Free Republic

Why is this man still in jail? Why was this man forced to spend seven years in solitary? Why is still confined, languishing, festering in jail for a total of twenty five years? Solitary confinement is the most barbaric of punishments. Few people can withstand this form of torture without becoming very ill, both physically and mentally. Am I talking about the Soviet Gulag? Or about some hell-hole in Afghanistan or Iran? Last year, The New Yorker ran a piece about solitary confinement. The article concludes that this punishment amounts to torture, that it can even induce “acute psychosis with...

Spurred by a recent boom in sales in the region, Bloomberg is expanding its Dubai office into a regional hub, a move that will as much as quadruple its local staff over the next year. - - clip - - The company has had a presence in Dubai for a decade. - - clip - - The company has also been developing an Islamic finance portal... - - clip - - “Particularly since the meltdown of the western capitalist system, there has been an increasingly large focus on the virtues of Islamic finance,” he said. - - clip - -...

Trade: The new administration watered down a protectionist "Buy American" provision in the Senate stimulus bill and hoped all sides would go away happy. But they won't, as the European Union envoy to the U.S. explains.As if the $900 billion stimulus package wasn't controversial enough, provisions requiring purchase of U.S.-made iron and steel for government contracts that were slipped into the House version, and of all manufactured goods in the Senate's, have annoyed more people than expected — across the world. Last week, leaders from Canada, Brazil, China, the U.K., India, Mexico, Germany and the Czech Republic, among others, spoke...

Below is an email I just sent out to friends and family. I believe it will not do any good but I think we have to try. If you don't agree with me, please - no comments. Just ignore.

<p>MERIDA, Mexico — President Bush, seeking to rebuild ties with Mexico, pledged Wednesday to intensify efforts to overhaul U.S. immigration laws and crack down on illegal drug trafficking. Bush said that he senses there has been a change of attitudes in Congress about updating immigration laws, from skepticism last year to recognition now that changes are in U.S. interests. "I will work with Congress, members of both political parties, to pass immigration law that will enable us to respect the rule of law -- and at the same time, respect humanity," Bush said in a news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Bush, facing a huge fight within his own party for his immigration plan, called it an important but sensitive issue. "I say important because a good migration law will help both economies and will help the security of both countries," Bush said. "If people can come into our country, for example, on a temporary basis to work, doing jobs Americans aren't doing, they won't have to sneak across the border."</p>

LONDON, ONT. -- The Canada-U.S. softwood lumber dispute is just the tip of the iceberg, and both countries are likely to engage in more acrimonious trade wars in coming years, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said yesterday. Still, Clinton said he sympathizes with Canada's position in the long-standing lumber feud, and expressed support for Prime Minister Paul Martin's recent strong-arm efforts with the U.S. "In view of the American position, I don't see how your prime minister can be anything but really publicly very tough on this. I don't think he's got an option," Clinton said following a speech...