Free Republic

Thursday morning, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel approved the ballot title of an initiated act, seeking to stop illegal immigrants from getting state services and benefits. The proposal, if approved by voters in November, would require immigrants to prove their legal status before getting such benefits. The group pushing this initiative, Secure Arkansas, must now collect 61,794 signatures from registered voters, to get this proposal on the November general election ballot. The Secretary of State's office says those signatures must be turned in by July 7. The group Secure Arkansas will need help in gathering signatures, especially on May 20th, the...

Supervisor says county spends more than $1 billion a year on benefits to illegals. According to new data from the Department of Public Services, nearly a quarter of Los Angeles County's welfare and food stamp benefits goes directly to the children of illegal aliens, at a cost of $36 million a month. "The total cost for illegal immigrants to County taxpayers far exceeds $1 billion a year - NOT including the millions of dollars for education," said Antonovich. "With $220 million for public safety, $400 million for healthcare, and $432 million in welfare allocations, illegal immigration continues to have a...

California is facing a cash crisis this summer, putting pressure on elected officials to submit an on-time state budget or risk asking taxpayers to pay a premium on loans. In the past, the state has been able to pay its bills despite projected deficits by borrowing money internally from some state special funds and by selling short-term notes on Wall Street. But a lack of cash reserves this year combined with lagging revenues has led officials to predict that the state will run out of cash as early as August, giving lawmakers a smaller-than-expected window to strike a budget deal....

When President Bush announced last week that he is calling on Congress for an additional $770 billion in international “food aid,” I had just returned from a trip to the grocery store and was feeling less than charitable upon hearing that he wanted to give more aid to countries (such as the terrorist, America-hating states of Somalia and the Sudan) that we have been “feeding” for over 50 years. But fear not; Bush included needy Americans in his discussion: “Here at home, we're working to ensure that our poorest citizens get the food they need. Since 2001, the administration in...

Visitors from a Weird Planet By Burt Prelutsky When I tell liberals that I can’t figure them out, they tend to assume I’m owning up to my own intellectual shortcomings. They figure their thinking is so profound that it’s simply beyond the scope of little old me. Well, let them enjoy their fantasies. The truth is, I can’t fathom their belief system because it seems so divorced from reality that if we discovered tomorrow that, like the pods in the movie, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,� liberals only look like human beings, but are actually from outer space, I’d be...

Barack Obama's national plan for voluntary community service clearly illustrates his audacious goal to become the Nation's Community Organizer. "Barack Obama's Plan For Universal Voluntary Citizen Service" is subtitled "Helping All Americans Serve Their Country." "Universal" and "All" are only slight exaggerations. As president, he'd offer voluntary service programs for everyone except pre-schoolers through 5th grade. A substantial cafeteria of federal programs already serves this cuisine. But Obama plans to lengthen the serving line, considerably. Grab a tray and we'll sample some of his new dishes, plus some old plates he plans to enhance. Peace Corps A favorite since 1961....

For decades, Huffington has been a political gadfly and a perennial pundit on news shows. Now she's editor in chief of the popular news and opinion Web site The Huffington Post. Huffington's politics lean left, but that wasn't the case in the mid-'90s when she was a friend to Newt Gingrich and a card-carrying member of the Republican Party.

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida school board member is drawing fire from some parents for saying they should spend money on school clothes for their children instead of buying alcohol and cigarettes. School board member Jay Wheeler's comments were made in an e-mail response to parents’ complaints that they cannot afford the new uniforms mandated by the Osceola County School District, according to MyFOXOrlando.com. "Everyone can afford Wal-Mart and if they can’t, they need to think about turning off their cable TV or stop buying alcohol or cigarettes and spend their money on their children," he wrote. Parent Maria...

Lately I've been thinking of four left wing incidents that happened in Maine over the course of two years. I feel I should get them off my chest I think some of them would be interesting and I think others should know about them. The first one involves an incident that took place in the Bangor metro area two years ago. This freind of mine and his family were having trouble. He had difficulty getting by and he worked at Edwards Shop'n'save in Hampden outside Bangor. He was on food stamps and his wife was laid off and couldn't get...

It’s long been known that family break-up inflicts massive social costs on communities and children. But what about the burden it imposes on the American taxpayer? It’s a proven fact that family dissolution places children at greater risk of poverty, mental and physical illness, juvenile delinquency, abuse, substance abuse, and educational failure. A few years ago Wade Horn, former director of the federal Administration for Children and Families, revealed, “My agency spends $46 billion per year operating 65 different social programs. If one goes down the list of these programs… the need for each is either created or exacerbated...

“What’s that?” asked little Johnson Benson as he stared in wild-eyed amazement at the streams of cars traveling on I-99 toward State College. “They’re called commuters and they’re going to work,” replies his mother, Madine Selkers. “Work? What’s that mommy?” Johnson said, raising his eyebrows. “It’s a way for other people to enable my substance abuse, as well as provide us with a lifestyle of relative ease and border-line criminal behavior,” Selkers said. “These people owe us a living, Johnson, and you should avoid them.” Today, thousands of Welfare mothers, mainly in Blair County and Bellefonte, will keep their children...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid disclosed today that a hugely expensive bill called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Democratic Senator Barack Obama, was quickly passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. Kincaid said that the major media's cover-up of the bill, which makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations, demonstrates the media's desire to see Senator Obama elected to the presidency. In a column posted on the AIM web...

More than a million immigrants live in housing subsidised by the taxpayer, a Government-sponsored report disclosed yesterday. It said the number of foreigners in council or housing association accommodation had soared over the past five years. One in nine subsidised homes is now occupied by a migrant family.

UNEMPLOYED immigrant Nawaz Sharif, 37, built a seven-bedroom mansion in Pakistan after scalping the UK for thousands in benefit fraud, credit card and passport scams. Police, immigration and benefits officials arrested Sharif, who came to the UK in the late 80s, at his home in Slough, Berks. They found more than 35 forged credit cards and 30 passports, numerous envelopes stuffed with hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash and two copies of Home Office stamps used to allow immigrants permission to stay in Britain. The dad of three was jailed for five years at Reading in 2006.

prayer request (wonder if I should post this on FR) for my friend Brenda. She has five kids and is divorced. She is a Christian. Her ex pretended to be one, he is a spoiled brat pastor's kid. He abuses her verbally constantly, can't hold a job, steals money from their bank account (doesn't tell her where he spent it or how much or that he even DID spend it so they end up bouncing checks!). They are in serious debt with no real options for paying it off because of his behavior and inability to keep a job or...

Why Rescues Don't Work By Paul Tustain "...Just like natural organisms, the financial system must have death to evolve into a better form..." NOW THAT HE'S wearing some sort of do-good government hat, even Hank Paulson is not thinking straight.Regulate in New York and finance goes to Toronto. Regulate in London, it goes to Frankfurt or Paris - and since Toronto, Frankfurt and Paris are run by the same nervous bureaucrat-types, we can reckon soon enough that the entire financial markets will be hosted out of Singapore and Shanghai.There they will accept the risks as well as the rewards,...

Entitlement Mentality Is Wrecking Economy By Jonathan Hoenig March 31, 2008 FROM WELFARE TO food stamps to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, our country now marshals a massive network of trillion-dollar entitlement programs colloquially known as the "social safety net." Many Americans, including a few of those running for president, see these bureaucracies as defining achievements of a nation where "nobody is left behind." Forget the fact that the entitlements, many of which began with the goal of providing "basic minimum benefits" have grown into a gargantuan burden costing over $1.5 trillion a year and careening toward total collapse. For...

If only we were all Norwegians, we'd have the high taxes we need and all the welfare we want. But because America is diverse, we selfishly worry that members of other ethnic groups might benefit from our tax dollars. As a result, our taxes aren't high enough and our welfare spending too low. That in a nutshell is Eduardo Porter's thesis in his NY Times column of today, Race and the Social Contract. Porter, a graduate of Mexico's UNAM who began his journalism career with the Mexican news agency Notimex, is now a member of the NYT's editorial board. Porter...

About one in every six West Virginians gets food stamps, the highest level of participation in at least 30 years. Amid rising food and fuel costs, the assistance is becoming worth less and less. And supplemental food programs for poor families are struggling to keep up with the added demand as donations are on the decline. A total of 122,877 of the state's estimated 743,064 households currently receive food stamps. Sarah Young, a policy specialist with the Department of Health and Human Resources, says the agency is seeing more of the state's working poor applying for food stamps in order...

Now that the Fed and the Treasury Department have clumsily come to the rescue of the financial titans of Wall Street, it is now politically dangerous to resist similar pleas from just about everybody else. Populism is emerging as a dominant theme is this election year, and with so much largesse showered on Bear Stearns and JP Morgan Chase, politicians are demanding even more generous terms for consumers. In Washington, it seems that two wrongs apparently make a right. Another downside to corporate bailouts is that they provide the critics of free market capitalism with plenty of excuses to...

By LISA KIM BACH REVIEW-JOURNAL Krystal Rios, 21, needs the help of an at-home nurse to care for her 5-month-old daughter, Ti'ana Simmons, who requires 24-hour monitoring because of her medical conditions. Rios, who is approved for Medicaid assistance, can't find an at-home nursing provider in Las Vegas that accepts her insurance. Clark County Family Services is working with her to make sure her daughter receives proper care. Colonial Home Care will stop accepting Medicaid patients on March 30. Photos by John Gurzinski. Ti'ana Simmons has spent three of her five months hospitalized for medical problems related to two chromosomal...

Known as the "Shameless" family among horrified neighbours, the McFaddens "boast" three generations of adults who are not working. All ten members of the clan share a council house and live off benefits amounting to around £32,000 a year. And very happy they are, too.

The racial dimension of Barack Obama's electability problem is now apparent, but no prominent Democrat dares discuss it openly. Similarly expect no discussion of the subject in the major media. The white working class vote I am not referring to the ongoing and intense discussion of The Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Wright is a separate problem for Obama. Whether Obama has been, or will be, permanently weakened by his long and close association with Wright, or has soared above it with his Philadelphia speech, is not the subject of these thoughts. Something much simpler than the answer to that question has...

A study on self-sufficiency says 20 percent of Coloradans don't make enough to take care of basic needs. One in five Colorado residents earns less than the amount needed to cover basic needs, according to new data. The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute on Wednesday released its second annual Self-Sufficiency Standard, which calculates a bare-bones budget for basics like food, housing, child care, transportation and other necessities. The standard, which is calculated for a variety of family types, including single-parent families and households with infants or older children, is calculated for all Colorado counties. Ginger Wiggins is among those living below...

Norway's state treasury is set to overflow, local analysts claim. Some think the price of North Sea crude oil will hit USD 130 a barrel, pumping even more "petrokroner" into the state budget and giving politicians few excuses to limit its use. Norway's oil and gas industry is hotter than ever, but many Norwegians complain that government services are nonetheless declining. Some grades of crude oil hit USD 111 a barrel this week, before easing on Friday. The North Sea Brent crude that's been pumping up Norway's economy for years was being traded at just over USD 107 a barrel...

The Bird Feeder I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it lovingly with seed. It was indeed a beautiful bird feeder. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the bird shit. It was everywhere; on the patio tile, the chairs, the table ... everywhere! Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and...

BOCA RATON — A crowd of more than 500 people waiting for hours this morning for housing voucher applications were dispersed by police in riot gear at the Boca Raton Housing Authority when the applications ran out sooner than expected. The action prompted complaints that officers used excessive tactics and housing authority officials were incompetent in their planning. VideoSpecial video report Special video report Residents cry foul PhotosPhoto gallery Police respond to scene Police respond to scene More local news Latest breaking news, photos and all of today's Post stories. Share This Story Two people were arrested and six to...

BOCA RATON — A crowd of more than 500 people waiting for hours this morning for housing voucher applications were dispersed by police in riot gear at the Boca Raton Housing Authority when the applications ran out sooner than expected. The action prompted complaints that officers used excessive tactics and housing authority officials were incompetent in their planning. Two people were arrested and six to eight people hospitalized for exhaustion during the ordeal. Hundreds of people, mostly mothers who had spent more than eight hours in line, were forced to leave the property at 2333 W. Glades Road by 30...

When the federal economic stimulus package hit the news in January, my latest run on unemployment was just going dry, and the mere prospect of getting another job was enough to make my testicles retract into my body. When reports surfaced that a three- or six-month (!!) unemployment extension was going to be part of the package, it seemed like government was finally doing something for the little guy, instead of just the fat cats and whiny Christians. I spent the next two weeks Google News-ing “unemployment extension economic stimulus” every 10 minutes. When the package including the extension failed...

Pleasantries have given way to earnest conversations among retired accountants, senior salespeople, company executives and others about what many perceive as the Habitat problem. A chapter of Habitat for Humanity wants to build a 90-home development of modest residences at one of the primary entrances to Greenwood Forest, whose homes range from 2,000 to 5,000 square feet.

SAN FRANCISCO — Although Francisco Velazquez, a 14-year-old freshman with spiky hair and sunglasses, qualifies for a free lunch at Balboa High School here, he was not eating. He scanned the picnic table full of his friends in a school courtyard one day a few weeks ago, and said, “I’m not hungry.” On another day, a group of classmates who also qualify for federally subsidized lunches sat on a bench. One ate a slice of pizza from the line where students pay for food; the rest went without. Lunchtime “is the best time to impress your peers,” said Lewis Geist,...

Robert Beasley says he is “training young adults to be professional” — and he approaches his job with all the enthusiasm of an evangelist. Beasley, 48, is a career specialist with Arbor Education and Training located at the Greenwood WIN Job Center. The program teaches young adults how to act during an interview, complete a job application, assemble a resume and cover letter and perform other related tasks. “Basically, we’re giving them the skills to find a job, to get a job and to keep that job,” said Beasley, a Greenwood native and Jackson State University graduate. Arbor Education and...

HANGING ROCK, Ohio - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a plan to improve childhood nutrition and set a goal to reduce by half the 12 million youngsters living in poverty over the next dozen years. The package of proposals includes a "comprehensive" early education initiative that starts with nurse's visits for pregnant women, lets children begin the Head Start program earlier and calls for universal pre-kindergarten programs. The New York senator also says she would deal with childhood hunger by putting in place a food safety net, and give children "greater access to healthy, fresh food." She spelled out her...

BOSTON-A killer who sued to have a sex change claims her body is becoming more masculine again because she's being denied treatment in prison as she awaits a ruling in her bid for the surgery. Michelle Kosilek, formerly known as Robert, said that for months she has not been allowed to have court-approved hair-removal treatment or access to a specialist to discuss her testosterone levels. "My breasts have shrunk, genitals have regained previous size and function, facial hair is thicker and scalp hair is thinner, all related to an elevated testosterone level," Kosilek said in a handwritten letter submitted to...

MIAMI — Florida's much-maligned child-welfare workers will soon begin carrying hand-held devices, like the ones delivery companies use to track packages, that show whether they really are checking in on the children under their supervision. The touch-screen units, about the size of a book and featuring Global Positioning System technology, will record the amount of time caseworkers spend with each family, take photos of children in state care and allow the workers to update case information on the spot, Gov. Charlie Crist and Children & Families Secretary Bob Butterworth said Thursday at a news conference in front of a UPS...

He quit his £27,000 job teaching maths and science three years ago and is BETTER OFF claiming £29,096 a year in benefits. And he has much more time to devote to his Islamic political party— which ATTACKS the British government, even though this country gives his family their food, clothes and house for free. Mohammed is also busy planning his TWELFTH baby with wife Noreen, 35, but has no plans to get a job. He grinned: "For many years I worked in Derby as a teacher, earning £27,000 a year, and Noreen would be at home with the kids. "I...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hispanics are nearly twice as likely as whites to be left without television service following the nationwide transition to digital broadcasting next year, according to a new survey. Beginning in February 2009, full-power broadcast stations will transmit digital-only signals, meaning people who get their television programming over an antenna and do not have a digital set won't get a picture without a special converter box. The Nielsen Co. survey released Friday estimates that more than 13 million households in the U.S. receive television programming over the air on non-digital sets, meaning they will need converter boxes. Another...

UNEMPLOYED scrounger Mohammed Salim is getting the state to pay for him, his wife and their ELEVEN kids—because he can't be bothered to go to work. He quit his £27,000 job teaching maths and science three years ago and is BETTER OFF claiming £29,096 a year in benefits. And he has much more time to devote to his Islamic political party— which ATTACKS the British government, even though this country gives his family their food, clothes and house for free. Mohammed is also busy planning his TWELFTH baby with wife Noreen, 35, but has no plans to get a job....

Harems pay off for Muslims (Toronto, Ontario Canada) Mumtaz Ali: "Very liberal-minded country". Hundreds of GTA Muslim men in polygamous marriages -- some with a harem of wives -- are receiving welfare and social benefits for each of their spouses, thanks to the city and province, Muslim leaders say. Mumtaz Ali, president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, said wives in polygamous marriages are recognized as spouses under the Ontario Family Law Act, providing they were legally married under Muslim laws abroad. "Polygamy is a regular part of life for many Muslims," Ali said yesterday. "Ontario recognizes religious marriages for...

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) - A police survey says panhandlers outside a Wal-Mart here can make $300 a day. Inside, it takes a clerk a week to make that much. Police say people who have a problem with that needn't look to the law--asking for money is considered protected free speech. "We are not going to target panhandlers," said Coos Bay Police Capt. Rodger Craddock, who spoke a recent gathering of business owners about panhandling. "We can't do that. But if they aren't getting money from us, they aren't going to stand on that corner." He said most panhandlers are...

LONDON -- Husbands living in a "harem" with multiple wives have been cleared to claim state benefits for all their different partners. A Muslim man with four spouses - which is permitted under Islamic law - could receive £10,000 a year in income support alone. He could also be entitled to more generous housing and council tax benefit, to reflect the fact his household needs a bigger property. Ministers have decided that, even though bigamy is a crime in Britain, polygamous marriages can be recognised formally by the state - provided they took place overseas, in countries where they are...

Britain gives formal recognition to polygamy 4 Feb 2008, 0001 hrs IST,ANI SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates LONDON: The Gordon Brown government has reportedly cleared a proposal that will allow husbands with multiple wives to claim extra welfare benefits. According to the Sunday Telegraph , bigamy is regarded as a crime in Britain and is punishable by up to seven years in prison, but this decision allows for recognition of polygamous marriages so long as such weddings take place in countries where it is legal. Ministers estimate that up to a thousand polygamous partnerships exist in Britain, although...

Husbands living in a "harem" with multiple wives have been cleared to claim state benefits for all their different partners. A Muslim man with four spouses - which is permitted under Islamic law - could receive £10,000 a year in income support alone. He could also be entitled to more generous housing and council tax benefit, to reflect the fact his household needs a bigger property. Ministers have decided that, even though bigamy is a crime in Britain, polygamous marriages can be recognised formally by the state - provided they took place overseas, in countries where they are legal. The...

Husbands with multiple wives have been given the go-ahead to claim extra welfare benefits following a year-long Government review, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

Up to two thirds of people claiming incapacity benefit are not entitled to the state handout, the Government's new welfare adviser warns today. Welfare is a mess, says adviser David FreudYour view: Who benefits from the UK’s benefits system?David Freud, an investment banker hired by James Purnell, the new Work and Pensions Secretary, said the disability tests used to award state aid were "ludicrous" and could be costing billions of pounds. Mr Freud's stark assessment, in an interview for today's Daily Telegraph, is likely to anger many Labour Left-wingers concerned about Gordon Brown's apparently tough stance on welfare reform. But...

McCain's love of amnesty will be a key issue. He supported amnesty in 2003 by name, proposed it in 2006 and 2007 without calling it amnesty, and says that anyone who says that he ever supported amnesty is a liar. He has insulted Americans who advocate border security and has cursed at the thought of building a border fence. The presence of Juan Hernandez in the background of the McCain campaign tells us that John McCain is as weak on border security now as he ever was. Dr. Juan Hernandez, a dual citizen of the US and Mexico, and past...

WASHINGTON — The $146 billion stimulus package intended to jolt the economy by giving taxpayers rebates up to $1,200 includes cash returns for illegal immigrants who pay taxes. Under the plan passed by the House, illegal immigrants who qualify as "resident aliens" and earned a minimum of $3,000 would be eligible for rebates of between $300-$600, FOX News has learned. Only those illegals who have been assigned an Individual Tax Identification Number that allows them to file income taxes would be eligible. Resident aliens are defined as people who spend a "substantial" amount of time in the U.S. and have...

"...Carson knows how it looks—the ramshackle home with the nice things like the satellite hookup, the large screens, and the silver Pontiac Grand Prix parked out front. It looks like a rash of bad decisions and mixed-up values. He knows what people think of him in town, especially since they heard a nonprofit was going to use government money to build him a new house. They don’t think he deserves it. He knows that’s why they blocked it. In some ways, Carson agrees with them; he's made a mess of things. But at 53, he’s unemployed, sick and broke, and...

SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama took time from campaigning in Nevada for a visit to San Francisco's Mission District today to trumpet his plan to assist middle-class families and working mothers. On the heels of a visit to Oakland on Wednesday by former President Bill Clinton -- in support of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's proposal to address the foreclosure crisis, particularly among urban and minority homeowners -- Obama today delivered a message aimed primarily toward women. Obama spoke at a roundtable discussion with four Northern California working mothers at the San Francisco Women's...