Free Republic

Senator Barack Obama says he may try to block the confirmation of a high-level nominee to the State Department out of concerns over racially insensitive comments attributed to her in the past. Mr. Obama, (D-I) and the only African-American member of the Senate, said he was pressing to gain access to a background report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other records regarding the nominee, Henrietta Holsman Fore, the director of the United States Mint, who is President Bush's candidate to be under secretary of state for management. The position is the State Department's top human resources job. While...

Filed at 4:44 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Gold dollar coins weigh down the pockets. They are costly to ship. And few Americans think they're better than the good old greenback. Dollar coins are a flop even before their third birthday, even after a $67.1 million, three-year marketing campaign by the U.S. Mint, a government report says. While initial public awareness generated by the advertising was strong, the new dollar coin, like the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, ``has failed to achieve widespread use,'' the General Accounting Office reported Friday. According to July, 2001 statistics from the U.S. Mint, people...