Free Republic

BREAKING: Multiple sources tell me a Texas National Guard soldier has just drowned in the Rio Grande here in Eagle Pass while trying to save migrants in the water. Texas DPS confirms, and tells me a body has been recovered. I’m told a statement will be coming out soon. @FoxNews

We thank you Lord for the freedoms we have as Americans. We thank you for this great country founded on basic principles such as Liberty and Justice for All. Over these many years our nation – under God – has had our freedoms attacked and we have had to fight and defend our rights and our freedoms as Americans. And today – this day – we set this time to honor the men and women who have been at the forefront of the battles to keep America free. We honor our veterans. Whether they served two or three years or...

Kristina Ripatti, struck by a gunman's bullet and unable to move from the chest down, says she wants to continue to be there for her family. Los Angeles Police Officer Kristina Ripatti didn't hear the gunfire that changed her life. She didn't feel the bullet that plunged through her chest, nicked a rib, tore through a lung and severed her spine. And she never saw the gun in the suspect's hand — the part that bothers her most, she said. Ten years of reflexively watching people's hands for weapons, and she didn't see it. There was only an odor —...

An army of volunteer agencies and faith based groups from throughout Louisiana and much of the nation has been assembled to take help directly to persons suffering the dual attacks of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. To date, more than thirty million meals have been served to those stricken by the storms, thousands have been sheltered and assisted in making temporary repairs to damaged homes, cleaning away choking debris, and generally comforted by numerous faith-based groups and some larger, more familiar agencies like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and others, according to a FEMA news release. [...]

The Unsung Heroes of Katrina - Who Are They? Hurricane Katrina killed an untold number of Americans. It left hundreds of thousands homeless and has caused unspeakable suffering for those Americans living in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Good will come from this terrible crisis. Let us look to the good and remember those unsung heroes who have selflessly sacrificed their own lives, fortunes, and safety to come to the aid and resuce of those in peril. God bless America.

Workers enforce election rules, clear up confusion People who staff Election Day polls work on the front lines of democracy. That's where all the values, visions and philosophies of the nation's founders meet the real world. They make sure the election process runs smoothly, the voters are free of intimidation and the ballot box remains outside the sphere of politics. Their kind, however, might soon become endangered. Most of the workers who are able and willing to commit to the daylong election and extra hours of training are elderly or retired. As those workers grow older and step aside, party...

The real hero behind the 'bravery' of Private Jessica By Julian Coman (Filed: 27/07/2003) America's most famous woman soldier owes her fame to a case of mistaken identity, reports Julian Coman in Washington As she watched Private Jessica Lynch's emotional homecoming on television last week, Arlene Walters struggled to suppress her growing anger. For millions of Americans, Pte Lynch's first faltering steps in her home town of Elizabeth, West Virginia, were a moment of high emotion, a happy ending to one of the darkest incidents of the Iraq war. For Mrs Walters, however, the standing ovation and praise lavished on...