Free Republic

A third-grader at Brazos Elementary was given a week’s detention for possessing a Jolly Rancher. School officials in western Fort Bend County are defending the seemingly harsh sentence. The school’s principal and superintendent said they were simply complying with a state law that limits junk food in schools. But the girl’s parents say it’s a huge overreaction. “I think it’s stupid to give a kid a week’s worth of detention for a piece of candy,” said Amber Brazda, the girl’s mother. "The whole thing was just ridiculous to me." Leighann Adair, 10, was eating lunch Monday when a teacher confiscated...

The leaders of the three naval services on Monday argued for an increase in the fees retired military personnel and their families pay for health care, something Congress has refused to approve for more than a decade.Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations; Gen. James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant; and Adm. Thad Allen, Coast Guard commandant, all complained about the soaring costs of healthcare and said increased contributions by the retirees for their TRICARE coverage is overdue.Speaking at the Navy League's annual symposium at the National Harbor convention center, Roughead disagreed strongly with the demand by House...

Report: Obama says immigration next on Dems' agenda By Michael O'Brien - 04/20/10 05:35 PM ET President Barack Obama told a Republican senator Tuesday that immigration is next on his agenda, according to a report. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) told the Wall Street Journal that the president told him that Democrats plan to move ahead with immigration reform legislation next month when the two spoke this afternoon. The Journal reported that Obama told Brown that immigration was next, and was lobbying the blue-state senator to take a look at the bipartisan legislation that Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham...

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, told an exuberant crowd at an immigration rally Saturday in Las Vegas that Congress would start work on immigration overhaul as soon as lawmakers return this week. “We’re going to have comprehensive immigration reform now,” he said in a speech to more than 6,000 people, mostly immigrants. “We need to do this this year,” Reid said, drawing cheers from the crowd. Reid told the crowd he believes he has 56 Senate votes in support of the legislation. He outlined legislation that would include border security measures and a temporary guest worker program. To gain...

<p>The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.</p>

March 21, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Tens of thousands gathered on the National Mall in Washington,DC Sunday for a rally focused on immigration reform. Some of those gathered are from the Chicago area. They say they fear reform efforts have been put on the back burner. While in the shadow of Sunday's health care reform vote, tens of thousands of protesters from around the country marched in Washington to push for a long-awaited immigration overhaul, as their fellow advocates in the Chicago area demanded the president make good on his promise of change. "One thing we want to see [is]...

Stupak evidently met with Pelosi tonight. And has a press conference scheduled for the morning ... On my Twitter feed, I see Diana DeGette (radical liberal feminist, if you need a broadbrush label — Yuval wrote everything you ever need to read about her a few years ago here) is not happy. My understanding if a fix were to happen via an enrollment corrections bill, the Senate would have to pass it first. I would think Barbara Boxer would sooner give up her seat (which she might have to) than allow that happen ... for one thing. UPDATE: Here's how...

President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue. White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Obama will meet with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday. The president is "looking forward to hearing more about their efforts toward producing a bipartisan bill," Shapiro said Friday. The meeting will be the first Obama has had with Schumer and Graham on the proposal they are developing since they began focusing on it last year. Immigration...

<p>In the category of it’s never too early to start looking, a new poll found Mitt Romney is the early favorite in Texas for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.</p> <p>The survey by Public Policy Polling of North Carolina found Romney leading with 32 percent support, followed by Mike Huckabee at 29 percent and 23 percent for Sarah Palin.</p>

ALBANY — Angered by the defeat last year of a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry, a group of well-financed gay rights advocates has started a political action committee to take aim at state senators who have opposed same-sex marriage. In total, the political action committee, called Fight Back New York, is prepared to raise and spend in the high six figures range in the State Senate races this year, according to people involved with the committee. Financing and organization will come, in part, from some of the most politically sophisticated and financially powerful gay rights advocates...

I just heard Martha McCallum on FOX News interview JD Hayworth who is running against (RINO) John McCain in Arizona. Martha said that Sarah Palin will be in Arizona throwing her support behind John McCain in a few months in an effort to defeat conservative JD Hayworth. Is this all about GRATITUDE? Does Sarah feel if it were not for John McCain picking her for the VP position that she would not be in this position today. And what does this say about Sarah Palin and politics in general? Has anything REALLY CHANGED?

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Romney kicks off a 19-state book tour observers say could be an effort to garner support for a 2012 presidential run. The three-month tour to promote his book, "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness," includes speeches and appearances in early-primary states as the one-time 2008 Republican presidential hopeful wages what some see as the most methodical campaign of any GOP presidential wannabe for the 2012 party nod, USA Today reported Monday. The tour begins next week. At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington during the weekend, Romney polled...

President Barack Obama dropped his threat to bypass the Senate and install nominees to their positions through recess appointments -- at least for now. Recess appointments can be made while the Senate is out of session and are a way for presidents to get around the need for a confirmation vote. The president said in a statement Thursday evening that he is encouraged by confirmation earlier in the day of 27 high-level nominees. On Tuesday, Obama threatened to make the recess appointments to get around senators who had placed "holds" on his nominees, which prevent, or at least delay, the...

Based on surveys done after the 1986 amnesty program, it concludes that even during the recession, legalizing undocumented workers would benefit the economy. Not everyone agrees. Even during the ongoing recession, immigration reform legislation that legalizes undocumented immigrants would boost the American economy, according to a new study out of UCLA. The report said that legalization, along with a program that allows for future immigration based on the labor market, would create jobs, increase wages and generate more tax revenue. Comprehensive immigration reform would add an estimated $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years, according to...

With the healthcare battle still unfinished, the Obama administration has been laying plans to take up an issue that could prove even more divisive -- a major overhaul of the nation's immigration system. Senior White House aides privately have assured Latino activists that the president will back legislation next year to provide a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. In a recent conference call with proponents, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, political director Patrick Gaspard and others delivered the message that the White House was committed to seeing...

-snip- For the first time in two years, a measure billed as "comprehensive immigration reform" has been introduced in Congress. The bill — HR 4321 — filed Tuesday by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., incorporates most of the provisions of a measure introduced in June by Rep. Mike Honda, D-Campbell. At last count Tuesday night, it had 89 co-sponsors. Honda's bill focused on legal immigration issues such as eliminating visa backlogs and giving green-card holders the same rights as citizens to bring their spouses and children to the U.S. But Gutierrez's bill is much more sweeping. It includes a provision that...

Congressional Democrats on Tuesday launched a renewed effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation. Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, is a co-sponsor of the bill that provides a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country. The bill by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois, would also repeal the 287(g) program that allows local law enforcement agencies to perform some immigration functions.

The Democratic amnesty bill is almost like something I'd write as a parody. Sec. 157, for instance, prohibits the arrest of any illegal or criminal alien on the premises of, or in the immediate vicinity of, a childcare provider, a school, a legal-service provider, a Federal court or State court proceeding, an administrative proceeding, a funeral home, a cemetery, a college, university, or community college, a victim-services agency, a social-service agency, a hospital or emergency-care center, a health-care clinic, a place of worship, a day-care center, a head-start center, a school bus stop, a recreation center, a mental-health facility, or...

Firedoglake, a prominent liberal blog has posted an article calling Barack Obama a homosexual rapist straight out of the classic 1972 movie Deliverance who has forced himself on Democrats, violently raping them with his policies.Writing at the aptly titled "Seminal" blog at Firedoglake, Alabamagunn vents in a sometimes incorehent rant that he/she was seduced by Obama, and then horridly violated:I admit I kinda began to believe the hype–another bad omen; should’ve listend to Flav. When promises to end a senseless war, revive the middle class, combat and prosecute war crimes, meaningfully reform healthcare, curtail Wall Street’s abuse of power and...

"Saturday Night Live" opened its show last night with a comedy sketch that scorched President Obama over his economic policies including health care, "Cash for Clunkers" and borrowing billions of dollars from China. The NBC program featured comic Fred Armisen portraying the commander in chief at a news conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, played by Will Forte, who spoke through an interpreter, comic Nasim Pedrad. Jintao began by asking Obama about the success of his economic stimulus. "I'm curious. How many jobs has it created?" asked the Chinese leader. "None," answered Obama. "But our health-care reform plan, we're confident,...