Free Republic

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has...

Despite heightened attention to children's health and education issues, a greater investment needs to be made in California's 9.7 million youngsters so they're prepared to compete as adults, a study released Tuesday says. The annual California Report Card, released by Children Now, says the state has made progress in reducing drug and alcohol use, decreasing teen pregnancies and lowering mortality rates. However, the percentage of children covered by their parents' work-based health insurance is declining; while the rates of smoking, obesity, asthma and autism are on the rise, the report said. "Despite some progress, when you measure that against the...

As of July 1, more than $600 million for after-school programs will sit in a state bank account waiting for schools to ask for it. At this point, the fear is they won't. The lion's share — more than $400 million — will come from Proposition 49 — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's pre-gubernatorial initiative, his first foray into politics. Voters approved The After-School Education and Safety Program Act in 2002. The measure required the state to be economically in the black before the measure triggered. It took four years for that to happen and now for the first time, the state...

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - An advocacy group on Wednesday gave the state mostly C and D grades - and no A's - for health, economic and education programs affecting children. Children Now said many California children live in poverty and lack adequate education and health care. The Oakland-based group issued a report card covering nine subjects: health insurance, dental insurance, childhood obesity, adolescent health, infant health, family economic security, early education, K-12 education and after-school programs. The group gave the state three B's, three C's and three D's. The state received a B-minus for children's health insurance programs, although the...

Groups call for tax hike on top earners To help preserve human service programs in next year's state budget, a broad coalition called upon lawmakers Monday to embrace legislation that would increase state income taxes collected from the most wealthy Californians. In a Capitol press conference with more than 100 in attendance including union representatives and advocates for the poor participants stood behind a controversial proposal by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton of San Francisco that would temporarily increase personal income taxes on the top 2 percent of California wage earners. Aimed at partially bridging the state's $23.6...