Free Republic

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The state House agreed Thursday to allow people with specialized firearms training, such as military personnel, to carry concealed weapons on the state's college campuses, despite opponents who said it made no sense following shootings at schools across the country. The measure was approved 65-36, and now heads to the state Senate for a vote. Introduced by Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, the law would authorize active-duty military and National Guard and reserve personnel, honorably discharged veterans and others with firearms training certified by the Council on Law Enforcement Education who hold a state concealed weapons license to...

<p>The last politician who took advice from the bond market was Bill Clinton. When he pushed for a tax hike back in 1993 to cut the budget deficit, it was under the assumption that bond investors would respond by bringing down interest rates. (The theory here is that deficits are inflationary. Inflation is bad for bonds.) Yet long-term interest rates surged from 6.45 percent when Clinton signed his tax-hike bill on Aug. 10, 1993, to 8.16 percent on Nov. 7, 1994, the day before the midterm congressional election where Republicans won back the House and Senate.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. MOUNTAINTOP, Pa. - A Luzerne County perfume factory is closing at the end of the year, leaving 200 people out of work. New Dana Perfumes Inc., the maker of fragrances including Tabu, English Leather and Love's Baby Soft, will close its plant in Wright Township, said Peter Schreiber of Dimeling, Schreiber & Park, the Philadelphia investment firm that bought the perfume-manufacturing operation in July 1999 Dana Classic Fragrances Inc., which holds the trademark to the names and formulas and markets and sells the perfumes, will continue to operate - but officials...

Steinbeck's myth of the Okies by Keith Windschuttle John Steinbeck performed a rare feat for a writer of fiction. He created a literary portrait that defined an era. His account of the “Okie Exodus” in The Grapes of Wrath became the principal story through which America defined the experience of the Great Depression. Even today, one of the enduring images for anyone with even a passing familiarity with the 1930s is that of Steinbeck’s fictional characters the Joads, an American farming family uprooted from its home by the twin disasters of dust storms and financial crisis to become refugees in...