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Billionaire, former mutual fund manager, Sir John M. Templeton has died. Templeton ran some of the most successful mutual funds during the initial boom years for mutual funds. In 1939, when World War II began in Europe and the stock market was at record lows, Templeton borrowed $10,000 and bought 100 shares each in 104 companies that were selling at $1 a share or less, including 34 in bankruptcy. A few years later, he made large profits on 100 of the companies; four turned out to be worthless. Templeton renounced his American citizenship in the 1960's and moved to the...

Author's Note: When I first wrote this series over a year ago, RFFM.org received some criticism about my viewpoint on the issue. In fact, one reader demanded that his name be removed from the e-mail list. Since then, of course, we have become aware, via various media and Internet sources, of a long series of “white guy” blaming from several leftist groups. This non-exclusive list includes Rev. Jeremiah Wright from Sen. Barack Obama’s former church, Father Pfleger also preaching (or rather screeching) from Wright’s pulpit and former (or maybe still) Obama friend--Pentagon bomber Bill Ayers...

Recently, I’ve been reading countless stories about consumers making ridiculous financial decisions to trade their SUVs for something more fuel efficient, anything ranging from a Smart car to a motorcycle. The sad part is that for many of these people, they are upside down on their SUV (ie: they owe more on the SUV than the car is worth) so they are paying HIGHLY inflated prices for the gas sipper they are trading into (I’ve heard loans of 39k for a 27k Prius!) Insane, but this isn’t normally enough to get me to post, but today I came across an...

While Great Britain is giving Martha Stewart a difficult time about entering the country, because of her "Show Trial" conviction for lying to the government, Stewart was a "Guest of Honor" in San Francisco this past June at the annual Google National Sales Conference. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘The Edge.’ Google considers Stewart's company as being a ‘leading edge’ organization. Even Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, showed up to "help" Martha...

I also realize that the greatest advances in the human condition came about when the energy contained in fossil fuels, especially petroleum, was harnessed. Until then the vast majority of human beings lived short lives of drudgery, poverty and despair – in contrast to the very few members of royalty or the society of the very rich. Perhaps younger generations who were born to 75 year old lifetimes and great abundance cannot fathom what life could have been like for most of the billions of people who were born and lived prior to the 20th century.

I know this is off topic for me, but this seems to be a growing problem. People invest their whole lives, put their trust into a company and then when they turn around and ask for what was promised to them. They get the back of a hand. It is just not right. I am not for universal health care. For the rest..... http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2008/07/health-benefits-denied.html

I make a point of looking at the Economist each week, in order to see what this part of the establishment are thinking. I can not normally stand to read it for than a couple of minutes (as it makes me feel unclean), but that is enough time to find some utter absurdity with which amuse people. However, this week I think I have come upon the worst Economist article of all time: The title, featured on the front cover, is "McCain's lurch to the right"... For those who do not know British "political speak", "lurch to the right" is...

More ties to the radical left have surfaced in Barack Obama's past. The latest stem from his involvement with the activist group, ACORN... ACORN...is the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. Obama was a member of ACORN and taught leadership conferences for the group while working for Miner, Barnhill & Galland... Obama actively sought and received the endorsement by ACORN for his local campaigns. He has now done the same in his bid for the USA presidency... So what is ACORN all about? In a Spring 2003 article for...

UH-OH: Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis. Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body. . . . "Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises," said Robert Bailey, policy adviser at Oxfam. Perhaps they...

The thrust of the article, however, is not to highlight the folly of the leftist policies of mandating the use of biofuels, it is of course, to bash the Bush Administration. "The daily said the report was finished in April but was not published to avoid embarrassing the US government, which has claimed plant-derived fuels have pushed up prices by only three percent." Last time I checked, Bush is not in the Enviro-kook camp, so it’s not like he’s trying to cover for Barack Obama, Al Gore, and their minions, who want to use more biofuels as an alternative to...

President Bush recently signed the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Act of 2008, aka, the HEART bill. Hidden in the bill is new taxation on those who renounce their citizenship. The bill specifically calls for taxation on the net unrealized gain in their property, as if the property had been sold. Call it the "Hotel Calfornia" Tax, checkout any time you want, but a good chunk of your money can't leave. The first $600,000 in estimated net worth is exempt, then the tax kicks in at regular rates. Thus, this tax creates the potential for huge taxable phantom gains, with...

THE NEW YORK TIMES AND OIL SUPPLY TRUTH July 3rd, 2008 The New York Times, long a bastion of pessimistic liberalism, which is redundant, was peddling its negative petroleum wares and scares soon after 9/11: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E2DC123FF937A25753C1A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=4. The Times has never retracted its fearmongering view that the only recourse for America’s oil woes is to curb our insatiable lust for oil, in effect to cut back on our industrial production and lifestyle, to conserve ourselves into Third World status since there just ain’t no more oil to be had because of our limited “proven reserves.” That’s poppycock. Whether the Commissioner of...

Barack Obama's speechwriters continue their sales job, today giving BHO a speech to read about public service. And, on his site you can find a "Plan for Universal Voluntary Public Service" (barackobama.com/issues/service), where he informs us that "this will be a cause of my presidency". I can hardly wait! Further: Obama will expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 slots today to 250,000 and he will focus this expansion on addressing the great challenges facing the nation. He will establish a Classroom Corps to help teachers and students, with a priority placed on underserved schools; a Health Corps to improve public health outreach;...

This morning the Washington Post broke the news that Barack Obama got a sub-market interest rate when he took out a mortgage to buy his Chicago mansion in 2005: The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large, known in banker lingo as a "super super jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates. Compared with the average terms offered at the...

...Harvard's endowment posted returns of approximately 9 percent through the first 10 months of this fiscal year, according to data from the University. The increase puts the endowment's value at around $38 billion as of this April, up from $34.9 billion as of last June...During the same period the S&P 500 Index lost 8 percent. So how did Harvard do it? Heavy bets on inflation...a full 24 percent of Harvard's endowment was a bet on inflation...

As reported by WaPo the Obama campaign claimed that the discounted rate on his $1.3 million mortgage was due to a competitive offer made by another lending institution. A campaign spokesman went further by claiming that Obama had no prior ties to the Chicago based Northern Trust. Apparently the Obama campaign has once again forgotten those “pesky”...

By far our most popular EPJ post, ever, has been our Does Goldman Sachs Run The World? post. Here's an update on Goldman Sachs and their latest power move, the infiltration of the Barack Obama campaign. Robert Rubin, former Co-Chairman of Goldman Sachs, is advising Obama. Obama has named Jason Furman, his top economic adviser. Furman, with Rubin, was an aide in the Clinton White House, and worked there directly under Rubin. He is also a close associate of Rubin through their work together on the Hamilton Project. Which doesn't mean that current Goldman employees aren't paying attention to Obama....

Bear in mind while reading this offal that the arsehat author of this nonsense lives in this house: OK, so away we go: "Barack has awakened in many of us the notion that we can again be hopeful, enabling us to believe that we are capable of lifting our brothers and sisters out of poverty, of providing quality education for all our children, of ending this unjust war in Iraq and bringing our troops home safely." Dude, are you kidding me? What in the holy hell would you know about poverty? Try working for a non profit for a while....

The Conservative Human Blowtorch has inked an earth-shattering new contract worth more than 100 MILLION DOLLARS. That ought to make the liberals' heads explode.

Obama received $71,000 in campaign cash in 2004 from a lender in Illinois, who then in February 2005 gave him a below-market mortgage rate personally saving him nearly $4,000.00 per year. Perhaps just a whiff of corruption from the Chicago Kid?

Imagine that you were the CEO of large automobile manufacturer and last night the plant that manufactured the transmissions for your product was destroyed in a massive fire. What would you do? Would you...

Bill Phillips spent nearly 50 years in the US oil and gas industry; most of his career was with the Phillips Petroleum Company. Bill is a descendant of Frank Phillips. Frank Phillips, along with his brother Lee Eldas (L.E.) Phillips, Sr., founded the original Phillips Petroleum Company in 1917 in Bartlesville, OK. Do you remember Phillips 66 gas stations? Phillips Petroleum Company merged with Conoco, Inc. in 2002 to form the current ConocoPhillips oil company. So, when Bill talks about oil and gas issues, I tend to listen - very closely. I think that you will find Bill's thoughts and...

Tammy Sue Barkhard, a third-generation Welfare recipient who lives in Tyrone, said that she gets a little misty when she hears the Star-Spangled Banner on July the 4th. It's a special day for her. "I think about George Washington crossing the Mississippi on that special day in July and creating a country that makes no distinction between the slothful and the truly needy," Barkhard said. "It's a good day to reflect on what this country owes me. Plus, a few of my babies were conceived on July 4th, too." Her live-in boyfriend, Dwayne Scott Arrington said he, too, enjoys the...

< >The U.S. Energy Information Administration revised downward U.S. April oil demand by 863,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 19.77 million bpd -- 3.9 percent below year-ago levels. The revision, which showed April demand was the lowest for the month since April 2002, came even before gasoline prices surged to new records in June.< >Back in 1959 the United States used about 6 million barrels of oil per day. The US had a population of about 132 million in 1959 versus about 304.4 million at the time of this writing. Okay, with 2.3 times more people we would use almost...

Say what? Don't we have an election coming up first? Bill Gross, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of PIMCO, one of the largest specialty fixed income managers in the world, with more than $800 billion in assets under management, is obviously taking Obama Kool Aid intravenously. Yes, directly into the veins. In his July, 2008 Investment Outlook report, he writes an open letter to Obama titled: Dear President Obama. The letter vacillates between bad economics and fawning over Obama.... He endorses Obama's call for higher taxes... He endorses government healthcare meddling and calls for more government meddling in mortgage...

To some ears, his name sounds foreign. His father was not an American citizen. Many of his relatives live overseas. And a portion of his own childhood was spent abroad. Every presidential candidate tries to demonstrate patriotism, sometimes in ostentatious ways, from headlining July 4th parades to leading crowds in the Pledge of Allegiance. But Barack Obama's complex biography seems to heighten the burden. While his multiracial, multicontinent background has provided a compelling narrative for his political rise, it also makes him a more complicated character and potentially more vulnerable to attack. There is also the not-so-small matter that Obama...

As of June 25, 2008 report from SEC, www.SEC.gov/news/speech/2008/spch062508cc_annuity.htm "…Equity indexed annuities [fixed index annuities] are investments that insurance companies sell to the public. They were first introduced about 13 years ago, around 1995. They gained ground and grew significantly over the years — in 2004 alone, for example, sales of equity indexed annuities increased over 50 percent, from $14 billion in 2003 to about $22 billion in 2004. In 2007, indexed annuity sales were nearly $25 billion. Today, over $123 billion is invested in indexed annuities…. Today, in 2008, the cause for concern seems greater than ever. Recently, Dateline...

...the mortgage crisis is turning into a feast for the well connected power elite to take advantage of the crisis atmosphere and use it for their own benefit. Not only is private equity attempting to grab the banks, but the elite banks are writing the mortgage bailout bill to their benefit...It appears that Bank of America essentially wrote the bailout section of the Dodd-Shelby mortgage bailout bill. National Review Online obtained a copy of an internal Bank of America's 64 page “discussion document” on the Dodd-Shelby bill...Almost all of BofA’s preferences are mirrored in the Dodd-Shelby legislation. The BofA document...

The chief practical argument coming from those who oppose opening our continental shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling is that it will take ten years to get the oil so it will not have any impact on current oil prices. The response is that is factual and analytical hogwash, insofar as the whole point of futures markets is to discount the impact of changes in future supply. It is also, by the way, reasoning that many on the left would not want applied to their own pet project: My response to those who say that increased drilling...

The worst economy since the great depression… Remember the constant bleating from the press and the anti-Bush crowd about how the Bush administration “cherry picked” intelligence? They allege that the president chose only those bits of information that fit his plans and ignored everything else. Well, the press has been cherry picking economic news for years. How many news items have you seen featuring some town, family, or business that’s doing ok, despite everything? How often do you hear or read something that puts the housing “crisis” in perspective (it’s not a crisis). Falling prices mean those who previously could...

Democratic presidential contender Illinois Senator Barack Obama assailed Republican presidential candidate Arizona Senator John McCain's energy plans as "gimmicks." “Senator McCain wants to fill your tank with gasoline,” Obama mocked. “I want to fill your heart with hope for a better, cleaner world.” The Illinois senator claimed that high fuel prices “have given us a ‘window-of-opportunity’ to change the way we live. Senator McCain would us throw away this opportunity by taking actions that enable us to continue our addiction to the ways of the past—driving our cars wherever and whenever we want, cranking up the air conditioning in our...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Now adjourned for its Independence Day recess, the U.S. Congress has convened at least 40 hearings on the issue of skyrocketing energy prices in the first six months of 2008. At least 160 witnesses have been sworn-in and questioned. But, even as consumers suffer, the Congress still has done nothing to increase American energy supplies. But, even as consumers suffer, the Congress still has done nothing to increase American energy supplies. Institute for Energy Research (IER) president Thomas J. Pyle issued the following statement: “Don’t mistake activity for productivity,” Pyle said. “Members of Congress have been questioning...

From Stan O'Neal the ousted CEO of Merrill, The current CEO's of UBS Americas and Deutche to the presidents of imploded subprime lenders New Century and Evergreen... In Our Article: Obama Accepts Millions From “Subprime” Tied Contributors, we launched our attempt to inform the public of the millions of individual and bundled campaign dollars funneling into the Obama campaign from High Level Executives of Investment Banks, Mortgage Lenders, and Hedge Funds involved with the Mortgage Meltdown. The ties between Obama and the industry are too expansive and raise the question...

Izhak David Nakar served in the Israel Air Force and developed the intelligence system for the Israeli Defense Force. Ido Schechter is a captain in the Israeli Air Force. They are both behind PDRM’s computerisation program. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Malaysia Today The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) is in the process of computerising its operations so that it is better-equipped to solve and reduce serious crimes such as Bloggers slandering the Deputy Prime Minister’s wife and whatnot. The computerisation program entails various phases as the two-page chart below shows. Three companies have been short-listed to undertake this work -- Master...

Contrary to speculation that an electronic control device could induce ventricular fibrillation, the rhythm found in alleged arrest-related deaths was primarily asystole which is associated with drug overdoses and cannot be induced with electrical stimulation; and, Real time ultrasound showed that even when electronic control device probes are placed across the heart, the ECD electrical pulses have no effect on the human heart. This is in contrast with the result occasionally seen in research using small pigs, which have important physiological differences that make their cardiovascular system significantly more sensitive to electricity than in humans.

Here's the logic of our elected representatives in Congress when it comes to taxing profits: Oil companies are benefiting from the higher price of an asset (oil), some of which is driven by speculation. So the proper policy prescription is to impose a special windfall profits tax on them during that boom period. Home builders benefited from the high price of an asset (housing), some of which was driven by speculation. So the proper policy prescription is to allow them to reduce their tax bills they paid during that boom period via a special loss carryback provision. Can you tell...

You might remember when this accident happened 8 years ago this March. This Southwest Airlines flight from Vegas overshot the runway at Burbank The plane smashed past the airport fence, careened across the street and ended up with a collapsed landing gear, right next to a gas station. Well.. that's not the most shocking part!!!...

Forward - By Nathan Guttman, Thu. Jun 26, 2008 Washington - Jewish Democrats are ratcheting up criticism against Republican candidate John McCain by attempting to focus attention on a 2005 vote in which McCain opposed toughening restrictions on business ties with Iran. In a June 26 press conference on Capitol Hill, organized by the National Jewish Democratic Council, Democratic lawmakers praised the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama, and attacked the presumptive Republican nominee for what they characterized as his refusal to close loopholes that allow firms like Halliburton to continue doing business with the regime in Tehran. “Obama has already...

It is becoming more evident every day that the left-wing of the Democratic Party is delighted that the price of gasoline and diesel fuel is now between $4.00 and $5.00 per gallon. According to Barack Obama, high gas prices don’t really constitute a problem for Americans. He stated recently that the reason for our anger is “the rapid increase in prices, not the prices themselves”. Obama claimed that Americans would have accepted a “gradual adjustment” to the current cost. For years now, in response to the demands of environmental extremists, liberal Democrats like Obama and some RINO’s have pursued policies...

A satire about the decline of the US dollar, written in a mock biblical style reminiscent of *Private Eye's Old Testament-based spoofs. In the last days of the ancient world, the people of Egypt loved their chariots above all. Each chariot was pulled by many horses, and each horse was an oats-guzzler, consuming many barrels of oats per mile traveled. And the land of Egypt was bountiful in all but oats to feed the horses to pull their chariots. So the Egyptians traded with the lands of the Arabites, which had plentiful oats. But the Arabites wanted gold and silver...

"...He also suddenly supports the notion that Tax Cuts and rebates can stimulate the economy, he wants to make a $1000 tax rebate a permanent part of the tax code. Suddenly, we are supposed to believe that Obama is a supply-side economist, someone who believes that tax breaks actually create more tax revenue. He has said this will stimulate the economy, it runs counter to everything we know about him up to this point, except for the fact that he wants to tax Corporations and our most successful to pay for it. These so-called tax rebates that he is promising...

5. Years in which tax rate cuts took effect (1964, 1970, 1971, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1991 and 2003) all saw government collections of personal income taxes dip initially, then begin to rise afterward, with the total of personal income tax collections always falling in the range between 7.2% and 8.8% of GDP. This last phenomenon suggests that the distribution of taxable income shifts in accordance with changes in the tax rate structure of the income tax code to maintain a stable equilibrium with respect to overall GDP, albeit with a small lagging effect. This level of equilibrium is given...

To My Fellow Free Republic Bloggers, I have been with you for four years now. From Bush-Kerry to McCain-Obama. I am proud to say not only have my conservative views remained in tact, they have strengthened. This is why I am posting this thread. The election that is upon us will truly determine the direction of our sacred country. In the words of Pres. Reagan: "You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to...

Using the Greenpeace-friendly term ‘dirty oil’ in reference to crude drawn from the sand, the leaders of some American cities took lines that sounded right out of Treehugging For Dummies, stopping just short of equating Alberta’s oil industry with the Final Event of Revelations.....

Here are some additional qualities that embody superior leadership. Great leaders surround themselves with greatness. They actively seek out the best possible people and hire them to fill all key positions within their organizations. Great leaders know that surrounding themselves with excellence is a direct reflection on their own character, abilities, and effectiveness as leaders. They understand that their own success and the success of their organizations depend mostly on hiring and promoting the best qualified, ethical, skilled, responsible, mature, and productive people and giving them the proper resources, authority, and freedom to do what’s needed for the long-term benefit...

On her Tuesday evening "On the Record" program, Greta Van Susteren interviewed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The cost of gasoline was the first topic discussed. The speaker told of actions the Democrat-controlled Congress has taken. Charitably, these are marginal at best, yet Van Susteren didn't challenge Pelosi. Then the host asked about assigning blame for high gas prices: VAN SUSTEREN: Do you assign all of the blame for the high prices on the Bush administration, or do you look back historically to a number of factors, including appetite by the American people, other administrations, other Congresses? PELOSI: No,...

In today’s Guest Blog spot, I decided to contact Chuck E. Cash from Forex-Trading-School.com. I wanted to get his thoughts and insight on what he thought about the current commodity markets, with Crude and Gasoline as the specific targets. Take a look below and enjoy! ========================================================= It’s hard not to notice the rally cries coming out of the political parties lately. Each side has their “solution” for the energy problem. The left wants windfall profit taxes and investigations. The right wants a tax holiday and more drilling. Lately I’ve been wondering, are the spat of energy ETFs partly to blame?...

Connecticut’s Senator Christopher Dodd (D) is sponsoring legislation that would require all merchants that accept credit cards or electronic payment to forward the details of every transaction to federal regulators. Current law only permits the government to have access to a limited number of targeted transactions as part of law enforcement activities and then only with a court order. Dodd said his 630-page bill is meant to implement Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama’s proposed crack down on the irresponsible use of credit. “As Senator Obama says, too many people are spending money they don’t have for things they don’t...

The world can have carbon control or it can have food and energy security. The former means reduced energy supply while the latter requires greatly expanded energy supply, which in turn, for at least the next 3 or 4 decades, means substantially greater carbon expansion. A few rich nations, accustomed to energy and food security for about 50 years now, want carbon control to prevail. The rest of the world seeks food and energy security since billions of people today have little of either. Roughly about 600 million people live in societies or polities (not nations) where carbon control is...

Michigan's May unemployment rate of 8.5% is the highest in the country, and it's not even close: The state with the next highest jobless rate is Rhode Island at 7.2%, more than a full percentage point below Michigan. And compared to South Dakota, the state with the lowest rate of 2.9%, Michigan's rate is a whopping 5.6% higher. And it's about to get even higher this summer. Reason? The minimum wage for adults will increase to $7.40 per hour in a week, "a move that has Michigan businesses shuddering," according to The Flint Journal. And those younger than 18 get...