$300-a-day free speech

Nice work if you can get it:

COOS BAY, Ore. - A police survey says panhandlers outside Wal-Mart in Coos Bay can make $300 a day. Inside, it takes a clerk a week to make that much.

Police say people who have a problem with that needn't look to the law - asking for money is considered protected free speech.

Oh, wait, you can. Anybody can. The story goes on to note that most of the panhandlers have lived in the city a long time and actually have homes. "This is just their chosen profession," the police chief said. Whew. For a minute there, I thought they were going to turn out to be homeless.