Free Republic

DUNSEITH, N.D.—Few mothers are likely to get more cards, flowers and phone calls this Sunday than Joyce Dumont. Mrs. Dumont, 77 years old, a Native American of the Chippewa tribe, is at the root of a family tree so tangled that it seems more like a forest. By her reckoning, she has had 69 kids—including six through childbirth, five stepchildren, 11 who were adopted, several dozen foster children and a few who simply moved in when they had no better place to go. Her latest three were adopted by Mrs. Dumont and her husband, Buddy, also 77, over the past...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Secret Service says it has intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama that contained a "suspicious substance." Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says the letter was intercepted at a facility away from the White House. He says the letter was received Tuesday. The letter comes a day after lawmakers said a letter was mailed to Sen. Roger Wicker that tested positive for poisonous ricin. Tensions have been high in Washington and across the country since the deadly bombings on Monday at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 170. Police have...

Fast food giant attributes its woes to less-than-cheerful employees (Newser) – McDonald's is attributing its recent struggles to the less-than-sunny dispositions of the teenagers taking your order. "Service is broken," declared a slide in a webcast for franchise owners last month. Customer complaints have been rising, executives told the franchisees, with "rude or unprofessional employees" topping the list, the Wall Street Journal reports. About 1 in 5 complaints related to friendliness, while others were about speed of service. One study last year gave McDonald's one of the worst drive-thru service times in the business, and the second-worst friendliness rating,...

RS 2477. What is it? It is a provision of federal law supporting the actions of these courageous townspeople. Though repealed in 1976, its powerful effects are not repeal-able. It is about preservation of public property, i.e. rights of way. It is a matter of liberty!! Of the freedom to travel!

Soldiers in Afghanistan have been filling us in on what it means to no longer get a hot breakfast each morning - and it has a lot more to do with morale than hunger. The comments are in response to a story that appeared in Home Post last week about the Pentagon's dismissal of a viral email that claimed all troops in Afghanistan weren't getting breakfast. According to the American Forces Press Service: The Internet myth’s genesis came from a few forward operating bases in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktika province that are closing or being turned over to Afghan security forces....

Twice in as many weeks I've had talks with people who want me to do business with them. Both were way more expensive than their competitors and both offered the same justification: "Yes, but they won't provide you with the same service that I will." You hear this a lot these days. One of the men I met with was giving me an estimate to remove a tree from my yard. His quote was triple that of his nearest competitor. I asked him why and he said, "Well, sure, they may be cheaper. But they won't give you the service...

John Klein remembers more than two decades ago sitting in the freshman orientation class for Marquette University High School and feeling a sense of panic. One after another, students were to give their names and describe what their parents did. As you might imagine, there were some prominent power players among these families. Doctors. Lawyers. Dentists. Business owners. Klein grew up in a family where both his parents and his only sibling, an older sister, were intellectually challenged with cognitive disabilities. From a young age, he was the reader for the family. At age 9, he was deciphering bills for...

NATIONAL DAYS OF PRAYER AND REMEMBRANCE, 2012 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Eleven years ago, America confronted one of our darkest days. The events of September 11, 2001, brought collapsing towers in Manhattan and billowing smoke at the Pentagon, wreckage on a Pennsylvania field, and deep ache to the soul of our Nation. Nearly 3,000 innocent people lost their lives that morning; still more gave theirs in service during the hours, days, and years that followed. All were loved, and none will be forgotten. On these days...

Our take: On Sept. 2, the night before the Democratic convention opens in Charlotte, N.C., a group of more that 40 different evangelical churches and denominations will meet in the 20,000-seat Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre to pray for the outcome of the 2012 presidential election and the state of America, among other things. Organizers of the meeting have drawn some controversy for their unwavering opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion and they have called on attendees to fast for the 40 days leading up to the meeting.On the night before the Democratic convention in Charlotte, at the tip of America's bible...

D.C. Council members planned to meet face-to-face with officials from Pepco as soon as Tuesday to address the “unacceptable” pace of the utility’s recovery efforts after Friday night’s fierce storm swept through the region and left hundreds of thousands without power in stifling heat. Their stern response to a third day of widespread outages builds on years of skepticism aimed at the utility that serves nearly 800,000 customers in the District and Maryland. Several city lawmakers could empathize with their constituents’ plight, because they, too, lacked power in their homes. They wondered aloud whether Pepco gave “short shrift” to the...

WASHINGTON — Secret Service agents shut down a protest outside the White House on Monday where about 30 young protesters demanded President Barack Obama fire Attorney General Eric Holder. Agents on scene claimed a backpack abandoned on a sidewalk was a “suspicious package,” closing the Pennsylvania Avenue pedestrian mall in front of the White House, and the adjoining Lafayette Park, from protesters and tourists. All pedestrian traffic, including media, was forced to retreat to side streets. Officers roped the streets off with bright yellow crime scene tape and brought in bomb-sniffing K-9 dogs. After waiting on the sidewalk behind the...

MILLVILLE, N.J. (CBS) - Thirty-three-year old Patrick Stark goes everywhere with his medical dog, Copenhagen. “Rarely do I get emotional at all, but this was a really sad experience for me,” Stark said outside his Vine Street home in Millville Tuesday. The military veteran has suffered seizures since sustaining a brain injury when he was mugged three years ago in Seattle, Washington, where he just moved from a few months ago. He’s had Copenhagen every since. The dog alerts him when the seizures are coming, enabling him to avoid them, which has saved his life. “At this point, I have...

Marcus Luttrell with James D. Hornfischer has written another emotional story that the reader will not want to put down. Titled Service, this one is the sequel to the compelling and gripping Lone Survivor. (Lone Survivor chronicles what happened to Marcus in Afghanistan. It documents a reconnaissance mission, Operation Redwing, in June 2005 when four US Navy SEALs were dropped into the mountainous region between the Afghan-Pakistan borders to observe the activities of a top al-Qaeda leader. It is believed that local goat herders who had crossed the SEALs' path, yet were released by them, informed the Taliban of the...

CHICAGO – Chicago’s summer violence spree didn’t stop Vice Presidenr Biden’s wife, Jill, from lingerie shopping on the tony Michigan Avenue shopping district with full Secret Service detail and Chicago police escort. Mrs. Biden was captured on iPhone video exiting La Perla, at 535 N. Michigan Avenue, a high-end lingerie boutique Monday afternoon. According to the company’s website, prices for a La Perla nightie or sheer babydoll can set you back anywhere from $114 to a whopping $677. Earlier that day, the Bidens held a political fundraiser at the Chicago Cut Steakhouse with luncheon tickets ranging from $5,000

6:20 p.m. UPDATE: Gov. Christie has issued an EXECUTIVE ORDER requiring all state flags be flown at half-staff on Friday in honor of Pfc. LeRoy DeRonde III. Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy is urging all businesses in the town to join the city in lowering American flags to half-staff tomorrow through Saturday in honor of the 22-year-old local man killed in action in Afghanistan last month.

Army Pfc. LeRoy DeRonde III was coming into his own, distancing himself from a hard-luck childhood and stepping up to take care of his family. The 22-year-old Jersey City man saw the military as a way to do that, his family said, in a plan that began to form eight years ago when his mother, Elizabeth, died of cancer. Her absence shook the family’s foundation and then profoundly galvanized her eldest son. "He realized he was going to put the family on his shoulders. The military was his calling to do that financially," DeRonde’s cousin, Jason Owen, said last night...

There is controversy in advance of a televised church service on 17 June on ZDF (Cathcon- German equivalent of BBC). The reason: during the service of the Evangelical Free Church congregation (Baptist) in Kamp-Lintfort work where Christians and Muslim work alongside eachother in the mines, there will be a reading from the Koran. As the Baptist pastor, André Carouge explained, Christians and Muslims have maintained close relationships in Kamp-Lintfort since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States.

If those Ray-Bans could only talk... Yet now they have: a new book has let out a few gems,  and has got some other former agents talking, too: JFK: 'A philanderer of the highest order...'One agent assigned to guard the charismatic leader got to know a 'cheating, reckless husband whose aides snuck women into the White House to appease his sexual appetite.'Some Catholic- but little surprise: FBI files speak of the horndog Kennedy brothers' special Manhattan townhouse, used solely for the purpose of holding orgies along with booty bangin' buds Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr (explains the crosseyed perma-grin). LBJ: Blowhard liberal successor...

The Spiritual Works of Mercy Mercy is a virtue. It compels us to alleviate the suffering of another. The Church presents us with 7 spiritual and 7 corporeal works of mercy. These are ways in which we can practice charity to others and thus bring about tremendous good in the world. The practice of these works is required of all of us. These works are binding. Though it may not always be possible to practice them, as the situation does not present itself to perform these works at all times, we should always take the opportunities to live by...

The Corporal Works of Mercy "And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" He said to them in reply, "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." - Luke 3:10-11 The 7 Corporal Works of Mercy are:-To feed the hungry;-To give drink to the thirsty;-To clothe the naked;-To harbor the harborless;-To visit the sick;-To ransom the captive;-To bury the dead. Faith calls us to follow the 10 Commandment, to receive the Sacraments, and to pray, but it also calls us to practice charity for our neighbors...

Last night, President Obama appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s unwatchable late-night show – a show most notable for Fallon’s almost-incredible inability to keep a straight face while telling the world’s least funny jokes – to discuss the Secret Service prostitution scandal. “The Secret Service, these guys are incredible,” Obama said. “They protect me, they protect our girls. A couple of knuckleheads shouldn’t detract from what they do. What they were thinking, I don’t know. That’s why they’re not there anymore.” But the Secret Service agents in question don’t need Obama’s help in their defense.

Maybe the Secret Service has too much testosterone. Would more female agents have made the sex scandal involving special agents and Colombian prostitutes less likely? No one can answer that with any certainty, but the scandal does raise the issue of gender diversity among those who are willing to die for the president. There is very little diversity among them — about 90 percent of Secret Service agents are men. The probability of the scandal happening “would have been reduced significantly” if there were more women on the Cartagena detail, said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.). Greater gender diversity can set...

The Daily News can reveal the first photo of the 24-year-old Colombian call girl whose encounter with a cheapskate Secret Service agent ignited the agency’s worst sex scandal. One of the agents tried to brush off his girl, the single mother of a 9-year-old son known as Tania, the next morning with only $28 in cab fare. She caused a ruckus, demanding her full payment, so cops got involved and word reached the US Embassy.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Let's cut to the chase, and let's get to the real question in the Secret Service hooker scandal in Colombia. What I want to know is, did those Colombian hookers have to pay for their own contraception, or are they covered under Obama's health care plan as it extends to the Secret Service agents? That's the question. That's what everybody ought to be asking. With the War on Women being waged at full strength, how could that question not come up? How could that question not be asked? It wasn't asked by anybody on the Sunday shows....

Obama wants 'rigorous' Secret Service probeAFP – 1 hr 41 mins ago US President Barack Obama said Sunday he expected a "rigorous" probe into a sex scandal involving Secret Service agents, warning he would be "angry" if the allegations were true. The incident -- which saw 11 Secret Service and five military personnel pulled from their duties in Cartagena, Colombia at the Summit of the Americas -- overshadowed the talks attended by Obama and other regional leaders. The US Secret Service, which has sent the men back to the United States, is investigating claims they brought prostitutes to their hotel...

The Secret Service is an honorable organization, willing to put up with abuse from Hillary and others while putting their lives at risk protecting them. I dont believe this story.

Last month, the grossly exaggerated testimony of a 30-year-old Georgetown law student delivered before an ad hoc congressional committee quite blatantly attempted to expand the legal definition of the term, “denial of services.” When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services held that all employers, even religious institutions, must provide health insurance coverage for contraceptive services, including those aiding abortions, to its employees, it set off a firestorm within the Roman Catholic community. The department’s mandate directly conflicts with the church’s 2,000-year history celebrating the sanctity of life. When health officials issued their decision, U.S. Rep. Darrell E. Issa,...

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has asked the Director of the U.S. Selective Service to investigate the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s registration card from 1980. This after his volunteer posse looked into whether President Obama’s birth certificate was real or not . Critics say the group did not work with the original document making any findings irrelevant. The sheriff has asked Director Lawrence Romo to produce the original form so forensic document examiners can analyze the document.

President Obama spent this afternoon visiting wounded service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, meeting 27 injured troops and awarding eight purple hearts. During his visit to the hospital the president met with 11 soldiers, 14 Marines, one sailor and one NATO forces member, according to the White House. Twenty-six of the service members that the president met were injured in Afghanistan and one was wounded in Iraq. The visit comes just two days after the president honored Iraq veterans at a White House dinner, praising those who served as heroes and welcoming them home after nearly nine...

Kabul, Afghanistan — Five American service members and an Afghan-American linguist were directly involved in the burning of Korans at a NATO base, an event a week ago that plunged Afghanistan into days of violent protests, according to the preliminary conclusions of a joint military investigation. “All six will be referred to the proper U.S. authorities for further action,” said an official familiar with the joint Afghan-American investigation into the Koran burnings, who was not authorized to speak about it publicly. Significantly, the five service members found responsible so far include military

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The federal government will no longer forgive student loans in exchange for public service if that service is related to religion, according to a new Education Department rule from the Obama administration. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program announced the change Jan. 31 with little fanfare, while most of Washington was focused on the new ObamaCare rule requiring religious organizations to provide free birth control through health insurance. “Generally, the type or nature of employment with the organization does not matter for PSLF purposes,” reads the new language. “However, if you work for a nonprofit organization, your employment will...

Anyone else experience this? It's just on Free Republic only.

NewSpring Church, a five campus megachurch in Anderson, S.C., is canceling its Sunday night services due to the Super Bowl this weekend. Lead Pastor Perry Noble explained the reason in his blog. "I've been in church work for over 20 years and the one thing I can say is that attendance on Super Bowl Sunday night in church has always been awful! (and…the people who are there are pretending to be looking at youversion on their phone…but they are really checking the score of the game!)," he wrote. Noble said the church has always tried to compete with the Super...

< snip > ..... If Republicans have an opening this year, it is with the white working class, a crowd the Democratic Party has been hemorrhaging for decades. Barack Obama did better than John Kerry or Al Gore with these voters, though even he earned just 43% of their vote. ..... < snip > ..... The white working class will make up as much as 55% of the vote in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. ..... < snip > ..... And so at the heart of the Santorum agenda are policies designed to give special handouts to the working class,...

The head of the National Park Service defended his decision to let Occupy protesters camp out in a park in the middle of Washington, D.C., though he said Tuesday the group will be given one last warning before being evicted. NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis testified to the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the District of Columbia that protests are a right under the First Amendment, although he acknowledged that some homeless people "have taken advantage of the situation." He added that this is not the first time the Park Service has allowed protesters to remain for weeks at...

The Secret Service says it is looking into a recent op-ed from an Atlanta publisher that floated the idea of green-lighting Israeli Mossad agents to assassinate President Obama in order to improve Israel's security against enemies like Iran. The publisher and author, Andrew Adler, reportedly has apologized. But Jewish advocacy groups condemned his comments as "outrageous," and Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie said the agency is "aware" of the incident. "We're conducting the appropriate investigative steps," he told FoxNews.com. Ogilvie would not comment on whether Adler has been contacted or whether his column was deemed a potential threat to the...

“You can’t tell me that America is not exceptional. You can't tell me that because I've seen it” "Rick Perry has always remained faithful." -- First Lieutenant Daniel P. Moran [6:45] Medal recipients tell of their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their fellow heroes -- and why they support Rick Perry. Even if you don't support Gov. Perry, please watch these men and hear their words.

Medal of Honor recipient and former Marine Dakota Meyer has signed on as a co-chairman of Veterans for Perry, a group throwing its support behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry in his run for president. "As the only presidential candidate who volunteered to serve his country, the way that I did, I am confident that Gov. Perry will be an advocate for veterans like myself as president of the United States," Meyer said in a statement released by the Perry campaign Thursday. Perry was an Air Force C-130 Hercules pilot from 1972 to 1977. Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor...

(Reuters) - Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords served a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday to Air Force personnel in her first constituent event since she was shot in the head in January, her office said. Giffords dished out turkey with tongs as she stood between Brigadier General Jon Norman and her husband Mark Kelly, said Giffords' spokesman Mark Kimble. The event at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was expected to draw more than 400 people, mostly U.S. Air Force personnel, retired service members and their families. Giffords was shot on January 8 at an event for constituents at a Tucson supermarket. College dropout Jared...

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The ISM non-manufacturing index inched lower to 52.9% from 53.0% in September. The decrease was unexpected. Economists were looking the index to increase to 53.5%.

He doesn’t think it’s too much to ask of a job seeker. A resume, a statement of salary expectations and a single written paragraph that answers a question like, “What do you believe a good customer service representative’s attitude should be?” (snip) Stories are legion of inept or half-hearted applicants who submit resumes marred by misspellings, show up at interviews dressed for a beach party, make inappropriate jokes, fail to learn basic details about the job and company in question, and otherwise leave hiring managers aghast. (snip) “Who the hell is going to hire these people?” asks Heinemeier Hansson. “Who...

It is 13 months from our next Presidential election. Obama received Secret Service protection 18 months before the election. Herman Cain needs Secret Service protection now.

First lady Michelle Obama made a rare trip to Secret Service headquarters Wednesday, where she glimpsed the intricate work that goes into protecting her family — and the potential danger of that mission. After an hourlong tour of the agency’s protective intelligence division and the joint operations center, Obama called the daily tasks performed by the Secret Service “pretty scary.”

Link only - OnStar Tracks Your Car Even When You Cancel Service

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a McDonald’s manager who punched a customer in the face for bringing a service dog into the restaurant.

August 19, 2011 Funeral in Greenville today for fallen firefighter By BRAD KELLAR CNHI GREENVILLE — Hundreds of firefighters are expected to be in Greenville today, to pay their respects to a fallen comrade. Hundreds more people are expected to line the route of the funeral procession for Lt. Todd Krodle of Caddo Mills. Krodle, who’d served with the Dallas Fire Department since September 1993, died Sunday afternoon while fighting an apartment complex blaze. The cemetery itself has been adorned with special ribbons in honor of the fallen hero. Krodle’s funeral will be conducted at Highland Terrace Baptist Church, 3939...

After a delay of more than two days, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has "decided to follow the law" and release the names, ranks, hometowns and units of those killed in the Aug. 6 Chinook helicopter crash in Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said Wednesday. The names will be released in the next 24 hours. Panetta "never intended not to release the names," Lapan said, explaining that a delay in their release was the result of a request from military commanders in the Special Operations community who wanted to review the policy of releasing names "because of possible (security) implications

A year ago, I had an unpleasant experience at a shipping store. Last week, the unpleasant experience repeated itself. I, many times a year, ago to a shipping store and have had great customer service, and enthusiastic help from every employee. Over a year’s time, I may spend four to six hundred with these people. A year ago, when I was ten or twelve miles away from the great shipping store, I tried another shipping store with the same name. I needed four copies of one document and two of another. First, the price of each copy was almost 25%...