Free Republic

A funny thing happened at the bank on Wednesday (June 8th). CHASE bank in Newberg Oregon refused to honor two corporate checks totaling over 6 thousand dollars. Despite the fact that the funds were available from the account holder in question, CHASE refused to honor the checks and cash them. Upon demanding that Chase honor the checks written on its bank, I was told that if I wanted the funds, that I would have to open a business account with them in which case they would hold the checks until they cleared the account they were written on, in the...

In a potentially alarming trend for the White House, independent voters are deserting President Barack Obama nationally and especially in key swing states, recent polls suggest.

Hollywood funnyman Ben Stiller had the time of his life when he was beaten up by two monkeys recently on the set of his new movie Night At The Musuem: Battle Of The Smithsonian. The incident took place when the actor was filming a fight scene with the mischievous animals and they gave him several slaps on his face and body, reported contactmusic.com. Though Stiller wanted to punch them back, he dropped the idea for the sake of animal rights laws and took out his frustration on a dummy monkey instead. "We have two (monkeys) this time. I had to...

CINCINNATI, July 9--With opinion polls showing declining confidence in President Obama and rising skepticism about White House economic policy, Vice President Biden dropped into Ohio this morning to deliver a fiery defense of the administration and a request for patience. The address, outside a gutted American Can factory scheduled for renovation, had the tone and tempo of a campaign rally, with Biden repeatedly demanding of the administration's critics, "What would they do?" "What would they say to those tens of thousands of teachers who got their pink slips this year, but are able to go back into the classroom" because...

 Let There Be Light(s), "Perfect" "Lights" - Illuminating the Urim & ThummimResearch By Kerry A. ShirtsThat Joseph Smith claimed to have the Urim & Thummim is simply remarkable. You mean the Urim & Thummim? Yes, but without doubt, most do not have much to go on concerning what they were, nor how Joseph Smith may have utilized them. This paper seeks to understand the Urim & Thummim from ancient times indicating how the ancients used them, why they used them, and how the Urim & Thummim helped Israel. This is the Biblical background for Joseph Smith in other words.To...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DR. BETSY McCAUGHEY TO SPEAK AT SECOND STATEN ISLAND TEA PARTY Former Lt. Governor Targets Obama Health Care Plan Staten Island, NY, July 9, 2009 – Dr. Betsy McCaughey, the former Lt. Governor of New York State, health care policy expert and staunch patient rights advocate, has agreed to speak at the Staten Island Tea Party at the Park, on Sunday, August 2, 2009. Dr. McCaughey has been an outspoken critic of government run health care as far back as the Clinton Administration, and was credited at that time with exposing so many flaws in “Hillary-care” that...

The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq each gained Wednesday, led by commodity stocks; Alcoa is poised to report earnings after the bell. Oil fell on economic fears as some called for controls on speculation-driven prices.

International Organizations = Global Incompetence L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) - President Barack Obama and other leaders at the Group of Eight summit have struck a new agreement on fighting global warming. Consider the ridiculousness of this statement by our president: “We have agreed for the first time that average global temperatures must rise by no more than 2C."This is folly. Why not demand the wind stop blowing? It spreads air pollution around and messes up women's hair-dos. Why don't they just have Obama rebuke the global atmosphere? "Peace, be still!" No, wait. That was Jesus calming the seas...Santa Claus and Witches...

Maybe Congress believes that the "other white meat" is good for you, because the health care bill is loaded with it, even though people are already choking on the price tag. In one more example that the Democratic Party-run congress is just not listening to the will of the people, both the house and Senate versions of the developing Obamacare legislation has special "pet projects" designed to make the representatives more popular in their districts. Included are projects that have nothing to do with providing universal health insurance such as adding lighting to a playground or clearing a walking path...

<p>DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. appeared headed toward a record-short escape from bankruptcy protection Thursday despite a last-minute appeal that a legal expert said was unlikely to stand in the way.</p> <p>A bankruptcy judge's order approving the sale of most of GM's assets to a new company was to go into effect at noon. An appeal was filed just before the deadline by plaintiffs in an Arizona product liability lawsuit against the automaker. It was unclear if the appeal delayed the sale approval.</p>

The recent decision by the House of Representatives to administer a cap-and-trade tax on carbon emissions is an example of an ill conceived and poorly thought out bill from the house. First of all, before even getting into the policy of it all, it is inconceivable to me that a group of people can justifiably understand and make decisions on a fifteen hundred-page document in only a few days. Under a cap-and-trade system, government sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally; companies then buy or sell permits to emit CO2. The cap gets...

In 1754, Lt. Col. George Washington quit the Virginia militia, an obscure fact that now seems a bit more interesting in the wake of Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation in Alaska.

The Archaic Vocabulary of the Book of Mormon Royal SkousenInsights Volume - 25, Issue - 5Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute The views expressed in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University, or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In my work as editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project (which began in 1988), I was initially interested in discovering the original English-language text of the book. But I soon came to the conclusion that it would be impossible to fully recover...

Four Jewish Defense League members were arrested on Wednesday, according to Agence France Presse, in connection to last week's attack on a Paris bookstore. Judicial officials were quoted in the report as saying that the shop is run by pro-Palestinian activists, and has fallen victim to several such attacks.

Morgan Freeman is planning to marry his step-granddaughter, it has been claimed. It was reported last month that the actor, 72, has been having a decade-long affair with E’Dena Hines, 27. She is the granddaughter of Morgan’s first wife – whom he and his estranged second wife Myrna raised since she was a young child.

Passing out U.S. Constitutions on July 4th gets group tossed from annual celebration. The Rhode Island Tea Party group says that it has banned from future Bristol 4th of July Parades. Last Saturday's parade, which is the oldest in the country at 224 years, had included a float representing the taxpayer group, which has recently been organizing "Tea Party" type political rallys. Tea Party spokesperson Marina Peterson says she was contacted by a parade committe member on Wednesday and was told "It is because some members of the RI Tea Party passed out U.S. Constitutions to the crowd. Apparently passing...

It seems that untoward incidents are on the rise, the recent occurring at Idaho. Summer Nelson, a 28 year old baby sitter, hailing from Idaho, was charged of having physical terms with a 14 year old boy. She was actually appointed to take care of the boy in question with whom she allegedly had a physical relationship. Summer Nelson was appointed to take care of the minor, in August 2007. KXLY-TV reported on Tuesday, that the 28 year old baby sitter, Summer Nelson, was charged with four counts of lewd conduct with the child. Reports suggest that the accused baby...

One thing becoming very clear in Obama’s first Quarter of leadership is that he is a liar and is not a leader. He has expressed his hatred of America to foreign nations and he has not stood up to totalitarian brutalities against innocent people. Obama is a very bad president, and the damage he is causing to America is greater then any natural disaster to every hit our land. It is very clear now that every campaign promise made by Obama is a lie. He vowed to not raise taxes, and he is raising taxes. He promised a new openness...

Iranian police have fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators who defied government warnings that any fresh attempt at protests would be "smashed". The marchers were heading towards Tehran University to commemorate the 10th anniversary of student unrest. All gatherings have been banned in a crackdown on mass protests that erupted after the disputed election of 12 June. The BBC's Jon Leyne says the opposition is trying to put momentum back into the campaign against the vote result. Website campaign Our correspondent says there were also a number of smaller demonstrations in other Iranian cities.

Our country currently finds itself in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and, as during all economic crises, people search for the answer as to why this has happened. Not only have large financial firms have been affected, but also mainstays of American industry such as GM and Chrysler, all the way down to the Mom & Pop stores on Main Street. The easy way out is to blame the traditional scapegoats: foreign governments, fraudulent businessmen, and greedy speculators. But the real villain is far more sinister; the organization entrusted with maintaining a stable dollar and...