Free Republic

California has a new law officially designating corporate do-gooders.Starting today, California businesses can incorporate as "benefit corporations," which allows them to work for the public good as well as their shareholders.Current law generally requires California companies to put shareholder interests first. Companies that incorporate under the new law, AB 361, can look at a broader set of criteria when making financial decisions. The effect is a kind of "safe harbor" for management. A company that wants to spend additional dollars on, say, environmental safeguards, would be given legal protection against lawsuits or other moves by angry shareholders."It gives some legal...

The last month has been the best one of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He appears to be emerging as a viable conservative alternative -- rising in polls in Iowa and finally putting together a serious fundraising effort. There's just one problem with this rosy scenario. And, its name is the Club For Growth. The Club, a D.C. based organization that proudly touts both its fiscal conservatism and its willingness to dabble in contested Republican primaries, seems intent on not allowing Huckabee to coalesce the Republican conservative base behind his candidacy. From the start...

Mogadishu Somalia Smoking cigarette and chewing Khad (narcotic leaves) or trading them were banned in Somalia’s Lower Jubba province, southern Somalia, by the Union of Islamic Courts, Somali Tobacco Company based in the capital Mogadishu, has become the first tobacco company to announce it would burn its cigarette products if Islamists demanded so. Mohamood Abdulahi Wehliye, Somali Tobacco Company manager, has told reporters Wednesday that he was determined to burn Super Match cigarettes that his company trades in, adding that he was abiding by the Islamic Courts orders. “If the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu order all companies trading in cigarettes...

52 REASONS NOT TO MOW 37 WAYS TO HELP TREES Please download with 100% cotton, rice, recycled, or scrap paper Ron Howard, director of A Beautiful Mind and many other films,made his first film at age 8.. an anti mowing film which showed the nature of mowers' attacks on lawns. Art Buchwald: People shouldn't be judged by the length of their grass. In 2003 through now, the world has seen floods, famine, fire, mudslides, hurricanes, tornados and other disasters created by the unprecedented destruction of trees around the world. Trees are nature's weather stabilizers. We need trillions of trees.. new...

  By Felicia Rudd       All too often in this world, we turn a blind eye to those who could use a helping hand. Now, I'm no saint, but I just can't look away when I see people who need help. Like, if a couple on the street is having an argument, I'll step in and try to help them resolve their issues. More often than not, the couple is so stunned by the caring and concern shown by a total stranger that they completely forget whatever it was they were fighting about.      While my...