Free Republic

Last Tuesday, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), which is the non-partisan "research arm" of the United States Congress, issued a report that concludes that illegal aliens will be able to receive benefits under the House health care bill (H.R. 3200) through two major loopholes. (See CRS Report and FAIR Press Release, August 26, 2009). According to its own website, CRS is a legislative branch agency that provides Congress with "policy and legal analysis" that is authoritative, objective and accurate. (CRS website). The latest CRS report validates what FAIR has been saying for the past month and a half — that...

The State Fair sent about 100 4-H participants home because several members contracted the H1N1 virus and about a dozen more developed flu-like symptoms.

A massive green cabbage captured the Guinness World Record at the Alaska State Fair on Wednesday, crushing a record set in 1989 by nearly two pounds. The whopper submitted by Wasilla resident Steve Hubacek tipped the scales at 125.9 pounds, said Dean Phipps, marketing director for the fair. The cabbage's head measured about 21 inches across, and its leaves spanned about 5 feet. "I was there when they put it on," he said. "When they put it on everybody took a couple steps back and went like, 'Oh, my gosh.' They all had versions of that and then they started...

House Health Reform Bill Will Allow Illegal Aliens to Receive Taxpayer-Funded Health Care Critics of America's Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (AAHCA), the health care reform bill currently working its way through the House of Representatives, have suggested the bill will provide taxpayer-funded health care to illegal aliens. Supporters of the bill maintain that Section 246 will prevent illegal aliens from receiving benefits under the bill. Section 246 states that "[n]othing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States."1 As discussed in this memorandum,...

The House bill actually raises more questions than it resolves with respect to whether the bill will burden American taxpayers by giving health care benefits to legal and illegal aliens. Under Welfare Reform, legal aliens are required to wait five years before becoming eligible for welfare or other taxpayer funded benefits. The House bill eliminates that 5-year waiting period. Accordingly, legal aliens will become immediately eligible for this government handout paid for by American taxpayers. Illegal aliens are also likely to qualify for this affordability credit. This is because there are NO provisions that would prevent illegals from participating in...

DES MOINES, Iowa-- An Indianola woman is taking on a big challenge at the Iowa State Fair and it's put her on a feeding frenzy. Lindsay Grooters wants to sample every item at the fair that's sold on a stick. There are 55 such items sold at the fair this year. "If I see it and it looks good, I eat it," she said. She said her selections have ranged from traditional caramel apples to fried Twinkies. "I've had 30," she said. "(There's) 25 to go." Grooters said she's been pacing herself, eating five per day, every day. "I love...

LUMBERTON - As darkness fell on the final evening of the Burlington County Farm Fair on Saturday, one distinct parade made its way through the crowds of festival-goers. As part of his recent introduction of his running mate for the November election, Gov. Jon S. Corzine and his caravan made a stop at the Farm Fair to shake hands and talk to residents. The visit came as a late surprise to Farm Fair Manager Bill Spicer. "First he was coming and then he wasn't and then he was," said Spicer with a laugh. "But now he's here and I think...

It seems that all of our self-appointed media watchdogs have become Obamacrat cuddle pups. I ran across a post on the FAIR site (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting - - LOL!) titled Fox Fantasizes Evidence of Global Cooling. Yup, another nest of FOX News haters. The FAIR group may think it is objective, or the name may be a cover, FAIR has an obvious bias and can’t be counted as a trustworthy “watchdog.”

Fox news nearly doubled the total viewers of their competitors in both overall viewers and the 24-54 demographic largely due to their Tea Party coverage and the competitions lack of same. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/the_scoreboard_wednesday_april_15_114271.asp

LONDON: Breaking up is hard to do. But lawyers, counselors, astrologists and lifestyle coaches at Britain's first divorce fair this weekend will aim to make the process easier. The fair, cheerily named the "Starting Over Show", takes place Sunday at a cozy hotel in the seaside resort town of Brighton. There will be live music, book signings and play areas for kids. Organizer Suzy Miller said the event would aim to focus on the positive, starting with a warming cup of tea and a chunk of homemade cake. "There are wedding fairs everywhere telling you how to tie the knot,...

By Julia Wallace,The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday, March 08, 2009 Two weeks ago, you heard from our publisher, Doug Franklin, about the economic challenges at this newspaper and newspapers across the country. Last week, you heard from our head of sales and marketing about his team’s efforts to effectively sell advertising in the Atlanta market. Today, it’s my turn. I want to give you more detailed information on the content changes ahead in the next two weeks. I also want to respond to your questions to our publisher about what we are doing to make sure our news and editorial pages...

Harry Markopolos finally got his day in the sun Wednesday, after nearly 10 years of wandering in the financial wilderness, trying in vain to get someone (anyone) to listen to his warnings about Bernie Madoff. Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, the would-be whistleblower blistered the SEC, Finra and other regulators for their "abject failure" to stop Madoff, "even when a multi-billion dollar case [was] handed to them on a silver platter." For those just tuning in (or who've been out to lunch), in mid-December Bernie Madoff admitted to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, of which only $950...

Georgia supporters of the fair tax turned out en masse Sunday to cheer the idea of a national sales tax, which has become a thorny issue in the state’s high-profile Dec. 2 U.S. Senate runoff. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won Georgia’s GOP presidential primary in February, joined about 2,000 people Sunday afternoon at the Gwinnett Civic Center in what became not just fair-tax rally, but a major campaign stop for Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Moultrie. Chambliss backs the fair tax, which would abolish the Internal Revenue Service and replace the federal income tax and most...

DOUGLAS — All eyes were turned skyward on Wednesday at Douglas Municipal Airport as the Canadian Forces Snowbirds in their red and white jets with blue stripes shot across the sky casting shadows over “D” Hill. “So, what do you think, guys? Does that look like fun?” asked Snowbird Capt. Eric Willrich of the 2,000 students and spectators who came out for the mid-week air show. Willrich is the newest member of the Snowbirds and has found his niche, just not in a spot between positions No. 4 and No. 6. His forte is on the ground, talking to the...

The Mainstream Media Is Dead As It Attempts To Steer Election By Herb Denenberg, The Bulletin 09/19/2008 You should be aware of how, in a most unexpected and unintended way, the mainstream media is determining the outcome of this election. As every reader of this column knows and, as perhaps everyone knows or suspects at this point, the mainstream media has been in a massive full court press to sell Sen. Barack Obama as president, without vetting him, without asking him tough questions and with treatment that some would think should be reserved for the second coming. By the mainstream media,...

Britain's first 'divorce fair' aims to make breaking up easier By Martin Beckford, Social Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 2:48PM BST 04/06/2008   Britain's first-ever "divorce fair" is being held to cater for the growing number of couples whose marriages are breaking down. Estranged spouses will be able to get information from lawyers, financial advisers and self-help experts at the event, to help make their separation easier and rebuild their lives. Organisers insist there is a real need for the show, after official figures showed almost half of newly married couples will end up getting divorced. But critics claim the...

WASHINGTON — In a response to anti-immigrant sentiment and an increase in hate crimes against Latinos, a Hispanic rights group launched an effort Thursday to debunk myths espoused by media talk shows and political campaigns. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund unveiled the "Truth in Immigration" campaign to rebut legal and factual inaccuracies about immigrants, particularly Latinos, in the United States. "Right now the airwaves are dominated by a few that speak very negatively and falsely about immigrants and immigration," said John Trasviña, MALDEF president and general counsel. Trasviña said the Web site — www.truthinimmigration.org, which will be...

British sense of fair play proven by science By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 7:01pm GMT 06/03/2008 The British sense of fair play has been scientifically proven by experiments held in 16 cities which show that, by comparison, the Russians and Greeks thirst for revenge. The idealised games held around the world have shed new light on the way in which people co-operate for the common good - and what happens when they don't. The research published today in the journal Science shows that taking revenge is more common in relatively corrupt and undemocratic traditional societies based on authoritarian...

In a surprising admission, Hillary Clinton says Fox News Channel has actually been fairer to her presidential campaign than liberal MSNBC. Clinton stated in an interview that aired on station WJLA in Washington, D.C., that her staff had delivered to her “some independent study” suggesting that “in terms of the fairness of the coverage,” Fox has treated her campaign more fairly than MSNBC. Clinton was responding to a question from politico.com’s John Harris about MSNBC’s David Shuster, who was suspended last week for saying that Hillary’s daughter Chelsea had been "pimped out" by the Clinton campaign by asking her to...

BAGHDAD, Feb. 12, 2008 – In the late-morning sunlight, the crowd paid close attention to the speaker. He was one of them -- a home-grown leader. Army Col. Jeffery Bonner, a Fayetteville, Tenn., native who serves as an agricultural and commercial business development officer with the local embedded provincial reconstruction team, speaks to citizens from the Suleikh, Tunnis and Qahira neighborhoods in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district during a market fair in Suleikh, Feb. 9, 2008. Photo by Pfc. April Campbell, USA   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. They heard this meeting would offer them benefits, and Fikrat Kareem, the...

Turin, 29 Jan.(AKI) - The Union of Arab Writers has written a letter of protest at the designation of Israel as a guest of honour for the next edition of the Turin International Book Fair, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reports. The letter slams Israel's invitation to the event - timed to mark the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state - at a time when its economic blockade is crippling the Gaza Strip, according to prominent Iraqi author Younis Tawfik, quoted by Corriere della Sera. The Union of Arab writers has also written a letter to the Union of Italian...

20 hosts gather in Iowa to focus on candidates' border positions. DES MOINES -- Twenty talk show hosts from across the nation are gathering in Des Moines today and tomorrow in a "Talk Radio Row" organized by the Federation for American Immigration Reform that is intended to bring presidential candidates' positions on immigration reform into the spotlight. FAIR's plans include a forum in which top Democratic and Republican Party presidential contenders, Iowa politicians, and national experts can meet to be interviewed in a talk radio marathon that reflects the growing importance of the immigration debate to the 2008 presidential campaign....

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Immigrant-rights groups are criticizing the organizers of an upcoming radio event that will promote a crackdown on illegal immigration. The groups accuse the Federation for American Immigration Reform of endorsing bigotry and racism. FAIR is sponsoring a broadcast marathon for Thursday and Friday in a downtown Des Moines hotel. The event is expected to attract 22 radio talk show hosts from across the country to discuss immigration. ``We don't agree with their views that are demonizing immigrants, and we don't appreciate their coming to Iowa telling us what we should think about immigrants,'' said Alicia...

What emerged from this research is that a national retail sales tax is a preferred method of taxation among most Americans surveyed. Another is that the tax would have significant benefits for the nation's economy. Why? Because it eliminates income taxes and payroll taxes (for Social Security and Medicare), which are costly to collect and end up as "embedded" in the price of everything we buy. Along with getting rid of the Internal Revenue Service and the complexities of the income tax code, the FairTax would eliminate the distorting effect that income and payroll taxes have on the economy. Research...

Web site names Jim Gilchrist, Lou Dobbs as 'voices of intolerance.' WASHINGTON – A coalition of human rights and labor groups have begun a campaign to counter what they call the "vile and vicious" rhetoric of the anti-illegal immigration movement and "recapture the civility of discussion and debate" on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. The campaign, called Campaign for a United America, launched Wednesday with the release of its Web site. As part of their work, the coalition will give tool kits to community groups that include sample letters to the editor and instructions on constructive meeting techniques. "Today...

Ron Petrucci's Sept. 24 letter addressing Charles Firth is right on a number of points. We have been running more than an $800 billion trade deficit. That can't go on for very long. Ron says we're a debtor nation and we are. Our manufacturing continues to move overseas to "more tax friendly" locations. We can't exist by providing each other services. Picture everyone doing their neighbor's laundry. We need to produce products to exist. What Ron neglected to say is that the reason for that migration is our tax system. Federal taxes and associated compliance costs comprise an average of...

For a squealin' good time at the fair, make sure to stop by the Hambone Express pig races. You can bet yer bacon they'll be sizzlin' around the track all 11 days of the fair - no tires needed. The squealers of Hambone Express are known to delight fairgoers as they go "whole hog" around the track, even putting it into "four-squeal drive" to come in first and receive an edible prize. The show consists of four races with four pigs in each race. The swinemaster assigns cheering sections, with one special cheerleader to lead each section. Then he introduces...

A Confederate flag, in part anyway, is an emblem of slavery and thus racism. If we have not been upset or bothered by the marketing of a racist symbol at the county-owned fairground, perhaps that tells us something about ourselves.

This is a forum in which WND readers serve as citizen-journalists, using their news judgment to decide which are the most important breaking news stories of the hour. See a breaking news story not yet posted on WND? Here's the place to send it. WND's editors -- and we're sure the editors of many other news outlets -- will be watching and evaluating your moves.

Hormones affect men's sense of fair play 11:33 04 July 2007 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Next time you have to negotiate a deal with a male business contact, you might want to check his hormone levels first. A new study shows that men with high levels of testosterone are more likely to turn down low offers, even if they stand to gain money by accepting them. According to researchers, the finding demonstrates that our hardwired biology can cause us to make irrational economic decisions. In what is known as the "low ultimatum game", an anonymous individual can offer either...

Bank of America has begun quietly offering credit cards to customers in the Los Angeles are who don't have a Social Security number, The Wall Street Journal reports. Such persons are usually undocumented immigrants. The newspaper said that Bank of America, the country's second-largest bank, is offering credit cards to consumers who have had an account at the bank for three months or more, even if they do not have a credit history or Social Security number. It's the latest indication that American financial institutions are serious about doing business with the millions of undocumented immigrants who until recently have...

Some people just don't like Mexicans -- or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans. No amount of hard, empirical evidence to the contrary, and no amount of reasoned argument or appeals to decency and fairness, will convince this small group of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- America's top military commander in Iraq has sent a letter to troops challenging them to "occupy the moral high ground" after a Pentagon survey showed some service members were reluctant to report the "illegal actions" of fellow personnel. In the letter, dated Thursday, Gen. David Petraeus wrote he was "concerned" with the poll's findings. "This fight depends on securing the population, which must understand that we -- not our enemies -- occupy the moral high ground," he said. The survey of ethics, released last week, assessed the mental health and ethical attitudes of more than 1,300...

An influential House DFLer plans today to introduce an education funding bill that would raise income taxes for the Minnesotans in the highest income tax bracket. Flanked by several legislators who support the plan, Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, and chairwoman of the House K-12 finance division, said she wants to raise the income tax rate from 7.85 percent to 8.5 percent for taxpapyers in the top income tax tier.

The lawyers defending I. Lewis Libby Jr. against perjury charges rested their case today, but not before suffering a series of defeats in legal rulings by the presiding judge. The judge, Reggie B. Walton, expressed in the strongest terms yet that he had been misled by the defense team about whether Mr. Libby would take the stand in his own defense ....Judge Walton said he “believed all along in the process that Mr. Libby was going to testify” and that his lawyers were now “playing games with the process.” The juror said that they were wearing the T-shirts (red with...

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is expected to announce the formation of an exploratory committee to seek the candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. "He's going to paint himself as a mainstream conservative," says the staffer for one of Tancredo's colleagues in the House of Representatives. "But the folks he's associating with are not part of the mainstream." Tancredo, who came to national prominence on the basis of his tough stands on immigration reform, an issue he has pressed for quite some time. "There is more to Tancredo than just immigration," says another House staffer. "If he does this, he's going...

CONTROVERSIAL mufti Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilali was today urged to "keep his mouth shut" as Muslim groups distanced themselves from his latest shocking comments. NSW Community Relations Commission (CRC) chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian branded the mufti's outburst outrageous, though Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said nobody took the sheik seriously any more. Sheik Hilali said in an interview on Egyptian television that Australian Muslims were more entitled to be in the country than those with a convict heritage He attacked Western values and said: "The Western people are the biggest liars and oppressors and especially the English race." Kuranda Seyit, executive director...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Tim Johnson (news, bio, voting record)'s condition has been upgraded from critical to fair, four weeks after he was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage, his office said Tuesday. The South Dakota Democrat, who was rushed to the hospital on Dec. 13 and underwent emergency surgery, remains in intensive care, said his spokeswoman, Julianne Fisher. "The senator continues to make progress," Fisher said. "The next step would be rehabilitation and we hope that would happen within the week." Johnson's office has said that his recovery is expected to take several months. He underwent surgery to correct a condition...

"Overcrowded schools, congested highways, environmental stresses: We are a nation paving over its wildernesses while depending on our enemies for vital resources. Why? Because Americans have been blindsided by a government-mandated mass immigration program that's fueling this nation's runaway population growth. This growth was neither planned nor expected, but we feel the consequences every day. The population of the USA will reach 300 million this week on a relentless march to half a billion before 2050. That's because about 80% of the current population growth in the USA is due to immigration policies — immigrants legally admitted, illegal immigrants, and...

Tucson Region AdWatch: The Star's ongoing evaluation of the record versus the rhetoric in campaign ads Giffords' TV ad addresses America's safety By Josh Brodesky arizona daily star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.01.2006 advertisement Today: We look at an ad for Democrat Gabrielle Giffords. The Race: Congress, District 8. Medium: A 30-second television ad. The Message: The ad begins with an image of cargo containers as a narrator says, "our ports uninspected." The message is re-emphasized by a graphic stating "one in 20 ports inspected." It then cuts to an image of a dirt road slicing across the desert as...

Tucson Region Political Notebook Despite Giffords' gripe, ad still on air By Daniel Scarpinato arizona daily star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.01.2006 Democrat Gabrielle Giffords wants a new television ad criticizing her taken off the air, but Cox Media has no plans to pull it. In a letter sent Wednesday from Giffords' attorney to Cox Media, the campaign urges the company to take an ad paid for by the Minuteman Political Action Committee off the air since the Minutemen haven't been able to clearly back up claims they make about Congressional District 8 candidate Giffords in the ad. In the...

Trip Comes Amid New Reports Linking Rove to Indicted Former Republican Lobbyist Jack Abramoff9/29/2006 6:14:00 PM To: State Desk Contact: Luis Miranda of the Democratic National Committee, 202-863-8148 WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following release was issued today by the Democratic National Committee: Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Arizona Republican Party has gone to desperate measures today by bringing GOP fear and smear king Karl Rove to Tucson and Scottsdale to raise campaign cash. But, Rove is lucky to be getting out of Washington and avoiding questions raised in a new a bipartisan Congressional report,...

PTA parents must fight illegal alien educational spending Kevin Fobbs September 19, 2006 PTA parents: welcome to America 2006. Your child wants to play football or play in the school band or on the soccer team. Well you already know you have to dig a little deeper into your wallet due to school budget cuts. While the cost to parents handling out cash in order to keep their children in these extra curricular activities keeps going up, another part of state educational budget is actually exploding because those dollars are being diverted to educating illegal alien children because of an...

POMONA -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened the 84th annual L.A. County Fair at Fairplex in Pomona Friday ostensibly to promote the fair as ``huge for our economy'' and to urge people to attend, but the crowd that surrounded him was visibly more excited by his appearance than his message. After leading a red ribbon-cutting ceremony with fair officials and local politicians, Schwarzenegger left the stage and began a slow walk to the America's Kids exhibition hall, the crowd's cameras and cell phones documenting his every move. He shook hands and made small talk along his route. At one point, he...

Clintons take her campaign to the fair SYRACUSE, N.Y. Former President Bill Clinton says he's not pressuring his wife to run for president. The former president made comments at the State Fair yesterday, where Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was capping a three-day swing through New York farm country. The trip has served to boost Clinton's visibility in the state's Finger Lakes wine region and other rural parts of central New York, a predominantly Republican region where she would need to do well if she runs for president in 2008. Former President Bill Clinton said he quote -- "didn't have a...

<p>Open-borders adversaries sued to kill the initiative, but Colorado's Supreme Court approved it in early May of 2004. Herron, ex-Gov. Dick Lamm, CAIR's co-Chair Fred Elbel and other insiders chose not to seek the required 68,000 voter signatures to place it on the November 2004 ballot, claiming it was too late to guarantee success. By law, this tabled the initiative for two years, during which time a growing cabal of open-borders legislators, mainly Democrats, aligned with globalist Gov. Bill Owens (RINO) to kill similar legislation.</p>

Retired utility worker Charles Warren worries his quality of life is slipping and says that illegal immigrants are to blame. The 55-year-old retiree complains about day laborers waiting for work outside the nearby Home Depot, saying they give his neighborhood "a Third World look." "Ten or 15 years ago, the neighborhood wasn't like this," Warren said. "The states are overpopulated, there is oversprawl, and immigration is contributing to this." After seeing a television commercial that blamed many of California's woes on illegal immigrants, Warren immediately donated $50 to the sponsoring group, Californians for Population Stabilization. And he's not the only...

BUTTE, Mont. -- A band that headlined a fair last weekend is accused of masquerading as the rock group Redbone, whose hits included the 1970s song "Come and Get Your Love." The band at the Butte-Silver Bow Fair performed under the name Redbone, but the real Redbone was playing in Wisconsin, said Ron Kurtz, Redbone's manager. "I've been in the business for 40 years, and I've never ran into anything this blatant," Kurtz said Thursday from his office in Burbank, Calif. He said the fair board was conned. Fair officials said they dealt with a man who identified himself as...

HAMBURG, N.Y. Immigration agents today arrested 41 alleged illegal immigrants who had been hired to clean up at a county fair in suburban Buffalo. The 23 men and 18 women from Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Honduras were being detained pending appearances in immigration court. Authorities say a tip led U-S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to round up the suspects, who were working for a cleaning company that was a subcontractor at America's Fair. No criminal charges were immediately filed against the cleaning company, which was not identified. Agents were investigating how the workers got into the country, where they...

Almost two centuries ago, a small band of national patriots joined Texans to launch a battle for freedom and sent a unifying rallying cry through out our nation "Remember The Alamo!" Our nation is being threatened by a new Alamo, and the army is between 12 million and 20 million strong. The army is one that is creeping, walking, swimming and being driven in shadowy caravans across our nation's state borders. Instead of being armed with weapons of violence, this army is simply overwhelming American health care, education, and justice systems by refusing to enter our country legally. But the...