Free Republic

Gov Palin skipped the Values Voter Summit since her son Track is back from Iraq this weekend....

Kabuki Kongress Problem: Destruction of the Financial System due to the Lehman bankruptcy, due to Bear Raids on Banks Solution---Kabuki Kongress---Attack AIG employees ("beat the messenger", "class envy"). Tax $165 million in bonuses (awarded in 2007) at [70% senate, 100% House] (benefit to taxpayers = .7*165 = $115,000,000. Recruit compliant media and liberal whiners everywhere (Putin's useful fools) (Note our Kabuki Kongress set the size and date of penalties, for that we can be thankful) Solution---Rational Congress---Help AIG identify and provide a list of all the credit default swaps (CDS) counterparties (ie, DB, SocGen, GS, etc and their client investors),...

provided by NYT If mark-to-market accounting is to blame for the current financial crisis, then the National Weather Service is to blame for Hurricane Katrina; if it hadn't told us the hurricane hit New Orleans, the city would never have flooded. This is the logic the bankers are using, and they are getting sympathetic ears in Congress. The bankers have gotten two members of Congress to introduce a bill to establish a new body that could suspend accounting rules for financial institutions. Edward L. Yingling, the president of the American Bankers Association, says the proposal addresses "systemic risks that accounting...

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday outlined plans for the four biggest U.S. banks to issue new bonds to stimulate mortgage lending, the latest in a series of steps to aid the troubled housing market. Paulson outlined rules to issue so-called covered bonds backed by mortgage loans. The instruments are popular in Europe but had little appeal in the U.S. until demand for mortgage-backed securities plummeted because of soaring home loan foreclosures. C,JPM,BAC,WFC...have signed up to issue covered bonds, seen as less risky than mortgage-backed securities. "Covered bonds have the potential to increase mortgage financing...

For those of you who have ever biked into a little establishment on 17-92 just 1 mi. north of SR434 on a Tuesday nite for their free wings....the Handle Bar & Grille, which closed down, seemingly for good, in February, WILL open again! Friday is the Handle Bar & Wings Grand Opening. Many Charity 'Rides' began at their doorstep, and God willing, soon will again. The Handle Bar is now a 'family restaurant' and 'biker bar'...and in good standing with the local community. It may be that the Good Will of all those Vets on Bikes, Patriot Riders, Eagles, Rolling...

Virginia’s unemployment rate fell 0.6 percentage point, from 3.9 percent in March to 3.3 percent in April. Employment increased mostly because of the increase in tourism jobs, construction work and the end of the strike...

The number of properties with a filing...declined 5 percent from March. California had the most properties facing foreclosure at 64,683, an increase of 112 percent from April 2007. The number of properties declined less than 1 percent from March. The state posted the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country, with one in every 204 households receiving a foreclosure-related notice. California metro areas accounted for six of the 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates, led by Merced, with one in every 66 households receiving a foreclosure notice.

WASHINGTON -- Centuries before Iraq and Afghanistan, George Washington created the Purple Heart to honor troops wounded in combat. But with an increasing number of troops being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, the modern military is debating an idea Gen. Washington never considered -- awarding one of the nation's top military citations to veterans with psychological wounds, not just physical ones. Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered cautious support...

<p>VA Requests $94 Billion for Veterans in FY '09 Budget Peake: VA Will Provide Timely, Accessible and High-Quality Care WASHINGTON (February 4, 2008) - Honoring the nation's commitment to care for the newest generation of combat veterans and service members from other conflicts and eras, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake announced today President Bush is seeking a budget of $93.7 billion in fiscal year 2009 for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), with health care and disability compensation receiving most of the funding.</p>

Ieng Sary, who served as foreign minister in Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime, was brought before the country's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal with his wife on Monday to face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs in the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge government, were served with arrest warrants at dawn...the communist Khmer Rouge are widely blamed for the deaths of some 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. None of the group's leaders has faced trial yet.

At Univ of Arizona, "The Dark Web project aims to scour Web sites, forums and chat rooms to find the Internet's most prolific and influential jihadists and learn how they reel in adherents. Lab director Hsinchun Chen hopes Dark Web will crimp what he calls "al-Qaida University on the Web," the mass of Web sites where potential terrorists learn their trade, from making explosives to planning attacks. Experts said they are not aware of any comparable effort, though some said the project may have only limited applications." more at [href]"Yahoo"[url]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071111/ap_on_hi_te/dark_web;_ylt=Ag9H_IrfHRhz5S5Q_a_Hro9U.3QA[/url][/href]

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- Deputies say Matt Radula made up war stories to gain respect and to trick his neighbors and friends, allowing him to take advantage of people, especially at his favorite bar. Investigators say the Seminole County man dressed up as an Iraq war veteran, but never served one day. The owner of Mulligan's said Radula walked in the restaurant at least twice and accepted accolades, food and drink, posing as an Iraq vet. ... http://www.wftv.com/news/14144880/detail.html