Free Republic

Nothing about illegal immigration quite adds up. Conservative corporate employers still support the idea of imported, cheap, non-union labor -- in a strange alliance with liberal activists who want the larger blocs of Latino voters that eventually follow massive influxes from Latin America. Yet how conservative are businesses that in the past flouted federal law -- and how liberal are activists who undermined the bargaining power of American minimum-wage, entry-level workers, many of them minorities? The remedies for illegal immigration under discussion are just as incoherent. If the government now plans to offer some foreign nationals a pathway to citizenship,...

“Change,” long the mantra of Barack Obama and the Democrats, is now clearly the watchword for Republicans such as Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul and Paul Ryan. The need for a Republican reset was repeatedly driven home at the party’s annual winter meeting here last week. The appeal for reform is coming from unexpected quarters within the GOP--including religious conservatives who appear to be moving toward a more libertarian view of the government’s role on same sex-marriage and other divisive social issues.... Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told a gathering of Ohio Republican officials on Saturday that the GOP needs to be...

Ron Paul Warns Immigration 'Reform' Will Turn The US Into A Police State Politics / US PoliticsFebruary 05, 2013 - 03:31 AM GMT By: Dr Ron Paul Whenever the federal government decides to reform something we can be fairly sure that the problem is about to get worse, especially if they call the plan bi-partisan. The bi-partisan immigration reform proposal launched last week in the US Senate will be no different. The new plan, introduced by Sens. McCain and Schumer, would provide a path to citizenship for many of those in the United States illegally. This would only begin after...

For all the talk about President Obama’s liberalism, his immigration agenda is the last thing you might expect: conservative. His enemies might deny it. His staff might not recognize it. But the argument Obama presented Tuesday for a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants is rooted in economic and social conservatism. First, in a Las Vegas address that included the words “economy” or “economic” 10 times, Obama argued that immigration fuels corporate innovation. “It keeps our workforce young. It keeps our country on the cutting edge,” he said. “And it’s helped build the greatest economic engine the world...

**SNIP** Social Security: 'Chained CPI' Savings: $112 billion The idea is to change the way the government figures out how much more seniors should get in Social Security benefits each year to account for changes in their cost of living. This new formula — a tweak to the consumer price index — would assume that people switch their buying habits when prices rise, rather than just buying the same things over and over. So, for example, if the price of ground beef goes up, someone might buy chicken or fish instead. The result: Social Security benefits will rise more slowly.

Comprehensive immigration reform could make millions of people suddenly eligible for assistance under President Obama's healthcare law, assuming a final deal paves the way for undocumented immigrants to receive papers. Illegal aliens are now prohibited from purchasing coverage through the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges, which will launch next year. They are also ineligible for Medicaid under most circumstances, making the law's expansion of the program fruitless for people without documents. Even young illegal immigrants with "deferred action" status, known as "DREAMers," cannot access the law's benefits. But the picture could change completely if Hispanic lawmakers get their wish —...

Professor Jacobson made an exceedingly important point yesterday: Our focus must be on “changing what we can change, protecting what we can protect, undermining what we can undermine, acting locally.” Based on my experience in San Diego, I cannot stress enough the vital role that local activism is playing in fiscal reform. Here is Exhibit A as proof of the success of can-do citizen activism: Proposition B – San Diego’s Pension Reform Initiative. The measure, which passed in June 2012 with over 65% of the votes, put new city employees (except police) into a 401(k) style pension, rather than a...

This report lays out the case for elimination of the franchise tax. Part II of this report (which is forthcoming) advocates for a transition Be Bold Texas! Franchise Tax Report Be Bold Texas! Franchise Tax Report (PDF) away from property taxes to consumption taxes to fund the maintenance and operations of public schools. That report will also make the case for a lower property tax appraisal cap or property tax revenue cap to provide homeowners and business owners with relief from inexorable appraisal growth. Taken together, these reforms would represent a substantial transformation of the state’s tax structure, and thus,...

In the midst of national debates on fiscal cliffs and gun control, could this also be the time to tackle our immigration woes? Let’s be honest and agree that U.S. immigration policy is a complete disaster. For too many decades, this country has ignored violations of our immigration laws, and now we have a real mess on our hands — an estimated 11 million people who have entered the country illegally and are living and working here under the radar. Whose fault is it? There is plenty of blame to go around, so I suggest we don’t even go there...

The newly elected North Carolina General Assembly was sworn in this week. It is decidedly Republican, with the Republicans having a 31-to-19 advantage in the state Senate and a 67 to 52 advantage in the state House. There is also a huge change for 2013 in that North Carolina has a Republican governor. Former Gov. Bev "Dumpling" Perdue vetoed quite a few bills in the last session and even more bills were never introduced because the Republicans knew they would never make it past the governor's desk. Now the legislature has a governor who will be working with them, not...

Democrats in Washington declare that they will absolutely, positively allow no changes whatever in the nation’s unsustainable entitlement programs — Social Security and Medicare. But out in the states, politicians of both parties aren’t averting their gaze from impending fiscal crises. They are working to change policies that have put state governments on an unsustainable trajectory. The most obvious example was the passage of a right-to-work law last week in Michigan, the birthplace of the United Auto Workers union. Passage of the law was retaliation for an attempted power grab by both the UAW and public-sector unions — Proposition 2,...

In a recent column titled The National Popular Vote Fallacy, I attempted to demonstrate how the progressives who are behind the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) may, in fact, be shooting themselves in the foot.As the NPVIC rule is designed, when enough states have joined the Compact to bring at least 270 electoral votes (a simple majority in the Electoral College) to the table, then and only then will the combined electoral votes of all the Compact states automatically go to the candidate with a majority of the national popular vote, thereby eliminating any possibility of electing a president...

Burning down the SenateBy John E. Sununu December 03, 2012 In the hallways of the US Capitol, intrepid visitors can still find scars left behind when the British burned the building to its foundation stones nearly 200 years ago. Today, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is doing his very best to repeat that history. Should he gain his way, Senate rules will be changed, the principle of unlimited debate will be restricted, and a fire will rage in the Senate that will burn for a long time to come. Despite 30 years of service in Congress, Reid appears oblivious...

California officials need to add up the costs of all the state's clean-energy policies before adopting any more, according to a report issued Monday by a government oversight agency. The state has adopted a series of far-reaching energy reforms - boosting the use of renewable power and reining in greenhouse gases - without considering how each policy affects the others, the Little Hoover Commission argues in the report. Even worse, state officials have no clear idea how much all of those reforms, taken together, will cost. Californians could soon face a "rate impact bomb" of exploding electricity prices as a...

Topeka — Supporters of carrying concealed guns in Kansas will reload when the 2013 legislative session starts in January. “We can trust the average Kansan to carry a deadly weapon,” said Rep. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona. “It is not the weapon that is evil; it is criminals that misuse weapons.” Knox was elected to the Kansas Senate in November and will take that position in January. During the last legislative session, Knox pushed a bill that would allow concealed-carry permit holders to take their weapons into public buildings, such as university classrooms, dorms, city halls and other such structures if those...

On Thursday evening, November 15th, an audience of several hundred people sat in rapt attention at Temple Israel on New York City's Upper East Side, as they heard the compelling narrative of a most unusual man. Kasim Hafeez, 28, is a British born Muslim of Pakistani descent whom was raised in an environment where he was taught that, "Jews control the world, and Israel is at fault for just about everything." As many other young Muslims in the United Kingdom, he embraced the teachings of radical Islam and internalized the visceral hatred for Israel that is endemic to this philosophy....

Outline/Summary: This paper will analyze current US Copyright Law by examining three myths on copyright law and possible reforms to copyright law that will lead to more economic development for the private sector and to a copyright law that is more firmly based upon constitutional principles. 1. The purpose of copyright is to compensate the creator of the content:It’s a common misperception that the Constitution enables our current legal regime of copyright protection – in fact, it does not. The Constitution’s clause on Copyright and patents states:“To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times...

The Fiscal Responsibility Cliff- By: Larry Walker -When I went to work for the IRS back in 1988, the first few weeks were spent in tax law courses. I distinctly remember, at the time, that the base amounts used in determining the taxability of Social Security benefits were $25,000 for single taxpayers and $32,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return. For some reason when the topic came up this year, during annual continuing education, with all the talk of looming fiscal responsibility (errantly referred to as a cliff), combined with having been read the riot act by several seniors...

Conflict-of-interest concerns raised as Obama races to implement health reformBy Alexander Bolton - 11/03/12 11:42 AM ET The Obama administration is relying heavily on outside contractors to implement a core component of healthcare reform as it races to set up a federal health insurance marketplace before 2014. The fast-approaching deadline gives the administration little time to scrutinize private-sector partners for conflicts of interest. The purchase of one of these contractors, Quality Software Services, Inc. (QSSI), by UnitedHealth Group, a major healthcare conglomerate, has sparked concerns about a potentially uneven playing field. QSSI, a Maryland-based contractor, in January won a large...

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan expects 50,000 people to turn out after Friday prayers in Amman for a demonstration on behalf of major political and economic reforms and an end to corruption, according to Agence France Presse. The protest comes about a day after King Abdullah II dissolved parliament and called early elections. A rally on behalf of the king's more moderate reform policy was postponed indefinitely "avoid problems," according to one of the event's organizers. The anticipated attendance for that event was...