Free Republic

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.</p> <p>The study by the Government Accountability Office, expected to be released Tuesday, said about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.</p>

WILLIAMSTOWN - The U.S. Department of the Interior is reconsidering its ban on concealed weapons in national parks and wildlife refuges, including the Williamstown-based Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Currently, state concealed-carry permit laws are not honored in national parks and wildlife refuges, including the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge, which is comprised of islands in the Ohio River stretching from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati. Department of the Interior officials are reviewing a proposal that would allow individuals to carry a concealed weapon in national parks and refuges if they are authorized to do so in the state where...

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam, May 30, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates paid tribute to a legendary figure here who was retiring from the federal government with 66 years of service. Seikichi Kaneshiro, vertical repair superintendent for the 36th Civil Engineer Squadron at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, retired May 30, 2008, with 66 years of federal service. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman T.D. Cooper   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates lauded Seikichi "Mr. Paul" Kaneshiro for embodying the principles of Americanism during Kaneshiro’s retirement today as the 36th Civil Engineer Squadron's vertical...

Stefan Ferrari got his required vaccines before he was 18 months old. At the time, his parents said, he was a healthy, verbal boy. But after his last round of booster shots, Stefan stopped speaking and, now 10 years old, he has not spoken since. Stefan's parents, Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari of Atlanta, filed suit, alleging the vaccines caused neurological damage to their young son. On Tuesday, the family's lawyer asked the Georgia Supreme Court to let the case against two vaccine manufacturers, Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline, go forward. Lawyer Lanny Bridgers told the court it was bad timing when Stefan...

About POGO's Contractor Misconduct Database The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Top 50 Contractors Contractor Federal Contract $ (FY2005) Instances of Misconduct (Since 1995) Misconduct $ (Since 1995) 1. Lockheed Martin $24944.6m...

An early morning explosion at the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego left a door damaged and blew out a window. Sgt. Bob Dare of the San Diego Police Department says the loud blast occurred at about 1:40 a.m. Sunday. Streets in the area have been closed. No injuries were reported. The explosion is under investigation. FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth told a local TV station it appears the explosion may have been caused by a pipe bomb.

Blaming Feds for Budget Deficit Passes the Buck Darcy Olsen, Goldwater Institute Daily Email, May 01, 2008 In the opinion column "'Stimulus' and the States" (Wall Street Journal, April 24), Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano blames Congress for state budget deficits: "Even if the federal government paid up on only a few of its debts mentioned here, Arizona would not be in deficit this year." Without question, unfunded federal mandates have plagued the states for years, but overall they constitute less than two percent of state budgets. Most state spending rests squarely in the hands of our state capitols. Like most...

Banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions could find their investment strategies curtailed by the Federal Reserve to reduce the risk to the economy from asset bubbles, the US Treasury said on Tuesday. David Nason, the assistant secretary for financial institutions, said the US central bank should use its proposed new powers as a stability regulator to “lean against the wind” by forcing institutions to change their investment strategy if it judged they threatened the wider economy.

<p>Many prognosticators on the economy blame the Federal Reserve for the current subprime crisis. But a careful look at the evidence shows that monetary policy, whatever its faults, did not cause the subprime mess. At least part of the blame is on the feds, not the Fed.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — As Congress and the Bush administration struggle to contain the housing and credit crises — and prevent more Wall Street firms from collapsing as Bear Stearns did — a split is forming over how to strengthen oversight of financial institutions after decades of deregulation.</p>

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bear Stearns Cos., one of the most venerable names on Wall Street, turned to a rival bank and the federal government for a last-minute bailout Friday to prevent it from collapsing. The Federal Reserve responded swiftly to pleas from Bear Stearns that its coffers had "significantly deteriorated" within a 24-hour period as rumors about the bank's situation fueled the Wall Street version of a run on the bank. Central bankers tapped a rarely used Depression-era provision to provide loans, and said they were ready to provide extra resources to combat an erosion of confidence in America's...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The inaugural committee for Governor Jennifer Granholm might owe $19,500 in unpaid federal taxes. The debt appears to stem from the 2003 tax year. That would relate to the first inauguration of Granholm and Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, both Democrats.

(WCCO) The driver of the van and the owner of the van involved in the fatal Cottonwood bus crash were each charged with four additional federal charges Friday. Prosecutors charged Olga Martina Franco del Cid, 24, the driver of the van, with two counts of aggravated identity theft and two counts of false representation of a Social Security number. Authorities have said she is in the country illegally. Francisco Sangabriel-Mendoza, 29, was the registered owner of the van involved in the crash and was also charged with two counts of aggravated identity theft and two counts of false representation of...

The federal budget deficit is running at a pace that is more than double last year’s imbalance through the first four months of the budget year. In its monthly review of the government’s finances, the Treasury Department said Tuesday that the budget was in surplus in January, but the deficit totals $87.7 billion so far this budget year, double the $42.2 billion imbalance recorded during the same period in 2007. The new budget year started last Oct. 1. The Bush administration sent its final budget request to Congress last week, projecting that the deficit for all of 2008 will total...

Sources of Growth in Tax Revenues ....The bulk of the revenue increase was associated with corporate income taxes: Revenues from corporate income taxes rose from 1.2 percent of GDP in 2003 (their lowest level since 1983) to 2.7 percent in 2006 (their highest level since 1978). ....Revenues from individual income taxes increased 0.6 percentage points, from 7.3 percent of GDP in 2003 to 8.0 percent in 2006. Corporate Income Tax Revenues. Roughly two-thirds of the increase of 1.5 percentage points in corporate income taxes relative to GDP can be attributed to increases in corporate profits, according to current measures in...

Bloomberg Rips Federal Stimulus Package Wednesday January 23, 2008 10:46 PM By DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg accused the White House and Congress on Wednesday of negotiating a shortsighted economic stimulus package after years of lousy financial management. ``We can't borrow our way out of this. The jig is up,'' Bloomberg said in prepared remarks to be delivered Wednesday evening before the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is honoring his environmental efforts. The billionaire mayor, who is said to be considering an independent presidential bid yet denies that he is a candidate,...

WASHINGTON - Jolted by global recession fears, the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates Tuesday, and President Bush and leaders of Congress joined in a rare show of cooperation in promising urgent action to pump up the economy with upwards of $150 billion in tax cuts and government spending.

The Federal Reserve announced yesterday it is increasing the amount of money available to banks through the new auction process it created to ease the nation's severe credit squeeze. The Fed again pledged to continue the auctions "for as long as necessary." The Fed said that it will increase the amount offered at each of the next two auctions from $20 billion to $30 billion, a 50 percent jump. Those two auctions will be Jan. 14 and Jan. 28. The Fed announcement indicated that the auction process it began last month has been successful in providing a source of loans...

Drought provides advantages to scavengers and collectors who explore the expanded shorelines of the Triangle's shrinking reservoirs and lakes. The mud-encrusted fishing lures, waterlogged watches and other contemporary artifacts are theirs to keep. But pocketing the shards of Native American pottery, spearheads and other remains from past cultures can get people in trouble. Federal and state laws prohibit the removal of archaeological materials from public lands and carry stiff fines and potential jail time. That fact is unknown to many shore combers who think nothing of palming an arrowhead or other souvenir from a trip to Falls Lake or other...

Chicago -- A Chicago mass transit crisis was averted at the last minute on Friday. The doomsday scenario set to take effect on Sunday has been derailed. A cash infusion means no service cuts and no fare hikes for now. As Political Editor Jack Conaty reports from Springfield, the governor came up with some new money but lawmakers still don’t have a permanent fix.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Some states feast at the expense of others, according to the Tax Foundation's latest annual analysis of federal taxing and spending patterns.

After the current turmoil in the markets, I was hoping that new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would see the big picture and act judiciously. Instead he signaled, with an aggressive rate cut, that we can expect a continuation of the monetary policies that got us here to begin with. Alan Greenspan released his memoir this week explaining his policies and decisions in the wake of the irrational exuberance they fueled. His successor should see that it is now time for a change of policy that addresses the root of our troubles. But instead of seeing an inflation problem, the...

In the lawsuit, Louen alleged, among other things, that she was leaving her subdivision when Twedt -- in uniform and on his department-issued motorcycle -- also came out of the subdivision and accelerated past her. She said he pulled into a driveway and "glared" at her as she passed.

Correct me if I'm wrong but our government is not a democracy but a Representative, Constitutional, Republic. I'm interested to learn more on how this forum supports the United States and its form of government yet I find the threads to be bland, lacking of the basic principles that a so-called "Republican" arena should be supporting, and smacking sorely of sock-sucking. However, since everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, including dangerously ignorant individuals, can someone explain why now that illegal immigrants have been identified in New Haven, CT...why are they not being picked up and sent back to their...

The Santa Fe Police Department is looking at the possibility of recruiting Mexican nationals to fill vacancies on the city police force, say sergeants in charge of training and recruiting. Sgts. Gillian Alessio and Marvin Paulk told the city's Public Safety Committee on Tuesday that they are trying to think outside the box to fill 20 vacancies on the 155-person force. New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy regulations currently prohibit noncitizens from serving as police officers, Police Chief Eric Johnson said later. Alessio told the city panel: ``Every day, we get approached by young men and women from Mexico who are...

Most people say their families and local emergency agencies are ready for the next natural disaster but the federal government is not. Women and minorities are less confident on both counts. A poll on the subject was released Monday, less than three weeks before the official start of an Atlantic hurricane season that some forecasters say will be an active one... Two-thirds of people said their local first responders were prepared for a disaster, while nearly as many said their hospitals and families were ready. Only three in 10 expressed the same confidence in the federal government... Ten percent more...

An eastern Idaho man was mauled by a grizzly bear just outside his rural home, suffering deep bite and claw wounds across his back, investigators said. Authorities did not immediately release the name of the 33-year-old victim of the Tuesday night bear attack, saying he requested anonymity. They said he was in stable condition and good spirits in an Idaho Falls hospital. "He just stepped outside of his house to look for his dog ... then the bear knocked him down," said Idaho Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Steve Schmidt... "The bear caused significant injuries to his head, back, shoulder...

Since the demoncrats don't want to give President Bush money for the troops without their baggage, could the President invoke Executive Order 11110 and make his own money to fund the troops? Just a thought.

It's been a whirlwind two weeks as the U-S Attorney's Office collects documents related to state Senator Wayne Bryant, and his influence over the New Jersey budget. Subpoenas are flying. Legislators are being questioned. Republicans are crying foul. And Democrats are calling for cooler heads. Legislative leaders in both political parties and staff offices, the Treasury Department and the Office of Legislative Services have received subpoenas. The inquiry is apparently about how state money is directed and spent. It stems from an allegation by a federal monitor overseeing the finances of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey....

For nearly an hour-and-a-half yesterday, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the non-partisan research arm of New Jersey Legislature squared off in federal court over records federal prosecutors reportedly want as part of a widening probe into political corruption. The Office of Legislative Services (OLS), also the legal arm of the legislature, claims the documents are confidential and has refused to release them. Newark attorney Edward Dauber, hired to represent the Legislature to contest the federal subpoena offered no comment upon exiting Judge Mary Cooper's court room. Dauber is a former assistant U.S. Attorney and has served as the executive assistant...

Although an official with Chris Christie's office will neither confirm nor deny it, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the non-partisan research arm of New Jersey Legislature are set to square off in federal court today over records federal prosecutors reportedly want as part of a widening probe into political corruption. The Office of Legislative Services (OLS), also the legal arm of the legislature, claims the documents are confidential and has refused to release them. The investigation is said to be focusing on more than $270 million in last-minute State Budget add-ons, commonly known as "pork," or "Christmas tree items." The...

The U-S Attorney's Office and the New Jersey Legislature are set to square off in federal court tomorrow over records federal prosecutors want as part of a far-reaching political corruption investigation. The Legislature's legal arm considers the documents confidential and has refused to release them. The Star-Ledger of Newark reports that U-S Attorney Christopher Christie has subpoenaed internal memos, e-mails and other documents that the Legislature generates while drafting the annual state budget. The documents are being sought as part of an investigation into whether any elected officials improperly directed money to certain pet organizations. The current 30-point-eight (b) billion...

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and state lawmakers are locked in a secret legal battle over his attempts to launch a wide-ranging investigation of the New Jersey Legislature. (snip) The Legislature's awarding of millions in state grants with little oversight has been drawing increasing attention. This type of spending -- known in New Jersey as "Christmas tree items" -- more than doubled in the past five years, to nearly $350 million. (snip) The subpoena grew out of a criminal probe of Sen. Wayne Bryant (D-Camden), one of the Legislature's most influential members and former chairman of the powerful Senate budget committee....

I want to make five short observations about finan­cial assistance for American college students. I'm an economic historian, and a historical perspective, I think, helps in an intelligent evaluation of public policy. My first observation is that the increase in access to higher education in America largely came before mas­sive federal involvement in student financial aid pro­grams. Second, I would argue that the incremental or marginal students that we have gained through sub­stantial federal programs likely have extremely poor records with respect to college completion, and prob­ably shouldn't have been in college in the first place. Third, I suspect that...

Five years ago, President Bush signed into law No Child Left Behind. As a new Congress prepares to debate the law’s future, the White House is working to build support for renewing it without any serious reforms. Last week, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings remarked that she was looking only at proposals to “perfect or tweak” it. But the Bush administration’s satisfaction with No Child Left Behind is surprising because the President’s original education agenda was very different from today’s law. President Bush once advocated limiting federal power in education. During the 2000 campaign, he pledged that he did not want...

Execution set for Arkansas man in 1994 kidnap-rape-murder Associated Press TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The government has set an April 16 federal execution for an Arkansas man convicted in the 1994 kidnapping and death of a 16-year-old girl who was raped, beaten and buried alive after her abduction was recorded in a desperate 911 call. Bruce Carneil Webster, 33, of Pine Bluff, Ark., is scheduled to die by injection at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute at 7 a.m. that day, the Bureau of Prisons said in a news release. Webster and another man on the federal death row here,...

Study: Federal vaccination plan inadequate PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist is criticizing the effectiveness of a federal plan to vaccinate hospital healthcare workers against a threat of smallpox. Temple University researchers who conducted the first metric analysis of the prophylactic health program say it fell short on several levels and raises questions about future preparedness. In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked each state to vaccinate at least 50 to 100 healthcare workers per hospital -- a number the government considered large enough to respond to a possible smallpox outbreak. "Some states requested thousands...

"...It's true that overall defense outlays for fiscal year 2007 are on track to surpass -- in dollars adjusted for inflation -- defense spending at the height of the Vietnam War. It's also true that defense spending has already increased by some 40% since 2001, when President Bush came to office. War opponents cite such figures to suggest that the Iraq campaign is too great a burden, and is sucking up funds better spent on domestic programs... "...Less talked about is that the $528 billion spent on national defense in fiscal 2006, which ended on September 30, equaled only 4%...

FedSpending.org, a new transparency website created by OMB Watch, lets you search over $12 Trillion of federal spending for free.

The jury has reached a verdict in the federal trial of two Albany mosque leaders accused of supporting terrorism. Mohammed Hossain has been found guilty on all 27 counts against him. Yassin Aref has been found guilty of 10 counts against him, but not guilty on the rest.Aref and Hossain have been on trial in federal court on money laundering and terrorism charges stemming from their arrest in August 2004. They were accused of supporting terrorism by laundering $50,000 as part of a fake terrorist plot involving an FBI informant.

The Pledge I’d Like to See Every Political Candidate Take I, ________________________________________, upon signing this document, do hereby swear and affirm under penalty of forfeiture of office and wages, that I shall: 1.) Make no public statement which demeans, denigrates, or defames any active member, unit, or branch of the U.S. armed services, or the military as a whole, except in cases where an individual soldier or group of soldiers has been tried and convicted of committing a criminal offense or offenses.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday that Americans will now be able to "Google their tax dollars," as he signed a law to create an online database for tracking about $1 trillion in government spending on grants and contracts. The law is aimed preventing wasteful spending by opening the federal budget to greater scrutiny. The information is already available, but the Web site would make it easier for those who aren't experts on the process to see how taxpayer dollars are being spent. "Information on earmarks will no longer be hidden deep in the pages of a federal budget bill,...

LOS ANGELES Circulating recall petitions in languages other than English is not necessary, a federal appeals court ruled in a local school board case Tuesday. The 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an earlier decision by a three-judge panel that found the petitions must be translated into other languages. "The expense and trouble of fulfilling the translation requirements are likely to deter proponents who otherwise would launch petitions," the opinion stated. A lawsuit challenging the legality of a 2003 election that resulted in the recall of Santa Ana Unified School District trustee Native Lopez was...

A Vietnamese mother, lured by the promise of a high-paying factory job, chased her dream of sending both daughters to college into a sweatshop far from home, with no exit. She fell prey to men who took her to the American territory of Samoa, where she was enslaved with about 250 other desperate women from China and Vietnam. Those who complained were beaten and starved. Freed when the garment factory closed in 2000, some of the women risked their lives to help U.S. authorities investigate and convict the kingpins of what federal authorities have called the largest human trafficking case...

The federal government has become so large and so detached from the people that it’s nothing like what the Founders intended. The Constitution was specifically written to define and limit the federal government’s powers with most power residing with the states. Yet Congress tries to control and meddle in veery aspect of our lives. Think of it this way: There are 535 representatives in Washington D.C. (House & Senate), yet there are 300 million people in the United States. Do you think 535 people should have so much power or were ever intended to have so much power? Every...

Evolutionary biology reappears on federal grant list 31 August 2006 Evolutionary biology, mysteriously missing from the list of undergraduate subjects eligible for a US federal grant, has been reinstated after a flurry of protest. David Dunn of the Department of Education says its absence was the result of a misunderstanding. "As soon as the omission came to our attention, we took steps to correct it." However, the incident has left pro-evolution campaigners wondering whether evolutionary biology was deliberately left out by people who find Darwinian evolution at odds with their religious beliefs.

Depending on your perspective, Letitia White is either the epitome of a Capitol Hill success story or a prime example of an unsettling mix of money, politics and public policy. White was a receptionist when she joined the staff of Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands. More than two decades later, she's an influential lobbyist whose connections to Lewis - now chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee - and others on the Hill have translated into millions of dollars for her and her firm. They also have made her part of a federal investigation into Lewis' ties to the lobbying firm where...

I.R.S. to Cut Tax AuditorsBy DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Published: July 23, 2006 The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others. The administration plans to cut the jobs of 157 of the agency’s 345 estate tax lawyers, plus 17 support personnel, in less than 70 days. Kevin Brown, an I.R.S. deputy commissioner, confirmed the cuts after The...

Indian tribes want Congress to exempt them and their casinos from federal labor laws. At a House hearing Thursday, tribes spoke out for legislation to overturn an order by the National Labor Relations Board that said - for the first time - that sovereign Indian tribes are under the board's jurisdiction. "A tribe is a government," said Joe Garcia, president of the National Congress of American Indians. "Tribal policies must come from within the tribe's government, rather than being imposed from the outside." The labor board's order, which came in response to an organizing dispute at the San Manuel Indian...

This web site provides information to US citizens covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) If you are not a UOCAVA citizen, and wish to vote absentee as a regular state voter, please click here for links to State Election Sites. If you wish to vote in person, please contact your local county election official (listed in the Government Pages of the telephone book). Only 113 days until Election Day!