Free Republic

To hear Democrat Presidential-candidate John Kerry tell it on the campaign trail, not only is unemployment the fault of President Bush, but he's practically handing out pink slips to unwitting workers across the nation personally. The campaign rhetoric coming from the Left on the economy is only slightly less histrionic than their anti-war slogans. There is an opportunity, however, for Senator Kerry to do something good for the economy and jobs by tearing himself away from the campaign trail long enough to vote this week for the Ensign-Boxer "Invest in the USA Act" which is part of the FSC-ETI bill....

Even before the Sept. 11 attacks and the crackdown that followed, American Muslim leaders generally had come to believe they had made a mistake. In 2000, they made their first unified endorsement in a presidential race, backing George W. Bush. Many thought he would take a harder line against Israel, and, based on statements he made while campaigning, would protect the rights of immigrants facing deportation. Muslims say they were disappointed on both counts. Now, feeling the additional sting of being scrutinized in the domestic hunt for terrorists, they are mobilizing to express their anger at the polls in 2004....

He says he's entered the "death zone" – that period when he expects to succumb to the effects of his multi-week hunger protest. Thirty-six-year-old Gene Chapman hasn't eaten since tax day, April 15. The Texas man, who early on spent hours each day sitting across the street from the Austin IRS office, vows to die of starvation unless he receives what he considers an adequate answer to one question: "Where is my tax liability in the law?" Gene Chapman On his blog, Chapman says he has lost about 50 pounds: "I have lost a lot of weight. I could kick...

President Bush endorsed tax changes intended to help small investors recover from recent losses and feel better about the stock market. At his Waco, Texas, economic forum, Mr. Bush seized on two ideas floated by Charles Schwab, chairman of San Francisco investment-services firm Charles Schwab Corp.One idea would increase the amount of losses individual investors can take as tax deductions to $20,000 from $3,000. The other would reduce the so-called double taxation of stock dividends, to encourage chief executives to pay more in dividends and worry less about their companies' share prices and quarterly earnings.Although Mr. Schwab wasn't specific, the...