Free Republic

OMAHA — Federal officials say a JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant should give Muslim employees prayer time and not retaliate against workers who ask to pray. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of more than 80 Somali Muslims. A message left at JBS Swift's U.S. headquarters in Greeley wasn't immediately returned. Hundreds of Muslim workers walked off the job at the Grand Island, Neb., plant during Ramadan in 2008, saying they needed time to pray at sunset and break a day-long fast. Management adjusted the work schedule the next day. Non-Muslims protested and the...

Any new agreement on providing bank data to the United States - for example via the SWIFT system - must avoid "bulk data" transfers until they can be processed within the EU, warned MEPs on Wednesday. As for Passenger Name Records, Parliament opted to postpone its vote on the existing agreements with the United States and Australia and called for those accords be renegotiated on the basis of new criteria. MEPs voted on two resolutions in Brussels today, one on the opening of negotiations for an EU-US agreement to provide the US Treasury Department with bank data to combat terrorism,...

Are the NYT's and James Risen at fault here? Investigators of the failed car bombing in Times Square are looking for a money courier they say helped funnel cash from overseas to finance a Pakistani-American's preparations to blow up the crude gasoline-and-propane bomb in the heart of New York, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Investigators have the name of the courier they believe helped Faisal Shahzad pay for the used SUV and other materials to rig up a car bomb that would have caused a huge fireball in Times Square if it had gone off, the official...

I first have to admit to the fact that I am a total and complete pop culture drop-out; I have never seen an episode of "Sponge Bob", I didn't know what "I'd hit it." meant for the longest time and I really hadn't a clue about who Paris Hilton was, nor what she had done to become so incredibly famous. A word to the wise, DO NOT google Paris Hilton and if you do, make sure the kids are out of the room. Anyway, my daughter, who is 8 years old, came home from a playdate signing Taylor Swift songs....

A tractor-trailer loaded with canned beans was struck by a southbound Norfolk Southern freight train at the Coile Street railroad crossing off Snapps Ferry Road about 6:45 a.m. this morning. No injuries were reported as a result of the collision. GPD Officer Jeff Craft said at the scene this morning that Bobby Coffey, the driver of the Swift Transportation tractor-trailer, told police he had been attempting to enter the lot of the So-Pak-Co plant when he encountered a closed gate and came to a stop. The rear of the trailer was on the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, police said. As...

The title of this thread pretty much says it all! NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the cartoon within this thread. Thanks!

At Obama's main celebrity inaugural ball, Kanye West was interviewed by a CNN anchor during "Anderson Cooper 360" about his feelings about the election. Rather than solely focusing on Obama's victory though, Kanye West ended up using the air time to DEFEND PRESIDENT BUSH. He wasn't even being asked about him. "At the end of the day, Bush, he was a human being...a real person with feelings and hurts too... and a lot of things got overshadowed...it's a shame." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2bs22JsdA0 (Statement is made at the last 1 minute of the interview)

Why would the New York Times divulge information that could prove harmful to the national security of the United States? Is it so consumed is it by hatred of anything outside their left wing agenda that the paper actually wants America to lose the war on terror. One case in point was an article the Times published on June 30, 2008, Amid U.S. Policy Disputes, Qaeda Grows in Pakistan, which quoted from a "highly-classified Pentagon order" describing internal disputes at the Pentagon over plans to capture Osama Bin Laden and defeat al Qaeda. In June 2006, both The New York...

Cheney's "Secret Counterterrorism Program" Not So Secret After All On Sunday the Times hinted darkly about a "secret counterterrorism program" Dick Cheney concealed from Congress. Now the details are out -- and it turns out the Times reported the program (killing Al Qaeda's leaders) on its front page back in December 2002. Posted by: Clay Waters 7/14/2009 2:04:26 PM The Times' lead story Sunday was on a C.I.A. program allegedly hidden by Dick Cheney, and abruptly ended by new C.I.A. director Leon Panetta when he learned of it. The headline to intelligence reporter Scott Shane's story huffed: "Cheney Is Linked...

Dear Obamaphile -- We knew healthcare reform would face fierce opposition -- and it's begun. As we speak, the same people behind the notorious "swiftboat" ads of 2004 are already pumping millions of dollars into deceptive television ads. Their plan is simple: torpedo healthcare reform before it sees the light of day by scaring the public and distorting the President's approach. We need the resources to take them head on with an urgent, grassroots campaign to pass real healthcare reform in 2009. When the swiftboaters flood the airwaves with distortions, we'll flood the streets with volunteers armed with facts....

One thing about Liveshot, he knows when to back a loser By Howie Carr | Friday, May 8, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists Sen. John Forbes Kerry has spent the week futilely trying to prop up two of his oldest, dearest friends - the Boston Globe and a convicted kiddie-porn pervert named Wade Sanders. You know about the Globe. Despite Kerry’s Senate hearings into the implosion of arrogant left-wing newspapers, El Globo continues to circle the drain. You’ve heard less about Wade Sanders, or nothing at all if you rely on the Globe. He’s a liberal and a pervert and...

Chrysler, the nation's third-largest automaker, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday, with President Obama promising that court relief would give the company a "new lease on life." The administration's efforts to avert a bankruptcy filing were frustrated by some hedge funds, which Obama referred to as "a small group of speculators," that rejected the government's final offer to settle their claims against Chrysler out of court. Now largely under government control, Chrysler will seek in court to strip itself of its overwhelming debts. Then, according to the administration plan, the company will get roughly $10 billion in new government aid and...

One of the interesting things about the economy is how fortunes change with time. In the 1970's, the Rust Belt was hit particularly hard; in the dot.com (Web 1.0) era, vast fortunes were made in California; today, it is the Deep South who prospers -- Louisiana has actually gained jobs, while New York as the financial center, and California, with its profligate spending, have fallen upon hard times. Everyone seems to know about the travails of the banking industry. What about California? First of all, recall that their problems are not new. The Governator (and Kennedy spouse!), if you recall,...

This appears to be what is the final follow up on the story of the Muslims at Swift Plant who demanded extra break times to pray for the month of Ramadan. After a back and forth struggle which saw about 100 Muslims being fired, Swift will be paying the Muslims hundreds of thousands of dollars.

About 150 Muslim workers have been fired from a Grand Island meatpacking plant in a dispute over prayer... Plant officials at the JBS Swift meatpacking plant are bringing in Cuban workers to replace them...

Abdiamar Bare, 21, walks up to the nondescript mosque in Greeley for noon prayers and pauses a moment to talk about his faith. He is asked by a visitor if he's seen the DVD "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West." No, he says. He's asked if the principles of Islam allow other religions to coexist with it. "Every religion is the same. No religion is better than another religion," Bare says. "I believe in Islam. I like my religion, and I don't want it to interfere with other religions." Bare is one of about 120 Muslim workers recently fired...

OMAHA, Neb. — Officials at a meatpacking plant in Grand Island fired at least 86 workers Friday after they walked off the job amid a dispute over prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the company said. However, a Muslim leader and one of the fired workers disputed the plant's numbers, saying 150 people had lost their jobs at the JBS Swift & Co. facility, which employs about 2,500 people, not including management. About a fifth of them are Muslim. JBS Swift spokeswoman Tamara Smid, who confirmed 86 firings late Friday, said the action was taken against employees who...

First Swift Company tells Muslims that their demands for special break times would no longer be met. Now Swift has fired 150 Muslims who worked there. They were fired for being selfish and taking unauthorized work breaks to accommodate Islam. A few Muslim workers actually fainted on the job because of lack of food. Them fainting makes me wonder how much other Muslim workers slacked off this month due to lack of energy.

The walk out staged by the non-Muslims at Swift Plant has worked, at least for now. As the Muslim employees were told that their demands were causing too much trouble and they would not be met any longer. I applaud the non-Muslims at Swift Plant for not allowing Islam to be imposed on them. As for the Muslims there, they need to learn to keep their religion to themselves or move to an Islamic country.

GRAND ISLAND — A group of 500 Muslim workers from Grand Island's JBS Swift & Co. plant staged a protest Monday afternoon. Members of the B shift (3 to 11:30 p.m.) and some members of the morning A shift walked off the job after being denied time to pray during what they said is the holiest of times for them -- Ramadan. A group of protesting women said they were kicked by a supervisor when they attempted to pray at work. Asha Abdi said she knelt to pray when the supervisor said, "You can't pray here," kicked her feet and...