State legislator wants Maryland to have their own DREAM Act

Changes at IRS delay filing, refunds for early tax-return filers
The tax law passed earlier this month by the lame-duck Congress has already had one result that is, well, lame: Millions of Taxpayers who usually file their returns quickly to get an early refund will have to wait instead. Because the law passed less than two weeks ago, the Internal Revenue Service is still scrambling to reprogram its computers to handle the income-tax deductions extended by the last-minute Legislation — a process the agency says could take until late February. That means...

State ethics officials need more authority to punish corrupt public officials
Tallahassee -- Florida ethics officials need more authority to investigate and more power to punish public officials and others for what amounts to a ``Florida Corruption tax'' that is eroding public trust and stealing Taxpayers' money, a statewide Grand Jury said Wednesday. More than a year after being asked by Gov. Charlie Crist to investigate a ``culture of corruption'' in Florida, the Grand Jury submitted findings to the Florida Supreme Court, essentially agreeing with Crist. Existing det...

HANS BADER: TIME FOR BIG CUTS IN EDUCATION SPENDING? America spends far more on education than co
HANS BADER: TIME FOR BIG CUTS IN EDUCATION SPENDING? “America spends far more on education than countries like Germany, Japan, Australia, Ireland, and Italy, both as a percentage of its economy, and in absolute terms. Yet despite this lavish government support for education, College Tuition in the U.S. is skyrocketing, reaching levels of $50,000 or more a year at some colleges, and colleges are effect...

10 Ways To Pay For College Tuition In 2011
bankrate.com: With 529 plans fluctuating, financial-aid budgets getting slashed and Tuition rising at an alarming rate, the landscape of college financing is changing fast. Fortunately, you still have options. Here are the best college finance tips for 2011. Read the whole story: bankrate.com Get HuffPost College On Twitter and Facebook! ...

Mailbag: On Haleys Priorities
(Editor’s Note: This is a letter to the editor from a FITS reader. It does not necessarily reflect the editorial position of FITSNews.com. To submit your letter for consideration - anonymously or otherwise - click here ). I read with interest Tim Smith’s report about Gov.-elect Nikki Haley’s legislative priorities ( click here to read Smith’s report). The goal to eliminate the corporate Income Tax is a good one but it doesn’t comply with her desire to &#...

Ed Koch: Unfinished Business
December 27, 2010 Looking back on 2010 and the Great Recession, I continue to be enraged by the lack of accountability for those who wrecked our economy and brought the U.S. to its knees. The shocking truth is that those who did the damage are still in charge. Many who ran Wall Street before and during the debacle are either still there making millions, if not billions, of dollars, or are in charge of our country's economic policies which led to the debacle. Yes, in the recent mid-term electi...

Illinois governor floats $15B debt recovery plan
CHICAGO -- As Illinois' stack of unpaid bills grows, Gov. Pat Quinn is floating the idea of borrowing roughly $15 billion to alleviate the pressure, though Taxpayers would be saddled with loan payments for years. The Governor has approached several State Legislators with a plan he is calling a "Debt bond." While the name is somewhat redundant, the thinking is the state can pay back what it owes and plug its big Budget hole - if only for a year. Supporters say the loan would provide instant cash ...

Defiant Arizona To Step Up War On Illegal Immigration
The Washington Times: Arizona took a public-relations punch to the gut after passing the nation’s toughest anti-illegal-immigration law earlier this year, but anyone who thinks (or hopes) the State Legislature will lower its profile on the border-security issue in 2011 likely will be disappointed. The state is positioned like never before to expand its efforts to combat illegal Immigration. The November election saw Republican Jan Brewer elected to a Second Term as Governor, largely on t...

State colleges and universities bracing for budget storm
Officials at Connecticut's public colleges and universities are bracing for another tough Budget year as the legislature and new Governor grapple with next year's $3.67 billion Deficit. "Public universities are definitely on the firing line," said Higher Education Commissioner Michael Meotti. "The next several years are going to be the toughest Budget years higher education has faced in the last 50 or 60 years." "We all know cuts are coming. It's just a matter of how much," Connecticut State U...

Government Killed California
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 By Terence P. Jeffrey Growing up in California in the 1960s, it was impossible not to believe you lived in the greatest place on earth. California had spectacular coastlines and mountains, luxuriant valleys and stretches of perfect weather that carried on unbroken for months at a time. Natives who ventured from the state -- to other parts of the country or the world -- invariably returned to say it was a mistake to ever leave. In that not-so-long-ago era, a pion...

Justice Dept. warns on Wall Street trading cartel
The nation's top Antitrust cop urged Regulators to stiffen Derivatives trading rules -- or risk having giant banks join up to make a mockery of Financial Reform. Justice took issue with how the SEC and CFTC would restrict Wall Street ownership of the clearinghouses that will be used to settle Derivatives trades, bets tied to the values of financial assets and market indexes. Derivatives markets have become a major profit driver at dealers such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (G...

China cracks down on party culture
China has announced plans to Crack Down in the coming year on lavish parties and seminars organised by government officials, after a series of Scandals inflamed Public Opinion. Along with vast improvements in quality of life for most Chinese, China's booming Economic Growth has led to an ever-larger gap between rich and poor and a surge in Corruption that garners unwanted public criticism. The Communist leadership sees any ADVERTISEMENT public discontent as a threat to government stability. S...

China to crack down on lavish public-funded fetes
Beijing — China plans to Crack Down in the coming year on lavish parties and seminars organized by government officials, hoping to placate a public angered by Corruption and accounts of sex and booze-fueled fetes held at Taxpayer expense. Along with vast improvements in quality of life for most Chinese, China’s booming Economic Growth has led to an ever-larger gap between rich and poor and a surge in Corruption that brings unwanted public criticism. The Communist leadership sees any...

China Corruption Crack Down Begins With Lavish Public-Funded Parties
Beijing — China plans to Crack Down in the coming year on lavish parties and seminars organized by government officials, hoping to placate a public angered by Corruption and accounts of sex and booze-fueled fetes held at Taxpayer expense. Along with vast improvements in quality of life for most Chinese, China's booming Economic Growth has led to an ever-larger gap between rich and poor and a surge in Corruption that brings unwanted public criticism. The Communist leadership sees any publ...

China vows to curtail rampant corruption in government
China laid out its plans to Crack Down on lavish parties for government officials yesterday, in an attempt to stem growing public anger about the rampant Corruption that is so severe it threatens single-party rule in the world's most populous nation. The country's booming economy has provided the opportunity for officials to use their power for personal gain. But it has also caused tremendous social friction with an ever-larger gap between rich and poor and intense anger at accounts of sex and a...

China to Crack Down on Lavish Public-Funded Fetes
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 By Cara Anna, Associated Press Beijing (AP) - China plans to Crack Down in the coming year on lavish parties and seminars organized by government officials, hoping to placate a public angered by Corruption and accounts of sex and booze-fueled fetes held at Taxpayer expense. Along with vast improvements in quality of life for most Chinese, China's booming Economic Growth has led to an ever-larger gap between rich and poor and a surge in Corruption that garners un...

Caricatures of Libertarianism again
There have been a surprising number of reactions across the bloggy-sphere to Chris Beam’s long New York Magazine piece on Libertarianism. I say surprising because Beam’s piece wasn’t a particularly compelling critique of Libertarian political positions. In fact, it was pretty boiler plate, simmering down to essentially libertarianism = Utopianism. Though Beam takes some pains in the beginning to point out that libertarians come in all ideological shapes, sizes, and flavors, by ...

Georgia Bill Would Force State Taxpayers to Pay Only in Gold or Silver
Georgia state Rep. Bobby Franklin (R) loves to introduce far-right reactionary bills. Among his greatest hits are an assault of Georgia’s authority to vaccinate its citizens, an Unconstitutional bill declaring Roe v. Wade a “nullity,” and, of course, a bill eliminating income taxes. Yet Franklin may have outdone himself with his “Constitutional Tender Act,” which would require all transactions with the state of Georgia — including the payment of taxes —...

The New Tax Deal - Stand By For Gnashing of Teeth
The Tea Partiers likely believe there was some principled victory with the reduction in Social Security withholding: 2%! Well, that was in lieu of the Making Work Pay Credit and a whole lot of low-income earners will see decreased take-home pay to cover their increased tax bottom line. We are still paying income taxes, just lowering our Social Security withholding. No one can honestly answer how that will affect benefits down the road. After all, someday someone can always point to 2011 (and ma...

Sources: Sanford Regrets Backing Haley
A top advisor to S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford says that the outgoing chief executive privately “regrets” authorizing a $400,000 advertising expenditure that gave a vital boost to S.C. Gov.-elect Nikki Haley’s once-flagging gubernatorial campaign. Publicly, Sanford’s support for Haley remains strong … and her election is widely-viewed by national political observers as an integral component of a legacy of (cough) “ redemption ” that the Scandal-scarred Governor...

2011 to die for: 'Super death panels' on a 'massive scale'
Angry pro-life leaders are calling on the incoming 112th Congress to revoke a new Obama Administration Regulation resuscitating "Death Panels," which were rejected by the last congress after a public uproar threatened the passage of the president's signature Health Care bill. At the request of several Democratic lawmakers, the administration quietly slipped language into a Medicare Regulation paying doctors to provide "end-of-life" consultations with patients. Doctors will instruct patients how...

Infidel Bloggers Alliance
NYTIMES: OBAMA TO ACHIEVE Death PanelS BY EXECUTIVE FIAT "If you have another Heart Attack and your heart stops beating, would you want us to try to restart it? Do you want to go on a breathing machine for the rest of your life? When the time comes, do you want us to use technology to try and delay your death?"--- Dr. Maria J. Silveira via NYT article. An excellent post from Reliapundit at the Astute Bloggers: When a proposal to encourage end-of-life pl...

Ramirez to sponsor Maryland Dream Act
Maryland State Sen.-Elect Victor Ramirez says he plans to sponsor Legislation to allow Illegal Immigrants to receive in-state Tuition at public colleges and universities in the state. Ramirez, a Prince George's County Democrat, made the announcement in a news release Monday night that he plans to sponsor Maryland DREAM Act legislation. His announcement comes as Democrats in Congress failed for a second time to win passage of the federal Dream Act, which would have given hundreds of thousands of ...

Poland's Jaruzelski in hospital
Gen Wojciech Jaruzelski, Poland's last Communist leader, has been taken to Hospital suffering from Pneumonia, Polish media say. The 87-year-old, who has suffered frequent Health Problems in recent years, was admitted to a police clinic in the north-eastern city of Olsztyn. He is conscious and can talk to nurses, the daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports. The general was recently put on trial by Poland's post-Communist authorities for imposing Martial Law in 1981. Reports on Wednesday said he h...

Unions make final plea to stop Fridays layoffs
Members of the state Public Employees Federation and Civil Service Employees Association held Vigils around the state this afternoon in a last-ditch effort to prevent the layoff of 902 state workers. Their last day of work is Friday, the last day of Gov. David Paterson’s term. Union leaders allege that Paterson is making the cuts “out of political spite,” and the layoffs will hurt the families involved and New York’s economy, and will create “havoc” in state...