Free Republic

Florida may extend its alligator hunt. Hunting seasons across the country are regularly scheduled, with some lasting for only brief windows of time. In Florida, the alligator hunting season only allows the animals to be harvested at night. That may change, however. The Florida Fish and Wildlife has proposed adding additional daytime hours to the hunt, the Tampa Bay Times reports If this change were to be implemented, it would open the hunting time frame to 24-hours a day. Alligators are typically more active at night, which makes it a prime time to hunt them. The proposal was met with...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Cory Booker on Thursday said he would create a White House office to combat white supremacy and hate crimes if elected, becoming the latest Democratic presidential candidate to call for action after a racially motivated massacre in Texas. Booker said he would also require the FBI and the Justice Department to allocate the same level of resources and attention to white supremacist-inspired violence as they devote to international terrorism.

Submitted by Simon Black via Sovereign Man blog, By the late 1920s, Joseph Stalin became the unchallenged leader of the Soviet Union after having eliminated his opposition. He topped it off in 1929 by serving a decisive blow to anyone that would dare to oppose him by outlawing private gun ownership in the country. From that year on until 1953 when Stalin died, it’s estimated that more than 20 million Soviet citizens that were seen as a threat to the country’s leadership. People were rounded up and either murdered outright, or sent to infamous gulag labor camps. Stalin is an...

SAN JOSE -- Want a Coke at the San Jose Library? A root beer for the kids at Happy Hollow Park and Zoo? Maybe some whole milk for the little one? Forget it! That stuff makes you fat. A San Jose councilman wants the city to stop providing sugary drinks and whole milk at city properties and events to promote healthier diets. "We cannot stop the obesity epidemic," City Councilman Ash Kalra said in his proposal. "But as the city of San Jose, we can do our part by being socially responsible and accountable for the products we make available...

California State University trustees are proposing a 9 percent hike in undergraduate tuition beginning with the fall 2012 semester, unless the state gives the system more money. It would be the ninth basic fee increase in nine years for the nation's largest university system, which says higher tuition is the only way to keep up with rising enrollment and declining state support. "Our options are severely limited," CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said in a Monday morning news conference. "The state needs to step up and assume its historic role as the primary funder of the university." The $498 increase...

President Obama has not been particularly successful in fostering the creation of jobs. But he thinks he has found a way to pry open doors in the workplace for many of the unemployed, especially those who have been out of work for a long time. Mr. Obama’s jobs bill would prohibit employers from discriminating against job applicants because they are unemployed.

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) has introduced a bill that would allow the President to imprison an unlimited number of American citizens (as well as foreigners) indefinitely without trial. Known as The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010, or S. 3081, the bill authorizes the President to deny a detainee a trial by jury simply by designating that person an “enemy belligerent.” The bill, which has eight cosponsors, explicitly names U.S. citizens as among those who can be detained indefinitely without trial: An individual, including a citizen of the United States, determined to be an unprivileged enemy belligerent...

Appearing to blink first in a nearly three-week standoff with absent Senate Democrats, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker offered to keep certain collective bargaining rights in place for state workers in a proposed compromise, according to e-mails released Tuesday by his office. But the e-mails weren't enough to end a stalemate that has drawn national attention and ignited a storm of protest from union workers and their supporters. Sen. Bob Jauch, one of the 14 Democrats on the run in Illinois to block a vote on Walker's original proposal, said he hoped the compromise would serve as a blueprint for future...

The idea of a government "Department of Information" is not new. After all, the Nazis had one. So did the Soviets. All good little dictatorships need one in order to get the "facts" out to the people. HuffPo blogger - brain dead psychologist Jim Taylor - originally came up with the idea as a serious measure to get the "facts" out to the people. And like any enthusiastic authoritarian, he wants the government to determine what the "facts" are: Here is my proposal to return fact-based reality to our national dialogue (note: please don't miss my ironic tone):The federal government...

Mark Dayton is urging the Minnesota legislature to pass an immediate tax hike, using the money to reduce class sizes and stop 4-day school weeks. Minnesota DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton is proposing a new, higher income tax on the state's highest income earners and said the money should be used to ease the budget crunch at local schools. The "Millionaire Tax" would be imposed on incomes above $1 million. Dayton, a former U.S. Senator, called the direction of Minnesota schools a "descent to the bottom, not a Race to the Top." He is urging the legislature to pass an...

President Obama is proposing to begin a vast expansion of the U.S. health-care system by creating a $634 billion reserve fund over the next decade, launching an overhaul that most experts project will ultimately cost at least $1 trillion. The "reserve fund" in the budget proposal being released today is Obama's attempt to demonstrate how the country could extend health insurance to millions more Americans and at the same time begin to control escalating medical bills that threaten the solvency of families, businesses and the government.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday proposed a pan-European summit to review a proposal to create a "reliable collective" security system in Europe. Saying that the existing architecture of European security "did not pass the strength test in recent events," referring to the Georgia conflict, he told the UN General Assembly that a "pan-European summit" should take "a comprehensive look at security problems." Lavrov did not say when or where this summit would be held but said its task would be to weigh a proposal made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Berlin last June...

In the first such program in California, and perhaps the United States, Bay Area air pollution regulators are proposing to charge an annual fee to thousands of businesses based on the amount of greenhouse gases they emit. The fee - 4.2 cents per metric ton of carbon dioxide - would affect everything from oil refineries to power plants, and landfills, factories and small businesses like restaurants and bakeries. --snip-- After years of voluntary measures, the fees, proposed this week by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, set a precedent as the first time that businesses and government agencies would...

Sacramento -- Despite deep cuts in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to bridge the state's $14.5 billion deficit, nearly half of his budget-balancing plan involves borrowing money, deferring debt payments and counting future tax revenue, according to a report released Monday by the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office. The governor is proposing to issue $3.3 billion in bonds, delay a scheduled early payment on debt worth $1.5 billion and shift $2 billion of tax revenue that would otherwise be counted in the 2009-10 fiscal year to the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, the report says. Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill questioned...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal yesterday for a $141 billion state budget with deep cuts was met with fear that 100,000 teachers may lose their jobs and suspicion that it's a ploy to get budget reform. Schwarzenegger insisted tax increases would not be part of the mix, reminding reporters that he pledged not to raise taxes when he took office in 2004. “I'm going to keep my promise,” he said. “I will not raise taxes on the people of California because they are already paying enough taxes.” The Republican governor's proposal for a 10 percent across-the-board cut to help...

BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela - Hugo Chavez's ex-wife said Thursday she is proposing a constitutional amendment to shorten presidential terms, saying the president has been in office long enough. Marisabel Rodriguez said she believes terms should be reduced from six to four years, and allow presidents only one opportunity for re-election. "Four years and re-election ... it gives you enough time," said Rodriguez. "This can be done through an amendment." Her comments came four days after voters narrowly rejected the president's 69 proposed changes to Venezuela's Constitution, including reforms that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely. Chavez and Rodriguez divorced...

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Secretary-General proposed a two-year budget of $4.2 billion on Thursday, saying the small increase isn't much in light of the growing demands on the United Nations to address a range of diplomatic and security challenges. While the proposed budget represents a 5 percent increase over the $3.8 billion budget for the 2006-2007, Ban Ki-Moon said it represents only $23 million in real growth, or half a percentage point. "That is not much, considering the demands upon us," he said, naming conflicts and potential crisis areas as well as longer-term challenges of alleviating poverty, providing humanitarian...

NAPLES, Fla. - Republican Fred Thompson said Tuesday the government should yank federal dollars from cities and states that don't report illegal immigrants. In his first major policy proposal, Thompson challenged presidential rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney by criticizing "sanctuary cities" where city workers are barred from reporting suspected illegal immigrants who enroll their children in school or seek hospital treatment. "Taxpayer money should not be provided to illegal immigrants," Thompson said at a round-table discussion that included Collier County, Fla., sheriff Don Hunter. Thompson has argued his rivals are soft on illegal immigration because Giuliani, as New York...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday proposed a $9 billion water bond measure that would earmark more than half the money for dams opposed by most of the Democrats who dominate the Legislature. The proposal eclipses the governor's previous $5.9 billion bond plan, in large part by adding a third dam project in Contra Costa County. Whether the lawmakers will go along with dams - and how much they are willing to pay for them - will be a key part of the negotiations in the Legislature's upcoming special session on water projects. Senate President Pro Tem. Don Perata, D-Oakland, has...

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed centralizing and expanding the regulation of lobbyists to reduce the influence of special interest money in Washington. The first-term Illinois senator has pitched his relative newcomer status as a symbol for change against rival Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's many years in Washington circles. Obama unveiled his plan a voter roundtable at a restaurant here. It would create a central database giving the public access to lobbying reports, ethics records and campaign finance filings. It would also expand lobbying disclosure rules to include lobbyists seeking government contracts and presidential pardons,...