead pig? That was a new one for me, and I’ve seen a lot...

AN American tourist who ran naked through a peaceful Swiss town, vandalised a church and escaped from police clutches by jumping into a lake could have been on hallucinogenic mushrooms, a local magistrate said today. The 34-year-old man from Massachussetts, who has since been allowed to return home, ran amok in the western town of Morges, by Lake Geneva, two weeks ago. He started babbling incoherently in the hotel lobby, stripped and ran naked along the quayside, broke a stained glass window in the nearby protestant temple with a stool and set a precious 1898 bible alight, police in Morges...

Fri 28 Jul 2006 Naked Scandinavians leave Albanian police speechless TIRANA - Albanian police were speechless when around 30 Scandinavian women went topless, shocking local bathers and causing an uproar in an Albanian beach resort. "Police only watched ... they could not approach the tourists because they spoke no English," a local newspaper in the southern Albania coastal town of Sarande said. Albanian mothers dragged their children away and police received a barrage of complaints over the Scandinavian tourists. The Scandinavians left after two hours when their guide was informed that nude bathing was banned on public beaches. Nudity and...

SUFFOLK - A naked man clutching a pigeon was arrested over the weekend after beating the bird against a car. Two Whaleyville residents had just pulled into their driveway Friday night when Juan Lopez, 30, of Kellam Road in Virginia Beach came up and repeatedly pounded the pigeon on the car, police said. The people got out of the car and went to a neighbor's house, where they called the police.

Police: Man dies after running naked FROM STAFF REPORTS July 17, 2006, 6:55 AM EDT A man who Suffolk police said was apparently high on drugs ran naked through Smithtown streets yesterday before suffering respiratory problems and dying, authorities said. Suffolk homicide detectives said the episode began shortly before 6:30 a.m. when Kenneth Barbaruolo, 40, of East Northport bolted out of a motel room in Smithtown. Barbaruolo drove a half mile to an Amoco gas station at Jericho Turnpike and Cornell Drive, crashed his car, and ran through the roadway of the turnpike yelling for help, Sgt. Vincent Posillico said....

WASHINGTON, DC --- Congressman John Murtha brazenly declared that the US was the biggest threat to world peace, even compared to North Korea and Iran. The formerly unknown Murtha has now discovered that outrageous things get you attention and may even start walking around naked in Congress to get more attention. "I learned how to get attention by watching Cindy Sheehan," said Murtha. "No one used to know who I was. Now that I say the United States is worse than terrorists and crackpot dictators and how our soldiers are cold blooded killers, people are starting to listen to me....

TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas Libertarians were stopped from holding a fundraiser at a nudist camp in southwest Shawnee County, when sheriff's deputies blocked people from entering. Shawnee County deputies said they were merely enforcing a court order when they stopped people from accessing Lake Edun on Friday. Last year, Shawnee County District Judge Terry Bullock issued a court order banning "commercial or recreational activities" on the property unless the owners get a permit for such events - something the county refuses to provide. But Rob Hodgkinson, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Kansas, said a political party fundraiser isn't a...

June 23, 2006 Berkeley, California Okay, I'm out of my funk. Instead of reflecting on all that is going wrong in the world, my life coach told me to embrace all the positive things in my life, so I am. Probably the most fun I've had lately was at the anti-war/anti-Bush/anti-right-wing nude bike ride in San Francisco a couple weeks ago. When it comes to social change, few things are as dramatically effective as exposing one's naughty parts in public. As a regular "Breasts Not Bombs" protester, I can personally vouch for the power of exposed appendages and the socio-political...

A Giant statue by Damien Hirst showing the insides of a pregnant woman and entitled The Virgin Mother was unveiled at the Royal Academy of Arts in London yesterday. The Virgin Mother took 18 months to complete The 35ft bronze sculpture, which dominates the courtyard in front of the gallery, reveals the foetus and the woman's skull, muscles and tissue. The work, weighing 3.5 tons, took a year and a half to make and will form part of the Summer Exhibition, From Life, which starts on June 12. "It will be very interesting to see people's reactions," said Edith Davaney,...

Naked Man Takes 'Risk', Gets Shot At ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- A marriage-minded man ran naked through his neighborhood, trying to show his hesitant girlfriend that taking risks is important. He got more than he bargained for when he ended up being chased and shot at. "Just when you thought you had heard everything," Ann Arbor police Detective Sgt. Jim Stephenson told The Ann Arbor News. The couple were discussing marriage early Wednesday when the woman said she wasn't sure if she was ready, according to Ann Arbor police reports. The man responded that taking risks is an important...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A marriage-minded man ran naked through his Michigan neighborhood, trying to show his hesitant girlfriend that taking risks is important. However, he got more than he bargained for when he ended up being chased and shot at. Police in Ann Arbor, Mich., said it all started when the couple was discussing marriage Wednesday morning and the woman said she wasn't sure she was ready. Her boyfriend tried to make his point about taking risks by jumping out the window and running naked through the neighborhood. But after jumping out of the window and running across the...

June 10, 2006 was the date for the World Naked Bike Ride, which -- as its name suggests -- is an international political event at which protesters take off all their clothes and ride bicycles through various cities around the globe. The focus of the protest is theoretically to encourage people to give up their "dependence on fossil fuel" -- but in practice the messages (which the organizers tell participants to paint directly on their bodies) are more scattered, ranging from "free speech" to presidential politics. I attended the San Francisco version of the event, which started at noon in...

Andrew Martinez, the South Bay man who gained national notoriety as the ``Naked Guy'' when he insisted on walking around nude in Berkeley in the early 1990s, has died, the apparent victim of suicide. Martinez, 33, died early Thursday after he was discovered unconscious in his cell at the Santa Clara County main jail. He was found lying under the covers on his cell bunk, with a plastic bag tied around his head, said jail spokesman Mark Cursi. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Valley Medical Center. Martinez, who had been in custody since Jan. 10, was...

The former University of California, Berkeley student known as the "Naked Guy," who gained notoriety for attending class in the buff in the early 1990s, died of an apparent suicide while in jail, authorities said. Andrew Martinez, 33, whose stripped-down campus strolls got him expelled from UC Berkeley and prompted the famously liberal city to adopt a strict anti-nudity ordinance, was found dead Thursday in the Santa Clara County Main Jail, said jail spokesman Mark Cursi. Martinez was found under his bed covers with a plastic bag cinched around his head, Cursi said. Officials are investigating the death as an...

Richard Hatch was convicted in January of failing to pay taxes on his 'Survivor' winnings. PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- Richard Hatch, who won $1 million in the debut season of "Survivor," was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in prison for failing to pay income taxes on his reality TV prize and other earnings.

Hayward -- Hayward firefighters extricated a naked man early Saturday who was stuck in the chimney of his stepmother's residence in Hayward. After the man was freed and treated at a local hospital, he was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, according to police. Officers initially responded to a report by a Hayward resident on Gainesville Avenue who said she had heard muffled calls for help outside of her home over the course of several hours. "We started walking around the neighborhood, and then we heard the cries for help," said Hayward police Lt. Gary Branson....

Police in Charleston say a naked man exposed himself to his neighbor, then later attacked officers with nunchucks. Police say 49-year-old Rudolph Claude Smith went next door to his neighbor's house to borrow some oil for a workout. While he was in the neighbor's home, police say Smith took off his clothes and asked the neighbor to "oil him up." According to a police report, Smith attacked officers with nunchucks when they came to his home to make an arrest. They also say the oil made it hard for them to get a good grip on him. He's now in...