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POLS PUSH FOR MINT BAN By LINDSAY POWERS Sun May 22, 4:17 AM ET Political momentum is building for safer candy. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton told The Post she is raising the issue with the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission early this week. She called the deaths, just two days apart, of Jocelys Santiago, 5, and Ashley Morrison, 4, "completely preventable." City Councilwoman Christine Quinn, who chairs the Health Committee, is introducing legislation this week to ban large, round candy. She also wants a council hearing on the subject before schools let out for summer....

WASHINGTON - Breaking with party leaders, a Democratic congressman plans to introduce Social Security legislation, saying his first commitment is to his constituents. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., said Friday: "I have the largest amount of Social Security recipients of any Democrat anywhere in the country. My allegiance to seniors is greater than my allegiance to the Democratic Party." While Wexler is proposing tax increases that would clash with President Bush's pledge not to expand the existing payroll tax, his legislation was heralded by the White House in part because Democrats had steadfastly refused to offer an alternative to Bush's plan....

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California's public schools, once among the best in the nation, now lag behind almost every other state in student achievement, funding, teacher quality and facilities. The state's urban high schools have become "dropout factories," saddled with some of the lowest graduation rates in the United States. And the pay disparity among California teachers means that the best-paid teachers in 42 of the 50 largest districts work in schools that serve the fewest number of black and Hispanic students. Those are just a few of the findings outlined in several recent reports which together paint a grim...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Warren Beatty, an actor who has dabbled in politics across four decades, has some words of advice for fellow film star and now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger should raise taxes on the California rich and "terminate" his fund-raising and dinners with "the brokers of Wall Street" and the "lobbyists of K Street," Beatty said. Receiving a political award Friday night, the actor who played Sen. Jay Billington Bulworth in the 1998 movie, "Bulworth," said: "Arnold. Be the action hero I know you can be. Be strong. Stand up and confront the wealthiest 1 percent of...

Environmentalists are raising a stink about changes to the state's waste management board, which governs California's garbage collection and recycling system. Michael Paparian, a veteran Sierra Club leader in Sacramento, is out. Reportedly in is Scott Harvey, a one-time San Diego city councilman and former executive director of the San Diego County Disposal Association, a lobbying and education group funded by the region's trash haulers. "These decisions really tilted the balance of the board toward the industry and away from the environment," said Bill Magavern, legislative representative for the California Sierra Club in Sacramento. The Sierra Club yesterday issued a...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has planned a series of fundraisers from California to the East Coast next month, including a dinner with New York Gov. George Pataki, a business round table with Washington lobbyists, and a Los Angeles event where $89,200 will buy a "private briefing" for two with the governor. Schwarzenegger's fundraising blitz in Ohio, Manhattan, Washington, Los Angeles and Indian Wells, Calif., — at upscale hotels, restaurants and private homes — is intended to raise money for a possible reelection campaign and other Schwarzenegger endeavors. The Los Angeles invitation lists one of Schwarzenegger's state campaign chairmen as...

Who proposes a new tax hoping to see not a penny in revenue? A Montana legislator who wants to change the way Wal-Mart pays its workers there. Sen. Ken Toole, D-Helena, is sponsoring a bill that all but names Wal-Mart as the object of the tax: A big retailer that doesn't pay an entry-level salary of at least $22,000 a year and that hires more than half part-timers will be charged a progressive tax of 1 to 2 percent on its gross receipts over $20 million a year. It's just the latest proposal by local governments to try to collect...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - In a victory for the United States government, a federal judge in San Diego has ruled that prosecutors can mention terrorism to a jury hearing the case of a Somali national charged with lying to naturalization agents about his connection to two charities that have been linked to terrorist groups. U.S. District Judge John Houston reversed himself Tuesday for the second time in the immigration case against Omar Abdi Mohamed, president of the San Diego-based Western Somali Relief Agency. Prosecutors said the Western Somali Relief Agency accepted $5,000 between 1998 and 2001 from the Al-Haramain Islamic...

WASHINGTON - Abusive tax shelters, inflated deductions and other misdeeds cost the U.S. Treasury little when compared with money lost because some employee benefits and wages escape taxation. The government could collect $164 billion more in tax revenue over the coming decade if it changed laws that exempt some employee benefits from the taxes that pay for Social Security (news - web sites) and Medicare, according to a study released Thursday by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. The panel, which provides technical expertise to tax committees, detailed six dozen changes that could increase the amount of money flowing into...

Boxer Using Rice Attacks to Raise Money. BOXER LAUNCHES FUNDRAISING DRIVE Tue Jan 25 2005 22:03:11 ET Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) took her opposition to Condoleezza Rice to a new front: She has used it in a fundraising pitch to Democratic donors. The pitch went out Tuesday evening. On behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Boxer referred to Rice’s “misleading statements leading up to the war in Iraq and beyond,” and implored donors to “put the brakes on four more years of misdirection in Iraq and reckless policies at home” by helping elect more Democrats next year. ROLL CALL...

Satellite TV customers are facing price rises, as operators Dish Network and DirecTV hatch plans to increase rates, despite an ongoing rivalry with cable providers. Dish Network, owned by EchoStar Communications, plans to raise subscriptions by $2 to $4 a month, the company said Thursday. That translates to an average of 4.3 percent on average charges of $56.11. The new rates will take effect Feb. 1 and affect certain packages, such as the basic service. DirecTV is also planning to announce a rate hike this quarter, but details are not yet available, said Robert Mercer, a company spokesman. Currently, DirecTV...

Hundreds of millions of additional dollars must be pumped into Minnesota schools to get them operating at peak performance, the leader of Minnesota's teachers union said Thursday. And if that takes more taxes, then so be it. "We're not tax experts, but we need to put everything on the table," said Education Minnesota president Judy Schaubach. "Legislators cannot blindly adhere to a no-new-taxes stance."

BANGOR - Mainers could be paying as much for electricity starting March 1 as they did five years ago when policy-makers promised lower prices once the state's electricity industry was restructured. Today, the Maine Public Utilities Commission likely will increase the standard-offer electricity rate by as much as 50 percent, from roughly 5 cents per kilowatt-hour to 7.5 cents. It could mean paying about $16 more per month for the average homeowner.  Stephen Ward, the state's public advocate, expects this magnitude of price increase. It's a vote that wasn't supposed to take place. Standard offer, or the default rate consumers...

Hearings Shed Light on War BAGHDAD -- Members of the U.S. Army's 41st Regiment uncovered an AK-47 during a routine search in the dangerous Baghdad slum of Sadr City on Aug. 31. Finding a weapon was not unusual, but Sgt. Michael P. Williams, 25, said he felt danger when he saw a smirking Iraqi man in the house where the gun was found, according to the testimony of fellow soldiers. "I feel threatened," Williams declared, the soldiers recalled. The "Iraqi went for his weapon." Moments later, Williams shot the Iraqi man with two bullets to his head and chest, according...

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!

TOKYO - First he used his celebrity to sell California to Californians. Then he turned his sights on neighboring states and urged Americans to come west. Now he's taking his pitch to the global arena by trying to lure more international tourists back to his economically bruised state. Hours into his first trade mission as California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that he's thinking of filming a television commercial to finance resurrection of at least one of the state's shuttered trade offices. ``It's quick money,'' he told California reporters after appearing on a top-rated Tokyo news program. ``You work for...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles said the campus may need to more than double its undergraduate tuition to remain a top-rate, research university. UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said Thursday that such a hike is years away, and he promised to boost financial aid if a fee increase were approved. But his statement may serve as a harbinger of the UC system's move away from its founding mission of a providing tuition-free university. The UC's seven undergraduate programs all charge roughly the same fees. Carnesale said that it might be appropriate for some...

from the Kerry Ammo Armory...  Here's a copyright-ready, email-able graphic you can send, post on blogs, use on posters or fliers, etc.: 

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The Cassini spacecraft successfully fired its engine for 51 minutes Monday to raise its orbit so it will not pass through Saturn's rings on its next close approach to the planet and to set itself on course for another flyby of the big moon Titan on Oct. 26, NASA said. Confirmation of the successful burn was received at 11:51 a.m. PDT, according to a statement from Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the international mission. The maneuver was designed to raise its altitude during the next close approach to Saturn by 186,000 miles. Cassini arrived at Saturn...

A small army of cops and firefighters seeking higher pay gave Mayor Bloomberg a bon voyage protest outside his upper East Side townhouse early this morning.  Several hundred of the Finest and Bravest massed on E. 79th St. at 1:15 a.m. to chant, rant and wave placards calling for a new contract - just when the mayor was presumably resting up before his trip to the Athens Olympics today. A contingent made up largely of firefighters chanted "Strike, strike, strike!" as they marched across the street from the mayor's residence. Squads of cops in blue T-shirts proclaiming "Police Officers for...

There’s no question that the U.S. economy is booming. Why isn’t this reflected in President’s Bush poll ratings? Why would Americans think that John Kerry would do anything but ruin the economy? Kerry: the King of All Waflers; the most liberal member of the Senate. He proposes increasing taxes by $700 billion over the next 10 years. Kerry plans to stifle the American economic engine. Faced with good economic times, just what are Americans thinking?Boom Times Yesterday, the Conference Board reported that U.S. consumer confidence reached its best level in two years. 248,000 new American jobs were created in May....

Divers aim to raise the Graf Spee Feb 4 2004 Divers will begin this week raising pieces of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, scuttled off Uruguay in the early days of the Second World War to avoid being sunk by a British armada. The Battle of the River plate that led to pride of the German fleet's humiliating end rapidly become nautical folklore ... and a film. Hector Bado, a spokesman for the salvage team, said work on the Graf Spee was scheduled to begin tomorrow but high winds and choppy waters on the broad waterway separating Uruguay...

The $410.7 billion defense budget request for fiscal 2005 fully funds current readiness while maintaining course for transforming the military, DoD officials said here today. Under the proposal, service members would receive a 3.5 percent across-the- board pay raise. The request also would increase the basic allowance for housing to eliminate all out-of-pocket expenses for service members. The budget priority is to win the war on terror, said a senior defense official briefing on background. "We are at war," he said. Readiness accounts – operations and maintenance – must be fully funded, he said. Army tank miles are set at...

The president's proposed fiscal 2005 budget boosts defense spending to continue the war on terror, providing another pay raise for troops and increasing homeland security spending. "We will devote the resources necessary to win the war on terror and protect our homeland," President Bush said Jan. 31 during his weekly radio address to the nation. With U.S. forces deployed worldwide in the fight against terrorism, Bush noted his proposed budget boosts defense spending by 7 percent, with money earmarked for equipment, ammunition and troop housing. "We'll keep our military strong and ready for every challenge that may come," the commander...

New bid fails to raise Beagle Scientists say two further attempts to contact Britain's Beagle 2 Mars probe have failed. The craft's mothership, Mars Express, flew over the landing site at 12.50pm yesterday and 1.27pm today but heard no signal. Mars Express was in its most sensitive listening mode. Hopes of finding the lander, which has been missing since Christmas Day, are now fading fast.More passes will be made tomorrow at 2.04pm and on Monday at 2.02am. Story filed: 18:10 Friday 9th January 2004

<p>The Democratic Party appears to be on an irreversible course to nominate Howard Dean as its candidate for the presidency. Yet while voters in Iowa and New Hampshire may have heard a thing or two about Mr. Dean's economic policies, most Americans have not. Indeed, most voters are unaware that the former governor of Vermont has a plan to raise income taxes on every single American who pays them.</p>

ISSUE: Do you think Congress deserves *another* pay raise? Or should we perhaps repeal their last one, and stop automatic pay raises in the future? Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL) has introduced a bill to cut congressional pay by 3.1%. The legislation is in response to President Bush's decision earlier this year to freeze part of the pay raise for federal employees. "How can we face our constituents when we allow ourselves to impose this pay increase?" Miller said. "Americans everywhere are doing their part to help win the war on terror. Congress must do the same and refuse the 3.1...

Congress got a 3.1% pay hike this year and is set to get another raise for 2004, but retirees on Social Security only got 1.4% (and many private workers were just happy to keep their jobs). Why the difference? Retirees get automatic raises bsed on inflation, which is very low, while Congressional raises are based on a different formula. Members can vote to forgo their automatic raises, and Sen. Russell Feingold (D, WI) tried to get his colleagues to do just that, citing tough economic times and high deficits. He lost 58-36 but may try again for 2004. Congressional raises...

American marines swept aside Iraqi sensibilities yesterday to raise the Stars and Stripes at the entrance to Iraq's main port of Umm Qasr. In a move condemned by MPs as crass, the marines replaced the Iraqi flag in an attempt to recreate the iconic image of the US flag being raised over the Pacific island of Iwo Jima in the second world war. Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, promised to pass on British concerns about the raising of the flag, which undermined allied claims that they were liberating, not conquering, Iraq. His remarks came after Crispin Blunt, a Tory MP...

<p>BOSTON (AP) At a time of deep cutbacks in state services, there is at least one area where spending will increase next year: legislative pay.</p> <p>Massachusetts' 200 lawmakers will automatically receive a pay increase an amount yet to be determined under a constitutional amendment approved by voters four years ago.</p>

<p>Missouri voters should be asked to authorize a statewide bond issue to raise $2 billion for schools, St. Louis school officials said Monday.</p> <p>Half of the money from the sale of the bonds would provide matching grants to allow school districts to invest in technology and to improve and repair buildings. Interest from the other half would pay for programs for teachers and students.</p>

<p>Voters who have been cursing Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant since the chaotic Sept. 10 primary will be happy to know they are now giving her a raise.</p> <p>"You must be kidding," says George Kaplan, one of the many in Broward County who say they are outraged by Oliphant's conduct before, during and after the primary.</p> <p>Oliphant's salary was hiked this week -- from $122,446 to $125,963. She can thank a state formula that automatically increases the pay of many elected officials annually.</p>