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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Thermopolis, Wyo.-based Bank of Wyoming was closed by regulators Friday, the 53rd U.S. bank failure of 2009 as the credit crisis continues to claim victims.

Latest ethics complaints should be 'a wake-up call,' Palin says Posted: 01:50 PM ET From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart (CNN) – The two new ethics complaints filed against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in the past week should be ‘a wake-up call,’ the former Republican vice presidential candidate says. In a statement released late Friday night, Palin’s office announced that two more ethics complaints had been filed against the governor in the week since she made her surprise announcement that she plans to step down later this month -including one complaint filed on Friday. “Although the governor would not have...

Thank you for contacting my office regarding H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. I appreciate your views and having the benefit of your opinion. On June 26, 2009 the House of Representatives voted to support the clean energy economy and encourage its further development with the passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). I voted in favor of this historic legislation which promotes the clean energy technologies and resources that will grow outstanding new jobs in our communities and greatly limit our dependence on foreign sources of energy. It also represents a genuine understanding...

Honduras, the tiny Central American nation, had a change of leaders on June 28. The country's military arrested President Manuel Zelaya -- in his pajamas, he says -- and put him on a plane bound for Costa Rica. A new president, Roberto Micheletti, was appointed. Led by Cuba and Venezuela (Sudan and North Korea were not immediately available), the international community swiftly condemned this "coup."

The clouds that normally obscure events in the Middle East start to recede when Khaled Abu Toameh begins talking about the future of Palestinians and Israelis. This relationship, the key to his future life as an Israeli Arab, has been the subject of his journalism for more than two decades. What he’s learned contradicts beliefs held by much of the world, and differs sharply from what we expect from someone with his background. He was in Toronto this week, talking to a few journalists. He’s a Muslim Arab, son of an Israeli Arab father and a Palestinian Arab mother. When...

Mortgage Defaults Spread As Even 'Safe' Borrowers Falter Jim Wasserman and Dale Kasler Jul. 11, 2009 The mortgage default crisis has an ominous new face. It's your neighbor with a traditional fixed-rate loan. No longer is the real estate bust simply the result of exotic, subprime loans that doubled payments and blew up in homeowners' faces. As the Sacramento economy buckles, even the safest mortgages have become part of a new wave of loan defaults, experts say. With capital-area job losses reaching 45,000 in the past year and unemployment at 11.1 percent, lenders, bankruptcy attorneys and debt counselors all say...

A well-seasoned, self-confessed “church addict” who has tasted both the joy and pain of being a church pastor recently completed a humorous yet painfully honest book on the ten most common mistakes pastors make that keep their churches from growing. Pastor Geoff Surratt, who had pastored a small, rural church with under 100 members and is now part of a megachurch with over 10,000 attendees on a given Sunday, shares his insight in his latest book Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing. Before diving into the top 10 mistakes, Surratt made sure to clarify that the purpose of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US trade deficit unexpectedly fell in May as exports picked up for the first time in two months, government data showed Friday, in a report seen as positive for an ailing US economy.

Overall, do you approve or disapprove of Barack Obama's job as president? Overall, how would you rate Barack Obama's job as president - excellent, good, fair, and poor? Overall, are you proud or ashamed to have Barack Obama as President of the United States? Some members of congress have said we need to jump start the economy with a second stimulus package. Do you favor or oppose Congress passing a second stimulus package?

When times are tough, one thing that tends to raise the spirits is knowing that somebody else has it worse. And as wretched as the U.S. economy seems, it's not as bad as in other regions.

The recent representation of America at the Moscow summit delivered a mutually agreed-to target for the removal of some nuclear warheads and launchers. Almost. The relationship was neither improved nor set back, and America achieved little beyond being dealt a little embarrassment at the hands of Putin. The mainstream media (MSM) is applauding the event as a job well done. What meeting could it possibly be writing about with such approval and commendation? Getting rid of antiquated and cumbersome warheads, 2,200 down to 1,500 or so, and trimming delivery rockets from 1,600 to around 1,000, is a good thing, if...

Now that 6 months have passed since Obama's "stimulus plan" has passed, I thought it useful to examine the stock market reaction to Obama's plan and compare it to the reaction of President Bush's 2003 stimulus plan. Bush's plan passed in April 2003 while Obama's passed in February 2009. I chose the S&P 500 Index starting point one month prior to passage because the market typically discounts the information beforehand as the bills work their way through Congress. I chose 6 months-post passage as the ending point because that's all the data we have for Obama's plan so far. Bush:...

First Star Trek predicted the normalization of racial diversity. Then it was cell phones. Now it’s a “theory of everything.” Is there anything Star Trek can’t predict? In an episode called “Shore Leave,” first broadcast in 1966, Kirk and Spock visited a planet where any thought — even an idyll one — would cause its physical creation. So whenever somebody had a dangerous idea — of a hungry tiger, for instance — an advanced computer acted instantly to manifest the thought into a physical reality. Trouble was, the crew of the Enterprise were not aware that they needed to control...

We all loved Sarah. She rescued the sinking McCain campaign, said all the right things and holds pretty much the same positions of most FReepers. They all love Obama. He rescued the sinking DNC, said all the right things and holds pretty much the same positions of most liberals. Dems, liberals and the MSM are condemned for their all consuming adoration, virtual blindness to any mistakes or faults and slobbering worship of the man. Yet when the same thing happens to Palin it turns into a virtue. Sarah was a real coup for conservatives. But when she announced her resignation...

Aiming to maximize federal grant money and offer proof of his city's recovery, Mayor Ray Nagin is urging Hurricane Katrina victims still living elsewhere -- and longing to return -- to record New Orleans as their home when the U.S. Census Bureau conducts its decennial head count next spring. Problem is, that strategy doesn't mesh with census rules, federal officials say. In an e-mail response to questions about the much-anticipated count, Nagin spokesman James Ross said this week: "An area of major concern relates to New Orleanians working to return here. Many are repairing their homes, and others are trying...

WASHINGTON -- Skillful piloting may have prevented a disaster for President Obama and his campaign last summer, a former federal safety official said Friday. A report released by the National Transportation Safety Board indicates an inflated slide may have pressed against critical control cables, forcing the emergency landing of Obama's campaign plane on July 7, 2008. The slide inflated inside the tail cone of the campaign's McDonnell Douglas MD-81 shortly after takeoff from Chicago's Midway International Airport, the report said. Investigators found evidence that the slide and a broken walkway railing inside the tail cone may have pressed against elevator...

Rosie Perez sees big appeal in Sonia Sotomayor movie July 9th 2009 Rosie Perez is on board to play Sonia Sotomayor if a biopic of the federal judge comes to fruition. "Oh my God, I'd be so honored," the actress exclaimed at a screening of the documentary "Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech" at HBO Studios. Perez is well aware of the challenges in playing Bronx-born Sotomayor, who could be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. "There needs to be a fearlessness in approaching that role," she says. "That's who she is. Balancing the human...

Only a year ago, Felix Afriyie was an ordinary school boy, if anything, a little on the shy side. But the moment Barack Obama came into the limelight as candidate for the American presidential elections, Felix's life started to change. "Even in school, my mates, my teachers, my seniors and even my juniors call me Obama in school." Felix said. It's not only his face or his smile that make him look so alike Obama, but also his demeanour. His sudden increased popularity has made him come out of his timid shell. "It has inspired him." Felix's father Agyabe said,...

What do you do when you've spent several TRILLION dollars, ballooned the country's deficit by four hundred percent, and all you have to show for it is nearly 3 million jobs lost in less than six months? You claim that everything is working according to plan. That's exactly what the president did this morning in defending the stimulus.

I don't think that we can find another country that bends over backwards for Islam more than the UK. The number of Sharia Courts there has rising from five to over 80. It appears that the leaders of the UK want the country entirely placed under the Islamic boot heel, as they constantly look for new ways to cater to Muslims. Where is Winston Churchill when you need him?