Free Republic

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A woman in Portland said her local grocery store refused to allow her to pay for her shopping cart items with $32 in loose change. The shopper, who was too embarrassed to use her name, said the clerk at the Save-a-Lot store would only accept $5 of the change, claiming it was store policy, KATU reported. The woman told KATU that she tried to use her loose change at another area grocery to buy her family food -- a Fred Meyer store -- but the manager there directed her to a coin exchange machine instead, where the...

The Mitt Romney camp, which launched an anti-Rick Perry website, careerpolitician.com, on Tuesday, unveiled a new Web ad this afternoon that is, essentially, a collection of the Texas governor's worst moments from the GOP presidential debates he's participated in since joining the race in August. The Romney campaign announced the new video, titled "Ready to Lead?" on Facebook by asking followers "Do you think Governor Perry would be able to challenge President Obama in a debate?" The video includes footage from Mr. Perry's performance in Tuesday night's Las Vegas debate, which most observers agreed was the governor's strongest.

Buffett’s Son Defends Occupy Wall Street

For those of you that have children, or work with children, have you ever tried to talk to a tantruming child? Have you ever talked to a teen that thinks they know everything, and facts and reason simply don’t enter into their thinking? Have you ever tried to debate a liberal? Are you seeing the connection? That’s where we are, in my opinion. We are dealing with people that haven’t grown up yet, or never will. How else might you explain that liberal protests often end in vandalism, rioting, and abuse of others?

As tempting as it is to view the machinations of the left in masterfully calculated Dr. Evil terms, today's progressive is better-understood as a ranting teenager, burdened with both a disordered view of freedom and typical adolescent entitlement issues. It's not that today's lefty is unintelligent; in fact, many are very bright. It's that he is emotionally underdeveloped. By disordered freedom, I mean the 1960s-influenced, "don't tell me what to do/I'll do whatever the hell I want to do" kind of freedom. Pope John Paul II summarized the flaw in such a stunted and animalistic view of our potential when...

Two of the 6-year-old Gosselin sextuplets are said to be having a rough time in their new school. According to reports from In Touch, Collin and Alexis have been expelled from their Pennsylvania private school and are now being homeschooled. "They've fought with their peers, called them nasty names and made fun of other kids," a source close to the family told the magazine. "The things they are saying are not words they should know. They are learning them somewhere -- but Jon [Gosselin, their dad] doesn't know where." The source also said that some of the eight kids are...

A group of demonstrators broke into the headquarters of Britain's governing Conservative party in London Wednesday, spray-painting anarchy symbols and setting off flares before being forced out of the building. They went on to set fires outside the building. The violence came during a largely peaceful protest by students against government plans to allow universities to increase tuition fees. The National Union of Students said 40,000 demonstrators were on the streets. London's Metropolitan Police did not offer a crowd estimate or have any information about arrests. Students and university staff are protesting against government plans to allow universities to charge...

Barack Obama's trip to India next month will be the biggest by any US President - with a staggering 40 aircraft and six armoured cars. Details of the elaborate arrangements for the tree-day presidential visit on November 6 were leaked to Indian newspaper earlier this week. Forty aircraft - including the Air Force One military plane - and six heavily armoured cars will follow the president around the country.... frpa

Three of the nine teenagers accused of driving 15-year-old Irish immigrant Phoebe Prince to commit suicide have been ordered to stay away from her family. Sean Mulveyhill, 17, Austin Renaud, 18, and Kayla Narey, 17, were all freed today on personal recognizances as long as they left Phoebe's heartborken family alone. Judge Judd Carheart made the ruling in a brief arraignment which the three teenagers did not attend.

There’s a lot of freedom that comes with being a child. Food, shelter — all the important day-to-day stuff — is handled for you. You are left to do as you please throughout most of the day, and while there are a few things you are forced to do, such as go to school and eat your vegetables, these are inarguably for your betterment. There are few real worries when the necessities of survival are guaranteed by your parents, who allow you to be content and carefree. In a way, that’s true freedom. Read more: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-freedom-to-be-an-adult/

A lot of us have what is known as an “adult child.’’ It sounds like an oxymoron, but for those of us with offspring in their late teens and early 20s, the emphasis is more on the “child.’’ During the holidays, when my son (18) and daughter (23) were home, the house was full in most ways but empty in others. Empty tank of gas in the car. Empty roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. Empty pitcher of juice in the fridge. Out of fairness to my daughter, I should note that much of this was her brother’s doing....

President Barack Obama on Friday engaged in a rare face-to-face showdown with Republican critics and testily accused them of trying to block his policies while urging them to "join with me" in creating jobs.The contentious 82-minute session showed the depth of the political divide that separates Democrats who control the U.S. Congress and Republicans who feel their ideas on the economy and healthcare are ignored. That Obama agreed to not only address his opponents but take their questions live on cable television was a sign of how he is trying to dig out of his deepest political rut since taking...

Michael Crabtree celebrated his 22nd birthday Monday. As an unwanted gift, multiple reports surfaced that the 49ers are poised to drop their offer to the No. 10 overall pick out of Texas Tech. Citing team sources, Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports wrote that Crabtree's continued absence makes him less valuable to the 49ers on a prorated basis and added, "Translation: The team just reduced its offer and will continue to do so with each passing week." A day earlier, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported that the 49ers sent a letter to Crabtree "modifying" their offer. Responding to the Fox...

Sasha and Malia Obama have avoided the spotlight thus far, but public interest in them is growing. Could there be two luckier tweens in all of America than Malia and Sasha Obama? The Jonas Brothers and Beyoncé sing for them. They get to meet the pope, the queen and Harry Potter. They get personal tours of the Eiffel Tower, the Kremlin, the Sistine Chapel, the Tower of London. They go to the best ice-cream parlor in Rome and make their own gelato. They have visited Yellowstone's Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon, gone whitewater rafting and picked peaches in Colorado....

The NY Daily News is reporting that Republican Senator John McCain' Daughter is suffering from some sort of amnesia. The poor girl's affliction was displayed in public at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night. She showed up at the door, with only two tickets but she was trying to squeeze herself and two friends into this sold out dinner. After trying to work things out with the guards“She muttered to her friends, ‘Does he even know who the f--- I am?’ ” You see, the poor woman doesn't know who she is, she needs to ask guards who are...

First lady Michelle Obama called her "current life" in the White House "a very blessed situation, because I have what most families don't have -- tons of support all around, not just my mother, but staff and administration. I have a chief of staff and a personal assistant, and everyone needs that." "Everyone should have a chief of staff and a set of personal assistants," Obama said with a laugh as she spoke before a crowd of business executives meeting today during a "Corporate Voices for Working Families" conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

I’m about to talk about two little words that make most people cringe. The mere mention of these words usually incites the same reaction in everyone: a) fear b) denial c) a throbbing headache and d) the desire to run away screaming and crying and begging to go to a “happy place.” Yes, I am talking about STUDENT LOANS. If you don’t have one, you know someone who does and you sympathize with them. In the midst of the credit crisis, home foreclosures and bailout turmoil, the amount of debt that graduates are facing is overwhelming. I am 23-years-old, two...

NEW YORK — In a season that inspires earnest letters about toys, one notable batch is being sent not by kids to Santa's workshop but by parents to the executive suites of real-world toy makers. The message: Please, in these days of economic angst, cut back on marketing your products directly to our children. The letter-writing initiative was launched by the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which says roughly 1,400 of its members and supporters have contacted 24 leading toy companies and retailers to express concern about ads aimed at kids.

Surveillance footage from a Gilbert school bus shows the driver and a 15-year-old student physically confronting one another on February 15th.

JUNE 28--We hate to call ex-con Paris Hilton a liar, but when she told Larry King last night that she had never taken drugs, it seems that the heiress somehow forgot about the marijuana, hashish, mushrooms, and Quaaludes. Hilton's, um, familiarity with illegal substances was memorialized on home videos she shot over the past several years in various cities. As we've previously reported, her videos are available on a web site that charges about $20 for a one-month subscription. In the seven clips you'll find below, Hilton does (and talks) drugs with sister Nicky, former boyfriend Jason Shaw, assorted swells,...