Free Republic

Jennifer Wedel (an “avid Republican”!) got the drop on President Obama the other day by asking him why, with so many American engineers like her husband unemployed, he wants to import even more engineers from abroad. Obama responded that industry tells him there’s a “huge demand” for engineers around the country, and that she should send her husband’s résumé to the White House. The Republican National Committee has leapt at the opportunity, launching a site called Not Better Off, highlighting the weak job market during the president’s tenure and urging people to send him their résumés. It’s a nimble political...

Two of the most-prominent national organizations fighting for religious freedom in the U.S. military have roots at Ohio State University. Retired Army Capt. Jason Torpy incorporated the nonprofit Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers while getting a master’s in business administration at Ohio State in 2006. Air Force Reserve Capt. Casey Weinstein, whose experiences at the Air Force Academy helped lead his father to begin the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, also has an MBA from Ohio State. His wife, Reserve Capt. Amanda Weinstein, is working toward a doctorate in economics there now.

Those making public calls for a return to the gold standard are a bunch of lunatics and hacks who are doing nothing but calling for a repeat of the Great Depression, says New York University Nouriel Roubini. Loose monetary policies have done little to lower unemployment rates and have many saying the U.S. should return to the gold standard, which pegs the value of the dollar to gold. Supporters say a gold standard, abandoned in the 20th Century, would force the government to live within its means and end inflationary pressures that come with expansive monetary policy. "That's total nonsense."...

Major news networks have all rejected two animated television spots developed by Phoenix-based Swiss America Trading Corp. depicting Ben Bernanke and President Obama printing money with abandon, and promoting ownership of gold and silver as protection against this policy. The ads have been rejected by Fox, Fox Business, CNBC, NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, & the Discovery Channel.

It’s a scenario all too familiar to retailers: A customer walks in, asks to see a product, discusses it at length with the sales staff, and then pulls out his cellphone. Jason Brewer, vice president of communications and advocacy for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, explains what happens next: “He uses his smartphone to take a picture of the bar code on the back of the item, and then, right in front of the sales person, he checks prices and orders the item online.” Why? Because most online outlets don’t charge sales tax, unlike traditional bricks-and-mortar stores. Buying online, especially...

Superficially, it was all smiles following the announcement of the September consumer credit number which rose by $7.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, on expectations of $5.2 billion (and down from the revised $9.7 billion borrowed in August). However a quick look under the surface reveals the same old trickery we have grown to know and love: revolving credit declined by $627 million, while the entire growth was in Non-revolving borrowing, which rose by $8 billion. What does non-revolving credit fund? Why auto loans (read subprime GM car loans) and student loans of course, the latter being the very...

China is one of the world's largest producers and purchasers of precious metals, especially gold and silver. Beijing has now unveiled its first gold ATM machine in a shopping district. More than 2,000 will be installed in the next two years. Since the beginning of the global economic meltdown, China has been purchasing and producing commodities at a rapid pace. Digital Journal has reported in the past that its central bank has bought gold bullion and state-television outlets have even urged citizens to acquire silver bullion. Digital Journal has also reported of gold ATM machines being installed in Germany and...

A woman who choked a 71-year-old greeter at the Elyria Walmart Supercenter and then boasted about it to her daughter was sentenced to 15 days in jail Thursday in Elyria Municipal Court. Judge Lisa Locke-Graves, who imposed the sentence against Toni Duncan, 49, called the attack “absolutely reprehensible.’’ Duncan had pleaded no contest and was found guilty of assault earlier this week. “I am appalled that someone would choke a person 71 years of age,” Locke-Graves said. In the March 30 incident, prosecutors said Duncan choked Alger Burchell when he asked to see a receipt for her purchases. Locke-Graves sentenced...

Ministers from the world's richest nations are reportedly on the way to agreeing a deal for troubled eurozone countries. Following the IMF meeting in Washington, the BBC understands that three elements have been discussed. They include a so-called "haircut" of Greece's sovereign debt, meaning institutions holding Greek debt would have to write off half of what they were owed. The plan also envisages an increase in the size of the European Union bailout fund to two trillion euros. European governments hope to have the plan in place in five to six weeks. But market trader Alessio Rastani told the BBC...

Europe, the G20, and the global authorities have one last chance to contain the EMU debt crisis with a nuclear solution or abdicate responsibility and watch as the world slides into depression, endangering the benign but fragile order that has taken shape over the last three decades. The threat of cascading default, bank runs, and catastrophic risk must be taken off the table," said US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner over the weekend. "Sovereign and banking stresses in Europe are the most serious risk now confronting the world economy. Decisions cannot wait until the crisis gets more severe." Euroland's dysfunctional arrangements...

The three-pronged deal would set up a massive fund to create a "firewall" around the most indebted eurozone countries, allow for an "orderly" Greek default on at least some of its liabilities, and bail out European banks most at risk from debt. German and French officials came up with the strategy which aims to end the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis before it spirals completely out of control, plunging the world back into recession. The likely deal came ahead of a major new setback for the British economy - with BAe Systems, Britain's biggest manufacturer, poised to cut 3,000 jobs. Whitehall...

A Brooklyn rapper is drawing heat from conservative bloggers upset over a YouTube video of him rhyming about trying to use his sister's food-stamps card to buy weed and beer. Stanley Lafleur, 24, has been called "lazy," a "leech" and the epitome of someone pimping the system since his video went viral. In the video, Lafleur, in a leather jacket and Yankee cap, struts from a bodega to a fast-food joint swiping a government-issued Electronic Benefit Transfer card to pay for mostly candy and chips. Rapping to a heavy beat, he even tries to used the EBT card to buy...

World leaders were warned last night that they have just six weeks to save the euro from collapse. On another day of gathering economic gloom, George Osborne savaged eurozone leaders for failing to get a grip on their towering debts. The Chancellor set a deadline of six weeks – when leaders of the G20 group of leading countries will meet for crunch talks in France – for action. 'The eurozone has six weeks to resolve this political crisis.' Mr Osborne also signalled dramatic plans to prop up Britain's faltering economy, opening the door for a rescue plan that would see...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s clashes with conservative activists are nothing new: A bitter battle over racial preferences and liberal judges has raged in the tight-knit world of Lone Star politics since 2001. In the days following George W. Bush’s election to the presidency, the newly minted Gov. Perry had a chance to prove his mettle by nominating justices to fill two Texas Supreme Court vacancies. Following Ronald Reagan’s unsuccessful 1987 nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, conservative activists had been awakened to a new kind of politics — the politics of judicial nominations — and Perry’s selection...

The holiday season is on the horizon, and the time to plan, especially for people in need, is now. The Salvation Army of Greensboro received its boxes of stockings this week. People who want to receive a stocking for their children will need to sign up next month. In Greensboro, the dates are October 17-28. Potential clients should go to the Salvation Army Worship Center at 8275 Aycock Street during those dates. In High Point, it's October 10 -13. Potential clients should go to the office at 301 W. Green Drive during those dates from 9am - Noon and 1pm-3pm....

<p>In “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin,” Joe McGinniss’ soon-to-be-published book for former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate, one tidbit, passed along by the National Enquirer, concerns former NBA player Glen Rice.</p>

A prank that involved wrapping a Pickaway County stop sign and resulted in two men being slapped with criminal charges has claimed a second life. Jeanne Shea, 81, died at 12:56 p.m. today at Grant Medical Center, where she had been since the Aug. 17 crash that killed her 85-year-old sister, Mary Spangler. Shea was driving the car north on Huber-Hitler Road, with her sister as a passenger, when she drove into the path of a car that was going east on Rt. 56. Spangler died at the scene. Pickaway County deputies found that the stop sign for Huber-Hitler Road...

A Silver Spring man who worked as a linguist for the FBI was sentenced Monday to 20 months in prison for leaking secret documents to a blogger. But federal prosecutors in Maryland have remained mum about exactly what was contained in the classified papers that Shamai K. Leibowitz, 39, gave the unnamed blogger in April 2009, while he worked on contract for the FBI. According to court records, the documents concerned "communication intelligence activities." During a Monday hearing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dunne said Leibowitz "betrayed the FBI when he worked there," but...

Want to participate in smacking down the criminal global banking cartel? Here’s how to do it. Sell the likely fraudulent SLV and GLD ETFs, cease participating in the fraudulent gold/silver futures markets, buy physical gold and silver, and buy gold/silver mining stocks. The good news is (1) This is a simple strategy; and (2) Buy wisely, and you will likely build significant wealth while participating in this strategy. The fraudulent immoral monetary system that bankers have imposed upon the world that steals money from savers and creditors and transfers wealth to governments, debtors and bankers can only be perpetuated by...

Wondering why gold at $1850 is cheap, or why gold at double that price will also be cheap, or frankly at any price? Because, as the following leaked cable explains, gold is, to China at least, nothing but the opportunity cost of destroying the dollar's reserve status. Putting that into dollar terms is, therefore, impractical at best, and illogical at worst. We have a suspicion that the following cable from the US embassy in China is about to go not viral but very much global, and prompt all those mutual fund managers who are on the golden sidelines to dip...