Free Republic

U.S. Air Force Maj. Andrea Jensen, 40th Expeditionary Group B-52 pilot, performs pre-flight checks in a B-52 Stratofortress. Jensen has accumulated 100 combat flying hours providing close air support for troops on the ground in Afghanistan in the B-52. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. John Rohrer U.S. Air Force Maj. Andrea Jensen B-52 Pilot Shares Experience, Contributions By Master Sgt. Scott King 40th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, March 20, 2006 — She follows Air Force history – through her family’s footsteps. Her dad, and his brother and sisters grew up in an...

3/13/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- “They came to the door dressed as plumbers, claiming they needed to fix a leak,” said retired Army Maj. Gen. James Dozier. But, that was only the beginning of the general’s six-week ordeal as a hostage. He described his ordeal to group of conference attendees here March 10. “I didn’t know at the time that I or any member of NATO was being targeted,” the general said. “Later I learned they had been observing me and other NATO officials for some time.” Italian police officials became aware of some of those surveillance efforts by...

DETROIT Jan 26, 2006 — Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian is acquiring 12 million shares of General Motors Corp. stock, matching the number of shares he sold in December, a federal regulatory filing showed on Wednesday. Kerkorian's private equity firm, Tracinda Corp., bought 5 million shares of GM stock on Monday for an average purchase price of $21.40, or approximately $107 million, it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On Tuesday, Tracinda agreed to purchase an additional 7 million GM shares in a private transaction for $22.25 per share, or approximately $155.8 million. Those purchases would boost...

THE price of gold is expected to rise creating, investment opportunities in listed stocks, according to analysts. The precious metal has risen from US$413 an ounce on May 31 to US$458.63 yesterday. Bullion was trading at US$373 an ounce two years ago. And a rising price has been reflected in several gold stocks posting healthy gains. The share price of Australia's biggest gold producer Newcrest Mining has risen more than $5 in the past 12 months to close at $19.45 on Friday. Lihir Gold has gone up more almost 60 per cent in the past year to finish at $1.63...

BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 7, 2005 – The approaching anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States gives Americans cause to think about things that happened before, during and after that day, the Army's chief of public affairs told an audience here Sept. 6. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told the Boulder Valley Rotary Club it's important to "reflect on the circumstances that led up to 9/11, what we faced on 9/11, and what we continue to face today." The general said he's reminded of Sept. 11 every day when he gets to his office, which is about...

ORLANDO, FL, Sept. 2, 2005 – A relevant, reliable, ready, and accessible National Guard. It’s the mantra Chief of the National Guard Bureau, Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, has taken on the road with him every where he goes. On Aug. 21 Blum brought his message to the Rosen Centre Hotel, location of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States’ 2005 National Conference. Prior to Blum taking the podium, conference attendees were shown a short video where Blum outlined his vision of the future for the National Guard. The key point in the presentation was the...

While you're watching the political commercials and listening to the politicians spin their web around unsuspecting and misinformed people...here's a "Reality" lesson in economics from David R. Kamerschen,Ph.D, Distinguished Professor of Economics, 536 Brooks Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. http://www.uga.edu/ Top 1% earn 21% of all income; pay 37-1/2% of all taxes Top 5% earn 35% of all income; pay 56-1/2% of all taxes Top10% earn 46% of all income; pay 67% of all taxes Top 25% pay 84% of all taxes Top 50% pay 96-1/2% of all taxes Bottom 50% pay 3-1/2% of all taxes Just in case...

Ken Melrose will leave at the top of his game Tuesday when he wraps up his 21-year run as CEO at Toro Co. His move caps a tenure almost unmatched by any of his big-company peers here. For Melrose personally, the success has turned out to be too much. So great are the riches the Bloomington company's achievements have showered onto him that he now finds himself facing a new challenge: how best to reduce his wealth. Under his leadership, Toro grew exponentially. On a compounded basis, sales rose an average 8 percent annually from 1983 to 2004 and net...

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most striking. Blogger Miguel Octavio in Caracas, Venezuela, has suggested the best way for Venezuela to draw some earnings from its Citgo refineries here in the U.S. is to sell shares. Houston-based Citgo has been in the news lately, with Hugo Chavez "threatening" to sell its eight U.S.-based refineries. Chavez says he doesn't get enough money out of them, and the U.S. markets suspect he'd like to sell to more easily cut off oil to the U.S. There are a lot of horse laughs in Houston, of course, given how much money he'd lose...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc., whose shares have almost quadrupled in value over the last year on the success of its iPod music player, on Friday said it set a 2-for-1 stock split, and its shares rose almost 4 percent. Shares of Apple have been on a tear as iPod sales have soared with the introduction of less-expensive versions of the music player. The stock has been the best performer in the Nasdaq 100 index and the wider S&P 500 index over the past 12 months. Apple is also one of the most expensive stocks among the...

Asking global equity markets to repeat last year's gain of 31.4 per cent in 2004 was always going to be tough. But after a 12.3 per cent increase in 2004, the FTSE All-World index reached its highest level since February 2001. The performance is all the more respectable given the rocketing price of oil. Concerns over shortages and stronger than expected demand pushed the benchmark Nymex crude futures contract to an all-time nominal high of $56.35 on October 22. This lifted global oil & gas shares by 25 per cent, making them the fifth-best performers of any sector. But the...

Bob Dole Slams Kerry By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 23, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Nothing has really changed for Democratic hopeful John Kerry, except that real war veterans, like Bob Dole, are questioning the “superficial wounds” and resulting “medals” he received during four (4) months service in Vietnam. Kerry is still flailing, trying to cover up a career punctuated by extreme left-wing politics and flip-flopping by talking to voters about his military service. He squandered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention by trying to convince Americans that his tour of duty in Vietnam will make him a great commander...

CABLE NEWS RACE THU, AUG 19, 2004 FOXNEWS HANNITY/COLMES 1.6 [RATING] FOXNEWS O'REILLY 1.6 FOXNEWS SHEP SMITH 1.3 FOXNEWS GRETA 1.2 FOXNEWS BRIT HUME 1.2 CNN LARRY KING 0.9 MSNBC HARDBALL 0.8 CNN PAULA ZAHN 0.6 CNN AARON BROWN 0.5 MSNBC OLBERMANN 0.5 MSNBC NORVILLE 0.4 MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 0.4 CNBC DENNIS MILLER 0.1 CNBC MCENROE 0.1

Ken Lay of Enron Indicted and Arrested By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 8, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Enron’s ex-Chairman of the Board has been indicted and arrested on charges connected with his former company’s implosion in 2001. Corporate executives at Enron engaged in all sorts of financial manipulations to pump up the company’s stock price. They created complex “partnerships” to hide company debt from shareholders. In 1998, Enron’s share price was at about $20. By 2000, it hit $90. By 2001, the company’s stock was worthless. Enron’s collapse wiped out billions in shareholder value and employee pensions. Democratic Presidential hopeful John...

In American novels, well into the 1950's, one finds protagonists using the future stream of dividends emanating from their share holdings to send their kids to college or as collateral.  Yet, dividends seemed to have gone the way of the hoolah hoop. Few companies distribute erratic and ever-declining dividends. The vast majority don't bother. The unfavorable tax treatment of distributed profits may have been the cause.The dwindling of dividends has implications which are nothing short of revolutionary. Most of the financial theories we use to determine the value of shares were developed in the 1950's and 1960's, when dividends were...

Glover shares views on activism 9-4-03 By MATT WILLIAMS, Staff Writer News & Record GREENSBORO -- When Bush administration supporters denounced Hollywood actors who opposed a war in Iraq, Danny Glover didn't understand why his profession had anything to do with speaking his mind. "The fact is when you speak truth, you're always going to be attacked, whether you're an actor or whether you're a plumber," Glover said. "Without dissent, it's not really a democracy." Glover took that message to Bennett College on Wednesday, invoking the words of Martin Luther King Jr. to urge students to make activism part of...

Oil Falls, Asia Shares Up on Bush Speech By Bill Tarrant SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices fell, the dollar was firm and Asian stock markets galloped higher on Tuesday after President Bush (news - web sites) gave Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) 48 hours to leave his country or face a U.S. invasion. Reuters Photo Crude oil futures fell nearly a dollar a barrel in after-hours electronic trade, while gold was up around two dollars an ounce, as investors bet that a swift and decisive U.S.-led military strike on Iraq (news - web sites) will start within...

MICHAEL EISNER and Bob Iger, the top executives at Walt Disney, were awarded more than $24 million (£15 million) between them in pay and bonuses last year even though the company’s share price plunged by more than a third. Mr Eisner, chairman and chief executive, last year took home a $5 million bonus and $1 million as a salary. Mr Eisner, who has come under fire from investors because of the poor performance of the entertainment group’s ABC TV network and other faltering aspects of the business, chose to take much of the $5 million bonus in restricted shares, which...

New York (AP) -- Philip Morris Companies Inc. said its 2002 earnings will grow between 3 percent and 5 percent, which is significantly below analysts expectations, sending its shares swooning in after-hours trading. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call predicted the consumer products giant would earn $4.82 a share, up 19.3 percent from the $4.04 a share Philip Morris earned in 2001. The company said numerous factors were eating into growth including weakness in the U.S. cigarette market stemming from the floundering economy, and increased state taxes. The company also said its business was hurt by an increased flow...