Free Republic

Norm Olson, senior adviser to the Michigan militia and pastor of a strong right-to-life church in Wolverine, said Tuesday he had put together an unarmed coalition of state militias that were prepared to storm the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo has been left to die, and take her to a safe house.Olson said he needed only the OK from Schiavo's father, Robert Schindler, either directly or through his attorney David Gibbs, to put the plan, called "Operation Resurrection," into action on Sunday. But Olson said Gibbs contacted the FBI instead of passing his message on to Schindler. Olson said the...

A few applications for emergency aid remain to be reviewed in the fraud investigation. Nearly four dozen local social services employees were fired, disciplined or quit amid investigations into whether they lied to qualify for emergency food stamps following Hurricane Isabel.

US House cuts back military aid for Poland 2005-03-17, 14:17 The US House of Representatives approved an $81.4 billion war spending bill that would slash President George Bush's foreign aid request and add nearly $2 billion more than he sought for defense. The bill cuts $400 million that Bush had asked for to reward war allies within the so-called Solidarity Fund. One fourth of the fund money was supposed to be given to Poland – according to the promise president Aleksander Kwasniewski brought back from his talks with GW Bush earlier this year. In a statement the White House asked...

SACRAMENTO — An emerging new tale of age-old certainties — taxes and death — begins in California with the flip of a cigarette butt and ends in Iraq with a bullet hitting a U.S. soldier. Democratic legislators from the Bay Area and Los Angeles, focused on quality of life in the state, are pushing three bills that would increase cigarette costs for litter cleanup or easing deficit pressures. But federal terrorism investigators told the The Daily Review on Thursday that such seemingly innocent legislation, further increasing high cigarette costs in California, would fuel their already tough battle against terrorist groups'...

College aid for illegal immigrants bill passed by House Thursday, Feb 24, 2005 LITTLE ROCK - An emotional and teary-eyed Rep. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, buried her head in her hands Monday afternoon after the House approved a measure that would make the children of illegal immigrants in Arkansas eligible for state college scholarships. "I feel as if it just drained every ounce of energy out of me to get this done," Elliott said after the 63-31 vote. "This is a momentous day for Arkansas; I don't take the Senate for granted, but I knew that this was a big,...

'Visibly Moved' Ex-Presidents End Tour of Tsunami-Ravaged Areas By Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com International Editor February 22, 2005 Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) -- More than one-third of American households have made donations to the tsunami relief effort, former presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton said in Sri Lanka as they concluded a tour of Indian Ocean countries hit by last December's natural disaster. Private donations in the U.S. have reached $700 million, while current President George W. Bush has asked Congress to provide $950 million to tsunami relief, they said. Bush nominated his two predecessors to head the private...

KAMPALA (2/14/2005)-- THE Church of Uganda (COU) has rejected assistance from the Diocese of Michigan to the Diocese of Kinkizi over homosexuality, the Archbishop has said. Henry Luke Orombi said, "We stopped assistance from the Church of America as long as that church or diocese doesn't believe in the scriptures and Jesus the way we do and practise homosexuality. Orombi said this on Friday at the closing of a five-day bishops' wives' retreat at Lweza Leadership Centre. The diocese, in a wealthy part of America, has been paying school fees for 60 girls in secondary schools in southwestern Uganda. He...

WASHINGTON - Gov. Arnold "The Collectinator" Schwarzenegger is to swoop into Washington on Thursday, with state legislative leaders in tow, for an unprecedented meeting with the California congressional delegation and Bush administration officials in hopes of steering more federal money to the state. Schwarzenegger pledged after his recall election victory to be the "collectinator," a play on his starring role in the "Terminator" movies. So far, there hasn't been a lot to show for it, but that could change dramatically on this trip. State and federal officials are working to put the final details together on a five-year deal that...

They’re not ‘saving’ family operations – they’re actually contributing to their demise. In 2003, Allen County farmers received about $7.5 million in subsidies from the federal government. The top 20 percent of producers – that was 653 of the 3,269 who got payments – received 82 percent of the money, for an average of $91,082 each. That included top recipient Henry Hilger & Sons at $123,176. The remaining 80 percent of the farmers got only 18 percent of the money, about $4,836 each, on average. That included recipient No. 2,184 Walter Langley, who got $12 for one acre he has...

GALLE, Sri Lanka- At the main warehouse in Galle, mountains of cardboard boxes and suitcases ready to burst take up a quarter of the cavernous building.       Some are labeled ``Aid for Tsunami Victims,'' but their contents - winter jackets, expired cans of salmon, stiletto shoes, winter tents, thong panties and even Viagra - have left Sri Lankans scratching their heads.       Unprecedented aid poured in after the Dec. 26 tsunami, but some of those wanting to help were perhaps too eager, shipping items of no use in tropical Sri Lanka. And seven weeks after the disaster, no one knows...

LONDON (Reuters) - The Group of Seven appeared to have achieved a compromise on aid to the Third World on Saturday, proposing "up to" 100 percent multilateral debt relief to poor nations, G7 sources told Reuters. British finance minister Gordon Brown had sought a complete debt write off for the world's poorest nations, but faced resistance from the United States. Washington had objected to his proposal to use IMF gold reserves to fund the debt write off and also to create a new financing mechanism that would double aid. "The G7 has raised the prospect of relief of up to...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's hopes of drumming up $50 billion a year in aid for Africa suffered a serious setback on Friday when the United States rejected London's plan. Even Europe's backing seemed to be fading as both Italy and Germany said they would prefer something less ambitious than the proposal British finance minister Gordon Brown put to a meeting of the Group of Seven rich nations. But former South African president Nelson Mandela said he would accept no half measures. It was an outrage to let Africa sink further into disease and poverty, he said. "We are here to...

Singer and campaigner Bob Geldof has dubbed himself "Mr Bloody Africa" for his role as a reluctant spokesman on issues concerning the continent. Visiting Africa "bores me profoundly" but the media has confused the roles of politicians and celebrities, he said. "Who's interested if the leader of Niger goes on Newsnight?" he told Radio Times magazine. "It's 'get Geldof'. I'm 'Mr Bloody Africa'." Geldof will get a lifetime achievement honour at the Brit Awards next week. He was also voted the person listeners of BBC Radio 4's Today programme would most like to see be made a "people's peer". But...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Indonesia on Tuesday moved to dispel charges that corrupt officials were siphoning off aid earmarked for tsunami-battered Aceh province, as Southeast Asian nations sought to lure back foreign tourists scared off by the disaster. Indonesia's Health Ministry, meanwhile, significantly changed the way it tallies deaths due to last month's waves, saying it would only count victims who have been buried and that the missing would retain that status for a full year. The ministry's death toll dropped from about 170,000 to just over 96,000 under the new rules, but at the same time it added substantially...

The United States, which wants to take an international role in setting up a global tsunami-warning system and is in the running for the job with the United Nations, doubts the UN has the ability to coordinate such a program. Uncle Sam is right. Although it rated little mainline media attention, The UN already had a tsunami-warning system in place on December 26, 2004. The existing warning system goes under another one of those confusing UN names: the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization, CNTBTO for UN short. As reported by the International Herald Tribune, this was the state of affairs...

AKKARAIPETTAI, India -- The Christian evangelists came in the morning, wearing fluorescent yellow T-shirts emblazoned with "Believers Church" on the back and "Gospel for Asia" on the front. They loaded up hundreds of villagers, mostly Hindus, in vans and trucks and drove them 6 miles away. There, away from the eyes of village officials, each tsunami survivor received relief supplies--a sleeping mat, a plate, a sari, a 55-pound bag of rice and, in the bottom of a white plastic bag proclaiming "Believers Church Tsunami Relief," a book containing biblical verses warning against the dangers of alcohol. "What do I do?"...

There have been huge disastrous floods in Guyana and the nation is openly appealing for help from the American military. This may seem like an old story, but it's not. I hope we help Guyana. There are good reasons, and it's in everyone's interest. The tsunami relief effort got word to the world that when you are in deep trouble, America is the one, the only one, you can reliably turn to. Swift efficient help to impossible areas, soldiers who are friendly and compassionate, soldiers who won't shake you down, soldiers who will treat you with dignity and help you...

Are American Christian evangelists using the devastation wreaked by the tsunami to spread the word of God—their God? Disturbing stories from the region and fund-raising appeals from religious leaders in the US who want to "plant Christian principles as early as possible" in the orphans of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India have raised profound questions about proselytisation of vulnerable people in times of tragedy. Some groups send help along with Bibles—in Bhojpuri—to increase the fold in affected countries, making it harder for others to provide relief. By lacing help with questions of faith, however delicately, evangelical groups can deepen religious...

Aid Groups Warn on U.S. PulloutFriday, January 21, 2005 Posted: 6:34 AM EST (1134 GMT) BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) -- Aid groups have warned it might be too soon for the U.S. military to scale back its emergency operations for Asia's tsunami victims.... The U.S. announced on Thursday that American forces would begin immediately transferring responsibility for relief operations to the "appropriate host nations and international organizations." But some aid groups expressed concern that the move came too quickly, as tens of thousands of survivors from the Dec. 26 tsunami that struck a dozen nations were still in need of...

JAKARTA (AFP): Foreign donors providing billions of dollars of tsunami aid for Indonesia should not fear the funds will be swindled through corruption, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Wednesday. Concerns that the funds could be embezzled by Indonesian officials were "unnecessary" because the money would be managed and disbursed collectively by representatives of the donor countries and the United Nations, said Hassan. "There should not be any doubts because we have similar interests to (ensure) a transparent and accountable management of the money," he told reporters here. Half of US$10 billion of foreign aid on the table...