Free Republic

A toppled candle destroyed the home and belongings of an out-of-work nurse and her 10 children During the late-afternoon confusion, a candle flame grew Monday into a potentially deadly blaze in the home where Kerren Laitaille had been raising her 10 children. In a matter of minutes, the fire destroyed family pictures, most of their clothes, beds, just about everything they owned. Everything, that is, except their faith. “It’s shown me I’m blessed with my kids and shown me people do care and are there for you,” Laitaille said Wednesday morning in her all-too-temporary home: a room at Hawthorn Suites...

Toronto's new lost generation Mar. 3, 2006. 01:00 AM CAROL GOAR Peer into Toronto's baby carriages if you want a glimpse of the city's future. The face looking back at you isn't likely to be white. Six out of every 10 children born in Toronto belong to a visible minority. And the proportion is rising. Two-thirds of infants have mothers from outside Canada. There's a 30 per cent chance the child's life will have begun in poverty. That compares to an 18 per cent probability in the rest of Canada. There is a 25 per cent chance the infant's parents...

Poverty is the great moral issue facing America today, former U.S. senator and 2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards told a crowd of UW-Madison, WI students. The country is hungry for a big issue - a cause, a calling - it can get involved in, Edwards told about 500 people Wednesday afternoon at the Wisconsin Union Theater. "If you don't believe me, look at the reaction to Hurricane Katrina," he said. The government reacted slowly, while the people themselves took action, volunteering and donating money to help victims, Edwards said. "Americans are looking for something moral and just. Something other...