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Wash. Bills Would Implement Occupy DemandsAzusa Uchikura | Feb. 2, 2012 1:51 p.m. OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington lawmakers are introducing several proposals that echo the demands of the Occupy protesters. In fact, the formal title of one proposal introduced Thursday says it is aimed at "Guaranteeing that the top one percent pay too." The chief sponsor, Democratic Representative Marko Liias , says the Occupy movement wasn't the only thing that prompted this idea. **SNIP** Liias's proposal isn't complete yet, but it would impose a 2 percent tax on incomes over $1 million. The money would help fund education from Kindergarten...

Springfield Secret Santas Pay Off Layaway Bills for Needy FamiliesDecember 17, 2011 | Mary Moloney, KSPR News Reporter SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Good Samaritans have found a way to help needy Springfield families this holiday season. About a dozen people walked into the South Campbell Kmart and paid for the presents of strangers whose gifts sat on layaway. "One young man came in who had gotten a $500 bonus from work. He just thought it was a great thing. He's even posted it online challenging his friends to do the same thing and he's come in and paid off several people's...

Updated as amendment, must read both for complete bill: Original "Boehner Bill": Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute — Budget Control Act of 2011 (Acrobat PDF) Revised Amendment to the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (Acrobat PDF) Source, House Committee on Rules, S. 627 Faster FOIA Act of 2011 (Budget Control Act of 2011)

The public was in the dark on many of the measures. When the session started, only seven of the 12 bills scheduled for votes were posted on the Legislature's website. When lawmakers returned to the House and Senate floors shortly after 6 p.m., they quickly passed six of the 10 tax and spending bills that make up the budget. Most bills sailed through largely on party-line votes with little debate. Still to come were three highly contentious spending bills to fund K-12 education, health and human services and state agencies. The House passed a controversial tax bill late Tuesday night....

You're pretty close to being toast. Nerves are frazzled, homes are being evacuated, jobs lost and families are torn apart. Oh, the rookie Hussein has performed magic, all right. Kinda nuts. But it's what Barry King planned all along. This is his vision. Wealth distribution. And it's only getting started. How do you make it? Old money, new money, food stamps, living with the folks, moving in with the neighbor? How are you doing it? Are there any really good tips to make it through the Hussein years? And don't give me any guff on that '$40k on the credit...

*** Among the 2,323 bills introduced by lawmakers this year are ones to revise the definition of olive oil and enact 'Spay Day' to encourage spaying of animals. But Gov. Jerry Brown and others say that's too many as the state grapples with fiscal crisis. *** Reporting from Sacramento — In addition to addressing the state's $25-billion deficit this year, the Legislature is making time for some other less pressing matters: Caffeinated beer. Spaceships. How to properly describe a dog pound. Proposals on those subjects are among the 2,323 bills lawmakers have introduced this year. Others would revise the definition...

Establish smart spending habits. Live like you're poor. How do you do that? Drive your cars into the ground, don't eat out very much, avoid expensive and potentially unhealthy processed foods, buy food in bulk, buy just enough clothes to fit your needs, and use public transportation. ... Use credit cards only as a convenience to avoid carrying cash; limit your credit card spending so that you can easily pay off the balance each month. Make every dollar count with your spending, so you can free up money to invest in the future. Get healthy. One of the best things...

Boehner, Pro-Life Advocates Launch Bills to Ban Tax-Funded Abortions Washington, DC -- House Speaker John Boehner and a bipartisan group of pro-life members of Congress held a press conference this morning to launch two bills prohibiting government funding for abortion. The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and the Protect Life Act were officially introduced today. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/01/20/boehner-pro-life-advocates-launch-bills-to-ban-tax-funded-abortions/

As metro Atlanta's temperatures grow colder, the demand for heat is, well, heating up. A day after hundreds of people queued up outside a Marietta community center to apply for assistance with heat and power bills, hopeful applicants began lining up again around midnight, waiting in the sub-freezing temperatures for the doors to open Thursday morning. This time, however, officials let those in line come into the Mansour Center on Roswell Street an hour early at 7:30 and get relief from temperatures that dropped to 27 degrees. “We’re freezing,” said Lecher Eady, a Marietta mother who arrived at midnight seeking...

Two GOP state representatives say they are routinely asked to vote on bills that they haven't had a chance to read, a practice they say they want to stop. Reps. Justin Amash, R-Cascade, and Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, co-sponsored a joint resolution requiring a 72-hour review period before any bill can be put up for a vote. "It happens all the time," said Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, of the policy of quick votes with no time to read the legislation. "Everybody is looking at themselves and thinking, 'What in the world is this?' " The bill requiring a three-day waiting...

Say family does not have insurance to pay cost of precautionary check-upThe family of a 17-year-old Zion teen credited with saving a drowning boy on Monday in Kenosha, Wis., say the good deed has unfairly saddled them with more than $2,000 in medical bills. “He did what the lifeguard should have done — Trevor saved the boy,” Nicole Bollinger said Tuesday of her cousin, Trevor Hall. “Now the hospital phones me this morning to say that they’re sending off the bill for Trevor being taken to hospital as a precaution afterwards.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law one of the more controversial bills from the recent legislative session, one allowing guns to be carried into houses of worship. Jindal's office said Tuesday the governor acted on the bill in the past few days after receiving it June 20. Including the "gun-in-church" bill, House Bill 1272 by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton, Jindal has signed into law 940 of the 1,067 bills the Legislature sent him, vetoed 12, and used his pen to line-item spending measures in four different budget bills.

Illinois Has Stopped Paying Bills Even For Essential Services Vincent Fernando, CFA Jul. 5, 2010, 12:56 AM Image: The White House If California was America's Greece, then Illinois is America's Spain. California's horrid financial situation initially jolted Americans with the notion that a state could fail, and now Illinois is making people realize that California's problems aren't a one-state fluke. New York Times via MSNBC: Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing...

WASHINGTON — Here are the effective dates of major provisions of the health care overhaul legislation approved Sunday: WITHIN A YEAR - Would provide a $250 rebate this year to Medicare prescription drug beneficiaries whose initial benefits run out. 90 days after enactment: - Would provide immediate access to high-risk pools for people with no insurance because of pre-existing conditions. Six months after enactment: - Would bar insurers from denying people coverage when they get sick. - Would bar insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. - Would bar insurers from imposing lifetime caps on coverage. - Would...

The White House declined on Thursday to rule out that President Barack Obama might sign future legislation, such as an immigration reform measure, that has not been put to a recorded yea-or-nay vote in both houses of Congress. CNSNews.com asked White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs about the possibility of the president doing so because of a prospective lawsuit that Landmark Legal Foundation President Mark Levin has prepared to file against the president if he signs a health care bill that has not been passed by a direct recorded yea-or-nay vote in the House of Representatives. The prospective lawsuit argues that...

Cowher to meet with Bills Staff Zorn to be fired

Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could receive health care coverage from their employers under the bills winding their way through Congress, despite President Obama's explicit pledge that illegal immigrants would not benefit. The House bill mandates, and the Senate bill strongly encourages, businesses to extend health care coverage to all employees. But the bills do not have exemptions to screen out illegal immigrants, who usually obtain jobs by using false identities and are indistinguishable from legal workers.

WASHINGTON — Americans could pay billions of dollars more in new taxes for a few years before they're likely to see significant change in the nation's health care system under legislation that Congress is considering. Some analysts said that's not necessarily bad. Delaying major health care changes until at least 2013, as the pending Senate and House of Representatives bills would do, would give the government sufficient money and time to get things right.

What do they have to hide? Plenty!House Republicans are leading the fight to force congress to put the text of major legislation online for 72 hours before a vote takes place. Here's the latest from Republican Leader John Boehner (OH): [VIDEO AT SITE] In the latest Rasmussen poll on this subject 83% of Americans agree that bills should be posted online and across the country in Town Hall meetings citizens have spoken directly to their representatives demanding that they "READ THE BILL" before voting on it. House Resolution 554 text) would require bills to be posted for 72 hours before...

Marky Mark says HealthCare bills Unconstitutional http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU8cXGpRcw4

Remember when the self-proclaimed most powerful woman in the world, Nancy Pelosi promised the most “honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history." But Pelosi must believe that being honest and open has nothing to do with reading a bill before it is voting. Back in June, Congressional Republicans introduced H. Res 554. The bill's purpose is to amend the Rules of the House of Representatives to require that legislation and conference reports be available on the Internet for 72 hours before consideration by the House, giving the members and the public time to read the bill before it...

Sweeping health care legislation cleared its first hurdles in the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday as Democrats turned back a series of proposed changes by Republicans who attacked it as a threat to Medicare. Yet even as they prevailed on politically charged votes, majority Democrats also tacitly conceded one point—that despite a pledge by President Barack Obama, some seniors who receive coverage from private insurers could lose some of the optional benefits they enjoy.

The Most At-Risk Sports TeamsBy Minyanville In the U.S., love of sport is fanatical. Our major-league obsessions are so intense we often forget that our favorite teams have a purpose higher than winning games: turning a profit. Pro sports franchises are businesses like any other, and sometimes businesses struggle, limp along or die off. What will it take to keep the cowbells ringing in Sacramento? Can hockey survive in the desert? Will small-market football teams have to pack their bags? Minyanville presents sports teams at risk of relocation -- or worse. And with the economy in question, saving them could...

Would Congress ever pass legislation that would allow the executive to determine at its own discretion whether political opponents had crossed the line into domestic terrorists and build camps in which to keep them? Sounds like something out of 20th-century totalitarian systems or dystopian fiction. Mark Tapscott says it’s not fiction , and he warns readers about an effort by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) to do just that: Rep. Alcee Hastings - the impeached Florida judge Nancy Pelosi tried to install as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee until her own party members rebelled - introduced an amendment to the...

Having lost my job several months ago due to *downsizing*, I'm just wondering if anyone has had any experience with those credit counseling services.I've been using my savings, but this resource is now exhausted. I just got hired by another firm, but I'm a month behind in bills and won't get paid for another month.Anyone know anything useful about credit counselors, or which ones to stay away from?Thanks in advance for those leaving constructive messages!

Mar 30, 2009: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by roll call vote. The vote was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate short and pass the bill, needing a two-thirds majority.The totals were 391 Ayes, 8 Nays, 32 Present/Not Voting.

President Obama on Monday will sign the omnibus land conservation bill - yet again breaking his vow to allow five days for public comment before he affixes his signature to legislation. The bill passed the House on Wednesday, but the White House didn't post the measure for comments until Friday, leaving just two weekend days and parts of Friday and Monday for the public to register comments - short of the president's five-day pledge. The bill was posted for only several hours before the White House announced that Mr. Obama would sign it, indicating the president had made up his...

Let's have a constitutional showdown! Every Congressman swears an oath to "… preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." To a casual observer, these words could be interpreted to mean that laws enacted by Congress should be consistent with the requirements of the Constitution. To the majority of Congress, these words mean something else, or have no meaning at all, because much of the legislation produced in Washington has no relationship at all with the Constitution. If we are a nation founded upon the U.S. Constitution, then our laws should be constrained by the Constitution. If we...

I'm trying to find some information on bills introduced to the Senate this term. Specifically, the lengths in pages and words, and the total pages and words for all the bills put together. The reason is, during a debate I argued the point that many bills are voted on without being read. The person I was debating with said that according to "Riddick's Senate Procedure": "Senate Rules require that all bills and joint resolutions be read twice before they can be amended or referred to committee and three times on separate legislative days before passage." I've never heard of this...

When money is tight, everything is negotiable — including your health care bills. As the economy sheds jobs and more people lose their health insurance or are forced to switch to less generous plans, doctors and hospitals are becoming accustomed to patients who are struggling financially. According to the American Hospital Association, half of their members reported an increase in the number of patients needing help with their bills. And that was in November, before the national unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent.

The Obama administration backed off Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s statement last week that China is “manipulating” its currency. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden said the administration has made “no judgment” on whether the Chinese have manipulated their currency, an accusation that would have international legal ramifications. “The policy of this administration is going to be to say to China, which occasionally the last administration was reluctant to do. `You're a major player on the world scene economically, and you've got to play by the rules that

Since I'm really concerned about how socialist we're getting now with all active parts of the Fed being "Democrat", I'd really like to have a site or action-alert or some such that at least lists all pending bills (#s as well as titles) or perhaps even better, alerts us to bills coming up for debate (especially those with conservative concern). Anyone know of anything that can help me know what's going on, so that I can contact my congressmen about it and voice my opinion?

Confronted with a struggling transportation fund, lawmakers in Texas soon are expected to wage battle on various methods to help generate $14 billion for roads and bridges throughout the state. Another bill is intended to sideline the planned Trans-Texas Corridor. A report released this week from the Texas Department of Transportation says that the state will need to come up with $313 billion by 2030 for road and bridge maintenance and for congestion solutions. The report’s unveiling happened a couple of weeks before the Texas Legislature is set to convene its 2009 session. Lawmakers say they already were committed to...

According to the linked page: "Unnamed freelance journalist has the goods on Obama and Rezko"

King Bloomberg has decreed FR cannot post text of His material. Here's the link.

Credit card and auto loan delinquencies are surging in the city. In fact, by the end of next year, the number of New Yorkers expected to be at least 90 days behind on their credit card bills is projected to jump 45%, execs from credit bureau TransUnion told the Daily News. That would mark the highest percentage of significantly past due credit card bills in at least five years. In addition, the number of New Yorkers more than 60 days late on their car bills is expected to soar 22% increase. "Consumers will still feel significant stress due to the...

Thirty-four years ago, it took Pierre Trudeau's formidable glare to back American football off Canada's doorstep. Today, on the eve of the 96th Grey Cup in Montreal, they're warily allowed in. But the mammoth NFL has found the first step is a doozy. By contrast, the CFL finds itself in an uncommonly healthy spot ahead of tomorrow's dream match-up between host Montreal and Calgary. That's led to a feeling of cautious optimism that maybe, just maybe, Canadian football won't be pancaked by its southern cousin. "We're much different. We are grass roots. We have a loyal fan base," CFL commissioner...

NUCLEAR POWER John McCain advocates building 45 nuclear power plants by 2030, and 100 eventually. Barack Obama is open to expanding nuclear energy but says security, waste and defense concerns must be addressed first. OFFSHORE DRILLING McCain wants to let states decide whether to allow oil and gas exploration off their coasts. Obama says he is open to limited coastal drilling as part of a broader energy compromise. VEHICLE EFFICIENCY 1 million plug-in hybrid cars that can travel up to 150 miles per gallon on the road by 2015 -- part of a $150-billion decadelong program to promote energy-saving technologies...

OJ Simpson jury to announce decision tonight in Las Vegas at 10pm Pacific.

Some stuck without power powerless to fight bank fees Friday, September 19, 2008 By Margaret Harding THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH When his power returned without Internet service Monday, Tom Perry had a bit of a financial freakout. "It was kind of a panic-stricken moment there: 'Oh, no, what am I going to do?' " said Perry, whose credit-card and mortgage payment were both due that day. Perry, like many others, pays his bills online. Online banking and bill payment are pushed as the easiest and most efficient ways to handle such transactions, but a power outage such as the one central...

Sen Barack wants to have this election be about experience. No other fact give the potential vote with more information on a candidate then the very legislation they have written. This is the full listing of all bills authored by the Sen. as of the current recess. For debate - how do you judge Sen. Baracks experience by his body of work? The Library of Congress > THOMAS Home > Bills, Resolutions > Search Results NEXT PAGE | PREVIOUS PAGE | NEW SEARCH Items 1 through 100 of 129 1. S.CON.RES.5 : A concurrent resolution honoring the life of Percy Lavon Julian, a pioneer in the...

One in ten households in England and Wales will fall into "water poverty" under plans to introduce meters for every home in Britain, a consumer group has warned. Millions of families, already suffering from rising food and fuel costs, face soaring bills, with some left up to £200 a year worse off by the Government plans, according to The Consumer Council for Water. Currently water companies can introduce "pay as you flow" meters in areas that are at a high risk of drought. The Government had long-term plans to introduce them into other areas by 2030. However a Government report...

First off let me say that I have my own cell phone. I use it to text all of my buddies over on Dogster throughout the day. So it was with great concern I read about Andy Fanelli, a Lhasa Apso, getting hassled by Verizon for not paying his bill. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 70,000 consumers complained about third-party debt collectors in 2007, but one Sacramento couple said they have good reason to bark about the bill they received. Steve Fanelli received a bill from AFNI collections claiming an Andy Fanelli owes Verizon Online $142.34. And although Steve Fanelli...

Link only.

Shoppers to 'abandon organic food to cut bills' By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 2:29AM BST 20/05/2008 Middle-class shoppers will be forced to abandon organic and fair trade food as inflation continues to climb, a new report warns. Retailers have not yet reported any fall off in organic food sales Shoppers who have previously been willing to pay up to 50 per cent more for organic meat, or fair trade coffee, could soon ignore ethical concerns in favour of keeping their shopping bills down. The prediction comes from the influential forecasting group, the Ernst & Young ITEM club,...

Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out. Clinton, who is being pressured to end her campaign against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, has made her plan for universal health care a centerpiece of her agenda. The campaign provides health insurance to all its employees, their spouses, partners and children – and that wasn’t interrupted by any lag in payments to insurance providers, said Jay Carson, a Clinton campaign spokesman. He said the campaign this month paid off all outstanding bills to...

Loose cigars are safe, cloned meat doesn't have to be labeled and English won't become Maryland's official language. Bills dealing with those issues are among the dozens that state lawmakers in Annapolis have rejected. When House members returned for a rare Saturday session, they found a long list of proposed bills that were rejected by committees, or in some cases, withdrawn by their sponsors. The losing bills include a formal recognition of English as the state's official language and a bill to ban the sale of cigars in packages of less than five.

Once out of the snow, the Cleveland Browns slid closer to a spot in the AFC playoffs. Jamal Lewis plowed for 163 yards and Phil Dawson somehow kicked two field goals through harsh, wintry winds as the surprising Browns improved their postseason chances with an 8-0 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. In blizzard-like conditions better suited for the Iditarod sled-dog race, the Browns (9-5), who never figured to be playing meaningful games in December when the season started, picked up one of their biggest wins since returning as an expansion franchise in 1999. Cleveland needed a win and...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) -- The Buffalo Bills intend to play a few games in Canada, eh?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Saturday signed 97 bills and vetoed another 58, creating new laws on everything from the sale of kangaroo skin to protecting endangered condors while halting lawmakers efforts on dozens of other fronts, including giving college aid to illegal immigrants and requiring warning labels on cloned food. Arguably his most controversial decision, Schwarzenegger signed a bill requiring semiautomatic handguns made and sold in the state to have technology to microstamp each bullet fired from the gun. Supporters say the micro-stamping requirement, the first in the nation, will help police track down criminals. Opponents, including the National Rifle...