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A church in southwest Oregon is suing the city where it's located over a strange new local ordinance that limits the number of times per week the institution can serve free meals to needy residents. What are the details? St. Timothy's Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Brookings, Oregon, last week, arguing the city violated the church's constitutional right to religious expression by barring it from serving the community, NPR reported. For more than 75 years, the church has been serving its local community, often by providing services to people...

A proposal to repeal Obamacare entitlements and replace them with grants to states would reduce premiums for individual coverage by as much as 32 percent, according to an analysis by the Center for Health and Economy.The Health Care Choices Proposal also would modestly reduce the deficit, increase the number of people with private health insurance, and cut Medicaid spending, according to Center for Health and Economy.The proposal, the product of national and state think tanks, policy analysts, and others in the conservative community, embarks on a new path to empower consumers and return authority to the states to provide people...

"Does it have subtitles?" I asked. My friend Nina wanted to see a Bollywood film with the weird title of "Slumdog Millionaire." I preferred to see the new James Bond film because, really, I just wanted -- during the Thanksgiving holiday -- to put my brain on cruise control for an hour or two and watch good ol' reliable 007 blast bad guys. "Sort of," she said. "Oh." "But I've heard amazing things about this film," she insisted. So off we went. Movie reviews that reveal too much always bother me. So here's an outline -- and I mean outline,...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Aug. 27, 2008 – Whether it involves time with their families, their personal comforts or even their lives, the duty of soldiers eventually requires sacrifice. Certain soldiers, though, go beyond that call of duty and give more. During his two-week rest and recuperation from serving a 15-month deployment in Iraq, Army Spc. Timothy Roy, C Company, 44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, and his parents, James and Lynn Roy, assist at a soup kitchen and shelter in New Hampshire. Roy gives much of his personal time volunteering and donating to charities such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Courtesy photo  (Click...

Lt. Col. Dennis Yates, battalion commander, 5th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light) and Col. Ahmed Ehbrahim Bedor, battalion commander, 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division (center) pose for pictures with three Baghdad residents who received free wheelchairs from the Iraqi Army in Schmook Village, Jan. 3. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Grant T. Okubo, 4th IBCT PAO, 10th Mtn. Div. FORWARD OPERATING BASE RUSTAMIYAH — Villagers gathered as Iraqi Army (IA) Soldiers distributed wheelchairs to disabled Iraqi citizens in Schmook Village, Jan. 3. IA Soldiers from the 1st Battalion,...

Our church provides Christmas presents for foster children and families where the father is in prison. This year, my family and another family have signed up to get gifts for a family of five children. They need coats and clothes, which we are getting along with toys. However, the oldest child asked for a computer. I wanted to see if anyone out there on FR had an old one they would be willing to donate (if you are in Maryland outside DC, I can pick it up. Otherwise, I would be willing to pay shipping). If you are interested, please...

CAMP EGGERS, Afghanistan , Aug. 4, 2007 – Every other week, servicemembers from all branches of the military conduct convoys from this base to deliver clothing and supplies to needy Afghans in the surrounding areas. But they're not doing it because they have to. They're doing it because they want to help. Members of the Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan unload a truck full of donations from the U.S. at a refugee camp outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “These are military and coalition members who volunteer,” said Air Force...

My 13 year old daughter received a subpoena to appear in court with regard to a domestic violence assault she witnessed in our home. However, as I was reading the subpoena, near the bottom it gave the date of the incident. This particular incident was not witnessed by the child listed on the subpoena. Instead, this was witnessed by another child not listed. Can these charges be dismissed/dropped due to a technicality?

The amount of food that will be given to each family donated by (left to right): The Director for the Department for Displaced People and Migrants in Basrah, Hussein Al Sayedi; Captain Luke Conway; and The Manager of The Red Crescent for Basrah, Haytharn Essa AliLCpl Michael Swales R-Signals. With the approach of the holy month of Ramadan, British forces in Basra are helping to distribute two thousand parcels of rice, flour and oil to displaced families in this southern Iraq city, providing food for the evening meal during this religious period.Ramadan is the most sacred of all Islamic...

Here's the situation. My husband upped and left me and the kids to be with another woman. He pays the house payment and utilities but no child support. I pay for groceries, health insurance for all of us, and my credit card bill. We are not legally separated. Actually, I consider him mentally imbalanced at this point in his life for a variety of reasons. It has been a horrible blow to our family life to say the least. Since the kids are with me, shouldn't he change his tax witholdings and not claim me and the kids? I do...

I need to purchase a new vehicle. I need questions answered so I can narrow down my choice. Is there a site or a board that does this? I have not found anything yet.

Louisiana, Mississippi Dioceses Devastated By Hurricane; Poorest Dioceses Hurt The Most WASHINGTON (September 1, 2005)—Dioceses in Louisiana and Mississippi face unparalleled devastation from Hurricane Katrina, reports from bishops in several of the dioceses indicate. The reports came in to the offices of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops shortly after USCCB officials e-mailed and faxed the bishops of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama August 30 to advise them that USCCB president, Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane (WA), had called for a national collection and prayers in churches for those afflicted by the disastrous hurricane. Some bishops in the affected...

I am ashamed of how Americans treat the homeless and the needy in their urban cities and how this website denigrates the poor and less fortunate. You people are the richest country on earth and you will not even give out a scrap to those who are on the streets begging for a living! They need jobs, they need to feed their families, and you won't even help out shame on you! The Bible says that God will judge the nations that forget the poor! You wont be rich forever, these poor ones will go to heaven and you'll go...

Actor Rob Reiner, whose fictional character on All in the Family was nicknamed "Meathead" by Archie Bunker, spearheaded the passage of a voter initiative in California imposing a 50 cent per pack tax on cigarettes, supposedly to fund universal pre-school programs. The extensive television advertising, featuring celebrities like Mr. Reiner speaking high-minded thoughts, was predictably "concerned" with the plight of low income and immigrant kids. A majority of the voting public bought it.

October 20, 2004 Making Choices: Exploring The Tax Issue by Chris Edwards Chris Edwards is director of tax policy at the Cato Institute. Whether one supports or opposes President Bush, his policies are easy to understand because he chooses a course of action and sticks to it. Americans certainly know where Bush stands on taxes -- his string of five tax cuts in four years is unprecedented. Ronald Reagan is remembered as being a big tax cutter, but he only cut taxes once, in 1981, then enacted a series of tax increases in following years. Bush's tax cuts have provided...

Playing politics with the needy. As the holidays begin to approach, charities around the country are preparing to serve more and more hungry people and others in need against the backdrop of a two-year decline in charitable giving that continues to eat away at their resources. Two years ago, President George W. Bush promised to help them meet the nation's growing social-services needs. Congress is poised to respond after a painstaking two-year process to pass bipartisan legislation that addresses the charitable crisis. This action is something Congress can finish this fall as a shot in the arm to faith-based and...

Donors were generous last week in pledging billions to rebuild Iraq - disproportionately generous compared with their donations to fight poverty and AIDS in the world's poorest countries, development and AIDS officials say. The $33 billion for Iraq over the next four years, including $20 billion from the United States, is more than 10 times the U.N. Development Program's annual funds of $2.8 billion for all underdeveloped countries. The amount is also nearly 10 times the pledges to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which kill millions every year. At development agencies and in poor countries, leaders...

Presently, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to the racist admissions policy at the University of Michigan. The university ranks applicants on a scale that awards points for SAT scores, high school grades and the color of one's skin. A perfect SAT score is worth 12 points. Being black earns you 20 points. Such a policy is worst than discriminatory; it defeats its own purpose. Affirmative action is designed to help even the playing field for black Americans. But the majority of people taking advantage of the program are the well-to-do suburban bourgeois who already have the wherewithal...

Citizens for Tax Justice , 202-626-3780 June 18, 2001 Post-2001 Tax Cuts Offer Little to Most AmericansClick here to see this analysis in PDF format.Click here for a related analysis. The vast majority of American taxpayers will see the bulk of their Bush tax cuts take effect this year, leaving only a minority of taxpayers with a significant stake in the Effects of the final Bush tax plan in 2001 & thereafter Income Group Average tax cut in 2001 Average tax cut still to come 2001 cut as % of fully-phased-in tax cut Lowest 20% $ –56 $ –10 85% Second...