Free Republic

<p>HARRISBURG - The state Senate approved a $1.3 billion tax increase shortly after dawn today- including a 10 percent income-tax hike - but was unable to fashion a deal that would have brought slot machines to the state's racetracks, big cities and resorts.</p>

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORKSex predators getting federal grantsFlorida law loophole allows offenders to receive cash for education Posted: December 17, 200311:08 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Sexual predators confined to mental-health facilities in Florida are receiving federal grants to take college courses. The taxpayer-funded tuition grants are allowed because the offenders are considered "residents," not "inmates," Fox News reports. A 1994 federal law prohibits "inmates" from getting financial aid. In Florida, jurors are allowed to confine the worst sexual predators to mental-health facilities rather than prisons. As such, they are able to take advantage of their status as "residents" and qualify to...

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...

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...

NORTH PALM BEACH -- To Christopher James, Christmas inspires too much joy to be celebrated only one or two months of the year. And if anyone else feels the need for a jolt of holiday spirit, perhaps in the middle of the blistering hot summer, James has created a year-round Christmas oasis along U.S. 1 in his shop filled with ornaments and antiques of all shapes and sizes.The shop owner makes "magical memories" for customers who browse his 13,000-square-foot emporium so packed with fresh flowers and keepsakes it creates a cozy atmosphere with the scent of flowers and cinnamon in...

<p>Annie was an ethnic Chinese born in Malaysia who had legally emigrated to the U.S. decades ago. She entered my law office with her mother, who clutched a well-worn copy of a Chinese language book called What You Need to Know About Life in America that is eventually encountered by most immigration lawyers.</p>

<p>Felicia McCray's daughter came home last year from Carstens Elementary School on Detroit's east side with a new burgundy coat.</p> <p>Kayja, now 9, also showed her mother her new hat, gloves, shoes, uniform, hair accessories and a voucher to Payless ShoeSource to get another pair of shoes.</p>

It's rare to hear a politician say his goal is to get a crowd of more than 500 people worked up. But Jim Coletta said he wasn't a politician on Wednesday night. He said he was, and is, a civic activist. The Collier County commissioner and other county officials are enraged by the new flood maps proposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They say the maps aren't based on historical data and are inaccurate, such as incorrect names for city roads and streets. It's rare to hear a politician say his goal is to get a crowd of more...

If put to a vote, Americans would likely reject socialism by a substantial majority. Those same Americans, however, are voting by a substantial majority to allow governments to acquire more and more land and to tighten the controls on the private lands that remain. Socialism, classically defined, is "government ownership and/or control of the sources of production." Land is the source of all production. A vote for acquiring more private land by government, or tightening government's control of the remaining private land, is a vote for socialism in America. Of course, it's not called socialism; it's called "protecting the environment."...

Just as we almost had amnesty for 3 million illegal Mexicans foisted upon us "on the sly" by a little rider attached to a piece of innocuous legislation, so, too, we might get the U.N.-sponsored global tax "on the sly." After all, it would only be 7/l0 of l percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – which is reminiscent of how, in l9l4, the federal income tax began as an itsy-bitsy tax and then grew to gargantuan proportions. Pattern Set The pattern has been set and the handwriting is on the wall. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte signed the Monterrey...