New California Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez is facing a lot of criticism for handing out generous pay increases to his staff — and then admonishing the Assembly to reduce its overall budget by 15 percent.
Making this move even more questionable is the current state of the economy in California, which is one of its worst [...]

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There’s trouble brewing in Alabama over an issue that apparently is near and dear to the heart of Governor Bob Riley — the imminent danger posed by electronic bingo machines.
In recent months, thousands of these bingo machines have been seized in pre-dawn raids by the governor’s anti-gambling task force. Although the machines seem innocuous, the [...]

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You might imagine that if a city proposed manufacturing snow out of reclaimed wastewater, for use at a nearby ski area, that some people might have a problem with it. After all, it might be considered a tad distasteful to ski down a pristine white slope — made from toilet water and other treated effluent.
On [...]

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Apparently Venezuela President Hugo Chavez likes to take on challenges, the bigger the better. He’s taken on capitalist corruption, the United States and oil conglomerates. Now he has a new target in mind: the evils of golf.
Chavez, an admitted admirer of Marxism, is working to shut down some of the biggest and best-known courses in [...]

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The Federal Republic of Germany is suing a California man to recover $50,000 in military benefits that the country claims it overpaid the man’s father, who died in 1988.
The country is suing Jimmy Schaeffler, Willy Schaeffler’s sole heir, for the $50,394 “overpayment,” plus $22,510 in interest, $543 in court costs and $5,020 in attorney’s fees, all based [...]

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The keeping of concubines in China, once thought to have been quashed by the advent of Communism, is now on the rise again — especially among corrupt government officials.
Once a privilege of emperors and warlords, concubines are now coming back into vogue among high-powered party leaders, businessmen, and others who can afford to do so.
Concubinage [...]

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Although you can feel sorry for the three hikers who were arrested after they wandered over the Iraq-Iran border, you should also wonder if they were on drugs or had a serious mental lapse while planning this trip.
The American trio, ages 27 to 36, were detained in Iran after crossing the border from the Kurdistan [...]

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The mayor of Fort Myers, Florida, is now defending the town council’s decision to fire its city manager after officials learned his wife is a porn star.
City manager Scott Janke was fired July 21 when news leaked that his wife, Anabela Mota Janke, is an adult film actress who goes by the name Jazella Moore. On [...]

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People in Tennessee and Arizona must be plumb crazy about their guns, because new laws are making it legal to bring them into restaurants and bars in those states.
Tennessee’s new law went into effect Monday, the same day that the governor of Arizona signed a similar bill into law. Arizona’s restaurant/gun law becomes active on [...]

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Dick Cheney has been getting a lot of publicity for his comments slamming the Obama administration of late, but now he’s getting attention of a different sort — he’s accused of telling the CIA to withhold information from Congressional intelligence committees.
The New York Times is reporting today that the CIA withheld information about a secret [...]

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