Free Republic

Our troops need our support and encouragement. They are away from home, some for the first time, and usually lonely or discouraged. It is important for us to reach out and help them in the same way we would want someone to reach out to our loved ones if and when they are in the same position. They answered their call and we are answering theirs offering them the USO Canteen FReeper Style each day and thanking them for serving. This is IN Coming Mail from some of those serving now. We at the USO Canteen FReeper Style, a...

<p>With no rain in site, firefighters at Arizona's Rodeo fire are concerned that the Chediski fire is just eight miles away.</p> <p>SHOW LOW, Arizona (CNN) -- Winds of 40 mph threatened to push two wildland fires together Friday in east central Arizona.</p>

Many thanks to Romulus for the initial list of contacts. If you haven't logged in your contact info, please do so at the Locator List of Catholics on FR. Any chance we might add our international contacts as well? I believe we have some. Could be helpful. If you would be so kind, please use this thread to drop the following sorts of information/links you desire for ready reference on your Diocese's page at ConSpiratio: Diocesan/Parish Contacts Website links and contact information; Catholic Hospitals; Catholic preparatory schools, colleges and Universities; Catholic publications and publishers; Catholic religious ... particularly lay organizations...

Prayers requested during week of 6/16/02 Prayer request for gwmoore's fatherPrayers for the wife of a friend Prayers requested during week of 6/09/02 Continued prayers for Betsy and for LeeMcCoy and familyPrayer request for Megan who lost her brother last summerPrayers for best friend during lossContinued prayers for Elizabeth SmartPrayers for AKA Elena with health problemsPrayer request for MotleyGirl70's best friend and family during lossPrayers requested for Elizabeth Smart still missingPrayer request for 8 year old with rare diseasePrayers for Jen experiencing some family problemsA Prayer Request for Redcloak and familyPrayers for OxfordMovement and familyPrayer request for Siobhan and rest...

WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration would regulate tobacco products under legislation introduced on Friday by a bipartisan group of senators looking to stop tobacco advertising aimed at children. Co-sponsor Sen. Edward Kennedy denied the intent was to ban smoking. "This legislation is about protecting children," the Massachusetts Democrat told a news conference. "There are Americans who are going to smoke, and we understand that." The U.S. Supreme Court ruled two years ago that the FDA had overstepped in authority in 1996 when it issued sweeping regulations for tobacco products. "This legislation will give FDA the...

Since its birth on 14 June 1775-over a year before the Declaration of Independence-the United States Army has played a vital role in the growth and development of our nation. Soldiers have fought 10 wars, from the American Revolution through the Cold War, the Gulf War, to the current War on Terrorism. This 227th Birthday is a celebration of The Army’s history, traditions, and service to the Nation- past, present, and future. For 227 years now, Soldiers have defended freedom. And again today, Soldiers are fighting on behalf of the American people as we prosecute the war on terrorism....

Whether lawmakers return to Augusta this summer or wait to face a shortfall in January, they will be looking for a source of revenue to help pay, among other things, steeply rising health care costs. And they will look, illogically enough, at the Fund for a Healthy Maine, which emphasizes smoking prevention and therefore saves Maine health care money. Before lawmakers take even more money from that fund, they should raise taxes. Or, more specifically, a tax. The current cigarette tax is $1. The average, per-pack cost in direct medical care produced by smoking is $4.30, according to the Centers...

CNSNews.com) - A number of states have raised cigarette taxes this year in an effort to fix their recession-wracked budgets. But higher cigarette taxes, critics say, have made smuggling more attractive, encouraging individuals to buy cigarettes in low-tax states and take them across the border for sale in high-tax states. Federal prosecutors in North Carolina also say at least one smuggling operation involved taking the cigarettes to Michigan, where money from the sales was used to fund terrorist activity. Proponents of tax hikes, like the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) and the AARP, argue that higher cigarette taxes discourage adults...

69-Cent Increase Would Save Thousands of Lives and Dramatically Drive Down Tobacco-Related Health-Care Costs; Recommends Joining 47 Other States In Taxing Chewing Tobacco; Latest Health Department `Sting' Found Scores Of Teenagers Still Successfully Purchasing Tobacco Statewide. After receiving results of the latest Health Department tobacco-enforcement sweep that shows scores of Pennsylvania teenagers are still successfully buying cigarettes, Gov. Mark Schweiker today said he will immediately seek to raise Pennsylvania's cigarette tax 69 cents, to $1 per pack. His proposal also would have Pennsylvania join 47 other states in taxing chewing tobacco. Gov. Schweiker made the announcement from his Capitol office,...

Cigarette maker sponsors races in Delaware, where soon indoor smoking will be illegal Staff photo/John King John Wunder Jr., left, and his father, John, were visiting Dover International Speedway Saturday from Philadelphia. The smokers said Delaware's recently passed antismoking law will not deter them from at-tending races in Dover. By Joe Rogalsky, Staff writer DOVER - During the NASCAR events this weekend at Dover International Speedway, the presence of Winston brand cigarettes cannot be missed. Winston, owned by R.J. Reynolds, sponsors NASCAR's top series - the Winston Cup. Around the outside of the facility, workers invite smokers to take a...

Smoking bill now law in Delaware By Joe Rogalsky, Staff writer WILMINGTON - Gov. Ruth Ann Minner signed Senate Bill 99 - perhaps the country's most stringent antismoking legislation - into law Friday. The measure, which takes effect Nov. 27, prohibits smoking in virtually every public place. Fire halls and fraternal organizations are exempted while holding fund-raisers. "Cigarettes are legal, and we are not abridging the rights of people to smoke," said Gov. Minner, who backed the ban during her State of the State address in January. "What we are doing is limiting the effect smoking will have on those...

<p>On a state map on the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program's Web site, a white splotch covers an ever-shrinking clot of communities south of Boston where smoking in public places is still allowed.</p> <p>The spot - encompassing 14 towns and the city of Brockton - is circled by communities that have either full or partial bans on smoking in restaurants and bars.</p>

Just announced on a local radio station - The Minneapolis bomb squad has detonated a device found in a downtown intersection. No further details yet.

Click on link - poll regarding banning smoking in public places...

<p>Tempe voters Tuesday narrowly approved the state's toughest public smoking ban, which requires even bars to become smoke-free.</p> <p>"It's a win for the state of Arizona," said Tempe retired doctor Leland Fairbanks, who pledged Tempe will be the first step toward a statewide ban. Next target: Phoenix, he said.</p>

<p>The need for new revenues was the immediate engine driving Gov. Minner to propose a higher tax on cigarettes and an increase in the state's share of casino slots revenues. Both ideas are sound public policy that should not be sidetracked because the state's revenues have improved slightly.</p>

<p>The landmark 1998 settlement of state cigarette suits for $243 billion broke all records for civil litigation in the United States, yet it set an unfortunate precedent and remains widely misunderstood.</p> <p>Faced with a series of lawsuits by state attorneys general across the country, the tobacco industry brokered the settlement in two separate deals. First, it settled with four states for $37 billion, then with the remaining 46, including Massachusetts, for $206 billion. Both the litigation and the settlement were novel in many respects.</p>

<p>LEWISTON, Maine (AP) A group of Somali women is creating a support group to help them ease the transition to life in Lewiston.</p> <p>Azeb Hassan, a Somali woman who has spent the past 12 years in the United States, said Somali women want to work, but often can't find jobs.</p>

18-Wheel Advisory Update On Missing Cyanide Truck By J.J. Johnson Published 05. 14. 02 at 18:25 Sierra Time U.S - MEXICAN BORDER - Let's get you caught up on the missing cyanide truck that seems to have slipped under the Homeland Security color-coded radar. The Sierra Time was among the first online publications to make this warning public. We need to make a slight clarification as to where the truck was stolen. The tractor-trailer, hauling a hundred drums of cyanide, was hijacked in the state of Hidalgo along Highway 85, north of Mexico City - not Texas. It's been missing...

PETA has praised the military's operations in Afghanistan, because its propagandistic food drops were, more or less inadvertently, vegan. Animal rights activists and groups can be notorious for the single-mindedness of their advocacy, willfully ignoring on other oppressions in order to highlight and change our society's shameful abuses of animals. And People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the country's largest and best-known advocacy group for animal rights (as opposed to more service-oriented groups like the Humane Society or PAWS), has always had an unsettling habit of pushing the envelope in inappropriate ways in order to draw attention to...