Free Republic

FHA Is SOL By Ian Mathias 11/13/09 Baltimore, Maryland – Just as we forecast, the Federal Housing Administration revealed yesterday that it will likely need a government bailout. The results of an external audit (after being suddenly delayed for a week) showed the FHA’s capital cushion to be just 0.53% of its portfolio of insured mortgages. That’s way below the 2% mandated by Congress. In other words, the FHA has just $3.6 billion in reserves to back up a $679 billion book. That’s into the Fannie Mae stratosphere of leverage insanity, worse than anyone expected, and way, way beyond the...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2009 – The Army Reserve’s top enlisted soldier retires this month from an Army that’s vastly different from the one he was drafted into almost 40 years ago. Then-Army Staff Sgt. Leon E. Caffie points to a hit during Army Reserve training in Florida in the 1970s. Caffie is finishing his military career at the top enlisted soldier in the Army Reserve. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "The Army Reserve has finally arrived," Command Sgt. Maj. Leon E. Caffie said. The Army has learned hard lessons, he added, and the Army Reserve now is...

Bernanke Gone Berserk! Bank Reserves Explode! Fed Money Printing Gone Wild! Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing Oct 19, 2009 - 08:18 AM By: Martin_D_Weiss Martin here with the most shocking new numbers I’ve seen in my lifetime. My conclusion: Fed Chairman Bernanke has dumped so much funny money into the U.S. banking system and has done so little to manage how that money is used, the fate of our entire economy has now been cast under a dark shadow of doubt. This is not conjecture or exaggeration. Nor are the underlying facts subject to debate. They are blatant, unambiguous, and fully...

AP article. Link only. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYXjTdai6HXR_LTHhw8MiBTa8X4AD9A25EA00

CHICAGO, Aug. 6, 2009 – The Army Reserve and National Guard signed partnership agreements with dozens of Chicago and Illinois state employers yesterday to enhance job opportunities for soldiers and veterans. Army Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz applauds Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn after Quinn's remarks at the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative signing ceremony in Chicago Aug. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Brian Kersey  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “It is our duty to take care of veterans, who have answered the call to duty and bravely defended our country,” said Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. “I salute Helmets...

With California rapidly running out of money, Senate Democrats cut to the chase Tuesday, saying they will not accept decimating the state's safety net and unveiling the skeleton of their own budget-balancing proposal. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg pushed for raiding much of the state's proposed $4.5 billion budget reserve next year to bankroll key health, welfare and college aid programs. "The purpose of a rainy-day fund is to provide funds for a rainy day," he said. "It's thunder and lightning in California right now." Steinberg's proposal puts Senate Democrats at odds with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the state...

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2009 – All 10 active-duty and reserve military components met or exceeded their recruiting goals in March, with the Marine Corps adding the highest percentage of active-duty members, Defense Department officials announced today. The Army Reserve led the reserve components, and all four active departments met or exceeded their March retention goals. “Recruiting continues to be strong in all military departments,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Data published on the Defense Department Web site shows that the Marine Corps goal was to add 1,411 new Marines, which it exceeded by 43 percent, recruiting a total of 2,017....

DENVER, March 27, 2009 – Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. signed on to the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative at a March 20 ceremony here that also drew 11 private-sector employers. Army Reserve Sgt. Gregory S. Ruske, who earned the Silver Star medal for gallantry in Afghanistan, shakes hands with Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. in Denver, March 20, 2009. The two attended a ceremony in which the state of Colorado joined the Army Reserve’s Employer Partnership Initiative. U.S. Army photo by Jack Dempsey  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The governor is the first to commit all state...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The world has more than enough reserves to help restore financial stability, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday, but a way needs to be found of unlocking the funds. Speaking on the second leg of a three-continent tour to drum up support for the G20 summit in London next week, Brown said countries with high reserves, such as China, needed an insurance policy to protect them while encouraging them to lend. "We've got 7 trillion (dollars) of reserves around the world. Probably for the sake of financial stability you need maybe only half of...

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2009 – An Air Force reserve unit in Massachusetts does its utmost to support family members of deployed servicemembers, a noncommissioned officer assigned to the unit’s family readiness center said today. “We keep connected with the families while their loved ones are deployed,” said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Margaret Sullivan, one of five military members who work at the 439th Airlift Wing’s Airman and Family Readiness Center. The center, Sullivan said, also has a student hire and a full-time volunteer. Based at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Mass., just north of Springfield, the 439th Airlift...

Gaza-based Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar declared Tuesday that his Islamist militant group reserves the right to bring arms into Gaza. "It's our right to bring in everything - money and arms. We will not give anyone any commitment on this subject," Zahar told Reuters in an interview in the Egyptian town of Ismailia. O Advertisement ne the goals of Israel's recent offensive against Hamas in Gaza was to stem the flow of weaponry into the coastal strip.

WASHINGTON (Jan. 17, 2009) - The Army Reserve signed an agreement with General Electric Jan. 15 at the Pentagon making the 330,000-employee company the 153rd to become an employer partner with the Reserve in less than a year. Chief of the Army Reserve Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz and GE Vice President and Chief Security Officer Francis X. Taylor put their pens to the Employer Partnership Initiative document, formalizing an agreement to work collaboratively in developing long-term job solutions for Soldiers and veterans. "GE has a great development program in terms of teaching not only the technical skills, but management...

FRESNO, Calif., Dec. 31, 2008 – Like many high school seniors, Megan Schlotthauer wasn't sure what she wanted to do after graduation. Her grades weren't the best, and college is expensive. Megan Schlotthauer, left, and her mother, Lisa Altoon, enlisted together in the Army Reserve. U.S. Army photo by Al Laxamana  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Searching for a purpose, the 17-year-old decided to explore her options in the Army Reserve. "I was looking at the community colleges, and thought I would go there," she said. "Then I was talking to some people I know who are in...

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said. There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the...

Officially, the central bank holds $8.14 billion (£4.65 billion) of foreign currency, but if forward liabilities are included, the real reserves may be only $3 billion - enough to buy about 30 days of imports like oil and food. Nine months ago, Pakistan had $16 bn in the coffers. The government is engulfed by crises left behind by Pervez Musharraf, the military ruler who resigned the presidency in August. High oil prices have combined with endemic corruption and mismanagement to inflict huge damage on the economy. Given the country's standing as a frontline state in the US-led "war on terrorism",...

Several news reports out today announced that the Fed would begin paying interest on bank reserves. Is this a good idea? Right now the Fed makes a substantial profit that is returned to the U.S. Treasury. They make that becuase they charge interest on loans to banks, but don't pay anything on the required reserves. In other words Federal Reserve profit has been a U.S. government income stream that will now be reduced.

A Modest Proposal – for a “NO cost� bailout: ASSUMPTIONS: This proposal is based on the assumption that the following accurately describe the problem we are trying to solve: That banks (some “commercial� banks, and most “investment� banks) are failing and/or will be unable to make loans due to large holdings of “toxic� debt instruments. That these “toxic� instruments are unsaleable because they include, in various proportions, Sub-prime mortgages., Because these instruments are not pure bundles of mortgages, but instead are Derivatives of such mortgage “bundles,� it is difficult, if not impossible, to accurately determine whether the underlying mortgages are...

Congressional Democrats want the United States to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help bring down oil prices, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said Saturday. Murray said during the Democrats' weekly radio address that with gasoline prices reaching new highs, it is time to use the emergency reserves and urge oil companies to drill on leased federal lands. We believe it's time for the oil companies to use that land and to make sure that it stays in America instead of shipping it to the highest bidder overseas, Murray said. Democrats also think it is time to tap into the...

FORT WORTH — In a few days, Francisco Martinez will land in Iraq. He is one of tens of thousands of men and women who, with various motivations, enlisted in the armed forces, knowing that they’d someday end up there. For Martinez, Iraq is a kind of perdition, a receptacle for all the dark emotions, anguish and guilt that have buffeted him for the last three years. When Martinez steps off the airplane, he will be in the country that took his only son, a 20-year-old skateboarder and budding graphic artist whose loss is felt every single day of his...

Junk your SUV and buy an electric scooter. Recent claims by various OPEC leaders that the world has plenty of oil left are bunk, alleges Sadad Al-Husseini, a former top executive at Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company. Oil-producing countries are inflating the size of their oil reserves by as much as 300 billion barrels by padding supposedly proven reserves with “probable” reserves and tar and oil sands, according to Husseini. Such hypothetical reserves are “not delineated, not accessible and not available for production,” Husseini said at a recent energy conference in London. Oil production has now reached its...

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2008 – The Defense Commissary Agency is taking the commissary benefit to National Guard and reserve members and their families living in remote areas. Guard and reserve members and their families shop at the case-lot sale at the North Carolina Air National Guard base of 145th Airlift Wing, held in Charlotte, N.C., April 3-6. U.S. Army Photo by Margaret McKenzie  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "The 2004 National Defense Authorization Act authorized full commissary benefits for members of the Ready Reserve," Richard Page, acting Defense Commissary Agency director, said. “Through our new ‘Bringing the Benefit...

LA PLATA, Md., April 29, 2008 – At least 60 airmen, soldiers and civilians with the Air and Army National Guard brought Christmas early to a disabled Maryland resident here April 26 by repairing her home on "National Rebuilding Day." Members of the National Guard Bureau, the Air Guard Readiness Center and the District of Columbia National Guard were among the volunteers who repaired the home of Michelle Samuel for what they called a "Christmas in April" event. Known nationally as Rebuilding Day, the annual event's community projects are planned and organized for the last Saturday in April. Orchestrated...

There's a lot of talk about a "credit crunch" and speculation about what it means for the U.S. and global economies. To summarize it, I would say: "The banks have no reserves other than debt." This chart shows the total "non-borrowed" reserves in the U.S. banking system (as an aggregate of the entire financial system). Negative non-borrowed reserves indicates basically that the reserves are borrowed for the first time in U.S. economic history. The sharp drop shown here indicates the beginning of the credit crunch in late 2007:

First the good news: Automotive expert Ed Wallace says there's no gasoline or oil shortage in the U.S. today and near-record reserves are on hand. Now the bad news: Not only has the congressional mandate for ethanol jacked up the price of food, but Washington, Wall Street and fuel producers all want you to think the gas and oil shortage they keep talking about is real. Washington, Wallace says, appears to be protecting oil speculators and ethanol producers rather than the interests of U.S. citizens who will ultimately pay higher prices for food and U.S. farmers, who are already staggering...

Local children of Al Arafia stand in line, Dec. 8, as Soldiers from Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment and Concerned Local Citizens hand out bags full of school supplies. Photo by Sgt. Natalie Rostek, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs. FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — Soldiers of Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment completed two humanitarian missions in Al Arafia including a food and schoolbag drop, Dec. 8, and a medical assistance visit, Dec. 14. Company D Soldiers together with Concerned Local Citizens (CLC) of Arafia, handed food and bags of school supplies to...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2007 – All military components met their recruiting goals in November, Defense Department officials said here yesterday. It was the sixth month in a row that all services made their recruiting goals, officials said. The military is recruiting in a difficult environment, defense officials said. Only three out of every 10 Americans in the targeted age group qualifies for military service. A good American economy and feelings against the Iraq war degrade the propensity of young Americans to enlist, officials said. Still, the military is doing well. On the active-duty side, the Marine Corps made 108 percent...

IT IS the army's recruitment season in Yantai, a port in Shandong province in northern China. A poster in one fishing village calls on citizens to report any attempt to secure one of the coveted vacancies by paying bribes or forging papers. But the Yantai authorities are far more worried about what happens when servicemen are discharged. Here and elsewhere angry ex-soldiers have been taking to the streets. Over the past couple of years protests by demobilised soldiers have become a potent challenge to local governments trying to keep the lid on unrest during a period of wrenching social and...

Would anyone like a free dinner at Golden Corral? Well, there is an easy way if you are an American military veteran. Golden Corral just announced this year’s Military Appreciation Monday will be November 12, 2007, from 5 to 9 pm. For the past 6 years, Golden Corral has been honoring the US Military with a free “thank you” dinner and beverage at any Golden Corral restaurant on Military Appreciation Monday (first Monday after Veteran’s Day), to honor any person who has ever served in the United States Military. In the past the only requirement to receive the free meal...

Brazil announces new oil reserves By Gary Duffy BBC News, Sao Paulo Brazil has developed expertise in deep-sea drilling in recent years The Brazilian government says huge new oil reserves discovered off its coast could turn the country into one of the biggest oil producers in the world. Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, says it believes the offshore Tupi field has between 5bn and 8bn barrels of recoverable light oil. A senior minister said Brazilian oil production had the potential to match that of Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Petrobras delivered its estimate after analysing test results. The state-controlled company says...

New Theory Predicts Location Of Oil And Gas Reserves Science Daily (Oct. 21, 2007) — Researchers in Stavanger, Norway, have developed a theory which can be important for future oil and gas exploration. The Golden Zone is the name of a an underground zone where temperatures range between 60 and 120 C. The name refers to a new discovery that 90 per cent of the world's oil and gas reserves are to be found just there. The theory has been tested and verified against a global database containing 120 000 oil fields under production, This gives geologists a tool that...

Mr. Chairmen, Ranking Members, Members of the Committees, thank you for the opportunity to provide my assessment of the security situation in Iraq and to discuss the recommendations I recently provided to my chain of command for the way forward. At the outset, I would like to note that this is my testimony. Although I have briefed my assessment and recommendations to my chain of command, I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress. As a bottom line up front, the military objectives of the...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (July 14) - Army Reserve Sgt. Erik Botta has been sent to Iraq three times and to Afghanistan once. He thinks that's enough. Botta wants a court to block the military's plan to deploy him for a fifth time Sunday, most likely to Iraq. He isn't against the war - but he thinks he can serve his country better now by working for a defense contractor and pursuing his education.Army Reserve Sgt. Erik Botta, here with his wife, Jennifer, has served in Iraq three times and in Afghanistan once. He is scheduled for a fifth deployment...

Today's Financial Times headline ("Spitzer to Streamline Rules for Wall Street") is an example of government allowing good old Yankee free enterprise to become more competitive with other international challengers. The Financial Times also contains additional evidence of increasing inflationary pressures and of interest rates around the world, particularly in the European Union (E.U). Meanwhile, in face of growing inflationary evidence and increasing interest rates among our key competitors, our Fed has kept our rates on hold. While it warns of inflation as its main concern, our Fed appears "frightened" to compete either against inflation or with the rising interest...

The Chinese government is to use $3bn of its vast foreign exchange reserves to buy a 9.9 per cent stake in Blackstone, the US buy-out fund, in an unprecedented move that underlines Beijing’s desire to tap into the private equity boom. The investment will coincide with Blackstone’s landmark $40bn stock market listing, expected in the next few months, and will allow the private equity group to nearly double its original target of raising $4bn. Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s chief executive, hailed the deal – the first time Beijing has invested its foreign reserve in a commercial transaction – as an “historic...

Iraq could hold almost twice as much oil in its reserves as had been thought, according to the most comprehensive independent study of its resources since the US-led invasion in 2003. The potential presence of a further 100bn barrels in the western desert highlights the opportunity for Iraq to be one of the world’s biggest oil suppliers, and its attractions for international oil companies – if the conflict in the country can be resolved. If confirmed, it would raise Iraq from the world’s third largest source of oil reserves with 116bn barrels to second place, behind Saudi Arabia and...

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2007 – Army reserve-component training and equipment reset will be immediately affected if an emergency supplemental funding request isn’t signed into law by April 15, Defense Department officials said here today. Further, there will be serious repercussions for deployed servicemembers if the supplemental funding isn’t approved by May 15, the officials said. Both the Senate and House bills have passed bills that provide the funding but contain amendments that call for combat troops to be out of Iraq on a certain timetable. President Bush has vowed to veto any bill containing these provisions. During his weekly...

Marine General Peter Pace – decorated war hero and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – continues to find himself fending off a vicious and unfamiliar rapid fire assault from his extreme left-flank. In recent days, the good general has been widely and unjustly vilified by America’s self-appointed thought police as they step up their unified and widespread campaign of homofascist speech enforcement. During a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, Pace violated one of the cardinal rules of political correctness by noting that, “homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral.” While defending the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell”...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday promoted a $6 billion plan for increased water storage and protecting fresh water supplies, calling for two new dams and better management of the delta. "Our state's population is increasing rapidly. We also have earthquakes and major storms that could really destroy our levee system," the governor said, speaking against the backdrop of Friant Dam at Millerton Lake, in the Sierra foothills east of Fresno. Two-thirds of Californians depend on the Sierra Nevada snowmelt for drinking water while Central Valley growers use it to irrigate their fields. Schwarzenegger said the state's expected growth - to...

Army Reservist James E. Dean had already served 18 months in Afghanistan when he was notified three weeks ago that he would be deployed to Iraq later this month. The prospect of returning to war sent the St. Mary's County resident into a spiral of depression, a neighbor said. Despondent about his orders, Dean barricaded himself inside his father's home with several weapons on Christmas, threatening to kill himself. After a 14-hour standoff with authorities, Dean was killed yesterday by a police officer after he aimed a gun at another officer, police said. Wanda Matthews, who lives next door to...

China has the money to secure future energy reserves China has signalled that it could use its vast foreign exchange reserves to bolster its strategic energy resources. Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan said China needed to speed up the hunt for fresh oil and natural gas supplies. China's foreign exchange reserves are the world's largest at more than $1 trillion (£511bn), supported by the country's strong global exports. China is keen to secure future reserves of oil, coal and other raw materials needed to fuel its booming economy. Earlier this year, Beijing hosted a summit of African leaders, at which access...

The Army and Marine Corps are planning to ask incoming Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Congress to approve permanent increases in personnel, as senior officials in both services assert that the nation's global military strategy has outstripped their resources. In addition, the Army will press hard for "full access" to the 346,000-strong Army National Guard and the 196,000-strong Army Reserves by asking Gates to take the politically sensitive step of easing the Pentagon restrictions on the frequency and duration of involuntary call-ups for reservists, according to two senior Army officials. The push for more ground troops comes as the...

  The FReeper Canteen's Day of   The longbow was used in the Middle Ages both for hunting and as a weapon of war and reached its zenith of perfection as a weapon in the hands of English and Welsh archers. The longbow was first recorded as being used by the Welsh in 633 C.E., when Offrid, the son of Edwin, king of Northumbria, was killed by an arrow shot from a Welsh longbow during a battle between the Welsh and the Mercians -- more than five centuries before any record of its military use in England. Longbows were...

Next time you stop at the pump and pay through-the-stratosphere prices to fill your car's tank, just ponder this: We are not — repeat, we are not running out of oil. There is no good reason you should be paying through the nose. There are only bad reasons for it. If you are also angry about illegal aliens pouring over the border, you should know that illegal immigration is the price we are paying to keep to keep gas prices from going even higher, maybe two or three times higher.

~ MILITARY SHORT SPEAK ~             Acronyms, initialisms and abbreviations that aren't generally used in the "civilian world."What is an acronym? It is a word created from the first letter of a series of other words. It is spoken as one word. What is an initialism? It is a word created from the first letter of a series of other words, but each letter is spoken separately. What is an abbreviation? It is a shortened version of a word. What is Short Speak? It is any and all of the above.Want to know what  they are talking about?  Read...

     The Camelot of legend may differ from the 5th-century stronghold of fact, but the stronghold of the imagination remains impregnable, even to our cynical age. Arthur's lasting legacy to us, the order of knighthood he created, stands in our common lives as the lofty goal to which many still aspire. And historians and poets alike both remind us that Arthur shall return from the Isle of Avalon to defend Britain and Christendom in their most desperate hour.   Arthur (or Artos, "The Bear"), the post-Roman warlord of central Britain, stands tall in legends as the archetype of...

ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN ANTONIO -- The nation's laws and policies aren't changing fast enough to reflect the increasing demands on citizen soldiers, top commanders of the National Guard and reserves told an independent commission Wednesday. "I think we're not changing and shaping our forces for the threats that are out there today," said Vice Admiral John Cotton, chief of the Navy Reserve. The 13-member Commission on the National Guard and Reserves was formed by Congress to investigate how well the units are equipped and organized. It began a yearlong review in March to address needs for future roles and missions....

Thanks for nothing Bill Clinton!

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2006 – The National Guard and reserve components are key players in America's ability to fight the war on terror abroad, and respond to security threats and national disasters in the homeland, Defense Department leaders said here yesterday. These components are vital to America's total force strength, and integrated planning is the key to success in the future, Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, and Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, said at the second hearing of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves....

April 17, 2006    Volume 13, No. 8 China's Reserves Soar: NAM Says The Time Has Come For China To Re-Value Its Currency BY RICHARD McCORMACK richard@manufacturingnews.com It has become "imperative" for the Department of Treasury to declare that China is manipulating its currency, says Pat Mears, director of international commercial affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers. Further evidence of China's manipulation is that nation's growing currency reserves. They have risen to $848 billion, and are now the largest in the world, surpassing those of Japan's at $837 billion. "China's currency reserves are nearing half of China's total gross...

ST. HELENA, Calif. -- Unable to drive down high oil prices, President Bush is spending Earth Day promoting futuristic hydrogen fuel technology as a way to wean Americans from gas-guzzling vehicles. After a bike ride near his Napa Valley resort Saturday morning, Bush planned to visit the California Fuel Cell Partnership in West Sacramento for a tour and speech on his energy plan. The plan does not include any measures that would reduce gas prices in the short term, the White House acknowledges. But with Republicans worried that the increasing cost to drive could hurt them in the voting booth...