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Lawmakers finished writing the bill late Sunday, after which Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi declared it "frozen," meaning no changes would be made. The bill leaves many mechanics of the operation up to the Treasury. Among these are the crucial issues of how the U.S. government would decide which assets it will buy and how it would decide what to pay for them. The legislation leaves the Treasury 45 days to issue guidelines on those procedures. The bill awaits votes in Congress starting on Monday. From big Wall Street houses to small community banks, executives have expressed an interest...

Here is Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in his own words that I find most revealing: "I probably always feel on some level I can persuade anybody I talk to." That's what he told Time on Feb. 20, 2006, and I happened to stumble across that quotation while browsing through a book by Lisa Rogak titled Barack Obama In His Own Words. I think it is revealing, because it displays a conceit and arrogance that reveals why he makes many of his most outrageous policy blunders. For example, he wants to negotiate without preconditions with the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo...

WASHINGTON — More cities across the country are considered at high risk of a terrorist attack, according to a new list of funding priorities from the Homeland Security Department. Last year the department made 45 cities or regions eligible for a competitive counterterrorism grant program. This year, the list has been expanded to 60 areas that can apply for the nearly $782 million available, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The urban area grants are one of the department's most popular -- and most intensely debated -- programs. The department divides the regions at highest risk of a...

(Reuters) - A former Boeing engineer was arrested on Monday on charges of stealing trade secrets for China related to several aerospace programs, including the Space Shuttle, the U.S. Justice Department said. It also announced a separate case in which a U.S. Defense Department official and two others were arrested on Monday on espionage charges involving the passing of classified U.S. government documents to China. Following is a chronology of some recent spy cases involving China and the United States. 1999 - Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the first U.S. nuclear bombs were developed in the 1940s, comes under fire...

<p>As our Washington lawmakers seek to stimulate the economy, they are also REWARDING illegal aliens with a big cut out of the tax rebate pool that they giving back to hard-working taxpayers like YOU and me. INCREDIBLY, our elected representatives want to “rebate” to NON-TAXPAYER illegal aliens, ENCOURAGING THEM to stay here and violate our laws, culture and sovereignty.</p>

Perhaps it's beneath the dignity of Members of Congress to shop at a grocery store, but if they did they'd know that food prices are rising faster than at anytime in 17 years. Milk now costs $3 a gallon in many states. Eggs, oranges, peas, tomatoes and rice are selling at or near all-time highs. The biggest winners have been corn producers, as corn prices have doubled in two years -- thanks in part to new mandates for ethanol. All of this is translating into the best gains in farm wealth in decades. Total farm income is expected to leap...

Hillary says that she is tossing the idea of a $5,000 baby bonus. Golly, I wonder why that would be? Truth is, she drove that wreck into the electoral parking lot and it dented far too many fenders. So ... when one income redistribution plan fails, just roll in another. See if this one will do better. So ... here is Hillary Rodham's latest great idea for a new entitlement program. American Retirement Accounts. Hillary proposes that every citizen have a 401(k)-type retirement account. You can put up to $1,000 annually in the account and the government will match 100%...

The Republican National Committee yesterday took the first step toward endorsing a proposal by Irish rock star Bono to spend an estimated $30 billion in U.S. taxes to eliminate global poverty — a move some unhappy conservative RNC members labeled a step toward socialism. But the RNC's Resolutions Committee also pleased conservatives by endorsing a resolution calling on the federal government to devote all means necessary to securing the nation's borders against an influx of illegal aliens.

International Law: Why does an administration that says we don't need a "permission slip" to defend ourselves seem determined to sign away our freedom of the seas to the United Nations? The question is as valid today as it was when we asked it two years ago. We were grateful then that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., had successfully defeated an attempt by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., to revive the flawed treaty vetoed by President Ronald Reagan more than two decades earlier. During her confirmation hearings for secretary of state in January 2005, Condoleezza Rice was asked by Foreign...

SACRAMENTO — Every child born in California would get a $500 savings account to start building a nest egg for college or down payment for a home, under a bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday in the state Senate. The proposal would cost taxpayers about $285 million a year. A similar program has increased savings in Great Britain since 2002, but California would be the first state in the nation to enact it, said David Lesher, California program director for the nonprofit New America Foundation, based in Washington, D.C. A national savings program has been pending in Congress since 2005. Under the...

PERFECT STORM: Fed Chairman Bernanke speaking about the two-headed monster looming on the horizon: capping future medical and retirement costs. Fed boss Ben Bernanke told Congress yesterday that the nation is facing a potential economic disaster as the aging Baby Boom generation is set to drain the nation's retirement and health care funds. The Federal Reserve chairman's remarks to the Senate Budget Committee didn't include any of the typical chitchat about the short-term outlook for inflation or his thoughts about monetary policy. Those are due in mid-February, when Bernanke is scheduled to testify before both houses of Congress on...

Friday December 08, 2006 By DONNA DE LA CRUZ Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate on Friday passed a bill making it easier for the estimated 50 million families caring at home for adults and children with special needs to find respite care. The House passed the bill, sponsored by New Jersey Rep. Mike Ferguson, on Wednesday. The bill now heads to President Bush. White House aides have said the president will sign it into law, Ferguson's office said. ``I'm on top of the world,'' Ferguson said shortly after the Senate passed the bill by a voice vote....

Fall and Christmas Outreach Offer Cases of Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ are available for a suggested donation of $65 to those who agree to give the books away for free. Each case contains 48 books. (The donation covers $1 per book and $17 for shipping.) We will accept whatever you can afford if $65 is more than you can pay. This offer is good through December 10, 2006 or while supplies last. This offer is only available by phone. Please call us at 1.888.346.4700 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. central time, Monday through Friday. Jesus?In a Season of...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Oct. 28, 2005) -- In preparation for the depot's Marine Corps Birthday Ball, the Marine Corps Family Team Building office hosted its annual Ball Gown Giveaway and Fashion Show Oct. 19 at the Bay View restaurant. The show kicked off at 5:30 p.m. with opening remarks made by headquarters and service battalion's commanding officer's wife, Mrs. Sheila Redfern. Civilian depot employees and female Marines waltzed the catwalk in a display of 520 gently used ball gowns and a few rental gowns from local businesses. "It was different than last year; there were less...

One financial expert describes it as one of the most stunning transfers of wealth in human history, from the pockets of taxpayers to the pockets of government employees. What will it take to awaken the victims? What's happening is that extravagant increases in pensions and other compensation of state and local government employees threaten to cause a wave of bankruptcies, tax increases and cutbacks in services. An analysis by the L.A. Daily News this week showed that California's largest public agencies face an increase of $108 billion in pension costs compared to just three years ago. According to the Legislative...

The cognoscenti and celebrities of Jerusalem have been extremely busy in anticipation of "Jerusalem Day," which falls next week. Producers, journalists, researchers, demogogues, rabbis and those who predict the messiah will come are all preparing for their great moment, the day on which the conquest of East Jerusalem in the 1967 war is marked. Once upon a time, when the idea was conceived to add this day to the calendar, already overloaded with patriotic memorial days, it was known as "Jerusalem Liberation Day." But it soon became clear that this name was false and cynical; the liberation meant subordination of...

A nonsmoking lawmaker who wanted to penalize welfare recipients for smoking backed off the toughest parts of his plan Thursday. Rep. Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, said he will drop provisions to cut income and raise medical co-payments for smokers on public assistance and government health care programs. He aims to win Democrats' support with pilot programs helping pregnant welfare recipients quit smoking. "I have to have something that passes," Seifert said after presenting his bill to the House Jobs and Economic Development Committee. "The penalties aren't going to pass."

Under intense pressure from the United States, the European community, Russia and the United Nations -- the so-called "Quartet" of world powers -- Israel is pursuing a suicidal course that may well cause the state to collapse, and place its five-million-plus Jewish inhabitants at the mercy of Arab enemies who mean them no good. To put the matter bluntly, a second Jewish Holocaust, only sixty to seventy years after Holocaust I, may be in the offing in the not-too-distant future. American Jews, and the American public as a whole, are completely oblivious to these horrific developments. Worst of all, the...

Good afternoon, Freepers! I have two kittens, approximately 7 months old that we adopted approximately 5 months ago. They were hand raised from approximately 2 weeks of age (their mother was killed on the roadside), and they're about the friendliest cats I've ever run into. However, they've gotten to be more than my daughter is willing to handle. As it stands, I'm taking care of my daughter, the house, the original cat and the dog, and myself - so I've got my hands full. If there is anyone in the Oak Ridge/Knoxville area who would like to have two loving,...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Several peace groups are demanding the Minnesota Twins abandon plans to give G.I. Joe action figures to 5,000 children as part of a team promotion honoring local military personnel. The Minnesota Twins will present Duke, ``the calm and determined battlefield commander of the G.I. Joe team,'' at Monday night's game against the Kansas City Royals in the first patriotic giveaway in the major leagues this season. ``I think the Twins are way off base with this idea,'' said John Varone, a Vietnam veteran and president of the Twin Cities chapter of Veterans for Peace. ``For gosh sakes,...