Free Republic

<p>Helen Mirren has granted a boy’s dying wish to meet the Queen — by dressing as Her Majesty and inviting him round for tea.</p> <p>Oliver Burton, ten, may have just weeks to live after being hit by cancer for a third time.</p>

Boston bands Aerosmith and New Kids on the Block, singer-songwriter James Taylor and country singer Jason Aldean will headline a concert to benefit the victims of last month's Boston Marathon bombing, organizers said on Friday... All proceeds from the concert will go to The One Fund, which was set up by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Tickets priced from $35 to $285 go on sale on Monday.

This year, Joe and Jill Biden increased their charitable donations from 1.5 percent of their income to 1.87 percent. "The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden also released their 2012 federal income tax returns, as well as state income tax returns for both Delaware and Virginia. The Bidens filed joint federal and combined Delaware income tax returns. Dr. Biden filed a separate non-resident tax return for the state of Virginia. Together, they reported adjusted gross income of $385,072. The Bidens paid $87,851 in total federal tax for 2012. They paid $13,531 in Delaware income tax and $3,593 in Virginia income...

"The Bidens contributed $7,190 to charity in 2012," the White House revealed today. A look at the Bidens joint filing reveals that $2,000 of that donation was in the form of "donated property" given to Goodwill in Wilmington, Delaware. Here's the relevant form, from the Bidens' tax return: As the form states, on June 25 of last year, the Bidens gave "Clothing, Boots, Kitchenware, Glassware" totaling $400 to Goodwill. Earlier, on May 16, the Bidens gave "Furniture and Exercise Equipment" valued at $1,100 to the Ministry of Caring. And on May 27 of last year, the Bidens gave "Bicycles, Toys, Glasses,...

A Barnado’s charity shop has been forced to close after the front was smashed during a party celebrating the death of Baroness Thatcher. A gaping hole was left in the window of the store in Brixton, south London, where around 150 people gathered for a street party following the news that Lady Thatcher had died of a stroke. Similar celebrations in Bristol left six police officers injured after an anti-Thatcher crowd turned violent and began throwing missiles at police.

We are God's House ! Sent to restore the foundations ! You Will BE Sustained by My love for you . So do not fear but receive My messengers of Grace bringing and bearing My love for they "ARE" My heart of endearment ,"Yeah"the very Virtue of eternity I call ((("GRACE" ))) . . . Receive your healing and allow My Joy to rise up and fill your WellSpring to overflowing "That My River may "BECOME YOU" for others in this same way . . . " I BESTOW ~ AS You LET GO" ~ ~ ~ Ezra 1:5 5...

European Union families and individuals are increasingly reliant on charity organizations like the Red Cross for basic needs like food, water and shelter. While Germany is relatively unaffected, unemployment and austerity in countries like Spain make the problem even more severe. Two-thirds of national Red Cross societies within the European Union distribute food aid -- a sign that the economic crisis in Europe has an alarming effect on poverty. Yves Daccord, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that the scope of food distribution is the highest since the end of World War II. The Spanish Red...

There are two times in a young mans’ life when he feels that he is all grown-up, when he gets his first car and the first time he votes. Last year, we received an interesting donation. Ruth, our donor service manager, received a phone call from Laurie. She, along with her family, wanted to donate a very special 1983 Buick. The car had been in her family and was given to her son when he turned 16. He drove it back and forth to work and school. When his brother turned 16, they both shared the Buick. In late fall...

There is certainly no ‘waste not, want not’ badge for Girl Scouts of America, at least not in Southern California where over 13,000 boxes of the organization’s famous cookies were bulldozed to bits in a warehouse as bulldozer operators gleefully yelled ‘Goodbye girl scout cookies!’ After the May incident, when the cookies were sent off to a landfill, leaders of area food banks are up in arms about the so-called service organization's wastefulness. Bruce Rankin, Executive Director of Santa Monica’s West Side Food Bank, watched footage from CBS 2 in Los Angeles, and was shocked as two heavy-duty construction vehicles...

On Tuesday, the International House of Pancakes will celebrate National Pancake Day by offering guests a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. With every short stack of pancakes served, diners will be invited to make a donation to designated charities, including Shriners Hospitals for Children.The IHOP restaurants that have chosen Shriners Hospitals for Children as the beneficiary of this event are primarily in Texas, with additional locations in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

A Christian church and school in Florida are devastated after they said Wounded Warrior Project refused to accept their fund raising effort because it was “religious in nature.” “We were heartbroken,” said Wallace Cooley, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church and Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla. Cooley said they had already paid a $100 registration fee to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and were about to launch the campaign when they received an email from the organization. The church had planned on taking up a special offering on the last Sunday in February and students were collecting money from...

I was tempted to address Cardinal Dolan in my headline but I'm not yet sure how responsible he is for the decision to put two Staten Island schools on the "at risk" list for closure. I met the affable Cardinal at the 125th anniversary of Immaculate Conception Church but that didn't stop its inner-city school from being targeted. Clearly the archdiocese has abandoned its educational mission for the needy which was established hundreds of years ago. Instead the economic bottom line seems to count more than educating minority children in the neighborhoods with poor performing public schools and few alternatives....

PALOS HILLS, Ill. (AP) A local bank has closed a mosque's account after it donated money to an Islamic charity under federal investigation for allegedly helping terrorists. Family Bank and Trust Co. closed the account of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview after the mosque wrote two checks to the Islamic American Relief Agency, according to the mosque's imam, Sheikh Jamal Said. Mosque Foundation president Oussama Jamal said the mosque made its donations in August and September, before the federal government froze the charity's assets and raided its Missouri offices in October. The Treasury Department alleged Islamic American Relief was part...

It’s a time of year when many Americans are moved to help others, particularly families and children in need. That charitable impulse is well-placed: In an address at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan noted that 66 percent of all circuit court cases in 2005 were family division filings. Michigan courts had about 1 million open child support cases. These startling facts convince some that government must provide the solution to strengthening families, but people forget that government is often the instigator of many of the problems. America’s welfare program has a history of...

Some in the media have popularized the term “culture war,” giving the impression that the war being waged against Christianity is the same thing as a war against everything that is traditional. But in 2013, let’s change the term. Let’s call it what it is: “A war against Christ.” Certainly there are many American traditions rooted in Christian teaching and history. But mixing some traditions with what is purely Christ-honoring—although it may recruit support from non-Christian traditionalists or conservatives—dilutes the Christian dye. Take for example the ACLU’s war against Christians praying in public schools while obliging Muslims the ability...

The term “social justice”… is the key term and concept of Catholic social teaching … with all the other aspects of the Church’s social doctrine—the principle of subsidiarity, the just wage or the right to private property—are related to, and rely, on the existence of social justice. The term “social justice,” though common enough today, is little understood by most of those who use it—whether they consider themselves friends and practitioners of social justice, or they regard it as a suspect term of probably socialist origin. But the term does have a precise meaning. That meaning and the significance of...

Some of the most terrifying words the parents of a newborn will ever hear are “there is a problem with the baby.” Sometimes the dreadful news comes later after a tragic childhood accident or disease. When such children grow to adulthood they are joined by an even larger number of those who lived perfectly healthy lives as children only to become disabled in some way as adults. Adults with a disability of some kind are many times unable to work or unable to make enough money from working to support themselves or their families, especially during periods of economic downturn...

“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business.” Americans, it seems, truly take Jacob Marley’s ghostly warning to Ebenezer Scrooge to heart -- not only at Christmas time, but throughout the year. Indeed, overall we are the most generous people on earth. The U.S. economy is responsible for a little more one-fifth of the world's total GDP, yet Americans give more in charity to the less fortunate than the rest of the world put together. We donated more than $300 billion in 2009, despite the economic downturn. This...

Most people who haven't finished their shopping are starting to worry about what gifts to give a friend, relative or spouse. Quick, what did you give or receive last year? How about two years ago? Most of us can't remember, unless it was a big-ticket item. What if you could give a gift that mattered; one that literally kept on giving and improved the life of another person? Would you buy that gift? Two years ago I bought two gifts for people I have never met. One was a goat and the other a sewing class. Both went to people...

Dear Dave, We’re debt-free except for our house, and that’s on a 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage. We also have an emergency fund in place. We’d like to give back this year, and do some Secret Santa things and a little extra giving. At what point should we start giving over and above what we tithe?JeremyDear Jeremy,My advice would be to wait until you finish Baby Step 3, which it sounds like you’ve done. That way, you’ve paid off all of your debt, except the house, plus you have a fully-funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses.You mentioned tithing,...

One wise donor has pointed out a devil’s bargain that too many advocates for charities are willing to make in their campaign to protect the charitable deduction. Kimberly O. Dennis, head of the Searle Freedom Trust skewers the illogic of groups like the Independent Sector, which explicitly endorse President Obama’s lust to raise taxes on the wealthy, even as they also plead to keep the charitable deduction untouched. If nonprofits knew what was good for them, they would be focusing less on preserving the charitable deduction and more on economic growth and wealth creation.

SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he is donating nearly $500 million in stock to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues. Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, valued at $498.8 million based on their Tuesday closing price. The beneficiary is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit that works with donors to allocate their gifts. This is Zuckerberg's largest donation to date. He pledged $100 million in Facebook stock to Newark, N.J., public schools in 2010, before his company went public earlier this year. Later in 2010, he joined Giving Pledge,...

(Post-publishing note: My wife, Gena, and I join the rest of the nation in mourning with and praying for the families and friends of the 20 children and six adults who lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. We are so incredibly sorry for your loss, and want you to know it is for you and in honor of the precious souls of your loved ones that we continue to fight for a more peaceful, safe and charitable America.) There are two weeks remaining for Washington to take action before the George W. Bush tax...

With tax-deductible donations in danger, the nonprofit world is mobilizing. Its lobbyists and supporters will be blanketing Capitol Hill this week. "Take action," urges the website of Independent Sector, an organization of philanthropies and philanthropists. "Tell Congress not to limit the charitable deduction." ... At first blush, it seems to make policy sense, too. The rich fabric of America's civic life, from Boy Scouts to community orchestras to soup kitchens, is the envy of the world. Its diversity reflects in part how much it depends on private givers with diverse interests and motives, and not just on the government. Their...

One tourist's photograph, among the countless snapped every day in the Big Apple, has gone viral. The moment captured is one of generosity, and since it was posted on Tuesday, it has circled the globe and brought a lot of attention to one young New York City cop. Had it not been for a tourist from Arizona who snapped the photo with her cell phone, Officer Lawrence DePrimo's act of kindness, giving boots to a homeless man, may have gone unnoticed. Tourist Jennifer Foster emailed the photo to the NYPD and they posted it to their Facebook page. Tens of...

I do not know Erin Andrews’ faith life, but I do know the FOX Sports personality is doing the Lord’s work with her promotion of the Children’s Organ Transplant Association. Andrews sent a Thanksgiving shout out to her 1,598,063 twitter followers urging them to join her in support for COTA, a charity that raises funds to assure that no child is denied a life-saving transplant, or excluded from a transplant waiting list, because of limited family finances. Like little Liam Houck, the two-year toddler whose recent photo with Andrews was posted by COTA. Liam is the son of Reid and...

Chandler Osborn, 14, watched Fox News coverage of Hurricane Sandy last week and decided to take action. "Last weekend, me and my younger brother, Cooper, 7, did a fundraiser in Colorado Springs to help the people" affected by the storm, he told me. The siblings set up a table at the Colorado Springs Sugar Plum Festival, gave away patriotic car magnets and pins for any donations, and collected signatures on a giant banner of support for the victims. "We raised $612 in one weekend." The Osborns joined countless Americans across the country who stepped up, in small and large ways,...

The philanthropic arm of shipping giant UPS said it will no longer give money to the Boy Scouts of America as long as the group discriminates against gays, the second major corporation to recently strip funding from the scouts. The UPS Foundation made the change Thursday after an online petition protesting its annual grants to the Boy Scouts attracted more than 80,000 signatures. UPS, based in Atlanta, follows computer chip maker Intel in withdrawing corporate support for the Boy Scouts. The UPS Foundation gave more than $85,000 to the Boy Scouts in 2011, according to its federal tax return. Federal...

My poker league is having a charity tournament on Saturday where the first prize is $1000 for the winner plus a minimum $1000 donation to the winner's charity of choice. It can be any charity as long as it's 501(3)(c). You have to declare the charity when you register. Right now I'm thinking either the NRA or GOA but I'm open to suggestions because I'm really not that fond of the NRA and if I do donate I know they will bombard me nonstop with more requests for the rest of my life. The Salvation Army might not be a...

-Libyan-flagged vessel used by a Malta-based humanitarian organisation implicated in a covert US arms smuggling operation to Syrian freedom fighter- A Libyan-flagged vessel which last year was used by a Malta-based humanitarian organisation in supplying a lifeline to rebels in Misurata, has been implicated in a covert US arms smuggling operation to Syrian freedom fighters, which may also be linked to murdered US ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi last month. The ship 'Al Entisar' which was chartered last year by I-Go Aid Libya, then run by businessman Mario Debono, has been reported to be linked to last September's attack on...

The Obama State Department apologized to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi for offending the dear tyrant with offensive language. The BBC reported: The US State Department has apologized for comments made about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s call for jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland. Department spokesman PJ Crowley, who made the dismissive comments, said they did not reflect US policy and were not intended to offend. Col Gaddafi had criticised a Swiss vote against the building of minarets and urged Muslims to boycott the country. Mr Crowley described it as “lots of words, not necessarily a lot of sense.” Libya and...

Al Gore To Attend Bette Midler's Charity HulaweenOctober 26, 2012 Bette Midler will once again present a special Halloween event to benefit her New York Restoration Project (NYRP). Hulaween is NYRP’s annual masquerade ball with a Hawaiian twist in honor of Bette’s home state, attended by a star-studded crowd of nearly 1,000 costumed guests. The event features special guest Al Gore, a musical performance by Blondie, master of ceremonies Judy Gold, costume judge Michael Kors, an auction with Sotheby’s Hugh Hildesley to support the work of NYRP, and dinner created by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

If we don't love the poor and do all we can to improve their lot, we're going to go to hell, the Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, recently said. It's not pretty, but it is real. And not just if you believe in hell, but if you care about the future of the country, of civilization. We actually are a people of compassion, and we happen to believe that people who want to serve their neighbors out of love of God and humanity are a necessary thing for our neighborhoods, for civil society, for the life of our...

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan stopped by a soup kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio, over the weekend for what seemed to be your typical campaign photo opportunity. During his 15-minute visit on Saturday morning, the vice presidential candidate donned a white apron and offered to wash some dishes that—as several bloggers and a pool reporter later pointed out—did not appear to be dirty. But according to the president of Mahoning County's St. Vincent De Paul Society, the faith-based charity that runs the soup kitchen, the campaign did not have permission and "ramrodded their way" into the facility.

Wyclef's Haiti Charity Is Now Defunct After Mishandling $16M In Donations Aly WeismanOct. 12, 2012, 6:52 PMWyclef's Yéle charity is no longer.Wyclef Jean's Yéle Haiti charity, once what the singer said was the country's "greatest asset and ally" is now defunct and in debt. The charity's collapse comes after years of accusations of mishandled funds, which amounted to a reported $16 million following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. "Yéle was small before the earthquake, with only $37,000 in assets," reports The New York Times. "Immediately afterward, money started pouring in. Mr. Jean said he raised $1 million in 24 hours...

COSTA MESA (CBSLA.com) — The mayor of Costa Mesa proposed to get rid of soup kitchens to deal with the area’s homeless problem at a city council meeting on Tuesday. “My belief is that if we manage to put the soup kitchen out of business that will go a long way to addressing the attractiveness in our city that’s creating a huge negative impact,” Eric Bever said. According to Bever, the “negative impact” is homeless people who like Costa Mesa because of services that offer food to less fortunate individuals. Clients at Someone Cares Soup Kitchen and the non-profit Share...

Call it having sex for a good cause. A 20-year old college student in Brazil is auctioning off her virginity to the highest bidder in an attempt to raise money to build homes for poverty-stricken families in her hometown. The leggy Catarina Migliorini plans to give the money from the highest bidder – currently standing at $160,000 from a U.S. man named Jack Miller – to a non-governmental organization that will build modern homes in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. While she insists she is not a prostitute and that she is only doing this to make a...

Mitt Romney has released his 2011 tax returns, demonstrating several things: how the left always overreaches, the bias of some news media and the truth of a book six years back that said it’s not liberals who best illustrate compassion. It’s conservatives. Though they make less money than liberals, they give more to charity, and here is something else: They volunteer more of their time. We have all kinds of evidence of Romney’s fervent volunteer work, and now we have reaffirmation of his charitable giving. He donated $4 million last year, more than 29 percent of his income, which easily...

So what else is there to say about Mitt Romney's tax returns? I would suggest that we could learn at least two things from them. First, on a personal level, it seems that Mitt and Ann Romney are very generous people. They donated $4.02 million in charity in 2011 (out of $13.7 million of income) and $3 million in 2010 (out of $21.7 million in income). If these figures are accurate (and there is no reason to doubt them) the Romneys donated almost 30 percent of their 2011 income to charity, and 14 percent of their income in 2010. That...

Before I get into all the gobbledy-gook of this post, I need to first say that I don't think Romney (or Obama) should have to release even ONE year of tax returns. It's not a requirement to hold the nation's highest elected office and, therefore, shouldn't even be a debate. With that said... Libs are finding themselves in a precarious situation - how to attack Romney for being part of "the 1%"d while donating to programs that help "the 99%." On Friday, Romney released his taxes from last year just as he had promised. The Obama campaign - and...

I think our side needs something like this: I made this graph using data from www.taxhistory.org The comparison I'm providing to Romney's 2011 figure is based on the charity he actual donated, which was more than he choose to deduct. Of particular note is the blue line showing the low percentages Obama historically gave to charity until he started running for high office!

The admission only comes after about a full minute of teeth-pulling from CNBC’s Joe Kernen, and only after Howard Dean tries to keep impugning Mitt Romney’s integrity, but even the former DNC chair has to grudgingly acknowledge that the game is all but up for Harry Reid and his baseless, reckless charges of tax fraud. Dean halfheartedly trots out the complaint that Romney lied by overpaying his taxes, but Kernen laughs him into a rather lengthy silence (transcript by The Daily Caller): (VIDEO AT LINK) KERNEN: Governor, my first question is you’ve seen these now — my very first question,...

Mitt Romney's campaign released his 2011 tax information this afternoon, as well as a notarized letter from PriceWaterhouseCoopers attesting to Romney’s tax rates from 1990-2009, and I must say: Well played, Romney campaign. Well played, indeed. The Democrats have been making a federal case of Romney's supposed "tax secrecy," with countless ads and speeches and the voice in Harry Reid’s head making Romney out to be a greedy, tax-evading corporate mastermind of epic proportions, but the Romney camp just let them huff and puff until they wore themselves out, and now they're releasing the information on their terms. I'm sure...

Tax returns for 2011 set to be released today by Mitt and Ann Romney reveal that they gave away a higher percentage of their income to others than did Barack and Michelle Obama, when both taxes and charity are taken into account. The full returns, along with a notarized letter from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the Romney's tax preparer, giving a summary of tax rates from the Romneys’ tax returns for the 20-year period of 1990-2009, will be released at 3 p.m. eastern time. In 2011, the Romneys donated $4,020,772 to charity, which was 30% of their income. The Romneys also paid...

Mitt Romney announced on Friday that he is releasing his 2011 tax returns. Romney aides said the Republican presidential nominee would give the public a look at his finished tax forms. Ahead of their release, expected at 3 p.m., aides said Romney earned almost $13.7 million last year and paid more than $1.9 million in taxes — an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent. Here are the details you will probably hear repeated for the remainder of the campaign: Romney’s 2011 tax rate 14.1 percent Charity donations: 30 percent Obama’s tax rate: 20.5 percent Charity donations: 22 percent Here are...

The Obama campaign has spent months laboring to get this election to be about anything but the presidentÂ’s record and the candidatesÂ’ policy proposals. As often happens in campaigns, this requires painting caricatures with no connection to the facts. The Obama camp has worked hard to make Mitt Romney out as a bad, unfeeling, cold-hearted rich guy who only cares about his own bottom line. Romney himself hasnÂ’t helped the matter by being such a stiff, tin-eared speaker who actually looks and sounds like a walking stereotype; political communication is not among his skills. But the reality is that RomneyÂ’s...

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 17, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the November general election approaches, America’s Catholic bishops have been walking a fine line as they strive to avoid appearances of partisanship while at the same time they wage a high-profile battle against the Obama administration over religious freedom. Earlier this month, one of the leading lights in the U.S. episcopate insisted he “certainly” could not vote for Obama, while not specifically endorsing his Republic opponent Mitt Romney. Asked whether a Catholic could vote for Obama in good faith, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia replied: “I can only speak in terms of my...

Dear Dave, My old car has been having lots of problems lately. Do you have any advice on how to decide when it’s best to just fix an old car or get a newer one instead?KristinDear Kristin,This is a good question! Mathematically, the first thing to look at is the car’s worth if you don’t make repairs. Should you spend $1,000 to increase the value of the vehicle $500? Dumb question, right? At that point, you sell the car as-is and put the $1,000 it would take to fix it toward something newer.On the other hand, let’s say you’ve got...

There are 366 major metropolitan areas in the United States, and a comprehensive new study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy ranks them on the basis of generosity -- the percentage of income the median household in each city gives to charity. According to the Chronicle, the most generous city in America is Provo, Utah, where residents typically give away 13.9 percent of their discretionary income. Boston, by contrast, ranks No. 358: In New England's leading city, the median household donates just 2.9 percent of its income to charity. Provo's generosity is typical for its region. Of the 10 most generous...

Dinesh D’Souza, co-director of the film "2016 — Obama's America," and author of the new book "Obama’s America," sent money to cover the hospital bill of a sick child belonging to President Barack Obama’s brother after George Obama pleaded with him over the phone for help. In a column published on FoxNews.com, D’Souza outlines how George Obama, the youngest of eight children sired by Barack Obama Sr., asked him to send $1,000 to cover medical bills for his young son who was sick with a chest condition. D’Souza confirmed that the boy was ill and wired Obama the money. D’Souza...