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When Congress passed an economic-stimulus package giving hefty rebates to most taxpayers, it tried to make sure that illegal immigrants didn't get any of the cash. But in doing so lawmakers inadvertently penalized hundreds of thousands of legal U.S. residents - and tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed overseas - simply because their spouses lack a Social Security number. --snip-- Because illegal immigrants don't have Social Security numbers and instead routinely use "tax identification numbers," Congress banned rebates for taxpayers who use the IRS-issued numbers. If a married couple files jointly and one spouse doesn't have a Social Security...

Governor Schwarzenegger kicked off his latest road show this morning in Fresno, talking budget reform and striking a curious balance between defending elected officials and criticizing them. The governor’s event with Fresno Mayor Alan Autry and others had a familiar theme. Armed with his now infamous budget charts showing the imbalance between state expenditures and revenue, Schwarzenegger promised a new push this year for a constitutional amendment to change the budget system. That proposal was hinted at in his State of the State speech two months ago but remains more concept than concrete. What we do know is that it...

'Al-Qa'eda will punish UK for Rushdie award' By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor. Last Updated: 7:57pm BST 10/07/2007 Osama bin Laden’s second in command has issued a warning that Britain faces fresh terror attacks as a "punishment" for the knighthood bestowed on Salman Rushdie. Ayman al-Zawahiri helped mastermind the September 11 attacks in the US The threat - addressed directly to Gordon Brown - came in a 20-minute audio-tape posted on jihadi websites by Ayman al-Zawahiri. He threatened "a very precise response" in retaliation against Britain for having knighted the controversial novelist in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last month. Intelligence...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Governments and rebel groups found to be forcing children into combat or sexual slavery should be punished if they fail to stem the abuses, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said on Wednesday. The U.N. Security Council should hit the responsible individuals with targeted measures such as travel limits, arms embargoes, a cutoff of military aid or restrictions on their finances, Annan said in a new report on child soldiers. Certain abuses should be given priority attention, including killing or maiming children, recruiting or using them as soldiers, attacking schools or hospitals, rape and...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 - The Bush administration imposed penalties this month against some of China's largest companies for aiding Iran's efforts to improve its ballistic missiles. The move is part of an effort by the White House and American intelligence agencies to identify and slow important elements of Iran's weapons programs.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to impose sanctions on British-based Saudi dissident Saad al-Faqih for allegedly providing financial and material support to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. The United States and Saudi Arabia also asked the council to impose sanctions on Saudi businessman Adel Abdul Jalil Batterjee, who was instrumental in founding the Benevolence International Foundation, an Islamic charity that the United States has previously deemed a global terrorist group. Council diplomats said the two names were circulated among the 15 Security Council members on Tuesday. If...

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - A jury decided Monday that Scott Peterson (news - web sites) should be executed for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, whose Christmas Eve disappearance two years ago was the opening act in a legal drama that captivated the nation. A cheer went up outside the courtroom as the jury announced its decision after 11 1/2 hours of deliberations over three days. The jury had two options in deciding the 32-year-old former fertilizer salesman's fate: life in prison without parole or death by injection. Peterson clenched his jaw when the verdict was read and leaned over to...

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The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

from his lecture given in 1927 One of the commonest charges brought against Islam historically, and as a religion, by Western writers is that it is intolerant. This is turning the tables with a vengeance when one remembers various facts: One remembers that not a Muslim is left alive in Spain or Sicily or Apulia. One remembers that not a Muslim was left alive and not a mosque left standing in Greece after the great rebellion in l821. One remembers how the Muslims of the Balkan peninsula, once the majority, have been systematically reduced with the approval of the whole...

<p>So... Why may I ask am I being delayed here! look. Just go to the stinking webpage and givem hell. Thats all I ask. AInt nothing illegal, pornographic or racist going on.</p>

In case after tragic case, the Daily News has spotlighted how New York lets negligent drivers go unpunished after they take lives. Turning a car into a deadly weapon does not in most cases amount to a hill of legal beans. The fault rests with the state's penal law and how the courts have come to interpret it over time. Prosecutors cannot convict a driver of criminally negligent homicide or manslaughter without proving that the driver had committed at least two serious traffic violations, such as both speeding and running a red light. Almost always, this so-called rule of two...

SAYREVILLE, N.J. — The Sayreville school district did not violate the rights of a kindergartner it suspended three years ago for threatening to shoot his friends as they played a game during recess, a federal appeals court ruled. The June 19 ruling by a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal judge’s decision last year that dismissed a lawsuit filed by the boy’s parents. Scot and Cassandra Garrick sued the Middlesex County school district after their son and three other students were suspended following the March 15, 2000, incident in which their child told...