Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. taxpayer-funded rescue program set up to save banks from collapse during the financial crisis makes future reckless behavior more likely, the government's bailout watchdog said in a quarterly report. A quarterly report to Congress on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, made available in draft form late on Saturday, said financial firms seen as too big to fail before 2008 have only grown larger as they feasted on subsidies from the bailout program. "To the extent that institutions were previously incentivized to take reckless risks through a 'heads I win, tails the...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama says he has no plans to ask the Justice Department to end its criminal investigation into the harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists during the Bush administration. Seven former CIA directors have asked the president to do just that. In a letter to Obama on Friday, they warned that the probe could discourage CIA officers from doing the kind of aggressive intelligence work needed to fight terrorism. Obama tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that he appreciates that the former CIA chiefs are wanting "to look after an institution that they helped to build."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week proposed a series of programs, totaling $1.5 trillion, to bail out the U.S. banking system. Of course, Geithner hasn’t told us precisely how he plans to spend the money, or identified which banks require such an enormous outlay. So I thought it was worth looking at the United States’ 12 largest banks to see where the problems might be and identify which banks might need big infusions of government cash. I perused the financial statements of all 12 banks, and also looked at their market valuations. Unlike when the Troubled Assets Relief Program...

When members of the Los Angeles City Council agreed last month to put an ambitious solar energy plan on the March 3 ballot, they talked effusively about their desire for cleaner air and "green" technology jobs -- the kind that could boost the economy during a recession. What they didn't discuss was an analysis by a city-hired consulting firm that called the solar plan "extremely risky" and considerably more expensive than was being portrayed by the Department of Water and Power. Measure B, which calls for unionized DWP workers to install solar panels on rooftops and parking lots across the...

Former Israeli cabinet minister and respected international figure Natan Sharansky warned American Jews this week that voting for Democratic candidate Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election would risk Israel's future. Speaking on Shalom TV, a Jewish cable network that reaches 18 million American households, Sharansky avoided the rampant conspiracy theories regarding Obama, but did note that his lack of a positive record vis-a-vis Israel should raise concerns. With Obama, said Sharansky, "nobody can know for sure what will be. It can happen to be good. It can happen to be very bad. It's a risk." Also of concern is...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty today called Sen. Barack Obama too risky to be president. “The people of the United States and Iowa are wise. They understand what’s at stake in this election,” he said. “Voting for Obama is the political equivalent of bungee jumping.” Speaking at the grand opening of the Tom Latham for Congress and Victory 2008 headquarters in Ames, Pawlenty said Sen. John McCain has a long record of wisdom and judgment, something Obama can’t match. “We do not want the next president to have a fundamental misunderstanding of the world we live in,” he said.

LOS ANGELES - NASA's aging but durable Mars rover Opportunity will make what could be a trip of no return into a deep impact crater as it tries to peer further back than ever into the Red Planet's geologic history. The descent into Victoria Crater received the go-ahead because the potential scientific returns are worth the risk that the solar-powered, six-wheel rover might not be able to climb out, NASA officials and scientists said Thursday. The vehicle has been roaming Mars for nearly 3 1/2 Earth years. Scientists and engineers want to send it in while it still appears healthy....

Risky Legacy: African DNA linked to prostate cancer Ben Harder The high rate of prostate cancer among African American men may result in large part from a newly identified stretch of DNA passed down from their African ancestors. A black man's odds of developing prostate cancer by age 55 are more than twice those of a white man. The racial discrepancy is less pronounced when the disease appears later. Researchers have suspected for years that genetic factors account for part of the racial difference in risk. Most African Americans have both African and European forebears, so their chromosomes are mosaics...

Being a little overweight can kill you, according to new research that leaves little room for denial that a few extra pounds is harmful. Baby boomers who were even just a tad pudgy were more likely to die prematurely than those who were at a healthy weight, U.S. researchers reported Tuesday. While obesity has been known to contribute to early death, the link between being overweight and dying prematurely has been controversial. Some experts have argued that a few extra pounds does no harm. However, this is one of the first major studies to account for the factors of smoking...

DENVER - The federal government's rush to develop energy on millions of acres of federal land in the West has left vast natural and cultural resources to languish, the National Trust for Historic Preservation said. Archaeological sites including Colorado's Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, which contains more than 6,000 recorded artifacts, and Utah's Nine Mile Canyon, dubbed the longest art gallery in the world with more than 10,000 American Indian petroglyphs, lie undocumented and unprotected, said Richard Moe, head of the National Trust. Only 17 million acres of the 262 million acres that Bureau of Land Management oversees in...

Strikes on Iran too risky, says US general By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 02/05/2006) Military action against Iran would be fraught with risk and would have repercussions across the region, a leading American general conceded. "Any action militarily is very complicated," Lt Gen Victor Renuart, the director of planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Daily Telegraph. Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush and Condoleezza Rice in Washington yesterday "And any action by any country will have second-order effects, and that is a strong case to continue the diplomatic process and make it work." His comments are a rare...

Pakistan seeks as many as 75 new F-16 warplanes Reuters Wednesday, May 25, 2005; 9:18 PM WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pakistan has sought prices for buying as many as 75 new F-16 C/D Falcon fighter aircraft since the Bush administration announced it would resume sales, the head of the Pentagon agency handling the matter said on Wednesday. Pakistan also has asked about buying 11 used F-16s, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which runs U.S. government-to-government arms sales. Many experts had expected Pakistan to seek only about two dozen F-16s, said Richard Aboulafia...

Dems' Own Social Security Road Show Kicks off in NYC Sens. Clinton and Kerry Dispute Need To Privatize Social Security Mar 4, 2005 4:20 pm US/Eastern (WCBS/AP) As President Bush visited Westfield, N.J. to tout his Social Security reform plan, the Democrats kicked off their own Social Security tour at New York City’s Pace University. Sen. Hillary Clinton blasted the President’s plan as risky and said recipients would face benefit reductions of one-third. “I don’t think it’s right to saddle the students her at Pace and future generations of workers with over five trillion dollars worth of debt that we...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

As potentially embarrassing statements from Arnold Schwarzenegger's past have come to light, his campaign has developed an unusual standard defense: He made it up. Confronted with Schwarzenegger's own words on drug use, his early business practices, women and his immigration status, campaign aides — and the candidate himself — have disavowed many of the comments he has made during the last 30 years. In doing so, they have said that Schwarzenegger either exaggerated or erred in dozens of interviews he gave to promote his career and even in his 1977 autobiography.