Free Republic

Faith has disparagingly been characterized as a "crutch" for "weak minds." And on one real level, that is true: every Christian, for example, in exercising faith, has realized that he or she is a spiritually helpless sinner facing a just, holy and morally perfect God. Christianity has been called the only religion in which one must first claim personally helplessness in order to join. If someone wants to trivialize the faith of the Christian as a "crutch," I cannot help but ultimate affirm the characterization. But, for "weak minds"? There I would profoundly disagree. Faith is not a sign of...

Morrison County Engineer and Public Works Director Steven Backowski said that, in 2007, the county used $300,000 in property tax revenue to cover maintenance costs on the county state-aid highway system (CSAH). Backowski said, "We never had to use property taxes for CSAH until last year." But Nouis said, "People who are finding a hard time paying for gas now will have an even harder time thanks to their DFL representatives. The DFL made a concerted effort to pass this tax increase and they should take all of the credit." The bill will phase in an increase of 8.5 cents...

On the verge of a presidential election year, the California Republican Party is slashing funds for key operatives as the party struggles to overcome lackluster fundraising and lingering debt. At the end of the year the state party will eliminate what is called its county executive director program, which distributed about $260,000 a year among about a dozen counties to assist with fundraising activities and grass-roots organizing. Its finances are so shaky, the state party faced the choice of ending the funding or possibly laying off workers from its staff, according to one official. In an era of multimillion-dollar presidential...

SACRAMENTO – A sweeping $3 billion agreement to give hundreds of low-performing schools smaller classes, more qualified teachers and additional counselors was revealed yesterday by the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Teachers Association. The proposal would create one of the largest pilot programs in state history, targeting 600 struggling schools heavily populated with minority students. As the Legislature worked feverishly to complete business for the year by tomorrow night's deadline, lawmakers also advanced several notable bills that would: Provide prescription drug discounts for about 5 million uninsured or underinsured residents. Make illegal immigrant students eligible for higher education financial aid...

For all their differences, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Democratic challenger, Treasurer Phil Angelides, have at least one thing in common. Each man continues to struggle with his positioning in the political marketplace. Schwarzenegger has famously shifted left since his disastrous “Year of Reform” special election debacle last year. Is the super-rich former action superstar back where he was when he entered politics, prior to embarking on a foolhardy path in 2005? Or is he, as many Democrats and a few Republicans argue, simply being an opportunist who will say or do anything to regain his popularity? Angelides, a rich...

BOULEVARD – The migrant trails form a maze through the creosote bushes and shrubs in this remote border community, all within plain view of homes and ranches. These narrow dusty paths lead straight over the wooden and wire fences that line the perimeter of Ed and Donna Tisdale's ranch. One leads across their driveway. It's been a decade since they began mending fences, and they still are. Residents of East County border communities have been in the path of human-and drug-smuggling traffic since the federal government fortified the border south of urban San Diego in 1994. The heavy migrant traffic...

Authorities in Belgium launched a rescue operation after a couple were spotted 'struggling' in the sea - only to find they were making love. The alert was raised after a man from De Panne spotted the couple with his binoculars and contacted the coastguard, reports Het Nieuwsblad. A Sea King rescue helicopter from a military base in Koksijde, a lifeboat and local police officers were all drafted in to help the couple. But when the two swimmers were finally 'rescued' they complained there was nothing wrong with them and they had never been in any danger. The 23-year-old girl, from...

SACRAMENTO -- Amid the first signs of possible trouble in raising money for his special election campaign, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is sending top administration officials out looking for free media -- beginning with a stop in Bakersfield next Tuesday. Tom Campbell, the governor's finance director, and Margaret Fortune, a senior education adviser, will hold "an informal discussion" with Bakersfield business and community leaders about the issues in the election, said Todd Harris, spokesman for the governor's campaign organization. Details on the time and place of the event had not been worked out Thursday, Harris said, but the media will be...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - In a state where half the houses for sale cost almost $500,000 and low income means a $95,000 salary in Marin County, the state's affordable housing bank is throwing a new life raft to residents struggling to buy their first homes. That's a fixed-rate, 35-year loan - an alternative to the mortgage industry's conventional 30-year loan - offering buyers interest-only payments the first five years. Though more costly in the long run, it's aimed at those who can't initially afford a full payment, and fear waiting until the state's housing market rises still higher, state housing officials...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - High schools nationwide are struggling with rising steroid use, not just among football linemen battling for college scholarships but also among non-athletes who think bigger biceps will make them more popular. Most schools cannot afford the costly tests for detecting illegal bodybuilding drugs. Even those that test for marijuana and cocaine do not check for steroids, which are potentially more destructive. "For a small district to do this kind of testing would be cost-prohibitive," said Joseph Wilimek, school superintendent for Angels Camp. At Bret Harte High School in Angels Camp, all student-athletes and cheerleaders take urine tests...

<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. - While prison guards allegedly watched the Super Bowl and ignored his screams for hours, an inmate on dialysis died as most of his blood drained from his body.</p> <p>The death on Feb. 1 was just the latest horror story to come out of the California prison system and confront Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with one of the biggest crises of his new administration.</p>

<p>Some families of reservists deployed to Iraq are grappling with more than fear for their loved one's safety. They are struggling to pay their bills.</p> <p>"It's not just his absence that we're dealing with," said Korina Self of Lockeford, whose husband, California National Guard Spc. James Self, is serving in Iraq. "We're dealing with absolute financial devastation. We're on the verge of losing everything."</p>

<p>DINUBA, Calif. (AP) - President Bush chose a small Latino farming community pockmarked by blight and poverty and surrounded by dusty orchards and vineyards to deliver a promise to work toward toward making housing more affordable to the working poor.</p>

<p>SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) - Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and his allies aren't the only ones getting headaches from the Republican-led recall drive that could qualify for the ballot this week.</p> <p>The recall is also creating burdens for elections officials in California's 58 counties, who have the task of counting more than 1.6 million signatures submitted by proponents, verifying them through a random-sampling process, and reporting totals to the secretary of state by Wednesday.</p>

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - The Pentagon is scrambling to find enough fresh troops to begin an orderly rotation program that would bring home some of the 147,000 soldiers spread thinly across troubled Iraq.With the new commanding general of U.S. Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, confirming what others in the Defense Department had been reluctant to admit - that United States forces face an increasingly deadly guerrilla war - the question of relief and rotation for weary GIs moved to the front burner.The easiest fix would be for the 14,000 foreign forces, mostly British, already in Iraq to be augmented by...