Free Republic

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures closed above $1,100 an ounce Monday for the first time, as the dollar fell to a 15-month low and investors kept piling into bullion on expectations other central banks would buy the metal as a reserve unit.</p>

Spot gold ran to a record high above $1,090 per ounce on Wednesday, latching on to a weaker dollar with continued support from the IMF's sale of gold to India's central bank. The dollar index declined 0.34 percent as investors awaited a Fed statement later on Wednesday. Spot gold hit a record high of $1,092.60 an ounce and was bid at $1,091.05 an ounce at 0915 GMT, compared with $1,084.50 late in New York on Tuesday. U.S. COMEX gold futures also hit an historic $1,093.70 in electronic trade, and were later up $7.40 at $1,092.40. Buying on the back of...

CONCORD, N.H. – The bouncing mega-meatball record has landed in the East Coast. Matthew Mitnitsky, owner of Nonni's Italian Eatery in Concord, said Sunday that a 222.5-pound meatball was authenticated as the world's largest after being weighed by state weights and measures officials. A Guinness Book of World Records official confirmed the big meatball as a record breaker and presented Mitnitsky with a plaque.

In little noticed remarks, Michelle Obama stated at a public event that her husband's mother, Ann Dunham, was "very young and very single" when she gave birth to the future U.S. president. Her comments further undermine the official story as told by Barack Obama – that Dunham was married to his father, Barack Obama Sr., at the time of birth. -------

NAIROBI, Kenya – Parents in some of Africa's poorest countries are cutting back on school, clothes and basic medical care just to give their children a meal once a day, experts say. Still, it is not enough. A record 1 billion people worldwide are hungry and a new report says the number will increase if governments do not spend more on agriculture. According to the U.N. food agency, which issued the report, 30 countries now require emergency aid, including 20 in Africa. The trend continues despite a goal set by world leaders nine years ago to cut the number of...

An early season cold spell across the Upper Midwest and northern Plains this past weekend and into the start of this week mixed with available moisture has set up for early season snow. Some of this snow has been quite heavy and has been record breaking. Here are some of those records:

The federal budget deficit tripled to a record $1.4 trillion for the 2009 fiscal year that ended last week, congressional analysts said Wednesday. The Congressional Budget Office estimate, while expected, is bad news for the White House and its allies in Congress as they press ahead with health care overhaul legislation that could cost $900 billion over the next decade. The unprecedented flood of red ink flows from several factors, including a big drop in tax revenues due to the recession, $245 billion in emergency spending on the Wall Street bailout and the takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and...

Silver and copper contracts also move higher By Nick Godt, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures hit a new high on Tuesday, lifted by weakness in the dollar after Australia hiked interest rates and after a report that Gulf-area oil producers, along with China, Russia, Japan and France, are planning to eventually end dollar-based oil pricing. With the greenback under selling pressure, investors moved into dollar-denominated commodities such as gold. Gold for December delivery rose as high as $1,045.00 an ounce in electronic trade, topping the previous record of $1,033.90 in March 2008. It recently gained $23.50, or 2.3%,...

Over the past weeks I have been studying how to identify and graphically illustrate WHO brought us to this point. I know that much of the blame is rooted in over 20 years of out of control Congress, but the recent meltdown can be blamed on those I consider traitors to the Nation. This is my best attempt to collect that data. This table lists the voting record of all Congressmen by state for the Financial Bailout, the Auto Bailout, Cap & Trade, and the FDA takeover of U.S. Food production.

A Scituate man reeled in a 624-pound mako shark Thursday, possibly breaking the record for the biggest male mako ever caught, a biologist said. “I’ve caught a million sharks before, but never anything this feisty,” said Taylor Sears, 20, a Massachusetts Maritime Academy junior who said he fishes every day of the summer. Greg Skomal, a shark specialist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the 10-foot fish is the largest male mako shark ever to be recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, and appears to be the largest male ever caught. “We didn’t think they got this big, basically,”...

The federal deficit climbed higher into record territory in July, hitting $1.27 trillion with two months remaining in the budget year. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the July deficit totaled $180.7 billion, slightly more than the $177.5 billion economists had expected. The Obama administration is projecting that when the current budget year ends on Sept. 30, the imbalance will total $1.84 trillion, more than four times last year's record-high. Massive amounts of government spending to combat the recession and stabilize the U.S. financial system have pushed the deficit higher.

WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday it would sell $75 billion in debt next week in a record quarterly refunding and announced plans to gradually increase issuance of inflation-indexed notes as its borrowing to fight a recession grows. The Treasury said it would sell $37 billion in three-year notes US3YT=RR, $23 billion in 10-year notes US10YT=RR and $15 billion in 30-year bonds US30YT=RR, raising $14.9 billion in new cash. The refunding comes as the U.S. government continues to break new borrowing records, selling over $6 trillion in gross Treasury debt for the first 10 months...

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs admitted the controversy over Obama's birth certificate won't go away. He trivialized the issue by saying, "there are 10,000 more important issues for people in this country to discuss, rather than whether or not the president is a citizen." I guess he hasn't seen the AOL online poll where 82% want Obama to release his 'vault copy' birth certificate. Gibbs claims he was the one who advocated posting Obama's birth certificate online. Many claim it was a fraud. Watch this YouTube amateur make a duplicate of the one posted in 5 minutes. Bluegrass PunditDid...

So just how rare is this cool weather during this time of July in the South? Find out here

A chilly airmass for the month of July is sinking south out of Canada and it will encompass much of the nation along and east of the Mississippi River from the Canadian border to the Deep South through this weekend.

The unemployment rates in eight states hit record-highs last month and only two -- Nebraska and Vermont -- did not report increases. The Labor Department says 48 states and the District of Columbia saw employment conditions deteriorate last month. The fallout from the longest recession since World War II, was the worst in Michigan. Its unemployment rate rose to 14.1 percent. The eight states that set records are: California, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia. The West region reported the highest jobless rate at 10.1 percent. The last time any region had a rate of...

After a June that opened with record chill following a spring characterized by clouds, sub-normal temperatures and deluges of rain, Chicagoans increasingly anxious for summery warmth, sunshine and rain-free days must face another meteorological disappointment. Computer models suggest below-average temperatures are likely to persist here through the week. In addition, persistent east winds blowing off the chilly waters of Lake Michigan will keep lakefront areas especially cool in upcoming days. A good deal of sunshine today and Monday is just a tease. Another storm system is headed toward Chicago and the Midwest.

The cloudy, chilly and rainy open to June here has been the talk of the town. So far this June is running more than 12 degrees cooler than last year, and the clouds, rain and chilly lake winds have been persistent. The average temperature at O'Hare International Airport through Friday has been only 59.5 degrees: nearly 7 degrees below normal and the coldest since records there began 50 years ago. More bad weather is on the way Saturday with a cold rain expected to linger through the bulk of the morning. Rainfall could be heavy -- especially north of the...

During the Motorfair Auto Show in UK which took place this month at the Knockhill Racing Circuit in Scotland, Go Fast! Jet Pack pilot Eric Scott set the world record for the fastest jet pack flight ever attempted. This month, at the Motorfair auto show that took place at the Knockhill Racing Circuit in Scotland, 46-year old Go Fast! Jet Pack pilot Eric Scott attempted to set the world record for the world's fastest jet pack run. The man from Denver had already become the first jet-propelled man to cross the 1,053 ft. wide Royal Gorge Canyon in his home...

Chicago - busy putting on its best face to garner a 2016 Olympics bid and basking in the afterglow of President Obama's election - has become the nation's most violent city for youths. With three weeks left before summer break, a record 36 Chicago Public Schools students have been killed this school year, marking the third straight year that youth homicides have climbed into double digits. Chicago has surpassed New York City and Los Angeles for having the highest youth homicide rate in the nation. "I think people in Chicago have almost gotten numb to the statistics," said Dexter Voisin,...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Large-scale U.S. layoffs rose again in March, according to Labor Department data on Thursday, as the economy struggles with what many expect will be the country's worst post-World War II recession. Last month witnessed 2,933 more mass layoffs, defined as affecting 50 or more workers, than February. This brought the total number of people who lost their jobs in this manner to 299,388, the highest on a record that dates back to 1995. The U.S. job market has been under severe strain as a crisis first evident in housing spread to the rest of the economy,...

ATLANTA – More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history, topping the peak during the baby boom 50 years earlier, federal researchers reported Wednesday. ... The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 percent, continuing a trend begun years ago. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older.

Rock Layers Folded, Not Fractured Flood Evidence Number Six by Andrew A. Snelling March 15, 2009 How could a series of sedimentary layers fold without fracturing? The only way is for all the sedimentary layers to be laid down in rapid succession and then be folded while still soft and pliable. If the global Flood, as described in Genesis 7–8, really occurred, what evidence would we expect to find? Wouldn’t we expect to find rock layers all over the earth that are filled with billions of dead animals and plants that were rapidly buried and fossilized in sand, mud, and...

A Roman Catholic priest who monitors law enforcement treatment of minorities with a video camera released footage that appears to contradict the police account of his own arrest. A police report says the Rev. James Manship was confronted and arrested Feb. 19 because he was holding an "unknown shiny silver object" and struggled with an officer who was trying to take it from him. But a 15-second video released this week by Manship's attorneys shows East Haven police Officer David Cari asking Manship, "Is there a reason you have a camera on me?"

VINKOVCI, Croatia (AFP) – Croatians on Saturday cooked up what they claim to be the world's largest sausage, measuring 530 metres (1,738 feet). Hundreds of locals gathered in the main square of Vinkovci in the country's east and grilled the giant sausage, made with 400 kilogrammes of pork, 10 kilos of salt, 2.5 kilos of spices and 3.5 kilos of garlic bought for a local farm, the town hall said.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A widely watched index shows home prices tumbled by the sharpest annual rate on record in the fourth quarter and in December.

DUBLIN (AFP) — An Irish long-distance runner has completed a gruelling seven marathons on seven continents in less than six days, a charity chief said Thursday. Richard Donovan, 42, from Galway in the west of Ireland, began his challenge in numbing sub-zero temperatures in Antarctica on January 31 and finished in Sydney just five days, nine hours and eight minutes later.

The Bush legacy-protection machinery isn't in full gear yet. But it's getting there, with former aides gathering online to share talking points and swap spin. "We were there. And as members of the team, we know the difference between rumor, reality, fact, and fiction. This is our chance to stand up, speak up, and set the record straight," says the Web site dedicated to the task. The Bush-Cheney Alumni Association Web site, 43alumni.com, appeared last week as a link from the Web site of the George W. Bush Foundation, which is raising funds to build the Bush presidential library and...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJanuary 17, 2009 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: Bush RecordTHE PRESIDENT: Good morning. For the last eight years, I have had the honor of speaking to the American people Saturday mornings through this radio address. In hundreds of broadcasts, I have talked to you about important issues affecting our security and our prosperity. And today, in my final address, I want to send a simple and heartfelt message: Thank you. Eight years ago, Laura and I left our home in Texas to come to Washington. Through two terms...

The lowest temperature ever recorded in the state of Maine occurred this morning, according to preliminary data from the National Weather Service. The temperature at Big Black River in northern Maine on the Canadian border bottomed out at -50F, besting the old record of -48°F. Here's the scoop from NWS: At 0730 am EST this morning a USGS gage at Big Black River recorded a low temperature of -50F. This exceeds the current statewide record low temperature of -48F set on January 19th...1925 at Van Buren. This report is considered unofficial until a review of the equipment and data by...

Wanna see what Obama did in the senate? This should make you laugh!

I have a feeling Texas will deliver for Mac and Sarah in huge numbers. Williamson County is one of the Reddest Counties in an already Red State. We voted by 2-1 margin for Bush the last two elections. By the end of today 50% of the county's registered voters will have voted shattering the 2004 record of 35% IN 2004 only 64% of the registered voters in the county turned out and that was considered a blowout number, maybe well over 80%. We are poised to eclipse that number! Voter intensity here is through the roof and I am hearing...

A heavy, wet snow snapped trees, which fell across tracks. The most affected regions included Zurich, Schaffhausen in the north and the areas around the Gotthard pass in central Switzerland. Passengers moving between Spiez and Interlaken south of Bern were forced to take buses when rail service there was interrupted around 7am. Broken branches and trees blocked roads. Farmers in the Bernese Oberland also awoke to snow-related problems. Damaged fences allowed their cows to wander freely. According to MeteoNews, the Swiss lowlands received the most snow for any October since records began. Zurich received 20cm, beating a record of 14cm...

How could a person rise to the level of United States senator without ever producing adequate documentation? Remember that Mr. Obama rose through the ranks in Illinois, where politics and corruption go together like ham and eggs. Our previous governor was sent to prison; our sitting governor may well end up there, too. Thomas Lifson, publisher of the "American Thinker" asks this probative question. "If he has it [birth certificate] why hasn't he released it? If he does release it, game over. So why drag this out on technical grounds? It doesn't make sense." Sen. Obama is very stingy with...

It’s been about two years now that the mainstream media has been reporting on the campaigns to win the 2008 presidential election. Sen. John McCain formed his exploratory committee in November 2006 and Sen. Obama announced his plans for an exploratory committee in January 2007. Both senators announced their candidacies for president in February 2007. The US Senate, where both candidates work, is in session every month of the year except for August. Sen. John McCain has served as a member of the senate since 1993 and Sen. Barack Obama since 2005. Some people might find it relevant that during...

The McCain camp has just released the following: DECONSTRUCTING OBAMA: Barack Obama's Rhetoric Vs. His Record ARLINGTON,VA -- At today's speech in Green Bay, WI, Barack Obama offered a speechlong on rhetoric but out of step with the reality of his record. See below for a deconstruction of Barack Obama's speech: DECONSTRUCTING#1: Barack Obama Decried The Same Special Interests That Have Given HimMore Money In Four Years Than Any Member Of Congress In The Past TwoDecades Save For One Barack Obama: "We'rehere because for too long, the doors of Washington have been thrownopen to an army of lobbyists and special...

Does John McCain represent a third Bush term? The Obama campaign claims the two are almost indistinguishable. It was the mantra during the Democratic convention, and it is the theme of new ads Barack Obama is running. The ads claim that McCain is "no maverick when he votes with Bush 90 percent of the time." This week Obama has begun a constant refrain that there is "not a dime worth of difference" between Bush's and McCain's views. It is a... Is this the same McCain who drove Republicans nuts on campaign finance, the environment, taxes, torture, immigration and more? Where...

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Barack Obama will portray himself Thursday night as an agent of change for mainstream America, but his eight-year voting record in the Illinois Senate shows the Democrat was on occasion an agent of isolation who took stands - particularly on anti-crime legislation - that put him to the left of his own party. Mr. Obama was the only member of the state Senate to vote against a bill to prohibit the early release of convicted criminal sexual abusers; was among only four who voted against bills to toughen criminal sentences and to increase penalties for "gangbangers" and dealers...

In 2000, a young 20-something reporter, Todd Spivak was assigned to cover local Chicago politics. Obama was just a rank-and-file state senator in Illinois. It was 2000 and I was a young, hungry reporter at the Hyde Park Herald and Lakefront Outlook community newspapers earning $19,000 a year covering politics and crime. I talked with Obama on a regular basis — a couple times a month, at least. I’d ask him about his campaign-finance reports, legislation he was sponsoring and various local issues. He wrote an occasional column published in our papers. It ran with a headshot that made him...

Good thing he has that Community Organizer thing on his resume, otherwise people might start wondering if he ever had a real job before coming to the U.S. Senate. Obama’s Illinois Senate job was a pretty good part-time gig. One would have plenty of extra time to nurture nascent Hope and Change. A Hillary supporter did some digging at the height of the primary battle and found out how often the Illinois Senate convened during Obama’s tenure. Not only that, a local Chicago reporter also has reported that, though Obama spent 7 years in the state senate, he built his...

Senator Barack Hussein Obama Jr. (D-IL)

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. (DE) 12/18/2007 Inclusion of Iraq and Afghanistan Military Operations Funding with the Consolidated Appropriations HR 2764 NV (no vote) Concurrence Vote Passed - Senate (70 - 25) 10/01/2007 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 HR 1585 NV (no vote) Bill Passed - Senate (92 - 3) 10/18/2007 Prohibiting Funds for Groups that Perform Abortions S Amdt 3330 NV (no vote) Amendment Rejected - Senate (41 - 52) 09/10/2007 Bridge Repair Funding S Amdt 2792 NV (no vote) Amendment Adopted - Senate (60 - 33) 04/18/2005 Future Military Funding for Iraq Amendment HR 1268...

The Bush administration today projected that the budget deficit for FY09 would be $482 billion, more than the record $413 billion deficit recorded for FY04. The figure includes the $151 billion economic stimulus package enacted in February and would total 3.3 percent of gross domestic product. That compares with 3.6 percent in FY04. For FY08, the projected deficit is $389 billion, 2.7 percent of GDP. The projected FY09 deficit is roughly $70 billion more than the $410 billion FY09 deficit estimated in President Bush's budget proposal released in February and about $320 billion more than the $162 billion FY07 estimated...

A close look at Barack Obama's career reveals it has been even more mediocre than generally recognized. Before being elected to the Illinois state Senate, Obama worked as a community organizer and a lawyer in Chicago. In his memoir, Obama says being a community organizer taught him how to motivate the powerless and work the government to help them. His chief example is an effort to remove asbestos from Altgeld Gardens, an all-black public housing project on Chicago’s South Side. But those who were involved in the effort say Obama played a minor role in working the problem and never...

French skydiver Michel Fournier takes his life in his hands when, weather permitting, he leaps from a balloon 40 kilometres (25 miles) above Canada's western plains. The 64-year-old parachutist said it was his life's dream to make the record jump, which will begin at the outer reaches of the stratosphere -- about four times higher than the cruising altitude of a commercial jet. Fournier spent Sunday resting and making the final arrangements in the small city of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, from where he will head up into the heavens in a stratospheric balloon and then throw himself off. He...

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq, May 2, 2008 – An Air Force Reserve pilot deployed here broke his own world record for hours spent flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone today. Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron pilot, prepares to don his helmet at Balad Air Base, Iraq, before flying a combat mission May 2, 2008. Brill broke the world record he previously set for F-16 flying hours when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone. Brill is deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior...

ExposeObama.com put together the commercial below highlighting the Democrat front-runner’s soft record on crime–always an important issue with American voters. ExposeObama had some heavy hitters on board to help put the video together, including Floyd Brown, of Willie Horton fame. One of the key members of our team is Floyd Brown. You may remember Floyd as the man who created the Willie Horton ads which brought the truth about Mike Dukakis directly to the American people. Before the Willie Horton ads came out, Dukakis had a healthy lead over George H.W. Bush in the polls, in part, because the liberal...

House prices decline at record levels By Stephen Adams and Andrew Porter, Political Editor Last Updated: 2:08am BST 15/04/2008 House prices are experiencing their most widespread decline since records began because of the fallout from the credit crisis, a report released today shows. Halifax statistics showed house prices tumbled by 2.5 per cent from February to March, the biggest such fall since 1992 Almost four out of five chartered surveyors saw a fall in values in March, research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has found. RICS disclosed that they were the worst figures since it started compiling such...

Beatles try to block historic bootleg By David Harrison Last Updated: 8:43pm GMT 22/03/2008 The Beatles are trying to block the release of an album of "lost" songs recorded during Ringo Starr's first performances with the group. The Beatles built their reputation at Hamburg's Star Club. A plaque now marks where it once stood The eight unreleased songs date from 1962 when the Fab Four agreed to do a few final gigs at Hamburg's Star Club, where they had performed as a fledgling band. The songs include Paul McCartney and John Lennon singing an early B-side, Ask Me Why, McCartney...