Free Republic

A new approach to organ donation doesn’t require waiting until the donor’s brain death....

NEW YORK (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union has lost a quarter of its yearly donations after a major donor cut off $19 million in annual donations because of economic difficulties. David Gelbaum, a wealthy California conservationist, said he was indefinitely stopping the donations that had made him the New York-based group's largest anonymous donor. "For a number of years, your organization has received very substantial charitable contributions from me," Gelbaum said in a statement. "My investments in alternative, clean energy companies have placed me in a highly illiquid position as a result of the general credit crisis in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Not sure what to give Uncle Sam this Christmas? How about a nice, fat check to help whittle away at the $7.6 trillion national debt? The U.S. Treasury Department accepts gifts, payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt. Just mail them to the attention of Department G, Post Office Box 2188, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-2188. Make a note in the memo section that it is a gift to reduce the debt held by the public. Yes, really. It's all on the Treasury's website, at the end of the list of frequently asked questions here

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Not sure what to give Uncle Sam this Christmas? How about a nice, fat check to help whittle away at the $7.6 trillion national debt? The U.S. Treasury Department accepts gifts, payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt. Just mail them to the attention of Department G, Post Office Box 2188, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-2188. Make a note in the memo section that it is a gift to reduce the debt held by the public. Yes, really. It's all on the Treasury's website, at the end of the list of frequently asked questions. Which raises a...

"HAVING abstained from sex for four days, the young man walks in. Fifteen minutes later he is out, knowing that he may, in the near future, sire a child or two. What's more, he doesn't harbour any thoughts of ever learning the child's identity. A sleazy bordello? No, it's a sperm bank in Mumbai. And, constituting new breed of New Age donors are mostly medical students and young professionals between the age of 20 and 40. These are the 'genetically-sound' sperm donors of today who help an increasing number of Indian couples going in for artificial insemination. Shammi --- 25,...

No April Fool's Joke, Paychecks To IncreaseAl Sunshine Reporting Apr 1, 2009 4:22 pm US/Eastern MIAMI (CBS4) - This is not an April Fool's joke – starting Wednesday most Americans will notice a little extra in their paychecks. As part of the Obama administrations $787 billion economic stimulus package, the two year "Making Work Pay" tax break goes into effect April 1st and will affect 95 percent of working American families. **SNIP** Instead of getting a single check like last year, the tax break will be doled out over the next two years as tax credits in paychecks. Most individuals...

WASHINGTON – Republicans are making another run at overturning a ban on unlimited "soft money" contributions. Their Democratic rivals say it is an attempt to bring big money back to politics because the GOP can't keep up with President Barack Obama's fundraising machine. The Republican National Committee is suing to overturn part of a ban on unlimited contributions passed by Congress in 2002 and upheld by the Supreme Court a year later.

JOPLIN, Mo. (Dec. 22) - An anonymous donor has come through again for the Salvation Army, dropping five cashier's checks for $10,000 each into kettles at the city's two Wal-Mart stores. It's the fifth straight year someone has given $50,000 to the Salvation Army's annual holiday fundraiser without taking credit for the generous gesture. And while Capt. Jason Poff says he doesn't budget for the money in advance, but he admits that it's something he does hope for each year.

Before her death, Barack Obama's grandmother in Hawaii gave his campaign $2,300, which is precisely $2,300 more than Obama himself donated to his $639 million, record-breaking war chest. And in this practice, Obama is in good company. Buried in federal election records is a curious fact: Candidates often don't financially support their own campaigns. Records show that John McCain, he of the seven houses, did not donate to his presidential campaign. Neither did Sarah Palin. Joe Biden didn't chip in for his own national run either. Mayor Richard Daley also has a closed wallet when it comes to funding his...

General David Petraeus deployed overwhelming force when he briefed Barack Obama and two other Senators in Baghdad last July. He knew Obama favored a 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Iraq, and he wanted to make the strongest possible case against it. And so, after he had presented an array of maps and charts and PowerPoint slides describing the current situation on the ground in great detail, Petraeus closed with a vigorous plea for "maximum flexibility" going forward.

The increasing use of online financial tools, debit cards and prepaid credit cards to make political contributions has created technological loopholes in federal and public oversight of campaign donations. The result has been a recent spate of news stories raising questions about apparently implausible or suspicious donations to the presidential campaigns. Right-of-center activists also claim that Barack Obama's campaign has collected tens of millions of dollars from suspect overseas donors. Their complaints spurred the Republican National Committee on Oct. 6 to ask the Federal Election Commission for an investigation of the Obama donations. To test the campaigns' practices, this author...

John McCain complained bitterly on "Fox News Sunday" that Barack Obama “broke his word to me and the American people” by rejecting public financing for his campaign. He also questioned the suspicious number of Obama donors who have given the campaign less than $200 and whose names and addresses have never been disclosed by Obama's campaign. McCain specifically mentioned the more than $200 million in unitemized campaign contributions – a story that Newsmax broke in September – that have flowed into Obama's campaign coffers. The Federal Election Commission requires campaigns to disclose the names of donors who have donated more...

I was headed out to the campaign site to check the updated convention schedule and was greeted with this page when I clicked through. Go ahead and click the Take Action Now button. It goes through to: Cause Greater Than Ourselves Way to go McCain!

As a result of yesterday's stunning news about Sarah Palin, the next Vice President of the United States, many Freepers have decided to contribute to the McCain campaign. TODAY is the LAST day that you can contribute to the McCain campaign. Tomorrow, public financing (ugh!) kicks in and they cannot accept donations any more. If you want to participate, do it TODAY.

If I remember correctly, the McCain campaign said they are going to accept the public campaign fund. So, if people want to donate to this excellent ticket, they might not able to accept after certain date (after the Convention?) I'm aware that people can always give money to the RNC... Somebody perhaps can provide information about this?

A US campaign watchdog has accused presumptive Republican president nominee John McCain of violating election laws by accepting campaign contributions from two prominent Londoners. At issue is a fundraising luncheon held in March at London's Spencer House, during McCain's swing through the United Kingdom. An invitation to the event lists Lord Rothschild and Nathaniel Rothschild as hosts, and indicates the event was made possible with their "kind permission". Judicial Watch, a Washington organisation instrumental in the March release of Hillary Clinton's White House schedules, has asked US election monitors to investigate whether the Rothschilds improperly sponsored the fundraiser. US political...

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2008 – When he’s in Cincinnati tomorrow to receive an award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a senior enlisted sailor will meet the girl whose life he saved with a bone marrow donation. Navy Chief Petty Officer Willie H. Corey, a submarine fire control technician, will be recognized for his participation in the National Marrow Donor Program. Corey, a native of Newport News, Va., has been a donor on the NMDP’s registry since fall 2006. "When I found out that the potential recipient was a little girl, it was a no-brainer to donate; I have a...

Cambridge University has been given £8 million by a Saudi Arabian prince to establish an Islamic studies centre. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, ranked in the top 20 richest men in the world, with a fortune of about £10 billion, has donated the cash to the university to fund a centre in his name for the study of the role of Islam in the Middle East and globally. The gift has been recommended by the university's general board and is expected to be announced in June. advertisement The grandson of King Ibn Saud and nephew of King Abudllah, the prince counts...

Hedge funds flex political muscle in election Fri Feb 8, 2008 2:19pm EST By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - Hedge fund managers Ken Griffin and Dan Loeb are backing Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, while Thomas Steyer and Marc Lasry are betting on his rival, Hillary Clinton. Prominent New York hedge fund managers Louis and Zack Bacon have put some of their money on Republican front-runner John McCain, the senator from Arizona. As the battle for the White House heats up, the fast-growing $2 trillion hedge fund industry is flexing its political muscle and could play a crucial role in...

All Princeton faculty members who have given to 2008 presidential candidates so far have donated to Democrats, according to federal records of donations to presidential campaigns from Princeton University employees. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is the runaway favorite candidate among those donors, having received $12,050 from Princeton employees. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) drew the second-highest total contributions from Princeton faculty and staff with $5,600. Other donations have gone to candidates including former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). In total, donors who listed the University as their employer have given $23,700 to presidential...

Green Ivies by: Don Irvine, January 24, 2008 According to a study of federal donation records 2008 presidential candidates by the Daily Princetonian faculty members at Princeton have overwhelmingly supported Democrats. The total number of donations in the current election cycle who listed the University as their employer was $23,700 with $21,900 (92.4%) going to Democratic candidates. The remaining $1,800 went to Republican Ron Paul who is closer to a Libertarian than a Republican. And of the donations to Paul, one was from a graduate student and the other a Public Safety Officer. Princeton employee’s support for the Democrats even...

BROWN’S ‘UNDECLARED’ £30,000 GIFT TO LABOUR GORDON Brown faced fresh embarrassment over party funding last night after it emerged that his own £30,000 donation to Labour has not been declared. The cash was raised from trade unions and wealthy backers during his uncontested campaign to succeed Tony Blair last summer. It was later paid into Labour party coffers by his campaign team. The money has still not been registered on Electoral Commission records, six months after Mr Brown moved into No 10. Labour sources claimed the matter was “a timing issue” and insisted the gift will be officially declared next...

<p>Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has received a $500 campaign donation from a white supremacist, and the Texas congressman doesn't plan to return it, an aide said Wednesday.</p> <p>Don Black, of West Palm Beach, recently made the donation, according to campaign filings. He runs a Web site called Stormfront with the motto, "White Pride World Wide." The site welcomes postings to the "Stormfront White Nationalist Community."</p>

Politically Correct Donations Only by: Don Irvine, November 06, 2007 The Washington Post reported Saturday that the Smithsonian Institution has put on hold a $5 million donation from the American Petroleum Institute over objections from two of the museum complex's Board of Regents including U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) about accepting money from the oil industry for a project on the world's oceans. The main objection came from the regents' longtime executive committee chairman Roger Sant who ironically made his fortune as the founder of power company AES which is a member of the American Petroleum Institute. Since that time...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2007 – The Defense Department is changing its military blood-donation regulations to allow for a wider spectrum of civilian donors. Current department rules only permit blood donations from servicemembers, Defense Department civilians, retirees and their family members, Navy Cmdr. Michael C. Libby, director of the Armed Services Blood Program Office, told American Forces Press Service and Pentagon Channel reporters. The new policy will enable non-Defense Department affiliated civilians to donate blood through the Armed Services Blood Program at collection points located on department or federal property, Libby explained. The policy change, slated to become effective later...

Sir Tom Hunter makes record £1bn donation By Chris Hope, Whitehall Editor Last Updated: 2:13am BST 18/07/2007 Sir Tom Hunter is set to become Britain's most prolific philanthropist after committing himself to giving £1 billion of his company's money to charity. Sir Tom Hunter was awarded his knighthood in 2005 The 46-year-old billionaire businessman is part of an increasing trend among Britain's richest people to hark back to their Victorian forebears and give much of their fortunes away before they die. The Scot, who, when aged 37, made £260 million after selling his Sports Division chain of shops, said the...

I hate raising money selling anything, but the very thought of door-to-door candy sales gives me the willies. Wouldn't it just be easier to donate when your kid comes home with some dumb candy bar to sell for the band, the team, ...? Otherwise someone might get the idea to ship you a box of candybars to sell. (High sales gets a free bike to patrol the Mexican Border!) The Simple Salesman: A minister concluded that his church was getting into serious financial troubles. Coincidentally, while checking the church storeroom, he discovered several cartons of new bibles. So at his...

Good Grief, how many days into the cycle now, and we still ain't kicked in enough to pay the light bill? I thought I was the poorest Redneck around, but some of you must really be hungry! What are you going to do if this forum folds up? Where else do you have a voice, where anyone cares what you think?

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, June 19, 2007 – Soldiers here recently received a special gift from a complete stranger who had read about them in a newspaper. Soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, show off the T-shirts they bought with a donation from a Massachusetts man who read an article in a local newspaper about the mother of one of the unit’s soldiers. Photo by Army Spc. Juliana Morrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Mark Thompson, a resident of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, donated $5,000 to the paratroopers...

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md., May 18, 2007 – Bookselling giant Barnes and Noble opened a new chapter in its history today by announcing a donation of 300,000 items to America Supports You home-front groups. Left to right: Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Smolen, commander of Air Force District Washington; Tony Rosenbaum, vice president of Y3K Graphix; Frankie Mayo of the Operation AC troop-support organization; and Marie Toulantis, chief executive officer of BarnesandNoble.com; and Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for internal communication and public liaison, gather at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., May 18, to announce a...

ALLENTOWN, Pa.- A couple who grew apart and had agreed to split up were reunited by a life-threatening crisis. After more than 10 years of marriage, Chip and Cindy Altemos agreed about 5 years ago to separate, see other people, and begin divorce proceedings. But when 48-year-old Chip was hospitalized with kidney failure in September, Cindy, 49, offered him one of hers.

The Party of systemic political corruption was elected on the promise to end political corruption? The Democrat Party is the official juggernaut of political soft money, those funds coming from often unknown institutional investors in American politics, with all sorts of allegedly illegal special interest strings attached. So what are the chances that the Party funded primarily by soft money will be the party to eliminate soft money in American politics? Soft money now comes in several forms. Here?s the official Top Ten list of U.S. institutional political investors between 1990 and 2006, how much they invested, who they invested...

Telephone giant AT&T, which spent millions last year to influence legislation giving the company access to California's cable television market, gave about $500,000 Tuesday to a private after-school program founded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger, who signed the 2006 cable law, attended a ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, where AT&T's philanthropic arm announced the donation to the governor's nonprofit After-School All-Stars program. Schwarzenegger founded the national program in 1992 as a way to provide tutoring services and sports to at-risk middle school students. It has affiliates in 14 cities. For AT&T, Tuesday's donation followed a 2006 legislative session in which...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2007 – After receiving $250,000 in donations last week through a partnership with the Duquesne Home and Garden Show in Pittsburgh, “Homes for Our Troops” founder John Gonsalves didn't think things could get much better. Army Spc. James Fair (right) talks with a vendor at the Duquesne Light Home and Garden show in Pittsburgh last week about windows. Homes For Our Troops, which builds or adapts homes to meet the unique needs of severely wounded servicemembers, and the Duquesne Light Home and Garden show partnered in an effort to raise funding to build Fair, of Coraopolis,...

Who is in charge? It’s a question that every American wonders from time to time. President’s ask it when their CIA Director, or their Homeland Security Secretary, or their FBI Director, or anytime that there is a failure or a scandal involving their administration. Americans wonder it when they see chaos and looting in Baghdad and in New Orleans. Americans also wonder it of their Congress. When a single party controls every branch of the Federal government and cannot pass Social Security reform, tax reform, medical reform, and cannot make a dramatic change in the war on terror and/or the...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2007 – A California-based home builder has donated a 10-passenger, wheelchair-accessible minibus to the Armed Forces YMCA and the Warrior Foundation to be used to transport wounded servicemembers around San Diego. Sandy Lehmkuhler, center, chairwoman of the Warrior Foundation, poses with servicemembers in front of a new wheelchair-accessible minibus in San Diego. Barratt American home builders donated the bus to the foundation and the Armed Services YMCA to help transport servicemembers recovering at Naval Medical Center San Diego around town. Courtesy photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “We are very pleased and proud to be...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2007 – The Armed Services Blood Program Web site has been redesigned, offering updated content as well as a new look, officials said. The new Web site, www.militaryblood.dod.mil, features information on how to join a “Life Force” team of donors, volunteers and supporters. Topics include blood facts, donor eligibility criteria, donor center locations, and more. Other information offered involves the ASBP “Specialist in Blood Banking” program, its curriculum and how to apply. Convenient links direct users to online blood donation appointment scheduling via the “Click to Save Lives” blood drop button on the ASBP home page....

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Around here, T. Denny Sanford is not known just for the billions he made in banking — he's also known for the millions he has donated. When officials at Sioux Valley Hospitals & Health Systems told him of their dream to transform the facility into a major research institution for children's health, he donated $400 million, and they promised to rename the institution after him — Sanford Health. "I have been quoted as wanting to die broke," Sanford , 71, said at Saturday's announcement before 1,800 employees and community leaders. Hospital president and CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft...

I signed on to a couple of Giuliani websites, hoping for discussion, and some answers. No talk, no answers, but they want my money! SHOW ME THE BEEF!

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2007 – Operation First Response, dedicated to supporting the nation's wounded servicemembers and their families, is flying high after receiving a generous Christmas gift with far-reaching benefits. Operation First Response is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program showcasing the ways Americans are supporting the nation’s servicemembers. Part of the group’s mission is to facilitate flights for wounded servicemembers and their families. A generous donation of 1.5 million frequent flyer miles this Christmas helped Operation First Response make the season a little brighter for 27 servicemembers who were able to get home for...

<p>Their Web site is www.coatesvillesavings.com and there will be a place on the site shortly for electronic contributions to be given.</p> <p>The families are grateful for your continued thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.</p>

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has launched a new system to sign up organ and tissue donors, hoping to significantly increase the state's pool of donations. Those applying for or renewing a driver's license or ID card can now register by checking "yes" at the organ and tissue donor option, officials said Monday. The decision has legal standing and is automatically transmitted to the state's donor registry, taking the decision about whether to donate out of a family's hands. "Now, for the first time, each and every one of the 23 million licensed California drivers will have an effective,...

AL ASAD, Iraq (May 10, 2006) -- Many service members deployed to a combat zone receive wounds and injuries that require medical attention from Al Asad Surgical. Unfortunately, the doctors and nurses are forced to cut the uniforms off of these injured men and women, thereby causing them to lose one of their very limited pieces of clothing. One man wanted to help. Larry Murray, a video storage wide area network technician with DataPath Inc., wanted to ensure that the service members who are tended to are comfortable and are not left with nothing to wear. "One evening I went...

Hey all,My best friend is a doctor in the military who just arrived in Iraq a few weeks ago. I told him to contact me if there was anything he needed, and it took about one week.He has told me that they are in need of Afrin or other types of nose sprays for the pilots. He said it was difficult to come by. He said sinus problems are causing pilots to be grounded, and that is something that they can't afford to do. He asked me to contact pharm reps that I knew and other contacts I have. I've...

WASHINGTON - A Republican Party official and Jack Abramoff's lobbying team bluntly discussed using large political donations as a way to pressure lawmakers into securing federal money for a tribal client, according to e-mails gathered by prosecutors. The e-mails detail how Abramoff's team worked to leverage assistance from the White House, Congress and the GOP to get a reluctant federal agency and a single Republican congressional aide to stop blocking school construction money for the Saginaw Chippewa tribe. The e-mails were obtained by The Associated Press. Abramoff's team ultimately prevailed when the congressional aide was overruled, several lawmakers pressured an...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Why would Democrats in Hawaii give money to a U.S. Senate candidate in Rhode Island? That question is creating a furor around Rhode Island Secretary of State Matt Brown, who is running for the Senate. At issue is whether his campaign engaged in "donation swapping," a practice experts say is a common and legally dubious means of skirting the federal limits on political contributions. Late last year, Brown received $25,000 from the state Democratic parties in Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts. Shortly afterward, four of his top donors gave $30,000 to those parties. The donors had already given...

<p>Vice President Dick Cheney is giving back to the hospital that saved his life.</p> <p>The GW Medical Faculty Associates and School of Medicine and Health Sciences announced yesterday the establishment of the Richard B. and Lynne V. Cheney Cardiovascular Institute, which will be funded by a $2.7 million gift from the vice president and his wife.</p>

Original manuscripts by Bach, Mozart and Brahms form part of a 139-item collection of sheet music donated to the Juilliard School in New York. The artefacts - donated by collector Bruce Kovner, chairman of the music acedemy's board - will be housed in a reading room from September 2009. Highlights include working manuscripts of Beethoven's only opera Fidelio and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 9. School president Joseph Polisi said it was "by its very definition priceless". A lifelong music lover, Kovner began collecting manuscripts more than 10 years ago when he noticed a flow of rare artefacts coming onto the...

LOS ANGELES – Philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad donated $25 million to build a stem cell research center at the University of Southern California, school officials said Thursday. Groundbreaking for the center, which will be named the Broad Institute for Integrative Biology and Stem Cell Research, will begin in the fall. The 215,000-square-foot facility is expected to be the largest stem cell research center in the state when it opens in 2008, the university said. The Broad Institute will bring together various scientific disciplines to study stem cells, which some believe hold promise for treating an array of diseases like...

Am looking for info regarding Ben and Jerrys, and the left leanings of their owners......is there any info out there regarding campaign donations, etc. thanks!