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TAMPA -- Following complaints by a gun rights group, and a law passed by the Florida Legislature last year, you can now carry your gun at the Florida State Fair. "We have changed the policy to comply with the state law – it allows a person with a concealed weapon permit to come in with a firearm," said Charles Pesano, executive director of the State Fair Authority. "We've changed some signs to reflect that." Instead of "No Weapons," the signs now say, "No Unlawful Weapons." The policy changed Sunday, after Florida Carry Inc. and Marion Hammer of the Florida NRA...

Is it fair that some of Mr. Obama's largest campaign contributors received federal loan guarantees? -snip- Is it fair that the richest 1% of Americans pay nearly 40% of all federal income taxes, and the richest 10% pay two-thirds of the tax? -snip- Is it fair that American corporations pay the highest statutory corporate tax rate of all other industrialized nations but Japan, which cuts its rate on April 1? Is it fair that President Obama sends his two daughters to elite private schools that are safer, better-run, and produce higher test scores than public schools in Washington, D.C.—but millions...

The 12 percent of millionaire earners audited in 2011 was appreciably higher than the 8 percent who were audited in 2010. IRS officials said the high ratio was part of an effort to demonstrate that tax laws are applied fairly. "That has been something we've concentrated on to assure that there's equity in the system, to assure that those at the lower end of the spectrum know that those at the higher end of the spectrum are subject to the same rules and enforcement as everyone else," Steven Miller, deputy IRS commissioner for services and enforcement, said in an interview....

During Iowa’s recent State Fair, presidential candidate Romney was asked: "Do you support scrapping the social security cap on payroll taxes so rich people pay their fair share into the trust fund?" Romney correctly associated the question with class warfare and went on to indicate that half of the people in the United States are currently not paying any income taxes. See The Iowa State Fair: Romney's Showing Strong, August 11, 2011. The unfortunate truth is, there is no better way to agitate a class warfare event in America than to bring up the issue of federal tax reform. And...

Poll: Americans support fairer wealth distributionBy Nisa Islam Muhammad - Contributing Writer 5th December 2011 WASHINGTON (Special to New America Media from FinalCall.com) — On the streets of the nation’s capital, a random downtown workers were asked, “Would America be better if the distribution of wealth was more equal?” Overwhelmingly they answered, “Yes!” “Are you kidding?” said Julius Montgomery on his way to work. “Have you heard about the one percent and the 99 percent? Why should such a small number of Americans make so much more money than the rest of us and we have no chance in hell...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann is telling college students in politically important Iowa that all Americans should pay taxes since they all benefit from services such as roads and bridges, national defense and the courts. Her position, which she was outlining today at Iowa State University in Ames, is a direct challenge to rivals Rick Perry and Herman Cain, who are advocating plans that would allow low-wage earners to continue paying no taxes while implementing a form of a flat tax on all other workers. The Tax Policy Center estimates that some 46 percent of households...

JAMESTOWN—A Jamestown mother was arrested on welfare fraud charges for allegedly receiving more than $3,600 in food stamps and family assistance benefits to which she wasn’t entitled, Chautauqua County Sheriff’s officials said Friday. Julia D. Toledo, 29, was arrested Friday morning and given appearance tickets for felony misuse of food stamps, fourth-degree welfare fraud and five counts of offering a false instrument. Toledo allegedly had failed to report to the Department of Social Services that she was receiving child support payments from the father of her child. Investigators said she fraudulently received $3,635.50 in benefits.

Today the president will unveil a multi-trillion-dollar deficit reduction package, which reportedly includes hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases.  These tax hikes could top $1.2 Trillion -- a figure that includes the $800 Billion in tax increases the president's plan will propose, plus the price tag for his unpaid-for $450 Billion "jobs plan."  Careful -- these numbers should not be confused with the additional record-shattering $800 Billion across-the-board tax increases scheduled to take effect in 2013, when the current Bush rates expire.  Two daunting tax cliffs; so little time.  For a solid overview of why the president's deficit...

Edged out by corn dogs and chocolate-dipped bacon, one of the few remaining church dining halls at the fairgrounds is calling it quits. File this one under E, for End-of-an-Era. Or at least the beginning of the end. When the State Fair opens for its 148th year next Thursday, it's going to be the last season for the Epiphany Diner. The landmark dining hall, operated by the Church of the Epiphany in Coon Rapids and one of the fair's three remaining church-run operations, is closing up shop after this year's fair. Its space will be used for tasting Minnesota wines....

INDIANAPOLIS - A stage has collapsed at a concert at the Indiana State Fair. The stage was set up for the Sugarland concert at the state fairgrounds. Rigging for the stage lighting reportedly fell around 8:50 p.m., before the main act took the stage. Police and fire crews believe they have everyone moved from the grandstand. A triage unit has been set up near the Hoosier Lottery exhibit at the fair. Other victims are also being transported to at least two area hospitals. Several ambulances can be seen entering and leaving the area. Fair and emergency officials are planning a...

Stage rigging collapsed after a storm gust Saturday night, trapping and injuring at least a dozen people at a concert at the Indiana State Fair, NBC station WTHR reported. The outdoor stage was set up for the Sugarland concert at the state fairgrounds. Medics and rescue crews throughout Indianapolis were converging on the State Fairgrounds after Hoosier Lottery Grandstand stage rigging fell. Dave Lindquist, music journalist for The Indianapolis Star, reported on Twitter, "Tragedy at fair concert. Entire stage collapses on track." He also wrote that "perhaps a dozen injured people have been removed from track on stretcher-type boards."

WEST ALLIS, Wis.—West Allis police say the ongoing investigations into 11 violent incidents on the opening night of the Wisconsin State Fair suggest race did play a role. The 11 incidents included nine assaults, a robbery and an attempted robbery. All the victims were white or Hispanic and the offenders were described as African-American. On opening night of the fair last week, 31 people were arrested and at least 11 people were hurt. The West Allis Police Department is handling some of those cases. The department said Tuesday that its officers arrested seven people in different incidents around the fairgrounds...

WEST ALLIS, Wis.—West Allis police are releasing new details about some arrests on the opening night of the Wisconsin State Fair, but say none of those incidents possessed elements that would prompt their prosecution as hate crimes. WTMJ-AM reports ( http://bit.ly/roRWMr) the Police Department issued a statement Tuesday with new information about a handful of the more than two dozen arrests made last week

WEST ALLIS - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene. Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair. Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night. "It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near...

Gov. Scott Walker has ordered the Wisconsin State Patrol to provide additional law enforcement help at the Wisconsin State Fair after several incidents involving rampaging youths broke out on the fairgrounds and on the streets outside Thursday night. Cullen Werwie, Walker's spokesman, said the governor made the decision after reviewing the events from Thursday night, in which at least 24 people were arrested. "We will continue to evaluate the situation and make any adjustments necessary to ensure a successful and safe event. We will be doing everything in our power to ensure that parents feel that it is safe to...

Gov. Scott Walker has ordered the Wisconsin State Patrol to provide additional law enforcement help at the Wisconsin State Fair after several incidents involving rampaging youths broke out on the fairgrounds and on the streets outside Thursday night. Cullen Werwie, Walker's spokesman, said the governor made the decision after reviewing the events from Thursday night, in which at least 24 people were arrested. "We will continue to evaluate the situation and make any adjustments necessary to ensure a successful and safe event. We will be doing everything in our power to ensure that parents feel that it is safe to...

Race War At Wisconsin State FairRicky Kreitner | Aug. 5, 2011, 10:25 AM According to witnesses, a group of anywhere from 30 to 100 young black men descended on the Wisconsin State Fair last night, beating fairgoers and looting carnival games, in what witnesses said were racially-motivated attacks, Milwaukee's WTMJ reports. One witness named Eric, an Iraq veteran, said the attacks reminded him of war: "I had a black couple on my right side, and these black kids were running in between all the cars, and they were pounding on my doors and trying to open up doors on my...

If one child complains that he didn't get as much food as his brother because his frankfurter was cut into four pieces, while his brother's hot dog was cut into five pieces, we laugh. What we often don't realize is that the definitions of "fairness" that adults use are often every bit as arbitrary as those of children. This is why politicians are so in love with the word "fairness." Using that word justifies their attempt to swoop in, ignore merit, overrule the market, and take something from one group of people to give it to another group of people...

Sen. Dick Durbin plans to make a full-court press Tuesday to revive the debate over a controversial proposal to give illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children a path to legal status, as the Obama administration moves on a separate track to grant what some describe as "amnesty" to the same group. Durbin, D-Ill., in announcing the first-ever Senate hearing on the so-called DREAM Act, said his proposal would "make our country stronger." Under the plan, which passed the House last year but died in the Senate, illegal immigrants who came here as children and complete two years...

Geithner’s explanation of the administration's small-business tax plan came in an exchange with first-term Rep. Renee Ellmers (R.-N.C.). Ellmers, a nurse, decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 after she became active in the grass-roots opposition to President Barack Obama’s proposed health-care reform plan in 2009. “Overwhelmingly, the businesses back home and across the country continue to tell us that regulation, lack of access to capital, taxation, fear of taxation, and just the overwhelming uncertainties that our businesses face is keeping them from hiring,” Ellmers told Geithner. “They just simply cannot.” She then challenged Geithner on...

The liberal bias of the mainstream media tilts so far left that any outlets not in that political lane, like the Drudge Report and Fox News Channel, look far more conservative than they really are, according to a UCLA professor's new book out next month. -Snip- According to my analysis, the Drudge Report is approximately the most fair, balanced, and centrist news outlet in the United States.

The freak show, haunted house, and Skull-Crushing Terror Drop of Impending Death—all child's play. Mere cheap thrills. If you want to see something truly frightening at your local amusement park, swing by the concession stand. On the menu: artery-clogging fatty foods and belt-busting confections...

This is a perfect example of what the left thinks of the Catholic Church. In their eyes the church is an evil entity that abuses and molests children. And, now they’re smearing the pope as the molester in chief. Obama lackey, Huffington Post contributor and author Keli Goff compared cop-killer promoting poet Common, a member of Barack Obama’s former radical church, to the "child molester enabling" Pope Benedict. What an outrageous statement.

Joseph Stiglitz has created a frisson of excitement among the chattering classes with his recent piece in Vanity Fair. Stiglitz thinks that maybe the uprising on the Arab street will come here. His article decries the fact that in America, a small percent of the population has the greatest amount of wealth. He says they monopolize "the nation's income." The nation's income? What exactly does that phrase mean? Stiglitz' article is a classic re-statement of Marxism's critique of free enterprise. The idea that the rich somehow "control" all the wealth in the country, that they act in concert, that their...

Who pays Minnesota taxes? Every two years, the Minnesota Department of Revenue answers this question with its 'Minnesota Tax Incidence Study.' The newest study shows that low- and middle-income Minnesotans continue to pay a much larger share of their earnings in state and local taxes than our state's wealthiest citizens. This trend has worsened over the last decade. In 2008, the most recent year analyzed, the top 5 percent of Minnesota's income-earners, with annual incomes over $183,000, paid an effective tax rate of 10 percent of their incomes on all state and local taxes. However, middle-income Minnesotans, earning between $32,000...

I’ve just discovered that an important campaign is being launched to persuade our nation’s lawmakers to address the scandalous lack of immigration enforcement in this country. Here are the full details, courtesy of my good friend Gayle Kesselman: New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control will be participating in a nationwide lobbying trip to Washington, DC to lobby for secure borders and enforcement of immigration laws. This event is being organized by FAIR and will take place on April 6th and 7th. Interested in going? Contact info@njcic.com.

Here’s Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), from the section of their website called What’s Wrong with the News? With U.S. media outlets overwhelmingly owned by for-profit conglomerates and supported by corporate advertisers, independent journalism is compromised… The owners and managers of dominant media outlets generally share the background, worldview and income bracket of political elites. Here’s Trotsky as recounted in this 1927, pro-communist book: In America, freedom of the press for the working class amounts to the right to buy for two cents a newspaper produced by bourgeois journalists in the interests of capitalists… Later in the same chapter,...

THINGS are looking up for Barack Obama. You might not think so, given the flow of news lately. His foreign policy has met with limited success, at best. And, back home, unemployment is mired at 9.6 percent. Earlier this month, in a major political blow, Democrats lost more than 60 seats and control of the House of Representatives. So what is there for Mr. Obama and his supporters to cheer about? Try this: Based on the facts at hand right now, Mr. Obama is likely to win the 2012 election in a landslide. That, at least, is the prediction of...

I would like to start a discussion about tax systems and propose an alternative to the current tax system. But before I go into the proposal, allow me to state that the current mess we are in is NOT a result of the tax system or the amount of tax we collect. Rather the problem is spending but this thread is not designed to address that issue. Proposal- Ammend the Constitution to abolish the income tax and authorize Congress to raise monies by one of the following: Useage fees - such as entrance fees for national parks Inport taxes Export...

While a couple dozen activists with handguns holstered to their hips gathered on Manhattan Beach Boulevard on Saturday in preparation to walk to the Hometown Fair, two friends were having lunch at an outdoor table at Hennessey's Tavern and watching. Though the women are both Republicans, they didn't see things the same way when it came to guns at the fair. "I think it's completely inappropriate," said Molly Hobin, a 25-year Manhattan Beach resident. "Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair is a family-friendly fair, and I just do not think it's appropriate walking around with guns." Although Hobin understood that the South...

If Michael John Koenig had listened to the restroom attendant, he probably wouldn't be sitting in the Ramsey County Jail. Koenig, 23, of Monticello, Minn., was arrested Sunday night after he and a 21-year-old friend allegedly refused to leave a State Fair Grandstand bathroom stall they were sharing. Apparently, there's a rule against that. Police declined to speculate why the two men were in the stall together.

Hidden under layers of bureaucracy and cover-ups, there was an ugly side to what is normally one of Iowa's best events – the Iowa State Fair. For over a week, hundreds of thousands of citizens come out to the Iowa State Fairgrounds to enjoy the vendors, food, and general good times. As long as you stay on the Fairgrounds property, perhaps, and limit your attendance to the daytime hours. According to WHO news, on August 13, an estimated 100+ teens – mostly males, and mostly black, wearing red shirts – participated in “Get Whitey Night” just outside the west side...

SANDY, Utah — "The Two Trees" was the simple title for Valerie Hudson-Cassler's presentation. The message she hoped listeners received was more elaborate — "The beauty of the great plan of happiness puts men and women as equal partners in the great journey from our home in the premortal existence through mortality, and then returning back to our heavenly home," Hudson-Cassler said. Hudson-Cassler was one of the final speakers at 12th Annual Mormon Apologetics Conference at the South Towne Exposition Center on Friday. Hudson-Cassler, a professor of political science at Brigham Young University, started her remarks by saying she didn't...

A new poll shows that 61% of Coloradans want a copy of Arizona’s law allowing law enforcement to investigate those they encounter who exhibit reasonable suspicion of being an illegal alien. A recent study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform discovered that illegal aliens cost Colorado taxpayers more than $1.1 billion per year, or about $612 per household. Additionally, between $730 million and $1 billion per year of wages paid to illegal aliens is sent out of the country instead of being reinvested in local communities. More than 10% of the students in Colorado public schools are the children...

A California congresswoman is pointing the finger at white supremacist groups, who she says have inspired Arizona's new law cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Imagine the audacity of wanting to dispose of your own money as you see fit? The idea is hateful to Bill Scher of the Huffington Post, who demanded in "Super Wealthy Deathly Afraid Estate Tax Would Reduce Deficit" on March 9 that the wealthy "pay their fair share." Scher railed against the Bush tax cuts, and asserted that a 35-45 percent inheritance penalty (the estate tax or death tax) isn't punitive enough to stem the deficit crisis. "But those massive tax breaks to the superwealthy don't quite have the same juice they used to. Especially, the estate tax - levied...

Thomas Sowell is currently running a blistering series in his column at Townhall.com focused on the liberal perversion of “fairness.” In his latest entry, Part III, Sowell highlights the difference between genuine fairness and the Left’s contrived variety: People like philosopher John Rawls call treating everyone alike merely “formal” fairness. Professor Rawls advocated “a conception of justice that nullifies the accidents of natural endowment and the contingencies of social circumstances.” He called for a society which “arranges” end-results, rather than simply treating everyone the same and letting the chips fall where they may. Sowell later evokes the example of track...

If there is ever a contest to pick which word has done the most damage to people's thinking, and to actions to carry out that thinking, my nomination would be the word "fair." It is a word thrown around by far more people than have ever bothered to even try to define it. This mushy vagueness may be a big handicap in logic but it is a big advantage in politics. All sorts of people, with very different notions about what is or is not fair, can be mobilized behind this nice-sounding word, in utter disregard of the fact that...

Oregon voters approved tax-hikes for the rich to close their $733 million state budget gap..........Union leaders and local democrats in Oregon cried for weeks how the rich (households earning over $250,000 a year) should pay their fair share or else the whole school system in the state will collapse. Folks in Oregon want their kids educated but apparently majority is not willing to pay extra for it and ordered somebody else to do it. If they really wanted everybody to pay their fair share they would have voted tax-hikes for everybody not for just for few. Oregon voters decided to...

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...