Free Republic

Is a low income or prolonged unemployment truly cause for financial stress? According to one study, not really. In some states, public assistance programs, or welfare, could pay more than full-time, minimum-wage jobs. Cato Institute’s 2013 Work Versus Welfare Trade-Off study totaled the welfare benefits offered in each state and compared that value with the wages workers would need to earn in order to have an equivalent take-home income. Cato found for long-term dependents, welfare actually pays pretty well. The study examined the package for a single mother with two children, who could use programs such as Temporary Assistance for...

In America, those who work get punished. Those who don't, get a free ride, courtesy of a nationwide policy of spreading the wealth around through confiscation and redistribution. Case in point: A welfare recipient in Austin recently contacted a morning radio show and explained that she gets a lot of money from the program. What she does with it may (or may not) surprise you. Here's how your hard earned money is being used to help the less fortunate: "While workers out there are preaching morality at people like me living on welfare, can you really blame us?"

After bankruptcy, a buyout by a Chinese firm, and more than a hundred million dollars in taxpayer money, the lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems, Inc., is getting a new name: B456 Systems, Inc. A123, which produces batteries used in electric cars, has changed its name to B456, the company announced Thursday in a regulatory filing. The company filed for bankruptcy in October of last year and was later purchased by Chinese firm Wanxiang. The Department of Energy awarded A123 a $249 million grant in 2009, of which the battery maker had received $133 million when it filed for bankruptcy.

When retired Navy aviator Thomas J. Hudner Jr. walks toward midfield at Lincoln Financial Field Saturday afternoon for the coin toss to start the 111th Army-Navy game, the 2010 Navy cocaptains accompanying him will both be African Americans. -snip- on a snowy and bloody afternoon in 1950, despite fierce enemy fire and 30-below temperatures, Hudner somehow landed his plane on a tiny patch of Korean mountainside in an effort to save a downed pilot, Jesse Brown of Hattiesburg, Miss., the Navy's first black aviator. "I wasn't going to leave him there," said Hudner of that day. "What I had to...

A liver transplant recipient was given a public intoxication warning Monday afternoon after he registered a 0.39 percent blood-alcohol level, according to La Crosse police reports. The 34-year-old man was found on a curb at Springbrook Way and Cliffside Drive about 3 p.m., reports stated. He could not stand or walk unassisted when a family member took him home, police noted. He was taken to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center for detoxification.

Subject: Remember the Guy that Wouldn't take the Flag down? Head east from Carthage on Mississippi 16 toward Philadelphia . After a few miles a sign says you're in Edinburg. It s a good thing the sign's there, because there's no other way to tell. On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg -- probably didn't make much news back then. Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano , Italy , Van T. Barfoot, who had enlisted in the Army in 1940, set out to flank German machine gun positions from which fire was coming...

BEDFORD, Ind., Feb. 24, 2010 – More than 100 soldiers preparing for deployment to Iraq got a special treat Feb. 13 when Medal of Honor recipient Sammy L. Davis visited the Indiana National Guard’s 2219th Brigade Support Company at the Bedford National Guard Armory here. Medal of Honor Recipient Sammy L. Davis shows his Medal of Honor to 6-year-old Dean Campbell during a visit with soldiers and family members from the Indiana National Guard’s 2219th Brigade Support Company at the National Guard Armory in Bedford, Ind., Feb. 13, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Robert G. Cooper III  (Click photo for...

A well done video that honors Roy P. Benavidez remarkable courage in Vietnam that earned the Medal Of Honor. How remarkable was he? The Navy named a ship after this soldier extraordinaire. We need to stop and honor our heroes once in a while. And not just the Roy Benavidez' but all our men and women in uniform, standing watch for us.

Matthew Balan writes: "Andrea Elliott’s front page article in the November 9 New York Times played up the thousands of Muslims in the U.S. military and how their “service...is more necessary and more complicated than ever before,” but gave the false impression that a Medal of Honor recipient named near the end of her piece was a Muslim himself, when he was actually Catholic. . . ."

You're an 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam.... and you are learning that War is Hell. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As...

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2007 – One lucky patriot serving overseas will find another type of patriot awaiting his or her return home, thanks to an America Supports You organization and a Jeep dealers association. Operation Gratitude packed its 250,000th care package the morning of June 16. The contents included the normal food, comfort and entertainment items, as well as a homemade quilt donated by school children. But the package won’t be shipped until one more special gift is added to it next month. The treasure at the bottom of the box will be symbolic keys to a Jeep Patriot...

Tears rolled down US President George Bush's cheeks as he posthumously honoured a US marine hero, just 24 hours after ordering the controversial deployment of an extra 21,500 troops to Iraq. The unusual display of emotion by the commander-in-chief came during a ceremony for Corporal Jason Dunham at the White House. Corporal Dunham, 22, died from injuries after he jumped on a grenade and saved fellow members of his patrol in Iraq. Mr Bush presented his parents with the prestigious Medal of Honour, America's highest military award. Corporal Dunham saved at least two lives during a struggle with an insurgent...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2007 – The second servicemember to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in the Iraq war was inducted into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes today. Officials inducted U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Jason Dunham into the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes as a Medal of Honor recipient, Jan. 12, 2007. Dunham received the medal posthumously for his heroic actions in Iraq. Defense Dept. photo by William D. Moss  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham’s name was added to the more than 3,000 engraved on the wall in the Defense Department’s shrine to those...

Tears run from the eyes of U.S. President George W. Bush during a ceremony in honor of Medal of Honor winner Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham in the East room of the White House in Washington, January 11, 2007. Cpl. Dunham was killed when he jumped on a grenade to save fellow members of his Marine patrol while serving in Iraq. REUTERS/Jim Bourg (UNITED STATES)

Tears run from the eyes of U.S. President George W. Bush during a ceremony in honor of Medal of Honor winner Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham in the East room of the White House in Washington, January 11 2007. Cpl. Dunham was killed when he jumped on a grenade to save fellow members of his Marine patrol while serving in Iraq. REUTERS/JIM bOURG (UNITED STATES)

Tears run from the eyes of U.S. President George W. Bush during a ceremony in honor of Medal of Honor winner Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham in the East room of the White House in Washington, January 11, 2007. Cpl. Dunham was killed when he jumped on a grenade to save fellow members of his Marine patrol while serving in Iraq. REUTERS/Jim Bourg (UNITED STATES)

HOLIDAY, Fla.(Army News Service, Aug. 29, 2006) – What began last year as a suggestion by retired Maj. Gen. Fred Raymond came full circle last Friday during a dedication ceremony of the new Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday, Fla. More than 500 family, friends, Soldiers, veterans, legislators, county officials and students were present. Raymond recommended to the Pasco County School Board in September 2005 that the new school be named after Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant 1st Class Paul R. Smith. Smith’s parents, widow and two children live in Holiday, and his 12-year old son David is now...

ARLINGTON, Va., April 14, 2006 – Six Medal of Honor recipients and the Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, were among those gathered at Arlington National Cemetery here yesterday to pay their last respects to retired Army Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. "Mike" Novosel, a Medal of Honor recipient and former Golden Knight. Soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard) carry Medal of Honor recipient retired Chief Warrant Officer Michael J. Novosel Sr. at Arlington National Cemetery April 13. Novosel, 83, was laid to rest after he succumbed to a long battle with cancer. A former pilot...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HIT, Iraq (Jan. 8, 2006) -- As part of their tour of Marine forces in Iraq, a small delegation from Washington, D.C. recently visited the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) at Forward Operating Base Hit, Iraq. Among the group was General Robert Magnus, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, Lt. Gen. Jan C. Huly, the Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies and Operations, and Col. Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (USMC, Ret.), the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Reserve Affairs). After an update on the MEU’s ongoing and planned counterinsurgency efforts with the 2nd Marine Division...

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, Jan. 3, 2006 – A Medal of Honor recipient saluted the work servicemembers are doing around the world as part of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's tour of the U.S. Central Command area. Retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs, who received the nation's highest award for heroism in the Vietnam War, told servicemembers that he has seen improvements all across the theater "and it's all because of you." Jacobs, a military analyst for NBC News, thanked the troops for their service. He spoke to thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines at 13 stops in...