Free Republic

Attention moderator: I'm still not good at posting in the correct forum. If this is posted incorrectly, please move it the correct forum, and not delete it this time :) Thanks, papa. Dear FRiends, A friend of mine sent me, and others, this email. Since that time there has been more need. She needs help with letters, postcards, etc to these brave guys and gals who, literally, have no one at home for moral support. They receive no mail or packages from home at all. I thought some of you would be interested in knowing and, possibly, helping with a...

Going first class: Snail-mail stamps will cost 39 cents ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - The cost of mailing a letter will increase to 39 cents on Jan. 8. The Postal Service's board of governors approved the two-cent increase in first-class postal rates late Monday. It is the first increase since June 2002. The cost of mailing a postcard will increase a penny, to 24 cents, as part of the roughly 5.4 percent, across-the-board hike in most rates and fees. The increase fulfills a requirement, passed by Congress in 2003, that the Postal Service establish a $3.1 billion escrow account. Congress is...

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- It took Natasha a day trip to Moscow to find the American husband she had dreamed of. It took the next six years to get out of the nightmare that followed. A music teacher from central Russia, she was one of 200 Russian women who patiently lined up at a Moscow restaurant to meet 10 American men at a gathering hosted by a mail-order bride agency. She spoke no English but immediately caught the eye of one of the men, 16 years her senior. He was handsome and said he wanted the same things she did:...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Nov. 3, 2005) -- The mission of postal Marines in Iraq is vital to the morale of troops serving in operations, and one Marine here is helping in the fight, one package at a time. Corporal Marcus D. Kibble, inspecting noncommissioned officer, Postal Detachment 6, Service Company, Headquarters and Service Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group (FWD), serves as a link between Marines here, and their families at home. The Columbus, Ga., native became interested in the Marine Corps as an athlete in high school. “I was interested my freshman year,” he said. The sports enthusiast played...

DoD Announces Recommended Holiday Mail Dates             The Department of Defense announced today the recommended mailing dates to ensure that holiday cards and packages for service members arrive overseas in time for the holiday season.               "To ensure delivery … to military APO/FPO addresses overseas and to international addresses, we suggest mail be sent by the recommended dates provided by the U.S. Postal Service," said Mark DeDomenic, the assistant deputy director and chief of operations for the Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA).  "Beat the last minute rush by bringing your mail to your post office by these suggested dates.”...

FORT HUACHUCA -- A family on the post was recently affected by a scam via the mail -- a lottery check scam. "All they need is a couple (of victims) to do it, then they're good to go," said Tanja Linton, a spokeswoman for the fort. "There is at least one family that was affected by this, which is of course one family too many." Most people these days don't faltl for these kinds of fraudulent solicitations, she said, but the criminals target victims who may be more naive about modern fraud, Linton said. Such schemes, she said, "get very...

19 September 2005 EXCLUSIVE: GRAN STARVES TO DEATH Ivy, 79, abandoned by family, friends and social services By Robert Stansfield A GRAN starved to death because her council home had no letterbox so her pension could not be delivered. Penniless Ivy Allen, 79, had barely drunk or eaten in the last three months of her life. None of her 10 children, 30 grandkids, social services or pensions officials noticed she was dying at her home in Warrington, Cheshire. Grandson Anthony Bradbury, 24, said: "I can't forgive myself." _______________ TRAGIC Ivy Allen's pension was sent back each week after the council...

A loosely knit group of thieves have been driving through subdivisions and business parks in several North Georgia counties in recent months, authorities say, stealing mail and identities to obtain money and drugs. But they were tripped up when they grabbed a laptop computer during a sting in Lumpkin County a few weeks ago, and that's when the roundup of suspects began in earnest. Federal, state and local authorities are now working to unravel the tangled network. No fewer than 20 members of what authorities call the "Mailbox Meth Gang" in Forsyth, Lumpkin and Dawson counties have been arrested and...

RightWingBob.com ... Because Bob Is Right!   Mail Bag! ...06/28/2005 10:11:22 pmReceived this message from someone signing himself as Ted Kalish. Subject: Just as badYou're just as bad as Rove these days.  Every Democrat I know, every liberal I know, wanted to get Bin Laden.  I supported the Afghanistan conflict and was dismayed when I saw focus being shifted to Iraq.  I still remember those days, and the sinking feeling in my stomach.  I knew were headed to utter disaster. Why aren't you in Iraq?  Are your kids in Iraq?  You support the Iraq war, you go fight it.  You...

Consultant stirs confusion in case of former district attorney Roach AMARILLO - Earlier this year, former 31st District Attorney Rick Roach hired his own sentencing consultant, a Rhode Island firm, to help prepare for his upcoming sentencing on a drug-related federal firearms charge. But Roach's case took an unusual twist last week when he asked U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson to ignore a letter his sentencing consultant improperly shipped off to the judge last month. In February, Roach resigned and pleaded guilty to one federal charge of possessing a firearm while being a user of a controlled substance. He...

This is an excerpt from Assemblyman Ray Haynes weekly Monday Morning Memorandum dated April 25, 2005. In it, he explains the method California uses to project its income. “With last week’s tax deadline passed, the tax geeks in the state government are busy tallying the state’s total revenue for the year. To do the tally, and reach an early estimate, they use a fascinating method. California has one address for tax payments, and another for tax refunds. To estimate tax receipts, the bureaucrats in California count the number of trucks delivering mail to the refund address, and subtract that number...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Thirteen cargo handlers at San Francisco International Airport were charged Friday with stealing $200,000 worth of computers, cameras and other goods from mail bound for U.S. soldiers stationed in Japan, authorities said Friday. The 13 defendants, employees of cargo staffing company Aeroground, were arrested Thursday and early Friday and arraigned on charges of stealing and conspiring to steal U.S. mail, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco. "We will not tolerate abuse of our mail system, and we will make every effort to ensure that postal customers and our postal system are protected and...

London 29.03.05 | Not two hours have come to pass since the posting of my latest article on Eva Golinger's false claims for yet another hate message to arrive in my inbox. Here's what she had to say this time: Mr. Boyd, your ridiculous ranting yet again proves shallow and false, yet you try with all your conviction to make yourself sound believable and capable. The truth is, were I to have violated any laws in the State of New York, the appropriate authorities would have made sure to resolve the matter. You have no understanding of US regulations, the...

Supplicants send their mail to the unseen powers that be By Fayza Hassan Egypt Today ArchivesMany believe Bab Zuweila to be a mystical site CUSTOMS DIE HARD, nowhere more than in Egypt. Archaeological documents show that from as early as the Old Kingdom up to modern times, an endemic and persistent distrust in medicine and justice, as practiced in the land, often led the Egyptians to address their requests for health and legal redress directly to their dead relatives and the gods. Later, when monotheistic religions prevailed, they were addressed to saints whose extraordinary powers had become firmly rooted in...

A COMPLAINT AGAINST MY GOVERNMENT Ok, first let me say this. As anyone who knows me can tell you I am probably one of the most conservative, pro government and pro military people around. I believe part of my job is to boost people’s morale, not to tear it down and I leave the criticism to other people. But lately I have developed a bone to pick with almost every branch of government.

In the aftermath of the closest, most chaotic governor's race in state history, Democrats are pushing a package of changes that includes moving the primary to an earlier date and shifting the state toward a system in which all votes would be cast by mail. The bills have broad support among Democrats, who control both the House and Senate, but Republicans say they're not enough. "We're not opposed to the stuff that's coming out. We just feel there should be a lot more," said Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland, the Senate minority leader. "We want to fix the problem and not...

Royal Mail loses postal monopoly The Royal Mail's 350-year monopoly is to end at the start of 2006, 15 months earlier than previously planned. The UK's postal service market will be fully liberalised from 1 January 2006, regulator Postcomm announced, following three months of consultation. From that date, any licensed operator will be able to deliver mail to business and residential customers.

First, a brief introduction to cameramail. The idea is not completely original, I'm sorry to admit. While working on a mail-art project for school, I saw Daniel Farrell and Richard Kegler of the website P22 document an impressive number of odd forms of correspondence between their two addresses in upstate New York. One of the last experiments displayed on their site was a camera attached to a postcard and plastered with stamps. Taking a good idea and running with it, I began to mail cameras to various locations. This project is still ongoing. Click on the cameras to view their...

Employer health plans across the country are forcing millions of consumers to change their drug-buying habits. And one side effect could be the decline of the neighborhood drugstore. Instead of picking up their medicines at a local pharmacy, growing numbers of consumers will be required - starting this month when new health plans take effect - to buy dozens of widely used drugs, like insulin for diabetes or Lipitor to lower cholesterol, by mail order. Employers and the companies that manage prescription drug insurance coverage favor mail-order pharmacies because they can get lucrative rebates and deep discounts from drug makers...

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Not everyone seems satisfied with the California jury's death sentence recommendation for convicted killer Scott Peterson. Hate mail and threats have made their way to the jurors in the days after they agreed Peterson should be put to death for the 2001 slaying of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, KGO-TV, San Francisco, reported Tuesday. An unidentified juror told KGO he and other jurors received hate mail and were confronted in person by people upset with the decision; some even reported their children had been harassed at school. Making criminal threats to a...