Free Republic

I don't think I have to point out to anyone just how horrendous the situation down in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama is today. Hurricane Katrina has proved to be the worst natural disaster to strike the United States since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, and the effects of this unprecedented catastrophe will surely be felt in this country for many months, and perhaps years to come.

Remember the Asian Tsunami in December last year ? There was a major worldwide coordination and support and even mass appeal/concerts for the world to aid the victims affected. The UN helped to coordinate aid effort to these countries. UN officials even criticized the "niggling" (note the quotes) response from developed countries. Now that the most generous nation on earth has its own version of the Tsunami ( an entire city wiped out ), are we going to see the same world-wide sympathy for AMERICAN victims ? Will we see the same concerts to raise money ? Will we see...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today urged American Muslims and other people of conscience to offer whatever assistance they can to help alleviate the suffering of those impacted by Hurricane Katrina. This week, Katrina left a trail of death and destruction along the Gulf Coast. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco is declaring Wednesday a day of prayer. In a statement, the Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group said: "We join Gov. Blanco in urging Americans of all faiths to pray for the victims of this unprecedented national disaster. As stated in the Qu’ran, Islam's revealed text: 'Seek help with...

Brett Favre's Official Website to Aid Hurricane Victims by Nathan Yoder officialbrettfavre.com When forecasters projected hurricane Katrina’s path to hit the gulf coast of Brett Favre’s Home state of Mississippi, Brett became very concerned. Brett’s mom, Bonita Favre, resides in Kiln, MS which is just a few miles from the coast. Brett’s phone conversation with his mom was cut short due to 60 mph wind gusts. He was unable to reach her for about 30 hours and later heard there were 135 mph gusts. Once he was able to talk to her, she had to break the bad news that...

Packers Worry About Loved Ones In Gulf Coast by Jeff Fedotin, Packers.com posted 08/31/2005 For more information on how you can help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, please visit Favre's official Web site, www.OfficialBrettFavre.com. While, Brett Favre received word that his immediate family lived through Hurricane Katrina, other Packers players hoped for the same news. "Fortunately, they all survived," Favre said. Javon Walker, however, cannot locate his grandparents or two of his uncles -- Lucille, Paul Jr., Paul Sr., and Earl Goldsmith of Moss Point, Miss. At first Walker's mother did not want to worry him, but she became increasingly...

Mrs. DFU, who works for Verizon, gave me the news today that Verizon will double the relief donation of any employee who gives to the Katrina victim relief effort. That is great news. The company is large enough to make a big impact in the effort. If you are a Verizon employee, make sure to give through work. ( Am I allowed to suggest this? If you know a Verizon employee, give them your money to contribute. :)

An Amazon spokesperson said that the online retailer had no plans to post a donation link on its site. "Each case is different," she said. "The Red Cross has essentially given over its entire site to donations. The tsunami came out of the blue, so it was an 'all hands on deck' situation, but the Red Cross has been getting ready for this and getting its message out there for several days."

When a tsunami hit South Asia in December, the world mobilized to help and aid poured in. Now that parts of America are underwater, the US is handling the relief work virtually alone. What is going on? Virtually overnight, fun-loving New Orleans transformed from America's playground into a waterlogged wasteland. Photos of houses and highways underwater and reports of dead bodies floating in swampy debris and frightened refugees huddling for cover have left us mute. Hurricane Katrina turned out to be at least as violent as expected and will likely turn out to be among the biggest hurricanes of all...

MOSCOW — Russia is ready to assist the United States in dealing with the damage caused by hurricane Katrina, which has taken 68 lives so far and left behind a tremendous amount of devastation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message to U.S. President George Bush Tuesday. "Russia deeply sympathizes with Americans, who faced a disaster of such a colossal scale, and is ready to offer necessary assistance," Putin said. Putin asked Bush to extend his condolences to families and relatives of those killed in the disaster. "Accept my sincere words of regret in connection with the natural calamity...

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth. As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did. They have helped control floods on...

Task Force Peacekeeper, with the aid of Afghan Police, disseminate election information and provide medical aid to the village of Sabikhel, Afghanistan. By Combined Forces Command, Afghanistan BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Aug. 24, 2005 — U.S. soldiers of Task Force Peacekeeper alongside Afghan police conducted a medical assistance and election information dissemination mission in the village of Sabikhel, Afghanistan Aug. 22. "One of the keys to success with this mission were the Afghan police who were instrumental in helping guide and direct the patients to where they were supposed to go, as well as maintain order in the crowd." Lt. Col....

In conjunction with Israel’s decision to disengage from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, a number of countries, international agencies and private donors have agreed to provide financial aid for those territories now coming under Palestinian control. Aid already committed or under discussion includes:. The United States The United States will double the $275 million aid, to $550 million, that it gives the Palestinians this year, according to Adam Ereli, a State Department spokesman. Since 1993, Palestinians have received more than $1.5 billion in U.S. economic assistance -- more than from any other donor country. In May,...

Four Bay Area communities will receive nearly $4 million in grants today to help bring chronically homeless alcoholics off the streets. EHC Lifebuilders' ``Off the Streets for Alcohol'' pilot program was awarded a $998,831 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that funds homeless services. The largest provider of shelter, housing opportunities and support services to homeless people in Santa Clara County, EHC Lifebuilders is expected to use the grant to help approximately 42 people. San Francisco County will receive $988,458; Contra Costa County, $996,786; and Santa Cruz County, $706,773, for their pilot programs....

WE'RE rich because they're poor. No proposition is more central to the left-wing view of the world than the idea that the rich West survives in its comfort because it exploits the poor in the Third World. A variation on this lies at the heart even of much Islamist terrorist ideology. The utterly ridiculous Peter Singer even wrote a book purporting to work out how many dollars the rich world should pay to the poor to make it rich too.

A US envoy has suggested the latest round of talks on North Korea's nuclear programme, now in its ninth day, could be nearing some kind of conclusion. Christopher Hill was speaking after China put forward yet another draft of a proposed joint statement. Mr Hill called the latest proposal "a very important text... designed to narrow the differences". The North wants security guarantees and aid before it will scrap its programme, conditions the US has baulked at. Both Mr Hill and North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan had earlier expressed doubts that an agreement would be achieved. Six nations - the...

IN Niger most of the 11 million people live on a dollar a day. Some 40% of children are underfed, and one out of four dies before turning five. And that’s when things are normal. Throw in a plague of locusts, and a familiar spectacle emerges: skeletal babies, distended bellies, people too famished to brush the flies from their faces. To the aid workers charged with saving the dying, the immediate challenge is to raise relief money and get supplies to the stricken areas. They leave it to the economists and politicians to come up with a lasting remedy. One...

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - In Niger, a desert country twice the size of Texas, most of the 11 million people live on a dollar a day. Forty percent of children are underfed, and one out of four dies before turning 5. And that's when things are normal. Throw in a plague of locusts, and a familiar spectacle emerges: skeletal babies, distended bellies, people too famished to brush the flies from their faces. To the aid workers charged with saving the dying, the immediate challenge is to raise relief money and get supplies to the stricken areas. They leave it to...

In the wake of recent bombings in London and Egypt confirming the vulnerability of even relatively vigilant societies to Islamofascist terrorism, the question occurs: Are we serious about fighting this menace with every instrument at our disposal? A test of the seriousness of the U.S. Senate will be offered as soon as today [July 26]. Senators will be asked to choose between two amendments to the defense authorization bill (S.1042) bearing on one of this country's most powerful and yet largely unutilized tools: Denying U.S. investment capital, technology and other commercial benefits to state-sponsors of terror. To be sure, successive...

Iraqi Prime Minister al-Jaafari said in his first public remarks since he returned from a state visit to Iran that the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran had pledged about $1 billion for rebuilding projects to include schools, hospitals and libraries. Iran also will supply much-needed electricity. American-led efforts to fix Iraq's outdated and war-damaged power grid have yielded little difference in the lives of Iraqis, who are enduring their third sweltering summer with sporadic electricity since the war began. Al-Jaafari and 10 of his Cabinet members met with top politicians and clerics in Tehran, where they negotiated plans to boost...

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, July 19, 2005 – The United States will help the Slovakian military as it transitions to an all-volunteer force, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said here today. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also thanked Slovakia for military help in Iraq and Afghanistan. Myers met with Slovakian President Ivan Gasparovic, State Secretary Marvin Fedor, Member of Parliament Robert Kalinak and Army Lt. Gen. Lubomir Bulik, the chief of the Slovakian military, during meetings here. Slovakia has a 100-soldier unit serving with the Multinational Division Central South, based in Hillah, Iraq. The Slovak's are engineers,...