Free Republic

Runaway Film Bill Hits Snag - State lawmakers balk at the cost of proposal to keep production from fleeing California by giving financial incentives to Hollywood. SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's script to stem runaway film production in California with as much as $100 million in annual tax breaks is getting panned at the Capitol. The bill by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), which the governor made a top priority, was on the legislative fast track until Schwarzenegger's fellow Republicans balked, arguing that it amounted to a giveaway for Hollywood. Now, the bill can't even get a hearing. With...

¸ Local FEMA manager said he is sad processing for aid takes so long. By ROBBYN BROOKS Daily News Staff Writer Mississippi evacuee Luan Morgan tried to keep the tone of her voice pleasant for the sake of her 5-year-old daughter Sunday, but her anger was easy to see. “I need help now,” Morgan said. “We don’t have any way to get home. There’s no gas. There’s no nothing.” Morgan evacuated from her Lumberton, Miss., home the Saturday before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. She brought her daughter, Nichole, three days worth of clothing and not much else. “I...

LOS ANGELES - California receives millions of dollars in tax revenue when movies are filmed in the state, but about 60 percent of all productions last year were shot elsewhere, according to a study to be released Monday. The state, for example, loses more than $10 million when a $70 million movie is made outside the state, and $3 million for a 12-episode drama, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. said. Sponsored by labor and industry groups, the 20-page showed that 236 features, or about 40 percent of all productions, were shot partially or exclusively in the state last...

Statement Of Senator Barbara Boxer On The Nomination Of Judge John G. Roberts July 19, 2005Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today issued the following statement regarding the President’s nomination of Judge John G. Roberts to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the United States Supreme Court: "Without prejudging the nominee, I do believe Judge Roberts’ record raises questions about his commitment to the right to privacy, protection of the environment, and other important issues. "With so many rights of the American people hanging in the balance, this Supreme Court nomination deserves a thorough and in-depth evaluation. "Justice...

Regarding Africa, did anyone see the PBS News Hour tonite? A black African author said repeatedly that the real problem is government corruption, while a white Ivy League professor insisted that the real problem is that President Bush won't give more financial handouts.

President George W. Bush calls his initiative "Strengthening America's Communities," but recipients of a program it would replace are afraid it will weaken their efforts to help area low-income residents. The Community Development Block Grant program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will distribute $4.7 billion across the nation this year. Los Angeles County is receiving $34.6 million for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The Antelope Valley will receive more than $320,000 from the county's allotment, including $22,000 for a Pearblossom recreation program, $26,000 for the Antelope Valley Hospital Healthy Homes program and...

Swartz Creek — (04/27/05)--A Swartz Creek student who has been kicked out of school for having weapons and is accused of writing a racially inappropriate flier is telling his side of the story. The Swartz Creek senior created a flyer that invited students to attend a meeting at a local park to "Take back the Creek." Police searched the teen's car and found two knives. Monday, the school permanently suspended the 17 year old, who at this point will not be allowed to graduate. Taryn Asher had more. He asked us to disguise his identity. The teen told us he...

I get a lot of hate mail from liberals who believe that conservatives are evil and uncaring. They think that they have the patent on being sympathetic to the needy. I believe that just the opposite is true. Hippie Liberalism is all about feeling good. Doing drugs also makes you feel good but when you examine the after effects it is best not to do them. Spending on entitlements makes liberals feel good about themselves. The problem is that when you look at the after effects the results usually hurt those their trying to help. Libs aren't stupid. (at least...

< VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Just over the United States northwest border, addicts will soon be able to get their fix from the Canadian government in the form of free heroin (search) administered by nurses and doctors on the taxpayer's dime. "They're using heroin. They'll continue to use heroin. What we're trying to do is prevent them from getting something irreversible like HIV, hep [hepatitis] C and overdose death,” said Dr. Martin Schechter, the director of the heroin program. Vancouver is the first city to take part in the North American Opiate Medication Initiative, which plans to enroll 470 participants...

Court upholds libel award to Norfolk city administrator THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LINCOLN (AP) - The Nebraska Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a $78,000 award to Norfolk's city administrator for libelous fliers a local man passed around town. A Madison County jury last year awarded Norfolk City Administrator Mike Nolan $13,000 for each of the six claims for damages he filed against Norfolk resident Tim Campbell. Nolan said the fliers were libelous and presented him in a false light. Campbell has had a long-running feud with Nolan and other city officials that began with a sidewalk the city ordered built...

On welfare? Do you smoke? Read on Conrad Defiebre, Star Tribune December 18, 2004 SMOKERS1218 State Rep. Marty Seifert, a conservative with a knack for inflammatory proposals, wants to mandate testing to determine whether welfare clients smoke cigarettes. He'd reduce their benefits if they do. "If you're going to take the taxpayer's money, we're going to expect good behavior," the Marshall Republican said Friday. "I'm not interested in subsidizing bad habits. It makes no sense to give out health and welfare subsidies if the payments go to smoking and the detriment of people's health and welfare." Seifert said the welfare...

Tommy Thompson announced his resignation the other day as secretary of health and human services and, in the process, gave us a quick tutorial on why we can't control exploding federal spending for retirement benefits -- the nation's No. 1 budget problem. We have a generation of politicians, of both parties and of whom Thompson is symbolic, who want to say "yes" to voters: Yes, you can have what you want, and you can have it now. The solution to this problem requires leaders to say "no" to voters: No, you cannot have all the retirement benefits you've been promised...

Hurricane Frances made landfall more than 100 miles north of Miami-Dade County this year. But that didn't stop thousands of residents there from getting nearly $28 million in federal disaster aid. Top winds reached only 47 mph in Miami-Dade during the Labor Day weekend, so damages were limited to some fallen power lines and uprooted trees, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency and other disaster relief officials. Yet residents used their relief checks to buy more than 5,000 televisions allegedly destroyed by Frances, as well as 1,440 air conditioners, 1,360 twin beds, 1,311 washers and dryers, and 831 dining sets....

DOMESTIC POLICIES of President George W. Bush MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS (2001-2003) No Child Left Behind School Reform Law which makes schools test every child to be sure all are learning and provides a record level of funding to help any child who is not learning. For example, Gainesville Elementary School in northeast Georgia is mostly Hispanic and 90 percent poor -- and this year 90 percent of its students passed state tests in reading and math. Income Tax Cuts which have raised tax deductions for children and lowered tax rates for everyone and made taxes fairer for married people, and helped...

The Detroit City Council, in defiance of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, likely will move forward with plans to create an "African Town" in the tradition of Chinatowns and Little Italys nationwide, even though the issue has turned into a racially divisive economic-development proposal. In July, the council resolved to build up a section of the city devoted to African and black American literature, cuisine and art, which Mr. Kilpatrick endorsed. He vetoed the resolution, however, when it became clear that the council's plan would allow only black businessmen and investors to use the $38 million earmarked for the project.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards repeated his pledge to provide free tuition for first-year college students as he accepted an endorsement from the president of College Democrats of America on Wednesday. “Young people are going to play a critical role in this campaign and this election,” Edwards said during a conference call, speaking from Philadelphia with College Deomocrats President Ashley Bell and reporters. Bell said his organization doesn’t formally endorse candidates during the nomination process, but he offered his personal support to the senator from North Carolina. “I want an affordable education, I want a job after I graduate, and...

SAVANNAH -- The organizer of the International Festival for Peace and Civil Liberties is seeking $2,000 from the city to recoup losses after few demonstrators turned out for last week's G-8 Summit.

Project aims to identify needs of growing elderly population Lillian Lee of East Point learned the hard way that going without needed home improvements is risky for the elderly. Not long ago, the 79-year-old widow found herself stuck inside her bathtub for two hours when she was unable to pull herself out. If she'd had a safety bar installed the potentially dangerous incident could have been avoided. "I turned this way and that way," Lee said. "I finally got out." Lee's story is the kind the Atlanta Regional Commission wants to hear. ARC is gathering experiences from senior citizens like...

Even as Bostonians are attempting to brace themselves for the inconvenience being visited on them by the Democratic National Convention, Democratic politicians are attempting to add a financial insult to those obvious injuries. Sen. Ted Kennedy and the state's 10-member congressional delegation sent a letter to the mayor's chief convention planner asking that downtown subway service be made free during the convention week. Nevermind that the MBTA will taxed virtually to the breaking point to shuttle regular commuters around areas closed down to accomodate security needs around North Station. Our duly elected represenatives weren't begging for free rides for inconvenienced...

The boss of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority shot down a trial balloon by the Bay State's all-Democratic congressional delegation for a four-day freebie for T riders during July's Democratic convention. A letter sent by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and all 10 congressmen to MBTA General Manager Michael Mulhern and to David Passafaro, the mayor's point man raising money for the political powwow, asked them to make the subways free in much of downtown Boston during the July 26-29 festivities. Mulhern responded immediately and emphatically: No. ``Such a request fails to appreciate the significant financial strain the DNC is placing...

<p>At the midpoint of his four-year term, Gov. Mark R. Warner faces a 60-day legislative session that will likely determine the stamp he'll leave in state annals.</p> <p>The Democratic governor is pressing the largest tax increase in Virginia history.</p> <p>It would be no mean accomplishment for Warner to get tax-averse Republicans in the General Assembly to back his plan for balancing a state budget that's short more than $1 billion.</p>

The prospect of millions of Mexicans receiving United States Social Security checks is moving closer to reality. The Gannett News Service reports U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing a "totalization" agreement that would transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in payments south of the border. The plan would allow documented and undocumented immigrants to return home but still collect U.S. benefits. WorldNetDaily reported the idea to merge both countries' Social Security systems was pushed late last year by Mexican President Vincente Fox as payback from President George W. Bush for failing to secure major new immigration reforms beneficial to Mexico...

WASHINGTON -- Landmark Medicare legislation moving through Congress would give hospitals at least $1 billion during the next four years to cover the spiraling costs of providing emergency services for undocumented immigrants. The provision would be particularly crucial for hospitals near the U.S.-Mexico border, including hospitals in El Paso. The House was expected to vote on the Medicare measure today. A Senate vote may not come until Monday. "We're keeping our fingers crossed," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. Kyl is the author of the original legislation to reimburse hospitals, and he persuaded lawmakers to include the money in the $395...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The overhaul of welfare in America may seem complicated, but it has been simple compared with the challenge in Iraq. In the United States, the people who relied on public assistance were defined as the underclass. In Iraq, they're the entire nation. To Saddam Hussein, a culture of dependency was not a social problem but a political plus. Father Saddam, as he liked to be called, provided citizens with subsidized homes, cheap energy and, most important, free food. After international sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, he started a program that now uses 300 government warehouses...

Every night, Maria Mora and her six children cram into a small bedroom, sharing one twin bed and the floor, and every morning she wakes up hurting. The pain comes from a herniated disk in her back, which she injured two years ago while working at a hospital, she said. Mora, 32, of Fort Worth, is also diabetic, but has no money to buy medicine. "I've pawned all my jewelry and borrowed money to get diapers," Mora said. "I'm supposed to be helping my parents with the bills." Until last month, Mora received Medicaid and cash assistance from the state....

If you wanted a way of persuading Republican congressmen to support something, the last thing you'd do is have the AFL-CIO organize a bus convoy of illegal aliens appropriating the rhetoric of the civil-rights movement, endorsed by the Communist party. And yet, this is just what the open-border crowd has done. Busloads of "Freedom Riders" converged on Capitol Hill Thursday and are now headed for New York. The group will meet at Liberty State Park in Jersey City today and go to Queens on Saturday to press its list of demands, including amnesty for illegal aliens, higher levels of legal...

Posted on Wed, Oct. 01, 2003 Downpayment Aid OK'd for Poor Families JIM ABRAMS Associated Press WASHINGTON - Up to 40,000 low-income families will get financial help in making downpayments on their first homes under legislation passed Wednesday by the House. The American Dream Downpayment Act, passed by voice vote, is an administration-backed initiative aimed at helping families, particularly in minority communities, who are able to meet monthly mortgage payments but don't have funds for the downpayment and closing costs associated with home loans. The White House said the legislation would reduce a disparity in homeownership - three-fourths of non-minority...

Speaker Hastert Touts Law Closing the Homeownership Gap for Minorities 10/1/03 5:46:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Pete Jeffries, John Feehery or Charles Chamberlayne, 202-225-2800, all of the Office of Speaker J. Dennis Hastert; Web: http://www.speaker.gov WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez joined House Republicans to tout the passage of the American Dream Downpayment Act (H.R. 1276) that will provide $5,000 each to low-income, first time home buyers. The bill, which was approved by the House by a voice vote, will...

That social engineering includes the 'Child Abuse' industry and the 'Sexual Harassment' industry. Critics refer to them as "industries" because their enforcement policies have established bloated and expensive bureaucracies that slurp at the public trough. The cost to taxpaying families is immense.....

<p>Despite loud denunciation by the majority of the state's political power brokers, voters are supporting a proposed initiative that would prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving public assistance and would require Arizonans to prove their citizenship before they could register to vote.</p>

How the Democrats do it, whether they realize it or not Democrats opposed Abraham Lincoln when he wanted to end black slavery. Democrats had their reasons for slavery then, and they have them now. Today Democrats have targeted a different group of people to enslave, taxpayers. All government run social programs are a form of slavery because they put the tax payer in a position of involuntary servitude, regardless of the way the taxes are collected. What do you expect from the party of immorality, the party that tries to save convicted criminals from punishment while at the same time...

WHEELING (AP) -- The state has created a program to help some unemployed workers and retirees pay for health care insurance, Gov. Bob Wise said Tuesday. Workers who lost their jobs because of foreign competition and retirees whose pensions are now controlled by the federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. can claim a monthly tax credit that will pay 65 percent of the premium for a new health insurance program, Wise said. Coverage will be provided by Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield. The program is designed to help about 2,600 people who need assistance, Wise said. He did not say...

With Gov. Gray Davis facing recall, a budget $38 billion in deficit, and a bond rating dropped three notches by Standard & Poor's to near junk-bond status, the lowest of all 50 states, the Golden State is no more. Who killed the goose that laid the golden eggs? Certainly, Davis, who misled voters about the gravity of his budget crisis in 2002, and won re-election by demonizing his GOP rivals, deserves his 20 percent approval rating. But Gray Davis did not kill California. The United States government did. For what killed California as the golden land was massive and unrestricted...

Live Like an Illegal Immigrant! Secrets of the Good Life from OC's Undocumented by Gustavo Arellano You've been laid off from your expense-account job, and that dream of a Newport Beach split-level with an ocean view has suddenly been reduced to a duplex along the banks of the once-mighty Santa Ana River. The economy is tanking, your high-tech stock is squat, and career options now consist of daily Monster.com hits and calling about that greeter position at Wal-Mart. When things were good, you read Fast Company and Wired and looked to people like Sumner Redstone and Jack Welch for guidance;...

Diana Mora, 18, of Chicago, would love to attend Northwestern because it's a "really great school'' with "really good prestige.'' Martha, 20, of Chicago, earned high grades at Roosevelt High School in hopes of attending the elite university in Evanston. But even though both graduated at the top of their respective classes and both were accepted for admission at NU, neither can attend. That's because as illegal immigrants from Mexico, they are not eligible for financial aid--either from the government or Northwestern. At $37,338 for a year of tuition and room and board, they said not getting aid is just...

<p>After exhausting themselves with late-night sessions to push a prescription-drug benefit through both houses of Congress, our solons would like to duck the issue at least until after their next recess in August. But the administration wants faster action on the Bush-Kennedy "compromise;" the White House seems oblivious to the underlying clash of grand political strategies.</p>

THE REAL STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA By Jack Lowry The plight of our inner cities is often displayed on television. The rationale behind showing such depressing scenes is that we are supposed to insist on fixing the problem. This is in keeping with the belief that funds from Washington can repair all troubles. On a sojourn to Philadelphia, this author was afforded a first hand excursion through that city's worst areas. The whole scene is a damnation of the social-engineering policies that governments have undertaken in the preceding 40 years to "help" the poor. While traversing Philadelphia's inner-city neighborhoods, the sense...

How do you feel about poor people? Do you love 'em, hate 'em, are you ambivalent towards them? Do you think of them as the lazy poor or just dead-beats?? It doesn't matter if you are poor or not...just a discussion.

<p>San Francisco officials want to bill the federal government to help pay for policing the war protests, a cost that Mayor Willie Brown said could end up exceeding $5 million.</p> <p>City officials hope to tap federal Homeland Security funding -- money the White House wants set aside to help state and local governments pay for new equipment, training, emergency planning and improved protection of buildings, roadways, bridges, water systems and other government facilities.</p>

Memo to liberals: Black single mothers living in the inner city are people too. That's the message of a new study published in the journal Science magazine showing that single mothers forced from the public dole by the welfare reform of 1996 are supporting themselves with jobs and completely raising their children-a picture in stark contrast to the forecasts of doom made by welfare-reform opponents. Once off the rolls, welfare mothers were supposed to collaspe into a haze of laziness and incompetence, suffering from their incapicity for that most basic of human activities--work. Their children were supposed to be traumatized...

The Bush Administration has sent "massive" supplies of humanitarian aid to the Gulf region to cope with up to 2million refugees and displaced people as part of its planning for a war with Iraq, US officials said yesterday. Relief supplies including blankets, water containers, shelters and essential medicines for up to a million people are already on their way to warehouses in countries bordering Iraq. Forty-six shipping containers carrying the supplies are en route. Nearly 3million "humanitarian daily rations" are being stockpiled in the region to meet emergency food needs. About 60 per cent of Iraqis depend on a government...

Denmark demands American concessionsThe Danish foreign minister Pers Path Möller asks the US to accept all UN agreement regarding weapons of mass destruction. He recieves support from his Swedish counterpart Anna Lindh. At the same time as Denmark prepare themselves to support a US-led war against Iraq with equipment and soldiers, the foreign minister asks the USA and all other countries to sign the various UN agreements related to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, says Berlingske Tidende [danish newspaper]. Möller especially points at the US refusal to accept the nuclear test ban treaty and says that this...

(WTNH Sept. 12, 2002 12:30 PM) _The closing of a New Haven shelter and changes to shelter policies have advocates for the homeless speaking out. Some of those in need are taking drastic measures. More than a dozen people from the advocacy group Respect Line,as well as a number of homeless clients came out here to the green last night to make this area their bed. It's a protest against the city's new get tough policy. Members of Respect Line held signs high above their heads, marching to city hall with a plea, re-open the city's overflow shelter. On Tuesday...

President George W. Bush waves to the crowd before being introduced by U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez (R), at the St. Paul AME Church while in Atlanta, Georgia, June 17, 2002. Bush outlined plans to use loans and tax credits to boost the number of minority homeowners by 5.5 million before 2010. (Larry Downing/Reuters) BUSH: "I'll be right with you Mel, I'm just saying goodbye to my Conservative Base"

IT is Christian Aid Week and the cry has once again gone out for the West to send more aid to Africa. On this occasion the appeal has come from two of our most politically engaged pop stars - Bono and Bob Geldof - who visited 10 Downing Street yesterday in an attempt to persuade the Prime Minister to exert his influence at the forthcoming G8 summit in Canada and increase the West's spending on the beleaguered continent. Their motives are without doubt noble: they clearly expect an infusion of Western capital and further debt relief to reduce the suffering...

<p>NEW YORK (CNN) -- Attorneys for a former law student, who discovered evidence linking U.S. corporations to the slave trade, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday that could seek billions of dollars in reparations for the descendants of slaves in America.</p>

One in Seven Americans Say They Can't Get Needed Healthcare WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) Mar 21 - More than 41 million Americans -- one in seven -- had trouble getting medical care or had to delay care in 2001, mostly because of cost, according to study results released on Thursday. The Washington, DC-based nonprofit Center for Studying Health System Change surveyed a representative 60,000 Americans by telephone about access to healthcare in each of the last several years. Results were extrapolated to the US population. The survey began in late 1996, as the economy began a record surge, with low unemployment...