Free Republic

World oil prices could triple if the West's stand-off over Iran's nuclear programme escalates into conflict, the Saudi Arabian government has warned. The Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, said such an event could send prices spiralling from their current level of about $70 per barrel. Iran is the Opec cartel's number two oil producer and analysts fear it could halt exports if the dispute worsens. Tehran is currently examining proposals aimed at ending the diplomatic impasse. Strait of Hormuz "The idea of somebody firing a missile at an installation somewhere will shoot up the price of oil...

Investment banks are set to cut 10-15 per cent of their staff across the board as turmoil in the markets takes its toll on revenues. The bulk of cuts are expected in structured credit and leveraged finance, though recruitment experts said other investment banking areas could be affected. Russ Gerson, chief executive of the Gerson Group, a Wall Street executive search firm, said: "Unlike previous cycles, all the financial institutions are inter-related because of the credit market, so there will be a major fall in activity across all areas, with the inevitable job cuts." Earlier this week, Royal Bank of...

Can the U.S. Senate do better than Larry Craig? Can the USA do better than Larry Craig? Can the state of Idaho do better than Larry Craig? He's been pampered in the U.S. Senate for the last 17 years. According to his own official biography, he has spent nearly his entire adult life in politics. He never worked for a living. He never had a job outside of his family's ranching business, where it is doubtful he ever got his hands dirty. But that doesn't stop Sen. Larry Craig from getting his hands and knees dirty on the floors of...

Israel sets F-35 Joint Strike Fighter specifications By Arie Egozi The Israeli air force has completed a review of its design requirements for a national variant of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, with Tel Aviv expecting to make a decision to buy up to 100 of the US aircraft under a multi-year procurement. Details of the air force's unique requirements remain classified, but are known to include a locally built electronic-warfare suite and a new internally carried bomb to be developed by Israel Military Industries. The general staff of the Israeli defence forces will soon decide how many F-35s...

McLean, VA – On September 6, 2007, Fred Thompson will be announcing his intention to run for President of the United States with a webcast available to millions at www.imwithfred.com. The launch of the video will be followed by a five-day campaign tour through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. “I believe that there are millions of Americans who know that our security and prosperity are at risk if we don’t address the challenges of our time; the global threat of terrorism; taxes and spending that will bankrupt future generations, and a government that can’t seem to get the most...

Barnes & Noble Inc. has changed its mind about the new O.J. Simpson book. After saying it would not stock copies of "If I Did It" in its stores, citing lack of customer demand, the chain told The Associated Press on Thursday that it would indeed carry the book. Since the initial decision on Aug. 21 against stocking the book, but selling it online, Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said: "We've been monitoring the pre-orders and customer requests and have concluded that enough customers have expressed interest in buying the book to warrant stocking it in our stores....

Many men who solicit sex in public places often are conflicted sexually and seek sex in those locations to maintain anonymity, psychiatric experts say. Dr. Fred Berlin, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, compared homosexual sex at public places with heterosexual men who go to secret parts of town to solicit prostitutes and to drug addicts who find dealers on street corners away from their neighborhoods. "This is not as complicated as people think," Berlin said. "It is often a case of people with very strong sexual cravings that are difficult to resist, people...

McGraw-Hill Cos. replaced the top executive at Standard & Poor's Corp. as criticism of the company's financial-information division mounts for its role in the unfolding subprime-mortgage crisis. Kathleen Corbet, S&P's president, is leaving to pursue other opportunities, McGraw-Hill Cos. said yesterday, without elaborating. She will be succeeded by Deven Sharma, 51 years old, a senior McGraw-Hill executive who has been at S&P since late last year. S&P's bond-rating arm and several other rating services have downgraded hundreds of mortgage-backed securities tied to subprime loans in recent months. Critics charge S&P and others were too optimistic about the market for too...

Last night on TOF on FNC, Ted Nugent claimed he was a Marine. I can find no evidence to support this but I could be missing something. Someone want to help me out here? --Gunny Bob

Govt ignores Left protest on Indo-Israel ties 31 Aug 2007, 0101 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit,TNN NEW DELHI: Since 2000, India has bought military hardware and software worth $7 billion from Israel. The Left may demand severance of defence ties with the Jewish state but the already robust relationship is all set to expand even further. India's fresh shopping list and joint projects with Israel, accessed by TOI, shows a staggering agenda of military cooperation, ranging from miniature UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and PGMs (precision-guided munitions) to a wide array of sophisticated missiles and avionics packages. India has already become Israel's...

ANNANDALE, Va. (MarketWatch) -- The insiders have spoken. And their message is quite bullish for the stock market's intermediate-term future. Corporate insiders, of course, are a firm's officers, directors and largest shareholders. It stands to reason that they know more about their companies' prospects than the rest of us, so it behooves us to pay close attention to whether they are more inclined to buy or to sell. That's relatively easy to do, since insiders are required to report to the government whenever they buy or sell shares of their companies' stock. Interpreting insiders' behavior can be a bit tricky,...

As Lee Eames took his seat at the front of the Friends Room at the Columbia Public Library on Saturday afternoon, he was stricken by the low attendance for the first meeting of his Citizens for Gore campaign. “I’m a little disappointed in the turnout, but when I started this project I hadn’t broken my hip,” Eames told a group of four supporters of former vice president Al Gore. Inspired by the 220 regularly meeting Gore groups across the country, Eames hopes to assemble a Columbia group that will help influence the 2000 presidential candidate to run for the presidency...

Indian Tribal Leaders Honor Al GoreAug 30, 3:53 PM (ET) By WASBIR HUSSAIN GAUHATI, India (AP) - Tribal kings and chieftains in a remote corner of India that is one of the rainiest places on Earth chose former Vice President Al Gore for their first "global award" for bringing attention to the dangers of climate change.More than 3,000 kings, chieftains and elders from Meghalaya, a northeastern state, decided to honor Gore after watching his Academy Award-winning documentary film, "An Inconvenient Truth.""We consider Al Gore a champion for putting the issue of climate change on the world's radar," said Robert Kharshiing,...

Friday, August 31, 2007 LONDON -- If September goes as August ended, this is going to be a very interesting month. On Monday, President George W. Bush told the American Legion in Reno, Nev., that two dangerous strands of Islamic extremism are converging in Iraq, "supported and embodied by the regime that sits in Tehran." He went on to warn that the Iranians "must halt these actions." Earlier that same day, French President Nicolas Sarkozy observed that Iran's nuclear ambitions present "catastrophic" alternatives: "an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran." Both Bush and Sarkozy are correct -- though it...

SIERRA VISTA — U.S. Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett’s murder case is headed to federal court in Tucson. The move comes several days after he entered a not guilty plea in Cochise County Superior Court. On Aug. 23, Corbett’s attorney Sean C. Chapman of Tucson filed a notice of removal in the U.S. District Court of Arizona, the Herald/Review learned late Wednesday. Five days later, Chapman, 41, filed a similar notice with the Cochise County Superior Court where the case was last pending, according to Denise I. Lundin, the clerk of the Superior Court. “No further proceedings are anticipated in...

Resolved: Congress should pass and send to the states for ratification a Constitutional Amendment: Setting a maximum contribution limit any campaign donor--individual, organization, or interest group--may contribute to any Presidential or Congressional candidate; Setting the maximum amount any candidate for President or Congress may spend in primary or general elections; and Setting the maximum amount any independent organization may spend for their own primary or general election campaign advertising. Such was the topic of the annual summer community-center debate in a small town on the coast of Maine. Last year's debate topic was eliminating the Constitution's state Electoral College and...

Iran upgrading its U.S. F-14s, testing GPS-guided smart bombs LONDON — Iran says it has succeeded both in restoring its F-14 fighter-jet fleet to operational service and in developing its own GPS-guided smart bomb. Industry sources said Iranian defense firms have been overhauling and upgrading F-14A fighter-jets. They said the Defense Ministry has overseen a serial production line for F-14 overhaul. The ministry has administered a project by the state-owned Iranian Aircraft Industries Complex to enhance the F-14As, Middle East Newsline reported. The sources said the project began in 2007, and since May three F-14As were upgraded. In 1972, Iran...

Universal Housing It’s time that America stop being so greedy and take care of it’s people better. Right now there is a crisis which affects tens of millions of Americans who are trying to improve their lives. They are not getting the most basic of needs. Often they have to decide between food and this other need. Often they cannot afford both. It’s disgusting that in a country so full of wealth that there are still people who don’t own their own home!! All across America, real estate costs have increased so much that some Americans will never have the...

Welcome, Mainstream Media (MSM), to the DFU ASSIGNMENT DESK. We will have coffee and croissants for you at the break. Now that the Norman Hsu story is public, here is the next Hsu to drop. That shoe is Tendo Oto. It was one of those hot August nights in Southern California. On August 12, 2000, the Democrat Hollywood faithful came to an historic concert to honor Bill Clinton and put over a million bucks in Hillary Clinton's senate campaign coffers. It was called the Hollywood Gala Salute to President William Jefferson Clinton. It was the most expensive and lavish federal...

<p>On Aug 24, FReepers from DC Chapter and beyond, together with friends,  held our weekly Friday night support the troops gathering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WR) in Washington, DC.</p> <p>This was another hot and humid summer night with temperatures of about 90 degrees at starting time. We hope for cooler weather now, but, before you know it, we will be cold and snowy.</p>