Free Republic

b>A 106-year-old American nun living in a convent in Rome could well be the oldest person to vote in the 2008 US Presidential election. Sister Cecilia Gaudette, who last voted for President Eisenhower in 1952, has registered to vote and says she will vote for Democrat Barack Obama. Although hard of hearing, she keeps herself informed by reading newspapers and watching TV at the convent. "I'm encouraged by Senator Obama," she says. "I've never met him, but he seems to be a good man with a good private life. That's the first thing. Then he must be able to govern,"...

9:40 p.m. Guam - Air Force officials are investigating the collision of a B-1 Bomber with emergency vehicles on the taxiway up at Andersen Air Force Base. Air Force Spokesman Capt. Joel Stark confirms that the B-1 Bomber was in transit from Singapore to Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota and had landed at AAFB for an inflight emergency. Capt. Stark couldn't disclose what the emergency was but did say the B-1 Bomber apparently had rolled while on the taxiway and collided into the vehicles just after 12 p.m. Friday. Capt. Stark says there were no injuries since the crew...

Photographer Tech. Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo, United States Air Force Above photos viahttp://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20051129.htm (top) http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20050822.htm (bottom)

12/7/2006 - ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFPN) -- The overcast, rainy afternoon did not dampen the spirits of Andersen Airmen and civilians as they rallied together to make a little boy's wish come true Dec. 5. Andersen AFB officials teamed up to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Guam make one of Natsuki Takeda's wishes come true. Five-year-old Natsuki, who was visiting Guam from Sendai, Japan, has a form of leukemia common among children and his original wish was to have an in-flight meal on a commercial aircraft. However, through conversations with Make-A-Wish sponsors after he and his family arrived...

9/3/2006 - ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFPN) -- Airmen and Sailors from Andersen will sail 1,500 miles to Wake Island to see how well the U.S. territory survived Super Typhoon Ioke. The Air Force evacuated all 188 island residents on two C-17 Globemaster III aircraft Monday before the typhoon arrived Thursday with 155 mph winds and gusts to 190 mph. The residents include Airmen, Department of Defense employees and Defense contractors. Members of Andersen's 36th Contingency Response Group and U.S. Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 will sail Sept. 4 on an expected four-day trip to the island....

July 2005: A spectacular up close and personal look inside Andersen Air Force Base located on Territory of Guam (USA), the "tip of the spear" for U.S. forces in the Pacific region. Also visible (and not from afar) are three airborne, fearsome and very deadly modern arrows from U.S. DoD's diverse quiver: the B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber and a pair of F-15E Strike Eagle fighters. They, as well as the base, are looking very fit and very prepared. (Related: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1492277/posts and http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/060707-F-3961R-003.jpg) The Very Large Imagehttp://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/060707-F-3961R-001.jpgThe PhotographerTechnical Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo, 36th Communication Squadron, 36th Air Expeditionary Wing, United...

A 9-0 Supreme Court rebuke ought to be a teaching moment. So it is amazing to behold that -- notwithstanding the unanimous recent reversal of its 2002 Arthur Andersen conviction -- the Justice Department may well make the same mistake all over again. We're referring to the news that Justice may indict the entire KPMG accounting firm for obstruction of justice and the marketing of legally questionable tax shelters. As Andersen's fate made clear, an indictment against a corporation is usually a death sentence, whatever the ultimate legal outcome.... The purpose of criminal law, we had thought, is to punish...

Feds seek $548 million, allege fraud and negligence CHICAGO, Nov. 1 — The government filed a $548 million fraud and negligence lawsuit Friday against accounting giant Ernst & Young in connection with the failure of a Chicago bank in 2001. http://www.msnbc.com/news/829311.asp

THE MEANING OF "IS" By J. Christoph Amberger Remember the 90s? An era in which complex philososophical conundrums were pondered in public, if there ever was one. Like: Is oral sex covered under "Sexual Relations"? Or: What is the meaning of "is"? Paradigms shifted without clutch and investors poured money into start-ups whose CEOs sported Maynard Crabbe goatees and ugly shoes as proud statements of perma-adolescent rebelliousness. New Economy math supplanted earnings (let alone profits) with razor scooters and nose piercings. GNP grew, bolstered by unholy amounts of stock transactions and investment "gains." Watching the President of the greatest nation...

It seems that the SEC is probing everyone these days, why did we hear so little about SEC probes under Clinton? Is there data available suggesting that the Bush administration has been more agressive with the SEC than Clinton?

5 out of the top ten US House Recipients of contributions (1989- 2001) from Arthur Andersen are democRats. Their names and the amounts are listed below. And, according to dim logic, they are guilty by association and should have their names shining in the bright lights of Reuters, AP, Drudge, The Washington ComPost, and more. After all, this is a hit piece. Here you go, Klayman, chase this ambulance too! Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) $34,687 Martin Frost (D-Texas) $32,000 Peter Deutsch (D-Fla) $24,200 James P. Moran (D-Va) $21,250 Ken Bentsen (D-Texas) $19,225 Other Rats also receiving Andersen dirty money include: Rick...

Larry Klayman, chairman and general council of Judicial Watch, holds a news conference on suit filed against Vice President Dick Cheney in Miami Wednesday, July 10, 2002. The group said it was suing Cheney and Halliburton Co., the oil services company he ran for five years, alleging fraudulent accounting practices at the company. (AP Photo/Hillery Smith Garrison) Larry Klayman, chairman and general counsel of Judicial Watch, holds a news conference in Miami to announce that Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney Wednesday, July 10, 2002. The group said it was suing Cheney and Halliburton...

It has emerged in the United States that Vice-President Dick Cheney took part in a promotional video for the disgraced accounting firm Andersen. The news came just before an anti-corruption pressure group filed a lawsuit against Mr Cheney, alleging fraudulent accounting practices. In the video Mr Cheney - then Chief Executive of the oil company Halliburton - describes how Andersen gave advice "over and above" what would normally be expected from auditors. Last month, the firm was convicted of obstructing justice by shredding documents relating to the failed US energy giant Enron. On Tuesday President George W Bush tried...

In the tight fraternity of Arthur Andersen LLP, Charles Anthony counts himself among a proud group forgotten amid the scandal that's brought down the once- venerable accounting firm. Mr. Anthony is a retired Andersen partner - one of about 720. And his retirement income was entirely dependent on the performance of the firm. His future income - and that of his spouse - is now in doubt as the company struggles to survive in the face of a federal indictment arising from Andersen's auditing of Enron Corp. “I'm disappointed, very disappointed,” said Mr. Anthony, 85, who joined Andersen in 1944...

WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) -- "There is nothing new in the world," President Harry S. Truman liked to say, "Except the history you don't already know." He must have been reading United Press International analysis on "The decline and fall of the American economy." Ten months ago, on Aug. 30, 2001 -- less than two weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and mangled the Pentagon -- this column said, "The continued slide of the U.S. economy into serious recession and the failure of the Bush administration to either recognize the fact or...

What U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon tells the deadlocked jury in the Arthur Andersen shredding trial today could decide the case On Thursday, the eighth day of their deliberations, the jurors asked an unusual question that prompted speculation they may be headed toward finding Andersen guilty of obstruction of justice for destroying Enron-related documents. "If each of us believes that one Andersen agent acted knowingly and with a corrupt intent, is it for all of us to believe it was the same agent? Can one believe it was agent A, another believe it was agent B, and another believe it...

Since March 1, more than 500 companies have dropped Andersen, taking with them more than $1 billion in accounting and other fees Former giant written off as viable player By Andrew Countryman and Delroy Alexander Tribune staff reporters June 2, 2002 As Chicago-based Andersen fights for its corporate life in a Houston courtroom, the accounting giant has been hemorrhaging clients at a breathtaking rate, reinforcing serious questions about what, if anything, will be left to carry on, even if it wins its legal battle. Since the scandal surrounding Enron Corp. exploded and Andersen was indicted on a federal obstruction-of-justice charge,...

<p>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) The state's accounting board filed a notice Thursday to revoke Arthur Andersen LLP's accounting license in Texas because of its role in Enron Corp.'s collapse, the board's executive director said.</p> <p>The Texas State Board of Public Accountancy also is asking for at least $1 million in fines and penalties.</p>

HOUSTON, May 5 — Arthur Andersen LLP’s federal trial for obstruction could be the knockout punch in the company’s fight to survive client losses, fleeing partners and severe damage to its reputation. Unless attorneys reach a last-minute settlement, jury selection will begin Monday in the first criminal trial to emerge from Enron Corp.’s collapse last year. “ALL THE TRIAL will do is allow the Justice Department to bring a lot more dirt out on Andersen and drive the stake deeper into its heart,” said Arthur Bowman, editor of Atlanta-based Bowman’s Accounting Report, an industry publication. Andersen is charged with obstruction...

<p>Talks between Arthur Andersen LLC and the Justice Department reportedly broke off Thursday, bringing an apparent end to efforts to resolve criminal charges against the auditing firm for its involvement in the Enron collapse.</p> <p>Andersen was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice for the shredding of thousands of documents related to questionable accounting practices employed by the former energy giant, which filed for bankruptcy Dec. 2.</p>

ewsAnalysis For weeks, Arthur Andersen and the government seemed almost on the verge of a brawl, snarling at each other over the looming court battle to determine whether the accounting firm was guilty of obstruction of justice in the Enron inquiry. Now the two sides are said to be near a settlement of the criminal case, with the government agreeing to abandon its drive to seek a guilty verdict against Andersen and the firm willing to admit that it broke the law in destroying thousands of documents related to Enron. Negotiations continued yesterday by telephone over the terms, and while...

The Arthur Andersen auditor who oversaw Enron Corp.'s books pleaded guilty Tuesday to directing the shredding of Enron documents and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Former partner David B. Duncan is believed to be the first person in the Enron case to strike a deal with federal prosecutors. He was fired by Andersen after the firm acknowledged the large-scale destruction of Enron documents and deletion of computer files related to the collapse of the energy giant. Duncan admitted persuading co-workers and others to shred documents to thwart the government's investigation into the collapse of the energy giant, according to court...

U.S. Attorney Joshua Hochberg Unfit For Office By: David Hoech - March 26, 2002 U.S. Attorney Hochberg has been chief of the Fraud Section of the DOJ’s Criminal Division since 1998. From 1995 to 1998 Hochberg served as deputy chief for litigation in the Public Integrity Section (PIS). Presently he also serves as acting U.S. Attorney for the southern district of Texas. On June 27, 1995 the FBI raided the headquarters of Archer Daniels Midland Company in Decatur, Illinois. For more than two years prior to the raid ADM executive Mark Whitacre worked with the FBI to audio and video...

By IANTHE JEANNE DUGAN and DEVON SPURGEON Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL For Elana Mourtil, winning a partnership at Arthur Andersen was the American dream. Born in Iran, she moved with her mother and two brothers when she was 11 years old to Forest Hills, in the New York borough of Queens, where they lived on her mother's earnings as a tailor. She put herself through Queens College -- and helped her mother pay the mortgage -- by working in a local supermarket as a cashier and bookkeeper. Recruited on campus by Andersen, she worked her way up...

Arthur Andersen's pleading phone calls to federal prosecutors started almost immediately. The accounting firm had just discovered that its Houston office had shredded thousands of documents related to its audits of the Enron Corporation (news/quote), and its lawyers wanted the government to resolve the case quickly. Andersen was at a crossroads because of the Enron case, the lawyers explained, and its survival was at stake. The government must act quickly so Andersen could move on. But things did not work out the way the Andersen lawyers had hoped. Last week, Andersen became the first major accounting firm ever charged with...

<p>Andersen, a venerable Big Five accounting firm now struggling for mere survival as a string of its blue-chip corporate clients have dumped it, said the criminal proceedings were tantamount to a "death penalty" against it. The firm called the indictment "a gross abuse of government power."</p>

Reacting swiftly to the first indictment in the Enron bankruptcy, the government on Friday suspended Enron Corp. and its former accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, from entering into new federal contracts. ``To qualify as a responsible contractor, a company or individual must have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics,'' the General Services Administration said in explaining its decision. The move comes a day after a federal court unsealed an indictment charging Andersen with obstructing justice by destroying thousands of documents and deleting computer files of its audit on Enron. It was the first indictment in a case that has...