Free Republic

The village of Nice, Calif., has a name pronounced “Neece,” like the city on the French Riviera, and it sits on a strip of land wedged dramatically between steep hills and the shores of Clear Lake. This was resort country a century ago, but tourists are scarce these days and the surrounding county is now among the poorest in the state, when measured by median income. A perfect place, in other words, for a cinderblock Dollar General store, which now straddles Highway 20, a two-minute walk from the gazebo that marks the village center. When it opened back in 2015,...

America has a major dependency problem. In recent decades, there’s been a significant increase in the number of working-age adults relying on handouts.This is bad news for poor people and bad news for taxpayers. But it’s also bad news for the nation since it reflects an erosion of societal capital.For all intents and purposes, people are being paid not to be productive.Guided by the spirit of Calvin Coolidge, we need to reform the welfare state.Professor Dorfman of the University of Georgia, in a column for Forbes, pinpoints the core problem. The first failure of government welfare programs is to favor help with current consumption while placing almost...

51 percent of immigrant households—both legal and illegal—receive some kind of public assistance, versus just 30 percent of native households. Whether immigrants contribute more to total economic activity or public revenues greater than they receive in benefits is not addressed in this report, and remains a subject of fierce controversy. ... This study is the first in recent years to examine immigrant (legal and illegal) and native welfare use using the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). While its complexity makes it difficult to use, the survey is widely regarded as providing the most accurate picture of...

When I was growing up, my mother made me write and send Thank You notes to each and every person who ever gave me a gift—Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, graduation gifts, you name it. It’s a habit I carried into adulthood. When my wife and I were married, we had Thank You cards in the mail within a week of the occasion. We have been blessed with a 17-year-old son. Ever since he’s been old enough to grasp a pen, he has been sending out Thank You cards for every gift received on every occasion. It’s only right and proper....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than half of low-wage workers employed by the largest U.S. fast-food restaurants earn so little that they must rely on public assistance to get by, according to a study released on Tuesday. This ends up costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars a year, the study said. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau and public benefit programs show 52 percent of fast-food cooks, cashiers and other "front-line" staff had relied on at least one form of public assistance, such as Medicaid, food stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit program, between 2007 and 2011, researchers at...

In an e-mail to supporters, First Lady Michelle Obama says she grew up in a family that didn't need help from the government, and that her husband is working to make Americans free from dependence on government once again. In her message sent yesterday from democratparty@democrats.org, Mrs. Obama says: "When I was growing up, a family like mine -- living on my hard-working father's salary at the city water plant -- could build a solid life without much debt and without relying on any form of public assistance. Today, for too many families, that American promise is no longer within...

Choices have consequences. That's what Nadya "Octomom" Suleman is finding out -- the hard way. After gaining notoriety for going full-term with eight children, to add to the six children she already had, the unmarried Suleman is now almost completely broke, and ready to go on welfare, RadarOnline.com reports. p> "She's going on welfare and it's going to be very soon," an insider told the web site. "There's just no choice. She's running out of money and those kids need to eat." The money Octomom made selling access to her life is almost all gone, and reality TV and book...

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...

For students living on ramen noodles or people in low-wage, time-consuming jobs, folks who are down on their luck or living on fixed incomes, healthy eating may seem too expensive. Nutritionists say, however, that's a false perception. Healthy eating, in fact, is cheaper. The cost of expensive eating often isn't the food, it's the bells and whistles of trendy packaging. "You pay for convenience," says Amy Moore, a dietitian at St. Louis University. "What it takes is planning and sometimes a little investment." That means eating more fresh food from low-cost stores and farmers markets, watching store sales and using...

Ronald Halterman A Shelbyville man has been getting his water and sewer bill paid through a federal program designed to help people pay their winter heating and summer cooling bills. And he wants that to stop, so David Crowell, general manager of Shelbyville Power, Water & Sewerage System, has re-examined the situation and has come to the conclusion that to satisfy a customer, the utility bill can be separated. All Shelbyville utility bills, except Ronald Halterman's, will include charges for electricity, water, sewer and taxes. The federal assistance provided to Halterman is for energy such as electricity and, last...

I thought I would you give you all an update on SniperWatch.com. This is the website I put up last Monday night. It allows volunteers to monitor DC/VA/MD traffic cams and log sightings of suspected vehicles to a database that is accessible to law enforcement in real time and retrospectively. In the past three days, 28 volunteers have signed up. In that time, there have been 20,000+ hits on the site and several other webpages are now linking to it so word is getting around. I have made several improvements since going live including a forum and a chat. The...