Free Republic

In his message for Lent, Pope Benedict XVI cautions against a purely secular approach to achieving justice in society. While Jesus "surely condemns the indifference that even today forces hundreds of millions into death through lack of food, water and medicine," the Holy Father writes, nevertheless "distributive justice does not render to the human being the totality of his due." Man seeks for something much more-- for salvation-- which can only come through Christ and his Church. The Pope's annual message takes its title from St. Paul's letter to the Romans: "The justice of God has been manifested through faith...

The Fresno City Council on Tuesday disbanded its Human Relations Commission.... Later that year, the commission's then-chairwoman sent a news release that resulted in a libel lawsuit. The city settled the suit for $60,000. Money for the commission soon became scarce. Mayor Alan Autry slashed its 2004-05 budget from $193,100 to $35,000. Sterling made a failed plea to restore funding that year, calling the commission the city's "voice of conscience." ...

It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday. But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast,...

Tomorrow my son, Aidan, checks into the children's hospital in Fresno for a liver biopsy to see if he is rejecting his liver. He had a liver transplant when he was 4 months old and has been on weekly blood test lately because his liver numbers are up.

By Diana Lynne © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com Facing a possible jail sentence for "contributing to the delinquency of a minor," California home-schooling mom Sandra Sorensen claims the San Juan Unified School District and Carmichael Elementary School have been harassing her and her family since they withdrew their son from the "unhealthy environment" of the public school. Officials accused Sorensen of neglect, reporting her to California child welfare authorities, and are planning to prosecute her in the Sacramento County courts. The legal actions arose after she and her husband decided to set up a private school within their home for their 10-year-old son....

Thoratec Announces Establishment of Memorial Fund for Thomas E. Burnett, Jr.; Company Executive Was Victim in Crash of United Airlines Flight 93 PLEASANTON, Calif., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Thoratec Corporation (Nasdaq: THOR - news) today announced the creation of the Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. Family Memorial Fund in honor of its senior vice president and chief operating officer who was a victim of Tuesday's crash of United Airlines Flight 93 outside of Pittsburgh. Burnett, 38, is survived by his wife Deena and three young daughters. Donations can be made payable to: The Thomas E. Burnett Jr. Family Memorial Fund c/o ...

I am asking for prayer for baby Zachary who is currently undergoing liver transplant surgery. They got the call late last night. They were halfway through the surgery at 11:30(EST) this morning and so far everything was going well. The surgery can last for up to 12 hours. Please lift up Zach and his family in prayers as this is a very tough time for all of them.

We just received a phone call asking for prayers for 3 year old Anthony who is now in the ICU at Valley Children's Hospital in Fresno. They don't know what is wrong with him. They said he is limp like a rag-doll and think that he may have ingested something. His family is part of our Fresno homeschooling group. Please say a prayer from him and his family.

Here is an example of the problems of only doing partial recounts of undervotes: On election day we have 20 voters that split equally: Gore clean votes 8 Gore hanging chad 2 Bush clean votes 8 Bush hanging chad 2 On election night they get run through the machine to be counted and Gore's hanging chads happen to be open and are counted, but Bush's chads are shut so not read by machine: Gore Vote Total 10 Bush Vote Total 8 Undervotes 2 A couple of weeks later court says only undervotes are to be recounted. They are then run ...

Here is an example of the problems of only doing partial recounts of undervotes: On election day we have 20 voters that split equally: Gore clean votes 8 Gore hanging chad 2 Bush clean votes 8 Bush hanging chad 2 On election night they get run through the machine to be counted and Gore's hanging chads happen to be open and are counted, but Bush's chads are shut so not read by machine: Gore Vote Total 10 Bush Vote Total 8 Undervotes 2 A couple of weeks later court says only undervotes are to be recounted. They are then run ...

Poll: Fewer support Gore challenge By CNN Polling Director Keating Holland November 27, 2000 Web posted at: 11:07 p.m. EST (0407 GMT) Six in ten Americans now think the battle over the presidential election has gone on too long and a majority of Americans interviewed before Al Gore's prime-time speech on Monday said that he should concede the election, according to a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. Nonetheless, most Americans say that they would be able to accept either Bush or Gore as the legitimate president -- although, in a sign of growing partisan tensions, a majority of Bush supporters now ...

Exactly one year ago this morning my 4 month old son was just coming out liver transplant surgery. Just before they took him into surgery his heart stopped and then after the tranplant he had some close calls as he nearly bled out along with other problems. It was a rough year. Yesterday, he got to go down to the lake and play and he is doing great.Bad times do end. I'm expecting some more bad times to end come the first week of November.

Republicans to spend $500,000 on TV ads to help Rodriguez. WASHINGTON -- South San Joaquin Valley voters are about to face a tidal wave of Republican-funded television ads meant to boost GOP congressional candidate Rich Rodriguez. Half a million dollars or more worth of ad time already has been committed to help Rodriguez, the House GOP's top election strategist acknowledged Wednesday. These so-called "soft money" ads are exempt from normal campaign contribution limits and represent the Republicans' most aggressive means of trying to topple Rodriguez's opponent, Democratic Rep. Cal Dooley of Hanford. "We're going to engage fully, and we're ...

Rodriguez leads the veteran lawmaker in a razor-thin race. Former newscaster Rich Rodriguez, a political neophyte in his first run for elected office, appears to be giving incumbent Democrat Cal Dooley, a seasoned politician with a decade of legislative experience, his toughest challenge in the 20th Congressional District, a new poll has found. In the poll, commissioned by The Bee, ABC 30 and fresnobee.com, 42% of respondents favored Rodriguez and 38% favored Dooley. Pollster Richard Hertz called the race "a statistical dead heat" because Rodriguez's lead is within the poll's margin of error, which is plus or minus 4.9 percentage ...