Free Republic

Amherst Sees 7m Foreclosures Poised to Distress House Prices By DIANA GOLOBAY September 24, 2009 10:34 AM CST Advertisements Recent analysis by the Amherst Securities Group indicates the housing industry will not only worsen as a delayed pipeline of foreclosed loans begins to liquidate, but that the Administration’s Making Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) will have no lasting effect on keeping delinquent loans current. The early signs of stabilization seen among housing industry observers may soon recede as an overhang of the shadow inventory of foreclosures waits to enter the market. The general outlook that the housing market has bottomed...

Today’s Wall Street Journal carries the amazing story of a small Texas brokerage that pulled a fast one on some of the biggest banks in the world. The short version goes like this. Amherst, the Texas brokerage, and others sold hundreds of millions of dollars of credit default swaps on bonds back by $29 million of subprime mortgages to JP Morgan, Goldman, UBS RBS and other banking giants. The banks paid steeply for the swaps—up to 90 cents for every dollar of insurance—but thought it was easy money. After all, these were Lehman packaged California subprime loans made in 2005,...

<p>WASHINGTON - At least 80 wealthy liberals have pledged to contribute at least $1 million each to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups, to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up during the last three decades.</p>

<p>University of Massachusetts officials yesterday quashed efforts by an Amherst campus chaplain to offer two college credits to any student willing to campaign in New Hampshire this fall for Democrat Barack Obama.</p> <p>Chaplain Ken Higgins told students in a Sept. 18 e-mail, “If you’re scared about the prospects for this election, you’re not alone. The most important way to make a difference in the outcome is to activate yourself. It would be just fine with McCain if Obama supporters just think about helping, then sleep in and stay home between now and Election Day.”</p>

AMHERST - Investigators have determined the Friday morning death of a 20-year-old University of Massachusetts student was a suicide. Liam O'Donnelly of Hingham died of multiple trauma, Terrel W. Harris, communications director for the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, said of the autopsy finding. UMass Amherst Police responded to a report of someone jumping from the 17th floor of the John Quincy Adams residence hall around 3:30 a.m. that day O'Donnelly was a sophomore studying resource economics at UMass. Campus spokesman Edward F. Blaguszewski said O'Donnelly lived in a single-person room. The case was investigated by campus...

AMHERST - In the fall, Select Board Chairman Gerald S. Weiss read a story about an Amherst restaurant worker who was deported to her native El Salvador after being involved in a Northampton accident. He doesn't want that to happen here and wants the town to adopt a bylaw that would protect non-U.S. citizens. Weiss presented the proposal to the Select Board Monday night and the board will discuss whether to support it at a future meeting. Town Meeting would ultimately decide whether to adopt the change. The bylaw proposal follows a Town Meeting resolution adopted in 2002 that asked...

AMHERST - University of Massachusetts student Brian C. Marquis may have to settle for the "C" he received in a philosophy course. A judge in U.S. District Court, Springfield, has determined Marquis failed in his effort to prove grounds for a civil rights case against the university over the letter grade he contended didn't match the numerical rating he'd received. Marquis sued the university last winter, claiming UMass officials violated his rights. The lawsuit was dismissed recently by Judge Michael A. Ponsor, but Marquis says he might not be finished. "Grades are very serious, and they should be taken seriously...

Why Granting Socioeconomic Preferences in College Admissions Is Wrong I believe Amherst College’s policy of granting admissions preferences based on socioeconomic status is wrong. It is wrong because it is inefficient, wasteful, and pointless; but I begin with a discussion of why it is morally and ethically wrong, because these considerations are paramount. Moral Issues The history of discrimination against the bourgeoisie has been as pernicious as discrimination against any group in history. The “wealthy” have been exiled to gulags in the Soviet Union, suppressed and brainwashed during the Cultural Revolution in Communist China, and murdered by the millions in...

The FBI says it's all part of an ongoing investigation into a group of Sri Lankans with terrorist plans. The FBI says there were no plans to attack Americans, but that the group, known as the "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam" was targeting their home country of Sri Lanka. Officials say that terror group is responsible for assassinating a former prime minister of India. The Joint Terrorism Task Force raided the Amherst home. Neighbors say three men were taken out in handcuffs. They say the task force also removed files, a computer and suitcases. While it's not clear what role...

Amherst, NY (WBEN) - Federal agents raided a home in Amherst, and arrested three people they say are linked to an overseas terror cell. The FBI raided a home on Shetland Drive over the weekend, and the three unidentified suspects were charged with raising and laundering money for the Tamil Tigers terror group in Sri Lanka. WBEN's Tom Puckett has more in the audio link above, including assurances from police that the local community was apparently not a target.

The removal of the Confederate flag from Amherst County's official seal has upset Southern heritage groups, who contend residents weren't told of the change. County officials acknowledge the image was quietly removed in August 2004 to avoid an uproar.

AMHERST - Two A-10 fighter jets tore across the Amherst sky just as the Independence Day parade came to a close Monday afternoon. Below, a crowd of July Fourth revelers, and a much smaller group of peace and anti-war activists, lifted their heads from the streets and took a pause as the Warthogs flew overhead. Loud as thunder, the military jets were a late addition to an otherwise festive and peaceful Fourth of July parade that brought thousands to Amherst's downtown on a beautiful summer day. The parade was Amherst's fourth since a group of volunteers revived the Independence Day...

AMHERST - Are the images that now cover the walls outside Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts campus obscene, thought-provoking, crude or ingenious? Some people cannot get past the naked forms in various acts of sex and violence. For others, the drawings in black marker by Austrian artist Heimo Wallner tell a story of society, filled with everything from violence, love, weapons and fame to pop music, torture, virtue and drugs. And for some, it's hard to understand or process the hundreds of figures and their actions.

http://www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/storytmp.cfm?id_no=110900952004 AMHERST - The Puerto Rican flag is flying in front of Town Hall again, two days after a woman mistook it for the flag of Texas and removed it from the flagpole. Patricia Church, of South Prospect Street, was attending a peace vigil on the town common Sunday when she noticed a new flag flying under the usual United Nations flag. Someone at the vigil said it was the flag of Texas, she said. Church, still upset over the re-election of President Bush last week, said she thought someone had raised the Texas flag as a prank to taunt...

A day late, but... Last night's news carried this item. Some residents in Amherst, MA (Amherst College, Univ. of Massachusetts) are "furious" that the US flag has remained up after Labor Day. They consider the US flag a symbol of racism, imperialism, and evil, and have demanded that it be taken down. The matter has reached the selectmen and town manager for action. In light of today's events, I think this item is particularly relevant, and says volumes about Amherst, MA, and the surrounding area.

Here is an account of September 10, 2001, 12 hours before the first plane hit. I was at a rally to support the flying of the American Flag from the telephone poles down Main Street in Amhert Mass. What happened that night was quite profound!~

In response to yesterday's student takeover of the Goodell Building at the University of Massachusetts, the Amherst College Student Policy Committee voted unanimously to support the demonstration by issuing a letter of solidarity to the student protesters. The motion to support the student takeover arose at last night's monthly meeting of the SPC. Representatives from the University's African, Latino, Asian, and Native American organization (ALANA) were invited to the meeting to inform SPC members about th e ongoing student protest and give a summary of the students' demands. According to these representatives, the impetus behind the student protest was the...

FOCUS: HEROISM IN IRAQ 'Like flying through hell' The pilot of a military helicopter, an Amherst native, tells of terror and triumph in the heroic rescue of two wounded soldiers in Iraq By CHARITY VOGEL News Staff Reporter5/1/2004 Maj. Steven R. White, left, on flying into danger: "You train forever for the Super Bowl, so when the Super Bowl comes up, you don't want to sit on the bench."   Click to view larger picture Maj. Steven R. White, first row, second from right, piloted a Pave Hawk helicopter through a blinding sandstorm into a volatile area near Baghdad to...

The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee banned "West Side Story" because its members said it stereotyped Puerto Ricans. They banned "Peter Pan" because it stereotyped Native Americans. Yet they want the play the "Vagina Monologues" performed even though it stereotypes males and Christians -- not to mention the fact that it's crude and arguably pro-pedophilia.Most disturbing about the play is the fact that it features the seduction of a female minor by an adult woman, legitimizing predatory sexual behavior before an audience of minors. It seems the Amherst School Committee is indoctrinating rather than educating. The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee approved the performance of...

AMHERST - Support for next month's student production of ''The Vagina Monologues'' outweighed dissent among members of the community at Tuesday's Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee meeting. About 40 residents, parents and faculty members from the high school attended the public comment portion of the meeting. Faculty supporters of the student production advised students to avoid the meeting because of its potential for controversy. Written by Eve Ensler, ''The Vagina Monologues'' is a series of short scenes based on her interviews with more than 200 women around the globe. The play, to be performed Feb. 13 at the high school, will...