Free Republic

A Boeing 787 jet took corporate loyalty to new heights when it "drew" the letters "787" followed by the company's logo across several thousand miles of North American skies. The etching of the letters and logo, while not visible from the ground, can be seen in the flight path plans.

President Obama, I oppose your appointment of Michael Taylor, a former VP and Lobbyist for Monsanto, the widely criticized Genetically Modified (GM) food multinational, as Senior Advisor to the Commissioner at the FDA. Taylor is the same person who was Food Safety Czar at the FDA when Genetically Modified Organisms were allowed into the US food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety or risks. This is a travesty. Taylor was in charge of policy for Monsanto's now-discredited GM Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) which is directly linked to cancer and opposed by many medical and hospital organizations.

In Bonita Canyon Sports Park, where the statue of the former president had only been up for a month, locals witnessed the leaning statue in the early morning. It was reported that the thieves tied rope around the statue with the intention of driving away with it, but the pick-up truck and a second vehicle said to have been used did not work. 'This is a sad and pathetic example of vandalism,' said Newport Beach City Councilman Keith Curry. 'Whether by thieves or the intolerant criminal left, the matter will be investigated and we will prosecute to the full extent...

The 53% of us that actually pay taxes deserve a voice too. The53.tumbler.comI encourage other Freepers to contribute to this.

A Merrit Island fisherman died in a South Miami hospital on Thursday after sampling what may have been a brick of cocaine he found floating offshore in the Keys, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Thomas Swindal, 53, was fishing with his brother near Marathon on Wednesday when they came across what appeared to be a kilo of cocaine floating in the water. The pair discussed what to do with it, Kenneth Swindal told authorities, and shortly stored it in the bait well of their boat and resumed fishing. Minutes later, Kenneth Swindal said, he saw his brother open...

The story making the rounds that a Casey Anthony look-alike was attacked because of her resemblance to the notorious former defendant is bogus -- this according to the alleged victim. (snip) But TMZ has obtained a copy of the police report, and there is no mention of the Casey Anthony connection.

You might think the British press holds a monopoly on media controversy this month, with the shuttering of a 168-year-old tabloid over a phone-hacking scandal. Still, at least one Yank media concern has won recent unwelcome notoriety--fittingly enough, for airing misleading video footage on the national holiday commemorating American independence from the British crown. CBS has been caught doctoring Fourth of July footage after Bostonians realized Thursday that the network's images of fireworks over various city landmarks were not only breathtaking, but also fake. An area research scientist appears to have been among the first to point out the discrepancy...

Mr Pooler, 63, has been charged with 'boating under the influence' after he was pulled to land by South Florida authorities after the ill-fated rescue attempt of another boat, which got him stranded off-shore. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said Mr Pooler had been called out by two men who broke down around 25 miles out from Delray Beach, just north of Fort Lauderdale on the state's east coast. However, according to the police report, Mr Pooler took four hours to reach the stranded vessel and, even after securing the boat to tow it to shore he...

Google has replaced its homepage logo today with an interactive doodle commemorating the birthday of Les Paul, the father of the solid-body electric guitar. Paul's inventions shaped the sound of rock and roll. snip Google's Doodle today pays tribute to both sides of Paul's career. The site's logo has been turned into a playable guitar on which you can strum any song (as long as it's in C-Major), with your mouse or keyboard. There's also a recording device so you can share your masterpieces with others.

Police in South Africa are searching for an elderly woman who allegedly persuades young men at a mall to help carry heavy bags from her car before kidnapping and robbing them. The woman, who works with two male accomplices, targets shoppers standing in bank queues at a mall in Johannesburg's Soweto township and has struck at least twice recently, The New Age newspaper reported. "I never suspected anything wicked about the old woman as she looked like a pensioner and had a walking stick," 18-year-old victim Kabelo Dube told the newspaper. He says he was waiting in line to deposit...

NORWOOD, Ohio -- Strangers came to a woman's aid after, police said, she was almost kidnapped in a Norwood McDonald's parking lot Wednesday morning. Norwood police said Timothy Wayne Glanton jumped in a car, held a knife up to the woman driving and told her to drive him somewhere. When she refused, police said Glanton began hitting her in the face, knocking off her glasses. People nearby noticed the attack and ran to the woman's aid while Glanton fled the scene on foot. Ashley Ward was one of several witnesses to the kidnapping attempt and was quick to give chase...

The parents of a 25-year old man in Spain told him to either look for a job or they would stop paying him $588 in monthly allowance. Then they followed through on their threat. So the young man sued them in court. The judge dismissed his complaint and ordered him to move out of their home and find a job: However, the judge told the man, who has not been named in court documents, that he must leave his parents’ house within 30 days. The judge said the man was studying law, albeit at a slow rate, and would probably...

The AP reports that 21-year-old Marisol Valles has been fired from her post as police chief of the violent town of Praxedis G. Guerrero when she didn't show up for work this morning. She is reportedly seeking asylum in the United States after receiving death threats from drug cartels. She may have difficulty making an asylum case, though, since U.S. immigration officials typically approve such request on the basis of political threats to an applicant's life or well-being, and Mexican drug violence is obviously not state-sanctioned. Valles was hailed as the bravest woman in Mexico for agreeing to head up...

Using chambers cut off 12 ga. scrap barrels and a new $10 bbl for an Italian auto shotgun, the only other gun part is a scrapped hammer from a 1857 Remington perc revolver: Loads like a SAA Colt but underlever rotates and cocks it. Blow-by is negligible, hardly noticeable with normal shirt sleeve. Opened for some still shots, at top of the inside pix screwed in is the firing pin, impact type with return spring. The ratchet or star with the hand is visible below on the left side, also the pawl that cocks the hammer. The cylinder indexing lock...

In just one day, 50 Cent's promotion of the publicly traded H&H Imports, Inc. raised the company's stock price from .10 to .39 per share. The G-Unit head urged his 3.8 million Twitter followers to invest in the company. "TVG's stock went from 5 cent to 10 in one day," 50 wrote about the subsidiary of H&H. "You can double your money right now. Just get what you can afford." fans responded immediately, purchasing $50 million worth of the penny stocks. The New York rapper made $8.7 million from those exchanges. Using his influence to generate so much activity for...

Many years ago my Grandmother gave me a sewing kit that I did not look into until today and I found this inside. I am beginning my search for what it might be right now and I expect this is as far as I need to go, but I'll also google and bing what it might be. Surely it is from the military? I guess that because many on Mom's side of the family were in the Navy. Thanks for any more information you can provide.

A BRITISH burglar who stole his neighbour's curtains was reportedly caught when he put them up in his own windows. Jason Williams, 38, who admitted to committing four break-ins, was caught when some of his victims came to his door to ask why their curtains were in his house, the Daily Mirror reported. In a crime described by his legal representative as "not very sophisticated," Williams broke into a neighbour's vacant house and stole the curtains, tools, two ashtrays and lamb steaks from the freezer. Williams initially denied breaking into the house in Slough, about 35km west of London, but...